Deed of Paksennarion actually is an omnibus of the three books, starting with Sheep Farmer's Daughter. I agree with you that it was standout in its treatment of the protagonist as being tough, gritting, and looking to make her own way.

Well, I finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which I think might actually be one of the best books I've ever read. I'll force myself to say no more than that, lest I end up rambling on about it.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Feb 3 2016, 10:19 AM

I too am a fan of The Deed of Paksenarrion, having read the trilogy four times since 1988, with an additional reading of book one during 2014. I've also read most of her much later published Paladin's Legacy followups. I'm not, however, as fond of her related Gird books.

As for current reading, I'm now on page 528 of Sienkiewicz's The Deluge, volume 2, little more than half way done.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Feb 3 2016, 04:30 PM

I am now reading The Deed of Paksenarrion. I do have to admit that whenever I see the character name Bosk, all I can think of is This...

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Feb 5 2016, 10:29 PM

Heh Heh . . .

This morning I ordered a used copy of Henryk Sienkiewicz's Fire in the Steppe through Amazon. I shouldn't have, the book being far more expensive than my meager budget allows. But I've grown rather fond of the series and want to see it to conclusion. With my luck it'll go back in print for half what I paid a week or so after my order arrives. Or a more reasonable used copy will materialize. A fool and his money . . .

As to The Deluge, volume 2, I'm now on page 750 of 919.

Don't mind me, I'm just here in this corner, writing all of the books you guys've read in a "To Buy Later" list. I'm looking to expand my collection and I figured this could be a gold mine for some really good titles

At 0823 this morning I finished Henryk Sienkiewcz's The Deluge, volume 2 as translated by W.S. Kuniczak. I don't except Sienkiewicz's Fire in the Steppe to arrival for a week-and-a-half to two weeks. Not sure what I'll tackle in the interim.

Do you still do your reading with actual books, or have you moved to E-books? Lately I do all my reading on the Kindle for PC. It's a free download, the books are cheaper, and you get them downloaded to you the instant you buy them. Most of all my not-so-young-anymore eyes find it easier to read the print on a lit up computer screen than off a printed page.

Total paper bookage for me. I've never been one to do lengthy 'serious' reading at the computer. Nor do I want to associate novelesque reading with computer usage. I spend too much time sitting in front of a computer screen as it is. (Not that I begrudge doing so.) In any case, I do most of my reading in bed, though I do read at the kitchen table during lunch and supper. (I also carry whatever I'm currently reading with me for rare sit-down restaurant meals.) I find printed books easier on my eyes for long reading sessions, except when printed text is tiny as sometimes happens.

As for what I'm currently reading, I settled on Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven, a novel set in a fictional world based on China's Tang Dynasty. As I might have mentioned before, Kay is my favorite currently active 'fantasy' author. What's more, Under Heaven is a favorite Kay work. (I read it not quite six years ago.) At over 500 pages, it should tide me over until Fire in the Steppe arrives.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Feb 7 2016, 09:45 PM

Read this book some time ago, too. Loved it, for so many reasons, the first one being that the main character is pursuing penance through a very strange but fitting task. It has a permanent place on my bookshelf (the wooden kind, as the book is paper and glue, not digital).

I do most of my reading at work, with my laptop. But when I am at home or sitting in waiting rooms for doctor/vet visits, I read on my tablet. One of the reasons I bought the latter was so that I could read e-books anywhere.

I recently discovered a cache of E. C. Tubb's pulp sci-fi series about a space traveler, Earl Dumarest, trying to return to Earth after years of moving from one world to another in a heavily populated universe. Earl is a hard man, prepared to fight for survival whatever it takes.

The worlds are often hostile to outsiders, especially those who can't pay. This makes for a dangerous underworld fringe that prey upon each other. Earl sometimes finds himself with extreme wealth and often facing extreme poverty. Throw in a mix of wildly diverse environments, competing rulers, guilds, factions, arena battles, and exotic lovers. On each world, one can find the Brotherhood; devoted to bringing peace to all mankind and the Cyclan; a secretive organization of men surgically altered to feel no emotion and selected and trained to use their powers of deductive intellect to rule the universe by subverting worlds.

Written in the 60s, I first read these in the 70s. There are 32 books in the series. I have obtained 23 and have read 3 of them in rapid succession. I will probably go slower with the remainder in order to savor them.

I'm reading The Girl Who Played with Fire

I've read the first one, thought it was good, but kind of weird. But there are two things about the books that bugs me: Mikael Blomkvist(he's just irritating), and something I've never really come across in books: product placement. At one point in the first book he even provides a link to some piece of software. It gets kind of irritating when he goes into that kind of detail.

Well, I finished the Millenium Trilogy, and I wasn't impressed. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was great, the two that followed it I thought were fairly mediocre at best. Only one of the characters was really any good, and the author spent the last two books basically pissing on her by making her such a victim. I spent more time wondering where the woman from the first book had gone and who this apparent impostor was than anything else.

At the moment I'm reading some old Mechwarrior books I picked up from somewhere, to tide me over for the moment. I'm about to go on something of a Kindle spree, planning to get some fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, and cyberpunk novels, since I've pretty much run out of books I haven't read.

Don't know exactly what I'm gonna get yet, but any recommendations would be most welcome.

And I just finished the Famous Five book about the kidnappers. Really heavy stuff, I tell ya..

It has been a very long time since I read them, but back in the day I really enjoyed the Grey Death Legion trilogy by William H Keith jr. They were Decision at Thunder Rift, Mercenary's Star, and The Price of Glory.

Fire in the Steppe arrived with today's mail. Caught me by surprise. I didn't expect it until mid next week at the soonest so hadn't bothered to track the package. I will finish Under Heaven, in which I am currently at page 366, before tackling Steppe.

At 1530 this afternoon I finished my second reading of Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven. Bearing in mind when my last progress report was posted, I read the final 200 pages in just over a day. That's quite a feat for me, slow reader that I normally am. Then again, if any one author can keep me spellbound enough to allow such marathon reading sessions it's Kay.

I will likely begin Fire in the Steppe during supper, unless I allow myself the rest of the day to savor the aftertaste of Under Heaven, as I often do with especially engrossing books.

Started reading the first of my new ebooks today: The Martian

I picked it up because I'd read some good things about it while looking for recommendations, and because it was only £1.99.

It's a damn good book. The main character is hugely entertaining, though in a rather amusing failure of the adverts for the film, in my head it's Mark Wahlberg rather than Matt Damon.

I've had real difficulty putting it down.