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What else are you reading in April 2010?
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Lynn wrote: "I dutifully bought and read all four books of the New Sun series when they came out in the 80s. I wanted them to be the best things since sliced bread--because so many people I respected said they...At the time, I had the sense, though, that I was reading SF/Fantasy answer to Eco's The Name of the Rose."
"
I liked the New Sun series. But then, I liked "The Name of the Rose" also. (Though I think BR's recent BOTM "Eiffelheim" is much more comparable to Eco.)
I read The Name of the Rose years ago because the title had a special resonance for me and I don't remember not liking it, but remember being disappointed that for me, at least, it didn't live up to the hype.
Ah, been meaning to read that series for a long long time. Since High School. I read his Long Sun series and it wasn't as....bloodthirsty. the Protagonist is this one is a naive priest
Marty wrote: "Orson Scott Card is one of the ones I look at really carefully before deciding."
Why, exactly?
Jim,because I think he is very uneven as a writer and sometimes offensively sexist. Not anywhere on the scale of Ringo. But he wrote Speaker for the Dead so he earned some tolerance from me.
Marty
All the people here mentioning Wolfe in a positive manner are men... .. maybe proving your point, Janny?
It's a possibilty, Sandra. Perhaps, like the oddity, that (apparently) women seem less than thrilled by the humor in The Three Stooges.
@ Marty.... Ringo sexist? Damn! And I'm collecting the Posleen war series. Ringo doesn't sound sexist. Thanks for the reply :-)
And Monty Python Janny.On another note, it could be just the book that she read that comes off as misogynistic, after all that particular book was about a guy in a nasty profession.
Of course, there are book I positively hate and no way a few voices on an internet site will make me try again...well maybe...but if its against a fundamental moral code I have, it ain't getting read.
With that said, I am going to dig out the Wolfe books in question and read them.
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I would say, however, that Book of the New Sun had a much stronger impact when it first came out (almost 30 years ago now!) than now. Its grittiness, and its level of complexity, are now more common than they were back then, I think.
As for my own reading, I'm still knee-deep in Malazan books. I finished my re-read of Deadhouse Gates last night and just started on Memories of Ice today. The start of our tor.com re-read is getting pushed back a bit, which is perfect because it gives me some time to go through the books again to prepare. Such complexity in this series - I've never encountered anything like it.
Jim wrote: "@ Marty.... Ringo sexist? Damn! And I'm collecting the Posleen war series. Ringo doesn't sound sexist. Thanks for the reply :-)"most of the Posleen series was ok although some of it was borderline in my view but the Ghost stuff is over the line in my opinion.
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Just to mention it, I really hated the New Sun series, and don't really appreciate the Three Stooges (though I did like the robot Three Stooges in the movie Short circuit). But I loved Monty Python, it was a mainstay of my young adulthood. And yes, I am a woman. And my grandfather, husband and brother all liked the Stooges.
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Stefan wrote: "Well, those Wolfe books rank among my favorite SF ever... and I really doubt that the gender of the readers would have any impact on whether they'd like those books. Personal preference, sure. Ge..."I agree about the Wolfe. His novella, The Fifth Head of Cerberus: Three Novellas, (the titular novella from that collection), held a great impact on me as a teen and I picked up the New Sun series based on that. I first read "Fifth Head..." at about the same time as Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr. and both works, sorta flip sides of the same gender issues, instilled in me an interest in feminism and gender issues in sci fi that has continued to this day. ...which is why I am excited that The Knife of Never Letting Go, a recent Tiptree award winner, is our current BOTM.
Now I'm going to put down the Tim Powers book I've been trying to get into and go back to reread "Fifth Head...."
Well in celebration of this whole Wolfe conversation I pulled out The Shadow of the TorturerI put away the Elric book, after 2 weeks I was only 150 pages or so in, could not get into it. The stories were ok but guess my mind was not into it
Count me as another female who passionately loves Monty Python."And Oliver has run himself over! What a great twit!"
"There's Nigel, he's shot Simon by mistake."
hehehehehehe
I also have to admit to liking The Three Stooges, though Monty Python is by far better.
I haven't read any of the mentioned authors, so I can't comment there.
Stefan wrote: "Well, those Wolfe books rank among my favorite SF ever... and I really doubt that the gender of the readers would have any impact on whether they'd like those books. Personal preference, sure. Ge..."I'm also currently reading Gardens of the Moon but its taking a really long time. The story hasn't hooked me enough to make me eager to pick the book up again after putting it down. I don't think I've ever put so much effort into reading a book before (this is my third time trying to read it)
Here's a link to an essay by Patrick O'Leary, apparently a man, trying to explain why he thinks Wolfe is a pretty good writer:http://web.mac.com/paddybon/Site/a_tr...
("If Ever a Wiz There Was")
Ron wrote: "Here's a link to an essay by Patrick O'Leary, apparently a man, trying to explain why he thinks Wolfe is a pretty good writer:http://web.mac.com/paddybon/Site/a_tr...
("If Ev..."
Sorry, hit 'Post' before I meant to. Here is also a quotation snipped from Wikipedia by Thomas Disch, again admittedly a man but not one bound by hetero-masculine stereotype: "When asked the "Most overrated" and "Most underrated" authors, Thomas Disch identified Isaac Asimov and Gene Wolfe, respectively, writing: "...all too many have already gone into a decline after carrying home some trophies. The one exception is Gene Wolfe...Between 1980 and 1982 he published The Book of the New Sun, a tetralogy of couth, intelligence, and suavity that is also written in VistaVision with Dolby Sound. Imagine a Star Wars-style space opera penned by G. K. Chesterton in the throes of a religious conversion. Wolfe has continued in full diapason ever since, and a crossover success is long overdue."
I would suggest starting somewhere else than the Book of the New Sun, maybe Soldier of the Mist or Wizard/Knight.
Hmmm. Interesting article. Perhaps one day when I have run out of things to read, I shall try again. Maybe if I read instead of listen and don't start in the middle of a trilogy, I'll have a better experience. I do appreciate fine writing. I get sick of starting a book only to think, "what kind of tripe is this?" after a chapter or two because of bad writing that would get a C in an English class. I do expect published writers to be able to ace English class. Maybe that's too much to expect. On the other hand, I don't care how fine the writing is, if I have to wade through a cesspool to find the jewel, I will hesitate a long time.
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Simcha, if I can make one recommendation: go with the flow, don't worry too much about trying to understand everything, and make sure you get to book 2 in the series, Deadhouse Gates, which is much, much better. Gardens of the Moon is impossible to understand completely until you get more familiar with the Malazan universe. Once you've read more of the series, it's a good book to go back to and re-read. Trust me, the series gets a lot better.
Well I can hit a bunch of targets here. I love the 3 Stooges, in fact took the name moe to do anonymous posts on the internet at political chat sites. And I own the entire Monty Python tv series. But I've tried both Gene Wolfe and the Malazan series and Wolfe was almost impenetrable from the get go and after the first book, the Malazan series settled into fairly conventional quest and battle fantasy.
Give me Connie Willis or Joe Abercrombie or Guy Gavriel Kay or Lois McMaster Bujold or GRR Martin, to name just a few authors I think far surpass these other two.
Reginac1 wrote: "Well I can hit a bunch of targets here. I love the 3 Stooges, in fact took the name moe to do anonymous posts on the internet at political chat sites. And I own the entire Monty Python tv series...."I heartily agree! I have troubled to google The Book of the New Sun and have read some reviews. One particularly good one asks if the elaborate premise of the work is worth caring about and I think for me the answer is a hearty no. I do not disparage Wolfe's writing style or his brilliance, but don't find the story, the main character, or the world interesting enough to work that hard to explore.
Just finished Sarah Zettel's "Kingdom of Cages", which for the most part I liked. The naming of the characters is sometimes bit heavy-handed (the mother and two daughters at the center of the story are the Trusts, for instance), and there is a wretched the-planet-itself-is-fighting-back moment near the end, times and distances are sometimes a bit confused, but overall it's a good story. The villains in particular are well-drawn and have believable aims; they really are fighting for something and not just out for personal gain or power. And occasionally you want to just throttle the young heroines too.Sandra: I would suggest it's a little unfair to start any trilogy in the middle and expect to make much sense of it. The Wolfe series is in essence one long book in four volumes; he doesn't give you a lot of convenient recaps, no appearances by Basil Exposition to keep us on track. As for hearing as opposed to reading, I don't know, I'm sure everyone is different in how they process material. I know that if I'm reading poetry I pretty much have to do both, see it on the page and read it aloud, to really get anywhere with it. And finally, whether it's worth it or not is a matter of taste of course; if Wolfe isn't your cup of tea don't torture yourself. I happen to like "involuted literary shenanigans", as your reviewer puts it. I like them more than I like the same old thing warmed over once again, only this time with pixies instead of elves or wormholes instead of warpdrive.
And to Reginac1, absolutely, you can have my share of Connie Willis and George Martin. I've given Willis a more than fair try and to me her books are like food without salt, food that's never heard of salt even. All the ingredients are there but, to quote Snoopy, "Bleah." Not a fair criticism, I know, just how I feel. And Martin, never mind time between books, it just seems to me he's doing what ER Eddison did better lo, these many years ago. Again, maybe I haven't given it a fair try, but after twelve hundred pages I'm out.
Ron, I didn't realize I was starting in the center, and I agree with you that it's unfair. Still, the subject matter was not appealing to me, or I would've gotten the first book to read. I guess 'not appealing' is an understatement. And I agree that I do not like the same old thing over and over again, like a romance novel with space ships.
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Next up: a reread of the next book in the series, House of Chains.
I'm almost done with Gardens of the Moon and then I'm going to focus on getting Ursula Le Guin's books. I'm embarrassed to say that I've never read anything by her before. Next week I'll start on A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness is the best of the Le Guin I have read. I hope you enjoy it. I'd like to hear if you do or not.
I finally finished (after twenty days) Gardens of the Moon (my review) and am happily looking forward to reading Breath and Bone today.
Oh! Breath and Bone is AWESOME!Here's what I've read in April:
Mornings in Jenin - heartbreaking but a necessary read.
Sabriel - listened on audio, very enjoyable.
A Hunger Like No Other - badly written, lots of hot sex if you go in for that kind of thing
The Forgotten Garden - with the Book Addicts. I was outraged at the ending and found it shallow, unbelievable, rambling, and in the end awful. Gave it one star.
Too Much Happiness: Stories - by the awesome Alice Munro.
Grimspace, Wanderlust, and Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre - a very entertaining and imaginative sort of UF/space opera.
Scream For Me for a change of pace
Deeper than the Dead - meh.
The Claw of the Conciliator - abandoned halfway through. First Gene Wolfe and didn't care for the subject matter enough to appreciate his fine writing.
Miles, Mutants and Microbes -- am loving the Vorkosigan Saga
And all three of the Tamir Triad by Lynn Flewelling.
Am currently working on Someone to Run With: A Novel
Marty wrote: "The Left Hand of Darkness is the best of the Le Guin I have read. I hope you enjoy it. I'd like to hear if you do or not."I'm having a bit of a hard time getting into it, but I was warned that it starts off slow so I'll try to be patient.
Jon wrote: "I finally finished (after twenty days) Gardens of the Moon (my review) and am happily looking forward to reading Breath and Bone today.
I also just finished Gardens of the Moon and I'm feeling quite exhausted. I've rarely put so much effort into reading a book before and I'm not even sure that I understood everything. Though I am glad that I finally did read it.
@Simcha: I empathize with you completely. Exhausted is a good word to describe how I felt this morning when I finished Gardens of the Moon.
Just finished: Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy Volume 3.Some great stories here.
Safe Passage by Ramona Ausubel, about passing into death?
Uncle Chaim, Aunt Rifke and the Angel by Peter S. Beagle, an artist an Angel and a young boy learn about life.
The Torturer's Wife by Thomas Glave, a descent into madness?
Serials by Katie Williams, a funny and scary story about serial killers and teenage girls.
A non horror Stephen King story, The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates.
Overall, a very good book.
I'm about halfway through Heart of the Matter which I got as my first ARC book; I find myself irritated by this soap-opera of a book and will not recommend it. I've decided to finish it but will read The Oracle's Queen at the same time. I've just finished The Tainted which was a very satisfying conclusion to the Isles of Glory trilogy. I'll certainly read more of this author!!
These Kitty Norville novels by Carrie Vaughn are like brain candy. I took my copy of Kitty and the Silver Bullet along to read while waiting for something and read 100 pages.
I have just finished Oath of Fealty
by Elizabeth Moon, yet another excellent book in her setting of Paks World. I have also been lent a book by a friend's son James T. Harriscalled The Third Craft. It is the beginning of a trilogy but I am not sure the rest will ever be written although I am finiding it a very good story.
I finished A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller and I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, which was tragically short. I have decided to finish the final book in the Pilocene Exile series Adversary by Julian May as I really enjoyed the first three books.
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I just started on The Girl with Glass Feet after which I will read The City & The City by China Mieville, which I've been really looking forward to.
I just finished The Game of Kings, bought the first trilogy of C.J. Cherryh, The Deed of Paksenarrion, and the first book in the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. And I'm listening to the 2nd GRRMartin book - A Clash of Kings. So I'm up to my neck in Kings, LOL.But I'm very excited I've discovered all these fine fine writers that I can read who've written lots of books - Dunnett, Hobb, Berg... We'll see how I like Cherryh, Friedman, and Moon.
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The Deed of Paksenarrion (other topics)A Clash of Kings (other topics)
The Game of Kings (other topics)
The Girl With Glass Feet (other topics)
The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes (other topics)
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Next up is Blindsight, which I'm quite looking forward to. One of these days maybe I'll manage to read a book at the same time that the group is discussing it, but in the meantime I'll definitely go back to the group discussion threads once I get started and throw in my two cents!
I haven't read anything of Gene Wolfe's, so can't really contribute to that discussion!