what should I read?

[kate_nepveu]

There is free time (gasp!) on the horizon, and there's always the middle-of-the-night holding of SteelyKid, but I don't know what I'm in the mood to read. Suggest me things?

ETA: duh, I know what: our ARC of Iorich (with nightlight, if necessary). But other suggestions will be noted for later.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Kit Whitfield's new one is finally out!

[kate_nepveu]

Never heard of her before!

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

Her first novel (Benighted in the US, Bareback in the UK) was a werewolf novel written somewhat like literary SF (Just how bleak and depressing would society be if 99.6% of humanity were werewolves?). Not what I'd call an enjoyable book, but interesting in terms of exploring how minorities are treated.

[kate_nepveu]

Shallow reaction: yeah, good thing they changed that title. _Bareback_ must not have that connotation in the UK . . .

Thanks for the information.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

_Bareback_ must not have that connotation in the UK.

"In England, the word 'bareback' meaning unprotected sex does exist, but it's mostly still used within the gay community. I was well aware of the meaning when I decided to use the word; that actually confirmed my decision to use it. I decided that a sexual undertone would add a usefully sharp edge to what is, basically, a bigoted term." (http://www.kitwhitfield.com/faqs.html)

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Nodnod. It was one of the best books I read that year--neck and neck with Always. It did put me into an awful funk the first time around. (Kate, there are two separate writeups, I think, in the unchallenge section of my memories.) So not something to be gone at lightly. But hella impressive and worthwhile, at least in my...um. Book?

The new one is called In Great Waters. I hadn't started it when I wrote the first comment. It's a sort of alternate history with mermaids. Sort of. Smart and compelling and grim. I'm not finding it as...consuming? As Benighted was. But I'm liking it.

[kate_nepveu]

Huh. Thanks for the pointer, found your links ( http://buymeaclue.livejournal.com/359306.html , http://buymeaclue.livejournal.com/456524.html (probably some spoilers for others)). Will keep in mind.

[tanyad.livejournal.com]

yuki_onna's new book Under in the Mere, Push by Sapphire, I'm re-reading Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and Wicked is ok, but I think I'm going to put it down for Charles Schultz biography.

[kate_nepveu]

I still haven't read _Palimpsest_ . . . which I don't think I'm in the mood for, but we'll see.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Have you read the Long Price Quartet yet ? I think you'd find much of enjoyable substance in them.

[kate_nepveu]

Oh, there's a thought. I might open it up and see if it scratches the itch.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

Have you read Cherie Priest's BONESHAKER?

[kate_nepveu]

I have not. What kind of mood would you say it fits?

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I don't think about books that way (although I know what you mean about having to be in the right mood for things) so let me describe it briefly.

It's explicitly U.S.-based steampunk, set in Seattle in 1875-80. It's also alternate history. Seattle has been destroyed 15 years prior, when a huge digging machine undermined and wrecked part of the city, and also released a gas that turned people into zombies. The city is walled off, but people still struggle to get by inside.

The plot centers around the widow of the machine-building mad scientist who has to reenter the city to find her son. There are air ships, air ship pirates, and an inventer/ crime boss with a scarred face and a mysterious past.

For a lot of readers, just a list of those things would be appealing enough--zombies, air ship pirates, old fashioned sfnal gadgets--but I'm not one of them. I generally can't stand zombies and I'm not all that interested in steampunk. The characters are terrific, though, and the story is engaging.

It's also been named to a few "Best of 2009 lists," including Publishers Weekly's (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704595.html).

Jeez, that's a long response. I hope you weren't expecting a one-word answer like "wistful" or "adventurous." As my buddy used to say "You asked me the time and I built you a clock."

[kate_nepveu]

I was hoping more, fast and exciting, slow and contemplative, upbeat, depressing, lush, sparse, complex, linear . . .

It's been on my radar, though, so if I get to a bookstore I'll take a look.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

Ah. Let's say "smart adventure."

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks!

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

If you would like fantasy with some odd gender-related things going on, maybe Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels (co-winner of the World Fantasy Award, for whatever that's worth). I am not sure exactly what I think of it, but I think it is worth reading.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks. I don't think I've read any of her stuff, but I'm certainly aware of her as someone with a good reputation in the field.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

If you don't want to start with the novel, she has three collections available in the US as well: Black Juice, White Time, and Red Spikes. All of them are good, but I think Black is the strongest, followed by Red and then White. As far as I know all her other books were only published in Australia.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

Checking your booklog so to avoid stuff you've already read...

You haven't read Bujold's Sharing Knife quartet yet? It's good, finished, and a very good choice if you want fantasy that is optimistic and relatively calm.

I don't see Durham's The Other Lands; I thought that would be something you were going to read as soon as you could.

Lindskold is good for when you're too tired or distracted to read between the lines (that's the one good thing about internal monologues). You could finish her Firekeeper series or start her new Chinese myth-based series (starting with Thirteen Orphans).

More series you should finish:
Laurie J. Marks' Elemental Logic
Garth Nix's Old Kingdom
Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events (how could you stop at book 11?)

And you may enjoy more books from:
Lawrence Watt-Evans: With a Single Spell, The Unwilling Warlord, Night of Madness, Dragon Weather
Martha Wells: Wheel of the Infinite, Wizard Hunters
Brandon Sanderson: Warbreaker, Mistborn trilogy
Laura Resnick: In Legend Born

Have you ever read PC Hodgell? Baen recently reprinted her earlier books (in two omnibuses) and will publish her fifth novel early next year.

And for big complex epic fantasy I love Steven Erikson. If you just want a taste of the world and the sort of stories being told, you can start with Esslemont's Night of Knives.

[kate_nepveu]

I was waiting on Sharing Knife to be done and then haven't been in the mood. Ditto Sherwood Smith's Inda (speaking of big four-volume series, now completed.)

I am sitting on a part-done review of _The Other Lands_ for Tor.com that has languished because I am so very busy. (My to-log queue, it is very long.)

I got bored with the obviousness of Snicket, though will eventually grab the last two from the library. I'm not interested in Sanderson's solo stuff, or Resnick's secondary-world fantasy--I actually purged _In Legend Born_--I'm pretty tired of most of that genre. Which would also rule out Erikson.

Watt-Evans and Wells are vaguely on the list.

I was thinking about going back to Elemental Logic and may well after _Iorich_. We'll see.

[dhobikikutti]

Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies. Post-colonial age of sail, one of the best books I've read this year.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks for the added rec--on my list already, but always good to hear more.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

I like how you posted this as a question and then waited, just to maximize the tease at the end.

[kate_nepveu]

No, I really did forget I had that!