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What are you reading?

#21
Leigha Offline
(Jun 20, 2022 11:55 AM)ellisael Wrote: Reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler right now, just terrific!!

Thanks for sharing! I'll check this out, as ''Dystopian fiction'' is one of my favorite genres.
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#22
confused2 Offline
John Gwynne:
Malice,Valour,Ruin,Wrath
An entire world as in Lord of the rings but 'fresher'. Each chapter from a character's perspective usually either ending on or resolving a cliff-hanger. The cliff hangers are rapidly resolved - you get to trust the writer about that. Over 2,400 pages in total, if there's a reference to an earlier event and you've forgotten it - there's a lot of pages to look back through. Lots of violence - if you like sword fights (how does he do it?) - you'll like these books. Don't expect to get any work done while reading these. Good characters, good plot. I thought it much better than the reviews suggest.
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#23
Leigha Offline
Sounds like a page-turner, confused! I’m not sure how sword fighting reads - I’m neutral on them personally but they can be entertaining to visualize in a movie or whatever. I’ll check out some other reviews too - thanks for sharing.
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#24
Leigha Offline
I've just begun ''The Night Circus'' by Erin Morganstern, the same author who wrote ''The Starless Sea,'' which was really good, Erin's writing is perfection, but the storyline was a bit meandering. However, I'd recommend it if you like ''stories about stories'' and whimsical thought patterns that grab hold of your heart. The Night Circus falls into the fantasy/magical realism genre, similar to The Starless Sea...but hopefully, with a little less meandering.

I've been reading quite a bit this year, which I'm happy about. It's so easy to fall into a reading slump, but I'd recommend these books as a way out. It could put you back into a slump though, because Morgenstern's writing is so good, so thoughtful, that it might be hard to find worthy contenders. lol
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#25
C C Offline
(Aug 18, 2022 05:04 AM)Leigha Wrote: I've just begun ''The Night Circus'' by Erin Morganstern, the same author who wrote ''The Starless Sea,'' which was really good, Erin's writing is perfection, but the storyline was a bit meandering. However, I'd recommend it if you like ''stories about stories'' and whimsical thought patterns that grab hold of your heart. The Night Circus falls into the fantasy/magical realism genre, similar to The Starless Sea...but hopefully, with a little less meandering.

I've been reading quite a bit this year, which I'm happy about. It's so easy to fall into a reading slump, but I'd recommend these books as a way out. It could put you back into a slump though, because Morgenstern's writing is so good, so thoughtful, that it might be hard to find worthy contenders.  lol

Out of curiosity, I skimmed the first few pages. Tentatively looks like a search for kids with special "talents" to be trained over the years, and some future contest(?) between Celia and the boy Alexander chose.
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#26
Leigha Offline
(Aug 18, 2022 05:49 AM)C C Wrote:
(Aug 18, 2022 05:04 AM)Leigha Wrote: I've just begun ''The Night Circus'' by Erin Morganstern, the same author who wrote ''The Starless Sea,'' which was really good, Erin's writing is perfection, but the storyline was a bit meandering. However, I'd recommend it if you like ''stories about stories'' and whimsical thought patterns that grab hold of your heart. The Night Circus falls into the fantasy/magical realism genre, similar to The Starless Sea...but hopefully, with a little less meandering.

I've been reading quite a bit this year, which I'm happy about. It's so easy to fall into a reading slump, but I'd recommend these books as a way out. It could put you back into a slump though, because Morgenstern's writing is so good, so thoughtful, that it might be hard to find worthy contenders.  lol

Out of curiosity, I skimmed the first few pages. Tentatively looks like a search for kids with special "talents" to be trained over the years, and some future contest(?) between Celia and the boy Alexander chose.
It's a book about a young girl whose mother takes her own life, and she is now left to be raised by her father, a well known magician within ''the night circus.'' This particular circus only opens at night, and closes by dawn. It appears often times out of nowhere, and Celia will eventually years later, take on another magician in a game with high stakes. (I believe that the ''winner'' lives, and the "loser" dies.) These two unfortunately from a fate perspective, fall in love, and this supposedly turns everything upside down in terms of destiny. (Sounds like the ''night circus'' has its own version of ''the butterfly effect.'')

The Starless Sea was very much ''out there,'' but I find Morganstern's writing to be soothing, captivating and makes you want to read a story that you'd otherwise not consider. I'm not much of a magical realism/fantasy fan, but this author has changed my mind a bit.
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#27
C C Offline
(Aug 18, 2022 01:34 PM)Leigha Wrote: [...] I'm not much of a magical realism/fantasy fan, but this author has changed my mind a bit.


When we were growing up, I didn't care much for the fantasy genre either, initially. Since what I first encountered was the ERB swashbuckling and Robert E. Howard "sword and sorcery" type stuff (still blissfully unaware of the more "scholarly" lit-market presumedly descended from "Lord of the Rings").

Then (there's a reason divulged further down as to why I monotonously return to this) I came across some of Jack Vance's books in my brother's collection: "The Dying Earth" novels, Lyonesse, and I might even throw "Showboat World" in due to its setting, even though it was SciFi. In the beginning, I didn't like Vance's highly decorative style (seemed anachronistic and affected, as if belonging to a bygone era). But then I loved it later when I got old enough to see the roguish wit and hidden craft transpiring there in between the lines.

There are probably some women authors of classic mystery novels who express themselves similarly (Vance was also an author of mysteries under his real name). But I never read mysteries -- in contrast to watching those Brit/PBS ones on television. 

Vance's style was the one I most wanted to emulate, but many people don't get it. Looks unnecessarily overelaborate and tedious to them. 

"The Night Circus" (or the little bit that I sampled) reminds me a touch of that ornate quality -- perhaps due to the 19th-century that it opened in. But Morganstern safely tones it down.
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#28
Leigha Offline
Well, the book is brilliantly written, but…the plot meanders too often. This is a hallmark trait it seems of Erin Morganstern’s books, which is part of the fun but I’m not feeling inspired to keep reading. I will however, begrudgingly.

If every single character in a film or novel were to be killed off or mysteriously removed from the plot, and I couldn’t care less, that means the author has done a poor job of character development. And in this case, that is the unfortunate reality. Another sign that I’m not thrilled with a book is if I start reading another book, before I’ve finished the initial one. So, the writing is beautiful, thoughtful and well-intentioned but I just feel zilch for the characters. And I don’t care where the plot is heading or how it ends. *sad shrug*

I’ve read reviews of this book and others struggled similarly to me. So, I’m somewhat relieved to know that my heart isn’t made of stone.
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#29
Magical Realist Offline
I needed a book of deep thoughts as penned in journals and diaries. Something I can dip in and out of. So I just ordered this. Hope it provokes some profound meditations.


[Image: OCR7qg0.jpg]
[Image: OCR7qg0.jpg]

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#30
Leigha Offline
Well, I'm still reading The Night Circus. Sigh.

I've been busy lately, so sort of fell into a bit of a reading slump. This book though, while the writing itself is beautiful and Erin Morganstern is masterful at developing a story that is both whimsical and serious, there is something lacking in the characters. They're just not deep. They're just not anything, really. They're just...there. The storyline is more profound than the characters, and I have zero emotional investment in any of them.

This book is slightly over 500 pages; I expect characters to be well developed for a book of this size. Lots of time travel, and flash backs, that really don't add to the overall story. Have you ever watched a movie, or series, and the characters are just wooden? You don't really know much about them, except for the role that they're playing - cop, villain, protagonist, etc...

It's like that with this book. Celia and Marco are the two main characters who the story is somewhat built around, but I feel very little for them. There isn't even that much tension between them, and there should be, given the plot.

I plan to finish this book this week...so, maybe it gets better. I know how it ends, though. Yep, I read a spoiler-filled review of the book and funnily enough, I didn't care. Big Grin

Celia and Marco die in the end. Whatever.

(Nov 7, 2022 08:25 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: I needed a book of deep thoughts as penned in journals and diaries. Something I can dip in and out of. So I just ordered this. Hope it provokes some profound meditations.


[Image: OCR7qg0.jpg]
[Image: OCR7qg0.jpg]


This sounds like a good find, MR.
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