What are you reading?

Tocotin

deceives
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
2,250
Reaction score
1,891
Location
Tokyo, waiting for typhoons
I was ... underwhelmed by The Persian Boy. I am putting my thoughts together for a review which I won’t be able to write until after my day-job-deadline-from-hell comes and goes on Friday, but I’ll share it with you then. The long and the short is, I tired of Bagoas; I found the book irritatingly uneconomical; and perhaps worst of all I did not really buy the relationship between Bagoas and Alexander. Renault was so skilled and gifted - I know I am holding her to a very high standard with this one but that’s only because Fire From Heaven is so astonishing and I know what she’s capable of.

As for Renault’s misogyny - you know how I am about bitter midcentury lesbians, Tocotin. ;)

Yes I do :)

Please let me know when you write the review! I'd love to read it. I was also irritated with Bagoas, and pretty early too. That's probably one of the reasons why I reread the book so often – I don't care about the characters that much, so rereading isn't an exhausting experience. And yes, Fire from Heaven was amazing.

On topic: I'm reading Heartless, the 4th book in Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series. It's starting to annoy me in its superficial Victorianism, but my friend lent me these books, so I'll read them all I guess.
 

oneblindmouse

The new me
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
15,659
Reaction score
1,458
Location
Spain
This sounds really interesting. Are you enjoying it? What’s the writing style?

Yes, I loved Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, though the story is heartbreaking, and when I finished it I cried and cried. The lyrical prose brings to life the harsh climate and unforgiving landscape, and one really gets a feeling of the terrible hardships endured by the workers (virtually slaves) on the isolated farmsteads. Kent spent years researching the subject, and each chapter starts with genuine letters and documents by the district commissioner and other authorities. Agnes is condemned to be executed for her part in a double murder and arson, but as there are no prisons in Iceland, she is sent to live with a minor civil servant and his family - who are terrified of her - while arrangements are made for the very public execution. The story of what really happened on the fateful night of the murders unfolds gradually in talks Agnes has with a young assistant priest.
Apparently, Iceland is still very torn and ashamed by how Agnes was treated.

There are obviously parallels with Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, ​and both are excellent books.
 

discodowney

Registered
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Messages
25
Reaction score
1
Just finished Witches Abroad, the 12th Discworld book, though about the 15th or so ive read. They are still absolutely brilliant. The number of characters he goes through and no tow ever sound the same. Also its hilarious.

Started Seveneves. I sometimes have trouble relating to sci-fi books but this one starts in the modern time. Interesting start, only about 50 pages in.
 

Clovitide

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Messages
554
Reaction score
384
Location
Dark Side of the Moon
Just finished Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines. The story was pretty fun, superheroes during the apocalypses but a couple of years in, jumping back and forth from the present to the past. There were some questionable punctuation usages I found odd, but I kept trucking. There are more in the series that I might try to pick up one of these days. Not too many places have it in stock.
 

discodowney

Registered
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Messages
25
Reaction score
1
I read that a few years back. Super heroes vs Zombies. Was a mad story, been meaning to read the next few in the series.
 

Raindrop

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
1,498
Reaction score
409
Location
London, UK
I'm just back from France, where I read two Guillaume Musso (7 ans apres & La fille de papier) -- a successful French writer. Overall, enjoyable and quick to read; I can see why he's so successful, but the plots are a tad too extravagant for me and I didn't like the plot twists -- some were too obvious, and one destroyed the story for me. I felt his endings could have been stronger, too. However, he's really good when writing about tender moments. Odd. His books are sold as thrillers, but it's the quiet spots in his novels that I really loved.

I also read Hugues-le-loup (The Man-Wolf in English) by Erckmann-Chatrian (two authors) and OMG how come I've never read them before? Dad told me Erckmann-Chatrian was required reading at school when he was a kid. Lucky him! I remember buying this novella, but never got around to reading it. The writing is lively, dynamic, with beautiful descriptions. Mega-bonus for me: the story is set in the Schwartzwald, which I can see from my granny's home. A backdrop to my childhood.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,049
Location
Los Angeles
Nowhere else to put this, just read book ten of George O'Connor's Olympians series. This one's Hermes. The series is frickin' awesome, I would only suggest it for the small cadre of cool kids that enjoy Greek mythology, not that there are many of us out there. :Sarcasm Emoji Because I Forget to Add Those When I Should Sometimes:

And, hey, it's got Typhon! And the Typhonomachy! I finally get to use the word 'Typhonomachy'!
 

Raindrop

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
1,498
Reaction score
409
Location
London, UK
Sounds fun, Kj!

I'm back to reading my Steampunk megapack:

  • Herbert West: Reanimator, by H.P. Lovecraft: didn't enjoy it, especially compared to the other Lovecraft in this anthology (The Whisperer in Darkness). The writing felt too distant, and at no point was I scared. Whereas in the Whisperer, all right, I wanted to slap the narrator for being so naive, but I was properly spooked by the end.
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain: this anthology would be worth it just for this story alone, which I probably wouldn't have read otherwise. It's hilarious, and that would be enough. And every now and then, Mark Twain punches you in the heart, well and truly. Love it.
 

NathanBrazil

riff-raff
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2010
Messages
5,331
Reaction score
889
Just finished the Lightkeepers by Abby Geni. Not my usual fare, but the melancholy in the voice probably drew me in. Bit of a rough ride and ended on a much different path than I had expected, but still very enjoyable.
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,975
Reaction score
4,507
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
Eh, it's been about a month... procrastination update time.

Recently Read:
For We Are Many (Book 2 in the Bobiverse trilogy, Dennis E. Taylor, humor/SF, in paperback): Formerly a computer geek/sci-fi nerd, Bob was frozen after death - only to find himself uploaded as an AI replicant, complete with personality and memories, by a future theocratic nation, charged with "manning" a self-replicating deep space probe seeking habitable worlds. Since then, he's discovered sentient alien life, helped mediate a temporary truce on a war-devastated Earth, helped establish interstellar colonies, confronted a remnant rival AI probe while salvaging another... and found evidence of a hostile, hivelike entity dubbed the Other that treats star systems as locusts treat crops.
The various Bobs continue their various missions, complicated as human colonization becomes a reality - and runs up against planets readily adapting to the new kid (a.k.a meat source) on the block. New evidence suggests that the Others may be a more pressing threat than originally anticipated, meaning the Bobs now must consider contact as not just possible, but increasingly probable. And the passing years (and further replication) cause them to wonder just what they are becoming, as they move further away from their human origins.

With the same sense-of-wonder feel as the first book, For We Are Many picks up the threads left from the first volume and adds a few more. Once in a while, keeping track of the various Bobs got a little confusing, but it sorted easy enough as I pushed ahead. They thought they'd come to grips with their new status as essentially immortal entities, but watching living friends age and die brings home the reality in ways they hadn't anticipated. Meanwhile, the Others step into play, revealing a coldly alien heart behind their predatory behavior - one that is inherently incompatible with coexistence. It looks to be an exciting ride in Book 3... which I'll have to order now, I suppose. Dang it. (Been burned too many times by tanking series to order them all at once...)

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery, children's fantasy, on Kindle): A pilot relates a remarkable encounter with a strange boy in the desert. The self-styled prince claims to have come from a planet little larger than a house, adventuring through various worlds before coming to Earth, and learning important lessons about life on the way.

This is a book that's probably best read as child, not a grown-up. The prose has some nice imagery and turns of phrase, but feels rather ephemeral, wandering from encounter to encounter, sometimes before the central lesson felt at all complete - all with little followthrough. On a side note, while purchased for the Kindle, I could only view it on my Nook tablet; there needs to be some manner of advisory on files that can't be viewed on an eReader, dang it.

I Kill Giants (Joe Kelly, illustrations by JM Ken Niimura, teen? fantasy/graphic novel/horror, on Nook via Hoopla): The girl Barbara isn't like her peers. While they gab about fashion or boys, she reads gaming manuals... not just to play, but for information. She wants info on the monsters she sees everywhere - monsters that all hint at the coming of a giant. If she can slay that giant, then maybe she can save the one person who truly matters in her life...

Apparently, there's a movie coming out based on this. Unless they do some major changes, it's going to be a very dark, somewhat twisted, surreal tale with only the faintest gleams of hope. Barbara seems to be downright insane for much of the tale, and the reader is left in the dark as to why: it's unclear whether she's been gifted with special sight or whether she's hallucinating, but it is clear that Something Terrible is happening in her home, something she's using the monsters, not to mention some odd rituals, to cope with. Barbara is even drawn with animal ears most of the time, a hint at her growing delusions and disconnection from reality. Eventually, it becomes clear what's going on. (Potential Spoiler - not everything is necessarily a hallucination.) She makes for an abrasive, sometimes repellent character, though behind that is a harrowing story of the desperate measures a girl will go to when her world is falling apart.

Currently Reading:
I'm still picking through Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man. Somewhat depressing, as every descriptor he uses for flawed, ignorance-based systems of government describes modern DC almost verbatim. Difficult to read for long stretches.

Between books, otherwise...
 

Lakey

professional dilettante
Staff member
Super Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
2,714
Reaction score
3,965
Location
New England
Let’s see... I finished the Grace Paley stories and bought some more (though I haven’t started those yet). What a wild, original, cynical writer.

I am almost through Coming Out Under Fire: A History of Gay Men and Women in World War II. I’ll probably finish it today. The last chapter is about postwar developments in federal policies towards gays and lesbians, and overlaps with a lot of stuff I read about in detail in David K Johnson’s The Lavender Scare. That stuff inspired a whole plot thread for my novel so I’m always interested to read more about it.

I started Funeral Games, the third book in Mary Renault’s Alexander series, which covers the breakup of the empire after his death. Even though the second book in the series disappointed a little, and even though I have lots of early Renault I still mean to read, I felt rather compelled to continue with the series.

And, I started a new nonfiction book that I found while browsing in a bookstore, and that looked to be right up my alley: The Man With The Sawed-Off Leg, which is an account of all the fascinating people who lived on one particular block of Riverside Drive in the first half of the 20th century, everyone from gangsters to heiresses to theatrical celebrities to two future mayors to William Randolph Hearst’s mistress.
 

RobertLCollins

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Messages
128
Reaction score
4
Last fall I read the first book in Patricia Wrede's "Enchanted Forest Chronicles," "Dealing with Dragons." I enjoyed it quite a bit, so I got the other 3 books in the series. I read through the second two last month, and today I finished #4, "Talking to Dragons." I liked it, and the series as a whole is a fun and breezy read. Now to figure out what next to read from the books I got over the holidays...
 

Raindrop

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
1,498
Reaction score
409
Location
London, UK
Cat's Eye, by Margaret Atwood.
Oh, I remember reading this one, ages ago! Really loved it. I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

I'm still reading my Wilkie Collins (The Black Robe) in installments -- I've now read 5 parts out of 8.

About to start Long Trail to Nirvana by Scott Connor, a Western. I don't think I've read westerns since I was a kid, so I'm really looking forward to it.
 

Lakey

professional dilettante
Staff member
Super Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
2,714
Reaction score
3,965
Location
New England
I finished Funeral Games - the last of Mary Renault’s Alexander books (and her last book over all, if I’m not mistaken) - very satisfying. I spent some more time last night surfing Wikipedia entries on all its players. I didn’t learn much that wasn’t in the novel but I think I’m just not yet ready to leave the empire and its principals behind, after tearing through the series.

I started Ursula LeGuin’s The Dispossessed - I am hardly the only person spurred by her passing to finally get around to works that have been in my pile for a long time. It’s wonderful. Among other things it is a master class in world-building, in trusting your readers to make inferences, not over-explaining, and in trusting that it’s okay for your readers not to understand everything about the world all at once. I am not an SF/F writer but even so these are valuable lessons. Historical fiction requires its own kind of world-building, after all - even fairly recent historical fiction like mine.
 

Putputt

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
5,448
Reaction score
2,980
Just finished WONDER by RJ Palacio and oh my god. I bought copies for my close friends because holy crap. I wish the whole world would read this gem. Anyone who thinks kidlit can't be complex and tackle hard subjects needs to read this. No. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO READ IT *sobs into pillow*
 

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
6,344
Reaction score
975
Location
o,0
*sobs into pillow*

*Offers pats and hugs* There, there. Everyone will read it when they're ready to do so.


For once, I am actually reading (well, partially scanning) a crime thriller, or just a crime mystery, or whatever the genre's called. (I don't know, 'cos it's not one I read normally.) And whaddya know, I find the story quite intriguing if a little slow at the moment. Of course, it'd help if provided a title and author.... I'll do that when I get home.
 

Elle.

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,272
Reaction score
734
Location
United Kingdom
Just finished Lullaby by Leila Slimani - very interesting character study, about motherhood, expectations placed on mothers by society and themselves as well as the place of the nanny in the family unit. However the omniscient POV didn't do for me. I like it, but didn't love it.

Otherwise just started Oola by Brittany Newell - strange love story between two outsiders, that slowly descends into obsession. Beautifully written and enjoying it so far.
 

Raindrop

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
1,498
Reaction score
409
Location
London, UK
Just finished WONDER by RJ Palacio and oh my god. I bought copies for my close friends because holy crap. I wish the whole world would read this gem. Anyone who thinks kidlit can't be complex and tackle hard subjects needs to read this. No. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO READ IT *sobs into pillow*
Sounds like a great read! I was just wondering, though -- I skimmed through the reviews on Goodread (while trying not to get spoiled), and someone mentioned that some of the POVs had terrible spelling, and another one didn't use any punctuation. Also, ALL CAPS were mentioned.

Is this the case, and if so, how bad is it? I'm asking for a friend.*


*Nah. I'm asking for me. I couldn't read Iain Bank's Fearsum Indjinn even though I really, really wanted to, because of spelling issues (one character was writing in phonetics / txt-speak, and it was difficult for me to decipher; a pity because from what I could understand of him, he was a great character). I struggle with all caps as well, and with some fonts.
 

RobertLCollins

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2018
Messages
128
Reaction score
4
Earlier today I finished Dan Moren's The Caledonian Gambit. It was a good science fiction novel of espionage with two interesting POV characters. I've heard Dan on a number of podcasts, mainly "The Incomparable." I'm glad I enjoyed his first novel. Probably back to fantasy for my next read.
 

Putputt

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
5,448
Reaction score
2,980
*Offers pats and hugs* There, there. Everyone will read it when they're ready to do so.

UNPOSSIBLE. They need to read it nownow!!!!11!11! :D I have already threatened them with bodily harm if they don’t read it ASAP. ;)

Sounds like a great read! I was just wondering, though -- I skimmed through the reviews on Goodread (while trying not to get spoiled), and someone mentioned that some of the POVs had terrible spelling, and another one didn't use any punctuation. Also, ALL CAPS were mentioned.

Is this the case, and if so, how bad is it? I'm asking for a friend.*


*Nah. I'm asking for me. I couldn't read Iain Bank's Fearsum Indjinn even though I really, really wanted to, because of spelling issues (one character was writing in phonetics / txt-speak, and it was difficult for me to decipher; a pity because from what I could understand of him, he was a great character). I struggle with all caps as well, and with some fonts.

Hmmm, I don’t recall one with no punctuation, but then again, I may have been so swept away by the story that I didn’t notice? One of the PoV characters doesn’t use Caps at all. so his chapters are like this. hi. no caps. :D It bothered me when I first got to his PoV, but then it made sense the more I got to know about him, and when it was over, I felt sorry about leaving his PoV. He takes up maybe less than 10% of the book?

There is also a part where two characters text each other and use txt speak, like “awsummmm!” Lol. That really annoyed me, but again, it made sense within the context of the two characters, and it was only kept to this one interaction.

Can’t think of other instances of bad spelling...but again, I was just too swept up in the world and all the characters by that point to care, honestly.