The Books of August

[AuntiePam]

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I always want to say The Last Beagle. My copy is the 40th Anniversary Edition -- nothing special about it except that if you buy directly from the publisher (Conlan Press), Beagle gets half the proceeds. He's having financial problems because of his mother's health, so they're doing a sort of fund-raiser for him.

The language is very pretty. It can be hard to get into a story when you constantly stop to admire the writing.

Also reading Puppies for Dummies. If I'd read the book before getting the puppy, I might not have gotten the puppy. We were just outside where she met the neighbor kids and their dog. I thought after a half hour of chasing and playing she'd be ready for a nap, but it just wired her up. When we came inside she started running in circles around the coffee table, chasing nothing. So cute. Now she's sprawled at my feet, on her belly, eyes closed. Sigh.

[Hunter Hawk]

I'm still feeling kinda cruddy, so I'm doing light reading these days. Recently finished The Stone Giant by James P. Blaylock, which chronicles an early adventure of Theophile Escargot.

Just started re-reading The Red Tape War, which is a collaboration between Mike Resnick, Jack L. Chalker, and George Alec Effinger. If you like Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, you'll probably like this one.

I just received my copy of Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, but I'm going to hold off on reading it. It's a massive volume--something like 700 pages--with stories from people like Resnick, Gaiman, John C. Wright, GRRM, and a bunch of others.

[Caesar's Wristwatch]

I just picked up and read World War Z overnight, and it was one of the best books I read all summer long. If that's the way August is gonna go, August is gonna ROCK.

Up next for me is Pahlaniuk, Snuff.

[silenus]

The "See if I can get them read before school starts" queue currently looks like this:

Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent - John Reader (halfway through)
Clash of the Carriers - Barrett Tillman (on page 39)
Ruled Britannia - Harry Turtledove (on page 51)
You Don't Have To Be Evil To Work Here, But It Helps - Tom Holt (haven't started)

[Khampelf]

I'm better than halfway though The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaarfa (sp?). It's a historical novel about the Battle of Gettysburg. The author used all the historical fact at his disposal, so it's an interesting glimpse into history.

I'm using Bruce Sterling's Schizmatrix Plus for soporific reading. One of my faves, but so familiar It doesn't really hold my attention and I can drop off reading it.

[Dirx]

I just picked up The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips. So far, it's written as a series of letters and journal entries--the latter by an overdramatic English archaeologist, and the former by an Australian private investigator. Some real nice subtle humour in there, too.

[Anacanapuna]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

I'm better than halfway though The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaarfa (sp?). It's a historical novel about the Battle of Gettysburg. The author used all the historical fact at his disposal, so it's an interesting glimpse into history.

It's one of 3 Civil War books Shaara and his son, Jeff, wrote. When you're finished with "Killer Angels," pick up Jeff Shaara's "Gods and Generals" and "Last Full Measure." You won't be disappointed.

One caveat -- this is well-researched fiction, but fiction nonetheless.

[Scruff]

Matter by Iain M Banks.

It's another Culture book, and I'm only getting started.

Tried reading Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow, but it sucks. I can't figure out whether it is a Harlequin Romance in a Hallowe'en costume, a badly written horror detective story or what. The voice of the book keeps changing, and not in a good way.

[Fay Rowe]

Originally Posted by Caesar's Wristwatch

I just picked up and read World War Z overnight, and it was one of the best books I read all summer long. If that's the way August is gonna go, August is gonna ROCK.

Up next for me is Pahlaniuk, Snuff.

I loved World War Z. I couldn't put it down. I recently finished Day By Day Armageddon by J. L. Bourne. Great zombie apocalypse book.

Right now I'm rereading Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen. One of my favorite books.

[WednesdayAddams]

Instructions for Living Someone Else's Life. I'm too impatient to wait for the US launch, so ordered it from a British bookseller. Also am re-reading Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. What a brilliant man....

[The Second Stone]

William Faulkner, Light In August

[Burnt Toast]

I just picked up Wicked at the used bookstore.
($1! For a like-new book! Yay!)

Anyway, I've heard a lot about it, so I can't wait to get started.

[SmartAleq]

I just finished Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks--I dunno, I read the whole thing, got to the end and said, "What, that's it? Call that an ending?" Can someone reassure me that this guy gets better, because so far I'm not seeing it. I also read The Business, which was inoffensive enough but hardly either a thrill a minute or saying something profound. Hearty "meh" for both books.

The grandson recommended The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss--I know nothing about it aside from the fact that it's long and the book has very tiny type. Anyone else able to recommend this one?

[Illuminati Primus]

Originally Posted by SmartAleq

I just finished Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks--I dunno, I read the whole thing, got to the end and said, "What, that's it? Call that an ending?" Can someone reassure me that this guy gets better, because so far I'm not seeing it.

He absolutely does - Consider Phlebas is actually my least favourite Banks novel and if I'd known you were reading him I'd have said so. Read the Player of Games, much MUCH better book for lots of different reasons.

[Scruff]

Use of Weapons is another good one.

But heck, these are books by a particular author. If you read one and didn't like it, that's OK too.

[SmartAleq]

It's just that I've heard so many people rave about Banks, then I try two well reviewed books and am left wondering why in hell I bothered. I'll try those others, see if they're any better. If it helps any, I have no problem with adult themes and content, so if there's something by Banks out there that's simply stuffed full of naughtiness and shit to make one gag, that would be the book for me!

[Illuminati Primus]

I've only read two of his non-sci fi ones (The Steep approach to Garbadale and Walking on glass) so I don't know what the others are like, but I've heard that one of his non-sci fi was pretty fucked up (can't remember which one, The Crow Road maybe?). In terms of his sci-fi my faves are definitely Player of Games and Excession, with Look to Windward and Feersum Endjinn behind that. As I said, I thought Consider Phlebas was really crap.

[Dosipede]

I just re-read Cold Allies by Patricia Anthony, a book I picked up in a used book store somewhere around 10 years ago, when I was still in high school. I was instantly reminded why it survived all my purges and library giveaways: the writing is masterful, and the story is grim and intense. I should see what else she's written.

Before that, I read The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, by Joe McGinnis. He follows around an Italian Serie B soccer team for a season, and it was interesting to see his hero-worship turn to disillusion.

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by Anacanapuna

It's one of 3 Civil War books Shaara and his son, Jeff, wrote. When you're finished with "Killer Angels," pick up Jeff Shaara's "Gods and Generals" and "Last Full Measure." You won't be disappointed.

One caveat -- this is well-researched fiction, but fiction nonetheless.

Caveat taken. I have "Gods and Generals" in reserve, and will keep my eyes open for "Last Full Measure". Both KA and GaG were given to me by two different people in the space of 3 days. Wierd, eh?

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by MarissaW

Instructions for Living Someone Else's Life. I'm too impatient to wait for the US launch, so ordered it from a British bookseller. Also am re-reading Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. What a brilliant man....

Be sure to follow up with "What do you care what other people think?" Much more from Feynman's early life, lots about his first wife. Touching story.

[Zombies!]

Still on my Warhammer 40k kick. Now I'm up to the Ciaphas Cain omnibus, and looking forward to the release of the Ravenor omnibus later next week.

Sad. Sad.

[WormTheRed]

Originally Posted by Caesar's Wristwatch

I just picked up and read World War Z overnight, and it was one of the best books I read all summer long. If that's the way August is gonna go, August is gonna ROCK.

WWZ was absolutely brilliant! I gobbled it up in three days and forced my non-reading buddy to read it aswell; he liked it

Originally Posted by Khampelf

I'm using Bruce Sterling's Schizmatrix Plus for soporific reading. One of my faves, but so familiar It doesn't really hold my attention and I can drop off reading it.

I've read it, but didn't really care for it. Not sure what it was that bugged me, but I just didn't get into the feeling.



I finally got my hands on 1632 after months of searching in the book stores (I don't buy fiction online, I want to read them NOW ) and now I can't wait to go on with 1633 and the 4.s. Fun idea and well designed, even though the heroes are a bit too heroic for my taste.

[Veb]

Originally Posted by SmartAleq

The grandson recommended The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss--I know nothing about it aside from the fact that it's long and the book has very tiny type. Anyone else able to recommend this one?

Don't be put off by its doorstop size. Rothfuss does a very nice job with it. Not my usual cup of tea and some of the elements are pretty standard--young guy discovering unusual powers--but he makes the characters and world very vivid and believable. It's not all quaint cloak swishing but not Song of Fire and Ice blood-and-guts grim either. I tucked into it during a long, snowy weekend and enjoyed the hell outta it. Good read, IMO.

[Amythyst]

I've been on a Southern women writers kick for the past month or so. I just finished Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Other recent reads include Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, both by Rebecca Wells.

[Burnt Toast]

Originally Posted by ladybug

I've been on a Southern women writers kick for the past month or so. I just finished Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Other recent reads include Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, both by Rebecca Wells.

Fried Green Tomatoes and the Rebecca Wells books are great!

[SmartAleq]

Originally Posted by TVeblen

Don't be put off by its doorstop size. Rothfuss does a very nice job with it. Not my usual cup of tea and some of the elements are pretty standard--young guy discovering unusual powers--but he makes the characters and world very vivid and believable. It's not all quaint cloak swishing but not Song of Fire and Ice blood-and-guts grim either. I tucked into it during a long, snowy weekend and enjoyed the hell outta it. Good read, IMO.

Good to hear--I'm about fifty pages in and it's looking good so far, some nice hints of complications to come and no egregious eye roll fantasy tactics so far!

I just got the notification that Banks' The Wasp Factory has come in to the library--any recommends or should I just let the hold expire?

[Illuminati Primus]

I'm currently reading A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Houssaini, the author of The kite runner. I'm enjoying it but man is it a depressing book; but then of course what did I expect from a novel set in Afghanistan?

[Miss Purl McKnittington]

Originally Posted by ladybug

I've been on a Southern women writers kick for the past month or so. I just finished Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Other recent reads include Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, both by Rebecca Wells.

I really liked Little Altars Everywhere. I thought the Divine Secrets movie was a bit dumb and chick-flicky, but I really like the books that it's based on. It really surprised me how well-written they were, and I liked the movie a little bit more once I had read the books, because the characters were a lot more complete.

I'm still reading Everything Is Illuminated and We Wish to Inform You. These books will not end! I keep crying every time I pick up Everything Is Illuminated, either because I'm depressed or just touched by what the author has written. Dammit. And every time I open We Wish to Inform You, I get to read another story about somebody's entire family being killed or seeing rivers full of dead bodies.

Anyway, I picked up another non-fiction book: The Story of French by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow. It should be really interesting, but I'm having trouble getting through the introduction. I think it's because I keep expecting to encounter genocide stories, given my other book choices. And I have actually, since the authors go into colonialism. Blah. Stupid history!

I need to get trucking on my reading list. I set myself a goal of 50 books this year, and I've only read 28. Must read more! Must read shorter books. With less genocide.

Or maybe I could just go to the library with a list of the books that people suggested in that thread I started. *whistles*

[Illuminati Primus]

Originally Posted by Miss Purl McKnittington

Or maybe I could just go to the library with a list of the books that people suggested in that thread I started. *whistles*

Couldn't hurt.

Glares

[Miss Purl McKnittington]

I have to pay my library fines first! Eek.

[hilarity n. suze]

Two oldies. Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi. Now the interesting thing about this book is that I checked it out of the library, for the second time. The first time the only copy the library owned had about 100 pages missing from the middle, which sort of dilutes the reading experience. When I took it back I suggested the library might want to order another copy.

The librarian looked at the title and kind of sneered, "Oh, I don't think we'll be ordering that one again."

I believe she thought it was a religious book. It's not.

So my husband got annoyed on behalf of all Christians and called the main library. He pointed out that this was a memoir of a year in exile by an Italian Jewish artist and political activist, and that a retrospective of his art had just opened (somewhere, I forget where), and they said they'd order another copy, and they did. I've only now just got around to reading it for that missing hundred pages.

Along with that I'm rereading Katherine Ann Porter's Ship of Fools, which is set in similar times. It's interesting to read these books together. A lot of the people on the boat are being sent away from Mexico into exile; others are just returning home to Switzerland. They are a snotty, cat-fighting, backbiting bunch, but it's a good book anyway.

I've got a pretty sizeable TBR list to be rereading things, but I'm glad I did.

[Illuminati Primus]

Just finished reading May contain traces of magic by Tom Holt which is part of his JWW Wells series which started with The portable door. Without saying too much they're a great series and Holt's humour is top notch as ever - the catch line is basically this is Harry Potter but for adults. I highly recommend it.

I'm now reading Predictably irrational which is a book on behavioural economics, a fusion of psychology and economics, which tries to explain patterns of behaviour. It's more than just about why people by things though, it's also about how things like relativity of objects influences us and why the honour system works (amongst other things). Kind of like Freakonomics but a little different, I guess.

[john ingram]

So far, this month, I've read

The Robot Novels (collection with Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun) by Issac Asimov
Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley
The Wicked One by Mollie Hunter (cute book that my mother gave me almost 20 years ago and I haven't read it since)

I just started reading Darwin's Black Box by Michael J. Behe, as my bus ride entertainment (should be good for a larf). I have to find something in my collection for night/bed time reading.

I have a bag of books, here under my desk at work, left in my care by a friend who just left to spend a few months teaching English in Taiwan. I promised her I would read them while she's gone.

[SmartAleq]

Okay, I finished Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory and now I'm just pissed. Seriously, that's it? That's your big twist? And you call that an ending? If it wasn't a library book I'd be throwing it against the wall repeatedly until the pages confettied all over the room. It's gonna be a long day in hell before I give this fucker another try--two sucky books and one "meh" one? Screw that.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss was quite enjoyable, I'm looking forward to the next installment--coming in APRIL. The worst part is that the book is already written, they're just delaying to improve the buzz and sales. Grump.

Now I'm reading The Night Villa by Carol Goodman. Just started it, seems promising so far.

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by Burnt Toast

I just picked up Wicked at the used bookstore.
($1! For a like-new book! Yay!)

Anyway, I've heard a lot about it, so I can't wait to get started.

The first third is "Blow you away" stunning. The second third is ok--not great, but solid. The third third is (IMO) unmitigated gibberish. I've read it 3 times and I still don't get it.

But good lord, it's worth reading for the first 2/3ds.

(The musical, for any of it's other flaws/weaknesses fixed the ending)

[Fenris]

I'm currently reading J. Gregory Keyes' "Age Of Unreason" Tetrology.

Wow....just....wow.

The premise is that in 1682-ish Isaac Newton's researches into alchemy worked. He produced the Philosopher's Mercury and by 1722, things are changing pretty dramatically--there are aetheric lights and candlemakers are going out of business. The plot is in two threads; One, a young Ben Franklin (age 14) has a natural grasp of these alchemical mathmatics and is sharing his discoveries over an aether-writer (telegraph) with...someone. In the other, thread, The Sun King has gone mad and is going to win the interminable war with England by any means necessary.

Blackbeard, Cotton Mather, Isaac Newton, Edmund(?) Halley and others figure in.

What's cool is the way Keyes is keeping his rules so tight on how things work.

The only problem is that I broke one of my basic rules. DON'T READ A SERIES UNTIL YOU HAVE ALL THE BOOKS!!!

Apparently books 3 and 4 (3 espeically) are way out of print and impossible to find. I've called every used bookstore in town and no joy. I ordered them on line, but I'll be at the end of book 2 before book 3 gets here. Tragedy!

Oh, and the "Newton's Cannon" of the title of the first book? Damned cool idea.

One alchemical law is "like attracts like". Ben invents a way to "tune" two dissimilar things to each other so they attract. King Louie the 14th decided that a comet or asteroid would make a nifty cannonball-and makes London attract it.

[Solfy]

This month's audiobooks have been:
The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery. I enjoyed this one, even though I wouldn't call it a page-turner edge-of-your-seat book. It was a well-written insight into Japanese culture as it opened to the west in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Beautifully read/performed as well. I feel like I've learned a lot without being taught at.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman. I could have sworn I've read Hoffman before, but none of her titles sound familiar. The book was okay, but the characters could have been better developed. I found the main character one-dimensional and hard to like, but I'm not sure how much of that was the writing and how much was the audiobook's reader. At least it was only 5 cds long.

Jessica by Bryce Courtenay. Am deep into this one, passed along by my mother who really enjoyed it. It started a little slow, but I stayed up too late last night listening to it with shocked horror, hoping against hope for the main character, so I'm really sucked in now. This one is on my iPod for listening while knitting/stripping paint off my house. All the other ones are car listening. It's really making the work fly by.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. I've been trying to land this audiobook from the library for a year without bothering to get on the reserve list. I've read Sedaris in regular book format, but I really prefer to get the audiobooks as read by the author. His delivery makes the stories that much better.

[Khampelf]

I just finished Blowfly, by Patricia Cornwell. TAAP! My tastes in mysteries run to the hardboiled, but this was an interesting diversion. Like a police procedural, but with a freelance forensic examiner. I seem to be jumping into a series well under way, with complex relationships and characters. But nothing to opaque or in-groupy, at least not that I caught. The ending was climactic enough, emotionally, but to someone who's been reading the series, I bet it was a total stunner.

[AuntiePam]

I liked Name of the Wind too, except for that bit at the end, which felt like it should have been in the second book (or omitted entirely).

I didn't get much reading done in August because of the trip, but I did read The Unquiet by John Connolly and Stalking Angel (or something like that) by Robert Crais. It's the second Elvis Cole mystery. I wouldn't recommend either unless there's nothing else available. They're not bad, they're just not anything special.

Reading Middlemarch now. Some of Eliot's sentences are confusing -- she uses too many negatives. What's up with that? Was that the style? It's annoying. But I'm enjoying the story anyway. I've seen references (in a Dope thread) to a much-hated character and I'm wondering who that will be. So far, everybody's behaving themselves.

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

The Bill McKibben Reader. Many terrific essays.

[SmartAleq]

No, you're far from wrong, AuntiePam, it was not unusual for sentences to be constructed in that oddball negative/positive manner. You get used to it...

The Night Villa was quite the rollicking little historical thriller/mystery thingie, I can definitely recommend it.

Now I'm reading Memoir From An Antproof Case by Mark Helprin--so far, so good.

[AuntiePam]

Originally Posted by SmartAleq

Now I'm reading Memoir From An Antproof Case by Mark Helprin--so far, so good.

I read it a couple months ago and liked it a lot. Not much of a plot but Helprin's ruminations make up for it.

And I see you do the same thing I do when typing the title -- it's Memoir from Antproof Case, no "an". But there should have been an "an"! What's up with that? Why isn't there an "an"?

[Prexbess73]

Thanks Dave.

They didn´t have any books about the Thunderbolt which were new to me, but they had a few other books on my to buy list at some very comfortable prices. So, I really appreciated the link.