Cuchulain Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Finished Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson. Both novels are enjoyable, but nowhere near as good as Neuromancer.I've just started Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson. Haven't tried this author before, so not sure what to expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Finished A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, a thoroughly enjoyable account of the author's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. I'm not a hiker, but I found I enjoyed the hiking parts more than the history parts. However, my favorite part was learning the geohistory of the Appalachian Mountains. I had no idea they were older than the Himalayas. Fascinating stuff.I'm currently 300 pages into Jonathan Franzen's Freedom - I was tearing through it but have hit a snag...I am completely uninterested in what a particular character is up to right now and I have to push through that.It's Walter and his stupid bird-saving thing and that chick he works with. *yawn*Hopefully it gets better. Next up will be Edward Rutherfurd's gigantic New York, which was an impulse buy at the Borders closing sale. Looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 So far this month I've read Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London and Daniel Abraham and Ty Franks' Leviathan Wakes. I thought they were both very enjoyable reads. Both books were good starts to series, and despite being the first book in a series both told complete stories as well with satisfying conclusions, even if there is a lot of material for more stories (although I'm not quite sure where the plot is going to go after Leviathan Wakes). They both have good pacing as well, they're not particularly long by the standards of modern SFF books but a lot happens in them and it doesn't take long for the plot to become interesting. Rivers of London did do a good job of describing its setting, the blurb on the cover compared it to a grown-up Harry Potter, but I thought it was closer to Tim Powers than J.K. Rowling in terms of how the supernatural elements of the setting tied in well with aspects of the real London (the idea of a personification of the London spirit of riot and rebellion seems unfortunately to be quite topical at the moment). I liked the solar system setting of LW as well, it did seem a mostly plausible portrayal of how humanity's journey into space would look in the absence of any faster-than-light technology. A few elements of the background could maybe have done with a bit more explanation, we never really learn that much about the motivations of Earth or Mars but I guess that's mainly because the story avoids the two planets, I guess we might learn more in the sequels. Characterisation was fairly good in both cases, I thought RoL had some good dialogue in it and Peter Grant seemed like a very mbelievable character. Some of the supporting characters didn't get as much character development, but I guess we'll find out more about them in the later books. The two main point-of-view characters in LW were also well developed, particularly Miler's story arc, and I liked the contrast between their different methods of dealing with crises (Miller's actions on Thoth are probably one of the more memorable parts of the book).Next up is probably Ian Esslemont's Stonewielder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Finished The Help. It was really pretty good. It's sticking with me, though I can't quite put my finger on why. The narrators were compelling people and I keep thinking about them. I also want to punch Miss Hilly in the face. Repeatedly. I see why the book is "controversial" and has generated some critical reviews. I'm going to have to think about it some more to form an opinion on that.I've changed my mind on RSURS, and am going to read the sample chapter of The Magicians (thank you Kindle!) and see if I get into that. Heading the mountains this weekend and I want options. I really don't understand why I'm struggling with RSURS. I've breezed through Lies of Locke Lamora 3 times, but I just can't fully engage with the sequel. Am I defective or is the book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedles Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 750 odd pages into Ship of Destiny, the final installment of the Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. All the strands are intertwined at this point and its coming together quite beautifully. I really have enjoyed this trilogy far more than any of her other books.Up next Ghost Story by Jim Butcher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarius Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I just started Altered Carbon. So far so good, except that I really have serious problems with the whole concept of transferring personalities. That bugs me in every book that includes it. So I have to struggle a little bit to not be grumbling at the book every time it gets mentioned..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Flying through the Price of Thorns. Didn't like it for about 50 pages, but it is growing on me. Not sure why all the Abercrombie comparisons though, I guess the darkness of Best Served Cold is similer to the themes in the book?Also have Zoo City, which I should be starting tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Flying through the Price of Thorns. Didn't like it for about 50 pages, but it is growing on me. Not sure why all the Abercrombie comparisons though, I guess the darkness of Best Served Cold is similer to the themes in the book?Also have Zoo City, which I should be starting tomorrow.I like PoT so far. I think it's realky suffered from all the compassion to GRRM I keep hearing. It's nothing like GRRM at all. It's first person limited POV. I really hate the tendency these days to label anything dark and gritty as GRRM like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gormenghast Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Finished after a long time The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts, and reviewed here.Hard work to read it, but there's good stuff in there. Not for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 750 odd pages into Ship of Destiny, the final installment of the Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. All the strands are intertwined at this point and its coming together quite beautifully. I really have enjoyed this trilogy far more than any of her other books.I adore this series too. It is my favorite of all of her stuff that I've read.I really struggled through The System of the World by Neal Stephenson. I just could not get into it for the first 2/3rd of the book. Once I got to the stakeout log (the funniest part of the whole book IMHO), I started to get involved in the story. It was not the book but more of a mental frame of mind that prevented me from enjoying it. I did not want to give the series up as it would be like quitting 35 km of a 42 km marathon.A part of me is glad that I read the Baroque Cycle and another part of me is relieved that I've finished it and never want to read it again.After reading that behemoth of a book, I needed something fun, short and plenty of adventure so The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones is up next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcf Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I finished up my review of The Urban Fantasy Anthology edited by Peter S. Beagle and Joe R. Landale. It's good, though it highlights that urban fantasy has an identity crisis more than explaining what urban fantasy is.I'm now reading The Sacred Band by David Anthony Durham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Finished Prince of Thorns. Worth a read, reminded me of early Black Company once someone pointed out the style similarities. Now, I finally have my hands on ADWD! So, I am sure that will be my next few days. Thank God for a weekend in the middle of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Finished Kon Tiki,which is one of my favorite books.About halfway through Dracula, and liking it a lot more than I expected. I admit to skimming through some parts though - I've been reading faster lately, although not spending much time reading.Since I'm skipping long series if they don't seem all that interesting to me, I'm gonig to pass over the Empire Trilogy (Feist and Wurts) and The Farseer Trilogy (Hobb), and pick back up at the Fencer Trilogy (Parker), since that seems more my tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Just finished reading The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell. It's historical fiction in the time of Aurthur. It was a decent read, but nothing spectacular.I am not sure what I will start reading next. Since I like A Song of Ice and Fire, I want to try Malazan Book of the Fallen. I am also on the third book in The Dark Tower, so I might start reading that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Picked up and blitzed through The Magicians over a weekend in the mountains. Amazing how much one can read during a torrential hailstorm.Reading this book so close to finishing Dance, the pacing felt absolutely fucking frenetic! What was that, like, 10 years in 480 pages? Whoa.But, I really liked it. I will definitely be getting The Magician King.But up next is Erik Larsen's newest, In the Garden of the Beast. Never read Larsen before, but I'm in the mood for some non fiction.And gorramit, I still can't make myself finish RSURS. Can I skip it and read the wiki or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 And gorramit, I still can't make myself finish RSURS. Can I skip it and read the wiki or something?No, no you may not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 No, no you may not.Ok, ok, REG, I promise to finish it. It's just, why is it so hard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Ok, ok, REG, I promise to finish it. It's just, why is it so hard?Because it was trying to be two different books. Once that stopped it sucked me in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Just finished reading The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell. It's historical fiction in the time of Aurthur. It was a decent read, but nothing spectacular.I am not sure what I will start reading next. Since I like A Song of Ice and Fire, I want to try Malazan Book of the Fallen. I am also on the third book in The Dark Tower, so I might start reading that. Blasphemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagilki Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 I just read The Name of the Wind, now reading The Wise Man's Fear.Probably follow that up with something on my un-read pile, not sure yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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