Kevin's Watch

Orlion wrote:Yeah, apparently She Who Cannot Be Named (because she is not popular enough to know about) won the Hugo and Nebula for The Left Hand of Darkness. Time to see if this work deserved it.

Been very long time since I read it, but I remember liking it. Stylistically it was quite different from any other SF I'd seen at that point.

Her The Dispossessed also won both Hugo and Nebula.

Really liked The Dispossessed too.

Worried about The Left Hand of Darkness being hyped too much for Orlion now.
I read it in high school so I'm not sure how trustworthy my LOVE is. I have read it again since but sometimes the initial response is the hardwired one. Will be interested to hear your thoughts Orlion. And if you find out who wrote it, let us know

To stay on target stay on target, I've moved on to The Broken God after all. Since I bought both the hardcover and paperback*, and since I tried to buy an official eBook (it doesn't exist), I didn't feel so bad about tracking down an unofficial one.

*2nd hand copies before you think I'm rolling in moolah.

Sheepy, you should totally get The Broken God written on vellum or papyrus and carved on traditional clay tablets also. You never can predict the occasion when the mind yearns for a more down-to-earth medium than these modern electronic concoctions. I can guarantee that a runestone would look really, really cool in your living room, but might prove unwieldy and a strain on the neck, if you take into account the fact that portions of the inscriptions were drawn sideways or upside down in Ye Oldendays.

Almost finished with The Memory of Light (last Wheel of Time). Too many trollocks.

In my defense, it wasn't a deliberate proliferation of forms. The hardback I bought years ago before my RSI degenerated into *Really* Sore Injury, the paperback I bought because I knew I wouldn't be able to hold up the hardback. And the ebook I 'acquired' because I realized I wouldn't be able to wait for the paperback to be delivered. I know it sounds like some literary homage to the woman who swallowed a fly nursery rhyme, but now you have the backstory, surely you can see it's perfectly sane behaviour.

You have got me thinking about the runestone though. The ebook's 811 pages so it would be a VERY impressive piece of living room art.

Read Gemmell's Last Sword of Power and The Last Guardian over the weekend, now on Ender's Shadow.

Gormenghast can wait Orlion, Gormenghast can wait.

--A

The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett. My 5th Discworld book. Have also read (since my last post) Small Gods and The Colour of Magic. I decided to start from the beginning having read Pyramids and Guards! Guards! The Latter was, in my opinion, the very best. This makes it my 7th book since Christmas!!!

Terry Pratchett is awesome.

Reading The Crippled God for the second time. I was on Jury Duty the first time I read it, and suffered frequent interruptions. Enjoying it much more this time, though I've had to put it down a few times because of moments. Not the first time Erikson has gotten under my skin.

Iolanthe wrote:...Guards! Guards! The Latter was, in my opinion, the very best.

If you liked that, wait until you see how the characters develop in later books. The City Watch books are my favourites.

How I envy you. You still have more than 30 Discworld books to go, and that's not counting all the companion stuff and the short stories and graphic novels.

In fact, the other day was the 30th anniversary of the 1st Discworld book.

Enjoy them.

--A

Avatar wrote:

Iolanthe wrote:...Guards! Guards! The Latter was, in my opinion, the very best.

How I envy you. You still have more than 30 Discworld books to go, and that's not counting all the companion stuff and the short stories and graphic novels.

--A

And I am looking forward to them. Finished Light Fantastic, but I really must wait till February before downloading another. Re-reading Tapped now.

Recently finished a reread of Darknesses by L. E. Modesitt (the 2nd book of the Corean Chronicles). I'm on to Scepters now.

I started this book before but I only got about halfway through before I got bored with it. I'll probably finish it this time, but the same thing that annoyed me the last time (too much magic ) continues to be a bit of a pain. (An old bugbear of mine now. (It's the same complaint that I level at the Last Chrons.) IMO, too much magic destroys the essential storytelling nature of fantasy, thus rendering it mostly inert )

u.

Iolanthe wrote:
And I am looking forward to them. Finished Light Fantastic, but I really must wait till February before downloading another.

Why? I suspect you will enjoy the Witches books too, which start with Equal Rites.

And then of course there is the one based on the Scottish play, where the Witches really get going.

--A

Halderwood, a seemingly unknown novel by Carolyn Maine. (I will probably end up writing its only review on Amazon!) My sister mailed it to me, it seems to be a self-published book and has the usual annoying typos and in one case a rather glaring gaffe; but it's actually a very cool and well-developed story and a chapter that is supposed to be understatedly horrifying (in an off-camera, Hitchcock-esque way) was VERY effective. I like that. The main character is very empathetic and the narrative flows; the world she creates is elegant and intriguing. I find myself looking forward to going home and reading another chapter.

Avatar wrote:

Iolanthe wrote:
And I am looking forward to them. Finished Light Fantastic, but I really must wait till February before downloading another.

Why? I suspect you will enjoy the Witches books too, which start with Equal Rites.

And then of course there is the one based on the Scottish play, where the Witches really get going.

--A

Why? Because I already spent about 27 quid in January on e books!

Finished Scepters, it was better than I thought in the end and I would recommend the series in general. There are a couple of more books after this one, I may check them out now.

u.

Iolanthe wrote:Why? Because I already spent about 27 quid in January on e books!

Hahaha, I wish I had your restraint. I went a bit overboard this month. Probably spent the equivalent of 200 quid on (paper) books in Jan.

And on that note, I'm reading Dragon Token, Book 2 of Melanie Rawn's Dragon Star series, which arrived yesterday, the last of my book deliveries.

--A

Just finished "The One Tree" so I'll start WGW tomorrow and continue until I've finished all the available Chrons, after that I plan on revisiting James Clemens' "Godslayer Chronicles"...which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a truly interesting take on magic.

Finished Elantris by Brandon Sanderson and am about halfway through The Left Hand of Darkness.

Thus far, the books I have read by Sanderson have been entertaining and satisfying (I've read the Mistborn trilogy and Elantris). Nothing too deep, but well-constructed plots and accessible.

And on to Skybowl, book 3 of the aforementioned series.

--A