Right now I'm about to start a new book actually, but I'm a bit torn. I've got the Appeal from John Grisham, American gods by Neil Gaimann and the first Shannara books by Terry Brooks. All were acquired on my recent trip to Orlando, and I'm not sure which to begin with tbh as all are quite appealing
Alexander- it kind of depends on the kind of reader you are. Grisham tends to be fast, good- and a little forgettable when it is over. American Gods is excellent, in a dark and surprising way. Gaiman really weaves a lot of Western mythos into it. Brooks--- I found somewhat disappointing. Granted that was some 20 years ago, and my impression might be different now. If it was me, I would save the best (Gaiman) for last.
As for my own reading- Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell.
A book from Alister Mclean.
I just finished reading Enchanter's End Game, book five in th Belgariad series by David Eddings. Not entirely sure what to read next..... I wish I had the money for some new books, I've read all the ones I own so many times and there's no decent libraries anywhere nearby
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
I read one of Brooks' Shannara boks (first of the second series I think), I do normally read in order but you get what you find in India... Anyway to put it mildly I won't be reading the next one though perhaps reading out of order spoiled it a bit.
I just finished Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy which was somewhat mixed though ended well enough to put it among my favourite books. I really loved her use of first person and am a bit dissapointed that its finished - anyone know any other long works in first person (other than her other works)?
Now I'm starting The Man in High Castle.
Not first-person, but I strongly recommend Feist's Riftwar and Serpentwar series. Will have to consider the first-person question... not a lot of sci-fi/fantasy is written that way...
Of course, Raymond Chandler is one of my all-time favorite writers- and likely to be available to you- if you like hard-boiled detective stories.
So I perused m,y bookshef for a long while, and eventually settled on my reading plan for the next while. All Middle-Earth stuff I own, in chronological order, starting with The Silmarillion, then The Children of Hurin, then The Hobbit, and finishing up with LOTR.
So I'm reading The Silmarillion currently, and have just passed the point where Feanor decides it's time to leave Valinor XD
Ah yes, the Riftwar was excellent (if rather happy), I must get round to reading the rest of Feist's stuff.
And all of middle earth - that should take at least a while...
Since Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series is complete. I've decided to re-read all twelve books in order to get an overall impression of the series. I started reading this series before it was completed so there were points when I had to wait a year or two before the next release which meant I read other stuff between books. Kinda makes me forget things that get mentioned in books that way.
Hopefully by the time I finish "Confessor", George RR Martin will have finally released his next book (what's taking him so long? I thought this book and the previous one were basically written at the same time and because there was so much material he was forced to split them up). And whoever is finishing Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series will have the final installment written as well. If I remember correctly, there were still a lot of loose ends that needed tying up so that could prove to be a daunting task to do in one book.
Year of the Rogue Dragons: Book Two
I'm resurrecting this thread to sing the praises of Tony Hillerman's mystery novels. They're primarily set on the Navajo reservation in Arizona and New Mexico, and the lead characters work odd cases for the Navajo tribal police. It's fascinating stuff, with a mix of different cultures, marvelous landscapes, complex (but quite logical) plots. I'm currently reading Skeleton Man.
About to start "Nation," the newest Terry Pratchett. Also re-reading "Habeas Corpses" by William Mark Simmons. Listening to "Eddie's honoured user" by William Kowalski during my drive to and from work. (There is something to be said for a 1 hour commute.)
Well, I've finally read American gods by Neil Gaiman. I've been meaning to for a long time but never got around to it. I'm currently rereading Tolkien books, finished the Hobbit today and now off to start on The Lord of the Rings.
I am about to begin rereading all seventeen Shannara books by Terry Brooks. My friends and teachers all stare at me when I bring out a book about 2-3 inches thick lol.
I'm bogged down between two books just now: Feersum Endjinn by Iain Banks is great except that a quarter of it is in a rediculous made up english which is almost unreadable, and as far as I can see unnessesary. Still its got a good plot and the usual bizarreness of Banks.
The other is a fairly heavy translation of Beyond God and Evil which I'm really enjoying even with its two page plus sentences.
So, after reading every Feist book in my possession bar the Empire Trilogy, including the latest one, Wrath of a Mad God (good, but not what I had hoped, and there was a couple of annoying inconsistencies with earlier books) I'm now back to reading Dan Abnett again. More specifically, First and Only, the first of many books about Gaunt's Ghosts.
I don't think that I have ever recommended a fantasy trilogy before, yet the best books I've read in 2008 have been just that. Step forward newcomer Brent Weeks and his "Night Angel" trilogy - "The Way of the Shadows" "Shadows Edge" and "Beyond The Shadows". They've all come out in the last 2 months, and I highly recommend them. Best fantasy series I've ever read. Ever. I've never felt more inspired to get writing again, they've reminded me of just how entertaining a really good fantasy series can be.
i´m reading the last Eragon book, it´s very good. And something I always have wanted to read is Mao's little red book.
Currently reading Refuge, by Terry Tempest Williams. Also saw her give a reading from her most recent book back in September in Missoula. She was hanging out there as visiting writer in my Environmental Studies program.
I'm readin' The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, and it is very cool. It's a lot different from King's usual stuff, since this is his own fantasy world.
Two books, as I always do. One political/philosophical and one fiction.
Currently a 1921 reprint of an 1866 edition of The Republic of Plato, I like reading old books. Its also surprising what a facist Plato was.
And Stephen King's, The Stand. Its an uncut edition which to be honest is far too uncut but its still good tense stuff.
I recently received Crime and Punishment for Christmas. Plan on reading that. I think it might be fun.
One of few good things that came out of my [limited] monetary ability this C.Eve was that I got Clive Barker's "Damnation Game", Pern Trilogy by Anne McAfree and Lowecraft's short stories collection. I've done Barker and right now I'm finishing up 3rd Pern Book.
I picked it up for £2 second hand, otherwise I'd never buy an 'uncut' edition, if the editor cut it there's a good reason (the only exception I've come accross so far was Feist's Magician which the uncut version certainly didn't need cutting, but that was his first book IIRC).
And yes it does wander and have irrelivant section but I survived Tad Williams' Otherland quadrilogy (in the name of all thats holy don't read it) so I'm immune to waffling.
Started reading The Colour of Magic. I've been putting Discworld off for far too long, and I have no excuse for it.
Almost finished "Catch As Catch Can" which is basically a collection of Joseph Heller's short stories before he got the prestige garnered from "Catch-22" as well as some stories after he wrote that book and some non-fiction articles of him reflecting on the movie project for the book and his life on Coney Island and his bombardier experience in the war.
After that I'm re-reading "Ender's Game" and then moving on to "Speaker For The Dead". Obviously I plan to buy the other books in the series after finishing "Speaker".
Well, the Night Angel trilogy was definitely fun. After having finished the first book on thursday, I couldn't wait to see how it ended so I got the two other parts and spent most of my weekend reading them. It was a lot of fun and I have to echo Burnt's sentiments; for a debuting author this is quite something.
This of course leaves me with a small problem though, now what do I read.
I'm reading a collection of short stories by HP Lovecraft called The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Tales. As the title suggests, the stories are all very strange, and so far, each has had its own wild twists. They are all horror stories, (at least what I've read up to this point) written in such a way that the reader is in the dark until the very end, when everything suddenly makes sense. (or not-- sometimes I've had to go back and reread the entire story to figure out what happened at the end. Lovecraft is good at making you think.) The writing style is difficult to read sometimes since the stories were written in the early 1900s, but that's part of the charm for me.
Even though I haven't finished reading them, I've liked every story in the book so far.
I'm currently reading The Dark Tower: The Waste Lands by Stephen King (for fun) and Oedipus (for my Lit class).
I've just finished The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag, an interesting, philosophical and downright hilarious book that explores the meaning of life, the origins of the universe and the mind of God (literally!). While very, very funny, the book has multiple switches between 3rd and 1st person meaning that the plot, already dizzyingly complex, gets even harder to comprehend. However, once you do work out what the hell is going on it is well worth the read, and it's very good nonetheless.
I just finished reading Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"..... which I opnly started reading about 3 hours ago XD. The ability to read fast without skimming can be a curse sometimes. But yeah, awesome book... too bad the sequels weren't all that great.
Also, currently reading The Stand by Stephen King... again. Must be the 4th or 5th time by now, at least. Great book though.
It's still on my list to read after I'm done with The Dark Tower. I think that's what I'll pull from my bookshelf first.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
Like 1984, a great Dystopian themed novel.
I'm actually on my way to finishing up the Ender series. I agree with Wolfie about "Ender's Game" so far being the best of the series. The other books are much more philosophically based and focused on developing a lot of characters rather than just a few. Still an interesting read, it's just that I think "Ender's Game" panders to a bit of a different audience than the rest of the series.
I have read Ender's Game but none of the others in the series. In my abscence I've read the entire Twilight series (I'm a guy by the way) and the latest book of the Inheritance (Eragon) series. I probably sound like a fantasy junkie right now.
Presently, my attention is on House to House: A Soldier's Memoir, an account on the war in Iraq by Staff Sergeant Bellavia. The events documented occured in 2004.
Well this is a forum about a fantasy-type game. I wouldn't be surprised if fantasy novels are the preferred genre of fans of this game. For the most part, all I usually read is fantasy though recently I've been checking out popular sci-fi books as well.
I used to be a fantasy junkie in my early days, though nowadays that has been pretty much fully replaced by sci-fi junkiness.
For example, I've recently come into the situation where I can buy books as I please. With moderation, although I've thrown over a hundred euros at it by now. Err...am I becoming addicted? Then again, those hundred euros are spread out over more than thirty books and some of it went into education books.
And I guess my personall motto is also to blame.
"If it's a good book, better buy the whole series in one go before some sneaky honoured user runs off with parts 3 and 5."
I swear though, it's amazing what kind of stuff you can find in the used section. Books from all the great ones and the more obscure ones. Often even in pristine quality! By comparison, the brand-new section is just filled with Star Wars novels based on the last film, the last (and only the last) book in the Wheel of Time series and the latest reprint of Lord of the Rings. All that, fills half a rack. The used section barely makes it to two racks. One of those racks is filled with nothing but the older reprints of Tolkien. The guy even gets his own section. Man, I know that he's been pretty influential but I think that it's now getting a bit too crazy.
Anyway, the closest to fantasy in my personal library would be the John Carter of Mars series. I got the first three books in the series for the price of one. Awesome. I think it's sword and sorcery to be more specific.
Now getting back on topic. I have not yet started reading, but am planning to read: Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. I've read the sequel to it years ago in the library and while confusing as heck, it did have its share of moments that made me go "HOLY CRAP, THAT'S AWESOME!" I've also read Endymion which is supposed to be the sequel to the Hyperion series, but that one only managed to confuse me. Still, it was nice to see the Shrike, aka 'the bad guy' from Hyperion turn into the totally awesome silent saviour and stuff.
Speaking of which, I remember a conversation I had a few years ago with some friends. Basically, we were trying to decide on the greatest badass in sci-fi. For a while, Darth Vader led because of his calm and ruthless behaviour, and his awesome mask. But when we moved onto less well known badasses, we eventually settled on the following. The Shrike is the ultimate badass ever, period.
I mean, we're talking here about a three metres tall...thing made out of nothing but indestructible beyond razorsharp spikes, blades, barbed wire etc. Add in four arms (I think, the covers only ever show two), two creepy red glowing eyes, bullet-time that makes Neo go "That's impossible!" and a habit of standing still just long enough to catch a grenade to the face, just so it can watch people crap their pants when they realize said grenade didn't do a damn thing.
Oh, and then there is the gigantic tree-version of itself which it uses to impale its victims on. The victims never die and are doomed to suffer for eternity. So yeah, he's either badass, or some sort of god of hell. Your choice. It kind of makes me wonder how Simmons ever came up with it.
Heh, I don't read fantasy at all. A lot of Ed Abbey's awesome anarchistic wilderness-centered non-fiction and novels, a fair brace of "nature writing" non-fiction (Aldo Leopold, Craig Childs, Terry Tempest Williams, etc.), and a passel of Tony Hillerman's southwest-centered mysteries, but no fantasy (or sci-fi, for that matter). I think I'm a bit of an anachronism on TES-related forums.
Currently re-reading Abbey's Black Sun, by the way. As he writes in the Preface:
Black Sun is a novel about love. And about sex, and the forest, and love under the sun in the forest, and about disappearance. The vanishing of a loved one. About mystery, that is, and the bewildering grief of death. Like most honest novels, it is partly autobiographical, mostly invention, and entirely true. I wrote this book in four weeks, hacking away on a borrowed typrewriter, at night, after work, in a strange place in Arizona.
Yes, and I have spent many a summer in what the Forest Service calls a "fire lookout". A tower in the woods. Far away from all that sustains sanity. The voice that speaks in this book is the passionate voice of the forest, that sound the wind makes wailing through the yellow pines. You'll see what I mean. The madness of desire, and the joy of love, and the anguish of final loss--so much, and no more, was my modest ambition in the creation of the book Black Sun.
So, bought and read Feist's "Rides a Dread Legion" the other day, and I gotta agree with Alex... good book, but something seems lacking compared to the earlier ones. One thing I was glad to see is that there wasn't any further retconning of multiple trivial to semi-important events. And I'll definitely say that there was certain events at the end of the book that had me double checking to make sure I hadn't mistaken what I just read.
Well I finished he Stand which took me longer to read than any other book I think. It was excellent (barring the ending), well realised from its principal and well done. But I think the uncut edition was madness, King simply waffled too much for my tastes and I got bored at points. Still generally very good, especially towards the end once it was done with milling around. The end itself was a bit disappointing I thought, it wasn't that satisfying and then drew out a bit to far after the main conflict was done with.
Now I'm reading Iain M Banks, Consider Phlebas. Banks is my favourite author, at least when writing as Iain M Banks - ie SF, when he writes as Iain Banks I find him a bit too obscure. Its quick moving and, like all his books, is full of really cool ideas. I'm enjoying it so much I think I'll follow it with all the other 'culture' novels.
Yeah its odd that I'm reading anything, I usually don't have time to sit and turn a few pages these days but I'm reading a book inspired by Halo...yes the video game. I know I'm a dork but "The Fall of Reach" has really captured my attention.
Currently I am reading (or have recently finished)...
Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age, 1792 ~ 1815: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (for the 3rd time)
Paradise of the Blind
Gates of Fire
A three part biography on Theodore Roosevelt
A biography on Ronald Reagan
The Prince
The Art of War
and...
Fredrick the Great's Order Letters (or something like that)
Btw thats Clausewitz's Art of War, no Sun Tzu's
I've recently finished a soldier's memoir of the war in Iraq called House to House. And started reading Band of Brothers.
I'm currently working my way through The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Officially my favourite book ever.
Even more so than the Mr Men saga.
Well I finished Consider Phlebas a while ago so its safe for me to say something about it now without raving overly. It's good, a bit dark which isn't everyone's thing but is exactly what I like. Like all his books there's some quite original stuff there. The plot is slightly annoying but it gets away with it, and some of the things are slightly far fetched but are cool enough to make them allowable. Its the first SF book Banks wrote and its a good one, more action filled than other books he's written and less about the past, though I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Overal I'd definatly recommend it, though perhaps not quite so highly as Against a Dark Background which is another by Banks but in a setting he only used for it - Consider Phlebas is the first 'Culture' novel he wrote.
I'n now reading The Player of Games which is the second culture novel and, after a slow start, is shaping up well.
Just started Jurassic Park by Michael Crighton. I've seen the movie but will probably get a few surprises along the way, because the movies never stick to the book do they? Anyways, I think it will most likely be a good book.
Just bought and read Dan Abnett's Brothers of the Snake recently, a series of interconnected short stories follwing the exploits of a squad of Iron Snakes pace marines, and more specifically the sergeant of the squad, Priad. Great read, if you're into that sort of thing... which I am
Reading Heinlein's Starship Troopers now, but since I've read it so often now, it's more a read a page or two when bored than actively trying to get it finished kinda thing. Fantastic book though
Hey this is like my first post here! Time sure has past.
Ok, I've decided to focus my attention for the following year exclusively on urban fantasies or modern fantasies. I'm curently writting three short stories in this theme so I want to get in it as much as I can. One combines Sherlock Holmes with The Master and Margharita and Memento in early 20th century Moscow. One is placed in modern New York, I'm not sure about the theme yet, but I've got most of the main characters shaped up and it has the dark goth feel of World of Darkness. And the last one is in 1921 Bagdad, the theme is the story of Alladin backwards in which a genie (I don't know how to shape him up yet) searches for his master. I might change the location to somewhere in China to stay true to the Arabian Nights, but I want to use ancient arab folklore in the story, so I'm using Bagdad during the british rule.
I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, so I've read Neverwhere, American Gods and Graveyard book. Then there's The Master and Margharita that did a great job at combining fantasy with 20th century Moscow making it funny without overdoing, but the last 100 or so pages nearly ruined the whole book for me. I guess I could add Good Omes in this lot, but the book doesn't take itself seriously so it doesn't count. I'm going to go through Nine Princes in Ambers soon. And I'm planing on buying a China Mieville soon.
What other books focus on old folklore like American Gods does? And what other urban fantasy books should I read?
Just read a sample of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener's comic, Atomic Robo.
It's good to see some good old superhero action after so many years without reading any comics. I feel just like a kid again.
http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316017442
I have soon finished reading "The wounded land" by Stephen Donaldson, and is thinking of which to read next, as I have got quite a selection of books.
Almost finished Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's the vampire classic and it is very good. It has an unusal format (written entirely in letters and diary entries of the characters) which works well for it though does cost it some tension and immediacy. It was written a bit over 100 years ago though so is in a style of English which had almost died out and which I greatly like. It also has some inadvertant humour in some of the old ideas it contains (a good example is ).
The spoiler above is only a very mild one but I included the tags just in case.
Almost finished Faith of The Fallen, the 6th book in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series
Can't say I got on with Goodkind's style when I tried it...
Anyway I finished Iain M Banks Inversions. To be honest it's not the best of the culture series, fairly compelling but I'm not sure I really got what it's point was. Banks being as he is that may in fact be the point, or I may have missed something.
I'm now reading Bernard Cornwell's Vagabond which is the second of the 'Grail Series'. It's brilliantly written (as was the first, Harlequin) and has the added bonus of being extremely historically accurite. While the main character himself didn't exist and for one person to be involved in all he is would be far fetched many background characters are historical figures and actual events are described as happened (with a very few execptions which are noted at the end). I like the fact that it describes actual events and everyting in it could have happened (though probably not to one person). Certainly a series I'd recommend, its set in the hundred years war, around the late 1340s.
Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben (Time to Live and Time to Die), by Erich Maria Remarque.
Jamaica Me Dead- Bob Morris
Ah, I always read four or five books at once, usually two or three novels and a few history or philosophy books. Right now I am reading "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston, "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexander Dumas, "The English Philosophers from Bacon to Mill" edited by Edwin A. Burt, "A History of the Ancient World" by Chester G. Starr, and Hannibal (of Carthage) by an author I cannot seem to recall.
Just finished reading "The Paladin" by C.J. Cherryh which had been recommended to me. Not bad, would probably appeal to fans of Feist etc, but I expected a little more from it if I'm honest. From the author who created The Morgaine Saga, The Faded Sun Trilogy, Chanur & Downbelow Station... Good, but not as good as I hoped.
I've got a treat coming now though. Those lovely folks at Amazon have finally delivered me my copies of two brand new hardbacks. "Under Heaven" by Guy Gavriel Kay, and "Kraken" by China Mieville. I've got a good week of quality reading ahead of me So excited about Under Heaven, been waiting years for his new one.
I'm very fond of the Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, and I've been reading and still read, his wonderful books about the detective Harry Hole....
I guess our norwegian members know this author and his books pretty well!
I have just finished reading Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses which is a scathingly satirical essay written by Mark Twain and first published in 1895. As a work of literary criticism it stands alone. Twain is at his most venomous and irreverent, and by the time you finish reading it you truly do feel sorry for the man who brought us The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer, and Last of the Mohicans.
Just finished The River Why by David James Duncan. Full of farce, fable, metaphysics, and fishing. An interesting novel.
The Two Swords, by R.A. Salvatore. It's about Drizzt Do'Urden, the Chaotic Good Drow Ranger who was formerly of House Do'Urden and renegade of Menzoberrean.
I've been reading D. M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo series.
They're alright books. If you're willing to put up with his obsessive need to list every detail that could possibly be listed. >>
It's a shame too. The more tense action is quite good while the ideas are sound and interesting.
I'm only finishing the second because my friend and I decided we'd do a book club thing (as she moved pretty far away with her boyfriend and I never see her). She isn't really enjoying it a lot either.
Very slow read, trying to sit through the place names (especially of places and locations the main character will never ever visit) and the author's need to tell us four different names for one thing when he'll only ever use one name from then on (sometimes he'll bring out one of the other names and just confuse me more too).
Reading the Odyssey by Homer. It's a really interesting but hard read.
For some really informative and excellent reading, I recommend Mary Roach's 'Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers'. I finished that a little bit ago, and it was fantastic.
As of right now though, I'm re-reading Dostoyevsky's 'The Idiot'. Excellent reading. If you haven't given the man's books a try, but you love amazing, psychological portraits of people and dark topics, he's a must-read.
As of right now...The Art of War.
I just finished Wizard and Glass by Stephen King and I very much enjoyed it, by far the best of the Dark Tower (so far, each has been an inporvement on its predecessor) and probably the best thing I've read by him. The atmosphere was bang on and the character interactions excellent. I've no idea what genre it is though, somewhere between fantasy, horror and western...
I'm now reading a collection of Lovecraft's stories which are ok, the characters are a little flat and the way he writes has been overused since but they're enjoyable enough. Being written between 80 and 90 years ago the view of the world is entertaining anyway (you'd think there would be a limited number of mad Arab prophets, but it seems not).
I just finished Laurence Rees' "Auschwitz: A New History" (which, btw, was a really stupid choice for reading before bedtime [alas, the only time it seems I have to read ]...but a fascinating read nonetheless) and Brooke Allen's "Moral Minority" (a much better choice, and a fascinating read as well). Now I'm starting Alison Weir's "Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley". I've read other books of hers, and they are fantastic, so I'm excited!
I have been on a Nero Wolfe binge of late- having added a number of the 3-in-1 novellas to my Kindle. And that will almost certainly lead to watching the A&E series with Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin again.
Also reading Shoot to Thrill by P.J. Tracy. It is a murder mystery also- but the protagonists are a group of very clever computer programmers. This is the most recent book in the series, which started with Monkeewrench.
I just finished reading 'The Dwarves' by Markus Heitz. It's about a Dwarf who has been brought up by humans who is thrust into an epic adventure of fantastical fantasy. Well worth a read for any fans of fantasy books.
Apart from the umpteen-millionth reread of GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire, I've also been rereading Neil Gaiman's Sandman and am getting caught up with Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Specifically, I'm now on Interesting Times, and chuckling madly at every page, footnote, in-joke, and trope-fiddling that comes standard with anything done by Pratchett.
Wolfblade by Jennifer Fallon at the moment. Think I'll either continue with the crown of stars series by Kate Elliot, the series by Diana Gabaldon or begin with Shadowline by Tad Williams when I'm finished. Or maybe Necronomicon if someone's bought it for me as a christmas present. Ok, I think I'm going to stop thinking about that now. To many titles... (considering I've got another half a dozen in my room) Um, yeah...
Currently Surface Detail but Iain M. Banks, and he's really excelled himself in the strangness this time. For those familar with his Culture novels it's one, for those not it's set in a very advanced civilisation (and setting) where most things are possible. It revolves around the idea that it would be possible to 'back-up' a persons mind, memories and personality and possible repercussions of this. Particularly the rather more certain possibilities of heaven and hell running in simulations...
It's classic Banks really, outlandish ideas, well written with mad characters. Like much of his SF stuff it is uncompromisingly Science Fiction and can be a bit heavy though. Still a good addition to the Culture series.
I'm currently on the final book of The Deathgate Cycle. I've been on a fantasy genre reading spree all year. Once I'm done with The Seventh Gate I think I'll switch to Sci-Fi and read Ender's Game again. It's one of my all time favorites and I haven't read it in about 4 years.
OOH. I'm rereading the:
Pendragon Series
Harry Potter Series
Phantom Tollbooth
The Great Cheese Conspiracy
Barcode Rebellion (and Sequal)
Maximum Ride (Series)
The Lightning Theif (and the other 4 books)
Alice in Wonderland
Seeing Redd
Through the Looking Glass Wars
Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow
Xenocide
Shaddow Puppets
Shadow of the Hedgemon
Eregon
Brisingr
Eldest
Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
and a couple other ones. Yeaaaah... I'm reading to many books, huh? Oh, well. I'll be done with all of em before Jan. 15th (Because I am a super fast reader , highest record, 1331 pages in 3 hours. However many pages per minute that is, it's true.) . So, yeah.
Hey, thanks. Yeah, Ender's Game is battling for my top favorite series. It's either that or Hunger Games. Orson Scott Card is a MASTER. I've gotten a lot of subtle writing tips from him.
I'm giving THE SILMARILLION by J.R.R Tolkein, a read. It's pretty darn good.
Recently got into this Clockwork Century series. Pretty good.
I'm reading the instruction manual on my new coffee pot. It looks like a cyborg robot or something, and is way too complex for something you use BEFORE you wake up in the morning. If I can figure out how, I plan to set it up the night before so all I need to do is push a button in the a.m. - GAAAAAH !!!
Lol. Good luck, mALX. Here's hoping this is what you get:
Well, I just finished my ninth read through of Ender's Game. I've started reading Gauntlgrym by R. A. Salvatore. I just can't seem to get enough of Drizzt Do'Urden.
I don't read much, as *shh* my parents banned me from reading, but I am secreatly reading the Lord of The Rings! It's good! I like tom bombadil.
I just finished Blood Debt. Apparently its the fourth or fifth book in the series. The story was interesting but the writing was.... oh goodness I could barely get through it at times -_-
I am currently read Jian by Eric Van Lustbader he is my favorite author of all time because of his descriptive writing skills.
Recently received a couple new books from my grandfather over my Christmas vacation:
-Helmet for my Pillow, by Robert Leckie
-With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge
-Hero of the Pacific, the life of John Basilone
The first two are autobiographies of their services in the Pacific theater during World War 2, and the third is a biography of a marine legend and celebrity, who was sadly killed in service on Iwo Jima.
The Pacific war was one of the most hellish experiences a man could ever go through. You had the intense heat, incredible humidity, disease, and an enemy who would sooner die than surrender. This was a truly brutal war, and every man who served in it, who are now constantly haunted in their dreams by it, has my undying respect.
It's good. Informative, easy for most to understand and totally spot-on.
Well, right now I'm reading the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire. It's great so far... shame I don't have any more books from the series. ^^' Next I might read the first Xanth book... which I can't remember the name of.
I'll be starting Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy as soon as I finish The Killing Frost by Scott Gamboe
The Lusty Argonian Maid
I am currently reading (actually restarting) The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. It is the first book in a 13 volume fantasy series. I had started it back in the late '90s, but got side tracked in the middle of the fifth book. Fun reading. I highly recommend it.
Recently finished rereading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for a discussion about how Jane Austen's work could have been immensely improved.
For anybody else that suffered through the initial rough-drafts published over a century ago, I urge you to try the finished editions available today. Though less useful for the history professor looking at literary trends of the day, they stand up much better when looking at things like plot, narrative, characterization, etc.
Are you KIDDING me with the quintuple spam? YIKES!
I've been reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King lately. I happened to have books 1-4 laying around my house, so I started reading them. I was very into them for a while, just haven't gotten around to picking up the final 3.
In the meantime, I'm re-reading one of my favorite books, Neuromancer. If you haven't read it, you need to. The whole concept of the book is mind-boggling.
I just reread Gone, which is morbidly depressing, and read Hunger, a gone book, for the first time, which is even MORE morbidly depressing. Also, King Matt the First, which is even worse than Hunger and Gone in terms of depressing. Not too morbid, but still. And, as always, Maximum Ride, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (which is better than most people think), Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, The Mysterious Benidict Society (which is funny) (all three books), Harry Potter series, and a lot of other ones which I forgot...
And then, of course, I'm reading all of the countless stories that I've written on my fifteen year old laptop, and fanfics and stuff.
I like to read (duh).
I just finished re-reading Good Omens. I read a few years ago and then lost my copy, and a few days ago while wandering around my local bookshop I spotted it again and just had to get it. It's possibly one of my favourite books of all time, though I do feel that the ending is a little...it seemed like the writers (Two of the best, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet) just didn't quite know what to do with it.
Still, that book holds so many memories, so many awesome quotes.
"Crowley was an angel who didn't so much fall from heaven, but sauntered vaguely downwards"
I've just started reading Matter, by iain M. banks.
cant say much about it since ive only read the first few pages, but its really interesting so far.
Spook Country, by William Gibson.
It's disorienting, and a little difficult to grasp at times, but Mr. Gibson never did write stuff that was easy to read! At least, none of his stuff that I've read is easy!
Looking through Harry Potter 7 again, I am noticing that there are quite a sizable number of plot holes and blatant continuity errors in the first portion of the book. I admit, I didn't see these the first few times because I wasn't looking for them, but now, I am, and I am finding plenty. Here's a couple:
--In Chapter Six, Hermoine admits to Harry that she modified her parents' memories to send them away. But later in Chapter Nine, she says she had never performed a memory charm before. We have never been introduced to another way to modify memories throughout the entire series other than the memory charm, so... yeah.
--In Chapter Three, we are told that the original plan to get Harry from Privet Drive to the Burrow had to be scrapped because the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had been brainwashed to side with Voldemort. The original plan was for Mad-Eye Moody to fetch Harry and Apparate with him to the Burrow, but because of the circumstances it was now too dangerous to do that. However, come Chapter Eleven, Lupin tells us very blatantly that it is impossible to track an Apparating wizard. Why the hell did Moody scrap that plan, then? Especially given the alternative?
This is cool! I only just found this thread.
Currently, I am reading The Life of Elizabeth I, by Alison Weir. I'm a major history buff, I guess, and biographies are one of my favorite kinds of histories, as long as you find the right ones. I read more non-fiction than I do fiction, but when I read fiction I usually prefer the classics--William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, and Jane Austen are some of my favorites. But anyway, that's probably more information than you were asking for, so I'll hush up now... :facepalm:
I love Jane Austen's works, but saw more Shakespeare in plays than in text. I have an ongoing fascination with 18th century - 15th century England/Scotland history (in that order). I read Agatha Christie when I was in my teens, but never felt compelled to re-read it. Austen, Heyer, Caldwell - I can't stop re-reading, lol.
mALX--It's cool to find that you like Austen, too! She's always been a favorite. Shakespeare has just always appealed to me for some reason, but then most things from that time period have always fascinated me... I was actually in a Shakespeare in high school my junior year, and it was so much fun! I haven't seen them performed more than a handful of times, as I just can't get my husband into Shakespeare!
I'm now about to commence my umpteenth re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire. Not for the HBO series based on the work. No, this is far more fundamental.
The long-awaited fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, is finally, irrevocably, done.
That's right.http://georgerrmartin.com/if-update.html http://grrm.livejournal.com/212603.html http://georgerrmartin.com/news.html
Just thought all ye Martin fans out there should know. Me, I'm packing up and heading back off to Westeros.
I've been reading a book in the Vampire Earth series by E.E. Knight. It's very entertaining and violent series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Earth
Finished The Class by Erich Segal. If you don't have it, I STRONGLY suggest you rent/buy/steal/rob it. Seriously.
I am currently engrossed in The Land Painted Caves, by, you guessed it, Jean Auel.
From the cover text, I know so far that this book will be the end of the series (which is good, considering how long it took to write). This means that Auel has, in fact, achieved her goal of a six-title series, and so I am not disappointed that we are ending here. Rather, I am excited to see exactly what note the series will close on. I have been a reader since I was assigned to read the first half of Clan of the Cave Bear in High School (and I understood why only half was assigned very soon).
Unfortunately the fourth and fifth books were, to me, somewhat padded when it came to the length. Plains of Passage had way to much botany mumbo-jumbo and seemed like it was half novel, half botanic dissertation in Nature magazine, and those two don't really mix well. Shelters of Stone, on the other hand, was a bit cheesy when it came to the plot points, especially with the soap-opera conflicts that occurred throughout the book. And of course, there were way too many racy sex scenes than was necessary. Will Land Painted Caves repent for the rocky ground the series has trodden over the past two books? Time will tell.
I've been reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The books are a lot of fun. It is a book about magic and detective work set in modern day Chicago. These books are quick fun reads that just get better as they go.
Taken from wikipedia:
"The Dresden Files is a series of fantasy/mystery novels written by Jim Butcher. He provides a first person narrative of each story from the point of view of the main character, private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden, as he recounts investigations into supernatural disturbances in modern-day Chicago. Butcher's original proposed title for the first novel was "Semiautomagic", which sums up the series' balance of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction."
Butcher's awesome, and in addition to Dresden, I suggest reading the now finished Codex Alera.
Jim started that project as a high-fantasy series, but with two premises to govern the mechanics and backstory. I won't say what they are, but if you want PM me and I'll give you the scoop. Suffice it to say, he takes two bad ideas and turns it into six great books.
The only Codex Alera book I haven't read is the last one. I really need to get my hands on that one.
And now I have finished The Land of Painted Caves (Jean Auel), and it is time for me to express my thoughts. Is this the way I expected the series to end? No. I actually expected a lot more out of the book when I picked it up.
Firstly, I am glad Auel toned down on the sex scenes in this one, but at the same time, I am very unhappy with what they were replaced with. Unfortunately, Auel committed the cardinal sin of storywriting by having the first two acts be completely and totally meaningless to the plot we have come to know. We are reading about a bunch of French caves that some cavemen happened to draw in, whoopie. That's what I felt about the first two acts. Too many caves, not enough integration. More than once, I found myself wondering just how long those parts would drag on and when we would get to a point in the story that was actually interesting. Only at the very end of the first two acts did anything interesting happen (earthquake and hoodlums, respectively). In the end, after I finished the whole book, I was unable to discern why exactly the first two-thirds of it even needed to be there. Once the third act began, the painted caves that were visited are never mentioned again, they did nothing for either the characters or the plot, they brought about no changes, no interest, and no purpose.
Essentially, the first two-thirds of the book was needless, and you would miss nothing by skipping them over entirely.
Things don't really pick up until the third act, when Ayla actually does see something that DOES have implementations and repercussions. However, I expected more out of the end other than some soap-opera drama that we got (it was the cliche cheating husband scenario, I need not say more). What I wanted to see was, for instance, Whinney being killed by a carnivore out hunting and Ayla having to deal with the loss of her beloved mare. THAT would pull at some heartstrings.
Basically, Auel took no risks with the final act, did nothing she had not done before, the conclusion to the scenarios involving Brukeval and Madroman were weak, and the climax was nothing more than a retread of something that already happened before in The Mammoth Hunters.
In a way, I am glad the series is over now, because it has become rather clear to me that Auel's heart no longer dwells in it. Still, the ride was fun while it lasted.
I read the first three Jean Auel books years ago, and couldn't bring myself to continue the series after the third book. It was becoming repetitive, and the sex scenes were doing nothing for the plot. I'm no prude when it comes to slash scenes, but I want them to move the plot forward or contribute to character development (as they did in the first two books).
Right now I'm not reading sci fi or fantasy. What I'm reading is a historical novel in the flavor of James Michener. It's called "West of Here," and is about the inhabitants of the Elwha River in Washington State. It is now part of Olympic National Park, and I picked up the book because it is about an area I've actually visited. While I wasn't in the actual Elwha Valley, I had heard about the dam that was decommissioned a few years prior and the ongoing restoration efforts. The book covers both the beginning and the end of the dam, and is quite interesting. One thing that bothered me a bit though is the amount of head-hopping that is going on. While I always knew whose head I was currently in, it just made for a lot of characters to keep straight. I'll reserve my judgment until I finish.
Before that, I read Michael Moorcock's Gloriana. I had read his Elric stories years ago, and thought his level of description was pretty rich. I was blown away not only by the level of descriptive detail in this book, but also how he created such strong and distinctive characters and developed the level of byzantine intrigue that moves the plot forward. My only complaint is that it took him nearly half the book to present me with the main conflict that drives the plot, but once I reached that point, I was very satisfied with how he moved forward from there. It was vital, in hindsight, that he take so much time to set the stage for the conflict. It's hard to believe that story is almost 50 years old!
I am about to finish Chapterhouse: Dune, so I'm very excited to see the end of Frank Herbert's science fiction epic. All of his books are pretty slow reads, but the characters are great, and the philosophy and worldbuilding in it is awesomely deep. This also means I can finally peruse the Dune wiki without fear of spoilers.
Before that, I read the Chronicles of the Black Company, another awesome book. Again, the characters and world are unforgettable, and the plot is wonderfully creative. The best part, however, is how it really delves into questions of morality. Everything is shades of gray; there is no absolute evil or absolute good. A refreshing break from Wheel of Time style fantasy.
This summer has been so busy that I've had so little time to read much of anything, BUT......I'm going to start reading some Agatha Christie novels, as I haven't read any since high school. If you like mystery, they are an excellent read.
They take place in 1920s-1930s England, or thereabouts, back when most of them were written, but they are far from outdated! Agatha Christie was a genius at weaving suspenseful and intriguing stories, and she managed to place so many surprising twists within her tales.
Currently, I'm Waltzing with Wyverns.
No, wait, that's wrong. I'm Salsa-ing with Serpents.
Nope, sorry, that's wrong too.
I am, in fact, engaged in (Drumroll please):
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS!
Such a long wait, and yet I know that I'll finish before the weekend is out, and have to wait ANOTHER FEW YEARS before Winds of Winter.
Oh George, you giveth, and you with-holdeth, and we hang upon thine every word.
I can't do any serious reading when I'm in 'writing mode', as I found out writing Memories when all of a sudden it's like a bad Terry Pratchett added a chapter..
Well, now, I have that second book, myself! (softcover)
AND I also own the HBO Miniseries The Pacific, which based a great deal of its footage of John Basilone on that very book.
Do let me know what you think of it!
Anyways, I also find myself reading a WWII memoir now, too. In this case, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge (which also got featured in The Pacific.
Peleliu is one of the most under-appreciated battles in the entire war. More people were killed there than on Tarawa, and the entire campaign for the island was (and still is) a subject of controversy.
TK, I agree that Peleliu is much, much overlooked, both for the carnage and for the purpose of that particular campaign.
I have owned Saturn cars since 1994, and started off naming each of them after a moon of Saturn (of course). The problem I had was that most of the moons were named for handmaidens and catamites in the court of the lusty god - none really were known for being anything other than sexual objects. The first car (which my mother still drives) was Calypso, the second Telesto, the third Ganymede. After that, I decided to change up my naming system, but couldn't decide what to go with. When my Dad said my fourth Saturn was a "good Navy color," I realized Oh My God, Battleship Grey! Then it occurred to me to name it Tarawa. After that, it was a done deal. Then came Iwo Jima, and my current Saturn (and the last one I'll ever own :-() is Tripoli. All well-known Marine battles. I have the Battle History of the Marine Corps and use that all the time for reference.
I will let you know how I like Hero of the Pacific. I already am somewhat familiar with John Basilone, since I also have (and read) Flags of our Fathers, about the six men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Yes, Basilone was one of them. I have the book for the HBO series The Pacific on my wish list at my library, also.
At present I am reading the Ancient Greece series by Steven Pressfield -
"Last of the Amazons"
"Gates of Fire"
"Tides of War"
and
"Alexander: the Virtues of War"
Hey Andy - Steven's a former Jarhead, and "Gates of Fire" is required reading at the Marine Corps Academy!!!
At present I'm reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I really like it this far. Loads of characters with loads of depth. It gets confusing sometimes with all the names, but luckily the author added an appendix in the end with all the names and details about the houses. I'd really recommend it if you like fantasy.
I have finished Hero of the Pacific about Marine Sgt. John Basilone of Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima fame. The book was written by a fellow Marine who served during the Korean conflict (at the same time as my uncle/godfather who has been such a mysteriously big influence on me). He basically takes apart the standard Basilone legends that have been put down by Basilone's sister and nephew, as well as a couple of pressmen who tended towards hyperbole. It was interesting as he pitted the legends against the Marine records and what he knew about Marine training methods.
No one really knows for sure how he died. Did he die by small arms fire (as is stated in the official Marine records), or did he die from shrapnel from a mortar shell (as stated by several eyewitnesses). Did he really die instantly (official version) or did he linger for several hours afterwards, chatting with the medics and bumming cigs (the sister's version).
It's very interesting to see how the fog of war works - no one witness told exactly the same story. When you're busy ducking bullets (or arrows, or slingshots, depending on the war), the last thing on your mind is getting the story straight about the events going on around you.
Right now I'm reading the second Harry Dresden book - Full Moon. I'm not sure if I'll continue the series, but so far I'm enjoying the mixture of Sam Spade and Merlin the wizard.
Have finished A Dance with Dragons.
Now reading the newest installment of The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's Ghost Story.
Nothing much that can be said about this one without revealing some major spoilers for those who have yet get far along with Harry Dresden. All I can say is for those still working through Jim's bibliography: "Keep at it."
I just finished Watchers by Dean Koontz.
It's definitely a good book for dog lovers to read.
Basically there was a company that was working on DNA experimentation. Two of the creatures escaped. One was supposed to be like a living war machine simply known as The Outsider, as it "didn't belong." The other was a golden retriever. Both were genetically modified to be just as smart, or maybe smarter, than humans.
Both also escaped into Orange County.
While the dog doesn't speak, its interactions with the man who finds him is hilarious. It's one of the few books that had me laughing at one part and sobbing the next.
I just finished http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Skin_%28novel%29 a few days ago. It wasn't bad, it was a little wierd, but not bad. The ending wasn't what I expected.
Now though, I've just started reading George R.R Martin's A Storm of Swords part one.
I'm liking it so far (understatement). It seems to get a little more predictable the further I go in. Though I suppose that means I'm getting to know the characters rather well.
I just took a look at some of Martin's art that goes along with the novels, looks pretty good. Not surprisingly the art is reminiscent of LOTR and The Hobbit but even more interesting is how similar Martin's appearance is to Tolkien, just put a beard on Tolkien and see for yourself....just thought that was a bit funny. Happy reading Brume!!!!
Just finished the 'Malus Darkblade Omnibus Part One'. I have to say it, if you ever want to read a novel where the protagonist is an cunning, self centered, malicious, murdering evil person then you sjould definately check out the 'Darkblade' series. Written by Mike Lee and Dan Abnett
Warhammer 40 000 - Titanicus by Dan Abnett...Sheer brilliance...Big, noisy and epic...Much fun!!... ...
I'm re-reading a favourite fantasy series by Trudi Canavan. I'm on the final part of the trilogy, "The High Lord".
Elder Scrolls - The Infernal City by Greg Keyes... ...
Been on a Steven Pressfield kick lately (thanks, Foxee!). Read Last of the Amazons and Tides of War. I really liked Amazons (anything about independent women is good in my book!). I'm currently reading Gates of Fire, about Thermopylae ("If you want them, come and get them!" ranks up there next to the unbowderlized version of "Nuts!" as the perfect response to an invitation to surrender). Virtues of War and the Afghan Campaign are next.
Oh, and I just got Steve Jobs's biography today. Have already started reading it as well.
And then there's Marketing Management, 13th ed.
Guess I'll be busy.
Order In Chaos - Jack Whyte...Final part of a Templar trilogy...Loves me Templars...Could you guess?... ...
Been reading Warhammer - Knights of Bretonnia by Anthony Reynolds for a bit now...
So excellent...*Applauds*...
About 7/8 of the way through the Saga of Beowulf. It's good, but it seems to finish the climax about three quarters of the way through, and it seems that the rest of it is just the secondary characters pootling around now that Beowulf (spoiler alert!) has copped it. The saga's a piece of bada$$ goodness up until there, and now it just seems to be them going through his last will and testament. Most odd...
I've got the last fifth of Inheritance by Christopher Paolini to read yet. I've really enjoyed the book and the whole series (it's the fourth) of books.
If you like dragons, it's worth checking out.
Tell Me Your Dreams by Sydney Sheldon. It got me going "WTFROFLMAOBBQ" several times. DEFINITELY a good read for those who want to be suprised. I'm now nearing the end so yeah. BABAYUU!
Abouts halfway through The Darkness Series by Harry Turtledove.
Truly impressed with his level of detail, world-building, and broad focus on elements other than the battles.
The series comprises six novels detailing what is essentially "World War II in a fantasy setting." Planes are dragons (great, stupid, angry, stupid, ferocious, stupid, small minded stupid beasts that are commanded by getting repeatedly hit with a goad), tanks are behemoths (rhinos wearing chainmail armor), mages of a theoretical bend replace scientists and mages of a practical bend replace engineers, etc, etc.
The nationalities, cultures and languages of the major and minor participants are all nicely scrambled so that your personal attachments to any particular side (U.S.A! U.S.A!) are stripped away, while the important historical trends and movements are kept nicely together.
All in all, it's one of the best takes I've ever read on World War II. Now I just have to wait for the Manhattan Project-equivalent to wrap up so I can see what Nuclear Yield Magic Bombs look like.
Tad Williams The Dragonbone Chair, part one of a trilogy that I accidentally started on book 3 years ago. Finally got around to getting books one and two.
Johannes Cabal Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard. Wonderful book about a man that tries to win his soul back from Satan.
Robert has bought comics!!! YAY!!!!...
I is reading an Avengers Assemble one, which is a UK news-stand reprint of an Avengers story and DC Universe Presents, which seems to be a DCs Greatest Hits comic also aimed at UK news-stands...Top comics, pretty (but not dirt-) cheap...
I have missed comics...I used to be very much into them, but then both the top companies started messing around with their universes and I got sooooo bored...So I stopped and discovered exactly how much money I was spending per month!!... ...
Taking a break from Grail Knights, decapitations and Norsecans...(Warhammer)...
And reading Billy Connolly's Route 66 travelogue...So much more pleasant...Y'know?... ...
War Horse - Michael Murpurgo
With the film coming out I thought I'd read the novel again. Now I remember why I loved it so much.
Doctor Who: The Silent Stars Go By...Possibly...I think it's called...Aaamywho...It's by the amazing Dan Abnett anyways...Who's one of me fave authors at the mo...
HAH!!...Who's...Geddit?... ...
...
...
*Tumbleweed*...
...
Warhammer 40 000 - Soul Drinkers Omnibus by Ben Counter...
I've read "Hunger Games" trilogy last weekend, in a sort of a reading frenzy. Even my gaming suffered because of it. The books are good, but the topic depressed me (even more).
It feels like the same kind of gut-wrench that I experienced when I read first 50 pages of Thomas Covenant saga. Normal human being just doesn't come prepared for mental images of children being thrown into death like that, while the whole world watches it as if it was a spectacle. It just shows how much of a failure we, as a species, are, or might become really soon.
Dresden Files. Currently on book 5.
Currently rereading the Saga of Beowulf at the moment. Currently I'm rediscovering the delightful way I can enjoy it on two different levels; part of me is thinking 'Ah, I see the author is employing an epic simile here' or 'Ooh, I see we have some iambic pentameter' and another part of me is jumping up and down and going 'THIS IS AWESOME!!'.
It's a fun feeling
Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover...
Just finished the famous Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. In a word; ohmygodohmygodohmygodsoooooogoooood!
I liked it quite a bit.
Mark Charan Newton - Nights of Villjamur...
After leaving the fantasy genre in disgust at yet another formulaic sword-n-sorcery quest cookie cutter (y'mean to tell me I wasted fifteen bucks on this??), I picked out a new author that sounded interesting.
Joe Abercrombie. First I read "Best Served Cold" OMG! It was gritty, it was bloody, it was BRUTAL! Just the way I like it! And this guy wrote one of the toughest female characters I've ever read, and I could identify with her! Unlike so many of the fantasy novels I had been reading which seemed like they were meant for the "young adult" (an oxymoron if I ever saw one) crowd - full of emo's and flimsy stereotypes, this was very adult and very real. It almost didn't qualify as fantasy, since there was very little magic in it. Then I read his First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings), and kicked myself for not reading it first (since Best Served Cold takes place after these three). Love, love, love the character development in these four novels. Now I have a fifth one of his - The Heroes, which is supposed to take place before The First Law. I will read that soon!
I have also read a few other outstanding fantasy fiction - it's enough to get me back into the genre after years of hard SF. Next was the Cartamandua Legacy, by Carol Berg. Going from the really gritty, bloody gutter style of Joe Abercrombie, I went into something that was more pure magic. It's a retelling, basically, of the old Celtic tales of the Danae (more Welsh I think, than Irish) and the connection of the Old Folk to the land. But it was so well done I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Last is Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's set in a country that strongly resembles Tang China, and is very Chinese in its treatment of characters and events. A truly amazing epic and very different from the usual slash -n- smash.
Right now I'm reading "The Fountain head" written by Ayn Rand. This novel was written on 1943.
Cool, that was the year my Dad was born... ...
I'm now reading a book about the real life pirates behind the stories that wind up being in films/tv etc...
Crucible by S.G. Maclean...Bought it at Tesco for £3.50 'cause it looked cool...And it is... ...
I'm not much of a comic guy, but after reading http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/green-lantern-comes-out-as-gay-in-earth-two-20120601 and seeing http://i.newsarama.com/images/earth2_2_02.jpg I got myself some summer time reading, Also Scarlet and the White Wolf.
I just finished L'eau des Collines (The Water of The Hills) by French author, Marcel Pagnol.
After getting around the tricky tenses and grammer, I rather enjoyed it. I probably should have just bought the English translation though.
And, because I have a fascination with Great Britain during that period of time before the Normans and after the Romans, I just bought http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warlord_Chronicles series by Bernard Cornwell.
I also bought the first two James Bond books, Casino Royale and Live and Let Die.
I expect I'll finish all five by late July. But, then again, it'll be summer and if the weather is nice I probably won't finish them until September, unless they're particularly gripping.
I started Game of Thrones. So far it's pretty good, though I'm less than a hundred pages in.
Not surprisingly, what I am reading at the present is TES-related. The Infernal City, and also obscure lore stuff they have on Imperial Library.
Re-reading the graphic novel, V for Vendetta; so good!
And Game of Thrones is good, but I eventually gave up after George RR Martin got a bit too trigger happy with killing his characters. I can respect any author who's willing to do that, but as the saying goes, you can have too much of a good thing, and when I'm placing bets with myself over how many chapters a new character will last before they're killed off, then I'm hitting, for me, a problem.
Ooo only just read the first one, getting Clash of Kings soon.
who dies?
NO WAIT DON'T TELL ME!
but seriously who dies though?
I SAID DON'T TELL ME GODDAMMIT!
EVERYBODY! EVERBODY STOP WHAT YOU ARE ALL DOING! HARKEN! HARKEN, SAYS I!!
*Waits for everybody to harken*
*Holds up a copy of Reading LIke a Writer: a guide for people who lovebooks and for those who want to write them, by Francesca Prose (I'm pretty sure it's a pseudonym too)*
This book arrived in the post yesterday. I am 114 pages in. If you want to write well, I seriously recommend reading it. I've already applied some of the lessons in its pages to one of my own pieces of prose and it's stepped up several levels from what it was. It is without a doubt one of the most important and valuable books I've ever read in my entire life.
Get it! Read! Learn! Ascend to greatness!
Im on 'Poor Little B***h Girl' by the fabulous Jackie Collins! I'm also reading Madame Bovary when the mood for real literature strikes me
Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz...
He's the chap that Ed Harris played in Apollo 13...
Fantastic book...
Warhammer 40 000 - Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett...
Warhammer 40 000 - False Gods by Graham McNeill...Or someone-suchlike...
Having finished my current stock of new/unread books, I'm re-reading some older ones I've not opened in several years. Currently on:
Star of the Guardians Vol 1: The Lost King by Margaret Weis.
Currently reading this:
Read the prequel, The Warded Man and found it to be extremely well-written with characters I really do care about. Finding the same is true with this one.
I've been reading Alastair Reynalds' Redemption Ark. It the sequel to Revelation Space and I must say it's very very good. It's unusual to come across quite so original ideas and characters. The thing I really like though is his mixing of hard and soft SF, he is a physicist and knows what he's talking about. Where it's something fantastical to examine the effects of on people there's only a bit of handwaving as more would be meaningless but then other times there's excellent detail. It shows how much he's though about things without getting in the way of the plot if the reader isn't interested (or doesn't understand, I suspect some is passing me by).
Anyway good story and interesting SF if that's what you're into. I'd strongly recommend.
Absolutely my fave AR book...Loved that one... ...
He's gone a bit awry since the first four novels, but I will still say he's one of my fave authors...
Greg Keyes - The Briar King...Yes, yes I am... ...
Currently reading The Hobbit - getting ready for film in December which will be my birthday film!
Greg Keyes - Lord of Souls, love it.
Greg Keyes getting a lot of love at the mo... ...Tell you what though, The Briar King is most definately in the top five of my fave novels of all time...I so absolutely love it it's untrue...So absolutely the way I would wish to write a novel...
No, I said how I would wish to...I can't seem to manage to keep it as together as he did though... ...
Don't hold that ^ against the novel though... ...
Forever Young by John Young (and someone else as well but I can't remember his name )...Aaaamywho, it's another astronaut biography, but this one is by my favouritest astronaut ever...Made me want to become an astronaut when I was teenie...
That went well... ...
Aaaamywho, he was the first pilot of the Space Shuttle, Columbia...Bless her... ...
I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring.
Warhammer: Sword of Justice by Chris Wraight...Or someone...
Recently I purchased a book from Kindle called The Crew: Farron and the Xerxes. It's really good!
It's a short story which I think is planned to be a weekly series. It's kinda like Buffy and Charmed, or at least goes along with that theme, but it is really original and it's pretty darn exciting.
Haha
I'm re-reading the Saga of Beowulf at the moment; bloody awesome poem, one that'll put hair on your chest, and it makes me want to play Skyrim again as a heavily armoured, greatsword-wielding Nord fighting for feudalism, monarchy and ma's fresh sweetrolls.
Sod it, I'm off to play Skyrim as a heavily armoured, greatsword-wielding Nord fighting for feudalism, monarchy and ma's fresh sweetrolls.
Cold Days by Jim Butcher.
Red Badgeof courage. I hate it.
Assassin's Creed - Forsaken, which is the novel that ties in to Assassin Creed III game...
Hmmm...Me thinkee me pressie wrong button...Sssshhh, Maybe no-one noticed...
The Guns of Seneca 6- Parts 1-3 (so far). I loved Firefly (sniffle) and also enjoy Westerns... so these are a good fit. I especially enjoyed the geekdom of seeing how many real people from the American West I could spot the author "recycling".
I'm not reading a novel but I've been looking through a Ripley's......believe it or not book.
Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter...
Assorted ghost stories by M R James. A damn fine writer of the genre...
Still gamely working my way through Crime and Punishment. Good book, but man is it taking me a long while to read.
Liberty, by Thomas Fleming. An excellent - and very thorough - history of the American Revolution.
Not so much as reading as listening to an audiobook of LOTR. Its hard to get an english copy here, and it'll prolly cost like a nyaaaaaraaagh, so I had to compromise.
The guy reading it in YouTube, PhilsStuffOfDoom or whatever, put some special effects in it and it's really awesome. Guy's a genius.
I'm doing my annual reading of The Hobbit.
Finally finished Crime and Punishment after two and a half months of reading and an awful lot of procrastination. Damn good book, but damn did that take a while.
And now on to Ack-Ack Macaque!
Just finished Ack-Ack Macaque, and I've got a full review of it http://ravingdoomsayer.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/with-apologies-to-china-mieville/. And no, this isn't a shameless bid to generate traffic, that's a silly idea.
I'm trying again with - Warhammer 40 000, Galaxy In Flames by Ben Counter...
I started it last year just before my chronic fatigue/memory problems/heart problem thing...And, d'you know...I can't remember a damned thing about the book...So I'm starting it again... ...
Lately I've been reading Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. I am alternating that with Pride and Prejudice. I tend to read more than one book at a time. But my limit is four books at a time. This consists usually of usually of two books of fiction, one of non-fiction (Machiavelli's Florentine Histories at the moment) and either poetry or drama. Or sometimes I just read pornography.
I'm reading Metro 2033 and George Orwell's 1984 over again. I must just be in the mood for dark settings.
"Present At A Hanging" - and other stories.
Ambrose Bierce
Midsummer Night's dream
I'm only reading it because my teacher is making me
I remember reading Romeo and Juliet while watching it at my dad’s house on TV. It was hard for me to process what I was hearing and the reading was difficult, but together it somehow worked. After that it was easier to have the text come to life when I was just reading (since we didn’t have a TV at my house until I was in high school.)
The Flight of The Einstein by James Swallow...
As I'm loving the new Spartacus series, I thought I'd treat myself to a dirt cheap book about the rise and fall of the Mighty Roman Empire...
So I'm reading that at the mo...It's called Rubicon...By someoneorother...Not bad at all for £3... ...
I don´t read too much books actually, apart from in-game books in Oblivion
But I do like the classic adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Have a nice little book with assorted stories in it ( The Dying Detective) which I got when I was a kid. Back then I thought the different stories were chapters! Man, those were some pretty long chapters!
Well currently I'm re-reading the full collection of the Feynman lectures. They are some very interesting books if you can get a hold of them (physics and non-fiction isn't for everyone though).
I've just finished reading a local newspaper.
I haven't read a book in ages, the last one was probably Clinical Medicine in November, required for my study. I usually read a lot of books on my holidays in summer but I don't know yet what will they be, probably something crime/adventure related.
The Most Dangerous Game. There is no hunt like the hunting of a man!
Iron Council, by China Miéville.
This book is amazing and I want this man's babies. Quite possibly the best-written and most startlingly original fantasy novel I've ever read.
Warhammer 40 000, Fulgrim by Graeme McNeill...I think...
The competition entries everyone sent in for the contest. They're all terrible.
Nah, I kid, I kid.
I have, however, also been reading Peter Fehervari's Fire Caste, and a review of is now http://ravingdoomsayer.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/fire-caste-a-review/. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.
Burnt Sierra, I read everything you type in an English accent.
Just thought you'd know.
I'm reading The Good Earth currently.
I'm not gonna lie. I don't like it
Many free ebooks from Amazon. And a fan fiction by some Eliza or Melissa person. It is good.... has vampires in it.
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