September: What have you been reading?

[nixie]

Blimey that was quick!

Day off yesterday apart from walking dog all I done was read and occasionally browse the net.

 

[Gnrevolution]

I found Three Body an interesting premise but the characters failed to engage me to the end. I hated Vandermeer - he seems to be a real marmite writer, some love him, some hate him. (And ty for your kind words about Inish Carraig in the thread.)

I'm reading Martina Devlin's The House Where It Happened about witchcraft trials near me. It's interesting because I know the setting but otherwise not engaging enough for my taste.

I'm not sure if was just the translation or the different culture but I struggled to keep track of some of the characters in the three body problem. Da Shi was awesome though, great anti hero. Will defo read the next book once I've grown to love / hate Vandermeer first

 

[hitmouse]

I'm not sure if was just the translation or the different culture but I struggled to keep track of some of the characters in the three body problem. Da Shi was awesome though, great anti hero. Will defo read the next book once I've grown to love / hate Vandermeer first

I thought 3bp was excellent and the sequel was possibly even better. I have the third book on pre-order. I think it comes out in the next few weeks.

 

[tobl]

so far this month:
jennifer estep - unraveled
james abel - cold silence
sergei lukyanenko - the sixth watch

 

[HareBrain]

Finished Lewis's The Monk -- some good passages and supernatural bits, especially when the action hotted up, but also some overlong, tedious ones. I can see why it caused such a stir when it was published, but these days it feels more just a curiosity.

Now alternating between knockabout weird western Seven Cities of Old, by Mike Wild, and The Birth of Tragedy by Nietzche.

 

[ratsy]

I finished Trajectory by Robert M Campbell and was extremely impressed by it. Mars is colonized after Earth was taken over by AI robots. They have no contact with the planet any more. All of the sudden, four mining ships are being followed by an object that's movements make it apparent it is no comet. It is a great first book by Campbell! It reminded me of something by Arthur C Clarke, and that is meant in the best way. (new Clarke fan over here)

I'm definitely going to be reading the next one soon!

In the same vein, I picked up Peter Cawdron's new book, Mars Endeavour. It has some similarities to Trajectory, but only on the base level. It is a story about a Mars colony that gets the news, Earth has been nuked...over 20 cities destroyed, before contact is broken. I'm about 40% through and I am really curious to see how this one plays out.

 

[Vertigo]

I finished Trajectory by Robert M Campbell and was extremely impressed by it. Mars is colonized after Earth was taken over by AI robots. They have no contact with the planet any more. All of the sudden, four mining ships are being followed by an object that's movements make it apparent it is no comet. It is a great first book by Campbell! It reminded me of something by Arthur C Clarke, and that is meant in the best way. (new Clarke fan over here)

I'm definitely going to be reading the next one soon!

In the same vein, I picked up Peter Cawdron's new book, Mars Endeavour. It has some similarities to Trajectory, but only on the base level. It is a story about a Mars colony that gets the news, Earth has been nuked...over 20 cities destroyed, before contact is broken. I'm about 40% through and I am really curious to see how this one plays out.

That Trajectory sounds interesting but how well is it written would you say? I just did a bit of 'looking inside' on Amazon and seemed to come across a fair bit of head hopping. In particular I was reading two different scenes with 'Hal' and 'Jerem' in both of which the POV switches between the two with no scene breaks. Was this something you noticed much?

 

[ratsy]

@Vertigo There were a few cases of the POV switch, but never in a confusing way. It was kind of in the same vein as Stephen Moss moving from character to character. I honestly never felt irked by it. The writing was quite strong. I am working with Campbell in the second Explorations book. I read this in an effort to read something from each of the people Woodbridge is working with, and am really glad I did.

 

[Vertigo]

Hmmm. It's only had 29 rating and 6 reviews on Goodreads but almost all are positive with only one 2 star (no review) and an average of 4.34. And apart from the head hopping I didn't find the writing glaringly bad though maybe a little over fond of short choppy sentences. I might just add to my wish list.

 

[Vertigo]

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell - Another excellent book from Cornwell. That man can write! More here.
When Gravity Fails by George Alex Effinger - If you like cyberpunk and noir crime thrillers this one's for you! More here.
Out of the Black by Evan C Currie - Very disappointed by this one; after three good books this was just pulp. More here.
Patrick O’Brian’s Navy by Richard O’Neill - A very good companion to the Aubrey/Maturin series or any other age of sail books including Hornblower. A little more here.

 

[Randy M.]

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

I've seen at least a shelf-worth of novels by her and had thought her work a beach read, maybe good, maybe bad, but light. But less than a chapter in and I was already won over by this, the tone one of a gentile but no-nonsense Southern voice. This was highly praised by Stephen King in Danse Macabre, and I'm starting to see why.


Randy M.

 

[DZara]

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown.

Don't laugh...I would like to have at least one of his books read before the movie comes out.

 

[dask]

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

I've seen at least a shelf-worth of novels by her and had thought her work a beach read, maybe good, maybe bad, but light. But less than a chapter in and I was already won over by this, the tone one of a gentile but no-nonsense Southern voice. This was highly praised by Stephen King in Danse Macabre, and I'm starting to see why.Randy M.

Read Danse Macabre a few years back and wondered if the Siddons book was really worth checking out even with King's huge endorsement. Starting to sound like it.

 

[Bugg]

Just finished Gemmell's Ghost King. Don't know whether to dive straight into the sequel or read something else first. Handily, I haven't brought another book to work with me, so I have time to choose

 

[tobl]

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell - Another excellent book from Cornwell. That man can write! More here.
When Gravity Fails by George Alex Effinger - If you like cyberpunk and noir crime thrillers this one's for you! More here.
Out of the Black by Evan C Currie - Very disappointed by this one; after three good books this was just pulp. More here.
Patrick O’Brian’s Navy by Richard O’Neill - A very good companion to the Aubrey/Maturin series or any other age of sail books including Hornblower. A little more here.

i quite like evan currie read all of them in the same universe. try the king of thieves

 

[tobl]

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown.

Don't laugh...I would like to have at least one of his books read before the movie comes out.

it's not bad... but honestly i truly like the first two. that one and INFERNO.... they're okay

 

[Vertigo]

i quite like evan currie read all of them in the same universe. try the king of thieves

If you read my review you'll see that I liked the earlier books in this series but felt that this one had taken a serious turn towards pulp, and that makes me nervous of picking up more by him when I have so much else waiting to be read. I may come back to them later; who knows?

 

[Gnrevolution]

I hated Vandermeer - he seems to be a real marmite writer, some love him, some hate him.

So finished Annihilation and can see why he is a marmite author, personally I really liked this book, but can understand why this book is not liked, particularly with reapect to the main character. Felt I had some affinity for her though and the world building and tension throughout was first class. Back to The Dark Forest now....

 

[Toby Frost]

The House Next Door is a tremendous book. I did a review of it here (which may contain minor spoilers): The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

I'm afraid that I've given up on Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. I will try to return to it, but I just don't think it's for me.

I read two excellent novels by Ira Levin: The Stepford Wives (a re-read) and A Kiss Before Dying. Both are suspense stories: Stepford is SF/horror and A Kiss is very firmly noir. Both are very stripped-down and economical, and have tremendous pace. They are very cleverly-assembled books with brilliant plotting. I don't think I've had the urge to keep reading so strongly for a long time. Levin's ability to take an absurd or tacky idea and turn it into a serious work is very impressive. I'd strongly recommend both of them.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

The House Next Door is a tremendous book. I did a review of it here (which may contain minor spoilers): The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

I'm afraid that I've given up on Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. I will try to return to it, but I just don't think it's for me.

I read two excellent novels by Ira Levin: The Stepford Wives (a re-read) and A Kiss Before Dying. Both are suspense stories: Stepford is SF/horror and A Kiss is very firmly noir. Both are very stripped-down and economical, and have tremendous pace. They are very cleverly-assembled books with brilliant plotting. I don't think I've had the urge to keep reading so strongly for a long time. Levin's ability to take an absurd or tacky idea and turn it into a serious work is very impressive. I'd strongly recommend both of them.

Toby, I'd reccommend trying the Young Miles collection - Shards put me off Vorkosigan for three years when I first read it.