The Latest Reading Thread

[Monte Carlo]

I've just finished 'Wolfhound Century' by Peter Higgins.

 

 

Link - http://www.wolfhoundcentury.com/

 

This, my friends, is worth a look in my humble. It's a fantasy that brings to mind the following - China Mieville, Mervin Peake, Michael Moorc0ck's early Steampunk stuff (before Steampunk was Steampunk) with a healthy dollop of Tom Rob Smith.

 

The Vlast is an alternative-world Soviet Russia. Except it isn't. A provincial security policeman is sent to the capital to hunt a brutal terrorist threatening the regime. At this point I was going to let out a little sigh - the 'good cop stuck in a totalitarian state and uncovering a conspiracy' trope is one of my favourites but you can have too much of a good thing.

 

Except...

 

Wolfhound Century (even the name is intriguing and cool) has a militia equipped with golems made of angel-flesh, the streets are swept with sentient rain, strange forest spirits made of sticks and berries urge resistance and a bizarre thing that might or might not be the genesis-engine of cataclysmic change is kept hidden in secret police HQ. Meanwhile, a real-life angel lands in the primal forests of the west and infects the minds of madmen, determined to destroy the enigmatic genesis-engine (the 'Pollandore'). Oh, and the angel is in fact a two-hundred foot high statue, fused with the bedrock when it landed, herald of some bizarre interstellar race of maniacal aliens.

 

Yes, very strange indeed. Yet much of it reminds me of Joseph Conrad but with added poetry (Higgins has a lovely turn of phrase, I suspect he's a poet too).

 

Highly recommended.

 

My only minor problem is the ending. Actually, it's not an ending, it's butchered like a very long novel chopped to bits for the next instalment. Never mind, I bought that immediately as I will admit to being smitten.

 

I hope some of you pick it up, would love to discuss book-club style.

Edited June 16, 2015 by Monte Carlo

[Gromnir]

 

I really should make some time to re-read The Count Of Monte Cristo soon.  I find that's one I pretty much read once a year.

I think Dumas was paid by the word for that one. He could have cut out quite a bit without hurting the story.

 

dumas were paid by the word for most o' his works.  the dialog in musketeers is padded to ridiculous, but unpretentious degrees to exploit the word meter.  

 

why you don't say?

 

yes i do say, and furthermore, with your permission, i will continue.

 

well then, i hope you do in fact continue this very moment for i am beside myself with anticipation.

 

then i shall at this moment do that very thing, and with your thanks.

 

etc.

 

additional, dumas rare wrote a story by his lonesome.  dumas were a tireless workaholic, but he wrote most novels and stories the way edison invented-- he would actual have teams o' writers working on multiple projects at once to which his name would then be attached as the author. the fact that dumas died penniless were not a matter o' how poorly writers o' his time were paid, but rather is a testament to just how extravagantly the man lived.  he sucked the marrow outta life and offered no apologies neither.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Woldan]

(The world as will and representation)

 

[Gfted1]

Why isn't The Riftwar Saga available on iBooks? *rages*

[BruceVC]

Why isn't The Riftwar Saga available on iBooks? *rages*

Gfted1 do you read...I thought you did DIY only ?

[Gfted1]

To me, DIY = Do It Yourself, so I don't understand your question. 

 

I haven't read for pleasure in years and years but Riftwar Saga was one of my favorites. I just cant be bothered lugging a physical book around anymore so I was hoping it would be available on my phone / tablet. Seems its only available digitally on Kindle.

[BruceVC]

To me, DIY = Do It Yourself, so I don't understand your question. 

 

I haven't read for pleasure in years and years but Riftwar Saga was one of my favorites. I just cant be bothered lugging a physical book around anymore so I was hoping it would be available on my phone / tablet. Seems its only available digitally on Kindle.

 Yes that's right, that is what DIY means 

 

So I thought that's what you did for fun...you know like renovate the bathroom for fun instead of reading ?

[Gfted1]

While I do enjoy the feeling of satisfaction from doing a job myself (especially if its the first time Ive ever tried it), I do not renovate for fun. I renovate because my wife makes me.

[Leferd]

To me, DIY = Do It Yourself, so I don't understand your question.

 

I haven't read for pleasure in years and years but Riftwar Saga was one of my favorites. I just cant be bothered lugging a physical book around anymore so I was hoping it would be available on my phone / tablet. Seems its only available digitally on Kindle.

You do realize that there is a Kindle App for iOS, right?

[Gfted1]

I did not.

[Amentep]

Awkward.

 

EDIT: Aaaaand that would have worked better on the bottom of the last page instead of the top of a new page.

 

...

 

So yeah, I'm still working on Crichton's THE LOST WORLD.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Amentep

[Malcador]

Still annoyed that Malcolm didn't die.

[Gfted1]

Goddammit, due to user error (mine), apparently The Riftwar Saga is not available on Kindle. Since my Google-fu is failing me miserably, does anyone know where to buy a digital set?

[Amentep]

Still annoyed that Malcolm didn't die.

 

I think the weird thing is that (so far at least) there's been little real benefit to it being Malcolm in the book, so retconning the previous book seems odd.

[Malcador]

Fan service of sorts, wasn't it?

 

Back to reading The Master and Margarita after distractions have abated.

[Lexx]

Just finished Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Loved it. Now I need something new to read, but I really don't know what that should be... When checking the amazon bestseller list for ideas, I feel nothing at all. I mean, I don't even know what I want to read...

[Blarghagh]

Fan service of sorts, wasn't it?

 

Author service. Malcolm serves as Crichton's mouthpiece as well as a reference to Sherlock Holmes' unexplained return. I'm told he even has the same line, something like "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated".

[Hurlshort]

I've actually been reading a pretty humorous chronicle about a writer who managed to convince a publisher to give him a $50k advance, so he could be a high roller in Vegas.  It is hilarious, and despite being 15 years old, is still relevant.  

 

http://www.amazon.com/24-Living-It-Doubling-Down/dp/0440509092

 

The author is a pretty solid journalist, and has some fun analyzing Dostoevsky and Hunter S. Thompson while on his month long gambling odyssey.  He interviews a bunch of locals, and gives some good details on a few of the games as well.  It was a perfect primer for my upcoming trip. 

[Nonek]

Reading the tots Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books against my own reservations, my lad had been bothering me about the books after sneaking a read and so i'm caught repeating the rather stolid prose of the Eye of the World. One thing i'm beginning to notice is the similarity to Dune, with the Aes Sedai/Bene Gesserit, a chosen one in the form of a dragon rather than a mouse, and the Aiel/Fremen.

 

Quite blatant really.

[Sarex]

Reading the tots Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books against my own reservations, my lad had been bothering me about the books after sneaking a read and so i'm caught repeating the rather stolid prose of the Eye of the World. One thing i'm beginning to notice is the similarity to Dune, with the Aes Sedai/Bene Gesserit, a chosen one in the form of a dragon rather than a mouse, and the Aiel/Fremen.

 

Quite blatant really.

 

I can't recommend the books enough, they are to this day my favorite series.

 

As for the Eye of the World, yeah he blatantly copied a lot of stuff in the first book ((one spoiler in the second example) though he might have not copied the works them selves but the source material), but by the end of it he makes the world his own and in book 2 it really takes off. Robert Jordan is an unparalleled world builder (well one of the best at least) and a foreshadower unlike any other, plus to this day I have not read a work by an author that portrays battles and conflicts better them him(or at least give me goosebumps). The culminations in his books is what kept me reading the most, he would build and build and build the story and the payoff he would give you in the end is like no other. Some would say it's like going through mud to get the pearl, but in my case his pearls were worth it every time.

 

The thing about his books is that there really isn't one main character and this in combination with his long descriptions and world building makes for really long books and a really long series. My recommendation is to give it a go until book 2 and see where you stand there, as book 2 is really the benchmark for the rest of the series.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Sarex

[Agiel]

The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal, by David E. Hoffman

 

Non-fiction account of the CKSPHERE case that passed on critical intelligence on Soviet sensors and avionics development to the CIA (partly responsible for the hugely disproportionate kill ratios in Desert Storm and Allied Force), and proof that Russians should never trust a man named "Adolf" ever again.
 

Edited July 8, 2015 by Agiel

[Valsuelm]

 

Reading the tots Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books against my own reservations, my lad had been bothering me about the books after sneaking a read and so i'm caught repeating the rather stolid prose of the Eye of the World. One thing i'm beginning to notice is the similarity to Dune, with the Aes Sedai/Bene Gesserit, a chosen one in the form of a dragon rather than a mouse, and the Aiel/Fremen.

 

Quite blatant really.

 

I can't recommend the books enough, they are to this day my favorite series.

 

As for the Eye of the World, yeah he blatantly copied a lot of stuff in the first book ((one spoiler in the second example) though he might have not copied the works them selves but the source material), but by the end of it he makes the world his own and in book 2 it really takes off. Robert Jordan is an unparalleled world builder (well one of the best at least) and a foreshadower unlike any other, plus to this day I have not read a work by an author that portrays battles and conflicts better them him(or at least give me goosebumps). The culminations in his books is what kept me reading the most, he would build and build and build the story and the payoff he would give you in the end is like no other. Some would say it's like going through mud to get the pearl, but in my case his pearls were worth it every time.

 

The thing about his books is that there really isn't one main character and this in combination with his long descriptions and world building makes for really long books and a really long series. My recommendation is to give it a go until book 2 and see where you stand there, as book 2 is really the benchmark for the rest of the series.

 

 

Jordan is great.

 

I highly recommend checking out Erikson's Malazan series if you've already read the Wheel of Time. He does battles, 'epic', and evokes raw emotion from the reader even better than Jordan methinks.

[Sarex]

Jordan is great.

 

I highly recommend checking out Erikson's Malazan series if you've already read the Wheel of Time. He does battles, 'epic', and evokes raw emotion from the reader even better than Jordan methinks.

 

Finished the main series, I want to start the side stories. I cried like like a little bitch when certain someone broke a leg, so yeah emo all the way. Though it's worth mentioning that book 1 just drops you in the middle of things and that the learning curve is very steep for the series.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Sarex

[ShadySands]

I picked up Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan before I saw the poor reviews it has. I still plan on reading it but I'm a little less enthused about it now.

 

Also grabbed Price of Valor from Django Wexler. While I've enjoyed the Raven's Shadow series more up to this point I think I might dive into this book first.

[Tale]

Poor poor thread, always slipping away.

 

I'm reading House of Leaves. It's equal parts pretentious and fantastic. And it might be getting to me. Two nights ago as I lie in bed trying to sleep, it suddenly got very cold and I could hear growling. I quickly realized that it was all the ceiling fan and for some reason I'd become more sensitive to its noise, but for that one night, I felt like a kid cowering under his sheets from imagined monsters. It was wonderful.

 

This book is just weird. Everything I know about writing and publishing tells me that this book should not be. It colors words, it plays with the margins and formatting, it's terribly dull half the time, on purpose. The writer in me views it as a comedy, while the reader sees it as a horror.

 

It's a maze in book form and even its absurdities are delightful. It's basically three stories. Johnny Truant, who found the book in the trunk of a dead blind man, has decided to insert footnotes which alternate between him bragging about his sexual conquests and him being paranoid as a consequence of dealing with this book. Zampano's, the aforementioned dead blind man, pretentious scholarly analysis of a found footage horror movie. And then the found footage horror movie, described by Zampano almost moment by moment when he's not trying to overanalyze it in terms of myth, camerawork, and psychological analysis like a wannabe Joseph Campbell.

 

It's long stretches of boredom marked by brief moments of tense horror for what should be all the wrong reasons. The pages have scenes painted with words, as characters go down corridors, the text takes up thin lines in the middle surrounded by rambling footnotes, one of which forms a column through the book itself. Two characters meet in the dark and when they talk about one he's at the bottom of the page, the other is at the top. It's silly, but I've bought into it wholeheartedly.