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[H.Protagonist]

I've just started book 9 in Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody series: Seeing a Large Cat.

The earlier books are quite entertaining and finally

Spoiler

Ramses

is of age and I can see him in action as a

Spoiler

near-adult

. If anyone is interested in an Egyptology/mystery series with an interesting female lead (not usually my cup of tea, but I'm sold here) set in the 1890s-ish, this is something you should check out.

Nah, you didn't ruin anything. Red Seas was still enjoyable, but I actually think it could have done with either an extra 200 pages or so, or a shortening of all the stuff in the beginning, much of it feeling entirely pointless, like

Spoiler

Jean's takeover of a gang

. The conclusion just felt way too rushed. There seems to be a strict length he's adhering to(~600 pages), but I don't get the sense he's really taken the time to plot out the pacing of what happens and just goes with the flow and then suddenly realizes there's only 200 pages left to conclude the damn story. And that's happening again with Republic.

Anyways!

Spoiler

I'm guessing you're talking about when Patience pops up and talks about how the rules aren't actually *strictly* being adhered to as promised? It didn't surprise me much, I suppose. You got some theory as to what's going on? Catch something I didn't? Cuz basically, I'm waiting for the *real* reason for all this election nonsense to be divulged at some point. There's no way its just as straightforward and boring as explained. Like you say, it seems a bit pointless and ridiculous. If that's all there is, it will disappoint me greatly. But I'm pretty sure there's more to it.

EDIT for next day: Ahhhhhh, I ok, I know what you're talking about now. Just read the part last night. Talk about

Spoiler

opening up a can of worms. This better go somewhere good, cuz its a massively 'WTF' sort of revelation.

Have you finished yet...? I'm ready to chat when you are... -_-

Heh, I couldn't get through it. First book was great, second was pretty good, but I think the series suffers from a lack of interesting characters at this point.

Spoiler

He should never have killed the Sanzas off.

I might give it another shot in the future, we'll see.

On to Words of Radiance!

Where's doors of stone and the next dresden files? :[

Loved the first, liked the first half of the second and then things swiftly went down hill from there. Book three

Spoiler

I might actually now dislike more than book two because I really enjoyed the flashback stuff so much and then was left with a facepalm in the end. What a missed opportunity with this series. Plot fuck-jumble.

 

[rando14]

Finally was able to start Words of Radiance yesterday, so far so good!!

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

11/22/63 and Under the Dome are both excellent sci-fi stories from King. And 11/22/63 has time travel elements.

Haha read them both already. I loved 11/22/63 but was not a fan of Under the Dome.

Those are actually the only two books I read by him before reading The Stand this summer and now I'm reading Skeleton Crew.

I guess I stared with the ones I really liked :lol

I also have Salem's Lot, Full Dark No Stars, and Just after Sunset but I have not read any of them yet.

 

[zorlaczerohero]

Just finished:-

Absolutely wonderful book. One of those you just don't want to end.

 

[HerbertBirdsfoot]

Great stuff. Taking a break from the Caro LBJ bios for a change of pace.
.

Damn the Caro stuff is great. I started reading it last month after it came up in an interview with Patterson Hood, the lead singer of Drive-By Truckers. Just got their new album, and found there's a song about LBJ on it.

It's really good stuff, and very obviously inspired by the Caro LBJ bios:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFmjAeOQwXI

Favorite line:
He was an absolute piece of shit to tell the truth
But he never told the truth to me.

 

[Piecake]

Finished up

and

Both were excellent.

I am currently reading

So far, so good

 

[suzu]

Devoured Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson in a few days, but now I'm going back to finish up The Black Company omnibuses.

 

[Johan Liebert]

Finished with The Way of Kings. Big fan of Sanderson and this didn't disappoint, definitely one of his best works along with Mistborn. Will move straight on to Words of Radiance.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Finished up

Devoured Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson in a few days, but now I'm going back to finish up The Black Company omnibuses.

Most impressive. I'm 25% done and loving it. Work hasn't allowed me to completely dive in to the extent I wanted, so I'll have to pick things up this weekend. Having said that, it's so good I don't want to rush it too quickly.

 

[fakefaker]

Wrapped up A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess tonight. Pretty awesome book especially the creative use of slang.

Gonna follow this up with the last in trilogy, Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks.

 

[hitoshi]

Guys, I need help!

Last year I was close to buying TRIAL & ERROR: THE TEXAS DEATH PENALTY by Lisa Maxwell but I was short on money and passed. But the prison letters column on Gawker sparked my interest again - the problem is that the book completly vanished from the net! Amazon does not list it anymore, and - I have never seen a thing like this - Google can't even give proper search results for it. Am I remembering the author's name or the title incorrectly? How can it have vanished without a trace? And more importantly, how can I buy it for my Kindle? (I live in Europe, a hard copy would be too expensive for me :\). Thanks in advance!

 

[tauroxd]

Just finished "Night Film"

Very interesting because the protagonist was a lot like myself, a realist and a sceptic, but

Spoiler

I feel like I woul have just fallen into Inez Gallos fabrication of truth. I actually thought that's how the book was going to end. The whole chile thing is interesting, but I like to believe that Cordova is not as sinister as McGrath thinks.

Is Marishass Pessl's first novel worth a read?

I would've like it to end it at that point too, but I didn't dislike what wnet after that either... No idea of her fisrt book, but arfter reading this I want to check it out.

I really liked the book. The juxtaposition of tone really helped in my opinion. In my review I stated at times it felt like a wacky Scooby-doo mystery, and I loved Nora, but other times it no doubt got very tense and a little dark. I have no idea what her other novel is like.

I loved that about the book, sometimes it was all happy and dandy and then some weird dark stuff happens. It's amazing hoy easily and well done those changes of tone were made.

 

[Paganmoon]

I'll just reply to this over here then I suppose.

I haven't really noticed anything particularly different, but I don't really pick up on those things unless they drastic. But yeah, hopefully they return to the older formula if that's the case. A couple less main characters would be nice too, since I find myself not caring about a couple of them (Avasarala, Anna, for example).

I have to say though, I really wanted Bobbie

Spoiler

to become their permanent gunner.

I thought the tone and the pacing of the third book was quite different, also it was much more confined. It just felt like a pretty large departure from the prior books.

And I agree about Bobbie,

Spoiler

though I got the feeling- and this is another thing that made me like the third book less- that Clarissa would be joining them as a regular member of the crew, that was the vibe I got left with in the end, they'll just skip going to the trial on Mars and just "elope" with her, really hope it doesn't happen, but that's the feeling I got. Specially with the knowledge that none of them are perfect people, and all of them already have things to hide, dark histories etc.

So anyway, just finished The Wise Man's Fear

Enjoyed it a lot, but about midway through the book, it went downhill pretty fast, worked it's way back towards the end, but still not as good as the first half of the book. I had similar sentiments towards the first book, great first half but after about 400 pages, it went downhill. Almost as if the author looses his way or something after half of each book.

 

[survivor]

Finished reading Operation Massacre. Pretty interesting investigative journalism record about the execution of a group of innocent men after a failed uprising in Argentina in 1956. It's mostly an account of the 7 people who survived the execution giving their story of what happened that night and how the police treated them after. There is also some pretty damn compelling evidence by Walsh, makes me wonder how he managed to avoid the wrath of the government for so long before eventually disappearing in the 70s after publishing a damning letter of the corruption and the state of the country.

 

[roosters93]

After five weeks I finally finished Infinite Jest yesterday.
Can't say I've ever read anything like it.

It features a large group of characters and by the end I loved all the main ones.
A great portrayal of addiction, of giving oneself over to one thing entirely.
With absurd plots running around these things it's a lot of fun.

I'll definitely be checking out Wallace's other stuff including his nonfiction at some point.

 

[Incandenza]

After five weeks I finally finished Infinite Jest yesterday.
Can't say I've ever read anything like it.

It features a large group of characters and by the end I loved all the main ones.
A great portrayal of addiction, of giving oneself over to one thing entirely.
With absurd plots running around these things it's a lot of fun.

I'll definitely be checking out Wallace's other stuff including his nonfiction at some point.

Yeah buddy! Five weeks is pretty impressive. It probably took me two months, maybe a little more.

I've been reading:

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Seems pretty good so far.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Yeah buddy! Five weeks is pretty impressive. It probably took me two months, maybe a little more.

I've been reading:

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Seems pretty good so far.

That book is awesome.

 

[Soul Jelly]

I just started reading Dune and I like it a lot so far. I'm all about complex world-building and space and politics, so seems like this will be right up my alley. I'm also woefully under-read in the sci-fi genre and figured Dune would be the best place to start.

Best thing is, I know nothing about these novels so I'm completely spoiler-free which is really exciting.

 

[Woorloog]

I just started reading Dune and I like it a lot so far. I'm all about complex world-building and space and politics, so seems like this will be right up my alley. I'm also woefully under-read in the sci-fi genre and figured Dune would be the best place to start.

Best thing is, I know nothing about these novels so I'm completely spoiler-free which is really exciting.

If you haven't read much scifi, i recommend the classics: Isaac Asimov (Robots, Foundation), Arthur C. Clarke (anything), and perhaps Robert A. Heinlein (Starship Troopers, others?) and Larry Niven (Ringworld especially). Good classic scifi along with Frank Herbert's books.

 

[KidDork]

Before starting WoR, I finished The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time #3) and it was decent. So far, I don't feel the hate for Egwene and Nynaeve. They're pretty bullheaded at times but they're alright. I really like Tar Valon chapters and learning about Aes Sedai. Maybe they get worse later?

Well, I'm just wrapping up The Dragon Reborn and I'm with you on not really hating Nynaeve and Egwene. When Jordan lets her, Egwene can be a very interesting and fun character. When he lets her. Considering she began the series as a nuisance, it's been an interesting character arc so far.

My biggest problems have been with Jordan's writing, which I feel alternates between 'competent' and 'goddamn lazy'. Really hoping things get better in The Shadow Rising.

 

[Jintor]

Maus is a real struggle to get through. It's just so fucking depressing.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Maus is a real struggle to get through. It's just so fucking depressing.

It's so good though!

 

[Woorloog]

My biggest problems have been with Jordan's writing, which I feel alternates between 'competent' and 'goddamn lazy'. [/B]

Jordan's not the only one who does this, i think. Pretty sure Rowling did this often with Harry Potter series. And i'm also sure i've read other books with this problem, and it isn't limited to books alone.
Unfortunately this is often used as a lazy, bad way to create conflict and issues. Idiot Ball, it is called... (and its variants Villain Ball, and perhaps Bond Villain Stupidity)

 

[sparky2112]

I'll definitely be checking out Wallace's other stuff including his nonfiction at some point.

IJ, weirdly, was my intro to DFW too. For me, it was a good jumping-off point. As for the rest, good luck.

 

[KuroNeeko]

I finished Royal Assassin yesterday. omg was it good. Best book I've read so far this year. I'll be starting the third book tonight.

Good luck!

I liked the trilogy, but the last book is draining. You'll understand why after reading it. ;D

 

[Wiktor]

After couple years break I decided to go back to Repairman Jack.
Finished:

More of a set up before the end, but an excellent one and very heartbreaking. Also..kudos to Wilson for having a lead character with actual brain.

Spoiler

, who when attacking the main bad truly threw everything at him, stinger missles included. It still failed, but it was such a badass effort.

Initially I wanted to read something else next, but the way this book ended I just had no choice, had to start:

I didn't read the original version, so I'm really curious how all this will end.

 

[Nymerio]

Good luck!

I liked the trilogy, but the last book is draining. You'll understand why after reading it. ;D

I'm almost done, going to finish it tonight. I'm absolutely loving it so far.

 

[Donthizz#]

I'm almost done, going to finish it tonight. I'm absolutely loving it so far.

Next up, "Tawny Man" trilogy..you have to read it.

 

[Das Ace]

The Forever War.

I love it, even though

Spoiler

'the gays' have taken over humanity and the writer's self-insert continues his mantra of denying homophobia (Even admitting that Lesbians aren't bad, just man-to-man.

Kind of weird, but whatever.

 

[Nymerio]

Next up, "Tawny Man" trilogy..you have to read it.

omg, just added it on goodreads to my want to read shelve and saw that it's about Fitz again. I assumed the Farseer books are the only books with him. He's such an amazing character, I'll definitely read this.

 

[Jintor]

is that the turtledove aliens-invade-during-wwii one or am I thinking of something different?

 

[Uncle]

Just started The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Hopefully I'll even have time to actually read it...

omg, just added it on goodreads to my want to read shelve and saw that it's about Fitz again. I assumed the Farseer books are the only books with him. He's such an amazing character, I'll definitely read this.

There's more coming in august, IIRC.

 

[Ventilaator]

Reading Dune, seeing all the stuff that makes me dislike Wheel of Time in it, and loving it so far. I don't know how that works.

 

[Meteorain]

Finished a few days ago:

Started this one last night, just to get into the whole Cosmere thing!

 

[BriareosGAF]

Just finished the short read that is

and man what an hilarious snarky read. I don't understand why they don't put aside a few days every year and read things like this in the House and make all school children have to watch it. So good. We should have competitive readings of this and Tocqueville's Democracy in America or something.

 

[LifEndz]

Arisen: Fortress Britain.

I'm on a whole end of the world zombie apocalypse fiction and this one is decent enough. Co-Authored by a former military guy so descriptions of the weapons, tactics and acronyms used by soldiers in this book are pretty spot on.

 

[Woorloog]

Reading Dune, seeing all the stuff that makes me dislike Wheel of Time in it, and loving it so far. I don't know how that works.

The irony here is that Wheel of Time has some clear inspiration from and similarities to Dune...
EDIT okay, not the same thing really. And i can't explain what you feel.

 

[ymmv]

Now reading:

It's been almost thirty years since I last read a book by Charles Dickens - and then I read them all in Dutch. It's also been ages since I last read 19th century fiction. It's gonna be an interesting experiment.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Finished this late last week. I really enjoyed this book and was a little surprised as I thought that I had heard it was a little weak. Maybe I'm confusing that with Red Country. Either way, my expectations weren't very high and I really got into it. I love his writing style and the book felt very well paced. I was a little worried it would be boring with the entire book just being one battle but I was completely wrong. I enjoyed it more than Best Served Cold.

As with most Abercrombie books however, I need a pallet cleanser as the world always looks so dark and grim and unforgiving after reading these. I'm jumping right into Words of Radiance. I'm 100 pages in so far and I think it's great. Going to take my time with this one.

 

[ShaneB]

Finished 'Beautiful Boy', I did love it, but it was so emotionally draining at times, it's hard to recommend it unless the subject matter is something personal to the reader. I see that Nic wrote a book about it too, so I wonder if I will read that sometime in the future.

Will decide on something fun to read next I think.

 

[Professor Chaos]

Enjoying would be the wrong word, but this is really well written for nihilistic military sci-fi. It's first person narrated by a reporter on the front line of a war for natural resources under the mountains of Kazakhstan between the U.S and Russia sometime in the future.

Not really a spoiler, as you meet them early on, but I thought this was pretty messed up.

Spoiler

It has genetically engineered, religiously indoctrinated female soldiers that are terminated when they reach 18 years old.

I would definitely recommend if you are interested in the subject matter. The author apparently used to be a C.I.A analyst and it shows.

 

[obin_gam]

Am about 7 chapters into Tremeraire 1: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik.
It reads like a Steven Spielberg adventure and it is highly enjoyable!
Tremeraire is adorable. He's like a giant scaly flying cat

 

[besada]

Just finished:

Just started:

Coming Next:

 

[Mumei]

Coming Next:

;_;

 

[Nappuccino]

Just finished Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.

I'm a bit torn. I love a lot of the individual elements--the musings on humanity and the way it is but as a novel . . . I'm not sure it was executed as well as it could have been. Slaughter House Five still stands as my favorite of his, so far.

 

[Nuke Soda]

Wasn't making much progress with The Executioner's Song, so I decided to read other thing for a while.

Started reading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
Only 50 pages in, but there is a lot of potential for a really good book.

 

[RottenTanuki]

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

Not a terribly interesting story, but fascinating from the standpoint of reading a novel about tech companies in 1995, written in 1995.

 

[Griffith]

Great ending to a great series. It's funny, the first thing I felt like doing after finishing was to start the series again just to pick up all the things I missed in the early books. Now onto all the side novels.

 

[John Rabbit]

after picking up/putting down the absolutely meadnering 1Q84 for months, i recently moved on to this. it's...nothing like 1Q84, and that alone is probably the biggest reason i'm still reading it. it's like reading the back of a cereal box after studying for the bar exam. otherwise it's puerile fan fiction masquerading as a treatise on the ubiquity of technology and gaming set in the near-future. it's a mildly entertaining cyberpunk-esque adventure/thriller punctuated by the author's inability to control his need to let you know just how many pop culture references he understands and then to needlessly explain those references. it's a book ostensibly about videogames written by somebody who seems to understand them on a superficial level at best for people who have no real desire to play them.

despite that, i'm about 3/4ths of the way through and it's an easy read so i'll probably end up finishing it this week.

 

[Karakand]

Enjoying would be the wrong word, but this is really well written for nihilistic military sci-fi. It's first person narrated by a reporter on the front line of a war for natural resources under the mountains of Kazakhstan between the U.S and Russia sometime in the future.

Not really a spoiler, as you meet them early on, but I thought this was pretty messed up.

Spoiler

It has genetically engineered, religiously indoctrinated female soldiers that are terminated when they reach 18 years old.

I would definitely recommend if you are interested in the subject matter. The author apparently used to be a C.I.A analyst and it shows.

This whole post was amazing.

Is "nihilistic military sci-fi" a widely recognized genre? I want to deliberately miscategorize a book so that I can vote for it on a Goodreads list of Best Nihilistic Military Sci-Fi.