What are you reading? (February 2012)

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Didn't dig it. Highlights: talking about his days as a bookstore clerk, socializing with Bret Easton Ellis, the collage-essay about plagiarism, and the interview/feature on Bob Dylan and James Brown.

Lowlights: slamming on a critic for a bad review written years before about one of his books. Anything where he can't talk about himself or some pop-culture icon.

---

Also finished The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti. I'm already starting to forget about it.
 
Deified Data said:
Still reading Iron Council by China Mieville.

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It's slow going. Definitely the worst in the Bas Lag series, but I'm finishing it out of duty to the previous two.
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I've tried twice to get through it, and I just can't. dunno why, but nothing really happens and I end up reading something else instead.



As for WLW, overall I liked it. It's somewhat plodding at times, and the switch from macro to micro view can be jarring. But a good book nonetheless. Some interesting stuff happening, especially at the end with achamian's group. Still kind of suffered from middle-book syndrome in that most of if dealt with transportation of players towards where they need to be for the concluding book.
 
everytime I see china mieville, i think of chyna the female wrestler

and her huge clitoris

so i could never take china mieville seriously
 
Keen said:
I've tried twice to get through it, and I just can't. dunno why, but nothing really happens and I end up reading something else instead.



As for WLW, overall I liked it. It's somewhat plodding at times, and the switch from macro to micro view can be jarring. But a good book nonetheless. Some interesting stuff happening, especially at the end with achamian's group. Still kind of suffered from middle-book syndrome in that most of if dealt with transportation of players towards where they need to be for the concluding book.
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Yeah, Iron Council is dull. That along with Kraken are just bad.

Embassytown and The Scar are top-tier.

I really loved White Luck Warrior, though.
 
Finally ... more like ffffffiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnaaaaaallllllyyyyyy ... finished Lyonesse by Jack Vance. I really had to slog through that. Started out interesting, kinda charming. Then I felt like the wheels came off and the story just went all haywire.

Had a real tough time picking the next one. Considered some Kindle samples, leafed through the books on the shelf... decided on The Luck of Relian Kru by Paula Volsky. I've read maybe the first 5-6 pages and I'm kinda like "meh." I'll see how it goes in the next 20 pp or so but I'm really struggling with finding something to grab me.
 
I went to get the book I wanted to read today at the bookstore (I had ordered Fall of Hyperion), and one of the pages was ripped. They offered to give me a 10% rebate on the book, or they could order another one, but it could take up to six months! What the hell...

I have a gift card at that location, so I really want to buy my books there, but they're really making it hard.
 
Ah, new thread smell. Last month's seemed crazy active, more so than usual. Always a good thing.

I'm still reading Empire State. Haven't been much in the reading mood lately so I'm only around 60 percent through it, but I like it a lot. Not sure what I'm going to read next. Was thinking of finally getting started on the First Law Trilogy or possibly the book below

nakedsushi said:
Just started:

The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn
It's like Firefly!
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Sounds neat!
 
Just finished Game of Thrones book 2, don't know whether to move on to book 3 straight away or read something completely.

To choose from i have got a few Star Ward old republic books to read, the new Darth Plagueis book. Iv also got Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks and a fey Kathy Reichs books so plenty of choice.
 
Dresden said:
Yeah, Iron Council is dull. That along with Kraken are just bad.

Embassytown and The Scar are top-tier.

I really loved White Luck Warrior, though.
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I actually liked Kraken, loved the Scar, and haven't read Embassytown but have heard a lot of conflicting opinions about it. I'll probably get around to it one of these days.

I actually started a slow reread of The Scar, mostly to have something to read on the bus.
 
Bazza said:
Just finished Game of Thrones book 2, don't know whether to move on to book 3 straight away or read something completely.

To choose from i have got a few Star Ward old republic books to read, the new Darth Plagueis book. Iv also got Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks and a fey Kathy Reichs books so plenty of choice.
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Hop into book three man if you're enjoying the series. Storm of Swords is bloody amazing.
 
Anyone here a fan of Philip Pullman? I heard of "The good man jesus and the scoundrel Christ" and was interested in opinions before I buy it.
 
Jenga said:
Anyone here a fan of Philip Pullman? I heard of "The good man jesus and the scoundrel Christ" and was interested in opinions before I buy it.
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The Golden Compass was entertaining, but I found the rest of the His Dark Materials books to be tedious. They felt like a vehicle for Pullman to get his agenda across, rather than a story about characters on an adventure. I think it would have been better if he was a little less preachy, and let the message he was trying to tell come across more subtly and naturally as a part of the story.

With that said, if you can read book 1 in a series without reading the rest, I recommend the Golden Compass.
 
Clever Pun said:
The Golden Compass was entertaining, but I found the rest of the His Dark Materials books to be tedious. They felt like a vehicle for Pullman to get his agenda across, rather than a story about characters on an adventure. I think it would have been better if he was a little less preachy, and let the message he was trying to tell come across more subtly and naturally as a part of the story.

With that said, if you can read book 1 in a series without reading the rest, I recommend the Golden Compass.
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I would agree, with one difference: I thought the first TWO books were good. The third one was so heavy handed with agenda it seemed like it was a completely different author and genre.
 
Clever Pun said:
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Just started this yesterday. I absolutely loved I Am a Cat, and enjoyed Kokoro and Botchan, so I'm looking forward to this.
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I loved Kokoro. I read the Edwin McClellan back in high school. I recently saw a different translation at the library by Meredith McKinney that I'm interested in trying.
 
Monroeski said:
I would agree, with one difference: I thought the first TWO books were good. The third one was so heavy handed with agenda it seemed like it was a completely different author and genre.
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Yeah, looking back at my notes it definitely seems that it was mainly in the third book that the agenda became annoying. Even so, I think the first book is the best.

Mumei said:
I loved Kokoro. I read the Edwin McClellan back in high school. I recently saw a different translation at the library by Meredith McKinney that I'm interested in trying.
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Yeah I read the McClellan version as well. If you get around to the McKinney translation I'd be curious what you think about it. I was happy to see this version of Sanshiro was translated by Jay Rubin, as I loved Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
 
Jenga said:
Anyone here a fan of Philip Pullman? I heard of "The good man jesus and the scoundrel Christ" and was interested in opinions before I buy it.
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I read that book because the premise sounded neat, but I ended up not liking it. The premise did kinda hold up, it was kinda interesting throughout (that is to say, I finished it, which is rare), but as a whole the book was suuuuuper dry and boring and overall just kinda pointless. It's very short and serves no purpose other than to allow Pullman to say "the church sucks" (for the millionth time). I also disliked the style of writing, it was very "biblical" and unengaging.
 
Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about snipers? The guy that was on Conan last night has me interested but from the reviews it sounds like his book deals a lot with his personal/domestic life and not his military action. Are the books about Carlos Hathcock any good - White Feather perhaps?
 
Dresden said:
Yeah, Iron Council is dull. That along with Kraken are just bad.

Embassytown and The Scar are top-tier.

I really loved White Luck Warrior, though.
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Loved The Scar. The setting was real and visceral as opposed to Iron Council, which feels like a rapidly alternating series of set-pieces - especially during the parts that cover the journey of Cutter and co. Travel a bit, monster attack, travel a bit, militia attack, travel a bit, monster attack followed by militia attack, etc. Of all the Bas Lag books, I feel like Iron Council is the least grounded in the series setting/mythos, despite its willingness to show off new monsters, races, places every five minutes.

Will finish it and movie on to Embassytown.
 
Giard said:
I went to get the book I wanted to read today at the bookstore (I had ordered Fall of Hyperion), and one of the pages was ripped. They offered to give me a 10% rebate on the book, or they could order another one, but it could take up to six months! What the hell...

I have a gift card at that location, so I really want to buy my books there, but they're really making it hard.
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Ripped as in still in the book, just not in new condition or ripped as in missing from the book entirely?

If the former, lmao. If the latter, it's just Dan Simmons.

Maklershed said:
Does anyone have a recommendation for a book about snipers? The guy that was on Conan last night has me interested but from the reviews it sounds like his book deals a lot with his personal/domestic life and not his military action. Are the books about Carlos Hathcock any good - White Feather perhaps?
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Kerry Thornley - The Idle Warriors
 
A27 Tawpgun said:
Got this sitting on my desk.

Gotta find time to read it.
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I wasn't impressed with those books. They're really different compared to Ender's Game. I prefer Bean's series to recapture that Ender feel.

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Still reading this thing. Once I'm done I'm not sure what I'll be reading, but somehow I think one day I'll do an entire re-read of Malazan. Might take me several months, but I think it would be worth it just so I can actually remember what is going on.

I think my least favorite thing about the book series is that it spends the first half of it building up these incredible characters that I liked and then moves them into the background only to introduce me to more characters that I do not like. I hope that Brandon Sanderson doesn't make Erikson's mistakes while he's writing The Stormlight Archive.
 
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Dan Simmons - Carrion Comfort

Only 10% in, seems pretty good so far. This is my first Simmons book, and I've heard it's genuinely scary. Hope it lives up to the hype.
 
Mastadon said:
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I'm about 55% of the way through and to be honest, it's really starting to drag. It's all interesting enough, but the plot is barely advancing and the pacing is incredibly slow. Debating whether or not to put it down for a while and come back to it in a few months or so. For those who have read it, does it pick back up?
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I feel the same way. Gave it a break for a week. About to start chapter 17 tonight. I want him to start his plan already, lol! I'm quite enjoying the whole relationship he has with
Sadie
. Let's see if the book picks up. But still, I like it as a whole so far.
 
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Finishing off the Dread Empire books. As a whole I didn't enjoy the original trilogy as much as most of Cook's other works. The prequels were somewhat better and this sequel trilogy is probably the best of the series although there is a lot of overlap between Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling.
 
I wanted to suggest one random fun thing to do after finishing a novel. I like to go to its page on tvtropes.org and look at all the tropes listed (for example here's the page for Ender's Game), it's usually a fun read and might point you to other books that have similar elements that you enjoyed.

Just finished up the Thrawn trilogy. My first foray into Star Wars expanded universe (basically my outlet for all my hype built up around the SW MMO, despite the fact that I didn't even end up buying it after the beta). It was a quite a fun read and I'd recommend it to any fan of the movies. Thrawn is a very interesting character and the books give some cool insight into the Imperial side of things and sometimes allows you to sympathize with them. I doubt I'll read any more Star Wars EU books, I just checked these out because they were so highly recommended around SW fan circles.

Currently I decided to finally jump into The Dark Tower series of books. Right now I'm on the second book and I'm definitely enjoying the ride. The Gunslinger is a pretty fascinating character and I just keep wondering what the hell is ultimate fate will be.
 
ShinobiFist said:
I feel the same way. Gave it a break for a week. About to start chapter 17 tonight. I want him to start his plan already, lol! I'm quite enjoying the whole relationship he has with
Sadie
. Let's see if the book picks up. But still, I like it as a whole so far.
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I'm glad I took everyone's advice and stuck with it, it's really picked back up again now. Just churn through the bit you're on and it'll be worth it!
 
Cyan said:
When I read Wizard's First Rule, a bunch of pages at the end of the book were missing.

I tracked down another copy to read that section, but in retrospect it made little difference to the quality of the book.
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The shit you find when you google Terry Goodkind news.

Today Justin Bieber and Beliebers everywhere are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the creation of his kidrauhl YouTube account.

The Biebs honored his life-changing anniversary with a tweet—after all, the Internet helped make him a superstar, so there's no better place for him to celebrate with his fans.

Here's the special message that the Biebs tweeted to Beliebers today: "5 years ago today i started this youtube channel and you all changed my life. thank you. #AlwaysKidrauhl"

Justin went with the name kidrauhl because his dad's YouTube username was lordrauhl—Lord Rauhl was the name of a character in the Terry Goodkind epic fantasy novel series, The Sword of Truth.
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It's Rahl, yo.
 
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