Finished Storm Front by Jim Butcher, and just got done putting all the other Dresden Files on hold at the library. I’m embarrassed to say that although I’ve seen the books recommended a lot, I avoided them because the word Dresden made me think it had something to do with Nazis. For anyone else who may not know, they are light mystery novels starring a wizard detective. A point in their favor: they have dignified titles and covers. If that had been the same book, but titled Wizardly Doings, with a picture of a demon on the front, I’d never have read it.
Next up, The Magician’s Book : a skeptic’s adventures in Narnia, by Laura Miller. I’m about two pages in, and feeling pretty smart because the author confessed she read the books over and over as a kid without catching the symbolism. I read them repeatedly as well, but caught the symbolism (on about my twentieth try)! :o
Car audio book: On Writing, by Stephen King. Read it before, still like it.
The order becomes more important in the later books, because there’s an ongoing story arch. For the first few I think you’ll be okay. There’s a big reveal about a certain character in book 6, but it will be spoiled if you read almost anything online about the series.
I just finished The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi’s second in the series that began with the fun Old Man’s War. It was good, but I prefer the first one so far. Reading this one makes me eager to read Zoe’s Tale, a retelling from the daughter’s point of view.
I tried to read The Turn of the Screw but there were too many words covering up the story. To replace it I checked out Lucky You by Carl Hiassen. A friend of mine recommended him to me last night while we were talking about Dave Barry. So far it’s pretty good.
I am reading Volume I of the original Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga, which I received for Christmas. I found it confusing at first, until I realized I was supposed to be reading the panels right to left as well as the pages.:smack: Now that I’m reading everything in the correct order it makes a lot more sense… and is totally engrossing.
Nausicaa is my favorite Miyazaki movie; I am completely in love with the strength of the heroine and of her love for bugs (I love bugs too.) The manga goes into greater depth with her character and with her relationship to the Ohmu. Ohmu look like this, and one of life’s great tragedies is that I will never have one of my own.
Just finished Mean Streets. Four short stories from urban fantasists Jim Butcher, Simon Greene, Kat Richardson and Thomas Sniegoski.
I was familiar with the source work of the first 3 of the four. Of those they were fair representations of their work and fans won’t be too disappointed by them. The fourth was new to me and I enjoyed it enough that I will look into Sniegoski’s work.
I just finished Robert J. Sawyer’s Hominids. It was an intriguing look at an alternate universe where Neanderthals became the dominant species instead of homo sapiens. Worth reading for the concepts, but I wasn’t impressed with Sawyer’s writing. His characterization was particularly bad.
I’m halfway through C.J Sansom’s Tudor mystery Sovereign.
I’m about 50 pages into The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. Recommended by a Doper who called it a “ridiculously good” novel and so far, I have to agree.
Eleanor, how are you liking Sovereign? I liked Dissolution and Dark Fire but I heard the third novel suffered from bloat, so I was reluctant to buy it.
To me, these books suffer from star-studdedness and it’s getting worse: in this one we have not only appearances by Cranmer, Henry VIII and Catherine Howard, but also Lady Rochford, Thomas Culpepper, Francis Dereham, and Robert Aske’s skeleton. And those are just the people I instantly recognize.
Probably other people are fine with this, but I’m annoyed when a fictional character coincidentally encounters a bunch of famous historical figures. Steven Saylor is pretty bad about this, too.
I have officially given up on Jane Austen. I read one of her books, I get interested in it enough to turn the pages, but the whole time I’m wishing I’m reading something else. I just don’t care. It’s all 500 pages of I don’t care.
I’m officially a Bronte girl. Hell with you, Jane Austen. Try having something happen in your books once in a while.
I graduated from high school at the American International School in Vienna in 1997. Johnathon Carroll was my creative writing teacher. He was very witty but scared the 18 year old me to death!
I’m doing some re-reading. I picked up *Stardoc *and Beyond Varallan at our local used bookstore and thought they were okay. But now, having been edumacated on this board, while I was reading through them, my brain kept screaming,“Mary Sue! Mary Sue!” Sheesh.
And I, too, am re-reading A Game of Thrones, but I find myself muttering, “He’s gonna die. Yep, he’s gonna die. She won’t make it long.” Are there more than two or three characters in the whole book that survive the series?
Finished that one, thankfully. Amusing at times, but his schtick wore thin. He’s a jerk. I hadn’t heard of him before I picked up the book, or I probably would’ve just skipped it.
Now reading The Ladies’ Lending Library. I’m a few chapters in, and it’s OK, but not reeling me in. I’ll give it another couple chapters before I bail on it.
