Book Recommendations?

Bfgp wrote:

A lighter faster read than the expanse were Martha Wells' Murderbot series. Each book is short and punchy. I wanted more of it.

I also finally got around to the Windup Girl. That was dark but amazing as a setting.

I enjoyed that book, but petered out on his other novels. A society that was so relentlessly horrible to everyone, all the time and forever, would never work. It's like people in Bacigalupi's stories have forgotten about the benefits of cooperation.

So I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaiman as literary ambassador and guide...I've had a writing project to finish during these past weeks and his advice has been very helpful. I also listened to his Norse Mythology on Audible (he narrates) and it's just superb. I wanted it to be twice as long as it was. Highly recommended, and I hope he writes more in that vein.

I didn't have much luck with Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning, unfortunately. The premise and worldbuilding were quite new and refreshing, but I found the characters and plotting quite mediocre. She's not without talent, clearly, she just needed an editor. I'm curious if her new YA offerings are better.

Natus wrote:

I also listened to [Neil Gaiman's] Norse Mythology on Audible (he narrates) and it's just superb. I wanted it to be twice as long as it was. Highly recommended, and I hope he writes more in that vein.

I usually only listen to audiobooks that are biographies read by their authors, but Gaiman's novels are the only exceptions. Especially The Ocean at the End of the Lane is fantastic.

I have been burning through loads of books since the beginning of the year. So much so that it got rather expensive. So, for February, I decided to only read books that I had bought at some point, but that I never finished. The standouts so far have been Uprooted by Naomi Novik and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Waugh is such a great writer... there are parts of this prose that read like poetry... if only the story had been better...

After not reading at all in January (other than some Heir to the Empire comfort food re-reading) I finally got back into the mood to read about a week ago

First was King Lear, which was fine. I wanted a bit more detail in the politics out of it, but I'm a weirdo who would have loved for all of Dune to just be the dinner party scene.

And tonight I just finished Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs, which was incredible and will be one of the best books I read this year. It's right up there with Black Spartacus and with The Anarchy for me.

Nor the hard part, as always, is figuring out what to read next.

Currently making my way through Gary Krist's The Mirage Factory, about the founding of Los Angeles.

I've been a fan of Krist's work since I read Empire of Sin, which is an absolutely fantastic history of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th Century, and this has lived up to that standard.

Roke, given your comment about King Lear, you should absolutely dive into the Wolf Hall trilogy. Don’t hesitate. Just do it. You’ll love it.

Just finished Peter F Hamilton's Salvation Sequence. Loved it. Probably the most epic conclusion I've read in a long time. Well worth the time.

Also read A man called Ove by Frederik Backman. Touching little story that I enjoyed immensely.

Robear wrote:

Roke, given your comment about King Lear, you should absolutely dive into the Wolf Hall trilogy. Don’t hesitate. Just do it. You’ll love it.

I'm going to second this recommendation and also agree that when I first read Lear I wanted more politics out of it, too. The King of France just disappears in that play. And I also want to heartily recommend two fantastic Lear film adaptations: "King Lear" directed by Peter Brook with Paul Scofield and "Ran" by Akira Kurosawa with Tatsuya Nakadai. I'm waiting for the latter to fall from its perch as my favorite movie of all time, but it hasn't yet.

And if you like Ran, "Throne of Blood" is MacBeth. Black and white, though, to Ran's rampant lush color.

Thanks for the reccomendations Robear and Natus. 'Ran' is on Amazon, so I'll definitely be checking that out.

I watched the BBC adaption of Wolf Hall and it was decent. The thing is, I'd generally rather read narrative history than historical fiction. It's a weird chauvinism I don't apply to television (give me all the I, Claudius, which is of course an adaptation of historical fiction, and HBO Rome).

Kagemusha was Kurosawa's first color movie; he has stated it was a learning and experimentation project for him. Ran was his next one and he was in full flower at the time. I personally like the rough edges of Kagemusha a bit better than the polish of Ran, but both are excellent.

I just finished the Riyria Revelations trilogy, by Michael J. Sullivan, and was quite pleased with it.

It's a semi-standard fantasy, in that you've got a pair of heroes who are caught up in events far larger than they are. The underlying theming really feels a lot like an oldschool AD&D campaign, but it's quite good. The books feel to me like the author played a huge amount of D&D as a youth, and then, even writing a vaguely realistic series, those underlying tropes are still present, in vestigial form. The two main heroes are Royce and Hadrian, who fit the 'thief' and 'fighter' classes very well, being high-level exemplars. (Royce, for instance, can climb walls, which actually ends up being rather important to the overall plot, although usually in the past tense... some previous thing he did that involved a spectacular bit of wall-climbing.) And they both often survive big battles mostly unscathed, while their companions are wounded... at times, it feels very much like reading about high level D&D characters.

It's quite a good story. It starts out as political scheming; Royce and Hadrian are framed for killing a king, and have to sort that mess out. But in so doing, it leads into larger and larger political conflicts. They're fairly sophisticated, and the world building and lore are excellent. The Church of Nyphron is the premier religion, and some of their higher-ups have decided that the time has come for the church to take power, and are trying to falsely fulfill some of their founding prophecies to raise a new Emperor to take control of the known world.

The King of Melendor, Alric, is forced to take power when his father unexpectedly dies, and is one of the major resistance figures to the encroaching Empire. He's a background character, where his sister Arista becomes one of the linchpins.... and turns out, she can do magic, which is all but unknown in this world, having been stamped out by the Church. A little bit of D&D peeking out there, again, I think.

It sounds simplistic when I try to describe it that way, but none of this will hit you in the face. It's quite readable, rolls along really well, and introduces its complexities slowly. The characters are excellent, with the plot being fairly intricate and a reasonable outgrowth of their motivations.

The writing was kind of invisible to me, in the sense that it's workmanlike. It carries the story without bringing attention to itself. (I did see a few wrong-word typos that were annoying.) Some authors put a great deal of effort into the craft of writing itself, constructing their sentences with care; the writing itself is artistic. (Anne Leckie is like this, for instance, as is Naomi Novik.) Sullivan doesn't work that way; he's perfectly literate and describes things well enough to 'see' them, but that's not his focus. It feels like he was working on the characters and plotline, and the writing was the thing he did to get there.

Again, the D&D thing is really buried. This is definitely not schlock. It's subtle enough that I'm not sure the author even realized the theme existed. If it's not deliberate, it may just be how his imagination has been framed.

Overall, it was a great read, with a genuinely interesting plot, lots of lore and a complex world, and characters good enough to stick in your head for awhile. It's a trilogy that you'd talk about later in a conversation... "oh, if you liked David Eddings, you might really enjoy the Riyria books, they're kinda like that but done better."

Knocked over Crime and Punishment last night. It was an interesting view into FD’s musings on Russian nihilism, and I’m glad I read it in proximity to Anna Karenina as it provides a fascinating class contrast (Dostoevsky’s matter-of-fact depiction of everyday grinding poverty in Petersburg was particularly stark). Overall, it had far less impact on me than The Brothers Karamazov which I read about 15 years ago and still sticks with me today. Interestingly, it also seemed to get increasingly allegorical until it tipped fully into religious deliverance in the epilogue. I get that given FD’s piety, but I think it led me to start re-contextualising the story in retrospect which was disappointing (Sofya as Madonna right? I can’t find many others online that agree so maybe I was just overplaying it...). Another classic down, time for some palate-cleansing sci-fi I think

I just finished The Oracle Year by Charles Soule and enjoyed it.

DC Malleus wrote:

Knocked over Crime and Punishment last night.

Crime and Punishment gave me the most intense nightmare I ever had. I recall that I had done something terrible (but didn't know what) that would result in a lifetime sentence at the very least. I was standing on rubble within four broken down brick walls and no roof overhead. It was a cloudy day, and they were coming for me.

I woke up almost weeping with relief once I registered that it was just a dream. So yeah, that book.

Brainsmith wrote:
Natus wrote:

I also listened to [Neil Gaiman's] Norse Mythology on Audible (he narrates) and it's just superb. I wanted it to be twice as long as it was. Highly recommended, and I hope he writes more in that vein.

I usually only listen to audiobooks that are biographies read by their authors, but Gaiman's novels are the only exceptions. Especially The Ocean at the End of the Lane is fantastic.

That is on my TBR short list.

Brainsmith wrote:

I have been burning through loads of books since the beginning of the year. So much so that it got rather expensive. So, for February, I decided to only read books that I had bought at some point, but that I never finished. The standouts so far have been Uprooted by Naomi Novik and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Waugh is such a great writer... there are parts of this prose that read like poetry... if only the story had been better...

I've never read BR, but Uprooted is yet another novel that I'm planning to finally read this year.

Completed the first Dune book and liked it. He that can destroy a thing controls that thing. Everyone wants the spice and tall sexy women with mind powers. The story wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. It is basically a tale of trying to prevent a thing causes that thing to happen. Also this was more fantasy than sci fi. It has star ships and the main issues centers on those ships flying but most of the book is magic people using mind powers to setup stuff. A big part of the book is tribal stuff with people using the land mainly without sci fi stuff except for their water suits.

Anyway good book.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Completed the first Dune book and liked it. He that can destroy a thing controls that thing. Everyone wants the spice and tall sexy women with mind powers. The story wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. It is basically a tale of trying to prevent a thing causes that thing to happen. Also this was more fantasy than sci fi. It has star ships and the main issues centers on those ships flying but most of the book is magic people using mind powers to setup stuff. A big part of the book is tribal stuff with people using the land mainly without sci fi stuff except for their water suits.

Anyway good book.

Excellent. Now don’t read any more of them.

Obviously I wasn’t paying attention when I last went to the library and picked up the second Wayfarers book by Becky Chambers. I was going to read it before moving on to the third, which I had already bought in a Kindle sale. After reaching the end I discovered I’d actually read the third book, Record of a Spaeborn Few.

Oh well. I liked it quite a bit.

Redherring wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Completed the first Dune book and liked it. He that can destroy a thing controls that thing. Everyone wants the spice and tall sexy women with mind powers. The story wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. It is basically a tale of trying to prevent a thing causes that thing to happen. Also this was more fantasy than sci fi. It has star ships and the main issues centers on those ships flying but most of the book is magic people using mind powers to setup stuff. A big part of the book is tribal stuff with people using the land mainly without sci fi stuff except for their water suits.

Anyway good book.

Excellent. Now don’t read any more of them.

Strongly disagree. The first three books make a nice character arc for Paul and his family. It's after book 4 that things get really strange, though still quite enjoyable. Don't touch the books written by Herbert's son, though.

Math wrote:
Redherring wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Completed the first Dune book and liked it. He that can destroy a thing controls that thing. Everyone wants the spice and tall sexy women with mind powers. The story wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. It is basically a tale of trying to prevent a thing causes that thing to happen. Also this was more fantasy than sci fi. It has star ships and the main issues centers on those ships flying but most of the book is magic people using mind powers to setup stuff. A big part of the book is tribal stuff with people using the land mainly without sci fi stuff except for their water suits.

Anyway good book.

Excellent. Now don’t read any more of them.

Strongly disagree. The first three books make a nice character arc for Paul and his family. It's after book 4 that things get really strange, though still quite enjoyable. Don't touch the books written by Herbert's son, though.

Agreed. Everything post book 3 get a little too weird and hard to follow. Like when they start talking about how the ships travel by moving between realities.

The story doesn't feel complete to me without reading Dune Messiah, at least. I don't remember the third one too well other than the last time I tried to re-read it I fizzled out pretty early on.

The second one (Dune Messiah) is not, in my opinion, all that great. But it does feel necessary as a transition in the story. And it is pretty short.

The third one (Children of Dune) finishes Muad'Dib's arc very well, I think. You see the consequences of what he unleashed on the universe, both personally, for his family and for the universe itself. It is long. There is a lot of stuff to wade through. But I think the payoff is worth it.

After that, they get progressively worse. I think tying a bow on it at a trilogy is a good call unless you are super-captivated by the universe. Even then, be careful not to go too far lest you ruin the whole experience, because they do go from decent enough to god-awful after book 3. and then Herbert's son takes over and they get worse if that is possible.

beanman101283 wrote:

The story doesn't feel complete to me without reading Dune Messiah, at least. I don't remember the third one too well other than the last time I tried to re-read it I fizzled out pretty early on.

^This is the correct answer. Children of Dune (the third in the series) is a massive drop in terms of coherence and basic writing technique. Dune Messiah is basically equivalent to the despoliation of the Shire. "You think your hero could just go on a big journey and return without consequences? Well there are always consequences."

A Desolation Called Peace, the follow-up to A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine came out today. Instant buy for me and it's all queued up on my iPad.

EDIT: Spelling is hard.

I read An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, the latest instalment in my quest to read lots of fantasy by WoC. It was well written, with memorable characters, but it was a bit too dark for me, frankly, with some pretty brutal baddies and a pretty dark world.

Three books since I last posted here-

I'm continuing my love for pretty much everything Seanan McGuire writes, with the latest examples being Calculated Risks, the newest book in her InCryptid series, and Dying With Her Cheer Pants On, a standalone short story collection about a cheerleader team that battles unspeakable horrors.

I'm also about halfway through I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong, a nonfiction book on microbes and their interactions with people and animals. It's fascinating and extremely well written.

DudleySmith wrote:

I read An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, the latest instalment in my quest to read lots of fantasy by WoC. It was well written, with memorable characters, but it was a bit too dark for me, frankly, with some pretty brutal baddies and a pretty dark world.

Legendborn. I just finished it last night. It was a bit slow getting started and a bit rough putting pieces together, but I couldn’t put it down towards the end and absolutely MUST read the next one when it comes out!

Set at UNC and has Arthurian lore.
World is our world, so dark in that way. Loved it!

Hmm, maybe I'll give it a go. The Cassandra Clare and Sarah J Mass comparisons bother me (my daughter tells me I'd hate them). I really like some of Leigh Bardugo's stuff though (SIx of Crows rather than Shadow & Bone).

Tanglebones wrote:

Three books since I last posted here-

I'm continuing my love for pretty much everything Seanan McGuire writes, with the latest examples being Calculated Risks, the newest book in her InCryptid series, and Dying With Her Cheer Pants On, a standalone short story collection about a cheerleader team that battles unspeakable horrors.

I'm also about halfway through I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong, a nonfiction book on microbes and their interactions with people and animals. It's fascinating and extremely well written.

Seconded on the InCryptid series. Wasn't thrilled with the previous books cliffhanger but the Aeslin mice are just plain awesome so it's pretty easy to get over minor quibbles like that.