February's Fortuitous Following Of Fabulous Fiction

[Talysia]

Finished Night Watch, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. The same goes for all of Terry Pratchett's books, actually. Saying that, I'm moving on to the excellent Thud!

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

HMMM..I'm a little surprised by your response. I really quite enjoyed De Camp and Pratt's collaborative work but then it's an awful long time since I read these stories. You're also only a littel way in, so hopefully it picks up for you....

Is that the Masterwork edn?

Yes, the Masterwork edition. Can't say my opinion is improving. These are basically gimmick stories based on the dissonance between the realms visited and our own. On the Sitcom scale I'd place this at Three's Company - somewhat amusing on a slow day.

I'm enjoying Stone's Fall by Iain Pears a lot more. Pears has been increasing his ambition and scope ever since the success of An Instance Of The Fingerpost allowed him to move beyond (excellently plotted, researched and written) art-world mysteries into broader pastures. However, after the erudite and layered The Dream Of Scipio and the complex character study, The Portrait, he seems to be returning to mystery with his latest, but it remains to be seen if things will be quite as straightforward as all that.

 

[Pyan]

Reading Blonde Bombshell by Tom Holt.

More SF-y than his usual style, but with all the trademark TH dizzy shifts.

 

[Rodders]

I should finish Cain's last Stand today so i'll be starting Neal Asher's "The Skinner" tomorrow. (I'm told that this probably isn't the best place to start, but the only other Asher book that i have is halfway through the the Agent Cormac series.)

 

[Fried Egg]

I finished my clutch of four SF Masterworks novels, three of which I had planned and one was a last minute replacement. Overall, not a great bunch. "Pavane" by Keith Roberts and "Eon" by Greg Bear where not as good as I had hoped they would be and "Dr Bloodmoney" was my weakest Philip K. Dick yet. "Forever War" by Joe Haldeman was outstanding however so that was something at least.

Now I plan to read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery and other stories" along side finally finishing off my collection of ghost stories by Oliver Onions.

 

[GOLLUM]

Now I plan to read Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery and other stories"....

I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on this one. I have my copy but will not have time to read it until later in the year. I can PM you a link to a literary podcast discussion on Jackson's Lottery including the "controversy" and significance of that story in particular as well as Jackson's broader place in the American literary canon if you're interested?

 

[Fried Egg]

I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on this one. I have my copy but will not have time to read it until later in the year. I can PM you a link to a literary podcast discussion on Jackson's Lottery including the "controversy" and significance of that story in particular as well as Jackson's broader place in the American literary canon if you're interested?

That sounds interesting...let me read it first and see. You could PM it to me anyway I suppose if it's no trouble.

 

[GOLLUM]

That sounds interesting...let me read it first and see. You could PM it to me anyway I suppose if it's no trouble.

PM me once you've read that story in particular as they sort of give away enough clues during the discussion to hint at the likely ending. OK?

 

[HareBrain]

Just started The Water Theatre by Lindsay Clarke. A brilliant, brilliant writer. Several times, such as while brushing my teeth this morning, I remembered lines from last night's reading and had to go and find them again, to re-experience the sheer joy in a perfectly-turned sentence or image. A lovely dry humour too.

 

[Vertigo]

I should finish Cain's last Stand today so i'll be starting Neal Asher's "The Skinner" tomorrow. (I'm told that this probably isn't the best place to start, but the only other Asher book that i have is halfway through the the Agent Cormac series.)

I think I may have been to blame for that suggestion and as Neal himself said, whilst The Skinner is not the first book in the whole Polity Cycle, it is the first in the Spatterjay series of books, so should be just fine. Bear in mind though that having read it you will probably be forced to go out and buy all the rest anyway

I'm frankly struggling a little with Mieville's The Scar at present; I'm just not finding that it engages me at anything like the level Perdido Street Station did. His use of langague is not nearly as adventurous, and whilst the Armada is a fascinating idea for a city, he just doesn't paint as vivid a picture of it as he did New Crobuzon. I'm approaching half way through right now but my progress is slow....

 

[GOLLUM]

Yes, the Masterwork edition. Can't say my opinion is improving. These are basically gimmick stories based on the dissonance between the realms visited and our own. On the Sitcom scale I'd place this at Three's Company - somewhat amusing on a slow day.

Ouch.... I'll have to do a reread to confirm things in my own mind I think.

Meantime I’ve completed Hungarian Sandor Marai’s 1942 novel Embers. A wise, poignant, eloquent and I think skilfully crafted meditative discourse on the nature of love, loyalty and honour presented in the guise of an intriguingly revealed and suspenseful mystery that lingers after the pages have been closed. I hesitate to claim this as a masterpiece but it is certainly a worthwhile read and comes recommended. My preliminary rating is 9 stars (out of 10) but that may change once I’ve written the review as a kick off to the Beyond The Horizons thread.

Next up is a novel by the brilliant Czech novelist Bouhumil Hrabal, entitled Too Loud A Solitude. Can’t wait to read this one…

 

[purple_kathryn]

Argghhh the Kethani book - the unwanted lend got soaked this morning (the bag I had it in wasn't water proof and it was bucketing). So it's dried but in the way that wet books do, all warped

So I'm having to buy a replacement

 

[Vertigo]

That'll teach you to mumble about unwanted book loans I do sympathise really - I have several unwanted books that were thrust upon me years ago and I don't even know whose they are any longer, just that it wasn't me that bought them.

 

[Hypnos164]

Finished Peter F Hamilton's The Temporal Void (on Kindle - my first ever eBook read) now on The Evolutionary Void (in hefty hardback form).

 

[CyBeR]

I ran into Overlords of War by Gerard Klein in my bookcase today. I honestly don't remember getting this so it's probably one left behind by my roommate.Does anyone know if it's any good or not?

I want to start on The lies of Locke Lamora today, by Scott Lynch. A friend recommended it highly...so why not?

 

[IainRichmond]

Grail (Jacob's Ladder, Book 3)
by Elizabeth Bear

Great finale to the trilogy.

 

[No One]

Okay, so I mentioned this elsewhere, but it doesn't feel...official...until it's in here.

The Gunslinger is down (but not out - never out. Except when he's near death. Then he's out, but he always gets up again) and currently half-way through The Drawing of the Three.

I would say Roland is currently on his feet, but the last I saw of him he was a woman with, oddly enough, no feet.

 

[Lord Soth]

I'm getting close to the end of John Courtenay Grimmwood's The Fallen Blade, not terribly impressed really and dont think I'll be following the series.

On a good note, had an email from Amazon saying my pre-order of Erikson's The Crippled God is on its way! I think a re-read of the Malazan series will soon be called for...

 

[soulsinging]

Just finished The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. It was pretty interesting... not as shocking as one might think given the subject, but that probably has more to do with the fact that serial killers are such popular fodder in media these days (there are at least 3 hacking people up on primetime tv every single night) than anything else. Certain parts didn't age well (schizophrenia as basically synonymous with being a cold-blooded murdering psycho) and it does drag a bit in the middle. However, on the whole it is an engaging read. It finishes strong though and buried amongst the narrator's psychosis is some very subtle but interesting social critique that makes an alarming amount of sense coming from such a horrible character.

Now on to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've heard nothing but raves for this so I have high hopes. I took a crack at Battle Royale (which has a similar plot) but found it boring for such an exciting premise, so hopefully this one lives up to the hype.

 

[Connavar]

The Game Players of Titan by Philip K Dick. It is an improvement over my last PKD book in Dr Bloodmoney. Its a real nutty story,world but also witty,haunting at the same time. Character,prose wise you can see its PKD on top form.