Very dry prose. Other people like it though.
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What are you reading? (January 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Very dry prose. Other people like it though.
I read it at release and thought there were some very well-done horror elements in it (made me pine for Fevre Dream!), but I've pushed everything else about that book out of my mind. I've just completely lost interest in the series as more time passes with no end in sight.
Pollux
Member
How did you read this? Amazon says it's not out until April?Finished
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Great book. Really loved the scope and scale of it. Harry is a great character as well.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Continuing with the multiple lives theme, I started this tonight.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Got an arc from Netgalley.com.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Got an arc from Netgalley.com.
Can only think of Double Eagle by Dan Abnett. Its a Warhammer 40k book. Not the best he's ever written but will probably scratch your itch.
GardenSirens
Banned
Stephen King's The Shining for the second time.
HerrPalomar
Neo Member
Dan Simmons - Terror
Started reading it two days ago and can‘t stop
Started reading it two days ago and can‘t stop
roosters93
Member
Life Itself by Roger Ebert
I've had this on my radar for a long time and finally bought a copy.
Ebert has some great stories and has a fantastic attitude on the curve balls he was thrown late in his life. Stuff like an in-depth account of his extended family bored me but thankfully it doesn't take up too much of the book.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My brain has imploded.
Thanks
Now halfway through
Just got through this few hours ago. The only other Murakami novel I read was Kafka on the Shore. I liked this one more.
Don't know what to read next, maybe another novel from Murakami, but I think I'll go with something scifi next.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Check out Timothy Zahn. He's written some of the Star Wars books but has written other stuff in a similar vein. The Conquerors series was decent.
David Weber also does space combat stuff. The battles in the Honor Harrington series are epic but there's a lot of other stuff in those books. I like them but I know others don't. I haven't read any of his other space stuff so I can't comment.
Good calls. You can legally get a load of Honor Harrington books for free too.
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/
Dan Simmons - Terror
Started reading it two days ago and cant stop
sooo much better than his new cold-snowy-weather book...
Professor Chaos
Member
Just started the last book of the Border Trilogy. McCarthy has grown on me quite a bit the more I've read of him.
David Hollow
Neo Member
Wow. Been waiting a while to have my account validated, and to witness this sort of endorsement for my own work is incredible. I hope to become a part of Gaf's environment and having parsed through this thread, there are a lot of commonalities in terms of the stuff I've read and what's being tossed around the boards. Love this community. The statement may lack gravitas due to my virginal status, but it's been fun to lurk the corridors undetected.
I finished reading 3500: An Autistic Boy's Ten-Year Romance with Snow White by Ron Miles today. It's really enjoyed it, though it did become a bit ... repetitious at times. I suppose it is to be expected, though - he did ride Snow White's Scary Adventures 3,500 times!
Anyway, definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a fairly light (and emotionally affecting, if not especially well-written) memoir about raising an autistic son.
Edit: Oh, and I started reading The Great Hunt!
Anyway, definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a fairly light (and emotionally affecting, if not especially well-written) memoir about raising an autistic son.
Edit: Oh, and I started reading The Great Hunt!
nakedsushi
Member
Saga, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan
Finished this just in time for vol 3!
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Also finished that. Not something I'd typically read, but someone suggested it to me. I thought it was a little dated and naive, but still entertaining. Now I want to watch the movie.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Congrats! Hope to join you in successful published author status soon!
David Hollow
Neo Member
Thanks Angmars! And as authors we shall rule the world!!
Finished The Book of the New Sun today:
Finished may be the wrong word, I think a second reading would be of great benefit in constructing a complete image of that universe and further shaping the understanding I have of the characters. Which isn't to say that the text ever appears to intentionally obscure or otherwise contrived to make it difficult to follow. Take the premise of the book, which I thought was novel and worked so well:
Anyway, I can't recommend it enough. It goes straight to my top 10 sci fi and all... The book is really awe inspiring both in world and characters, not to mention it's marvelously written.
Finished may be the wrong word, I think a second reading would be of great benefit in constructing a complete image of that universe and further shaping the understanding I have of the characters. Which isn't to say that the text ever appears to intentionally obscure or otherwise contrived to make it difficult to follow. Take the premise of the book, which I thought was novel and worked so well:
We start with a full on, traditional fantasy novel feel and gradually transition to sci fi during the four books. This is in accordance with the way a vast majority of people in that book perceive their world(including the narrator) because of the decay of humanity. It's Clarke's law in a sense, but is executed flawlessly, so much so that I was still falling for it some 700 pages into this series.
Anyway, I can't recommend it enough. It goes straight to my top 10 sci fi and all... The book is really awe inspiring both in world and characters, not to mention it's marvelously written.
Finished. All in all it was ass. Fantasy books taking inspiration from video games? No thanks.
The animestyle fight scenes are less impressive the 10th time around, characters are witless and boring cartoon archetypes. There is no tension and no blood.
Edit: Can anyone recommend something for ASOIAF fans? I'd like something with:
Good 3 dimensional characters
Characters will actually die
Decent writing
Not a 10+ book series
Not 1000+ pages
Read the post above! It's as much fantasy as sci fi, both and neither one? The four books come out to 850ish pages total and as much as I love ASOIAF, it doesn't even come close. Parts(many parts) of The Book of The New Sun will make ASOIAF look as the writing in Skyrim looks in comparison to ASOIAF. The only thing is that it never develops a great pace the way those books do, although when the action does get going it's on point.
Now read Urth. The perfect coda: it both clarifies and changes what came before.
I will have to do that. The only question is wait for all the roiling of different plot points and characters to subside until I come to an equilibrium on what I think happened or jump straight into Urth of the New Sun?
I thought the concept looked interesting so I picked up the book six months ago. Couldn't stand the book for more than 20 pages. The characters, the world building, the writing style. I hated everything except the cover. Your mileage may vary.
WoT - The Fires of Heaven:
I'm getting real tired of the bitching between Egwene and Nyneave. Most annoying characters in the books so far. I started out liking Egwene and didn't much like Nynaeve, a while later they switched places and I couldn't stand Egwene but liked Nynaeve. Now I'm annoyed by both of them. I really hope Egwene doesn't end up as the Amerlyn Seat like that dream seemed to foreshadow.
This is disappointing to hear. The premise sounds interesting and its not often you get fantasy based on the French Revolution. Your description sounds like a Sanderson novel though so I'm going to stay well away.
Now read Urth. The perfect coda: it both clarifies and changes what came before.
The perfect coda would be the Book of the Short Sun of course. But yeah, Urth is pretty much the fifth part in the New Sun series.
I won't fault anyone for liking it(or Sanderson), I did enjoy the first few chapters but its quickly apparent that the book is more concerned with being 'cool' in a juvenile sense, than telling a good story. It's almost non-stop action with a predictable story. I was rooting for the villains.
Jag
Member
Finished. All in all it was ass. Fantasy books taking inspiration from video games? No thanks.
The animestyle fight scenes are less impressive the 10th time around, characters are witless and boring cartoon archetypes. There is no tension and no blood.
That was next in my list, but I was on the fence. Maybe I'll pass. What video game is it from?
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Can anyone recommend any Graham Green(e) books? I just finished The End of the Affair and before that The Quiet American, and I really liked both but I don't really know where to go from here. Any suggestions?
Maklershed
Member
Half way through Swan Song and got damn is this book good. Unless the second half falls apart it'll definitely shoot to the top of my favorite post apocalypse list, along side A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Postman, World Made By Hand, The Road, Earth Abides, etc
Tragicomedy
Member
I finished The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell - ★★★★ - Absolutely riveting read about the rise of Arthur in fending off the Saxons and other Britons to unite Britania under the rule of the high king. I haven't read any Arthurian tales since way back in high school, so the material was fresh and captivating. Cornwell's Arthur differs quite a bit from how he's presented in other stories, and the changes are almost exclusively for the better. The real scene stealer is Derfel, one of Arthur's loyal warriors who narrates the story and completely won me over.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
What other Arthurian fiction have you read?
AngmarsKing701
Member
Didn't I tell you you'd like it? One of the best Arthurian stories ever. Great trilogy.
Jag
Member
Derfel was great. Sort of like Croaker in the Black Company. I also like how the series was different than most of Cornwell's books.
Tragicomedy
Member
Very little. I read The Once and Future King back in high school, as well as Idylls of the King. I've been more exposed to his story through film, having seen a few of the heavy hitters there (Knights of the Round Table, The Sword in the Stone, Camelot, and First Knight...the biggest gap there is Excalibur, which I should really watch).
I'll definitely be reading the next two books. Excellent start to the series!
I certainly got a bit of that Croaker vibe. Croaker is tops, so any comparison to him is a winner in my book. This is the only Cornwell books I've read, but I've added the Holy Grail series to my queue. I'll get to it...eventually. Dang backlog.
RottenTanuki
Member
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. A novel about the 90's dot.com culture written in 1995. A funnier novel now nearly two decades later.
You must read Mary Stewart's trilogy!
Basically the reason why I had to stop reading it. The characters, especially the women, are just fucking terrible.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Life after Life wasn't doing anything for me, so started this on a whim. Can't remember who recommended it, but it's gud. Up there with First Law and Black Company etc.
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Also Jack Whyte's 82 volume Eagles series.