July 2009

[Peadar]

Finished:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 6/10

The Guards by Ken Bruen 8/10

The Killing of the Tinkers by Ken Bruen 7.5/10

Starting Thunderer by Felix Gilman

I loved The Guards. I haven't seen too many people around here reading it. Poetic without pretension, says I.

Now reading Le Capitaine Alatriste by Arturo Perez Reverte. Only a few pages in, but really liking the feel of it.

After that, my once great TBR Tower, will be no more :(

[williamjm]

After that, my once great TBR Tower, will be no more :(

Look on the bright side, that just means you've got a perfect excuse to go book shopping ;)

[palin99999]

I loved The Guards. I haven't seen too many people around here reading it. Poetic without pretension, says I.

Now reading Le Capitaine Alatriste by Arturo Perez Reverte. Only a few pages in, but really liking the feel of it.

After that, my once great TBR Tower, will be no more :(

Bruen definitely writes fun books. He's great to read as a palette cleanser after bad or long books.

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things last, and it was fantastic. It's about a 12 year old boy, David, who loses his mother to cancer (although as I type that I don't think it was ever explicitly stated as cancer :unsure:). The story begins during World War II and is set in London. David has a deep love of books instilled by his mother reading to him at a young age and then nourished by him reading to her when she became ill. Fairy tales are particular favorites of his, as life moves on his father impregnates and marries another woman. David takes this very hard, and books begin speaking their tales to him. During a bombing of the city David is transported to a fairy tale world that is much darker than most stories told to children, including a very twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood and a hilarious version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. David is put on a quest to locate the king, because it is told that he has a magical book, The Book of Lost Things, in his possession that may help him return home

The story was wonderfully imaginative (and I typically hate when people from "our world" travel to secondary fantasy worlds) but this book was a treat. The prose is what really stands out in this book. It's simple yet elegant, and images rather than words seemed to fill the pages.

9/10

I've read the first three or four Parker novels and they are quite good but I wouldn't call them Urban Fantasy. They are more in the detective/mystery genre. The supernatural elements are relatively minimal.

That's cool. I like straight up crime novels as well as urban fantasy. Have you read The Book of Lost Things? Would you say the style of prose is consistent between it and the Charlie Parker novels?

Then I read Daniel Abraham's The Price of Spring. I've been waiting for this book for the past year, and unlike some other highly anticipated books that I read this year (The Judging Eye and Best Served Cold) this one did not disappoint in the slightest.

I'm not going to talk about the plot at all because it will spoil the previous books in the series, so instead I'm just going to talk about why I love this series so much (most of which is shamelessly pilfered from one of my posts in another thread):

It is epic in the fullest sense of the word.

It's very low on technology (although we do get to see the technological level actually advance - which is pretty rare in fantasy), and the magic system is much more along the lines of nuclear weapons during the cold war. We know it's there and how devastating it can be, but we don't see it used a lot nor how powerful it can be.

The story itself is told in multiple person 3rd person POV (but not more than four per book, and only two book four), and it spans over 50 years in the lives of three men as they completely change the world. When I say they change the world I am not being hyperbolic; it's narrow in the scope of how many characters it covers, but absolutely epic in how they achieve and fail in their actions.

There's not a lot of battles or fights, but there's plenty of action in the wonderfully realized political intrigue and murder. This is one of the most well thought out and conceived fantasy series I have ever read, and I think it may have just pushed ahead of ASoIaF as my favorite series of all time.

One of my favorite aspects of Abraham's writing is that he writes in such a way that I feel like I know exactly where the story is going, but then he twists ever so slightly from what I expected in such a way that several times I've just sat back and thought, "Holy fuck, that just happened."

It's an absolutely brilliant series with an ending that is the perfect combination of bitter and sweet. In a genre that seems to get 'grittier' every year we just don't get very much sweet anymore. Although, I do think that this was dark enough to satisfy even Abercrombie's fans.

10/10

I've just started Christopher Priest's The Affirmation, and I hope to sink my teeth into it tomorrow.

[Maester Joergensen]

I am going to finish "Northern Lights" by Pullman today. My girlfriend made me do it.

But I actually enjoyed it. Some decent images regarding Dæmons/Souls. Will set young minds a-thinking.

Will move on to the August thread now.

[Isis]

I've just started Christopher Priest's The Affirmation, and I hope to sink my teeth into it tomorrow.

I just finished that. I loved it. :love:

[kmgrey]

That's cool. I like straight up crime novels as well as urban fantasy. Have you read The Book of Lost Things? Would you say the style of prose is consistent between it and the Charlie Parker novels?

Unfortunately, I haven't read The Book of Lost Things so I can't compare. I am looking forward to reading it though.

[Budgie]

Finished reading Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie, loved this book enjoyed it thoroughly.

Currently reading A Dark & Hungry God Arises - The Gap in to Power - Stephen Donaldson. I have nearly finished this i am enjoying this a lot, at least it is not as dark as the previous book. Also reading American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis now this is dark & disturbing!

I am now of to read the Best Served Cold spoiler thread.

[Peadar]

Look on the bright side, that just means you've got a perfect excuse to go book shopping ;)

Oh, yes! Good point!

[Dumas]

Posting before the month turns over.

Sharpe's Company, which has me singing Over the Hills and Far Away for some reason.

Aristophanes' The Birds is still funny after all this time and I'd love to see it staged some time. Lysistrata might be a bit too topical for the dick jokes to carry it. The introduction/preface/whatever makes the Old Comedy sound something like the Greek version of a Daily Show or SNL episode.

Um... am I the only person on the board who reads stuff older than Christ?

[Myshkin]

Um... am I the only person on the board who reads stuff older than Christ?

I think you'll find a lot of people here who've read the Iliad or Odyssey, or both. So, no.

[Iskaral Pust]

I just finished a quick re-read of the two Red Dwarf books. Still able to generate some chuckles.

I've just started Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel.

[Imagica]

Just finished Guy Gavriel Kay's Lions of Al-Rassan.

Wow. What a book.

While I was reading, I actually had a lot of thoughts and opinions about the writing, the story, characters - everything. But right now, there are only emotions. And a great amount of them.

It's a superb story. Maybe even a masterpiece. Been a long time since I was impressed so much - and I'm a hard person to impress. It's a tale that rang so true that, past the certain point, it was impossible to put the book down and stop reading. It wasn't perfect, yet, like in all great stories, flaws didn't matter at all when it came to the overall impression.

And the ending... The best bittersweet ending I have ever encountered, hands down.

Heartily recommend the book to everyone who loves good reading. You will not be disappointed.

Oh, and currently reading Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott (I'm at the beginning of the 4th book, Child of Flame). I'm actually very interested why it isn't known better on this board (I doubt I'd hear of it if not for Werthead's review), as it is the most similar reading to ASOIAF I've seen yet. It isn't as good, but still very solid, engaging, well-written and well-composed. And the world, although very unoriginal, is very detailed, which matters a lot for me. Also, much-loved POV style with multiple storylines which sometimes intersect, good pacing, and a very well-thought out overarching plot. The characters are not as interesting and complex as in the works of GRRM or, say, Abercrombie, but easy to understand and emphatize with, and I even started to like the hero, who was of the archetype I usually detest.

[Myshkin]

It is now the second of August, so perhaps this thread should be closed.

[Astra]

It is now the second of August, so perhaps this thread should be closed.

Some fellows get nostalgia spellbound?!

(Does it make any sense? Is it grammatically OK to say in English?)