Goodreads Bookshelf
Summer Reading '09, part 2
When I did my last summer reading update, I didn't include everything I'd read, and I've read a bit more since then.
This was another book that I had read to me by audiobook. It was also another book recommended by a former student. It was also really good. It was a coming of age story; it was a period piece showing German post-WW2 trying to come to grips with its Nazi past. It was a story of the effects of education and the lack of education, it was a story of the emotions that move us to act in ways, in ways big and small. It was really good, and a quick read too, just a little over 4 hours as an audiobook, which is awfully quick as audiobooks go.
On Goodreads, in one of the Fantasy bookclubs I'm in, they have readings of different books each month, and during July it was Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. I bought this book back in junior high or high school, but for one reason or another, I never read it. Since the author herself was leading the discussion, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get around to reading it. After reading her post on how she came to write the book, it seemed like the kind of fantasy I've always wanted to write, so I figured it would be a great read, and with that approach... it didn't quite live up to my hopes. The issue--always a pitfall in fantasy--was that I felt like the exposition was a bit heavy-handed. I've gotten used to Steven Erikson, R. Scott Bakker, and George R.R. Martin, who are absolute master stylists, especially when it comes to exposition. Once I got, say, halfway through the book, and there wasn't so much to be explained or set up, it was really good, and I plan to continue reading the series. Also, it was great to follow Wurts's discussion of her work.
I'm currently re-reading The Thousandfold Thought, the final book in The Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker, in preparation for reading his newest, The Judging Eye. I've also started the sci-fi classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, which I will finish eventually. The newest entry in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson is coming out this week in the UK and I've ordered a copy through The Book Depository, which not only has good prices, but also offers free shipping, even to America. The question there is whether I can read this without re-reading the better part of that huge series. So much gread fantasy, so little time.