What are you reading in August ?

[Hallyington]

How did you find Lolita? Also, I'll vote for The Blade Itself, as I thoroughly enjoyed all the Abercrombie books I've read so far :)

It was good, though some bits were rather odd. Re-reading the foreward gave poor Lo a rather bleak end, it's a decent black comedy i look forward to watching the two films of it.

I'll probably start Abercrombie, i've heard he's brilliant.

[Isis]

I finished Christopher Priest's The Adjacent. Thanks to Ben for drawing my attention to it with his GR review. If anything, it made more sense than the last few of his novels. Not that making sense is a requirement for my enjoyment of a story. I quite like the whole avatar thing in stories. A very romantic idea I think.

Now I'm reading Margo Lanagan's The Brides of Rollrock Island, which is just adorable. I've yet to read anything by this author that I haven't loved and admired. Of course, if you read the GR reviews on it you'll see the inevitable slew of 'this book is total rubbish because it makes no sense' reviews. Are readers so lazy these days that anything less than the blindingly obvious 'makes no sense' to them? A sad state of affairs.

[straits]

Has anyone given Murakami's 1Q84 a shot? I decided to read a few pages last week and couldn't stop till the end of book 1. I think he balanced the flow of the story quite well by alternating between Tengo and Aomame.

I tried reading Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa as well; I found the protagonist's account of travels through the Congo interesting, though it reads a bit like a history book at times.

[Morienthar]

What way is that? Does he recommend reading it out of publication order? I enjoyed the first three Foundation books, but never got around to reading the later ones.

Yep,It's something like this.

1.Complete Robot

2.Caves of Steel

3.The Naked Sun

4.The Robots of Dawn

5.Robots and Empire

6.The Stars,Like Dust

7.The Currents of Space

8.Pebble in the Sky

9.Prelude to Foundation

10.Forward the Foundation

11.Foundation

12.Foundation and Empire

13.Second Foundation

14.Foundation's Edge

15.Foundation and Earth.

I'm currently starting Caves of Steel.

[Tears of Lys]

I've finally ordered "The King's Blood" - second in the Dagger and Coin series by Daniel Abraham. I reread the first book in anticipation and got so much more out of it than the first time.

I can't wait! Goodie, goodie, goodie! <Snoopy Happy Dance>

[Snowborn]

Has anyone given Murakami's 1Q84 a shot? I decided to read a few pages last week and couldn't stop till the end of book 1. I think he balanced the flow of the story quite well by alternating between Tengo and Aomame.

I like 1Q84, I read it a couple of years ago. I like the Air Chrysalis book stuff, and the characterisation is good. The City of Cats (or whatever it's called in English) is a great chapter. The problem is that Murakami didn't know where to stop, in my opinion, I liked the story better before reading book 3. It was not bad, but it felt unnecessary. I didn't like the ending. But books 1 and 2 are really good.

I picked up Red Seas Under Red Skies again, this time I'm more interested in the story. It takes two attempts for me to be able to get into the Gentleman Bastard books, I don't know why, because I do like them, and I do enjoy the stories and all, but I can't keep focused on them at the beginning.

We, the Drowned was awesome. One of the best books I've read this year, even though I found the ending a little forced. I liked everything about it, the characters, the setting, the way it was written, how the story of each character ended up affecting the city... I wanted to read something like this and I didn't know it.

I also read Welcome to the Monkey House, a short stories collection by Kurt Vonnegut, and I didn't like it that much. I'll stick to his novels. I added God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and Timequake to my list. :D

[deleted01]

I picked up Red Seas Under Red Skies again, this time I'm more interested in the story. It takes two attempts for me to be able to get into the Gentleman Bastard books, I don't know why, because I do like them, and I do enjoy the stories and all, but I can't keep focused on them at the beginning.

I was exactly the same with the second book, though with Locke Lamora I liked it pretty much straight off. I'll give Red Seas another go soon - I hope I can get through it this time, as I ended up thoroughly enjoying Locke Lamora.

I read a few pages of The Cuckoo's Calling the other day, which was good, though I need to read on to have a proper opinion. The opening was strong, and it seems very promising - I just have to stop waiting for Dumbledore to pop up :laugh:

[Wolf Puppy]

Halfway through Neil Gaiman's American Gods and then it's on to The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three... Loving American Gods, it's so different from anything I've ever read, same with The Dark Tower series... Gonna keep alternating Gaiman/King for a while...

Can't really decide what to read next, despite being swamped with "Must read" books forced onto me by various friends and family. Would you advise reading American Gods, if so I may give it a go!

[Zar Lannister]

I've finally ordered "The King's Blood" - second in the Dagger and Coin series by Daniel Abraham. I reread the first book in anticipation and got so much more out of it than the first time.

I can't wait! Goodie, goodie, goodie! <Snoopy Happy Dance>

You sold me on taking a look at this one. :curious:

[Tears of Lys]

You sold me on taking a look at this one. :curious:

Abraham's books begin with a slow simmer. They don't generally have the epic battles, say, of a WoT or a LotR. They generally contain fascinating character studies.

His "big scenes," if you want to call them that, are great concepts coming to fruition. All this sounds a bit dry and boring, but it's not. It's every bit as exciting as Rand al'Thor bursting out of the box. :P but in a different way.

When I first read the first book in the Dagger and Coin series, The Dragon's Path, i wasn't sure I liked it. I picked it up again a couple days ago and read straight through in every free minute I had and got sooo much more out of it. His books are VERY different from the norm.

Hope you like them. :)

[Ayx]

On a whim picked up in a library Great Literature of the Eastern World: The Major Works of Prose, Poetry and Drama from China, India, Japan, Korea and the Middle East by Ian P. McGreal, amazing book so far.

From 3000 year old Chinese poetry to Vedas and Arabian stuff.

[MisterOJ]

Abraham's books begin with a slow simmer. They don't generally have the epic battles, say, of a WoT or a LotR. They generally contain fascinating character studies.

His "big scenes," if you want to call them that, are great concepts coming to fruition. All this sounds a bit dry and boring, but it's not. It's every bit as exciting as Rand al'Thor bursting out of the box. :P but in a different way.

When I first read the first book in the Dagger and Coin series, The Dragon's Path, i wasn't sure I liked it. I picked it up again a couple days ago and read straight through in every free minute I had and got sooo much more out of it. His books are VERY different from the norm.

Hope you like them. :)

I finished up The King's Blood over the weekend. As of, say, last Thursday or so, I was planning on doing a re-read of Sanderson's Way of Kings after finishing The King's Blood. Then, I got to the end of the and promptly bought The Tyrant's Law immediately and started reading it.

[ᴛɪᴍᴏᴛʜʏ]

Started off August finishing up Republic of Thieves, which is my least favorite Gentlemen Bastards book so far but I have a feeling that by the time release comes around I'll have forgotten why, so I wish I could talk about it somehow.

Then I read through Emperor of Thorns in an eyeblink and I mostly really liked it. The biggest issue I had was that the secondary characters felt more like scenery than in the first two books. I get that it's first person, single POV but this was much less of a flaw of either Prince or King.

Now finishing Jane Eyre which I mean to read ages ago. I don't hate it it but I liked Emily's book better. A quick look around gives me the impression mine is a contrarian view.

Not sure where I'm going after that.

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished Requiem by Ken Scholes yesterday, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Some of the POVs were fantastic

Vlad, Charles, Marta, and Rudolpho (for the most part)

, some made me feel indifferent

Winters, Lysias, and Petronus

and some were disappointing

Neb and Jin

. I'm really looking forward to the final book, and hopefully it won't take nearly as long to come out as this one did because I couldn't remember much of anything about what was going on until I was nearly 30% through.

Now reading Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey.

[SkynJay]

I finished Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle. It was good, but not sure it was what I was expecting.

Now moving onto Cold Fire by Kate Elliot. I actually wasn't much of a fan of the first book of the series, but it had some potential and Kate Elliot has built enough good will for me to give it another try.

[Myshkin]

While I was on vacation I finished Atomised by Michel Houellebecq, which was a stunning novel; South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami, a great novel and perfect companion piece to Norwegian Wood; Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, a very sad and moving novel; and Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick, which was pretty bad.

Now reading The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie.

[Maester Hodor]

Halfway through Neil Gaiman's American Gods and then it's on to The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three...

IMO The Drawing of the Three is the best book in the entire Dark Tower Series (I haven't read book 8 - Wind through the key hole, yet)

Right now I'm reading Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. I've also been reading the Sandman graphic novels by Gaiman, the Game of Thrones graphic novels, and the Dunk and Egg graphic novels. The artwork in A Game of Thrones is very beautiful.

[Tears of Lys]

Now finishing Jane Eyre which I mean to read ages ago. I don't hate it it but I liked Emily's book better. A quick look around gives me the impression mine is a contrarian view.

Not sure where I'm going after that.

Have you tried Villette - Charlotte's other major work? I liked it better than Jane Eyre.

Try not to read any reviews that give away too much of the plot before you read it. This blurb from Wiki gives a taste:

Villette is most commonly celebrated for its explorations of gender roles and repression. In The Madwoman in the Attic, critics Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar have argued that the character of Lucy Snowe is based in part on William Wordsworth's Lucy poems, emphasizing this idea of a feminine re-writing. In addition, critics have explored the issues of Lucy's psychological state in terms of the patriarchal constructs that form her cultural context.^[1]

Villette also incisively explores isolation and cross-cultural conflict in Lucy's attempts to master the French language, as well as the conflicts between her English Protestantism and the Catholicism (her denunciation of which is unsparing: 'God is not with Rome') of Labassecour.

[Myshkin]

Is this the first time? I'll be curious to hear what you think. I thought that while it lacked perhaps some of the profundity of some of the others, it was totally enjoyable and would be a top novel for a lot of lesser writers. I swear some of the lukewarm reviews were just based on high expectations.

Yeah, first time. Only 40 pages in, but so far I'm enjoying it, especially the language. Rushdie can play with language like no one else.

[bbstark]

Was thinking of doing the good ol' reread, but I think I'd rather read something new. So I'm also getting on the Murakami bandwagon :D Norwegian Wood first, though I'm not sure what comes after it.

He comes highly recommended from friends, even other authors (Ishiguro and David Mitchell most notably), so I'm excited.

Also I'm considering some Neil Gaiman, and Orhan Pamuk (Museum of Innocence), though it's highly doubtful I'll finish it all in August.