The OF Blog: March 8-14 Reads

Saturday, March 14, 2009

March 8-14 Reads

A few more books completed this week compared to others, some of it due to me not working on Thursday and Friday, some of it because I had a few books partially read from the week before. Three books are re-reads, three others are in Spanish, in addition to one non-fiction book, one "classic" and the final one being an expansion of a novella I read a few years ago.

72 Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower (re-read)- Already reviewed.

73 Roberto Bolaño, Tres - Short (barely 100 pages) collection of the late Chilean author/poet's poetry. Enjoyed it, might translate some into English in a few months.

74 Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan (re-read) - First Gormenghast novel. Already reviewed.

75 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (re-read) - Already reviewed.

76 Roberto Bolaño, La Universidad Desconocida - 2007 posthumous collection of Bolaño's earlier writings and poetry. Some of these were quite stunning, others were obvious drafts set aside for further revision, which was prevented by the author's untimely death in 2003.

77 Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword - Full review of this 1954 fantasy classic forthcoming. Have mostly positive things to say.

78 Roberto Bolaño, Amberes - Originally written in 1980 but not published until 2002, this short collection contains most of Bolaño's favorite recurring themes, especially that of the literary detective.

79 Michio Kaku, Physics of the Impossible - Will have much more to say in the next week or so about this non-fiction work that examines the probabilities of certain futuristic advances. Do recommend it for those who have a curiosity about physics and related sciences.

80 Charles Coleman Finlay, The Prodigal Troll - Expansion from his earlier "A Democracy of Trolls" novella that I read several years ago. Story was told in a deceptively "simple" prose, with strong character development. Working on an interview with the author to be published elsewhere in the near future.


In Progress:

Charles Coleman Finlay, Wild Things (short story collection)

Sarah Monette, Corambis

Irwin Shaw, Evening in Byzantium

Roberto Bolaño, Entre paréntesis


Future Plans:

Jo Graham, Black Ships (re-read)

Jo Graham, Hand of Isis

Bill Ectric, Tamper

Andrew Fox, The Good Humor Man

M. John Harrison, Viriconium (re-read; omnibus edition)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good thing I stopped trying to compete with you! I´m already well behind your list! :-)

MatsVS said...

Hehe, I've read 11 books so far this year. x(

That said, concerning your poll, I must say that I am disappointed in the lack of love for Faulkner. Even if he proves unworthy of an entire essay, I still hope you'll give us the cliff notes at some point! It happens to be my favourite novel by him, trumped only by "As I Lay Dying".

Larry Nolen said...

Fábio,

Just remember, for the next two months, I have a full-time job slowing me down. Then I'm a free agent for a while (changing careers, I think), so who knows how many will be read when I'll have a warm summer's day to tempt me to read outside while sunning?

Witchfinder,

All of those books I'm contemplating reading over the next 3-6 months, so if I do revisit Faulkner by the summer, I do plan on writing an essay or two on it and perhaps others by him.

 
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