A small blog post on books I’m reading currently or books I intend to read… very soon or books I’m interested into purchasing in an eventual future.
I’m not reading as much as I used too, and honestly now I’m not seeing huge -over a thousands pages- book the same way as before. Sad but true.
I also must add that before, I was reading in my bed, during the day when I wasn’t working, or all through the night, or also on weekends. Now, I tend to read during my commuting time, which represents about 2 hours every day, that is, when I can find a seat.
Okay, current read: The Light of Ages by Ian Mac Leod.
Edward Miller’s gorgeous cover for Ian MacLeod’s splendid Dickens-tinged fantasy The Light Ages.
I’ve struggled a little with the introduction, and sincerely hoped that the rest of the book would not be written in the same prose because otherwise I wouldn’t have stood a chance as a non English native speaker, but it was just the introduction (thank god).
I’m not gonna attempt reviewing it, since I’m still only at the beginning, and really, Gabe Mesa from the SF site did it much better than I will ever do :
“I was born Robert Borrows in Bracebridge, Brownheath, West Yorkshire late one August Sixshiftday afternoon in the seventy-sixth year of the third great cycle of our Ages of Industry, the only son and second child of a lower master of the Lesser Guild of Toolmakers.
The reference to West Yorkshire and to the month of August places this fantasy in our world, but the mention of a “Sixshiftday” hints at a very different England from the one we know. It is an alternate England, in fact, one in the middle of its own Industrial Revolution, albeit a revolution powered not by coal but by a magical substance called “aether” which serves not only as an energy source but as an all-purpose industrial helper, woven into materials to allow them to last longer and maintain their shape. Aether requires handling with care; it is dangerous, akin to a radioactive material, but the consequences of improper handling are not merely physical. Victims of direct, prolonged exposure to aether begin to change, to lose some of their fundamental humanity and take on some of the magical qualities of the aether itself, until they end up as changelings — creatures of magic and, to humans, horror. Changelings have no rights. They are the untouchables of this alternate England, placed in asylums, subjected to abuse and mistreatment and eventually exploited, for in their changed state they have a special, mysterious relationship to aether that allows them to perform tasks no human would dare attempt.”
(…) You can (or not) read the rest (spoilers though!) at this address : http://www.sfsite.com/09a/la159.htm
And I know I said “a small blog post” at the beginning of this one, and yet, I’ve barely scratched the surface. *sighs* So I guess it’s gonna be a little more longer… if you don’t mind. (Or until I fall asleep for good and will morsel the post into several posts… and finish it tomorrow or later)
Second book I wanted to talk about is a book I would have never thought buying some day. It was recommended to me by my boss (my job consists of tracking oil movements in the whole wide world)
FUEL ON THE FIRE oil and politics in occupied Iraq by Greg Muttitt.
I’m actually not really sure what it is about because I can’t remember what my boss said or the excerpt I read on Amazon, but it must have been interesting otherwise, I wouldn’t have bought it. *grins* More when I finally get around starting it.
Normally after Light of Ages, I should have started on “Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson, who is really a very good author. And i’m thanking Robin Hobb (mentally) every time he’s getting a new book out.
And then, keppet just made me want to add to my list “Prince of thorns” by Mark Lawrence. (Who also has a quote from Robin that says this is a real page turner.)
Just watching the tvshow “Pillars of the World” also made me want to read the Ken Folliet books from which the series are inspired. But these are HUGE books. Understand now my concern with over a thousands pages books? heh.
And of course, I absolutely have to read Kate Lattey’s very first (and very promising!) book “Flying Changes“.
And I guess, it’s about it so far. But I may have forgotten one or two other. Yeah, so many books, so little time…
