June - What are you reading?

[Steel_Wind]

I must shamefacedly admit that I am not "reading" as such as I am listening to books on my Ipod.

The series that has captured my utter amazement is Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander series. The mode of writing is utterly thick and deliberately in the erudite mode of speech of the day in favor amongst the chattering classes. Throw in the naval terminology in which one is literally immersed and it is extremely tough slogging to read. I never could get by reading the first two chapters in Master & Commander ever before - it just put me in such a fuddle I couldn't get by the prose and terminology.

But on audio it was easier - difficult to be sure - but easier.

After a few painful chapters I got over the hump and fell in love with this stuff. I FINALLY get it. The prose of O'Brian is utterly authentic of the period - that's why he writes it the way he does. It's supposed to be immersive, and make it feel authentic and transportive and it does and it is.

In my respectful opinion, Tom Clancy, naval historian that he was, must have read O'Brian before he started writing his own novels. Because I tell you, Tom Clancy **RIPPED OFF** Patrick O'Brian. Completely and utterly - Tom Clancy is, in fact, a Patrick O'Brian pastiche, without the prose and substituting high tech of the 20th and 21st centuries for the high tech of the 18th Century - featured by O'Brian.

Tom Clancy did not invent the techno thriller; Patrick O'Brian did. It just so happened that Patrick O'Brian's tech happened to be in the Age of Sail and used canon and roundshot, musket and ball, royals and mizzens.

As for the audio books, they are *brilliantly* narrated and feel so amazingly **real** I cannot help but recommend them to anyone.

I fully intend to spend my summer deeply enmeshed in the Napoleonic Wars and the Royal Navy with Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin as my companions de guerre.

 

[Elephant]

Perdido Street Station. I picked it up after reading about it in Dragon several months back.

 

[Tetsubo]

THE WILD EDGE LIFE AND LORE OF THE GREAT ATLANTIC BEACHES
by Philip Kopper

 

[WayneLigon]

Working away at SM Sterling's Dies the Fire; I'm about half-way through it. So far, this is one of the best end-of-modern-civilization books I've ever read. Because of what happens, it effectively drops them back to about the year 1000 without the potential of ever moving much past that (though I'm wondering if they get hold of a working steam engine; that should still work fine, which will allow travel again at least).

 

[Zaukrie]

I had my doubts about Ysabel, but it was very, very good. Fastest read of any Kay book written yet, but still well written.

 

[Wombat]

The series that has captured my utter amazement is Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander series.

...

After a few painful chapters I got over the hump and fell in love with this stuff. I FINALLY get it. The prose of O'Brian is utterly authentic of the period - that's why he writes it the way he does. It's supposed to be immersive, and make it feel authentic and transportive and it does and it is.

Yep, this is what I love about the O'Brian books -- I feel like I am utterly in the period. I actually have suggested to multiple people who were interested in reading ther series to start with Book 2 (Post Captain) rather than Book 1 (Master & Commander), simply because it is a more accessible plot -- sort of Horatio Hornblower meets Jane Austen. The first book is a bit dense, including a 3/4 page argument by the crew as to just what kind of a ship they are on ("No, I think if you look, it is closer to a barquantine...").

For all that and all that, I love Jack, Stephen, Sophie, Diane, Pullings, Bonden, and all the rest deeply. I have made the full sail with them twice through and will probably do it again.

But for the moment, I am reading The Popol Vuh, tales of the Mayan Twin Heroes and the arrival of Proper People in the Sky-Earth.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I just finished Tim Powers' Last Call. The book' was a fast read even for its hefty 540 page count. Alot happened in the book, and due to the pacing you have little time to rest before the next event happens. Then again, you sort of expect that considering that the characters are primarily poker players.

 

[Pielorinho]

I just read my first O'Brien recently, and it was pretty great. My wife is a huge fan of the series.

If you like that, here are a few others you might enjoy:
-The Count of Monte Cristo. I've heard it called the best adventure novel ever written, and if it's not the best, it's pretty close. My mom printed out a cheat-sheet of characters for the book, which is a pretty good idea. It's convoluted, gripping, emotional, and everything a book oughtta be. Also it's really long, but I never got bored while reading it. Find it and enjoy it!
-The Three Musketeers. It's also by Dumas, and honestly I didn't like it as well, but it has some tremendous action sequences--and the musketeers are such thorough louts (they kinda make Belkar look like a good guy) that they're a lot of fun to read.
-The Phoenix Guard, by Stephen Brust. It's simultaneously an homage to and parody of Dumas's writing, and once you realize what he's doing (and give up on trying to understand everything at the beginning), it's utterly hilarious.
-Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Another modern book that pays homage to 19th-century novels, although these are more the Bronte-type novels (only with adventure).
-Flashman books. Kinda like O'Brien, if Captain Jack Aubrey were a racist, sexist coward and scoundrel, and were dedicated to teh funny.

Daniel

 

[BadMojo]

Finished night of the Long Shadow on monday.

Is that the one by Paul Crilley? If so, how is it? I have that in my "to read" queue as well.

Right now I'm reading one of the Del Rey Conan collections (the one with People of the Black Circle).

I just finished the second Eberron "Blade of the Flame" book by Tim Waggoner, which was a big letdown from the first book. The writing just seemed really awkward and the interaction between the characters seemed off (the interaction between Ghaji and Diran was one of the best parts of the first book). The story itself seemed like basic "destroy the evil McGuffin" stuff.

Before that was Paul Kemp's "Shadowbred" which was just awesome and probably deserves a thread of its own.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I just read my first O'Brien recently, and it was pretty great. My wife is a huge fan of the series.

If you like that, here are a few others you might enjoy:

I've looked for Flashman in the past - mainly as GRRM loves it and my suspicion, between his love for Flashman as well as Bernard Cornwell was that I was missing out on some great historical fiction that GRRM was paying some homage to in the historical feel of SoIaF.

Have you read Cornwell's Sharpe series? I've suspected that Sharpe would prove to be something I would like greatly, I just have not got around to it yet and as I have been on a bit of a Naval kick this year, O'Brian was more appealing topically.

Between Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander series and Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, I have a feeling I may be re-fighting the Napoleonic Wars for the next year or two.

Which, by the by, is not a bad thing. Fantasy is boring me dreadfully these days, but the historical yarn is not only a guilty pleasure - it's an informative one.