Totally agreed. In fact, I almost wish I’d skipped the first two books and jumped straight to the third. How did you think it compared to Winter’s Bone? I haven’t read anything else by Woodrell, and I’d prefer something more in the vein of the third than the first two.
Finished the first “Hunger Games” book and actually liked it. I was worried about it being too much of a “Battle Royale” ripoff, which, of course, it is (though the author claims never to have heard of it)…but she manages to tell a pretty good story anyway, with nice pacing and suspense. Because it’s a “YA” novel, there’s the obligatory teen love-trial angst, but it didn’t bug me or make me feel like a girl for reading it.
I bought the entire trilogy butt-cheap thru a Kindle deal, but honestly don’t see why there are two more books. Could have ended right here. But since I own 'em, I guess I’ll read 'em.
Starting “Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire” again. Really liked it the first time around but is one of those books that deserves a second or third going over. Basically a distillation of what the author perceives to be the strategic foundations of the Eastern Empire and why it was able to last so much longer then the Western Empire despite worse geography. Sounds dry, and it is at times, but really brought to my attention ideas, techniques, and history that I had only a passing notion of.
Almost done with the first Prince of Nothing book “The Darkness that Comes Before.” So far I am really liking the setting and characters. Unlike most fantasy (even GRRM) this is basically ‘medieval dark ages’ or ‘Byzantine’ fantasy setting. The focus on religion and different ethnicity/cultures is really superb, as is the ‘last hold out of civilization’ angle that is peppered throughout. Some of the super human (revealed in the first page) stuff isn’t exactly up my alley, but the author does some very interesting stuff with it. Also, this book got me interested in rereading the book I mention above.
No idea. The Bayou Trilogy’s all I’ve read by him.
Just finished re-reading Shadow of the Torturer. It’s been a long time since I last read it.
I think the thing that most surprised me on a re-read (maybe because I’ve been reading too many posts in the BotNS thread) is how direct the book is. Of course, there’s a lot going on under the surface, but, for example, I’d forgotten how much Severian hits you over the head with foreshadowing, how many clues there are that this is a future earth, that sort of thing.
I’m 90% done with Germline and it is fantastic. A military sci-fi book which is absolutely horrifying instead of “futuretech rulz.”
I am currently reading The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. This is the first book in a completed trilogy about a young street urchin apprenticing with a master assassin as part of a grand prophesy. I picked it up because it was a recommended read in the Joe Abercrombe section at Powell’s Books in Portland, OR. I’m about 75% through it and I like the grittiness and the slow reveals, but I hope the whole “assassin with a concience” bit doesn’t go too far overboard. Part of what I love about Abercrombe is the unapologetic nature of his characters so my tolerance for a bunch of handwringing might wane if this series continues in that direction. I’ll finish this one soon and then get started on Shadow’s Edge and see if I want to continue.
Kemper Boyd, I don’t know if you read graphic novels but there is a great series of French (might be Spanish) comics called “The Killer” which is a really interesting take on the ‘assassin without a conscience.’ The main character isn’t some superman, he’s just a guy who doesn’t mind killing the way a normal person would. It’s published in English by Archaia. The art and the story of the first book are really good.
Well shit. I guess I don’t need to read the second book now. Thanks!
In case I missed the sarcasm and you’re serious…
You also don’t need anything past the first 10 pages, which is where he tells you what’s going to happen. (P. 9 in my edition)
Finished Germline last night. I didn’t quite like the end because I felt that it was a bit too clean a wrap up for the few hundred pages of chaos which had just come before. The “happy” ending really seems to run counter to the rest of the book and I felt it would have been better if it had been dropped.
There’s another book coming in the series next month but I don’t think I’ll jump into it the day it’s released.
From there I moved into Ann and Jeff VanDerMeer’s The Weird. I stupidly took this thing on the train today and that was a huge mistake. It’s 1125 pages long and it’s a bit larger than your average trade and weighs 4 pounds. Each book page is laid out with dual columns to make reading a bit easier but it’s just too unwieldy. I may keep this one at home to read.
I also toyed around with War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning but once past the introduction I was glad that I had found this on the street for free rather than paid for it.
Something that rarely happens anymore: I’m reading a non-fantasy book and it’s holding my attention :o
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
You mean non-elf fantasy? That’s not exactly hard SF you’ve got there. Anyway:
Ghost Story by Butcher, I like that he’s pushing the envelope a bit with his universe. I’m spoiled because I was able to read the entire series back to back, waiting for the next one is going to get annoying.
The Magdalen Martyrs by Bruen. Re-read because I’m lazy and I love Bruen.
Bad Monkeys by Ruff. Pretty good so far, it started a bit shaky but the interview style faded after a while.
I just read that. I can’t imagine that it would have any traction with a general audience, but it resonated with me and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I need a little help identifying a book. I heard about it on a podcast ages of ago, got interested but forgot to write the name down.
It is an expose about the life of professional chefs and talked about all the alcohol and drug abuse that goes hand in hand with that job. I understand it was fairly big a few years ago, so I hope someone has heard of it.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain? http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Confidential-Updated-Adventures-Underbelly/dp/0060899220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326914230&sr=8-1
Kitchen Confidential by Bourdain?
I gifted that Bourdain book to my sweetie for Christmas and she says it’s great. His show, No Reservations, is currently on Netflix Instant. Good stuff.
Are the other Bourdain books worth checking out?
I really liked Medium Raw. It is a bit of a mea culpa for Kitchen Confidential in which he apologizes for some of his more outlandish statements - and then goes on to make more of them. I’m a huge Bourdain fanboy, though. I really like his new show, Layover, where he spends 24-36 hours exploring the food of a city with a major airport.
Maybe I’ll pick that up for her birthday. Thanks, Kemper.
Death of Kings (latest in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales series) is available now. Going to pick that up soon.
Right now I’m finishing up Saberhagen’s various Sword series which is mostly fun.