Just finished Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke's short story collection in the Strange & Norrell world. A bit uneven, as collections are wont to be, but the high points were very high and the lows weren't very low. Mainly made me wish for another full length from her, though.
Read the first four books in The Expanse series. Dug the first three - pacey, clever pop sci-fi. Nothing earth shattering, but a fun enough time. Didn't much care for the fourth book, between some boneheaded (and inaccurate, and completely unnecessary) lines about America's colonial history, and a scene where a dude mansplains a woman's crush on another dude to her, talks her out of the crush, and talks her into sleeping with him instead, in a ludicrous two-page monologue. Barf city. Might be checking out on the book series and just sticking with the TV show.
Currently reading Zadie Smith's On Beauty. Not very far into it, but I really love her prose style. Her dialogue is especially rad; it's meticulously crafted to convey the physical actions of the character speaking, without breaking from quotation marks, while still feeling naturalistic. Globe-hopping academics aren't my favorite characters in the world to spend time with, but I'm definitely sucked in enough by the prose to give the characters time to grow on me.
The 4th Expanse book is a bit of a misstep by the series. 5 and 6 are MUCH better. If I was re-reading them (which I might do) I would skip 4.
Just finished Dune Messiah. It wasn't horrible or anything, but it really wasn't anywhere close to as good as the first.
It was a lot shorter and a lot less epic in scope, so perhaps its not the most fair comparison. It was interesting to see Paul portrayed in this new way, but honestly past the set up the rest of the events in the book felt somewhat predictable, though perhaps that was the point.
I am curious about going into the third one, based on where things have been left off, but, I'll definitely give myself a little breather before pushing on.
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Her dialogue is especially rad; it's meticulously crafted to convey the physical actions of the character speaking, without breaking from quotation marks, while still feeling naturalistic.
Can you give some examples of this?
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Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
I decided to reread my second favorite book series, The Richard Sharpe series, since I discovered a listing for a new book, the first in ten years, coming out in January.
Only I realized I did not actually own most of them since I had always just taken copies from the public library I worked at when I read them. So I started buying new copies.
I am slightly annoyed that the later published books in the series, many of which come chronologically before the originals, are all published by a different company and thus it is impossible to get a matching set of the whole thing. These later books have nice trade paperback covers that look like period penny broadsheet adventures. The original run in the series have less interesting covers.
I've started reading a collection of Larry Niven's, I guess Warlock stories?
I'm not sure what this series is called but the Kindle edition is collected as The Time of the Warlock and starts with "Not Long Before the End" (and also has extremely cheap cover art but whatcha gonna do)
Finished The Rhesus Chart, the 5th, i think, Laundry Files book last night. I'd accidentally read the book that follows it before, but even knowing ahead of time what was in store
Started trolling my local library for the new Hugo nominees and they had A Closed and Common Orbit. Finished it up and it was quite good, doing that Sci-Fi story that is about big large huge ideas/topics while ostensibly being a fairly small scale and personal story while not also disappearing up it's own ass in the process.
I decided to reread my second favorite book series, The Richard Sharpe series, since I discovered a listing for a new book, the first in ten years, coming out in January.
Only I realized I did not actually own most of them since I had always just taken copies from the public library I worked at when I read them. So I started buying new copies.
I am slightly annoyed that the later published books in the series, many of which come chronologically before the originals, are all published by a different company and thus it is impossible to get a matching set of the whole thing. These later books have nice trade paperback covers that look like period penny broadsheet adventures. The original run in the series have less interesting covers.
Her dialogue is especially rad; it's meticulously crafted to convey the physical actions of the character speaking, without breaking from quotation marks, while still feeling naturalistic.
Can you give some examples of this?
Gladly!
'Whatever, Howard. Whatever - either way it's me who's going to be dealing with it, with the consequences of your actions, as usual, so-'
Howard thumped their icebox with the side of his fist.
'Howard, please don't do that. The door's swung, it's... everything'll defrost, push it properly, properly, until it's - OK: it's unfortunate. That's if it really has happened, which we don't know. We're just going to have to take it step by step until we know what the hell is going on.'
It's so vivid, even when filled with the elliptical and vague patterns of real speech. I love it.
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
what were you expecting, drag car vampires that preyed on other cars?
I not sure what I expected just not what it is.
I don't mean this in a negative way at all. I'm enjoying the book immensely.
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BaidolI will hold him offEscape while you canRegistered Userregular
My local library system, while fine, is typically missing new books and the state's online digital system has similar issues with new book availability. Interlibrary loans are non-existent. Has anyone tried Amazon's Kindle Unlimited and have any comments about the service?
What was the name of that book slash game combo where you needed to read the books and scan the pages to prove certain thing true to the AI in the game?
I think Austin Walker talked about it, or it was a fever dream of mine.
I decided to reread my second favorite book series, The Richard Sharpe series, since I discovered a listing for a new book, the first in ten years, coming out in January.
Only I realized I did not actually own most of them since I had always just taken copies from the public library I worked at when I read them. So I started buying new copies.
I am slightly annoyed that the later published books in the series, many of which come chronologically before the originals, are all published by a different company and thus it is impossible to get a matching set of the whole thing. These later books have nice trade paperback covers that look like period penny broadsheet adventures. The original run in the series have less interesting covers.
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
If you're looking for a break, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers and Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen are both relaxing good fun. The kind of science fiction that's adventurous without being stressful.
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I have Small Angry Planet. Maybe I'll read that next.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I just started Small Angry Planet and I may actually finish it before I have to return it to the liberry
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Halfway through Everything I Never Told You
I knew this was gonna be bleak, but boy is it bleak. Maybe I should have picked up something more light hearted as well.
Finsished the Inheritance trilogy. One of the horniest fantasy books I've read in a while. I liked it but they got a little sprawling by the end of the third book.
Finsished the Inheritance trilogy. One of the horniest fantasy books I've read in a while. I liked it but they got a little sprawling by the end of the third book.
I spent a few seconds thinking you meant Paolini before I remembered Jemisin
I really like embassytown. Mieville is a difficult author to pin down though.
Edit: and i didn't like Kraken at all but that hasn't really really a language issue.
On the basis of this post, I decided to give Embassytown another attempt. It's going better than before. Most of the heavy lifting language-wise is during the first quarter or so of the book so it is much smoother going after that initial wall of quirky language. Once Mieville gets into discussing the hosts language, things get a lot more interesting, and the world-buildling is great as always. What probably put me off the first time around is I had just come off reading a bunch of Iain M Banks who is always very easy to read. Mieville by comparison is a lot more challenging, language-wise, and I think my earlier complaint about word-processor search and replace select words using a thesaurus still holds true to a degree.
I think I'm probably going to end up enjoying Embassytown a fair bit. It's also taught me that to get at the good stuff with Mieville I need to just push past all the barriers to understanding and clear communication he likes to put up in the first portion of his books. Kraken was a lot like this as well. I understand why he does it and the effect he is going for, it's just that I've read a lot and have seen the same effect achieved by more talented artists of the English language without the barrier to understanding common in the couple of Mieville works I've read so far.
SO on China (the author, no the country) I read perdido street a while back and: mostly mild spoilers, but then a big one, but it will all be in one block.
So the world building was amazing and inspired many a stream of conciousness setting with the one note pages that make up my rpg campaign. The writing was generally good and served it's desired purpose. But the seeming fridging of the love interest, followed by the (at least to me, i could have missed things) unearned, "oh yea bird boy was a rapist the whole time!" really soured me on him.
So, in the general, and in the specific (in spoilers), are his other works different and or better in those specific ways? (Also open to other interpretations, but probably throw them in spoilers.)
like, those are both potentially problematic elements, though I don't actually have an issue with the bird boy reveal. I think it was an interesting look at the way unreliable narrators and narrow perspectives on a story can skew your sympathies.
The love interest thing bothered me a lot more, probably because she was never really developed as a character so it felt like she existed purely for the existential horror of what happens to her at the end.
I don't recall either of that sort of thing coming up again in his work, not to the same extent anyway. And yet - both those examples are in a way, classic Mieville, because we can both read the same literature and have a completely different interpretation and reaction to the text. So I don't want to swear you won't encounter stuff that bugs you again.
I don't know if I've ever read a Mieville work and thought 'that was absolutely awesome in every single way', but the things I don't like tend to be completely different from book to book. Which is probably the reason I will always buy him, because for every book where I'm left thinking 'eh', there's another where it's at the bare minimum a fascinating read.
The one thing I generally think is consistent is he rarely writes the book you expect him too. Except
for Kraken, where I spent the first few chapters waiting to see how this was going to pull the rug out and then it proceeded along very classic urban fantasy lines and I found that fairly disappointing. But then I guess he confounded my expectations of him confounding my expectations.
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Not really. I just remember finishing that and thinking if you took the covers off and asked who wrote it, King would've been my first guess.
The 4th Expanse book is a bit of a misstep by the series. 5 and 6 are MUCH better. If I was re-reading them (which I might do) I would skip 4.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
It was a lot shorter and a lot less epic in scope, so perhaps its not the most fair comparison. It was interesting to see Paul portrayed in this new way, but honestly past the set up the rest of the events in the book felt somewhat predictable, though perhaps that was the point.
I am curious about going into the third one, based on where things have been left off, but, I'll definitely give myself a little breather before pushing on.
Can you give some examples of this?
Only I realized I did not actually own most of them since I had always just taken copies from the public library I worked at when I read them. So I started buying new copies.
I am slightly annoyed that the later published books in the series, many of which come chronologically before the originals, are all published by a different company and thus it is impossible to get a matching set of the whole thing. These later books have nice trade paperback covers that look like period penny broadsheet adventures. The original run in the series have less interesting covers.
I'm not sure what this series is called but the Kindle edition is collected as The Time of the Warlock and starts with "Not Long Before the End" (and also has extremely cheap cover art but whatcha gonna do)
Fun fact: the original Warlock short story was the first time the word "mana" was used in Western fantasy fiction.
It is nothing like i expected based on the title.
You know what you must do.
what were you expecting, drag car vampires that preyed on other cars?
uh yes?
Gladly!
It's so vivid, even when filled with the elliptical and vague patterns of real speech. I love it.
I not sure what I expected just not what it is.
I don't mean this in a negative way at all. I'm enjoying the book immensely.
Least favorite is probably The Fireman. I dunno, it just didn't click with me too well.
I think Austin Walker talked about it, or it was a fever dream of mine.
But I can't seem to googlefu the name.
As much as I enjoy them he hits on a lot of my insecurities and fears and I need a break.
Rebind them in matching covers?
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I knew this was gonna be bleak, but boy is it bleak. Maybe I should have picked up something more light hearted as well.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
It's one of my favorite sci-fi books from the last couple years. It's a great, chill read.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I spent a few seconds thinking you meant Paolini before I remembered Jemisin
And no, the fact that it's a book about linguistics doesn't make me feel any better. Language is precisely where you can trust McCarthy the least.
I think I liked Horns just a little more but N0S4A2 was more entertaining...
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
On the basis of this post, I decided to give Embassytown another attempt. It's going better than before. Most of the heavy lifting language-wise is during the first quarter or so of the book so it is much smoother going after that initial wall of quirky language. Once Mieville gets into discussing the hosts language, things get a lot more interesting, and the world-buildling is great as always. What probably put me off the first time around is I had just come off reading a bunch of Iain M Banks who is always very easy to read. Mieville by comparison is a lot more challenging, language-wise, and I think my earlier complaint about word-processor search and replace select words using a thesaurus still holds true to a degree.
I think I'm probably going to end up enjoying Embassytown a fair bit. It's also taught me that to get at the good stuff with Mieville I need to just push past all the barriers to understanding and clear communication he likes to put up in the first portion of his books. Kraken was a lot like this as well. I understand why he does it and the effect he is going for, it's just that I've read a lot and have seen the same effect achieved by more talented artists of the English language without the barrier to understanding common in the couple of Mieville works I've read so far.
How do you know Heart Shaped Box isn't?
It isnt
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
The love interest thing bothered me a lot more, probably because she was never really developed as a character so it felt like she existed purely for the existential horror of what happens to her at the end.
I don't recall either of that sort of thing coming up again in his work, not to the same extent anyway. And yet - both those examples are in a way, classic Mieville, because we can both read the same literature and have a completely different interpretation and reaction to the text. So I don't want to swear you won't encounter stuff that bugs you again.
I don't know if I've ever read a Mieville work and thought 'that was absolutely awesome in every single way', but the things I don't like tend to be completely different from book to book. Which is probably the reason I will always buy him, because for every book where I'm left thinking 'eh', there's another where it's at the bare minimum a fascinating read.