June 2009 Reads

[BookWyrm]

Next up is LOTR--big for me as I've never read them! (I know, I deserve to be flogged). My dad read them to me when I was too young to understand what was going on, and I didn't re-experience the story until the movies came out. So it's about time that I read them myself

I hope you enjoy it! I'm on my third reread of the LOTR right now. I am also reading through Tolkien's Silmarillion and might I add that the two complement each other brilliantly. One adds an unbelievable depth to the other, and looking back to my favorite book the Hobbit, the same applies. What a brilliant love triangle to get involved in.

As for my feelings on Sapkowski's Last Wish, I frigging loved it. When I started it, I was honestly expecting another run-of-the-mill fantasy, the type that America seems to produce like fast food. Boy was I wrong. It seems like prejudice and prejudgement etc. seems to be the overarching theme of the book, which was fine with me. It's a very viable theme in the modern world. I particularly enjoyed the Slavic Folklore that spiced the stories; it seems like fairly uncharted territory in modern literature.

[Larry.]

Finished Tómas Eloy Martínez's 2008 novel, Purgatorio, about a desaparicido from 1970s Argentina who "magically" reappears in his former lover's life in the present time US. As with all of his novels, in turns a polemic and a beautifully-written character study. Very good.

Also finally finished Miéville's The City & The City. Very meh about this one; liked his previous work much better than this. Might write more about it later, if I have the time.

Currently reading Ysabel Wilce's Flora Segunda. Love the first-person narrative voice so far, 50 pages in.

[Arbor Gold]

My June reading is going according to plan...just finished The Inferior, and Best Served Cold arrived today.

I got a very distinct YA vibe from The Inferior - is that right? I found the concept interesting enough to keep me reading through to the end, but the writing was very simple and straightforward, with clear foreshadowing and no major shocking plot twists. I found the constant hunting repetitive by the second half of the book, but that might just reflect a personal preference for less fighting...there's other ways to show me how brutal this world is, isn't there?

That being said, I'm curious enough by the world that has been created to want to read the next book. I'd love to sit down with someone and talk about some of the ideas that are being touched upon. I'll have to dig up the thread tomorrow and give it a read. If I knew any 12-year-old geek boys, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to them. I would feel comfortable doing so because there is gobs and gobs of bloody violence, but the sex is only mildly alluded to and as far as I can recall, there are no naughty words. ;)

Thanks, Brady!

[Teng Ai Hui]

recently finished Quantum Leap: Odyssey by Barbara E. Walton

almost finished with Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham, Jr. (The movie October Sky is based on this book.)

[Deornoth]

Finished 'Day of the Damned' this morning. Sven and his crew do what comes naturally to them, blowing stuff up, only this time it's in the middle of a planetary civil war that could have grave repercussions for the Empire. It's not without it's faults but 'Day of the Damned' got me interested in the series all over again after the slightly disappointing 'Maximum Offence'. My full review is over Here. No idea what I'm reading next, plenty to choose from though!

[Morcant]

Am about 350 pages into Follet's The Pillars of the Earth; so so grim, but so so good. Afterward I will need to read something lighthearted to cleanse the palette, probably Duprau's The City of Ember. Am thinking about rereading Gene Wolfe's The Knight. I also have McKiernan's Silver Call Duology on stand by for a pure, uncomplicated summer read should the mood strike me.

[Turinqui-Calima]

Thanks to much needed advise from my fellow boarders I am now reading Already Dead which arrived yesterday from Amazon. Read approximately 5-10 pages on the train to work this morning and so far: :thumbsup:

While waiting for my Amazon package I read the Souls of Black Folk which was amazing and made understand America quite a bit better.

Also in my Amazon package was The Blade Itself, which I'm feeling pretty meh about reading, and The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which I'm looking forward to.

My June reading is going according to plan...just finished The Inferior, and Best Served Cold arrived today.

I got a very distinct YA vibe from The Inferior - is that right? I found the concept interesting enough to keep me reading through to the end, but the writing was very simple and straightforward, with clear foreshadowing and no major shocking plot twists. I found the constant hunting repetitive by the second half of the book, but that might just reflect a personal preference for less fighting...there's other ways to show me how brutal this world is, isn't there?

That being said, I'm curious enough by the world that has been created to want to read the next book. I'd love to sit down with someone and talk about some of the ideas that are being touched upon. I'll have to dig up the thread tomorrow and give it a read. If I knew any 12-year-old geek boys, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to them. I would feel comfortable doing so because there is gobs and gobs of bloody violence, but the sex is only mildly alluded to and as far as I can recall, there are no naughty words. ;)

Thanks, Brady!

Oddly enough, this just put The Inferior on the top of my To Buy list.

[Relic]

I just finished

The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld - Awesome conclusion to The Risen Empire. That ship to ship battle you were looking for Brady...right here.

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell - Meh. The Winter King was way better.

Gabriel's Story by David Anthony Durham who wrote The Pride of Carthage . Great book about a young black boy in a Western post-Civil War America.

I need more books...

[Amaldreth]

I hope you enjoy it! I'm on my third reread of the LOTR right now. I am also reading through Tolkien's Silmarillion and might I add that the two complement each other brilliantly. One adds an unbelievable depth to the other, and looking back to my favorite book the Hobbit, the same applies. What a brilliant love triangle to get involved in.

I agree about the silmarilion--i loved it and it helped me understand the LOTR movies so much better.

[Cuchulain]

Due to my exams, reading books of my own choice has been out of the question. I did read a few things for my studies, but, as they are all written in Dutch, I will just list them briefly.

Het Boek Alfa - Ivo Michiels. Book from the sixties written in experimental proze. Very hard to make sense of.

Twee Vrouwen - Harry Mulish. Book from the seventies about a lesbian couple. Contains elements of the Greek tragedies.

De Uitvreter - Nescio. Short story from 1911 which criticizes the modern world and celebrates nature.

Het Behouden Huis - W. F. Hermans. Novella from 1952 about the chaos at the end of WWII.

Het Dwaallicht - Willem Elsschot. Short story from 1946 about four guys looking for a certain woman one night in Antwerp.

My exam period is far from over, but I'm going to try reading Blade of Tyshalle in what spare time I can find.

[Procrastimancer]

I've just finished The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce. There are times when I wish I could do a proper review or even a proper commentary. This is one of those times, which is why I brought it up. Try as I might, I have never been able to pull off either one properly, so I don't bother. So when I post in these threads I am stuck saying something like, "I loved this novel.", which is true, but hardly anything spectacular or informative. In any case...

I loved this novel. I not sure where I would place it beside Memoirs of a Master Forger, but then I have always been a bit lax as far as ratings go and I see no reason to place it right beside it. It took me a few pages to adjust to the more relaxed narrative voice of the novel after reading Memoirs, but after that it was smooth sailing. Indeed, after reading just some here and there over the past couple days I say down and read the final 230 pages this afternoon. It really is a great novel and I am glad there was someone to recommend them. Of course, since I got it from the library it means that I will have to buy it sometime... probably soon.

Next I will either read The Limits of Enchantment or I may do a reread of The Steel Remains so I don't get burned out.

[delete this account pls]

Finished Best Served Cold. Abercrombie knocked it outta the park.

Might try this Westerfield guy now, been in the mood for some big, spaceships go boom space opera.

[Jaime L]

Finished Best Served Cold. Abercrombie knocked it outta the park.

Can we take a step back? I'm a little buzzed but I need to know: what do you mean by this? You're an Aussie. Do you watch baseball? Or does "hit it outta the park" apply to another sport? Or is just common nomeclature worldwide by this point?

I mean, I'll take the Abercrombie rec under advisement, but I gotta know what the phrase means to you first.

[delete this account pls]

Cultural colonialism I guess. Blame Alex Keaton and Mike Seaver, but I use baseball terminology all the time, even though I've never watched a game.

ETA; anyway, means Joe done good. Real good.

[Jaime L]

Cultural colonialism I guess. Blame Alex Keaton and Mike Seaver, but I use baseball terminology all the time, even though I've never watched a game.

ETA; anyway, means Joe done good. Real good.

Cool. Michael J Fox was Alex P Keaton. That's pretty much what I figured, but I just wanted to verify. I find this kinda thing fascinating. Back to your regularly scheduled book recs.

[Jaxom 1974]

As I'm on a budget this month and don't know when I'll get a chance to get some new books, I'm in the middle of a re-read of James Michener's "Space". It's nearly 30 years old, but it's just a great novelization of the space race in the 60s and 70s...

[dalThor]

Yesterday I finished American Gods by Niel Gaiman. Excellent book and quite a good idea upon which to base a story.

Because I had lots of time I'm most of the way through No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Lots of deaths and blood yet quite interesting. The style in which he writes makes it quite a page-turner. So far, very good.

[delete this account pls]

Cool. Michael J Fox was Alex P Keaton. That's pretty much what I figured, but I just wanted to verify. I find this kinda thing fascinating. Back to your regularly scheduled book recs.

It got me thinking actually. I used the phrase without consciously choosing it, as far as I can tell. But I bet if I'd been talking to my friends, other Australians, I don't think I would have used the phrase (or I would have used the cricket equivalent maybe?) Anyways, a topic for another thread, perhaps.

[Deedles]

June is going well. I finished "Best Served Cold" and really liked it. A trifle too many fights for me, but the plotting and story arcs were very well done. As a tale of vengence it was perfectly judged.

I'm currently in the middle of "The Angels Game" by Zafon and "Under the Eagle" by Scarrow. I'm enjoying both of them, in different ways.

Next up, "Nights of Villjamur" by Newton.

(ETA spelling)

[Relic]

It got me thinking actually. I used the phrase without consciously choosing it, as far as I can tell. But I bet if I'd been talking to my friends, other Australians, I don't think I would have used the phrase (or I would have used the cricket equivalent maybe?) Anyways, a topic for another thread, perhaps.

that got ME thinking...

did you get either of the books i rec'd a couple of weeks back in chat?