books | What's everyone been reading?

My May reading was filled with lots of books I liked, but very few I loved. My favourite of that month was The Tombs of Atuan for its quiet strength and understating beauty. ^-^

My June reading on the other hand was awesome. There were two books I didn't finished (An anthology of Elric stories by Michael Moorcock and Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars, if you're curious) but even those books I could see mostly the good of. We just didn't 'click'. Every other book I read in June, I thoroughly enjoyed.

With my favourite reads being Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay and Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. I don't think that UH is Kay's best book, but only by a little. I adored it (and promptly lent it out to a Kay-loving friend short on the funds to buy her own copy seeing how she forbade me to get her her own).

WWD is the first book I've read by Juliet Marillier and I must say that I am not disappointed. I'm not a big fan of first person, nor of the way Marillier handled the first person here, so liking it as much as I did is a really big deal for me. ^-^

I'm hoping that July will gear up to be as awesome a month as June was. ^-^

I hardly read anything in May, I was too busy--I only just managed Old Filth by Jane Gardam for my book group, and it just wasn't telling the stories that I expected based on the blurb and the first couple of chapters.

I've summed up my June reading in my journal. Although it didn't strike me at the time, it was a month of some variety: poetry, short stories, literary biography, historical fiction, YA. The highlight of the month was probably Autumn Term by Antonia Forest, the first Marlows book--I've never read anything of hers before, and not many school stories either, but I loved this, and am looking forward to reading the other novels in the series.

I also enjoyed the bio, Richard Canning's Brief Lives bio of E M Forster, although it didn't really say anything I didn't already know about its subject.

In July, I'm definitely reading White Tiger by Aravind Agida for book group (I've made a start), but all the rest is still in the air.

May I ask what the discrepancy between what Old Filth actually was and what you were expecting more concretely?

I hope you'll have a good month in July! ^-^

Well, I think I expected to have more about the Old Filth's (the protagonist, now retired lawyer, "Filth" stands for "Failed in London, try Hong Kong") adventures as a successful lawyer (there are bits and pieces that suggest he's legendary), and as the early chapters were quite heavily focused on his and his wife's retirement to the British countryside, I thought there would be more about his relationship with his wife. Also in the early chapters, an old enemy/fellow lawyer from Hong Kong settling nearby, which seemed to promise interesting frienship/enmity stuff for later, which didn't really happen. Instead, there's quite a lot about his childhood (which wasn't uninteresting, but I didn't expect it to be so central to the book) and attempts to reconnect with people he knew as a child/young man when he's grieving after a major loss.

Oooh... *nods* That does make for a very different kind of book, yes. I like the idea of a story following from your expectations much more... (The other sounds interesting too, just... not as much as your initial impressions.)

mostly i'm on a re-read of the bond novels my ian fleming. they're rather dated & more than a bit sexist, but if you liked the movies & want to compare them to the books, they're a good read IMHO.

Are you far along the reread or just started? (My own reread project is Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising Sequence, but that's far fewer books than the Bond series I'm sure.)

i finished the spy who loved me not long ago. it's the 10th out of 14 that fleming wrote.

I've mostly been reading books for children in Swedish, because I'm learning the language and it's good practice. They may be available in English, I'm not sure.

I think my favourite of the books in Swedish was probably Sandvargen (The Sand Wolf) by Åsa Lind. It's a playful sort of look at the nature of reality, through the eyes of a small girl and a very old creature called the sand wolf, who she finds on the beach by her house.

The only book I read in English is also by a Swedish author, Victoria Benedictsson, and it's called Money. It's from the 1880s, and it's a story about a woman who wants to work to support herself and instead is pushed into marriage with an older man who she doesn't love, finding the whole experience deeply traumatic. It's basically a critique of marriage as an institution, and the nature of the relationship between men and women as constructed by society at the time. She says that marriage can be like a form of prostitution. Obviously a deeply shocking book at the time, and one that was rather dismissed... I found it really interesting, though I think it suffered a bit in translation. I'll probably wait to read anything else of hers and read it in Swedish.

Right now I'm reading Agnes Cecilia by Maria Gripe, which is a YA book (again, Swedish-language, though I believe it's been translated), a ghost story. It's shaping up to be good so far.

Eeee! How awesome! And reading is such a great way to learn the language, don't you think? I learned English, in part, by reading loads of it. How is your skill level progressing in Swedish? And have you tried to read books that were translated into Swedish from, say, English? I found that really helpful when I was younger. (But, er, I grew up on LotR and if my memory was any good I'd have known the Dutch version by heart by the time I was up to trying the English, so maybe I'm biased.)

That first book sounds absolutely wonderful! I don't think they have it in English (or, at least, Amazon can't find it), but they show a German copy, so maybe I'll have to track that down. It's been positively ages since I read anything in any language other than English. I kind of miss the comprehension challenge. *rambles*

If it's any help, I find that most translated books I've read suffer in translation. Sometimes there's no way a translator can keep the nuances of a story intact simply because the language it's translated into doesn't have the nuance. (Haiku are, I think, a good example, but my Japanese isn't near good enough to say for certain.)

I hope the book you're reading will continue to be a good read! ^-^

It definitely is. :) I'm doing pretty well, I think. I'm living in Sweden & my partner is Swedish, which helps a lot in terms of speed... I talk Swedish at home when I can, read picture books out loud and longer books to myself, and watch TV and films with Swedish subtitles. The variety is helpful and also keeps it a bit more fun. ^^

*wry* German might be a better language to read it in, theoretically, as it's one step closer to Swedish in terms of the way it's structured and so on than English is. Neither are totally dissimilar, but I get the impression that Swedish would be even easier (especially grammar) if they'd let me continue studying German at school when I wanted to!

Mm, yeah... Some feel more obviously translated than others, though - some of Tove Jansson's books didn't feel so obviously translated to me, for example, though so many different people have worked on her stuff that it really depends.

I am awed. O_O I had the hardest time trying to learn Japanese when I was on exchange there. It didn't really help that everyone by far preferred practicing their English over teaching me Japanese. Ah, well. I'm glad to hear that you're doing so well at learning!

Hmmm... It'll be harder to track down in German, but it still sounds fascinating.

True, true. I love the ones that don't feel like a translation, but they're far and few between in my limited experience.

I'm taking an accelerated Stats course this month so I haven't had much time to read. But here's May and June:

Florence King, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
Xialong Qiu, A Case of Two Cities
Cherie Curie, Neon Angel, which I forgot to write up, oops
Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma (part two)
Tao Lin, Eeeee Eee Eeee

And Yukikaze by Chohei Kambayashi, which is about the angst we feel when we realize our electronics don't love us :(

Oops, messed up the Florence King link: it's here.

D'awww. That second sounded really interesting until I got to your discussion of characterisation.

Good luck on the stats course! I hope you'll pass it with awesome marks!

The first book in the series is supposed to be better, though! I might read that next.

Thank you!

Hello, this is my first comment/post here, though I've been lurking for a while. :)
Briefest personal context: I'm a German physicist fluent in English, which I try to better by writing and reading whenever I get the chance to do so.

May and June were filled mostly with two books. I read a couple more, but they didn't leave enough impression as that I recall them off hand.

Brent Weeks' The Way of Shadows, an enticing fantasy tale about a magical assassin taking a street orphan as apprentice. The book is the first in a trilogy, following the life of said apprentice. Weeks' world is dark with believable characters and I'm really looking forward to the next two books in the series, once the experience of the first book settled a little.

Daniel Fox' Dragon in Chains, an epic with a setting resembling ancient Taiwan with a distinct fantasy flavor (dragons and jade). I especially loved that the dragon is truly described as a non-human force of nature. I'm currently reading it's sequel, because I didn't want to leave its world and characters when it ended.

*waves* Hi! Nice to meet you! ^-^

Daniel Fox sounds so familiar... *looks it up* Oh! I didn't know that Jade Man's Skin wasn't a stand-alone. At least I'm presuming that that's the sequel you're talking about. I take it you recommend it? (I'm now glad I hadn't bought it yet. I prefer starting at the beginning of a story.)

:) Hi.

Yes, "Jade Man's Skin" is the direct sequel. There's supposed to be a third (and final) book in the series, according to a blog notice of the author it's going to be named "Hidden Cities", but it isn't listed for publishing yet. *sigh*
I've found "Dragon In Chains" and "Jade Man's Skin" (I'm at about 1/3 of the book by now) a delightful, refreshing read. Fox does a good job in bringing the quasi-historical (as well as the fantasy) setting to life in a vivid, descriptive prose. A style I enjoy a lot, because it's like "drawing images with words". It's not the most complex language, but it works well for the plot and the setting. :)

2011 release, maybe? Hopefully?

I do love me some non-Westernesque settings, so that shoots the books up in my wishlist a fair bit. ^-^

I have no idea, but I sure hope it won't take too long, I want to know how that epic myth completes. :)

If you love Asian settings and don't mind a historical novel, you might want to have a look at Lesley Downer's The Last Concubine, which is set at the end of the last shogunate and the Meiji restoration in Japan. It's a very vivid tale with great respect for the place and time of the novel. The author made a lot of effort to have the time and place come to life in a way that can be followed even by people without an intricate knowledge of 1860s Japan.

I hope you'll get to read the final book soonish!

I, er, love any kind of setting as long as it's well-written and believable. ^-^ But variation is awesome and I do indeed find Asian settings intriguing. Most of my experiences are with (pseudo-)Japan and (pseudo-)China, though. It sounds like an interesting book! (And one I definitely have to pass on to a friend of mine as recommendation, at the very least. ^-^) Thank you! ^-^

I forgot: here's the author's site http://www.danielfox.net/ with info about the books. :)

Keep in mind that I read all the following in French (except for Bujold).

Victoria [id.], by Knut Hamsun: Meh.

Meurtre dans un jardin indien [Six Suspects], by Vikas Swarup: Funny and not quite as light as it first appear.

La Centrale [untranslated in English], by Elisabeth Filhol: Meh.

L'art de pleurer en choeur [untranslated in English; original Danish title Kunsten at græde i kor], by Erling Jepsen: Very meh; misleading summary.

La femme dans le miroir [untranslated in English], by Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut: Cliché plot; mediocre style.

C'est tous les jours comme ça [untranslated in English], by Pierre Autin-Grenier: Awesome, sarcastic.

L'Écharde [The Thorn in the Flesh], de Paul Wenz: Really good.

84, Charing Cross Road [id.], by Helene Hanff: Light and sweet.

Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold: Reread; very good.

Le Liseur [The Reader; original German title Der Vorleser], by Bernard Schlink: Disturbing.

La Reine des lectrices [The Uncommon Reader], by Alan Bennett: Light and funny.

Barrayar, by Lois McMaster Bujold: Reread; mmmm politics.

Mort à Venise [Death in Venice; original German title Der Tod in Venedig], by Thomas Mann: Doesn't quite qualify as the worst book I've ever read, but close.

The Apprentice's Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold: Reread; crazy charismatic protagonist, hilarious plot.

Frères jurés [The Sworn Brothers; original Danish title Edbrødre], by Gunnar Gunnarsson: Awesome.

Petits suicides entre amis [untranslated in English; original Finnish title Hurmaava joukkoitsemurha], by Arto Paasilinna: Side-splitting gallows humour.

The Mountains of Mourning, by Lois McMaster Bujold: Reread; probably Bujold's best work.

*looks back and boggles*

I'm currently reading Trois explications du monde [Triad: The Physicists, the Analysts, the Kabbalists] by Tom Keve and enjoying it immensely. With a title like that, you'd think it's a difficult book to read, and while it's not exactly an untruth, the writing is surprisingly fluid and engaging, so you keep up even when he speaks of complicated concepts.

O_O That... is a lot of books. O_O I wish I'd read as many as you did! (Though I've come reasonably close at a total of 13.)

Glad to hear that there seem to have been a decent amount of books you really liked too. ^-^ That's always wonderful. ^-^

I'm a bookseller; all part of the job :D

I'm on the 41st book since the beginning of the year. Granted, some of them were short, but I'm still impressing myself :D

Yeah, mostly I manage to enjoy the books I read, because I choose them with interesting summaries ;) And unless I absolutely have to read a book (because it just got a prestigious prize, for example), I abandon them after page 50 if they fail to entice me.

Mmmm. Book selling... I want your job... Well, not your job-job, but you know what I mean. I'd need to move away loads, though, as my reading doesn't exactly mesh with what's available/in demand locally.

Is it you have to read the prize-winner books for work or just that you feel you should read them? *curious*

Haha, you only want it because you don't really know what it's like :D (Always on my feet, stupid customers, moving heavy boxes of books, rude customers, keeping an eye out for thieves, stinky customers, stock keeping, messy customers... And all that for minimum wage, despite being the proud owner of a Master in English. Of course, any and all reading happens on my free time.) I mean, it's got its good sides, or I wouldn't do it, but the reality is a far cry from people's imaginations.

Nobody's holding a gun to my head, but given that a lot of people will ask: "Did you read the latest Prix Goncourt? Is it good?", it's better to have an idea. (I find most Prix Goncourt unreadable for the pretentiousness and self-congratulatory masturbatory style; Prix Goncourt des Lycéens [chosen by high-schoolers] is usually a better read.)

*grins* I know. A friend of mine used to work in a bookstore. I still think I'd appreciate the job, though. Well, the upside of it. ^-~ (Well, not so much the heavy boxes part. I'm... not very strong.)

Mmmm. Makes sense. I'd go mad in our local bookstore since it's all Dutch, which I don't read, and I disagree strongly with the books that get translated. There are so, so many far better books out there. If I could make a living off literary translation, I might actually try to figure out how to go about that...

I loved The Uncommon Reader! Alan Bennett is a very cool person, and even his more serious work is still very funny.

I've been rereading the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. I just finished Throne of Jade and started the

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I've been rereading the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. I just finished Throne of Jade and started the <Black Powder War. But since I can't carry books back and forth to work, I've also been reading Ptolemy's Gate, the last book in the Bartimaeus Triology by Jonathan Stroud at work. I'd forgotten the Temeraire series was. It's so easy to sink into the world. And I want a dragon. :(

Any particular kind of dragon? *curious* I'd love one of the Chinese dragons, but I'd probably be unable to keep up with their learning and feel much like Laurence did...

I'd have to go with an Imperial or Celestial too. though it may just be because that's what we learn about in the Temeraire series. I'd love to see more of what dragons are raised all over the world.

I've mostly been mainlining through my backup of trades right now, since comics go much faster than novels, but I have been working oh so slowly through the Sherlock canon, and I'm still waiting for the plot to really get rolling in The Accidental Sorcerer, but it's quite fun so far.

The Sherlock canon scares me, but that's partially because I can never remember which books/volumes/stories not to buy, I think.

I wish my backlog/TBR pile consisted of faster reads, but I'm (not so slowly) dwindling it down to the chunksters... I hope you're managing to keep the book sizes on your TBR pile a bit more balanced! ^-^

I'm going pretty slowly with the Sherlock canon, honestly, pretty much just reading the illustrated collection volumes as they come out.

Heh. Right now there's three main stacks--The comics collected into trades, the never read novels, and the to-be-reread-yearly-at-least...and, well, they're all balanced in that they're all about the same size. Which is still far too tall. XD

I read all five so-far published volumes of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together and Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe. I adored them, would highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys love stories that start with getting together, video game-like fights, and well-written characters.

I finished To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, which I loved, Ooh! What a Lovely Pair by Ant and Dec, which was very entertaining, and back in May I read Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, which I found a compelling read. I've almost finished Sandman by Neil Gaiman, which is huge and complex and brilliant.

Now I am reading The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl by Belle de Jour, which is engagingly-written and very enjoyable. I've also started reading Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter, the first Inspector Morse novel. It's great so far.

Bryan Lee O'Malley's planning to write more? I have several friends who adore the Scott Pilgrim books, though I haven't read them myself. I hope there'll be more for their sake since they really love the books! ^-^

The last volume is coming out this month! I am so excited for it I keep having to sit on my hands so they stop flailing.

Let me get my 'first post' terrors out of the way.

In May I got to finish Peter Watts' Rifters Trilogy after I found the author had posted the last book online, so I read it on Stanza on an old borrowed ipod. My impression of it was a bit strange which I put down to the format, but I still enjoyed it mightily. Uncompromisingly hard SF, made all the scarier by how very reachable his future seems from ours. I caught the reading of his short story The Things on Clarkesworld magazine, which was awesome.

In June I re-read The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I haven't read since I was a book-swallowing schoolkid. It was great fun, better even than I remember.

That was followed up by the Drowning City by Amanda Downum, a fantasy where the titular city was a character in its own right, filled with a tangled web of intrigue and blessed with a strong cast of female characters who drove the story. I read it for the scenery but was most intrigued by the ghosts. I was very sorry to learn the sequel hasn't been published yet. Definitely one I'd recommend, though it has so many characters in it, it really needs a cast list.

I'm still picking my way through a modernish translation of the Heike Story. It breaks or ignores a lot of Western storytelling conventions, so it's a bit like reading 1001 Nights. Not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who wasn't mad for Japanese history.

*waves* Hello! ^-^ First posts are scary, no? I hope they weren't too bad for you! ^-^

It seems to have been quite the month for Sherlock Holmes reading... *grins* I watched the new movie myself, though I doubt that really-really counts. ^-~

*looks the story up* Are you sure that's not just the translation being poor? There doesn't seem to be more than one and I don't see anyone saying anything nice about it... *curious*

*waves back* It wasn't so scary once I jumped in and did it. ^__^

I got the feeling it might be a fairly faithful translation based on what might be a fragmented manuscript. There are several places where the narrative jumps just when things were getting interesting. The story could have been better told for a modern audience, though. There are what looks like some strong characters struggling to come through.

Ah, the Holmes movie! Heh heh. I've been working my way through a pile of free books from Project Gutenberg and the Holmes stuff is generally the most easy to dip into.

Yay! ^-^ Not scary is good.

Mmm. Are you reading a translation of the original manuscript or of the novelisation? (Because I didn't realise, until just now, that the novel is based on an actual manuscript. *dim*)

Project Gutenberg is lovely. ^-^ I'm supposed to be reading something off it for one of my classes, but since it's a book I'd been eyeing a while, I just went ahead and ordered myself a physical copy. Much easier to read.

Good point, it is the novelisation, which was written in the early fifties, then translated 'for an English speaking audience' which meant large chunks were left out because they were deemed interesting only to Japanese readers. The main problem with readability seems to be due to the curiously episodic nature of the chapters, especially in the beginning. It's an enjoyable read once it gets into its stride.

And yes, it is still so much nicer to relax with a dead tree book!

Hare

What's everyone been reading?

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