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!

I think I have that book floating around here somewhere... never read it though. let me know if its any good?

Late reply, I know, but that book is awesome. The culture is my favourite book series. Anyone who hasn't read some Iain M. Banks should.

I'm about halfway through it. It's getting quite interesting, combining high technology (tracking a shipping container by GPS, locative art etc) with good ol' fashioned cloak and dagger stuff a la Le Carre. Two of my favorite genres in one book! It's a little slow getting off the ground, but fortunately the chapters are pretty short so it's not difficult keeping the pace moving. Three viewpoints, though, and that can get a bit confusing, but Mr. Gibson manages well.

I'll be back when I finish the book, but thought I'd pipe in and let you know how I like it so far.

Sounds interesting. I've read a lot of Tom Clancy so I don't think it will be too difficult to get through.

Speaking of which, I have finally started

This post has been edited by King Coin: Mar 23 2011, 02:50 AM

I've finished Spook Country. It is actually quite good, and I ended up being glued to the pages wanting to know what happens next! Not as much violence as in the standard cloak-and-dagger fare, but I did always love the psychological side of the spy game.

I've kind of stopped reading Tom Clancy, though I have all of his Jack Ryan books and even the Teeth of the Tiger. I do have several of his nonfiction books, which are quite good and very well-researched. The one I liked the best is Battle Ready, which he co-wrote with Anthony Zinni. And he holds a place of honor in my mind for having created one of the most compelling male characters I've ever read - Ding Chavez, who makes his first appearance in Clear and Present Danger. In the movie version (not as good as the book but still quite good) Ding was played perfectly by Ray Cruz. Like Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, Ray Cruz owns Ding.

I don't know what I will read next. I have about 80 plus books that I haven't read yet, and they run the gamut from non-fiction to science fiction. I'll look 'em over and decide what I'm in the mood for next.

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 post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Apr 17 2011, 09:48 PM

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:






Both of those are excellent in-game books. I haven't found all of the volumes to Lusty Argonian Maid, though--are all of the volumes even in the game?

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!

Not the best Tom Clancy book out there, but it was enjoyable. Ding and Clark are central characters in this one.

Now I need to reread Clear and Present Danger lol. The movie was good, I especially liked the sniper training session where he's shooting from 10 feet away from the people searching for him.

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. Dance is done. Kong is dead. July cometh.

Just thought all ye Martin fans out there should know. Me, I'm packing up and heading back off to Westeros.

I have always had a fascination for that time period too. My mother started it, she had a library of period authors. (Austen included).

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 picked up A Game of Thrones as a result of your enthusiasm. How in the hell have I gone without this series? Thank you, thank you, Captain Hammer.

This post has been edited by Grits: May 5 2011, 12:23 AM

Mostly, I blame Stephanie Meyer. Hard to find the true gems when there's too much dung accumulating on the shelves.


Don't thank me just yet. Did you know that there's an HBO series airing based on the first book right now? And that they've already renewed the show (after 2 episodes managed to each dominate the ratings) for the next book?

I think I just destroyed all your free time.

That said, be warned, after Dance comes out, you'll be waiting with the rest of us. Also, a quote from my buddy that majored in English and Creative Writing:

"The problem with reading George R.R. Martin is that he ruins fantasy. Not because his work is so bad. But rather, it's so good that there's nothing else out there of the same high caliber, unless you want to read a parody series like Discworld."

This post has been edited by Captain Hammer: May 5 2011, 01:20 AM

As much as I love G.R.R. Martin, I have to disagree there. Guy Gavriel Kay? Gene Wolfe? Neil Gaiman? Tim Powers? Lois McMaster Bujold? China Miéville? James Morrow? Connie Willis? Neal Stephenson? Charles Stross? Ian McDonald?

There's a huge amount of top quality fantasy being written now, probably the best period for nigh on twenty years or more. They just aren't as well known sadly... To claim that after reading him there's no point in reading any other authors working in the genre though, as they don't match up? No, don't agree. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they are better, I'm simply saying they are also excellent writers, and equally valid - as I'm sure are several others who I simply haven't thought of.

But G.R.R. is a terrific author though

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."