"Spartan spawn, sworn, raised for warring."
United States
Beaufort
South Carolina
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Only read one book this month, but it was a long one (over 600 pages)!
Excellent book, I knew next to nothing about the Korean War and I picked this up at my local Habitat for Humanity and decided to rectify that situation. He expertly weaves the political backgrounds, the generals backgrounds, the strategic overviews, and the first hand accounts of the men on the ground into one flowing story. To understand the American politics behind the war he also presents the Russian, North Korean, and Chinese going ons as well. It is (as most books of this kind are) a sad read as well, the amount of human life wasted because of political aspirations and fear is horrible. Excellent in depth overview (if that makes sense) of the war in my opinion.
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Geekway to the West was Vastly Entertaining.
United States
University City
MO
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I re-read some Dorothy Sayers:
Gaudy Night
Busman's Honeymoon
Margery Allingham:
The Beckoning Lady
And to my children I am still reading "Over Sea, Under Stone". We are almost done, they are liking it.
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Rob
United States
30° 12′ 38″ N, 95° 45′ 2″ W
Never give credit to conspiracy what can be much better explained as just rampant incompetence.
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I picked this up at Half Price Books for $15, and appreciate the extra material. Although, I probably wouldn't have purchased it for the full price (around $40). It fleshes out skill challenges, ideas for creating a campaign, and more detail on creating custom monsters. Good resource for crafting a meatier D&D experience.
I got this in exchange for some games at a FLGS. It's a good resource for my players - much more detail on mundane and magical dungeoneering supplies, weapons, artifacts. Also, a few DM-only sections dealing with NPCs and hirelings, magic item backstories, and other stuff.
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Key Locks
United States
Indianapolis
Indiana
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Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
It was the first book I read on my new Nook. Quite good. However, based on discussions here in Chit Chat and from looking at some descriptions online, I don't think I have any interest in reading any of his other books.
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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The Leopard by Jo Nesbo. Scandinavian cop story. Excellent series
That was the highlight. I get through about 6-8 books/month.
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Avri Balofsky
Israel
Beit Shemesh
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Cpl. Fields
South Africa
Hopelessly Surrounded
Isandlwana, Zululand
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Started in November, finished in January:
The only novel I can recall literally giving me nightmares.
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Andrew Brannan
United States
Rockville
Maryland
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Jim Butcher's Codex Alera Series:
Furies of Calderon
Academ's Fury
Cursor's Fury
Captain's Fury
Princeps' Fury
First Lord's Fury
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
I need a new series to chew through, though.
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Brian Bankler
United States
San Antonio
Texas
"I'm a soldier, I've killed people." "You are a doctor." "I've had bad days."
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Hunger Games
It was pretty good. I could see it getting popular.
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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abrannan wrote: Jim Butcher's Codex Alera Series:
Furies of Calderon
Academ's Fury
Cursor's Fury
Captain's Fury
Princeps' Fury
First Lord's Fury
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
I need a new series to chew through, though.
Cop - Jo Nesbo
Spy - Daniel Silva
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DORGON
United States
Round Rock
Texas
Entertainment for those who don't think young & don't think old
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I liked it. I dig the transhuman aspect.
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Frog of Density ...er, Destiny
United States
Ft. Collins
Colorado
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About half-way through, but thoroughly enjoying it.
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United States
New York
When the world hands you a Jeffrey, furry walls will make it fine.
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The Judging Eye by R Scott Bakker (Aspect Emperor, Book 1 and sequel to the fabulous Prince of Nothing series). Simply amazing. All of the characters are more fleshed out than in the first series, and the plot interweaves in many interesting directions and leaves you guessing at what the Aspect Emperor is really plotting and whether his former mentor will discover what his one-time student is.
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Morgan Dontanville
United States
Brooklyn
New York
Plate of Shrimp.
Here we are folks, the dream we all dream of.
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Vicious Circle
by Mike Carey
I really enjoyed the first Felix Castor book. I came to these books from loving Mike Carey's work in comics. I searched around, looking for urban fantasy that didn't make me throw the book down in frustration, so I decided to go with a name I trusted.
The first book was a nice simple hard-boiled mystery with some fun supernatural elements. This book embraces the supernatural more and the protagonists is forced to confront larger ramifications of his actions. He spends more time exploring the world and the character's place in it. The first book is pretty pat and straightforward, where this book takes its time poking and prodding at the different plot lines to see how they react. I like the characters and he spend some real energy building the characters' environment without making you feel like anything is wasted nor overdone. The main character is an enjoyable dude, and in the grand tradition of Jim Rockford can take a beating...
It has fun obscure references that are fun to look up without seeming
overbearing. It has a little grit, while still feeling light. If I could do 4.5 stars here I'd do it.
Peculia
by Richard Sala
Short little bits of story. They usually go something like this:
Peculia has slept too much (naked) or is out of cereal and needs to go for a walk. Ambrose her butler advises against it. Justine, a super-villainess has a love/hate thing with Peculia and bumps heads with her, meanwhile Peculia stumbles into a fantastic mini horror story, usually ending up with her kicking ass and her shirt being torn off. Justine works with Obscurus who wants to kidnap Peculia for himself, so he often will try to save her from monsters or a wrathful Justine so that one day they can be together. It isn't deep, but the art is amazing and the stories are silly endearing postcard images of fun adventures.
Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer
The book is filled with some good ideas, and the reality is that it is a page turner. But, I found the writing to be a continual frustration. The two unforgivable problems with this book are the heavy-handed messages and the inconsistent internal logic (with these two elements frequently playing off each other). The narrator has a voice that interjects/interrupts occasionally to point out how The Mud People (humans) are terrible compared The People (fairies), yet where the narrator is quick to point out his shallow observations of human pollution, and warring, his "better" creatures are racist, sexist, bloodthirsty, power-hungry, that use gas powered equipment, develop brutal weapons, and have little regard for life when it comes to saving a few bucks. There are so many eye-rolling moments in this. Whales are noble beasts, but they have no issue killing off any other animal.
So many moments throughout the book that contradict something that was established previously. The science in this sucks. There is already a clear established magic system, despite that the author relies on ideas and concepts that just don't work scientifically, yet goes out of his way to keep them separate. Too many to list here, but I do think it is funny that the dwarf unlocks his jaw like a snake and then uses it to bite stuff...uh you might unlock your jaw to swallow large stuff, but you can't bite if your jaw is unlocked.
There are quite a few moments where stuff just happens, because he says it does, rather than having any of it make physical sense (a dwarf completely buried in dirt takes a chip out of his eye and installs it in a rabbit, without him looking at the rabbit, despite establishing how complicated the process is and how the color of the eyes having to match, etc, etc). So many lazy shortcuts. Or a dwarf cant eat limestone, then the dwarf eats limestone, and then says that he can't eat limestone, then he farts out limestone that he's eaten (I can't believe there were two plot essential fart/poop jokes in this).
I should also mention that the main character (a 12 year old boy) murdered a whaler, and then said, "ah well, one less whaler". Someone had to be piloting the the whaling ship that he blew up. I know he's supposed to be a villain, but it seemed pretty extreme.
The other thing that was awkward was the references to products in this. It left the book dated and felt forced.
I will say that I think that he became a better writer by the end of the book. Most of the elements that were seriously flawed happened in the first half, with only a few real head-scratchers in the second. Still, it isn't enough to give me confidence that the second book will have improved to the point to be worth reading.
Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires
by Richard Sala
While it was nice to see a longer story dedicated to Peculia, there wasn't much more substance to it than Sala's vignettes. The book was fun, and the art is as jaw dropping as usual (especially the Peculia/old woman fight). What I'd love to see is more story surrounding Obscurus, yet he was only in a photo in the background of this. Not essential, but fun.
Savage Season
by Joe R. Lansdale
This book is your typical crime story about good people getting caught up in some bad breaks. Most of the book is about their relationship and how they work with others. There is a great sense of place and history. The book nicely peers through the little windows of all the character's lives.
The story plays like the first climb of a roller coaster. A big ticking climb and then a big sweeping drop as resolve. That said, while the bulk of the book is set up to the big action sequence, it is so well written that at point where the book changes to a big release of action, that I ended up missing much of the clever dialog, and quirky humor that was built in to the story up until that point. The absence isn't a net loss though, as the book shifts to one of the tightest action sequences I've read.
I'm certainly on board for this series.
The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1
by Neil Gaiman
I started to reread this for the book club here, but I was on the road so much for work and had a sick baby when I was home that I found the size of the edition to interfere with actually reading it. It's a beautiful edition though. I'll probably jam through it to the second batch of issues for next month's book club. I love this series and it will be great to revisit it.
The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club
by Kim Newman
I'm currently reading this and I'm about halfway through. This is a fantastic piece of short stories with characters that interweave and themes that bleed into the others. As a fan of turn of the century (20th) genre and horror fiction this hits all of the sweet spots.
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Talking Mouse
United States
Roswell
Georgia
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The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander - Loosely based on Indian mythology/culture, there's some interesting parts to the story but the main character is a bit frustrating to read at times. (Also the author, despite borrowing from mythology, is a bit formulaic, and this being the third in a collection of novels by him made it a bit tedious to get through.)
The Initiate Brother by Sean Russell - In some ways, a wanna-be Dune, with a lot of political intrigue and pseudo-magical organizations. The characters aren't particularly realistic - they are somewhat caricatured - but there's some good dialog. Story is pretty typical fantasy, but overall well written. First of a duology, will probably read the second.
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Conrad
United States
New York City
New York
Who is bought and sold? Who is beyond the law? Who is free to choose? Who follows orders? Who salutes longest? Who prays loudest? Who dies first? Who laughs last? -Barbara Kruger
"Now a question of etiquette: as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch?"
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James Howard Kunstler is a journalist and writer who mostly covers urban planning and associated environmental catastrophes. While that sounds really boring, he benefits from an eidetic memory, unusually broad literacy and a ruthless sense of humor.
Kunstler's basic contention is that the car has been among the worst disasters to befall mankind, solving a few problems by creating much, much bigger ones, and that industrial society as we understand it is doomed to failure. Although he sometimes gets a little oracular, he's never without a handy sense of self-satire; as for his views, listen to his podcast for a bit and it's hard not to be persuaded.
Plus, he's hilarious, both in writing and in his podcasts. I hope to meet him one of these days.
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Firestone
United States
Northern
Colorado
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MWChapel wrote: I liked it. I dig the transhuman aspect.
He's my favorite science fiction writer--one of the few who can actually write.
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Martin G
United Kingdom
London
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Conrad, that sounds awesome! Added to wishlist.
Last one I finished was Jennifer Egan's Look at Me, which I found to be a lot more focused than her more recent (and still enjoyable) A Visit from the Goon Squad.
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W M Shubert
United States
Portland
Oregon
KGS is the #1 web site for playing go over the internet. Visit now!
Yes, I really am that awesome.
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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami
The Golden Compass/Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife by Pullet
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Michael Edwards
United States
Everett
Washington
YA RL'YAH
Phnglui mglw nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah nagl fhtagn! With cheeze!
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I read
Which is the last of the series currently published. Very frustrating to have to wait for the author to write more.
Then, I have gotten to one I had sitting around:
It's being very enjoyable, and is certainly making me look up bits of various Russian folktales.
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jonathanWC
United States
Missoula
Montana
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Finished Mistborn. Well not counting the most recent one that is set hundreds of years after the trilogy. I like Sanderson. His magic systems are innovative I think...
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Rishi A.
United States
Alexandria
Virginia
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Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
I liked it, though not as much as the other Murakami novel I've read (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle), as it was more serious and less surrealistic. It's disaffected and sad. I believe this is Murakami's best known novel - which makes sense, especially amongst the young. When I was in college, I think I would have latched onto the book's cynicism and horrific portrayal of adulthood (there's a theme in the book of people commiting suicide or going crazy rather than facing life as an adult).
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
This was on my shelf for a while, but I decided to read it since people were talking about it on a previous "What did you read?" thread. I will admit I tend to be unduly harsh on Indian literature - I think a lot of it is culture porn, for lack of a better term. "Look at the crazy costumes they wear and the exotic foods they eat!" It's a substitute for plot and story, sometimes. I don't think Salman Rushdie does this, necessarily. But I did grow tired of the narrator's voice by the end of the novel. At its best, the novel was lively and hilarious and suprisingly engaging. At its worst, it was pedantic and grating. Still, I'm glad I read it. It's a tough novel to talk about because I feel like I could have a differing opinion of each chapter and perhaps even a lot of paragraphs.
Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich
After two fairly intense fiction books, it was good to read some fluffy non-fiction. It's a narrative account of the moon rock heist from NASA about a decade ago - where NASA co-ops managed to steal a safe filled with samples from the Apollo landings. It's extremely narrative and written in a straightforward manner. It's not particularly interesting, stylistically though the content itself is interesting. I do wish it broke out of the third person limited voice once in a while and we got some of the author's perspective, but it was still a fun read overall.
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Bartosz Trzaskowski
Poland
Warszawa
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Bought it a while ago (had to wait a bit for the european paperback edition) and then saved for the 22-hour trip to US. Good read.
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Fantasy fiction
Finished the 2nd "Book" and currently reading the 3rd "book" in The Stone and the Flute by Hans Bemmann. This is wonderful fantasy and each "book" has brought new experiences and challenges to the central character. The writing is poetic, fancy, and entrancing. I find it easy to immerse myself in this world and see everything that is going on very clearly. A very talented writer and wonderful book. So good, I really want to get my own copy. It is fairytale like but much more interesting and deeper than a fairytale.
Reread - Fantasy Fiction
Gifts by Ursula LeGuin - this was a reread and as enjoyable as the first go round. This is the first book in the "Annals of the Western Shore" trilogy that focuses on 2 children who have gifts that they do not want to use for the benefit of their community. It highlights a very interesting civilization which includes feuding tribes, personal prejudice, and extreme selfishness due to self-pride and fear of what others might say. It is a fascinating look at behavior and upbringing while in an interesting fantasy setting. She is a very gifted writer.
Children's Books - preteen level
The Danger Box by Blue Balliett - This is the latest book from this author and it is a very interesting mystery story that explores friendship, disabilities, perseverance, and small town prejudices. The challenges in finding and forming friendships is explored and seems to be a central sub-theme in all her books. Very good!
The Calder Game by Blue Balliett - this is the 3rd in the "Chasing Vermeer" series of mysteries for children by this author. This series examines art and artists through the eyes of preteens and has them solving mysteries related to famous works of art. The series also includes puzzles within the illustrations for the readers to solve. Highly recommended. This 3rd book takes place in England and is by far the best one. Her writing keeps improving with each book and I love that her main characters are just normal kids that aren't good looking, popular, or mainstream in any way. Very refreshing!
Started in January
I have also started Neuromancer by William Gibson
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sisteray wrote: Artemis Fowlby Eoin Colfer The book is filled with some good ideas, and the reality is that it is a page turner. But, I found the writing to be a continual frustration. The two unforgivable problems with this book are the heavy-handed messages and the inconsistent internal logic (with these two elements frequently playing off each other). The narrator has a voice that interjects/interrupts occasionally to point out how The Mud People (humans) are terrible compared The People (fairies), yet where the narrator is quick to point out his shallow observations of human pollution, and warring, his "better" creatures are racist, sexist, bloodthirsty, power-hungry, that use gas powered equipment, develop brutal weapons, and have little regard for life when it comes to saving a few bucks. There are so many eye-rolling moments in this. Whales are noble beasts, but they have no issue killing off any other animal. So many moments throughout the book that contradict something that was established previously. The science in this sucks. There is already a clear established magic system, despite that the author relies on ideas and concepts that just don't work scientifically, yet goes out of his way to keep them separate. Too many to list here, but I do think it is funny that the dwarf unlocks his jaw like a snake and then uses it to bite stuff...uh you might unlock your jaw to swallow large stuff, but you can't bite if your jaw is unlocked. There are quite a few moments where stuff just happens, because he says it does, rather than having any of it make physical sense (a dwarf completely buried in dirt takes a chip out of his eye and installs it in a rabbit, without him looking at the rabbit, despite establishing how complicated the process is and how the color of the eyes having to match, etc, etc). So many lazy shortcuts. Or a dwarf cant eat limestone, then the dwarf eats limestone, and then says that he can't eat limestone, then he farts out limestone that he's eaten (I can't believe there were two plot essential fart/poop jokes in this). I should also mention that the main character (a 12 year old boy) murdered a whaler, and then said, "ah well, one less whaler". Someone had to be piloting the the whaling ship that he blew up. I know he's supposed to be a villain, but it seemed pretty extreme. The other thing that was awkward was the references to products in this. It left the book dated and felt forced. I will say that I think that he became a better writer by the end of the book. Most of the elements that were seriously flawed happened in the first half, with only a few real head-scratchers in the second. Still, it isn't enough to give me confidence that the second book will have improved to the point to be worth reading.
I felt a bit like you when I read this and it left me uninterested to continue the series as I really disliked the main character. I did read another book by him, The Wish List, which I really enjoyed. The story, the characters, the action are all really engrossing, interesting, and exciting. Plus, the plot is totally different from anything I have ever read.
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