Books

[Kathy Li]

I'm only as far as the car in the swimming pool, and it's dizzying fun. And I now understand why the Baroque Cycle books are shelved in SF/F. :-) I am glad to hear that I'll get a little breathing space, though, further in.

I got about 250 pages into Quicksilver before I realized my head was conflating it with His Invention So Fertile (Christopher Wren biography I'm also reading) and this paper on Turner's connections with the Royal Society I picked up as a London souvenir that I was also reading, and I had to stop and stick with the non-fiction to get stuff straight in my head.

I stalled out in Cryptonomicon as well, but that was more just a mood thing.

[meteorite]

Wait until you meet Y.T. Hee!

I also acquired a lovely coffeetable book, Mythology: the art of Alex Ross. Alex Ross, for those of you who don't read many comic books, has a very realistic yet painterly style that is gorgeous, and somehow eminently suited to doing comic-book heroes. He's done work for both Marvel and DC, and I love his art.

Oh, and last but not least, I just read the latest Sammy Keyes book. A guilty pleasure, but not on the same level as J.D. Robb (Witness in Death), who I like more because of the Century City-esque detective work than the trashy romance subplot.

[papercrane]

I've had about six enthusiastic recs for Snow Crash lately. Unfortunately, I have also heard it is not exactly family-friendly. Therefore, my best bet is to try and read it covertly at a bookstore. Question: is it worth it?

And now for something completely different.
(Blargh I am a bad segue disguised as a Monty Python quote and I will eat your brains!)

Shadow of the Giants is on sale, hardcover, at Borders. As I did not have sufficient linger-and-read time I read some of Card's short stories with my coffee instead.

Quite honestly, though, I think the Ender story is told. Yes, it did require a certain number of volumes. But...it's the end. We have closure from all sides. Maybe I just need to re-read Shadow Puppets, but Giants seems like Card riding on the popularity of the previous six.
We know, mostly, what will happen to the characters. There's no 'What will happen to Lusitania? Will Bean ever find out the Secret of his Mysterious Past?' Peter and <the former assistant of Qing-Jao whose name is censored> live on, which is completely fitting and a stroke of genius; Bean and Petra will carry on with generations of Anton's experiment. Life will be, if not utopian, as good as they can hope for.
What more is there to say? Six is a good number. Leave it at that.

[Kathy Li]

meteorite: how incredibly funny. Robbs are a guilty pleasure for me as well, but I don't mind the trashy romance, and even buy her Nora Roberts books in the bookstore Pink Aisle.

My current recurring recommendation is Donald Westlake's The Hook. I've read two of the Dortmunders, so I just need to find some time for this one.

[Agent M]

Ken Follett!! Read Ken Follett!!! Jackdaws!!! *shifty eyes* ..... *goes back into wherever i've been for the past few months*

and by the way.... have I mentioned Timeline?

[Wilf]

Much -ness - I finally got Conrad's Fate! (new book in Dianna Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci. Story-wise, it comes a few years after The Lives of Christopher Chant).
Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed it. Unusually for DWJ, it's told in the first person. One of the things I found interesting was the way you could see the start of the Christopher / Milly affair... anyway, I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it.

[Kathy Li]

Wilf: glad to hear it! It gets released this week in the US, on Friday, April Fool's. I don't know if first person is all that unusual for DWJ; I remember her doing it in The Spellcoats.

Also, Disney have finally gotten off their butts and are doing a limited release of the Miyazaki animated film of Howl's Moving Castle on June 10th, which hopefully means wide release later, ala Spirited Away.

[Kathy Li]

Just in case nobody noticed, here's a little information on the next Terry Pratchett.

And July 26th for George R.R. Martin's A Feast For Crows? Koff. I have no idea whether to believe this.

Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys is listed for September 20th.

[alla]

Well, books.

I went into Borders today and guess what I actually saw... Harry Potter in Latin. I mean I knew that it existed, but I never thought that I would actually ever see it. Sadly, they didn't have a copy of it in German, if they had, I would have bought it on the spot - even if it was about $30.

I have also lent SYWTBAW to two people now, and the first one has also completed DW. Borders also had a couple of the YW books, less than they usually have, so maybe it is becoming better known here. yay! I'm still going to try and recruit people to the boards.

Alla

[papercrane]

Oh good, more Vimes. ^_^ I was afraid he'd keep creating new characters until they crawled out of the very woodwork. Not to say the new charas were bad--they were very, very good, in fact--but one gets attatched to recurring figures.
I am totally hooked on Orson Scott Card right now. Maps in a Mirror. Black Mist. Mmm.

[Agent M]

Gigo, Scorpia came out in March. Dunno if you have it yet, I finished it and it's really good. Got a cliff hanger though.... Opal Deception rocked too, and I think there's gonna be another one, which is weird but at the end Eoin said "more to come..." so *shrug*
Off topicness... lol
Oh, and Dave, welcome! There's a few excerpts for WaW but none yet for WoM. hehehe... we're speaking in code....
Does anyone know when WaW is coming out?! On amazon it says October (I CANT WAIT THAT LONG) but I've learned not to trust amazon with stuff.... of course, usually it's only off by a few days and I was expecting WaW to come out this summer.... *grr!!!!*

[Brennick]

No excerpt yet....

Ahhhhhh!!!! I haven't got Opal Deception yet!!!
Please don't talk about it yet!

Me

[demon dave]

I AM SO GETTING THAT BOOKS WHEN I GET PAID.
I so cant wait to read it.

[Kathy Li]

Whee!! I just got my copy of Conrad's Fate! Haven't had time to start reading it, though. Amazon also shipped Naked Came the Phoenix and Guardian of the Horizon in the same box. I don't have time to read them, either.

[Peter Murray]

Three posts were moved from the Forthcoming Books > Number 9 topic, and they've ended up in reverse order, and tagged onto the end of the existing posts, so the dates here are a little confused now.

Sorry about that. I can't see how to correct this.