December 2009 Reads

[Papirolle]

I've been traumatized from reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Tens of pages of mind-numbing minutiae of the narrator's amoral, empty existence (though wickedly witty at times), punctuated by extremely graphic sexual violence. I keep vaccilating between giving this one a very low rating and a very high rating. It's brilliant, but it's also exploitative and awful. And I'll never feel safe again. (Seriously, me, on the phone with long-distance SO, casually, "so, have you been a serial killer all this time by any chance?" because unless you're always with them you'll never know!!!)

Yeah, it's a brilliant but sometimes tedious book. If you in the end decide that you liked it then by all means read Lunar Park. It's better written and is sort of a sequel to American Psycho. There's a lot of information about what Bret Easton Ellis thought of the book, the process of writing it and how it was received by the public and what it did to him.

Also, there is a very interesting coda of sorts to American Psycho written in the form of e-mails.

Only look at this if you finished the book.

http://www.briankotek.com/psycho/movie/am2000.cfm

[gyrehead]

Barely wallowed through Blake Charlton's Spellwright. The quality is pretty low. I guess if I had to compare it to something else in terms of skill, talent and execution, I'd say it is up there (or down there I guess I should say) with Eldon Thompson or Chris Evans. Then again, Brent Weeks, Trudi Canavan and Fiona McIntosh have legions of fans. So maybe this will be a stunning hit.

Afterwards I read Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. A bit too earnest in regards to the subject matter. Which ended up foiling my suspension of disbelief. Her storytelling is pretty good, but the story itself was a bit much. Maybe I just want some grand worldshaking conspiracy to not be thousands of years old. How about one that someone thought up last week? Or even twenty years ago? I did like this better than the dreck that Kate Mosse puts out; a similar type of sub-genre in the grand scheme of things and perhaps as a point of reference (though Mosse seems more inclined to hint strongly at the divine but still meander in the mundane for the most part).

Now reading Bloodroot by Amy Greene. Started off a little slow but seems to now be picking up. If weather related delays persist in travel I might finish it today.

[Bellis]

Yeah, it's a brilliant but sometimes tedious book. If you in the end decide that you liked it then by all means read Lunar Park. It's better written and is sort of a sequel to American Psycho. There's a lot of information about what Bret Easton Ellis thought of the book, the process of writing it and how it was received by the public and what it did to him.

Also, there is a very interesting coda of sorts to American Psycho written in the form of e-mails.

Only look at this if you finished the book.

http://www.briankotek.com/psycho/movie/am2000.cfm

I probably will be curious enough to pick up Lunar Park in the next couple months. Thanks for the link.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Charlaine Harris' 'Dead until Dark', a book that contrived to make me keep reading while wanting to put it down all at the same time. my full review is over Here. I'm well into 'Black Blood' and the plan is to finish it tonight. There's a mouse in the house though so we'll see if that happens...

[mashiara]

I finished The Magus by John Fowels and I found it an absolutely brilliant read. It had so many twists and turns, so many things weren't what they seemed at all. It was full of riddles, illusions and hallucinations, I kept thinking I had it figured it all out, only to find myself wrong, along with the main character. It was quite a trip and I wonder how it would feel to reread it, now that every little hint would be explained. Also, it's set in Greece! What more can I ask from a book? :)

I also read The Sea by John Banville. I thought it was a great book, very well written. I loved how tight the writing was, no wasted words there but still very rich in imagery and emotions but not overwhelming. You could clearly feel the longing for years past and one's childhood. You could also feel how one struggles to deal with death and grief over the loss of a loved one. A really good book, very sad at times.

Tomorrow I'm planning on starting Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Foster.

[Eyelesbarrow]

Just bought The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I'm alternating that with The Once and Future King.

I finished The Magus by John Fowels and I found it an absolutely brilliant read...It was quite a trip and I wonder how it would feel to reread it, now that every little hint would be explained. Also, it's set in Greece! What more can I ask from a book? :)

I read The Magus when I was 16 and I was overwhelmed by it. I enjoyed it and was on Team Nicolas, but a lot of allusions flew past me. I plan to reread it again, though.

[K_P]

Just finished First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher. This is the last book in his Codex Alera series, one that I have really liked since book 2. The characters and world are well realized, especially the characters. No real surprises at to the outcome but the journey is great. Hopefully Jim pursues other fantasy as well as continuing with the Dresden Files.

[Larry.]

Almost done with Greer Gilman's Cloud & Ashes, her first book in early 20 years. Glad I took Matt D.'s recommendation, as this book has perhaps some of the finest prose that I've read this year. There's a haunting quality to several passages and the levels of myth that she interweaves into this story, well, I'm impressed.

[Inkdaub]

So far this month I have read Jordan and Sanderson's The Gathering Storm, Lustbader's The First Daughter and am now about 4/5 the way through Hamilton's Neutronium Alchemist.

I loved The Gathering Storm and the thing has me all hyped up on WoT again. Feels good.

I am a huge fan of Lustbader's Nicholas Linnear books and so I find myself reading other Lustbader books that are mediocre at best like this one. The thing is I knew what I was getting into so no harm and no foul.

Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy(Neutronium is book 2) has treated me pretty well so far. There is one major plot point...a character really...that bugs me and sort of kills the enjoyment for me a bit. I am still enjoying the series and recommend it to any looking for a good, LONG sci-fi story.

[AprilFool]

Finished Canticle a couple of days ago. I really like this series, and I eagerly await the third installment in 2010. I am now reading a book that a fellow teacher gave me yesterday called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. It is not my usual fare, but it struck a cord of some sort, or I was just in the mood for something different. It's very interesting to read a book from the POV of an autistic? child and how he sees the world.

[williamjm]

Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy(Neutronium is book 2) has treated me pretty well so far. There is one major plot point...a character really...that bugs me and sort of kills the enjoyment for me a bit. I am still enjoying the series and recommend it to any looking for a good, LONG sci-fi story.

Which character is it? I can think of different characters that could annoy people for different reasons.

[Seak]

Just finished Banewreaker the other night. I honestly didn't think I'd like it this much. The characters are just great and everything's a nice shade of grey. It's really hard not seeing the struggle from both perspectives and thinking, well I don't know who to root for.

Thanks Ms. Carey for a fun read, on to Godslayer.

Full Review Here

[Larry.]

Currently alternating between Daniel Wallace's Big Fish (which is shaping up to be quite a moving read), The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard (highly recommended) and Modern Arabic Fiction, edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi (good, but there are too many 2-4 page excerpts/selections, which makes for a very choppy read).

[Peadar]

I've just completed Bernard Cornwell's The Burning Land.

Up next, a bit of non-fiction, Persian Fire by Tom Holland.

[palin99999]

Finished In for a Pound by Richard Marinick - 7/10 - A definite improvement over his first novel.

Starting The Devil's Ladder by Graham Joyce

[Inkdaub]

Which character is it? I can think of different characters that could annoy people for different reasons.

The whole Al Capone thing bugs me is all. It throws me out of the story when I read Al's chapters.

[gyrehead]

The Infinities by John Banville -- not really my cup of tea. A bit too languid approach to storytelling and the characters were a bit too removed and flat for me to get involved. Prose is exceptionally well though and it is a short book so I wouldn't not recommend it, odd as that might sound.

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu --- I liked this short little story. It reminded a bit of Suskind's Parfum or Carl-Johan Vallgren's work in some ways though perhaps a bit more intropective in the characterization (both Suskind and Vallgren seem to be a bit removed in this regard). I am glad I got this as an arc as it is quite short and I think the publisher is a bit nuts asking for full hardcover price for a book this slight. Bookdepository might have it cheaper as it came out this year in the UK.

[Poobah]

I'm reading Stoker's Dracula at the moment, it's on my reading list for next semester, but it's also rather good.

Edit. After I finish this I'm going to go for something a wee bit lighter, since I'm at home over the Christmas break I'll probably pick up something doorstoppery that's big enough that I can't bring it with me up to uni. Suggestions?

[murphy]

Finished up The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay. It's a rather dark, gritty urban fantasy that takes place in Atlanta. Pretty good first book and I'll be looking forward to the next one.

Now reading Jeff Somers The Electric Church. Another dark book, but in this case it's futuristic SF. The main character is an street assassin. Another pretty good one.

[Calibandar]

Dylan

I thought the Cloud & Ashes book was unreadable. Couldn't get into that even with several tries.

Gyrehead

RE: The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

I saw that a while ago, didn't know if I would like it but it just seemed too slight to pay for.

If you like this sort of thing, you could look at Jeremy De Quidt's "The Toymaker" which is very nice.

Anyway, I see Cornwell has book 5 already of his Saxon Series. Time to start with the series I guess. And I'll check out Banville's The Sea as well.