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[graculus]

Seems like an age since I last posted, though it was only Tuesday, but since that was pre-graduation day I can understand why - life has been a bit of a whirl this week, what with taking a couple of days off because my mother was visiting to see me don the cap and gown. If you want to know more about my special day, let me know in the comments and I'll wax lyrical...

Meanwhile, the book blog continues apace as I try my hardest to read my own weight in books. Or work my way through the literary equivalent of my annual council tax, whichever comes first. I'm currently on book #44 (Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, which needs to get better real soon, or it really will be history!).

The last list I posted was for February and March, so here's another one of what I've read since then, and there's plenty more waiting in the TBR pile (both library and bought, for which my bank manager thanks me):

Temeraire: Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
Black Sun Rising by Celia Friedman
The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston
The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
A Conspiracy of Violence by Susanna Gregory
Resurrectionist by James McGee
Keeping It Real by Justina Robson
The Fire's Stone by Tanya Huff
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard
The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters
The Somnabulist by Jonathan Barnes
Hinterland by James Clemens
The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
Dawnthief by James Barclay
A Very English Agent by Julian Rathbone
The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison
World's End by Mark Chadbourn
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Cold Hunter's Moon by KC Greenlief
Temeraire: Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
The Sultan's Seal by Jenny White

However, this weekend's major job now I've decompressed from the maternal visit is to get some writing done on my Wild Wild West story before the baying editors hunt me down with torches (the firey kind, not the UK flashlight equivalent), though technically I have till early September to pacify them with New Orleans-themed fic of some description.

That's for tomorrow. I'm off to bed now, so sweet porny dreams to one and all! :)

Comments

[sg1scribe.livejournal.com]

How do you find time to read so many books? I think I'm doing well if I make it through one a month.

Anyway, two questions for you:

If you could only recommend one of these books as a must-read, which would it be?

Is Naomi Novik any good?

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I try and read for an hour a night and that seems to help me make significant progress, as does not finishing books that are too craptastic and moving on to something else... ;)

Fantasy must-reads:

- Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
- The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston
- The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (from my previous list)

Crime/mystery must-reads:

- The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (from my previous list)

Sadly I've not been as impressed with the crime/mystery side of things as the quality of fantasy writing, though James Lee Burke (one of my favourite authors) has continued to impress and I'd recommend picking up his books as well... though it's worth reading them in order, since he has two series running alongside each other and alternates between storylines.

I quite liked the first two Naomi Novik books, the third not so much because the pacing seemed off, and I hope she manages not to fall into the same problem with the next one. They're certainly well-written, if a bit heavy on the semi-colon use as NN tries to evoke a Patrick O'Brian kind of atmosphere, although they could never live up to the amount of hype that's been flying around regarding them - I've certainly read better this year, but people like Scott Lynch are tough competition for anyone.