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I've been having a very successful August, so far, reading-wise, and I'm now back on target for my TBR challenge having finished two books yesterday.
I was close to the end of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, and decided to finish it last night. Sadly, the Real Page Numbers(TM) on the Kindle version were inaccurate, and it was a bit further than I thought, meaning I finished pretty late, but it was a very enjoyable read. I had a lazy weekend reading, so I made it through this thousand-pager in just 7 days; unusually fast for me. I'd kind of forgotten some of Name of the Wind, but it came back to me.
I have also recently got back to my Agatha Christie short story a day routine, and yesterday finished the Detectives and Young Adventurers collection which I've been reading on and off for months. This is one of three bumper collections comprising the Complete Short Stories. I won't be finishing the Poirot or Marple books until I've read a bit further in the novels, since I'm trying to stick to roughly chronological order, but the stories in this one were mostly written before the mid-1930s, with only one very late Harley Quin and the making-up-the-numbers religious Christmas stories written later.
Before Wise Man's Fear, I read Inverted World by Christopher Priest, which was a quick, engaging read and an interesting idea. It's about a city that has to keep moving, on rails, because... well, I don't want to give it away. This won the BSFA award in 1974.
Before that I read Harpist in the Wind, the third and final part of the Riddle-Master series by Patricia McKillip. This is an atmospheric and unusual fantasy series, not at all like a regular modern epic fantasy, but full of oddness that seems to make sense at the time. The nearest comparisons I can think of are Le Guin's Earthsea and Vance's Lyonesse. I've read the whole trilogy this year and liked it a lot, although I think the first book made the biggest impact. I read this last part in two days.
Before that I read Undertow by Elizabeth Bear. This is an almost old-fashioned standalone planetary SF novel, featuring an evil corporation exploiting the local alien culture, but with an extra layer of quantum-entanglement to make it a bit stranger. I liked it, but it's the only book I've been bogged down in this month, and maybe it's more promising and interesting than actually great itself.
And finally, only just making it into August, I finished Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler on the first of the month. This is the first Bryant & May/Peculiar Crimes book. It won a British Fantasy Society award, and is covered in quotes saying how hilarious it is. I have to say I didn't find it very fantastical - it hints at the supernatural - or very funny - there is some mild absurdity - but I did enjoy it as a crime novel. It's a murder mystery set in a theatre in London during the Blitz in WW2. I already have the second in the series, and I'm looking forward to it.
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