May 2010 reads

[beniowa]

I finished The Emerald Storm by Michael J. Sullivan. The fourth book in the Riyria Revelations felt a little weaker than the previous two books and was the least stand-alone of the series so far. It was still pretty good though and the cliffhanger ending made me anxious to read more. Two more books to go!

Next up is Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Rob Sanders' 'Redemption Corps' where storm troopers in the Warhammer 40K universe kick seven kinds of... you know what out of alien hordes and their own side! It's one hell of an entertaining read when Sanders lays off on the detail and lets the story breathe. My full review is over Here. I'm now finishing off Jon Sprunk's 'Shadow's Son'...

[UndergroundMan]

I'm currently reading "Kraken" by China Mieville, "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley, "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurty, and "Tess of D'urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Finished Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Superb. Brilliant descriptive prose (vital I feel for a work of horror) with fascinating,beliveable characters. The original movie adaptation is one of the best films of all time imo, an absolute masterpiece of slowly building dread and I was interested to see how the original novel held up.

Very well actually, although the tone of the novel differs slightly, veering away from the films melodramatic feel toward a slightly surreal mood. More incommon with Peter Weirs 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' I suppose.

Will probably go back to Ursula LeGuins Earthsea Quartet and The Farthest Shore.

[The Evil Hat]

I ended up staying up pretty much all of last night (due to some nice nausea and a quasi-migraine headache) and was trying to find something to read. I ended up reading the first chapters of Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norell (excellent prose, so far, though not what I was looking for at the moment), Toll the Hounds (the writing in the prologue felt like some of Erikson's best, but I just didn't have the energy to follow something that broad), Revelation Space (reread), Here We Are In Paradise (a short story collection; I liked the first story quite a bit, but I was pretty much looking for escapism, so short stories weren't enough), and, finally, The Neutronium Alchemist, which sucked me right in. That book has an incredibly gripping beginning. Oh, and:

The idea of a revived Al Capone seems absolutely hilarious, really looking forward to seeing what Hamilton does with it. Though I do have one question about all the dead: why do all of them speak (some amount of) english? After all, shouldn't the majority of them speak some other language, if they're really from all times/places in human history?

[Isis]

I've just finished the outlandish and enchanting Mr Pye. I recall seeing bits of the TV adaptation when I was a child. Unsurprisingly, a lot of what I did see went over my head but some of the imagery stayed with me. However, it was only last month that I realised that the story was written by Mervyn Peake - as soon as I found that out I had to read it at once. It's a short book but it deserves to be savoured. If you enjoyed the style of writing in the Gormenghast trilogy then you should like this too. I'm sure I had a stupid look on my face the entire time I was reading Mr Pye, because I found every single page of it entertaining. A book which is that much fun to read makes you feel good to be alive. :)

[Dark Wolf]

I finished "Kraken" by China Mieville. Despite that it has a rather difficult start and I needed some time to get in the story it is an excellent novel. The novel needs the full attention of the reader because it is quite dense, but it offers plenty of rewards in return.

Next is N.K. Jemisin's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms".

[Cuchulain]

Finished Strange Itineraries, a collection of Tim Powers's short fiction. The title is fitting, as the collection is full of strange tales featuring intertwined realities, ghosts, doppelgängers, time loops, etc. Most of the pieces are really well-written and notably more complex than Powers's more straightforward novels. I really enjoyed the collection, although some of it went over my head. I'm still not sure what the story "Fifty Cents" is all about. If somebody can explain it, feel free to do so.

If I can find the time, I'm going to read Miéville's Kraken next.

[palin99999]

Finished:

The Devil by Ken Bruen - 8/10

Starting:

The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

[siemprepe]

I finished "Kraken" by China Mieville. Despite that it has a rather difficult start and I needed some time to get in the story it is an excellent novel. The novel needs the full attention of the reader because it is quite dense, but it offers plenty of rewards in return.

Next is N.K. Jemisin's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms".

I'm reading those in the same order. Gonna finish Kraken and then read "The hundred thousand kingdoms". I'm flying to Vietnam monday so I've got enough time to finish them :)

[TheEvilKing]

Finished Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox, the sequel to one of the most underrated novels of last year, Dragon In Chains. A very good second book, Fox's prose is excellent and he makes you care about his characters, especially young Mei Feng and young Han.

Also finished Factotum by Charles Bukowski. I enjoyed it, definitely entertaining, but I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. It's basically the main character, Henry Chinaski, wandering from city to city and job to job and woman to woman, fucking and drinking and being poor. No plot but plenty of fun.

Moving on to The Princess Bride (about 50 pages in, awesome so far) and The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove (haven't started yet, but The Age of Ra was the other underrated gem of 2009).

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Finished Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox, the sequel to one of the most underrated novels of last year, Dragon In Chains. A very good second book, Fox's prose is excellent and he makes you care about his characters, especially young Mei Feng and young Han.

Also finished Factotum by Charles Bukowski. I enjoyed it, definitely entertaining, but I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. It's basically the main character, Henry Chinaski, wandering from city to city and job to job and woman to woman, fucking and drinking and being poor. No plot but plenty of fun.

Moving on to The Princess Bride (about 50 pages in, awesome so far) and The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove (haven't started yet, but The Age of Ra was the other underrated gem of 2009).

Just finished The Princess Bride a few weeks ago. Excellent stuff.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Jon Sprunk's 'Shadow's Son' and Steve Hockensmith's 'Dawn of the Dreadfuls'. Both were entertaining enough but 'Shadow's Son' skated very close to being 'just another book about assassins' (and wasn't paced very well) and 'Dawn' didn't come out well in the comparisons with its predecessor...

I'm now well into China Mieville's 'Kraken' and it's very good indeed...

[Stone-Made-Soft]

Reading Acacia: the War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham while I wait for the Kindle version of the Kraken by China Mieville (I'm done with traditional books) It's been alright so far.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I'm only a few chapters from finishing Mother of Lies by Dave Duncan. I would have to agree with a poster (murphy?) that this was one of his weaker novels. The Tales of the Kings' Blades is so much better. I found the excerpt detailing why the Dodec world was a complete figment of the imagination and not possible using physics quite amusing.

Up next is The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I have not seen the movie either!

[Ser Barry]

I picked up The Death of Grass by John Christopher in WHSmiths because I was looking for a short book to tide me over while waiting for someone. Bloody glad I did. Raced through it and have been thinking about it ever since. It is about a group of Londoners in 1950s who struggle to survive the immediate impact of a global crash in food stocks. It first came out in 1956 and is part of the Penguin Modern Classics range. Read it.

[Quarterman]

Finished The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham. Another great novel and a huge improvement over H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds imo tho comparisions can be made between the two they share similarities. Only this one serves up plenty of dated 50s Cold War paranoia though the purposes of these aliens is quite vague initially

until the humans begin investigative explorations into the "newcomers" deep sea domain after discovering signs of a massive underwater geological constructions and foolishly set off a war by setting off an undersea nuclear device near this mysterious construction after the aliens tell the scientistic investigation to beat it by destroying the bathysphere they rode in on.

And unlike War of the Worlds The Kraken Wakes covers a span of many years leading up to a ecological disaster of apocalyptic proportions devised by the aliens. Wyndham's humour is abit excessive at times, *eyes roll* particualarly a running joke about a pair of surviving journalists that serve as the novel's main protagonists and narrators and their company the English Broadcasting Company, a satire of the British Broadcasting Corporation. 7/10

Now reading The Wolfman by Nicholas Pekearos.

[Barnes]

Reading Acacia: the War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham while I wait for the Kindle version of the Kraken by China Mieville (I'm done with traditional books) It's been alright so far.

Just started Acacia yesterday after putting down Kraken, hehe. :)

[Myshkin]

Finished The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. All-in-all a good book, but it did have a few irritating problems: Leesha turned into one of the biggest mary sues I've ever come across, and the back woods colloquial dialog that seemed to come and go was really grating. Still it was definitely worth the read, especially the Jardir parts, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next in the series.

Now on to Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding.

[murphy]

Finished The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. All-in-all a good book, but it did have a few irritating problems: Leesha turned into one of the biggest mary sues I've ever come across, and the back woods colloquial dialog that seemed to come and go was really grating. Still it was definitely worth the read, especially the Jardir parts, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next in the series.

Now on to Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding.

I just finished it too and enjoyed it very much. When is the next book due out?

Looking at my TBR pile to decide what to read next.