Just finished Jim Butcher’s third in the Codex Alera series. I really enjoyed it and it shows that Butcher can do a fantasy along the more classic lines than his Dresden series (which I also enjoy.)
I was disappointed and also pleased:
to find that it isn’t a trilogy and this wasn’t the ending. I am pleased to see more coming, but I would have wanted some closure.
That’s not too bad. 
One thing that bugged me about the books (which I didn’t want to mention before you got a taste) was that there was no sense of place or time. It was all character. No world-building. The story could have been set in present day NYC or LA or Peoria. Disconcerting.
What didn’t you like?
I’m partial to non-fiction. Right now I’m working on Ian Bremmer’s The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall. Anyone else read it? What say you?
I’m reading “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James Loewen. Fascinating history book. I was one of those with the crappiest high school education imaginable, so I really am “re-learning” my American history.
I’m also reading, “Alice in Quantumland” which is an explanation of quantum physics using Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as an allegory. I vowed to learn some hard science this year as part of my New Year’s Resolution, but I have to be broken in easy.
“Cryptonomicon” – I swear, I’m loving the book, but I just can’t seem to find long stretches of time to get any reading done. I’ve been pecking at it since November, which is something I never do with books (with the exception of “Atlas Shrugged,” but that’s in a category of its own). Anyway, I’m at about page 700 of the 1150 or so that it contains. I really loved Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash,” and thus far, “Cryptonomicon” has been even more well-written and enjoyable in my mind.
Right now I’m in the opening pages of Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White, and moving onto Three Views of Crystal Water by Katherine Govier once finished; after that, there’s One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Pride of Baghdad graphic novel by Brian Vaughan, and Vol de nuit and *Terre des hommes *(both in French) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Good stuff.
I’m almost done with Gene Wolfe’s Soldier of Sidon, and I’m really enjoying it. This time, Latro gets to play with Egyptian mythology. On the flip side, I’m gratified that I don’t feel like I need to be as up on my Egyptian history as I needed to be up on my Greek history in the previous two volumes.
The names were something straight out of a bad Harlequin. Saetan SiDiablo? It hurt me.
Anyway, the writing seemed like it would be fine, but the names, the characterizations, the names, the (what felt like) gratuitous sex, and the names just drove me away screaming! I kept expecting a Baron VonDemonpants to be introduced. 
I’d forgotten about the names. ::meekly::sorry::
I just checked the Wikipedia article. No Demonpants but there’s an Angeline (a good girl) and a Lucivar (a bad boy).
I’d forgotten about the penis rings too. Did you get that far?
Names are a big deal for fantasy fans. I don’t pay much attention to them, unless they’re too similar or too different – like the ones with apostrophes and phonetic marks. If I can pronounce them in my head, that works for me.
I hope the Bakker book works for you. Wait till you meet Cnaiur (whose name has one of those funny marks that I don’t know how to type, but he’s way cool).
I’ve finally gotten around to reading Robertson Davie’s Deptford trilogy. I flew through the first book and halfway through the second, where I’m starting to bog down a bit, but still enjoying the journey. These are a lot better than I thought they’d be.
Noooo, don’t be. I got a good giggle out of it and get to mark another book off my “to be read” list. That’s excellent.
I’m halfway through To Ride a Rathorn, P.C. Hodgell’s latest Kencyrath novel. I’m trying to savor it, but I’ve been without a fresh dose of Jame’s misadventures for so long that I nearly read it overnight. I’ll undoubtedly reread it many times while I wait for the next one.
I just started The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle For the Third World by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin. Mitrokhin was a KGB archivist who spent twenty years compiling a secret record of the KGBs violations of human rights and other info. His defection to the west was possibly one of the greatest intelligence coups ever. Haven’t gotten far enough to say much other than the KGB apparently thought that the key to winning the cold war was via the third world. Duh.
I’d never heard of these. I don’t usually read high fantasy, but her twists on the traditional tropes sound wonderful. Thanks!
I’m reading “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” by Amy Sedaris. It’s a sort-of Martha Stewart-type “how to” book on entertainining…as written by a white trash, crack-whore boozer, user & loser. It has helpful hints like, what munchies to serve to stoners, how to entertain for a rich, aging relative who may just leave you a large endowment in his will (if your lucky), and how to entertain alcoholics. She has an entire chapter of pictures in which she demonstrates how to put on nylon stalkings.
Funny. Funny. Funny.
Uh oh, that’s in my “to be read” pile. Right now I’m reading The Varieties of Scientific Experiences by Carl Sagan. Not bad so far.
i’m slowly working my way through bill crider’s 13-book mystery series which revolves around a texas county sheriff named dan rhodes.
next up: barry eisler’s ‘john rain’ series.
I’m reading “The War of the Flowers,” by Tad Williams. This guy’s one heckuva fanatasist.
Isn’t he great? I just discovered him.
I’m reading The Dragonbone Chair. Simon has fled the Hayholt and is wandering the forest, cold and hungry.
Some writers would describe this part in just that way – “Simon wandered the forest, cold and hungry” – and leave it at that. But Williams takes his time and the result is that I’m just as miserable as Simon. I’m watching Simon’s character grow, instead of being told that Simon is changing. Love it love it love it.
Oooh, you are in for a great read. The books are long, but Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (the name of the whole series of which The Dragonbone Chair is the first part, for those of you who haven’t discovered Williams yet) is one of the best hero’s journey sets I’ve ever read. [Additional aside: The reason I called it a series instead of a trilogy (which is what it is, technically) is that the third book was so huge in hardback that they made it into two volumes when they printed it in softcover. So it’s a 3 or 4 book series, depending.]
For anyone looking for a good adventure in a single book, Williams’ Tailchaser’s Song is just fabulous. Sort of like Watership Down, but with housecats and squirrels.