October's Observations on Our Omnipresent (Literary) Obsessions...

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Currently reading the latest in Naomi Novik's 'Temeraire' series, which I'm struggling with tbh, if it were the first in the series, I'd have abandoned it. I'm hoping it's a part of the plot arc across the series to dip down ahead of an exciting finale but pulling a whole book slow seems a bit hard on your reader. Next on the list is 'I shall wear Midnight' (Pratchett).

Also reading North and South (Gaskell), which I'm enjoying a lot more than the Novik - much faster paced and literature which doesn't feel like a usual combination - and The Children's Book (Byatt), which I'm also enjoying, not least as the V&A is a fav haunt.
 
Ursa major said:
But I enjoyed reading the book (And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer) and would recommend it to others with no hesitation at all.
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Thanks, Ursa - I've been putting off reading this for precisely the reasons that you've mentioned, but now I'll give it a go...:)
 
I have to point out, Py, that's it's been quite a while since I read the first five "books" (they were in an omnibus edition), so time - and my hit-and-miss memory - may have blurred any important differences.

But do give it a go and (if only to allow you to put me straight on the matter). :)
 
pyan said:
Oh yes, I will - in fact, I'm now on the third volume (of four), The Field of Swords.
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Wow that was fast glad to see you are enjoying the series. I miss reading historical ficiton like that series both epic,great characters,atmosphere.

In the last book when the world famous brutal end for Ceasar came i was as angry as the plebs of Ancient Rome and it was like was a shocking end. Like it wasnt part of history you learned in school and hadnt already seen 100s tv,movies about Ceasar ;)
 
Just finished The Gathering Storm R. Jordan & B. Sanderson.
I enjoyed it, haven't read any Jordan since Knife of Dreams was published so I'd had a bit of a break. I think Sanderson has done a great job of maintaining the general style of R.J, whilst speeding things up a little and bringing those loose ends together. Much less gratuitous text.

Moved onto Kraken C. Mieville. I've been really enjoying his blog recently, so I thought I ought to read something and found this in the local library. Really enjoying it so far. I generally love books set in London and although he hasn't yet delved to deeply into the city, I certainly get a good feel for the atmosphere. More judgement to come.
 
Finished my reread of Dancers At The End Of Time. I wish it had gone on for longer! Moorcock has been a favourite for so long that I tend to take his merits for granted, but most of them are on display here to such breathtaking effect here that it is hard to ignore them.
 
Replay by Ken Grimwood is one of the most emotionally involving books I've read. You don't have to be a fantasy fan to like this. You could approach it as a type of love story and it works wonderfully at that.
 
Big Bear said:
But do give it a go
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I will, I will!

Connavar said:
In the last book when the world famous brutal end for Caesar came i was as angry as the plebs of Ancient Rome and it was like was a shocking end. Like it wasnt part of history you learned in school and hadnt already seen 100s tv,movies about Caesar ;)
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:eek:

You mean...he dies at the end?...:D



In tandem with that series, I'm reading The Better Mousetrap, part of the John Wellington Wells semi-series by Tom Holt, and Cartomancy: Mary Gentle's collected shorts and novellas.
 
Well, over a recent trip to Delhi (shudders) I managed to finish Feintuch's Challengers Hope (I know I shouldn't like it but i do...).

Followed that with World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Finished in 1 day of travelling home, not my normal cup of tea but enjoyable.

Now on to Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds - as usual for him its a bit of a slow start but i'm expecting things to speed up shortly.
 
ravenus said:
Replay by Ken Grimwood is one of the most emotionally involving books I've read. You don't have to be a fantasy fan to like this. You could approach it as a type of love story and it works wonderfully at that.
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Agreed. It's one of my favourite novels to feature in the Fantasy Masterwork series.....:)
 
I just finished volume five of Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria series Wintertide. The final book is due out in April and I can't wait to see how the story ends. The books, which follow a pair of buddy thieves/mercenaries, are fast paced and action packed. Book one in the series is The Crown Conspiracy and I think fans of Scott Lynch's Gentleman ******* series would enjoy Sullivan's work.
 
SF?

Despite what I posted earlier this month, I actually finished Reaper's Gale before October was out, albeit on the last day.

Despite the size of the tome, and the fact that I had not enjoyed the previous two Malazan books, I absolutely loved this one, powering through it and loving every page. (I'm not sure how much using an e-copy of the book on my desktop helped as well)

As to what I would be reading next... well I was aiming to try and finish Reaper's Gale by next weekend so I could start Towers of Midnight straight away... but having a week clear means start something else or wait (I know ToM is out on the 2nd but I'll hopefully get mine on Saturday for various reasons)

Sooo for the first time in a long time I'm not going to go from one book to the next, and I'm going to catch up on my small pile of comic books!
 
Having finished Sarrantonio's Hallows' Eve, I am left with a very strange impression of this little book. At times, it strikes me as almost intended for the YA audience, but there are things in there I, for one, would be a little uncomfortable handing to someone all that young. At the same time, and despite a few wobbles here and there, he does weave a strange sort of glamour about his town of Orangefield, with deceptive ease, as he eschews nearly all poetical flourishes in his writing. He also has even Samhain exhibit a not-unappealing humor at times, regardless of his quite malevolent tendencies. This one really is as much a dark fantasy as a horror piece, as the emphasis is on a strange sort of cosmic battle as much as on an evocation of terror; yet it straddles the lines rather well. Definitely enough to make me want to look up the rest of the set....

(Incidentally, for those who might challenge the use of Samhain as an entity... Sarrantonio even has his characters note that this name originally applied only to the feast day, but that over time it became associated with the idea of a "Lord of the Dead", at least in popular culture in some places, and hence the name for the being presented here. He rather leaves it an open question whether that entity preceded the cognomen, or whether it may be a conjuration of that popular consciousness -- at least in part -- but at the same time indicates that something of the sort has been in existence as long as life itself, and that may be what we are dealing with here....)

Today's reading is going to be a mixture of various things: stories from The Year's Best Horror III; some of the essays in Kenneth Faig's The Unknown Lovecraft; a piece or two by W. H. Pugmire, and a few selections from 50 Great Ghost Stories... along, possibly, with a few other items....
 
I'll be posting the November reading thread within the next few hours.

Until then Happy Haloween and continued good reading....:)
 
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