April's Amazing Adventures in Fiction

[Ursa major]

It certainly sounds interesting. Have you read the other six first?

No. I saw The Spies of Sobeck at the library, was intrigued and borrowed it not knowing anything about the author or that it was part of a series. (If I do see the others, though, I'll know that Amerotke survives to the end of each one; but that's true of the Inspector Rebus books, not to mention all but one of those featuring Poirot, Morse....)

 

[nj1]

Just finished Paul Kearny's The Ten Thousand. Very Gemmel, though without his ease of movement between scenes. For someone who hasn't heard of Xenophon's Walk Uphill (!), its not bad, though the Arabic characters are some strange, golden skinned elf types. I think I read a better, historical version if the story by Steven Pressfield (though I can't remember the title, and GOODREADS is no help).

A good military read, as well as an insight into Greek Warrior society and warfare, though I did have a certain sinking feeling when a jump-point to a sequal reared its head. Another fantasy Alexander, pleeze!

I just finished it aswell. Didn't get the Gemmell style at all, in fact i didn't think that much of it. The batles were too short, the character develpopment felt a bit rushed. Maybe it was just me but i thought that there was oportunities there for a really good historical fiction/fanatsy crossover, but it just missed out IMO. It maybe that i've read alot of good historical fiction on the Greeks and Persians and for me it wasn't as good as others.

Am now finally starting Simon Scarrows FIRE AND THE SWORD, i've tried to start it twice before and failed as something else found it way into my hands. This time I'm determined to read it.

 

[soulsinging]

I bailed on Dune, for the second time. Just seems too heavy and need too much attention to be read during finals. So I started reading 'The Last Wish' by Andrzej Sapkowski. Enjoying it a lot so far.

 

[j d worthington]

Im reading Strange Stories by a Nervous Gentleman part of The Complete Tales of Washington Irving.

Just a little personal note: "The Adventure of the German Student", from that section of Tales of a Traveler, was my first encounter with Irving proper, when I was about 9 or 10 (I'd encountered adaptations of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" before, but not read Irving himself). As with my first encounter with Hawthorne, via "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", it made me a fan of Irvin ever since. I'd be interested in hearing your own response to his stories, Connavar. (Incidentally, though, there is one piece in there which is directly taken from Jan Potocki's The Saragossa Manuscript -- a.k.a. The Manuscript Found in Saragossa -- without acknowledgment. This was a common literary practice at the time, unfortunatey, so Irving doesn't deserve too much blame; but it does mean this piece is not original with him, nor does he improve on the source from which it was taken....)

 

[Waziwig]

I am now reading (having to read) Post Colonial Shakespeares

 

[AE35Unit]

I bailed on Dune, for the second time. Just seems too heavy and need too much attention to be read during finals. So I started reading 'The Last Wish' by Andrzej Sapkowski. Enjoying it a lot so far.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that bails on a book. My problem is lack of reading time. Consider Phlebas is a great book but I can't follow it

 

[Connavar]

Just a little personal note: "The Adventure of the German Student", from that section of Tales of a Traveler, was my first encounter with Irving proper, when I was about 9 or 10 (I'd encountered adaptations of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" before, but not read Irving himself). As with my first encounter with Hawthorne, via "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", it made me a fan of Irvin ever since. I'd be interested in hearing your own response to his stories, Connavar. (Incidentally, though, there is one piece in there which is directly taken from Jan Potocki's The Saragossa Manuscript -- a.k.a. The Manuscript Found in Saragossa -- without acknowledgment. This was a common literary practice at the time, unfortunatey, so Irving doesn't deserve too much blame; but it does mean this piece is not original with him, nor does he improve on the source from which it was taken....)

Heh The Adventure of the German Student was also my first read of him and was so good that i got this complete collection and started reading Tales of a Traveler section of it. So far i have read The Adventure of My Uncle which was a small ghost story.
Before that i read Rip Van Winkle, which was a short interesting story. The writing of the character was the most interesting thing.

The writing is so old,hard at first few lines of any story but when you get going i like the writing style alot. Tonight i plan to read the next stories in that section hoping for another story like The German Student. Also i will read The Legend of The Sleepy Hallow. I sampled alittle of it, it starts much stronger,vivid than Rip Van Winkle.

Any humor stories you know of him ? I like how he puts satire in specially in describing people.

 

[GOLLUM]

On Kearney check out his ships series and currently bedeviled Sea Beggar series, very good military fantasy.

 

[nj1]

On Kearney check out his ships series and currently bedeviled Sea Beggar series, very good military fantasy.

Have you read Ten Thousand? Does it compare well with his other works?
I will probably pick up more of his work at some time, but after reading TT I wasn't that impressed and therefore won't be rushing off to pick up more.

 

[Connavar]

Have you read Ten Thousand? Does it compare well with his other works?
I will probably pick up more of his work at some time, but after reading TT I wasn't that impressed and therefore won't be rushing off to pick up more.

I plan to get Ten Thousand next book haul since and i have read Sea Beggars so i can compare and let you.

I sure hope its better to me since i was hugely impressed by his fantasy series.

 

[soulsinging]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that bails on a book. My problem is lack of reading time. Consider Phlebas is a great book but I can't follow it

That's exactly it. It's a good read when I pick it up, but it's just a very complex story and I can't read it when I'm snatching it in 20 minutes chunks between other responsibilities. I graduate in a few weeks though, and I plan to give it a go then.

 

[GOLLUM]

TT I've only recently read but it is pretty good.

Still think Sea Beggars is his best work to date.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

 

[Lenny]

My Malazan re-read is going very well (though at this rate I'll have finished arly - my goal is to finish Toll the Hounds a day to either side of the release of Dust of Dreams), and I'm about to start the beast that is Chapter Seven of The Bonehunters - it's the seige of Y'Ghatan, baby! Best. Chapter. Ever!

I'm going to race my virtual monkey - he started generating 1,000,000 characters twenty minutes ago, and has just hit 37% (he's slowing down with each percent, though - I'll need to look at my code and see if I can fix that). Can I finish the seige before he finishes the million characters?

 

[Esioul]

That's exactly it. It's a good read when I pick it up, but it's just a very complex story and I can't read it when I'm snatching it in 20 minutes chunks between other responsibilities. I graduate in a few weeks though, and I plan to give it a go then.

Like is too short to read bad books...

 

[The Ace]

Re-reading Belgarath the Sorcerer now I've a copy that isn't falling apart. Daft but fun.

 

[AE35Unit]

Like is too short to read bad books...

You're dead right there! But the thing is Consider Phlebas is an excellent story for a British author. I'm just useless at finding time to read! Can't read when the TV is on and this week,my week off work,I'm up to my ears in house work and garden work! And if I leave it too long I forget relevant parts or characters of the book.

 

[murphy]

Now reading Imager by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. One of his best books so far. Very interesting system of magic.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will definately get the next book.

Now I'm on to The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory.

 

[Hypnos164]

Still reading the Separation by Christopher Priest ... I'm enjoying it but I haven't had much time for reading recently due to a lot of travelling, oh and it keeps side tracking me to do reading around the actual historical events

On the other hand due to all the driving I have listened to all of Hyperion on audio book ... fantastic presentation of an awesome book. Listening to Fall of Hyperion now