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[Deleted member 1235]

Abercrombie's work is similar in style and tone to George R.R. Martin and Steve Erikson, so I was pretty much won over by the third page. His action sequences are a lot of fun--he really makes you wonder just who is going to survive to the end of the book, since nothing in this world--nothing-- ever seems to go easy.

loving this as well. about 80% done with it, looking forward to cracking in to other 2.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Oh wow, I read a few chapters of the girls story in The Warded Man. You have got to be kidding me with the birth control/abortion stuff. This is the most clumsily written shit I have read in ages. I thought the same when he was talking about the incestuous dad but gave him a pass. That he keeps writing like this...yeah, awful.

Sorry GAF, but Peter Brett is an atrocious author, unless he wrote the first half of this book at 12 and then came back and finished it as an adult.

Yeah the chick chapters are pretty crap, gets good again towards the end.

 

[Instro]

Started reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time recently. I'm not very far but its pretty enjoyable.

 

[Monroeski]

Just started -

 

[thomaser]

Finished Jaroslav Hasek's "The Good Soldier Svejk". Not great literature, but important literature. And definitely funny literature! But I'm bummed that Hasek died before he finished the book.

Spoiler

Svejk doesn't even reach the front line...

Now, a play by Henrik Ibsen, "The Pillars of Society". I just know this is going to be one of those plays that makes me angry. Ibsen always puts in two or three complete bastards, and this seems to be full of them. But I've only started, so who knows?

After that, I'm not sure. Probably Alexandre Dumas' "The Three Musketeers". I've never read any Dumas and never seen a film based on his books, so I'm looking forward to this!

 

[Dresden]

Probably the finest fantasy series I have ever read. That's saying something. I bought the paperback of The Judging Eye last week, and it was an incredible ride. It's weird how the great cover for it doesn't show up online, even the Amazon listing shows the wrong cover.

It ranks above--in my opinion--the works of the following authors:

Tolkien
G.R.R.Martin
Steven Erikson
Robert Jordan
Mervyn Peake
Chine Mieville
Gene Wolfe
Dan Simmons
Joe Abercrombie

and more. All of them my favorite authors. But Bakker is a god among men, as Kellhus was among the men of the Holy War.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

Finished: Under the Dome
Reading: The Blade Itself

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t68ar0SFX54/SQ5jXP0QwRI/AAAAAAAAB1E/eZVNUeAXIx8/s400/The_Judging_Eye.jpg

Probably the finest fantasy series I have ever read. That's saying something. I bought the paperback of The Judging Eye last week, and it was an incredible ride. It's weird how the great cover for it doesn't show up online, even the Amazon listing shows the wrong cover.

It ranks above--in my opinion--the works of the following authors:

Tolkien
G.R.R.Martin
Steven Erikson
Robert Jordan
Mervyn Peake
Chine Mieville
Gene Wolfe
Dan Simmons
Joe Abercrombie

and more. All of them my favorite authors. But Bakker is a god among men, as Kellhus was among the men of the Holy War.

You have my interest piqued seeing you listed the majority of my favourite authors. Any suggestions of where to start off with Bakker's works?

 

[FnordChan]

Last book in Jim Butcher's Alera series. Mixed feelings on the whole thing. People were right that it improved vastly from the third book onward, but I still had some issues.

I can't really disagree with anything you said there, but like you said, despite the problems the Codex Alera had it's still a fun read. I think I was more forgiving of its faults than you were, but we came to the same conclusion in the end, so good enough. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the series to either a fantasy fan who is looking for something light, fast paced, and (wonder of wonders) a complete series, or the Dresden fan who is chomping at the bit for more Butcher to read. The latter is how I got into the series, and, despite some weak points, overall I enjoyed it quite a bit.

By the way, I'm hoping that some of your criticisms will be dealt with when and if Butcher revisits the series. We'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, I'm still slowly making my way through Eileen Wilks' Blood Magic, the sixth entry in her Lupi series. It's not a bad book so far (though there was a bit set in China about 1/3 of the way through that rang incredibly false to me) but I just haven't been able to work up the excitement to really plow through it. I'm going to spend some time with it tonight and see if it can get its hooks in me before Changes hits, because when the new Dresden book shows up on my doorstep I'm dropping everything else until I'm done with it. Come on, USPS!

FnordChan

 

[LocoMrPollock]

Good stuff. Zombies + Steampunk = win.

 

[Dresden]

Finished: Under the Dome
Reading: The Blade Itself



You have my interest piqued seeing you listed the majority of my favourite authors. Any suggestions of where to start off with Bakker's works?

The first book in the trilogy is The Darkness That Comes Before, which is a great read that builds on the world and launches the whole narrative forward. It's very dense though, and I know that the book has been hit-or-miss for many people, especially since the first book has comparatively little action compared to the later books.

The first trilogy is essentially a fantastical adaptation of the Crusades.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

The first book in the trilogy is The Darkness That Comes Before, which is a great read that builds on the world and launches the whole narrative forward. It's very dense though, and I know that the book has been hit-or-miss for many people, especially since the first book has comparatively little action compared to the later books.

The first trilogy is essentially a fantastical adaptation of the Crusades.

Great, thanks.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Jeg started "A game of Thrones" . 50 Pages in, and it's beginning to become interesting.

 

[BorkBork]

Finished this, might be of interest to Loner GAF. :lol

I just had the author as a prof for a systems thinking course, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Good read, a little repetitive towards the end, but spending a year by yourself in the middle of nowhere is still an amazing feat.

Finished this also recently:

Hilarious and a great intro to philosophy for anyone interested.

And then almost done this:

Volume 2. Great find in a used bookstore. Neat collection of classic sci-fi stories.

Working on this next I think:

 

[Monroeski]

Hilarious and a great intro to philosophy for anyone interested.

I love Action Philosophers. :lol

 

[Dresden]

I actually preferred the first book to the next two. It felt like they just weren't as polished, like he was rushing them out. And yeah, I'm one of the "miss" people. I enjoyed the writing and the characters (yeah, Kellhus is pretty cool) enough to finish the trilogy, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way. I haven't picked up the fourth book, and I doubt I ever will.

I find that tends to be the case. You either fall utterly in love with it, or you just don't like the subject matter that much. I still shill the book whenever I can, though, because it's still my favorite fantasy series, and I've read quite a few. I should tone down on the hyperbole a bit, however, but I can't help myself. :lol

 

[benita]

The silliest of premises (guy buys a ghost on eBay) results in a VERY creepy novel. Only a third of the way through but so far I'm kind of floored.

Just picked this up based on your recommendation.

Fuck the blurb made me laugh :lol

Buy my stepfather's ghost, read the email. So Jude Did.

When Judas Coyne heard some was selling a ghost on the internet, there was no question what he was going to do.... buying a ghost almost qualifies as a business expense.

Starting tonight

 

[Karakand]

(as karakand knows if he read Father & Son)

Was hoping a Kindle version would come out but I'll get to it don't worry I take dares I accept from myself very seriously.

http://bibliojunkie.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/the-quiet-american-vintage.jpg

Enjoy!

 

[movie_club]

Finished reading through this one a few weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it. After the Wheel of Time series, it was nice to move to a book that moved at a brisk pace, or maybe I'm just comparing a snail to a brick.

Anyway, His Majesty's Dragon is an alternate history retelling of the Napoleonic war with Dragons. It deals with Will Lawrence, a captain in the British Navy who, upon capturing a French ship, finds himself in possession of his very own dragon.

This, obviously, means that Lawrence is now one of Brittan's Avators and must go off to learn how to be one properly. It's a fun little book. Lawrence is definitely a prime and proper character, so seeing him interact with the less cultured aviators was always good for a smile.

The only problem with the book is that there are two characters, mother and daughter, that have the same last name, and Novik uses the name for both of them. It didn't really bother me, but it gave a friend of mine fits.

Anyway, after that, I decided, Lord help me, that I had to read something that I should have read years ago. So, I moved onto,

I'm about 90 pages in, and I hate Holden Caulfield more than I've hated a character in a long while. He has absolutely sapped my desire to finish this book, which is a shame because it is well written.

Help me, Gaf. Am I missing something here?

While rebuilding a desire to finish it up, I'm rereading Nightwatch by Pratchett.

Dont finish it. Catcher is my all time favorite book however, if you do not read it at a time in life when you can relate to holden (adolescence) you wind up hating him scartching your head asking what was so good about it

 

[benita]

Oh my goodness I only just found out that Heart-Shaped Box is written by Stephen King's son!

And I literally finished The Gunslinger about an hour before I picked it up :lol

 

[Mifune]

Oh my goodness I only just found out that Heart-Shaped Box is written by Stephen King's son!

And I literally finished The Gunslinger about an hour before I picked it up :lol

Yeah, somehow I neglected to mention that.

Enjoy!

 

[crowphoenix]

Dont finish it. Catcher is my all time favorite book however, if you do not read it at a time in life when you can relate to holden (adolescence) you wind up hating him scartching your head asking what was so good about it

Thanks for taking my question seriously. I think it'll help knowing it's ok to dislike the kid. I still plan to try to finish it, because the writing is good and I always hate (using that word a lot here) not having read the classics. Plus, it's a fairly quick read.

 

[Cimarron]

I'm reading 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' It's ok so far. I'm only about 150 pages in.

 

[KingGondo]

I'm reading 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' It's ok so far. I'm only about 150 pages in.

Stick with it, it's worth it.

Strangely-structured book (maybe it's typical in Sweden), but it's a real page-turner once you get into the meat of the story.

 

[Guileless]

Started reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time recently. I'm not very far but its pretty enjoyable.

Every October when the Halloween stuff starts coming out, I vow to start it so I can finish by Halloween. But I still haven't because it's so hard to find time to read in October. I plan to buy the new annotated version by the same person who edited The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, which is incredibly detailed.

I have never read the novel, but I have a well-thumbed copy of this version.

 

[Stealth]

Stick with it, it's worth it.

Strangely-structured book (maybe it's typical in Sweden), but it's a real page-turner once you get into the meat of the story.

Yeah, like I said last month when I read it, it really doesn't get going until about 200 pages in. Then it's a fun little roller coaster of a book.

As for me, I'm reading A Game of Thrones until I get my copy of Changes medivac'd in from the States (currently in Barcelona, where finding a solid collection of English-language books is nigh-impossible). I just read the first 40-odd pages tonight and, goddam. Just, goddam. This is going to be a fun one.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Finished The Foundation. I thought the whole Psychohistory, economics, politics and government aspects would lull me but it was all handled so well. Advanced technology was handled with grace too, its almost like magic in LOTR or A Song of Ice and Fire, not so much in your face but peeking through to the reader.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Just took this out

Can't wait to dive in (after LOST, of course)

 

[FlyinJ]

Just finished:

A little past halfway through:

It's funny how one of my favorite books of all time was A Confederacy of Dunces. Then I realized the superior work it was inspired from was Pale Fire. And from Pale Fire's numerous references to Don Quixote, I now have completed the journey to the true masterwork that inspired it all.

Don Quixote is simply amazing.

 

[roosters93]

Pretty good so far, the first millenium book was great and I've heard that they just get better so I'm enjoying the ride.

I think it's quite clever and perhaps unconventional to remove the main character's voice while she's being investigated and the only communication from her is the short documents with Blomkvist. (at least at the point i'm up to atm).

Most writers would immediately reveal to the audience her emotions and her telling of the events while Larsson cut off the scene bewteen Salander and Svensson & Mia before the murders and he creates a suspense where we assume she's innocent but we don't know for sure.

 

[finowns]

Spoiler

Ending had me going WTF?! We have to wait year?!

Also, Dresden getting with MAB, I was like that's My Dude!!

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Good stuff. Zombies + Steampunk = win.

Good book. It's not without it's problems but it was pretty damn entertaining.

 

[Karakand]

I read an Ikea catalog and masturbated to my own unrealistic sexual fantasies instead of reading a Stieg Larsson novel.

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

Pretty good so far, the first millenium book was great and I've heard that they just get better so I'm enjoying the ride.

I think it's quite clever and perhaps unconventional to remove the main character's voice while she's being investigated and the only communication from her is the short documents with Blomkvist. (at least at the point i'm up to atm).

Most writers would immediately reveal to the audience her emotions and her telling of the events while Larsson cut off the scene bewteen Salander and Svensson & Mia before the murders and he creates a suspense where we assume she's innocent but we don't know for sure.

Yeah, I thought the same, although it took me a while to stop missing her and to just go with the flow of the story. But when she comes back... hoo boy you're in for some good shit soon!

Just started

on recommendation from the Count. About 2 chapters in at the moment, it seems well written so far. It's about a guy who can stop time and uses said ability to remove womens clothes. Awesome.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Pretty good so far, the first millenium book was great and I've heard that they just get better

Really? Personally I thought they got progressively worse, with the first book being the best one.

 

[chicko1983]

I started reading "Kingdom of Fear" by HST the other day.

Only about 40pp in but it seems pretty weird mish mash of anecdotes and isnt really that good so far. I'll keep reading it as some of it is still pure good.

 

[Maklershed]

 

[mjc]

I finished up The Warded Man and I thought it was a pretty strong first novel overall. I had some issues with the characterization towards the end of the book but I was able to stomach the writing well because I didn't expect it to be anything mindblowing. I'm really looking forward to The Desert Spear.

 

[Salazar]

About 2 chapters in at the moment, it seems well written so far. It's about a guy who can stop time and uses said ability to remove womens clothes. Awesome.

Please, please try 'The Mezzanine' and 'U and I' - the latter an account of his obsession with John Updike. Baker's collection of essays 'The Size of Thoughts' is also god damned superb. His latest book is not nearly so fine as these.

 

[Kuraudo]

Finished the Catcher in the Rye. I guess to get the most out of it you have to be an angry rich white American kid.

 

[thomaser]

Just started "The Tree Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. My first ever Dumas!

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Finished the Arn trilogy. Finishing up The Flowers of Evil now. Then it's off to either the Kalevala or Paradise Lost.

 

[Kraftwerk]

Saw this other version of The stranger translated by Matthew Ward .Heard lots of good things about this translation so picked it up.

Picked this up too.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

I finished up The Warded Man and I thought it was a pretty strong first novel overall. I had some issues with the characterization towards the end of the book but I was able to stomach the writing well because I didn't expect it to be anything mindblowing. I'm really looking forward to The Desert Spear.

If you can find The Great Bazaar by the same author its worth checking out, has a few missing chapters and some other stories, also gets into the world a bit more with wards drawing and descriptions and a bestiary on all the demons.

Anyways my copy of The Desert Spear just showed up! YAY!!

 

[thomaser]

Finished the Arn trilogy. Finishing up The Flowers of Evil now. Then it's off to either the Kalevala or Paradise Lost.

Do you have a specific version of the Kalevala in mind? Perhaps på norsk eller svensk? I really wanted to read it a few years ago, but forgot about it until I saw your post. Thanks, it's now on my wish-list!

 

[Parham]

Started reading the book earlier this week. It's been pretty interesting so far.

 

[way more]

Finished the Catcher in the Rye. I guess to get the most out of it you have to be an angry rich white American kid.

And during the time of it's release that was the status of everyone in college. It is certainly a book from a different era but it's impact can not be understated. Today we have a entire genre of literature, the young-adult novella, that simply repeats the story of a dissatisfied and disillusioned youth unable to find his place.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

It's been a while since I've posted in one of these threads, so I'll post what books I've finished since then:

The Coming of the Third Reich (Richard J Evans) - Fantastic book about the political conditions in Germany during the Weimar years and the atmosphere that led to the Nazis gaining power. I knew the Nazis were thugs and that pre-1939 Germany was political chaos, but I never understood the depth and breadth of it fully until now.

The Third Reich in Power (Richard J Evans) - Goes on from its predecessor from Hitler's siezure of power right up to the invasion of Poland. It details how the Nazi party operated, Hitler's drive to exterminate Jews and political enemies, his drive to a war economy from the very beginning and the insidious methods of total control they wielded over every aspect of German life.

The Third Reich at War (Richard J Evans) - Rather than follow the battles, it followed life under wartime Nazi rule, the beginnings of and organisation of the holocaust, the way the economy was run and the internal power struggles within the Nazi party. The way the first two books set things up, the end comes as the obvious conclusion to a war that had been planned since the 20s.

These books have taught me more about Nazi Germany and WW2 Europe than any others I've read previously. They're fantastic and I heartily recommend them.

 

[vareon]

Just finished Verne's Around The World in 80 Days and surprised at how good it was.

 

[Dan]

Just finished up Geodesica: Descent by Sean Williams with Shane Dix.

I've got a bunch of comic trades to read, but I'll probably pick up another novel on Monday when I fly across the country for work. I've kinda been itching to reread Sphere and that's a fairly light read, so that might be my first choice.

 

[Dresden]

Finally had the time to finish Changes. It was a fun read.