Here's an extract:

In Greco-Roman mythology there are the gods who personify the forces of the natural world, but also the heroes and antiheroes, heroines and antiheroines, who personify the best or worst of human nature and human ability.

So it is when we touch the Thompson submachine gun.

I really have to figure out what it is about her books that just draws me in. I want to sit and read the whole thing in one sitting, which is very unusual for me. Her prose doesn't get in my way, but neither does it sing. Then again, that might get in the way of the story. Every once in a while she does one of those things I'm trying to teach myself not to do--said bookisms, averbs in the dialog tags, etc.

She's very good at banged up protagonists. All of the main characters in the stories I've read so far have been pretty well beaten up by life before the story ever starts in one way or another. The back story comes out gradually and where it's needed, or just before. And then she beats them up some more before letting them come through at the end.

There's always a strong element of romance.

I liked it, liked it a lot...but there's one thing I didn't like, and I see it in a lot of alternate-history books. The writers take events from the future, or the people who will participate in them---events that in the present-of-the-narrative, have not, will not, and will never happen---just to say either "See how smart I am!" or "This'll get a rise out of the reader!" Characters who we know did things are killed off or injured...at one point towards the end of 1901, characters give a name to their future that has a sinister connotation in our past...all just to provoke a "Hmm!" moment. Cheeses me off.

I concede that the younger selves of the people of real-history would be present in the alternate-history as presented---but I don't see why a mention has to be what essentially amounts to a joke on the reader. Wouldn't it be better just to create some fictional characters and then kill them off?

I've also been reading Stephen King's The Stand: Uncut, and can definitely see why it was cut. The more I read it, the more I find I'm wading through thick prose for little bits of payoff. I'm not very impressed.

Since last updating here I've read James Patterson's Along Came a Spider, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Patterson's book was pretty good; while it didn't truly blow me away it certainly had more depth than I expected. Shortly after I finished it I watched the film, to find I was really disappointed: What a horrible film adaptation!! Good

I loved the first book of Pullman's trilogy (Northern Lights / The Golden Compass depending on edition). The worldbuilding was enjoyable, the world's problems thought provoking, and the characters fun. I'd happily label it Recommended.

Only then I got to books two and three, and felt I'd had the old bait-and-switch pulled on me. First the world I'd come to love in the first book was taken away to become essentially irrelevant. Then the characters decide to deal with the story problem (The Magesterium is corrupt and evil!) in a way that seemed completely illogical (Let's kill the guys they work for!). While there was still a lot of imagination in the second two books (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) they just seemed a platform for authorial dogma rather than subtle rhetoric, and as a result - for me at least - a very tedious read. So while I loved the first book I sadly found these, well, Bad.

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain In Its Darkest, Finest Hour, Lynne Olsen. The first chapter made me think it was going to be another dry history...but it soon picked up and I went through it in a couple of sittings.

The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980-1989, Steven F. Hayward. I found this interesting---lately, I've found a lot of works about the period interesting, in a "fill in the blanks" sense that I knew some of what was going on, but not everything. I'd recommend this to everybody, irregardless of political orientation...but, I've got to say, it doesn't cover "everything" that went on in the Reagan presidency, either...the Challenger disaster, for instance, doesn't get a mention, near as I can tell. (Word of warning: there's at least one other "The Age of Reagan" book out there, maybe more...check the writer's name beforehand.)

I just started reading The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, by David Hajdu. It turned up in my pile when I was looking for another book. Two chapters in, and I'm impressed by the number of names I'm familiar with from other things---any well-versed SF reader would know a lot of these guys, and comics fans should know nearly all of 'em.

SF? Well, the aforementioned 1901, by Robert Conroy...some more Heinlein...anything new? Nothing struck my fancy this month...

RECOMMEND, definitely.

Great characters and a really good story. She writes protagonists who are damaged at the beginning of the story (and then get beat up some more) really well.

One of the things that strikes me most about this series is the world-building. Let's face it: an awful lot of fantasy is set in something approximating the middle ages, at least in technology. Even Bujold's CHALION books, which have a thoroughly imagined and distinct world, still exist in a very medieval feudal system.

THE SHARING KNIFE exists in a world recognizably based on the pioneer Midwest at about the time farmers were first breaking ground along the Mississippi, Misouri, and Ohio rivers. There's a lot about this world that is her own, of course. But the similarity is unmistakable. One side character is even based on Davey Crockett, according to the author's notes. Very interesting.

I hope, like her Miles Vorkosigan series, that she decides to revisit these characters some time.

The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order 1964 - 1980, Steven F. Hayward. This is Volume One of the Volume Two I listed above...something I didn't know until I read that one. (Also I bought it and took it with me...I had started it but was only a couple chapters in when I set out.)

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, Daniel Okrent. A much-neglected period of American history, at least as far as the politics of it goes. This answered a lot of questions.

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Nathaniel Philbrick. Mentioned above, too. This tells me only a little I didn't know...but it's another perspective on things, and, besides, Philbrick has written several other compelling histories. Worth the effort. (Another one bought before I left.)

Before that read the Koontz Frankenstein Series and Quanta, a book on Quantum Theory.

Edited to fix the title

Yech. I'm still not sure if I can finish it. The idea of werewolves as a biker gang is kind of interesting, but there area so many things that bother me.

quote:

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Meredith, give Patricia Briggs' stuff a try. Her Mercy Thompson series is about a were-coyote who is involved with a werewolf pack, and there are separate books about one of the werewolves as well.

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Thanks. I'll give that a try.

I hate to say it, but my impression of this book is just sloppy. Maybe that's the genre. I think this is classed as paranormal romance and I haven't read a lot in that genre. She obviously has other books in the series and a lot of world building, but she didn't have to throw it all against the wall in the first 50 pages. There's stuff I just don't care about yet and some stuff I'm not sure will ever matter in this book. Not to mention misused words, using the wrong name for a (major) character in one scene, info dumps about the backgrounds of minor characters. Oh, and confusion about the rules of her own world. (At first it's well, if we mix species (werewolves and werebears) there won't be any kids. Then it's we can't dilute the bloodlines. Pick one, but they can't both be true.)

She actually has interesting characters and has put them in a somewhat interesting situation. The rest is just driving me nuts and I think I'm about to quit and find something else.

I'll look for Patricia Briggs next time I'm out.

I'm also a big fan of Bujold's writing. Bujold draws me in with her writing more then her story lines or plot.

Currenlty I've got 3 books I'm trying to get into.

1. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
2. Hunting Grounds by Patricia Briggs
3. False Memory by Dean Koontz

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I really have to figure out what it is about her books that just draws me in. I want to sit and read the whole thing in one sitting, which is very unusual for me. Her prose doesn't get in my way, but neither does it sing. Then again, that might get in the way of the story. Every once in a while she does one of those things I'm trying to teach myself not to do--said bookisms, averbs in the dialog tags, etc.

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I agree 100%

I can't put my finger on why I like it but I know I do.

Bio Of A Space Tyrant: Refugee by Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob

_At Swim Two Birds_, hilarious, but doesn't fit the format of a novel, doesn't have a satisfying ending. Reputed to be the first post-modernist novel, not sure what that means, but worth a read if you like language and absurdity better than a story.

_The Poor Mouth_, English translation, a send-up of the early twentieth century 'folk' stories written in Irish by authors like Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain,
Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, etc. Hilarious if you've read the originals, may not be if you haven't, but the translator captures the rich absurdity of the original Irish text.

_The Third Policeman_, the best of the three in terms of story, rich language, absurd ideas, it could be science fiction if it weren't literary fiction, not a really satisfying ending, but of the three the most like a conventional novel.

quote:

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Meredith, give Patricia Briggs' stuff a try. Her Mercy Thompson series is about a were-coyote who is involved with a werewolf pack, and there are separate books about one of the werewolves as well.

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American Gods by Neil Gaiman was intriguing, but very slow and boring at times. He should stick to comic books (oops, sorry - GRAPHIC NOVELS). Gaiman's writing is dull, which hampers his overzealous plot. I would not recommend this book, unless it is the only book you have with you on a desert island.

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory, Ben Macintyre. Picked up and read while on vacation, but somehow I forgot to mention it last time around. A very interesting story---some of you may have seen a movie, "The Man Who Never Was," from the 1950s, covering this story...it's a true story, and this book fills in lots of details of that story, and also corrects some deliberate misstatements made for security reasons at the time. Besides that, it's a terrific read.

Three Chords for Beauty's Sake: The Life of Artie Shaw, Tom Nolan. Picked up after vacation. An interesting biography of a "freethinking iconoclast" (how Shaw is described on the jacket flap at one point). Well worth the time (and money). If you don't know who Artie Shaw was, look him up---especially his music.

In the Land of Invented Languages: Adventures in Linguistic Creativity, Madness, and Genius, Arika Okrent. Picked up on vacation, reading now (three-quarters finished). Mentioned by me elsewhere in Grist for the Mill. For anyone who sets out to invent a language for a story, or just for the hell of it...

Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West, Stephen Fried. Bought before vacation, started now (one quarter finished.) An interesting history (not biography) of America's first restaurant chain, with lots of stops for interesting detail about life in these United States along the way.

Runes of Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Memory of Earth by OSC
Bio of a Space Tyrant: Refugee by Piers Anthony
The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

Uggh

I also read Animal Farm by George Orwell. Somehow I missed it while I was in school. I know what he was doing and the political statements he was making, but it irritated me. I really wanted for them to be frying up some bacon for a Sunday celebration. This book actually put me in a bad mood for the evening.

Finishing DEAD AND GONE by Charlaine Harris. I will never be a Sookie Stackhouse fan.

It's interesting that both books had many of the same elements. Both are mysteries, of a sort. Both have vampires, werewolves, and even Fae. In Patricia Briggs world, they all seemed to fit. In Charlaine Harris' world, I believed the vampires and the werewolves, but the Fae felt sort of tacked on. I had other issues with her world building, too. Things just didn't always seem to fit.

I think my main problem with Harris' book, though, is that it just feels like it wanders around aimlessly without much direction. And, looking at it, I think it's at least partly because she didn't deliver the story she promised.

She started out with the weres "coming out". Okay, I can see that causing some conflict and driving a story. Next, one character's mother gets shot because she reveals to her husband that she's a were. Looks like that's the story we're going to get. Then another character, who happens to be a werepanther, gets killed rather gruesomely. Alright, I'm sold. That's what this story is about. Then we take a hard left turn into a war between the Fae which for some reason seems to revolve around Sookie. Why is never adequately explained. Not a very satisfying story and I won't be reading any more of hers.

'The Sword of Truth' series - Terry Goodkind
- Recommended; very good story line, a bit long winded at times but worth it