July's Jubilant Joust At New Books

[Anomander]

I've just finished Greg Keyes' The born queen. I'm now readng Lord of Chaos - book 6 of the wheel of time Series.

 

[woodsman]

Finished A Feast For Crows-G.R.R.M I enjoyed it actually, like Jaime more and more.

Just kicking into The Birthday Of The World, a collection of short stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. It contains the folllowing stories:
Coming of Age in Karhide
The Matter of Seggri
Unchosen Love
Mountain Ways
Solitude
Old Music and the Slave Women
The Birthday of the World
Paradises Lost
Haven't read a whole heap of Le Guin, but, does anyone else tackle/discuss gender as well as her?

 

[Allegra]

Still straying from SFF, currently reading two non-fictions:

Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (brilliant!!)
A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for Perfect Piano by Katie Hafner

 

[Nesacat]

Allegra ... if you liked Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil you might want to give his City of Falling Angels a try next - if you have not already done so. It's all about Venice and is as wonderful as Garden.

 

[chopper]

re-reading Memories of Ice while waiting for Night of Knives to come thru at the library. struggling for time to read at the moment though as i've got lots to write and a car boot sale to get ready for....

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Just finished my reread of A Feast for Crows, and enjoyed it more the second time around. Now onto Jack Whyte's The Singing Sword.

 

[Ursa major]

I've just read, for the first time, H.G.Wells's War of the Worlds. Before this, my only contacts with the story have been the 1953 film (dir. George Pal) and a Listener's Choice CD (picked up in Florida in '94) of Orson Welles's uncut 1938 radio broadcast (to which I ought to listen again).

In spite of showing its age, it was an enjoyable read, a good mix of domestic detail and speculation (on the part of the narrator re the Martians). A lot of the science is, as one would expect, not really believable today, but this is easily forgiven of a 110-year-old book. The way the tale is told does take some of the edge off the drama, but I'm guessing that this was a popular style at the time.

 

[Hypnos164]

Just finished Dead Mens Boots - Mike Carey (can't recommend these Felix Castor books highly enough to anyone who likes Dresden/noir urban fantasy)

Now on The Lord of Castle Black - Steven Brust

 

[Allegra]

Allegra ... if you liked Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil you might want to give his City of Falling Angels a try next - if you have not already done so. It's all about Venice and is as wonderful as Garden.

I read The City of Falling Angels some time ago and loved it. Didn't get Midnight right away because Savannah sounded a bit foreign to me. Now that I'm really enjoying this book (even more than The City) I want to make a trip to Savannah badly!

 

[elvet]

Started Sean Russel's The One Kingdom (Swan War trilogy). So far it's quite good.

 

[j d worthington]

I've just read, for the first time, H.G.Wells's War of the Worlds. Before this, my only contacts with the story have been the 1953 film (dir. George Pal) and a Listener's Choice CD (picked up in Florida in '94) of Orson Welles's uncut 1938 radio broadcast (to which I ought to listen again).

Actually, it was Byron Haskin who directed that piece (or at least a fair amount of it, and he's the credited director); Pal, however, was the moving spirit as producer....

On my reading front, I've been very limited in time, so am still working on the Stevenson collections; once again, I'm massively impressed by "Thrawn Janet" and its atmosphere, and the way the use of dialect there enhances the effect tremendously, keeping it hovering on that edge of homely humor (inherent in some of the imagery and tone as rendered by the language) and intense eeriness and terror....

 

[chopper]

Started Sean Russel's The One Kingdom (Swan War trilogy). So far it's quite good.

i started off liking that, but i seriously lost my way during the second volume. i liked his world, but the characters never really came to life for me.

 

[Ursa major]

Actually, it was Byron Haskin who directed that piece (or at least a fair amount of it, and he's the credited director); Pal, however, was the moving spirit as producer....

And as I've just listened to the play, I ought to say that (according to the sleeve notes) it was Howard Koch who adapted the book for radio; Orson Welles starred and directed**.


** - According to Wiki.

 

[j d worthington]

Quite correct; though, again, Welles was the moving spirit behind this, Koch was the one who came up with the idea of doing it as a genuine event, as I recall. He did an essay on the thing, which was included as liner notes for at least one LP release of the play....

 

[Connavar]

I read Octopussy by Ian Fleming.

It was only a 25 pages long short story. Not the collection of the several stories that made the novel.

It was different because Bond was only in like 5 pages. It was about "the villain" he sent to take care of.

I liked it anyway cause Bond was hardcore,cold. He was more like a grim assasin who only cared about the mission. Very far from the Bond of the movies.

Now i bad crave for Casino Royale

 

[Pyan]

I liked it anyway cause Bond was hardcore,cold. He was more like a grim assasin who only cared about the mission. Very far from the Bond of the movies.

Is that you're first Bond, Conn? Because you'll find that he's like that all the way through the original Fleming series.

The films were seduced by the dark side of stunts, explosions, gadgets and action, and very often the only thing they have in common with the books are the name of the film and the chief characters. Bond in the books is a Cold War spy, but in the movies he's practically a super-hero: and I much prefer Fleming's original vision of 007.

 

[GOLLUM]

Started Sean Russel's The One Kingdom (Swan War trilogy). So far it's quite good.

Glad that you do....

 

[Durandal]

Well, I've wrapped up the Lankhmar books. Finished Swords and Ice Magic this morning. I understand there's another book of later Lankhmar stories, but I'm not in a great rush to read it -- I thought the pieces in this last book (written 1973-1977) were the weakest of the whole series (the rest of which was written 1939-1970[?]).

All in all, though, I liked these stories a lot. I think the longer forms were better -- my favorite pieces were the novellas and novel -- but even among the shorter works there are some real gems.

Next up, I'm indulging a guilty pleasure and reading a Star Wars novel. No snide comments, please....

 

[Lord Soth]

Currently near to the end of Cry of the Newborn from James Barclay. Very slow to get going, but it picks up 100+ pages in and I'll be looking forward to picking up the next in the series.

 

[BookStop]

Read Mary Hoffman's Falconer's Knot on recommendation of one of my kids. It was really good, and although the first murderer was easy to guess, the other murders had me stumped until the end.