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[nakedsushi]

Finished:


The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

At the risk of getting the Gaf-wrath, I thought it was only okay. I have to agree with the other poster about Kvothe being a Mary Sue. He never was in any real danger thanks to the framing device of the book, but really, can that guy do no wrong? I also thought that Denna was a pointless attempt at a femme fetale. I wish there was more explanation about her. I found Kvothe's feelings for her a bit artificial or forced.

The setup of the world and the magic system was so good. I just wish the story had more meat using the magic system. It seemed more like a bildungsroman than a fantasy novel. I guess it's definitely a change from the usual *epic* fantasy, but it didn't really wow me.

 

[Salazar]

Reading relaxing pulp. On hiatus from research.

The Space Wolf Omnibus, by William King.

Fuck yeah.

 

[Maklershed]

In addition to Cataloochee I've started reading Guns, Germs, and Steel


Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

 

[StealthGoblin]

Just finished a re-read of Nineteen Eighty Four.

About to start the Gormenghast trilogy.

 

[eznark]

Playing Shogun 2 has inspired me to learn more about the time period. I know GAF is full of Japan fetishists. Any good non-fiction of that time period?

 

[charsace]

Finished:


The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

At the risk of getting the Gaf-wrath, I thought it was only okay. I have to agree with the other poster about Kvothe being a Mary Sue. He never was in any real danger thanks to the framing device of the book, but really, can that guy do no wrong? I also thought that Denna was a pointless attempt at a femme fetale. I wish there was more explanation about her. I found Kvothe's feelings for her a bit artificial or forced.

The setup of the world and the magic system was so good. I just wish the story had more meat using the magic system. It seemed more like a bildungsroman than a fantasy novel. I guess it's definitely a change from the usual *epic* fantasy, but it didn't really wow me.

Read the second one to get a better understanding of Denna. Kvothe is less of a mary sue in the second book.

 

[eznark]

Read the second one to get a better understanding of Denna. Kvothe is less of a mary sue in the second book.

Spoiler

until the last third, where he can do no wrong. Kill a dozen cold blooded murderers, sex every chick in the university (but still be bashful about holding Denna's hand), make money hand over fist without trying, improve the lives of urchins and just happen to be in a tavern his love stumbles into ready to save her life

ultimate mary sue

 

[nakedsushi]

Spoiler

until the last third, where he can do no wrong. Kill a dozen cold blooded murderers, sex every chick in the university (but still be bashful about holding Denna's hand), make money hand over fist without trying, improve the lives of urchins and just happen to be in a tavern his love stumbles into ready to save her life

ultimate mary sue

I wasn't planning on reading the 2nd book so I read your spoiler. Yeah, pretty much what I was expecting. Thanks for saving me the time of reading it =D

 

[finowns]

Read the second one to get a better understanding of Denna. Kvothe is less of a mary sue in the second book.

Denna seemed even more silly to me in the second book.

 

[eznark]

I wasn't planning on reading the 2nd book so I read your spoiler. Yeah, pretty much what I was expecting. Thanks for saving me the time of reading it =D

The thing is, except for that first part I gave about as much detail as Rothfuss did.

Spoiler

anyone else think the Maer's wife is Kvothe's aunt? I was sort of thinking that while reading the book then I read a review on GoodReads that totally fleshes out the theory.

 

[foodtaster]

What are some good books under 100 pages?

 

[mannerbot]

The thing is, except for that first part I gave about as much detail as Rothfuss did.

Spoiler

anyone else think the Maer's wife is Kvothe's aunt? I was sort of thinking that while reading the book then I read a review on GoodReads that totally fleshes out the theory.

Yes, I'm certain that's the case. Don't feel like citing anything as the topic's been discussed ad nauseam on Goodreads, but you can check out the threads there if you have any doubts.

 

[MacGurcules]

Finished:


The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

At the risk of getting the Gaf-wrath, I thought it was only okay. I have to agree with the other poster about Kvothe being a Mary Sue. He never was in any real danger thanks to the framing device of the book, but really, can that guy do no wrong? I also thought that Denna was a pointless attempt at a femme fetale. I wish there was more explanation about her. I found Kvothe's feelings for her a bit artificial or forced.

The setup of the world and the magic system was so good. I just wish the story had more meat using the magic system. It seemed more like a bildungsroman than a fantasy novel. I guess it's definitely a change from the usual *epic* fantasy, but it didn't really wow me.

You know, reading just the first one, I'd be somewhat inclined to say that a lot of those hamfisted bog-standard Mary Sue trappings were intentional. Rothfuss seems like enough of a nerd to know what he's doing, so he injects Kvothe with some familiar aspects of your stereotypical Mary Sue/fanfiction author. He's socially retarded, especially with women. He's naturally gifted academically, but lacks any common sense. He feels constantly ostracized and culturally persecuted. He seemed a somewhat Swiftian parody of an author avatar.

But having read the second book, and especially

Spoiler

the explosion of ridiculousness in the tail end of it

, I kind of wonder if that was ever really the case.

I dunno. Dude writes good prose in any case. I'll probably be on board for the third go 'round just on principle.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

Pretty interesting so far. It's a very short read but provides a very compact and tight narrative.

 

[Pikelet]

Finished:


The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

At the risk of getting the Gaf-wrath, I thought it was only okay. I have to agree with the other poster about Kvothe being a Mary Sue. He never was in any real danger thanks to the framing device of the book, but really, can that guy do no wrong? I also thought that Denna was a pointless attempt at a femme fetale. I wish there was more explanation about her. I found Kvothe's feelings for her a bit artificial or forced.

The setup of the world and the magic system was so good. I just wish the story had more meat using the magic system. It seemed more like a bildungsroman than a fantasy novel. I guess it's definitely a change from the usual *epic* fantasy, but it didn't really wow me.

I liked it a bit better than you did it seems, but Kvothe certainly had a few faults, though they mostly stem from his impatience.

The magic system is neat and the novel is punctuated with moments of great writing, but i agree that the world-building is kind of lacking.

I'm keen to check out the next one...

 

[kinn]

Just finished

Good read but Gateway was better.

Started

Half way through and its good.

 

[Dresden]

Man, I thought Ship of Fools got a sequel. Just a new release with a different title.

 

[nakedsushi]

The magic system is neat and the novel is punctuated with moments of great writing, but i agree that the world-building is kind of lacking.

Well, I thought the world-building was great and the magic system got me really excited for the book. But then, he didn't really take those to their full potential. In that way, it was a letdown.

I guess I was expecting at least one type of Mistborn-type crazy magic system fight.

Spoiler about some animal he fights in Name of the Wind:

Spoiler

Even the fight with the draccus was disappointing, since in the end, even though he used sympathy to kill it, it was like dropping an anvil on Wiley Coyote. Just kind of cartoonish.

 

[.JayZii]

Still reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and I just finished reading Kumiko's letter. I feel absolutely crushed.

 

[Salazar]

Playing Shogun 2 has inspired me to learn more about the time period. I know GAF is full of Japan fetishists. Any good non-fiction of that time period?

Inventing Japan, 1854-1964, by Ian Buruma, is superb. I realise that its coverage begins pretty close to the Meiji restoration, but it does look back at the shogunate with great style and perceptiveness.

A bunch of people think Buruma is a dick, but this is a great book.

 

[Attackthebase]

What are some good books under 100 pages?

Only a couple of pages of you requirement, but everyone should read this novel!

Playing Shogun 2 has inspired me to learn more about the time period. I know GAF is full of Japan fetishists. Any good non-fiction of that time period?

I also want to know this, Shogun 2

Spoiler

and Samurai Warriors

makes me really want to learn about about Feudal Japan. Please help!

 

[charsace]

Spoiler

until the last third, where he can do no wrong. Kill a dozen cold blooded murderers, sex every chick in the university (but still be bashful about holding Denna's hand), make money hand over fist without trying, improve the lives of urchins and just happen to be in a tavern his love stumbles into ready to save her life

ultimate mary sue

the last third never happened!

Denna is a bitch IMO.

 

[Gorgon]

What are some good books under 100 pages?

Spoiler

just pulling your leg ;p

Anyway, just finished the first two Harry Potter books and, as I've said before, they're actually a little better than I was expecting. Maybe I'll read the rest eventually just for kicks.

I'm now starting Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. So far so good, but I'm still in the beginning. I'm waiting for Lyndon Hardy's Master of the Five Magics to arrive in the mail and I'll probably make a pause to read that one and then go back to JS&MN again.

 

[leroy hacker]

What are some good books under 100 pages?

Under:
Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener.
Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, probably the most formally perfect short novel I know. I've never read anything else that creates such an atmosphere of death and decay.
Kafka, The Metamorphosis, but surely everyone has read this one already.
Victor Pelevin, The Yellow Arrow, not a famous classic like the ones above but a very good post-Soviet satire.

slightly over at 112 pages:
Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground, by far both the shortest of his great late works and the greatest of his short works.

somewhat further over and one of them totally different:
H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness, one of his best and most substantial works.
George Orwell, Animal Farm, needs no recommendation.


Also, you should consider getting a short story collection. I'd recommend getting a collection of stories by Poe, Gogol or Borges.

Also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_novellas

 

[Jarlaxle]

I'm now starting Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. So far so good, but I'm still in the beginning.

That book starts out pretty slow I'd say for the first 200-250 pages or so but ramps up and at the end I couldn't put the book down. If you're already enjoying it, you're in for a treat then. Some of the best parts in in the footnotes.

I'd love to read more about Jonathan Strange. Anyone know if she plans on writing a follow-up at all? I know she has written something similar, I wanted to know if there would eventually be a direct sequel or not.

 

[Gorgon]

That book starts out pretty slow I'd say for the first 200-250 pages or so but ramps up and at the end I couldn't put the book down. If you're already enjoying it, you're in for a treat then. Some of the best parts in in the footnotes.

I'd love to read more about Jonathan Strange. Anyone know if she plans on writing a follow-up at all? I know she has written something similar, I wanted to know if there would eventually be a direct sequel or not.

Yes, she's writting a sequel, set a couple of decades or so later in the Victorian period too. I hope it doesn't take another 10 years to finish it.

 

[aristotle]

This month I've finished:

Name of the Wind was good. I'm eagerly awaiting the second book to arrive at my house. I don't dislike it like some of the posters before me. I understand their reasoning though.

I love Castle. The books where just an extension of the TV show itself. I enjoyed them.

 

[eznark]

What are some good books under 100 pages?

Tyler Cowen: The Great Stagnation

 

[Mgoblue201]

I mean to buy The Great Stagnation soon; I have read so much about it that I almost feel as if I am familiar with its arguments. It feels like one of those books that everybody should be aware of.

I would recommend the novella Heart of Darkness. I am not sure of its page count, but it shouldn't take very long to read through.

 

[Jamieee]

Only 300 pages in and loving it so far. I wish it worked more on building the world and also characters though,

Spoiler

it seems like Vin has just become a bit too good too quickly.

Awesome cover too!

Trying to get it over with quickly so I can read The Wise Man's Fear.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I'm thinking of ordering that one and David Benatar's Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence off Amazon. Looks interesting.

Hmm I need to look into this.

It's a nice little book, but if you already own Smoke & Mirrors and/or Fragile Things, you probably have most of the stories in M is for Magic already. Anyway, I'm starting this now:

Spoiler

Yeah, there's a short story by Gaiman in it

That book starts out pretty slow I'd say for the first 200-250 pages or so but ramps up and at the end I couldn't put the book down. If you're already enjoying it, you're in for a treat then. Some of the best parts in in the footnotes.

Echoing this. The first 200-250 pages are boring as all fuck, but then it goes off and becomes awesome.

Just finished:
http://trashotron.com/agony/images/2003/03-columns/01-27-03/danielewski-house_of_leaves.jpg[IMG]

What a ride! So weird and interesting. Might even call it perspective-changer.
[/QUOTE]

Oh tits, I've completely forgotten that I bought House of Leaves last year. I should really read it.

 

[The Judge]

Just finished:

What a ride! So weird and interesting. Might even call it perspective-changer.

Now I'm debating whether I start Gravity's Rainbow for the first time or start a reread of A Song of Ice and Fire for the 5th book. Decisions decisions...

 

[Lafiel]

Finished

@ Curse of chalion - Wow, bujold does a amazing job of writing likable characters and making you fully invested in their fates. The ending was very well-earned at that to, satisfying stuff. And Cazaril is definitely one of the most likable protagonists I've seen in a fantasy story.

Diplomatic immunity was fairly middle-of-the-road in terms of quality for vorkosigan - while it kept me hooked from page 1, it didn't have many stand-out moments.

Now Reading

Only managed to read about 30 pages of it so far. Pretty sad that I'll have no more vorkosigan to read after this.;_;

 

[Celery&Lager]

*text*

Only managed to read about 30 pages of it so far. Pretty sad that I'll have no more vorkosigan to read after this.;_;

I've downloaded al of the Vorkosigan books from the publisher's web site but where do I start from? Is there a recommended order?

 

[Dresden]

Only managed to read about 30 pages of it so far. Pretty sad that I'll have no more vorkosigan to read after this.;_;

I think she's coming out with a book focused on Ivan soon.

I've downloaded al of the Vorkosigan books from the publisher's web site but where do I start from? Is there a recommended order?

Just start with Shards of Honor.

 

[mike23]

Finished

Was pretty good, but I feel like there could have been more action and at times it felt a little drawn out.

 

[Celery&Lager]

c/ped from elsewhere:

Hadn't realised what I'downloaded were the omnibus editions! I thought they were single books, was about to start looking for Shard Of Honor... cheers!!

 

[Monroeski]

Interesting how they put the invisible guy's face on the edge of the tree. May be a little hard to make out that there's supposed to be a guy there otherwise, but at the same time you miss (at first, anyway) that the tree bark is horribly unnaturally shaped there.

 

[Cryptic Psychedelic]

I'm a military junkie and I love my WW2 books

Femme Fatale: Love, Lies and The Unknown Life of Mata Hari
by Pat Shipman

The Deceivers : Allied Military Deception in The Second World War
by Thaddeus Holt

Taqwacore
by Michael Muhammad Knight

This book is really interesting. Most literary Muslim characters are kinda stereotypical but the characters in this book are "unique"

Orwell: The Observer Years

 

[Narag]

Interesting how they put the invisible guy's face on the edge of the tree. May be a little hard to make out that there's supposed to be a guy there otherwise, but at the same time you miss (at first, anyway) that the tree bark is horribly unnaturally shaped there.

Thinking it was just a stylistic choice since the hand is clearly visible.

 

[way more]

Bam a long a ding dong. I scored two hardcovers for 10 apiece.

 

[nakedsushi]

I was in the mood for some light reading so I started this yesterday and finished it this morning:


Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

It was exactly what I was in the mood for. The plot is cliched and very Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but the dialogue was decent and got a chuckle or two out of me. Not exactly high-brow literature, but a nice palette cleanser before I dive into some deeper books and reach some epiphanies.

 

[mike23]

Nice light reading after the 960 page Lonesome Dove. Not sure what I'm gonna start up next. Gardens of the Moon or Wise Man's Fear maybe.

Powering through this series now because that cover looked cool plus the description on Goodreads sounded good.

Done with

and 25% through

They're pretty interesting and I like how I can easily read through an entire book in 3 hours.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Good news, fellow Good Omens fans. Terry Jones (yeah, that Terry Jones) is adapting Good Omens for a TV mini-series. Also note hipster Sandman.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/03/points-of-departure.html

 

[Dresden]

Good news, fellow Good Omens fans. Terry Jones (yeah, that Terry Jones) is adapting Good Omens for a TV mini-series. Also note hipster Sandman.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/03/points-of-departure.html

Hell yeah.

 

[Forsete]

The Devil in the White City - by Erik Larson

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, "The Devil In the White City" intertwines the true tale of two men - Daniel H. Burnham, the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and Dr. H.H. Holmes, the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death in his elaborately constructed "Murder Castle."

 

[KidDork]

Just started this tonight. Very early into it but it seems really interesting. Seems to be a slower read initially which is not a bad thing, just writing that demands more attention and thought to it.

Bakker actually writes in a cafe about three blocks from my house. I haven't had the nerve to go over and be a fanboy, but he is there most days, staring at his laptop.

As for me, I just finished this:

I thought it was a very effective horror novel, and with the upcoming film, it seems like the perfect story to be told through jerky digital hand cameras. Moody does a good job of imagining a world where our fears and paranoia are taken as far as they can go. It's unrelentingly bleak and violent, unsurprisingly. I'm interested in where he will take the story in the next book of this planned trilogy.

To completely cleanse my palate, I'm going back to Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles tonight.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I finally finished The Gripping Hand. Much better than I expected based on reviews. Not as exciting as The Mote in God's Eye, but it would be hard to match the excitement of first contact.

I doubt it will ever happen, but I'd love to see another book in this "Motie series" by the original authors. Niven and Pournelle are two talented guys.

I guess I'll be working on Lord of Light now, which I'm really enjoying so far. It's been too long since I read any science fiction.

 

[Fjordson]

What are some good books under 100 pages?

Pick up a solid collection of Lovecraft stories that you can read in small pieces and you're set.

 

[Narag]

About halfway through Fall of Hyperion. It's simply amazing and I think I like it better than the first.