September 2009 Reads, Potential Reads, and Abandoned Reads

[Bellis]

I finished Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl. Like Larry, I was sad to be disappointed. It's an above average to good sci-fi thriller, but it doesn't pack the punch of his short stories. Perhaps it was the style of storytelling that wasn't to my tastes. Agree with the other nitpicks about POV development in the dedicated thread.

Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook is something. Luckily, it's a mostly readable something. If you've been waffling about tackling this, I would say go ahead. There are multiple parallel stories, but it all does come together in the end. She did win a Nobel after all. She knows what she's doing. Even better, try to find the edition with the 1971 introduction by the author, for the price is worth it for that as well - lots of juicy thoughts on writing, education, reading and literary criticism.

[palin99999]

Finished Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie 8/10 - His best book yet

Starting City of Thieves by David Benioff

[Cuchulain]

Finished Vampireslayer by William King. It was pretty mediocre but fun while it lasted. I'm not sure what to read next. Maybe Pynchon's Vineland or Morgan's Woken Furies.

[needle]

The Women's Room by Marilyn French. It's very angry and second wave and unsubtle. I'm trying to put my finger on it, but I think what I miss most after my Atwood binge in the utter lack of irony or humor.

Bizarre. My mum's reading this at the moment for her book group, and suddenly it's in this thread too ..and she's doing Burnt Shadows next. You and my mum are reading buddies, Bellis :lol:

Currently on a Hyperion re-read. I don't know, Simmons has good concepts, but he's not a great writer, is he? characters flat, plot lacking. Hmm. Next up River og Gods, or the third 'waspy' one, as Zak and I call Tchiakovksy's books. He's ok so far, but I'm a bit unsure about the recent revelation it's a ten book series. Dunno if I can be arsed with ten books.

[thornofcamorr]

Working on Watership Down right now, found it for a quarter in my college's library.

Started Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson but gave up in a few pages. Same with Stephen King's Needful Things.

Probably give Hyperion a go after Watership.

[Mexal]

I finished The Price of Spring by Abraham and I liked it well enough but Maati pissed me off. His constant brooding made me dread reading his chapters which is a bit annoying considering it's half the book. All in all, the book was rather predictable but a fitting end to a solid series. The third book is still my favorite.

I think I'll reread Acacia now (as I'm already 70 pages into the reread) and put off Dust of Dreams until later.

[Isis]

Working on Watership Down right now, found it for a quarter in my college's library.

Cool. Come and join us in the discussion thread (link below). You're welcome to go back and comment from the beginning, i.e. you don't just have to join in at the point we're up to now. :)

I'm about 50 pages from the end of Blindness and thinking it might be the best thing I've read all year - I keep almost missing my stop on the train while reading it.

[MinDonner]

The Dragons of Babel (Michael Swanwick) was a fantastic book. Much the same thing as The Iron Dragon's Daughter but with a slightly more directional plot; I just love love love his conception of Faerie and the mix of magic and technology. There wasn't quite the glorious destructive nihilism of TID'sD but still plenty of awesomeness to be had. Thanks to Mult for the rec! :thumbsup:

[Larry.]

Finished Durham's The Other Lands last night. Very good read. Will write the review tomorrow, if I'm feeling better (left work early due to possible flu).

[Bellis]

Bizarre. My mum's reading this at the moment for her book group, and suddenly it's in this thread too ..and she's doing Burnt Shadows next. You and my mum are reading buddies, Bellis :lol:

She should read An Evil Guest next, which is what I did last night. It has a female POV and is easily Gene Wolfe's most accessible, straightforward work. Unless I'm missing something... I feel obligated to re-read before taking it back to the library. I'm a Wolfe completist, but I really digged this underrated Cthulhu pulp fiction novel. Highly recommended for Wolfe virgins, but it would help to know your Lovecraft first, because Gene's never been one to hold your hand through the mythological references.

[Mexal]

Finished Durham's The Other Lands last night. Very good read. Will write the review tomorrow, if I'm feeling better (left work early due to possible flu).

Real good to hear. Doing my reread now in preparation for the Oct 22nd release.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading 'Fast Ships, Black Sails', an anthology of science fiction and fantasy pirate tales. I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag but the good definitely outweighed the bad, my full review is over Here. I'm now well into 'Avilion' and a couple of others...

[mashiara]

I finished Conn Iggulden's Wolf of the Plains and Lords of the Bow. I really enjoyed the first one, it was really interesting to follow Genghis Chan around in his childhood and early years. I didn't know much about him to begin with, it made for fun reading. The second book wasn't as good for me but I'll still buy the third one.

I also read The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. I can see why it's considered a classic, I loved it.

Next up is Gore Vidal's Washington D.C.

[Peadar]

I'm just about to finish Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi. Really good stuff with some outstanding worldbuilding.

Up next, possibly Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

[Myshkin]

Just finished Laura Anne Gilman's Flesh and Fire, book one of The Vineart War. Nothing much actually happens in the book, and we are left with almost no resolution, but despite that I really enjoyed it. The world was so engrossing, and the magic system so different, that it more than made up for the lack of movement in the story. I definitely plan to follow this series.

Not sure yet what I'll read next.

[Cuchulain]

Finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson today. I loved it. One of the funniest books I've ever read.

[BookWyrm]

She should read An Evil Guest next, which is what I did last night. It has a female POV and is easily Gene Wolfe's most accessible, straightforward work. Unless I'm missing something... I feel obligated to re-read before taking it back to the library. I'm a Wolfe completist, but I really digged this underrated Cthulhu pulp fiction novel. Highly recommended for Wolfe virgins, but it would help to know your Lovecraft first, because Gene's never been one to hold your hand through the mythological references.

Take what you will from it, but Wolfe says the most fun he ever had writing was when he wrote this book. :)

It's on my list in the (hopefully near) future.

[Larry.]

Short form:

Laive Tidhar (ed.), The Apex Book of World SF - great idea, okayish execution

Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House - outstanding.

Daniel Olson (ed.), Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo - similar in scope to the Apex book, but with better stories overall.

Monica Ali, In the Kitchen - good character study. Will likely bore those who don't go for character studies ;)

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Way of Inner Peace (re-read) - inspirational type of book.

About 2/3 into Otsuichi's ZOO, a nice story collection that's decidedly not-nice in content :P

Probably going to read Caitlín R. Kiernan's latest collection, A is for Alien, next. Have very high expectations for this one.

[beniowa]

Finished Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann. It's a fun, entertaining story about werewolves in 13th Century Prussia. The story is pretty character-driven, using only the historical and political/religious aspects as they're necessary to the plot. The writing is just a touch simplistic as well. Recommended for light fantasy readers and werewolf fans.

I also finished Metratropolis edited by John Scalzi also featuring Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, and Karl Schroeder. As with all anthologies, the stories can be hit and miss. Scalzi and Buckell were top-notch as always. I admit that Lake is a good writer, but I can't seem to get into him. Bear's story was too preachy and too light on plot. While I liked Schroeder's writing and his characters, the central concept of his story made my head hurt. If you like the individual authors, you'll like their stories.

My next book is The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. No idea yet on a new anthology or collection. I might take a short break and just read a couple of novels.

[Peadar]

I've given up on my previous book and have started instead The Year's Best Science Fiction 2008 by Rich Horton. I'm really stuck for something to love right now.