Books you've read in 2008 (1 Viewer)

[James_Kiang]

I'll have to go back and add the ones I've read, but I can tell you what my next book will be. Steven Erikson's Toll the Hounds is on its way from Amazon UK; it should be here in another couple of days. This is the latest in his series of Malazan books, a series I have enjoyed from book 1 and feel is one of the best series of fantasy novels out there. I want to say there are 3 more books to go (10 total) and they should all be out in the next 5 to 6 years. The guy pumps out these huge novels very consistently.

 

[DaveF]

Don't let that be your final view of Adams; teatime is the lesser sequel to a lesser novel. To read Adams, you must read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I read Wicked last week after seeing the play. After the fun, tightly told play, it was a disappointingly tedious and dull book. I don't recommend it. It fails as a story in a few counts. First, the main characters have little interaction or importance with each other. Worse, the characters' actions are largely pointless, and it becomes a nihilistic story. Finally, the interesting bits are left out. Just when a major event seems about to happen, the story lurches ahead several years and leaves the reader to fill in the blanks of what may have happened in the interim.

 

[Joe D]

I also ordered Toll the Hounds from the UK, but it will ship next month along with Return of the Crimson Guard. Two Malazan books in two months, pretty nice.

I've been reading Glen Cook's Books of the South, so far, so good. The Black Company is a great series so far.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I've had almost no time for reading lately but I did knock off Donald Hamilton's first Matt Helm novel, Death of a Citizen, which is the most hard-boiled of all the major 1960s spy stories. Much like James Bond, Helm is not a very likable man but then again, when you're reading stories about cruel-minded government assassins the last thing you should come away thinking is "Gosh, he's so charming and sympathetic!"

I'm also reading EE Smith's second Lensmen novel, Gray Lensman. Smith is a very awkward writer in many ways but the ideas in these books are intoxicatingly wild. "Set pieces" that make the battles in the Star Wars series look like a couple of kids playing with pea shooters.

 

[Lucia Duran]

Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Pfeffer

Dies the Fire by S.M Stirling

 

[DaveF]

The Broker by John Grisham : John Grisham channels Tom Clancey for a tale of a pardoned DC power broker and battling "alphabet" agencies and clandestine operatives. Entertaining, with a bit of a wet noodle ending. Not Grisham's best, but still a fun summer read.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I read a Henry Kuttner/C.L. Moore book called The Dark World. It was an entertaining fantasy story involving parallel realities and identities. Highly influential on later writers. I seem to read a lot of these books, fantasy and otherwise, that feature soldiers coming home from the War and finding they can't reintegrate with society again...

I decided to start reading The Forbidden Territory, the first Duc de Richleau novel by Dennis Wheatley.

 

[PatW]

Well of Darkness, Bk. #1 of the Sovereign Stone Trilogy By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - finished re-reading this and I have to admit it was a much harder read this time, hopefully due to my familarity. I can remember enjoying the story alot more the first time around. Here's hoping the second and third pt. of the story is better. I had really enjoyed the Death Gate series by these two authors so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - just finished re-reading this one. Always a particular favourite which I never tire of re-visiting.

The Magic Hour - Susan Issacs - I've had a number of books kicking around for several years and decided to start reading them. I've just started reading this and it promises to be a good mystery/thriller or so I hope.

 

[DaveF]

I read this in grad school, for fun. Knowing nothing more than it was a "classic", I was surprised at how low-brow and entertaining it was It was truly pop-fiction for its day, and I was startled by that. I should re-read it.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Pride and Prejudice is one of thoe books (The Lord of the Rings is another) that I find myself reading every couple of years. It never gets old. (Neither does the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth TV version - which I usually end up watching shortly before or shortly after another reading of the book. )

I'm currently reading Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Goldblatt. Goldblatt is good with "the World", bringing the world of Elizabethan and Jacobean England to life in all its bustling, lively and bloody glory, but he's a little shakey on the "Will" part. We know very little about Shakespeare's life - he left no letters, no diary, no contemporary thought to write a biography of him. Nearly all we have are some church, munincipal and legal records and a few references to his work.

So a certain amount of specualtion is inevitable in any Shakespeare biography. At the very least at certain parts of the playwright's life the biographer can only say "this may have happened or that may have happened or this other thing may have happened. We can't really be sure." But Goldblatt's method is to do that on one page or in one chapter, then treat one of those possibilities as fact later on. (And sometimes to treat a contradictory possibility as fact yet further along, when he's going down some other trail of speculation that it fits better with.)

Colm Toibin gets at the problem in his review from The New York Times (October 2004):



Still, it is an interesting book and thought-provoking, and when I'm finished with it I'm sure I'll dust off my bulky one-volume Shakespeare and read at least a few of the plays. Then I'll probably try to track down another Shakespeare bio or crtical volume about his work to get another view.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Lucia Duran]

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Blackwater

 

[Holadem]

Slowly making a dent into Anna Karenina. War and Peace is only second to LOTR as my favorite novel. It's good to be back in that universe. I hope this one lives up to W&P even a little bit. Tolstoi rulzzzz.

--
H

 

[DaveF]

I've studied Russian. I've been to Russia. I enjoy the short stories of Golgol and such. But I've never read the masterpieces. Thanks for the reminder: I'll put these on my should-read list for this year.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Since last update:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. Despite an ending that cut out just when things were getting really good, I grew to adore this book. The world Chabon has created felt incredibly authentic, so much so that I took certain Yiddish nicknames invented by the author for granted as dug up historical slang. Meyer Landsman is one of the most original detective protagonists I have ever read. Unlike detectives like Holmes and Poirot that do it for the glory and the ego boost, Landsman does it because he has to. He's too good to look away, and can't stand by when he catches a whiff of something off. The story of the homicide victim — or rather the legendary legacy of the homicide victim — was beautifully rendered. By the end of the book, I felt the loss of the man as keenly as the mourners gathered in the rain for his funeral. A great supporting cast of characters helped seal the deal. I wish the book was another 100 pages or so to really delve into the cosequences of the conspiracy, but I enjoyed what was there very much..

Star Wars - Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight by Michael Reaves. This isn't anywhere near the best written Star Wars book I've come across, but it was a fun jaunt and it was highly anticipated on my end for one reason: it's the first series to be set between Episode III and the original Star Wars movie. Given the series name, all the books will apparently take place on Coruscant, which feels kind of limiting. On the other hand, it is a really interesting place in a Blade Runner kind of a way, and the cast of characters — mostly Reaves's own creations from other efforts in the universe — is engaging enough to peg a plot onto. And as far as villains go, you can't beat having Darth Vader breathing down your heroes' necks. Not the epic dark fantasy I was hoping for as a follow up to Episode III — certainly not a direct continuation of the story on the level of James Luceno's Dark Lord — but an interesting enough story to keep me coming back for future installments.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Then you'll be interested to know that Ron Howard has acquired the rights to the books and that J. Michael Straczynski (who has made no secret of the fact that his TV series Babylon 5 was influenced by the Lensman tales) is writing the screenplay. I think they're shooting for a 2010 release.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Andy Sheets]

That sounds like a good match of talent and material. I'm not a huge Ron Howard fan but he's at least reliably competent, and I'm aware of Straczynski's love of Smith's books (I've seen him mention them in the same breath as Dune and Lord of the Rings), so I don't think he'll try to get too uppity about "fixing" them while scripting. Hopefully the film actually happens (they've got at least six books to do, so there's big franchise potential) because if done right a lot of filmgoers will get their brains melted

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Not to stray too far from the topic of books, but I should mention that Howard has acquired the rights for Imagine Entertainment - the production company he runs with Brian Grazer. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to direct it personally. (His first project from a JMS script, Changeling, ended up being directed by Clint Eastwood because Howard had too many directing commitments and he decided he didn't want to hold the film until he was free.) Generally speaking I think Howard picks good material and has a solid understanding of story. (Apollo 13 is one of my favorite films, I've lost track of how many times I've seen it.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Jon_Are]

Ratings 0-4 stars, most recent first:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin: :star::star::star:1/2
A biography of Mortenson's heroic efforts to build schools in the poorest areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. At times he seems to cross the fine line between altruism and madness.


Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang by William Queen: :star::star::star::star:

The Shack by William P. Young: Zero Stars

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy: :star::star::star::star:

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams: :star::star:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: :star::star::star::star:+

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: :star::star::star:1/2

The Pesthouse by Jim Crace: :star::star::star::star:

Jon

 

[Ruben924]

I work at a middle school in deep south Texas, Darren Shan is popular at the moment. So far this school year, I have read all 12 of his Cirque De Freak books. This next school year, I am going to read his DEMONATA series. By-the-way, I loved the CIRQUE DE FREAK books.....There is a CDF movie coming in early 2009....But I hear that it is a very,very loose adaptation of the first 3 books.....BUMMER

Laters,
Ruben

 

[NeilTHI]

Ringo Starr, Postcards From The Boys.