Current Reads

A new Cazalet book?! I didn't even know one was in the works! I'm so excited!

When I found out my first thought was that I had to share the news with my book buddies at SF who also love generational family sagas about upper crust Britons.

Just finished Code Name Verity, and I'm a little dehydrated. I was so confused at first, but when I started reading the second half of the book, things started falling into place and I just loved it. It broke my heart a bit too, I will admit. Such a good book.

Code Name Verity is in my TBR pile, thanks to the reviews here. But I can't get to it until I finish Infinite Jest. That's right, I'm reading that giant tome, but with a group which I think is the only way to do it. That way I get to share/discuss all the what-the-fuckery that the novel raises. But I find I am really liking it. David Foster Wallace was a hugely talented writer and I'm in awe by all the strands he manages as well as the many profound insights.

It's a tough book, but well worth it. The stuff on depression and suicide is extra gut-wrenching given his own struggle. RIP Wallace.

I'm 150+ pages into Daughter of Shadow and Bone but cannot get myself to care about either Karou or Akiva. I'm really drawn to all the secondary characters, so I want to see what happens to them, especially Brimstone, but I'm having a hard time reading anymore just because I don't feel invested in, ya know, the two main characters. Wrestling with whether or not I can finish this novel, which is such a shame since everyone else here seems to adore it, and I wanted to join in the awesome squeeing.

I'm with you, whatthedeuce - there was a lot I liked about the book, but after about the 5th time Karou's blue hair was mentioned I found myself eye rolling. We *get* it, she's special and unique, thanks, book. Which is a bummer, because this sort of thing is usually right up my alley.

I'm rolling my eyes over how gorgeous Akiva is supposed to be. I know he's an angel so obviously, he's supposed to look golden and perfect, but it's reminding me of Twilight and how SMeyers had to allude to Edward's looks on every other damn page. Nothing about Karou really grips me. I love me some literary orphans, but even the fact that she's trained in martial arts and weaponry does nothing for me. Also, if her head tilt is mentioned one more time, I will burn this book and owe the library a new copy.

whatthedeuce wrote:I'm rolling my eyes over how gorgeous Akiva is supposed to be. I know he's an angel so obviously, he's supposed to look golden and perfect, but it's reminding me of Twilight and how SMeyers had to allude to Edward's looks on every other damn page. Nothing about Karou really grips me. I love me some literary orphans, but even the fact that she's trained in martial arts and weaponry does nothing for me. Also, if her head tilt is mentioned one more time, I will burn this book and owe the library a new copy.

I read both the books that are out and while I was kind of interested in the setting, it bummed me out that Akiva is like, super-boring personality-wise but we are somehow supposed to be invested in whether his relationship with Karou works out.

Spoiler:

I just finished Pattern Recognition by William Gibson and I liked it a lot. The idea of someone being sensitive to logos to the point of being allergic to some of them is kind of quirky and amusing to me and the whole internet subculture devoted to obsessively dissecting every tiny detail of obscure pieces of video footage is at once completely believable and hilarious. Fun book!

whatthedeuce wrote:I'm rolling my eyes over how gorgeous Akiva is supposed to be. I know he's an angel so obviously, he's supposed to look golden and perfect, but it's reminding me of Twilight and how SMeyers had to allude to Edward's looks on every other damn page. Nothing about Karou really grips me. I love me some literary orphans, but even the fact that she's trained in martial arts and weaponry does nothing for me. Also, if her head tilt is mentioned one more time, I will burn this book and owe the library a new copy.

Yikes. The second book has far less of this kind of stuff, mostly because it's a lot grimmer, but the series really might not be worth it to read on if it's reminding you of Twilight. That is so not good.

Raksha wrote:I just finished Pattern Recognition by William Gibson and I liked it a lot. The idea of someone being sensitive to logos to the point of being allergic to some of them is kind of quirky and amusing to me and the whole internet subculture devoted to obsessively dissecting every tiny detail of obscure pieces of video footage is at once completely believable and hilarious. Fun book!

I loved this one too. Can't look at the michelin man without remembering the book and getting creeped more than before.

For those reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I recommend getting to at least the final third, because it takes a weird twist that's worth finding out about. I haven't picked up the sequel yet because I didn't love the book, but that final third is definitely something.

I will admit that I found Daughter of Smoke and Bone not that gripping at the start which is why it took me so long to finish it. I put it down, forgot about it, started something else and then only came back to it because I said I'd better finish it so I didn't feel like I'd wasted my money. I agree with BreezyK; once it gets going, it *gets* going.

But you know, to each their own. It's always interesting to hear what other Snarkers think.

I agree with you, though I haven't started the sequal yet. I do have it on my Kobo though.

I also just finished Light, and

Spoiler:

big chicken wrote:Still making my way through Elizabeth Hand's Errantry but I know I'll be reading the fifth Cazalet book, All Change, by Elizabeth Jane Howard in November. I had no idea the series was unfinished. Now I need to fit in a reread of the series.

I am stupid excited about this. Because I sometimes miss the characters. (yes I reread the books now and then.)

I totally agree about Daughter of Smoke and Bone. When it finally came together, it worked, but man. it sure took its time getting there. I read the sequel recently, and I barely remembered anything that happened in the first book when I started. (The sequel was ok. I'll probably read the third book for closure, but I'm not like chomping at the bit for it.)

I'm about halfway through Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, and it's really sweet. At times, I almost feel as giddy as some of the characters do, heh.

Hmm, now that some of you have mentioned that it was slow-going for you at first, too, maybe I will try to really finish it. I've had my interest piqued by BreezyK saying it picks up in the final third!

GAYLE FORMAN GAYLE FORMAN GAYLE FORMAN. I need to discuss Just One Day with someone, like, right now.

Jumping into Harlan Coben's latest, Six Years. This dude is so damn good at pacing and suspense even if his prose is actually pretty cheesy and trite. I'll be damned if he doesn't always keep me turning the pages like a madwoman!

katesti wrote:GAYLE FORMAN GAYLE FORMAN GAYLE FORMAN. I need to discuss Just One Day with someone, like, right now.

I didn't like it as much as a lot of people seemed to, but GOD it made me want to go back to Paris.

I just finished Those Across the River. I'm embarrassed that I didn't figure out the nature of "those across the river" until the author had practically told us right out. There's a clue early in the book that I saw and totally didn't pick up on, and I was going in a completely different direction. It was very creepy.

I started Pratchett's Going Postal this morning. Also, because things have kind of sucked recently, I've been re-reading Georgette Heyer.

I just finished Those Across the River. I'm embarrassed that I didn't figure out the nature of "those across the river" until the author had practically told us right out. There's a clue early in the book that I saw and totally didn't pick up on, and I was going in a completely different direction. It was very creepy.

I totally didn't get that either. I think I just completely misunderstood what the story was going to be and was waiting for some other kind of ghost story to begin. The book was over before I really realized that it was a completely different story altogether. I did like it though.

Tabby wrote:I started Pratchett's Going Postal this morning.

I love that book so much! It was the first Discworld book I ever read and it really hooked me. I used it to hook my mom on the series too!

I should re-read that soon.

I've had Going Clear for two weeks now. I don't know why I keep putting off reading it. I read the introduction though and found out that the Church of Scientology bought the small TV studio right near my house. Creepy. Not that I've ever been safe anyway seeing as how I live two seconds away from one of the huge Scientology centers in Hollywood. If I go missing within the next few weeks, it's probably safe to assume that I was caught reading this book near that center and was promptly kidnapped and taken somewhere to be "audited."

I just finished The Child Goddess by Louise Marley. She's a good writer and I liked that it was very character driven, while still managing to have some good world building. But I couldn't actually enjoy it because the overall theme of the book was white Catholic missionaries saving primitive Africans* from their evil superstitions while claiming the natural resources of their world for themselves. So gross.

* = Literally, the people of the planet are African and primitive. The original colonists came from Mali and in spite of every other colony that's mentioned being technologically advanced, these people live in grass huts and use tools made only from wood and stone.

Everything in Going Clear is beyond unreal. LRH sounds like he was a paranoid schizophrenic megalomaniac.