New year, new books... What we're reading in January.

[Nesacat]

Allegra ... have fun with Shadow Of The Wind and Book Of Lost Things. I would like to know what you think about them please.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I hate when that happens! Though it is kind of fun when you are watching a movie and can figure it out before your moviegoing companions do .

It was okay, though. And there were outside reasons why I didn't think it was the obvious suspect...won't get into that any farther because I don't wan't to give any spoiliers. Actually, as I was reading, dwndrgn, I was thinking that it might be a book you would like. I could be wrong, but you might want to give it a try if you happen onto it.

And you are right about the movie aspect. Definitely.

 

[ravenus]

I just finished Twenty Five Tales of the Genie by an ancient Indian writer Sivadasa (translated by Ms. Chandra Rajan, available in a Penguin classics edition). People reasonably familiar with Indian mythology will recognize this as the episodic series of Vikram and Vetala.

The basic framework is as follows:

The brave king Vikram, accepts a quest from a necromancer, Ksantasila, to bring a corpse from the cremation grounds to where Ksantasila is performing incantations that will give him immense powers. The condition is that Vikram should not utter a word during this period or he will lose his grasp on the corpse.

However the corpse is possessed by a Vetala (which Chandra Rajan translates as genie, although in various versions it is also referred to as a demon or vampire), which comes to life each time Vikram begins to haul the corpse. It then tells him a story with certain social and moral ramifications and at the end asks him a question regarding those ramifications with the condition that if he remains silent while knowing the answer, then he is cursed to immediately die. But if he answers, the corpse immediately escapes and flies back to its original resting place. Thus 25 times he is forced to make the morbid journey.

In the course of these episodes Vikram's answers give an insight into what were considered the social and moral codes of that period.

While Chandra Rajan's translation is mostly very pleasing, sometimes the attention given to Vikram's answers is too brief giving very little justification for why it is the optimal reply. Other times, like when Vikram, without any reasoning, implies that 'Women are more inherently evil than men', the text shows its roots in moral codes that were clearly biased.

But it's still interesting as a document of the period and as a fairly enjoyable episodic fantasy with moral discussions that're rarely black and white.

 

[Nesacat]

Twenty Five tales is a good read indeed. I'd read them many years ago but In Amar Chitra Katha and last year bought the Penguin edition in Chennai. I remember as a child climbing trees to find the Vetala and wondering each time if the King would be able to find an answer. Of course a part of me also hoped that his head would shatter spectacularly and he'd then die.

I'll admit too that many of the translations have something or other lacking but I am always glad to be able to find them. They are getting better though I'd say than they were a few years ago. The translators are beginning to get the sense across and they are not just literally translating.

 

[iansales]

Just started a reread of John Varley's The Ophiuchi Hotline, a favourite sf novel.

 

[Allegra]

Allegra ... have fun with Shadow Of The Wind and Book Of Lost Things. I would like to know what you think about them please.

I will , cat. Browsed few pages of Shadow and was drawn in the story immediately. Having been Barcelona a couple of times I found the mysterious atmosphere the author brushed on Rambla quite fresh to me. I'm usually skeptical about translations, it's often pretty much like a re write. But a good book is a good book and a good translation makes you soon forget it's a translation. I like Lucia Graves(the daughter of Robert Graves and lived in Spain and what a info junky I am)' style.

Saolta Oiche, what you said 'as long as the darkness stays in the book' is very true. Especially those of Stephen King's. That's why I have to get a healthy dose of dicworld once in a while.

 

[Saolta Oiche]

Aye a bit of Pratchett to lighten the load.

 

[dwndrgn]

Actually, as I was reading, dwndrgn, I was thinking that it might be a book you would like. I could be wrong, but you might want to give it a try if you happen onto it.

I'll have to check it out then. We'll see if I can figure out whodunnit too!

 

[jsgoddess]

Anyway, next up is Sarah Ash's Lord of Snow and Shadows, which is of course the first of another series. I've heard some good things about it so hopefully I'll enjoy it.

I know I read the first book in that series, but now I can't remember if I read any more. This is why I need to catalog! Gah.

I enjoyed the first. I do remember that.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Having finished reading Scar Night for the Book Club, I've gone back to the book I was reading when it arrived, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, by Catherynne Valente. A strange and beautiful book.

 

[Lenny]

I've just come back from the library with a nice little pile.

You know, I've been here only a couple of days, yet I'm already recognising the names of authors on some of the books that I've never considered before.

But anyway, the books I've got out are:

Jennifer Fallon - Medalon
Jennifer Fallon - Lion of Senet
James Clemens - Shadowfall
David Gemmell - The Sword of Night and Day

Should keep me occupied for a bit.

 

[Rosemary]

I hope you enjoy Jennifer Fallon's books Lenny. There is another trilogy after Lion of Senet called The Hythrun Chronicles. Have you read that series yet? It's a follow on from the Medalon trilogy.

I'm trying out a new author for me...Mark Anthony. The first book in the series of The Last Rune.

The review on the back cover says that it is a massive saga...hopefully this is the case!

 

[Lenny]

I hadn't heard of Jennifer Fallon until I picked them up this morning.

If she's to my taste, then all her trilogies will be jotted down on my "To Read" list.

 

[Frozeninja]

I'll be starting Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon later today.

 

[Faceless Woman]

So far this January:

American Gods (at last, but worth the wait);

Books 1, 2 and 3 of the Nightrunners;

Imperial Spy & Assassin;

Greg Keyes, the Briar King, book one of Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone;

Thud, pTerry;

Another attempt at Forest Mage (still hate it);

Kitty Goes to Washington (lovely little horror book, not to bloody but just bloody enough. Like early Anita Blake - lets hope she doesn't go down the same road, eh?)

Joanna Russ' The Female Man.

Halfway through Wit'ch Gate now.

Ooh, Jenny Fallon. Hardly famous, but she should be and will be. Enjoy.

I couldn't get into the Avalon ones, probably because I started on the last one. You know, the bad one. I like the Trillium, though - when I was ten.

 

[dwndrgn]

I'm trying out a new author for me...Mark Anthony. The first book in the series of The Last Rune.

The review on the back cover says that it is a massive saga...hopefully this is the case!

I believe it is six books in all - I can't remember but it was definitely a good read; that much I remember!

And Faceless Woman, you've had some good reads so far this January - the Nightrunner series I particularly liked (and I'm with you on Forest Mage though I usually like Hobb). The next in Mark Robson's Imperial series I think is to be published in the Spring, but don't quote me on that.

I've only just cracked open Sarah Ash's Lord of Snow and Shadows, not terrific so far but not bad either. We'll see if the story picks up a bit as I go on. If not, I'll move on to Piers Anthony's Immortality series.

 

[Lenny]

Forest Mage is slow to get started, and not as much happens in it as in Shamans Crossing, but it's a good book once you've finished it.

For some reason it reminds me of Modesitt's Towers of the Sunset - you can draw parallels between Creslin setting up a community on Recluce, and Nevare trying to set up his community in the abandoned town/set his own rules to his work in the fort.

 

[j d worthington]

Have finished Derleth's In Lovecraft's Shadow, am working on an anthology, Cthulhu's Heirs, of new Lovecraftian stories (including some in the Dunsanian vein), and about to (re-)read another Doc Savage: Pirate of the Pacific. And still reading Lisa Randall's Warped Passages....

 

[Loner]

Fast Food Nation. It will put you off your oats.

Also Travels with a Donkey in Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson. Charming armchair travel!

 

[PenDragon]

David Gemmell - The Sword of Night and Day

Hey Lenny, that's a good read. I love gemmel and the Skillganon books are my second favourites after The Rigante books.

I'll be starting Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon later today.

It's a very good version of the Arthurian tale, with MZB's unsual twist of coming at it from the female perspective. It's a classic. If you enjoy it 'Firebrand is also worth a read which is MZB's take on the Trojan war.