Recent reading

[luzula]

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Fantasy set in post-Roman Britain. I read half of this and then gave up on it. I wanted to like it--the themes seemed interesting--but the writing style just did not engage me. Ah well.

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
Recced by isis. This, on the other hand, definitely engaged me! It's a charming romance where the heroine decides to start making her own decisions after 29 years of being downtrodden, and while I could see several of the plot twists coming, that didn't stop me from enjoying it. What a lovely comfort read!

The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford
Fantasy set in alternate history 15th century Europe; recced by sineala. This is a good, well-written book and I did enjoy it, but I'm not quite the target audience for it. If I was more of a history buff I would probably get less confused by all the Richards and Edwards among the English royalty and more able to follow the historical divergences (basically, the Eastern Roman empire is still going strong, and Christianity is just one religious faith among many). Also I do not quite have the brain for complex political backstabbing intrigue. Anyway, you will probably know from the description if this book is right for you. : )

Comments

[seascribble]

Sorry to hear you didn't like the first one; it sounds like something up my alley, and I may give it a shot just in case. And I've ordered The Dragon Waiting. All my book recs come from you these days. :)

[luzula]

Well, all the ones in this post come from my fannish reading circle in the first place, so I feel like I am just handing them around. : ) Although I guess I do also read stuff that is not from here.

[umadoshi]

I'm so dearly fond of The Blue Castle. *^^* I've always said Jane of Lantern Hill is my favorite by LMM, but having reread The Blue Castle comparatively recently and been reminded of how much I love it, I should probably admit that it shares top place.

[luzula]

I have not actually read Jane of Lantern Hill! Thanks for the rec. *goes to download from Gutenberg*

[umadoshi]

I hope you like it! I can't actually remember how long it's been since I last read Jane--years and years, I think.

[calvinahobbes]

Everybody's reading The Blue Castle right now! Yay :D

I'm sorry to hear you didn't like Ishiguro. It was top of my list for when I next read a male author. I remember reading his detective pastiche, Never Let Me Go, at uni and really liking it. But then again, I had a greater tolerance for literary fiction then...

[luzula]

Well, it wasn't a bad book or anything; it just didn't work for me? The style felt like it was distancing and I couldn't really feel close to the characters. Like everything was kind of...muffled? Which, okay, that might fit with the theme, but it still left me feeling like it wasn't engaging me enough to keep reading. But YMMV, of course!

[sproid]

It's been ages since I had the time or inclination to go to the library and pick up something to read, but some of the ones you mention in your reviews make me think that I should really make the time. I liked reading sci-fi and fantasy when I was younger but was disappointed by a lot of them and eventually stopped reading (started reading popular science books instead, and later fanfic ;)). 'The Just City' in your last post sounded pretty interesting and I might see if the library has it! Regardless of whether I do or not though, I wanted to let you know that I like reading your reviews :)

[luzula]

Hey, thanks! I also like reading other people's reviews regardless of whether I go on to read the books or not. : )

Some things can go in periods, I guess? Like, at the moment I'm not reading a lot of fic, which means I'm reading lots of published books instead.