As much as I adored* Wreck of the River of Stars,* I think we’re in agreement on January Dancer. As a slower reader, I ran out of motivation a quarter-way through. It started out really fun, with wonderful imagination and mysterious artifacts, but there was a steep learning curve (a map to become familiar with, many names, many stories, a far-future universe to grasp) and Flynn’s great, dense language – but not enough payoff to push through. This saddens me, because I didn’t love Eifelheim either, and so maybe Wreck is where I should leave him.
It did, however, remind me to read Jack McDevitt’s alien artifact books, though, because this is the part I really liked. I just don’t have any interest in Flynn’s galactic political machinations.
I just finished watching Season 3 of Deadwood and because I was married to the series for three weeks and because the ending left me swinging in the South Dakota wind, I went to the library and brought home Deadwood, by Peter Dexter.
My hopes are unrealistically insanely implacably high.
Finished Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Liked it a lot, for the local flavor and the character of Fermin, but probably won’t read the sequel(s?).
Started Mall Purchase Night by Rick Cook. It’s set in a shopping mall built on something like Buffy’s Hellmouth, only it’s the entrance to where elves, faeries, and other fantastical critters live. May Day is coming and a new security guard is encountering some weird shit. It’s a lot of fun, and reminds me of something from the 70’s, before horror and supernatural novels turned into gorefests and torture porn.
The movie is actually a bit better than the book, I’d say!
Hope you’ll have the chance to see Lincoln soon; it’s partly based on the book. Good stuff.
I’m almost done with On the Night Plain by J. Robert Lennon, about brothers on a struggling sheep farm in the American West just after World War II, and Hitler Victorious, a pretty uneven collection of alt hist short stories edited by Gregory Benford. Also just started reading, with my 13-year-old, The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein.
Oh, I love the movie. I think I’ve seen it at least a dozen times. But the book makes the whole plot a lot clearer. I’d always steered clear of it because I was afraid it would be just a stale, just the facts, newspaper prose type snooze-fest, but its a pretty snappy read.
I’m reading Among Others, by Jo Walton, this years Hugo Award winner. It’s a coming of age novel about a Welsh teen girl, magic, a boarding school, and her deep and abiding love for science fiction novels.
I was lucky enough to meet him last year, after he gave a lecture. He is the most delightful little old man I’ve ever met and I wanted to put him in my pocket and keep him forever.
He is also shockingly smart. He didn’t give a prepared lecture, just asked aloud “What should I talk about tonight?” and then launched into a 60 minute monologue, complete with case citations and delightful personal anecdotes.
I’m still caught up in a re-read of the Vorkosigan novels. I’m up to *Memory *now.
Otherwise I just read a charming little murder mystery/comedy of manners: Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell. It’s a contemporary novel published in 1981, but the language is highly stylized, something like a Regency novel, and it’s absolutely hilarious. The characters are a group of young English barristers trying to assist one of their friends who has been accused of murdering someone while on holiday in Venice.
I had to put down Patient Zero. I like zombie novels as much as the next guy, but the lead protagonist was such a Mary Sue for the author it wasn’t even funny. This guy is a crack shot, super cop, ex military martial arts expert super man. The scene where he walks into a room of six black ops military delta force/seals types and beats them all up in under five seconds just ruined it for me. It started to read like fan wank.
My nightstand book is The Disappearing Spoon and my daily read is Existence.
I’m loving them both. Up next is2312 thanks to a recommendation on this board a month or so ago.
I’m reading A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell, which I just decided should be an apartment only read. I’m only 80 pages in and I already know this book will produce at least one episode of ugly crying.
I’ve just discovered that Jo Walton has a blogon Tor.com where she reviews new books and discusses old ones. She also has just started a series called “Something Else Like…” where she recommends books similar to an author’s works. So far she’s done Roger Zelazny, Robert Heinlein, and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga.
I’ve only read one book by Walton, Tooth and Claw, but I liked it. It was something like a Victorian romantic novel, except with dragons instead of people.
A great book, but it’s beyond depressing. I remember being angry and nearly nauseous at the ending.
I finished Thackeray’s The Virginians about a week ago. I’m kind of kicking myself because it turns out I’ve been reading his books in reverse order (The Newcomes, Pendennis, The Virginians) which results in a certain amount of “Am I supposed to know this character already?” I suppose I could complete the reverse sequence with Henry Esmond, but I’ve kind of spoiled the ending already.
Currently I’m reading Our Mutual Friend by Dickens.
I really enjoyed this one, very unique and interesting world-building, although the pace dropped off a little bit in the middle. I thought I’d read another by the same author, but I a little googling doesn’t bring up anything I remember. Hmm.
I’ve been re-reading some Diana Wynne Jones, as it becomes available for Kindle. Lovely, and such a pity there will be no more. I also read a collection of her writings on writing, which could have done with a much tighter edit - the same stories were told over and over. Which, actually, come to think of it, was quite interesting, so never mind.
I’m reading To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s been 30 years since I read it in high school, so it’s pretty much all new to me. I’m very much enjoying it as an adult.
Thank you for this! I avoided reading her because I didn’t like the writing style in Tooth and Claw, not a fan of Victorian stuff, but am really enjoying the new one.
