By a nearly 2 to 1 margin, Gene Wolfe was the victor over Jorge Luis Borges and other authors including Umberto Eco and Gabriel García Márquez in a mini-poll about which author readers here wanted me to read/review next. So every now and then over the next month or so, I will read and review the following Gene Wolfe novels/collections that I have:
1. The Fifth Head of Cerberus
2. Shadow and Claw
3. Sword and Citadel
4. Urth of the New Sun
5. Latro in the Mist
6. Litany of the Long Sun
7. Epiphany of the Long Sun
8. In Blue's Waters
9. In Green's Jungles
10. Return to the Whorl
11. Castle of Days (collection)
12. Free Live Free
13. Innocents Aboard (collection)
14. The Knight
15. The Wizard
16. Peace
17. Strange Travelers (collection)
Reviews of Soldier of Sidon and Pirate Freedom were done earlier this year, so I will not repeat those. These reviews will be done around other reads and commentaries here and I may vary the reading from those listed above. Look for the first review in the next few days and (hopefully) others every few days afterwards.
Also, I have a new poll up listing some of the books for consideration for Best of 2007. Still many I have yet to read, plus there are a couple on that list which almost certainly shall not make my personal Best of 2007 but which have garnered much praise among readers at the various sites and blogs that I visit regularly. If there is one that you felt should have made that list but didn't, feel free to comment on that here.
Posts
3 comments:
I am looking forward to your in-depth review/criticisms (?) of Gene Wolfe's work, he has been that author that I have wanted to read for some time now and after I finish Lynch's RSURS I will dive right into his Shadow and Claw omnibus. Are you planning on expanding in length on these novels? Longer than the usual length of your reviews?
As for the poll, when I skimmed through the different options to vote for, it made me think of the thread over at westeros.org that one should not vote if he had read only a couple of them on the list, so for now I am not clicking anything. ;) Might decide to read a couple of them in december after all.
Yes, the reviews will be slightly longer than the norm, especially for the Book of the New Sun volumes. I once wrote a "walkthrough" for The Shadow of the Torturer that summarized bits and pieces of the chapters and I'll link to that when I read/review the two-volume omnibus the next few days.
As for the poll, I don't care if you haven't read them all - just vote for the one that so far you've liked the best! :D
I too look forward to your comments on these books. It's a daunting project you've undertaken here. I recommend that, instead of or in addition to reviewing the collections you listed, you get a copy of the collection The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories. This is Wolfe's first and best collection, since he could pick the creme de la creme from two decades of writing. Several of the pieces are Nebula, Hugo, or Locus nominees and/or winners. "Tracking Song" is not among these, but it is my favorite Wolfe story.
Post a Comment