@NicoleMR I'll be interested in your opinion of The Priory of the Orange Tree. I read it a few years ago and found it rather heavy going. Not sure why.
😅 I read Adrian Tchaikovsky's books, many of which are large enough to stun an elephant. I don't think it was the length that put me off. Maybe I should give it another try... once I've worked my way through the TBR pile. And finished The Count of Monte Cristo (in French).
If The Count of Monte Cristo doesn't put you off with its length I doubt anything else will.
I.had trouble getting into The Priory of the Orange Tree too. I think I felt it was just slightly too eager to show the main character's superiority to those around her.
I’m reading Paradise City by Elizabeth Day, the first novel of hers that I’ve tried.
Written from the point of view of several distinct characters, the plot is coming together intriguingly.
Well, I read Dungeon Crawler Carl yesterday. I liked some of it.
Potential spoilers, can't be too careful nowadays
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Princess Donut is a great character and there were some interesting ideas in it. However, I found the detailed descriptions of treasure and game mechanics tedious and repetitive, so I won't be reading any more of the series.
Just finished "How to be a half-arsed human" by Leena Norms. Very good. Very good approach to life- not giving up, not being lazy, just doing what you can.
Just finished Swordpoint by T Kingfisher, a very funny fantasy about a woman who is trying to get her inheritance back from grasping relatives with the help of a magical sword - or rather the spirit magically bound to the sword who must fight for her/keep her out of trouble.
The other T Kingfisher books I've read are just at the limit of the sort of horror I can tolerate, and very good, so it was nice to see that she can do comedy too - with a lot of yearning between the main characters. It's nice to see a romance between middle-aged people for a change. She is a respectable widow of 36, and he was in his 40s when he was bound to the blade (and is now around 500).
Thanks, @Jane R - I'm not sure why I put Swordpoint. It is, of course, Swordheart. Maybe I was thinking of Ellen Kushner. I'll look out for Nettle and Bone.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is more for people into RPG (role-playing games0. The descriptions are very much in keeping with that world. I stopped at one novel. I also read the first graphic novel ( which covers the first 130 pages of first book) for graphic novel book club.
@Caissa : yes, I've read other books based on RPGs and enjoyed them though. Some of my D&D playing friends have been enthusing about Dungeon Crawler Carl, which is why I read it.
Oh well, lots of other things to read. Including 'Do you dream of Terra-Two?' by Temi Oh, very well-written SF about the first extrasolar colonisation expedition. It was in the adult section at the library, but it could equally well have been marketed as YA as the protagonists are all in their teens. At the beginning of the expedition, anyway.
I'm still making my way through The Priory of the Orange Tree, but in odd moments I'm reading something on Project Gutenberg, "Carnacki, The Ghost Finder" by William Hope Hodgeson. It's six stories about a ghost hunter, some of the hauntings are really supernatural, some are hoaxes. One of them was made into an episode of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, which was a series that aired on PBS back in the 70s, and I have never forgotten how scared it made me.
I have just begun my long-promised pleasure re-read of Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad" (1869). Interesting trivia: it was the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime (he died in 1910). I don't think I would have guessed that!
I finished the Carnacki stories and, while still working on The Priory of the Orange Tree, I found something else is on Project Gutenberg which I've always been interested in. H Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy. So I'm reading that now.
Among other, more contemporary reading throughout the summer, I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad. I'd never actually read through either it or The Odyssey before until her translations -- the way she writes really clicks well with my brain. That said, I don't think I've ever read a literary character I disliked as much as Achilles. I knew he wasn't going to die in this book but I couldn't help hoping he would.
This month I've been having a binge on books written by Sophie Green, who is a new author to me. I bought her most recent book, The Frock Shop as I liked the thought of it. My grandmother and great grandmother both worked in the frock shop that my GG started, so the title resonated with me.
The shop in question began as a fashion boutique and over the years had quite a few owners. It's latest existence is as an op shop being managed by Daphne who has been the one constant over the years. Working with Daphne are a number of women volunteers who over time become a support system for one another and the story gradually reveals the secrets of their lives. Not just secrets, but hopes and plans for the future as they move from being colleagues to genuine friends.
Other books by this author include the Shelly Bay ladies swimming circle and the Bellbird River country choir have been described in one blurb as stories of female solidarity and friendship and I'm looking forward to starting the latter title.
As co-incidence has it, I listened to a podcast this morning and it was about an Academic who went with his father on an Odyssey cruise after his Dad began attending his Uni course on the subject. The interviewee Daniel Mendelsohn had some wonderful stories about the time he spent with his father how them sharing both the experience of the course and the cruise brought them closer together.
Not so much heavy going, as, not inspiring me to read great swaths of it at once. It's OK, I like it, but it's not the great work I was lead to believe.
Comments
I.had trouble getting into The Priory of the Orange Tree too. I think I felt it was just slightly too eager to show the main character's superiority to those around her.
Written from the point of view of several distinct characters, the plot is coming together intriguingly.
Potential spoilers, can't be too careful nowadays
Spoiler space
Spoiler space
Spoiler space
Princess Donut is a great character and there were some interesting ideas in it. However, I found the detailed descriptions of treasure and game mechanics tedious and repetitive, so I won't be reading any more of the series.
The other T Kingfisher books I've read are just at the limit of the sort of horror I can tolerate, and very good, so it was nice to see that she can do comedy too - with a lot of yearning between the main characters. It's nice to see a romance between middle-aged people for a change. She is a respectable widow of 36, and he was in his 40s when he was bound to the blade (and is now around 500).
Oh well, lots of other things to read. Including 'Do you dream of Terra-Two?' by Temi Oh, very well-written SF about the first extrasolar colonisation expedition. It was in the adult section at the library, but it could equally well have been marketed as YA as the protagonists are all in their teens. At the beginning of the expedition, anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quag_Keep
Did you know there's a sequel? 'Return to Quag Keep,' iirc, but I wouldn't swear to it.
@NicoleMR Carnacki the Ghost Finder is fun, isn't he. Although he doesn't always find a ghost.
The shop in question began as a fashion boutique and over the years had quite a few owners. It's latest existence is as an op shop being managed by Daphne who has been the one constant over the years. Working with Daphne are a number of women volunteers who over time become a support system for one another and the story gradually reveals the secrets of their lives. Not just secrets, but hopes and plans for the future as they move from being colleagues to genuine friends.
Other books by this author include the Shelly Bay ladies swimming circle and the Bellbird River country choir have been described in one blurb as stories of female solidarity and friendship and I'm looking forward to starting the latter title.
As co-incidence has it, I listened to a podcast this morning and it was about an Academic who went with his father on an Odyssey cruise after his Dad began attending his Uni course on the subject. The interviewee Daniel Mendelsohn had some wonderful stories about the time he spent with his father how them sharing both the experience of the course and the cruise brought them closer together.
I finally got round to reading Persepolis, the graphic novel about the girl growing up in Revolutionary Iran. Which is very good, of course.
...incidentally, @NicoleMR , I am getting the sense that you too are finding The Priory of the Orange Tree heavy going?