Thanks for the advise. I'm definitely going to pick up with the series, but it won't be for a while. I tend to avoid reading consecutive books in series. I have several on-going and several that I want to start so I just cycle through and Sword of Truth is on the list for the next go-round.
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What are you reading? (October 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Thanks for the advise. I'm definitely going to pick up with the series, but it won't be for a while. I tend to avoid reading consecutive books in series. I have several on-going and several that I want to start so I just cycle through and Sword of Truth is on the list for the next go-round.
thoughthorizon
Member
Best.
sparky2112
Member
Best? Best what? Book? Thing? Cover?
sparky2112
Member
Haven't finished it yet, but it has kept me up way to long into the night. Highly emotional and highly recommended before I even finish.
You know what's weird about this book (I find it weird, anyway)? This has sold a bazillion copies, yet the guy it's about already had his own book out - written in conjunction with a professional writer. What was it about his own account that Unbroken's writer thought she could improve on?
BrokenFiction
Member
Weird. I saw a documentary where Laura Hillenbrand and Louis Zamperini collaborated on *this* book and became great friends over the 7 years it took to write.
Here's here eulogy to him.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20140731/laura-hillenbrands-eulogy-to-louis-zamperini
Finished up Red Winter last night. As I stated in my goodreads blurb, it feels like a companion book to The Child Thief since they share a setting and very similar in tone. Emotionally drained after reading both for sure, think they'll end up on my favourites this year.
Might take a little break and read Craig Lancaster's new book next week when it comes out (author of 600 Hours of Edward).
Might take a little break and read Craig Lancaster's new book next week when it comes out (author of 600 Hours of Edward).
Jag
Member
I think she tells the story very well and really pulls at the emotions. Maybe his book was more biographical. I didn't even know he had another one out, but given the life he had, two books and a movie seems reasonable. When I'm reading this, I don't only get a sense of his life, but all the other people who went through similar ordeals. It's almost a homage to all of them, rather than just one man.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I'm almost halfway through The Hobbit right now. I'm going to go through all of the middle earth saga from here including the main books and work my way back to The Silmarillion as well as several other side books as well as The History of Middle Earth.
KingKiller
Neo Member
Guys, I just finished The Wise Man's Fear and have absolutely no idea where to go from here. The past two years I had a running list. First I was going to read Irvine Welsh's novels, then George RR Martin, and finish with the King Killer Chronicles. Really not sure what to read next, any suggestions?
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison.
Mistborn By Brandon Sanderson is on my list. I'm also well into his Stormlight Archive series.
I've also picked up book one of Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin series titled "The Dragon's Path" and I'm getting Book One of Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle titled "The Warded Man".
I have a list, and I'm slowly working through it....mine is similar to yours it seems
I'll second this suggestion. In fact, I'm reading the fourth volume in the series and it just keeps getting better. While still a strong novel, the first volume is easily the weakest in the series, and a lot of the worldbuilding quirks that can make it a bit confusing get sorted out by the second volume.
A third of the way through The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration. And I have to say that I felt violently ill to the corrupt, evil, and extremely racist nature of our criminal justice system. Just finished the second chapter (out of six), and I already feel this is a must-read for Americans.
Maklershed
Member
Finished The Sirens of Titan this morning and in the spirit of Halloween started Dracula. Already kind of surprised at the description of Dracula. I always see him portrayed as a suave, Andy Garcia sorta looking guy but in the book it sounds like he looks more like an older, taller, thinner version of the dad from American Choppers.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Great choice.
Just finished the Farseer Trilogy, so so good.
I would compare my enjoyment and satisfaction of this trilogy to the Black Company books.
This is a series I'm glad I didn't get into early, I wouldn't have liked finishing the 3rd book and having to wait for the next set in the same world.
Now time for bed, couldn't leave the last few 5 or 6 chapters for tomorrow, really do get sucked into a good book.
BROTHER!!!!
Regals death was brilliant, the little beast got his vengeance.
I would compare my enjoyment and satisfaction of this trilogy to the Black Company books.
This is a series I'm glad I didn't get into early, I wouldn't have liked finishing the 3rd book and having to wait for the next set in the same world.
Now time for bed, couldn't leave the last few 5 or 6 chapters for tomorrow, really do get sucked into a good book.
BROTHER!!!!
Took you advice.
I'm torn about American Gods. I've reading it non-stop and enjoying it, but I'm not sure if it is a good book per se. Some really bizarre passages and some that look like Gaiman is wasting the reader's time. I think it could be a much shorter book than it is.
Anyway, I'm almost finishing it. I'll probably start Malazan up next.
It needs to be read in every high school. Maybe every middle school.
You're not alone in thinking that. I think Neil Gaiman really benefits from having an editor and telling smaller stories.
Outside of Sandman, which I haven't finished. I hope we're still friends, Mumei.
I'm actually quite fond of the vignettes in American Gods, and many of them are more compelling than the actual plot. To me, they're brief glimpses into the immigrant experience from the perspective of deities, and how supernatural beings find their niche in America, just like anyone else would. As the son of immigrants, their stories resonate with me.
But I can imagine it's not everyone's cup of tea.
But I can imagine it's not everyone's cup of tea.
I actually like those parts. They are like short stories, I get them.
My problems were more with infinite monologues about something like "American is unique because of this and that", a lot of dreams descriptions that seem to go nowhere (seriously, almost every time the main guy sleeps, he has a crazy dream), and the enourmous chunk in the middle when Shadow goes to a small town and it seems like nothing happens for a hundred pages.
Ha, another complaint. Gaiman is absolutely horrible in trying to convey how young women speak. Jesus Christ, the part where Sam tries to make Shadow talk about the gods is cringe-inducing.
Oh yes those are definitely problems. Gaiman isn't as subtle as he likes to believe he is.
I agree.
*side eye*
Actually, I think that part of what makes Sandman so great is that even though it does have this big overarching story, it's also a collection of much smaller vignettes. There's so many great stories - the Robert Darnton-inspired Little Red Riding Hood story, A Dream of a Thousand Cats, Men of Good Fortune, Tales in the Sand, The Song of Orpheus, Ramadan, the World's End stories, The Sound of Her Wings, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Calliope, and so forth.
Have you read The Golem and the Jinni yet? You've described exactly why I liked it.
Cyrus_Saren
Member
Still plugging away at The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie. Still into it but my reading time has dwindled drastically since my girlfriend and I just recently had another baby. All I've been wanting to do is sleep.
I hadn't heard of it before, but after looking them up, the reviews don't sound encouraging at all. :|
Finished up The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan last night and thought it was pretty good. It could have been better if it hadn't tried to create such overly complex sentences, when all it needed was a comma.
Going to finish up one of the biggest trilogies I've ever read with The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton.
Going to finish up one of the biggest trilogies I've ever read with The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton.
Yeah, it was on track to be one of my favorite books ever, and then it became rather prosaic towards the end. The first half, at least, was magical, though. Still a solid 5 for me, but it could've been so much more.
I can't recommend anything by Sanderson strongly enough, especially Mistborn and Stormlight Archive.
Dagger and Coin looks interesting, never read anything by that author. I read Warded Man when it came out and pretty much hated it.
Gonna grab The Martian and Red Mars too, I really need to stop in this thread more often for book ideas. I just finished A Sudden Light by Garth Stein, since the cover looked nice and sounded intriguing while strolling through the library. It was... eh. Some good parts, but pretty predictable and dabbled in a lot of themes without ever deciding what it wanted to be.
NightRunner99
Neo Member
Started reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a few days ago, after being reminded of this book by a recent thread on historical non-fiction. I've wanted to read this book for years, and I'm glad I've finally gotten around to it. Only about a hundred or so pages in but it's a fascinating read. I had thought the book would focus more on the Nazi party during WWII, but the author goes into great detail about Hitler's upbringing, his family & friends, his psyche and his rise to political power. Overall, it's a pretty scary lesson about the dangers of extreme nationalism.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Working my way through Authority and I'm not liking it as much as Annihilation.
At least in the first book there's a reason information is withheld from you - the person in the book doesn't know anything more than what you're told. In Authority you can just feel a constant undercurrent of "I know something but I'm not telling you". And something I'm not understanding at all: from the first book, there was only one survivor, right? So where do the other two survivors come from? It's driving me batty.
Nappuccino
Member
Working my way through Authority and I'm not liking it as much as Annihilation.I'm hoping the rest of the book helps me out here.At least in the first book there's a reason information is withheld from you - the person in the book doesn't know anything more than what you're told. In Authority you can just feel a constant undercurrent of "I know something but I'm not telling you". And something I'm not understanding at all: from the first book, there was only one survivor, right? So where do the other two survivors come from? It's driving me batty.
They address this. I thought they even addressed it at the end of the first book, but I could be wrong.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
I'm only halfway through so they might eventually.
And the first book ends with the biologist wanting to stay and explore an island. To me, that doesn't exactly scream, "I'm going home to stand on an abandoned street corner, yay!"
other covers: http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2014/...ach-goes-retro-with-covers-by-matthew-revert/
Christoff Yurievich
Member
I do remember that, but at the time it seemed like a fever dream on her part. And I'm not sure...though I hope that by the time I finish it I figure it out.
also. I just read the part where the biologist says that she isn't the real biologist so I guess there's that. But that seemed to me to be a "I ingested the spores!" kind of revelation, not "I'm a clone".
]img]http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/the-widows-house-by-daniel-abraham.jpg[/img]
I'm now working on The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham. My wife and I welcomed our first baby a couple of weeks ago, so reading time has been few-and-far-between these days, so I might be on this one for a while.
Making my way through this right now. The entire quartet has been a delight.
In addition, I just picked up Slow Regard of Silent Things. Yeah, I forgot how terrible Auri is. Thankfully it's a novella so I should be able to slog my way through it.
Also, what's up with Rothfuss and nudity? He brings it up at such weird times.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
I finished the Southern Reach trilogy. Looking back I'm not going to say it was incredible or amazing but it was solid. The second book was my favorite, full-on quality unnerving stuff.
Moving on to Gibson's new novel The Peripheral. Shocked to discover an opening to a William Gibson book that I can follow without getting lost in jargon and density (which I never considered a bad thing, just his style). Maybe it's just me getting used to him, who knows.
It might have been lessened by my building theories early on, based on the standard sci-fi tropes of aliens and time/space warps, Doctor Who sort of stuff, that all turned out to be fairly close to what the characters eventually come up with (not to say all of their theories were canonical) so maybe gravity of the third book was ruined from that.
Moving on to Gibson's new novel The Peripheral. Shocked to discover an opening to a William Gibson book that I can follow without getting lost in jargon and density (which I never considered a bad thing, just his style). Maybe it's just me getting used to him, who knows.
There's still one more book to come! The Spider's War will hit shelves next year. The cover is terrible.
TouchMyBox
Member
Working my way through Authority and I'm not liking it as much as Annihilation.I'm hoping the rest of the book helps me out here.At least in the first book there's a reason information is withheld from you - the person in the book doesn't know anything more than what you're told. In Authority you can just feel a constant undercurrent of "I know something but I'm not telling you". And something I'm not understanding at all: from the first book, there was only one survivor, right? So where do the other two survivors come from? It's driving me batty.
Just read the entire trilogy in the past 8 days. They do explain what's up with your question 2/3rds of the way in Authority. I didn't care much for Authority either in the first half aside from when Control is interacting with Ghost Bird, but I found that it does pick up in the latter half.
I've posted an early (very early!) look at some of the science fiction/fantasy novels that I think could end up on the Hugo Award ballot next year. If you're looking for something new to read, you could hardly do worse than the books here!
Included in the list are Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (Thanks, GAF!), City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, and the Eternal Sky trilogy by Elizabeth Bear. Also, some runner-ups and novels that I haven't read but feel like they have a pretty good shot at being on the final ballot.
My early Hugo Award Ballot for Best Novel
Included in the list are Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (Thanks, GAF!), City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, and the Eternal Sky trilogy by Elizabeth Bear. Also, some runner-ups and novels that I haven't read but feel like they have a pretty good shot at being on the final ballot.
My early Hugo Award Ballot for Best Novel
I loved that revelation.
It's just so haunting, you can almost sympathize with his desperation.
Looks awesome! Add one more to the reading list!
BOND CO STOOGE
Member
Does anyone have any good biopunk recommendations? I was trying to explain the plot of "GATTACA" to my wife, and I dawned on me that this would be a good genre for me to dive into. I have already read and enjoyed "NEXT".