What Are You Reading?

[EMARX]

Finished Guillou and his Not wanting to see. I liked it for its honesty. It is set in sweden during the war years. The main person is a person educated in germany and with the bigger part of the familys money placed in germany. He is, like many (though they never admitted it afterwards) of the swedish right wing parties at the time germanfriendly but not nazifriendly. They saw Hitler as sad paranthesis in Germanys history and that it would get better when he was gone. They didn't like the antisemitic thing but they didn't know of the Holocaust. Sadly thats a rather true picture of his part of the society. It is honest and in a way brave to write a book with a german friendly narrator that hopes that germany will win the war. Mostly books about this time have a narrator that stands clearly on the right side with hindsight. This man is mostly a good person. He never really wants to accept that the germany that was is very different from the germany that is. Therefore when the proofs and pictures that cant be denied unfolds from april-45 and forward when the americans liberates Buchenwald his world are crushed and his illusions falls down around him. Probably a bit difficult to understand for all countries taking part in the war but sweden stayed neutral, more or less, during the war and a lot of people never figured out which propaganda to believe.

Then i started The Secret Place by Tana French. Started promising. She is a really good crime author. Can be warmly recommended for those interested in the genre.

I've read the first two of her novels and really enjoyed them. I like her habit of taking a fringe character from the previous book and making them the focus of the next. She can still write who dunnits, but not be tied to the same protagonist each time out.

 

[Kurben]

I've read the first two of her novels and really enjoyed them. I like her habit of taking a fringe character from the previous book and making them the focus of the next. She can still write who dunnits, but not be tied to the same protagonist each time out.

Yeah, thats a big plus to not have to use the same character time and again. I got bored with Bosch and several others main characters from other authors. They somehow stopped being interesting. French never has that problem. So i won't get bored. This is the fifth of hers i read.

 

[AchtungBaby]

Still reading Tabitha King's Survivor-- at the halfway point now. I like it a good deal, but not sure if I love it yet-- like a few of her other books, the characters simply rely on sex TOO much-- they use sex when they're happy, sad, angry, relieved. And then get mad when the sex (usually unprotected) causes problems (and this is a Tabby King novel we're talking about, so of course there will be problems).

I dunno. I love her story ideas but the needless pages upon pages of sex gets tiresome.

 

[skimom2]

Read Clan of the Cave Bear, The Mammoth Hunters and Ninth Cave by Jean Auel. I skipped the other in the series as they are really nothing much to write home about. I wanted to reread to analyxze them and make a quick comparison to Gabaldon, the other Long Series in another time. (there are others of course). Well The Clan is good. It is very well researched and thats something thats go through all the books. The story is moving and, mostly reasonably well told. Auel will never be the worlds greatest stylist but her prose gets the job done. Here Ayla is alone and she works as a person. The problem starts in book two , Valley of the Horses, and goes on in the other books. Aylas man is introduced, Jondalar, and he is, sadly, very boring and just a quick sketch really. Imagine a person that is good at three things, Hunting, making tools and good at using his cock and you have nailed him. Auel never, through the 5 books where he plays a major part, develop him into a person. One of the most boring main characters i knew of.

Ayla though, which is obviously Auels main interest (I always got the feeling that Jondalar was there just so that Ayla in the future could have kids), develops when she is allowed. The books suffer, after the first book, from repititive soft porn scenes that appear to be copied from a dirty harlequin novel (and i cant bring myself to use the word love in context with those scenes). Very boring. Skip them. Where the series pick up speed and gets interesting is when she uses her big knowledge of the time 35000 years ago. Her depiction of a neanderthal society is good in the Clan, so is her picture of two different Cromagnon societys in the other two beforementioned books. But then her skill as a srtylist fails her. She cant find a good way to retell all thats happening in the earlier books in a really good way. That means that long chunks of text is old news and for the ones that are interested in the story it is an invitation to jump. That could have been handled much smoother. Sometimes her sence of relevance fails her too. She knew a lot of this period and want to show it even when she cant fit in the story in a good way. Then she just starts telling about what they did and why and how which is all very well but it isn't good for the story. A real good storyteller would either have found a way to fit it in the story or skip it. Knowledge is all very well but you should use it to tell a story, not use the story to flaunt your knowledge.

Comparing her with Gabaldons Outlander series I find Gabaldon suberior. She writes much better and knows to use her knowledge in the story without having to insert big factblocks here and there. Her hero, Jamie is very much a person which Jondalar never is. Gabaldons love scenes are much but they are lovescenes, not porn, and they are not boring. Gabaldon also has a sense of humor which Auel either lacks or does not show much of. (i dont mean cracking jokes everywhere but when it comes to writing and describing things Gabaldon give many glimpses of it but Auel is more serious in tone. As an endnote i think Auel still reads well if you jump the sexscenes and the retelling parts in The Mammoth Hunters and Ninth Cace because her writing style works better when describing a society with many persons. In the other books which are mostly spent travelling it is just Ayla and Jondalar and they, or should i say Ayla, cant carry a whole book by herself. The Clan of the Cave Bear is her Masterpiece. Because it is the first when Ayla was young before jondalar and before all the retelling everytime again and again. Therefore the story runs well without interuptions. It is also a describtion of a society. (even if I, as an archaeologist, find some of her interpretations of that society highly unlikely. But thatsa another matter. Every writer has the right to use his or her imagination to fill in the blank spots).

I quit Auel's series after The Mammoth Hunters because I was so disappointed. Clan of the Cave Bear is such a good book--she squandered it (for me) with the cavesex. I got beyond bored and into irritated by it--lol.

I've only read the first of Gabaldon's books, but from the beginning her style quite reminded me of DuMaurier in Rebecca; not so much the story itself, but the voice in which she told it. Very old-school throwback! Were the rest of them worth reading? I bought the pack of 7 (I think) for kindle a while back when it was $1.99, but haven't even opened the file yet.

 

[morgan]

I got bored with Bosch and several others main characters from other authors.

Are you referring to Michael Connelly? I've only read one of his books so far.

 

[HollyGolightly]

I just started "A Walk in the Woods" written by Bill Bryson on his experience while walking the Appalachian Trail with an old friend. It was said to be a good funny read and just 30 or so pages in, so far so good. It was made into a movie as well with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte so I'll check that out once I'm done the book.

I loved this book! I didn't even know it was a movie!

I just about 5 minutes ago finished reading The Exorcist. Reading it from an adult's perspective (instead of the 14 or 15 year old I was the first time I read it) has changed my view on this book. I used to be a bit terrified by it, didn't even want a copy of it in my house, as it had left a fear inside of me all of these years. Now, I feel strangely uplifted, lighter. Don't know if that's because I've conquered my fear of the book, or because now, as an adult, I comprehend the ending? All these years I've had a small fear inside of me about this book and the subject matter (seen from the viewpoint of an adolescent male) but now the fear is gone. The book actually ends on a positive note- the demon has been vanquished and life will go on.

Well damn! I had no idea. I watched the movie way too young. Also, I'm Catholic, so there's that. Demons are real, so is guilt. Poor Dimmy was just doin' his best.

 

[Kurben]

I quit Auel's series after The Mammoth Hunters because I was so disappointed. Clan of the Cave Bear is such a good book--she squandered it (for me) with the cavesex. I got beyond bored and into irritated by it--lol.

I've only read the first of Gabaldon's books, but from the beginning her style quite reminded me of DuMaurier in Rebecca; not so much the story itself, but the voice in which she told it. Very old-school throwback! Were the rest of them worth reading? I bought the pack of 7 (I think) for kindle a while back when it was $1.99, but haven't even opened the file yet.

They are worth reading. She is a much better writer than ever auel was. But she has gone on writing them for too long now. The first three is good with the first, Outlander, as really good. DragonFly in Amber and Voyager, 2 and 3, are worth reading but then i think they start to taper off. Its not that they are bad or boring to read but that Jamie and Claire are too alone as interesting characters. Noone that comes close to the formidable MacKenzie brothers from the first novel. Drums In Autumn and the Fiery Cross are OK. By now they are in the US so its possible an us-citizen will feel differently but i think that she should have dropped them after that. A Breath of Snow And Ashe and An Echo In the Bone didn't do much for me (nr 6 and 7). I doubt that i will bother to read number 8 that arrived on the scene now, Written in my own Hearts Blood.

 

[Kurben]

Are you referring to Michael Connelly? I've only read one of his books so far.

Yeah, i was thinking of Bosch. I know Michael Connelly is fave with many (don't know about this site) but i got bored with his main character rather quick and dropped him. It is difficult to use the same character all the time. You risk getting both yourself and your readers bored with the character while the publishing company of course wants more books. One that i think managed that is Peter Robinson and his detective Alan Banks. Some misses but mostly he holds up.

 

[muskrat]

Yeah, i was thinking of Bosch. I know Michael Connelly is fave with many (don't know about this site) but i got bored with his main character rather quick and dropped him. It is difficult to use the same character all the time. You risk getting both yourself and your readers bored with the character while the publishing company of course wants more books. One that i think managed that is Peter Robinson and his detective Alan Banks. Some misses but mostly he holds up.

Does this Alan Banks have much cavesex?

 

[Kurben]

Does this Alan Banks have much cavesex?

He doesn't mind women, i can tell you that but cavesex isn't his thing. He is a good detective though.....

 

[EMARX]

Yeah, i was thinking of Bosch. I know Michael Connelly is fave with many (don't know about this site) but i got bored with his main character rather quick and dropped him. It is difficult to use the same character all the time. You risk getting both yourself and your readers bored with the character while the publishing company of course wants more books. One that i think managed that is Peter Robinson and his detective Alan Banks. Some misses but mostly he holds up.

I've read about 20 Banks novels and I noticed at the bookstore that Robinson has published a new novel, but it takes place in L.A and has a new detective. And oddly enough it also has an intro written by Mr Connelly.

 

[Neesy]

Still reading Tabitha King's Survivor-- at the halfway point now. I like it a good deal, but not sure if I love it yet-- like a few of her other books, the characters simply rely on sex TOO much-- they use sex when they're happy, sad, angry, relieved. And then get mad when the sex (usually unprotected) causes problems (and this is a Tabby King novel we're talking about, so of course there will be problems).

I dunno. I love her story ideas but the needless pages upon pages of sex gets tiresome.

She is still with her spouse for over 40 years or so, - (things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm....) - okay - nuff said!

 

[Haunted]

I am back to The Border until the library calls.

Spoiler

With references being made about the Ant Farm and Microscope Meadows I am reminded much of Under the Dome.

 

[kingricefan]

She is still with her spouse for over 40 years or so, - (things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm....) - okay - nuff said!

Now I need an eraser to get rid of images!!!!!

 

[Neesy]

Now I need an eraser to get rid of images!!!!!

You have a way too active imagination

 

[muskrat]

Read some old Harvey Black Cat comics, late forties, early fifties. The Black Cat is Hollywood Sweetheart Linda Turner who fights crime dressed like a skimpier version of Catwoman. Light and breezy golden-age super hero fare, with great Caniff-esque art by Lee Elias. Around 1952 or so the book becomes a full-on horror comic, as the Black Cat get's cut from her own book! Poor kid.

In her last two issues Black Cat has a young male sidekick named Kitten--really lame, but it had to be batter than Robin's gig with Batman.

 

[muskrat]

...had to be batter than Robin's gig with Batman.

Ahem. Better than Robin's gig, I meant to say.

 

[TanyaS]

Just discovered the author Linwood Barclay, wow, riveting indeed, and different.

 

[muskrat]

Ahem. Better than Robin's gig, I meant to say.

Ahem AGAIN; not that there's anything wrong with Robin's gig, mind ye. Just saying me, personally--I'd rather be Black Cat's sidekick.

Carry on.

 

[80sFan]

Really liking "Head Full of Ghosts". I'm only halfway through (kids, hubby, chores, SKMB...) but it's a good story so far.