What are you reading in August?

[Fried Egg]

Right now I'm vacillating between "Viriconium" by M. John Harrison, "The Complete Collected Short Stories: Volume One: 1944-1953" by Roald Dahl and "Intrusions" by Robert Aickman.

 

[ratsy]

I finished the Golden Fool and have started my reread of Fool's Fate in preparation of the new one coming out on August 12th. I'm not sure if I will get through it by the time the new book comes since this one is over 900 pages! I've been enjoying them but I am looking forward to getting to other things in my TBR pile afterwards.

 

[Void]

At the moment I'm re-reading Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles (well the first two anyway!) ahead of 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' being released in October. I know that it's going to be a side story to the main series, but it feels like such a long time since I read them that I'm in need of a memory refresh!

 

[hitmouse]

Right now I'm vacillating between "Viriconium" by M. John Harrison, "The Complete Collected Short Stories: Volume One: 1944-1953" by Roald Dahl and "Intrusions" by Robert Aickman.

Dahl's short stories are brilliantly crafted gems, often macabre, and nothing like his children's fiction. I think I read somewhere that he spent about 12 months honing each story.

Viriconium is pretty good.

 

[Grunkins]

I'm about half way through Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence.
After that, well I'm torn about whether to start Daniel Abraham's The Widow House or save it for my holiday.

Ah! Thanks for the reminder. The Widow's House comes out today. Need to buy it.

I finished the Golden Fool and have started my reread of Fool's Fate in preparation of the new one coming out on August 12th. I'm not sure if I will get through it by the time the new book comes since this one is over 900 pages! I've been enjoying them but I am looking forward to getting to other things in my TBR pile afterwards.

I'm reading The Golden Fool (for the first time) right now. Robin Hobb is so goddamned good it hurts. She's right at the top of my list of favorite writers; every book I've read of hers is a masterpiece.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I just finished The Paper Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg. Amusing premise and a quick read. I don't know if it is supposed to be YA or not, but it felt that way to me. It's one of the books in Amazon's Kindle First program, where Prime members get to choose for free one of four new releases the month before they come out.

Last month (though I didn't get around to mentioning it here) I chose Inamorata by Megan Chance, which was enjoyable in quite a different way. Set in 19th century Venice, definitely fantasy/horror, but likely to be shelved under literary fiction because of the (intentionally) creepy relationship between the male and female twin characters, at once repulsive and sympathetic.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Some things I've recently read:

The Loser by Thomas Bernhard. The narrator was once an aspiring pianist who made friends with two fellow students while studying under Horowitz. One was Wetheimer, and the other was Glenn Gould. Gould's brilliance diverts his two friends, both promising pianists in their own right, from their pianistic ambitions. The narrator becomes a man of leisure, ineffectually working on an essay about Gould, while Wertheimer descends into reclusive eccentricity, eventually killing himself. The novel is about genius, despair, misanthropy, friendship and ultimately a kind of despairing idealism.

The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson. The pacing and the subtle build-up of menace, as well as the ambiguous, suggestive speculations about the nature of the threat all worked immensely well for me.

Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolano. A playful, satirical book, I liked this a lot.

 

[Parson]

I have finished The Handmaid's Tale, which I thought was brilliant. I finished my fifth re-read of On Basilisk Station, still reads like a winner.

I've started my fifth re-read of The Honor of the Queen by David Weber. And I'm listing to Firefly Beach by Meira Pentermann. So far it reminds me a little of a quiet little pastoral, but it's supposed to be a mystery, so I'm enjoying a rather long build up.

Teresa Edgerton: I looked at the Prime Free Books and saw that The Paper Magician was themed as S.F. I was interested. When I read the tease it sounded a lot more like Fantasy. Was there anything in the book that made it S.F.? Was there anything in it that you particularly liked?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I looked at the Prime Free Books and saw that The Paper Magician was themed as S.F. I was interested. When I read the tease it sounded a lot more like Fantasy. Was there anything in the book that made it S.F.?

Nope. I can't think of a single thing that would make it science fiction instead of fantasy. Maybe they are just lumping science fiction and fantasy together.

Was there anything in it that you particularly liked?

The thing I liked the most -- which I imagine is not likely to appeal to you -- is the origami-type magic. As for plot and characterization, it's light reading. I read it in a few hours.

 

[Lord Soth]

I finished the Golden Fool and have started my reread of Fool's Fate in preparation of the new one coming out on August 12th. I'm not sure if I will get through it by the time the new book comes since this one is over 900 pages! I've been enjoying them but I am looking forward to getting to other things in my TBR pile afterwards.

Yeah I have the same problem, before Erikson's last came out I thought it would be a good idea to re-read the whole of the Malazan series, no small feat! Needless to say I started struggling at about book 9, great as they are you can have too much of a (single type of good thing) in one go.

I try switch between sci-fi / fantasy alternately, allows my brain to cope and not get muddled between series.

 

[Kzinti]

Probably something by Ted Chiang. I've yet ot read Understand.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Now zooming through Outlander (the book) after watching the first episode of the TV adaptation...

 

[Parson]

Nope. I can't think of a single thing that would make it science fiction instead of fantasy. Maybe they are just lumping science fiction and fantasy together.

The thing I liked the most -- which I imagine is not likely to appeal to you -- is the origami-type magic. As for plot and characterization, it's light reading. I read it in a few hours.

Thanks for the info. I would guess that you are right about the origami-type magic not appealing to me. I think I'll take a pass.

If you are a member of Prime or Kindle Unlimited, you might want to take a go at "Firefly Beach" by Meira Pentermann, it's free there and $2.99 otherwise. It was listed as a mystery, and it might get there, I'm on chapter 8 of 30, but there is an odd light (ghost?) which is driving the story. Its clearly headed into Fantasy territory but with modern setting and avoiding (I hope!) vampires, werewolves, magic, etc. I like it quite a bit so far, and for me that's saying something for a book which I think is best described as Fantasy.

 

[Toby Frost]

Our Lady of Darkness, by Fritz Leiber. It's a good idea with some powerful moments, but marred by unrealistic dialogue and a general campy style. It's set in San Francisco in the 1970's, and I think it's dated pretty badly.

 

[Vertigo]

Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolano. A playful, satirical book, I liked this a lot.

I've been wondering about that one, but been a bit put off by the blurb which doesn't sound too inspiring.

...Its clearly headed into Fantasy territory but with modern setting and avoiding (I hope!) vampires, werewolves, magic, etc. I like it quite a bit so far, and for me that's saying something for a book which I think is best described as Fantasy.

I thought you loved vampires Parson!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks, Parson. I do have Kindle Unlimited (at least I'm on the thirty day free trial and might keep it after that) so I'll take a look at that book, although contemporary settings are not usually my favorite.

 

[Vertigo]

Osiris by E J Swift - I was worried about whether I'd find this one a dud; I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be going on to the sequel. More thoughts here.

 

[HareBrain]

How does this sound for a plot?

A loser joins an RPG games company founded by his old high-school friends, and finds a mysterious "bug" that causes the occasional in-game appearance of a murderous sword, possibly coded by the company's now-dead founder, and which makes him recall his nerdy adolescence.

Does that sound great? No, it sounds RUBBISH!!!! So it's a good job I hadn't read any such summary before buying You, by Austin Grossman, which is turning out to be a really compelling read.

 

[Bick]

You're right HareBrain, that does sound like like a poor plot!

I'm rereading Niven's collection "Tales of Known Space" at the moment. These are not the most famous shorts set in known space (those are the Beowulf Schaeffer stories collected in "Neutron Star"), but they are terrific on the whole. I'm reminded how very much I enjoy Niven (particularly his earlier stuff) - he's among my top few favourite SF authors.

 

[HareBrain]

You're right HareBrain, that does sound like like a poor plot!

Needless to say, as soon as I praised the book it sat back on its laurels and started to fall apart.

Probably only worthwhile for those nostalgic about early RPG videogames, but engaging enough. Not really sure why it was in the SFF section, to be honest.