What BOOK(s) are you reading? ARCHIVE

I read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel about two years ago, and it was a singular experience for me. It totally blindsided me with the richness of Clarke's world, and I dove through it in about a month. It is indeed a slow-mover, but for me it was like savoring a fantastic meal.

Crucible of War by Fred Anderson

Th Last Best League (about Cape Cod baseball league)

Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon Wood

Bleak History by John Shirley

Great take on Urban Fantasy/supernatural type stuff. Ex-war vet can see into the "hidden" including spirit worlds with a secret government agency after him. He gets caught in the middle of the ShadowOps people with special powers, the government and the ghosts.
Nice mix of intrigue and that gory gritty action that Shirley does great.

Half the Blood in Brooklyn by Charlie Huston

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli

ubarose wrote:

I've been thinking that there must be some way to combine Liebe & Intrige and Last Night on Earth to create the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies game.

Pink zombies? Michael Barnes just made suicide.

I have a Kindle so I've been going back and forth between the complete REH Conan and the complete Lovecraft set I have on there. Mostly Conan though cause it's just so awesome. I'd only ever read a bit of it before so I'm really enjoying the full treatment here.

Being a grad student, I read tons of political science/history/women's studies non-fiction too. Not very exciting unless you're way into it, even history buffs that aren't "academics" wouldn't be too into most of the history stuff I have to read because it's so dry and assumes you know way too much about the subject already.

Ha - time to own up. I'm still reading Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun' series that I talked about way back in March in the other book thread - I've nearly finished The Shadow of the Torturer ... the first book (oh dear).
I'm a terrible bloody reader and I always find something else to do - and being in IT I'm always have to read new manuals (especially on the operating system side), especially now I'm having to get a new job which means upskilling in my own time ... and there's games, and sport on TV, and movies, and BSG dvd sets.

Anyway - it's as good as it was 20 years ago. Plus I did buy the other ones I talked about - Dune (another 20 year reread) and the Halo novels (try and get my yungsta reading instead of being attached to teh xbox) - so I'll plod on.

Southernman wrote:

Ha - time to own up. I'm still reading Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun' series that I talked about way back in March in the other book thread - I've nearly finished The Shadow of the Torturer ... the first book (oh dear).

Good on ya Tom, I finished the first book and stopped part way through the second early in the summer. It just didn't work for me.

Dr_Mabuse wrote:

Southernman wrote:

Ha - time to own up. I'm still reading Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun' series that I talked about way back in March in the other book thread - I've nearly finished The Shadow of the Torturer ... the first book (oh dear).

Good on ya Tom, I finished the first book and stopped part way through the second early in the summer. It just didn't work for me.

I'm determined to finish them - mainly because (from memory) I don't think I ever worked out clearly what it was all about when I had finished. Hopefully 20 years of worldly experience (tempered by alcohol induced braincell loss) will stand me in a better position to take it in ... probably not.

Very cool. I really want to read the Gene Wolfe stuff but keep forgetting to pick it up.
I *ALMOST* bought the Conan collection when I was thinking of buying Age of Conan boardgame, but I never got the boardgame or the book. I should grab that book.

Oh I'm also reading Dan Simmons Olympos now.

Southernman wrote:

Dr_Mabuse wrote:

Southernman wrote:

Ha - time to own up. I'm still reading Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun' series that I talked about way back in March in the other book thread - I've nearly finished The Shadow of the Torturer ... the first book (oh dear).

Good on ya Tom, I finished the first book and stopped part way through the second early in the summer. It just didn't work for me.

I'm determined to finish them - mainly because (from memory) I don't think I ever worked out clearly what it was all about when I had finished. Hopefully 20 years of worldly experience (tempered by alcohol induced braincell loss) will stand me in a better position to take it in ... probably not.

Well when you do figure it out, oh aged and wise one, please enlighten me. I had no fucking clue what was going on in the 2nd book, once I saw started reading the "play" they were enacting I was done.

Gene Wolfe writes great sentences, and has a wonderful imagination. I just wish that he would end his stories clearly, so I know what the hell happened at the end. I'm pretty sure that I'm not a moron, and that he is being deliberately vague. So when I read a Gene Wolfe book, I tend to enjoy at least 80% of it, sometimes more than 90%, but then the ending falls flat.

I finished the Joe Abercrombie books and loved them. I finished the R. Scott Bakker books and was torn. On one hand they were dry, slow, and uninteresting. But they had occasional sparks of brilliance, a well-realized world, and a plot that didn't involve the magic whatsit.

Starting the new Conan: Cimmeria trade tonight. Listened to The Warrior's Apprentice and half of The Vor Game, both by Lois McMaster Bujold. I've reread those many times but this is the first time I've listened to them. Normally I don't have the patience for audiobooks but these really worked for me, probably because of my familiarity.

I started with the John Carter of Mars stories a while ago and I'm in the fourth book. They're pretty all right and entertaining. Very imaginative, although it's pretty much what you'd expect from an adventure series of books for better or worse...

I'm also reading The Telling from Ursula K. Le Guin, although I'm really just starting it... I expect to enjoy it since I really love many of her books...