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What are you reading at the moment?

ChrisN

By ChrisN,
in Arts & Literature

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OogyBoogy

OogyBoogy

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Going to start on "Shaman's Crossing" by Robin Hobb. I really enjoyed her Farseer Trilogy so I am expecting all kinds of awesome.

Not nearly as awesome as I dared to hope, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Next up: the Ericson's Bonehunters, although I came close to starting Jack Vance's the Demon Princes.

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rumblecat

rumblecat

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FInished The Passage. Mixed feelings about it, although unlike a lot of other people, didn't really feel like it was too long. Did have a problem with

the whole thing of destiny and fate hanging over the book- the idea that people were, in a way, put in place to guide and look after Amy. I could have done without whole the psychic aspect to the virals.

What I loved was the Colony section in the middle. Having to guard the walls at night. Michael worrying about battery life. The long rides. Heading out into the wilds, one eye on the sun, knowing that being caught out there after dark is certain death. But the whole mystical aspect- for me- totally undermined a lot of that. I particularly hated how many characters would 'die', only to miraculously show up later on, either unharmed or altered- it happened to Lish, to Sister Lacey, to Wolgast, to Theo, to Sara... we get to read that moment where they're attacked or dying or brutally torn away, or stabbed- and then a chapter later it's revealed they survived. It happened again and again and it made me realise that all the major characters were actually quite safe, and that was a little bugging, it lessened the feeling of danger. It felt like a bit of bait and switch.

The worst was Theo, as the question of who shot and saved him was never resolved- so not only did we get the bit where the viral attacks him and it's all over (which would have been brilliantly grim, especially with his wife and kid next...) but we never got the answer to the Deus Ex Machine that rescued him- at least not in this book. Which, for a major incident with a major character, felt pretty haphazard and weak.

I hated Sister Lacey as well. And Auntie. Both of them felt like stock 'magical negro' characters- possessed with an assurance about God's plan for universe, Just like Mother Abagail in The Stand. It just felt like lazy creations, what I really wanted to was to see Cronin undercut these stereotypes- have Auntie freak out with horror as she realises how truly lost the world is- not have her sitting on her porch, staring at the stars, dying peacefully as the virals leave her untouched because, um, well she's old and she's black

I guess these things annoyed me because I loved the set-up for the book : the virals, the world collapsing, the FBI agent stealing the girl away, the bomb going off, the horrific train rides where they try and get the children safe, the whole world of the Colony and the fear that there's no-one left... and having Amy as a half-human, half-viral type thing who might be the key to a cure is great- I felt it would have been way stronger without those elements of mysticism and predestination that were placed into it. I know Cronin has said he wanted to put everything in there, from horror to magical realism, but I think my frustration with it is the same thing I get frustrated with King novels like The Stand or Cell- this need to give evil a face and a personality. For me, roaming bands of virals are far more terrifying than some entity who is controlling them all and influencing them- even to the extent that they won't harm people in order to provide sustenance for him. And that Babcock was so powerful he could permeate the dreams of normal people... just stretched it too far for me. The story worked best, I thought, when it was harsh and brutal and about people struggling to survive, not struggling to make sense of the mystical plan that was in place.

Having said all that, I'm looking forward to the next two and just hope they lean more towards the survival side of things than the mystical.

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Scribblor

Scribblor

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I'd agree with most of that, but I didn't mind the stuff you mention in your last spoiler paragraph.

I'm currently reading The Tudors by G. J. Meyer, and although it's very interesting, I'm getting annoyed with Meyer's constant editorialising. To him, every (English) monarch of the time was a monster bent on committing as much MURDER as possible while cackling maniacally at their subjects' woes. It's irritating.

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little che

little che

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Ive just finished The Passage, and like Rumblecat, there were parts of the book that were very enjoyable, and parts that were equally frustrating. Ill read the next two parts no doubt, but I hope the writing is a little more concise without the soap opera middle section.

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Looper

Looper

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Evan Wright, surely?

Ha! I have Scott Pilgrim on the brain.

Jarhead was pretty good, and the Sebastian Junger one that just came out about his time as an embeded journalist in Iraq is supposed to be good.

Jarhead was excellent. I saw that Sebastian Junger one on Amazon, I'll wait for the paperback though.

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Silent Runner

Silent Runner

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I recently read LA Rex by Will Beale. A fairly rubbish crime novel set in LA written by a serving LAPD cop. It sits politically somewhere to right of George Bush, the cops are all brave warriors, the baddies are all scurvy Latinos and at one point the phrase ‘pinko liberal faggot’ is used in a totally unironic way to describe someone who objects to the cops right to beat a confession out of a suspect. It absolute drivel that descends into farce near the end. The writer himself does have some talent and there’s one bit when a character based on Suge Knight gets lost in a mall full of rich white people and has a panic attack, that’s really well written. The rest of the book is terrible. Even if you’re a big fan of US crime fiction, which I am, avoid this.

Also reading A Snowball in Hell by Christopher Brookmyre. This features the return of some of his characters from his other books. This is excellent, I started it yesterday and I’ll finish it tonight. Brookmyres stuff is always good.

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Flub

Flub

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The Evolutionary Void by Peter Hamilton. Fuck me. Hamilton is currently sitting on his throne as lord of the modern space opera. He's had some misfires in the past but this series is him at the top of his game. I can't wait to see where he goes from here.

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little che

little che

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I've just finished read two absolutely brilliant books called, A Million Little Pieces, and My Friend Leonard by James Frey. They're about his battle with drug addiction and alcoholism, being in rehab and life after. I would definitely recommend them.

Apart from being totally made up?!

Isn't that the guy that Oprah championed, then found out he was a dirty liar and disowned him on her show.

yeah, I think that he made a lot of money by inventing one of those "whoa is me" stories, as he didnt have one of his own to write about.

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dinkstress

dinkstress

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Apart from being totally made up?!

Isn't that the guy that Oprah championed, then found out he was a dirty liar and disowned him on her show.

yeah, I think that he made a lot of money by inventing one of those "whoa is me" stories, as he didnt have one of his own to write about.

I've actually been reading all about it this afternoon. I think the main offense was that he made out that he was tougher than he was and spent time in prison which wasn't true. There are some bits which are exaggerated, but to be fair I didn't know it was meant to be autobiographical when I came across it, and based solely on the writing I thought it was pretty powerful.

Not sure why he felt he had to say it was autobiographical, because I reckon it would have worked just as well if it had originally been marketed as fiction

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