[Mentalist]

Been a while since I stopped by...

Finished Cook's "Starfishers" trilo... last week? (I think? Days are all blurring together). I was underwhelmed by book 3. Basically, it was a continuation of the story from Book 2, doing like a Manchurian Candidate thing-gone-awry, but in a space opera universe. It wasn't bad, but I had my expectations raised by how drastic the shift from 1 to 2 was, and comparatively, 3 didn't deliver- I had the exact same problem with Asher's "Owner" trilogy.

Then I moved on to "Foxglove Summer", the next (fifth? I think) Peter Grant book. It was solid, and fun.

Because life's been pretty messed up (long days at work, and very socially packed days off), I haven't been inspired to read at home. So I said screw it, and I tossed that unread " Shantaram" into my backpack as a commute book. We'll see if I can make any better progress that way.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 14 June 2019 - 11:34 PM

[Zetubal]

Tiste Simeon, on 13 June 2019 - 04:23 AM, said:

Abyss, on 13 June 2019 - 12:43 AM, said:

pat5150, on 12 June 2019 - 11:21 PM, said:

Go get yourself The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, which are both even better reads!

Seconded.

Thirdeded

Fourth'd?





Been a while since I last posted here. I think I followed Simeon's suggestion/imperative and read First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.
Still not sure what to make of it, though. I mean, I really enjoyed it for a number of reasons. For one thing, I just love books that are so singlemindedly dedicated to a single premise/concept. From what I can gather, Claire North regularly writes books around certain 'gimmicks', and at least in this book, it really pays off. Now while Harry did indeed get fleshed out rather nicely as a character - after all, we spend the entire novel and centuries of his lifetimes with him, I couldn't help but feel some distance towards him. The humour is probably part of the reason why: this sober/dark British kind of humour is not exactly my cup of tea. The melancholy, though, was beautifully integrated. As were the moral dilemmas that Harry has to face over the course of his lives. If there's one thing I would arguably fault the novel for, it would have to be a lack of suspense. partly due to the way Harry narrates his story, it isn't really 'exciting' because there is always this implicit assurance that Harry will figure stuff out eventually, and so the story becomes moreso about experience how he does it rather if he will pull through. That said, these are minor complaints in an otherwise pretty good book.

After reading Mt. Char, maybe I was a little spoiled.


Right now, I'm at the halfway point in Perdido Street Station and it's pretty great. Prose as rich as Mieville's is the kind of thing that belongs in a museum.

[Aptorian]

Finished the first Mortal Engines book by Philip Reeves.

Not a bad book. Not a great book. For a Young Adult story it's fine if perhaps more childish than you'd expect. It switches between being very grim and being light hearted in strange ways. The world building was very enjoyable though.

One wonders what somebody like China Mieville could have done with this.

Also read the debute novel of a Danish author, Sune de Souza Schmidt-Madsen, called Kannibalens Lov (The Cannibals Law).

The book is about a young man who travels to Brazil to retrace the life of his recently deceased father. He comes into contact with one of his father's old Danish friends who's now a very successful and powerful industry figure. The character settles into a life of relative excess untill he finds out what the company he's working for is doing and what kind of man he's working for

The story is entire fictional but it's based on the military dictatorship's takeover of Brazil in the 1960s. A little known fact is that a Brazilian CEO, a Dane named Henning Albert Boilesen, was involved in the military take over and the systematic torture of various political dissidents.

He hated communists and enjoyed torturing them. He even developed a torture method called the Boilsen-piano where you could make people scream to the tune of pressing keys on an electrical torture device.

This was a man who was celebrated internationally, won orders, shook hands with the elite, a charismatic and visionary leader but also a monster. It's a fascinating subject that loses it's way in an overly familiar and poorly written book.

The book is similar to The Last King of Scotland but doesn't have the chops to draw you into the world. The book doesn't make you like or want to understand Boilsen. It never really draws you into the culture and politics of the country which means that very little of what happens in the book has any impact.

I only finished the book because I attended a course about this years book releases and one of the speakers was the author.

Anyway, on to Mortal Engines book 2, Predator's Gold.

[Andorion]

Something a bit different - Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe.

For someone with no science education at all, this is all very very new, and yet very very fascinating.

[amphibian]

Finished Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. It's well done and a fun story, but after the Shadows of the Apt series, it really feels like Tchaikovsky has some sort of authorial hard-on for insects/arthropods.

[Aptorian]

Is this like that game on Facebook where you post something cryptic and wait for somebody to ask you what's wrong?

[Aptorian]

That's asking a lot

[Dadding]

pat5150, on 12 June 2019 - 11:21 PM, said:

Go get yourself The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, which are both even better reads!

Just finished OBELISK GATE. I powered through it. I didn't think it was as strong as the first, but I'm still hooked and looking forward to Book 3. Here's what I posted on goodreads:

Spoiler

I didn't quite like #2 as much as #1, but it's still a strong book. I think my main complaint is the focus on all the metaphysics of how Orogeny works. All this node building, network assembling, parallel scaling, gate unlocking, it's interesting I guess, and intricate, but something about it feels too descriptive and not really focused on the narrative. Like "I made this cool system and it fits together," rather than "let's talk about people and their conflicts." I guess I'm just not a fan of overt, 'hard' magic systems.

That's not to say all the answers were bad. Getting a glimpse into Stone Eaters, Guardians, Father Earth, all that jazz, that was fun. And for the most part, Jemisin avoided large info dumps, instead tying the slow reveal to the story a little bit more elegantly.

The narrow focus on Castrima was effective, the tighter geographic circle kind of mirrored the idea that these characters are stuck by circumstances and the Season. And the factions inside the besieged city were well-done. But I liked the larger focus of Book 1, and the "flashbacks" per se were some of the more compelling stories.

There were a few moments that I felt I should have been more affected by. Like Nassun killing her dad, and Essun losing it and inadvertently hastening Alabaster's death. That last one especially is one of those inevitable tragic moments that I should love so much. And while I admired it, and appreciated the plotting that went it to making it possible, I didn't really feel it. Maybe I just can't connect with audiobooks as well as normal books, or maybe the plot itself downplayed the moment, or maybe I'm just dead inside. Whatever the reason, I'm excited for the finale.

[Andorion]

amphibian, on 15 June 2019 - 05:41 PM, said:

Finished Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. It's well done and a fun story, but after the Shadows of the Apt series, it really feels like Tchaikovsky has some sort of authorial hard-on for insects/arthropods.

He does. I don't think that's up for debate. Also, read Children of Ruin and Spiderlight.

[Andorion]

BfuckinK, on 15 June 2019 - 05:53 PM, said:

I need a good solid kick to the ass.

Fucking stubborn and I fully know it.

What book are you procrastinating on now BK?

[Andorion]

BfuckinK, on 16 June 2019 - 01:16 AM, said:

DoD and New Sun 1. I want to put them both down but I can't. My brain will not allow me to. Have told myself for a week now that it's time to put down New Sun because I'm just not in the smart BK mode I need to be in to read it this last month. Told myself for months now I need to put down DoD (Malazan) because it's fucking boring and I been reading Malazan for 26 months and I still have so many more to go...fuck.

I can't do it though. I pick them every single day just to read one word and get my consecutive days read shit. This isn't enjoyable.

I want to read other books.

But I can't.

Atleast Prince of Thorns is going down well enough.

Don't read as a chore.

Put down New Sun, You can't read that with Malazan, the combo is too heavy.

Finish DoD, finish TCG. I consider TCG to be the finale anyway as both OST and BandB are far too mediocre for my taste.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

BfuckinK, on 16 June 2019 - 04:04 AM, said:

It needs to be done. Hopefully I can do so without feeling like I lost a fight.

In time.

This is why children stop reading.

[Terminus Est]

BfuckinK, on 16 June 2019 - 08:58 PM, said:

I put up New Sun last night before bed. Got on here and read that last post this AM and dug New Sun back out.

I think you misunderstood the Quiet One. The comment was not that you are a child for giving up on the book, but that children in general give up on reading because they are forced to read things they don't want to. It's fine, BK; put it down. No book ever written demands to be read by all.

[Andorion]

My to-read pile is so big that I have stopped browsing recommendation and discussion threads as I feel guilty that I am not reading the books I actually have.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Terminus Est, on 16 June 2019 - 10:57 PM, said:

BfuckinK, on 16 June 2019 - 08:58 PM, said:

I put up New Sun last night before bed. Got on here and read that last post this AM and dug New Sun back out.

I think you misunderstood the Quiet One. The comment was not that you are a child for giving up on the book, but that children in general give up on reading because they are forced to read things they don't want to. It's fine, BK; put it down. No book ever written demands to be read by all.

Yes, this is correct! Sorry for not being clearer, BK. If you continually pressure yourself to read something you don't enjoy, then you'll grow to dislike reading. It's a slow poison. Reading should be satisfying; not dreaded.

There's nothing wrong with taking a break to read lighter fare, or dropping a book entirely. For example, I struggled for weeks with Janny Wurts' Curse of the Mistwraith. I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time. So, I stopped for several months and read a few other books. When the book's spine on the shelf started drawing my attention, I picked it up again and finished with renewed interest.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 17 June 2019 - 03:16 AM

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 17 June 2019 - 02:47 AM, said:

My to-read pile is so big that I have stopped browsing recommendation and discussion threads as I feel guilty that I am not reading the books I actually have.

Nonsense.

Your TRP only counts when your chances of finishing it in your lifetime are nil.

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 17 June 2019 - 04:04 AM, said:

Andorion, on 17 June 2019 - 02:47 AM, said:

My to-read pile is so big that I have stopped browsing recommendation and discussion threads as I feel guilty that I am not reading the books I actually have.

Nonsense.

Your TRP only counts when your chances of finishing it in your lifetime are nil.

I think I qualify.

I want to read Winds of Winter and Doors of Stone you see.

[Maark Abbott]

My TRP no longer even exists.

[Tsundoku]

You guys DO understand why I changed my username from Sombra to Tsundoku, right?

And no, it wasn't only to avoid process servers.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 17 June 2019 - 08:42 AM

[Abyss]

Tsundoku, on 17 June 2019 - 08:41 AM, said:

You guys DO understand why I changed my username from Sombra to Tsundoku, right?

And no, it wasn't only to avoid process servers.

I assumed it was the paternity claims, gender-deassignment surgery, and/or overload of animated carrot on donut pr0n in various browser files under your former name.