What BOOK(s) are you reading? ARCHIVE

Went down to the library and checked out The Name on the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I watched an interview with him where he talked about how he got the point where when he'd pick up a new fantasy book, he'd have to stop and ask, "Haven't read this before?" I've felt the same way. I love what fantasy I enjoy, but I've come to a point where I feel I've exhausted what good reading the genre has to offer. I'm anxious to get into this one.

And while I'm not reading yet, I found a gift certificate to Borders the wife and I got as a wedding gift this past weekend. We had thought it was lost. I used my half on the 75th anniversary edition of The Hobbit. When I save up the scratch to afford it, I plan on getting the LOTR equivalent. It's safe to say those books are ones I'll always come back to, so a couple of nice editions are worth having.

I just finished Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer by Jonathan Howard. Pretty different and good. It's about a guy who, to save his own soul, has to take a circus train around and collect souls for Satan.

Prehistory by Colin Renfrew. The opening chapters and the last two were pretty solid, but the stuff in the middle was soft. I appreciate there just isn't a lot of material to work from, but there was a lot of supposition and not much hard reporting that left me a bit skeptical.

Working on The Teaching Company's World War I lectures right now during my commute. Exceptionally thorough -- 18 hours worth.

S.

Josh Look wrote:

I used my half on the 75th anniversary edition of The Hobbit. When I save up the scratch to afford it, I plan on getting the LOTR equivalent. It's safe to say those books are ones I'll always come back to, so a couple of nice editions are worth having.

We got married on a that swanky LotR edition. It looks super fresh. Someday we'll own one of our own.

Like to see a little more action here.

So, working a few books, finished The Lies of Locke Lamora, really awesome, replaces it with Cryptonomicon as my luch book. Gonna take a while there. Working my way through The Fires of Heaven as an audio book. Still working Scar Night, no progress of note there as its my emergency book in my car. Also reading Snow Crash and What Distant Deeps. Not getting too far anywhere with football / new TV. I expect one of these books to suck me in and then i will blow through it. Have Red Seas Under Read Skies up on deck so i want to finish one of these.

I recently read Scott Bakker's Disciple of the Dog, another fucked up mystery/detective story. The protagonist has a perfect photographic memory and never forgets anything. Interesting stuff, but I can't wait for his next Second Apocalypse book coming out early next year, The White-Luck Warrior.

Also have Jeff Vandermeer's recent collection of shorts, The Third Bear. I've already read a few of those stories online, this should be very promising indeed.

Besides that, a bunch of Black Library books (Horus Heresy, Time of Legends) are keeping me busy.

Read the following recently that were all quite good and that I 'd recommend:

The Magicians (Lev grossman) - Harry Potter with more mature themes (maybe? I've only read the first two Potter books)

1610: Sundial on an Open Grave (Mary gentle) - enjoyable characters, musketeer-y adventure. Might be a bit twisted for some(?)

Perdido St. Station - I read the third book (Iron Council) a while back and didn't love it. This was a much, much better book. Recommendations for The Scar (yay, nay?)

Algebraist (Ian M. Banks) - big space adventure. First book of his I've read, I'll probably look for his other SF books.

Soon I Will Be Invincible (Austin Grossman) - best super hero novel I've read!

All the Pretty Horses (Cormac McCarthy) - it's Cormac McCarthy!


Others that I've got mixed feelings about (unless you are already familiar with the author):

Devices & Desires Trilogy (KJ Parker) - couldn't quite get into as much as the above books.

Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay) - if you like his writing you'll like this (I generally do), if you don't there is nothing here that will change your mind


Don't Recommend:

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - I actually expected the non Austen part to be a bit better done, rather than just hacked on for cheap entertainment. Grade school drawings don't help.

If you liked Algebraist, you should check out Player of Games --- that is my favorite Banks book thus far (only out of three though).

Almalik wrote:

Perdido St. Station - I read the third book (Iron Council) a while back and didn't love it. This was a much, much better book. Recommendations for The Scar (yay, nay?)

I disliked Iron Council. I thought that Perdido St. Station was okay. I liked The Scar. Overall, I don't have great enthusiasm for Mieville.

Almalik wrote:

Perdido St. Station - I read the third book (Iron Council) a while back and didn't love it. This was a much, much better book. Recommendations for The Scar (yay, nay?)

The Scar is generally regarded as his best Bas-Lag novel. If you enjoyed PSS, go ahead and check it out, you won't regret it. A pretty novel take on the city setting IMO, and the dénouement is really jaw-dropping in its scope. You get mosquito people, vampire pirates, other cool critters, a voyage into uncharted territory, fantastic characters, loved it all!

The biggest strikes people tend to give Miéville is that readers have a hard time feeling for the protagonist, and this one's no different. If that doesn't bother you, then nothing should hold you back from enjoying this book.

Almalik wrote:

Perdido St. Station - I read the third book (Iron Council) a while back and didn't love it. This was a much, much better book. Recommendations for The Scar (yay, nay?)

I thought The Scar was by far the best of them, and Iron Council the weakest. If you enjoyed the first one, you'll probably enjoy this one. I wasn't terribly impressed by Iron Council either.

Finished the Books of Magic the other day, and I'm so so on it. Books of Magic was boring, until the writers changed, and then it started picking up. By then, it felt like the new writer was rehashing everything the original writer did, and he changed a lot of what the old writer was working towards, and ultimately he did a better job at it. Still felt like there was a major disconnect though.

Names of Magic and The Age of Magic were excellent and more in line with what I felt the comic should've been about. Very very good stuff.

Magick: Life During Wartime should be skipped. It's full of crap.

Stop at the last issue of The Age of Magic, and it'll be awesome.

I just finished reading The Tipping Point for class. Some pretty good ideas on how social epidemics occur.

Reading my copy of Good Omens which is signed by both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's like a British version of Dogma in book form.