I finished Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. I thought it was great. Johannes is such a bastard and I’m not sure if I love to hate him or hate to love him. I thought the ending was perfect, spot on to the character built up during the story, although I can imagine a lot of people being dissatisfied with it.
I read Dead to the World, part of the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I am now officially done with this series. And I really mean it this time.
Also finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. My book club picked this, or else I wouldn’t have bothered. The joke was funny for the first ten chapters and then all I was really interested in were the original Austen bits.
Especially given the fact that said ‘crazy-ass multidimensional n-folds’ are illustrated on one dimensional paper. Still, given the subject matter, the book is a great read.
Note to self: Calabi-Yau shape would be a cool tattoo.
I’m sure you can blame the publisher for that . . . if you were his publisher, wouldn’t you? I would.
Just started The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day, “a panoramic portrait and moving tale of an English family dealing with a changing post-WWII world in the late '50s.” A 7-year old girl and her 16-year-old sister, their strict mother, and father caught up in labor dispute. Only on Page 9, but I’m engrossed.
Just finished I’m Down, by Mishna Wolff. Purportedly about a white girl being raised in black culture, but really more about being raised by neglectful parents, it reminded me of Jeanette Walls’ The Glass Castle. (I’m pretty sure this was one of delphica’s recommendations, and I apologize if that’s exactly the same comment she made!) Anyway, a really good book.
Now, I will be spending some time with The Naked Man.
Who’s read William Vollmann? My father recommended him and while I’m not scared by the sheer volume, I afraid the reading will be too heavy for bedtime. I prefer novels; should I start with Europe Central since it’s award-winning?
The 2001 French film version of that, starring Isabelle Huppert in the title role, is excellent.
Finished Flashman and the Tiger, by George MacDonald Fraser. And quite a pleasant surprise who the Tiger turned out to be. 'Nuff said. And this completes my reading of the entire Flashman series.
Next up: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade, by Kurt Vonnegut. Or as it says on the title page: “Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., a fourth-generation German-American now living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much), who, as an American infantry scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, ‘The Florence of the Elbe,’ a long time ago, and survived to tell the tale. This is a novel somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales of the planet Tralfamadore, where the flying saucers come from. Peace.”
I just finished **Thunderstruck **by Erik Larson, about a famous murder in England at the time of Marconi’s struggles to perfect the wireless system, and how the wireless is used to apprehend the murderer.
I also finished **Life of Pi **and was prepared to sneer at it as I knew it could not live up to the extravagant hype piled upon it. Well, live up to the hype it did, and exceeded it. Hats off to you, Mr Martel!
There are three more in the same vein – The Sub, The Priest, and The M.D. They’re all good, IMHO. I don’t know anything about Disch personally, but he strikes me as someone who has very strong but well-informed opinions about his subjects. He kinda scares me.
Done. I’d be interested in getting Chowder’s (“Ask the 1950s ex-Teddy Boy”) take on this as it was very much that era if not his actual area (it takes place in Blackpool.) It’s more of a chick book, but I still think he would have some interesting things to say about it.
Finished Boneshaker last week. It was very good, and between the terrific imagery and the short time in which the story takes place, I think this would make a great movie. One question I am left with at the end, though, is Can the Blight Gas ever be stopped? Turns out I first saw the book here on John Scalzi’s blog and not at Wil Wheaton’s site, although Wil’s review is quoted on the first page. (Now if only my county library would carry Wil’s books, grumble grumble.)
I am currently reading Nine Gates by Jane Lindskold, the sequel to Thirteen Orphans. It’s set in contemporary America but the magic system is Chinese, with an interesting premise. I liked the first book a lot and this one is comparable so far.
On my ‘hold’ list is Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, another Internet find.
Jeanette Walls has a new book out about her grandmother (I think maternal, not the Appalachian one) but I am waffling on whether or not I want to pick it up. My mother and I, who seem to have developed a hobby of reading memoirs so we can snark about other dysfunctional families, could barely get through The Glass Castle because it was so depressing.
Yep, I have The Sub already. The main reason I decided to read them is because they’re Minnesota books, and I have a thing for Minnesota books & authors. I like horror too, so it’s a perfect match.
I finished Lady Susan on audio book yesterday. Loved it, naturally. Today I will start The Girl With No Shadow. I have about 100 pages to go on It Can’t Happen Here.
Those of you who like Austen might consider giving Georgette Heyer a try. She’s the best of the Regency romance writers, and her books are like fluffy Austen. I don’t read much romance, but Heyer is a lot of fun.