July 2019: Reading Thread

Dave said:
Did you finish Early Riser? I'm over half-way and too busy to read at the moment, but I've found it's gone a bit slow in the middle. The Tocata/Aurora reveal was well played and I didn't see it coming. The book is typical Fforde. I took him four and a half years to write it though. I would talk about it in a thread if you open and invite me. I'd better finish it off first.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I finished it but, as you say, it became a plod at halfway point. It was enjoyable earlier but the humour was somewhat forced.
The ending (no spoilers!) seemed a bit too contrived and hurried, I got the feeling he didn't want to return to that world in any sequel.
 
I'm currently Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree. It's a hefty tome, so a slight challenge to read in bed, but I'm enjoying it.
 
Finished Bryan Wigmore's The Empyrius Proof, the second installment in his fire stealers series. Right from the beginning, it progresses at a good pace and makes good use of the groundwork laid in the first book. Figures that were shadowy ideas in the first book now get fleshed out and characters that we already thought we knew take on more depth and become more lifelike, if not necessarily more likable in all cases. The same is true for cultures. The monks of Highcloud, for example, lost quite a bit of their spiritual standing, I felt, which made the story as a whole all the more interesting.

Towards the end, though, we get some hints at the background of the whole story, and not all of them are to my liking.

If this turns out to be a virtual reality, I shall be really disappointed, though that is, of course, wholly a matter of my personal tastes!

I also finished The Thief who wasn't there, the fourth book in Michael McClung's Amra Thetys series. This is the first time in the series that the POV shifts and Holgren gets to tell (most of) the story. This is well done and it really feels like a different person, so chalk one up for the author. The story is as entertaining as the first three books, only with a bit of added routine, which I felt did the telling good. Only one problem that came up for me several times: How can you have a thoroughly ruthless character who kills people by the score without compunction and make him likable at the same time? For me it did not help that it does get mentioned expressly.

Last I finished another novella from this universe: The last God. Think glorious bullsh**. Although I think that the sh*t demon is a stolen idea. But let's not forget that a good writer knows where to steal ideas and then how to make them his own. Anyway, I liked this one. A lot!

Now waiting for the fifth installment of the main story. A digital copy seems available already, but I sure hope it'll be out in print, soonest.
 
Sunday Evening after a hard weekend laying on my sofa, eating chocolate biscuits and intensive reading.

I've had a look at ebooks available from my local library and am now starting Gareth Powell's 'Embers of War'
(I've just now scrolled through my tbr ebook list and the same book was already there, bought and waiting!) Senior moment :oops:
 
dannymcg said:
Sunday Evening after a hard weekend laying on my sofa, eating chocolate biscuits and intensive reading.

I've had a look at ebooks available from my local library and am now starting Gareth Powell's 'Embers of War'
(I've just now scrolled through my tbr ebook list and the same book was already there, bought and waiting!) Senior moment :oops:
Click to expand...
How many times have I ended up with two copies of the same book after doing exactly the same but not at a library!
 
I seem to be stumbling all over with non-fiction reading at the moment. These are the books I'm currently actively reading:

The Iliad by Homer - re-reading on an evening in preparation for my course
Earth Science by Tarbuck et al - dipping into during the day
From Black Land to Fifth Sun by Fagan - book on anthropology I'm dipping into every couple of days
Wonderful Life by Gould - about the Burgess Shale records of the Cambrian Explosion
Other Minds by Godfrey-Smith - an interesting book about octopi, as a break from everything else
Obedient Unto Death by Kindle - trying to finally finish this WWII "memoir"
Prehistoric Britain by Darvill - just to see whether I want to pursue study in archaeology
 
vanye said:
Finished Bryan Wigmore's The Empyrius Proof, the second installment in his fire stealers series.
Click to expand...

Thanks for reading!

vanye said:
If this turns out to be a virtual reality, I shall be really disappointed, though that is, of course, wholly a matter of my personal tastes!
Click to expand...

It's not VR, and I've kicked myself for not trying to divert people from thinking that, since I would be disappointed by that too, as a reader. Whether the truth will be any more to your taste, who knows?
 
tobl said:
i loved the comic tv show when i was young. now finishing first contact series by duncan falconer
Click to expand...
i honestly don't know what to think of this series... i mean, it's not bad. i guess i just "not into you" lolo. it´s interesting but i have to say that i had to suspend desblief to many times i guess. i think it's the best critic i can make
 
About halfway through The Architecture of Beauty by Alain de Botton, which is quite gripping for a philosophy book. An analysis of the aesthetics, function and beauty of the human environment, and of what makes them good to live in.

I think I will read more by Mr de Botton.
 
I finished Guy Gavriel Kay's A Brightness Long Ago. I think it's fair to say that Kay isn't deviating too far from the types of character and setting that he tends to write about, but I've always enjoyed his previous books and I liked this one a lot as well. One thing it has in common with his recent books is that the narrative is trying to feel like real history in a fantasy setting, so the storylines don't always have neat endings and the plot does meander a bit at times. The highlights are probably the tense opening, and the horse race at Bischio which is an action scene perhaps as compelling as the chariot race in Kay's Lord of Emperors, although the biggest emotional impact comes from an unexpectedly sudden character death later in the story. I thought it also had a number of memorable characters, Adria and the two rival mercenary commanders are the most obvious but I also enjoyed the character development of Antemani Sardi. Although it does stand alone (despite a few character reappearing in the chronologically later Children of Earth of Sky I did like the little references and homages to Kay's other books in the setting.

Overall I'd say it's perhaps not quite among Kay's very best books but not too far off.

Next up I think I'll read Ben Aaronovitch's The October Man. I'll be interested to see how he handles writing a story in a voice other than Peter Grant's.
 
HareBrain said:
Thanks for reading!
Click to expand...
Thank you for writing. I bet it took far longer and was a lot more painful than reading it. :D

And thank you for taking the time to answer my comment. You‘re probably already working on the next part, so I‘ll hopefully be in a position to find out exactly where the yarn leads by myself. No pressure, though. :LOL:

I reckon it was the references to coding that made me think of VR.

A truism, if you will forgive it: The way I see it, you shouldn’t feel too responsible for what I read into what you write. I read it with having fun as my only agenda. And have fun I did.

Just imagine I had done a gender-centered reading :eek:
 
tobl said:
it's exactly what it seems. a story of first contact with aliens. it's interesting but i don't know, like i said, exactly my feelings about it
Click to expand...
@tobl
I've had a look and can't find anything, have you got a link to the author's site where he mentions the series? Cheers
 
Finished Crisscross and loved it.

Jack infiltrates the Dormentalist "Church" on a missing persons case. At the same time, someone is blackmailing a nun and Jack tries to put a stop to it. Both end disastrously and Jack seeks revenge. It turns out that the church has a big part in the ascension of the adversary. A slow burn at first, but it soon picks up. A great read.

Now on to Infernal (Book 9 in the Repairman Jack Series.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Ursa major POLL -- 300 Word Writing Challenge -- No 34 (July 2019) -- CAT'S CRADLE WINS! ! Writing Challenges 0
Ursa major Tiebreaker Poll -- July 2019 Writing Challenge -- READ FIRST POST! Writing Challenges 0
Ursa major POLL -- July 2019 75-word Writing Challenge -- THE JUDGE WINS! Writing Challenges 0
Ursa major DISCUSSION -- JULY 2019 300-word Writing Challenge (#34) Writing Challenges 167
Ursa major 300-word Writing Challenge #34 (July 2019) -- VICTORY TO CAT'S CRADLE! Writing Challenges 32

Similar threads


Back
Top