April's Aspiring Adventures Along Allegorical Avenues

[Fried Egg]

I have just launched myself at The Worm Ouroboros by Eric R Eddison - is it supposed to be funny?

Yes! There's definitely a lot of humour in there anyway, if not an out-right comedy.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Yes! There's definitely a lot of humour in there anyway, if not an out-right comedy.

Oh Good! because I laughed out loud at the phrase "the unvintaged sea" and the sequence where Gorice cheated at the 'wrastling' by shoving his fingers up his opponent's nose - and the spat of "Not fairs" that followed - had me giggling.

 

[SirSamuelVimes]

I loved Unwind, SirSamuelVimes, and I bought the next two. I haven't had the courage to read them yet -- I found sections of Unwind so intense they still give me (waking) nightmares.

It is a really intense book. It's shocking that it is of the young adult genre. One scene in particular, the scene that showed the process of unwinding, still sticks with me to this day.

The second one was really good, and kept pace with the first one in my opinion. It's definitely worth a read, once you build up the courage.

 

[Hex]

That was indeed the scene I struggled with -- I wasn't even able to read it properly, but skipped until it was over. Ugh. Now I've remembered it.

It's surprising how dark a lot of YA is, though. There's a Garth Nix called Shade's Children which is horribly dark, and I found The Hunger Games pretty appalling too -- especially the last book. But Unwind definitely won.

Cinder turned out to be the first in a series, somewhat to my irritation. I liked it enough to pursue the next story with the library.

I'm reading Stormlord Rising now. Glenda Larke writes well and builds a seriously clever world. I'm really enjoying the books.

 

[j d worthington]

Oh Good! because I laughed out loud at the phrase "the unvintaged sea" and the sequence where Gorice cheated at the 'wrastling' by shoving his fingers up his opponent's nose - and the spat of "Not fairs" that followed - had me giggling.

As F.E. says, there is indeed a lot of humor there, and some quite intentionally funny parts. it also has its tragic aspects, and a lot of simply magical (in the sense of magical storytelling/writing) impact as well.

At any rate, glad you're enjoying it....

At the moment, I've been going through The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. So far, I've only read the first three: "The Lady's Maid's Bell", "The Eyes", and "Afterward". The last I've read before (in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural), but the other two I have not. Very well done; very understated; though the first two had rather less impact than I had expected from Wharton. I suppose with "The Eyes", it was that I had guessed the "secret" early on, which diminished any surprise there... yet this only very slightly diminished the satisfaction of the tale. In the case of both this and "The Lady's Maid's Bell", I think it was more that they felt a bit too conventional, even though they really aren't. Still, quite good; just not what I would put in the very first rank.

On the other hand, "Afterward", which is also quite subtle and understated, simply gets nastier on repeated readings. Once you know the "twist", the implications of what happens -- as well as what may have happened prior to the story -- becomes increasingly disturbing. Here she definitely hit the mark spot on....

 

[ratsy]

I'm still reading Scott Lynch - Republic of theives but am having a really hard time staying interested. Maybe because its been 5-6 years since the last one...I dont know...kind of dull. Im 200 pages in and nothjng much has happened..I do enjoy the flashbacks more than the story too.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Just finished "Insurgent" (second book in the "Divergent" trilogy). That was okay but nowhere near as good as the first book.

Now determinedly plowing through Stephen King's huge doorstop of a time-travel tale "11/22/63"...

 

[ratsy]

Bluestocking- I really enjoyed that King book. I dont think it was for everyone but it had me turning pages.

 

[Bick]

Got bored with Alan Dean Foster's Bloodhype, just totally disconnected to the other books

ADF started to write this as a standalone novel apparently, but two thirds of the way through his publisher convinced him to make it a Flinx book, so they appear late on! This is perhaps why it reads as a bit disjointed.

 

[biodroid]

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds

 

[Randy M.]

[...]At the moment, I've been going through The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. So far, I've only read the first three: "The Lady's Maid's Bell", "The Eyes", and "Afterward". The last I've read before (in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural), but the other two I have not. Very well done; very understated; though the first two had rather less impact than I had expected from Wharton. I suppose with "The Eyes", it was that I had guessed the "secret" early on, which diminished any surprise there... yet this only very slightly diminished the satisfaction of the tale. In the case of both this and "The Lady's Maid's Bell", I think it was more that they felt a bit too conventional, even though they really aren't. Still, quite good; just not what I would put in the very first rank.

On the other hand, "Afterward", which is also quite subtle and understated, simply gets nastier on repeated readings. Once you know the "twist", the implications of what happens -- as well as what may have happened prior to the story -- becomes increasingly disturbing. Here she definitely hit the mark spot on....

It's been awhile since I read it, but I remember thinking "Afterward" very fine, indeed. I also have a memory of it reading very well in conjunction to "Pomegranate Seed," though I don't remember why I thought so at the time.

Randy M.

 

[j d worthington]

It's been awhile since I read it, but I remember thinking "Afterward" very fine, indeed. I also have a memory of it reading very well in conjunction to "Pomegranate Seed," though I don't remember why I thought so at the time.

Randy M.

Yes, it certainly deserved inclusion in Great Tales; one of the most original and chilling (even on repeated readings) ghostly tales I've ever encountered... and I've been an intense fan of the genre since I was able to read (50 years and counting). I'm looking forward to "Pomegranate Seed", which I've heard very good things about, though I'm not quite sure when I'll get to that one... I hope by the end of the week or early next week.

In the meantime, I'm mixing this with James Branch Cabell's The High Place (revised ed.), as it's been a while since I got back to my Cabellian reading... and I recall this one being quite good; something which has so far been upheld by this rereading. Beautifully written, and even within the first couple of chapters showing to great advantage Cabell's blending of ironic humor and pathos. To me, he remains one of the very best at writing "comedies" which have such a poignant core to them that they can move me deeply both to laughter and tears....

 

[Bick]

Now reading book two of CJ Cherryh's Faded Sun trilogy, "Shon'jir". Didn't I read that someone else was already reading that this month?

 

[The Bluestocking]

Bluestocking- I really enjoyed that King book. I dont think it was for everyone but it had me turning pages.

I'm getting through it a few pages at a time before bedtime. It's been okay so far. Hopefully I'll have finished it by the end of the month. It's a HUGE book - killer on the wrists haha!

 

[AE35Unit]

Gave up with Great Gatsby. Just dull and boring. With dull foppish characters. Life's too short...

Gonna read Empire of the Sun by J G Ballard. Been on my TBR pile for ages!

 

[Grunkins]

I finished Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand last night. It had been about a year and a half since I finished her Liveship Traders trilogy. I'd been saving The Tawny Man book, knowing how good they would be, and that once they are done, Fitz and company are done. Turns now that is not the case - new Fitz books are on the horizon.

Returning to Hobb's world and characters is like returning to a loving embrace. Her writing is so rich and full of such emotional depth, I sink into her books more than read them. Hers are probably the most immersive books I've ever read. The experience for me is somewhere between reading and day dreaming. She is able to activate some dreaming portion of my brain while I'm still awake. And of course she manipulates my emotions like no other writer.

 

[hitmouse]

Just finished The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, which is terrific. I bought it after reading To Say Nothing Of The Dog, which was the most refreshing, clever and funny book I read last year. Doomsday Book has the sparkle and absurdity of TSNOTD, but it is also very moving and sad.

Has anyone read Blackout?

Prior to that I read The Meat Tree by Gwyneth Lewis.

This is one of a series published by the excellent Seren Books retelling the ancient Welsh myths of the Mabinogion, in this case the story of Blodeuwedd, a woman who is created from flowers.

I have read several of these and enjoyed them. This one, which has a SF setting is no exception. It starts when an elderly man and his female apprentice, who work as deep space salvagers out of Mars come across an ancient solar wind powered spaceship, clearly a reference to the one in Arthur C Clarke's Sunjammer. The ship, long deserted, apparently had a crew of 3, and pretty much the only clue to what happened might be in a working VR game set. The two salvagers plug in and start playing, recognising the mythical Welsh setting. It all goes off in quite surprising directions from there.

Gwyneth Lewis has good form, being made Wales' first National Poet. She also won the Crown at the National Eisteddfod (it doesn't get much more prestigious than that in Welsh.) Her words are the ones over the entrance to the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay:

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I'm still reading Scott Lynch - Republic of theives but am having a really hard time staying interested. Maybe because its been 5-6 years since the last one...I dont know...kind of dull. Im 200 pages in and nothjng much has happened..I do enjoy the flashbacks more than the story too.

It's not quite as good as the preceding books, for sure. I also enjoyed the flashback story better. There was one aspect of the book that annoyed me a bit, but I won't spoil anything for you. However, I'm still eagerly awaiting the next installment.


I finished my non-fiction read of From Dust to Life. Not as good as I had hoped, although still interesting.


Now I'm reading A Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

 

[ratsy]

It's not quite as good as the preceding books, for sure. I also enjoyed the flashback story better. There was one aspect of the book that annoyed me a bit, but I won't spoil anything for you. However, I'm still eagerly awaiting the next installment.


I finished my non-fiction read of From Dust to Life. Not as good as I had hoped, although still interesting.


Now I'm reading A Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

Lady, the flashbacks are the best part so far. The meat of the story has nothing to keep me turning. Its not often I read a book so slow...there is so much I have that I want to read but I usually refuse to put a book down. I will finish it, just might take another month!

 

[BigBadBob141]

"Sex And Violence In Zero-G", the collected near space stories of Allen Steele.
These are a collection of his stories set in Earth orbit, on the Moon or on Mars and farther out.
They all share the same Universe as his 1st novel "Orbital Decay" and on the whole are just as good.
As rating goes I would rank Steele pretty high along with Larry Niven and John Varley for hard core, high tech SF.