For a buck and a Gaf member I will give it a shot.
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What are you reading? (February 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
For a buck and a Gaf member I will give it a shot.
EverythingShiny
Member
Been reading a lot recently. Just finished two books:
I really liked this book at first, but then it majorly started to drag. How is Judas Unchained? I've read elsewhere that a lot of Pandora's Star is setting up Judas Unchained and the pacing is a lot better in the sequel. I also had difficulty understanding a lot of the alien descriptions. I have no idea what the hell Tochee is supposed to look like.
Awesome. I was a fan of The Killing and so checked out True Detective, which is one of the best shows I've seen in a long while. Galveston didn't disappoint. There are a few similarities between Galveston and True Detective, so if you enjoy True Detective (or enjoy noir in general), you should check it out.
Now I'm reading a book recommended by my doctor, as I'm having surgery in two months and have generally been having some odd health issues:
Really interesting so far. There is so much conflicting research out there regarding stress and its effect on the body. Gabor Maté is clinical in his discussion of this topic, but the book is still highly readable.
Still trying to hype myself up to read Art of Racing in the Rain. I've been pretty bummed lately and I got halfway through the first chapter and had to put it down because I was crying already.
I really liked this book at first, but then it majorly started to drag. How is Judas Unchained? I've read elsewhere that a lot of Pandora's Star is setting up Judas Unchained and the pacing is a lot better in the sequel. I also had difficulty understanding a lot of the alien descriptions. I have no idea what the hell Tochee is supposed to look like.
Awesome. I was a fan of The Killing and so checked out True Detective, which is one of the best shows I've seen in a long while. Galveston didn't disappoint. There are a few similarities between Galveston and True Detective, so if you enjoy True Detective (or enjoy noir in general), you should check it out.
Now I'm reading a book recommended by my doctor, as I'm having surgery in two months and have generally been having some odd health issues:
Really interesting so far. There is so much conflicting research out there regarding stress and its effect on the body. Gabor Maté is clinical in his discussion of this topic, but the book is still highly readable.
Still trying to hype myself up to read Art of Racing in the Rain. I've been pretty bummed lately and I got halfway through the first chapter and had to put it down because I was crying already.
KuwabaraTheMan
Banned
Yeah, the first part of House of Chains is a big difference, but the pay off is really good. House of Chains is probably my favorite book in the series so far (currently a couple hundred pages from the end of The Bonehunters), but it's also a very different beast from most of the other books.
And yes, (Memories of Ice)
coming to terms with Whiskeyjack's death took me a long time. Kallor can fuck himself off for all eternity.
Brightly feathered slug with amorphous manipulator appendages on his sides. At least that's how I pictured him. Judas Unchained is more then worth it. The pacing is that of an action movie compared to Pandora's Star. I think of the two as one very large book rather then two separate works.
EverythingShiny
Member
That's perfect, thank you! If I'm recalling correctly, Hamilton's description included a fried egg turned on its side. I was so confused. I have a pretty good mental image of the feathers and the appendages, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what Tochee's actual body looked like.
I'll definitely check out Judas Unchained, then. I enjoy most of the characters (especially Tochee, which took me by surprise) so I'm curious to see how the story continues.
No problem, I read the description and though "Feathery Sea Slug".
God knows there alien enough already.
I'm quite enjoying The Lies of Locke Lamora. I would have finished it two days ago but work has been busy. It's always nice when I find an author I haven't read before. Keeping up with my own reading habits is hard.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Read Joe Abercrombie.
Had the opposite opinion of the Terror. Thought it was an utter slog.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Thoughts on the "Mordant's Need" series?
Tragicomedy
Member
EverythingShiny
Member
How was Gone Girl? I'm thinking about picking that up.
charlemagne
Member
Can anybody recommend anything in the bundle?
It was good, It was well written and filled with some interesting twist and turns and it ended in a way I didn't see coming.
Finished up The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder tonight. It has a great mixture of steam punk, alt history, real history and people plus mystery all wrapped up in a pretty awesome story.
And now to go towards the fire in the darkness with, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
And now to go towards the fire in the darkness with, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
SloaneRangerSW1
Banned
This was turned into a film which premiered here in Sweden just before Christmas. I have a gut feel someone in Hollywood will pick this up and remake it as the new "if you liked Forrest Gump, you'll love this!" movie...
j0hnny_385
Member
1st time reading the Hyperion Cantos. A M A Z I N G book.
Finished the first, I'm on the second now:
.jpg/200px-TheFallOfHyperion(1stEd).jpg)
Amazing world building, great story. Love it. I see why so many people adore these.
Finished the first, I'm on the second now:
Amazing world building, great story. Love it. I see why so many people adore these.
Maklershed
Member
Sweet. Purchased.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Too late. I already bought it.
I figured it would focus at least a bit on that relationship, and while I can't stand
the whole overplayed, substance-less fantasy love at first sight shtick
childhood infatuation card
Already read his First Law series and tried another of his in that world, Best Served Cold, but I have never disliked a character as much as Monza (or story direction). I'm sure it was just reaching an extremely high peak of shit threshold, but I felt sufficiently repelled by her and the course of the narrative that I just set it down and never picked it up again. I can't remember another book that made me do that.
Read like 8 books over the past week. From the 50/50 thread:
/edit my god, what is with all these $0.99 amazing collections flooding kindle? I could get the complete Oz, or Lewis Carrol, or William Shakespear for .99. Someone out there wants me to read, and read cheap!
/edit my god, what is with all these $0.99 amazing collections flooding kindle? I could get the complete Oz, or Lewis Carrol, or William Shakespear for .99. Someone out there wants me to read, and read cheap!
I set out on the ambitious task of reading the first three A Song of Ice and Fire books before the April premiere of the fourth season of A Game of Thrones.
I'm about 300 pages into the first. Not exactly making satisfactory progress.
You have 60 days and you have ~2100 pages to read (using the regular edition and not mass market paperback), so if you read about 35 pages a day, you'll make it!
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
I finished Sabriel. Garth Nix nailed giving away just enough information about the principles of magic so that while you can understand what is happening, there's still enough unsaid so that the universe feels ancient. He can write female characters too: Sabriel isn't just bold but at times justifiably insecure about her preparedness for successing her father, which is a nice change after Brandon Sanderson's "I-am-a-living-dynamo" approach to female protagonists.
---
I swung by a second-hand bookstore on a whim and found A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows for only $1 each, Kings is probably going to jump the queue of my reading list unless I'm stuck by a sudden and completely rational desire to read The Ring of Solomon first.
I thought it was fantastic, and it seems that most people that have read it here tend to be pretty favourable towards it.
This has been on my radar for a while now, and I picked it up with the kindle daily as well, so thanks for the highly positive review. I think I'll read it soon.
Yeah, posted here because I knew you'd check it out since you mentioned it to me
I am reading the mass market paperbacks. I have about 2500 pages to read in order to get caught up. It takes me roughly a bus ride of fifteen minutes to read a chapter. It's going to take me forever to read these...
The ultimate problem is that I already know what's happened, so the books are all treading familiar territory. For a small novella, that's not a big deal. For THOUSANDS of pages of reading, that's a little trying.
RedNalgene
Member
I'm on a bit of a non-fiction kick lately, so I'm currently reading Spillover
If you are interested in learning about major viral outbreaks or liked the book "The Hot Zone" this one is pretty good. It's really meaty (600 pages) and is more technical than the Hot Zone, but you don't need to be a scientist to read it. I'm about 25% through but I'd definitely recommend it.
If you are interested in learning about major viral outbreaks or liked the book "The Hot Zone" this one is pretty good. It's really meaty (600 pages) and is more technical than the Hot Zone, but you don't need to be a scientist to read it. I'm about 25% through but I'd definitely recommend it.
Revise up to 42 pages.
And I suppose that is true. But as I recall, the television shows were significantly abridged, so even while it is within familiar territory, it should probably be a new experience - you might know the broad bullet points of the events, but there's also significantly more detail.
And in fairness, A Game of Thrones takes a really long time to get going; it can seem slow even when you aren't familiar with the material.
Revise up to 42 pages.
And I suppose that is true. But as I recall, the television shows were significantly abridged, so even while it is within familiar territory, it should probably be a new experience - you might know the broad bullet points of the events, but there's also significantly more detail.
And in fairness, A Game of Thrones takes a really long time to get going; it can seem slow even when you aren't familiar with the material.
I think once I get into the second book, things will become more distant from the book, which is a GOOD thing, because I'll not be as up on what's going on. But this first book is certainly a chore.
Goldenmoney
Member
I'm only on page 45. I believe this is over 1,000 pages, the longest Stephen King book I've seen.
Incandenza
Banned
I guess you haven't read The Stand. Or It. Or late-series Dark Tower.
Weird that almost every King book I've read has been on the long end of his bibliography.
nakedsushi
Member
I'm on a big comic kick lately thanks to Saga & Rocket Girl.
Just finished an ARC of this:
This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki
It was a decent story about a pre-adolescent girl's summer. Fairly believable. I think I would have liked this better if I were about her age.
Just finished an ARC of this:
This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki
It was a decent story about a pre-adolescent girl's summer. Fairly believable. I think I would have liked this better if I were about her age.
Recently finished:
The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny - Actually, I've only finished the first five books, but I've heard that the Merlin books are like a whole different series, so I'm going to put them off for a while. Overall I've really enjoyed what I've read so far. The series is very trippy, very imaginative. It can be very arty at times. Some of the artiness works really well, some doesn't, but the books never get bogged down in their pretentions enough to slow the pace to any great degree, so it always feels like fun, light reading. Zelazny's writing style really grew on me as the series went along, and I love the main character.
Adversary Cycle book 2 and Repairman Jack book 1: The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson.
This is a book that I tried and failed to read a while back. This time I made it all the way through. I would say it has quite a few serious problems, but it was plenty fun enough that I didn't regret reading it. Afterward, I became really intrigued by the Adversary Cycle series, which apparently includes a ridiculous number of books if you count everything that relates to it (almost like Stephen King's Dark Tower series). I had already read the first book in the series, The Keep, when I was a teenager, and decided to reread it as a prelude to tackling the whole series, including all the Repairman Jack novels. Right now I'm in the middle of The Keep. So far it's just as good as I remembered, and a hell of a lot better than The Tomb.
Straw Men book 1 - The Straw Men by Michael Marshall - This was a really cool book that's a little hard to categorize. I personally think it's morbid and strange enough to just barely graze the edges of the horror genre. It also reminds me a little of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, not in terms of specifics, but more in terms of the general vibe and structure of the story. The writer has a real gift for language and a crazy imagination. The only thing I would hold against him is a tendency for awkwardly placed philosophical digression.
The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny - Actually, I've only finished the first five books, but I've heard that the Merlin books are like a whole different series, so I'm going to put them off for a while. Overall I've really enjoyed what I've read so far. The series is very trippy, very imaginative. It can be very arty at times. Some of the artiness works really well, some doesn't, but the books never get bogged down in their pretentions enough to slow the pace to any great degree, so it always feels like fun, light reading. Zelazny's writing style really grew on me as the series went along, and I love the main character.
Adversary Cycle book 2 and Repairman Jack book 1: The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson.
This is a book that I tried and failed to read a while back. This time I made it all the way through. I would say it has quite a few serious problems, but it was plenty fun enough that I didn't regret reading it. Afterward, I became really intrigued by the Adversary Cycle series, which apparently includes a ridiculous number of books if you count everything that relates to it (almost like Stephen King's Dark Tower series). I had already read the first book in the series, The Keep, when I was a teenager, and decided to reread it as a prelude to tackling the whole series, including all the Repairman Jack novels. Right now I'm in the middle of The Keep. So far it's just as good as I remembered, and a hell of a lot better than The Tomb.
Straw Men book 1 - The Straw Men by Michael Marshall - This was a really cool book that's a little hard to categorize. I personally think it's morbid and strange enough to just barely graze the edges of the horror genre. It also reminds me a little of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, not in terms of specifics, but more in terms of the general vibe and structure of the story. The writer has a real gift for language and a crazy imagination. The only thing I would hold against him is a tendency for awkwardly placed philosophical digression.
I am currently reading Peter the Great: His life and World. This book is simply amazing. Peter is such a fascinating figure and Massie tells his story brilliantly. I am only 1/4th of the way through, but I would basically describe it as the life of a boy and eventual ruler with pure curiosity and the will to pursue his interests in the setting of a society going through change due to Western ideas slowly seeping in and all of the resulting conflicts, rejections, etc that causes.
Tried to read this a year ago after I attempted to read my copy of Dante's Inferno, and failed to read both.
So this time I bought the audio book and tried again.
Ten minutes into the book, I began to fall asleep. I just don't think I can do it
What is wrong with me? (cries)
Nothing. You simply don't like it. Not liking a revered classical work doesn't make you inferior or stupid. No one can possibly like all of the highly regarded literary classics.
Mackenzie 92
Member
At the suggestion of Ikuu I began reading Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) by Anthony Ryan.
It's actually proving to be a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. I'm having trouble putting it down, which happens to me a lot if I come across Fantasy Adventure
Keeps getting better too. I'm reading it every free moment I get. Love it when a book sucks me in like this.
Personally, I've yet to read Way of Kings. But from impression of the guy that I quote, he read 400 pages and heven't gripped yet. For a book that have 1000 pages, that's just too much for wait and see. If it only 500 pages, and it hasn't gripped me yet on page 100, I'll probably continue it for the sake of completion.
Then I take it you don't like The First Law as well? Abercrombie writing almost put me off the book.
He just ten minute into the book. Not all book started up fast and not all book have the same "gripping point". If I take "falling asleep" as sign that I don't like a book, The Prince must be the book that I hate most for everytime I read I fall asleep. Yet I finished it, make it guideline to write politics in my story.
tauroxd
Member
Still plugging away at The Way of Kings. Hm. I like it, but I don't love it. The characters aren't particularly grabbing me, and the dialogue still feels really dull and forced (I'm looking at you, Wit.)
I'm about 400 pages in and it hasn't grabbed me yet. If it hasn't grabbed me by now, will it?
Continue reading. Do not stop. I repeat. Do not stop. I was in your side for a while, then I begin to really, really love all about the book. Now I'm desperate to read Words or Radiance!
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
Don't want to be spoiler-ish for anyone actually interested in it, so I'm just marking anything questionable.
Exactly. Zero connection to her and even the ones with potential slowly descended into nothingness
(or a terrible spin a la Shivers)
But then nothing. Nothing that happened, no matter how terrible or good, seemed to temper her character and all others, regardless of their personalities got dragged down into the mire with her. All the dirt and selfishness and emotionally apathetic coldness of the modern human. Entirely unlikable and seemingly without potential to see or be anything past her own shit. I don't know where Best Served Cold ends, but hopefully it ends her.
As for Republic of Thieves, I'll keep my expectations modest. I am finding it a bit so-so so far, though.
Fair enough. If the author can't grab you in a few hundred pages, then maybe it's not worth continuing.
For the First Law series, I did like it. It was different and the writing style/characters were interesting. Not my favorite series, but I enjoyed his stuff sufficiently enough to try Best Served Cold against my general preferences. I'm not sure I'll pick up another of his books without glowing, GLOWING recommendations next time, though.
nakedsushi
Member
How far in did you have to read to change your opinion? I'm still on the fence about this one, but I'm barely 5% into the book. Maybe I'm just burned out on Sanderson after reading all 3 Mistborns and Legion.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Something about Sanderson's writing doesn't engage me. I slogged through the first Mistborn, but didn't bother with the rest. Tried Way of Kings, didn't hook me. Even tried The Emperor's Soul.. but meh. Might give it another try, but I dunno. Maybe he's just not for me. You can tell he approaches writing like a job and has everything planned out which makes it feel forced and lifeless, like he's just going through the motions. If that makes any sense.