[Salt-Man Z]

I haven't read anything but comics since probably late Feb/early March, but last night I finally picked up my Kindle (Touch for books, as opposed to Fire for comics) again and started reading Caitlín R. Kiernan's collection, The Dinosaur Tourist. Man, does she write some creepy stuff. Perfect for reading late at night curled up in bed with a flashlight (Kindle Touch doesn't have a built-in light.) There's a good reason I blitzed through five of her books last year.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 09 May 2019 - 03:35 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Just finished Gentle's A Secret History, which I now realize is a backronym for ASH. I wasn't into it to start because my expectations were totally off...or, so I thought. It wasn't until later in the book that I realized it actually was subtly weaving in the fantastical elements that I was expecting.

Definitely gonna do book 2.

[Zetubal]

Tiste Simeon, on 06 May 2019 - 03:03 PM, said:

Finished my reread of The Library at Mount Char and it was just as bonkers and brutal and funny and wonderful the second time round. Really Great novel!

If I got you to read this once again, then wow, good for you. I'm really enjoying Harry August, but I mentally keep coming back to how utterly stunning library at mount char was. So, I can only second yoU: What a great novel.

[Aptorian]

Managed to finish 3 books in one day.

Finished "Planen" by Morten Pape. Great book.

It took me ages to finish because it got more and more painful as the kids life turned to shit. Or, well, got shittier. Nice ending though and it actually sets up the premise for his second book, "Guds bedste børn" (God's favorite children), which is about the racially motivated killing of a Turkish teenager.

Interesting premise considering, if the autobiographical story in "Planen" is true, Morten Pape was childhood friends with the killer. I'm going to wait a while before reading that though.

Also finished "The Furthest Station" by Ben Aaronovitch. It's a 120 page novella set in between the latest two Peter Grant books.

Short and sweet. I feel like fantasy/sci-fi stories that are 100-150 pages should be an industry on to itself. I like the notion of being able to finish a book in one or two short sessions. It's oddly fulfilling. Also works well for crime procedural stuff.

Finally I read the Danish translation of Michel Houellebecq's "Extension du domaine de la lutte" or as it's called in English "Whatever" though the direct translation is much better: "Extension of the domain of struggle".

I don't know what to even call this book. It follows a period of some months in the life of a depressed or deranged software engineer working for a large company some time in 90s France. I think it's meant to be mildly autobiographical but the protagonist is basically a vehicle for Houellebecq to criticize our modern society and the existential crisis we face.

In a mix of defeatisme and cynisme the character describes society as being reduced to a struggle to attain material and/or sexual power and fulfillment. He believes we climax as teenagers and everything after is just the mourning of the loss of potential. Or something like that. What follows is like the depressed version of a deeply melancholy and impotent Patrick Bateman. with a French accent.

An interesting and thankfully short read. Houellebecq is very popular and influential and gets a lot of press from Litterary circles it seems, so I felt I needed to check him out. Glad I did. I think I'll work my way through the rest of his work.

Edit: Also reading Sissel-Jo Gazan's "The Dinosaurs Feather". This feels like a well written slog.

The Dinosaurs Feather is a crime novel about a paleontologist who gets murdered, the crime is linked to the debate about whether dinosaurs had feathers or not.

I'm reading the book because Gazan has a reputation for writing extremely well researched science based stories but man this is up hill for me.

It's basically a really nerdy femi-crime story. There's nothing wrong with that but out of the first hundred pages she's maybe spent five pages on the grizzly murder and three very long chapters on introducing three separate characters and their entire life story from childhood, to family and friends, to career,... Dear Lord just fucking get on with it.

Like, technically, I admire what Gazan is doing by making this much presentation before the who dun it begins but we're already a quarter into the book now!

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 12 May 2019 - 08:01 PM

[Terminus Est]

Aptorian, on 12 May 2019 - 07:33 PM, said:

Short and sweet. I feel like fantasy/sci-fi stories that are 100-150 pages should be an industry on to itself. I like the notion of being able to finish a book in one or two short sessions. It's oddly fulfilling. Also works well for crime procedural stuff.

Apt, Tor have a nice range of novellas (novellae?) under their Tor.com imprint. I agree with you: as much as I like an epic, there is something neat about the shorter form. I hope it's a trend that other publishers adopt.

[Abyss]

Terminus Est, on 12 May 2019 - 10:31 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 12 May 2019 - 07:33 PM, said:

Short and sweet. I feel like fantasy/sci-fi stories that are 100-150 pages should be an industry on to itself. I like the notion of being able to finish a book in one or two short sessions. It's oddly fulfilling. Also works well for crime procedural stuff.

Apt, Tor have a nice range of novellas (novellae?) under their Tor.com imprint. I agree with you: as much as I like an epic, there is something neat about the shorter form. I hope it's a trend that other publishers adopt.

I vacillate on this form, because if the story is great, I end up wishing it was longer.

[Aptorian]

Abyss, on 13 May 2019 - 02:14 AM, said:

Terminus Est, on 12 May 2019 - 10:31 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 12 May 2019 - 07:33 PM, said:

Short and sweet. I feel like fantasy/sci-fi stories that are 100-150 pages should be an industry on to itself. I like the notion of being able to finish a book in one or two short sessions. It's oddly fulfilling. Also works well for crime procedural stuff.

Apt, Tor have a nice range of novellas (novellae?) under their Tor.com imprint. I agree with you: as much as I like an epic, there is something neat about the shorter form. I hope it's a trend that other publishers adopt.

I vacillate on this form, because if the story is great, I end up wishing it was longer.

But that's what would be great. If an author wrote "episodic" litterature, they could publish much more often. Imagine a new story every few months depending on the writers temperament.

[Macros]

Started Wizard of Earthsea on the train on friday.

with her passing last year it was something i had meant to read, and there was an omnibus available at the station of the first 4.

[Maark Abbott]

Aptorian, on 13 May 2019 - 02:56 AM, said:

Abyss, on 13 May 2019 - 02:14 AM, said:

Terminus Est, on 12 May 2019 - 10:31 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 12 May 2019 - 07:33 PM, said:

Short and sweet. I feel like fantasy/sci-fi stories that are 100-150 pages should be an industry on to itself. I like the notion of being able to finish a book in one or two short sessions. It's oddly fulfilling. Also works well for crime procedural stuff.

Apt, Tor have a nice range of novellas (novellae?) under their Tor.com imprint. I agree with you: as much as I like an epic, there is something neat about the shorter form. I hope it's a trend that other publishers adopt.

I vacillate on this form, because if the story is great, I end up wishing it was longer.

But that's what would be great. If an author wrote "episodic" litterature, they could publish much more often. Imagine a new story every few months depending on the writers temperament.

Light novel format carries the pressure of much tighter deadlines. Also half your characters gotta be waifu bait for them weebs.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Macros, on 13 May 2019 - 07:36 AM, said:

Started Wizard of Earthsea on the train on friday.

with her passing last year it was something i had meant to read, and there was an omnibus available at the station of the first 4.

They're on my list too - not sure why I never got round to them, but there you go!

[Tiste Simeon]

Macros, on 13 May 2019 - 07:36 AM, said:

Started Wizard of Earthsea on the train on friday.

with her passing last year it was something i had meant to read, and there was an omnibus available at the station of the first 4.

Didn't realise there were more than 4! I remember reading them a long time ago and enjoying them a lot. Wonder how they'd hold up on a reread.

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 13 May 2019 - 10:43 AM, said:

Macros, on 13 May 2019 - 07:36 AM, said:

Started Wizard of Earthsea on the train on friday.

with her passing last year it was something i had meant to read, and there was an omnibus available at the station of the first 4.

Didn't realise there were more than 4! I remember reading them a long time ago and enjoying them a lot. Wonder how they'd hold up on a reread.

According to Wikipedia...

Quote

There are six Earthsea books written between 1968 and 2001, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind. Unusually for a series, Tales from Earthsea is a short story collection; the rest are novels. There are also four additional short stories not in Tales from Earthsea...

...In 2018, all the novels and short stories were published as The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition.

[Abyss]

Just finished GGK's UNDER HEAVEN.

It won't displace LIONS or SARANTIUM as my favorite works by him, but it was solid, i enjoyed. As usual, he only infers the large action scenes going on elsewhere, focusing on the individuals involved and how their choices affect larger events. I thought the characters he created here were very well made and written...only one

Spoiler

the 'Banished Immortal' poet

bore particular resemblance to an archetype Kay has used before, and that seemed appropriate.

I enjoyed the China-based setting... i think he could have gone a little further in making it truly distinct, but that's a nit, the difference from the usual fantasy medieval type thing was enjoyable.

As usual, Kay's writing and use of words is impeccable and enjoyable. Worth reading.



Next in the earbuds, CLEMENTINE by Cherie Priest. Book one in her Steampunk 'Clockwork Century' series, it's been in the TRP for ages. Coming off of Kay's heavy text, the adjustment was a bit jarring - i've only read a few short stories by Priest in the past - but after three chapters i'm getting into it.... it takes place during the American Civil War, alt-hist'd to allow for airships, etc, of course... lead characters are a freed slave dirigible pirate captain, and a former Confederate spy lady, so there is a lot of interesting stuff to work with.

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss, on 13 May 2019 - 03:17 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 13 May 2019 - 10:43 AM, said:

Macros, on 13 May 2019 - 07:36 AM, said:

Started Wizard of Earthsea on the train on friday.

with her passing last year it was something i had meant to read, and there was an omnibus available at the station of the first 4.

Didn't realise there were more than 4! I remember reading them a long time ago and enjoying them a lot. Wonder how they'd hold up on a reread.

According to Wikipedia...

Quote

There are six Earthsea books written between 1968 and 2001, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind. Unusually for a series, Tales from Earthsea is a short story collection; the rest are novels. There are also four additional short stories not in Tales from Earthsea...

...In 2018, all the novels and short stories were published as The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition.

That illustrated edition looks lovely and is reduced on Amazon UK at the moment!!

[Salt-Man Z]

For what it's worth, regarding Earthsea, it was originally just a trilogy (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore.) Tehanu was published almost 20 years later, and The Other Wind a decade after that.

[Aptorian]

How do these later books fit into Earth Sea? Do the expand upon the story? Do they compliment the series?

[worry]

The last one is a weird Earthsea/Smurfs crossover, but it actually works surprisingly well, and shows you things about Gargamel you couldn't do in a kids cartoon.

[Abyss]

Jokey Smurf had it coming. The dragon was practically an afterthought.

[John II]

Currently reading a book called Dancer's Lament by a little known author called Ian Esslemont. Apparently his mate also writes books in the same universe, but I hear they're pretty rubbish.

[acesn8s]

I finished Tad William's The Stone of Farewell. Still a solid read, lots of background and development with a little bit of action. Looking forward to wrapping up the series with To Green Angel Tower.

I think my only major complaint is I want Simon to do something, instead of having things happen to him. I can't remember if the last book fixes this. It is almost like I'm reading the series for the first time.