Tomes and Illusions · Legacy archive
What books do you read?
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Re: What books do you read?
#201*steals Moon's format*
Just finished: Chaos of Crime by Dell Shannon
On Deck: Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe
Contemplating: Eldest (no, I still haven't read it) by Christopher Paoli (I think...)
Random Popcorn/Before Bed: Dumbology: The Book of Gaffes, Foul-ups, and Blunders by Geoff Tibbals -
Re: What books do you read?
#202Can I get an ISBN number for Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe from you Ria? If that is the book I think it is, I want to read it. However seraching has come up with confused results. -
Re: What books do you read?
#203ISBN 0-345-43488-9 -
Re: What books do you read?
#204Just finished: Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe
Currently Reading: I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action by Jackie Chan
On Deck: MST3K's Amazing Colassal Episode Guide by Michael J. Nelson
Contemplating: Eldest (no, I still haven't read it) by Christopher Paoli (I think...)
Random Popcorn/Before Bed: The Best of H.P. Lovecraft -
Re: What books do you read?
#205Just finished: Darkover Landfall
In process: Missing in Action: Star Trek New Frontier by Peter David
On Deck: Storm Front (Book 1 of Dresen files)
Contemplating: Rogue Angel - Destiny
Random Popcorn/Before Bed: Missing in Action: Star Trek New Frontier by Peter David
What can I say, he writes great crap. While not thought provoking, everything he writes is fun. This is like the 11th book in the series.
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Re: What books do you read?
#206Recently Finished:
Common Sense on Mutual Funds (j. Bogle)
The Odyssey (Homer)
Multiple Discover and Scientific Americans
Reading:
Black Bodies and Quantum Cats (J. Ouellette)
On the list:
Got a huge, unliftable box of National Geographic at a garage sale that I know will be a treasure of ideas
Multiple Ajax and PHP OOP books that will be read/referenced
Is anybody else like this?
I am an avid reader and go to sleep reading but my taste is so variable that I have trouble accomodating it sometimes. I have a small bedside table that has my clock, light and the following books that I have started but not finished:
A Tale of Two Cities (C. Dickens)
Advanced PHP Programming (G. Schlossnagle)
Godel, Escher, Bach (d. Hofstadter) --started this book in multiple places probably a dozen times.
The Last Kingdom (B. Cornwell)
Gravity's Rainbow (T. Pynchon) --started this one almost as much as GEB. Also never finished
Then I have another end table that sits in the corner of the room for my overflow of other books I have started and lost the taste for. Looking there are probably 4 technical tomes and then a good dozen of misc reading from The Cathedral and the Bazaar to Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader (which is awesome).
Are there any other readers out there that have daily mood swings in what they read so that any one time you have 3+ books that you are reading? I currently only have 3 because I finished Odyssey and the Quantum Cats one has caught my interest...otherwise I am about 40 pages into The Last Kingdom and about the same in Two Cities with GEB and Gravity's Rainbow always catching my attention once a month. -
Re: What books do you read?
#207Yeah Strolen, I'm like that too. It doesn't help that my AP Lit class has me reading loads of books in addition to what I'd read already.
Currently:
SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Anthology for 05' (Ideas for tabletop)
Watership Down by Richard Adams(Kicks and giggles)
Hamlet by Shakespear(School)
Dante's Inferno by Giovanni Boccaccio(Ideas/Kicks)
Recently Finished:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Good story, total of 45 pages I think. Apocalypse Now is loosely based off of this.
House of Chains by Steven Erikson -
Re: What books do you read?
#208I used to read 2-4 books at a time, plus my weekly plug of 20 comic titles. Then I realized, I seldom finished a book. So I limited myself to 1 or 1.5 at a time, so I actually finished some things.
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Re: What books do you read?
#209Over the next 2 weeks:
The Raid and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy
Vellum - The Book of All Hours by Hal DuncanI thought it looked interesting, basic plot is that the Angles and Demons are at war over the world of Vellum, of which the real Earth is just a small part. And the author's picture looked just like one of my friends.
The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams
The Sword of the Citidel by Gene Wolfe
The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe -
Re: What books do you read?
#210In the weird frame of mind again.
Clockwork Orange is in the mail (couldn't find my copy)
Brave New World is on the hit list and I might end up reading Catch 22 again. For some reason Catch 22 is my favorite book and as soon as I finish it, it doesn't take but a couple months for me to get the urge to read it again. Clockwork Orange hits me probably bi-annually. ;) -
Re: What books do you read?
#211You know what Strolen, that explains a lot about you. A whole lot. -
Re: What books do you read?
#212I just read "The Bonehunters" by Steven Erikson. 4.5/5 flames. Love anything by that actor, though he gets a bit over the edge with the hack and slash epics every now and then... Heck, who am I fooling? He gets over the edge all the time! He is pure hack and slash. Conan type testestoron all the way home, and then some! He kills his favourites, and a number of guys we've followed for thousands and thousands of pages die in this book too. I like it!
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Re: What books do you read?
#213I have just finished Eragon and the sequel to Eragon, Eldest. I am now currently on Ghost Rider. For those of you who don't know who Ghost Rider is, (may God have mercy on you souls) he was a teen that had a dying dad with cancer and without knowing it sold his soul to the Devil to save his dad. Unfortunately, the Devil kills his dad in a motorcylce accident. Since he sold his soul, he became the Devil's bounty hunter who caught all the souls who escaped from Hell. As far as I know he defy's the devil in the end and becomes a super hero. The book is pretty good so far. So if you like super natural stuff, this book is good for you. :up: -
Re: What books do you read?
#214Actually that book is the movie adaption which does a half assed job of duplicating the comic book that came out in the early 70s. (Adapting the name from a Western Hero Marvel had done decades before).
Still it is an okay book (movie adaption and the movie too), as long as you don't know the Ghost Rider comic book. -
Re: What books do you read?
#215Not sure if anyone has said these but
On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony and the rest of the Incarnations of Immortality series they make you think about life, morals and the world alot. -
Re: What books do you read?
#216just finished: Cell, by Stephen King. This grabs hold of you and just doesn't let go. The Strolen's style "new take" on zombies is very neat and well thought out. Gripping enought that I finished it in a single reading (travelling by car at the time).
Altered carbon by Richard K. Morgan.(yet again) Brilliant scifi book, written in a classic noir tone. possibly some of the best opening chapters in any books I have read to date. Strikes perfect balance between action, conspiratory tension, and some mind-bending body switching (the main character (with compulsory VO, of course) is at one point residing in two bodies at the same time and narrates from both points of view).
always reading: Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi short stroy anthology, from 1964(?) to 1999, and Asimov's the complete robot. Short stories are a great read, and both are peerless masters of sci-fi.
currently reading: Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Superb read so far...(about 1/7 th through), although as can be expected, a bit expository at times. love the way Quegueg is characterised...
slowly going through: What is the title of this book? a mindbending logic book with many hours of fun. from the classic thruthteller/liar problems, to an entire sequence of puzzle culminating in the understanding that none of them could even exist! (i think...)
ASIDE: Reading some of this list has made me want to dig up some of the titles and read them all over again....
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Re: What books do you read?
#217Currently reading: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Okay, I'll go ahead and fess up to it: this is a fantasy novel for teenage girls. It's about horses and plucky princesses and mysterious foreign princes and magic. But I love it. It's really the setting I enjoy. It's a combination of Imperial British Middle East and Paulo Coelho's Egypt of The Alchemist. Some of the characters and dialogue are a bit juvenile (for obvious reasons), but I thoroughly enjoy the cultural and setting bits. A nice quick read for anyone looking for a spring break escape. -
Re: What books do you read?
#218The Taking
By Dean Koontz
Standard three day read, an interesting apocalyptic tale that is heavy on the Lovecraftian horror but with just a pinch of Revelations. -
Re: What books do you read?
#219The Reaper's Gale
by Steven Erikson
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is nearing its end. This is the seventh of ten books and Erikson follows up in his usual style. It is well written and fascinating, grand epic grim fantasy adventure. Everything is extreme; the violence, the sex, everything. Even more: In this book even I was perplexed by the over the top munchkinism, when
one high mage singlehandedly downed four soultaken (Shapeshifting) Tiste Eleint Dragons (Ascendant Dragons).
Still: I loved every minute of the book, and those 910 pages sure sped past.
The Malazan world is one where Gods and ascendants dabble in the lives of men and empires. War and strife are central themes, but that does not mean they are the only themes.
Not many people could pull of what Erikson does. The books are munchkin, god-moding, sexually oriented and over the top violence-wise, still he pulls it off.
I take of my hat and salute a great author. IMO, the very best in the fantasy industry. -
Re: What books do you read?
#220Just finished Robert J. Sawyer's Humanoids
Currently Reading Robert J. Sawyer's Humans
On DeckA couple of Darkover books as I can't find Robert J. Sawyer's Hybrid in paperback.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Neanderthal_Parallax
and there are some links on this page to the author's SFwriter.com site
Contemplating Storm Front (Book 1 of Dresen files) -
Re: What books do you read?
#221Moon, Did you know that they're making an RPG on the dresden files? It looks quite good too: http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/ -
Re: What books do you read?
#222If this is to be believed, this has lots of talent behind it (odd talent to be sure, so the game system will be ecclectic). If they have managed to secure the license from the book company, this might just fly. -
Re: What books do you read?
#223The Discovery of France by Graham Robb
I haven't read that book at all! Just seen an article about it.
The author has researched and travelled through the actual France very few know. Just a few quotes that grabbed my attention:
Despite the best efforts of the Church, fertility rites around prehistoric megaliths persisted well into the 19th century and possibly beyond.
Until the development of mass transport in the 19th century, and in many cases until much later, la France profonde was the "land of a thousand pays" - tiny areas of human settlement delimited neither by state boundaries nor by zones of taxation, but by the distance to which the village bells carried or by how far a patois remained comprehensible.
When Charles de Gaulle complained about the difficulty of governing a country that had 246 different kinds of cheese, he articulated the despair of French government officials since time immemorial: not until nearly the middle of the 1800s did anyone even possess a complete map of the country, still less a lingua franca in which to address its inhabitants.
As Robb points out, before the wide availability of cheap bicycles, "the universe, for many people, had a radius of 15 miles and a population that could easily fit into a small barn".
And there's more... sounds like an interesting book to read if you happen to get hold of it. (And if you do, please write here about it.) -
Re: What books do you read?
#224A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans
I grabbed it on a whim because I needed something to keep me amused for a couple hours while I waited for my friend at the airport, he'd called to tell me his flight was delayed while I was on my way, and I've been mighty impressed with it so far. It's got 30 very colourful characters that, though they've largely been ignored by history, played a very important role during their times, or at least most of them did. It's good fodder for memorable NPCs. -
Re: What books do you read?
#225such as?
Do add a few to [http://strolen.com/viewing/NPCs_out_of_History] mega-sub. -
Re: What books do you read?
#226I read my first Harry Potter book, The Order of the Pheonix. Been sort of dogging the series for awhile as the popularity of it had basically turned me off to it. My son read the first 4 (we make him read them before he can watch them) and then my wife started reading them because everybody kept saying they got "dark."
Anywho, started it a week or so ago and was sick as a dog yesterday so rested and finished it up and I enjoyed it very much. Very quick reading, good characters and a nice story that weaves around. Lots of neat creatures, interesting back stories of other creatures, and nobody is one-dimensional. Mystical beasts you can only see if you witnessed death? How sweet of an idea is that? Giants that fight each other at the detriment of their own species? Awesome! Fun spells and cantrips, a swamp in the middle of a hallway! Will probably pick up the rest and rip through them eventually as I am sure there are plenty of small gems of ideas packed in them. -
Re: What books do you read?
#227Currently Reading:
The Ringworld Throne by Larry Niven
I'm really enjoying this series, I absolutely adore the new and alien words such as Tanj (An expletive that started as a acronym for There Ain't No Justice) and Rishathra ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishathra ). There is lots of mystery and plenty of excitement in this series.
Recently Finished:
Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers
See above.
Locke & Key - Welcome to Lovecraft Graphic Novel by Joe Hill
I picked this up in a nice hardcover with it's own bookmark tassel for about $25 because I assumed it just jumped off the shelf at me. With a name like Welcome to Lovecraft I was expecting it to be a lot weirder. As it turns out Lovecraft is simply the name of the city in Massachusetts that the Locke family moves too in the beginning. It is well illustrated and rather gory at times, but the gist of it seems to be an ancestral home with mysterious keys and doors that do different things. Like turn you into a ghost, leaving you body dead in the doorway waiting for you to fly back through. Not bad, but short. I don't think I'm willing to dish out $25 more for the next one. Maybe a softcover or compilation. Check it out if you see it.
On and off reading: Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
A book of the wizarding world's children's tales. It's short, but, despite gobbling up the rest of the Harry Potter series, it just feels like a cheaply thrown together book to make even more money (though the price sticker says it was only $8 at WalMart).
WANTED:
Ringword's Children
Dragons of the Hourglass Mage
Pathfinder Core Rulebook
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Re: What books do you read?
#228Don't have time for serious reading so all my current books are what I term "light reading". Just finished two of the numbers series on Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich (mystery), will be starting on one of the Agatha Chrisite books.
My all time favourite, like most everyone else, is The Hobbit and Lord of Rings. Close seconds are (were?) Raymond E. Feist (things went downhill for me after Serpentwar) and David Eddings (just the original 4 series and not the Elder/Younger Gods). A recent find that didn't quite make it to fav but is brushing the border is Anne Bishop and her Black Jewels world books but not sure if that's a gender thing. Then I have lots of "comfort writers", people whose book I pick up just b/c they wrote it- R.A Salvatore and basically any and everyone involved with the Forgotten Realms (i guess Forgotten Realms in one of my "comfort series"), Margaret Weis, Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell etc. etc.
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Re: What books do you read?
#229I found a copy of To The Nines by Janet Evanovich and read it a while back, I enjoyed it, but not enough to pursue the rest of the series. Margaret Weis is one of my favorites as well, have you picked up the Dragonships series yet, Moonlake? I think Weis and Hickman are doing that with TOR Publishing (I could be wrong), trying to get away from WotC.
Another book I would recommend is Necroscope by Brain Lumley. I have the second in the series as well, Vamphyri!, but the first was so good I don't want to ruin it by reading a lesser sequel. I also suggest checking out the numerous H.P. Lovecraft collections, especially the ones with stories not written by HPL. There some amazing hidden talent in those books, as well as rare short stories from a few bigger names like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. Speaking of Gaiman, The Sandman graphic novels are also top-notch. That is all.. for now. -
Re: What books do you read?
#230I agree Janet Evanovich isn't worth buying, anything on my "light reads" is those I think "so-so" in quality or those only good to get some humour out of (My book taste runs towards serious mindedness aka epic adventures but once in a while I read sth light in b/w my "serious reading").
I guess all your recommendations will have to go into my contemplation list. I'm grilled on both the study and work front at the moment. But thanks for the recommendations and I think I need them too b/c it seems I'm fast outgrowing most of my comfort authors.
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Re: What books do you read?
#231There is nothing to worry about Pieh. Lumley's books are great, and I thoroughly enjoyed Vamphyri as well. -
Re: What books do you read?
#232Recently finished:
Guilty Pleasures, Circus of the Damned, and The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K Hamilton. Heard alot about this series being much vaunted vampire porn among female readers. There are some interesting bits, and plenty of other supernaturals including lamias, wererats, zombies, necromancers and the like. Some of the characters are paper thin, others are a collection of cliches bundled together by rote expressions and descriptive blocks.
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, to so called prequel to the daVinci Code. I've previously read the code, and found it to be an interesting read, and some of its points while entirely fictitious are quite compelling. Angels and Demons falls well short of this. It starts with a stolen canister of anti-matter, runs through a Illuminati plot of murder and intrigue, an assassin, and an ending I saw coming and I generally dont try to guess what is going on in a book and just read to enjoy it.
Canticle for Liebowitz by Miller. Written in 1959, this post apocalyptic tale covers the 18 century recovery of mankind after nuclear war. It is a must read. -
Re: What books do you read?
#233Recently finished:
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
That was so much fun! The humour is bleak and satirical and exactly how I like it. ("One day, son, this will all be yours...") The book skirts absurdity, flirting with it unashamedly, making this a very memorable read. I will raid the book stores for more of Vonnegut's work in the future. I will also now be answering surveys regarding Religion with "Bokononism"...
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
A really great book. The prose is lyrical and almost poetic (although it is sometimes too self conscious). The story and Ray's growth and almost-descent into madness is very well told, with masterful imagery. However, there are some things that are unforgivable (What on earth happens to Clarisse? This is what railroading feels like). Without question, this book is of its time, (And fairly brave at that, since it was released at the heights of the House Committee on Un-American Activities) with an unsurprising ending. But it remains a very good read even today, with thought-provoking ideas and creative prose. I would recommend it unreservedly, with a particular nod for bibliophiles.
Currently Reading:
Sputnik sweetheart - Haruki Murakami
Wanting to read:
Tinker tailor soldier spy - John le Carr -
Re: What books do you read?
#234My most interesting readings has been 4 graphic novels
Fables I, Fables II, Fables III, and Fables IV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_(comics)
This would be a great deal of fun. I might have to collect the comic, rather than wait for the next volume. However, I have a lot to catch up on first.
This would be a great setting to game in, yet at the same time it would be really hard to work with as there is several hundred years of backstory to work out for each character that has links to all the other characters.
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Re: What books do you read?
#235As some of you know, I am an avid Steven Erikson fan. His "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series is the crowning achievement of fantasy litterature, just as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is the benchmark against which all fantasy must be compared.
So far my favourite books were: Gardens of the Moon (book 1), Memories of Ice (3), The Bonehunters (6) and Reaper's Gale (7).
I just finished Dust of Dreams (9) and I must say it was not one of Erikson's finer moments. His all time low was Midnight Tides (5), but this book ain't great either.
Why, you say?
Here is why:
* It ends in a cliff hanger. True enough, he says so right there at the start, but it is bad form nonetheless.
* Erikson must really want to be a respected author of fine litterature, for at times the philosophical internal debates and pondering of his characters feel overwhelming in a "oh np, I am back at high school" kind of way. It is epic war fantasy for chrissake! I want to read about women with large breasts, nipples barely concealed by revealing armor. I want to read about ascendants ripping the heads off vile monsters and drinking blood from their neck arteries. I want camaraderie and action and fierce battles. I want humor, and, fine, I want a little bit of the heroes' feelings too. But I do NOT want a fifteen page essay about the maddened ramblings of a "power word wielding" starving cannibal child, lost wandering the desert. Get me right: The writing is top notch, but it doesn't fit the format.
* Get to the point already! Unlike earlier novellas by mister Erikson, his latest works seem to go on and on and on without the characters reaching their destination. So I have to read 1000 pages of walking in caravans and talking and thinking and bickering, just to get to those juicy last 100 pages of action. Yes. I am male. I am easy. When my woman wants to see Pride and Prejudice I have to work overtime, so my woman sees it with her friends instead. But since when did my woman pay Erikson to slip Pride and Prejudice material into my favorite novellas?
No fair! -
Re: What books do you read?
#236Strangely enough, your description of thebook has sparked my interest in reading it. Do I have to read the preceding books in the series in order to understand the novella? -
Re: What books do you read?
#237Yes.
All his books, except the first (Gardens of the Moon) are like that. Lots of internal debate.
It was fine before, but when he ditched the action and went "internal debate puristic", I began to growl.
I also agree with this review:
http://kingofthenerds.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/review-dust-of-dreams-by-steven-erikson/
Maggot:
Given your preferences, I think you will rather like this book. The children in the desert and the hobbling of Hetan / The Barghast society does fit the subs you have posted here at the citadel -
Re: What books do you read?
#238Thanks! I'll be sure to look that one up. -
Re: What books do you read?
#239Let me quote a review of THE BEST BOOK EVER, Memories of Ice, by Erikson (3rd out of 10 while Dust of Dreams is 9th out of 10)
A bare-bones summary: A Malazan army, commanded by Dujek Onearm (guess how many arms he has), has been outlawed by the Empress herself for sedition. Finding themselves outside the imperial embrace, Onearm's host joins forces with former foes to face a new evil, the Pannion Domin. The Pannion Domin is a newly formed regime rebelling against the Malazan's imperial yoke. Ruled by a man known simply as the Seer, the Domin is essentially a band of religious zealots. Each citizen of the Domin worships the Seer above all else and would give their life to exercise his will. The Seer has an elite army comprised of professional soldiers and skilled mages, much like any other army in the Malazan universe. However, the Seer holds an ace up his sleeve... the Tenescowri.
Let me say now that I think the story of the Tenescowri is one of the most novel and horrific I've ever read. Novel because I've never before seen its like, horrific because of its cold practicality. The Tenescowri is a huge, unarmed peasant army. The Seer and his forces are a swarm, sieging one city after the next. At each city, all inhabitants are forced to convert to the Pannion faith or be executed. Men, women, or children... it makes no matter. From this tactic, the Tenescowri ranks have swollen to the hundreds of thousands. The Seer uses this huge force in the initial attacks on his targets, throwing wave after wave of Tenescowri to break the ranks of defending armies. Such a huge, peasant army is a great asset, but it should also be a great burden to supply. Therein lies the genius of the Tenescowri. The Seer doesn't supply his peasant forces. They receive no rations whatsover, besides the flesh of all those they conquer. The Seer has produced a seemingly endless supply of soldiers who fight ravenously at every turn... to feed themselves.
Oh yeah, did I mention the Tenescowri are led by a small band of elites known as Children of the Dead Seed? These "children" come to be when the female Pannions rape those defending soldiers they find dying or dead on the battlefield.
I love this book. -
Re: What books do you read?
#240Thought I would start rereading the Wheel of Time series again. I remember being absolutely enthralled in it back in the early nineties and figured, since there were so many damn books now, that it was a decent time to get into them again and was excited to do so.
About 3/4 way through the second one and, well, they are starting to frustrate me. Jordan is so damn verbose and repetitive in style that it gets annoying. I understand the need for subtle repeats in case nobody read the first one, but it goes well beyond that in his sentence structure and why the dialogue is written. I grit my teeth too often and I fear that I won't ever be finishing the series.
Additionally, the main characters and Aes Sedai, for all their methodical maneuvering, act so stupid sometimes ignoring things they discussed only pages prior in order to make it seem like there is this difficult decision for the group when they just frick'n discussed the solution. I just want to slap them when the story is so contrived and man handled to not allow the characters to act at their own mental capacity and instead at the authors extended pace.
If it continues or gets worth I simply won't have the fortitude to continue and I know there is a shitty book with Rand stuck in a box for most of it that I didn't greatly enjoy the first time. Might just read the synopsis of that one.
Any others I should skip and just read the cliff notes?