Holiday reading checklist

[viktor_haag]

Done
"Unnatural Death", Dorothy L Sayers
"Never Let Me Go", Kazuo Ishiguro
"Princess of Roumania", Paul Park
"Use Of Weapons", Iain M Banks
"Memories of Ice", Steven Erikson
"Mythago Wood", Robert Holdstock
"The Carpet Makers", Andreas Eschbach
"A Wizard Of Earthsea", Ursula K LeGuin
"The Tombs of Atuan", Ursula K LeGuin
"The Farthest Shore", Ursula K LeGuin
"Tehanu", Ursula K LeGuin
"Tales From Earthsea", Ursula K LeGuin
"The Other Wind", Ursula K LeGuin

I managed to finish "The Other Wind" just before going back to work, so all in all, not a bad record. Of course, once my "read one at a time, and get 'em all done" project was finished, I'm back to the parallel reading habit that has been my modus operandi for years. I'm currently working on:

"Kingdom Of Shadows", Alan Furst
"His Majesty's Dragon", Naomi Novik
"Gifts", Ursula K LeGuin
"The Goose Girl", Shannon Hale

Once these are out of the way, I'll probably move on to (re)-reading "The Prince Of Nothing" series by R. Scott Bakker, now that the third book in the set is out in mass-market paperback and on my bookshelf.

Comments

[mylescorcoran]

Onward, my reading behemoth! Onward!

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

Vacations are good for catching up on reading.

What did you think of "Princess of Roumania"?

::B::

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I loved it, with two caveats:

• I love John Crowley's work (he recommends the book), and there's a similarity in tone. There is not a rolicking gamut of action in this book. There are not a lot of easily identifiably sympathetic characters. If you like Crowley, and can deal with quiet books with nuanced characters, then two thumbs up. But lector emptor.

• This reeks of "large fantasy book split into two (or more) parts by publisher". Don't expect this book to end in a satisfactory place. You will say "what? where the heck is the next book?". This does not really bother me, as I liked the first one enough that I'll gladly move on to the second one. But if you're lukewarm on the writing in the first place, then I will admit that this will easily prove an additional frustration.

[krapsnart.livejournal.com]

What did you think of the Ishiguro? It left me pretty wrecked.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I thought it was awesome: I have already recommended it to several. Not exactly uplifting, but then I wasn't expecting that when I got in, so I wasn't disappointed. Ishiguro is an amazing writer. It's great to read spec-fic that's written by authors of real skill.