May 2012 Reading Thread, Take Two

[jagilki]

I'm reading Mistborn. Not the greatest book, but I'm not picky.

[RedEyedGhost]

And since when is it your job to decide somebody else's reading and surfing schedules?? Jeez -- get your own life and leave Grack's alone, fercrissake.

Mod:

What the hell is it with this thread this month? Everyone leave everyone's life alone and think about books, for fucks sake. Get a livejournal if you must. (and expect deletions and bans if this carries on, for my own personal sense of drama.)

Oh FFS, when did this board become populated with overly serious, whinging pre-teens? I tailor my replies to the person that I'm replying to, and Grack always puts a little edge on his posts so when I'm talking to him I do to. (Look at the Obscure Recommendation thread for many examples of Grack's posting style) I'm sure he can handle a little rib poking. But if I'm wrong and the zealous defenders of the meek are correct, then I apologize for hurting your feelings Grack.

[jdiddyesquire]

Currently reading:

King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Sharps by KJ Parker

Just finished:

Devices and Desires by KJ Parker (so good)

[Ser Plissken]

Got about thirty pages to go in Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates.

Picked it up after it got some love on another thread, and I haven't been disappointed.

Loved the twist at the end of act two, when

Doyle realises that he is Ashbless.

Great stuff.

Next up, it's either Leviathan Wakes, or Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312.

[SkynJay]

I quit on The Crown Conspiracy about two thirds of the way through because it was really awful. And as my dumb but left The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairy Land...... at my in-laws this weekend, I will read another Gaunt's Ghost book for a day or so.

[nickg]

Just finishing up Neverwhere. Overall I wasn't particularly impressed. Just felt average/mediocre.

Not sure what's up next. Either Wizard and Glass or The Warrior Prophet.

Im reading Neverwhere now after letting it sit on my bookshelf for a couple of years. Im not too far in yet, but I really like his wrtitng and im definitely enjoying it so far.

[Durckad]

I finished King Rat last week. I'd rate it 3/5. But what really fascinated me was the quality of the writing. At times it was hard to believe this was a Mieville book, what with the lack of outlandish vocab which I expect from him and the less than amazing quality of prose/structuring. One thing I am going to do as a result of reading this is read Gaiman's Neverwhere. I get the impression there's some overlap there as I've seen reviewers mention it and I want to do a comparison...

I'm about halfway through The Dispossessed. It's been following me around part-read for a few years now and I feel a sense of satisfaction (along with the obvious enjoyment) as I get closer to the end. :)

Neverwhere is better, but I may be biased since it was my first Gaiman book.

I didn't care too much for King Rat. It was... alright I guess, but that's the most enthusiasm I can muster up for it.

[nickg]

Finished Neverwhere last night and thought it was great.

I couldn't decide what to bring to work so I grabbed The Once and Future King before I left my house. Haven't read it in years.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

The Borgia's Mistress by Sara Poole wasn't as good as the previous 2 in the series.

I've decided I need to get back into the Wheel of Time re-read. So, Fires of Heaven is up next.

[Myshkin]

Finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. Not really sure how to feel about this book. I really enjoyed the first half, but then some kind of weird plot emerged, and the whole thing got bogged down. I felt the introduction of a plot kind of defeated the purpose of the book.

Now reading The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.

[Grack21]

Ahem.

To use my "Grack Edge" (ha I should TM that or put it on a tshirt or something):

King's Rat sucks donkey dick. It's like bad fanfic except um, it was published.

Started The Dragon's Path finally. Really, really, REALLY good so far, and I'm only 60 pages in.

[Gormenghast]

Anyone here read The Magus by John Fowles and could tell me what to expect? The first chapter is most excellent.

I was able to find a first, non-revised version, and I suppose the book is on "full meaning" on Bakker's semantic scale.

[Alytha]

I've read The Magus. It's utterly insane mindscrew. Whether you like it or not might depend on where your great art/pretentious crap treshold lies. I quite liked it though.

[Whitestripe]

Currently reading Grahm Joyce's The Facts if Life, on the recommendation of the "Expand Your Horizons" thread. I like it. Although blurbs mean absolutely nothing, I can see why Isabel Allende wrote a blurb for this one. It reminds me in a way of Allende's work, and she happens to be one of my favorites.

[Lord of the Night]

Currently reading Derek Landy's fourth Skulduggery Pleasant novel, Dark Days, after finishing the first of Graham McNeill's The Legend of Sigmar books, Heldenhammer. Will pick up the second novelEmpire, which won the 2010 David Gemmell Legend Award, once I finish Skulddugery.

LotN

[Procrastimancer]

I am reading Christian Kiefer's The infinite Tides. It annoyed me at the beginning, as its writing style is one I typically detest, but has grown on me. It is actually quite good. A little more than halfway through and don't expect the author to drop the ball in the second half.

[Procrastimancer]

Currently reading Grahm Joyce's The Facts if Life, on the recommendation of the "Expand Your Horizons" thread. I like it. Although blurbs mean absolutely nothing, I can see why Isabel Allende wrote a blurb for this one. It reminds me in a way of Allende's work, and she happens to be one of my favorites.

I'm very fond of Graham Joyce and that book is one of those responsible for that. My favorite book of his remains Memoirs of a Master Forger (written under William Heaney) and Tooth Fairy follows close behind. I have an ARC of his latest novel, Some Kind of Fairy Tale, coming in the mail and hope, really hope, that it is better than his last book, The Silent Land, which I did not like at all.

[mashiara]

Anyone here read The Magus by John Fowles and could tell me what to expect? The first chapter is most excellent.

I was able to find a first, non-revised version, and I suppose the book is on "full meaning" on Bakker's semantic scale.

I agree with Alytha, it's quite the mindscrew. For what it's worth I really liked it.

A few days ago I finished Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. I was a bit apprehensive because I had read mixed reviews about the book, especially the violence in it, but I found myself liking it a lot. Yes, some of the scenes made me cringe badly, especially in the beginning. Once you get past the point of how young the main character is and you accept it, the book holds your attention and doesn't let go. I did enjoy it, if the word enjoy is the right one to use for something as gritty. I loved that it was short and to the point and you had to pay attention and not blink and miss something important. I'm looking forward to the next one.

I still haven't read anything by Graham Joyce, I really need to rectify that.

I also read Gone by Mo Hayder. I guess it was good as far as detective stories go but I couldn't get past the fact that I knew who was responsible halfway through the book and no matter how the writer tried to mislead me I was sure of the guilty person. It had some good suspense filled moments and then others that were quite indifferent.

I finally received my copy of Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel and I just started it. Really excited about that one.

[peterbound]

Oh FFS, when did this board become populated with overly serious, whinging pre-teens? I tailor my replies to the person that I'm replying to, and Grack always puts a little edge on his posts so when I'm talking to him I do to. (Look at the Obscure Recommendation thread for many examples of Grack's posting style) I'm sure he can handle a little rib poking. But if I'm wrong and the zealous defenders of the meek are correct, then I apologize for hurting your feelings Grack.

No shit. That went from 0 to 60 really quickly. All this talk of banning reminds of my wife when she wants a divorce for me asking her to turn off a light. Shit got ugly quickly.

As for making fun of Grack. I'd be a much less talkative fella if that was off the table.

[Contrarius]

As for making fun of Grack. I'd be a much less talkative fella if that was off the table.

And that would be a bad thing?

As for me, I hang my head in shame and admit that I read a lot of trash this week. Yes, I'm weak, I confess.

OTOH Last night and this morning I'm back on track at least temporarily. About 75% through The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny -- I'm still in love with her, and when I'm through reading the series I think I'll go back and listen to the audio versions. And when I finish that I'll go back and try to finish Gates of Fire, which is still pretty much getting a "meh" from me.