November 2010 Reads

[wolverine]

Well its each to their own I suppose, I'm one of the few people who hated The Prince of Nothing series around here. But what I found laughable was that poster who said it was one of the worst of the fantasy series written. Hasn't he heard of Eddings,Brooks,Salvatore,Newcombe and uber hack Goodkind?

Right, I am not saying it is a horrible series, just not for me. I an unable to even comment on the series as I did not even finish a book in it.

[Yagathai]

Oh, and I also read the newest Temeraire novel by Naomi Novik, which sadly confirms my opinion that the series is in a steady decline.

[Inigima]

I finished Abercrombie's Best Served Cold today. Liked it a lot, more than the First Law trilogy.

Currently reading a newsmag, and deciding between starting Hard-Boiled Wonderland for Book Club or finding something else to start. This is maybe the first time a book's lack of Kindle availability has been a distinct negative to me when choosing whether to start it.

[cosnik]

Also finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, don't really know what to make of it. I haven't studied nearly enough philosophy to make any such judgements but I really liked the writing. Felt like he was maybe arguing semantics more than philosophy at some point, but I really can't claim to understand it all.

Albert Camus' L'Étranger, I absolutely loved this book. Might need a decade or two to get over it.

zen truly requires a reread to put the whole thing into perspective. its an amazing portrayal of the progression of the mind.

i just picked up an old hardcover of that Camus. read a few pages and got all :wideeyed:

[Cuchulain]

Finished Jack Vance's Emphyrio. It starts as a classic dystopian tale, but then takes a (typically Vancian) turn for the exotic. The ending might be a little rushed, but the novel in general is an excellent read.

I also finished Brian Aldiss's Non-Stop. I'm not familiar with generation starship stories, but Aldiss's novel is superb. I absolutely loved it. Non-stop certainly deserves its inclusion in the SF Masterworks series.

[Sheep the Evicted]

Well lets see a reasonable argument as to why the Earthsea quartet is one of the worst series in fantasy then. I believe its an impossible argument to back up but good luck to you.

It was one of my favourite books in childhood but when i revisited a couple of years later i couldn't get past the first chapter. I cant remember exactly why but i felt there was something very wrong with the prose.

As for me my October slump has finally come to a end. The Quantum Thief was good but underwhelming. Then i finally got round to reading Jack Vance; part 1 of his highly touted Lyonesse trilogy. It started off leisurely and tightly focused on Princess Suldruns palace life and then all of a sudden it took the most spectacular change of pace and scope i have ever seen in single book and just when i was utterly hooked and finally seeing why Vance was so well respected it came to an abrupt end. Due to lack of funds i couldn't immediately rush out and complete the trillogy and the library was no help either.

So then i tried to fill this void with Bradburys Something Wicked This Way Comes. I started in the second week of October and i'm still only little more than half way through. The prose kills me, its just so...dense? Its definitely very evocative and there are more than a few beautiful passages but if i read it before bed it instantly knocks me out and if i read it during the day i can only manage one chapter at a time before i'm full. I have given up.

But the Justinian/Belisarious thread in the entertainment section got me to finally read Byzantium: The Early Centuries by John Julius Norwich which i have had my eye on for a while. It was fantastic. Easily the best history book i have ever read. Norwichs sly wit and writing style (like a mix between Vance and Tolkien in the similarion) as well as his ability to describe rather complex events in an easily digestible laymans terms are a large part of why its so good. But then the subject matter is glorious, epic(in the traditional sense of the word) and scandalous enough to do more than its fair share. Highly recommended.

[polishgenius]

I'm with the 'Earthsea isn't very good' crowd- the first book has a good story and moments of great imagery, but those moments are fleeting, for the most part the prose is incredibly turgid. The second book was the exact opposite, the writing was quite good but there was almost no plot and few of those cool moments. The third book managed to combine the two and was actually very good, but Tehanu is just... :ack: It was a rant, not a novel.

As for my reads, I've just finished the great Zoo City by Lauren Beukes and am starting on Factotum by DM Cornish.

[Stone-Made-Soft]

So then i tried to fill this void with Bradburys Something Wicked This Way Comes. I started in the second week of October and i'm still only little more than half way through. The prose kills me, its just so...dense? Its definitely very evocative and there are more than a few beautiful passages but if i read it before bed it instantly knocks me out and if i read it during the day i can only manage one chapter at a time before i'm full. I have given up.

I'm glad someone else has this problem as well. I've been trying to get through Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes since late September. Bradybury's prose is excellent but it puts me out.

I'm going to get Mieville's Kraken and Cronin's The Passage this weekend. I'm not sure which to read first.

[Bellis]

Haven't been around much or reading lately - shocking! Could I be running out of books??

I picked up Catherynne Valente's latest at World Fantasy Con - The Habitation of the Blessed. It's a story of Prester John's visit to a South Asian-inspired fantastical world, where he slowly abandons his cons conservative Christian anthropomorphic ways to copulate with strange beings. Sort of like a cross between Avatar and Shogun. Being Valente, it's very purple, but it has its moments. I preferred Orphan's Tales though.

I just finished Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope for a book club. A love triangle, an inheritance, scheming lawyers, unhinged mother - if you like Austen you'll like Trollope. So, it's a cute story, but the plot could easily have been condensed into a third the pages.

[Vrana]

zen truly requires a reread to put the whole thing into perspective. its an amazing portrayal of the progression of the mind.

i just picked up an old hardcover of that Camus. read a few pages and got all :wideeyed:

Yes, I think a reread wouldn't be such a bad idea. I do think I picked up on the general message and ideas, just that I had a hard time following the philosophical thinking that got him there at times.

The Stranger eats at me every time. Nothing like some absurdism/nihilism wrapped up in Camus' wonderful prose.

Did a reread of jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones, the first part is as good as I remembered it to be. But the rest just doesn't hold up at all. I think my previous gushing over the whole book was just me riding on my initial enthusiasm over the first part.

Now about two thirds into Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes Against Humanity.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Surprised at all the negativity for Earthsea. Particularly concerning the prose which I think is beautiful. I can appreciate the doubts people have about Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes however, no matter how wonderful I think it is. The prose is very dense and will put some people off. Also theres a stream of nostalgia that runs through the book that may not be for everyone. Still a classic though.

A few chapters into Drood by Dan Simmons and its going swimingly so far. A page turner and also quite funny.

Just started Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock as well. Loved Mythago Wood so I have very high expectations.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished In the Ruins by Kate Elliott. Up next is Crown of Stars, the final volume of the series. I'm curious to see how it ends as there is alot of plot threads to be resolved. I feel like I've been reading this series forever. :read:

[Stone-Made-Soft]

So I'm more than halfway through Mievelle's Kraken. Mievelle has me completely hooked, which is something The City & The City never did. Fuck Bas-Lag, I hope Mieville returns to his absurdist London sooner rather than later. I'm hoping The End is averted because I love the city Mieville’s crafted. :read:

[gladius]

I'm reading a collection of Giordano Bruno's works.

[palin99999]

Finished:

Go, Mutants! by Larry Doyle - 7/10

The Thief-taker's Apprentice by Stephen Deas

Starting:

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

[WhiteHaven]

The Dragon is Reborn and the Shadow is Rising :)

[mashiara]

I finished Towers of Midnight by Jordan/Sanderson in a little over two days after I got it. It could have been sooner but this book did not engage me as much as TGS did last year. Like I said in the spoilers thread, I should probably blame all the Perrin chapters. I liked the book and I loved some instances were things moved forward a lot but I'll have to be honest and say I was hoping for a bit more. Part of me will always wonder which parts are Sanderson's and which are Jordan's, and how different things would be if the author had survived to finish his work. One more book to go... almost unbelievable. At this point and after all these years I just want to see how the story ends.

I also read The Lady and The Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Last year I read The girl with the Pearl earring from her and I thought it was fantastic. This book wasn't as good but it did a great job giving you an idea about medieval tapestries and what was involved in making them. I love the concept of her books, taking a well known work of art and writing a novel about how it came to be. After I finished the book I did a bit of reading of my own about that particular set of tapestries and its history. Fascinating stuff indeed ( Wiki page, if you are interested ). I also found one cool tidbit of information, apparently (copies of) the tapestries can be seen hanging on the walls of the Gryffindor Common Room in Harry Potter. Imagine that.

I'm now reading Sophie's Choice by William Styron. It's slow going but that's not necessarily a bad thing, I get to savor the writing which so far is beautiful.

[Vrana]

Finished Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes against Humanity, and really enjoyed both his views and the scope of the book, which was pretty ambitious. Will definitely require a reread to absorb all that information. It is a good counterpoint to noam chomsky's manufacturing consent and the interviews with david barsamian I am currently reading.

Also for some lightheartedness, I just finished Adams' first Dirk Gently-book, and it brought back some really fond memories of when I last reread HHGTG. He is as funny (but not as poignant, I'd like to venture) in this one as in HHGTG.

Next up is the next book in the Dirk Gently series.

[Stone-Made-Soft]

Just finished Mieville's Kraken. I dug it; even though, it was pretty fucking confusing, especially towards the end. I'll eventually reread it.

I'll be starting Cronin's The Passage next then I might read Sanderson's The Way of Kings. Towers of Midnight is not available for the Kindle yet (I'm done with dead-tree books). I also really want to read VanderMeer's The Third Bear, which I just downloaded to my Kindle.

[Datepalm]

So, a bit of a binge with The Quantum Thief, and now Half-Made World and Connie Willis All Clear, and next up probably the Dervish House. (Yes! to cousins who visit from the US and bring Kindles.)