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Wed Reading Meme
Aug. 6th, 2014 10:07 pm[I obviously like this meme, because it gives me a chance to discuss my favorite thing - books. Without the nuisance of joining a book club and having to read what other people pick...did that several years back, and it gets old fast. Mainly because we have different needs, tastes, desires - also, I was an English Lit Major, so having the freedom to choose what I read never gets old.]
1. What I Just Finished Reading?
Book 5 in George RR Martin's epic, and rather lengthy, fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. This one was entitled A Dance With Dragons and was 800 pages long.
Suffice it to say - it took a while to read the thing, and I did a heck of lot of skimming. Martin will use 50-100 words to say something that really only requires 10. Brevity is not his strong suite. He is also into detailed descriptions of minor things - such as what people had for dinner, how the corpse is rotting and how quickly, and if it smells.
In addition - Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series is an example of a book with too much plot. ( what I've already said before just in a new way in case anyone missed it, and there are no spoilers )
Suffice it to say: You know you have a problem when the only characters you are concerned about dying are the Dragons. Small spoiler? He did not kill off the dragons.
2. What you are reading now?
The much more satisfying and far more humorous, although that admittedly would not be hard, novel Magic Breaks by Illona Andrews, which is book 7 in the Kate Daniels series. The writers aren't particularly creative when it comes to titles, but few writers are - I'm good at titles, but I'm not published. So there may be something to be said for not worrying too much over it.
Unlike GRR Martin, Andrews decides to provide the reader with a short character outline or sketch of each principle character in the story and who they are, what their background is. ( Read more... )
Now, if only I could find one person on my flist who felt the same way about these books? I don't appear to share my flist's reading tastes at the moment. Is there any one out there who enjoyed these books? (Don't tell me if you hated them or didn't like them, I don't want to know.) No? Just me then? They are better than the Jim Butcher books by the way.
3. What I'll be Reading Next
Strongly considering two books that my mother just finished reading, and I'd rec'd to her. They are by Sherry Thomas, one of the better historical romance novelists out there. She doesn't tend to lean towards purple prose or graphic sex scenes. More into relationship dynamics, and writes strong women and men. No rape. No sexual violence.
And no cruelty - not boddice rippers.
Her two recent books - which have just been published, are a bit different.
* The Hidden Blade - which is described as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets Dowton Abbey. It's the prequel and for .99 cents on Amazon.
Here's the blurb on Good Reads:
This isn't a romance novel. The sequel is the romance novel. Although my mother who has now read both in the space of two days upon my recommendation, advised that I should read the prequel first. She said it helps you to understand where the characters are coming from and why. (Mother is off to read Phillip Meyer's Award Winning Son, and had just finished reading a non-fiction book about the Rothchilds. She's like I am, eclectically diverse in her reading tastes. The apple does not fall far from the tree.)
* My Beautiful Enemy - is the sequel. It reunites the two characters from the previous book, but takes place after the series of events that broke them apart. Those events according to mother are shown in flashbacks and aren't described in the previous book - but you still should read it first. She also preferred the prequel. She had issues with My Beautiful Enemy's ending - she liked it but it didn't quite work for her. (This is actually the problem I've had with all of Sherry Thomas' novels, so I'm curious what she did here.)
Thomas interests me as a writer - for one thing, she writes in her second language.
I have a handful of reputable romance novelists:
* Meredith Duran
* Sherry Thomas
* Courtney Milan
* Eloisa James
* Elizabeth Hoyt
They've been somewhat reliable. On the fence about Laura Kinsale and Megan McKinney.
The contemporary romance novelists and chick-lit authors - don't work for me. Only one I found interesting was Liane Moriarity - who wrote What Alice Forgot and The Husband's Secret. JoJo Moyes writes completely implausible characters and plots - to the point that I'm thrown out of the story and irritated at the same time. How she became popular, I've no clue. Suzanne Phillips...has silly heroines that I can't identify with, same with Maya Banks - who is a wee bit sexist in her style. Sylvia Day is too into child abuse and molestation, also her style bores me, it's flowery. Lisa Keyplas has one too many typos and grammatical errors - also she uses dialect, and badly.
I've read so many now - it's become like apartment hunting, I know who to avoid.
1. What I Just Finished Reading?
Book 5 in George RR Martin's epic, and rather lengthy, fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. This one was entitled A Dance With Dragons and was 800 pages long.
Suffice it to say - it took a while to read the thing, and I did a heck of lot of skimming. Martin will use 50-100 words to say something that really only requires 10. Brevity is not his strong suite. He is also into detailed descriptions of minor things - such as what people had for dinner, how the corpse is rotting and how quickly, and if it smells.
In addition - Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series is an example of a book with too much plot. ( what I've already said before just in a new way in case anyone missed it, and there are no spoilers )
Suffice it to say: You know you have a problem when the only characters you are concerned about dying are the Dragons. Small spoiler? He did not kill off the dragons.
2. What you are reading now?
The much more satisfying and far more humorous, although that admittedly would not be hard, novel Magic Breaks by Illona Andrews, which is book 7 in the Kate Daniels series. The writers aren't particularly creative when it comes to titles, but few writers are - I'm good at titles, but I'm not published. So there may be something to be said for not worrying too much over it.
Unlike GRR Martin, Andrews decides to provide the reader with a short character outline or sketch of each principle character in the story and who they are, what their background is. ( Read more... )
Now, if only I could find one person on my flist who felt the same way about these books? I don't appear to share my flist's reading tastes at the moment. Is there any one out there who enjoyed these books? (Don't tell me if you hated them or didn't like them, I don't want to know.) No? Just me then? They are better than the Jim Butcher books by the way.
3. What I'll be Reading Next
Strongly considering two books that my mother just finished reading, and I'd rec'd to her. They are by Sherry Thomas, one of the better historical romance novelists out there. She doesn't tend to lean towards purple prose or graphic sex scenes. More into relationship dynamics, and writes strong women and men. No rape. No sexual violence.
And no cruelty - not boddice rippers.
Her two recent books - which have just been published, are a bit different.
* The Hidden Blade - which is described as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon meets Dowton Abbey. It's the prequel and for .99 cents on Amazon.
Here's the blurb on Good Reads:
In the waning days of the last dynasty, in a quiet, beautiful corner of imperial Peking, a young girl's blissful ignorance is shattered when she learns that she is the illegitimate daughter of an English adventurer and a Chinese courtesan. What future is there for such a girl? But a mysterious figure steps forward and offers to instruct her in the highest forms of martial arts--a path to a life of strength and independence.
Half a world away in England, a young boy's idyllic summer on the Sussex downs implodes with the firing of a single bullet. Torn from his family, he becomes the hostage of a urbanely sadistic uncle. He dreams of escaping to find his beloved friend--but the friend is in China, ten thousand miles away.
The girl trains to be deadly. The boy flees across continents. They do not know it yet, but their lives are already inextricably bound together, and will collide one fateful night when they least expect it.
This isn't a romance novel. The sequel is the romance novel. Although my mother who has now read both in the space of two days upon my recommendation, advised that I should read the prequel first. She said it helps you to understand where the characters are coming from and why. (Mother is off to read Phillip Meyer's Award Winning Son, and had just finished reading a non-fiction book about the Rothchilds. She's like I am, eclectically diverse in her reading tastes. The apple does not fall far from the tree.)
* My Beautiful Enemy - is the sequel. It reunites the two characters from the previous book, but takes place after the series of events that broke them apart. Those events according to mother are shown in flashbacks and aren't described in the previous book - but you still should read it first. She also preferred the prequel. She had issues with My Beautiful Enemy's ending - she liked it but it didn't quite work for her. (This is actually the problem I've had with all of Sherry Thomas' novels, so I'm curious what she did here.)
Hidden beneath Catherine Blade’s uncommon beauty is a daring that matches any man’s. Although this has taken her far in the world, she still doesn’t have the one thing she craves: the freedom to live life as she chooses. Finally given the chance to earn her independence, who should be standing in her way but the only man she’s ever loved, the only person to ever betray her.
Despite the scars Catherine left him, Captain Leighton Atwood has never been able to forget the mysterious girl who once so thoroughly captivated him. When she unexpectedly reappears in his life, he refuses to get close to her. But he cannot deny the yearning she reignites in his heart.
Their reunion, however, plunges them into a web of espionage, treachery, and deadly foes. With everything at stake, Leighton and Catherine are forced to work together to find a way out. If they are ever to find safety and happiness, they must first forgive and learn to trust each other again…
Thomas interests me as a writer - for one thing, she writes in her second language.
I have a handful of reputable romance novelists:
* Meredith Duran
* Sherry Thomas
* Courtney Milan
* Eloisa James
* Elizabeth Hoyt
They've been somewhat reliable. On the fence about Laura Kinsale and Megan McKinney.
The contemporary romance novelists and chick-lit authors - don't work for me. Only one I found interesting was Liane Moriarity - who wrote What Alice Forgot and The Husband's Secret. JoJo Moyes writes completely implausible characters and plots - to the point that I'm thrown out of the story and irritated at the same time. How she became popular, I've no clue. Suzanne Phillips...has silly heroines that I can't identify with, same with Maya Banks - who is a wee bit sexist in her style. Sylvia Day is too into child abuse and molestation, also her style bores me, it's flowery. Lisa Keyplas has one too many typos and grammatical errors - also she uses dialect, and badly.
I've read so many now - it's become like apartment hunting, I know who to avoid.