Reading at t'moment?

#4641 stone monkey

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 06:59 PM

Currently reading You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers which is (after 100 pages or so) a much better read than A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was. Also re-reading The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Montserrat; I hadn't read this for the best part of 15 years, so it's a little like revisiting a house where you used to live. It's a great and interesting book which turns out to be not quite the book you think it's going to be if you come to it cold; I would advise everyone to read it.

I got both books in the Waterstones sale for the grand total of 6 quid. Result! :pirate:

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. … So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. Bertrand Russell

#4642 Tarcanus

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 08:53 PM

I just finished Princeps' Fury, which did not disappointed, and have now started Perdido Street Station again. I picked it up once before, but the goofy alien races turned me off within the first 50 pages. It's not bugging me so much this time(pun intended).

#4643 Grief

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 09:49 PM

Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space is sitting tempting me. I have studying to do, and I don't want to start in case it distracts me too much.

Much the same reason I am avoiding the next bunch of dresden books after demolisihing the first six. Hard to put down those books...

Cougar said:

Grief, FFS will you do something with your sig, it's bloody awful

worry said:

Grief is right (until we abolish capitalism).

#4644 masan's saddle

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 10:51 PM

Finally finished Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan...impressive, most impressive. I enjoyed this book immensely even though work and life in general meant I had to read it in snatches of spare time. Fantastic concepts, well paced, great characters ( Kovacs is a brilliant creation and the "otherness" but ultimately human failings of the meths was really well conveyed), and a plot layered and thick enough to get your boots stuck in means I will definitely be reading the rest of the Kovacs novels.

That said however, next up is The Steel Remains. Should be interesting.

Now all the friends that you knew in school they used to be so cool, now they just bore you.
Just look at em' now, already pullin' the plow. So quick to take to grain, like some old mule.

#4645 Abyss

abyssus abyssum invocat

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 10:54 PM

Grief, on 20 January 2010 - 09:49 PM, said:

Wow, that IS a tough slate to resist.

I thought RevSpace was brilliant. Slow but entirely enjoyable.

As for Dresden, if you've read the first six then you haven't read DEAD BEAT and your life remains incomplete and empty. Go read it now. You'll thankcurse me.

- Abyss, ...GO. GO READ IT. NOW.

THIS IS YOUR REMINDER THAT THERE IS A
'VIEW NEW CONTENT' BUTTON THAT
ALLOWS YOU TO VIEW NEW CONTENT

#4646 QuickTidal

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 11:22 PM

Abyss, on 20 January 2010 - 10:54 PM, said:

Grief, on 20 January 2010 - 09:49 PM, said:

As for Dresden, if you've read the first six then you haven't read DEAD BEAT and your life remains incomplete and empty. Go read it now. You'll thankcurse me.

- Abyss, ...GO. GO READ IT. NOW.

Yep, this is the same sentence Abyss said to me when I was on the cusp of DEAD BEAT..and I did as he bade me, and you will NOT regret taking that advice.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#4647 Gwynn ap Nudd

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Posted 21 January 2010 - 05:54 AM

Splitting time between Furies of Calderon, Perdido Street Station and a reread of God Knows (one of my all time favourites, now if I could only find my copy of Live from Golgotha).

#4648 Grief

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Posted 21 January 2010 - 11:33 PM

Damn recommendations.

It's been ordered now...

Cougar said:

Grief, FFS will you do something with your sig, it's bloody awful

worry said:

Grief is right (until we abolish capitalism).

#4649 Mentalist

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Posted 22 January 2010 - 02:53 AM

QuickTidal, on 20 January 2010 - 11:22 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 January 2010 - 10:54 PM, said:

Grief, on 20 January 2010 - 09:49 PM, said:

As for Dresden, if you've read the first six then you haven't read DEAD BEAT and your life remains incomplete and empty. Go read it now. You'll thankcurse me.

- Abyss, ...GO. GO READ IT. NOW.

Yep, this is the same sentence Abyss said to me when I was on the cusp of DEAD BEAT..and I did as he bade me, and you will NOT regret taking that advice.

I was in the same boat as Grief with respect to studying.

I read Dead Beat in one night.

Edit: i'm still trudging through ian Irvine's "Shado on the glass". The premise is interesting, and he's got some interesting worldbuilding ideas, but the pacing's just awful. the nature of my schedule's not helping either.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 22 January 2010 - 02:55 AM

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Jump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.

#4650 kcf

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Posted 22 January 2010 - 03:29 PM

I finsished up Crack'd Pot Trail by Steven Erikson (the latest Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novella). I really liked it - Erikson takes a lot of chance and I think he'll piss off more than a few Malazan fans with this one. But he's got balls and wrote something that I think most authors only dream of writing. (full review)

Next up will probably be Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Neth Space

#4651 EsotericForest

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Posted 23 January 2010 - 05:02 PM

The Burning Land - Bernard Cornwell

"Ignoring him, she stepped back out of the ellipse and began singing in the Woman's Language, which was, of course, unintelligible to Iskaral's ears. Just as the Man's Language-which Mongora called gibberish-was beyond her ability to understand. The reason for that, Iskaral Pust knew, was that the Man's Language was gibberish, designed specifically to confound women."

-The Bonehunters-
__________________________

"What's wrong with the world? You ask a man and he says, 'Don't ask.' Ask a woman and you'll be dead of old age before she's finished"

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#4652 Astra

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Posted 24 January 2010 - 01:52 PM

Finished The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver.
Big Brother idea is a little bit scary, otherwise the thriller is unremarkable.

Back to escapist world.
Fantasy.
Started When True Night Falls (Coldfire 2) by C.S. Friedman

Only Two Things Are Infinite, The Universe and Human Stupidity, and I'm Not Sure About The Former.
Albert Einstein

#4653 Ain't_It_Just_

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Posted 25 January 2010 - 01:12 AM

I just finished reading the Black Company trilogy. It was great, but I was a little irritated by the entirely first-person perspective of Croaker. I realise he couldn't be everywhere at once, but there was little in the way of describing battles and such. Mind you, it was set over a few years...

I think I will begin Perdido Street Station next-I love steampunk.

Suck it Errant!

"It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum...and I'm all out of gum."

QUOTE (KeithF @ Jun 30 2009, 09:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the most powerful force on Wu is a bunch of messed-up Malazans with Moranth munitions.

#4654 caladanbrood

Ugly on the Inside

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Posted 25 January 2010 - 01:33 AM

About 1/3 of the way through Best Served Cold, and actually really enjoying it. I had heard some people thought it was weaker than Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, but I think it's pretty close really. Good fun, and some pretty cool cameos from First Law characters

O xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti têde; keimetha tois keinon rhémasi peithomenoi.

#4655 Jusentantaka

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Posted 25 January 2010 - 02:45 AM

Reading The Sound and the Fury for the first time since high school. Vladie and Victor just got kicked out of the car.

#4656 QuickTidal

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Posted 25 January 2010 - 04:40 AM

Currently reading James Rollins newest Sigma Force novel THE DOOMSDAY KEY. Good stuff so far. I dig this guys writing.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#4657 maro

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Posted 25 January 2010 - 05:23 AM

Reading Under the Dome by Stephen King.

It's ok - he really has become a hack though. The same trope in different flavours.

Will be on Night of Knives soon then RoTCG.

Blood's a Rover after that.

#4658 alestar

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Posted 26 January 2010 - 02:48 AM

Stephen King's "Under the Dome"...about halfway through, its good enough to keep going

#4659 Salt-Man Z

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Posted 29 January 2010 - 04:55 PM

Last week I finished John Brown's Servant of a Dark God [full review]; it was okay. Richer than your standard farmboy fantasy, but with an unrelatable protagonist and some plot twists that materialized out of left field. Not really my cup o' tea, but less demanding readers will enjoy it more than I did.

Last night I finished Richard Adams' Daniel [full review], the first-person narrative of an American slave who escapes to England and joins the Abolition movement. The first half was excellent, but once he falls in with the Abolitionists, the story starts to read like a textbook. Still fairly informative, if not as enjoyable.

Next up is an advance copy of Patrick Doud's The Hunt for the Eye of Ogin. I'm kinda dreading the YA-ness of it, but reviews I've seen so far have been stellar, so here's hoping...

"Here is light. You will say that it is not a living entity, but you miss the point that it is more, not less. Without occupying space, it fills the universe. It nourishes everything, yet itself feeds upon destruction. We claim to control it, but does it not perhaps cultivate us as a source of food? May it not be that all wood grows so that it can be set ablaze, and that men and women are born to kindle fires?"
―Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch

#4660 Riot

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Posted 29 January 2010 - 09:04 PM

Nearing the end of the Complete Chronicles of Conan and its great fun. Not as trashy as i thought it would have been. Defo see the influences for fantasy in general. good to see some cross over from lovecrafts work, not too great but little bits here and there.

to read list:

the city & the city - china mieville. i hear its not as good as some of his other work, but sounds very interesting.
under the dome - king. the cover says his finest epic since the stand, so here's hoping
the reality dysfunction - peter f hamilton. fancied a big sci fi book, and its pretty big
revelation space - alastair reynolds. seems to have alot of respect on here, so thought i would give it a try
devices & desires - k j parker. never read any of her work, cover kinda reminds me of devanci's diagrams. enough to spark my interest