Progress Update: Knight Life, by Peter David

After about a week of reading I'm currently on page 82 of Knight Life, by Peter David.  Usually when I read I'm further into a book or finished by this point, so the question must be raised as to why it's taking me so long.  The book isn't a bad one, so I'm not sure why I'm hesitating with this story.  The plot's a fun one: Arthur's returned (although it doesn't seem like the time of England's greatest need, as per the legends) and has decided to run for Mayor of New York City, Merlin's de-aged to the point of looking like an eight-year-old, there's a woman there who may or may not be the reincarnation of Guinevere, the Lady of the Lake's stuck in a pond in central park, and Morgan LeFay is planning something nasty.  David's writing is solid as well; he's a good story teller and the plotline moves smoothly.

Yet I find myself having trouble getting into it.  Maybe it's because out of all of the characters in Arthurian Legend, something that I'm fairly familiar with (to a point where I once did what I called the bargain basement Arthurian Legends tour of England), I despise the character of Guinevere.  Partly because she cheats on the king, and I suspect also because of a book I read many years ago, one of my first ventures into Arthuriana as a young teenager, that had an interesting spin on the character of Morgan LeFay.  I don't remember the title, but I know it had something about the number three in there.  Third Magic?  Third Circle?  Something along those lines...whatever the title was, the twist was interesting enough that I still remember the essence of that book over fifteen years later.

And maybe that's why I'm having a bit of trouble with this book.  For all of the updates in setting, having Arthur in the middle of NYC in the early 21st Century, I feel that all of the characters are still in the same old roles that they play in legend.  Morgan's still evil, and Merlin's still fighting with her.  I guess I'm looking for more of a twist, something to really turn around my perceptions of the old stories.  But I'm going to finish the story.  I'm having enough fun that I want to see where it goes, and I'm hoping that I don't regret putting my trust in the author to tell me the story that I want to see.  Who knows, maybe Guinevere will redeem herself in this incarnation.  Now that would be a great twist!

Book One: Quite Ugly One Morning, by Christopher Brookmyre

First book down!  Quite Ugly One Morning, by Christopher Brookmyre

As I mentioned in my first post, this isn't the first nor the second time that I've read this book.  And I'd read it again, I find it that enjoyable.  I'd listen to it as well; I'd actually heard the audiobook version of this one before I decided to go out and order the book.  I recommend the audiobook, especially if you like hearing men speaking with Scottish accents (and the added bonus of one awesome fandom in-joke at the beginning too...).

Quite Ugly One Morning is the story of a journalist, Jack Parlabane, who stumbles onto a murder in his new apartment building when he locks himself out of his flat in a hungover stupor one morning.  Being a "professional nosy bastard", he can't help but investigate and gets dragged into the mess that's brewing in the Royal Victoria Hospital.  This book isn't so much a whodunit as it is a whydunit.  Fairly early in to the book you know exactly who did what, but it's the motives that slowly unfold throughout the pages.  As a reader I really like that instead of the classical mystery novel path where the build up is all about finding who killed the first guy.

As a writer I love the style the book is written in.  The book rushes by at a breakneck speed which fits the plotline.  I like the characterization of his main characters as well (I especially have a thing for good guys who can be a bit of a bastard or fall on the wrong side of the law, which definitely applies to Parlabane).  The two main bad guys in the story are a wee bit less well rounded, but their motivations are pretty well explained so I don't find this a problem. 

Brookmyre doesn't shy away from his topic, so I'd warn that this book isn't for the faint of stomach.  There are some pretty graphic descriptions of violence and the aftermath thereof, and he's not shy about using the f-word either.  So if you're sensitive to those sort of things in your reading material this book probably isn't for you.  If that doesn't bother you, however, I highly recommend that you check this book out (I ordered my copy through Amazon, so you should be able to find it there if you're interested).  It's fun and speedy, and just an all around good time.  I know I'll be reading it again and still loving it.

And apparently there are sequels to this book.  I must find them....

I think the next book I'm going to start is Knight Life, by Peter David.  I'm fairly sure I've read this one as well, but it was so long ago I don't remember too much about it.  So we'll see where it goes.

Thanks for reading!

E. Iacono

The Master Lists

Here are the spreadsheets of the books I currently have in my collection.  I'll edit the spreadsheets as I add more books to them (because inevitably, as much as I tell myself I won't spend any more money, I'll buy some more books along the way) and I'll mark off the ones I've read on there as well.

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Spiritual

In book updates, I've got about 15 pages left in Quite Ugly One Morning, so expect a post on the book later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Cheers!

L.

First post - Welcome!

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my new blog, the View From the Bookshelves, which is where I’m detailing what I’ve started to call ‘The Bookshelf Project’.  What exactly is the Bookshelf Project?  Basically, what I’m going to attempt to do is read or re-read every book that I own.

Let me explain.  I’m the sort of girl who likes to collect things.  Not hoard, but when I like something, I tend to end up with a sizeable about of that thing (you really don’t want to know how many nail polishes I currently own…).  This habit extends to books as well.  A book with an interesting title catches my eye, I pick it up, and it sits around for three years.  I come back with twenty-two books from a vacation and I only read half of them in the ensuing years.  So on and so forth, until I have quite a few books sitting on my shelves and me not sure if I’ve actually read them or not.  I plan to remedy that with this project.

This means that I will read just about everything I own.  Literary classics, fantasy, research, young adult, sci-fi, poetry collections, teach yourself Russian books and more.  The lists may be expanded upon as I find more books lurking in the trunk of my car or on a friend’s bookshelf after I loaned a few for research.  I picked up these books for a reason (mostly…), and I’m hoping to rediscover those reasons through this project.  I’ve divided my collection of over 400 books into three spreadsheets: fiction, non-fiction, and spiritual.  Spiritual’s where I’ve classified holy books and mythological texts, feeling that they didn’t quite fit in either of the other two spreadsheets.

My goals for this blog are the following:

• -          To post frequently with the status of the book that I’m currently in the middle of.  I hope to give a daily page count, and any opinions or insights that I have while reading.  If I give up on a book halfway through for some reason or another, I’ll tell you that too.

• -          To be honest about how I feel about a book, whether those feelings are good or bad ones.

• -          To encourage conversation about books.  As I’m sure is obvious by now, books are one of my favorite things in the world, so let’s talk about them!  If you’ve read a book I’m posting about, or if you have any recommendations for further reading, comment away – I’d love to hear about all of them.

There’s a chance this blog may veer into other topics along the way.  I’ve got quite a few interests out there (especially in regard to things fandom related) so some posts about those things may pop their heads in occasionally.  The main focus of this blog will always be about the books, however.

So I’ll start here.  I’m currently on page 168 of Quite Ugly One Morning, by Christopher Brookmyre.  I’ll be done in the next couple of days, so expect a more detailed reaction then.  For now, I’ll say this: this isn’t the first or the second time I’m reading this book, and I still am having one hell of a fun time.

L.