lisah, I wouldn't call it cringe-making. I'd even say it's pretty good. It's not Faulkner, but it's much better than many series of it's type (I'm looking at you, Shanarra books!)

It is really good.

lisa - I enjoy the writing and the characters - I think you can find lots of samples online. There is an excerpt from the upcoming book here but I bet you can see parts of the first book at Amazon.

Is it funny at all?

I think I may want everything I read to be The Long Ships now! Epic and hilarious! I just finished it the other night.

Is it funny at all?

Occasionally. Not often. When it is, it's usually dark comedy. Really dark.

I've started reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I don't know Spanish well enough to read a novel but I have a feeling this book uses a lot of idioms and the translator struggled to create a reading experience that would feel the same in English. I hope I get used to it soon because I keep feeling like I'm reading subtitles.

BTW, Laga, my friend confirmed that the language is very idiomatic. That is one reason she really likes the author. She said it would be hard to translate well.

I'm having a similar experience with A Novel Bookstore. It has a very self-conscious style that I find annoying. But I like the plot description so I may check it out while in France and see if it reads any better in the original French.

I think I may want everything I read to be The Long Ships now! Epic and hilarious! I just finished it the other night.

Oh, I've been looking at that because it's an NYRB imprint. I know Chabon loves it too.

I know Chabon loves it too.

He thinks every man, woman, and child would benefit from reading it. I'm not sure I'd go that far but it is highly entertaining.

I'm staring to enjoy Shadow of the Wind more as the plot advances and I read faster but there are still some moments where I have to slow down because the language is trying too hard.

I found a copy of Tanith Lee's Dark Dance at Half Price Books and bought it with some vague memory that this was a favorite of Jilli's.

I like the opening but I was struck by the fact that even though the book was written in the 90s, so much of the nuts and bolts of that world were now outdated. It just struck me sharply that there was a continuity in the way the world worked roughly from the 20s through the 90s that was gone: land-line telephones at home, book stores, newspapers, record stores. Certainly all those things still exist, but they're not longer the primary way people communicate with each other, get news, get music or buy books.

David, I've just read (re-read for the first couple, but I hadn't read all) the "Tomorrow When the War Began" series and was thinking about how some of it would be totally different now, with cellphones and all. Heck, even a lot of stuff like Seinfeld is totally outdated with misunderstandings when now they'd just text each other.