Reading roundup: the last of the Hugo homework

[hamsterwoman]

I still have 4 books I've been finished with (in some cases, for months) sitting unwritten up, and another book that I'm almost done with, but the other day I finished City of Brass, which I've been reading on-and-off since July, and immediately wanted to write it up, which hasn't happened to me in a while, except maybe for my offbrand Zukos rant.

Comments

[failte_aoife]

I started City of Brass a while ago and I see what you mean. At first, I was very much into it because there were lots of cool concepts but then things continued and...Nahri is travelling and Ali is doing stuff and now I've gotten a bit bored of waiting for actual things to happen

[hamsterwoman]

I can report that things definitely pick up once the Nahri and Ali storylines come together! But yeah, the portion of the book with Nahri and Dara on the road definitely dragged for me...

[bearshorty]

The nonfiction book sounds fascinating with so many small and interesting details. As a teenagers I read Asimov's autobiography (loved it of course), and in the last few years I read Polh's autobiography  (amazing), but this book sounds better in giving a more 3 D portrait of these writers.

It sounds like Campbell had aphantasia with his inability to visualize. That makes me want to read it even more since it is a trait I share and it is rare to read about.

[hamsterwoman]

The Astounding book was full of fascinating tidbits -- I'm very glad I read it! (even if it was a bit scattered in focus)

I know very little about Pohl, and I don't think I've read any of his own work, but he sounded like a very intriguing character from this book, so maybe I should remedy those things. And I didn't realize he had an autobiography out, either.

It sounds like Campbell had aphantasia with his inability to visualize.

Heh, I actually wrote that first and then realized that I don't actually know whether aphantasia and a lack of visual memory are the same thing. Like I would think they would be related? But at the same time I could see someone having aphantasia while still being able to recall the images of things they've actually seen -- you can, right?

[bearshorty]

Pohl's autobiography is called "The Way the Future Was" and it was fantastic. I also read "Gateway" by him, which was a good book.

I can't visualize anything. If I'm not looking at something, I can't see it. (Same thing with taste, if it is not in my mouth, I can't taste it. Or if I'm not listening to music I won't hear it). So I can remember being places or I know what Tanya or Olivia look like, but it's like just knowing it without an image of it in front of my eyes. I can even remember specific photographs I took but without actually seeing it. I have an excellent and very specific memory of dates and places but I can't visualize. I never think in pictures.

[hamsterwoman]

Oh interesting! I guess it would probably be aphantasia, then, yeah!

(I have trouble visualizing things I've never seen, when I'm reading descriptive passages or whatever, but don't have a problem with visual memories of things I've actually experienced. Still photos are very easy for me, and in fact I often recall things like names and dates by calling up the mental image of the page where that information was written down, either in my textbook or in my notes.)

Thanks for the Pohl biography title! I'll need to see if my library has it.

[meathiel]

"City of Brass" is on my to read list ... not sure I still want to read it.
So many good books, so little time! ;-)

[hamsterwoman]

I would definitely still say it's worth a read! Just maybe feel free to skim the part of the book where Nahri is traveling to the eponymous City of Brass. Things happening inside the city were quite interesting, and there's a lot of neat worldbuilding going on.

[_profiterole_]

Magical med school sounds good to me. I haven't read the book, but I recognise the author's name from lurking on Twitter.

[hamsterwoman]

I would've appreciated some more magical med school, but still enjoyed the book :)

P.S. While I think it's only heavily hinted in the first book, there is a canon m/m relationship between two secondary characters (although it's not out of the open)

[_profiterole_]

That's good to know.

[ikel89]

Some thoughts on your thoughts on Daevabad :)

First, thank you for indulging me -- I mean that despite the terrible slander of my chaotic ways XD (blows kisses). I do love to be able to reference books that made an impact, and this one is an interesting speciment from cultural standpoint, I think.

I spent the first 50% of the book kind of meandering along, never feeling the pull to go back once I put it down as we've established in best chat, you should have skimmed through the hot bodyguard het TM by imagining dara is a flying carpet. problem solved!
(keep me posted if his POV in book 2 moves the needle for you)
I definitely stayed a late night finishing the last stretch of the book! To be the pace picked up in each Ali chapter too, so it was only the hot bodyguard het that slogged my pace at first, but once avengers assembled, I pretty much binged it.

She is not a super-unique character, but she is a type I like, and I think she made a good mundane POV for the reader to follow as we got to know Daevabad.I think...I agree, with

[hamsterwoman]

I mean that despite the terrible slander of my chaotic ways XD (blows kisses)

I mean, in fairness to you, I would say I've actually been more chaotic in the last couple of sync reads XP Maybe it's catching :P

(keep me posted if his POV in book 2 moves the needle for you)

Well, so far I got to the first Dara POV chapter and wandered off to read The Wicked King, so, uh... not especially? XP

the pace picked up in each Ali chapter too,I definitely found the pre-meetup Ali chapters more interesting than Nahri and Dara's roadtrip, yeah. But even those picked up a notch when the Qahtanis had Nahri and Dara to react to