What are you reading in August?

[Jo Zebedee]

Just read Half a King in about two days. I enjoyed it - fast-paced, black and white characters - but found it lacked the depth to make it a standout young adult book.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I'm 1/2 way through Goblin Moon on Kindle DXG from Smashwords.

Just finished a load of School story books (Angela Brazil, Enid Blyton, Brent-Dyer, LT Mead, PG Wodehouse, Anne Digby:Trebezion Series, Patton:Worst Witch and others). It's research Many on Gutenburg, The recent ones all paperback.

 

[Parson]

I've just finished "What She Left Behind" and was blown away! I found myself so emotionally involved in the story sometimes there were tears in my eyes.

Ellen Marie Wiseman has written a gripping tale.

 

[Bick]

A couple of decades ago I read his 4 Lords of the Diamond, which was cracking good S.F. with a mystery arc over all 4 of the books.

Thanks for the feedback Parson. I'll look out for more Chalker in used book shops. The Well of Souls book is interesting - its certainly SF, but the SF/tech idea is to create a bizarre self-contained world, which includes certain fantasy tropes. I'm fine with this, as its quite unusual, and very readable, though it does remind me quite strongly of Farmer with his Riverworld, and World of Tiers worlds. I suspect Chalker was a Farmer fan, as those series mainly predate his own work.

 

[Vertigo]

A couple of decades ago I read his 4 Lords of the Diamond, which was cracking good S.F. with a mystery arc over all 4 of the books.

Also I started Weber's "Oath of Swords (War God) hasn't pulled my chain yet.

That's interesting, Parson. I've not read any Chalker but I have a couple of his books that I got as freebie ebooks from Phoenix Picks, but wasn't inspired by the blurb and they've just sat unread Coincidentally one of them is the first in that series. Maybe I should shuffle it forward in my pile!

 

[soulsinging]

Finished Zelazney's Amber Chronicles. I can see how they influenced GRRM, but I felt there was a point of diminishing returns in his writing. Too much time devoted to several-page descriptions of traveling through shadow that made me think of a good LSD trip more than a good adventure. Still, worth the read.

Now I'm finishing Doyle's Study in Scarlet as I continue my slow progress through the Complete Sherlock Holmes. Really I'm biding time as I try to make up my mind about which classic fantasy series to revisit. On the lighter side, there's Harry Potter, which I've only read once, and the Dragonlance Chronicles, which I've read multiple times though not in years. On the heavier side stands revisiting the first 3 WoT books (haven't touched them since HS) so I can read summary of the rest and then check out Sanderson's conclusion, or my first re-read of ASOIAF now that I've completed the HBO series.

Hopefully Sherlock will be able to guide me in this conundrum.

 

[Extollager]

Reading Asimov's Pebble in the Sky a few pages at a time in the evenings.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Just started Water for Elephants. I like the voice and character, let's see where it goes.

 

[Parson]

I've stopped reading Oath of Swords. It seemed that I was dropped in the middle of a story with no handles on who was who, or what was what, or why I should care. So in the end I don't care and it will sit unread for the foreseeable future.

I've finished, What She Left Behind and it was almost too good. I found myself making allowances in my schedule that I probably shouldn't so that I could finish it.

I've moved on to The Short Victorious War by David Weber, and am totally mesmerized for the fifth time. Gads, I love these early Honor Harrington books. My new audible book is Brilliance by Marcus Sakey. So far I've liked it a lot. This book is a few years old and suffers from being very near future S.F. and so some of the dates are past. The tech is mostly well in advance of what we have so no real need for those dates. I've always thought that if I wrote a near future S.F. I would at least make the dates 40 or 50 years in the future so that it would not feel dated quite so soon.

 

[Parson]

That's interesting, Parson. I've not read any Chalker but I have a couple of his books that I got as freebie ebooks from Phoenix Picks, but wasn't inspired by the blurb and they've just sat unread Coincidentally one of them is the first in that series. Maybe I should shuffle it forward in my pile!

I think I would shuffle it forward. It's a very interesting set up and the mystery is maddening (in a good way).

I've stopped reading Oath of Swords. I felt like I was dropped into a story where I didn't know who was who, or what was what, or why I should care. So I stopped caring and suspect that the book will remain unread for the foreseeable future.

I've started reading The Short Victorious War, for the fifth time and am reading through it furiously. Gad, I really love these early Honor Harrington books. Weber really got it right here.

For my audible book I've started Brilliance by Marcus Sakey. Its the first of the Brilliance Sage and so far I've liked it a lot. It is a slightly older book of near future S.F. In fact to this point I would say that this is the books greatest weakness. Some of the dates are now in the past and there was no reason to make these dates this close because the tech is almost all well in advance of anything we have now, but not "magic" tech. I think if Marcus had picked a 2050 date for beginning the story it would have longer legs.

 

[Vertigo]

Wetware by Rudy Rucker. Sadly this was massively disappointing and I failed to even finish it. My reasons here.

By way of compensation I'm planning on reading Iain M Banks' Surface Detail next, which will sadly only leave one Banks SF book unread I shall maybe keep that one tucked away to crown a re-read of all his Culture books.

Parson, is that now the second Weber book you have hated? I have to admit the cover has kept putting me off that one! Oh, and I have moved Lilith: A Snake in the Grass two thirds of the way up my pile, but that still puts it at number 30, so may be a while yet!

 

[HareBrain]

Had a bash at a library book, Dreadnought by Cherie Priest, steampunk set in an alternate (and extended) American Civil War.

This was an improvement on her Boneshaker in that it wasn't printed in gimmicky (and hard-to-read) sepia, but shared the characteristic that I just didn't care that much. The basic story is that a nurse serving in a war hospital gets a message that her biological father, a man she hasn't seen since the age of ten and with whom she seems to have no emotional connection, is dying on the other side of the country. So she drops everything and undertakes the long and potentially hazardous journey to see him. Even she doesn't really know why.

There's no hint that anything rides on this meeting, and nothing's at stake apart from her safety, or the safety of the large cast of throwaway characters she meets en route. In terms of fantasy, we have glimpses of what seem to be an unlikely kind of 19thC mecha, and a giant armoured train the rebels seem to be too brainless to protect themselves from by blowing up the railway tracks. Nicely written, but seemingly pointless, and I gave up after a hundred pages.

Have now bought Christopher Priest's (no relation, I assume -- and no, I'm not just working my way along a shelf) The Prestige, which I expect to be a lot better.

 

[Randy M.]

Recently finished Karl Edward Wagner's horror collection, In a Lonely Place and the later republication with additional stories, Where the Summer Ends:
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/1829251-post588.html
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/1831792-post589.html

Now about 2/3 through Marie Belloc Lowndes The Lodger, an old-school thriller first published in 1913, famous in its day for its depiction of Jack the Ripper, the image of whom the novel seems to have etched on the collective memory. Movie adaptations didn't prepare me for its focus on the lodger's landlady. If you enjoy older work, this is really very effective so far.


Randy M.

 

[HareBrain]

Oh, apparently I'm not reading The Prestige after all, because the left-hand two inches of every fourth page is missing! Grrr.

 

[Parson]

Parson, is that now the second Weber book you have hated? I have to admit the cover has kept putting me off that one! Oh, and I have moved Lilith: A Snake in the Grass two thirds of the way up my pile, but that still puts it at number 30, so may be a while yet!

In fact Oath of Swords is far less readable than Out of the Dark. The later was pretty fair until the "magical" ending. Oath of Swords is just plain bad. Now granted I am not a Fantasy Fan, but I have read the occasional Brian Sanderson, Robin Hobb, etc. and this was no where near their standards.

 

[Grimward]

Finished The Dragons of Ordinary Farm, and am moving on to Melanie Rawn's The Ruins of Ambrai.

 

[Juliana]

Reading Sam Sykes' Tome of the Undergates. Rambles on a bit but the characters are a lot of fun. I'm especially enjoying the main character's budding romance which seems to involve lots of swearing and beating each other up.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Currently reading Dragonfly In Amber (the second book in the Outlander series).

 

[Darkranger85]

I'm thinking of rereading my all time favorite book:

Homeland by R.A. Salvatore.

 

[Vertigo]

In fact Oath of Swords is far less readable than Out of the Dark. The later was pretty fair until the "magical" ending. Oath of Swords is just plain bad. Now granted I am not a Fantasy Fan, but I have read the occasional Brian Sanderson, Robin Hobb, etc. and this was no where near their standards.

Interesting I wonder if he's just not very good at that sword, sorcery and magic style of fantasy as he certainly does historical and Safehold style very well.