[Nov] What are you reading?

[CCamfield]

Nikolai, I'm guessing you're not in North America?

Those books' normal English titles - so far as I know - are The Club Dumas and Smilla's Sense of Snow. I've only read the former - and loved it. Movies have been made of both - The Ninth Gate (which took out the stuff to do with Dumas, so I never went to see it), and Smilla's Sense of Snow.

I've read a bunch of Perez-Reverte's other books. I really really liked the first Captain Alatriste swashbuckler, which I read in French. I wish someone would translate them to English!

 

[nikolai]

CCamfield, I'm in England. And those (The Dumas Club, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow) are the titles as they are on the front of the books I have. I think the difference may be because of different translations, rather than publishers dressing the books differently (TDC is originally in Spanish, MSFfS Danish).

This is certainly the case with Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow/Smilla's Sense of Snow. I read the former, which appears to be the most recent translation; though whether it is the best I could not say. Either way I thought it was fantastic.

The copy of the The Dumas Club I have is translated by Sonia Soto, I don't know if the The Club Dumas is just a different label for the same stuff or has different contents. But, between you and me, both editions have rave reviews.

nikolai.

 

[Krug]

Halfway through The Books of Blood 4-6 by Clive Barker. The ideas are not as strong as 1-3, but the writing is generally better.

 

[kengar]

Trying like mad to get into "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, but I'm having a tough time so far. It's a quick read, but it hasn't really engaged me. Maybe I'm a bit jaded or have read too many fantasy books, but the whole "outsider in a strange world" story is a tad old. Especially since most of these stories always seem to patronize the outsider because he's a newcomer.

When I read Neverwhere, what I liked about it was more the concept of the setting ("London Below"). Rent the video/DVD sometime if you get the chance. The story was originally written for the BBC broadcast then adapted to the book format (the only time Gaiman has done that, iirc). The show is "Dr. Who" level special effects, etc. (read "Low budget"), but still fun to watch.

 

[CCamfield]

Hey, that's interesting, Nikolai. (I'm in Canada, FWIW.) I checked my copy of Dumas and it gives the same translator, so it must have been a decision on the part of the publishers about how to translate the title.

 

[Sirius_Black]

I just got Raymond Feist's King of Foxes the second book in his Conclave of Shadows series. I'm rereading the first book in the series before diving into it.

 

[Krug]

I just got Raymond Feist's King of Foxes the second book in his Conclave of Shadows series. I'm rereading the first book in the series before diving into it.

How did you find the first book? Worth picking up? Is it an interesting world or pretty generic?

 

[Nightfall]

I'm reading Dragons of Summer Flame and I think it's one of the worst writen books I've ever read.

I could have told you that. I hated that book.

 

[Nightfall]

I've got some serial killer mysteries my brother lent me, one is the sequel to The Alienist, gotta read those before he gets back from studying abroad.

I thoroughly enjoyed both the Alienist and the Angel of Darkness. Different styles but still a lot of the same characters and some wonderful plot twists. Clive Caleb is a good writer.

 

[Nightfall]

Probably one of the more interesting books I've come across is Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sara Ash. If you like/love Romanian/Old Country myths with some Russian Czarian intrigue/flavor, this book is certainly for you. The characters might not be all that fully realized, but the setting, the magic and certainly the PREMISE is fun. I found it a very great read. Not quite in the vein of Doskeysivo(sp) or Tolstoy, but this first book in the series DID leave me wanting to see what happened next. Always a good sign. Plus if you love Dracula myths, you'll not be that disappointed. (Even though vampirism isn't quite at play.)