October Reading Thread

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bwb said:
I finished all 6 books in the Sword of Jupiter series: Imperium

Great reads, like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court but in Ancient Rome.
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I've also just finished them. I would agree that this series is a good example of that kind of genre. There were only a couple of things that seemed to be quite out of place and the author's grasp of Roman fighting techniques was pretty impressive.
 
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Finished up The Vulture Lord, Passin' Through, and Dead Silence this month - three novels from vastly differing genres that I got ahold of on the cheap. (Didn't have much time to read this month, unfortunately.)

First was just a very solid, enjoyable Western. Not something I'll likely reread, but I don't regret my time with it in the slightest, either. I'm told that Louis L'Amour knew his genre very well and this book certainly bears that out. Don't have much to add.

The second was a science fiction horror novel that I wanted to like - the scenes with the frozen-over bodies in zero gravity was particularly good - but I found the ultimate reveals fairly unsatisfying and the prose could often feel like wading through treacle.

The third one was a tie-in novel for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. After having been pleasantly surprised by Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear a while back, I thought I might take another shot at Black Library's tie-in fiction and ended up regretting this decision. The underlying idea (that a king has struck a deal with the god of death to get his son back as long as he kills him and transplants his soul into a new body every ten years) is appealingly horrific, but all the parts that actually proved interesting (particularly the son being raised by what amounts to evil skeletons serving said death god) were mostly choked out by a plotline about deciding who would be the next host for the son's soul. The result was that I spent the book waiting for it to get back to the few bits it had actually gotten me invested in. If I head back to Black Library, it'll be with a recommendations list in-hand.

Next up is Dark Water Daughter, which proclaims itself to be a naval fantasy featuring women who can literally sing storms into existence as a major factor, with one of the protagonists herself naturally being one such woman. Having enjoyed the Tide Child trilogy far more than most fantasy trilogies I've read, I've been on the hunt for more naval-focused fantasy stories, so hopefully this one gives me what I'm looking for.
 
I finished Machine Vendetta by Alastair Reynolds. I feel like there was enough left at the end for more books to be written in the series, but also enough was wrapped up that this book could be the end. I hope not as I think I like these better than his original Revelation Space novels. I do wish I had done a reread of the preceding books, but overall I was still able to understand what was going on and I enjoyed it.

Now I'm reading Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord by Celeste Connally.
 
Right now im alas read a book The Shortest History of China by Linda Jaivin and reading about the Tang Dynasty which ruled China from the 7th to the 9\10th century AD was a golden age in which so many innovations came about . And no, one of them wasn't Tang the drink that the Astronauts took to the moon.:)
 
Pyan said:
Possibly because it's (strictly speaking) the T'ang dynasty... ;)
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I was attempting to make a really really horrible cringeworthy groanworthy " Oh my god , I can believe he said that " play on words in the joke section.:D
 
Ah, and here was I thinking that you'd just meant to tell us about the book. Sorry... ;)
 
I'm reading Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. A girl moves to San Francisco in 1975 and gets mixed up in the complex lives of a lot of eccentric characters. I'm about halfway through. There's not much of a plot and it's rather soapy, jumping from person to related person. It's an interesting snapshot of a progressive city at an optimistic time, a sort of cheerful decadence. Also, Maupin really knows how to tell a joke.
 
Pausing in my read-through of the 14 Inspector Dalgliesh novels to read P. D. James's first (or two) novels about Cordelia Gray, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. Starting today Peter Englund's November 1942. Continuing with a commentary on the book of 1 Kings. Reading slowly A. G. Dickens's The English Reformation. Recently finished PKD's We Can Build You.
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The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London
Vividly descriptive and compelling, though I can't say I "enjoyed" reading about all the animal abuse all that much.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
I love this - the concept, the characters and the sleuthing game. This is better the second time round, and it probably helps if you read the whole thing in a few sittings rather than spreading it out over the whole month - for the first time at least. The ending is hilarious!

What Happened in London by Kim M. Watt
I needed an audio diversion and this dark urban fantasy novel was it. However, I don't think the narrator worked for me. The accent, odd swallowing of vowels, off pauses and pacing, gave the distinct impression of verbal diarrhea. I also felt the story was longer than the plot, but I did like the concept and the character (if she would just stop thinking so much). I'm also sure I missed something. For the life of me I cannot remember if any reason was given for the use of chocolate as a weapon, other than supernatural monsters apparently being fond of the stuff?:unsure:
 
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