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J.G. Ballard
The Atrocity Exhibition
You know, the real problem with books that become famous because they're controversial is this - that when you read them decades after the fact, they are quite frankly often a bit meh. After the 117th bit involving Marilon Monroe and car crashes as metaphor for sex, thank you, we get it...
Vilhelm Bergsøe
Flyvefisken Prometheus
It's always fun reading 19th century science fiction, the sort from back when steampunk was futuristic. I particularly liked the women reporters and the whole we-have-to-balance-the-flying-vessel-so-the-fat-guy-has-to-lie-exactly-in-the-middle-and-stay-there. The silliness of the whole short story, actually.
Jim Butcher
Furies of Calderon
It's okay. Reminds me a lot of David Eddings' work, actually. Mind you, the whole kidnapping of two major female characters by a villain who wants to break them and turn them into sexslaves while the valley is getting invaded by neanderthals with bonded predator animals is - well - annoying. I really hate villains being stupid for no good reason...
Lars Haman & Gorm Præst Jørgensen
Fanden er løs
A murder mystery set in Christian IV's Copenhagen. It's okay - spends a lot of time dwelling on how dirty and nasty the world was back then, but that fits modern Scandinavian murder mysteries, so - and I liked bits quite well, like the random Kali statuette and how the supposedly wise academics are all assuming it to be some sort of familiar, particularly since the guy it belong to was accussed of witchcraft, while the captain fresh back from the East Indies immediately dismisses it as a souvenir.
Han Suyin
The Enchantress
Clockwork robots and telepathic twins and 18th century China and Thailand. Maybe not great literature, and the whole bit with Europeans running around being influential in Asia is perhaps is a bit unfortunate, but quite fun anyway - and certainly a good read if you want to know about clockwork and automatons and that sort of thing.
George R.R. Martin
A Feast for Crows
Not nearly as good as the previous three, and I'm not just saying that because it has neither Tyrion nor Daenerys. It's just, it's very obvious that this is only really half a book - and unfortunately, most of it is the boring half. Thing is, the way I have read the series, it's all about Westeros being oblivious and playing there little political schemes, not noticing the world around them having magic waking up and everything turning dark. Judging by the title scheme, I suspect winter is going to be an ice-age-zombie-apocalypse (maybe the Vale as a valiant last standand?) then come spring, Daenerys is going to come with her dragons and restore the natural order, the whole eucatastrophe deal with rightful heir to throne and all that. But the chapters in Westeros feels - like a waste of my time, really. It's like the important stuff is happening elsewhere and all I'm getting is rumours and miscommunications and it's annoying. Yes, there are plot-relevant stuff, like Euron's horn of dragon control, but seriously, not nearly enough - besides, I'm getting bored with the endless misogyni towards every single female character (I mean, seriously, Cersei is a manipulative bitch and not nearly as clever as she'd like to thing - focus on that, not that she's a woman, just once?).
I'm glad I didn't get into ASOIAF sooner - imagine having to wait something like a decade for more Tyrion? Instead of less than half a month? My biggest hope for the new book is this - that Tyrion and Daenerys meet and that Tyrion gets to be one of her dragonriders. Because those two together - nobody could stop them. That would be awesome.
Shaun Tan
The Arrival
This is an absolutely gorgeous graphic novel - the tale of a man leaving wife and child to journey to a (very strange) foreign land, meeting the kindness of fellow immigrants, making a life, bringing his family over and eventually sharing with other immigrants in turn. And it is gorgeous.
Totals number of books and comics read this month: 27
Currently reading: Kristin Cashore's Fire
The Atrocity Exhibition
You know, the real problem with books that become famous because they're controversial is this - that when you read them decades after the fact, they are quite frankly often a bit meh. After the 117th bit involving Marilon Monroe and car crashes as metaphor for sex, thank you, we get it...
Vilhelm Bergsøe
Flyvefisken Prometheus
It's always fun reading 19th century science fiction, the sort from back when steampunk was futuristic. I particularly liked the women reporters and the whole we-have-to-balance-the-flying-vessel-so-the-fat-guy-has-to-lie-exactly-in-the-middle-and-stay-there. The silliness of the whole short story, actually.
Jim Butcher
Furies of Calderon
It's okay. Reminds me a lot of David Eddings' work, actually. Mind you, the whole kidnapping of two major female characters by a villain who wants to break them and turn them into sexslaves while the valley is getting invaded by neanderthals with bonded predator animals is - well - annoying. I really hate villains being stupid for no good reason...
Lars Haman & Gorm Præst Jørgensen
Fanden er løs
A murder mystery set in Christian IV's Copenhagen. It's okay - spends a lot of time dwelling on how dirty and nasty the world was back then, but that fits modern Scandinavian murder mysteries, so - and I liked bits quite well, like the random Kali statuette and how the supposedly wise academics are all assuming it to be some sort of familiar, particularly since the guy it belong to was accussed of witchcraft, while the captain fresh back from the East Indies immediately dismisses it as a souvenir.
Han Suyin
The Enchantress
Clockwork robots and telepathic twins and 18th century China and Thailand. Maybe not great literature, and the whole bit with Europeans running around being influential in Asia is perhaps is a bit unfortunate, but quite fun anyway - and certainly a good read if you want to know about clockwork and automatons and that sort of thing.
George R.R. Martin
A Feast for Crows
Not nearly as good as the previous three, and I'm not just saying that because it has neither Tyrion nor Daenerys. It's just, it's very obvious that this is only really half a book - and unfortunately, most of it is the boring half. Thing is, the way I have read the series, it's all about Westeros being oblivious and playing there little political schemes, not noticing the world around them having magic waking up and everything turning dark. Judging by the title scheme, I suspect winter is going to be an ice-age-zombie-apocalypse (maybe the Vale as a valiant last standand?) then come spring, Daenerys is going to come with her dragons and restore the natural order, the whole eucatastrophe deal with rightful heir to throne and all that. But the chapters in Westeros feels - like a waste of my time, really. It's like the important stuff is happening elsewhere and all I'm getting is rumours and miscommunications and it's annoying. Yes, there are plot-relevant stuff, like Euron's horn of dragon control, but seriously, not nearly enough - besides, I'm getting bored with the endless misogyni towards every single female character (I mean, seriously, Cersei is a manipulative bitch and not nearly as clever as she'd like to thing - focus on that, not that she's a woman, just once?).
I'm glad I didn't get into ASOIAF sooner - imagine having to wait something like a decade for more Tyrion? Instead of less than half a month? My biggest hope for the new book is this - that Tyrion and Daenerys meet and that Tyrion gets to be one of her dragonriders. Because those two together - nobody could stop them. That would be awesome.
Shaun Tan
The Arrival
This is an absolutely gorgeous graphic novel - the tale of a man leaving wife and child to journey to a (very strange) foreign land, meeting the kindness of fellow immigrants, making a life, bringing his family over and eventually sharing with other immigrants in turn. And it is gorgeous.
Totals number of books and comics read this month: 27
Currently reading: Kristin Cashore's Fire
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But yes, most definitely, the abiding impression afterwards is of something beautiful. *smiles*