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[Maklershed]

Welcome back Tragic

Finished Words of Radiance. Five stars. Loved it. Now to cleanse the fantasy palate a bit I've started Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World


Game Over, Press Start to Continue: How Nintendo Conquered the World by David Sheff

 

[Mrgamer]

My last book was The forever war,For quite a while I've been trying to find something to kill my cravings for Hyperion cantos ,this book while OK its not remotely as good.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Welcome back Tragic

Finished Words of Radiance. Five stars. Loved it.

It's amazing, isn't it? Sanderson has to be due for an epic clunker in the near future. I don't know how he continues to crank out mammoth books of high quality fantasy. Book three slump, maybe?

 

[fredrancour]

It's amazing, isn't it? Sanderson has to be due for an epic clunker in the near future. I don't know how he continues to crank out mammoth books of high quality fantasy. Book three slump, maybe?

I heard the mistborn side-story already disappointed people a tiny bit? Can't think of any other works with negative word-of-mouth.

I've only read the mistborn trilogy from him, and just started elantris. Loved the trilogy, and enjoying elantris so far.

 

[Seanspeed]

Glen Cook - She Is the Darkness (1998) - ★★★★½ - I now like Murgen as a narrator. The previous book seemed to meander tremendously, revisit material we already covered in the previous book (albeit from a different perspective), and generally come across as a bunch of filler. This book paints an increasingly complex portrait of all the players involved, adds a lot of depth to some of the minor characters, and builds up to a cliffhanger that has made me jump straight into the next book in the series. Two novels to go in what will likely go down as my favorite fantasy series ever.

James S.A. Corey - The Churn (2014) - ★★★★ - I've read everything published in the Expanse series, including the three novellas. This was by far the best of that bunch. It's a great story, but more importantly it reveals the past of one of the fan-favorite characters in the series. I have a much stronger understanding of Amos Burton and what makes him tick. If you're a fan of the series, this is a must-read. Cibola Burn hits just around the corner on 17 June. I'll have to wait and see if Amazon and Hachette can work out a deal or this will be my first physical book copy in a long time.

Hugh Howey - Sand Omnibus (2014) - ★★★★ - There is always something overwhelmingly intimidating and oppressive about the worlds Howey builds, and this is no different. This isn't set in the Wool universe, but he explores many similar themes about survival, human ingenuity, and the horrors of human nature. Some of the technological discussions in the book were quite interesting, and I enjoyed that it is set exactly where I live (though in a far less recognizable form). I fully expected the book would lead straight into a sequel, and I'm still convinced that will be the case. There are a lot of doors left to open and places to explore. Howey has shown a tendency to serialize his writing and build up his worlds via sequels, so I'm all for it. This could easily become the next Wool/Shift/Dust cycle if he wants.

Yup, The Churn was actually totally worth reading. The other two novellas, not so much.

Will have to check out Sand, since I really liked the Wool series.

 

[X-Frame]

I've been looking forward to starting Leviathan Wakes for months! Here I go!

 

[gabbo]

The Orenda

Liking it so far. I just don't get the same amount of time to read after work as I did during the semester.

Just finished up this:
Animal Man vol4: Splinter Species

Not as good as the first 3 volumes with Swamp thing/The Red/Rot/Green, but still pretty good.

Moving on to this:

 

[ShaneB]

Welcome back Tragic

Finished Words of Radiance. Five stars. Loved it. Now to cleanse the fantasy palate a bit I've started Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World

I really should start The Way of Kings =/ Ah well. It still shocks me that the same person who wrote Game Over, also wrote Beautiful Boy that I read earlier this year.

Finished up A Dog's Journey earlier after work. 3/5, but I loved that ending. Two easy books to recommend to dog lovers.

 

[NeoGiff]

I'm taking a break from The Saga of Recluce and delving into the crazy world of Stephen King. This is actually the first King-penned book I'll ever read. I know the fanbase is pretty divisive about the series, but I literally finished the first chapter a few minutes ago, and I think I'm going to like it (a bit of a naive view in the large scale of things, but first impressions are important, right?).

Also,

Spoiler

"The man in black fed across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

is such a great opening line.

EDIT: I blazed through this in a day. The pretentiousness of King's writing increases tenfold in the last few chapters, but goddamnit if he isn't a great storyteller. Can't wait to start The Drawing of the Three!

 

[SolKane]

Started this today:

My first book of Grossman's.

 

[Rayven]

My last book was The forever war,For quite a while I've been trying to find something to kill my cravings for Hyperion cantos ,this book while OK its not remotely as good.

Those are the last 2 I read as well! Now I'm looking for something else as good.

A few of the segments in Hyperion REALLY dragged for me (Sol/Rachel and the Poet) so I ended up enjoying The Forever War more. Does the series improve after the 1st book?

 

[EverythingShiny]

In the last few days I've finished:

I liked Mr. Mercedes a lot even though it's a departure from Stephen King's other books.

Any recommendations for other detective fiction? Either a series or good one-off mystery books. I love Harry Bosch so I'll probably finish Connelly's books first. I'm also eyeing Glen Cook's Black Company books since a lot of people talk about them here and I might be sick of detective fiction by the time I finish all of the Harry Bosch series.

 

[SolKane]

Started this today:

My first book of Grossman's.

Finished this today. It was well written, ultimately meandering through Soviet history and philosophy toward the end, so one could tell it was a mostly incomplete work a la Dead Souls. I currently have "The Road" and "Life and Fate" waiting for me, wondering whether I want to start on the Stalingrad epic first since I'd like something cohesive.

 

[Maklershed]

Any recommendations for other detective fiction? Either a series or good one-off mystery books. I love Harry Bosch so I'll probably finish Connelly's books first. I'm also eyeing Glen Cook's Black Company books since a lot of people talk about them here and I might be sick of detective fiction by the time I finish all of the Harry Bosch series.

My answer every time its asked ... The LA Quartet by James Ellroy! Four of my all time favorite books. I'd also recommend the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy by Ellroy and basically anything from Raymond Chandler. I've been going through Chandler's books in order of publication and haven't hit a dud yet.


The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy


The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy


L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy


White Jazz by James Ellroy

 

[Tragicomedy]

My answer every time its asked ... The LA Quartet by James Ellroy! Four of my all time favorite books.

While I don't think I'll make it to these this year, they are definitely in my queue. They sound right up my alley.

 

[scarface983]

Reading:

 

[ShaneB]

Any recommendations for other detective fiction? Either a series or good one-off mystery books. I love Harry Bosch so I'll probably finish Connelly's books first. I'm also eyeing Glen Cook's Black Company books since a lot of people talk about them here and I might be sick of detective fiction by the time I finish all of the Harry Bosch series.

Not exactly a detective book, but a book I read earlier this year was a great mystery/whodunnit. Really loved it. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

 

[Dresden]

Bought a kindle pw today and it's like whoa why didn't I leap into the ebook era sooner.

Have the P&V translation of Dead Souls and Tom Reiss's The Black Count ready to go. Should be good times.

 

[Plasticine]

Kealan Patrick Burke - Kin ***** out of *****
Over the past couple of years Kealan Patrick Burke has built a solid reputation. He's put out a bunch of novels, novellas and short story collections while collecting a Bram Stoker award and having his work optioned for a movie. After reading Kin, I'll definitely be exploring some of his other work. While countless books and movies have explored The Texas Chain Saw Massacre type scenarios, Kin takes a slightly different route by starting where these stories usually end--with the Final Girl escaping. What follows is an exploration of the damage, both physical and mental, done to the Final Girl, everyone that helped her escape and even the cannibal clan themselves. The writing is thoughtful, the characters top-notch and the story filled with plenty of unexpected twists. While it deals with all the old backwoods horror elements, Kin manages to put a unique spin on them. Burke twists the genre, often making you question your assumptions about the characters and the story itself. Nobody escapes the story unscathed. The book is definitely deserving of "modern classic" blurb on its cover. I'll be tracking down a copy of the hardcover edition to add to my collection.

Up next:

This book caught my eye when I saw positive reviews at Dread Central and Hellnotes. I immediately bought the Kindle edition. I'm in the mood for a haunted house story, so I'll give it a shot.

 

[ShaneB]

Bought a kindle pw today and it's like whoa why didn't I leap into the ebook era sooner.

Love when people have these revelations as I did, as most people do.

Kealan Patrick Burke - Kin ***** out of *****

Sounds very interesting based on your review and the general synopsis. Will add to the list!

Still figuring out what to read next.. I'll flip through and see at lunch what sticks. Will be something shorter to not avoid any overlap when Cibola Burn comes out next week.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Bought a kindle pw today and it's like whoa why didn't I leap into the ebook era sooner.

It's my most useful and used electronic device. I don't own a smart phone, though, so take that for what it's worth.

 

[nakedsushi]

It's my most useful and used electronic device. I don't own a smart phone, though, so take that for what it's worth.

No, it really is an awesome device. I have a smartphone and a tablet, but I still prefer to read on the Kindle PW. You can't beat how convenient it is, especially for low-light reading. I also love the dictionary lookup and being able to adjust text size. And if you are a member of a library that does ebook loans, it is *perfect*.

The only downside is that it now takes me a long time to read physical books because I just get too lazy to take the actual book around with me.

 

[British Monsoon]

Loved the new Mark Lawrence book, Prince of Fools. I'd say it was a stronger beginning to a series than Prince of Thorns, although the main protagonist didn't grab me quite as quickly as Jorg did. As the name suggests, it's set in the same world and runs parallel to events of the last series and, if anything, Lawrence's world building has only improved. He's also very good when it comes to describing action, which is a good thing as this book has tons of the stuff. A proper page turning read, the secondary protagonist was such a great character right from the start, while the main protagonist certainly grows on the reader as the story progresses. So yeah, if you like the Broken Empire series, read this ASAP and, if you like dark fantasy but aren't aware of Mark Lawrence's work, go read Prince of Thorns now.

 

[The Culture Vulture]

Also,

Spoiler

"The man in black fed across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

is such a great opening line.

How much did he eat?

I think I'll pick up The Gunslinger as well. Need something short to read since it's summer and work keeps me busy.

 

[Angst]

How much did he eat?

I think I'll pick up The Gunslinger as well. Need something short to read since it's summer and work keeps me busy.

"I need something short"
"something short"

You know it's seven books, right? And the gunslinger is by far the shortest of the bunch... The total number of pages are around 3700.

 

[SolKane]

Now working through "The Road" by Vasily Grossman:

 

[lightus]

Finished up Heart of Darkness and selected short fiction by Joseph Conrad last night. Overall I enjoyed it.

There were four short stories:

Youth - This one was probably my least favorite. It was a story of youthful optimism and ignorance. Even as things went south, the character was happy and full of energy as he searched for his glory.

Heart of Darkness - This was a story in direct contrast with Youth. Where youth was a story of overcoming the challenges of life, Darkness was about being beaten down. It showed the brutality of "civilized" people. One thing I noted was how similar Mr. Kurtz was to The Judge from Blood Meridian. I found it interesting. Everyone said this was a depressing story, but I didn't come out of it all that depressed.

Amy Foster - Now THIS was the depressing story. This story catalogs the love of a dim witted "Amy Foster" and her foreign husband. It told of how people treat the unknown when surrounded by their peers. I felt Heart of Darkness to be dark, sure, but this story to me was the more depressing as it was more intimate to me.

The Secret Sharer - I'm not really sure what to make of this story. It tells of a murderer and a sympathetic sea captain. They hold a connection to each other without words. As if they are the same person. This story was the most "story like" of the short fiction and was the quickest read.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I don't read older literature very often so it was a nice change of pace. That being said, damn is he long winded. He writes some solid sentences but they are just never ending. It's like listening to a person jabber on without end for an hour. It was a nice read and the four stories are greater than the sum of their parts. I'm happy to be done with it though.

Next up is The Hero of Ages (Mistborn 3) by Brandon Sanderson. I liked the first two so much that I ended up rebuying the series in hardcover. Happy with the decision, the paper is nice and the cover art is great. Excited to get started!

 

[Arkos]

So I tried to read Gravity's Rainbow for quite a while, and still am not past 100 pages. I like it, but I just really don't feel like reading something like that atm.

So I started asoiaf now that's fun. Only 200 pages in, but I love the expanded story (having followed the show)

 

[ShaneB]

As mentioned, wanted something short, and I think I was still in a "dog" mode, and remembered I bought this as a daily. Good so far, the history lesson is always pretty hard to read given the conditions they endured.

Now Reading...

Trusting Calvin: How a Dog Helped Heal a Holocaust Survivor's Heart by Sharon Peters

 

[Jag]

As mentioned, wanted something short, and I think I was still in a "dog" mode, and remembered I bought this as a daily. Good so far, the history lesson is always pretty hard to read given the conditions they endured.

Now Reading...

Trusting Calvin: How a Dog Helped Heal a Holocaust Survivor's Heart by Sharon Peters

I don't think I could handle this book. Two things that absolutely destroy me emotionally.

 

[Bazza]

Finished Endymion, The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons and Resplendent by Baxter over the last week.

The last 2 books of the Hyperion Cantos were really good, Its quite fortunate I saw that these books existed in someone post earlier in this thread, I thought the series ended after The Fall of Hyperion. Everything seems to be tied up nicely by the end of the last book, although the ending is a little sad the outlook for the future for the majority of humanity seems quite bright.


Resplendent was alright, my feelings on the Xeelee sequence are a little mixed, while I did enjoy the story's the majority of humans in the books were complete dicks, funny thing is I think if we ever did end up in space I think our experiences would be more like the Xeelee sequence than other scifi series' I have read so far.

 

[xDUMPWEEDx]

Console Wars. It's amazing how much of the success of SEGA was a result of Tom Kalinske. Great book and a fun read.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

 

[ymmv]

Any recommendations for other detective fiction? Either a series or good one-off mystery books. I love Harry Bosch so I'll probably finish Connelly's books first. I'm also eyeing Glen Cook's Black Company books since a lot of people talk about them here and I might be sick of detective fiction by the time I finish all of the Harry Bosch series.

These books are some of the best books I read in the past couple of years. Absolutely recommended reading.

A book about a KGB agent hunting a serial killer in the USSR during the Stalin era when crime officially didn't exist in this worker's paradise. The movie based on this book will be released this October and has Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman in the lead roles.

Traumatised boy becomes crack safe breaker for a crime syndicate. The book won numerous awards in the crime genre including the Edgar.

A book about family, race and murder set in East Texas during the Great Depression. Another Edgar winner. The movie is currently in production.

A historical crime novel set in Boston in the years after the first world war when anarchists plots were rife.

This book is a sort of sequel to The Given Day, since it features characters from the previous book but it can be read as a standalone novel. This book is about the rise of a petty criminal who becomes the most powerful bootlegger in Florida. Another Edgar winner that's also going to be filmed.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Just finished on the flight out to LA for E3. Very much enjoyed this. B&N on 3rd street in SM only has paperbacks of his other works, need to find a used book store somewhere nearby with hardcovers for the flight back. Otherwise three issues of the LRB to keep me busy...

 

[ShaneB]

I don't think I could handle this book. Two things that absolutely destroy me emotionally.

Yup, some very heavy stuff here as expected.

These books are some of the best books I read in the past couple of years. Absolutely recommended reading.

Looks like a few things here I might like, thanks!

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

There's a nifty new website unglue.it where the book will eventually be licensed under a freer Creative Commons license, and your purchase helps make that sooner. I love the idea, it's like Kickstarter but with a more open and inevitable aspect.

I bought Biodigital by John Sundman.

I'm about a fourth through the book. It's pretty decent. Not the best polished writing style, slightly clunky dialogue sometimes, but it's a well-paced thriller with believable characters and an interesting, intelligent plot. Set in the late 90's with a lot of references to certain Silicon Valley companies, revolving around breakthrough biological discoveries being weaponized and fought over.

It's this sort of interesting indie book that makes me really enjoy my eReader.

 

[Bazza]

Just finished Gravity Dreams, good short story

Spoiler

shame the kid died though.

 

[Karu]

Finished When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. Here my little review from goodreads..

Over the last two years I considered Kazuo Ishiguro my favourite author. Partly due to the fact that I haven’t read that many books and he stood out, and the books that delivered, did so big time. I would say, he is still my favourite author, but since especially Nocturnes and now When We Were Orphans didn’t quite hit the stride of his best works, I’m inclined to admit, that his books are far from perfect.

When We Were Orphans’ premise simply does not get its hooks into me and after finishing it earlier today, I have difficulties to grasp where the punchline was supposed to be. Not that there has to be one, but there should be at least some emotional weight to the ending/last act. When We Were Orphans tells the tale of Christopher Banks, who lives his youth with his parents in both the chinese and the english world until the day his father disappeared only to also losing his mother years later under mysterious circumstances. In the years to come Christopher aspires to be a detective, and succesfully so, but the mystery surrounding his parents never leaves him.

Dry, without the emotional punch of The Remains of the Day or the beautiful drawn world of Never Let Me Go, When We Were Orphans fails to make any connection with me personally. And with that Ishiguro’s writing style of characters diving through their memories, searching for the truth that haunts them, shines through in the worst manner possible. Feeling more like a worn out templat for “just another story”, it fails.

Not completely, mind you. There are quite some passages that hint at the possibilties, Ishiguro might not have reached. The message of the book is as interesting as it gets, but is lessened by twist-y twists, lifeless characters and a lack of real compassion.
2/5

 

[nakedsushi]

^-- Funny, your review of When We Were Orphans just made me add it to my to-read list.

 

[Dresden]

About 10% into The Black Count. Pretty good stuff - it's delved so far into the development - and suppression - of a mixed-blood/colored upper class in Jérémie, along with the circumstances behind the Count's birth. How the white settlers reacted is predictably depressing.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Humble Bundle. Name your price on lots of audio books.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books?utm_source=Humble+Bundle+Newsletter&utm_campaign=638ec37449-Humble_Audiobook_Bundle_2_featuring_Recorded_Books&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_990b1b6399-638ec37449-93493521

 

[KidDork]

Just finishing up Dawn of The Jedi: Into The Void by Tim Lebbon.

It's a strange book. Set 20,000 years before A New Hope, it's a basic quest storyline with the usual Star Wars familial connections. What makes this enjoyable is Lebbon's handling of Lanoree Brock, a Jedi (called Je'daii in this era because maybe apostrophes were more in vogue) out to save a much smaller galaxy. Brock has no halo over her head, and it's this greyness of moral character that makes her interesting. The entire Je'daii Order seems a bit dubious here, to be honest. That change of depiction was refreshing. I kinda like Jedi as douchebags. ( I know, I know--then rewatch the prequels.)

Lebbon also introduces other elements into the story that make me think there is no way in hell this book would have been published under the eyes of the Mouse. I won't spoil them, but I'm sure there would have been some throats being cleared in Editorial over one scene in particular.

Lebbon's only pitfalls, I felt, were certain names of monsters and items that are nods to our pop culture. (There was a floating box that contained 'marionium', for example.)That sort of wink and nod only serves to kick a reader out of the story. Which is a pity, because Lebbon knows how to tell a good story. He doesn't need to resort to fan fiction tropes.

 

[Osorio]

Haven't read any Gabo since his death

 

[RepairmanJack]

Finished:

I really liked it. I've pretty much liked each book better than the last so far. My only dislike is how characters randomly get introduced each book so far as if they're best friends yet they were never mentioned in the last book. In the second book suddenly he has an apprentice, this book he suddenly has a best friend knight but neither were mentioned the book before. I'm fine with bringing in new characters but the way they're brought in is kind of annoying. Both times I immediately had to go back and make sure I didn't skip a book because I had no idea who the people were when the book makes it seem like I should know who they are.

I also finished listening to Tim Powers' Last Call.

There were some great parts, but overall I just didn't really like it. The second half was pretty boring and a lot of the characters just seemed pointless.

Started reading Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

I'm about half the way through it and I'm really liking it. Even though it is just like something I've read before(despite what the cover says) I'm really liking how it's put together. X-men style story but seemingly in a more believable form. It's once again heading in what seems like a predictable path but I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

 

[Angst]

A little over halfway through. So far it's the second best book in the series, tied with Leviathan Wakes. Much better than the third book, which I didn't like very much.

 

[Dresden]

Finished The Black Count. Pretty good read - by necessity a chronicle of the French Revolution and the rise and fall (thanks Napoleon!) in France of civil rights for slaves and free black men, the latter mirroring the career of the General Dumas himself. Dumas isn't a very interesting figure, though, reduced (or elevated?) to a saintlike status by the glowing recollections of his novelist son and the more doubtful, but still enthralled, author of the book himself.

 

[Cade]

image

A little over halfway through. So far it's the second best book in the series, tied with Leviathan Wakes. Much better than the third book, which I didn't like very much.

Sounds interesting. I'm not sure where I rank them, but I think the second one is my favorite. Very envious of you though, I'm not sure when I'll be able to read Cibola Burn.

---
After finishing Abaddon's Gate, I picked up

and I'm reading it for the first time. Engrossing stuff, and very funny. Great art.

Also swung by my local library and am also about 1/4 through

It's.. interesting? Very weird. Haven't read any of Sawyer's stuff before, but I think I dig it so if anyone has suggestions amongst his other work, lemme know.

 

[ShaneB]

Finished up Trusting Calvin. That was really wonderful, a strong 4/5. Moments of hard reading given the subject matter, but ultimately it's about having hope. I think I might buy a copy for my Dad eventually.

Now just to wait for Cibola Burn to officially release on Tuesday and use a kobo gift card I got for my birthday, so will take a little break until then.

 

[Bazza]

With the Xeelee sequence finished, any suggestions on what to read of his next, he has several to choose from.