November's adventures in Reading needed...

[HoopyFrood]

It's one of the few books that I can reread over and over and never tire of it. And it still gets to me just as much as the first time I read it. Those last four pages are possibly the most heart-wrenching pages in literature...

 

[Allegra]

Okay that's it. I'm going to have to get Flowers For Algernon to see what all the hooplas about.

 

[j d worthington]

I have to add my voice to those who are so strongly in favor of of Keyes' little opus. I don't know how many times I've read the short story (I've read the novel about 4 times), but even after doing so since about age 12 (when I first encountered it in a literature book at school), it still evokes that reaction from me. Whether you read the original short story or the novel, Allegra, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[D_Davis]

I read Flowers For Algernon for the first time as a freshman in high school, in my science fiction class. I really liked it, and it expanded my extremely narrow-at-the-time definition of what science fiction was.

I need to read it again.


I finished the first novella in VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen, and it was fantastic. What starts as a touching, but strange, little love story quickly turns into an exercise in the grotesque and bizarre, but the shift in tone does not feel jarring. VanderMeer weaves a tapestry rich with nuance and subtle inflections of emotion and develops a believable, and yet still phantasmal, decent into madness. The novella leaves a number of questions unanswered, and can be analyzed in a number of different ways. I am sure I will return to this one again, as there is a lot here to digest.

 

[J-Sun]

Okay that's it. I'm going to have to get Flowers For Algernon to see what all the hooplas about.

For an alternate viewpoint, I regard the story as a nearly perfect piece of fiction and the novel to be completely useless. The thing is ipso facto inferior in that only a less perfect story could be made into a better novel. Nowhere to go but down. The story neither needs nor benefits from subplots and long-windedness. But that's just me. I suppose reading the novel is better than not reading either but I very much recommend the story version.

I've finished Haldeman's Camouflage. Having finished it, I didn't enjoy it as much as I actually did the whole time I was reading it, but it's still good and I'd generally recommend it. (Speaking of padded things, it actually felt more like novella material and I understand he did expand it from an Analog serial.)

Anyway - now undertaking McDevitt's The Engines of God. Chapter Two was awful but he's doing all right when we're actually off Earth and not being so blatantly characterological.

 

[j d worthington]

J-Sun: I had much the same reaction the first time I read the novel, but on a re-reading, I found it had every bit as much to offer, but it was different... much in the way, say, that Le Fanu's stories were often expanded to novels which, in many ways, changed the focus and the meaning (if you will) of the original tale, yet each is a high-point in the field....

 

[Razorback]

Just finished Martian Time-Slip, by Philip K. Dick. This is only my 3rd by Dick. The writing quality is quite good, as I expect given Dick’s reputation. It’s a character driven story line. Although I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, the story held my interest. It was a bit dated, but some of the ideas were still interesting. I’m not that big a fan of time travel stories, so I only rate this one a 6 out of ten. I’m sure many others would rate it higher.

 

[Nesacat]

Adding my meowrr to being in favour of Flowers for Algernon. Some books/stories come into lives and make a home and never leave. For me, this is one of them. Whether the book or the short story, both make a difference in the way you view humanity.

Started on Max Barry's Syrup and got diverted by Into The Woods by Lyn Gardner.
The Eden girls, Aurora, Storm and baby Any — live at Eden End, a dilapidated estate near a rat-infested village. On her deathbed, their mother bequeaths Storm a pipe, whispering "Beware of its terrible power."

A year later, their father departs on an expedition, leaving a note that warns Aurora to be careful on her 16th birthday.

Enter the mysterious, evil Dr. DeWilde. He wants the pipe. He and his wolves chase the sisters from their home and pursue them across a landscape familiar to readers of European myths, fairy tales, and fantasy. Elements of The Pied Piper of Hamlin, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, The Snow Queen, and many other tales figure in the story.

 

[Allegra]

Looks like I won't be able to sleep tight without Flowers for Algernon! I'll have to check out the short story in the meantime I'll go for this version - like the cover:

Right now about 80 pages into Kate Mosse's Labyrinth. So far so good.

 

[Ice fyre]

I'm now about three quarters of the way through the Historian, long book slow in places but kept me reading, something about it keeps one hooked.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I read the novel of Flowers for Algernon before the short story, so to me it seemed like the short story was condensed and missed out important things. I liked all the extra bits, although I can certainly see that if I'd read them the other way around, I probably would've felt like there was a lot of padding in the novel. But nonetheless I absolutely adore the book.

A Woman Killed With Kindness -- Thomas Haywood

 

[Ursa major]

I finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons a few days ago. After being disappointed by Olympos, I was pleased to find Simmons on much better form. I also found some of the same details – I won’t call them obsessions – even though the two sets of books are, apparently, set in different universes (although, given the conceit underlyingOlympus and Ilium, that may not be true).

First, the good points. There is a lot of intelligence on display (something I like to see) and not too much stupidity. The use of a Canterbury-Tales-like structure allows us to see a lot of different aspects of Simmons's universe in a natural way (unlike Olympus, where the story seemed often to be warped by the need to show the reader something "shiny"). The ideas in some of the individual stories would be striking in themselves, not just as parts of the whole.

However, with one exception, the stories are of similar length, almost in spite of the material. Whether Simmons wanted to give the stories the same weight (the content should do that) or was almost writing to a length - as if the book was the literary version of a series of TV episodes - I don't know. What I do know, is that parts of the book are over written, with too much that is inconsequential. (Frankly, by building up some of the stories in length, he undermined the stories within them.)

On balance Hyperion is a good read; and as the book contains the immediate sequel (Fall of Hyperion), I'm already a few chapters into that.

 

[Connavar]

I have finished Philip K Dick's The Three Stigmata of Dr Palmer Eldritch.

A very twisted PKD. Characterwise not one of his best but ideas,shocklevel,different realities wise really good. I was as lost as the characters which was nice but wierd feeling. 9/10 for him thats very good but not his best.

So i have started The Star King by Jack Vance in my The Demon Princes volume one trade omnibus.

Interesting world building(s) and a space opera like which is very new in my Vance reading. Shame the prose is not as stylised as his other SF and fantasy books i have read.

 

[Simian]

Finally finished Dune (for some reason it took me ages to read). Just started The Curse of the Mistwraith. Only one hundred or so pages into it at present, but I like what I've read so far, so thanks to those on the Chrons who recommended it. OOG, I'm also reading The Log from the Sea of Cortez, which is an interesting companion piece to one of my favourite books, Cannery Row.

 

[J-Sun]

J-Sun: I had much the same reaction the first time I read the novel, but on a re-reading, I found it had every bit as much to offer, but it was different... much in the way, say, that Le Fanu's stories were often expanded to novels which, in many ways, changed the focus and the meaning (if you will) of the original tale, yet each is a high-point in the field....

That may be so - I did only read it once. I doubt I'd ever get around to it a second time but, if I did, I'd try to keep that possibility in mind.

I read the novel of Flowers for Algernon before the short story, so to me it seemed like the short story was condensed and missed out important things. I liked all the extra bits, although I can certainly see that if I'd read them the other way around, I probably would've felt like there was a lot of padding in the novel. But nonetheless I absolutely adore the book.

Yeah, when I was posting it actually occurred to me that it might well be order-dependent. So maybe you indeed can't go wrong either way. But, as I say, I still believe the essential essence and perfection of form is in the story and, if you haven't read either, the story might be the best to read. And, historically and "auctorially", it came first.

On the other other hand: read the story and it's perfect and you follow it up with a bloated novel. Read the novel and it's perfect and you follow it up with a condensed story. Since most people seem to prefer novels, I guess most people would want to start with the novel so that it would be the story that would seem relatively damaged and be the smaller loss. Unless you're like j. d. worthington and can appreciate both.

 

[Rosemary]

I'm on the last few chapters of Toll The Hounds. I don't think it is as good as his previous books. Seems to be far too much given to the thoughts of each character, although there is some action I must admit.

 

[murphy]

I'm on the last few chapters of Toll The Hounds. I don't think it is as good as his previous books. Seems to be far too much given to the thoughts of each character, although there is some action I must admit.

Have you read Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont yet? There are some mind blowing things occurring in the Malazan Empire in that book.

 

[dask]

So i have started The Star King by Jack Vance in my The Demon Princes volume one trade omnibus.

Interesting world building(s) and a space opera like which is very new in my Vance reading. Shame the prose is not as stylised as his other SF and fantasy books i have read.

The Star King was the first Jack Vance book I read and turned me into a solid Vance fan. Hope you enjoy it.

I echo all the good things said about Flowers For Algernon. A real page gluer (glue-er?).

Reading the second book I started for Halloween -- Horror Times Ten edited by Alden H. Norton, a conscientious attempt to present stories never reprinted before, including a horror story by Max Brand. Before that I finally got around to reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Someone else in another thread didn't like it but I thought it was great and well worth anyone's time.

 

[D_Davis]

I've started reading part two of the San Veneficion Canon - The Golem. It is a direct sequel to The Divinity Student.

So far it totally kicks butt.

I cannot believe how absolutely amazing these tales are.

As if the Divinity Student couldn't get any more effed up - remember the first book begins with him dying and being stuffed with the pages torn from random books before being brought back to life - in this tale he is even more undead, as if that is even possible.

He's been brought back to life, again, but now his stuffing is coming out, he only has one working leg, and it's held together by a brace that has been surgically attached, he's almost completely blind, and his skin is sloughing off revealing his old and tired bones. He's so messed up that at the end of the first chapter he tries to hang himself, but fails when Teo (The Butcher's back!) stumbles upon his hanging body and cuts him down.

Oh yeah - the cars are back to, still thirsty for the Divinity Student's blood (or fluids), very thirsty.

It's so comically grotesque!

I love getting lost in a book's milieu, and I've never been more lost than I am when I am in San Veneficio. Cisco creates a world of filigree and shadow; I feel like a fly trapped in a web of words when I enter his dark imagination.

I just can't believe the way Cisco brings this all together.

The dude is some kind of total mad genius.

Read this, read this, read this. It will blow your mind.

This is fantastic fiction at its most fantastic.

 

[Connavar]

The Star King was the first Jack Vance book I read and turned me into a solid Vance fan. Hope you enjoy it.

I echo all the good things said about Flowers For Algernon. A real page gluer (glue-er?).

Reading the second book I started for Halloween -- Horror Times Ten edited by Alden H. Norton, a conscientious attempt to present stories never reprinted before, including a horror story by Max Brand. Before that I finally got around to reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Someone else in another thread didn't like it but I thought it was great and well worth anyone's time.

Have you read all Demon Princes book ?

I think Star King is special book in that its both a personal story of Keith Gersen and at the same time huge world buidling. I mean how many planets are there in the book wow.

Also as usual he does characters and personal issues really well. I feel alot for the hero.