What August tome are you tackling this month?

[Culhwch]

Lame, yes. You all know what this thread is about. Go nuts.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: What August tome are you tackiling this month?

I'm just about finished reading Shaman's Crossing, by Robin Hobb.

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: What August tome are you tackiling this month?

Still making my way through Stephenson's Quicksilver. Excellent stuff.

Starting to peruse the pages of Matthew Pearl's Dante Club based on a mid 1860s Boston muderer whose crimes follow the descriptions of Hell's puinishments metered out from the recently translated version by Longfellow & co. of Dante's famous Inferno.

 

[Nesacat]

Tell me how you go with that Gollum ... I read it before Poe's Shadow.

Re-reading The Divine Comedy (was prompted by Dante Club). Just started on Looking For Jake and Other Stories by China Mieville as well as Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson.

 

[Finnien]

I've got a little over a week where I'm going to be in Washington for my father's annual Fishing Trip (29 years of fishing trips! Ugh) which basically means I go fishing for a day or two, then read for a little over a week. I'll be dredging the boards for every suggestion I can come up with. A bare minimum of a half-dozen books will be needed to see me through my character-building experience. Suggestions welcome!

 

[j d worthington]

A bare minimum of a half-dozen books will be needed to see me through my character-building experience. Suggestions welcome!

Um... what sorts of books do you prefer? (NB: Considering your lugubrious tone, I almost made the suggestion of Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake", only changing it to "Finnien's Wake", but didn't think the humor would be appreciated.....)

 

[Perpetual Man]

Just started Darknessess (Corean Chronicles 2) by L E Modesitt Jr

 

[Nesacat]

Ummm yes Finien ... perhaps if you told us what sort of books you'd prefer to take with you. I guess Moby Dick as well as Old Man And The Sea might not be what you're looking for.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Was about to read Le Guin's Earthsea series, but having problems getting into the general style.

Then my 'mother in law' bought me a couple of John Simpon's books (he's the World Affairs editor at the BBC) so I've just started "Mad World, My Masters".

 

[Adasunshine]

City of Saints & Madmen by Jeff Vandemeer, so far, so good!

xx

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Just started (& finished!) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. A very easy read and quite enjoyable.

About to start on American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Darkness that comes before by R Scott Bakker

 

[Mark Robson]

Just started The Moon in Hiding by a certain, Teresa Edgerton.

 

[kaneda]

Just started (& finished!) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. A very easy read and quite enjoyable.

About to start on American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Darkness that comes before by R Scott Bakker

Let me know what you think of the darkness that comes before WS. Can't decide if its something that I want to buy or not!

I'm reading part two of the book of the new sun at the moment - I'm about half way through of the Sword of the Lictor at the moment.

 

[Trey Greyjoy]

Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson. Going to try and finish this up in a week or so. Im about halfway through it now. Its an easy read.

 

[Marky Lazer]

The Fast Red Road - Stephen Graham Jones

 

[Osprey]

Magician - Raymond E. Feist.
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde.

 

[dwndrgn]

I'm reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman also. It was sitting there on my 'to read' list when I came upon a used copy cheap. So, since I am currently persona non grata at the library (my mom has one of their books under my name and it is late so that even though they don't charge me fees, I'm too embarrased to attempt to loan out any others...) and I just finished re-reading the first three Harry Potter books...I picked it up this morning.

 

[nixie]

Juliet E Mckenna's Gamblers Fortune

 

[Smoking Mirror]

Bloodstone Barbara Campbell

 

[Finnien]

Um... what sorts of books do you prefer? (NB: Considering your lugubrious tone, I almost made the suggestion of Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake", only changing it to "Finnien's Wake", but didn't think the humor would be appreciated.....)

Let me see... favorite authors that come to mind in the Science Fiction vein are Robert Heinlein, Spider Robinson, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Alfred Bester and Orison Scott Card. I've been dabbling in military sci-fi lately as well... Posleen series, Prince Roger books, Miles Vorkosigan, the Culture books, etc.

For Fantasy, Steven Erikson is my current favorite. I've read everything by George R. R. Martin and Robert Jordan, didn't really like the Terry Goodkind stuff... my interest in the series flagged around Blood of the Fold, and I'm not quite sure why. I loved Michelle West's Sun Sword series, the Black Jewels trilogy, pretty much anything written by Pratchett, the original Dragonlance books, and everything by Feist.

For less genre-specific authors, Tim Powers is amazing, as is Neil Gaiman (Good Omens is one of my all-time favorites). I love the New Crobuzon books by China Mieville, but was less enamored of King Rat. I recently finished Widdershins by Charles de Lint, and loved it.

For non-sci fi/fantasy, my tastes are irratic. I loved Great Expectations and David Copperfield but didn't like Oliver Twist or Hard Times by Dickens. Catch-22 is one of my favorite books ever. John Irving is terrific, in small doses. Many of the other 'classics' have been enjoyable, although I read them mostly in college. Virginia Woolfe, Toni Morrison, Faulkner, Hemmingway, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Nathaniel Hawthorne all wrote books I enjoyed, but wouldn't necessarily seek out without some prompting.

...and I have to guiltily admit I've been reading a startling amount of trashy vampire novels lately. I loved the early Anita Blake books, but the last one just irritated me... seems like the whole plot got left out somewhere. I'm reading Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Carrie Vaughn, and Laruell K. Hamilton, and I don't know why. =) Additionally, a friend recently got me to read the Simon R. Green Nightside books and the Harry Dresden books (ironically, the same one who got me reading Laurell K. Hamilton, whom I paid back with the Liaden books by Lee & Miller), and I enjoyed both.

I also tend to dislike books where the story consists of misery upon misery being heaped upon a poor downtrodden yet enduring character. Given my choice, I tend to like stories that end on an upbeat note as well. Leaving a book in a better mood than when I picked it up is always a good thing for me. I just don't buy the whole catharsis thing. =)

I'm imagining my best bet would be to just find a few people whose suggestions in general are books I enjoyed, then look at the rest of their suggestions. Web-browsing between here and Amazon.Com would be a good idea. In general, I'm just looking for the stuff that you won't find prominently displayed in Barnes and Noble, but is really a good read. I would have never read Gardens of the Moon if a bookstore employee didn't recommend it, and that's the kind of thing I'd like to find more of.

Also, I'm not sure what the etiquette is with the monthly reading threads, should requests for suggestions go in their own thread, or are they appropriate here?