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Finished AWOL on the Appalachian Trail. Pretty good, but not great. Interesting, though. Moving on to Machine of Death.
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What are you reading? (September 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
NinjaCarrot
Member
A Storm of Swords, 1: Steel and Snow
So addictive, mainly getting this one out of the way so I can get on with the next ones. That way nothing will ever be spoiled for me, hurrah!
So addictive, mainly getting this one out of the way so I can get on with the next ones. That way nothing will ever be spoiled for me, hurrah!
Finished up Animal's People by Indra Sinha today, and other than the ending feeling a bit forced, I was really engaged with this heart wrenching story.
And now to tackle something a wee bit longer...The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas.
Don't read this edition!
Read the Penguin edition translation with Robin Buss. It's the only acceptable English translation; everything else is bowdlerized at best, or bowdlerdized and heavily abridged at worst.
AngmarsKing701
Member
MaizeRage25
Member
Taking a break from the Mistborn series to read:
Then, will move on to:
Then, will move on to:
Taking a break from the Mistborn series to read:
Then, will move on to:
Oh, hey. I am also reading The Way of Kings now, and although I don't plan on reading Bleeding Edge next I am in the middle of Gravity's Rainbow and will be continuing that after.
Why is everyone reading Brandon Sanderson?
P.S. Currently reading The Emperor's Soul and The Rithmatist via audiobook.
Because he writes all the books. All of them.
ripastraea
Member
1Q84
Discworld breaks down into different sub-series of books, so most of those sale books are good starting points. The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, and Sourcery are all about Rincewind, a completely incompetent wizard. Color of Magic is the first Discworld novel, and leads directly into The Light Fantastic--I wouldn't read one without planning to read the other. Mort is about Death, and Equal Rites kicks off the witches sub-series. So decide if you want to read a comic fantasy novel about inept wizards, an inept Death, or inept witches. All of them are good fun.
Tragicomedy
Member
He really does. I've read two or three of his books already this year, with at least one more to go. Dude is everywhere.
Just started two university courses: American History from 1865 and The American Short Story until 1941. The first short story was "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving, which was simple enough on the surface. The second, which I'm reading now, is "The Maypole of Merry Mount" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This seems to have a lot more depth, but that's to be expected of Hawthorne... his "Young Goodman Brown" is easily my favourite short story (sadly not on the syllabus for this course).
The color of magic/the light fantastic and equal rights/sourcery are not that good. Best to start with Mort.
The Rincewind novels are the weakest and while the witches are some of the best, they don't get good until the third book.
The Rincewind novels are the weakest and while the witches are some of the best, they don't get good until the third book.
I think he is very good. Way of Kings is definitely his best.
bengraven
Member
I disagree completely. Each of the witches books is good and Equal Rites is fantastic.
I think people seem to praise his worldbuilding quite a bit, especially those magic systems of his which are like a second cock, but I never hear people praise his stories or characters (for the most part). That's what bothers me. I like my story and dialogue and characters to fit in first, the world second.
I think the characters in Way of Kings are very good. Before that, eh, they were decent, but nothing special. You can definitely tell he is improving with every novel. I mean, I enjoyed mistborn, but that was more for the magic system and the plot than the characters. Way of Kings it has more to do with the characters and setting than the plot (not much of one so far)
I think Sanderson is basically good to very good at everything - plot, story, pacing, world-building, magic system, writing etc so it all ends up to be a satisfying, engrossing novel. You really can't point to an aspect that he sucks at.
And yea, Emperor's Soul was great. The rithmatist was pretty good YA fantasy if you can get past the idea that drawing chalk on the ground equals magic is kinda silly. He does some pretty interesting things with it
I think Sanderson is basically good to very good at everything - plot, story, pacing, world-building, magic system, writing etc so it all ends up to be a satisfying, engrossing novel. You really can't point to an aspect that he sucks at.
And yea, Emperor's Soul was great. The rithmatist was pretty good YA fantasy if you can get past the idea that drawing chalk on the ground equals magic is kinda silly. He does some pretty interesting things with it
I forgot Sourcery wasn't a witches book.
And the Witches were secondary characters in Equal Rites such that I wouldn't consider it a proper Witches book any more than Monstrous Regiment is a proper City Guards book.
Coincidentally, both rank really low on my personal tier of Pratchett novels because he gets too caught up in the social commentary on feminism.
charlemagne
Member
Mini fantasy StoryBundle is up (http://storybundle.com/mini). I haven't heard of anything included, anybody here read any?
AngmarsKing701
Member
Yes. Try Elantris. It's a stand alone and will give you a decent feel for the way he writes. If you like that, move on to the Mistborn trilogy or even Warbreaker, another stand alone.
With the caveat that Elantris is far-and-away Sanderson's weakest (published) novel.
Tragicomedy
Member
It's a really great read. The whole stamp/imprint system is a blast.
bengraven
Member
Well I love Granny and she was a main character in Equal Rites so I sometimes think of it as the first witches book.
Love me some fucking Granny man.
Oh I am there then. I just worry about the lack of character. Maybe it's a case of a series where the world itself is the best character maybe.
Or like The Demon Cycle, where the world itself is the only good character.
I heard to wait until later on to read Elantris. I believe it was his first book or first published book? I heard in another thread to wait until you've read Mistborn and then Stormlight and read Elantris later when you just want more Sanderson.
Stop it Mumei! Stop it! You're going to make me reread the book but with the Robin Buss translation. My backlog is long enough as it it.
I read the non-Buss translation and was honestly not very impressed. Perhaps Ill read the the good translation sometime, but I think ill need to wait a while
Can't argue with that.
AngmarsKing701
Member
I started with Elantris because it was a stand alone. I knew it was his first published book but frankly I thought it was well done. Yes, Mistborn is better, but to get the full story you need the full trilogy. Likewise, while Way of Kings is great it's 1K pages and only the first book of a 10 book mega-series.
Elantris gives you his style without you feeling like you're investing hundreds of hours into his worlds.
I'd just go with Emperor's Soul instead if you want to get a quick feel for Sanderson's style. Its a lot better than Elantris. After that, Way of Kings. Always start with an author's best work.
The Culture Vulture
Member
Thanks! Told myself I wouldn't add to my backlog but if it's on my wishlist for .99 I'm happy to scoop it up.
Any recommendations similar to Blood song? It's really awesome. (no sanderson mention, since I read almost all of his books)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005N6MDBA/?tag=neogaf0e-20
theft of swords is very good. Though its not really all that similar besides being originally self published
sparky2112
Member
I stalled about 200 pages into Way of Kings, but I'll pick it back up again.
I have, however, said of Sanderson before: he's like the world's most brilliant 4th-grader. Solid writing and imagination, but he's still, at a emotional level, a 4th-grader. Not every writer has to be of the grim grit and death school of fantasy, but a little adultishness would be welcome.
I disagree with you here. Mort is definitely the best of those books listed but Equal Rites is also pretty great. Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic/Sourcery are definitely some of the weaker of the Discworld books but the Rincewind novels get great after that. Eric, Interesting Times and The Last Continent are all fantastic reads (Interesting Times in particular.)
Overall, I personally think the Death/Susan stuff is the best, Thief of Time being one of my favourite books of all time.
My personal ranking is:
Death/Susan
City Guards
Witches
Moist von Lipwig
Tiffany Aching
Wizards
Rincewind
Barbarians
If you haven't read the Robin Buss translation*, you haven't read it!
Just finished this:
I think this was the perfect time in my life for me to read it because it touched on almost everything I've been thinking about recently. I was also happy because I read his book of selected essays called Resistance, Rebellion, and Death about a 6 months ago and some of the personal stories mentioned in Resistance were used in The Stranger so it made it clear the he was in a way the main character. Anyways, it was a really good read. And the new translation made it really clear. I think I'll try to read the old translation to see how it differs.
The next book I'm going to read is this:
I think this was the perfect time in my life for me to read it because it touched on almost everything I've been thinking about recently. I was also happy because I read his book of selected essays called Resistance, Rebellion, and Death about a 6 months ago and some of the personal stories mentioned in Resistance were used in The Stranger so it made it clear the he was in a way the main character. Anyways, it was a really good read. And the new translation made it really clear. I think I'll try to read the old translation to see how it differs.
The next book I'm going to read is this:
I was concerned I haven't read this version until I googled it and saw the Penguin cover of it. That was a close one. I did read it back in high school.
Gee I leave for a day and look what happens...gosh!
I do thank you for the suggestion, and will get the Buss version in the future, but for now I'm going to continue with the one I have. I find the writing has such a good flow and at 260 pages in I don't really want to start over. Also I don't think this one is abridged like some versions out there, as this one has 1462 pages.
And as a mini-review of this book so far, I have to say it is absolutely phenomenal. It's like a good beer that you just want to keep drinking, no matter how happily drunk it is making you.
Thanks again for the heads up!
Mackenzie 92
Member
Secks4Food
Member
I'm about 120 pages into Anna Karenina, I want to like it but the goddamn end notes which were, initially, simply there to explain certain references Tolstoy makes that the reader wouldn't get otherwise, have begun to take the liberty of randomly and egregiously spoiling major plot points for no apparent reason. I'm not sure if I want to go on reading it or start another book :/
Actually just finished Thief of Time, i wasn't to sure about the Susan Character in the first book but she has grown on me now.
If i had to pick my favorite books they would be the Rincewind or City Watch books.
Little bit disappointed The Last Hero that is a Rincewind, Wizards and City Watch story is sort of a comic rather than a regular book, cant get it on Kindle so i have to wait a few days for delivery although a little break is probably needed, got through half the Discworld books in about 6-7 weeks.
Both are good but "It" is better than Christine, by quite a bit.
Which to read really depends on your mood. "It" is probably King's most ambitious work outside of The Stand and the Dark Tower books, with a really large cast of characters, jumping around in time, and lots and lots of pages. Christine is a fun high school horror story, fairly dark in places, with some memorable creepy scenes and a neat premise.