June 2009 Reads

[Luzifer's right hand]

I started reading Smoke and Mirrors by Gaiman.

I have no read short stories by him before and so far it's a nice read.

[gyrehead]

Finished Canticle, Ken Scholes's second book in the series. Not sure what to think. the pacing is fast and the story flows, but the worldbuilding just seems a bit too thin for me still. It is not crippling but it is distracting because the story seems more like a play at times on a very confined stage right when Scholes seems to be trying to convey scope and even grandeur. I can't help wondering if perhaps he is an author that should have been put through the gristmill of life a bit more. Overall the entire work lacks a bit of depth. Sort of the reverse Daniel Abraham for me. With Abraham the surface simplicity hides an incredible intricate depth. With Scholes it is more that the busy surface is a distraction to prove the waters don't run very deep. I think with these two books so far he sits between straight adventure that harks back to an almost Edgar Rice Burroughs approach or a more complex intricate world of political machinations. The odd thing is he manages to almost hit the two different aspects spot on. As separate tropes. But the meld is not quite there and seems awkward at times. I wonder how it would be if he focused on one or other.

I definitely think the book was well worth my time and I do look forward to the next. In terms of raw material as a writer I do think Scholes surpasses many of the newer writers that get tongue bathings and lemmings over the cliff in rhapsody.

Next up might be Nancy Goldstone's book on Queen Joanna of Naples. I got a bunch of rather crappy historical fiction novels I tried to get into over the weekend and ended up grounding my teeth down a bit too much to bother continuing with. Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter, Dickason's The King's Mistress among the set. So far as great as the year has been for speculative fiction, in the historical arena it has pretty much been a very weak year.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Escober's 'Chaos', the tale of a former British soldier who must fight his own demons in order to stand any chance of making through a web of lies in one piece. I found a lot of it contrived, in order to get our hero to a particular spot rather than anything to do with the plot, but it still went along at a fair pace with plenty for me to think about and keep me interested. My full review is over Here. I'm now well into M. John Harrison's 'The Pastel City'...

[beniowa]

This weekend I finished Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (review). I thought it was a very good book and a worthy stand-alone companion to The First Law Trilogy. Definitely looking forward to whatever he does next.

I also finished A Canticle for Leibowitz that I put down to read Best Served Cold, but I don't have a review for it yet.

My next book will be The City and the City by China Mieville, which I'll be reviewing for Bookspot Central.

[Myshkin]

Just finished Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Very good book. The whole Night Watch series has been really fun, and I hope more of Luyanenko's work gets translated.

Now starting Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton.

[Larry.]

Finished Nabokov's Ada, or Ardor early this morning. Leaving aside how quickly it took to read it (amusing how some like to bring that up on occasion), this might be my favorite of the four Nabokov books I've read so far. The twinned narrative approach with the other narrator commenting in parentheses reminded me of Jeff VanderMeer's Shriek and it's nice to see that he did adopt that consciously as a tip of the hat to Nabokov.

Currently alternating between Flannery O'Connor's Collected Works (about 1/2 done) and Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea. Both are excellent in their own ways, although I suspect many here would prefer the O'Connor over the Hugo due to the style and story of the Hugo.

[mashiara]

I never thought I'd hear myself say it but I've had far too much reading time on my hands recently, more than I ever wanted.

I read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and really loved it. I thought it was an amazing concept and a really powerful story. It made me sad.

I also read The Bomber by Liza Marklund. I shouldn't have bothered.

Finally, I read The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. I always wanted to read this book because I wanted to see what the controversy was all about and I kind of regret that my knowledge of Islam isn't as good as it should, so I could fully appreciate and understand this book. Still, the translator's footnotes helped a lot. I liked it. I liked the parallel stories, the dream sequences, the allusions to other things (the ones that I did get, that is.)

Next up is a history book I picked up (the library has been a life-saver lately). First Crusader:Byzantium's Holy Wars by Geoffrey Regan. I hope it's a good one.

[Jon Targaryen]

I started two non-fiction books. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. I want to learn something about Buddhism. I've already read a general book and am looking at the Vajrayana tradition now. I plan to look at Jodo Shinshu, Zen and Theravada in turn.

I'm also starting Aginocourt by Juliet Barker. ASOIAF got me interested in medieval history.

[BuckShotBill]

In Progress: Lolita - Nabakov, not quite sure what to think of this one yet

On Deck - The City and The City - Mieville: My signed copy that I got from a reading last Friday. If you have a chance to see him, do it. He's a pretty cool guy.

[murphy]

Finished Charlie Huston's No Dominion. Now, I'm going to have to order the next two books. In the meantime, I'm reading a bit of fluff called Bloody Good by Georgia Evans. It's about Nazi vampires landing in England at the beginning of WWII. Not especially well written, but tells a decent story.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading M. John Harrison's 'The Pastel City'. One of the more depressing books I've ever read (it's the end of the world and it feels like everything is an exercise in futility...) but really thought provoking at the same time. Have a look at everything else that I thought about it over Here. For a complete change of pace, I'm now well into Diana Rowland's 'Mark of the Demon'...

[Larry.]

Interesting that you find it to be depressing, with the sense of "an exercise in futility," as I saw it as being more darkly optimistic than that. Nice timing, considering this post of MJH's (which links to mine, which copy/pastes what Richard Morgan said in a comment in yet another thread).

[Kallichore]

I'm a bit short this month. Next up is Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey, and then Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, and after that I haven't got the foggiest (I usually have a 4-deep waiting list at the least). Was considering John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice (research) or re-reading Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series but not feeling very enthused by either. If my finances can stretch to it I might go for the Nights of Villjamur book. But they probably won't. Which is pants. I hate my finances.

[Datepalm]

I'm re-reading AFFC. Its making me happy.

Also Death and the Penguin, which is sweet and grim and translated from Russian and as such is making me feel guilty that i'm not reading it in russian.

Next is probably Homage to Catalonia, and I may well order Best Served Cold (New! In Hardback! I havent done that since, well, AFFC) and possibly the City&City too.

[Larry.]

I guess I should add that I've begun alternating between three books today: D.H. Lawrence's The Plumed Serpent and two just-released novels from Spain: Rafael Ãbalos, Grimpow y la bruja de la estirpe and Ildefonso Falcones' La mano de Fátima. Both of these I suspect will be released in English translation in the next year or so, especially the Falcones book, which is likely going to be a national bestseller in Spain.

[Lightning Lord]

I just finished A Farewell to Arms, my first foray into Hemingway. I admit to a bit of boredom at one point. I feel bad about that, since on the whole I really enjoyed the novel. I may have to pick up another.

Started The Crossing. I am only about 15 pages in. I finished All the Pretty Horses about a month ago, but needed a breather between McCarthy books. If it is similar to the last couple I've read, it'll take me a while to really get into it.

On deck: Grimus by Rushdie. And that is the last book I have, so I may have to savor it until next paycheck, when I can hit the bookstore and stock up again.

[Lord O' Bones]

Finished Fall of Thanes last week. It didn't rock my world, but overall a pretty good fantasy trilogy.

100 pages to go with Matter. Solid Banks, but got kind of bogged down in the middle for my taste. Picking up towards the end though, and good thing; Best Served Cold has been staring at me from the nightstand all week.

Thinking about mixing things up after that and reading some Stross or Scalzi. Any recs other than Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigade, or Saturn's Children?

[AprilFool]

Finished Fall of Thanes last week. It didn't rock my world, but overall a pretty good fantasy trilogy.

100 pages to go with Matter. Solid Banks, but got kind of bogged down in the middle for my taste. Picking up towards the end though, and good thing; Best Served Cold has been staring at me from the nightstand all week.

Thinking about mixing things up after that and reading some Stross or Scalzi. Any recs other than Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigade, or Saturn's Children?

For Stross I enjoyed the Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue. Kind of a mix between James Bond and Lovecraft with a bit of the Office mixed in for humor.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Diana Rowland's 'Mark of the Demon', a Louisiana detective must solve a serial killer case whilst trying to work out why her demon summoning has gone wrong in the worst possible way... The blurb made me cringe but this is actually a really good read, things are tied up a little too neatly but it's an entertaining police story with a hint of the supernatural...

My full review is over Here. Absolutely no idea what I'll be reading next...

[lotuspixie]

I finished Matheson's I am Legend yesterday. and I love love loved it! I haven't had that much fun tearing through a book in a long while--actually going to bed early so I can read longer, getting to the bus stop early so I can read a little more, etc.

I just really enjoyed his storytelling. although I didn't realize it was a novella and SOOO wasn't ready for it to be over when I reached the last few pages only ~150 pages into the book (the rest was filled with other short stories.) I highly recommend this story for a fun, quick read.

Man, it bears so little resemblance to the movie they made. Yet I liked the movie, and I still like it in spite of now having read the book. (also, the title makes way more sense in light of the story as presented in the book)

Just started The Belgariad last night. so far I'm not real impressed, but we'll see.