May 2010 reads

[Peadar]

Continuing with my pre-Hugo reading, I have just started Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson.

[Sophelia]

I've now started Kraken (China Mieville). Only 40 pages in, and I do not know what to think of it yet.

I'm about half way through Kraken (thanks to winning Mountaingoat's raffle) and I'm not sure what to make of it either. What has struck me so far is that it reads more like Gaiman than Mieville (the Mieville books I have read previously being PSS and The Scar). It's kind of like a cross between Neverwhere and American Gods (except with more interesting metaphors and some really geeky jokes). It's a zany book...

[Quarterman]

Reading The Night of the Moonbow by Thomas Tryon bought it at a second hand book store. I give highest recommendation to Tryon's two earliest horror novels - Harvest Home (imagine Peyton Place meets The Wicker Man) and The Other (one of the scariest psychological horror novels ever written that takes place turn of 20th Century rural America please avoid the Richard Mulligan film made in the 70s if you haven't the book is still awesome).

Still waiting for the Wyndham book too.

[shortstark]

Just read Watcher of the Dead by Julie Jones, i must say that even though i enjoyed the book, the pace at which the story is advancing is very unsatisfactory to me, this is the 4th book of what was supposed to be a trilogy and i can easily seeing it stretching for at least 2 more books, not good.

[mashiara]

I read Nocturnes (Five stories of Music and Nightfall) by Kazuo Ishiguro and liked it a lot. I love his writing, even in short stories you can see how good he is.

I also read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I loved it, even more than the Kite Runner. A brilliant book about Afghanistan that made the history of the place and the oppression of women even more obvious to me. The book had me cringing at several moments. I told dalThor that I wanted to stop reading it because I was afraid of what was coming next. It's always a great thing when a book gets you so involved and so interested in its characters that you are actually truly worried about them.

I've now started rereading Dean Koontz's Prodigal Son, book one of his Frankestein trilogy. I'll read the rest of the trilogy next and then look for something else.

[Isis]

So i just finished The Silmarillion and i can't believe its taken me this long to get round to reading it. Its not really a single narrative either, but a collection of short stories and like all anthologies there are stronger stories and there are weaker stories. Here though i thought the weaker stories where still pretty damn strong and some of the stronger stories like Morgoths wrath and the Noldors revenge where incredible.

Yeah. I just can't get enough of moody Feanor being awesome, swearing oaths and bitching people out left, right and centre. :love:

[BookWyrm]

I just finished book four in War and Peace, and so far I'm still staggered. I've already gone through cycles of loving and hating myriad different characters. I don't find any parts bothersome, especially those concerning fate, which seems to have bothered some boarders in their reading.

I'm still only about a third into the book so my opinion is still immature but - so far so good.

[automne]

the excellent Under Heaven by Kay. Definitely a must-read for any Kay's reader.The book has its own thread, check it out.

and then the terrible Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Says a lot about what rubbish some publishers are willing to accept once a writer has hit the bestsellers lists. :(

[lessthanluke]

Just finished The Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton. it was very meh lol.

Onto the Zombie survival guide.

[Zap]

I just finished reading You Shall Be As Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Tradition by Erich Fromm. I don't know if any of you has read Fromm's books, but I've always found his works fascinating and this one didn't disappoint me. Right now I'm wondering whether I should start Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials or read something else instead.

[The Laughing Hound]

I finished The Road and it was a very powerful book I can see why it gets so much hype. I'm onto Dune now and just started the second part of it. I am having trouble getting into the story so far.

[beniowa]

Last night I finished Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon. It was good; stronger in some places than Sheepfarmer's Daughter, but weaker in others. Paks's adventures and encounters with evil make the second Paksenarrion book felt a bit piecemeal compared to the first. I remember someone making a comparison to D&D and that's good description. Being the middle book of a trilogy, it sets up a fair bit for the last novel with a strong and surprisingly dark ending.

I also finished Warriors edited by George R.R. Martin and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories by Mary Robinette Kowal. Both were quite good.

Earlier today I started The Emerald Storm by Michael J. Sullivan. I'm going to take a break from short stories for a while, probably until Leviathan Wept arrives in the mail.

[williamjm]

Right now I'm wondering whether I should start Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials or read something else instead.

I think HDM has a few flaws (some plot developments can be unconvincing and the third book in general felt a bit weak) but it is an entertaining read and there are enough interesting concepts in it to make it worth reading.

[Eyelesbarrow]

I'm reading Murder in the Marais by Cara Black.

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished George R. Stewart's Earth Abides on Thursday, and this book absolutely blew me away. It's a magnificent tale of the fall of mankind as a virus sweeps the earth killing greater than 99% of the population. It's the tale of Isherwood Williams - "Ish" - as he explores the United States just after the "Great Disaster" and then as he later settles into life after his travels. It relates the rise and fall of hope in wonderful and brutal detail, and unlike in The Road there is plenty of hope with the world being much more alive in Earth Abides. This book is simply amazing and should be read by any fan of post-apocalyptic fiction.

10/10

I've started David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, and I'm not too far yet but it's been extremely good - dense and beautiful prose.

[Cuchulain]

I've started David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, and I'm not too far yet but it's been extremely good - dense and beautiful prose.

Great choice. I'm writing my bachelor dissertation on this novel.

[Peadar]

I'm continuing my Hugo 2010 reading with Palimpsest by Catherine Valente. I saw her do a great reading at WorldCon last year, so I'm well up for this.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Finished The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula LeGuin. Vivid and Atmospheric. I loved it.

I'll give her a rest for a brief while whilst I read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson which has one of the greatest ever opening paragraphs. Loved the film and hope the original story matches up. So far so good.

[Zap]

I just started reading The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough and I'm really enjoying it so far. His Dark Materials will have to wait.

By the way, Ursula Le Guin rocks! She's not only a great fantasy writer, but she also does great science fiction. I think her Hainish Cycle is just as good as, if not even better than her Earthsea books.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I'm just about done with Children of Chaos by Dave Duncan. It was OK, but there are other fantasy series/books that are so much better. I do like his humour though. Up next is the second and last book of the series; Mother of Lies. I do like the fact that the author was a former petroleum geologist that worked in Calgary; a part of me wishes I could do the same, but I would suck at it terribly.