maybe I should pick one

[kaigou]

Currently reading -- and yes, I do mean all of them --

Done Wrong — Eleanor Taylor Bland (mystery)
The Steel Remains — Richard K Morgan (fantasy)
Water Touching Stone — Eliot Pattison (mystery)
Havemercy — Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett (fantasy/steampunk)
The Hero's Walk — Anita Rau Badami (literary)
A Companion to Wolves — Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (fantasy)

A chapter of one, a chapter of the next.

I'm thinking maybe I should pick one and stick to it. Most likely bet would be The Hero's Walk — a gracious and incredible and gorgeous work of poetic verse with a deep heart — but it also deserves to be savored, not chewed through or swallowed whole. So when I start getting anxious about sitting in one place for too long, I move to sit somewhere else in the room, and look, there's a different book right there.

Bad habit, I know, but a very old one.

Comments

[taithe]

Having skimmed through your previous post (sorry, brain is a little too fuzzy at this time of night to respond to it with any decent comments), I would like to mention that I've read Havemercy and while I liked it, the entire time I read it I was thinking of fanfiction. Whether it's due to the fact that I knew the authors were famous fanfic writers in the HP fandom eons ago, or whether it's more related to the issues you raised in your post, I can't say because it's been years since I've read it.

Ahaha I share your habit of switching places and books. Drove my parents crazy because there were books simply all over the house.

By the way, I wanted to thank you for the surprisingly comprehensive list of travelogues you provided in one of the comments. Off to scour the university's library in hopes that I find at least half of them on campus.

[sharibet]

I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about the Sarah Monette novel.

I haven't read that one, but I spent a couple of weeks last spring absolutely engrossed by her fantasy series, published several years ago, which was beautifully-written in a made-up dialect and featured two of the most messed-up yet strangely compelling characters, a sorcerer named Sebastien, who is vain, arrogant and extremely powerful, and a charming, kind-hearted thief and confidence man named Mildmay. Reading them is almost a dream-like experience, weird and magical and compelling.

The titles of the books in the series were: Melusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, Corambis.

[sharibet]

Shoot, I got one of the character names wrong... The sorcerer's name is Felix, not Sebastien.

[kaigou]

I made it through the first, the second... and couldn't keep going. Can't recall now, exactly why, but mostly a combination of boredom and something that irritated me too much. Uhm. Vague, now.

One thing I have found is that sometimes a writer-duo will end up with a work that's truly awesome, as though the writers balance each other, filling in where they each lack alone. I can't stand Prachitt or Gaiman, individually, but their duo-work, Good Omens, is one of my favorite novels. Gaiman's serious side balances out where Prachitt usually is too silly for me, and Prachitt adds levity that Gaiman sorely lacks.

[kaigou]

Havemercy runs very close (so far) of being too clever by half, as CP would say. I'm not sure I'll stick with it, but it's a decent break (stylistically) from the other works. It can't come close to Badami's skill, but then, I think she's got a skill that few could really rival.

Two books on the list that aren't travelogues per se, but are returnee-stories (somewhere between memoir and returnee) -- are The Dervish House, where McDonald visits his family in Istanbul, where he was raised. The other is Odaatje's Running in the Family, which I'm anxiously awaiting on library-loan. I've read the first chapter already, and barely restrain myself for reading the rest. His family's from Ceylon, and he returns after a number of years in the West. It's big-family madness, from what I can tell.

I used to do up to ten books at a time, then started to pare down over the past decade or so. It's kind of nice to stretch my brain and juggle so many at once, again.

[(Anonymous)]

And here I thought I was the only one who didn't like Terry Prachett! *g* But then again, I'm generally lukewarm on British humor...

I've tried a few Neil Gaiman novels, and he falls under the category of "okay but not great" for me. American Gods was the work of his I found the most interesting.

[kaigou]

No, some British humor is very much an acquired taste!

I liked Sandman (generally), and enjoyed Good Omens so much, it made no sense that I found American Gods such... well, a yawnfest. I tried and tried to read it, and after fighting my way through to the fifth chapter or so, decided to go easy on myself and give up. Even if everyone I knew swore it was, like, the book of the decade or something. It did nothing for me; whatever spark I require in stories, it didn't have. Never have figured out why, since it had all the parts I would've expected -- but then, a story really is a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts.

[firecat]

I don't think it's a bad habit. And I look forward to finding out what you think of The Steel Remains and A Companion to Wolves.

[billie]

I read The Steel Remains last year-- it was a recommendation of a trusted bookshop employee with a penchant for Fantasy and SciFi.

I'm very, very interested to see what you think. Not giving my own opinion yet, spoilers and all that.

[sharibet]

I didn't realize that my last reply had been posted as anonymous...sigh.

Have you read any Lois McMaster Bujold? I love her characters and her world-building...THE CURSE OF CHALION was a lovely book with a wonderfully modest and down-to-earth hero.

[cyphomandra]

Not a bad habit at all! (okay, so the last time I set out to list my books in progress I hit 24 without counting fanfic...)

I thought Havemercy would have been considerably improved by turning Rook into a girl, actually, but this is almost certainly a minority opinion.

[kaigou]

I think Havemercy would have been considerably improved by having a plot, actually, but this is almost definitely a minority opinion.

(It's simply too clever by half, and that cleverness doesn't cover -- for me -- its lack of conflict anywhere in the first two chapters. My life is too short to waste on books that are busy amusing themselves, so I moved on. Nothing to see there.)

[arkessian]

Yes, re plot! Also characters with more than one dimension. I read to the end, and still don't know why.

[cyphomandra]

Well, yes. In fact, having just checked my own review, I see that there's a plaintive bit where I say that even if I'd liked the characters more, I'd still want them to have something to *do*...