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[The Shadow]

Just finished the 2nd book in the series and starting this one. Liking it so far, though my reading buddy said she gave up on the series toward the end, like 6th or 7th book. We tend to share tastes, so makes me a little pensive about the series as I go. Still, if I get that far into it, I'll probably just finish it.

Reading this to my daughter. I'm actually enjoying it quiet a bit, and kind of wish I could read it on my own. lol I've already read Castle in the Air a few years back and loved it, so my expectations were already high.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin. It's taken me so long to finally sit and read these.

These are so good. Martin is brilliant at characterization and dialogue. Seriously.

Right now I'm reading:

Kind of a strange story. Only a few chapters in and I have no clue where it's headed. Lord Henry cracks me up, though.

 

[Wensih]

I finished The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by PKD tonight. It felt more like the ravings of a schizoid acid head than a coherent story (that and his shit attitude toward women seems to be major staples of his work). Not extremely impressed so far with his work although I'll continue with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik.

 

[Atraveller]

Finished Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, loved it. Started Machiavelli's The Prince.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin. It's taken me so long to finally sit and read these.

These are so good. Martin is brilliant at characterization and dialogue. Seriously.

Right now I'm reading:

Kind of a strange story. Only a few chapters in and I have no clue where it's headed. Lord Henry cracks me up, though.

I wished GRRM wrote more about Bloodraven. Him ruling the seven kingdoms must be full of interesting materials, don't even have to include Blackfyre rebellion.

 

[Blade30]

I'm currently reading the witcher books and I am currently halfway through the first saga book.

(eng. version: Blood of Elves)

 

[Ratrat]

Reading Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

The Ends of the World (Eng translation of a Brazilian text)

Starting reading this, another dense essay about the Antropocene, though unlike others, this one seems to paint a bit of a bleak picture suggesting that the Anthropocene is the Apocalypse in both the eschatological and the etymological sense. However, I think the writer is at least trying to paint it in a view that the world, or the end of the world, is more about the potential end of Human life but not necessarily the end of the world for the organisms that are not humans.The world and they were here before humans and they can be here after humans. I only say this because the 2nd chapter seemed to spend quite a bit of time defining the portions of "the end of the world" - "End of the world only has a determinate meaning in discourse on the condition that one determines at the same time for whom this world that ends is a world, who is the worldly or "worlded" being who defines the end? Will be interested to see if they are pro/anti human by the end of this

 

[kswiston]

I finished Sharpe's Tiger yesterday and moved onto Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

When I grabbed it, I wasn't aware that Sharpe's Tiger was one of those situations where the book is #1 chronologically, but written around 15 years after the first book by publication date. Books like that might not spoil the previously written stories, but you can always sense that the characters are already worn in, especially some of the smaller side characters.

I am not very far into Sapiens, and I already knew most of what has been covered so far. However, it is very easy to read for non-fiction.

 

[Apt101]

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin. It's taken me so long to finally sit and read these.

I recommend the audiobook version of this if anyone is still considering it. It's narrated by Harry Lloyd (he played Viserys Targaryen on the show) - and he is amazing. He switches accents and inflections, and is all around animated when he needs to be.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

There seem to be a fair amount of sci-fi/fantasy Kindle deals right now:

The Terror, by Dan Simmons - $2.99
Death's End, by Cixin Liui - $2.99
Too Like the Lightning, by Alda Palmer - $2.99
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke - $1.99
Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke - $1.99
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut - $1.99
The Hedge Knight, by George R. R. Martin - $2.99
The Sworn Sword, by George R. R. Martin - $1.99
Galápagos, by Kurt Vonnegut - $1.99

 

[TheExhaustedWalrus]

Does anyone know how good of a bundle the new Humble Book Bundle is? https://www.humblebundle.com/books/stranger-creatures-jane-goodall-books

I haven't heard of many of these but they look interesting.

 

[nightmare-slain]

still on Career of Evil...i'm such a slow reader. not long left now.

 

[Taruranto]

Finished Asimov's Prelude to Foundation



This was... eeeeh, probably not very good, unless you are huge into Asimov and his universe.

The novel's structure feels similar to Foundation and Earth, Hari and Doris go in one place, then the next, then next one... there are a bunch of retcons and contradictions, particularly how everyone seem to be aware of Robots and Planet Earth. (OK, I'm exaggerating, but Hari can't walk 5 steps without running into someone who knows some old Earth's legend)

There is also a love story between Hari and Doris, but it's mostly meh like all Asimov's Love stories except Daneel/Baley Baley/Gladia,

Still, I have a soft sport for Asimov's universe and the massive timeline he created, so I got a bit nostalgic when names like Aurora, Robots and

Spoiler

Daneel

started to appear. I definitely enjoyed the central part, despite my hang-ups.

 

[Dec]

Does anyone know how good of a bundle the new Humble Book Bundle is? https://www.humblebundle.com/books/stranger-creatures-jane-goodall-books

I haven't heard of many of these but they look interesting.

I can't help, but I did get a nostalgia trip when I opened that page and saw My Teacher is an Alien. I definitely remember that cover from when I was very young.

 

[norm9]

Wooly by Ben Mezrich. Author of the social network, as well as other very good books. Finished his book on cattle mutilation trends on the 37th parallel last year. His books are easily digested and fun reads.

 

[isaacnukem]

1/3 into American Gods and I feel like this thing is overrated.

 

[Raboon]

1/3 into American Gods and I feel like this thing is overrated.

Finished it last month, totally agree.


Currently deep into Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb. Enjoying it a lot so far.

 

[4Tran]

I finally finished Yue Guan's Brocade Guards. The backbone of the novel is the Jingnan Rebellion, the events leading up to it, and the short-term to mid-term consequences of it. The seems very much like an extension of his earlier Return to Ming book even though it takes place 100 years earlier. They're both about the challenges facing Ming China, and some of them like the Mongol threat and Wokou raids are constant in both time frames. It's pretty fascinating how many differences there are as well though. This might be the most detailed history novel I've ever read. I'm now moving onto another Yue Guan novel; this one taking place in early Northern Song China.

 

[Palette Swap]

Finished it last month, totally agree.


Currently deep into Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb. Enjoying it a lot so far.

That's good to know. I just finished Fool's Assassin twenty minutes ago, and I'll probably get into Fool's Quest tomorrow. I've been going through the series for a year now, taking breaks between trilogies.
Even though I felt the Rainwilds Chronicles were a bit slow, I'm really impressed with the consistent quality of the series, particularly when it comes to characterization and the incredible breadth of themes she so thoroughly explores.
Much like the stories themselves, it's been a long and transformative journey.

 

[Meliora]

I'm reading the Dark Tower series for the first time. I'm about 100 pages into the second book and I'm loving it!

 

[Sapientas]

Read about 100 pages of Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 and yeah I'll probably really enjoy this like all his other novels.

 

[rewopsisnogard]

Crime And Punishment.
coming back to Saga comics? (at #31 rn)

 

[Maklershed]

Just updated the OP with a bunch of various recommendation threads. Are there any links anyone would like me to add to the OP - any book sites you browse, blogs you read, etc etc?

Also, any GAF authors that want to have links to their stuff added to the OP? (feel free to PM me if you don't want to post publicly)

 

[You Know Nothing]

To add to the Uprooted discussion on the previous page, I'm also currently reading it. And boy, does it leave much to be desired. Currently 19 chapters in and the characters are all unbearable in different ways. For all their faults of being one dimensional and playing into very tiring archetypes, their greatest sin is that they're all rather boring. The

Spoiler

romance

is beyond forced and genuinely idiotic. So far this is shaping up to be an "okay I guess" book for me. It's not offensively bad in any way, it's just there and I feel compelled to finish it because I only have 12 chapters left.

(The Bear and the Nightingale is far superior and maybe being blessed by its greatness prior to reading Uprooted is making me overly harsh on the latter. &#128129

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Just updated the OP with a bunch of various recommendation threads. Are there any links anyone would like me to add to the OP - any book sites you browse, blogs you read, etc etc?

Also, any GAF authors that want to have links to their stuff added to the OP? (feel free to PM me if you don't want to post publicly)

Hey, thanks for the offer! Given I'm churning out a novella per month as part of this GAF Writing Challenge, maybe go ahead and just add a pointer to my Amazon author page that lists all the books: https://smile.amazon.com/Brian-J-Lang/e/B00IY21RGM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1499522552&sr=8-1

To add to the Uprooted discussion on the previous page, I'm also currently reading it. And boy, does it leave much to be desired. Currently 19 chapters in and the characters are all unbearable in different ways. For all their faults of being one dimensional and playing into very tiring archetypes, their greatest sin is that they're all rather boring. The

Spoiler

romance

is beyond forced and genuinely idiotic. So far this is shaping up to be an "okay I guess" book for me. It's not offensively bad in any way, it's just there and I feel compelled to finish it because I only have 12 chapters left.

(The Bear and the Nightingale is far superior and maybe being blessed by its greatness prior to reading Uprooted is making me overly harsh on the latter. �&#56449

Just finished Uprooted not thirty minutes ago. I'm a little surprised by your reaction, but ... opinions.

Things I loved about it:
- it's fantasy set in an Eastern European locale
- the development of the Wood as the dark enemy, and what is at the heart of that (and why) actually is quite a nice story when all's said and done
- Agnieszka is an enjoyable character
- The parts in the valley and in the Wood are the best

Things I didn't like:
- it really took a drop off for me when she went to the capital. There are parts in there that simply should not have been left in the final product, like the "fake friend" part.
- The magic system, or at least Agnieszka's way of using it, is a little too "hey I need to do this magic so *pop* there it is" - I get that she's supposed to be different in this regard, but the magic system never really felt well-defined. Just wizards tossing whatever they want at each other.

Overall I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads, mostly because of the middle part in the capital that felt awkward. The valley and the Wood were the parts that had me enthralled.

Edit -
Now onto To Green Angel Tower Part 2 by Tad Williams. The re-read of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn has taken far longer than I expected. Maybe by the time I finish this, Witchwood Crown will have a sale.

 

[You Know Nothing]

Just finished Uprooted not thirty minutes ago. I'm a little surprised by your reaction, but ... opinions.

Things I loved about it:
- it's fantasy set in an Eastern European locale
- the development of the Wood as the dark enemy, and what is at the heart of that (and why) actually is quite a nice story when all's said and done
- Agnieszka is an enjoyable character
- The parts in the valley and in the Wood are the best

Things I didn't like:
- it really took a drop off for me when she went to the capital. There are parts in there that simply should not have been left in the final product, like the "fake friend" part.
- The magic system, or at least Agnieszka's way of using it, is a little too "hey I need to do this magic so *pop* there it is" - I get that she's supposed to be different in this regard, but the magic system never really felt well-defined. Just wizards tossing whatever they want at each other.

Overall I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads, mostly because of the middle part in the capital that felt awkward. The valley and the Wood were the parts that had me enthralled.

Hmm yeah, I agree with you about the Wood and the magic system.

The Wood is one of the main things I enjoy about the book. While a malevolent wood isn't a novel concept, I feel it's been presented well so far. The atmosphere and ecosystem within it have been somewhat fleshed out, and I felt thoroughly ensnared during those particular chapters. Totally the highlight of the book so far. The magic system does indeed feel ill-defined and almost like an afterthought that came about mainly as a convenient means to get Agnieszka out of sticky situations.

 

[Zelenogorsk]

So i'm halfway through The Dark Tower (the seventh book) and it's amazing but i'm such a slow reader! My current TBR pile includes Stephen King's It, Sanderson's The Way of Kings, and The Count of Monte Cristo. that's like 3500 pages lol. I'm probably good for the rest of 2017.

Just updated the OP with a bunch of various recommendation threads. Are there any links anyone would like me to add to the OP - any book sites you browse, blogs you read, etc etc?

http://fantasy-faction.com/ is a pretty legit fantasy news/reviews site!

 

[DagsJT]

Pushing through "Run" by Blake Crouch. It's not what I expected it to be and it's ... Okay. It feels like a slog at times and I'm looking forward to finishing it which is never a good sign.

 

[norm9]

Just updated the OP with a bunch of various recommendation threads. Are there any links anyone would like me to add to the OP - any book sites you browse, blogs you read, etc etc?

Also, any GAF authors that want to have links to their stuff added to the OP? (feel free to PM me if you don't want to post publicly)

Put this link- https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/rereading-stephen-king

It gets brought up every time there's a stephen king thread about what to read. Great if you can't decide which one to read next or which to start for the first time;

Spoiler

the answer would be The Stand

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Hmm yeah, I agree with you about the Wood and the magic system.

The Wood is one of the main things I enjoy about the book. While a malevolent wood isn't a novel concept, I feel it's been presented well so far. The atmosphere and ecosystem within it have been somewhat fleshed out, and I felt thoroughly ensnared during those particular chapters. Totally the highlight of the book so far. The magic system does indeed feel ill-defined and almost like an afterthought that came about mainly as a convenient means to get Agnieszka out of sticky situations.

I'd tell you push through, given where you are. I'll be interested in hearing what you think once you've finished it.

 

[Kahoona]

Is anyone else reading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neil Stephenson? I'm in love with this book. Every time I pick it up, 100 pages fly by like nothing, and I have to force myself to put it back down.

 

[besada]

Is anyone else reading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neil Stephenson? I'm in love with this book. Every time I pick it up, 100 pages fly by like nothing, and I have to force myself to put it back down.

I started it, but it hasn't hooked me yet, which is surprising for a Stephenson novel.


I finished the entire Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold. I liked it, wish there were more.

Now I've moved on to re-reading Hobb so I can dive into the newest trilogy with a fresh memory of what's going on.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Finishing up the Red Rising Trilogy. I've truthfully been loving it.

 

[mu cephei]

All this Hobb reading warms the cockles of my heart.

I am currently reading Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow. I'm enjoying it so far.

 

[isaacnukem]

Finishing up the Red Rising Trilogy. I've truthfully been loving it.

Even the third book?

 

[fakefaker]

Wrapped up The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden and damn it's good. It was a great blend of sci-fi and fantasy and very forward thinking in a lot of ways. I hope for a sequel.

And my next read is my Big Book of Summer read, and I was thinking of Lonesome Dove or In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but neither were really big enough. Decided to go with Shogun by James Clavell as its nearly a 1000 pages of goodness.

 

[Maklershed]

http://fantasy-faction.com/ is a pretty legit fantasy news/reviews site!

Hey, thanks for the offer! Given I'm churning out a novella per month as part of this GAF Writing Challenge, maybe go ahead and just add a pointer to my Amazon author page that lists all the books: https://smile.amazon.com/Brian-J-Lang/e/B00IY21RGM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1499522552&sr=8-1

Put this link- https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/rereading-stephen-king

It gets brought up every time there's a stephen king thread about what to read. Great if you can't decide which one to read next or which to start for the first time;

Spoiler

the answer would be The Stand

Thanks everyone! OP updated.

Also, I added that Stephen King link to a new section called Reading FAQs and I'd like to populate it with some other stuff that comes up a lot in this thread. One example - I was thinking maybe the Vorkosigan Saga reading order (does anyone have the link to that post btw?). Can anyone think of some other stuff that comes up a bunch?

 

[whatevermort]

Put this link- https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/rereading-stephen-king

It gets brought up every time there's a stephen king thread about what to read. Great if you can't decide which one to read next or which to start for the first time;

Spoiler

the answer would be The Stand

This is my column! Glad it's been of some use.

 

[Sean C]

And my next read is my Big Book of Summer read, and I was thinking of Lonesome Dove or In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but neither were really big enough. Decided to go with Shogun by James Clavell as its nearly a 1000 pages of goodness.

One aspect of Shogun that I've always found interesting is that as historical fiction it hews closer to the record than many other novels, but Clavell still changes all the names of the people involved.

 

[mu cephei]

Thanks everyone! OP updated.

Also, I added that Stephen King link to a new section called Reading FAQs and I'd like to populate it with some other stuff that comes up a lot in this thread. One example - I was thinking maybe the Vorkosigan Saga reading order (does anyone have the link to that post btw?). Can anyone think of some other stuff that comes up a bunch?

Here is the link I use

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=160914820&postcount=413

 

[4Tran]

I finished the entire Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold. I liked it, wish there were more.

Are the later books good? The early ones never clicked for me so they remain the only Bujold novels I have yet to read. (Except the Red Queen book - I bought it ages ago but I never got around to reading it)

Also, I added that Stephen King link to a new section called Reading FAQs and I'd like to populate it with some other stuff that comes up a lot in this thread. One example - I was thinking maybe the Vorkosigan Saga reading order (does anyone have the link to that post btw?). Can anyone think of some other stuff that comes up a bunch?

For the Vorkosigan novels, I think that you're talking about the omnibus editions as that's probably how new readers are going to be introduced to the series. This list has all of the published works other than "Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen". I wouldn't really recommend them in chronological order.

 

[besada]

Are the later books good? The early ones never clicked for me so they remain the only Bujold novels I have yet to read. (Except the Red Queen book - I bought it ages ago but I never got around to reading it)

I think if the relationship between Dag and Fawn didn't carry you through the first couple, you're probably not going to find it worth your while to read the rest. One of them is a river tale, where they travel the length of a river on boat, fight pirates, and run into a real renegade Lakewalker. The malices get bigger and stranger, and Dag gets more and more capable with his unusual skills, until he becomes genuinely terrifying. But the focus is really always on the Dag/Fawn relationship.

 

[Karu]

On the last twenty pages of Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgramage.

After that either I have a plethora of newly purchased options, like Pride and Prejudice, Great Gatsby, Buddenbrooks, Brave New World etc.

And one other, which I am still a bit salty about. Made the mistake of purchasing the raw version of War and Peace - without actually knowing what the raw version was and entails. Apparently it is half as long (which isn't quite the bad thing *cough*) and has consequently quite a few changes. Half of them aren't even bad, but rather interesting ones. It still feels like it would be a cheat-read and I dunno if I wanna read the material or parts of the material twice.

Any experience with this raw version, or War and Peace in general?

 

[norm9]

This is my column! Glad it's been of some use.

Every single time I wonder which one to read next even though I already know, I go through your articles real quick. They're super helpful!

New translation of The Tale of Genji came into my work. Gonna take it home and give a few chapters a read. Everyone says it's the world's first novel and beloved.

 

[W1SSY]

Currently reading the latest Grisham novel. I have read majority of his other books and had no idea what this was about going in. I found the early part entertaining but the pace has slowed drastically in the second half and am finding myself losing interest. I feel like the second part is so much about a bunch of failed authors talking about their lives and the story is just kind of coasting along. I will be happy when I finish this and hopefully can continue to find time to read more because it has been nice to just relax with my kindle the last couple of days.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Even the third book?

I'm about 150 pages in and it's been alright so far, though it probably has my least favorite beginning of the 3. Does it get worse?

 

[Easystride]

Just finished East of Eden. My god, what a beautiful cross-generation story. I loved pretty much everything about it.
It finally got me out of the reading slump I had been in the last couple of months.

Not sure what to read now.

 

[CreepingFear]

Better be worth it for my career. It's a hard read.

 

[scarface983]

^ I hear you. I think it is a great investment! I am going to take my A+ soon and then going to take the N+ and eventually CCNA exams. Good luck!

 

[CreepingFear]

^ I hear you. I think it is a great investment! I am going to take my A+ soon and then going to take the N+ and eventually CCNA exams. Good luck!

Good luck to you as well. I have the A+, N+, and S+ as well.