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*March's What are you Reading?!*


nobodymN

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Bakker - The Warrior Prophet which actually almost lives up to the hype. I realize that it shares some similarities in style to Erikson's work, but the focus on characters makes it a much easier and better read IMO. A judgment perhaps clouded by Kellhus gift of compulsion, I'd still say it might be the best fantasy book I've read since A Storm of Swords.

Albert Speer - The Third Reich from the inside, which I unfortunately wasn't able to finish. While the man did write like a german architect in some respects, it's easy to be fascinated by the content (and actually feel some sympathy for him as well).

Fernand Braudel - Capitalism & civilization, which I belatedly realize had influenced my former teachers in economic history a lot. Haven't read much so far, but seems to be both diverse and interesting.

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I finally finished up Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine, which I had halted reading halfway through because of Bakker's brilliant The Darkness That Comes Before, and to finish The Rise of Endymion which was giving me fits.

Not usually one for steampunk, but this bizarre tale of hyper-intelligent sea monsters with a siren call to death, kidnapped mathematicians forced to labor as human computers, dueling librarians who rule city-states, and orbiting AI weapons still battling after 2,000 years was strange enough to interest me. McMullen's future Australia was weirder and more alien than Earwa and Hyperion were -- or maybe Australia itself is just weird? McMullen's style is certainly strange enough to match. Though it is somewhat paint-by-numbers and with characters less than rounded, the oddities of the plot, the style, the Aussie humor, the surreal country and the exaggerated people within it became endearing, despite names like FUNCTION 9 and PORT 3A.

The author also has an inexplicable fetish for seven foot and one-quarter inch broad gauge railway track. Whatever. I'll be looking for the rest of the Greatwinter Trilogy, The Miocene Arrow and The Eyes of the Calculor. But first I must finish The Warrior Prophet. The Shrial Knights vs. The Cishaurim... HO. LY. SHIT. :stunned:

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Lessee, currently reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain... non-fiction somewhat condensed autobiography. He's a good storyteller, and geez, some of the things he's been up to with his life... Either way, people who are into food and rough-around-the-edges people should look into it.

Up next after it is slated to be either The Dark Knight Returns or V for Vendetta. Liable to be in that order, but it's really mostly a matter of which I pick up off my floor first, and the other will come after. I'm on somewhat of a comic book kick lately.

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Cool, some interesting titles posted earlier. I hope i read a few of the recommended before ADWD comes out.

I'm currently reading the Robert E Howard collection - The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. Then I've got Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts to start.

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Currently, I am reading "The science of Discworld part two : the Globe" by Terry Pratchett, Jack Cohen and Ian Steward (or some such).

This novel is unique in that it is the one and only Discworld novel I actually manage to dislike!

Sure, the Discworld bits are brilliant as ever with quite a few good laughs and a reasonable plot.

But the other bits...

Ye Gods..

The science part of the book drags on and on, rambling about religion, science itself, music, and in order to provide a link with discworld, stories.

In the beginning this is interesting, and on occasion even funny, but after a ways into each science chapter (yes, this novel is in chapters! Discworld heresy!) I tend to get impatient to get back to the "real" story: The Discworld novelette, or in other words, the reason I bought the book.

The point I REALLY got P.O.'d was the chapter with Rincewind and the Queen, which is about two pages of Discworld between volumes of pseudo scientific rambling.

I started skipping the science bits at that point.

Don;t get me wrong, the science bits actually make sense as far as I can see, but there is WAY too much of it.

If the Discworld : science ratio had been the other way around, it might have made for an interesting read.

As it is however, the book is a complete waste of money, and I'd disrecommend it to anyone who (unlike myself) isn't desperate to have all Discworld novels in their posession.

For there is another Science of Discworld novel.

I'll buy it, if I come across it.

But I don't expect to enjoy it.

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I finished A Wheel of Time after about 6 months on the back burner. Well some chapters were slow, I did enjoy the book. I look forward to reading a new serries.

Right now I just started Emperor: The Field of Swords. A book about Julius Caesar, and so far it's alright. Doesn't have the best start to a book, but I'm only on the third chapter. I look forward to reading this one though, as it looks like it might have a political side to it, which seems to be what I enjoy now adays.

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Darkland, by Liz Williams. With this book Liz Williams starts what it seems a series. It's set in the same universe that one of her other books: Ghost Sister and some of her tales collected in The Banquet of the Lords of the Night. I enjoyed this book.

The Lost District and other Stories, by Joel Lane. Depressing, really depressing, absolutely depressing and the worse thing of all was that I couldn't stop reading it! This tales of urban and personal decay and loss were far too gripping to let them go, reading them was an exquisite torture of despair, but there was beauty there a weird beauty in the middle of the destroyed urban landscapes that portrayed. I will stay clear of Birmingham just in case.

Snake Agent, by Liz Williams. Another excellent reading it's based on another story of the great anthology The Banquet of the Lords of the Night. I can only recommend it.

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I just finished The Mark of Ran by Paul Kearney. Excellent book and I await the follow-up with interest.

Just started The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Good start so far.

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Trying to get into Moonheart by Charles de Lint. Somewhat successful, but I hate the handholding exposition. Actually, I don't enjoy the way he tells a story. It hasn't dated as well as other authors...

There was something totally off about that book. I read it a few years ago and I was just left cold.

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hah, not even jordan has finished a wheel of time.

Heh, meant The Eye of the World.

Werthead I've read half of The Last Light of the Sun but then lost the book when I moved, and just found it again last week. What I read was good, and I look forward to finishing it. I believe it won a Canadian award this year.

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So far, March's purchases have been very good to me.

Gun Monkeys, by Victor Gischler. A fast paced, well written, crime novel following a few days in the life of the number one hitman for a mid-level mobster, who has problems when his 80+ year old boss starts to go senile just as a younger nieghboring crime boss starts to move in. A

The Amber Wizard, by David Forbes. A first novel. Hier to a throne discovers he's a wizard, a vanishing bred. Pedictable plot and typical fantasy characterization (main character is an expert swordsman, has the potential to be the most powerful wizard in centuries, and is a handsome prince). What saves it from be a yawner is the writing, which is above par. B-/B

SPQR: The King's Gambit, by JOhn Maddox Roberts. Haven't started yet, but it looks good. Maybe tonight.

Already Dead, by Charlie Huston. What looks to be a fairly standard vampire story, is actually a rocking novel. A loner vampire trie to survive in a New York locked up in territories controlled by a number of vampire clans/groups. He is assisted in this in that he is a talented trouble shooter and the various organized groups need an outsider on occassion. His main problem is his mouth and internal code. Think of the Maltese Falcon's Bogart as bloody sucking fiend, if you want a similar feel. A

In the Eye of Heaven, by David Keck. Well written story of a young squire/knight deprived of his inheritance who sets out to make his fortune. Very realistic combat (no cutting of one's way through a 100 enemies, even if you are a tough guy) combined with fantastical elements. Very similar plot to the Arthur-Lancelot story (whole elements are lifted). B+/A-

Shadow's Fall, by Simon Green. Only half way through. So far, good writing, interesting premise. Hope to finish today. B/B+, so far.

His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik. Excellent writing. plot and characterization. Think of an alternative universe set during the Napoleonic Wars, including ships, swords, muskets, the British and French, King and Napoleon, but add dragons. A proper and courageous naval officer torpedoes his own career out of a sense of duty and fair play and gets saddled with a dragon, much against his inclination. Dragon riders are the most junior, and despised of the British military services. Adventure and bonding follows. A-/A.

The Two Spce War, by Dave Grossman and Leo Franowski. Napoleonic wars in the future, taking place in the "two space", complete with dwarves, elves, etc.. A very interesting premise is failed by lackluster story and political preaching (even if it is of a political persuasion that I generally agree with). C-/C.

The Bonehunters, by Steven Erikson. 6th book in the Malazan series. It seems to be a connecting novel, bridging the previous five. Not as good as otherws in this series (Memories of Ice, Deadhouse Gates and Midnight Tides were the best, IMO) but still very solid. B/B+.

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Agulla, those Liz Williams books sound interesting. Books read just finished WJW´s Praxis trilogy ( ok dread empire fall, but unless the series title is really relevant to plot everybody is going to call it by the first name). Oh, I was so in the mood for some space opera, it hit the spot. The pace was a bit strange and so was the character interaction ( say a certain love interest in book 3, pfh if I believe that), sometimes we are told things about the characters by the characters themselves which I did not notice indeed ( ok, or believe). But I think WJW really rules at that worlbuilding. Would enjoy more novels or short stories in that universe. Reading right now Kage Baker´s Anvil of the World and loving it so far. Next book lined up the first of Edith Pargeter´s Heaven Tree trilogy.

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