I finished reading Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Well, most of them – I skipped a few. Some were pretty good, but I tend to get short story overload if I read too many of them in a row.
I’m a little way into Mr. Mercedes and I’m enjoying except for all the tsuris about whether or not Mrs.Unpleasant Rich Lady left her keys in the ignition. So, what’s the BFD if she did? She’s really pariah over this? So much so that she… Strains credulity, it does. Otherwise, it’s rolling right along.
I’m the same; then I worry I’m not giving the one I’m reading at that moment a fair shot. So I have to pace myself.
Of COURSE, I’m easy- I’m a GUY!!!
More seriously, I started The Magus, and while it’s pretty good so far, this will almost definitely be my last post in this thread, because it’s a mighty long book, and I’m almost certainly not going to be finished in July!
That’s one of my all time favorite books and I liked the inclusion of the vampire. I thought the uneasiness of predator and prey working together against their base natures added a cool undertone to the story…and the vampire is so untraditional it didn’t channel any classic vampire memes ( not for me, at least ).
I just finished Ben Winters’ World of Trouble, the third and final book in his Last Policeman series. The books follow a detective during the year before an asteroid that will cause an extinction level event hits Earth. The last novel is mostly set in the week before the end of the world and follows the protagonists last ditch effort to find out what happened to his conspiracy theorist sister.
They are beautifully written and powerful books and I highly recommend them.
I was disappointed in Mr. Mercedes. It felt like a Michael Connelly or Robert Crais novel, not a Stephen King novel. It was definitely an above average crime - suspense novel but I expect King’s work to be more interesting.
With astorian’s permission (:D) I decided to chuck The Brothers Karamazov, at least for the moment. I then decided to try to tackle Old Man’s War on paper and find something non-sci fi and also from a different culture than the UK or the USA for my dogwalking audiobook.
I got hooked into The Iliad, in an older translation by somebody Earl of Derby. I wanted an older translation, to try to get a feel for how it might have been presented in the old British public school tradition. This one is from 1885.
So far, so pretty good. Homer’s psychological insights are very sharp, and there is even a moment or two of parody that is funny (the references to “god-like Paris” as he is cowering in Troy after getting his ass whipped by Menaleus, and then boinking Helen while Menelaus her real husband is stomping about being all macho). Plus the interplay of these massive egos and the whole “he hit me back first” parts against the backdrop of the gods making trouble just to f*ck with people.
And stuff that may not have occured to Homer or his original audience but strikes my modern sensiblities nonetheless - Achilles the brave warrior crying to his mommy because they took away his trophy, and Zeus the Thunderer afraid to do anything Thetis asks him because he is afraid his wife will take it the wrong way - and then threatening to beat her when she does object.
Interesting mix of the divine and the animal, the noble and the base.
Starting the book is a commitment, though - Part 1 of 3 is 8 hours in itself. See you all next month, I hope.
Regards,
Shodan
Just finished and thoroughly enjoyed The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi. It was funny (I laughed out loud a few times) and snarky, with a healthy helping of silliness and WTF-ery. Still, all the plot threads were neatly tied together, the pacing was good, the characterization was adequate. I’d call it “Pratchett-in-Space” except, well, Pratchett is Pratchett-in-Space. Similar humor, though.
Beside the bed: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and The Fishing Fleet: Husband-Hunting in the Raj by Anne de Courcy. Both interesting, and The Fishing Fleet is the lighter book. All the details of Raj-era India are fascinating. What a lot of stuck up sticky-beaks the ICM Brits were 
Work treadmill: Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill. I haven’t been disappointed by Dr. Siri Paiboun yet, or Laos itself, come to that. Living in Communist Laos in the late 1970s, good heavens. What a maddening experience it is portrayed to be.
Home treadmill: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. Actually won’t start this one until tonight, but all my previous Connollys have been a romp and treat. High hopes here also.
Nitpick: The TV series is Game of Thrones, while the book is A Game of Thrones.
Started this morning on Come Closer, by Sara Gran, about a woman who thinks she’s becoming possessed by a demon. A quick read; I’m over halfway through already.
How was Guards! Guards!, Dung Beetle?
It was great, of course. 
I meant to mention that. I really liked Errol and the swamp dragons.
There are so many favorites of mine introduced in that one. I just adore Carrot and Lady Sybil is the boss! hahahahah
Seconded. 
I love the Watch books, with the Death books in equivalent adoration, and the Witches a very close second (third?)
Lest everyone believe I hate everything Scalzi writes, I read The God Engines and really liked it. Spaceships are powered by captive gods and the faith of the people in their (free) god keeps them in line. When that faith starts to falter, it must be restored by drastic means.
I liked the concept of the differing potency of faith: the faith of the newly converted is more powerful than that of people who have been believers for generations.
I didn’t care for Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, but I enjoyed The God Engines and Redshirts.
I’m still reading The Count of Monte Cristo. Still. I need to finish it soon, I don’t want to be reading it at the beach next week.
Still working on the same set of books, but I picked up several at The Book Bin in Corvallis, Oregon that I’ve wanted to read for awhile, including Erdrich’s A Plague of Doves and Foucault’s The Birth of the Clinic.
I finally got around to finishing The Far Side of the World and all signs point to yes for reading more volumes of the series. I still found the book as a whole to be a bit…odd. It lacks in dramatic tension for me. The writing was almost comical the way O’Brian described Stephen falling off deck and hitting his head, and eventually I realized this was actually a rather dire situation. Same goes for when the two fell into the ocean - the most description you ever get is Jack feeling a bit anxious (nothing more?!) and then joking to Stephen that he should’ve kicked off his shoes ages ago. At the same time, this passage totally sold me:
Yup. Not a single proper fight or ship battle in the whole damn book - the whole book! - and if there is only one passage like that in each book from here on out I will be satisfied.
I finished the very short *On Bullshit *by Harry G. Frankfurt, and was disappointed. A clever concept but not developed nearly enough.
Now enjoying the graphic novel based on George R.R. Martin’s short story The Sword Sword, and P.D. James’s The Children of Men.
I finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Overall I loved the book, it wasn’t the most stellar writing ever but it was easy to read and engaging.