What are we reading?

nhrn · July 2009

I am currently reading nothing, only because I recently brought the fifth wheel of time book before realising I already owned it. So when I get around to exchanging the damn thing I'll be reading the sixth one. gods I wish that series was shorter and finished.

DouglasDanger · July 2009

Bogart wrote: »

Indeed. There are several books about it you can pick up, one of which Wolfe wrote himself - The Castle of the Otter. It's most commonly available as part of the collection Castle of Days.

Neat. Thanks for the suggestion.

Borders was having a sale today, so my wife and I purchased a few books.
Great Tales from English History, by Robert Lacey (never heard of it, looked interesting enough for 3 dollars)
Voices from the Street, by Phillip K Dick (big fan of his)
High Noon, by Nora Roberts (wife and mother-in-law like the mystery/thriller pulp thing)
The Man in the High Castle, by PKD
A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle, no idea, the wife picked it up

SAW776 · July 2009

Just finished World War Z, which I really enjoyed.

And now I picked up His Majesty's Dragon for free on my iPod Touch via Kindle, and I'm really enjoying that.

Anyone have any recommendations for other good books that mix Historical Fiction & Fantasy? I've already read and loved Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel as well.

Grid System · July 2009

The Terror by Dan Simmons. Heavy on the history, and light on fantasy, it's definitely worth reading.

SAW776 · July 2009

Grid System wrote: »

The Terror by Dan Simmons. Heavy on the history, and light on fantasy, it's definitely worth reading.

Nice! I'll have to add that to my list. Thanks.

Michael H · July 2009

Grid System wrote: »

The Terror by Dan Simmons. Heavy on the history, and light on fantasy, it's definitely worth reading.

Seconded! My second favorite book by that author, after Hyperion of course.

SAW776 · July 2009

I downloaded the first chapter of Hyperion, but I just couldn't get into it.. the prologue alone just pushed me away. It felt like it was trying to be way too complicated.

Not that it was bad writing--it wasn't. I'm just apparently not a fan of that sort of sci-fi.

Michael H · July 2009

SAW776 wrote: »

I downloaded the first chapter of Hyperion, but I just couldn't get into it.. the prologue alone just pushed me away. It felt like it was trying to be way too complicated.

Not that it was bad writing--it wasn't. I'm just apparently not a fan of that sort of sci-fi.

The prologue to Hyperion doesn't really tell you anything with this particular book, though. It's meant to be a sci-fi Canterbury Tales, a series of short stories. The prologue wouldn't get you to the Priest's Tale, which is a pretty effective hook.

SAW776 · July 2009

Michael H wrote: »

SAW776 wrote: »

I downloaded the first chapter of Hyperion, but I just couldn't get into it.. the prologue alone just pushed me away. It felt like it was trying to be way too complicated.

Not that it was bad writing--it wasn't. I'm just apparently not a fan of that sort of sci-fi.

The prologue to Hyperion doesn't really tell you anything with this particular book, though. It's meant to be a sci-fi Canterbury Tales, a series of short stories. The prologue wouldn't get you to the Priest's Tale, which is a pretty effective hook.

I read through a couple pages of the first chapter as well, and wasn't grabbed, but perhaps I'll go back and try again.

Darksier · July 2009

Played the literary lottery and won with Dread Empire's Fall - The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams. Ended up finishing it in a couple sittings. While trying to chat up my friends about it, I found that this guy seems to be an unknown despite the positive reputation he has among critics. If anyone is looking for more sci-fi authors, I recommend this one.

Grid System · July 2009

I'd heard good things about that one and snagged a copy at a library book sale. Next time I'm in the mood for some pew-pew, I'll give it a whirl.

It does have a fair bit of pew-pew, right?

DouglasDanger · July 2009

Neal Asher writes some really well-done postcyberpunk space opera.

Grid System · July 2009

Boy howdy, Shaman's Crossing is a good book. I was a bit worried at first, because a lot of people seemed not to like it. Having finished it, I can only conclude that those people are dumb, and don't know how to read properly. Hobb captures perfectly the colonialist idiom, and in setting up her clash of cultures draws significant parallels between her world and ours. That alone makes it a book worth reading, but she goes further than that as she forces Nevare--the main character, brilliantly realized in first-person--to confront himself and the assumptions he holds.

I'm going to break my rule and start the next book in the series, Forest Mage, right away. If I don't, it'll just sit on my shelf taunting and pleading until I pick it up. My only concern now is that once I finish that, I'll have to go out and buy the last book, which is really not what I should be doing with some fifty other books on my shelf (and off!) waiting to be read.

Wallhitter · August 2009

Read Atlas Shrugged over my vacation. Spent the plane ride back reading Middlesex, a book my sister lent me. Pretty damn good novel IMHO.

DarkHawke · August 2009

Sharpe's Tiger. Miltaristic fun, learning a lot about writing battles from Cornwell.

Munkus Beaver · August 2009

I think I'm going to buy 'the long goodbye' and read it this week before school starts.

Iriah · August 2009

Grid System wrote: »

Boy howdy, Shaman's Crossing is a good book. I was a bit worried at first, because a lot of people seemed not to like it. Having finished it, I can only conclude that those people are dumb, and don't know how to read properly. Hobb captures perfectly the colonialist idiom, and in setting up her clash of cultures draws significant parallels between her world and ours. That alone makes it a book worth reading, but she goes further than that as she forces Nevare--the main character, brilliantly realized in first-person--to confront himself and the assumptions he holds.

I'm going to break my rule and start the next book in the series, Forest Mage, right away. If I don't, it'll just sit on my shelf taunting and pleading until I pick it up. My only concern now is that once I finish that, I'll have to go out and buy the last book, which is really not what I should be doing with some fifty other books on my shelf (and off!) waiting to be read.

On the other hand, it's slow, the protagonist is a moron, and her style can become turgid. I thought it was better than Forest Mage, though.

Michael H · August 2009

I just started reading The Icewind Dale series by R.A. Salvatore, figuring "Hey, he's written a bajillion books and people seem to like them, so he must be doing something right". I also play D&D but have never actually read any of the fiction, so this is my first foray.

I... really don't like it. I'm not even that far in, but the first few chapters are full of cliches and I don't really like his writing style. I flipped through a few of his other books at the library and they all seem like the same thing. I usually give books the benefit if the doubt and finish them, but I think this one's going back to the library unfinished.

Ashance · August 2009

Michael H wrote: »

I just started reading The Icewind Dale series by R.A. Salvatore, figuring "Hey, he's written a bajillion books and people seem to like them, so he must be doing something right". I also play D&D but have never actually read any of the fiction, so this is my first foray.

I... really don't like it. I'm not even that far in, but the first few chapters are full of cliches and I don't really like his writing style. I flipped through a few of his other books at the library and they all seem like the same thing. I usually give books the benefit if the doubt and finish them, but I think this one's going back to the library unfinished.

At the risk of offending people, I've always thought his books were nothing but uninspired drivel full of boring predictable fight scenes. That said, the Dark Elf Trilogy is not bad if you want to give that a go. Avoid everything else though.

zenpotato · August 2009

Just finished Brian Ruckley's Fall of Thanes. Goddamn depressing fantasy. Well-written though.

About to start reading The Maltese Falcon for the first time.

My new rule is that for every spec fic book I read, I have to read one book from another genre. Been spending too much time in fantasyland lately. I need to be well-read in other stuff too.

Grid System · August 2009

Hmmm. I have a collection of Hammett's novels somewhere. Maybe I'll join you.

joshgotro · August 2009

100 Years of Solitude

JacobM · August 2009

I just finished off Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon (Great read, a cross between memoirs and an essa) and The City of Sleeping Books (Fantastic if you love books and especially bookstores)

I'm about to burn through Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black and The Instanity Defense by Woody Allen, before diving into Don Quixote, which has been sitting on my to read list for a few years now. Which is sad.

3dfan · August 2009

joshgotro wrote: »

100 Years of Solitude

Perfect choice! And I am reading The Stand by Stephen King

zenpotato · August 2009

I just finished Lev Grossman's The Magicians. Highly recommended to all the literary types who spent their youth in Narnia, Middle Earth, Susan Cooper's version of England, etc.

DouglasDanger · August 2009

I just finished the Book of the New Sun. It was great, but I think I missed a lot. Thinking about getting one of those guide books for it.

Manorly · August 2009

Working my way through Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk.

Finished Snuff a few days ago and was really disappointed at how weak his writing was throughout the whole novel.

Magell · August 2009

I found Snuff to be really disappointing and him relying on the shock value of writing a book about a gang bang.

Right now I'm slowly working my way through Don Quixote, as I figure I should probably have read that as an English major.

JacobM · August 2009

Right now I'm slowly working my way through Don Quixote, as I figure I should probably have read that as an English major.

I'm also trying to power through that book before classes start, though I'm not even half way through it yet

Drswords · August 2009

Just finished the Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

I cried like 12 times during these books. Very angsty.

DarkHawke · August 2009

Halfway through Mark Charan Newton's Nights of Villjamur. It's a really nice setting, decent plot, interesting monsters and prose, but his dialogue is a little... idiomatic? modernistic? Which is a bit odd for a fantasy novel. Lots of people saying 'OK' rather a lot. Also he slips into the second person sometimes, which is a big no no for me.

But it's fun.

ben_bot · August 2009

I'm about half-way through Ark by Stephen Baxter. Very different from his previous book Flood. But different in a good way.

BEAST! · August 2009

I just finished Anais Nin's "Henry and June", and am currently on Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer"....obviously there is a theme to my reading lately

i'm also reading Werner Herzog's "Conquest of the Useless"

A Dabble Of Thelonius · August 2009

zenpotato wrote: »

I just finished Lev Grossman's The Magicians. Highly recommended to all the literary types who spent their youth in Narnia, Middle Earth, Susan Cooper's version of England, etc.

Just finished this as well. An entertaining read, especially if you read fantasy when you were young, but dear lord the protagonist is an iredeemable douchebag.

zenpotato · September 2009

A Dabble Of Thelonius wrote: »

zenpotato wrote: »

I just finished Lev Grossman's The Magicians. Highly recommended to all the literary types who spent their youth in Narnia, Middle Earth, Susan Cooper's version of England, etc.

Just finished this as well. An entertaining read, especially if you read fantasy when you were young, but dear lord the protagonist is an iredeemable douchebag.

That is to say, he's just like me from the age of 15-23.

Darksier · September 2009

DouglasDanger wrote: »

I just finished the Book of the New Sun. It was great, but I think I missed a lot. Thinking about getting one of those guide books for it.

I'd recommend Lexicon Urthus, especially if you found the language intriguing. It's a neat supplemental for the series.

Qingu · September 2009

I'm in the middle of the first Otherland book by Tad Williams.

I really like it so far.

I have no idea how this is going to stretch out over four books.

I am terrified that he is making up his metaphysics as he goes along, a la Battlestar Galactica, and the end is going to be a huge clusterfuck that answers no questions.

Manorly · September 2009

Put down Pygmy the writing is bland and the story overall is boring.

Picking up some Dragonlance soon, starting with Soulforge and working my way through the War of the Lance novels. Reminds me of my tabletop days. <3

Ereh'Wyreve · September 2009

Drswords wrote: »

Just finished the Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

I cried like 12 times during these books. Very angsty.

ahh, the last hereld mage is sooo good, just finished that trilogy last week and then went on to finish the mage winds trilogy the other day, damn i love lackey.. but now, im moving on to a game of thrones.

zenpotato · September 2009

I read Jim Butcher's Fool Moon last night. It was a short bit of popcorn reading, but I enjoyed it much more than the first Dresden book. I already knew part of the plot from watching the TV show, but it was different enough that things were still interesting.

I may continue on with the series when I'm in the mood for light reading. I also think there's probably a few things about craft and pacing I can pick up from the guy. So that's good.

Penny Arcade

What are we reading?

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