It's November. What are you reading?

[Hex]

@The Judge -- the Lighthouse duet were the first of her books that I read, so I am especially fond of them. Now you mention them, actually, I just might re-read them (again).

@HareBrain -- I loved Legend absolutely and passionately, and re-read it often. I think I was about 13 when I first read it, though, and that may well have been important.

Finished The Iron Trial. It was very enjoyable, though it felt looser than the stories I'm used to from Holly Black -- that might be part of a collaboration, though, that it needs to live in two people's heads instead of one. There were shades of Harry Potter in the story, mostly a sort of riff on some of the themes (a child who turns out to be the chosen one/ going to wizard school/ someone who is bullied in the normal world etc) but one scene made me twitch a little because it was so, so close to one from The Philosopher's Stone

Spoiler

(the scene where Harry is in hospital at the end and wakes to find Dumbledore sitting beside him)

. It's probably so familiar to me because the kids make me listen to Harry Potter over and over again in the car, but it bothered me a bit.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Though I'd try Legend by David Gemmell, cos it's famous an' all, but I'm really struggling to find what people see in it.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this - positive or negative - in the Gemmell forum after.

 

[Randy M.]

Just finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Terrific novel about a flawed man, a leader and hero in his clan, whose strength is his weakness. This takes place just as white Christian missionaries establish themselves in Africa and with neither understanding of nor concern for native culture and customs assume command. Perhaps oddly, I find parallels to this with Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men and with George Eliot's Adam Bede.

In my readings the theme of the great man brought low (like the Warren) is fairly common, but the other, of the changes in a society and roles of the people in it at a pivotal period of their history (like the Eliot) I've come across somewhat less often, notably in a work like LOTR. The sense of loss and melancholy I felt with Tolkein comes through here, too.

Randy M.

 

[Bick]

Things Fall Apart is certainly great, Randy. If you liked it, somewhat similar (though longer) is Ben Okri's The Famished Road, which I read a long time ago. I think it may have won the Booker.

 

[Extollager]

Achebe's No Longer at Ease is, I think, kind of a sequel to Things Fall Apart & worth a reading.

 

[Bick]

I've now got two things on the go, and I wondered, as a thought experiment, whether two more dissimilar books have ever been read at the same time. On the one hand I'm reading for light relief, L.E. Modessit's Magic of Recluce. Every now and then I seek out a new fantasy series to see if it hits the spot. Bit slow so far, but I'll stick at it. The second book I've picked up is the new Penguin Classics translation of Marcus Tullius Cicero's collected speeches, In Defence of the Republic. Last night I read the introduction and Cicero's speech Against Verres. Enjoying it very much. I find I'm very interested in late Republic/early Imperial Rome, and have read around the subject a little bit in the past (Suetonius, Tacitus, etc.)

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'm about to start Gracie: A Love Story (1988) by George Burns, a tribute to his spouse and co-star Gracie Allen.

 

[Parson]

Finished The Giver by Lois Lowry. This is a haunting story which had a message which will leave me thinking about it possibly the rest of my life. It is easy to see why it won the John Newbery Medal. The style and the story were both solid, but there are times the moral of the story is very much more important than the story itself and this is one. I highly recommend it. I started the second in the series (actually because they are short I'm a third through it already) called Gathering Blue. As of yet there is no obvious connection between the two. They seem not to share any of the same characters, nor do they seem to share the same time. I'm left wondering what connects them and why they are considered companion books. Will report here if I solve that mystery, but Gathering Blue seems to have a better story than The Giver did. It remains to be seen if it is as weighty a book.

 

[Hex]

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Apparently the Iron Trial did get me over my twitching.

It's fun so far.

 

[HareBrain]

Would love to hear your thoughts on this - positive or negative - in the Gemmell forum after.

I've put Legend aside; I just didn't find anything interesting in it by about page 60 -- not the world, the characters, the plot, nor anything the characters did, said or thought. I then read a few reviews on Amazon: the high-score ones made it sound the kind of thing I wouldn't like, and the low-score reviews told me why I didn't like it so far. But I might try diving in halfway through sometime and seeing if I can pick up from there.

Now, after another couple of false starts -- Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed and Pyramid by William Golding -- I've started The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King, and so far it's completely got me. I loved Wizard and Glass best of the Dark Tower books I read, and this seems like more of that.

 

[Darkchrome]

All has been dropped in favour of Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch.

Have just finished Rivers of London (and thus realise I have only managed a single measly book this month...) and thought it was brilliant. Just the right balance of clever humour and giblets I'll be adding the rest of the series to the wishlist. They'll be on the pile I keep for 'plane/train journeys, which tend to be 'page-turners' to block out distraction.

Hope Foxglove Summer is keeping up the pace!

 

[Daystrom's Apprentice]

OK everyone.

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

I am presently reading my third Kim Stanley Robinson title, Green Mars. My first exposure to his work was 2312 and I finished Red Mars approximately 3 to 4 weeks ago. His combination of hard science fiction and solid characterization is a very satisfying read!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am presently reading my third Kim Stanley Robinson title, Green Mars. My first exposure to his work was 2312 and I finished Red Mars approximately 3 to 4 weeks ago. His combination of hard science fiction and solid characterization is a very satisfying read!

That is a fine trilogy, and I am allergic to series. Highly recommended.

 

[willwallace]

Just started "The Book of Cthulhu", edited by Ross Lockhart.

 

[biodroid]

When is December's thread coming :-D

 

[Daystrom's Apprentice]

That is a fine trilogy, and I am allergic to series. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the reply, Victoria! Other series I've dipped a toe in were Larry Niven's Known Space books like Ringworld Engineers, Man/Kzin Wars and Fleet of Worlds.

I also completed the Expanse trilogy by James S. A. Corey, they were fantastic! For me, the ongoing adventures of established characters obviously lend an air of familiarity and provides a point for me to "grab ahold" looking forward to recognized settings and character quirks, which I find very fun!

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi folks.

I am about to post the December reading thread.

Cheers.