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

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Drove up to Gainesville to pick up my son at UF for spring break. It's 4 hours in the car so I decided to listen to _Red Mars_ by Kim Stanley Robinson, an audio book I picked up from Audible quite a while ago.

I've gotta say, it is quite a slow start. Not at all what I expected. Seems like a lot of politics and blah blah background, etc.

I'm not sure if I should give it a bit longer. I listened to the first two hours.

BOb

Yes, it's mostly politics and interpersonal squabbles in a confined environment. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers. I didn't finish the book. Being trapped for months in a spaceship, and for the rest of my life in a station, with 100 people is pretty close to my idea of hell. I thought it was pretty well described though. That's why I couldn't stand it. Too realistic.

[DMcCunney]

Currently?

In paper (there doesn't seem to be an ebook), Northrup Frye's _Anatomy of Criticism_. As Frye put it in his introduction "This book forced itself upon me when I was trying to write something else." He had done a study of William Blake (_Fearful Symmetry_) and wanted to tackle Spenser's Faerie Queen next, but found himself first writing a volume on the theory of allegory, which expanded to a full scale theory of criticism.

Frye uses the term "poetry" for what he discusses, but his concerns are greater, and he complains at one point that there is no general technical term for a work of prose fiction, and that "novel", while normally used, is by no means comprehensive.

Next up in paper is Eric Auerbach's _Mimesis, The Representation of Reality in Western Literature_.

In electronic form, it's G. K. Chesterton's _The Outline of Sanity_, where he argues in favor of Distributism, and asserts that the problem with Capitalism is not too many Capitalists, but too few. Events have rather overtaken him, and you can argue we have what he proposes, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Along with that, one of Dorothy Sayer's "Peter Wimsey" mysteries, _Clouds of Witness_.
______
Dennis

[DiapDealer]

I recently finished The Desert of Souls by newcomer Howard Andrew Jones (newcomer to the novel anyway). I really enjoyed it. It's a fun, exciting bit of historical fantasy set in 8th century Baghdad. Scimitars, viziers and djinn... oh my! ** First person Narrative Alert!! ** Just because I know that hangs some people up.

I also finished David Wingrove's Son of Heaven -- a prequel (and part of the repackage/re-release) to his massive Chung Kuo series. I've always had a love/hate relationship with Wingrove. I love how he writes, and his characters and political/court intrigue are second to none, but he has a penchant for "off camera" action that literally drives me batsh!t. He builds and builds and builds towards a massive crisis, and then BAM!.... you've suddenly moved past it and onto the aftermath. Anyway, not too much of that in this prequel, so that made me happy. But the entire first half of the book bored me to tears. The second half got a lot better, but I'm still not sure if it contributed anything to the overall series other than word-count.

I'm starting another book that I know absolutely nothing about. It's called What Time Forgets: The Daughters of Ard Creggan by K. E. Redmond. It just caught my eye... we'll see.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Currently?

In paper (there doesn't seem to be an ebook), Northrup Frye's _Anatomy of Criticism_. As Frye put it in his introduction "This book forced itself upon me when I was trying to write something else." He had done a study of William Blake (_Fearful Symmetry_) and wanted to tackle Spenser's Faerie Queen next, but found himself first writing a volume on the theory of allegory, which expanded to a full scale theory of criticism.

Frye uses the term "poetry" for what he discusses, but his concerns are greater, and he complains at one point that there is no general technical term for a work of prose fiction, and that "novel", while normally used, is by no means comprehensive.

Next up in paper is Eric Auerbach's _Mimesis, The Representation of Reality in Western Literature_.

In electronic form, it's G. K. Chesterton's _The Outline of Sanity_, where he argues in favor of Distributism, and asserts that the problem with Capitalism is not too many Capitalists, but too few. Events have rather overtaken him, and you can argue we have what he proposes, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Along with that, one of Dorothy Sayer's "Peter Wimsey" mysteries, _Clouds of Witness_.
______
Dennis

I've had Frye's book in my wishlist (which is more of a "might want to read some day" list) at LibraryThing for some time. I'd be interested to hear your opinion on that book.

[orange!]

Pride and Prejudice (thanks, HarryT!).

I've tried to read it 2 or 3 times in years past, but never managed to make it past the first few pages. For some reason, this time I can't wait to get home from work to read some more of it.

I didn't realize until today, when I was telling a friend about the book, that it's opening sentence is considered to be one of the most famous ones in English literature.

[Korumera]

I'm reading The Passage by Justin Cornin on the moment and so far i'm really loving it. It's starting kinda slow but I have a feeling he's setting up for one hell of a story line.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by orange!

I didn't realize until today, when I was telling a friend about the book, that it's opening sentence is considered to be one of the most famous ones in English literature.

For those of us without stellar memories:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

BOb

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

For those of us without stellar memories:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

BOb

Must be a different age.....

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Must be a different age.....

Well, yes! Regency in fact, just before the Victorian Age.

But the first sentence is rather tongue-in-cheek.

It might have been universally acknowledged by the mothers of unmarried daughters of marriageable age. I'm sure the single men didn't necessarily think so!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Uptown Local by Diane Duane. A set of short fantasy/sf stories.

And very good they were too, including a new (or at least new to me) Kit and Nita story. Nice to see things moving again for the Author, after a few terrible years.

And so, next up is a book I'd somewhat despaired of ever seeing: The Big Meow by Diane Duane.

But it is now out - in online HTML for free, and in ebook form for subscribers. It will be coming out in paper forms for subscribers, and presumably a commercial ebook too, once it's gone through some additional professional editing. So I'm really reading a very early advance readers copy here.

[Asawi]

Light reading going on here. Catching up on some things "everobody" already read during the years I haven't been reading much.
Right now the cozy No1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Certainly light and cozy reading! Just started book one and will probably read a couple more, but not the whole series.
Read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen earlier this week. Loved the parts with "old Jacob", but the "young Jacob" story didn't quite manage to keep me interested enough to stay away from speed reading.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Asawi

Right now the cozy No1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Certainly light and cozy reading! Just started book one and will probably read a couple more, but not the whole series.

A reasonable description. While some of the subject matter can get a little dark (I'm thinking particularly of the kidnap and murder of children to procure 'magic' items), most of it is much lighter.

I have read the whole series. Somewhat surprisingly, I don't think the quality drops off as it usually does in such cases. I'm looking forward to buying No. 12 when the ebook pricing sorts itself out a bit. (Hardcover £7.64, Kindle £8.99. No way!)

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I have read the whole series. Somewhat surprisingly, I don't think the quality drops off as it usually does in such cases.

That's good news!! I'm sure not all is bright and cheerful in the books, but that's as it should. Life isn't all bright and cheerful!

[SeaBookGuy]

Still enjoying Bryson's At Home, but wanted to pop in to remark how well-formatted an Epub it is!

[Grimm]

Two books actually:

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie