It's November. What are you reading?

[GOLLUM]

OK everyone.

Feel free to post what you have been reading in the month of November.

 

[tobl]

Reading Kris Longknife 12 - Tenacious by michael shepherd. good as ever.

 

[Vince W]

High Rise by J. G. Ballard. It will make you think twice about living in one.

 

[Juliana]

Yesterday I read the first of Gail Carriger's YA series, Curtsies and Conspiracies. Very enjoyable, though not sure how much sense it would make without having previously read her Parasol Protectorate books for the world building...

 

[biodroid]

Midnight by Dean Koontz but have to finish Odd Thomas first, been really busy since moving offices into a crappy part of Johannesburg.

 

[kythe]

I've just started "At the Mountains of Madness" by Lovecraft. I've read a number of his short stories throughout this past year and I like his style, so I decided I should read his book.

Its starting off a little dull. There is the usual first person narration of "I was forced to tell this story but no one believes me....", which seems a common theme for Lovecraft. This story is also extremely descriptive about the party's early exploration, perhaps because it is longer than his others. I'm hoping some action picks up.

 

[Bick]

I've just started "At the Mountains of Madness" by Lovecraft. I've read a number of his short stories throughout this past year and I like his style, so I decided I should read his book.

Its starting off a little dull. There is the usual first person narration of "I was forced to tell this story but no one believes me....", which seems a common theme for Lovecraft. This story is also extremely descriptive about the party's early exploration, perhaps because it is longer than his others. I'm hoping some action picks up.

Yes, my memory of this is that it's a bit slow. I think it does pick up, but not so much as I'd have liked.

 

[hitmouse]

Yes, my memory of this is that it's a bit slow. I think it does pick up, but not so much as I'd have liked.

My very old copy of MOM has a number of other good short stories , notably Dreams in the Witch House (which gave me the genuine chills back in the day) and The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath. MOM itself is OK but I have never bothered to reread it.

 

[dask]

Finished this last night:

Really good. Won't be my last Brand.
Started this today:

An "as told by its participants" history. So far, hard to put down.

 

[j d worthington]

I've just started "At the Mountains of Madness" by Lovecraft. I've read a number of his short stories throughout this past year and I like his style, so I decided I should read his book.

Its starting off a little dull. There is the usual first person narration of "I was forced to tell this story but no one believes me....", which seems a common theme for Lovecraft. This story is also extremely descriptive about the party's early exploration, perhaps because it is longer than his others. I'm hoping some action picks up.

All that material is necessary, however, for what comes later. It's a more complex work than his shorter tales (with a few exceptions, such as "The Colour Out of Space"), and subtle things in that beginning are preparations for much that comes later, in one form or another. It is also a piece which tends to polarize people a bit, and one which, for many (myself included) grows more impressive with each rereading.

At any rate, hope you enjoy it... but I suggest reading it carefully rather than rushing through it....

 

[tobl]

Reading voices from beyond from simon r green i love the ghostbusters. go J.C.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

 

[Extollager]

Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Plato's Republic, the Scull-Hammond extended edition of Tolkien's Adventures of Tom Bombadil, etc.

 

[Randy M.]

All that material is necessary, however, for what comes later. It's a more complex work than his shorter tales (with a few exceptions, such as "The Colour Out of Space"), and subtle things in that beginning are preparations for much that comes later, in one form or another. It is also a piece which tends to polarize people a bit, and one which, for many (myself included) grows more impressive with each rereading.

At any rate, hope you enjoy it... but I suggest reading it carefully rather than rushing through it....

I find myself with two responses somewhat at odds with each other:

1) I agree with J. D. Lovecraft was never about action, but some of his stories do proceed faster than others. Given the length of the story, I think he took pains to set up the pay-off.

2) I have to admit my last reading of "The Shadow Out of Time" felt almost painfully slow. It made me wonder if he didn't feel more at home in fantasy/horror, where his narrative feels more fluid. Maybe as he crept toward a more s.f.-like base for his stories, he worked harder to ground them, to make them seem believable, and the effort may show in the story's progression. Makes me wonder what he'd have moved on to if he had lived longer.

I vaguely recall coming across comments on-line by Jessica Amanda Salmonson once that she far preferred HPL's fantasy to his s.f. At the time I thought that odd given the stature of AtMoM in particular, but now I wonder if maybe this might be some part of what she meant.

Randy M.

 

[Foxbat]

The Book Of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.

 

[Vertigo]

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett. Not one of his best but good all the same.

 

[Mangara]

Antartica by Kim Stanley Robinson. Only read chapter one and it is great reading thus far.

Let Our Fame Be Great by Oliver Bullough : A people's history of the Caucus mountains. About half way through, some absolutely shocking treatment received at the hands of the Russians. Genocides, mass relocations and intimidation seems to be the order of the day since the 1800's.

Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf. Fascinating but heavy book chronicling the science of reading. I think it tries too much, but I found it incredibly interesting. Just finished this one.

 

[TheShadowsandSilence]

2061: Odyssey Three - Arthur C. Clarke. I'm ambivalent about Clarke's writing, his characterization is pretty bland and shallow but he is superb when it comes to the cosmic themes in his work. You can clearly see Olaf Stapledon's influence in some of the grander passages.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Crooksy, I really liked that. Found the start a shade clunky but it's very good after that.

Lovecraft's outside my usual range of reading but I have read The Mountains of Madness. I thought it was interesting.

Currently on King of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence. Maybe a quarter of the way into it. I liked Prince of Thorns, and the follow-up seems even better.

 

[tobl]

i loved the books... until the final pages of the final one.it kind of disapointed me