Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Fbone]

Finished Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter today and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's primitive steampunk with a twist here and there that prevents reader prediction. The writing quality was very good Victorian. I was forced to consult an English (and on occasion Latin) dictionary at least a dozen times. That's one of my marks of a good book.
Grade B or 4 stars.

Next on to something lighter. The teen book Lockdown- Escape From Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith.

[carld]

Just coming up for air from Ghost Story. It's a really enjoyable read, very dark, but with lots of Dresden's typical humor.

[caleb72]

Just finished if [tribe] = by Gary Ballard and The 19 Dragons.

if [tribe] = was the final book of the Bridge Chronicles, a super cool cyberpunk trilogy that had one of the more entertaining anti-heroes I've come across. I think of this trilogy as Snow Crash lite. It covers similar technologies, it moves at a similar pace and is punchy and occasionally crass. Of the three books I found the second to be the weakest, the first was the strongest and this book sat nicely in the middle entertaining my with every page turn.

The 19 Dragons is a steampunk novella about the fall of the godlike dragons of a world that is unknowingly dependent on them for its continued existence. It was fascinating in its structure and it had a somewhat adult fairytale feel. There were a couple of logic elements that didn't exactly connect for me, but I did like the manner in which the tale was written. Additionally, I felt it almost too brief. I would have enjoyed each element to be fleshed out a bit more - the brevity of each chapter while an interesting effect didn't make me feel much (or at all) for the dragons. I followed their gradual demise with complete detachment which was a bit of a shame.

Now I'm starting what is advertised as a rather dark novel about someone's life collapsing from a point of contentment into despair - Bryan Healey's Shattered Wings.

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by Crusader

Just finished Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. It's a fantasy novel that's quite dark.

My main gripe with it is that he has a tendency to use countries, regionsetc. from the real world and mesh that into his fantasy world. Also the thinly veiled distortion of the Catholic/Christian faith was a bit much.

I quite liked the Left Hand of God, but hated the next one in the series (The last four things). The whole book is religious nonsense written in a very complex way that makes it really hard to follow the storyline and nothing much happens. In the end I finished it, but it was a complete waste of time that I could have used to read a good book.

Ye be warned

[amward]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Was it in Topper where I ran across the phrase "step-ins" for more delicate undergarments (as opposed to capacious bloomers)?

When I was a girl step-ins were not knickers (or bloomers), they were more of a light corset affair that you could step into, hence the name. Worn over knickers. Can't believe that I was ever so stupid as to wear them, especially as I was so skinny you could count my ribs.

To keep on topic I am currently reading "Fortress on the Sun" which was a freebie through MR a while ago and am enjoying it a lot.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Grantville Gazette #30 edited by Paula Goodlett.

Most enjoyable. Also including one non-1632 story, as a last remnant of the Jim Baen's Universe magazine. This is apparently going to become a permanent feature.

Next I think it's back to Duane Duane's Young Wizards, with Wizard's Holiday

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by Iridal

I quite liked the Left Hand of God, but hated the next one in the series (The last four things). The whole book is religious nonsense written in a very complex way that makes it really hard to follow the storyline and nothing much happens. In the end I finished it, but it was a complete waste of time that I could have used to read a good book.

Ye be warned

Argh. I actually read LHoG in preparation for a review I need to do of the next one. Will see how it goes.

[beppe]

I just read an interesting little book.
An Iliad (2006) by the Italian author Alessandro Baricco. It is a reduction/condensation of the Homer monumental tale. The narrative is developed by the voice of many characters, major and minor: even the river speaks his voice. In modern prose.

I had pleasure in reading it. It is a page turner, although we know the plot already

I think it would be an interesting read for those who are familiar with the Homer poem, an amusing exercise of style.
For those who are not, I think it would be a favorable occasion to enter in that far away world, and taste some of its flavors. Not all of course, many elements have been removed, but some, quite catching, remain.

Baricco adds only a few modern reflections to the character’s thoughts: old Nestor, for instance, plays with the paradox that the young have an “old idea of war,” which entails honor, beauty and glory, while the old take up new ways to fight simply in order to win.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Finished Jules Verne A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Read Franz Kafka Metamorphosis.

Still reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Started Terry Pratchett's Thud!

So far the Pratchett is very enjoyable. Lots of little zingers as you expect and the social themes he's satirizing are very relevant today.

[orange!]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Finished Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter today...

Thanks for the recommendation--I gotta find something more fun to read than War and Peace--maybe I'll try it.

I wasn't familiar with Jeter. Says on Amazon.com that he invented the term "steampunk".

[Pookeysgirl]

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin. It's probably just me, but I don't like the way he split this book with the last. With the last book I missed some of the characters that are in this book and vice versa. I feel like I'm only getting half of the story.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by orange!

Thanks for the recommendation--I gotta find something more fun to read than War and Peace--maybe I'll try it.
I wasn't familiar with Jeter. Says on Amazon.com that he invented the term "steampunk".

Yes, he did. He writes about it in his introduction to Infernal Devices. He also wrote a few Star Wars books and the sequels to Blade Runner. I may try Morlock Night a sequel to The Time Machine.

[maianhvk]

Charlie and the chocolate factory

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

Charlie and the chocolate factory

A fun book. I remember being read that book 40 years ago...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Wizard's Holiday

A good book, if not quite up to the previous two in the series.

That was my 125th book read and finished this year. (I've started and abandoned three so far.) Next: Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie. Her 23rd book.