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Violanthe
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 What are you currently reading?
Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:18 pm |
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Tell us what book (or books) you're right in the middle of, and how you like them so far.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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Last edited by Violanthe on Sun Apr 30, 2006 5:42 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Magus
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:00 am |
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I'm currently reading Cell, which is an excellent book, one of the better ones I've read, actually. I started it a while ago, but just haven;t had the time to devote to it. I only had two sittings with it, but am already over a third of the way finished. I'm pretty sure that I can finish it by Monday, if I just start reading it.
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"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity" |
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Golophin
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:51 pm |
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| In the Miso soup by Ryu Murakami. I am about 2/3 of the way through and think about this book a lot even when i am not reading it. I am not sure if i am enjoying it .. have to wait for the pay off at the end. |
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Violanthe
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:36 am |
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It has its faults, for sure. What particularly doesn't work for you?
I'm reading The Snow by Adam Roberts, a very thought-provoking post-apocalyptic novel with an interesting subtext about the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001 and subsequent retaliatory actions.
I'm also reading Dragonfield, a book of short stories by Jane Yolen. My faves so far are Happy Dens, about a lamb who becomes a nurse at an old wolve's home and The Undine, a hauntng re-telling of The Little Mermaid. |
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Jayaprakash
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:37 am |
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| Oops, that was me. Forgot to sign in. |
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DougGogerty
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Joined: 29 Mar 2006
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Location: Minnesota
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What are you currently reading?
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:16 am |
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I'm about 1/3 of the way through A Game of Thrones. It is progressing a bit slowly, but in a good way. The suspense is progressing nicely, and you never know where it is leading.
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Douglas E. Gogerty
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"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
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Violanthe
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Jay Tomio
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:40 am |
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I'm reading Jeffrey Ford's second collection Empire of Ice Cream which is thus far magnificent, and finishing up Stephen Baxter's Emperor (which will be out in July) which a really nice Baxter project, from a writer who usually delivers with either brilliance, or is a bit uneven (even with his collaborations with Arthur C. Clarke).
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The Bodhisattva
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Violanthe
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Magus
Wordslinger
Joined: 31 Mar 2006
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Location: Illinois
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:43 pm |
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I read Dune. It's a magnificent book, although I found it a bit... dry... for my taste.
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"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity" |
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Violanthe
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Hanas�an
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Joined: 09 Apr 2006
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Location: Brisbane, Australia
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What are you reading?
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:19 pm |
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I just finished Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler & Robert Parker.
It was an entertaining read and one I wasn't intending on ever reading, but browsing used bookstores while the daughter was shopping for costume material makes one pick up cheap books that look interesting. I got Arthur C Clarke's 2061 too. I read 2001 & 2010 many many years ago.
My next read is Glen Cook's Tyranny of the Night which I picked up on eBay awhile back. With the amount of time I have to read, that will probably take me a month or two. |
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Violanthe
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DougGogerty
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 5:31 pm |
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I haven't read Dune, but I do have a minor issue with it. Hydrogen is the single most common element in the cosmos. (Our sun is mostly Hydrogen.) Oxygen is third or so. Thus, H2O while not possibly in liquid form, would be fairly easy to come by or at the very least manufacture. But that is me and my nit-picky ways...
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Douglas E. Gogerty
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Around the Campfire
"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
-James T. Kirk |
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Murray Graham
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:53 pm |
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Just finished Wheel of the Winds by Mary jane Engh. Frankly, it seems like a thinly disguised ripoff of Hal clement's "Mission of Gravity".
Regards,
M. Graham
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Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books.
For to you kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring,
but to him they are but toys of the moment,
to be overturned with the flick of a finger. -- Gordon R.Dickson |
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Violanthe
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Golophin
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 7:31 am |
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| I have just finshed The Knight by Gene Wolfe and am reading The Wizard by the same author. After that its The Land of Laughs by Johnathan Caroll and then the last two volumes of Kate Elliotts Crown of Stars series. |
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Murray Graham
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:21 pm |
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Currently reading Arefel's Saga by C.J. Cherryh
Regards,
M. Graham
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Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books.
For to you kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring,
but to him they are but toys of the moment,
to be overturned with the flick of a finger. -- Gordon R.Dickson |
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Violanthe
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Jay Tomio
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:58 am |
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Right now, In the Eye of Heaven by David Keck and The Tourmaline by Paul Park, the sequel to one of the better books of last year A Princess of Roumania. Next week plan to move on to Naomi Novik's Throne of Jade and Black Powder War, the sequels to His Majesty's Dragon (aka Temeraire in the UK)
I'm also reading Brian K. Vaughn's collected Runaways (comic) .
I'm trying to find time to read Geoff Ryman's latest, Kings Last Song.
| Quote: | | How would you characterize each of those books, Jay? Fantasy? |
I don't know, so many times we all use the same words and thet mean something different for each of us. Ford is one of my favorite authors period, and Empire of Ice Cream is his second collection, (which is incredible). I would say he is a fantasy author, but some would call him by trendy terms like magic realist, or slipstream, and those are apt as well I guess. What I do know is Ford is one of the handful of best short story writers in the business - and is a great writer of fiction period He is simply extraordinary.
Empire is a alt. history/SF book that I think fans of his Coalescent will really enjoy
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The Bodhisattva
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Violanthe
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Calliope
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 1:40 pm |
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| I just finished Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and it is wonderful. I highly recommend it. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his works are mixed in with the mystery and Adams' characters are wonderful. I think this book may actually be superior to his Hitchhikers Guide books. |
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Violanthe
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Calliope
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:12 pm |
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| Just finished this morning Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride. Excellent book. She is a really good writer. Has anyone read any of her other works? |
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Ian
The King of the Swing
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
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Location: Kent, England, U.K.
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 2:31 pm |
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| I have not read anything by science-fiction writer Margaret Atwood but I have heard of her. Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to check it out. |
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Peter
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 4:06 am |
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I'm trying to read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. I say trying as I finding the first book a disconnected mess. He's all over the place with his narrative.
It's amazing that books like that win awards, isn't it? |
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Calliope
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Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 4:34 pm |
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| Johnnycab I know what you mean. I recently read a book that had some award and I didn't think it was that well written at all. I guess you can never tell. |
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Queen Of The Abyss
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Location: Saskatchewan
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 6:12 am |
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| I just started Jeff Van Der Meer's City of Saints and Madmen at the train station this morning. I've only read the first chapter but it looks very promising. |
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Violanthe
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 2:02 pm |
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| Johnnycab wrote: | I'm trying to read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. I say trying as I finding the first book a disconnected mess. He's all over the place with his narrative.
It's amazing that books like that win awards, isn't it? |
I read the Golden Compass and had a lot of trouble with it. I have a review of it coming up soon where I try to explain my qualms.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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Queen Of The Abyss
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 6:57 am |
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| Jeff Van der Meer's City of Saints and Madmen |
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Peter
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
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Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:07 am |
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I'm reading Pullman's second Dark Materials book. I guess I just don't get these books, 'cos I'm finding this one as much a drear as the first one.
Peter |
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Shadow_Ferret
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Posts: 318
Location: Milwaukee, WI
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Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:26 am |
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| I finished reading several books on magic, including "Making the Elephant Disappear," and now I'm reading a book on instruments of the orchestra. |
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Calliope
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 9:33 am |
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I found a new author JASPER FFORDE. I just started reading the first in a series of Tuesday Next books. The name of the book is The Eyre Affair. It is set in 1985 Great Britian but not the Great Britian we know of '85. In this 1985 time travel happens all the time; dodos are the most popular pet; one can actually get lost in a novel (my favorite part); the Crimean war is still going on and literature is very serious business. Tuesday Next is a detective for a Special Ops Agency who is chasing down a really really evil character named Acheron Hades who has stolen Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit but before he can be captured he goes after Jane Eyre.
A very fun and exciting book!! I highly recommend! |
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Ian
The King of the Swing
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
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Location: Kent, England, U.K.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:23 pm |
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Vio,
I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on "Dune." Did you like it? |
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Golophin
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 5:05 pm |
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| The Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell. Thoroughly enjoyable re-imagining of the events leading up to the war between the Mycenane Greeks and Trojans |
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Peter
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Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 3:06 am |
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The Children of Tomorrow - A E van Vogt.
So far, so good.
Peter |
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Jay Tomio
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pecooper
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Joined: 05 Apr 2006
Posts: 306
Location: Port Angeles, Washington
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 5:12 pm |
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Loitering With Intent by Peter O'Toole.
The first volume of his memoirs. They show him to be as great a writer as he is an actor. I've only gotten to age 7, but I'm very impressed with how he tells his story. He alternates vignettes from his life, with vignettes from Hitler's life when he was that age, with what Hitler did at that time that affected O'Toole. He also tells the stories using the slang and viewpoint a child would pick up in that era. It's very funny and very effective.
It would repay reading for any would-be writer. |
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Calliope
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 6:07 pm |
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| I will always think of O'Toole as he was in Lawrence of Arabia. What a wonderful actor. This book sounds fascinating also! |
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Jay Tomio
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Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:28 am |
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Starting Justina Robson's Keeping It Real (first book in Quantum Gravity sequence) - I read a preview of this book a couple of months ago, and loved it so looking forward to reading it). I'm also seriously thinking about doing the unthinkable and reading Terry Brook's new Armageddon's Children (which comes out in August and merges his Shannara setting to his Word/Void series). Brooks is absolutely awful, but I'm intrigued.
If that falls through I'm going to start Paragaea by Chris Roberson, a sensational short story writer whose last novel Here, There & Everywhere was seriously slept on. I also have parts III and IV of Harper Collin's effort to reprint Osamu Tezuka's classic Buddah graphic novels
I recently put up my interview with Scott Lynch, and my review of his debut The Lies of Locke Lamora.
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The Bodhisattva
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Queen Of The Abyss
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Location: Saskatchewan
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 7:46 am |
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| Jay Tomio wrote: | | His name is just Jeff Vandermeer. |
My mistake. But it's VanderMeer. That's according to the bio on his official website. |
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Peter
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Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 9:50 am |
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| And if he was true to his name's Dutch origins, it'd be van der Meer. |
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Violanthe
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Calliope
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:15 am |
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I'm now on the third book in the Tuesday Next's novels by Jasper Fforde. I really love these books -- it's so fun because he uses other literary novels which some of the characters can go into -- There is Miss Havisham from Dickens' Great Expectations and the Chesire Cat -- not to mention someone gets trapped in Poe's The Raven.
Anyway if any of you get a chance check out some of Fforde's books!! |
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Peter
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:39 am |
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| Just about to start Lara by Beatrice Small. |
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Violanthe
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Peter
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:02 am |
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I made a mistake: it's Bertrice, not Beatrice.
Why? Who knows...but I'll tell you this much - it's one of those books that will convince you that if she can write and get published, then so can anyone. It's a Jackie Collins S&F book set in a clich�d fantasy land.
Peter |
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Calliope
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 4:55 pm |
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It's a Jackie Collins S&F book set in a clich�d fantasy land.
That's sad but funny!! [/quote] |
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Violanthe
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 3:30 pm |
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| Quote: | | Why? Who knows...but I'll tell you this much - it's one of those books that will convince you that if she can write and get published, then so can anyone. It's a Jackie Collins S&F book set in a clich�d fantasy land. |
I've read books like that. Unfortunately, it seems like there are two camps of publishing - the insightful and unique stories, and the cliched, derivative stories. It's no use trying to get published in the latter camp if your writing aspires to the former.
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Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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