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

[FlorenceArt]

In the case of Margaret Atwood, it means books written by someone who can write

[recluse]

I think Margaret Atwood is a fine writer.

It's the term 'Literary' that bothers me.
It's like a warning sticker: "This book is a pretentious, trendy waste of paper"

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

In the case of Margaret Atwood, it means books written by someone who can write

not someone who is intentionally pretentious in their writing.....and no, I'm not going to name names because it will start a flame-war...

[lilac_jive]

I've read some interesting books lately. Just finished "The Lost Painting" by Jonathan Harr (library book), which was about the finding of a missing Carvaggio painting. Also on the non-fiction front, I picked up (in paper) "Into the Wild" by Jonathan Krakauer, which was good but not quite as good as "Into Thin Air." Also finished "Chapter and Hearse" (in ebook) by Lorna Barrett, which just came out, fourth in a series. Then Barry Eisler's "Rain Storm," third in his John Rain series, which I think is pretty awesome (also in ebook). Now I'm reading on my iPhone Loretta Chase's "Last Night's Scandal," which is pretty good for a romance, but not up to par with some of her previous works. It's gotten some chuckles out of me, however.

I'm going to a book sale tomorrow - just what I need! Make my TBR pile even bigger!

[Helen Smith]

I just read Bad Girls by Rebecca Chance. The link is to the Amazon UK kindle store because I think it's only in paperback at Amazon in the US. It's available from WH Smith, Waterstones, Asda. It's not the usual type of book I read - I only read it because I know the author but I found it very entertaining. It's a sex and drugs 'bonkbuster' with some memorable, quite graphic sex scenes. The only cross-references I can give are way out of date - Harold Robbins or Jilly Cooper, both of which I have read. However the book has a blurbs on the cover by Louise Bagshawe and Olivia Darling so if you like either of those two authors, presumably you might like this.

Before that I read Sunnyside by Glen David Gold. I found it rather dry and struggled with it a bit. I was disappointed as I loved Carter Beats the Devil when it came out.

[bookwormfjl]

I am reading the 1st book of Raymond Feist's Demonwar Saga, Rides a Dread Legion. So far so good.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Yes, she's a Writer, with a capital W

She has written several other books that are not sci-fi. I'm not sure which one to suggest because they are all good. Maybe The Blind Assassin, or Cat's Eye. I think those are my favorites.

I can warmly recommend both books as well. I've read both several times.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by recluse

I think Margaret Atwood is a fine writer.

It's the term 'Literary' that bothers me.
It's like a warning sticker: "This book is a pretentious, trendy waste of paper"

She's a wonderful writer.

But there are other factors involved. Margaret is Canadian. The Canadian market isn't large enough to support someone writing fiction just from local sales. So the Canadian government offers grants to support indigenous writers. If you're a Canadian writer, your goal is to qualify for the highest level of grant you can, which can influence what you write and how you present it.

Atwood is one of the exceptions that has been picked up and become popular outside of Canada, but she still comes from and writes within the Canadian system. I'd have to do research to confirm it, but I suspect her "What I write isn't SF" claims have more to do with how the Canadian grants system classifies things than her own feelings about the genre.
______
Dennis

[recluse]

Just finished "The Cement Garden" by Ian McEwan.
An extremely disturbing novel about 4 children who cover up their mother's death in a desperate attempt to stay together. Brilliant. Highly recommended.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by recluse

Just finished "The Cement Garden" by Ian McEwan.
An extremely disturbing novel about 4 children who cover up their mother's death in a desperate attempt to stay together. Brilliant. Highly recommended.

It was made into a film - interesting watch.

McEwan is a great writer.

I have just finished 'Ordinary Thunderstorms' by William Boyd - thoroughly enjoyable. Not his best novel, but a gripping read nonetheless.

Think I'll have another go at 'Oryx and Crake' after reading the recent posts here.

[DMcCunney]

I just finished the eARC version of _Mission of Honor_, the latest in David Weber's Honor Harrington series.

It's an interesting volume, because Weber has fundamentally changed the underlying universe. The original premise was set against the background of impending conflict and then all out war between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the neighboring Republic of Haven. Honor is modeled after both C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and the real Admiral Lord Nelson, and the series was essentially the Napoleonic Wars translated into space. The series follows her naval career from Midshipman to Admiral, peer of the realm, and close friends and advisor the planetary rulers of two star nations. The original intended ending had Honor dying in a climactic battle, ala Nelson at Trafalgar.

For various reasons, that notion got altered, and after discussions with collaborator Eric Flint, Weber has shifted focus over the last few books, to bring the war with Haven to a conclusion without killing off Honor and providing a different set of bad guys to be the villains of the piece. In the process, he's vastly expanded the scope of the action, which will now include the enormous Solarian League that Manticore and Haven were on the borders of, and provided hooks to devote stories of their own to secondary characters in the Harrington books.

I don't consider _Mission or Honor_ perfect: it has sections that would have benefited from editing, as they seem to be there only to remind us of the existence of minor characters from the previous book or so, and Weber has characteristic phrases that are due for "David, it's time you found another way to say that." notes. But it's got typical Weber pacing and building suspense, and the sort of implicit in what came before but unexpected ending that leaves you going "Whoa!"

It's a stirring read, and a worthy installment in what may be the best SF series being written.
______
Dennis

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by recluse

Just finished "The Cement Garden" by Ian McEwan.
An extremely disturbing novel about 4 children who cover up their mother's death in a desperate attempt to stay together. Brilliant. Highly recommended.

Originally Posted by Sparrow

It was made into a film - interesting watch.

McEwan is a great writer.

I have hovered on the verge of buying one of his book for some time... a few days ago I finally bought Atonement. Now it's on my Opus, waiting for me to finish The Year of the Flood. Two books of "serious" literature at the same time may be too much

Started a French book about the history of Rome that I hesitated to buy (it's available in e-form, and at an almost reasonable price, which is notable for the French market) but in the end I borrowed it from the library, and I'm glad I did. It's written more like a novel than a history book, and so far it's telling the history of Rome based on how the Romans told it, beginning with Romulus. Interesting to read in relation to the letters of Seneca (which I'm still reading, one at a time), but not what I expect from a history book. Still, I suppose it's a good introduction to how the Roman saw their own history.

Finished Cetaganda, and I think I should probably take a break from reading Bujold's stuff, It's starting to wear out a little. Maybe I'll find some light chick lit book instead...

[afa]

Finished The Hero of Ages, the final instalment in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy.

Good book and a good series overall. It's not on the level of excellence of Abercrombie, but I did like it. A couple of negatives are that there aren't really any 'grey' characters; pretty much everyone who looks like a good guy is a good guy and everyone who looks like a bad guy is a bad guy. Also, Sanderson has a tendency to drop in info-dumps now and again. They're not, thankfully, the multi-page monologue sort of info-dumps, just a paragraph or two, but some of them are unnecessary. Some of them (like the explanation of the Allomantic metals) are things which the reader would already know from reading the first two books, so I don't think including them was required; how many people, really, would be reading the third book without having read the first two?

Other than those minor quibbles, though, it's a well-written series. A good story (that reminded me, in parts, of Lost) and while the characters are not unpredictable, they're not caricatures either, and you do find yourself caring what happens to them.

All in all, I would probably give the series an 8/10.

So now I am, for the first time ever, reading two books concurrently. I generally prefer not to, to avoid any overlapping of stories in my mind, but I'm reading one in digital format which should help 'separate' them. Interestingly, they're both anthologies:

The New Space Opera (Paperback) - edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, this anthology of SF stories is my first foray into the world of Sci-Fi. I hope it's a good one, as my decision of whether to bother with SF novels in the future will be at least partly based on my enjoyment of this collection. Should be good; supposedly, ten out of the eighteen stories were on Locus's recommended reading list for 2007. Includes contributions by the likes of Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Dan Simmons, Robert Silverberg, and others.

Swords & Dark Magic (eBook) - edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan (again!) this is, as is obvious from the title, an anthology of Fantasy works, specifically Sword and Sorcery. Looking forward to this. Includes contributions by Steven Erikson, Glen Cook, Michael Moorcock, Scott Lynch, Robert Silverberg (again!), Joe Abercrombie (whose presence largely decided my purchase) and others.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm not sure what I'll read next, perhaps the latest Analog.

Yes, I decided to read the latest Analog (October 2010), and the latest Asimov's (September 2010). Both up to standard. The Asimov's a bit above normal, in fact.

Then I read Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon. This is the sequel to The Deed of Paksenarrion.

I enjoyed it, but it leaves a lot to be followed up in subsequent books. It tries to follow several of the people who are involved with Paksenarrion after the vents in Deed. It does that pretty well, but it means that any over-all plot is lost.

But being interested in the characters and the setting, I'll buy and read the next volume whenever it appears. Ah — it seems it's due out in March 2011.


And now for one from my backlog. I bought this back in May 2009.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

It was recommended in a thread on fantasy books here on Mobileread. I hope I enjoy it!

[lilac_jive]

I just finished "N or M?" by Agatha Christie, which I picked up at the booksale (along with about 30 other books), and now just trying to figure out what to read next. I started "The Wave" by Susan Casey which I got as an ARC through Goodreads. It's about rogue waves and such, but right now I'm in a bit of a fiction mood. Hrmm...