November's Nefarious Navigations of Notorious Novels (and other literary forms).

Just finished Mistborn book 1, now determined to finish The Darkness that comes before - 3rd time lucky, enjoying it more this time
 
Not sure what to make of The Sodom & Gomorrah Business, there's a lot of sadism on display here and I am not sure that the concepts and ideas in the book are enough to justify the nastiness. Still, it is a short novel and I will persevere for a while.

Still enjoying The Hearing Trumpet which is also slim, but so delectable that I am just dipping into a few pages a day to make it last.

So for staple reading I've decided on The Swords Trilogy, which I'd long though of as my least favourite among Moorcock's works. Now, I wonder why. It hews close to traditional epic fantasy, but with a great deal of original ideas, wonderful settings and descriptions and a complex emotional journey to complement Corum's more concrete quests. And, word for word, Moorcock writes better than nearly anyone else who was writing epic fantasy at the time and probably even now.
 
So, I finished C. Mieville's Kraken and really enjoyed it. It's been a bit of a break from an epic fantasy/sci-fi period, which is always good. A brilliant description of an 'alive' London and it's occult underbelly. I enjoy Mieville's use of odd colloquialisms and strange expressions which really add to the feel of the book and the places it describes. A quick bit of Wikipediaing and I find that he grew up in the same area as my Dad.

Moved on to: A. C. Clarke's Childhood's End, I'm gradually trying to read through as much Clarke as possible and this is another step along that path.

Also will be dipping into Shadows of Death a collection of shorts by a certain H.P. Lovecraft. I'd never heard of Lovecraft before joining this forum and I'm finally getting round to giving him a try.
 
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy said:
So for staple reading I've decided on The Swords Trilogy, which I'd long though of as my least favourite among Moorcock's works. Now, I wonder why. It hews close to traditional epic fantasy, but with a great deal of original ideas, wonderful settings and descriptions and a complex emotional journey to complement Corum's more concrete quests. And, word for word, Moorcock writes better than nearly anyone else who was writing epic fantasy at the time and probably even now.
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I still feel that these are among Moorcock's weaker works, but I agree that there are some quite original ideas, while the other qualities you mention are present as well; I just feel that they are not quite as strong as in much of his other work. That said, I still find them quite enjoyable; and there are several passages which are among my favorites of his work, while the characters are often much more complex than was (or is) usual in such fantasy... especially given the brevity of the books themselves. And, of course, I've always been particularly fascinated by Prince Gaynor Paul St. Odhran Badehoff-Krasny von Minct, usually called "the Damned", who made his first appearance in The Queen of the Swords....

And, after having (for various reasons) spent the bulk of October outside my intended reading, I am now back to the Poe, which I hope to finish some time in November. The latest pieces were "The Purloined Letter", "The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether", and "Mesmeric Revelation"; the last being in some ways very similar to "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", but also almost a "dry-run" (from what I gather) for "Eureka"....
 
I started off on a book I recently got - The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill. This was on the basis of the back blurb first couple pages which I thought were quite hilarious. I hope this turns out good.
 
j. d. worthington said:
I still feel that these are among Moorcock's weaker works... especially given the brevity of the books themselves.
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Certainly, they suffer amidst such august company. They're nowhere near as good as the Dancers At The End books that I've just finished reading, and it's clear why I had a negative reaction to them after reading things like the Cornelius quartet and the Elric stories. But I'm finding, in the course of re-reading these books, that they are not bad little books in their way - certainly several steps above an Eddings or Brooks in any case. I also feel vaguely virtuous to be reading an epic fantasy series for once!

j. d. worthington said:
... especially given the brevity of the books themselves.
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I think that is what is particularly winning me over this time. The individual volumes of this trilogy are very slim - just around 150 pages each - but the ground traversed, literally and in terms of plot and character is quite immense without resorting to an over-compressed narrative.
 
Finished High Life by Matthew Stokoe. Was pretty much a whodunnit Hollywood sleaze style. I absolutely loved it, but it's up there with the likes of American Psycho or Samuel Delany's Hogg, which are best described as depraved masterpieces.

I've followed this on with Iain Bank's Wasp Factory. I only started it today so have only managed 30 pages or so, but have to say this is a great read.
 
I finished Corvus by Paul Kearney

As usual when i read Paul Kearney i enjoyed his fine prose style,his mastery of military fantasy,his many compelling characters. He has a rare combo in fantasy these days that he can write good personal,human stories along with grim battles,wars,unglamorous death.

I look forward to third book of the series already, i know it will be about Asurian Empire, the Empire setting that made the first book The Ten Thousand a great epic story.

A book that you get absorbed in was perfectly what i was looking since i need to get my grove back when it comes to reading my own books.
 
I finished the first 2 books in the Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy. I'd already read the first but didn't remember it well and it was as entertaining as I recalled. I felt the need for a break from the insanity before finishing off the series.

So right now I'm reading Foundation and Empire by Asimov. The first didn't necessarily blow me away, but it was intriguing enough to read on and I hear the 3 core books are more than the sum of their parts so I figure I'll stick it out.
 
Mouse said:
And now started I was a Rat by Phillip Pullman and loving it. And also a self published novel which I promised to review... although there's a few errors in it which keep throwing me out.
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Mmm that's one I want to read. I love his Dark Materials trilogy (will keep mixing him up in my head with Garth Nix though).

Still reading 'I shall wear Midnight'. I don't like all of Pratchett, although I do think he's one of the finest writers around at the moment, but his witches are amongst my favorite. He reminds me a bit of Lewis Carroll somehow, maybe it's the word play or something about the sentences. Dunno.
 
I'm about 100 pages into Chris Wooding's 'The black lung captain' and I'm loving it. With most of the stories told in book 1, it's finally time for this characters to grow some more, beyond their great introduction in the first book.
This is the first series that I bought the second book as a first edition (paperback though)...
 
Having finished and enjoyed reading TOMB OF THE UNDERGATES BY SAM SYKES, a nice fantasy debut with a good plot, great character development and plenty to look forward to in the next novel.

Now reading HAWKWOOD AND THE KINGS by PAUL KEARNEY. after being somewhat dissapointed with his TEN THOUSAND (i gave my copy to a friend) I decided to give him a second chance after hearing so many good reviews. I'm glad I did cos so far it's a much better read, looking forward to see how things pan out.... (my only complaint is that the blurb on the back of the book somewhat negates the end of the first book)
 
Mouse said:
Read it! It's not very long and I'm racing through it at the mo. Tis a good little story.
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Just finished the Pratchett. His stories wrap themselves up in intricate and unexpected ways, and they are deceptively simple too. Wish I could write like him. Going to add the Pullman to my 'to buy' list. Might treat myself if tomorrow's tube strike is the all hell it usually is (meant a 1.5hr walk for me to get in last two times).
 
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