[Salt-Man Z]

Tarcanus, on Jun 17 2009, 01:33 PM, said:

I just started Zelazny's _Nine Princes in Amber_ today. So far it's nice. I thought it would be stuffier since it's so old.

I read all 10 of those earlier this year, and was surprised at just how fresh they seemed. About the only thing that really dates the first series is the constant chain-smoking. (That and one instance of the word "jive".)

[Eddie Dean]

Just finished Sanderson's new book "Warbreaker". It started out pretty slow, the magic was kind of wierd and took a while to get used to and wasn't as good as Mistborn/Elantris, but overall it was pretty good. The last 100 pages are awesome and it has some good twists and turns along the way. I would definatly reccomend it, especially to Sanderson fans.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

I've finished reading Kafka's Metamorphosis and despitr not being aracnophobic I was somewhat disgusted. Isn't it strange? I can read unflinchingly scenes of torture and of battles full of gore and blood and yet I was disgusted by the story of a man transformed in big insect.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Henry Zou's 'Emperor's Mercy', a tale of the Inquisition in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This was a slow plodding book at times and the flashes of potential only served to show how annoying the rest of the book could be. Plenty there to put me off but just enough to keep me going... My full review is over Here. I'm now finishing off 'House of Lost Souls'...

[Fist Gamet]

Whew, finally finished The Naked God and need a change.

Now reading "For Whom the bell tolls" By Hemingway

[stone monkey]

I'm reading the Icelandic Sagas at the moment. I have read them before, so they're old friends. The translation I have (in a rather nice deluxe edition from Penguin Classics) is very good. The language is beautiful and spare. That, according to one of the scholarly introductions, has a lot to do with the nature of Old Norse, apparently.

After which I'll probably have a go at Njal's Saga again, which isn't included in the book I'm reading now. It's another old friend, and I'm rather looking forward to making its acquaintance for the second time.

I'm also reading The Life of Pi, on a recommendation from a friend. I must say that I'm not as impressed with it as I might be. But it is early days yet and things may improve. My friend got Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges in return; which, depending on her taste, may or may not mean she's the winner of that particular exchange. We'll see...

[Coco with marshmallows]

just finished retribution falls by Chris Wooding

pretty decent - i'd give it a 6/7 out of 10

now reading an EXCELLENT history of the thirty years war by C.V. Wedgewood

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Finished reading Candid by Voltaire a highly ironic work where Voltaire bashes all the theories he dislikes.
Started One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzenicyn, the first book in Russian literature where it's described the terible life conditions in a Sovietic gulag

[Deornoth]

Finished reading the ARC of F.G. Cottam's 'The House of Lost Souls', where dark magic spawned in the nineteen twenties reaches out into present day London... This was a genuinely scary book that was spoilt only by the author waxing overly lyrical about student life in eighties London. There's only so much scene that needs to be set! My full review is over Here. The plan now is to finish Chris Wooding's 'Retribution Falls' over the weekend...

[Dolorous Menhir]

I finished Acacia by David Anthony Durham earlier today. It was excellent, I would recommend it to anyone, fantasy reader or not.

[Yellow]

Reading The Gunslinger at the moment. I was surprised how short it is, what with it being a Stephen King book and all.

Tbh, I'm not too impressed with it. I'll see how it ends and decide whether to carry on with the series or not. Plus, cowboys just don't do it for me.

[Astra]

Yellow, on Jun 21 2009, 04:11 PM, said:

Reading The Gunslinger at the moment. I was surprised how short it is, what with it being a Stephen King book and all.

Tbh, I'm not too impressed with it. I'll see how it ends and decide whether to carry on with the series or not. Plus, cowboys just don't do it for me.

I would advise you to persist. Gunslinger is different from the following books.
When I read it I was not impressed at all. Then book 2 changed my attitude. Now, comes an interesting part. When I finished book 4, Wizard and Glass, I decided I want to re-read The Gunslinger and I never regretted it.
I even put a short review on amazon:

Quote

I just finished re-reading The Gunslinger. I must confess that when I read it for the first time I was not impressed. I have decided to re-read it after I have read the first 4 books and Surprise! Surprise! it was much more interesting. I think the reason behind it is that I have got to know Roland better from the book 4 - Wizard and Glass (about his past). It helped to understand The Gunslinger. In the introduction and foreword of this new edition S. King mentions The Lord of the Rings a few times and that he wanted to write as great book or better. To tell truth, while reading the following books, I felt an influence of Tolkien, which is a positive sign.
This edition is very well made. It has a beautiful dust jacket and many "odd" pictures inside. They are trying to convey some of the ideas of the book but sometimes they are so obscure it is hard to understand what the artist wanted to tell us.
All in all, in my opinion The Gunslinger is a great book and a good start for great story.

[Yellow]

I hear the series ties in a lot of stuff from his other books (e.g. the Turtle from IT and Flagg from Eyes of the Dragon). I'm not asking for spoilers (NO SPOILERS!) but I'd love it if this is true.

[Slow Ben]

yes, it is true. Flagg is also from the Stand. There's a couple other characters from various books also. Salems Lot, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantic, etc.


I really enjoyed Acacia also btw.

Getting ready to start Warbreaker by Sanderson.

This post has been edited by Slow Ben: 21 June 2009 - 03:52 PM

[Yellow]

Slow Ben, on Jun 21 2009, 04:49 PM, said:

Flagg is also from the Stand.

Cool. I always meant to read the Stand, but didn't really have time for it when I tried a few years ago. I'm totally going to read it on holiday this year. And probably for a few months afterwards That's a long book.

[Valgard]

Have just finished Best Served Cold the new Abercrombie book. It is easily as good as his previous efforts, possibly even better we meet a number of great new characters and are re-introduced to some old ones as well, but they are only minor characters from the previous books. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that enjoyed any of the First Law trilogy.

Currently reading Massacre at Monsegeur, which is a history of the Cathar crusades in the early 1200s. Looking good so far.

[Astra]

Yellow, on Jun 21 2009, 04:53 PM, said:

Slow Ben, on Jun 21 2009, 04:49 PM, said:

Flagg is also from the Stand.

Cool. I always meant to read the Stand, but didn't really have time for it when I tried a few years ago. I'm totally going to read it on holiday this year. And probably for a few months afterwards That's a long book.

IMHO:
Although The Stand is a very good book, you don't have to read it before the Dark Tower series (as well as Insomnia, don't have to).
However, it would very helpful if you read Salems Lot after Wizard of Glass, before Wolves of Calla.
And Hearts in Atlantis after Wolves of Calla, before Song of Susannah.

[Yellow]

Meh, I absolutely love some of King's books, but I also know the type to stay away from. I've always wanted to read the Stand, but Salem's lot has never appealed at all.

I thought Insomnia was great until about half way through

Spoiler

when it turned out his friend could see stuff too.

And the ending was terrible (which I'm guessing is the bit that ties in with the Dark Tower).

[teholbeddict]

Well I've just finished reading my way through the first nine of the Dresden Files. I've taken a short break from them to start reading Codex Alera with KM.

I must say I am really enjoying the Dresden series! I am angry at myself for waiting as long as I have to get to them. They were sitting in my to read pile for over a year. The thing I like most about this series is the books are just good simple reads. There is nothing overly complicated, the characters aren't pretentious, there's nothing to confuse the reader. It's been a long time since I've read a series that was nothing more than straight forward and enjoyable. It was really refreshing, I love the series.

[kcf]

I finished up Green by Jay Lake last week and got my review up. It's pretty good, but does have a few issues.

Now I'm about half-way through Best Served Cold by Abercrombie. So far it's good, but not the second coming that some of the early reviews would make it seem.