What are you reading?

[Sharecrow]

I haven't been good about posting when I finish books here but also fell short of most of my goals. Wanted to do a quick post to say I'll report better this year and also, for my 2018 goal, I intend to read the five Frank Herbert Dune books.

Read Dune Frank Herbert pentalogy:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

[Kong Wen]

1. 01-10 Undermajordomo Minor (2016), Patrick deWitt (Canadian)
2. 01-20 The Outsider (1942), Albert Camus (French)
3. 02-28 Americana: The Kinks, the Riff, the Road, the Story (2013), Ray Davies (British)
4. 05-12 The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982), Stephen King (American)
5. 05-13 The Zone of Interest (2014), Martin Amis (British)
6. 05-16 Stories of Your Life and Others (2002), Ted Chiang (American)
7. 05-19 Notes from a Feminist Killjoy: Essays on Everyday Life (2016), Erin Wunker (Canadian)
8. 05-23 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), J.K. Rowling (British)
9. 05-27 The Handmaid's Tale (1985), Margaret Atwood (Canadian)
10. 06-04 The Golden Compass (1995), Philip Pullman (British)
11. 06-25 Beren and Lúthien (2017), J.R.R. Tolkien (British)
12. 07-02 The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987), Stephen King (American)
13. 07-04 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), J.K. Rowling (British)
14. 07-05 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), J.K. Rowling (British)
15. 07-09 The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991), Stephen King (American)
16. 07-23 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), J.K. Rowling (British)
17. 08-01 The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997), Stephen King (American)
18. 08-07 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), J.K. Rowling (British)
19. 08-09 The Dark Tower: The Wind through the Keyhole (2012), Stephen King (American)
20. 08-13 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), J.K. Rowling (British)
21. 08-29 The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003), Stephen King (American)
22. 09-07 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007), J.K. Rowling (British)
23. 10-07 The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004), Stephen King (American)
24. 10-28 The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004), Stephen King (American)
25. 11-12 Homegoing (2016), Yaa Gyasi (Ghanaian)

So that ended up being it for me for the year. Worked out to just over two books per month, which is pretty good considering several of them were thousand-pagers!

I'm almost 700 pages into Gai-Jin right now, and there are some interesting developments. I still think I prefer Shogun, but this is pretty decent. I haven't decided whether I'll read more Clavell after this one or not.

Next on the list will be one of my Christmas or birthday books. Haven't decided which one yet.

[Sharecrow]

I'm almost 700 pages into Gai-Jin right now, and there are some interesting developments. I still think I prefer Shogun, but this is pretty decent. I haven't decided whether I'll read more Clavell after this one or not.

Am sorry to hear you may be passing on Clavell after this. I’m grateful that you’ll have read three of his books and none of them were short! I just adore his work but understand that it has its down sides. For me they are minor ones and overall I just really enjoy reading them. I like his complexity and the breadth of his stories and their characters. I literally started watching samurai movies because of Clavell, and I’ve got a decent collection on that front now.

Edit: I’m up to 500...

[Kong Wen]

I'm almost 700 pages into Gai-Jin right now, and there are some interesting developments. I still think I prefer Shogun, but this is pretty decent. I haven't decided whether I'll read more Clavell after this one or not.

Am sorry to hear you may be passing on Clavell after this. I’m grateful that you’ll have read three of his books and none of them were short! I just adore his work but understand that it has its down sides. For me they are minor ones and overall I just really enjoy reading them. I like his complexity and the breadth of his stories and their characters. I literally started watching samurai movies because of Clavell, and I’ve got a decent collection on that front now.

I think Shogun was excellent. Tai-Pan was almost as good, although it was somewhat more frustrating. Clavell is good at setting up grand schemes that all fall into place, but he has a harder time with frustrating those grand schemes and still making that frustration a satisfying reading experience. So Culum was a frustrating oaf, and the ending of Tai-Pan was kind of frustrating as well, although I'm glad to see the threads being taken up in Gai-Jin again. Unfortunately, the frustrations have multiplied, as it seems like Malcolm is just as oafish and everyone (everyone) is two steps ahead of him. The scale of the Struans/Brock rivalry is only really resurfacing 700 pages in with the advent of a spoilery development, so it doesn't give me much faith that there's much of a chance of it being paid off and redeeming the previous book within the next 400 pages. We'll see.

Part of the reason I'm hesitant to continue is that the next book in the series takes us into modern times, so the intrigue of the historical setting isn't quite the same.

[Kong Wen]

1. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)

Phew, that was a close one. I have my work cut out for me if I want to finish a second book this month. Gai-Jin is the book that took me longest to read in over a year. Many of my thoughts are above. I'm glad to be done. I'll probably zip through something short and quick before diving into another hefty backlogged tome.

[Kong Wen]

1. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)
2. 02-04 Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems (1996), Alden Nowlan (Canadian)

I finished this selection of Nowlan's poems last night after getting home from the Oscar-prep marathon. Great read, with more than a few excellent poems. I bookmarked several for later use.

Now I'm moving on to Patrick deWitt's Ablutions. Reading deWitt at the beginning of the year has become a kind of unofficial tradition for me, apparently.

[Kong Wen]

1. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)
2. 02-04 Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems (1996), Alden Nowlan (Canadian)
3. 02-08 Ablutions (2009), Patrick deWitt (Canadian)

I finished deWitt's Ablutions yesterday. I didn't even know what it was about going in, but I've liked everything else I've read from him. Turns out it's a wild ride, second-person perspective novel about addiction. Good book. Pulls no punches.

I'm going to move on to the second book of the His Dark Materials trilogy now. I read The Golden Compass last year but I didn't continue on because of my Potter/Tower cycle. Now's the time. I've heard this second book is at least as good as the first, so we'll see.

[Sharecrow]

I've finished a couple of books and have several more going at once.

First, I finished Thomas Paine's "The Rights of Man," which is actually two books in one in terms of how it was originally released. It covers his thoughts on government, representation, and when it is okay to revolt against your country. He was known as the father of the American Revolution, but, I heard, only six people attended his funeral. Am not sure why. The book was quite good if a bit dry. He almost had a vendetta against this other author who he kept carrying on about - Paine's perceived flaws in his thinking and in his arguments. It was almost humorous at times how much he'd carry on.

Secondly, I finished "The Tales of Guy de Maupassant," which I quite enjoyed even more than I was expecting to. I hadn't heard of him previously and so I didn't have any expectations or foreknowledge about him. The stories were catchy and, at times, quite brief. But they often had some surprises buried in them too. Good times.

I'm still reading "Gai Jin," "Again, Dangerous Visions" (which is packed and I haven't found it yet), "QB VII" on my kindle, and "Dune" for my primary book. All awesomely fun to read.

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

Over the last months, I've been reading a lot. I think it's time for me to contribute, so here goes:

The First Law-Trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings) by J. Abercrombie

• Those three were pretty good thanks to the cast of main characters incl. crippled inquisitors, murderous ladies, vain officers and such.
  Each chapter has something fun and exciting, so it works really well on moment-to-moment basis. However the overall plot is a bit weak as it doesn't really move all that much until it rushes to the finish in the third book. I enjoyed them a lot nonetheless.

Hag-Seed by M. Atwood

• Reimagining of Shakespeares The Tempest mostly set in a prison, where a shunned director takes control of a theatre group plotting his revenge.
  Fun stuff, nothing special though. I liked it.

The Secret River by K. Grenville

• A tale of Austrailian colonialism. While it is well told and the main character is likeable, I don't think I will remember much of it.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet & A Closed & Common Orbit by B. Chambers

• Two Sci-Fi stories that are focussed on people than on grand adventures and I loved them. The first book is more about interculturual/interpersonal competences (and I like that one a bit more) the second is more about self-discovery and identity. Recommend them both.

The Name of the Wind by P. Rothfuss

• Just finished it. Another, more or less pulpy, Fantasy novel about a barkeeper telling his lifestory to a chronicler. Started out good, but I kinda lost interest as it went on, largely because it got clear that this isn't a stand-alone story but the start of another series and I am kinda sick of these right now. I may read the follow up a t some point, but I'd rather read something self-contained and complete.

Norwegian Wood by H. Murakami

• I rarely read romance novels, this tragic love story in set in Japan during the 60s really did the job. It is pretty darn good.

Other stuff I've read in the recent months (that I remember):

• The Zone of Interest (M. Amis)
  Shardik (R. Adams)
  War for the Oaks (E. Bull)
  Day of the Triffids (J. Wyndham)
  Gormenghast (M. Peake)
  The Stand (S. King)
  Wonders Will Never Cease (R. Irwin)
  The Castle of Ortranto (H. Walpole)
  King Solomon's Mine (H.R. Haggard)
  Congo (M. Crichton) ... its poop
  It (S. King)

[Kong Wen]

Nice Kiwi, you've been busy! I should add Norwegian Wood to my wishlist. 1Q84 was weird and weirded me out, so maybe I need some different Murakami to flush the system.

1. 01-29 Gai-Jin (1993), James Clavell (American)
2. 02-04 Alden Nowlan: Selected Poems (1996), Alden Nowlan (Canadian)
3. 02-08 Ablutions (2009), Patrick deWitt (Canadian)
4. 02-24 The Subtle Knife (1997), Philip Pullman (UK)

The second book in the Golden Compass / His Dark Materials trilogy was a good quick read. Pullman ramped up the scope dramatically within these short 300 pages. I ordered the third book and it's notably longer (I think about as long as the previous two books combined), so it seems like Pullman knew he had to chew what he had bitten off. I'm not sure when I'll get around to it though, as I've started Dune and it seems like it'll keep me busy for a month or so.