What are you reading? (March 2011)

Finished Wise Man's Fear. Disappointed, but I will read the final book to see where all this is heading. It better be epic. The latter third of the book was all light and no heat. That's what I feared the most about the second installment. Really growing weary of the continuing
Denna crap. I wish they'd either get together or he'd move on. I thought his experience with Felurian would give him some insight into Denna, but nothing of the sort happened.

Best part of the book was
his magic battle with Felurian when he sang her 4-note name. Amazing stuff.
 
Narag said:
About halfway through Fall of Hyperion. It's simply amazing and I think I like it better than the first.
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Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are excelent. Easily some of the best stuff coming out of the sci-fi scene in the 90s and considered by some to be the defining work of that decade. The Endymion books however are very juvenile. They read like light action romp novels and lack the magnificence of the frist books. They are enjoyable, but ultimately are a dissapointment.
 
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FINAL ONE :0

Really enjoyed the journey so far.

HERE I GO! "starts reading'
 
nakedsushi said:
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.
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I read the first two books in the series. Decent at best, but much better than most of the straight up shit that is being pumped out in the paranormal genre.

Elemental Assassin series is something you should look into.
 
charsace said:
I read the first two books in the series. Decent at best, but much better than most of the straight up shit that is being pumped out in the paranormal genre.

Elemental Assassin series is something you should look into.
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Yeah, the book aren't ground-breaking but entertaining at least. I'll keep a lookout for Elemental Assassin.

I finished reading the second book in the Night Huntress series.

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

When I got to the ending of the first book, I was like this:
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Then I finished this second book in the series and I was like this:
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More of the same as the first book, except it doesn't have a "Noooooo" ending. Some crazy things happen in One Foot in the Grave, some of them of the soap-opera variety, but I enjoyed it and it was a fun ride.
 
Dresden said:
Sounds awesome.

Will add onto backlog.
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Went through Lost Languages--shit was fascinating stuff, but I admit that I flipped through some of the more esoteric stuff. The overview it gives on the subject is great, though.

Also started this:

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Good read so far. And short, which is wonderful.
 
For Whom the Bell Tolls is dragging on me a bit, but I'm getting close to done. I picked up a bunch of books today for a buck a pop at the library. Nice hardcover copies of Julip by Jim Harrison, The Rabbit Factory by Larry Brown, The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams, and a really nice edition of T.S. Eliot's poems and plays from 1971. Not bad for four dollars!

Between those and the books I've got on my way from Amazon used book sellers, I've been pretty bad with my book buying lately. But most everything on my shelves have either been read or are not far from it. I hope the 3DS doesn't kill my good reading habits.
 
I finished Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun and Franz Kafka's The Trial.

I enjoyed South of the Border A lot. If you read Norwegian Wood you'll probably notice that it's more of the same; But that's exactly what I wanted. It was also heavily influenced by Casablanca.

The Trial was pretty crazy for me, but I liked it. planning on reading Metamorphosis next.

Right now, I'm reading Naked Lunch. I would very much like to hear what anyone who read the book thinks about it.
 
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Currently reading The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (on my shiny new Kindle! Yay!)

Seems pretty enjoyable so far. I'm wondering how much all the stuff at the beginning is really going to tie into anything following it.
 
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...not really, but somewhat. I'm so hyped about the next book that I'm re-reading and re-re-reading the released preview chapters over and over again.

Hey, it's part of the book goddammit!


Combichristoffersen said:
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Yeah, there's a short story by Gaiman in it
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Man, I remember a time I tried to find that book and COULD NOT get a copy. This was about 6 or 7 years ago when it wasn't uncommon for Amazon to run out of copies of their books and you would have to wait a few weeks.

I just remembered it thanks to you, I should try and pick it up.
 
Dresden said:
Went through Lost Languages--shit was fascinating stuff, but I admit that I flipped through some of the more esoteric stuff. The overview it gives on the subject is great, though.

Also started this:

0060762152.jpg


Good read so far. And short, which is wonderful.
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I should mention that I finished this--wasn't difficult considering it's only like 150 pages--and that it was a good read. "Bravest of the Brave" indeed, Marshal Ney!

Picked this up:

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Clearly not as good as the fist one. the mood is very similar, but the ending dissapointed me.... Shadow of the wind is one of my favourite book of the decade, so, :(

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Currently reading this. I kinda like it so far. Some humour in fantasy is nice.
Strangely, it can ve very cliché sometimes, but very innovative on other occasions. Interresting reading !
 
I finished Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun and Franz Kafka's The Trial.

I enjoyed South of the Border A lot. If you read Norwegian Wood you'll probably notice that it's more of the same; But that's exactly what I wanted. It was also heavily influenced by Casablanca.

The Trial was pretty crazy for me, but I liked it. planning on reading Metamorphosis next.

Right now, I'm reading Naked Lunch. I would very much like to hear what anyone who read the book thinks about it.
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I agree with your opinions on the first three works, to an exact point in fact, so I'll offer this about Naked Lunch: complete fucking waste of time. Haven't read Junky, which some say is his definitive, but I always heard Naked Lunch was where it's at, and it ain't. Comes across more as attempting to be perverse than actually interesting. Watch Cronenberg have fun with it on video and avoid the book.

Just my opinion though. There's much better to read out there.
 
I finished The Wise Man's Fear. I enjoyed it with the usual caveats that have been mentioned in the official thread. (i.e. Denna and the run-on nature of some of the episodes).

I also finished up second volume of Magician by Raymond Feist. I wanted to read some uncomplicated 80s fantasy last fall so I picked up the first volume on a lark. It was exactly what I was in the mood for at the time. After reading Magician, The Name of the Wind, The Way of Kings, and The Wise Man's Fear since last fall I'm done with fantasy for a while (and with 1,000 page monstrosities in general because I also read Drood during January.)
 
Just started Reading Maus I
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Picked up the set at Half-price books. It is really engrossing and at the same time educational to someone who only has a basic knowledge of the Holocaust.
 
Read almost 200 pages of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel. Excelent writting and book, but I need to take a pause every once in a while. So I'm now starting Hardy's Master of the Five Magics, and I'll go back to Jonathan Strange later.
 
EmmanuelMunoz said:
Just started Reading Maus I

Picked up the set at Half-price books. It is really engrossing and at the same time educational to someone who only has a basic knowledge of the Holocaust.
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Maus is beautiful. I read it a while back and I couldn't put it down until I'd read through the entire series. I'd ended up recommending it to everyone I knew and most people ending up loving the story as well.
 
Stephen King - Full Dark, No Stars. Great so far. I'm only on chapter three but you can tell this thing will make a great movie for sure.

One Second After. Just finished this. Ok book but way too much damn heavy political pandering which is expected when you have Newt Gingrich doing the forward.
 
It's April, so it's time to research for my papers. Reading three books (select chapters) to help write my two research paper. Ugh, school.

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This is for my 'Interpretation to the Bible' class. I'm writing about the fallacy of the Gospels.

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Post-Col. Does anyone know any good books about Robbin Island or Mandela's life in prison?
 
I wrote a research paper for an introductory English class using The God Delusion and God is Not Great. I was really proud of it.
 
ultron87 said:
the-way-of-shadows.jpg


Currently reading The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (on my shiny new Kindle! Yay!)

Seems pretty enjoyable so far. I'm wondering how much all the stuff at the beginning is really going to tie into anything following it.
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Is it a rule that 50% of all fantasy books have to have a mysterious, black-cloaked, hooded character on the front cover?
 
I finished bunch of books the past two weeks but there is one I have to mention before I go babble about the others.

I just finished Promenade of Gods by Koji Suzuki, and I have to say, is that how women in Japan behave and feel. I mean, I really hate Faminists who exagirates about everything, but after reading this book, I came to a conclusion thatmaybe they have a point. I was absolutely Apalled how the main female charcter though behvaed and acted so weakily aginst this harsh economical system. Anyone else read this book and comment on this?

Apart from that the book was great.
 
Drewsky said:
I wrote a research paper for an introductory English class using The God Delusion and God is Not Great. I was really proud of it.
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I used The God Delusion as a main source for my first paper in my Bible class (about how Science made God obsolete). I got an A on it; I felt awesome, proud and a litte egotistical.
 
Just finished this a few minutes ago:


Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier sure knows how to set the perfect dark, rainy, mood. This is gothic fiction (note, not GOTH fiction) at its best. The setup was slow and excruciating in the, "Oh shit, something bad is going to happen" kind of way and then the last quarter is like some fast paced roller coaster that you can't put down.

Related note: I love it when book covers are vague enough not to spoil the story, but still give you that "ahah!" moment after you've finished the book.
 
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Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
Finally got to read it. Totally blew me away, even with all the hype for it. I can find something to relate to in every character.

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Story told through the perspective of a 5year old. Really interesting how he interpreted the world with his limited knowledge, but that style or writing got kinda tiresome by the end. Still a good read.
 
Just finished a book and couldn't decide on which book to start next (I have a few I want to read that are kind of long), so I just decided to read through this first:

fJtyi.jpg
 
nakedsushi said:
Just finished this a few minutes ago:


Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier sure knows how to set the perfect dark, rainy, mood. This is gothic fiction (note, not GOTH fiction) at its best. The setup was slow and excruciating in the, "Oh shit, something bad is going to happen" kind of way and then the last quarter is like some fast paced roller coaster that you can't put down.

Related note: I love it when book covers are vague enough not to spoil the story, but still give you that "ahah!" moment after you've finished the book.
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This is such a great book, although I'm surprised to see it on GAF of all places. Love to recommend it to people who totally expect it to be a romance novel. But yes, the last couple of scenes with Maxim are amazing.
This is how you do a "reveal" ladies and gentlemen.
 
It's another window of time where I go back and read books over again. So far, I've read, am reading, and will read these three:

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By Harold Evans, with extensive historical research done by Kevin Baker who, in turn, wrote this:

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Dreamland - Which is an extraordinary historical fiction about early 1900's New York, including the mystique of Coney Island and the tragic circumstances of the Triangle Shirtwaist building fire. This book is just completely brilliant. Finally, my next book will be Baker's second historical fiction (again):

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Paradise Alley - which is an even more interesting piece of historical fiction set against the mostly Irish immigrant led New York City riots of 1863, just after President Lincoln had instituted mandatory conscription. Easily one of the most violent and deadliest windows of public rebellion in our tumultuous history, this story is even more engrossing and, ultimately, heartbreaking.

The American Century is fascinating, but a bit stiff. The Baker books, however, are simply difficult to put down.

Next month, I'll probably reread the Caleb Carr books The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, since he is rumored to be writing a third book about Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and company. I guess I'll have to see that to believe it, but here's hoping...
 
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Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee. Only about halfway through, but so far it's been really, really good. I'll definitely check out some other Coetzee work after I'm done with this one.
 
I finished The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie yesterday. While it is certainly superior to his first standalone work -- Best Served Cold -- it suffers from inconsistent characterizations for the sake of expediency, specifically the mellowing of Black Dow, Scale's leap in intelligence, and Tunny's development of a conscience. But those are minor gripes and I enjoyed the book greatly. Bayaz remains the most interesting character, or should I say biggest asshole (since 90% of Abercrombie's characters are assholes):

"What kind of a fucking wizard are you?"
"The kind you obey."
 
I finished rereading Sandman earlier in the month, and I've started rereading A Game of Thrones in preparation for the HBO series and new book.

tekumseh said:
Next month, I'll probably reread the Caleb Carr books The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, since he is rumored to be writing a third book about Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and company. I guess I'll have to see that to believe it, but here's hoping...
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I've had a copy of The Alienist for years that I've never gotten around to reading. Maybe I should get to that...
 
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Finished Ghosts of Cannae. Really good book and an interesting look at the ramifications of the battle. It's a bit of a primer on the subject though and doesn't go as in depth as I'd have liked. He focuses on some not all that important "interesting facts" and I think that affectd the depth to which he explored the exiled legionnaires themselves. He constantly alludes to the fact that this would come back to bite Rome in the ass but then sort of leaves it all hanging at the end. Now obviously I know what he means when he says it, but I would have been interested to read his explorations on the topic.

Overall a very good, easy read. On to the April GAF book club book!

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Pau said:
This is such a great book, although I'm surprised to see it on GAF of all places. Love to recommend it to people who totally expect it to be a romance novel. But yes, the last couple of scenes with Maxim are amazing.
This is how you do a "reveal" ladies and gentlemen.
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Yeah, I hesitate to call it a romance novel because it's not all heaving bosoms and torn corsets, which is what most people imagine as a romance novel. It's more like a (spoiler for mystery)
a whydunnit in the middle of the story
.
 
Sovereign said:
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I'm currently reading this. This dude's a smart motherfucker.
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I love the Library of America editions. I've got the volume of Raymond Carver's complete works, it's a nice copy.

Currently reading:

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The last Forster novel I read was Howard's End. Class struggles in the 1900's bored me to death. However, this book seems a lot more promising.
 

Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser

Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser

Flashman continues with the bastardry, lechery and stumbling, unwarranted achievement that never grows old. An incredibly insightful, impressively drawn, look at the period. Also, I love how Great Game's ending dovetails with the source material for Flashman's character.


The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

Already a classic. Just did a quick re-read before I take on Paladin of Souls once again.

Dresden said:
Finished it tonight. Good read. Also reminded me of how much I'd enjoyed The Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali.
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Anticipation rising. Just loaned it out, with Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, after he spoke at my uni earlier this month. I've read his non-fiction, but this will be my first time delving into his historical fiction.

Dresden said:
Dragon's Path tomorrow.
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What the hell? Early shipment from Amazon or B&N, I'm guessing? The Book Depository has failed me. :(
 
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