Reading at t'moment?

#5101 Adjutant Stormy~

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 09:33 AM

Abyss, on 03 June 2010 - 08:57 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 22 May 2010 - 06:15 AM, said:

Halfway through Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. It's a pleasure reading author's who do not sacrifice prose for world building.
...

I'd like to know what you think about it. it's sitting in the TRP and i can't quite muster the need to read. Still too annoyed after IDORU i suppose.

MTS, on 22 May 2010 - 05:00 PM, said:

Just finished Neuromancer and about to have a crack at Weeks' Night Angel series.

You. Were having an excellent reading week.

Gibson is fantastic, and I do believe Neuromancer is on a mandatory reading list. Idoru, meh, but the rest of his work is pretty solid (though the sequels to Neuromancer get absurdly crazy).

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Aptorian @ Nov 1 2008, 06:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=462161"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>God damn. Mighty drunk. Must ... what is the english movement movement movement for drunk... with out you seemimg drunk?

bla bla bla

Peopleare harrasing me... grrrrrh.

Also people with big noses aren't jews, they're just french

EDIT: We has editted so mucj that5 we're not quite sure... also, leave britney alone.</div>

#5102 acesn8s

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 01:56 PM

Just finished Kay's Under Heaven and have started Esslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard.

“The others followed, and found themselves in a small, stuffy basement, which would have been damp, smelly, close, and dark, were it not, in fact, well-lit, which prevented it from being dark.”
― Steven Brust, The Phoenix Guards

#5103 The Seguleh 46th

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 06:58 PM

Dark Wolf, on 01 June 2010 - 02:08 PM, said:

I've finished N.K. Jemisin's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms". It is an interesting novel and quite surprising since the synopsis doesn't reveal all that is inside the covers. But better that it didn't because otherwise I am not sure if I would have picked this novel up. I've posted a full review on my blog.

Been tempted to pick up that Hundred Thousand Kingdoms as well, so i will definitely read your review. Heading to the bookstore in a bit, and was also thinking about picking up the series Tyrants and Kings (John Marco?), which sounded interesting in the "Instrumentalities of the Night" way of fusing technology and magic with the standard sword and shieldplay. Also wanna read the DragonAge books by David Gaider (?) as i absolutely love the games, and wonder if the books will be good reads. I have a feeling they will be mostly popcorn fare, but i can live with that.

#5104 The Seguleh 46th

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 07:07 PM

Also, anyone read the Black Jewels Trilogy (think that is the name anyhow)? Been reading the reviews and synopsises on Amazon, and while it sounds kinda lame, it also is having a kinda a pull effect on me. The reviews are all over the place, but i like the idea of a total dark universe kind of setting. Basically just wondering if this would even be worth the investment, so any help/insight/opinion swaying would be greatly appreciated!

#5105 stone monkey

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 07:57 PM

I'm just starting on a re-read of Italo Calvino's If, On A Winter's Night, A Traveller It's absolutely fantastic stuff... Vertiginous even. The nested metafictions and the way he addresses the reader and their experience of reading the book is amazing. Not one for those of you who like your books straightforward and easy to read, though...

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

#5106 teholbeddict

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 08:09 PM

The Seguleh 46th, on 07 June 2010 - 07:07 PM, said:

If you mean Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy, then yes I've read it. Its a good trilogy, nothing super spectacular, but it offers an interesting perspective and contains some stuff that isn't in every other fantasy book out there. I think it would probably appeal more to female readers (women hold the power in this series and use the males as sex slaves, control them with cock rings - yes I said cock rings). Lots of sex and romance going on,but underneath all that there's some solid writing, and intriguing characters, one of whom is a play on Satan. It really is interesting and probably worth the read. Just don't look for anything mind blowing, and I wouldn't bother with her spin off novels from this series because they just don't live up to the trilogy.

Procrastination is like masturbation, you're only F ing yourself...
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#5107 Mott

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:09 PM

I've just started The Three Musketeers and I'm already enjoying it immensely. Excepting Dune it's the only other book I've read this year that hasn't been fantasy. Not that either are that far removed.

Mottfather, who art in chat, hallowed be thy name, thy empire come, thy magic be done, on wu as it is in warren. give us this day our daily cahpters, and forgive us our timeline, as we forgive yours, lead us not into goodkind, but deliver us from ayn rand, for thine is the series, the epic, the glory, I<3WJ ~ Obdi and GH

#5108 Aptorian

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:13 PM

What? The Three Musketeers is not Fantasy. It is a historical account of the adventures of the great great great great grandparents of Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Platt.

#5109 HoosierDaddy

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:19 PM

Aptorian, on 07 June 2010 - 10:13 PM, said:

What? The Three Musketeers is not Fantasy. It is a historical account of the adventures of the great great great great grandparents of Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Platt.

Because when I think of virtuous defenders of the realm, Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland come to the top of my head instantly.

Finished Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Hyperion would get a 9 nearly 9.5 out of 10 for me. Just insanely entertaining and well written. Martin Silenus has become one of my favorite characters ever, and all the stories are just so catchy and tied together so well. Brilliant, brilliant book, as the cover says it is a MUST read for Sci-Fi fans.

Fall of Hyperion would get an 8, as it was still quite good, but it could have never really lived up to Hyperion.

Onto Mage-Guard of Hamor by Modisett Jr. I've read them all, and I'm not sure why I enjoy them as much as I do. But, alas, I do enjoy them quite a bit.

Trouble arrives when the opponents to such a system institute its extreme opposite, where individualism becomes godlike and sacrosanct, and no greater service to any other ideal (including community) is possible. In such a system rapacious greed thrives behind the guise of freedom, and the worst aspects of human nature come to the fore....

#5110 Aptorian

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:21 PM

Wait. You need to read Endymion and Rise of Endymion while you're at it. I cried when I finished that part of the series. Manly tears mind you.

#5111 HoosierDaddy

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:25 PM

Really? I checked them out, but the prologue turned me off. The "you won't know what happens" sort of thing. How would you compare them to Hyperion and Fall?

Spoiler

#5112 Aptorian

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:30 PM

They're very different in some ways, but the atmosphere and themes remain. In many ways they are different kinds of stories. These books are told from the view of Endymion primarily.

But you NEED to read them after reading Fall of Hyperion. They're the story of what happens when the big fax system collapses and the Christian Church rises to power again. There's so much good stuff in these books, you learn much more about the Shrike, the Machine Intelligence, those genetic space people and most importantly the fate of the people from the first two books.

#5113 Salt-Man Z

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Posted 08 June 2010 - 03:34 PM

I'd say the Endymion books aren't nearly as good as the Hyperion duo, but they're still very good, full of fantastic ideas, even if the whole thing fairly fizzles at the end. The future usage of the cruciform parasite still blows/haunts my mind.

- - - -

I'm currently reading the Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi series. I'm on book 2, Omen by Christie Golden. It's post-RotJ Star Wars, so I'm entertained as always, but the entire series is built on one or two ridiculous premises that spoil some of the fun. The lead-in book that I read last week, James Luceno's Millenium Falcon, was a blast, though.

"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

#5114 acesn8s

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Posted 08 June 2010 - 05:39 PM

Mott, on 07 June 2010 - 10:09 PM, said:

One of my all time favorite reads. I try and re-read it every year or so. I love the picnic during the siege of La Rochelle.

#5115 Bauchelain the Evil

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Posted 09 June 2010 - 01:43 PM

I also love The Three Musketeers but IMHO Twenty Years Later is better and of course Dumas's masterpiece is The Count of Monte Cristo, which is my favorite book ever.

This post has been edited by Bauchelain the Evil: 09 June 2010 - 01:44 PM

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#5116 kcf

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Posted 09 June 2010 - 05:18 PM

I finished up The Passage last night. It's really good - the buzz is justified. Review

Next up is Riddle-Master by Patricia A. McKillip - a bit of a project with a few other bloggers to read the SFF Masterworks series of books.

Neth Space

#5117 acesn8s

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Posted 09 June 2010 - 08:10 PM

kcf, on 09 June 2010 - 05:18 PM, said:

I think I read that back in the day. Were the riddle-masters marked by Star tatoos in the book?

This post has been edited by acesn8s: 09 June 2010 - 08:10 PM

#5118 caladanbrood

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 06:53 PM

Adam Roberts - Yellow Blue Tibia. Excellent book so far, about two thirds of the way through

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

#5119 Bauchelain the Evil

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 10:03 AM

Reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Seems I'm falling in love with this author.

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#5120 Fist Gamet

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 01:11 PM

Finally finished Kraken by Meiville. Overall, not a patch on PSS or The Scar, albeit they are very different books. I admire a writer who explores different styles and varies his approaches but this one doesn't work so well, for me. Still a worthy read, jammed full of impressive ideas and imagination.

Now reading Tales of The Dying Earth by Valance.

Victory is mine!