Thanks for reminding me. That’ll be next.
I just started reading The January Dancer, by Michael Flynn. His Wreck of the River of Stars remains one of my alltime favorite books, and so far January Dancer is really good. It’s far-future interstellar science fiction, telling “the fateful story of an ancient pre-human artifact of great power, and the people who found it.” Much adventure and twisty plot ensues. I’ve had this book since 2008 when it came out, still unread, and I’m thrilled to learn there are are 2 sequels and another in the works. Flynn is one of the most intelligent writers I’ve come across, but he never talks down to his readers, shows a deep understanding of human nature, and is particularly gifted with word play.
Thanks for letting us know. I’m a big alt/hist fan. Fatherland by Robert Harris and SS-GB by Len Deighton are two of my favorite such WWII books, with different but chilling and plausible takes on a Nazi victory in Europe.
It’s a UK hardcover; don’t know when it might be released in the US.
I need to revisit this one. I’ve read and enjoyed many of Flynn’s books - Eifelheim, The Wreck of the River of Stars, and the Firestar series - but I bought The January Dancer when it was released, and I abandoned it about halfway through. My notes say that the writing was good but I just wasn’t interested in the plot or the characters or the setting. Maybe I was in some sort of weird mood at the time.
Finished The Opposite of Hallelujah, it was okay. I think it went too heavy on the romance, too light on the more interesting issues (anorexia, religion, psychological trauma).
I’m just starting on Nigger: the strange career of a troublesome word, by Randall Kennedy. I felt a bit awkward checking this one out at the library! I might have to put a bookcover on it.
I finished http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/298778.The_Devil_s_Highway today. Overall a good read though I was a bit annoyed by the mixing of period and modern slang. If you’re going to bother with period slang sometimes do it all the way through.
I’m reading “The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton - the language is phenomenal. I’ve been drawn up several times just re-reading how beautifully put together some of the sentences are.
Haven’t read it, but I liked the movie when it came out. The one line I remember was from when everyone bolts for the opera house doors just as the performance concludes. Wharton wrote, “Americans like nothing about culture so much as their speedy departure from it.” Some things never change!
FYI, CBS just announced that they’re making this into a series.
I finished *This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It * by David Wong while on vacation and I’d give it a recommendation to anyone looking for a fun, quick ride.
After that, I started to read on the plane ride home Alison Arngrim’s Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated which is a really amusing (and some parts dark) read. My SO, who isn’t much of a reader, got annoyed as he was trying to read along on my Kindle secretly and I read quicker than he did.
Eifelheim is a favorite re-read, and I don’t re-read often. I love that book.
I’m reading Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and loving it. I’ve seen the language described as “florid”. I’m not seeing florid. I love it, and I absolutely adore Fermin. He’s so funny!
I just started Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo. I’ll keep you posted.
I just finished that one- surprisingly funny, as well as touching.
For those who loved Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, good news! The BBC will be making a miniseries: http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/23665/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-coming-to-the-bbc
And for further Doper discussion: Who would you cast in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board