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

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Reading Vortex by Troy Denning. It's number six of nine in the series that should have ended long ago.

I've really become a literary snob.

I'm pretty ruthless if a read doesn't meet my tastes these days.

[anijh]

I'm reading No Lady and Her Tramp. It's an indie book and supposed to be funny. I have never heard of the author but it's on sale for .99 cents so I thought I'd give it a try. I need something funny.

[ATDrake]

End of semester stuff is killing my free time, so once again my leisure reading list is being determined by "what's due at the library first?"

That would happen to be Glyn Iliffe's The Armour of Achilles, part 3 in a Trojan War retelling whose first 2 parts I have not read.

This is a loosely Odysseus-centric epic. And by loosely, I mean that while Odysseus's deeds are certainly one of the main foci, and there's some stuff about what's going on with Penelope back in Ithaca woven throughout the narrative, the viewpoint character is mostly one Eperitus, ostensibly the captain of Odysseus' guard. His name is actually one of the pseudonyms that Odysseus uses in the actual myths, and he's a wholly invented character who seems to have been inserted into the backstories of the other canon characters in order to observe and comment.

He's not a bad character actually, but this novel seemed very focused on epic one-on-one battle scenes and power-jockeying with somewhat less motivation-and-internal-reasoning shown, though there's a sufficient amount of that for both Trojans and Greeks.

Kind of like the Bayeux Tapestry, come to think of it. A whole lot of carts being loaded up and fighting being lavishly depicted, but only a little "Hic Haroldus Rex etc." explanation of it all. Oh, and the gods make partisan walk-on appearances, which probably shouldn't surprise me, but at first seemed slightly out-of-tune with the "bloodily realistic war-weary" tone that was set.

Iliffe puts a brief but handy author's note in the back describing the mythical basis of his story and the departures he made (interpreting a couple of events to put Odysseus' motivations in a better light, since he's supposed to be the "hero" of the series and all that), which is always welcome. A couple of "classic" characters are called by their lesser-known alternative names in order to not spoil their part in the plot, I think.

Overall, an interesting and well-enough written work, although probably the one-on-one combat scenes could have been trimmed without any loss. I don't think I'd buy these books myself unless perhaps PanMacmillan UK were to discount the lot to about $2.99 on special promotion to which I could apply Kobo discount coupons, but I'm interested enough to look up the other volumes at the library.

Mild recommend if you like historical novel retellings of the Trojan War that are a little tilted towards the battle-recounting side.

[GraceKrispy]

Man, life has been kicking my rear, and I rarely find time to do much posting. I'm still keeping up my blog, however, and I wanted to post about my latest read- "The Salbine Sisters" by Sarah Ettritch. (Review here) It's sort of a love story/personal journey type of book, with a decidedly female focus. I found it a very engaging and interesting story.

I also wanted to mention that I read Maria Shneider's "Under Witch Moon" recently and thoroughly enjoyed it! (Review here). It was a really fun read with a paranormal twist! (She's our own "bearmountainbooks" author, and her avatar is the cover of the book!)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: Into The Out Of by Alan Dean Foster - $8.49

I find I have read this before, although not since buying the ebook, I think, One or two scenes and images stayed with me, but not the overall story.

Pretty good. An enjoyable fantasy set in the present day (when written - near past now). Certainly a different mythology to most fantasy.

Next: A Touch of Night by Sarah A. Hoyt and Sofie Skapski

This is pretty much Jane Austen fantasy fan-fic. It's been tidied up a little for this edition, and an extra sub-plot added. Alas, although I'm enjoying the story (Pride and Prejudice set in Hoyt's "Magical British Empire" universe), the cover and formatting of this edition leave something to be desired.

I've gone in and fixed up the formatting for my own copy, and hopefully the author and publishing groups will get the formatting on the official version sorted before too long.

[ericws]

I am currently reading book 2 in the series" A Galaxy Unknown" by Thomas DePrima
I also like the "Rogue Angel" books by Alex Archer, which is a pen name for several authors.
Another series (I seem to like series) is the Sigma Force books by James Rollins

Well that is enough for now. I can't list all my favorites but my taste in books has changed little in the last 50 years. I generally like books that take me away from reality.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ericws

I generally like books that take me away from reality.

Ha... that must narrow down the list of available books...

BOb

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by ericws

I am currently reading book 2 in the series" A Galaxy Unknown" by Thomas DePrima
I also like the "Rogue Angel" books by Alex Archer, which is a pen name for several authors.
Another series (I seem to like series) is the Sigma Force books by James Rollins

Well that is enough for now. I can't list all my favorites but my taste in books has changed little in the last 50 years. I generally like books that take me away from reality.

Hey, welcome to MR! I consider myself a Rollins fan also, but have never read any Sigma Force books. So do you think I should start them?

[covingtoncat73]

I just finished reading Mrs. Fry's Diary. So fun! I am now reading The Alchemist by Coello.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

I just finished reading Mrs. Fry's Diary. So fun! I am now reading The Alchemist by Coello.

People either loved or hated The Alchemist. Lots of one-star and five-star reviews.

I've never read it as I generally avoid self-help style books. But it would be interesting to see which camp you agree with.

[MickeyC]

Just finished At Home by Bill Bryson and it was very interesting.

Next The Reversal by Michael Connelly

[jgaiser]

Have I mentioned I'm easily sidetracked?

John Scalzi (The Old Man's War) posted on his blog yesterday of the death of YA author Diana Wynne Jones. I had never heard of her but after reading the multiple comments on John's blog and multiple, multiple comments on MetaFilter, I found that both Amazon and B&N both carry a few of her books as ebooks and picked up copies of The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1: Charmed Life / The Lives of Christopher Chant and The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2: The Magicians of Caprona / Witch Week and have almost finished the first book. Why couldn't these books been available when I was a youngster (Ok, the first wasn't published until I was 33, but still...). At the age of 64, the stories still rings personal bells for me. Seriously sorry she has died, but now that I've discovered her writings I'll continue reading what's available.

Neil Gaiman's remembers Diana Wynne Jones. So many authors were influenced by her.

[kennyc]

I know the name, but have never read any of her stuff.

[Latinandgreek]

I love her work, and I have been genuinely saddened by her death. She is a fantastic children's/YA novel writer, and one of my favourite books written by her has been made into anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki (and it remains my favourite animated movie to this day).

[phenomshel]

I read Witch Week and adored it. I have a bunch of hers on my neverending TBR mountain, and was very sad to hear of her passing.