The Clam After the Storm - Reading in 2016 - Part II

I'm going to have to come back to refine this because I enjoyed The Lions of Al-Rassan so much that I do not want to leave it with a simple "I loved it."

Somehow managed to post that twice. LOL

>1 clamairy: I'm encouraged to hear that you liked it so much - this has been in my TBR stack for awhile but I'm trying to round up the series so I can read it all through.

>3 Darth-Heather: It's a stand-alone, though! Do you have it mixed up with the Fionavar Tapestry or The Sarantine Mosaic?

>4 clamairy: oh. yes, probably. I thought it was part of the Sarantine one. Now I'd better dig around in the TBR heap and see what I actually have :)

>5 Darth-Heather: They are set in the same world, but they aren't part of the same narrative.

I finished Emergence this morning. I'm sorry I haven't had time to write a review of the Kay book yet, and I won't for a few days. Same with the Palmer. I swear I'll be back.

I discovered your Part II by accident. I am obviously not being very observant at the moment.

I'm waiting until the entire series of Clam After The Storm is released so i can read it all at once.

Don't forget the prequel.

>1 clamairy: delighted to hear you loved it. It's my favorite of his. He published a new one this year, which I haven't read yet, but I'll rectify that soon.

I'm sorry I haven't been around. I'm afraid that sometimes when bad stuff happens in my life I have a tendency to withdraw from LT. I'm not sure why that is, but it happens. And then the longer I stay away the harder it seems to be to dive back in. One of my son's good friends managed to get himself killed in a pretty horrible way back in October, and I've only been popping in to read threads sporadically since then. I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm just trying to explain my absence.

I have been reading, but not as much as I'd like to. I did happen to enjoy Everything I Never Told You which I had requested from OverDrive. (Though the timing of its delivery to my Kindle was rather bad, considering it's a rather dark topic and I was already floundering about in the 'pit of despair.')



That was followed by another OverDrive offering My Name is Lucy Barton which was decent, but not as enjoyable as the author's Pulitzer winner, Olive Kitteridge.



I finally got around to reading Sarah Silverman's memoir The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee which was a bit of a mixed bag. The first half was indeed hilarious, which was just what I needed. The second half got a bit bogged down in the minutia of her time in NY while she was becoming famous.



At some point during that time I finished listening to John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's brilliantly narrated by Wil Wheaton.



On the recommendation of a friend I started Inferno but I only made it through about three or four pages before I started gagging and returned it to OverDrive. Blech. :oP~~~

Right now I am immersed in The Rook and it seems to be just what I need. Over the next week or so I'm going to attempt to wade through the threads I've missed, but be patient with me.

Sorry to hear the news about your son's friend. I hope your son is getting through what must be a tough time for him.

Good to see you back.

>12 clamairy: very sorry to hear about your son's friend. (((Hugs)))

Hey! Nice to see your post. I've been not as active as before, also, and I think it is because I'm having a hard time fitting much reading time into my newly (not) busy life. (I mean it is not a new thing, busyness, that is....) Real life has been engaging me often which is, on balance, probably a good thing. But I am reading some... right now I'm working my way through All the Light We Cannot See which is captivating. But first, I tried listening to it and fell to sleep too often. Then I tried reading it on my old Kindle only to find it was not working correctly. So, I ran out and spent money on a hard back copy from Barnes and Noble after having let some coupons expire. Silly me.

>13 pgmcc: & >14 NorthernStar: Thank you both.

>15 maggie1944: Thank you, and I hear ya. It's not a bad thing that you're busy, if that's what you want. :o)

I did enjoy that one, for the most part. My only complaints being that the author used some very heavy-handed misdirection several times.

Glad to see you back here! :)

Like pgmcc in #8, found your new thread by accident. So sorry to hear about this latest piece of terrible news. Good to have you back here nonetheless!

Thanks for the recommendation of The Lions of Al-Rassan. After really enjoying my first Kay, Under Heaven, this summer, it's nice to have another strong suggestion!

Don't be a stranger!

Sometimes life just sends us into hibernation mode. Glad that you're feeling up to joining us again.

Sorry to hear that you read four pages of Inferno. Don't worry, things will get better.

Sorry to hear about the rough time you've been having in RL. It's good to have you back here.

Checking in just to let you know I'm thinking about you. (((Hugs)))

>17 MrsLee:, >18 stellarexplorer:, >19 SylviaC:, >21 Sakerfalcon: & >22 jillmwo: Thank you for your kind words.

>18 stellarexplorer: That's the third one of his I've read and definitely my favorite.

>20 MrAndrew: :o)

Sorry about your son's friend. I understand hibernation mode. Glad you are back on here.

>24 catzteach: Many thanks. Doesn't take much for me to want to hide some days.



I finished The Rook and it was thoroughly enjoyable. My deepest thanks to all of you who recommended it. I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. This was sooo much more fun than what I'd imagined! :o)

Edited to add that I'm currently working on Sag Harbor.

Just put The Rook on my library TBR list. It looks good!

What's it about?

>27 stellarexplorer: It's something like X-Men with humor. With some X-files thrown in for good luck. Maybe there's even a little dash of Bridget Jones Diary tossed in there. The main character wakes up with no memory surrounded by bodies in a park and has to piece together who she is based on letters she'd left for herself. No offense intended, but I suspect that some male readers won't be as amused or enthralled as I was. Does that sound awfully sexist? :oS

>28 clamairy: No, speculative but not sexist. Plus I trust you. It sounds good. I am a sucker for characters waking up and not knowing who they are.

>25 clamairy: The rook is awesome, I'm so glad you enjoyed it (and are encouraging others to pick it up!)

I liked it, but wasn't blown away. Somehow I never got around to saving a review for it. I think I struggled with how she'd forgotten a lot of things, but conveniently remembered how to walk and talk etc.

>29 stellarexplorer: *phew* It is full of British humor, too. Another plus.

>30 Sakerfalcon: I may just have to pay full price for Stiletto now, though.

>31 reading_fox: But they explain why & how that was done. And seriously, you have no problem with a book full of supernatural beasties and a ridiculously wealthy shadowy organization full of 'gifted' workers, and you're quibbling about how some areas of her memory were intact? :o)

>32 clamairy: - for me it's all about internal consistency. I'm quite happy to posit a world with supermantural beasties, providing everything else continues in accordance with that. The memory thing just didn't sit right with me.

>33 reading_fox: I hear you. In movie & TV shows they always diddle with memories in ways that annoy me as well. It's an easy plot device.

The Rook is one of the hundreds waiting patiently on my kindle. I'm never going to get to them all, even if I live to be 113.

>35 SylviaC: I hear ya. With the exception of when I first wake up in the morning I have a hard time just sitting and reading for big chunks of time, but I usually spend that time with the NY Times either on my phone or my tablet. :o/ Sitting did not used to be an issue, but it certainly is now. I can't even sit at my PC for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time any more. That's probably better for me health wise, but my reading has suffered.

I'm so glad you liked The Rook, clam!

>37 Marissa_Doyle: I know you were one of the LTers who recommended it, along with @Sakerfalcon, I believe. But I am sure there were more of you, and I can't recall who. All I remember is the barrage of book bullets. So let me thank you all again for that one.

So am I to understand the sequel isn't as good? I'll wait for it to go on sale then.

Well, I didn't like it as much. Myfanwy had a much smaller role, for one thing. :( And I suspect O'Malley struggled with his storytelling since he couldn't rely on the data-dumps that Myfanwy's letters to herself provided in the first book. It's still a wonderful, mad-cap story and world, but just wasn't as satisfying a book as the first one, in my opinion.

This one was a bit of a mixed bag. I borrowed Sag Harbor through OverDrive because Whitehead's current best seller has a waiting list a mile long. (I should be reading The Underground Railroad sometime next Fall.) This was the second book of his I've read. The first was Zone One, which I enjoyed. That was a 'literary zombie novel,' while Sag Harbor is a coming of age tale. So they couldn't be further apart on the surface, but underneath they are both about the struggles of a very middle class black teenage male trying to figure out who he is. Sag Harbor chronicles (mostly) one summer spent at Benji's parents' beach house on the South Fork of Long Island. It's supposedly very autobiographical. I did enjoy the first three quarters of the book quite a bit, but then sadly it stalled and the ending seemed drawn out. The man can write beautifully and he has a charming self-deprecating sense of humor I very much appreciate. So overall it was decent read.

>40 clamairy: I'm #96 in the library queue for The Underground Railroad. I'll probably get it about when you do.

>41 Jim53: I'm only #43!!!

I started The Patron Saint of Liars last night, and it wasn't doing much for me. I thought it was just because I was tired, so I decided to just go to sleep after about a dozen pages. I tried getting back into it this morning and it still wasn't rocking my boat, so I'm moving on. Not sure where yet. :o)

>43 clamairy: I'm curious what other people do when that happens. Will you put it back in the pile and try again someday, or is it a lost cause?

>44 Darth-Heather: This one was a digital library loan, and I'm returning it so whoever is behind me in the queue can have it now instead of waiting.

I ended up diving into The Hero of Ages, which is the third book in the Mistborn trilogy. I finished the second book early in 2014, so I hope I won't have too much trouble getting back into it. So far so good.

Well now... I'm years behind many of you, but I finished the final book in the Mistborn Trilogy. I enjoyed it immensely overall, but I have some quibbles. My dissatisfaction has mainly to do with the prevalent and somewhat repetitive inner monologues, especially those of Vin & Elend. They were both plagued by self-doubt about their place in the scheme of things and their relationship with each other, which never really felt quite organic anyway. I also grew somewhat weary of Sazed's angst over his doubts about his faith. Still, I was blown away by Sanderson's magic system. Very original and intriguing, IMHO.

I've already started A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and it's wonderful so far.

I read the first third of A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet several months ago and haven't returned to finish it.

>48 suitable1: Oh no! Did you stop enjoying it for some reason, or did you have to put it down for something else and just not get back to it?

>49 clamairy: It just didn't get my interest.
It happens to me occasionally; David Weber is one of my favorite authors, but I've started Hell's Gate three times and can't get past the first few chapters.

I can see that it might not appeal to everyone. It's all about the characters, and pretty light on plot and action. I like that in a book, so I was quite happy with it.

>47 clamairy: The magic system was the best and most memorable part of the original Mistborn series, I think. I read it several years ago and I barely remember the story itself, although I do remember enjoying it quite a bit. The magic system has stuck with me, though.

Is your thread title from Discworld? I meant to ask you that a couple books ago, when I ran across a similar phrase in Jingo.

Ok, I admit to never having read Sanderson. Which is his best book?

>47 clamairy: Glad you are enjoying Small angry planet so far. I loved it, but then I like character-driven books.

>53 stellarexplorer: Speaking entirely for myself, his best is The Emperor's Soul. Exquisite. Did it with one of my book groups where no one was familiar with Sanderson and they ALL loved it.

>53 stellarexplorer: He hasn't got higher than 4* for me, although that's on several of his books. I'd probably go with Mistborn being the most inventive, fastest paced, and generally fun, but not without flaws.

>52 YouKneeK: It's from this goofy book title:



I used that as the title of my journal threads for several years, while some bad stuff was going on in real life. This year it seemed more appropriate to go with the word 'After' as I'm hoping the shit-storm is behind me. :o)

>51 SylviaC: & >54 Sakerfalcon: This book is perfect for me right now.

>53 stellarexplorer: I think you'd appreciate The Emperor's Soul more than anything else of his. I think I coerced a few other people in here to read that one (>55 jillmwo: included) because I was so impressed with it.

I have Small Angry Planet on my kindle app. I read it when I'm in line at the store, so it will be slow going, but I'm liking it so far. I think I'll enjoy it.

I, too, have not yet read Sanderson. I need to give him a try.

>53 stellarexplorer: I'm with those who recommend The Emperor's Soul. I loved the Misborn trilogy and Elantris, but as >56 reading_fox: says, there are quibbles. I have never read one of his books that I didn't become immersed in though.

>57 clamairy: Ah, thanks I’d never heard of that. Here’s hoping you can continue to use “After” in your thread titles from here on out. :)

>60 YouKneeK: I don't own it or even know what the stories are about, but since clam is my nickname since childhood a good friend in here shared that cover with me. And thank you. :o)

>58 catzteach: I think you'd like his work.

Thanks everyone. The Emperor's Soul goes on the List!

I've only read one Sandersen - The Way of Kings which is the first gigantic tome in the Stormlight Archive. It took me about 400 pages to get interested, because there is a LOT of setup before any real action or character development, but by the end I was quite engaged and will seek out the next book someday. I am glad to have everyone's recommendations for other books of his to try - as was mentioned in >47 clamairy:, he is great at devising an intriguing magic system.

>63 Darth-Heather: I bought that for my kindle when it was on sale, not realizing it was part of a series. I had already bought the hardcover for my daughter. I still haven't gotten to it. Plus, I really want to read Warbreaker at some point. I keep waiting for the Kindle version of that to go on sale.

So I'm adding one last book to this thread. (Mainly because I started it months ago, but just got around to finishing it.)



The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness might not live up entirely to its title, but it's full of wonders nonetheless. I doubt if I'll ever be able to eat octopus again. Not in good conscience at any rate. If it's foisted upon me I still might indulge, but I won't be seeking it out. Squid on the other hand...

>65 clamairy: Dehumanising the squid, are we?

>66 pgmcc: Just keeping them in the calamari category for now.

>67 clamairy:. Yum!

Just picked up a copy, and looking forward to reading it. Any relative of a cuttlefish, is a relative of mine!

>69 stellarexplorer: Uh oh! I hope you enjoy this one.

Ok, we have to resolve this :)

1. It was on my list before you read it.
2. I am solely responsible for my reading choices, and would NEVER blame you for liking something I didn't.
3. I usually like the things you like, and there's only one known category of difference. There is far greater agreement than disagreement.
4. There is good will between us.
5. I'm very agreeable, just vocal about book irks.
6. I'm thinking I should have kept my mouth shut about that last one :)

>71 stellarexplorer: No no no.... Never keep your mouth shut about books! Ever! (Unless you trash LotR in multiple threads. Then I will have to beat you up.)

Edited to add: Yup, yup, yup, uhuh & uhuh for the first five points.

So I have to admit I haven't started a new thread for a couple of reasons. The main one is that I've been fighting a head cold for a few days. The other is that I'm struggling to find a new subject, because I want to leave all references to the storm behind.

And I wonder if I've done the whole clam/calm pun thing to death.

>72 clamairy: I'm unlikely to trash one of the great works of World Literature in multiple threads. So I guess we're good.

>74 stellarexplorer: *phew* My pugilistic skills are lacking.

This topic was continued by Fieldnotes: On Staying Clam & Reading in 2017 ☽ Part I ☾