December's Diabolical Deviations (what are you currently reading?)

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Davies is a good one - the Cornish trilogy is my favourite, but everything else is excellent too. It's fascinating how he weaves in all sorts of esoterica from obscure hagiographies to Jungian archetypes into this series.

 

[CyBeR]

I've started reading off my PSP in the last couple of days. Forgot my book at home and found myself with hours to burn with no good game to play on the thing. Hence, reading (God bless the homebrews).

So I've read in a couple of sittings 'World War Z: An oral history of the zombie war' by Max Brooks, which was so good I couldn't believe it. Sure, a couple of things were out of place, and there could've been a greater variety of "voice", but a great book overall.

Now reading 'The last dragonlord' by Joanne Bertin. If anything can describe this novel, it would be "FLUFF". Seriously, it's cute to read, the fantasy setting is...meh... and the characters are at their best compelling. But there's not much going on for the book overall, it just feels like fast food.
And God is the romance annoying.

 

[nomadman]

I have several of the Robertson Davies series. That is the start of the Deptford Trilogy for anyone else who is reading this post. I also have the Cornish and Slaterton trilogies by him. He was an excellent Canadian novelist and someone who should be getting more airplay on this forum I think.

Let me know if you decide to read the remaining 2 books in that series.

Cheers....

I plan to, though I doubt I'll get round to it any time soon. To be honest, I'm not even sure I'll finish Fifth Business before the year is out. Davies' style is rich and detailed in a way that causes me to linger over and reread certain passages. And like Jayaprakash says, it's brimming with deeper currents, some of which I'm sure I've missed.

 

[GOLLUM]

I plan to, though I doubt I'll get round to it any time soon. To be honest, I'm not even sure I'll finish Fifth Business before the year is out. Davies' style is rich and detailed in a way that causes me to linger over and reread certain passages. And like Jayaprakash says, it's brimming with deeper currents, some of which I'm sure I've missed.

All of which translates to the necessity of a reread in a similar vein to a Gene Wolfe....

Enjoy the journey and be sure to post any final thoughts once you've completed your rich repast...

 

[purple_kathryn]

Just started the Blood King by Gail Z Martin 2nd in the chronicles of the necromancer. I read the first one probably a year or more ago though

 

[bluespider100]

Just finished reading The Electric Church and also I ran out of books to read, so I'm just gonna go ahead and re-read stuffs from last year. Now reading The Hammer of God by Arthur C. Clarke.

 

[elvet]

I'm in the middle of Against a Dark Background by Iain. M. Banks. I had thought it was a culture novel, but am enjoying it nonetheless.

 

[No One]

I've just today finished Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora and I rather loved it - many thanks to the Hoopster for another fine recommendation.

I found his writing and his characters to be far more to my personal preferences than in recent attempts to read Erikson or Abercrombie.

So next comes Red Seas Under Red Skies and I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Talysia]

Rereading Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand.

 

[jojajihisc]

Venus Drive - Sam Lipsyte

 

[dask]

Started this today. Messent seems a very erudite editer and evidently enjoys his job explaining the complex terrain of Occult literature. Definitions explode in a supernatural big bang and I won't pretend I can keep all the definitions straight. First there's primal knot of Occult literature itself, then the Gothic novel, the fantastic, the uncanny, the marvelous, the fantastic-uncanny, the fantastic-marvelous. And that's just the introduction! Should keep me out of trouble for a while.

 

[soulsinging]

Finished the Cold Six Thousand today. It's the second in James Ellroy's underworld trilogy (first was American Tabloid) and kind of a conspiracy theory retelling of America in the mid-60s, from cleaning up the JFK assassination to the assassination of RFK and MLK and the escalation of Vietnam. It didn't quite have the same jaw-dropping power of the first, but that's probably just because the first was so unique and engaging that it simply lacked the novelty of reading something unlike anything I'd ever read before. Looking forward to the third, but I'm taking a break first.

Now on to Gabriel Hunt at the Well of Eternity. It was mentioned on here and looks to be a pretty straightforward and fun Indiana Jones style adventure.

 

[Connavar]

Finished the Cold Six Thousand today. It's the second in James Ellroy's underworld trilogy (first was American Tabloid) and kind of a conspiracy theory retelling of America in the mid-60s, from cleaning up the JFK assassination to the assassination of RFK and MLK and the escalation of Vietnam. It didn't quite have the same jaw-dropping power of the first, but that's probably just because the first was so unique and engaging that it simply lacked the novelty of reading something unlike anything I'd ever read before. Looking forward to the third, but I'm taking a break first.

Now on to Gabriel Hunt at the Well of Eternity. It was mentioned on here and looks to be a pretty straightforward and fun Indiana Jones style adventure.

It was pretty straightforward since its an old story type that is much older than Indiana Jones.

But it was pretty fun story exactly what you need if you have little time to read because of work/school.

 

[dask]

Finished THE FRIGHTENED WIFE by Mary Roberts Rinehart. She's a storyteller and can plot with the best of them. The ending to the last story, however, left me truly baffled. Not because I didn't understand what happened but why the characters allowed it to. This made the people innocent of the crime no better than the murderer. Maybe that's what Rinehart was shooting for.

Resumed VATHEK, that well crafted story about one of the most abominable characters in letters. Fortunately where I paused turned out to be a turning point --- at least for me --- and things are progressing smoothly again. Now if it can stay that way til the "damned elusive" end.

 

[Connavar]

Im reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Its funny reading a story that have been so copied,remade,adapated. Sam Spade is an icon that many characters in crime series has tried to be like.

Still different,fun to read the original quality,work.

 

[AE35Unit]

Im reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Its funny reading a story that have been so copied,remade,adapated. Sam Spade is an icon that many characters in crime series has tried to be like.

Still different,fun to read the original quality,work.

I like the film of that-classic! Also the song by Jon and Vangelis

 

[Connavar]

I like the film of that-classic! Also the song by Jon and Vangelis

Im glad i havent seen the film yet, Bogart is wonderful, a fav of mine but he doesnt look like Sam Spade is in the book. A big,tall Blond satan is not Bogart.

Still i look forward seeing the film.

Hammett is big literary hero of mine no matter how cool the film is i couldnt let hollywood go before the original story.

 

[j d worthington]

Finally had a chance to finish the last of my reading of Poe (and will be posting a few thoughts on the Poe thread later) -- a lot of material I'd never seen before, of numerous sorts. A fascinating journey, but something I don't think I'm going to do in such detail again... at least, not for years.

Am now returning to Joshi's I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft... and yes, this is substantially different than H. P. Lovecraft: A Life. Not in general gist, but in the wealth of information which was not in the previous version, both from material he originally had to cut, and from things (both documents and criticism) which have surfaced since. A lot of new insights here, and if anything HPL emerges as an even more complex, fascinating, individual....

To go with this, I will be moving on to a reading (and, in several cases, re-reading) of Hawthorne, most likely combined with a reading of several things by (of all people) Louisa May Alcott... in this case, her "thrillers".....

 

[Talysia]

Moving on to Robin Hobb's The Golden Fool. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed these books.

 

[soulsinging]

Im glad i havent seen the film yet, Bogart is wonderful, a fav of mine but he doesnt look like Sam Spade is in the book. A big,tall Blond satan is not Bogart.

Still i look forward seeing the film.

Hammett is big literary hero of mine no matter how cool the film is i couldnt let hollywood go before the original story.

A wise decision, because the book is excellent. That said, don't hold that change against the movie. The movie is incredible as well, and inspired my avatar. He may not be blond, but Bogey has style and nails Spade better than one could hope. It's one of the rare occasions where I felt the movie did the novel total justice, despite a number of changes. You're in for a treat on both counts!