Weekly Reading With Crazy Addicted Aliens

Last Week I Read
Embassytown, China Mieville (one of the books on my Fall 2011 Reading List).
Embassytown is a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe. Avice is an immerser, a traveler on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts - who cannot lie. Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

In last week's Weekly Reading With More Bad-Ass Vampires With Serious Blood Lust - I mentioned that the first 60 - 80 pages of the books are hard to get through - there are new terms/ words/ sayings for things, being thrown out left, right and center, and it's hard to keep up with what means what. BUT about half-way through, I realized I was actually understanding the complex bullshizzle. Avice makes a memorable heroine, and the plot unfolds with unique twists that kept me guessing. But, even though I finished the book, and admired Mieville as an author with his skillful use of language ... Language ... I cannot say I really liked this book. It's a little too convoluted - but it did make Amazon's list of Top 10 Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books of 2011, so maybe sci-f buffs will have more of an appreciation for it than I ... and here's my recommendation on What to Drink to Get By in Embassytown.

Currently Reading

Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson. I've read a few pages and in a word ... gripping!
Christine Lucas, a 47 year old woman who suffered a terrible accident twenty years ago that caused an anomaly with her memory - every morning she wakes up not knowing who she is. Some days she wakes thinking she is a little girl; other days she believes she is back in college, before her accident. She never remembers that the man laying beside her in bed is her husband, Ben. Each morning he must remind her who she is, where she is, how old she is, and what happened to her. Post-it notes and pictures cover her bathroom mirror as a reminder of her life.

Beside My Bed. I'm starting to keep a book of short-story collections on my night-table to read a few stories before I go to sleep.
The Outlaw Album, Daniel Woodrell. Desperation, both material and psychological, motivate the characters in these stories. A husband cruelly avenges the murder of his wife's pet; an injured rapist is cared for by a young girl, until she reaches her breaking point; a disturbed veteran of Iraq is murdered for his erratic behavior; an outsider's house is set on fire by an angry neighbor.

Next
Zone One, Colson Whitehead (the last book on my 10 Books Published in 2011 On My Autumn Reading List).

In this wry take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a pandemic has devastated the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead.

- What are you looking forward to reading this week?
- via Book Journey's What are you reading meme.