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#10531 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 67780237
Join Date: Jul 2011
Device: none
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I just finished The Franchiser by Stanley Elkin. Very nice. Now on to
Life and Death and Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan. This one's going to take a while. |
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#10532 |
Junior Member
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Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Cleveland, OH
Device: Kindle 3
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I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson. I'm hoping I will be able to get the sequels soon. Until then I am reading The Soloist by Steve Lopez.
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#10533 |
Can one read too much?
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Karma: 2487799
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Naples, FL
Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650
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After finishing up the second (of two) books by Manning Coles (Happy Returns) featuring the ghost cousins and their monkey, I looked through the publisher's list of other titles - The Chinese Chop by Juanita Sheridan looked interesting, and my library had it, so I started the book yesterday. It's the first of four mysteries featuring Chinese-American heroine Lily Wu, written just after WW II; this one's set in NYC, though I gather the rest are not. Interesting enough so far that I can see reading the rest of the series.
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#10534 |
Evangelist
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Karma: 864744
Join Date: Mar 2011
Device: Kindle 3, LookBook, Nook Simple Touch
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#10535 |
Wizard
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Karma: 48036360
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: where the sun lives, or so they say
Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe
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I just finished On Canaan's side, by Sebastian Barry, which I think deserves the Man Booker Prize this year.
Beginning A Bit on the Side by William Trevor. |
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#10536 |
Bah, humbug!
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Karma: 157049943
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.
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I just finished Night Life of the Gods and it had me rolling. It's hard to remember when reading Thorn Smith books that he died in 1934. His humor has lost none of its edge. Perhaps that's because he focuses on timeless themes that speak to readers across the generations; like sex, drinking, and non-stop partying.
Last edited by WT Sharpe; 08-19-2011 at 04:43 PM. Reason: Correct an error in my grandma. |
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#10537 | |
Bah! Humbug!
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Karma: 135239851
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Durham, NC
Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!
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#10538 | |
Bah! Humbug!
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Karma: 135239851
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Durham, NC
Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!
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Quote:
![]() Many of these titles will contain jarring racial epithets/references, but rather than offensive, merely record the usage at the time they were written. |
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#10539 |
Connoisseur
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Karma: 13366
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Terminus
Device: Kindle 3, iPhone
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Just finished Hyperion. I enjoyed it, but what I didn't enjoy was the fact that it stopped at a cliff-hanger. Not just any cliffhanger; a cliffhanger that delays, until the next book, what I assumed the entire book was about (the meeting of the pilgrims and the Shrike).
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#10540 | ||
ZCD BombShel
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Karma: 8293322
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: The Frozen North (aka Illinois, USA)
Device: iPad, STB Kindle Oasis
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Anyway - I'm reading Darynda Jones' "First Grave on the Right" . It's a cute, light, paranormal romance (I guess, it's heavy on the paranormal and light on the romance, the way I like 'em). Before that it was Bitter Harvest, the latest in Sheila Connolly's Orchard series. That was a more difficult read, as the main character that I normally love, I didn't like her much in this book until the end. It was a transitional time for Meg, I guess.... I did like the ending though. I've mainly just been grabbing the first thing off my TBR that looks good lately, without putting much thought into it. Shelfari says I'm up to 76 books this year. |
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#10541 |
Wizzard
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Karma: 33048258
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Roundworld
Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia
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ETA: Another +1 to Ruth Downie's Ruso series. I really enjoyed them when I read the lot earlier this year. High recommend.
Finished two new "historical real person in fictionalized situation" novels from the library's New Books shelf. 1) Roman Games: A Plinius Secundus Mystery by Bruce Macbain is just what it says in the title. This may or may not be a one-off, starring the not-so-famous nephew of the famous historian who died recording Vesuvius, who has to untangle the murder of one of the paranoid demented emperor Domitian's cronies and also figure out whether it's just a plain old revenge-killing (the victim was that kind of guy) or if the paranoid demented emperor Domitian is right about it also being a plot against himself. Back cover said that Macbain is some sort of Classics professor at one of the university/colleges down in the States, and there's some nifty background info and glossary and historical notes after the story. Apparently this was written around a real-life incident during Domitian's reign, changed in a couple of places which the author thoughtfully notes. It also says that it's the author's first book, and he does a pretty good job of it. It's not exceptionally good, but it's very readable. Moderate-to-medium-high recommend if you like historical Roman Empire murder mysteries that are basically decently-done Real Person Fic surrounding actual events with actual historical personages. I liked it, but I think you kind of have to like these sorts of things to begin with. 2) The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer by Lucy Weston which again, is exactly what it says in the title. Fun fact: onomastically speaking, the name "Buffy" is actually supposed to be derived from being a nickname for "Elizabeth". And that's really the most interesting thing I can say about this novel, which otherwise involves Queen Elizabeth I discovering a hidden heritage as a prophesied vampire slayer and confronting a leftover legacy from Arthurian times as apparently Camelot fell in part due to vampiric plotting. It's not actually a bad novel, and the writing is decent enough, but it's really just another cheesy cash-in attempt on a fad that doesn't do anything particularly imaginative or noteworthy with the setting or the characters, which is a shame, because I like the Tudors and I kind of like Arthuriana, and it's usually cool to see them combined. If your library also has it and you like these things, maybe an okay read for the novelty value. But definitely not worth the $17 CAD asking price that the publisher listed on the back of the paper version. As an aside, the book's author seems to be even more fictionalized than her novel, as "Lucy Weston" seems to be an entirely made-up persona complete with fake Twitter and blog accounts to visit online, who claims to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's "Lucy Westenra" in Dracula and to have found this hidden manuscript diary which she turned into the novel in a special interview in the back of the book, which also has a seriously for serious reading group guide question set which acts like it's all Very Deep Literature You Should Discuss. I give it a minor bonus point for the hilarity of that last alone. ![]() In between, also re-read Connie Willis' Oxford time-travel set, this time using the Kindle*. There's a noticeable drop in the competence of the historians going from Doomsday Book to All Clear, especially when it comes to Wardrobe. You'd think that having nearly lost at least one historian and almost messing up the timeline on at least one other occasion, they'd have better safety/tracking/emergency retrieval protocols in place, like arranging a long-term drop box for messages from the past and implanting locators and making sure that their people are properly prepped for their drops†. But no, they don't, and all the competent people seem to have disappeared. Maybe everyone decent's been sent to the past on another Lady Schrapnell whim and all that's left over is the hastily hired replacements she harangued people to slot into place? * Doomsday Book was pretty decently formatted and clean, but To Say Nothing of the Dog suffered from a mild percentage of weird scannos that obviously nobody bothered to check. And I strongly suspect that both e-books de-italicized nearly all of the "thought" phrases, given how they're usually italicized throughout my paper copy and the PDF of Blackout/All Clear that I got from the Hugo Voter Packet. † As the narration keeps reminding us throughout, it's time travel, and they should remember that they have all the time in the world to do it, rather than keeping on rushing through to get to their assignments with inadequate resources. Last edited by ATDrake; 08-19-2011 at 03:45 PM. Reason: There is no "The" in the title. |
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#10542 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Karma: 315160596
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Oasis
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Next, a change of pace. The third volume in the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series: Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber |
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#10543 | |
Can one read too much?
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Karma: 2487799
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Naples, FL
Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650
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I was thinking of trying the Emma Marsh series set in 1930's Boston at some point after I finish my current two series from Rue Morgue. I admit to gasping in horror when the German officer shot poor Ulysses! |
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#10544 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 4632658
Join Date: Nov 2007
Device: none
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Quote:
![]() I've seen Hyperion referred to as influenced by The Canterbury Tales wherein it's the stories of the "pilgrims" that matter, and how they relate and interact, rather than the purpose and events of the pilgrimage itself. I fully understand how the "cliffhanger" is frustrating, but also suggest reflecting on the book as if there were no sequels in the Cantos. This might not improve things (I'm not suggesting it'll change your mind), but I think it's an amusing exercise...you'll either scream in frustration imagining how you'd feel it ending there with no "sequel", or laugh maniacally with awe and want to reread it, or...? ![]() But read the rest. Honestly, it's one of my favourite series. [EDIT: I don't think I've been clear in my words above, but I mean to say I loved it so very much when I thought it was just a standalone book, not just with, but partly because of that cliffhanger. I felt similarly about Zindell's Neverness, though I believe it is officially considered standalone] Cheers, Marc Last edited by montsnmags; 08-20-2011 at 08:00 AM. |
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#10545 |
David
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Karma: 8916183
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Norway
Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)
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