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May. 22nd, 2013 10:27 pmWED Book meme?
- Finished reading G.A. Aiken's Dragon, Actually which reminded me a great deal of some erotic fanfiction I've read. It's rough in places, but funny in others. The first story about Fearghus the Destroyer and Annwyl the Bloody is more interesting than the latter one about Fearghus parents, Bercelak the Great and Queen Rhinnanon. Warning: the sex is explicit and repetitive, if that's not your thing, you might want to skip. Plus lots of funny graphic violence. Example: Annwyl keeps her shirts sleeveless so she can chop off heads quicker.
Or Rhinnanon greatly enjoyed smashing the human into pulp. But other than that...
- Currently reading Ilona Andrews Magic Bites - which sort of reminds me of the Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison urban fantasy novels, except better written than Harrison but not quite as well written as Butcher. Butcher's writing is sharper and more compelling. Can't quite put my finger on how. Andrews falls somewhere between the two. I'm having troubles getting into it at the moment...but I've been told that the first novel is the weakest. Not helped by the fact that you feel like you missed a book in there somewhere. But no, this is the first of what appears to be a lengthy series.
[As an aside? I'm not a fan of serial novels or novels that are a series. Too much commitment to one author, I like to spread the wealth around. Also after a while the author often begins to repeat themselves or stretch portions of the story out too thin. Example? ( Read more... ) ]
-Still working my way through...Dance With Dragons by GRR Martin - yes, apparently I'm into fantasy again. Or at least partially. It's great escapist literature. Less realistic, the better. Which may well be my problem with GRRM, who knows? Although I do like that fact that everyone's lives in ADwD is far worse than mine. Weirdly reassuring not to mention comforting. Right now I'm reading books for escape, entertainment and comfort not information or intellectual advancement - I can get that at work and on lj (okay sparingly).
At any rate - I got bogged down in the middle of one of the endless Jon Snow chapters, where everyone is freezing, worrying about food, while...eh that would be spoilers. So Never mind.
Gave up and decided to read something a tad more uplifting. Well, within reason. I draw the line at cheery.
Oh...and debating picking up Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley again, whose feminism reminds me a bit too much of Sherri Tepper's for my taste, which may be why I didn't like it 20 years ago? I don't know. My rating system on Good Reads is this:
One star = read it, can't remember it at all, therefore clearly not that good.
Two stars = read it, loathed it.
Three stars = read it, liked it well enough, but didn't rock my world...it was okay and I can remember it.
Four Stars = read it, enjoyed it, remember it as being very good
Five Stars = rocked my world, brilliant, adore.
Very few books get five stars. Also I often can't make up my mind. There are books that I may have put at one star that I didn't finish or didn't make it past the first three chapters.
- Finished reading G.A. Aiken's Dragon, Actually which reminded me a great deal of some erotic fanfiction I've read. It's rough in places, but funny in others. The first story about Fearghus the Destroyer and Annwyl the Bloody is more interesting than the latter one about Fearghus parents, Bercelak the Great and Queen Rhinnanon. Warning: the sex is explicit and repetitive, if that's not your thing, you might want to skip. Plus lots of funny graphic violence. Example: Annwyl keeps her shirts sleeveless so she can chop off heads quicker.
Or Rhinnanon greatly enjoyed smashing the human into pulp. But other than that...
- Currently reading Ilona Andrews Magic Bites - which sort of reminds me of the Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison urban fantasy novels, except better written than Harrison but not quite as well written as Butcher. Butcher's writing is sharper and more compelling. Can't quite put my finger on how. Andrews falls somewhere between the two. I'm having troubles getting into it at the moment...but I've been told that the first novel is the weakest. Not helped by the fact that you feel like you missed a book in there somewhere. But no, this is the first of what appears to be a lengthy series.
[As an aside? I'm not a fan of serial novels or novels that are a series. Too much commitment to one author, I like to spread the wealth around. Also after a while the author often begins to repeat themselves or stretch portions of the story out too thin. Example? ( Read more... ) ]
-Still working my way through...Dance With Dragons by GRR Martin - yes, apparently I'm into fantasy again. Or at least partially. It's great escapist literature. Less realistic, the better. Which may well be my problem with GRRM, who knows? Although I do like that fact that everyone's lives in ADwD is far worse than mine. Weirdly reassuring not to mention comforting. Right now I'm reading books for escape, entertainment and comfort not information or intellectual advancement - I can get that at work and on lj (okay sparingly).
At any rate - I got bogged down in the middle of one of the endless Jon Snow chapters, where everyone is freezing, worrying about food, while...eh that would be spoilers. So Never mind.
Gave up and decided to read something a tad more uplifting. Well, within reason. I draw the line at cheery.
Oh...and debating picking up Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley again, whose feminism reminds me a bit too much of Sherri Tepper's for my taste, which may be why I didn't like it 20 years ago? I don't know. My rating system on Good Reads is this:
One star = read it, can't remember it at all, therefore clearly not that good.
Two stars = read it, loathed it.
Three stars = read it, liked it well enough, but didn't rock my world...it was okay and I can remember it.
Four Stars = read it, enjoyed it, remember it as being very good
Five Stars = rocked my world, brilliant, adore.
Very few books get five stars. Also I often can't make up my mind. There are books that I may have put at one star that I didn't finish or didn't make it past the first three chapters.