What'cha Reading?

[Paul le Fou]

How's her non-Tomb stuff?

I liked it! It was a kind of take on a fairy tale, and pretty straightforward, nothing too mindblowing or surprising. But it had some good development and character stuff. Overall I liked it! And Moira Quirk reads the audiobook again; although I didn't read it that way I can't imagine that it isn't worth listening to.

 

[masterthes]

I'm glad I gave Bone another try. It was very charming. Only thing I didn't like about the omnibus was that it was in black and white. Also, I wasn't entirely happy with the main character's decision at the end. Anyway, back to some spooky stuff with The Good House by Tananarive Due

 

[Adrenaline]

The comic was in black and white originally. The color versions came later.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I picked up The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie on recommendations. I'm liking it so far, but it feels like the intro is stretching on without much happening besides the setup; lots of worldbuilding from the narrator, which I wouldn't mind so much except the main character's sections are moving pretty slowly so it doesn't feel balanced out. Some interesting ideas and world details though, so I'm not in danger of putting it down.

Though starting Triangle Strategy at the same time might have been a bad idea. Too much fantasy politics might get all jumbled together...

 

[masterthes]

Until I Find You by John Irving. Taking a break from horror. I haven't read a book from John Irving in almost twenty years (maybe closer to sixteen). There was a stretch where I read six of his books in almost rapid succession (A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire, Son of the Circus, and Widow For One Year), and then I stopped because I felt I had read all his major works. Hope this doesn't disappoint

 

[Violentvixen]

Finally got Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin from the library! Just finished Part 1 and wanted to call out these two passages as just a wonderfully heartbreakingly accurate portrayal of being a woman in STEM:

You would think women would want to stick together when there weren't that many of them but they never did. It was as if being a woman was a disease that you didn't wish to catch. as long as you didn't associate with the other women, you could imply to the majority, the men: I'm not like those other ones. Sadie was, by nature, a loner, but even she found going to MIT in a female body to be an isolating experience.

And in those days, girls like Sadie were conditioned to ignore the sexist generally, not just in gaming - it wasn't cool to point such things out. If you wanted to play with the boys, they couldn't be afraid of saying things around you.

These have set my hopes pretty high for being a book with a character I will identify strongly with. But I'm also wary of the fact that she slept with her professor, despite her self-analysis that is a frustrating stereotype and I'm bummed it's in the book. Seems to be handled well so far but I'm a bit nervous this will devolve.

 

[lincolnic]

I'm halfway through George Saunders' new short story collection Liberation Day, and it's 100% a George Saunders short story collection (by which I mean: idiosyncratic, heartbreaking, funny, deeply empathetic). Don't miss it.

 

[Violentvixen]

Finally got Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin from the library! Just finished Part 1 and wanted to call out these two passages as just a wonderfully heartbreakingly accurate portrayal of being a woman in STEM:

These have set my hopes pretty high for being a book with a character I will identify strongly with. But I'm also wary of the fact that she slept with her professor, despite her self-analysis that is a frustrating stereotype and I'm bummed it's in the book. Seems to be handled well so far but I'm a bit nervous this will devolve.

It's definitely a character arc but I wanted a little more from Sadie and ultimately got frustrated by her. It doesn't seem like she's badly written, just a part of her character maybe wasn't explored enough or stayed hidden from the reader? Seeing her teaching at the end was a great choice. I feel like I knew Sam very well by the end of this book and liked this passage in particular:

Spoiler: Passage

"For most of his life, Sam had found it difficult to say I love you. It was superior, he believed, to show love to those one loved. But now, it seemed like one of the easiest things in the world Sam could do. Why wouldn't you tell someone you loved them? Once you loved someone, you repeated it until they were tired of hearing it. You said it until it ceased to have meaning. Why not? Of course, you goddamn did."

Marx's death/coma dreams were a very interesting change in style. I liked the writing choice but also that it didn't go on too long in that style.

it's very good, not as good as A.J. Fikry. I think it could've been maybe 50 pages shorter, and there were aspects of the two main characters that bugged me, but overall, definite recommend

I haven't read her other book, but agree on the two main characters just not quite landing for me. I think it could be shorter, but dunno if there is one 50 pages section I'd cut out, more small pieces here and there. Curious if there's a specific section you didn't like? My guess is the Pioneers section as I do think that went on a bit too long?

 

[masterthes]

I enjoyed that section, I applauded the originality, but yes, it could have been a bit shorter

 

[masterthes]

Ended up squeezing in one more thing to close out the month with Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark. It was nice. I also finally finished Horror Movies of the 1980s (been reading that off and on since last December). Now, working through another chunker with The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

 

[lincolnic]

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

Oh yeah, I read this when it came out -- good stuff!

I have to decide if I'm going to start Daniel O'Malley's new novel Blitz, or Ling Ma's new story collection Bliss Montage tonight. They both came in at the library at the same time. Probably gonna tackle Blitz first since it looks like a big one.

 

[Violentvixen]

The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

Oooh I loved Primeval and Other Times but haven't read anything else by her. Would love to hear what you think of this one.

 

[masterthes]

I gave it 100 pages, didn't work for me. Starting nonfictionnovember instead with Fosse by Sam Wasson. His biography on Ray Bradbury was one of my favorite books last year, and seeing as I'm a big fan of musicals, I think this'll be right up my alley

 

[masterthes]

Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway by Michael Riedel

 

[Behemoth]

Oooh I loved Primeval and Other Times but haven't read anything else by her. Would love to hear what you think of this one.

I liked it, although it wasn't an easy read by any means. It's an interesting narrative about a complicated, controversial historical figure that I hadn't heard of before reading the book. That said, it flirted with some magical realism, but the implementation felt a bit tepid: I wish it would have gone fully in or stuck to purely historical fiction. I'm glad I read it, though; passages and concepts have stuck with me ever since I read it.

 

[masterthes]

Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway by Michael Riedel

This started out a bit slow, but then it took off and I really enjoyed it. One more theater book for the month: The Godspell Experience by Carol de Giere. I was in a production of this sophmore year of high school and it had a very profound effect on me

 

[masterthes]

Moving back to fiction with Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann

 

[lincolnic]

I have to decide if I'm going to start Daniel O'Malley's new novel Blitz, or Ling Ma's new story collection Bliss Montage tonight. They both came in at the library at the same time. Probably gonna tackle Blitz first since it looks like a big one.

Finished Blitz last night, moving onto Bliss Montage tonight.

 

[shivam]

i just started reading Blitz myself!

 

[lincolnic]

Blitz was good! Though maybe a little overstuffed, at times. Bliss Montage was also good, but I wasn't quite in the right mood to fully appreciate it.

Now I'm on a late Discworld book (Thud, closing in on the end of the series!) and once that's done I'll be reading N.K. Jemisin's new one The World We Make. I enjoyed The Cities We Became, the preceding book in this series (does a pair of books count as a series?), so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Violentvixen]

I did not know Ling Ma had a new book out, so thank you all for bringing it up! Severance was really interesting, there's definitely parts of it that didn't work for me but there's so much of it I liked that I'd like to read something else by her.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I picked up some Gene Wolfe, so I'm in for a long haul. Diving into The Wizard Knight, which is two books, The Knight and The Wizard. I'm less than 100 pages in, and it hasn't seemed very Wolfey yet, but there's some things going on. Hopefully I can find time to listen to the podcast once I'm done with it, but god knows how long that'll be; this is a meaty one.

 

[Lokii]

Just wait until Able assembles his full D&D party

 

[lincolnic]

I did not know Ling Ma had a new book out, so thank you all for bringing it up! Severance was really interesting, there's definitely parts of it that didn't work for me but there's so much of it I liked that I'd like to read something else by her.

I think she does well in the short story format! But the new collection is definitely a Sad Book, which happened to coincide with a rough couple of days for me. As long as you're okay with that, I'd recommend it. I might read it again sometime in a better headspace myself.

 

[Violentvixen]

I think she does well in the short story format! But the new collection is definitely a Sad Book, which happened to coincide with a rough couple of days for me. As long as you're okay with that, I'd recommend it. I might read it again sometime in a better headspace myself.

Ah, that's good to know. I'm definitely not in much of a Sad Book place right now but will revisit it later.

 

[masterthes]

Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream by Steven Watts

 

[Violentvixen]

Into the Riverlands, the third book in the Singing Hills cycle. I love these so much, just the idea of a monastery gathering stories was enough to grab me but there's so many great characters and dialogue and lore and I could keep gushing but I'll stop.

 

[Behemoth]

Into the Riverlands, the third book in the Singing Hills cycle. I love these so much, just the idea of a monastery gathering stories was enough to grab me but there's so many great characters and dialogue and lore and I could keep gushing but I'll stop.

This sounds great! Added to the list.

 

[Violentvixen]

This sounds great! Added to the list.

I will note that I highly recommend reading the first one (The Empress of Salt and Fortune) to get set up with the setting and characters. The second is great but I don't think anything in that is needed. Also they're all only around 100 pages which is nice.

 

[Positronic Brain]

So I read Tamsyn Muir's short story "Undercover". I was curious what her writing would look when she's wiriting in the Locked Tomb universe and discern what was in her prose because of the mood of that universe and what was inherent of her style. I can tell you that Tamsyn Muir really likes:

1. Lesbians
2. Mixing fantasy with sci-fi with touchs of the mundane (I blame her years in the Final Fantasy fandom for this)
3. Dropping you in the middle of the world with no lore, no warning, and feed you little pieces until the setting clicks
4. Plot twists that are cleverly telegraphed in advance
5. Clever turns of a phrase

I'm fine with all of them! Some people complain that Gideon could have used more lore to set the universe but I'm fine with the way that was handled, and you'll find yourself in a similar situatio here - but it's a short 60 page story so you'll make sense of the setting by page 20. The story itself is really good! Liked all the characters, and the twists are clever and fair.

She (or her editor) has really cracked down on the memes, I only could identify one - I'm sure a whole elaborated sequence was written just so she could write how somebody gets kicked like a football.

Mt favorite excerpt? "Her hand hurt from slamming seven times against the door. In her fright, "two bits" inflated all the way to a dollar.

Recommended. It is, unfortunately, an Amazon exclusive.