[QuickTidal]

Carlos Ruiz Zafon's second YA book just came out in English, THE MIDNIGHT PALACE, so I'm reading that...and of course, since it's Zafon I am enjoying it already!

[Mott]

amphibian, on 03 August 2011 - 03:03 AM, said:

After you're done, check out the 1998 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. It's a truly good adaptation and carries the spirit well without the drag in the middle.

Thanks for the recommendation, I actually love adaptations so I'll definitely watch it when I'm done.

Abyss, on 03 August 2011 - 07:14 AM, said:

Yep. One' routinely OD's somewhere between boks 3-5, takes a break, and then, the dresdencrack, it OWNS YOU.

Queen Mott, on 03 August 2011 - 01:26 AM, said:

POOPOO MCBUMFACE, on 30 July 2011 - 12:14 AM, said:

Great Expectations is an excellent book, but be warned, it pretty much slows to a crawl at about the middle third. It picks up again and gets far more intense in the last third, but I was bored as hell at some points around the middle.

Thanks for the tip, hopefully it'll help me push on if I get stuck.
...

It gets way better when Pip gets his magic sword and starts killing people.

At least, IT FRIKKIN WOULD HAVE.

- Abyss, not a fan of the classics.

Yeah I've bought Summer Knight already but i'm going to read a couple of books in-between before going back to it. Although I am itching to read more after the last books ending.

Many of them would be greatly improved if magic swords were involved I think. I like Dickens though, he kind of reminds me of Erikson actually, the way he blends tragedy with humor, how no matter how oddball his characters are they actually seem real.

McLovin, on 03 August 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

I smell a re-write along the lines of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I actually did like Great Expectations tho'.

I have that actually, its quite good and I Am Scrooge but I'm going to wait till christmas comes round again before reading it.

[QuickTidal]

Salt-Man Z, on 03 August 2011 - 07:21 PM, said:

I finished The Shadow of the Wind last night. Couldn't put it down. Amazing. I felt somewhat clever for figuring a couple of things out ahead of time (the parallels between Daniel and Julian, for one, and Carax's fate) but just wow.

Welcome to the club Chris! Still my fave book of all time.

Now you can read THE ANGEL'S GAME (which also concerns a volume from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books)...which is good, if decidedly bleaker and not executed in the same polished manner, but still really solid.

And the two YA titles (originally published in the 90's in Spanish, getting translated one by one now), PRINCE OF MIST (His first book, a spiritual YA predecessor to SHADOW OF THE WIND, quite good, but not as polished as the latter), and THE MIDNIGHT PALACE...which I am reading now and was hooked from page one...better than PRINCE already.

Zafon is an absolute master of the gothic.

This post has been edited by King Kazma: 04 August 2011 - 04:47 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

You know what I really wanna read now? One of Julian Carax's novels. Seriously. It's not fair.

[LadyMTL]

Zafon is incredible, I only wish I could read it in Spanish...a coworker of mine likes to tease me because she's read them all in Spanish and "it's so much better" and bla bla bla, lol. I agree with what King Kazma said, Angel's Game isn't quite as good as Shadows but it's still a great read. I picked it up in the airport in Amsterdam last year during a layover and had read ten or twelve chapters before the plane even boarded.

I haven't read his YA stuff yet, but if it's even somewhat comparable to AG and SOTW then perhaps I shall...

Oh, and I'm re-reading John Connolly's "Book of Lost Things" atm, since I finished Keith Richards' bio.

[D'rek]

Doing a bunch of Discworld books right now: finished Small Gods (was pretty funny), now reading Guards Guards! (totally awesome) and after that I'll be reading Thief of Time

[amphibian]

D, on 05 August 2011 - 12:48 AM, said:

Doing a bunch of Discworld books right now: finished Small Gods (was pretty funny), now reading Guards Guards! (totally awesome) and after that I'll be reading Thief of Time

Follow it up with Night Watch. Then go back and read the Witches books. And then all the rest of the books.

[Serenity]

I'm about halfway through Donaldson's first Gap book, The Real Story.

[Mentalist]

I'm currently in the summer re-reads phase.

just finished GotM.

since my "bus to work" reading is prince of Nothing, but I have White Luck warrior already, i've spent yesterday reading the glossary at the back of The Thounfold Thought. Now I feel ready to re-read The judging eye, and then read the White Luck Warrior.

[JPK]

Briar, Werthead has a thread up on the reviews board concerning Prince of Thorns. That review is what got me to buy it actually.

Serenity, how are you liking The Real Story? I read it a couple of years ago and I'm curious about other people's thoughts on the book/series.

[Binder of Demons]

Hurr Durr, on 06 August 2011 - 08:32 AM, said:

Serenity, how are you liking The Real Story? I read it a couple of years ago and I'm curious about other people's thoughts on the book/series.

THE REAL STORY is a decent book, which begins an awesome Sci-Fi series. It is a bit grim, but the series gets progressively better with each book.

[Salt-Man Z]

Binder of Demons, on 06 August 2011 - 10:54 AM, said:

Hurr Durr, on 06 August 2011 - 08:32 AM, said:

Serenity, how are you liking The Real Story? I read it a couple of years ago and I'm curious about other people's thoughts on the book/series.

THE REAL STORY is a decent book, which begins an awesome Sci-Fi series. It is a bit grim, but the series gets progressively better with each book.

This.

[Serenity]

Salt-Man Z, on 06 August 2011 - 03:27 PM, said:

Binder of Demons, on 06 August 2011 - 10:54 AM, said:

Hurr Durr, on 06 August 2011 - 08:32 AM, said:

Serenity, how are you liking The Real Story? I read it a couple of years ago and I'm curious about other people's thoughts on the book/series.

THE REAL STORY is a decent book, which begins an awesome Sci-Fi series. It is a bit grim, but the series gets progressively better with each book.

This.

Yeah, it seems almost like an extended prologue. I thought it was okay. In some ways it seemed pretty old-fashioned in the way it was written: a simple set-up, lots of description, not a lot of dialogue. I guess, after reading GRRM and SE, I'm pretty used to grim, so I didn't find it as shocking as the friend who loaned it to me said I might. Of course, he's not read any GRRM or SE - and he's loaned it to me but no longer has the rest of the series. Fortunately they're available for Kindle, so I'll probably pick them all up sooner or later.

[polishgenius]

Briar King, on 06 August 2011 - 02:55 AM, said:

So I keep hearing about this Prince of Thorns book. Can anyone confirm its badass or not?

Yes. Yes it is.

[Dolorous Menhir]

Serenity, on 07 August 2011 - 10:13 AM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 06 August 2011 - 03:27 PM, said:

Binder of Demons, on 06 August 2011 - 10:54 AM, said:

Hurr Durr, on 06 August 2011 - 08:32 AM, said:

Serenity, how are you liking The Real Story? I read it a couple of years ago and I'm curious about other people's thoughts on the book/series.

THE REAL STORY is a decent book, which begins an awesome Sci-Fi series. It is a bit grim, but the series gets progressively better with each book.

This.

Yeah, it seems almost like an extended prologue. I thought it was okay. In some ways it seemed pretty old-fashioned in the way it was written: a simple set-up, lots of description, not a lot of dialogue. I guess, after reading GRRM and SE, I'm pretty used to grim, so I didn't find it as shocking as the friend who loaned it to me said I might. Of course, he's not read any GRRM or SE - and he's loaned it to me but no longer has the rest of the series. Fortunately they're available for Kindle, so I'll probably pick them all up sooner or later.

The GAP series was amazing. The closest a series has come to an extended stress test for me.

[QuickTidal]

So I had picked up Elizabeth Moon's THE SHEEPFARMER'S DAUGHTER before I went to the cottage this weekend.

It was...not good. 500 pages in which every last detail of fantasy military life is described in long boring passages with cardboard cutout characters in which a few minor 3 page skirmishes happen....but not much else. Seriously, what a waste of time.

I'll check Moon off my list of older fantasy authors I'd yet to try.

I'm going to finish up Zafon's THE MIDNIGHT PALACE now and then probably do up CANTICLE finally in its entirety.

[Serenity]

Now reading Catalina's Riddle, the third of Steven Saylor's 'Gordianus the Finder' novels.

[Use Of Weapons]

King Kazma, on 08 August 2011 - 12:01 AM, said:

I'll check Moon off my list of older fantasy authors I'd yet to try.

Don't give up on Moon before reading her _Speed of Dark_.

[QuickTidal]

Chalk one up to the Did Not Finish pile:

http://icebergink.bl...er-deed-of.html

[Solidsnape]

Read SW Death Troopers yesterday. Only took me 11 hrs, killed a shift at work nicely. Was half decent and done the trick as I hadn't read anything since finishing TCG.

A long long time ago in galaxy far far away........
Zombies!!!! Haha. Like it!!!