Finished Maximum City last night (well, about 1:30 AM) and will review it later, but a thoroughly satisfying read.
In process, Phantom by Terry Goodkind and The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee.
Phantom is, unfortunately for me, number 10 in Goodkind's Sword of Truth series! I doubt the library has more than one or two of these -- I just picked this one up from the New Book shelves.
So far I'm enjoying it, but that means backtracking for 9 (NINE) books.
I prefer, of course, to begin at the beginning. However, that does not always happen to be the way things turn out. When there are only 3-4 books in a series, I don't feel overwhelmed, but starting with the last one in such a long series is a bit intimidating. So far, I'm enjoying it, and it reads really quickly, but it had better be excellent, or I'm not sure I'll go to the trouble of getting all the previous books.
Have just barely dipped into Buzbee's book. I couldn't resist, but knew I didn't want to have too many books going at once; now that Maximum City is out of the way, maybe I can give the thought required to read this book about reading.
Have also (I'm so easily tempted) tasted a bit of Paglia's Break, Blow, Burn and am very familiar with most of the 43 poems (she's included many of my favorites - the woman has excellent taste!). This one can be picked up at any time, and I love her critical analysis. Why? Because it mostly agrees with my own interpretations! She's chosen poems I love and her analysis (on the ones I've read) is exactly what I think, but in such perfect phrases. She also has included nuances that I've never noticed, but that make perfect sense. For anyone looking for a good book on poetry, Paglia is literary criticism at its best: insightful, erudite but readable, and full of enthusiasm.
And there are more responses to the Meyer-Briggs test in the previous post.
Wow...I can't imagine picking up a book at any point in a series except at the beginning. I think it would be hard to judge the quality of a book without the knowledge of the backstory that led up to it. Will be interesting to hear what you think once you're done.
ReplyDeleteCarl - I do it all the time. On this one, the cover didn't mention the series, and I was in a hurry and just grabbed it. Most give enough back story for it to be easily understandable and going back isn't even necessary, just an added pleasure. But beginning at the 10th is pushing it!
ReplyDeleteHere's the deal though, my friend told me that this book, the book before it, and the one coming after, though a part of the series, were written to also be a stand-alone trilogy. So you don't necessarily have to go back quite as far as you thought!
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see that. Robin Hobb uses that approach as well. I just finished and had no trouble at all...except for the cliffhanger at the end. I'm not sure if I will bother to search for more, though. There were elements I liked, but it was wordy in a way that wasn't necessary and very violent. Lots of sadistic characters.
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