What've You Been Reading?

[sweet_sparrow]

I don't have a whole lot of time right now as it's Crunch Time with the semester's end and several nasty deadlines - for this week! - looming over me (so my apologies if replies are incredibly slow and/or just fall to the wayside altogether in advance). Please can someone have a talk with Time and have it freeze it until I get/feel caught up on stuff? *whinge*

I've managed to get a neat amount of reading done this month - about 15 books in all and a slew of short stories I haven't bothered to keep track of. The most notable reading of the month is no doubt the two thirds of N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy that are out so far: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms, both of which I really enjoyed.

Disappointments of the month were Emma by Jane Austen and Sabriel by Garth Nix, neither of which I finished. I may try them again at a later date.

What about you? What's your reading month been like? What stood out in any way?

Comments

[slippy]

I've long been surprised by how popular Sabriel is. That book was largely dry and uninteresting to me.


The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson
Partly fascinating in how weird it is, and partly depressing in how obvious the topic actually is. People are looking for absolutely any kind of way to kill other people - well, standard practice.

The Scar, China Miéville
Certain concepts and the world-building were fascinating - the Ghosthead Empire, the Malarial Queendom, Armada - and I liked some of the characters a lot, as well as the deconstruction of the romanticisation of the ocean. On the other hand, some of the characters annoyed me so much I occasionally put the book down and did other things when they entered a scene (please shut your face forever, Uther Doul).

The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
I really disliked some decisions taken with Eugenides' character, but nonetheless I still like the book. It's just good - well-constructed, funny, tense, and fun. Turner has some kind of gift.

Pennie se vuur, PH Nortje
Picked it up because I liked previous books by the author, but it seems I'm going to have to approach it from the POV of "ah, revelling in the patriarchy. When does the racism show up? Fascinating!"

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Somehow Neil Gaiman's books generally don't it for me. Enjoyed the setting but there wasn't much that really grabbed me, except Ms Lupescu and the Jacks of All Trade.

Deep Magic & The Merlin Conspiracy (reread on the latter, on realising that Deep Magic was a preceding story in the same universe), Diana Wynne Jones
Fun harum-scarum cast-explosion 10-million plot threads romp, as Jones does. The Merlin Conspiracy is a lot more enjoyable on reread, possibly because now I have more backstory, or possibly just because the threads feel like they tie together a bit more because it was a reread. It would be nice if there were another book in this universe, to see how some of the character relationships turn out.

[sweet_sparrow]

I might revisit Sabriel at some point, but we'll see. Mostly I was bored and impatient. I'm trying to teach myself that putting down books that don't grab me in any way (even if they're otherwise an okay read) is perfectly acceptable. ^-^

I don't get on well with most of Gaiman's books either. (Nor, for that matter, his short stories.) I'm not sure why, but I'm reluctant to read more works to try and find an answer.

(DWJ, though, I adore.)

[slippy]

I'm trying to teach myself that putting down books that don't grab me in any way (even if they're otherwise an okay read) is perfectly acceptable. ^-^
I also find this difficult! I can just about allow myself to cheat and read only the last page or so, but somehow it's difficult to just drop a book.

I'm not sure why, but I'm reluctant to read more works to try and find an answer.
I'm not sure either, except that I usually have the feeling that his books would work better as movies or TV series. They always seem so visual, and possibly there's less substance than I generally find in books? (But that might be an unfair assessment.)

And when DWJ is good, she's very good.

[sweet_sparrow]

I've discovered that it's easier when it's not actually a physical book. I do most of my reading on a train, though, so if my choice is between being sort-of entertained by a book and staring out the window it's easily made...

Mmm. It might be a fair assessment, though. I can see it working with what I've read anyhow. ^-^

Indeed she is! I made my friends pick out a DWJ book for me to read once because I had no idea where best to start. We nearly missed our bus stop thanks to that! (They'd picked Howl's Moving Castle and... the rest of the world ceased to exist.)