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[Heel]

I just finished Foundation.

Spoiler

Earlier in the thread I said I was loving it, but that was before the story began to continually jump ahead decades at a time and abandon characters. Things got a little too broad for me to get hooked. I wanted to get invested in the early characters, but Asimov preferred to let time move forward, have them all die uneventfully, and invest in his universe instead.

By the looks of the "What's the best science fiction book you've ever read?" thread a lot of you guys love this series, but it's really not what I'm looking for.

As a guy who has barely read much of anything, I feel like I'm still stabbing in the dark to find something I love, haha. Gonna stick with sci-fi and try Neuromancer next I think!

 

[Dresden]

Not too far in but it's been enjoyable so far.

 

[nakedsushi]

In the middle of this right now:


Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

So far, I don't have a problem with the main character despite what someone said in this thread. But I have a feeling something bad (well, worse than what already happened) is going to happen and I'm not going to like it.

 

[AAequal]

God I hated this book. It starts off so well then all of a sudden switches to a different form of storytelling that is downright awful. I was reading it on a train one day and I just suddenly put it down and left it there.

Same thing for me. I did like 2666 from the same author tho.

 

[Trent Strong]

Read The Hunger Games.

Spoiler

WTF at the "muttations"? Why? I don't want to say that part ruined the book...but that part ruined the book.

 

[Clever Pun]

Read The Hunger Games.

Spoiler

WTF at the "muttations"? Why? I don't want to say that part ruined the book...but that part ruined the book.

Yeah I try not to think about that part for too long. It helps me remember the book in a more favorable light!

 

[hamchan]

Read The Hunger Games.

Spoiler

WTF at the "muttations"? Why? I don't want to say that part ruined the book...but that part ruined the book.

I barely even remember that part to be honest. Must have blacked it out.

 

[Keen]

I just finished Foundation.

Spoiler

Earlier in the thread I said I was loving it, but that was before the story began to continually jump ahead decades at a time and abandon characters. Things got a little too broad for me to get hooked. I wanted to get invested in the early characters, but Asimov preferred to let time move forward, have them all die uneventfully, and invest in his universe instead.

By the looks of the "What's the best science fiction book you've ever read?" thread a lot of you guys love this series, but it's really not what I'm looking for.

As a guy who has barely read much of anything, I feel like I'm still stabbing in the dark to find something I love, haha. Gonna stick with sci-fi and try Neuromancer next I think!

Not sure what you're after, but to give another stab in the dark; give Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan a try.

 

[_Isaac]

Read The Hunger Games.

Spoiler

WTF at the "muttations"? Why? I don't want to say that part ruined the book...but that part ruined the book.

Heh.

Spoiler

I just think the term is funny. Why did it ruin the book for you though?

 

[hamchan]

Well, after playing the Old Republic i'm now entering the large world of Star Wars novels. Anyone read them and have a good recommendation? There sure are a lot of them...

 

[brianjones]

finished american psycho, starting on these

 

[Attackthebase]

Well, after playing the Old Republic i'm now entering the large world of Star Wars novels. Anyone read them and have a good recommendation? There sure are a lot of them...

Thrawn Trilogy, which is written by Timothy Zahn. The best place to start in the extended universe.

 

[ClassyPenguin]

I wonder what they think of Cormac McCarthy?

 

[Ceebs]

Because it has short chapters.

And, on that note, Among Others by Jo Walton, which I'm reading right now, and has chapters ranging in length from 1/3 of a page to seven pages, is just wonderful. I'm hoping to see it appear on the major SFF award ballots this year.

That was part of my 9 book marathon over my winter holidays. Really enjoyed it. It made me want to go read some of those books I had never heard of.

Spoiler

Did you take the fantasy elements as being true (making it a fantasy book for real) or more along the lines of a child's imagination protecting her from a traumatic loss.

Read this over the weekend. Was your typical supernatural romance story, but being written by a historian it had an abundance of details and subject matter I did not expect.

Not sure what I am going to start next.

 

[Mumei]

Currently Reading:

Second Foundation

~1/2 done. Asimov really likes his unscientific woo creeping into his science fiction, doesn't he?

Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States

I saw this at the store today and picked it up on a whim. I've only read the first chapter; it is pretty interesting stuff.

I'm still working on that Norton Anthology, but I took a bit of a break~

 

[iavi]

Just finished it. Characters were fun, a lot of fun, but the jesusy dialogue does become a bit tiring, and book ended on a serious note of middle-of-series-syndrome. Worst thing is, this is my first foray into the series, the 5th book. And I gotta say, it was weird starting from a postion of the larger world building being done, the bros already being bros. Like starting an jrpg from the 3rd quarter, after the main party has been assembled and has a good bit of history. It makes for a game of connecting the dots, but Card did an apt enough job of not making it impenetrable.

 

[Kuraudo]

Hey, Gaf, how bleak is Old Man's War by John Scalzi?

Realised today that most of the books I read are pretty bleak or depressing in one way or another and I'm just wrapping up the second half of Broom of the System which has gotten pretty depressing in the second half. I'd like to break the cycle a bit. Was planning on reading Old Man's War next, but wondering if I'd be better off leaving it for now and picking up something by Neal Stephenson instead (either Snow Crash or Quicksilver, although I imagine the latter is less instantly rewarding).

 

[charlemagne]

So...where are people getting these from? I feel like there's an entire world of snark I'm missing out on.

 

[Salazar]

So...where are people getting these from? I feel like there's an entire world of snark I'm missing out on.

It's straining for effect almost as much as the text it mocks.

 

[Donos]

Hey, Gaf, how bleak is Old Man's War by John Scalzi?

Realised today that most of the books I read are pretty bleak or depressing in one way or another and I'm just wrapping up the second half of Broom of the System which has gotten pretty depressing in the second half. I'd like to break the cycle a bit. Was planning on reading Old Man's War next, but wondering if I'd be better off leaving it for now and picking up something by Neal Stephenson instead (either Snow Crash or Quicksilver, although I imagine the latter is less instantly rewarding).

Not really bleak. Really good books. Scalzi's OMW books are right there with my favorite SciFi books. Time to reread them.

 

[Clever Pun]

Well, after playing the Old Republic i'm now entering the large world of Star Wars novels. Anyone read them and have a good recommendation? There sure are a lot of them...

I'll preface this by saying I read the expanded universe star wars books when I was in junior high and high school and I don't know if they still hold up, but I remember enjoying the following:

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

The Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson

The Correllian Trilogy (for some books about Han & Leia's children)

I also remember liking a book by Barbara Hambly, but all the one's on amazon have really terrible reviews so I won't bother linking them.

 

[lastflowers]

Just finished:

Now Reading:

and

 

[Divius]

First time reading LOTR, very different from the book so far (Tom Bombadil, wat!)

 

[Ratrat]

Hey, Gaf, how bleak is Old Man's War by John Scalzi?

Realised today that most of the books I read are pretty bleak or depressing in one way or another and I'm just wrapping up the second half of Broom of the System which has gotten pretty depressing in the second half. I'd like to break the cycle a bit. Was planning on reading Old Man's War next, but wondering if I'd be better off leaving it for now and picking up something by Neal Stephenson instead (either Snow Crash or Quicksilver, although I imagine the latter is less instantly rewarding).

Not bleak at all. I thought it was crap.

 

[Doopliss]

I'll preface this by saying I read the expanded universe star wars books when I was in junior high and high school and I don't know if they still hold up, but I remember enjoying the following:

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

The Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson

The Correllian Trilogy (for some books about Han & Leia's children)

I also remember liking a book by Barbara Hambly, but all the one's on amazon have really terrible reviews so I won't bother linking them.

My 14/15 y/o self liked the Thrawn trilogy, but not really the other two you mentioned. My favourites were always the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and especially the later sequels by Aaron Allston. I reread the first book a couple of years ago (prompted by a Rebel FM discussion of Star Wars novels) and it was alright, so I don't feel too bad recommending it.

One of the Allston entries was the first book to ever make me cry :lol

 

[sparky2112]

My 14/15 y/o self liked the Thrawn trilogy,

'Thrawn' being the single worst name for a villian EVER.

 

[Clever Pun]

My 14/15 y/o self liked the Thrawn trilogy, but not really the other two you mentioned. My favourites were always the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and especially the later sequels by Aaron Allston. I reread the first book a couple of years ago (prompted by a Rebel FM discussion of Star Wars novels) and it was alright, so I don't feel too bad recommending it.

One of the Allston entries was the first book to ever make me cry :lol

It's been so long I'm definitely not going to try to argue that the other books I listed were any good. I never got around to any of the X-Wing series - my assumption was that they didn't spend much time following Luke/Han/Chewie/Leia and so I wasn't interested at the time.

'Thrawn' being the single worst name for a villian EVER.

Despite the name, he's a pretty cool bad guy!

 

[effzee]

Just finished the Harry Potter series (first time and haven't seen a single movie), reading the Hunger Games right now (as in just started this morning only a few pages in), and then going to read the Hobbit next. Yeah I am really behind on my reading. Only now with new commute options is it possible to get enough time in the day to read.

 

[Doopliss]

'Thrawn' being the single worst name for a villian EVER.

Could be worse... Mitth'raw'nuruodo for example.

 

[coldvein]

finished american psycho

did you like it?

 

[sparky2112]

In case you don't know, Marisha Pessl, the author, happens to be smokin' hot, so that alone created some backlash against this book - that and the fact that the publisher left off her author photo when the advance copies of this were sent out, saying they wanted the book to be judged 'on its merits, not the author's looks'. And then there's the fact that it doesn't 100% hang together (or, rather, it looks simply plotted until the plot reveals itself (late) to being fairly complicated), it's probably too long, and Pessl has no qualms about throwing literary references around as if they were rice at a wedding. If you read the reviews, some people love this book and some people hate it.

I loved it. In fact, I CONSUMED this book. It is very, very rare for me to read a book for an entire day, which I did this past Sunday. Let alone a book narrarated by a 17-year-old girl.

Flawed, but very, very enjoyable.

 

[npm0925]

I read two novels set in the USSR during the Stalin regime. The first was City of Thieves, wherein a likable pair of condemned criminals are tasked, in exchange for their freedom, with finding a dozen eggs in the Nazi-besieged city of Leningrad. It's a nice blend of comedy and horror. The other was Child 44, which takes an interesting premise -- the investigation of a serial murderer in a nation where it is itself a crime to suggest that such a crime exists -- but ultimately falls victim to numerous cliches. Don't get me wrong; the book is still plenty of fun to read but is not of the same caliber as CoT.

Next up is 11/22/63.

 

[Mikeside]

In case you don't know, Marisha Pessl, the author, happens to be smokin' hot, so that alone created some backlash against this book - that and the fact that the publisher left off her author photo when the advance copies of this were sent out, saying they wanted the book to be judged 'on its merits, not the author's looks'. And then there's the fact that it doesn't 100% hang together (or, rather, it looks simply plotted until the plot reveals itself (late) to being fairly complicated), it's probably too long, and Pessl has no qualms about throwing literary references around as if they were rice at a wedding. If you read the reviews, some people love this book and some people hate it.

I loved it. In fact, I CONSUMED this book. It is very, very rare for me to read a book for an entire day, which I did this past Sunday. Let alone a book narrarated by a 17-year-old girl.

Flawed, but very, very enjoyable.

sold! know where I can pick up an ebook of this? (legally)

 

[sparky2112]

sold! know where I can pick up an ebook of this? (legally)

Amazon, but it's one of those stupid, stupid cases where the ebook is slightly more $ than the paperback.

 

[Deified Data]

Well I just finished this series up. I went to bed around 11 (4 am now) and I popped on to post this before I try to sleep. Thankfully I don't have anything to do...today. When I get to the end of a book I have absolutely no willpower to stop and I find myself suddenly awake and energetic.

About the book...I'm just shocked I guess. Probably the darkest ending to a book I've ever read. I understand the message though, and love Abercrombie to death for it. I hope to read books just like this in the future. Glokta, Bayaz and Ninefingers are some of the finest characters I've come to know since my first read through of ASoIaF.

Say one thing about The First Law Trilogy, say it's a dark series.

Anyhow I feel like I'm on a roll with good books lately...Mistborn and now this. Probably going to read The Crippled God now. That loose end is gnawing at me.

You need to carry on - what about Best Served Cold and The Heroes? Both are spectacular. Abercrombie is easily my favorite author of modern fantasy.

 

[iavi]

Just finished:

So...How was it? Gibson was actually in Oakland a week or so ago doing a book signing for "Distrust that Particular Flavor." I missed him because I was a broke bum, and am mad as hell.

 

[Monroeski]

Just finished:

Meh. Way too much description on certain things (page after page just repeating the same thing) and a lot of stuff was just crude for the sake of being crude and not for any real reason.

I know that second one is kind of the hallmark of Palahniuk, particularly the later stuff, but this seemed worse than anything else I've read (Fight Club, Pygmy, seems like something else I forgot).

Now starting:

Rant by Palahniuk. ~100 pages in and it's already a lot better than Choke was.

 

[brianjones]

did you like it?

instant favorite

 

[Fjordson]

You need to carry on - what about Best Served Cold and The Heroes? Both are spectacular. Abercrombie is easily my favorite author of modern fantasy.

If I want to read Abercrombie I should go through the First Law Trilogy first, right?

I really want to get into his stuff. Seems right up my alley and the fact that his next book in the universe is going to be a western has piqued my interest even more.

 

[Dresden]

If I want to read Abercrombie I should go through the First Law Trilogy first, right?

I really want to get into his stuff. Seems right up my alley and the fact that his next book in the universe is going to be a western has piqued my interest even more.

Ideally, yeah, but tbh I'd just jump into Best Served Cold first--it's single-volume so there's not a lot of commitment involved, and you can figure out if you like Abercrombie or not.

 

[Narag]

If I want to read Abercrombie I should go through the First Law Trilogy first, right?

I really want to get into his stuff. Seems right up my alley and the fact that his next book in the universe is going to be a western has piqued my interest even more.

Ideally, yeah, but tbh I'd just jump into Best Served Cold first--it's single-volume so there's not a lot of commitment involved, and you can figure out if you like Abercrombie or not.

Still haven't read First Law yet but really enjoyed BSC. In fact it was Shivers reminiscing about stuff that happened in First Law that made me pick up the books. I was talking about the book with a friend and mentioned how it'd be cool to get a better idea of what Shivers was going on about and he pointed out I could.

 

[DarkFlow]

Since I just finished watching " A Game Of Thrones", I wanted to read the books. I got all the Audio Books off audible. So far I'm enjoying them a great deal, flushes out the show much better and I'll be ready for season 2.

 

[Adam Blade]

Just finished Orb, Sceptre, Throne.

I enjoyed it a lot, and wasn't disappointed by it like I was a bit with The Crippled God.

 

[Keen]

Just finished Orb, Sceptre, Throne.

I enjoyed it a lot, and wasn't disappointed by it like I was a bit with The Crippled God.

Good to hear, reading that once I'm finished with The White-Luck Warrior

 

[hamchan]

Thrawn Trilogy, which is written by Timothy Zahn. The best place to start in the extended universe.

I'll preface this by saying I read the expanded universe star wars books when I was in junior high and high school and I don't know if they still hold up, but I remember enjoying the following:

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

The Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson

The Correllian Trilogy (for some books about Han & Leia's children)

I also remember liking a book by Barbara Hambly, but all the one's on amazon have really terrible reviews so I won't bother linking them.

My 14/15 y/o self liked the Thrawn trilogy, but not really the other two you mentioned. My favourites were always the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and especially the later sequels by Aaron Allston. I reread the first book a couple of years ago (prompted by a Rebel FM discussion of Star Wars novels) and it was alright, so I don't feel too bad recommending it.

One of the Allston entries was the first book to ever make me cry :lol

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll get started on the Thrawn trilogy and I've also got these new Old Republic books, hopefully they're good.

 

[Hypereides]

Almost done with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas..

.. I picked "The Divine Comedy" by Dante next.... in polish. Urgh. I think I may have biten more than I can chew.

 

[Mumei]

I finished Second Foundation and am now reading:

The Crystal Cave

Finished with Book I (The Dove) this morning. I don't really know much of the story of Merlin, so it's a very different experience from The Once and Future King, where most of the appeal was in how it was told since I knew the major plot points coming into it.

And I'm continuing Racism without Racists... though I haven't actually read more of that since my last update. :|

 

[British Monsoon]

On form and thoroughly entertaining, this third entry into Chris Wooding's 'Tales of the Ketty Jay' series shows all the hallmarks of it's predecessors. Well drawn, engaging characters set on a racing plot full of action and intrigue as Captain Darian Frey and his ragtag crew seek to lift an ancient demonic curse. Along the way Wooding introduces more detail to his setting, expanding on the politics of his created world, showing some good character development throughout the Ketty Jay crew and introducing new members to the cast ensemble. The action is compelling and well paced, peppered with some welcome back story and motivation for two of Wooding's more insular characters, and while following the same formula as 'Retribution Falls' and 'Black Lung Captain', like those books 'The Iron Jackal' is a true page-turner.

 

[Figboy79]

I just finished "The Name of the Wind," by Patrick Routhfuss, and now I'm continuing my read of "The Count of Monte Cristo."

I had started to read it years ago, and really enjoyed it, but I let someone borrow it, and never got it back. I picked it up on my Kindle, and am now starting over. I'm enjoying it so far.

I'm not sure what I'll read after. I've been going through books like candy lately. Over the past month or so, I've read the first 4 Song of Ice and Fire books, Next and Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, Sabriel, and The Name of the Wind.

I flit between being in a Book, Film, TV, and Video Game mood. Right now, I'm in the midst of a Book mood, although I have been catching up on some TV shows I've never seen like Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

It's been a great two months for me reading. I've been taking advantage of my bus rides to and from work, and quiet time at home when I'm not spending time with my wife.

 

[Blitzzz]

Any suggestions for a long plane ride to Asia?

Been looking at these 3 but not sure which to start

Lies of Locke Lamora - Description sounds good but am weary of starting another fantasy series after reading all of ASOIAF in a row. I tried to start Farseer Trilogy right after it but couldn't get past first page....

11/23/63 - Never really read Stephen King and didn't know he wrote sci-fi. Is it as good as most people say?

Name of the Rose - read Shadow of the Wind in Dec when GAF suggested it and found it very enjoyable. One link and another and landed on this book. Reviews say it might be difficult to read?

Any other recommendations are welcome