May's (Mostly) Marvelous Literary Musings

[Connavar]

Dogs of Riga by Hening Mankell, the second book in Kurt Wallander crime series.


Im reading the swedish version, i wrote the english name of the book for so others understand the title since not many here speak swedish.

Its very weird reading this book cause its the first book im reading in swedish in 1 1/2 years (!).

Also its way too normal to read it on paper stuff about a swedish cop complaining the snowy weather and other truly mundane swedish stuff. its much more excotic reading abouts Cops in LA,NY,Edinbrough etc

[murphy]

Now reading The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V. S. Redick. Very engrossing so far. Will be reading further by this author.

[Taltos]

Finished PKD The Penultimate Truth - and to answer question

Originally Posted by Amalthea

The Penultimate Truth is one that sparked my interest when I read a synopsis, but because PKD is either hit or miss for me, I haven't picked up a copy yet. Would you mind letting me know what you think when you have finished?

I'll have to agree with the statement on the book cover - "An entertaining and disturbing read." - especially with the disturbing part. It is a book of ideas, how the masses can be manipulated and just how little is needed to actually do that - forget a fact here and add another here etc. I'd have to say that maybe there were a bit too many ideas for such a short book - not all parts of the book worked well together. As Amalthea - didn't add any PKD book names that were hits with you - I can't say whether you should try it or not - but with PKD it's almost always better to try and then decide as the time consumption isn't actually too great.

Next reading - don't know - tried about 4 books within an hour and couldn't find anything that grabbed attention - have to search my TBR pile a bit more.

[Ian Whates]

Just finished Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings, which is a great final volume of an outstanding fantasy trilogy.

Have now picked up Ken MacLeod's The Execution Channel. Fifty pages in and it's excellent; near-future rather than Ken's recent deep space novels, but totally gripping.

Also dipping in and out of an Ian Watson short story collection, Slow Birds & Other Stories, which is proving typically inventive and entertaining.

[Amalthea]

Originally Posted by Taltos

As Amalthea - didn't add any PKD book names that were hits with you - I can't say whether you should try it or not - but with PKD it's almost always better to try and then decide as the time consumption isn't actually too great.

Good point. I can usually finish a PKD novel in one day. My favorites are Ubik, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and Eye in the Sky. I did not like Galactic Pot-Healer or The Man in the High Castle.

Anyway, I am finishing up Maia by Richard Adams and about to read Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I didn't like Foundation much, but was sucked in by Foundation and Empire, so now I must finish the trilogy.

[Mark Robson]

Just finished Jon Berkeley's The Palace of Laughter. I would place this in the 9-13 year old fiction bracket, but I enjoyed reading it as an adult for several reasons. He has a nice rhythm to his writing for a start. I loved the way he started each chapter with a matching sentence, and his chosen subject was fascinating - I've not read many stories based around a spooky circus ... well actually this was the first!

It had some great and unusual elements to it: the null (a yeti like creature that was particularly nasty); storm angels; song angels; a delightfully evil ringmaster; a teddy bear who comes to life; a nutty old rich woman who lives in a tree house with hundreds of cats; and last, but most definitely not least, a talking tiger. I loved the talking tiger! What a great character!

If you like reading fiction for younger readers, you could do a lot worse than to give this a go. It's certainly different.

Next: Magyk by Angie Sage. (It's been on my 'to read' list for nearly 2 years!)

[Tormented Seeker]

Two hours ago, I glanced through some twenty pages of Arthur Clarke's Firstborn, the last book in the Time Odyssey trilogy. Having read the previous two of course, I know I should expect a more classical sci-fi novel than the ones I'm used to reading from Clarke. Nonetheless, the first two books had an interesting plot and that realistic spirit was still present, so I overlooked the slight improbability of the plot and focused on how well the what-if scenario was thought out and wrought. I expect to finish this in a week or two.

[ravenus]

I finished Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, which takes a very tired sort of haunting premise and works up a fairly decent if NEVER going off the beaten path narrative, but screws up massively in the last 100 pages or so, like he was looking to make it suitable for a Hollywood adaptation.

[gully_foyle]

Finally finished Downbelow Station. Now moving onto The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. I remember reading it as a kid, and not knowing it was a parable for the Vietnam War, but still feeling the very anti war sentiment in it, and the loss the soldier experiences through the time effects. Should be good, again.

[AvoidingReality]

Finished both Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Ender's Game in the last few days; I really couldn't put them down.

Now I'm starting Wit'ch by James Clemens and I'm not sure what I make of it. 70 pages in and I'm not really sure whether it's going to be the sort of book I'll enjoy.

[pyan]

On a EE "Doc" Smith binge....working through the Skylark of Space series.

[Talysia]

Just started The Earthsea Quartet, by Ursula Le Guin.

[daisybee]

Just finished Temeraire-Naomi Novik. Thoroughly enjoyed it too.

[iansales]

Didn't like Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Now back on Ian Watson's Books of the Black Current trilogy with The Book of the Stars.

[Thadlerian]

Originally Posted by Talysia

Just started The Earthsea Quartet, by Ursula Le Guin.

The four in one book? That's where my faithful avatar comes from!

Originally Posted by murphy

Now reading The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V. S. Redick. Very engrossing so far. Will be reading further by this author.

I've been asking my bookstore to get this for several months! I don't know for how much longer I can wait...

Myself, I recently decided to abandon Dan Simmons's Endymion one-third of the way through. There is nothing left of the magic of Hyperion (gods above, below, and on the sides, what a book!), and too many points annoying me to continue.

So next book up is James Blish's Cities in Flight. Time for some good old-fashioned SF.