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391

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: May 07, 2013, 04:14:06 PM »

In preparation for a book chat on American Gods for the Scrolls podcast I did a bit of reading up on the wikipedia page and noticed Gaiman referencing a book by Diana Wynne Jones called Eight Days of Luke - a children's book with lots of Norse mythology. So far it's a riot!

I loved it. Her books are really underrated because they are "children's books"...

It's a shame they are underrated because they are both delightful and very clever. I adored the knowing humour of Howl's Moving Castle.
 

Spoiler for Hiden:

...Particularly the little surprise that Howl was actually Welsh! You don't see that in the film.

392

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: Your Top 10 Favourite Authors and Your Favourite Work By Said Author

« on: May 07, 2013, 04:11:03 PM »

Cripes, this is a tough one. In no particular order:

Neil Gaiman - American Gods: read it again recently, still a feast of a book.

Stephen King - The Drawing of the Three. Although The Stand or IT would have been on here on another day depending on my mood.

Terry Pratchett - Lords and Ladies (could easily have been any of the Witches books, though)

John Connolly - The Killing Kind or The Book of Lost Things. Very different books, but equally brilliant.

Michael Marshall Smith - Only Forward

Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Not her most famous, but deeply weird and unsettling.

Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle (I like castles, alright?) Having seen the Ghibli film (which was gorgeous) I was surprised by how hands down hilarious this book is. Utterly charming slice of joy.

China Mieville - The Scar. Loved the adventure, the scale, the bones deep strangeness.

George R.R Martin - A Storm of Swords. Never has a book had so many shocking moments. I cried on the bus. Nuff said.

Bernard Cornwell - The Warlord Trilogy. Cheating I know, but they've blurred into one slightly.

393

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: May 07, 2013, 03:03:26 PM »

Just finished Gemmell's Sword in the Storm, which was great fun. What strikes me the most about his writing I think are the small moments of emotional truth - not something you always expect with traditional heroic fantasy.

In preparation for a book chat on American Gods for the Scrolls podcast I did a bit of reading up on the wikipedia page and noticed Gaiman referencing a book by Diana Wynne Jones called Eight Days of Luke - a children's book with lots of Norse mythology. So far it's a riot!

394

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: Your next 5 books....

« on: April 26, 2013, 01:16:05 PM »

Next five books are likely to be, in no particular order (although I am known to randomly change my mind):

The Explorer by James Smythe - been meaning to read this for ages.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - off to the Clarke Award next week, just finished Angelmaker
Among Others by Jo Walton
The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones
Herald of the Storm by Richard Ford

And then hopefully Ocean at the End of the Lane will be out...

Well I'm hoping spring 2014 comes around quick so I can add The Copper Promise to my list! 

Ah, bless you Phil I can't wait for it to be a real book, making its way in the world... *sigh* This time next year!

395

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: Your next 5 books....

« on: April 26, 2013, 12:45:44 PM »

Next five books are likely to be, in no particular order (although I am known to randomly change my mind):

The Explorer by James Smythe - been meaning to read this for ages.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - off to the Clarke Award next week, just finished Angelmaker
Among Others by Jo Walton
The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones
Herald of the Storm by Richard Ford

And then hopefully Ocean at the End of the Lane will be out...

396

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: April 24, 2013, 12:33:09 PM »

I've just finished Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker, which was crazy-good, and just started Sword in the Storm by David Gemmell. It's only my second ever Gemmell book, so I have a lot to catch up on.

397

Introductions / Re: Say Hi, I'm new thread

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:12:30 AM »

Hello! I'm not technically new, it's more that I've been away for ages and come back... so I thought I'd pop in here again and wave a bit 

398

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: May 28, 2012, 04:52:20 PM »

Loads of Bernard Cornwell books. Quite a few of the Sharpe adventures, the Grail books, and have dipped into the American Civil War books and the King Arthur books though not convinced by the latter two.

Ah! My bloke has read all the Sharpe books, he's a big fan. I prefer the ones with big swords and Vikings in, to be honest. 

399

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: May 27, 2012, 10:17:10 PM »

Azincourt is superb

I'm enjoying it very much so far! Have you read his others?

400

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: Best Novel (Fantasy or Otherwise) you've read in 2012?

« on: May 27, 2012, 09:59:35 PM »

I think (having gone back through my Goodreads list, how useful is that?) my favourite book so far this year is Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell. I read all his Alfred the Great novels in a kind of viking fever earlier this year, and I can't wait to hear from Uhtred again.

And if I'm allowed to mention a rather old book that definitely wasn't published this year, then I would tip my hat to The Haunting of Hill House, which was both beautiful and unsettling.

As I remarked on a Goodreads discussion about a gothic books a week or so ago, the opening paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House has to be one of the most brilliantly penned openings for a novel in the English language.  Great book and wonderfully subtle, the best kind of horror.

It's almost an hypnotic experience, reading that book. You're just as drawn in as the main character is, which makes it a very unnerving story.

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Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: May 27, 2012, 08:20:42 PM »

Finished The Heroes (which was excellent) so now it's on to Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell. As a huge fan of his King Arthur and Alfred the Great novels I was initially a bit thrown by the third person narrative, but it looks to the usual mixture of battles, adventure and dodgy priests. 

402

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: FANTASY CLICHÉS - What do you love and What do you hate?

« on: May 24, 2012, 04:59:24 PM »

In terms of clichés, I rather like elves and dwarves, but I what I do find annoying is when an entire race is essentially portrayed as having one giant personality. So, for example, all the elves are wise, and gentle, and probably a bit insufferable, and all the dwarves are brave to the point of insanity and drink a lot. They start to feel more like actual people if you mix it up a bit, and all fiction is really about people anyway.

Odd example: the game Dragon Age goes out of its way to give you a big variety of elves; over the course of two games you get the sexually adventurous assassin, the naive but secretly deadly mage, street-wise elf urchins, and sombre know-it-alls (the last voiced by Tuvok from Voyager). That's what I like to see; characters that are about more than their pointy ears.

403

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: Best Novel (Fantasy or Otherwise) you've read in 2012?

« on: May 23, 2012, 03:58:32 PM »

I think (having gone back through my Goodreads list, how useful is that?) my favourite book so far this year is Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell. I read all his Alfred the Great novels in a kind of viking fever earlier this year, and I can't wait to hear from Uhtred again.

And if I'm allowed to mention a rather old book that definitely wasn't published this year, then I would tip my hat to The Haunting of Hill House, which was both beautiful and unsettling.

404

Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: How much value do you place on blurbs?

« on: May 23, 2012, 03:15:44 PM »

I can't honestly remember ever taking any notice of a blurb - I think most of my decision making is based around the cover*, the description on the back, and most importantly of all, the first page or so.

*Yes, I am that shallow.

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Fantasy Book & Author Discussion / Re: What are you currently reading?

« on: May 23, 2012, 03:11:08 PM »

I'm about halfway through Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes at the moment, which is just brilliant - plenty of humour, action, and horrible, horrible violence. I'm loving it. 

Although it does give me the urge to go around calling myself Jenny the Red or Slicey McDoom.