MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

ATDrake · 03-06-2015, 09:07 PM

Well, if there's anything that doing an emergency double overnight stay in hospital should have taught me, it's to make sure that whatever device I carry in with me has a reasonably full stock of "comfort-read" old favourite books as well as the new stuff to try out.

Unfortunately, this is not a lesson I grasped in time to load up the BlackBerry PlayBook properly (at least I had a couple of games on it?) but I did have one nice thing to re-read, Lois McMaster Bujold's excellent The Curse of Chalion, which albeit one of my long-time favourites, wasn't quite what I was in the mood for.

But still, it was a nice revisitation of an interesting worldbuilding setting loosely based on the Spanish Reconquista and a highly entertaining story in its own right and I'm now kind of divided as to whether or not to follow up with a re-read of Paladin of Souls, which I only have in hardcover.

Anyway, I think I'll spend some time properly digging through my archives and packing the BB with more reading selection, just in case I end up having to make a return trip.

Another nostalgia re-read, thankfully done sometime before, because I wouldn't have liked to have had the time to read all 3 books in it while laid up with infection awaiting surgery, was the Diana Wynne Jones' Land of Ingary Trilogy, comprising Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and The House of Many Ways, which I got as a dirt-cheap $1.99 Kobo special from HarperCollins late last year.

HMC and CITA are long-time childhood nostalgia favourites (CITA moreso than HMC for reasons I'm not quite sure about; maybe the non-primarily-Euro-derived fantasy setting?) and were a delight as always.

HOMW, which I'd only read once prior when buying it new when it came out, seemed a bit lacking in comparison to the other two.

I don't know whether it's nostalgia goggles for the initial books, or just that HOMW suffers a quality dip due to having been written later in DWJ's life when a deterioration in the writing facilities often takes place, but it did seem that some of the intercharacter drama between Charmian and Peter was overly contrived and drawn out to keep them at odds for plot purposes long past the point where it would have been reasonable for them to start working less at cross-purposes.

And Peter seems to carry the Idiot Ball a lot when it'll drive Charmian forward through the plot, even if a sort-of reason for this is kind of given in his back story.

Aside from that, it was nice to see a follow-up to favourite old characters and see a bit more of the world that the books take place in, so while I don't think I'll be re-reading this one very much compared to the other two, it was still worth my time to try again

As always, very high recommendations for 3 out of the 4 titles above, especially if you're looking for imaginative, inventive, and flat-out delightful fantasy.

03-06-2015, 09:07 PM	#21900
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Well, if there's anything that doing an emergency double overnight stay in hospital should have taught me, it's to make sure that whatever device I carry in with me has a reasonably full stock of "comfort-read" old favourite books as well as the new stuff to try out. Unfortunately, this is not a lesson I grasped in time to load up the BlackBerry PlayBook properly (at least I had a couple of games on it?) but I did have one nice thing to re-read, Lois McMaster Bujold's excellent The Curse of Chalion, which albeit one of my long-time favourites, wasn't quite what I was in the mood for. But still, it was a nice revisitation of an interesting worldbuilding setting loosely based on the Spanish Reconquista and a highly entertaining story in its own right and I'm now kind of divided as to whether or not to follow up with a re-read of Paladin of Souls, which I only have in hardcover. Anyway, I think I'll spend some time properly digging through my archives and packing the BB with more reading selection, just in case I end up having to make a return trip. Another nostalgia re-read, thankfully done sometime before, because I wouldn't have liked to have had the time to read all 3 books in it while laid up with infection awaiting surgery, was the Diana Wynne Jones' Land of Ingary Trilogy, comprising Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and The House of Many Ways, which I got as a dirt-cheap $1.99 Kobo special from HarperCollins late last year. HMC and CITA are long-time childhood nostalgia favourites (CITA moreso than HMC for reasons I'm not quite sure about; maybe the non-primarily-Euro-derived fantasy setting?) and were a delight as always. HOMW, which I'd only read once prior when buying it new when it came out, seemed a bit lacking in comparison to the other two. I don't know whether it's nostalgia goggles for the initial books, or just that HOMW suffers a quality dip due to having been written later in DWJ's life when a deterioration in the writing facilities often takes place, but it did seem that some of the intercharacter drama between Charmian and Peter was overly contrived and drawn out to keep them at odds for plot purposes long past the point where it would have been reasonable for them to start working less at cross-purposes. And Peter seems to carry the Idiot Ball a lot when it'll drive Charmian forward through the plot, even if a sort-of reason for this is kind of given in his back story. Aside from that, it was nice to see a follow-up to favourite old characters and see a bit more of the world that the books take place in, so while I don't think I'll be re-reading this one very much compared to the other two, it was still worth my time to try again As always, very high recommendations for 3 out of the 4 titles above, especially if you're looking for imaginative, inventive, and flat-out delightful fantasy.