February Reading Thread

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The Judge

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I raced through the five Miss Marple books I got for Christmas, but as in each case I knew Whodunnit and How&WhyItWasDone the main interest for me was in comparing them to the brilliant TV series with Joan Hickson. My other Christmas present, Victoria Goddard’s Stargazy Pie, was disappointing – the start was intriguing enough, which had lured me to choose it, but the further I got into the book, the more I found it confused and confusing, with incidents, scenes and characters flung with abandon into a negligible plot and coincidence doing much of the work, and overall for me its tone was bordering on irksome and in some scenes utterly inappropriate, its characters and its setting unconvincing.

Rather meatier was The Owl Killers by K Maitland, an historical novel or perhaps historical fantasy (it’s not entirely clear if certain folk-story creatures which appear are meant to be genuinely there or are simply imagined) which suggest a possible – if fantastical – reason why no beguinage is known to have thrived in England in the C14th despite their success in the Low Countries. The historical elements were sound, with the very believable characters very much of the age, but unfortunately few of those characters were particularly sympathetic, and while each of the five first person POVs was well written and clearly distinguishable from the others, none was terribly congenial. A novel I could admire for its intelligence and historical accuracy rather than one I actually enjoyed.

Coming up next an immediate re-read of the novella/novelette Treacle Walker by Alan Garner, as my first reading of it over this last week has left me somewhat baffled.

What are you reading this month?
 
Coming up next an immediate re-read of the novella/novelette Treacle Walker by Alan Garner, as my first reading of it over this last week has left me somewhat baffled.
I've been meaning to re-read this since my first reading last summer, for much the same reason.
 
I’m still reading Monks Of War: The Military Religious Orders and I’m only about half way through. Currently reading chapters on the orders involved in the Spanish Reconquista. It’s not being helped by the fact that I have a heavy cold and coughing and sneezing does not make it comfortable to read.
 
Victoria Goddard’s Stargazy Pie, was disappointing – the start was intriguing enough, which had lured me to choose it, but the further I got into the book, the more I found it confused and confusing, with incidents, scenes and characters flung with abandon into a negligible plot and coincidence doing much of the work, and overall for me its tone was bordering on irksome and in some scenes utterly inappropriate, its characters and its setting unconvincing.
I had much the same problems the first time I tried to read it, and gave up on it fairly quickly, so I can see why it didn't draw you in.

Not sure why I was willing to give it another try some months later, but I did and got on with it much better. As a result, I have now read the whole series to date. Somewhere along the way, I guess I became fond of the characters and wanted to find out what happened to them next. Also, there were just enough of the particular sort of quirky touches I personally enjoy (like the Stargazy pie—which it turns out is a real thing) to keep me reading.
 
I'm still reading Gideon the Ninth, I'm struggling with it because it's moving away from a "far future science fantasy story" and getting deeper into the fantasy side.
It might, very soon, become a DNF
 
I'm still reading Gideon the Ninth, I'm struggling with it because it's moving away from a "far future science fantasy story" and getting deeper into the fantasy side.
It might, very soon, become a DNF
I found it got better (or at least weirder) after about half way, but then I don't mind fantasy. I think the next book is more science-fictiony as it takes place on a space ship or something like that?
 
Onto Ian Rankin's 4th Inspector Rebus book, Strip Jack
I was in two minds about reading this one because its about a politician. Politics bores the pants off me. But we'll see...
 
I’m still reading Monks Of War: The Military Religious Orders and I’m only about half way through. Currently reading chapters on the orders involved in the Spanish Reconquista. It’s not being helped by the fact that I have a heavy cold and coughing and sneezing does not make it comfortable to read.
Get well soon!
 
I'm still reading Gideon the Ninth, I'm struggling with it because it's moving away from a "far future science fantasy story" and getting deeper into the fantasy side.
It might, very soon, become a DNF

How far in are you?

He said like he believed the book gets better for being further in on the plot, when instead he believed that it's a book that lives and dies by how much you like the humour and individual scenes.
 
How far in are you?

He said like he believed the book gets better for being further in on the plot, when instead he believed that it's a book that lives and dies by how much you like the humour and individual scenes.
I finished it but I won't be looking at the sequels, it was ok but not really my usual kind of read.
 
I've finished Corbenic, Catherine Fisher's modern YA retelling of the legend of Perceval and the grail. I thought it was stunning, emotionally powerful and relatable (though the MC's background is nothing like mine), but I know this won't be a universal opinion because it only gets 3.51 on Goodreads. Nevertheless, in hope of getting it an extra reader or two, here's the blurb:

"Cal has struggled to cope with his mother's drinking and psychotic episodes since he was six; so when he finally leaves home to live with his uncle he is ruthless about breaking with the past, despite his mother's despair. But getting off the train at the wrong station, Cal finds himself at the mysterious castle of the Fisher King; and the night he spends there plunges him into a wasteland of desolation and adventure as he begins his quest back to all he has betrayed."

Now on a reread of Treacle Walker by Alan Garner. Making more sense than first time round.
 
Taking a break from Mark Twain's autobiography to read this for Black History Month:
BeenInTheStormSoLong.jpg

Am I woke yet?
 
I finished it but I won't be looking at the sequels, it was ok but not really my usual kind of read.
The second book is far weirder than the first so if you weren't that keen on the style of the first one perhaps it does make sense to stop there.
 
I finished it but I won't be looking at the sequels, it was ok but not really my usual kind of read.

Understandable. Very marmite. I am just about to start the sequel and see how that goes.

Well, that and David Gemmell's Ironhand's Daughter, as I need a blast of Gemmell.



I've also just finished The Last Unicorn and feel... irked. I can see why it has its reputation but it just felt slow and stiff and, well, ugly. Everyone's so self-involved. I thought I'd got into it and was liking it and then the ending a total downer. I like its mythic qualities but the book undercuts those with its anachronistic slips of modernity and winking to the camera about fairy tales.
 
Just finished City of Brass by SA Chakraborty. I real liked her world-building, but found it a frustrating book overall. It’s the first in a trilogy, and definitely by the end felt more like a set-up for the next installment rather than a novel that stood on its own. Some reviewers described the ending as a “cliffhanger,” but to me it felt more like a door slam. Sort of like author spent 25 chapters setting up an elaborate chessboard and teaching me the rules, then flipped the board and started throwing the pieces all over the room. Do I care enough about where they all landed to read the sequels, IDK.

Next up Blue Light, a sci fi work by mystery master Walter Mosley.
 
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