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[mithriltabby]

Just finished K J Bishop’s The Etched City, which is a very interesting tale in the same vein as China Miéville’s work, with a great deal of lush description and occasional vocabulary that sent me to the dictionary. (And sometimes online when the little Merriam-Webster in my Palm failed, on such terms as “ekphrastic”.) It’s an unusual construction: the plot takes its time creeping into the story, and only begins to show itself more than halfway through the book. A very interesting piece of work.

I’m just starting to re-read Charlie Stross’ Singularity Sky before plunging into Iron Sunrise. One of the benefits of being forgetful is the amount of delight I can find in re-reading books, as I remember ideas and general plots, but seldom the details, and a bit like this, from the first passage in the prologue:

By the end of that day, when the manna had begun to fall from orbit and men’s dreams were coming to life like strange vines blooming after rain in the desert, Rudi and his family— sick mother, drunken uncle, and seven siblings— were no longer part of the political economy of the New Republic.

War had been declared.

can provoke great glee as I anticipate the story’s unfolding.

Comments

[rhylar.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm having similar experiences rereading Pater Hamilton's Mindstar Rising.

My only complaint about stross is the amount of times he uses the phrase "built like the north end of a south-bound panzer." It's a cute phrase, but not good enough to be used more than once.

[mithriltabby]

Yeah, it can be annoying when an editor fails to catch that sort of thing...

re-reading

[wicketbird.livejournal.com]

I love to re-read books. I find new things and things I'd forgotten, and there are certain books that for me just go with certain places - I have a few trilogies that I only read when I'm camping, for example. Tom does not understand wanting to re-read more than a few selected books, like Starship Troopers and LOTR. Not that they aren't high on my list but so are many others, but he keeps wanting me to get rid of books, and I can't! They're like my friends....this does cause a problem because I also want to read new books coming out, leading to me reading multiple books at one time - one downstairs, one upstairs, and one on my Zire. :)
-Mary "So many books, so little time"

[zevblue.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check these out. A little while ago I read "The Onion Girl" by Charles DeLint, but it hit a little too close to home (lots of descriptions of abusive behavior in families), and the story ended on a totally unjustified sappy note - bleah. And some of his books are soooooo good.

What I need right now is something really distracting and engrossing - does William Gibson have anything new out?

[mithriltabby]

I’ve got everything up through All Tomorrow’s Parties; haven’t picked up Pattern Recognition yet. Still need to read ATP.

What captures your attention? I’ve got an extensive library, and Roger might be able to swing by Maine Coon Manor to pick something up next time he commutes past. If you like your science fiction with a little horror thrown in, there’s Iain M Banks and Dan Simmons (both of whom ought to be on Roger’s library shelves); in fantasy with a dose of horror, China Miéville has some really intriguing magical steampunk. Guy Gavriel Kay does excellent alternate world fantasy in a mythic vein, and Steve Brust’s books set in Dragaera vary from following a streetwise assassin to an homage to the Three Musketeers. David Brin and Scott Westerfeld have interesting hard science fiction; David Weber’s Honor Harrington books are fun military SF, Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan books are definitely in the space opera genra, and the Liaden books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are delightful romantic fairy tales that happen to have a science fictional setting. If you like de Lint’s work in a modern day world with magic behind the scenes, Jim Butcher has some good supernatural detective stories, and Laurell Hamilton a bunch more (with the sex and violence cranked up pretty high).

[zevblue.livejournal.com]

Like Sci-Fi with stong female characters, not partial to horror, nor too much violence and NO rape scenes!! - bleah!!! Techno-Punk-Goth too smart for their own good with a few not too powerful monsters and you've got a book! Sort of like a cross between Shadowrun & Hackers.

Love fantasy, enjoy period mysteries, Musketeers, sword weidling tough babes in armor, you get the idea, Some of my favorite authors include George MacDonald, Lewis Carrol, Tolkein, L. Sprage de Camp, Patricia McKinley.

Loathe romance novels - of any sort.

I'll have to come by sometime, but I may have little peach in tow. Would that be okay?

[mithriltabby]

Sure thing. Just check with me on whether I’ll be at Maine Coon Manor at the time so I can make recommendations.