Page 129 of 132

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 13th, '18, 22:03
by AliceON
I have 38 doughnuts and if anyone wants anything from the shop, just let me know next time. I don't need them

that story sounds weird. I would probably quit because of so many "what???"-thoughts. but the way you're talking about it is fun XD


I started reviewing "Starglass" and keep wondering if it's not objectively better than I felt about it. maybe I should re-read a few final chapters. I just don't like that the ending was a big mess, but on the other hand it makes sense. and the fact that I'm so unhappy with how much happened on the last page is just... kind of my personal preference? not that the plot was done poorly or anything. the author just chose to finish on a BIG spot that makes the reader want to read on. is it really a bad thing or am I just being grumpy?


oh descriptive prose is a blessing when done right!

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 13th, '18, 22:23
by Sanssouci
That sounds very much how I feel about Frenchman's Creek. I enjoy it very much up until the end. The first time I read it, I even thought I must have misunderstood something, and I read the last bit again. But the ending is still perfectly valid, just not my personal preference.

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 14th, '18, 06:51
by Akili Li
Read Invisible Library today.

The first chapter is really weird? It's like its own little short story that does nothing for the rest of the book at all, and doesn't seem to relate to anything. Maybe it was supposed to be like an establishing shot of a movie, to give an overview? But why should we have to have an overview? There's nothing about the universe or protagonist in that first chapter which we don't get perfectly well later... Well, I know it's a series. Perhaps something from that first chapter will show up in all the other books and you have to read them in order to catch it.
It's weird to start the story in a place never visited again, with supporting cast that doesn't seem ever relevant again, over a heist never again referenced for a mcguffin that doesn't appear anywhere else in the novel.
Unless I'm missing something big (and I did finish the book entirely today, so I've read the whole thing now), the novel would have been quite fine without the first chapter at all.
(Further, since it seemed to have nothing to do with anything, it meant that I started the rest of the novel constantly waiting for it to turn highly episodic, or for the first bit to show up again at all, anywhere, and waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole rest of the novel. It was distracting and detracted from the rest of the story, really.)

So.... my conclusion is: this book would be better if you read it starting from chapter 2.

However, I did have fun with it.
So it's worth reading.

Just start at the second chapter.

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 14th, '18, 12:50
by jacobgrey
I finished the one I was reading and moved on to another. I was almost immediately turned off though, I didn't realise when I picked it up that it was about lawyers. Since I read that awful John Grisham book, I really don't want to read about lawyers again :mcheh: I'm going to give it a few chapters and see whether I can stand it, but so far it's a very similar style to the Grisham.

Meanwhile my bookings for my online teaching have picked up again, which is really annoying because it means I have less spare time :'D I mean, I like money, but... I was getting a lot of reading done last week when no one was booking up for the sessions XD

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 14th, '18, 17:48
by AliceON
@Sanssouci: maybe I'll indeed re-read the last 5-8%

@Akili Li: that's an interesting observation :mclaugh:
also impressed by how fast you read

@jacobgrey: that's cool! what are you teaching?

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 17th, '18, 11:06
by Akili Li
So I have now finished also "The Masked City" (another of the Invisible Library books).
I'm enjoying them -as library books.
I don't think I'll track down and purchase them, though. I don't really feel the need to reread them. They were enjoyable, though. I might write down that author as someone to pay attention to again later when I'm done with the current stack of TBR books (every few years it actually gets gone through entirely, then I go look at those author lists and add their new works to it and create a new list of TBR titles)

I've also looked up more of the works by the author of the "Trailer Park Fae" book. Apparently she's got a number of works out already, but at least two of the series are written in 1st person so I've skipped those.
Went instead for "the Damnation Affair", "The Iron Wyrm Affair", "The Red Plague Affair" and "The Ripper Affair".
Which I've finished and read through, now. Mixed feelings. I think I like Trailer Park Fae better than any of the others, and of the others I prefer the last three named (which are part of a series), over the first one (which despite having the same naming convention might be in the same world but is unconnected with the others).

Now I'm reading "Slay and Rescue", but it has been a lot of books with magic in a row. So I'm going back to Michael Gilbert again afterwards.

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 17th, '18, 11:49
by LittleJulez
So far I can manage with my donuts, but thanks!

I am still reading the LSD book, I doubt that I will finish it this year..

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 17th, '18, 11:57
by AliceON
did you explain what LSD means? I think I missed it

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 17th, '18, 14:19
by LittleJulez
Yes, but it was a while back :) It stands for Lysergic acid diethylamide, it is a drug

Re: The 2018 Reading Challenge

Posted: Dec 17th, '18, 14:29
by AliceON
oh ok so it is a drug. I thought of something language-related. a smiley with a halo should be inserted somewhere here XD

I'm skyping with my supervisor about the master's thesis in half an hour and I'm panicking. unsurprisingly