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[Nymerio]

So I've finished The Bonehunters and I'm already half way through Reaper's Gale. So far I like the wacky characters the most. Iskaral Pust always makes me smile and recently Sargeant Hellion has been really fun to read.

Spoiler

Her arrest of the D'rek priest and them both getting completely drunk was really funny

The only small peeve I have with the series is the timespan and size of the world. Some of that just doesn't make any sense to me. You have a race of immortal undead that has lived for 300.000 years and in these 300.000 years no technological advances have been made. I can live with some kind of medieval stasis going on, but 300k years? And then there's the size of the world. So you have civilizations going back 300k years and there's still empires and civilizations around that no one has ever encountered?

 

[Andrew Korenchkin]

Yes for Lolita being the book of the month! One of my all time favorite books!

IMO, Fyodor is the best novelist in history.

Man, that cover is pretty ancient. Looks like a pulp magazine.

As of right now...

 

[charlemagne]

60. I've only read 17 so far. I read 50 last year without actually trying :T

To be fair, i think my selection is a lot better this year.

I try not to worry about the numbers. Mostly because I'm 8 books behind my target (of 50)...

 

[Thriller]

Ive just finished reading Papillon. I can recommend this one!
And Ive started reading Damned, by the guy who wrote fight club, not quite sure what to think about this one yet..

 

[d34dkn16h7]

Obscenity, Anarchy, Reality - Crispin Sartwell 5/5

 

[DieUnbekannte]

Saw Redwall is free today.

Thank you! It's also for free on amazon.de.

I reread the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy because I got part six (and another thing...) written by Eoin Colfer as a present. After this one I think I'm going to start with The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch because I heard a lot of good things about this book. Or maybe something from Murakami. I've only read Norwegian Wood so far and really liked it.

 

[charlemagne]

Saw Redwall is free today.

Awesome. Thanks!

 

[ymmv]

IMO, Fyodor is the best novelist in history.

Man, that cover is pretty ancient. Looks like a pulp magazine.

Classics Illustrated was a long running series of literary masterworks turned into comic books.

 

[Blitzzz]

Finished Life of Pi
For my next book I decided to start with Shadow of the Wind. Will see how it goes.

I just started the audiobook version of Angel's Game (book #2) this morning. Very similar atmosphere. The author is great at describing his world. Don't worry, the first book is a self contained story

Just got done reading this series and I was impressed. I didnt have much expectations before I started reading it since I really never heard much about it, but it was very very good. The characters were well constructed/developed and the pacing and plot were very good and kept things entertaining.

So yea, I would definitely recommend it, especially if you are looking for a fantasy series that isnt dark, gritty, deary ('realistic' whatever the hell that means). I wouldnt describe it as a traditional fantasy series because since all of the characters, even the heroes actually feel human since they have flaws and are not some over powered character. But it really isnt in the mold of the current trend either.

I'd describe it somewhere in the middle, kinda like Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings. The world and magic system are definitely not as unique as that book, but this series definitely has better pacing

Interesting. I put the series on ice after the first book. I felt the plot/characters/writing were a bit too simple and straightforward. I guess he gets better over the course of the series


Started Foundation by Asimov. I didn't think writing/dialog in the 50s would be that much different than today. Or is it just his style?

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Bout 100 or so pages into The Passage and holy smokes. This Cronin dude can write. King-style plotting (I guess) but with some legit prose chops. Super impressed.

 

[Gvaz]

Started reading Fight Club. I saw the movie but never read the book and frankly I wish I hadn't seen the movie so the book would be better.

 

[teruterubozu]

Bout 100 or so pages into The Passage and holy smokes. This Cronin dude can write. King-style plotting (I guess) but with some legit prose chops. Super impressed.

Yup, Cronin is a very, very talented writer. I actually enjoyed his earlier, more traditional novels - Mary & O'Neil and The Summer Guest - before he went all sci-fi/fantasy (early fans accuse him of cashing in). The first part of The Passage is vintage Cronin, but the second part is when he lost me. I haven't read the second book in the trilogy yet though.

 

[Mumei]

Yes for Lolita being the book of the month! One of my all time favorite books!

IMO, Fyodor is the best novelist in history.

Man, that cover is pretty ancient. Looks like a pulp magazine.

As of right now...

... It is nice of you to join us, but please, no more multiple posts in a row!

 

[Andrew Korenchkin]

... It is nice of you to join us, but please, no more multiple posts in a row!

So should I of combined my posts into one? I'm still trying to figure out how to combine multiple replies from posts into one, while at the same time giving credit to those posts like you did (I tried it, ended up with only the text).

Sorry! Thanks for the tip.

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- WHAT? That's amazing. I never knew we could do that. I've been opening quote posts in tabs and copy-pasting into one reply. Eesh.

 

[Andrew Korenchkin]

There's a little plus sign button next to the quote button. That'll let you quote multiple people, and then when you hit quote or reply, the posts you marked the plus sign on will also be quoted for you to respond to. Give it a try if that explanation wasn't clear.

I'll give that a try, thanks so much.

To switch the discussion over to its original intention, I'm about half way done with Blood Meridian, and I think I love almost everything about it that I feel I need to go out and purchase about three more Cormac McCarthy books. I still haven't got around to reading The Road yet. Either way, I never thought I would like a Western like the way I do Blood Meridian, maybe due to how its tone just seems to avert everything that makes up the Western genre that doesn't really appeal to me.

 

[Blitzzz]

Has anyone read this? It keeps popping up on my Fantasy recommendations on GR. I have not read any of his Dresden Files stuff either

Furies of Calderon

 

[Jag]

Has anyone read this? It keeps popping up on my Fantasy recommendations on GR. I have not read any of his Dresden Files stuff either

Furies of Calderon

It's not bad. Typical fantasy stuff, but entertaining. It's a pretty big series if you like to sink your teeth into that kind of thing. I personally liked his Dresden books better, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Codex series either.

 

[Mumei]

^-- WHAT? That's amazing. I never knew we could do that. I've been opening quote posts in tabs and copy-pasting into one reply. Eesh.

I still do that sometimes because I forget about the new features.

 

[Kuraudo]

Bit of light reading.

Read the first three chapters (the Telemachiad) today. I was fine with the first two, but a lot of the stream-of-consciousness third chapter went over my head. Still, I've never read such beautiful prose about a man pissing on the beach and wiping his snot on a rock.

 

[ShaneB]

35% done Old Man's War. This is awesome! Are the rest of the books in the series good as well? I guess they might be fairly standalone books? I think I'm ready to dive back into a sci-fi trilogy or something, something with an ending at least

 

[Andrew Korenchkin]

Bit of light reading.

Read the first three chapters (the Telemachiad) today. I was fine with the first two, but a lot of the stream-of-consciousness third chapter went over my head. Still, I've never read such beautiful prose about a man pissing on the beach and wiping his snot on a rock.

Oh man, when it comes to Joyce, the only novel I've been able to grasp by the same author would be most of Dubliners work and parts of Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man. Still, I've been meaning to grab a guide on how to grasp Joyce's literary style. Eventually, I want to read his novel today. Also, "The Ineluctable Modality of the Visible!"

Have you ever skimmed over Finnegans Wake? I'll just let you know in advance that there is no other book in the English language as difficult to read than that one. First time I glanced at the pages, my mind almost bent from confusion.

 

[Blitzzz]

It's not bad. Typical fantasy stuff, but entertaining. It's a pretty big series if you like to sink your teeth into that kind of thing. I personally liked his Dresden books better, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Codex series either.

Fun series. Does the "smart protagonist takes advantage of the world's rules in clever ways" thing that I always find so enjoyable. Also can be frustrating and feel a bit derivative, and the other POVs aren't nearly as interesting as the main hero.

Also the last book does a few things that slightly soured me on the rest of the series. But what can you do.

Thanks for the comments. Looks like I can push it a bit lower on the priority list

 

[Woorloog]

Finished Gail Z. Martin's The Summoner, first part of The Chronicles of Necromancer.
Bought the book blindly because i couldn't find any of the recommendations from here.

Mixed feelings. Sort of. I liked it well enough but that makes its bad points much more worse. Contrast, i guess. The bad things are, primarily, about writing, like said-bookisms, which don't usually bother me (well, usually writers don't put them everywhere) much but they're so common here... The writer also likes to use some uncommon words, like "ennui" when "boredom" would do just fine.
But as i said, i do like it... So, i'm trying to decide whether or not to read the rest of the series.
EDIT perhaps i should say something about what i actually like in this.
First off, the protagonist being a good necromancer. Just how common is that in fantasy? In my experience, practically non-existent.
And... Hmm. Um. I don't know, i like the book as a whole but i can't pinpoint what i like in it. It is pretty standard fantasy but... Guess i like that. On the other hand, sometimes i do not like that...

In meantime, re-reading Star Wars Republic Commando series.
For all its faults, it is rather enjoyable overall. I find it relatively easy to ignore Traviss' railing against Jedis and other things (still don't understand why 343i got her to write Halo books, which suffer from similar issues as the RC series), the good stuff makes up for it.
Shame the series finale got cancelled, kind of needs closure.
Not sure but sometimes i feel the series is a bit more mature than SW books in general, more grayer, which is good.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

35% done Old Man's War. This is awesome! Are the rest of the books in the series good as well? I guess they might be fairly standalone books? I think I'm ready to dive back into a sci-fi trilogy or something, something with an ending at least

I liked all of them.

 

[Jintor]

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Part of me is like "Oh, I can totally see the bits where PTerry is just on a diatribe about this or the other and now they bug me" (like when Susan is reading to the kids and changes Jack and the Beanstalk into an even weirder but probably accurate morality tale) and another part of me still thrills when PTerry just turns a phrase that I think is absolutely amazing (the very first line of the big is an absolutely astounding joke in my opinion). Anyway, the best thing about Discworld books is that even if I've read them a thousand times before I never want to put the damn things down.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Finished 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union' by Michael Chabon. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading more from the author.

 

[Ashes]

uk gaf:

fyi, for those who may not know, the nook simple touch seems to be on special offer, and most places are now price matching wherever it originated from. Either that or it got a major price cut, because believe it or not it's £29.
Out of stock most physical stores, but you can order online from whereever you prefer. I checked my local asda, after failing at argos, john lewis, currys pcworld. And liking it so far.

 

[Krowley]

Over the last week or so I've been reading some short novels and novellas as well as some short stories. I've been on sort of a weird fiction kick, reading HP Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith short stories. Very interesting stuff.

The novels/novellas I've recently finished are:

I am not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
This surprised me. At times it reads like a fun, campy, teen horror novel, but there are a few places where it gets so dark that it's actually a little disturbing. The main character/narrator is kind of like a teenage Dexter Morgan. He's a great character, probably the strong point of the book, and his family problems feel pretty authentic and believable. The title makes it seem like this is going to be a thriller, but it's definitely a horror novel. Also the pacing is absolutely blistering. I finished it in two sessions and couldn't hardly put it down at all.

The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III
This is the first novel I've read in the so-called "bizarro" genre. I have to say, it was pretty fucking hilarious and just as weird as advertised, with some truly mind-bending stuff that pops up later on. I don't think the premise would have carried a longer novel, but luckily, it didn't have to.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
I think I've seen quite a few cult vampire movies based on this novella, most of which play on the lesbian overtones for the purposes of titillation. Turns out that the book sort of does the same thing, at least to some degree, though in a much more restrained way. I liked this a lot, but it came off as sort of a fun diversion more than anything. I was sort of expecting it to be this super-serious dark tale or something. It's well written with lots of atmosphere, and it has a pretty creepy take on old-school vampire mythology, but it's definitely also very light reading.

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
This is fucking awesome. The very beginning is kind of glacial, but once it gets going, it really hits home with some seriously creepy atmosphere, and some disturbing ideas. Lovecraft thought this was the best horror tale ever written. I don't know if I would agree, but I can see why it has such a great reputation.

Started Foundation by Asimov. I didn't think writing/dialog in the 50s would be that much different than today. Or is it just his style?

Writing in the fifties is somewhat different in general, but Asimov really does have a very strange style. It took me a while to get used to it. But I did get used to it.

I'm not as big a fan of the Foundation books as some people but I do think they're worth reading, at least through the third book (haven't read any beyond that point yet, so I can't say for sure.)

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Has anyone read Ship of Fools? Can you recommend other similar novels?

Did you like it? I barely got through it. Utter crap imo (sorry)

 

[kudos.]

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.

Read it years ago and didn't like it. Now that I've grown a little, mentally, it's much much better. Some segments might be allusions I'm ignorant of but his writing is so fluid and a lot of poetic paragraphs that I didn't recall the first time through. Lovin' it.

Also hoping to read some Albert Camus stuff. I own The Stranger, The Plague and The Fall but have yet to read them. So one of those next.

 

[FutureZombie]

Things are really converging and it's getting interesting. I'm really, really confused with the holds vs houses thing though. Seven books in and a complete understanding of warrens and magic in this series still eludes me.

I'm also annoyed by the fake deaths in this series. That shit is amateur hour.

Having said all that, it's still an amazing series with an incredible cast of characters that's second to none.

I'm on to book 8. I like how Erikson is juggling the huge cast of characters. I wish he would add a little more tension throughout each novel instead of cramming it all into the last 100 pages. The epic climaxes are excellent, but besides book 3, I feel like I spend a lot of time waiting for the "real drama" to go down in each novel.

After book 7, I'm adding Hellian to my list of favorite characters. She's really grown on me. I love how he keeps adding interesting personalities, and how characters never feel redundant or stale.

 

[Nymerio]

I'm on to book 8. I like how Erikson is juggling the huge cast of characters. I wish he would add a little more tension throughout each novel instead of cramming it all into the last 100 pages. The epic climaxes are excellent, but besides book 3, I feel like I spend a lot of time waiting for the "real drama" to go down in each novel.

After book 7, I'm adding Hellian to my list of favorite characters. She's really grown on me. I love how he keeps adding interesting personalities, and how characters never feel redundant or stale.

Hellian is amazing. She became one of my favourites after she detailed her plan to invade the empire tavern by tavern.

 

[THRILLH0]

I actually haven't read any of the Rebus books but I'm really liking this.

I've given up on A Clash of Kings after just getting bogged down and unmotivated for weeks.

 

[Ratrat]

I think I'm going to read The Haunted Vagina.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Neuromancer and started The Mist


The Mist by Stephen King

 

[Ventilaator]

I watched Winter's Bone and really liked it. Saw that it was based on a book and added it to my list.

So this Daniel Woodrell guy. Assuming Winter's Bone is great on paper as well, how's his other work?

 

[ymmv]

I just started reading this:

Interesting subject: a time travelling serial killer.

 

[And_Boy]

Frank Herbert - Dune

 

[swoon]

I watched Winter's Bone and really liked it. Saw that it was based on a book and added it to my list.

So this Daniel Woodrell guy. Assuming Winter's Bone is great on paper as well, how's his other work?

i just finished his bayou trilogy (first three novels) and they are pretty good - more chandler style characterizations and less mature than winter's bone, but more "fun." good summer read.

he also wrote the book ang lee's ride with the devil was based on, if you like that movie.

 

[ShaneB]

I just started reading this:

'The Shining Girls'

Interesting subject: a time travelling serial killer.

I added this after it was discussed briefly on the Sword and Laser podcast. It did sound really cool, let me know what you think.

 

[Maklershed]

Anyone know of good adventure stories in the vein of The Long Ships and Aztec?

EDIT: Not set in a fantasy world (unless its really really good :b)

 

[FilthyLies]

Frank Herbert - Dune

This is a gorgeous cover. Great book too, one of my favorites. I think the original has the perfect blend of politics, action, and world-building. The sequels are worthwhile too, but they skew much more towards the political side of the story.

 

[Fireblend]

Frank Herbert - Dune

Beautiful cover! Is this your actual edition?

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

Just started this one. Was recommended to me by a bookstore clerk a while ago. Very short, quick read. Reminds me a lot of Hemingway actually. Enjoying it and really curious to see where it goes (more than halfway through already).

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

26% into The Passage so those who've read it know what's up and HOLY SHIT.

JUST.

READING IS GREAT.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

The Shining Girls does sound interesting. Added to my list.

Anyone know of good adventure stories in the vein of The Long Ships and Aztec?

EDIT: Not set in a fantasy world (unless its really really good :b)

Nothing as good as those, but these came to mind.

Eaters of the Dead

The Terror

The Whale Road

 

[Maklershed]

The Shining Girls does sound interesting. Added to my list.





Nothing as good as those, but these came to mind.

Eaters of the Dead

The Terror

The Whale Road

These all sound great. Went with the Terror. BTW - ever read Drood? And if so, how is that?

 

[Mackenzie 92]

These all sound great. Went with the Terror. BTW - ever read Drood? And if so, how is that?

No, but it sounds great. Ordered.

The Terror is great, one of my favorites. I also think HBO or maybe it was AMC is doing a series based on it.

 

[Maklershed]

No, but it sounds great. Ordered.

Yeah I caved and ordered it as well.