What Are You Reading In June 2011?

[Contrarius]

I love Neil Gaiman, but American Gods is about my least favorite of his books. Try The Graveyard Book and Good Omens instead. :)

[Rusty]

Ah, The Graveyard Book is fun. My hubby read it, too. We both enjoyed it. Haven't read Good Omens, however. Will have to look that one up.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Emon wrote: "Just read Annie Jacobson's Area 51."

Ooh, this is pretty high up my tbr. How was it?

[Heidi]

I just finished Speaker For the Dead By Orson Scott Card. The review is up on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rq5DM...

I also just finished Xenocide By Orson Scott Card, but these video book reviews are taking forever to put together!!

And I read Flashing My Shorts By Salvatore Buttaci. It is a nifty collection of short stories. Yeah... working on that review as well.... had some really fdun sci-fi shorts!!

[Deanne]

I like Gaiman's dark sense of humour, wonder how much of Good Omens was Gaiman, how much was Pratchett.

[Kevin]

Heidi wrote: "I just finished Speaker For the Dead By Orson Scott Card. The review is up on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rq5DM...

I also just finished Xenocide By Orson Scott Card, but these vid..."

Glad to see that you're one of the few that can get through the boring stuff in the Ender sequel, most people gave up, but I think they are worth the time because the are emotional great to learn from.

[Bill]

Starting by John Brunner this evening.

[Phoenixfalls]

End of the month recap, because I don't think I'm going to finish anything else:

Six Against The Yard, by the Detection Club. Rating: 3 stars.
Sabriel, by Garth Nix. Rating: 3 stars. Review.
Until I Find You, by John Irving. Rating: 3 stars.
Regency Buck, by Georgette Heyer. Rating: 3 stars.
Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer. Rating: 4 stars.
Cut Through the Bone, by Ethel Rohan. Rating: 4 stars. Review.
The Chinese Orange Mystery, by Ellery Queen. Rating: 3 stars.
Embassytown, by China Miéville. Rating: 5 stars. Review.

Standout was by far Embassytown; it actually made me squee all over the internet. ;) But not much genre stuff for me this month. . . gotta do better next month, because I'm falling woefully behind on my personal challenges.

[Heidi]

Kevin wrote: "Heidi wrote: "I just finished Speaker For the Dead By Orson Scott Card. The review is up on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rq5DM...

I also just finished Xenocide By Orson Scott Car..."

I've actually read the Ender series twice before and although I never found it boring, I know that others have had that complaint. That is why I wanted to do video reviews of them, to let people know the big story is worth getting through the "boring" stuff!!

[Peggy]

I really liked American Gods while I was reading it, but the more I thought about it, the luster fell away. A good friend read it and noted that the protagonist doesn't really react much to the fantastic things that are happening around him, so that might be why it felt a little lifeless.

Phoenixfalls, I remember liking [BOOK: Until I Find You] a lot. It was the book that made me take John Irving back - we had a very bad breakup after A Son of the Circus.

[Kevin]

Heidi wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Heidi wrote: "I just finished Speaker For the Dead By Orson Scott Card. The review is up on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rq5DM...

I also just finished Xenocide By Ors..."

I agree with you, but some people don't like to think in a book.

[Phoenixfalls]

Peggy wrote: "Phoenixfalls, I remember liking Until I Find You a lot. It was the book that made me take John Irving back - we had a very bad breakup after A Son of the Circus."

A Son of the Circus is one of the rare books I just could not finish. So I liked Until I Find You quite a bit better than that! But it was just. . . too much for me. I'd be racing along, devouring a hundred pages at a time, and then I'd suddenly turn a page, read the first sentence, and think "Gah! Still?!? Can't we move on already?!?" and then need to put it down for a few days. But then after that rest period I got right back into it again. . .

[[deleted user]]

Well, to be fair to Gaiman, he IS a good writer, but with American Gods at least, he wrote a book in which pieces of it were better than the whole. Some good points on it: his narration of Wututu's and Agasu's lives was heart wrenching and written with real pathos. It was the most inspired part of the whole book. I enjoyed the characters of "Whisky Jack"which was well rendered in a rich texture of understated personality. For some reason the scene where Wednesday lists the charms he knows made my hackles rise ever so slightly. And the decriptions of the dwarf's (whose name I can't remember at the moment) character and strength made for a noteworthy, albeit minor, character. Maybe too much so, because he seemed to have more presence than the various Gods around him.

[[deleted user]]

Contrarius wrote: "I love Neil Gaiman, but American Gods is about my least favorite of his books. Try The Graveyard Book and Good Omens instead. :)"

Thank you Contrarius, I'll seek it out. Wonderful moniker by the way.

[Deanne]

The stars my destination or The chidren of men?

[Al "Tank"]

Horizons by SFNovelists.

A collection of award-winning "hard science fiction" short stories. Good reading, but a rather large collection, so I'm only 1/3 of the way through it (short on time it being summer and the mowing season and all that). I'll post a review when I'm done (probably some time early next month).

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Just started Catch-22, not sure what else I will be able to get to before the month ends.

[[deleted user]]

Good luck with it Denae.I haven't read it myself but I've heard several people say it was a rather ship wreck of a book and they didn't have the patience to finsih it. I hope you fare better.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I'm loving it so far, but I'm only 65 pages in.

[[deleted user]]

Finished Shadowing:A Henchman's Tale the other day. Decent stuff for a GR Author.

Started on Heroes Die due to an agreement with a friend. He watches a movie I recommend, I read this book.

So far, it's actually pretty good.

[Tasula]

Trevor wrote: "Thanks for posting that reading order Colleen, I've been looking to get into Discworld for a while now but didn't know where to start."

IMO you should start Discworld with The Color of Magic- it's a slapstick funny read, with a great character "The Luggage"- critics call it silly- and it is- but when I need something to make me feel good- that's the right kind of book. Some of the later books are more political satire: Making Money, Going Postal, Soul Music, Thud, etc.- all wonderful). Another favorite humorous fantasy authors besides Terry Pratchett, is Christopher Moore (esp The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove- a psychiatrist decides to substitute sugar pills for her patients's meds, and a sea monster comes ashore- what's not to like?)

[Peggy]

I've always thought the inside of Christopher Moore's head must be a crazy crazy place. He thinks of the oddest things!

[Tasula]

Moore sure does think oddly, but I get a kick out of his humor. Of course Lamb is more serious and a wonderful book.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I utterly loved The Color of Magic. The Luggage is one of my favorite characters, as is Rincewind. They just make me happy, in a twisted way. I also read Moving Pictures recently. It was pretty funny, although possibly more to me because I have lived in Hollywood and it just felt so true to type.

[Trevor]

Tasula wrote: "IMO you should start Discworld with The Color of Magic"

I'll probably take your advice and start there. If I find it too silly for my taste I can always jump to a book later in the series. I have no idea when I'll actually get to it though, I have so many books laying around waiting to be read.

[Evilynn]

Peggy wrote: "I really liked American Gods while I was reading it, but the more I thought about it, the luster fell away. A good friend read it and noted that the protagonist doesn't really react much to the fantastic things that are happening around him, so that might be why it felt a little lifeless. "

In all fairness sake though, that was intentional on Gaiman's part. Shadow is an Everyman, and isn't really all there until (view spoiler)[he's sacrificed on the tree, much like Odin in the original myth (hide spoiler)]. I'd be quite interested in reading AG2 to see how much he's changed as a character.

That said, Neverwhere is still my favourite Gaiman book. It's not his best, stylistically, but I love it and reread it regularly, while I've been meaning to re-read American Gods for years, and still haven't gotten around to it.

I finished Embassytown over the weekend, and started reading the final book in Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy, Grail.

[[deleted user]]

I really do think Gene Wolfe does far better fantasy than Neil Gaiman. And from Gaiman's reviews of Wolfe's works, Gaiman seems to think so also. But on the other hand, I don't know many people who enjoyed Wolfe's work as much as I did.

[Al "Tank"]

Denae wrote: "Just started Catch-22, not sure what else I will be able to get to before the month ends."

Read it waaaaay back in 1966. Enjoyed it then (actually a guy I was rooming with and I took turns reading it out loud).

It's definitely a matter of taste. Some folks "get it" while others never will. Heller had his own unique brand of humor.

Most unforgettable character: Major Major Major Major.

[Kate]

Deanne wrote: "The stars my destination or The chidren of men?"

The Stars My Destination is amazing.

[Deanne]

I'll read that, I've got a delightful evening in the on call room at the hospital to look forward to. Have to take a book and hope I don't get called.

[[deleted user]]

Nicholas Christopher's A Trip to the Stars is a good read, although it's not really fantasy/sci. fi. It has elements of horror, mythology/fantasy in it, but those elements only lightly etch the story, they don't figure into it in a prominent way. However, when they do, they do so with more weight and texture than most other authors I've ever read. If you're of the "less is more" school of thought, I suggest that book or Christopher's other book, The Bestiary.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Chiming in late ... Neil Gaiman mostly doesn't scratch my readerly itches. This is not to say that I think his work is bad. There's no accounting for (my) taste, and all that.

But I do love his Sherlock Holmes pastiche, "A Study in Emerald." It's available from his web site. Be sure not to skip the fake newspaper ads, or at least to go back and read them later.

It's been a while since I participated in one of these threads. The most noteworthy thing I've read this month is probably Regarding Ducks and Universes. It's a light SF tale which apparently began life as a self-published book, which was then picked up by Amazon Encore. If you like parallel universe stories, I recommend it. (I don't recommend self-published books lightly. I didn't receive a review copy or anything, though I did get it for free via the library.)

[Kevin]

I reading Asimov's last book, Forward the Foundation.

[[deleted user]]

Better late than never Sid. I agree with you about Gaiman, albeit I'm writing from a lack of adequate experience. But his name seems everywhere nowadays.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Al wrote: "Denae wrote: "Just started Catch-22, not sure what else I will be able to get to before the month ends."

Read it waaaaay back in 1966. Enjoyed it then (actually a guy I was rooming w..."

I'm honestly clueless why it's taken me this long to read it, but so far it's great!

[Scott]

I finished The Gates this morning.

Then I startedBag of Bones.

[Benjamin]

I finished Feed by Mira Grant. The book has gotten a lot of good hype and made the Hugo shortlist, but I'm afraid I didn't like it very much.

Now re-reading A Feast for Crows.

[Valerie]

Finished AGoT earlier. Now reading The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan - then I'll hop onto Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey. Catching Fire, the rest of my ASoIaF re-read, and the other two books I was working through will just have to wait until July. :)

[Deanne]

Read The Stars My Destination last night, couldn't sleep so I read til I finished.

[Kate]

Deanne wrote: "Read The Stars My Destination last night, couldn't sleep so I read til I finished."

Awesome!
How was it?

[Deanne]

Brilliant, finished it at about midnight, finally got to sleep but my mobile went off at 5:45 for an emergency and had to rush into theatre. Feeling very tired now.

[Julia]

I'm about to start Annexed, a novel told from the POV of Peter Van Damm who was in the Annex with Anne Frank...

The highlights this month for me have been: The Last Unicorn, a new graphic novel based on the classic fantasy novel, Welcome to Bordertown, a new return to the shared universe early urban fantasy, and Who Fears Death, which seems like fantasy, but is science fiction set in a future Sudan.

[Rusty]

Beginning The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay tonight. Just in from the library.

[Trevor]

Finished The Heroes. I'm very excited to see where the next books go.

Next up is a reread of A Feast for Crows in preparation for A Dance with Dragons.