Author Topic: What are you reading, part 3  (Read 311126 times)

Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1665 on: March 09, 2011, 05:40:15 AM »
Well, I finished the above book, and doggone it if they didn't manage to pull it off. The writing didn't improve or anything like that, but the plot is extremely satisfying. There were a couple major reversals at the end (though they were well enough telegraphed). Now I'd like to read the sequel.

...though reading Amazon reviews, I probably won't unless a third book is good again.
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fireflyz

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1666 on: March 10, 2011, 12:58:16 PM »
I just finished Steven Erikson's first book in the Malazan series.  I liked it, but I felt like the book was almost completely plot driven with very little character development.  Even when characters did undergo development, it seemed like it was driven by the plot.  The descriptions weren't as much as I would have liked either.  But that's just me, I like a lot of description.  Having said that, the last hundred pages or so was exciting with twists and turns that made it nearly impossible for me to guess the ending.  And that was fun.  I've heard that the first book wasn't his best, but I'm not sure if I want to get sucked into such a large series unless it's going to get better.  Anyone read his series and have feedback?


I also reread Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising Series.  I had read them years and years ago while in middle school and loved them.  Originally, the cover to the Grey King (the dog with silver eyes) is what drew me in.  Which just goes to show that sometimes a good cover is worth a thousand words.  Anyway, the series is five books long.  I was dissapointed that it didn't hold up to the test of aging.  I think it's hard for an author to write a middle grade/early YA novel that is going to be able to be read again and again as their readers age.  It was a good little story, but it was completely plot-driven.  The writing was good, if simple.


I also just finished up a biography of George Washington by Ron Chernow.  It was well written and intriguing.  It's very interesting to see sides of Washington glossed over in the history books.  THe man was a social climbing aristocrat whose resentment of Great Britain stemmed from their army not allowing colonials to hold permanent commissions in the army.  Having said that, it was fascinating to see his evolution into the egalitarian President we know today.  My only complaint is that the author could have used a better editor.  There are certain areas of the book that are repeated (sometimes with the same quotations/source citations) several times.  For example, apparently Washington was obsessed with scientific developments in agriculture and tried to apply those to his own estates.  While interesting, after the fourth time it crops up in the book it starts to get old.  Chernow obviously favors Washington, but I didn't find his bias too be over the top.  He takes him to task on his failures even if his vehement in his defense in other places.


I have a few more novels to put up, but I'll save it for tonight.
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hubay

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1667 on: March 10, 2011, 06:41:34 PM »
Ah, I loved the Dark is Rising! I think Cooper's standalone The Bogart ages better though.

I just finished Dan Simmon's Hyperion, and I'm starting on The Fall of Hyperion, now. Really, really good book – thanks, writing excuses – and I liked how the different backstories give you very different impressions of the world, and who the bad guys might be. Excited for book2.

Has anyone read the two Endymion books? I'm wondering if I should pick those up after I'm done with this one.

WriterDan

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1668 on: March 11, 2011, 11:17:19 PM »
@fireflyz:  Steve'll probably be around here sometime soon to tell you about this, but...

http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/gardens-of-moon_9674.html

Finished Blue&Gold by KJ Parker.  Good stuff, but not my favorite of hers.  Look up Purple&Black.  Much better.

Reading Wolfsangel by M. D. Lachlan.  Would be a million times better if he didn't jump POVs all the time.  Still pretty good though.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2011, 11:20:14 PM by WriterDan »
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fireflyz

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1669 on: March 12, 2011, 12:26:20 AM »
Thanks for the link!  I had heard his learning curve was steep, and it was, but I didn't think it was too terrible.  I also heard that he started in the middle of the story and made no bones about it.  I was fine with that, but I still think his characters weren't well developed.  Having said that, the ending was sufficiently entertaining and the prose was well done.  Based on that and the link I'll pick up the second book.  We'll see how that goes, I'm looking forward to it.

I just finished two books today.

The first is 9 years among the Apache.  It's an account from a boy who was kidnapped by the Apaches in 1870 at age 11.  He lived with them and the Comanches as an Indian for 9 years.  He stole horses, killed white men, indians, and mexicans, and rode over most of the southwest.  Finally, Quannah Parker convinced him to go to the reservations and then they found his family and he was reunited.  He eventually became "civilized" again.  He lived until the 1930's and Congress made an exception so that he could stay on the reservation as a Comanche.   Very intriguing read, I have read a lot of the West, but was still unprepared for some of the savagery in the book.

The second was Freakonomics.  I saw the documentary and wanted to pick up the book.  Very interesting read.  The authors tackle some controversial subjects (abortion and it's effects on crime) but only from the relationships of numbers and the data, not from any moral aspect.  Other interesting portions deal with parenting, sumo wrestling, and real estate agents.  I've always liked economics (in theory, in practice I'm not a huge fan of regression analysis) and this book was a fun read.

Next up is the 2nd  Erikson novel.
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mtbikemom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1670 on: March 15, 2011, 12:06:44 AM »
Just finished Alan Campbell's Scar Night and, while I almost put it away several times, I finished it mostly out of curiosity.  Not so much for plot resolution or character arc satisfaction, but to see how far into depravity this author was willing to go while still spinning a fascinating if credence-stretching tale.  If there had been overt sexual content mixed in with the unceasing violence, that would have done it for me.

 I found it fascinating, though, how much the destructive, bloody themes of "Grand Theft Auto" were mirrored in this story. The author is one of that game's developers.   Kind of a social excursion into a genre I have learned to avoid.  I should have known better, but I'm actually glad I finished it.

Having said that, and with my obvious distaste for the horror genre and its cheapening of human life and suffering, there was a lot to like in this generally distasteful book.  The uncluttered prose and ghastly metaphors combined for an unsettling balance.  The pace is rollicking, as advertised, but the content is not really emotionally satisfying, so the good pacing was mostly wasted on me.  I am a demanding reader when it comes to believable interpersonal relationships.  The motivations of the main characters didn't always ring true or stay consistent, but the like-able ones were very like-able. Not original, but intriguing nonetheless.  Toward the last third of the book, I groaned each time the only half of the story that still interested me shifted to the cheerless other half.  I almost skipped the above-ground battle scenes, especially since I was not fully invested in the story as a whole, but persevered.  Again, it was just intriguing enough as a glimpse into a twisted perception of his world and for sometimes surprisingly good writing to keep me going.

The ending, and most of the intense action scenes, went bad-Matrix, but with a delicious cliffhanger ultimately.  Almost good enough for book 2, but only if I get really desperate for a good read.  Yes, I admit, this was a good read.  In the meantime, I will cleanse my literary palate with Bujold and Rothfuss and maybe another sweet, older McKillip because I have had enough blood and guts for the present, thank you very much.


Sigyn

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1671 on: March 15, 2011, 05:23:50 PM »
I'm reading Dark Mirror by M. J. Putney, and there's a certain clunkiness to the the storytelling and characterization that's making it a difficult read. I'm still not certain whether I'm going to put in the effort to finish it.
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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1672 on: March 15, 2011, 05:32:25 PM »
Just finished The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich . This the book The Social Network was based on. Zuckerberg is portrayed as alot less of a jerk than he is in the movies. I don't feel sorry for the guys from Harvard who sued him. They did not offer to pay him and wanted him to do all the real work for their website which they would then own. There is absolutely no way they knew enough about development to bring Facebook to where it is now. They did not know how to code at all. There is a tremendous amount of technical talent behind that site. Business guys who don't know how to code don't get that. They basically wanted someone else to do the real work for them. Ideas are cheap, it is The Execution of the Idea that matters. As expected the book glosses over the technical aspects of what they were doing when this started and focuses on the partying. No way there was that much partying. They were coding 70-80 hours/week. This is probably not interesting to readers and the author doesn't have the knowledge to really understand just how much work is involved in this kind of thing. For the record, I don't use social networking sites.

Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1673 on: March 15, 2011, 06:49:48 PM »
Last night I finished Act of Will by A.J. Hartley. Very disappointing. I knew nothing about the book when I picked it up, but the first 20 pages were great.

There's this conceit that it's translated from an old manuscript in an unknown language using an 18th-century partial translation as a key. And then the narrative voice (it's in first person) is fantastic. The narrator is an 18-year-old Globe-Theater-type actor named Will who starts the novel in a dress and then gets accused by the local Empire of sedition when they barge in saying they're going to burn down the theater. It's a great beginning.

But then after that it's just boring. It's a standard sword & sorcery world (with only European-like humans) with not very much sorcery. The magic is used by the protagonists maybe 5 times in the book and is very ill-defined. The villains also use a kind of magic but all it does is teleport soldiers around. Pretty lame.

The characters are pretty boring too. Will falls in with a group of people who call themselves adventurers. When I read that I figured the book was in trouble. It's like the author played D&D and then wrote a book. Very boring. When it took them 40 pages or whatever to travel across a desert with nothing happening, I was convinced the book was in trouble.

The only reason I finished the story was because of the voice. But even that got a bit tiring after a while. For example, there was this scene where Will becomes a snake-oil salesman in order to get some money...and there was no fallout from that at all. The adventurers patted him on the back and said good job, and none of the people he bilked seemed to get upset. Huh? It was an amusing scene to read, but I couldn't suspend my disbelief.

The end was also lame. They defeated the bad guys, and not in a clever way. Also, there was a balk that Howard would be annoyed at.
All Saiyuki fans should check out Dazzle! Emotionally wrenching action-adventure and quirky humor! (At least read chapter 6 and tell me if you're not hooked.) Volume 10 out now!

fireflyz

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1674 on: March 16, 2011, 12:32:17 AM »
Finished 2nd Erikson novel.  It was better than the first.  The breadth of the world really started coming through in this novel and it is massive.  That's really good.  The Seventh's long retreat was also very well done.  I enjoyed Fiddler and Kalam and gang.  I didn't like the girl's POV.  I'm sure we weren't supposed to like her.  She was put in a horrible situation and reacted horribly to it.  That's probably what 9 out of 10 people would do.  I just didn't enjoy reading about it.  Also, her thoughts seemed disjointed at times and then bam! she decides to become a goddess and suddenly it's all different.  I felt that part was very poorly executed.  I could have done without her story line at all and I think the book would have been much better for it.  I'm sure that in the future her plotline will become more meaningful and was neccessary, but I didn't feel that Erikson pulled it off. 

So, two books in.  Will I continue?  I think I will.  Erikson has some moments of genius.  There are some good characters (when he chooses to develop them).  They aren't wholly good or evil and I like that.  I like grey.  Sometimes it's nice to read some black and white, but I think of all the genre types, fantasy tends to go overboard with that.

The bad parts are that at times Erikson's setting falls to the way side.  Whenever the action or dialogue picks up the setting is lacking.  The character development was better this time, but only for certain characters.  Others it was very similar to the first book and that was a dissapointment.  The magic is very interesting, but in parts I again feel, that it was poorly executed.  I feel that thus far, two books in, Erikson is similar to Brent Weeks.  He's superior in his world, story, and prose, but they both tend to have heavily plot driven novels in an interesting world that's never fully described.  I feel that Erikson could do with a good editor.

I'm also cognizant of the fact that this is his second novel and the man puts them out at a very quick rate.  I'll read on because so far the plot (and some of the characters) have me intrigued.
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WriterDan

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1675 on: March 16, 2011, 04:39:20 PM »
@fireflyz:  Actually took me three attempts to get through Deadhouse Gates because I was really turned off by the girl's story.  Third book was mega-awesome though.  I totally envy you your first read through THAT book.  :)
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Miyabi

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1676 on: March 16, 2011, 04:51:27 PM »

On my trip to New York I picked up a random Graphic Audio books.  It ended up being the third book in the Night Angel Trilogy.  I LOVED it.  So I started just a day or two ago on the first book.
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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1677 on: March 17, 2011, 01:59:56 AM »
Just reread Dragonsdawn by Mc Caffery. Was nice.

Just finished The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.



Rothfuss is incredible. He is a rare good author in a period dedicated to shlock, yet seemingly genuinely self deprecating and humble about his work. "A Wise Man's Fear" is a sophomore novel and you might expect certain predictably disappointing shortfalls in such. From the terse yet poignantly humorous dedications to the bookend afterward, you should be pleasingly surprised. The secondary story, told in intercallary vignettes is easily as compelling as the greater epic told in Kwothe's colorful narratives.

Rothfuss apologizes for the time taken to write this second volume in what promises to be as rich and grand as Jordan and as literary as Steinbeck. But he needn't have. The time taken shows in the quality of the writing and the obvious measures taken to overcome the Sophomore Slump. One can only hope that Rothfuss has produced a "schema" such that others may follow his example. In writing he has proven to be as painstakingly efficient and creative as any Artificer in the "Fishery". "The Wise Man's Fear is a solid continuation of "The Name of the
Wind."

My only real complaint was, where the name of the wind was very nearly a character in the book of that name, a wise man's fear is part of a thread that is nearly tangential, and only mentioned once. Though I suspect a good deal of the unresolved bits in this book relate to it and are really foreshadowing, he doesn't connect them to the fear in any direct way. That doesn't detract from the substance of the book in any way, but it stood out as an oversight because of the precision with which "A Wise Man's Fear" is constructed.

It's a good read, go ye forth and act accordingly.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1678 on: March 17, 2011, 06:28:38 AM »
I just finished The Candidates by Inara Scott. A fun young YA magic academy book where most of the students don't know it's a magic academy. Not groundbreaking, but well written. I'd like to read the next one.

It reminds me of a certain book that Sigyn has written, except it's more traditional. But it takes place in the Pacific Northwest and the main character girl's name ends in "cia." ;)
All Saiyuki fans should check out Dazzle! Emotionally wrenching action-adventure and quirky humor! (At least read chapter 6 and tell me if you're not hooked.) Volume 10 out now!

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1679 on: March 17, 2011, 03:06:19 PM »
sorry about the double post on the same book. My conputer locked up when I posted the first time. Then I got busy and did not have time to re-write it for a while. You can go ahead and delete on of them.