Whirlwind Warren
Jun. 5th, 2005 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alfvaenMy regular readers may or may not have noticed that, despite my recent vow to update you on my books-read more than once every six weeks, I haven't for a while. That's because I've been working on the same book, Steven Erikson's House of Chains, which I have now finished. Maybe for other people spending two weeks on a book is nothing of note, but for me it is.
And I can't even say the book was dragging. I blame my rereading of Dilbert, to a large extent, but I finished that a week or so ago. It did happen to be just over 1000 pages long, and very dense, with a lot of characters. I would say that it hasn't become my new favourite book in the series, like the last two did, so Memories of Ice is still the best so far. Though Erikson did a great job of taking a minor character from the second book and turning him into a major character in this one, and one of the best-drawn at that. But there's still no definitive sign of an overarching plot. There were hints, and at one point there was some kind of mind-blowing revelation or plot twist in every chapter, but it still looks like every book has its own plot arc(like a season of a modern TV series)without there being one continuing from book to book.
Now I've got a passel of library books. I've had Hitchhiker, a Douglas Adams biography, for a couple of weeks now, and have just started it. Then there's Marie Jakober's Even The Stones and Peter Watts's Behemoth, Part 1: β-max, both of them ordered during Aurora nomination season, but neither of them actual finalists. I have actually not managed to read a single one of the nominees this year--I can't remember the last time this has happened. Though Survival by Julie E. Czerneda has come out in paperback, so I have that available. Given her last few books, though, I'll be voting it second place right below "No Award".
The other library book is Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Perhaps you've heard of it. I've sure been hearing about it all over the bloody place, though I do read Neil Gaiman's blog, and he often mentions it. It's a huge brick of a book--almost a cube, really--but whether it's longer than House of Chains, I don't know.
The Marie Jakober one is due first(apart from Hitchhiker, which is in my parallel nonfiction slot), so I'll be reading it first, and then trying to get the Susanna Clarke done before it's due. Frankly, I'd rather read the Clarke first, but Nicole's started it. I just hope the Jakober isn't too long or slow-moving. The Watts book is, luckily(or unfortunately for Peter Watts), renewable, so it'll get put off until after I've finished the other ones.
I'm still annoyed about the stupid stunt they're pulling on Behemoth. It's something like, supposedly Barnes & Noble isn't stocking hardcovers above a certain price, so suddenly a bunch of novels are getting split in half in hardcover. Except that I haven't seen too many other novels with "Part 1" type titles listed in Locus, so either they're getting more artfully retitled, or they're just picking on Peter Watts specifically.
Something I think the publishing industry is teetering on the verge of collapse, and due for a good old Fourth-Turning shakeup once the generational cycle turns another notch. Maybe that's just sour grapes, or maybe that's accumulating anecdotal evidence that writers get tossed out after they've used up their first couple of chances, because there's always more writers waiting to replace them. Where in the chain of publishorial decision this happens I wouldn't know, but probably between editor and marketing department.
And I can't even say the book was dragging. I blame my rereading of Dilbert, to a large extent, but I finished that a week or so ago. It did happen to be just over 1000 pages long, and very dense, with a lot of characters. I would say that it hasn't become my new favourite book in the series, like the last two did, so Memories of Ice is still the best so far. Though Erikson did a great job of taking a minor character from the second book and turning him into a major character in this one, and one of the best-drawn at that. But there's still no definitive sign of an overarching plot. There were hints, and at one point there was some kind of mind-blowing revelation or plot twist in every chapter, but it still looks like every book has its own plot arc(like a season of a modern TV series)without there being one continuing from book to book.
Now I've got a passel of library books. I've had Hitchhiker, a Douglas Adams biography, for a couple of weeks now, and have just started it. Then there's Marie Jakober's Even The Stones and Peter Watts's Behemoth, Part 1: β-max, both of them ordered during Aurora nomination season, but neither of them actual finalists. I have actually not managed to read a single one of the nominees this year--I can't remember the last time this has happened. Though Survival by Julie E. Czerneda has come out in paperback, so I have that available. Given her last few books, though, I'll be voting it second place right below "No Award".
The other library book is Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Perhaps you've heard of it. I've sure been hearing about it all over the bloody place, though I do read Neil Gaiman's blog, and he often mentions it. It's a huge brick of a book--almost a cube, really--but whether it's longer than House of Chains, I don't know.
The Marie Jakober one is due first(apart from Hitchhiker, which is in my parallel nonfiction slot), so I'll be reading it first, and then trying to get the Susanna Clarke done before it's due. Frankly, I'd rather read the Clarke first, but Nicole's started it. I just hope the Jakober isn't too long or slow-moving. The Watts book is, luckily(or unfortunately for Peter Watts), renewable, so it'll get put off until after I've finished the other ones.
I'm still annoyed about the stupid stunt they're pulling on Behemoth. It's something like, supposedly Barnes & Noble isn't stocking hardcovers above a certain price, so suddenly a bunch of novels are getting split in half in hardcover. Except that I haven't seen too many other novels with "Part 1" type titles listed in Locus, so either they're getting more artfully retitled, or they're just picking on Peter Watts specifically.
Something I think the publishing industry is teetering on the verge of collapse, and due for a good old Fourth-Turning shakeup once the generational cycle turns another notch. Maybe that's just sour grapes, or maybe that's accumulating anecdotal evidence that writers get tossed out after they've used up their first couple of chances, because there's always more writers waiting to replace them. Where in the chain of publishorial decision this happens I wouldn't know, but probably between editor and marketing department.
