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Recently went to the library for the first time in a while, and picked up The House of the Scorpion on a friend's recommendation. It's about this clone boy, Matt, who is hated by all but a few on the estate on which he lives -- which is owned one of those few, the man he was cloned from, El Patron. According to the back of the book, he is lord over the country in which they live. (I don't think that's been touched on in the story yet, but I'm only a few chapters in, so.) It's a pretty great book! I'd recommend it, even though it's a "young adult novel". Hey, I'm an adult. I'm young. Whatever.

What have you been reading lately?

Doesn't have to be a novel. Or even fiction. Or even on paper. Just so long as it's at least mostly text and could possibly be put in a book form.

I just finished reading the following

Xenocide
Children of the Mind



also does reading Halforums count?

Those are part of the Ender's Game series, aren't they? I've read Ender's Game (which was great) and Ender's Shadow (which was also pretty good).

Hylian said:

also does reading Halforums count?

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and could possibly be put in a book form.

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Good luck putting Halforums in a book.

I've been checking out collections of Neil Gaiman's short stories. Some of them are awesome. Others... let's just say that I don't find stories about sex to be nearly as interesting as he seems to.

These are the two last things I've been reading. Today I'd need to go and get a new book.

While waiting for

to finish being published, I am reading the first book in the series:


A very good story so far.

I've been leafing through some of the more recent issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Asimov's, National Geographic, Mcleans' Magazine, and Newfoundland Quarterly.

I've also been stuck on one chapter of this one book for a month. I sometimes feel like I don't read enough, but then when I sit back and take a survey of my life, I read a hell of a lot. I just don't always read novels.

John Steinbeck

This dude has hooked me, and I'm looking to read anything of his I can get my hands on. I'm about done Cup of Gold, which is about pirates. yarrrr!

I´m a bit more then a third of the way through "The Way of Shadows" by Brent Weeks. This is the first book in the Night Angel trilogy and so far it has been great. The book is about a young street child who gets accepted as an apprentice by the most famous "assassin" in his city (though the right term is wetboy". The action is good, the story great and I can easily recommend it.

The last book that I finished was "Rides a dread legion" by Raymond E. Feist. A good book and if you've read all of his previous books set in Midkemia then reading this one is a no brainer If you haven't read them then go get "Magician: Apprentice" right away

Haven't been able to go back to the library lately, but the last thing I read was a bunch of Victorian suspense and horror. Carmilla, "Sir Edmund Orme," "The Mark of the Beast", etc I enjoyed it. I still have the books

I'm reading "Diary of a libertine" by my beloved Rubem Fonseca (brilliant brazilian writer that I've always loved)
And on queue I have "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke, I borrowed it from my best friend, I can't wait to get to it.

Recently finished Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings, the first two books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. Excellent books, just wish I could find the third book around here somewhere.

Been reading through Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet

On the second book right now, A Betrayal in Winter, and I have to say this is one great series. If you're looking for a more character-driven less cliche-ridden fantasy series, I'd highly recommend these books.

I've had The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci checked out for over a month now. I hopefully get time to read it once school lets out.

I'm taking a pre-adolescent lit class for my last semester. So, uh, Harriet the Spy and Coraline.

I'm re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land , but this time I'm reading the "full" previously unreleased version (the original published version that I read 15-20 years ago or so was edited down, it seems, excising about 60,000 words of content too objectionable for 1961, when it was first published). I'm reading it to the little woman out loud, as I do with most books I read. I wasn't sure if it'd be her cup of tea because it's a very "wordy" book (Harshaw in particular sometimes fills entire pages where he's the only one talking) and because of some of the topics in it, but we're about halfway through it and so far so good. After that, I'm probably going to start reading her the first book in the Drizzt series (Homeland, I think it is called).

Ethics textbooks. Yay.

GasBandit said:

I'm re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land , but this time I'm reading the "full" previously unreleased version (the original published version that I read 15-20 years ago or so was edited down, it seems, excising about 60,000 words of content too objectionable for 1961, when it was first published). I'm reading it to the little woman out loud, as I do with most books I read. I wasn't sure if it'd be her cup of tea because it's a very "wordy" book (Harshaw in particular sometimes fills entire pages where he's the only one talking) and because of some of the topics in it, but we're about halfway through it and so far so good. After that, I'm probably going to start reading her the first book in the Drizzt series (Homeland, I think it is called).

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If the version I read was edited to be tamer... Hooooooley cats. I need to read this too.

I'm right now reading The Confidence Man by Herman Melville on my Kindle. It's quite good and is generally considered to be his subtlest work, as it follows a collection of events on a Mississippi riverboat, all linked by a con man challenging people's beliefs.

Re-reading The Sandman, like every spring.

oh yeah I also just got done reading

The Engineer: Konstrukt

I'm slowly going through Robin Cook's works. Currently reading Acceptable Risk, sadly it's the translated Dutch version since I loaned it from a friend.

Currently rereading a bunch of stuff thats been in storage for a while.
I done William Gibson's Bridge Trilogy (Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties), Jeff Noon's Vurt and Pollen. Now on some Iain M Banks; Feersum Endjinn, followed by The Player of Games. Think Against a Dark Background is next. Though the thought of reading The Sandman every Spring has a certain appeal.

For pleasure:




For pain:

Ugh CCNA is such a drag, well actually nearly all IT certification is an annoyance

Aye, CCNA wasn't too bad, but reading about RF signals and formulas puts me in a coma.

Do comics count? I guess there was a thread for that. Anyway, I'm gonna try reading more books for fun this summer, but some comics:

-Daredevil: Noir - You know, for a gimmicky premise (Marvel heroes in 30s/40s noir), it's pretty good.
-Bone Vol. 8-9 - Sadly, I never got around to picking these up despite having the first 7 volumes. I kept forgetting which one was next I need to get (since it's all packed up back home). And man, do I ever regret not getting them sooner! Such an epic finale, especially the final book. Maybe Cajun can enlighten me on the spin-off books, like Rose.

Here's what I'm reading...



and

I fucking loved Foundation. The rest of the Foundation series sort of declined for me, but Foundation was probably one of the greatest books I've read.

I've just re-read all the Robot shorts that he wrote (love that they've been collected into two good anthologies Robot Dreams and Robot Visions) and I'm picking stuff out now that I didn't notice (or even possibly understand at all, it was 30 years ago when I read them) when I first read them by finding them in different anthologies. Amazing how much that he tied the whole thing together.

Just finished the following book




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I just finished the following book as well

Are they any good?

I rather enjoyed First Meetings. It has 3 short stories in it plus the original Ender's Game. As far as the 3 short stories they are nice and fairly enjoyable. They help expand upon several events and show how certain events transpired later on. Also it is nice to have the original Ender's Game (the 1977 short story version) just so you can see how many underlying principles stayed the same and how many things did change between it turning from a short story into a actual novel.



I must say I did not enjoy A War of Gifts as much as I enjoyed First Meetings. Now I am not saying it is a horrid book but it isn't exactly a great book either. It does give us a slightly better view of the day to day of life at Battle School which is very nice but it also feels just kinda forced I guess. I mean it is still a fun read and I would still recommend it but it just feels like something is out of place.

I am re-reading David Brin's Uplift books. Started with Sundiver and I am on Infinity's Shore now. Some of my favorite Sci-fi.

Today, I started reading Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. This'll be about the 5th time I've read it, and I still enjoy it immensely. Totally my favorite book.

I've finished reading the first two books of the "Night Angel" series by Brent Weeks and have just started on the third. This is a great fantasy trilogy and gets my recommendation, I've hardly been able to put the books down since I started on the series

Reading the latest Robin Hobb. Dragon Keeper. Quite good, actually. I've always liked her work on the liveship traders. The Six Duchies books... well, I just can't read them again without getting all misty-eyed for poor FitzChivalry.

No litterary mastermind here, just fun reading:

No shame in that, Shegs. I hear the War of the Ancients books are good reads.

Never read them myself, though. Probably won't 'cause WoW doesn't pique my interests any more...

It's good if you've read the stuff in order (yet not necessary), I've read about 5 Warcraft novels so far. So for me, to see characters carry over from book to book is very nice.

The thing that sells it for me, is I get to see the characters from the books, in game, "come to life" so to speak.

Finished...



I'm not the biggest Stephen King fan, but I was genuinely surprised at how good some of these stories are. Though considering my main criticism with his novels is that they can be over-bloated and sometimes lose focus, I probably shouldn't be.

Now I'm waiting for the third Long Price Quartet book to arrive....



So far this is easily one of the best and most refreshing fantasy series I've ever read.

Finally getting around to George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. For all the fantasy I have read and love, I had never read these. Slammed through the first two books over the last week or so, will get the third tomorrow. it is interesting, I will give it that. Bit different than expected.

Also, the newest dresden book by Jim Butcher.

as well.

To those folks unfamiliar with the Dresden Files series, or just haven't given it a try yet I highly recommend them.
Everyone I have gotten to start reading them has loved it.

Yes, read them. They are beyond great, and absolutely fun as hell. And, if you are into Audio books, James Marsden (Spike from Buffy) reads them all. He does an absolutely fantastic job with the books, and lends to the character very well (they are all written in first person)
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I wasn't aware of the audio books but I'll pick them up this weekend. The Dresden series are the type of books that I don't like to finish because I hate having to wait on the next one.

Shannow said:

Finally getting around to George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. For all the fantasy I have read and love, I had never read these. Slammed through the first two books over the last week or so, will get the third tomorrow. it is interesting, I will give it that. Bit different than expected.

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I hate to say it, but prepare to be disappointed. The 5th book in the series, Dance with Dragons. is now delayed indefinitely, by the publisher. I think that they are really PO'd at Martin for all the delays that have occurred with this series. It's a really interesting series, built an interesting world, but dang if that man just can't get this book written.

I refuse to start reading until it's finished. If it's ever finished.

I don't read a lot of fantasy. Science Fiction is where I pass most of my time. But I have only heard great things about A Song of Ice and Fire.

Rob King said:

I don't read a lot of fantasy. Science Fiction is where I pass most of my time. But I have only heard great things about A Song of Ice and Fire.

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If you notice, none of us have said anything bad about the story itself, but the fact that it's been several years waiting on the next book is putting quite a damper on the series. Since the publisher has put the book on indefinite hold doesn't give much hope for a quick resolution for the continuation of said series.

On the other hand,

is excellent, and the books keep rolling out. Last one should be sometime next year, I believe.

Sparhawk;378055][QUOTE=Rob King said:

I don't read a lot of fantasy. Science Fiction is where I pass most of my time. But I have only heard great things about A Song of Ice and Fire.

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If you notice, none of us have said anything bad about the story itself, but the fact that it's been several years waiting on the next book is putting quite a damper on the series. Since the publisher has put the book on indefinite hold doesn't give much hope for a quick resolution for the continuation of said series.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. What I was trying to say was that I think I might pick it up.

Although after re-reading, I see how it might have been misinterpreted as disagreement.

Meh, I had to wait with all of Jordan's books, I can wait with martin. Fun series so far, though.

The publishers should just get Brandon Sanderson to finish the series, he would probably do it a lot better any way

I get the very strong feeling that G.R.R.M. started the "A song of Ice and Fire" series without knowing where he was going with it and is now stuck trying to find a way to finish it without completely pissing people off.

There are many other great fantasy series out there that are either finished or at least are being actually worked on by their authors so I would recommend waiting to read SoIF. God knows that I've long since forgotten most of the details of what is going on in the series.

Meh, i am already halfway throguh it, so i will finish what is out there on it and movie on. I go through about a book a week as it is, so its not a big deal.

just finished reading Shadow of the Hegemon

Thread bump for no real reason


I just finished the following book

Finished reading the "Night Angel" trilogy by Brent Weeks. Fantastic series and I really look forward to Brent Weeks next book.

I´ve now started reading "In Fury Born" by David Weber.

I just finished reading Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. I loved the technology involved, and the last chapter or so describing the Mobile Infantry going after the Bugs was expertly laid out; however, between the many History and Moral Philosophy class discussions and the subplot of Juan Rico's father joining the M.I. to finally become a real man, it came across as a bit preachy. I did like the use of the phrase 'on the bounce', though.

Next up, I'm going to tackle the bummy-but-still-readable copy of Harry Harrison's Return To Eden I recently got via Alibris. I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

Just thought I'd let you all know:

I'm finally reading Dune. First time.

It's pretty great so far.

Just purchased this.



Haven't read much lovecraft, and I had a coupon. I figured it was worth the purchase.

Shannow said:

Yes, read them. They are beyond great, and absolutely fun as hell. And, if you are into Audio books, James Marsden (Spike from Buffy) reads them all. He does an absolutely fantastic job with the books, and lends to the character very well (they are all written in first person)
Posted via Mobile Device

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I've never actually listened to a whole audio book, but I think I'd like to pop my cherry with these... the premise sounds awesome and I love James Marsters. Do you guys know of any software that will hold your place on an audio book or something? Or does it come in like chapters?

YAOMTC said:

Just thought I'd let you all know:

I'm finally reading Dune. First time.

It's pretty great so far.

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First book is outstanding, mixed bag after that. I personally really liked God Emperor Dune but most of the others are just meh.

Took a small detour on my way to the Harry Harrison book with this:



I have no idea who in the hell C.H. Bovill is, nor how he got writing with Plum, but it read like straight-up Wodehouse, and therefore was an amusing diversion. The stories were paced/ended a little weirdly, but I expect that was as a result of the manner in which they were originally published.

Reading Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett, so I can find out what happened between Guards, Guards! and The Fifth Elephant. I mean, you can assume, but I wanna know.

escushion said:

Reading Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett, so I can find out what happened between Guards, Guards! and The Fifth Elephant. I mean, you can assume, but I wanna know.

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Love Men at Arms! It's one of my favorite Watch books.

I just finished reading Shadow of the Giant and now I only have one more book in the Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow series to read.

Finished reading "In Fury Born" by David Weber. This book is actually two books put together, "Path of the Fury" and its prequel. I'd read "Path of the Fury" a long time ago but not the prequel which made reading this book worth it as the prequel really helps to flesh out the characters.

Next up on my reading list is "Dust of Dreams" by Steven Erikson.

Just read "The Velveteen Rabit" which I had downloaded for my Kindle.

I absolutely adored it and from start to finish I was misty eyed.

Wyrminarrd said:

Next up on my reading list is "Dust of Dreams" by Steven Erikson.

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Hope you like cliffhangers!

Vrii;386933][QUOTE=Wyrminarrd said:

Next up on my reading list is "Dust of Dreams" by Steven Erikson.

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Hope you like cliffhangers![/QUOTE]

Not a big fan of them but at least the author had the decency to warn me right at the start that there would be one

At least Erikson isn't as slow a writer as R.R. Martin.

Right now I'm reading "The New Dead"; an anthology of short zombie stories compiled by Shristopher Golden. It's a real mixed bag, some good stories, some not so good.
I just finished "The Zombie Who Fell From the Sky" by M.B. Homler, and it was awful. Just terrible. I kept thinking "it has to get better" but it never did, it was just stupid. But the one right before that; "Family Business" by Jonathan Maberry, I thought was really great.
There've been one or two others I rather enjoyed as well, but so far I think the anthology "The Living Dead" by John Joseph Adams, which I read last summer, had better short stories in it.

I've been reading "Otherness" by David Brin. It's a collection of short stories, and it's awesome. There are some very thought provoking stories.

I finished Starship Troopers the other day. It was pretty good, though the scenes in the History and Moral Philosophy classes kind of made me groan. I mean chapter 7 is basically saying that our civilization is doomed because we don't use corporal punishment, and that it's the only sane thing to do. His proof for why he's right is that he's just right, damnit.


I'm considering next either All the Pretty Horses or All Quiet on the Western Front. Continue the military theme, or go western?

Been reading a collection of Norse Myths recently. Interesting stuff, that.

I'm surprised about how much of Norse Mythology has been lost to history. Apparently there are many Norse gods and goddesses who we only know the names of, and nothing more.

I took a break from reading "Dust of Dreams" to read "Victorious" by Jack Campbell. "Victorious" is the sixth and final book of the "Lost fleet" series and delivers a great ending to a great military sci-fi series. I really hope that Campbell will write a follow up series to this one.

phil said:

I finished Starship Troopers the other day. It was pretty good, though the scenes in the History and Moral Philosophy classes kind of made me groan. I mean chapter 7 is basically saying that our civilization is doomed because we don't use corporal punishment, and that it's the only sane thing to do. His proof for why he's right is that he's just right, damnit.

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Yeah, I just read that one. I found it a mixed bag. Fantastic technology and stuff, though.

I also just re-read The Wizard of Oz, plus a fantastic biography entitled Wodehouse: A Life, by Robert McCrum. It was really great because not only did it manage to chronicle his life of 93 freaking amazing and productive years without getting boring*, it did so with constant notes/letters from Wodehouse himself on his life at the time. I found the stuff about A.A. Milne and George Orwell fascinating, plus his friendship with the rather sad figure of Bill Townend.

It really got me thinking, too, about how much has changed, and how weird it is to think now that most of Plum's huge-ass bibliography was published twice (once in magazine/paper form, and once in novel form). He really wrote in a different time and place, and then lived to see that decline.

Not to mention, I didn't quite realize he was all up in musicals and plays and shit, at least not to that extent.

*Though that could've been due to my adoration of the subject in question.

Edit: It also boggles my mind to think that Wodehouse was born in 1881, and yet could've seen Soylent Green in the theatre.

Finished re-reading Good Omens lately. I love that book.

Quite a book. I had to put it down last semester, so I just started it over. Marcus and his team were some serious heroes.

I bought a bunch of stuff with a gift card recently. I started The Sun Also Rises and a Joseph Merrick biography on the same day; I've been swapping every couple of chapters.

Wahad said:

Finished re-reading Good Omens lately. I love that book.

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Yes, that is a great one. A lot of the satire is spot-on.

A series of novels with a similar flavor are "Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming", "If at Faust You Don't Succeed" and "A Farce to Be Reckoned With" by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley. I wish I still had them in my collection, they got lost at some point.

Currently reading Ciaphas Cain: HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, which is an omnibus of the first three books in the series and all the short stories that lead to his books. It's pretty damn good and very funny if you get all the in-jokes regarding the source material (Warhammer 40k lore). Also got done reading The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer: Damocles Gulf Edition, which is full of all sorts of funny, interesting things to know if your part of the Imperial Guard... as well as blatant lies, propaganda, and things that WILL get you killed (Which is part of the fun, really).

Next on the list is the new Generation Dead book. Aww... zombies and humans in love...

Just finished "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore. Quite the fun read.

Currently reading Foundation and Empire by Asimov, I had forgotten how fun this series really is. After this I'll probably be reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein.

Guess if you want to count them, I'm also reading the Jack of Fables comic series. Currently on book 3, "The Bad Prince."

Just finished Ender in Exile and upon finishing it I have read through all the Ender's Saga/Shadow books that have been currently published

Finished reading "Dust of Dreams" by Steven Erikson. Great book but people were right about the cliffhanger, most unusual for Erikson but it does leave me eager to get the next book in the series

I haven't decided on what to read next, it's either "The stars my destination" by Alfred Bester which is supposed to be a classic sci-fi book or "By heresies distressed" by David Weber which is the third book in a pretty good series so far.

The stars my destination is a really crazy/fun book. I'd recommend it.

Just started reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein.

I'm almost through this:


While I've read plenty of William Gibson's short stories, this is the first novel of his I've read other than Neuromancer.

Finished reading "The Stars my destination" yesterday. It's a very good book though I'll admit that I didn't think it was as good as the hype surrounding it suggested it would be.

I've now started reading "By heresies distressed" by David Weber.

It's an interesting book with a amazing density of ideas. The only problem I had with it was that the story ends in a bit of an anticlimax. The resolution and dénouement don't really match the grand scope of the ideas touched on during the story.

Finished reading "By heresies distressed" by David Weber. The book was good though I´m getting a bit tired of how wonderful and great the protagonists are written, it all feels just to convenient and unrealistic. Weber really needs to start adding some character flaws to his characters or at least make them less perfect.

Next on the reading list is "Warbreakers" by Brandon Sanderson.

Just finished reading the following

Paths of Darkness from R.A Salvadore.

Finished reading "Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson. It was every bit as good a book as I've come to expect from Sanderson as he once again creates a very interesting world filled with great characters. I hope that he will chose to write more books in this world, but then again I also want more books from him set in the "Elantris" world

Next up on the reading list is "House of Suns" by Alastair Reynolds.

just finished "My Name is Will-A story of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare" which was a fun ride.

Next up is either The Eyre Affair or The Fourth Hand....

Jay said:

Paths of Darkness from R.A Salvadore.

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You know, he may be a great fantasy writer, but I'll always remember R.A. Salvadore as the Bastard who killed Chewbacca.

Just finished reading "The Gunslinger" and "The Drawing of the Three", and now I'm reading the third book in the Dark Tower series. Pretty good stuff so far!

Just started Guns, Germs, and Steel. Only 4 chapters in so far, but it's a fascinating, somewhat counter-intuitive look at the paths of human development and civilization.

Finished reading "House of Suns" by Alastair Reynolds. The book is well written but a key plot point had me scratching my head as it made absolutely no sense to me, in fact I strongly believe that the author himself realized at some point that it didn't make sense so he spend as little time explaining it as he could in hopes that people wouldn't notice that it was BS. Apart from that one issue this is a good book and it paints an interesting possible long term future.

Next on my reading list is either "The Warded Man" by Peter V. Brett or "Best served cold" by Joe Abercrombie.

I am currently reading The Horse and his Boy, finally working my way through the Narnia series for the first time since I was given the books 15 years ago.

The Horse and His Boy has always been one of my favorite books in the Narnia series.

I forgot that I was in the middle of Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling. I'm on the last chapter, and I've enjoyed it immensely. It's difficult to read the various seamen's English, because Kipling spells it phonetically to portray the accents, but it's not too difficult to get a sense of what's going on.

I'll re-pick up The Horse and His Boy tomorrow when I finish this.

Captains Courageous was excellent. I really felt happy for Harvey at the end of things, and as silly as it might be, I felt proud for the man he had become (or rather, ... began to become)

The Horse and his Boy was also quite excellent. I know Tolkien is the gold standard when it comes to world-building, but Narnia has a lot of that as well. I don't think I've ever felt like Lewis has been cheating. He has established the rules of his world and works so well within them in such a consistent and meaningful way that I'm never bothered.

Where other stories might make me moan and say "Really? The Force? That's the poor excuse for terrible writing that you're going with?", whenever something happens in Narnia that is summed up by "Aslan did it" I feel like an idiot for even considering that it might have happened any other way.

I am currently reading a YA book on someone's recommendation. It is called Leviathan and it was written recently by a chappie called Scott Westerfeld. It's, like, steampunk and alternate World War I history and sheeit. It's pretty good so far. The shitting bats are cool.

Finished reading "Best Served Cold" by Joe Abercrombie. This book is a stand alone story set in the same universe as his "First law" trilogy but as it happens shortly after the events of the trilogy and gives away tiny spoilers about it I would recommend that people read the trilogy before reading BSC. The book was great, Abercrombie spins a great story with interesting characters and proves that his fantastic "First law" trilogy wasn't just a one of success on his part.

I am a chapter into Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton. I was thinking a little bit about my reading habits/history the other day, and I decided to pick up another Crichton book, because he's actually been one of my favorite novelists, and seeing as Pirate Latitudes will be his last work (I assume, unless they're holding onto something else of his) it seemed appropriate.

Just Finished reading Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Man, I've never read a Pratchett book before, and I must say, I was missing out!

I'm now reading the next book in the series, Men at Arms

Currently reading The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey. 5th book in her Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series. The whole thing is a different look at fairy tales (or the Tradition in the books) and how the Fairy Godmothers fight against them or even use them to their advantages. Fun series.

---------- Post added at 08:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:50 PM ----------

Soliloquy said:

Just Finished reading Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Man, I've never read a Pratchett book before, and I must say, I was missing out!

I'm now reading the next book in the series, Men at Arms

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Right around there is where Pratchett really hit his stride with Discworld. He's had lots of fun with that series.

Love the Watch series. Speaking of Pratchett, I keep kicking myself for not having read Unseen Academicals yet.

Anyhoo, I finished Leviathan. It was pretty good, though it ended when stuff was really heating up. Now I gotta wait for the next installment!

Also, I'm in the middle of Harry Harrison's Return To Eden, the concluding chapter in a fantastically realized alternate history trilogy focusing on what would've happened if the dinosaurs weren't wiped out.

Not sure what I'm going to read next. I might try out King's Stand, director's-cut style.

Slowly starting my foray into a book called The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Awwww yeah.

Philosopher B. said:

Love the Watch series. Speaking of Pratchett, I keep kicking myself for not having read Unseen Academicals yet.

Anyhoo, I finished Leviathan. It was pretty good, though it ended when stuff was really heating up. Now I gotta wait for the next installment!

Also, I'm in the middle of Harry Harrison's Return To Eden, the concluding chapter in a fantastically realized alternate history trilogy focusing on what would've happened if the dinosaurs weren't wiped out.

Not sure what I'm going to read next. I might try out King's Stand, director's-cut style.

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Nice, I love Harrison. The Stainless Steel Rat and Bill the Galactic Hero are two of my favorite guilty pleasure series'.

i'm re reading the Black Company by Glen Cook.

Also read 2 Fiona McIntosh books. Nice easy to read fantasy. i digged it.

Read China Mieville's Kraken a while back. Writing was a tad on the rough side, but the story was otherwise excellent, and cements Mieville as one of the most flat-out imaginative fantasy authors currently writing. Here's the summary of it from the TVTropes article (which I mostly wrote myself):

Kraken is the latest outpouring from the twisted brainpan of China Mieville, author of Perdido Street Station and its sequels. It tells the story of Billy Harrow, a curator for the Natural History Museum whose work touring guests around one day is rudely interrupted by the inexplicable disappearance of the museum's preserved giant squid. From there, Billy's day only gets worse as he is drawn into a shadowy London underworld of competing doomsday cults, living tattoos, socialist familiars, and Chaos Nazis.

Oh, and the squid? Turns out that half the city is thinking of using it to end the world. Too bad they can't agree on how...

Click to expand...

Chaos Nazis.

Went on a bit of a vacation a couple of weeks ago and read a bit.

Started the Ender's Game series, only at Xenocide so far but I've really enjoyed all of them. I prefered Ender's Game to Speaker for the Dead I think but both were very solid. Also read A Scanner Darkly and picked up Penny Arcade's 1th and a half anniversary book.

I've only ever read Carrie. I keep telling myself I'm gonna borrow some of Dad's Stephen King collection, but I just never do. One of these days I'd like to read The Shining, at least.

They're also nice for long lines at the grocery store. 3 books a week? Damn... I love to read, but I've never been able to read that fast.

For the last three years my goal has been to read 50 books in a year. That's only one a week, but I still haven't been able to do it.

Gilman Chatsworth said:

Chaos Nazis.

Click to expand...

Yep. Chaos Nazis. What happens when your common-or-garden fascist reads way too many books on quantum theory, whilst holding up the Marquis de Sade as a lifestyle guru.

Buit of course, you knew that.

Finished Pirate Latitudes, but the ending was a little unsatisfying. Also, a few chapters in the book feel a little inconsistent with the rest of the narrative, which I guess is to be expected since they literally found this story on Michael Crichton's computer after he passed away. It's entirely possible that he wasn't quite finished with it.

Now I'm 20 pages into the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan report which I finally picked up after months of putting it off. When I finish that, I'm going to start Prince Caspian.

Finished reading "The Warded Man" by Peter V. Brett. This is a very good fantasy book and the authors first. It left me eager to read the sequel though I have to say that I felt that to much of this book was setting things up and there wasn't really a strong central story until near the end.

Next on my reading list is "Shamans Crossing" by Robin Hobb.

Prince Caspian was great, but I feel like the film may have ruined it a little bit for me. Every so often something would happen (or be about to happen) and I kept trying to recall what happened in the movie.

I'm going to try to get through at least a hundred pages of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan now, before going on to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm quite excited.

Just finished up Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms

The book has a distinctly British bent on the subject of firearms/gun control (which explains why my gung-ho conservative dad wasn't a huge fan), but I think that if the only problem you have with a book is philosophical, then you're reading a damn good book.

Also, Carrot Ironfoundersson is one of the more awesome characters in popular literature.

---------- Post added at 06:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------

Rob King said:

Prince Caspian was great, but I feel like the film may have ruined it a little bit for me. Every so often something would happen (or be about to happen) and I kept trying to recall what happened in the movie.

I'm going to try to get through at least a hundred pages of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan now, before going on to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm quite excited.

Click to expand...

Yeah, one medium always tends to ruin the other in some way. The movie version LOTR: The Two Towers was ruined for me because I read the books after Fellowship came out. Well, that and the fact that there was a woman in the theater who insisted on loudly proclaiming Orlando Bloom's hotness every time he showed up onscreen.

Soliloquy said:

Just finished up Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms

The book has a distinctly British bent on the subject of firearms/gun control (which explains why my gung-ho conservative dad wasn't a huge fan), but I think that if the only problem you have with a book is philosophical, then you're reading a damn good book.

Also, Carrot Ironfoundersson is one of the more awesome characters in popular literature.

Click to expand...

I intend to eventually read some of Pratchett's stuff. I've heard some great things about the Discworld series, and I have a friend who swears by Good Omens. I already know I enjoy Neil Gaiman, so I think I might let Good Omens be my gateway.

Rob King said:

Prince Caspian was great, but I feel like the film may have ruined it a little bit for me. Every so often something would happen (or be about to happen) and I kept trying to recall what happened in the movie.

I'm going to try to get through at least a hundred pages of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan now, before going on to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm quite excited.

Click to expand...

Prince Caspian was a decent book but it definitely is not the best book in the Narnia series. As far as Voyage of the Dawn Treader goes that is my favorite book in the Narnia series.

Someone in this thread said something similar (That it was their favorite Narnia book) when I started The Horse and his Boy. I have to say, I really enjoyed that one. And I've heard people say that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is arguably the best in the series, so I have great anticipation for it as well.

Also, someone gave me rep with the command that I must read Good Omens post haste. It has just jumped many, many books in the hierarchy of my "Read Next" pile.

When I hit one of these heavy reading phases, it's always a scramble to read everything I've been intending to, before the phase passes.

I said that The Horse and his Boy was one of my favorite books in the Narnia series. To be exact THAHB is tied with The Last Battle for my second favorite book in the Narnia series. But The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is definitely my favorite of the whole series.

Good Omens is indeed excellent. I'd place it alongside the best of Pratchett's Discworld stuff.

I may have, with tears in my eyes, just finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

That's my favorite as well.

The movie seems to be adding a real plot beyond exploration... sadly.

Yeah, there are some things in the trailer that look concerning, but I do trust Walden. They did a pretty good job with the Wardrobe and Caspian, and they seem extremely committed to the franchise.

Finished reading "Shamans Crossing" by Robin Hobb. This series doesn't start as well as some of her others and the first half of the book moves along rather slowly but fortunately it gets better in the second half.

Next up is "Forest Mage" by RObin Hobb, hopefully this one won't have the slow start of the last one.

I haven't bought the next book in Pratchett's City Watch series yet, but I found Reaper Man for 25 cents in a library used book store. I finished it yesterday.

I didn't enjoy it as much as the other Pratchett books I've read. The scenes involving Death/Bill Door were pretty funny, but the rest wasn't so much "funny" as it was "silly." Interesting satire on consumerism... just not a particularly well done one.

I'm taking a bit of a break from Pratchett right now, and have picked up Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Enjoying it so far.

Aye, American Gods was a good one. I myself am hoping to finish Robinson Crusoe and move on to a couple of sets of classic ghost stories. I find I read way, way slower on the iPhone than I do with a real book.

I still prefer real books. No need to recharge them, and if you drop them down the stairs, you still have your book.

Also, more people need to use the word "aye."

I'm reading a real book too (Leaving Home by Garrison Keillor - it's a collection of old "News From Lake Wobegon" updates), but I like to keep a couple of books on my phone for those moments when I find myself trapped somewhere and have a few minutes to kill.

I'm rereading some H.G. Wells. Just finished 'The Island of Doctor Moreau', I'll read 'War of the worlds' next.

My favorite story that I've read by HG Wells was The First Men in the Moon. Just throwing it out there.

Rob King said:

My favorite story that I've read by HG Wells was The First Men in the Moon. Just throwing it out there.

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I haven't read it, but I plan to read all of Wells eventually.

I've only read The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. I own The Invisible Man, but haven't read through it yet.

You've got to admire HG Wells. He's the first science fiction author to just make stuff up without doing loads of research ahead of time.

As do I. I managed to luck into a beautiful leather bound volume of seven of his books at a used book store last year for only five dollars. It contains The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon, The Food of the Gods, In the Days of the Comet, and The War of the Worlds

So far I've only read The Time Machine, The First Men in the Moon and The War of the Worlds. Maybe I should get on that ...

---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:41 PM ----------

Soliloquy said:

I've only read The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. I own The Invisible Man, but haven't read through it yet.

You've got to admire HG Wells. He's the first science fiction author to just make stuff up without doing loads of research ahead of time.

Click to expand...

Reminds me of this comic from Hark, A Vagrant (also, I must make a note here about just how much I love Kate Beaton).

Wells is awesome. I have read The Island of Dr. Moreau 8 times.

'Prendick be damned! Shut Up - that's your name. Mister Shut up.'

Reading that quote in english makes me realise how much I need to start reading these novels I love in english... finding good translations of them is difficult, as they usually are in children's books collections and their translators fail miserably sometimes.

But, of course, I've also reread (in the past few days) I am legend, in the extra-fancy edition of Spain's most important science fiction publisher... and it was still an awful translation full of strange sounding things and typos.

Translations are such a tricky issue. I feel lucky to have English as my first language sometimes. It seems like there is always a decent translation somewhere if you're willing to search for it.

I long since gave up reading anything sci-fi or fantasy in my local language, the only books that have been translated really well are the Lord of the Rings books.

Finished Harry Harrison's Return To Eden. The climax, when it came, was a little less grandiose than the action that had gone on in the previous two books, but it was very fitting somehow. I thought it was a satisfying conclusion to the series, overall. The path that the main character (Kerrick) took had a great arc.

I also read:



I kind of just chose it out of my stash randomly. As far as King goes, I've already read Under the Dome, Salem's Lot, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, and Cell. This story felt a lot different, obviously, as for one thing it was much shorter.

It was told competently, and you got a real sense of the main character's indomitable spirit, but to tell the truth, I never really got close to feeling creeped out or anxious or anything. Then again, it takes a hell of a lot for a book to do that to me. Cell might have managed to build that kind of atmosphere, but this didn't quite cut it.

Overall, it was decent, but I don't feel as if I ever need to read it a second time.

Currently reading Peter Hopkirk's book The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. It's actually fascinating. I just finished the section on the first Anglo-Afghan War, and am about to get into the Crimean War. It's really well written, and I feel like I've got a good understanding of the various characters and factors that were involved in the rivalry between Great Britain and Russia.

Just finished The Dester Spear. Didnt realize the auther graduated from my Alma Mater. I am really digging this fantasy series....this is the 2nd so far out of 5. (the first being The Warded Man) defintiely recocommended if you like faster paced fantasy.

Finished reading "Soldiers Son" trilogy by Robin Hobb. While I found this series to be not as good as her previous work it was still a good read and easily recommendable if you've liked any of her other works.

Next on the reading list is a short story compilation by Lawrence Watt-Evans called "Crosstime traffic" that has been sitting in my book collection for so long that I'd forgotten that I owned it.

Just finished The Great Game. Why is it that I get 80% through a book and only then decide I should have been taking notes as I went?

Will be starting The Last Battle tomorrow, and likely finishing up the Narnia series once and for all in a day or two.

Just started Starstrike by W. Michael Gear. Never heard of him before I picked this book up, so hopefully it'll be good.

Reading David Brin's short story "Thor Meets Captain America". Damn I love this story. It is all sorts of awesome stuffed into a very small package. If it weren't for a Marvel Thor movie coming out, I'd love to see it made into a film.

So I just finished The Last Battle, and thus all of Narnia. I kinda sorta get the controversy/problem people have with Susan no longer being a friend of Narnia, because it looks like Lewis is commenting that womanly things are inherently bad. But I think the role of "lost friend to Narnia" sort of falls to Susan more by accident than anything else.

I mean, one of the themes that kept coming through in these books (and in a lot of Lewis' thought, to be fair) is that growing up shouldn't mean the end of childlike wonder and play and all of that. I don't remember what the context is (perhaps he was discussing Narnia), but I remember him being quoted somewhere as saying something along the lines of "When I grew up I put away childish things, including the fear of appearing childish." which one might notice is a modification of a quote from the bible.

Anyhow, Susan. Clearly Lewis wanted to illustrate this using one of the four Pevensie children, but as I see it, the way the story went left his hands tied as to who it could be. Peter is High King, so it really couldn't be him. Edmund is the reformed traitor: nobody owes Aslan more than he does. That only really leaves the two girls, and Lucy has been the faithful one all through the series, so it could only really be Susan who turned her back on Narnia and those 'childish things.'

A little bit of reading on the subject further convinces me. They talk about how Susan is only interested in makeup and boys and all that, and is no longer interested in Narnia in The Last Battle. But it's not her interest in makeup and boys and womanly things that precludes her presence in Narnia, it's her disinterest in Narnia. After all, it has been pointed out to me that Susan's femininity is a major (positive) point in The Horse and His Boy.

I wish that the child who had been lost to Narnia could have been a boy, because it would have avoided what seems to be the most-criticized aspect of the Narnia series I've seen, the question of whether it carries sexist undertones. But from the beginning it was Susan who bore the title "Most Likely to be Lost."

Those are some thoughts of mine. I'm glad I finally finished this. I've got a few other books on my docket for the next few weeks, but I'm thinking I might finally get into The Lord of the Rings afterward.

The Lord of the Rings is going to feel like a mighty slog after the quick reading nature of Narnia.

Just read Pygmy by chuck palahniuk. fucking amazing.

escushion said:

The Lord of the Rings is going to feel like a mighty slog after the quick reading nature of Narnia.

Click to expand...

Maybe not The Hobbit though... it was written to be read to children, and flows much faster than the other books in my opinion.

AshburnerX;422366][QUOTE=escushion said:

The Lord of the Rings is going to feel like a mighty slog after the quick reading nature of Narnia.

Click to expand...

Maybe not The Hobbit though... it was written to be read to children, and flows much faster than the other books in my opinion.[/QUOTE]

I'm under no illusion there, believe me.

Rob King;422368][QUOTE=AshburnerX;422366][QUOTE=escushion said:

The Lord of the Rings is going to feel like a mighty slog after the quick reading nature of Narnia.

Click to expand...

Maybe not The Hobbit though... it was written to be read to children, and flows much faster than the other books in my opinion.[/QUOTE]

I'm under no illusion there, believe me.[/QUOTE]

In my opinion, it's a better book than LOTR, which spends way too much time detailing swamps, and I can see that being where Robert Jordan got his inspiration.

I just finished reading Philip Muthacluckin' Pullman's Northern Lights, or rather The Golden Compass. I had already seen the movie, but it's been a while, and what actually went on has since blurred somewhat, but I still remembered enough to realize why the movie made an ass out of itself:

Firstly, the ending (of the movie) sucked because it wasn't the real gatdamn climax.

Secondly, I remember bears slapping each other about, but I'm fairly certain no one ripped anyone's gory, still-beating heart out and made a meal out of it. I don't care if the movie was for all ages. I CAN'T HELP LIKING COOL THINGS.

Thirdly, I got such a terrific sense of the bond between humans and their daemons in the book, that I'm tempted to go back and watch the movie again, because I don't remember getting that sense of caring and love at all.

It seems as though the pooch was screwed harder and more vigorously than I had previously thought, because I considered the movie okay at the time (despite my being annoyingly confused during a few bits), but clearly, the book was pretty damn entertaining.

The biggest flaw I can think of was that the alethiometer made shit a little too damn easy sometimes, but what ya gonna do. I didn't really think about that until after I was finished reading, though, so I guess Philip Pullman did his job, that tricky dick!

I shall now pursue the sequels. They'd better be pretty ding-danged blasphemous, for all I've heard!

Philosopher B. said:

The biggest flaw I can think of was that the alethiometer made shit a little too damn easy sometimes, but what ya gonna do. I didn't really think about that until after I was finished reading, though, so I guess Phillip Pullman did his job, that tricky dick!

Click to expand...

Read the sequels. It becomes apparent that the alethiometer wasn't making things easy for them and may have actually made things worse.

Ooh! I am intrigued.

Philosopher B. said:

Secondly, I remember bears slapping each other about, but I'm fairly certain no one ripped anyone's gory, still-beating heart out and made a meal out of it. I don't care if the movie was for all ages. I CAN'T HELP LIKING COOL THINGS.

Click to expand...

Ripping the other bear's jaw off was more than I expected from what was supposed to be a kid's movie. It was easily my favorite part of that entire film.

The books have been way sensationalized. Phillip Pullman tries too hard, but that's not to say that the process isn't entertaining.

Chazwozel said:

Just read Pygmy by chuck palahniuk. fucking amazing.

Click to expand...

Have you read other books by him, and if so, how does this one compare? I read Haunted, which was pretty well the book that proved the flaw in my "If I start it, I'm going to finish it" rule. I got about half way through Fight Club and decided that he was the first author I had read whose work was better as a movie. I'm always willing to give someone another chance though.

Right now I'm reading ghost stories by Algernon Blackwood on my iPhone and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norris in dead tree form. I'm also waiting with baited breath for the library to cough up my copies of The Goon and Scott Pilgrim, which I'll work into the mix somehow.

Been reading a bunch of books lately.

"Childhoods End" by Arthur C. Clarke which was pretty good though as usual his characters were rather flat and secondary to the story.

"Jupiter Project" By Gregory Benford. He wrote this novel back in the 70's and he clearly wasnðt optimistic about the near future as he was predicting that the Earth would start facing major problems as early as the 90's

"Denners Wreck" by Lawrance Watt-Evans. This was an ok book though I prefer his fantasy books to his sci-fi stuff.

Currently reading "Noonshade" by James Barclay which is the first book that is number two in a series that I have read without first reading the first book. My sister gave it to me as a christmas present about 5-6 years ago and it took till now for me to read it, so far it's actually been pretty good and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pick up the story from the first book.

Finished 'Crooked Little Vein' by Warren Ellis.

I think I may have to rant about this at some point when I'm not so pissed off and able to be more....clear.

Hint: I really fucking hated this book.

Just finished The Bookseller of Kabul last night. It's the story of an Afghan family over the course of three months in 2001/2002ish. The author, Anse Seierstad, is a journalist who embedded herself with the Northern Alliance during the march on Kabul. When in Kabul she met a man she names Sultan Kahn, who owns a series of booshops in Kabul (tititular character). She asks and is given permission to live with his family for three months, in order to produce an account of life in Afghanistan.

It's fascinating. I'd encourage everyone to read this. I'm loaning this out to a friend tomorrow, and already have two or three others interested in borrowing it. I realize nobody in the west is under any illusions about the status of women in Afghanistan, but to be given a work that places the status of women in a social context is something new. Besides that, it's incredible just to meet with the life and attitudes of Afghan individuals in this narrative.

Check. It. Out.

After long delay, I've been reading the Ciaphas Cain Omnibus (Warhammer 40,000) by Sandy Mitchell. It's everything that was missing from every other W40k book/story I'd read. I'm glad the people in the Dark Millennium Online topic got me off my ass to read it. I'm still early in the first book, but I'm loving it.

Wyrminarrd said:

"Childhoods End" by Arthur C. Clarke which was pretty good though as usual his characters were rather flat and secondary to the story.

Click to expand...

That book was awesome. SPOILERS:
I haven't finished Lost yet, and I know this doesn't fit the series ending (as far as my vage knowledge of it goes), but it was a very interesting filter to invent theories about the series while I was watching it.

I recently re-read Ubik, by Philip K. Dick. It was a good read, but not as good as the first time.

Finished reading "Noonshade" by James Barclay, pretty good book and I definitely will have to try to get my hands on the third book in the series.

Currently reading "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke and so far I'm really liking it a lot.

Just finished the first three trades of The Goon, and will now sit and pout that none of the local libraries have any others currently.

I will, however, console myself by picking up the first Scott Pilgrim book on the way home from work. Man I love the library.

Currently reading The Prince by Machiavelli

Free kindle download

Rereading for the first time in 20 years my leather bound edition of the More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

LittleSin said:

Finished 'Crooked Little Vein' by Warren Ellis.

I think I may have to rant about this at some point when I'm not so pissed off and able to be more....clear.

Hint: I really fucking hated this book.

Click to expand...

Ooh, colour me interested in your rantings.

sixpackshaker said:

Rereading for the first time in 20 years my leather bound edition of the More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Click to expand...

Is yours the version with the titles on the spine "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" and "The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy"? That's what mine has on it.

Sparhawk;431232][QUOTE=sixpackshaker said:

Rereading for the first time in 20 years my leather bound edition of the More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Click to expand...

Is yours the version with the titles on the spine "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" and "The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy"? That's what mine has on it.[/QUOTE]

yep and...

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Young Zaphop Plays it Safe - I don't think I ever finished that short story...

sixpackshaker;431234][QUOTE=Sparhawk;431232][QUOTE=sixpackshaker said:

Rereading for the first time in 20 years my leather bound edition of the More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Click to expand...

Is yours the version with the titles on the spine "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" and "The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy"? That's what mine has on it.[/QUOTE]

yep and...

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Young Zaphop Plays it Safe - I don't think I ever finished that short story...[/QUOTE]

I just get a kick out of the fact that they swapped the words in the titles on the fancy leather cover, it's correct in the book, but wrong on the spine.

I don't think I'm getting what you are saying...

---------- Post added at 09:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 PM ----------

sixpackshaker said:

I don't think I'm getting what you are saying...

---------- Post added at 09:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 PM ----------

Click to expand...

Yours is the corrected version, the original version swapped the words "Galaxy" and "Universe" in the first two titles on the spine. So instead of being "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" as it should be and is on your copy, it was printed "Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe."

Yeah, I did not read your first post with an editor's eye. I skim a lot...

Just finished the first Scott Pilgrim book. Maybe it suffered from coming right after The Goon, which could not have matched my sense of humor more perfectly, but it gets a resounding "meh".

I'll read the next one and see if it improves, but it just didn't move me much.

Read through the entire Hunger Games trilogy in the last few days. I am seriously having a hard time dealing with the end of Mockingjay. I could sort of feel the end coming, and I could sort of predict the flavor of the final chapters before I actually experienced them, but I sincerely expected things to turn around, and for the book to end with a beautiful sunset or a rainbow or something pretty and nice.

Instead I got something real, which I really appreciate, but have trouble dealing with. The Hunger Games trilogy is almost exactly the story that I want to write ... that I have been plotting in my mind for years. The story of young and hopefuls being sucked into a whirlwind of events that are larger than them. Almost completely out of their control, except for how they will deal with the consequences of their own actions.

Seriously. I will be out of sorts for a few days. I'm not sure how else to put it but "The Hunger Games Trilogy left me deeply affected."

Because I've never read it before.

I just finished reading "A Time Odyssey" trilogy by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. While the books have been good i found that the ending of the series wasn't all that strong, hopefully Stephen Baxter will write more set in this world ( He might even have done so already, I haven't checked".

Next up on the reading list is "The Evolutionary Void" by Peter F. Hamilton, hopefully it will be as great as the first two books in the series.

New phone book: The Great God Pan. I'm reading it on the basis of Stephen King saying it was perhaps the greatest English horror story ever written.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

I have never watched the movie but I found the book to be pretty good. Having completed the dark tower series some time ago I found that I have been motivated to read his other books which are connected to it.

All I've had time for is my required reading for class: The Iliad, translated by Richmond Lattimore.
It is pretty awesome, although I have to admit to having to discuss it with others and use sparknotes in order to actually understand a lot of the prose.

Psmith In the City - P.G. Wodehouse

I'm not hugely familiar with cricket (nor its rules), but I love Plum so goddamn much. Psmith is an awesome character. Reading about his shenanigans in the bank (based, no doubt, on the bank at which P.G. Wodehouse's worked) was a real treat.

Highlights include the fight in the park, and basically every single thing out of Psmith's mouth.

Gunpowder Empire - Harry Turtledove

I have not read much alternate history, so perhaps I enjoyed this more than I should've. But there were some annoying aspects to it. For one thing, the book's *message* that all cultures are wrapped up in themselves and therefore can't see their own eccentricities was rather clumsily illustrated by the ridiculous extent to which fur nauseated the main characters.

Also, despite this book (which I guess was supposed to be YA) featuring blood and destruction, there wasn't enough conflict. In the end, the Crosstime Traders were able to keep their operation fairly stable without major hassle.

And they go to all this trouble for a smidgen of goddamn grain? For a society capable of such impressive technology, you'd think someone could do something about the food/fuel crisis.

And yes, slavery is bad. We get it.

... actually, you know what? Screw this book.

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer

I was mildly amused, if not particularly impressed, by the first Artemis Fowl book. I felt as though it had some plot/pace issues. The pace of this book was much better, though I got the distinct impression that Colfer wished he was writing a screenplay.

I've just finished the first volume of the Baroque Cycle, Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. It was alright. I wish I had The Confusion and The System of the World as well, so that I could keep reading - the story feels woefully unfinished at this point. Like a sort of overly large (919 pages) introduction. Despite that, it was amusing and intriguing. His portrayal of both Newton and Leibniz are amazingly fun to read but the main characters are definitely engaging as well.

Just finished CryoBurn, the latest installment in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga.

Lord Auditor Miles Vorkosigan at his best again! And oh boy, what an ending.

I read The Screwtape Letters today by C. S. Lewis. I was suprised how much this book sucked me in. It's not very long, but I figured it'd at least last me a week instead of just a day. I just couldn't put it down. This is one of those books I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone.

I've been reading books from the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I've had several unread books in this series sitting in my collection for years but somehow never got around to reading until now. Currently on "In enemy Hands" and will probably move on to the next one when I'm finished with it.

The Lovely Bones

Just started How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Wu.

On the surface, it seems to be just what you take from the title...the story of a time machine repairman. And time travel is based on science fiction universes and rules...with allusions to literary and grammatical influences on universe creation. But it's also a somewhat sad (so far) tale of a son and his lost (in time and/or in other ways) father.

His first customer is L. Skywalker. Linus. The son. There's also a very strong Dr. Who vibe about the main character...though less of a Time Lord and more of a Time Janitor/Lackey.

Will follow up as I continue.

I am reading a history about Dracula

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Dracula-History-Vampires/dp/0395657830

I have a first edition from the 70's that is in pretty bad shape. The premise of the book is these two guys find the "Historical Dracula," Vlad Tepes. I thought Stoker used Vlad's name in the book, but it has been a long time since I read it. Out side of that, there is some interesting work done with their research.

A Study in Scarlet.

Rereading Metamorphosis by Kafka. Just finished Transmetropolitan: The New Scum, which was great and makes me very disappointed that this is where my access ends in the series until the library picks up more of them. Also started the Harry Potter books, but promptly lost access to the first one when my daughter started reading it.

Just as I planned.

Just finished Zombieslayer, the latest Gotrek and Felix novel, and now reading The Emperor's Finest, the latest Ciaphas Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!) novel.

Before Zombieslayer I just finished reading most of the Drizzt books.

Fun fact: Whenever I read a book, I read it out loud to the little woman. We start to notice repetitive tendencies in their writing style, and turn it into a drinking game... Like in the Wheel of Time series, every time a female character "sniffed" = take a drink... or every time an entire paragraph was devoted to intricately describing in great detail the exact compositions of someone's clothing right down to the pattern and color of the thread, for a couple examples. Drizzt books had the phrase "called upon the innate magic of his heritage" when drizzt summons a globe of darkness (or levitates, in the early books), or someone "rested their hand on the pommel of their sword." For Ciaphas Cain novels, it's whenever Gunner Jurgen's abilities are described as "preternatural" or a large drop is described as "vertiginous" or Cain's narration pulls a "if I'd known I was about to be thrust into the most terrifying ordeal of my life, I'd have run the hell away" type foreshadow. For Gotrek and Felix books, whenever Gotrek runs his thumb along the blade of his axe until he draws blood, or hates something "almost as much as I hate elves," two drinks if the thing he hates is or is related to trees. Also, naturally, any time Felix thinks "this is finally it, we're going to die."

Of course, those are just a partial list, there are lots more drinking cues from repetitive writing in those books, and others. Usually there's at least one every chapter or two. Don't even get me started on how bad I had to whiz after a session of reading a Shannara book. Four words: "Little company from Culhaven."

I don't want to start a new thread so, I'm going to ask here. My wife loves mystery novels. Now she is reading all the book of Agatha Christie I could find. Any recommendations about modern detectives and mysteries?

if she likes the light weight detective novels, she might try the "The Cat Who..." series of novels. Not gritty crime but fun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Who_series

Thanks. Hopefully I will find those books in spanish

Reviving this because books are important too.

I recently started Mogworld, Yahtzee's book. Surprise, surprise, it's pretty damn funny! Actually, I am impressed because while his humor online is generally turn of phrase, it's used for vulgarity and insult. Here he puts it to less venomous use, and it's great. It's reminiscent to Terry Pratchett, and worth checking out if you're into that sort of humorous fantasy.

Finished The Passage recently. Good fun.

I finished a few books the past couple weeks, didn't get around to mentioning them though.
First was A Tough Trip Through Paradise. It's the journal of a fur trader who spent a year with the Native Americans in the Yellowstone area during 1878. Very interesting read.
Second was Deadeye Dick. Loved this book. I flew though it in no time, I couldn't put it down. I think it's one of my favorites.
Last was Out of the Silent Planet. It took a bit for me to get into it, but I really enjoyed it. I'm reading the next book, Perelandra, now.

I have been reading through the MythAdventures series. So far I have finished reading the following

Another Fine Myth
Myth Conceptions
Myth Directions
Hit or Myth

Hylian said:

I have been reading through the MythAdventures series. So far I have finished reading the following

Another Fine Myth
Myth Conceptions
Myth Directions
Hit or Myth

Click to expand...

Excellent books. It's a shame the new entries don't seem quite as good as the old ones (though I am liking the new Phule's Company books).