The Book Thread

[danbuter]

I finished Toujours Provence. It was pretty good. Some funny stories and an interesting look into life in rural France.

Next up is Deadeye by William C. Dietz. It's a scifi police book, set after a terrorist unleashes a biological agent on the world that kills a huge chunk of the population and also mutated some survivors. The main character is a "normal" cop in what is left of LA. I'm a few chapters in, and so far, it's pretty good.

[J.L. Duncan]

Just Finished.

The Dwarves by Markus Heitz
The Expats by Chris Pavone

Dwarves wasn't very good-to much writing for not enough story that interested me-I did finish it so there is that-there is a sequel, though I probably won't be reading it.

The Expats was very good. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

[danbuter]

I finished up Deadeye. It's ok. The book had some interesting ideas, but overall, was just kind of average. Not sure what I'm going to read next.

[J.L. Duncan]

HackMaster GMG.

Overall, very well put together. I bit too much for crit-tables.

The books binding and cover aren't on the same scale as the PHB and Hacklopedia of Beasts-there is nothing wrong with it-It's just that the other two are just so awesome...

Character advancement has had some nice additions for training and such.

[danbuter]

Now reading Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll. It's an urban fantasy story set in London. Just started, but so far, it seems pretty decent.

[danbuter]

Recently finished Eyes Like Leaves by Charles de Lint. It is a fantasy novel with a strong Celtic flavor (druids, etc.). I liked it.

Now reading Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. It's pretty interesting so far. Urban fantasy where the main character can see a person's death if she makes skin contact with them, and at least at first, isn't trying to save anyone, as helping never works.

[One Horse Town]

Been on a murder mystery run recently. The Devil in the Marshallsea by Antonia Hodgson is the best of the bunch so far. Set in a debtors prison in the 18th century. Good stuff. The Mathew Bartholomew series by Susanna Gregory is pretty good stuff too and there's 21 (!) books in the series so far for the completists (i've got the first 5).

I'm back to fantasy now and although i like the setting, the writing is pretty bad in Lord of the Isles by David Drake. Hope it improves because its hard going when you have to re-read a paragraph here and there to actually make sense of it as the structure is so poor. Hope it gets better 'cos i've got 4 chunky books in the series on my shelf...

[One Horse Town]

The David Drake book was hard going - i'm going to wait to tackle the other 3 books in the series...

In the meantime i read Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay which is another hefty tome that's been on my shelf unread since 1990! A slow burner this one, which i thought was being padded out too much, but the ending draws it all together well with a humdinger of a plot-twist i really didn't see coming.

Now i'm heading into the murky depths of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. Yet another hefty tome. Hey ho.

[danbuter]

Dropped Blackbirds about halfway through. I just didn't care for it. Too graphic at times, and the protagonist is not likable at all.

Next up is Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matt Crawford. It is about how making stuff with your own hands is actually really good for your soul/ego, and how the modern West has largely abandoned this field because of the concept that you need college to succeed.

[danbuter]

In the meantime i read Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay which is another hefty tome that's been on my shelf unread since 1990! A slow burner this one, which i thought was being padded out too much, but the ending draws it all together well with a humdinger of a plot-twist i really didn't see coming.

That's one of my favorite fantasy novels.

[One Horse Town]

That's one of my favorite fantasy novels.

I'd give it a solid 6/10. I prefer the Fionavar (sp?) trilogy. although i haven't read that in many a year.

[Daddy Warpig]

Late to the party, but I'm reading through the Discworld novels (up to 11 or so) and they're FANTASTIC.

Sad I missed them for so long.

[Spike]

I've been spending a massive amount of time on the road lately, so I'm going to count the audio books I've been listening to as 'books'.

I've recently discovered the Travis McGee novels by John MacDonald, which were written between 1964 and 1984, and of which I've listened to roughly two thirds. They are an interesting time capsule.  MacDonald was a creature of an earlier era himself, maybe twenty years older than his character, and McGee/MacDonald is constantly commenting on the world around him, outside the needs of the plot.


Also, as a fan of the Anita Blake books (er... former fan? I find I enjoy them far less the more recently they've been written...), I picked up an audio book of the Meredith Gentry series (the second I believe), which I had avoided earlier.

Oh.My.God. was it bad.  Laughably, ludicrously bad. Not quite Eye of Agon bad, in that there was actual writing craft being used to form real sentences and such, but bad.  


Then there was the VI Warshowski novel/audio I picked up. Loved the movie, not sure I like the book(s), but it was actually pretty good for what it was.

[danbuter]

I read Shop Class as Soulcraft. It was alright, but was a bit too academic and dry.

Next up is Hammer and Anvil, by James Swallow. It's a 40k novel about the Sisters of Battle. I'm about a third of the way through, and I like it.

[One Horse Town]

Well, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters turned out to be the best thing i've read in ages. Really good writer in G.W. Dahlquist, whose style i really liked in this book. Sure, it's a steam-punk style Saturday matinee story with far too many near escapes for its own good (i think one of the heroes escapes 3 separate instances of death in a single chapter) but the prose is so good that i didn't care.

The only thing i didn't care for was finding out once i'd finished it that there's 2 more books in the 'series' as it seemed to have tied up the loose ends at the end.

The heroes are great - Cardinal Chang, a hired assassin, Doctor Svenson, an army surgeon, and Miss Temple, society lady extraordinaire!
 
Got the second book, The Dark Volume today, but i think i'll give it a short rest before plunging back in.