Started The Pit Dragon Trilogy last night, by Jane Yolen.
Until this bookk, I didn’t kknow just how annoying it is when an author pickks a letter at random and doubles it every time it appears. Ackk. Yuckk. I thinkk it’s a terrible affectation.
Just finished When Gravity Fails (amazon) - cool near-future Middle Eastern cyberpunk recommended by Dopers in a thread on the topic. Fun and exotic noir in a Blade-Runnery sort of way. Credible world it created - and the slipperiness of identity, in terms of personality, skills and memories and gender really highlight a view of the brave new world we’re seeing come ever closer. Worth it.
If you’ve read the sequels - worth it? Not sure how many there are - worth checking some or all of them out?
In the middle of 1Q84 myself…
cool; interested in your impressions. I have it on my Kindle awaiting Holiday Clearance from my family - you can’t stick a Kindel edition underneath the tree!
Just fyi, you can give Kindle books as gifts. This year my son-outlaw will open a card with redeemable coupons inside, one for each specific book.
Oh I know - I just didn’t go through that extra step…
I read Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth last night. Frustrating book. I hate when someone tries to cover up a supernatural sort of monster with some sort of scientific explanation that makes it worse instead of better.
Finished Frankenstein: Lost Souls: A Novel, the forth in Koontz’ Frankenstein series. Much better than the 2 and 3, but I was hoping it was the last - but there is at least one more.
Energy Risk: Valuing and Managing Energy Derviatives
The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character
Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness
The 4% Universe
I rather enjoyed “The City and the City.” Such a place would be impossible IRL, but Miéville made it seem possible.
I’ve been hearing about them for years. Having just finished watching Season 1, I’ve finally checked out Game of Thrones, the book.
Now reading Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine and absolutely falling in love with it.
I’ve been absorbed in historical mysteries for the last couple of weeks. I just read the first few books of one of Anne Perry’s Victorian mystery series (the one featuring William Monk) and I’m planning to borrow a bunch more from my mom when I visit for Christmas. These aren’t great - they’re a little repetitive and preachy (war is not glamorous, slums and workhouses are bad, classism is unfair, women are marginalized, etc.) but I really like the characters and the setting.
I read the second and third books in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, by Ariana Franklin. These are good reads, set in England during the reign of Henry II. I have very much enjoyed Henry’s cameos, but the author’s portrayal of Eleanor is *awful *and nearly put me off the books entirely. There’s only one more of these to go, as Franklin died recently.
I also read Connie Willis’s new Christmas story, “All About Emily”, which was published in the December edition of Asimov’s magazine. I don’t think it’s one of her better stories, although if you’re a theater buff you’ll probably enjoy it.
The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter.
It’s well-written, and I find counterfeiting fascinating. I’m interested in true crime stuff in general, but a bit sick of killers and thieves, so a counterfeiter is a nice change of pace.
Just finished both The Sense of and Ending and John Dies at the End. Two completely opposite books, but I enjoyed them both heartily. Ending was a nice little mystery with a look at getting older and memories that I find relates to me all to well these days, and John, well, it was a great Lovecraftian adventure that I can’t believe I missed out on when it was originally published.
The Prague Cemetary has been laid aside for now. I may pick it up again in the spring, but it just wans’t speaking to me, and I found myself looking longinly at other books while reading it. Better to just break it off, than let the situation linger.
I started reading Blood and Honey by Graham Hurley, part of a series set in Portsmouth, England, but couldn’t get into it. Now reading An Uncertain Place by the (female) French author Fred Vargas, part of a series about French policemen. Translation is more for British readers, but it’s good and quirky so far.
Do we have any Lucius Shepard readers here? I think he is the finest writer I’ve ever read, deeply compassionate, and has lived a really remarkable life. Some news: hisBest of Lucius Shepard, previously a limited edition by Subterranean Press, is now available in Kindle format, highly recommended. Also, for those who love his Dragon Griaule, a dormant, not quite dead dragon measuring 6,000 feet from end to end, Sub Press is publishing a compilation of Griaule stories, something his readers have been clamoring for for years.
I’ve read four or five of his books and loved them but for some reason, he dropped off my radar. He’s never (rarely) mentioned at SFF World, which is where I go for SF/Fantasy recommendations.
Softspoken is a chilling, subtle horror novel, best I’ve read in years. Green Eyes (a zombie love story) is my favorite. I think it’s his most “accessible” book. I remember a live chat many years ago, where Shepard was reluctant to talk about that book, like he was ashamed of it.
I’m finished with Thursday Next for awhile. The snark is fun but the plots are all over the place.
I agree, I really liked Softspoken too. Practically every year he has a Hugo or Locus nomination, but because he usually writes novella-length stories, his name isn’t in our faces as much. Plus, he’s not easily lumped into a genre.
I really should get to reading some Lucius Shepherd.
By the way, if you’re looking for more “literary” science fiction and fantasy, you can’t go wrong with greatsfandf.com. The webmaster’s a tad elitist (and the site design is awful), but almost everything he recommends should at least be readable. Although, I believe that the he posts at SFF World, so you may have already heard of it.
I’m about 33% through Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland.
I know a bit about the the early Caesars, but not much about what came before Julius. I’m loving this book - it’s a fascinating history of the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire. Great stuff. I’d heard of Sulla the dictator, but until now his story was a bit of a mystery to me.