It's been quite a while since I've posted here - so I'll give a quick list of books I've been reading since and some random thoughts:
Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald was a book club read and I enjoyed the read. It was quite satisfying that the book club had different views and it made for some interesting discussion. At some stage I'd like to read more from this author as this was my first experience.
Verdant Skies by Steven Lyle Jordan. He's one of our own and quite outspoken on a few topics, but how does his book hold up? I was quite happy with this one - it's the book that wanted to be a TV series and only the need to 'sexualise' the characters relentlessly bothered me. Other than that, a good read and I purchased the sequel to read later.
Only Ever Always by Penni Russon. Probably the only traditionally published author that I actually know in real life. Lovely woman and a great YA novel. It's quite cerebral in its way and I wonder what age you need to be to appreciate it fully. On the other hand, as I grow older I'm finding I have a harder time appreciating at what age teenagers become mentally mature. Maybe that's why adults tend to make rules against which teenagers rebel.
Work of Art by John Black. An indie author, this book was a great story. It had some proof-reading issues that marred its review score on my site, but I sent a list of corrections and the author promptly put out a new release incorporating these fixes. This book would sit well in a shelf with Iain Banks (non-sci fi) and Barbara Vine.
Rocannon's World by Ursula Le Guin. It was her first book and I have to say it didn't grab me as much as I was hoping it would. I found it difficult to stay enthralled and I sensed my reading became almost mechanical, almost. But it was her first book so I shouldn't read too much into my reaction. I count some of her works as my favourites in the genre.
The Survival of Thomas Ford by John A A Logan. Another indie, this was well written, literary and should have been scooped up by a publisher. I read a history of its almost accepted status in many attempts at landing a publishing deal and I get the impression that several publishing houses were just too cowardly to take the chance. It's a great book. I wrote recently in the self-promotion thread for this book that this book is a good example of why I no longer trust publishers to filter content from me.
Wool (Omnibus Edition) by Hugh Howey. I was really excited to read this indie effort because I'd sensed the buzz in Goodreads and the Amazon reviews were off-the-charts - with good reason. Probably my best read of the year so far and worth every moment I spent on it. I will now pick up everything this author puts out there until he gives me reason not to.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. What a lovely experience it was to dwell inside the mind of an aging butler. You wouldn't think so, but it was nothing but a pleasure. It's my first read of this rather well-known author and certainly won't be the last.
The Kult by Shaun Jeffrey. Serial killer thriller I call this and I really enjoyed it. There were some moments in the book where I felt the author manufactured responses that didn't quite make sense in order to progress the plot and those things tend to jar. But otherwise, it was a page-turner and I'll be happy to pick up another book from this author.
Pulchritude by Ana Mardoll. Our own Ana put out her first novel and it was a 'beauty'. A tragic retelling of
Beauty and the Beast, this book reminds me why I think copyright should only be temporary and why there is a benefit to the world in works becoming public domain.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A classic Sci-fi that I've been meaning to read for a while. What a great book! It really made me think and I don't feel that its core message is out-dated. Much like
1984, it made me look around at my world with some apprehension. I seriously think we need to be far more apprehensive about apathy and blind conformity than we should be about terrorism. There it is - I've said it and that's as political as I'll get for the moment.
Cthulhu in Wonderland by Kent Kelly. A mash-up of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland using the mythos of Cthulhu. I only gave this two stars but I think that needs some explanation. I have never read Lovecraft and I can't say I'm up on the Cthulhu mythos (even vaguely), so some of the cleverness of this may have been totally lost on me. Additionally, this is written in the style of Lewis Carroll of whom I'm not especially fond. I found the original work somewhat painful to read, even if I was glad that I did. So this book was a case of two strikes and you're almost out. Luckily, I could dimly appreciate it as an exercise which saved it from the third swing-and-miss.
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov. This I'm currently reading now. The book seemed to come up often as a really good Asimov to read and as I've read very little of Asimov I thought I'd give it a go. I'm two thirds through and I can see why it's recommended. The first part was a really good read, but where it shined was in part two. Wow! Reading about the Soft-ones and the Hard-ones was an amazing experience. I've just started the third part.
OK - that's a big laundry list. Maybe I'll spare people such pain by posting more regularly and in smaller doses from now on.
