April's Anticipated Ascent of Aspiringly Artful Words

[Grunkins]

Finished up The Dirdir by Vance last night (sorry, Connavar, still have The Pnume to read before I can rank them for you).

On to Theft of Swords, Michael J. Sullivan's Ryria omnibus.

 

[ScottSF]

Finally Finished A Dance With Dragons after putting down for a few months. If you like the world martin created, you'll be happy. If you like ALL the characters, you'll be happy. If you liked the Story of ASOIAF then you might be a little frustrated as the momentum is still a bit defused. There's good stuff in there still it just feels like story lines need to regroup and consolidate.

 

[Fried Egg]

Both in my TBR. I just recently reread Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" in an anthology. The first time I read it, over 30 years ago, I had such a visceral reaction to it, that I avoided Ellison's writing for years. And the reaction wasn't because it's a bad story, but because it's so powerful and angry.

Now I just find TWoWD powerful, the anger just and reasonable.

It certainly is a powerful story. I've just finished it. He certainly put across his message clearly. I don't think I can say I enjoyed it, as it is not a story to be enjoyed, but it was very effective and well done.

 

[FireDragon-16]

I picked up Steel by Carrie Vaughn at the library. Not too far into it, but it's pretty interesting so far.

Also picked up Infamous by Sherilyn Kenyon. Haven't cracked it yet, but the rest of the series has been good, so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[j d worthington]

It certainly is a powerful story. I've just finished it. He certainly put across his message clearly. I don't think I can say I enjoyed it, as it is not a story to be enjoyed, but it was very effective and well done.

If you feel this way about "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" (not my favorite among Ellison's works, as I feel it has both great strengths and great weaknesses), I would imagine you'll really be able to sink your teeth into the rest of this collection....

 

[gully_foyle]

Finished On the Beach by Nevil Shute; thank god there were no sharp objects handy or I would be sending this from the sweet hereafter. Now starting The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, having enjoyed most of The Yiddish Policemans' Union when I read it last year.

 

[Vertigo]

Finished On the Beach by Nevil Shute; thank god there were no sharp objects handy or I would be sending this from the sweet hereafter.

I'm curious Gully; was that because you hated the book, it was too depressing or (spoiler) because ultimately everything was completely futile?

 

[D_Davis]

The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis

Beth Harmon is an orphan, an addict, and somewhat obsessive; she was also a child prodigy, and is the best chess player in the world. And, through the words written by Walter Tevis, she is also one of the most fascinating female protagonists I've ever encountered. Throughout this coming-of-age/sports narrative, Beth Harmon comes face-to-face with sexism and communism, blunders her way through awkward social interactions, and struggles through a series of very normal dramatic events. The book does not feature Lifetime-movie-of-the-week-sized peeks and valleys of human drama, but instead works on a smaller scale while still maintaining thrills and tension on almost every page.

Walter Tevis uses what is probably the most readable and transparent style I've ever read. Never once was I reminded that I was reading a book; it was as if the narrative was being broadcast directly from my brain. The pages vanished, and the words conveyed everything in a fashion not completely unlike osmosis. His prose is deceptively simple, straightforward, and direct; I absolutely love concrete language, and The Queen's Gambit is full of it.

What is most remarkable is how tense, exciting, and thrilling the story is. And what's most remarkable about that is that most of those moments come in the form of detailed descriptions of chess games. It is obvious that Walter Tevis knows the game of chess, and he writes about it in such a way that a simple move of a pawn to Queen's Bishop Four becomes as dramatic an event as a lone warrior standing his ground against an army of three-hundred.

I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being my favorite book of the year. I haven't enjoyed a book this much since reading Lonesome Dove in 2011. I'd recommend this book to just about anyone, especially anyone who has even the slightest interest in chess, game theory, and the spirit of competition.

 

[nomadman]

In the early-middle of Zelazny's Dilvish, the Damned - this isn't my kind of thing, really, and I actually got it (and the companion novel) out of a free bin (luck!) just because it starts with a few stories from the 60s... and was free. But it's pretty good so far. It's kind of like a combination of a bit of the usual fantasy that I don't much like, but with dashes of Leiber and Moore that I do.

Christopher Priest would hate it, though - it has a talking horse. (Or a sort of horse - but it definitely talks.)

Not a bad series. Fun to pass the time with, but not up to the general standard of his best work. Gardens of Blood (I think that's what it's called) is a pretty good story, as is another involving a sentient city with shifting streets and so on. Kind of odd the rather faux-mythic style the early stories start with before settling into the standard Zelazny rhythm of prose.

 

[nomadman]

Finished M John Harrison's The Course of the Heart a few days ago. I have mixed feelings about Harrison. He's a writer of supreme skill, capable of eliciting more of less any emotion he desires from the reader, but his works always leave me feeling so depressed afterward -- a sort of residue of hopelessness that clings to me for a few days before evaporating. It's powerful stuff, and thoughtful stuff, but by God if it doesn't put you through the wringer.

Anyway, the book itself is recommended, less intensively dark than Light, more prone to tender moments of reflection and reminiscence, and very readable (a quality of Harrison's that tends to get overlooked). In a nutshell it's about a trio of friends who, sometime during their university years, engaged in an occult ritual that opened them up to another world known as the Pleroma. There's a bit of Crowley-esque "magick" involved, but the bulk of the novel is taken up with each of the three friends coming to grips with the effects of the experiment, and more pertinently with their lost dreams, their wasted lives.

There are some really tender moments here, and a sort of aching wistfulness for the past and for what might have been. Some very scatalogical moments too, as per Harrison. And some parts that make you feel empty inside. It's a book that demands a response, that's for sure.

 

[gully_foyle]

I'm curious Gully; was that because you hated the book, it was too depressing or (spoiler) because ultimately everything was completely futile?

Hi Vert, I didn't hate it, so that leaves the last two.

 

[Talysia]

Finished Jack Of Ravens by Mark Chadbourn, and I'm now moving on to Ben Aaronovitch's Moon Over Soho.

 

[Randy M.]

Finished M John Harrison's The Course of the Heart a few days ago. I have mixed feelings about Harrison. He's a writer of supreme skill, capable of eliciting more of less any emotion he desires from the reader, but his works always leave me feeling so depressed afterward -- a sort of residue of hopelessness that clings to me for a few days before evaporating. It's powerful stuff, and thoughtful stuff, but by God if it doesn't put you through the wringer.

Anyway, the book itself is recommended, less intensively dark than Light, more prone to tender moments of reflection and reminiscence, and very readable (a quality of Harrison's that tends to get overlooked). In a nutshell it's about a trio of friends who, sometime during their university years, engaged in an occult ritual that opened them up to another world known as the Pleroma. There's a bit of Crowley-esque "magick" involved, but the bulk of the novel is taken up with each of the three friends coming to grips with the effects of the experiment, and more pertinently with their lost dreams, their wasted lives.

There are some really tender moments here, and a sort of aching wistfulness for the past and for what might have been. Some very scatalogical moments too, as per Harrison. And some parts that make you feel empty inside. It's a book that demands a response, that's for sure.

This was one of my favorite reads of the Oughts, but yes, it is not a happy novel. At another board I described TCotH this way:

About The Course of the Heart: An expansion of the short story, "The Great God Pan," itself a comment and riff on a famous horror/fantasy story of the same title by Arthur Machen (I think an understanding of the novel -- or at least one understanding of the novel -- depends on knowing that title and having some familiarity with the Machen story). This is, in the best possible sense of the phrase, an adult fantasy in that it will, perhaps, resonate most for readers with a fair amount of life experience. (No, I won't say for old readers. Not that the thought didn’t pass through my mind, but mostly I mean readers who have gone through a lot in their lives, however long or short those lives may be ... have been ... you know what I mean, darn it.)

Three college students in company with an older drop-out -- their mentor, of sorts -- seek a mystical experience, and do experience something they are never able to put into words; one claims he is even unsure anything happened. The event awed and horrified them, it seems a supernatural, certainly paranormal, perhaps metaphysical and even spiritual experience, and they spend the next years of their lives alternately running from it and to it.

Harrison doesn't spend a lot of time on what happened, instead concentrating on the consequences of the three students’ shared experience on their later lives, their characters, their emotions, their friendship, consequences both mundane and fantastic. There is a pervading sense of the numinous, of something wonderful or awful or both just ahead of the characters if they can survive long enough to reach it, if they want to reach it. And there is a sense of real lives being led, of real friendship and the strain of keeping it intact.

Randy M.

 

[Vertigo]

Hi Vert, I didn't hate it, so that leaves the last two.

Yeah!

 

[thatollie]

Okay, I started the month with Vurt by Jeff Noon. I'm not sure what to read next.

 

[Connavar]

The Face by Jack Vance. Demon Princes book 4.

Going from Henry Kuttner's workman like prose to stylist prose of Vance, his weird far future worlds takes time to get used to. I plan to finish this novel and the last Demon Princes novel thanks to Easter holiday giving me a week free time from the University.

I like shout praise Jesus for much needed holiday but i wonder if thats blasphemous since he is holy to muslims too heh....

 

[Diggler]

I finished off Rant: An Oral History by Chuck Palahniuk. This was my first foray into Palahniuk's writing and I was very impressed by the off kilter style and intelligent writing.

I've now moved onto Night of Power by Spider Robinson. The whole violent Brooklyn, crazy Harlem and seedy Times Square stuff has always been a fascination of mine. Shame the story is so damn dated though. Why would people still be getting around saying stuff like "can you dig it!", carrying around "Boom Boxes" and break dancing in 1999? Plus the dialogue is just plain embarrassing at times. Otherwise it's not bad, but you'd be hard pressed believing me after all the negatives

 

[biodroid]

Racing through The Hunger Games, then going to devour a Clash of Kings.

 

[Vertigo]

Just Finished Jules Verne's A Journey to the Interior of the Earth. It is apparently a more literal translation than the more commonly known A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The Gutenberg team had this to say:

Journey to the Centre of the Earth is number V002 in the Taves and Michaluk numbering of the works of Jules Verne. First published in England by Griffith and Farran, 1871, this edition is not a translation at all but a complete re-write of the novel, with portions added and omitted, and names changed. The most reprinted version, it is entered into Project Gutenberg for reference purposes only. A better translation is A Journey into the Interior of the Earth translated by Rev. F. A. Malleson, also available on Project Gutenberg

Personally I have both copies and I couldn't see that much difference at least not in the spirit of the book.

It was an entertaining read. Of course, written long before the ideas of tectonics, the underlying science is dodgy to say the least but that is not really relevant to a great story that presented science as it was known at that time. I love the more colourful language used in earlier works like this and Verne did not disappoint there. However there were times I could have stranglend Axel, the narrator; his continual whinging and whining drove me up the wall.

 

[j d worthington]

Vertigo: I know that, some years ago, there was an attempt begun to go back and do translations which were much closer to Verne's original works than had previously existed. How far this has gone, I do not know; but, if memory serves, one of the major instances was a considerable shaking-up of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, due to the issuance of a new edition put out by the Naval Academy here in the U.S.

At any rate, there may be a more literal translation of this particular one out there, as well. If so, it would be interesting to compare.

As for my own reading -- in what little spare time I have, and because it is so limited, I've been going through some of Moorcock's works again, alternating these with occasional short stories or bits of poetry or short essays; largely because I am either: a) familiar enough with the work where breaking it into small bits does not take away from the experience -- indeed, I can concentrate even more on aspects I may not have have given their full weight before; or b) they are themselves so short that they can be read in a single brief sitting, usually just before bed.

The bulk of my reading is still among the Augustans, where I am now combining a reading of Pope with an 1853 edition of The Spectator, with biographical sketches of all the contributors to that well-known periodical....