It's September. What are you reading?

[Parson]

I've just finished Victory Conditions by Elizabeth Moon, which I believe is the last of the Vatta's War Series. All in all I enjoyed them all quite well. I just discovered a El Donsaii novel Impact by Laurence Dahners. I find this series a lot like potato chips. You know it is isn't great food, but someone you just can't stop eating them. I'm already nearly half way through it in a day. --- Also nearly done with Water for Elephants.

 

[soulsinging]

Finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I remember this originally being my least favorite in the series, and that may still be true but it was still excellent and a lot of fun. Book 3 is really where the series takes off and began to elevate itself above simple children's stories, so I'm looking forward to moving on.

First though, I've decided to re-read the Dragonlance Chronicles (I have an omnibus) thanks to some discussion around here... I have read it 3-4 times - the first in junior high - but it's probably been nearly a decade since I've given it a go. Will be an interesting contrast... an "adult" series that I discovered as a teen and loved but maybe hasn't aged well right after a "children's" series that I discovered as an adult and only seems to get better with time.

 

[Mangara]

The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham: So far a little slow to get going, but it certainly has that Wyndham style and I can feel it ramping up...

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Ach you've got emotions of steel. I bawl everytime I see it.

Er... so do I! At the end. I just said, it ain't a sad film, as everyone seems to think... I think it's full of good ol' English reserved decency and fair play. It's a kind of lapine Lord Of The Rings in some respects...

 

[soulsinging]

Er... so do I! At the end. I just said, it ain't a sad film, as everyone seems to think... I think it's full of good ol' English reserved decency and fair play. It's a kind of lapine Lord Of The Rings in some respects...

My suspicion is that it blindsided a lot of people that knew little about the book. I would wager a lot of people saw "animated movie about rabbits" and assumed a nice pastoral Disney vibe (Bambi-notwithstanding). The fact that it's a very challenging, adult story with some very dark and tragic moments no doubt took a lot of people by surprise and probably left more than a few children that saw it while growing up a bit devastated. A case of people remembering the emotional reaction of a child to heartbreak more strongly than the actual work that produced it.

 

[Parson]

I finished Water for Elephants, nice story. I especially liked the ending. (Parson is tempted but will not add a spoiler.) I've started Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forester. Since I had to travel a couple of hours by myself, I listened to it and have heard 41% of it. I don't know why I'd never listened to books by tape before??! With my Kindle Unlimited subscription I can get the narration sometimes free and sometimes for a low cost $1.99 to $2.99. A bargain by any stretch. I've put aside Ell Donsaii, Impact for the moment to check in here. But I'm 75% done with that book as well.

 

[Hex]

I'm reading Chime by Franny Billingsley. Teresa recommended it and it is, so far, absolutely the kind of thing I like. Brilliantly written, atmospheric and mysterious enough to be tantalising without being annoying.

What's weird, perhaps, is it slightly reminds me of Among Others by Jo Walton.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I thought the end was very well done, Parson, and satisfying.

Hex, why wouldn't it remind you of Walton? Given your description of it, they share a certain feel.

 

[Hex]

I love this one and I still haven't managed to read Among Others. It felt odd that I'd like one so much and struggle with the other when they are kind of similar in feel.

 

[j d worthington]

Having finished The Cream of the Jest/The Lineage of Lichfield (which still holds for me as one of the highest points in a generally superb set), I have now moved onto the seventeenth out of the eighteen volumes of the Biography, Straws and Prayer-Books.

And yes, I have to go with Cabell's own feeling about this whole thing -- despite it having been published as individual works over a number of years, in its revised form the whole bloody thing is indeed one single eighteen-volume novel (of an admittedly bizarre, genre-bending sort) complete with prologue (Beyond Life), epilogue (Straws and Prayer-Books) and a volume of appendices (Townsend of Lichfield, etc.) I may not be able to do so right away, but I am definitely going to have to go back through this thing again soon; one of the most massive, complex structures I've encountered in literature, even considering Moorcock's multiverse or Balzac's La Comédie humaine.....

 

[Mouse]

Er... so do I! At the end. I just said, it ain't a sad film, as everyone seems to think... I think it's full of good ol' English reserved decency and fair play. It's a kind of lapine Lord Of The Rings in some respects...

I watched the film the other day (had to, after reading the book) and nope, I didn't bawl. I was miffed at things that'd been cut though... Strawberry and Bluebell for one (particularly Bluebell). Also, I notice that the film doesn't really seem to make much sense... or, I guess it doesn't make sense if you've read the book (which is odd). Most of the Efrafa stuff is cut, Hazel getting away from the cat and getting back to Watership Down is cut, most of the stuff at Cowslip's warren is cut, the hutch rabbit stuff is cut - I mean, what was the point putting it in the film at all, as Clover (and Boxwood and Haystack) don't even go back to the warren in the film. Instead we get that elongated Brighteyes scene with Fiver. Also - Blackavar dies in the film!! Nobody dies in the book (apart from Hazel at the end, and some minor characters).

edit: Oh, on topic: currently reading Good Omens. If you don't know who it's by, you should.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I watched the film the other day (had to, after reading the book) and nope, I didn't bawl. I was miffed at things that'd been cut though... Strawberry and Bluebell for one (particularly Bluebell). Also, I notice that the film doesn't really seem to make much sense... or, I guess it doesn't make sense if you've read the book (which is odd). Most of the Efrafa stuff is cut, Hazel getting away from the cat and getting back to Watership Down is cut, most of the stuff at Cowslip's warren is cut, the hutch rabbit stuff is cut - I mean, what was the point putting it in the film at all, as Clover (and Boxwood and Haystack) don't even go back to the warren in the film. Instead we get that elongated Brighteyes scene with Fiver. Also - Blackavar dies in the film!! Nobody dies in the book (apart from Hazel at the end, and some minor characters).

Films almost never follow books. Par for the course...

 

[martin321]

I also read Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin in September. I've never seen the film, but the book was very entertaining.

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi everyone.

I am about to post the October reading thread and close this current monthly thread.