What Are You Reading? vX.x

[Peregrine]

Just finished reading Perdido Street Station by China Mieville - all I can say is wow - this book blew my mind. If like me, you love fantasy but have grown tired of all the stale cliches of the genre, and the boring generic fantasy settings - you need to read this book, and others by the author. Part magic, part steampunk, part horror - this is like fantasy and sci-fi blended together and on acid. there are amazing characters here, and an amazing story. Honestly I can't wait to read his other books set in the same world.

[Vince, Pt. II]

How does it compare to Neverwhere by Gaiman (if you've read it)? From your description, this sounds like it's an edgier version of that, which could be amazing.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by path12

Finished Gaiman's American Gods last night. Enjoyed it, though I thought the plot fell apart a bit in the second half.

Can anyone tell me if Anasi Boys (sp?) is a companion piece or a separate novel altogether?

Anansi Boys is a separate novel, although you'll recognize a character or two. I liked it, though not as much as American Gods.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

How does it compare to Neverwhere by Gaiman (if you've read it)? From your description, this sounds like it's an edgier version of that, which could be amazing.

I loved Neverwhere, but Mieville is a bit edgier and something of a different animal - a lot of it feels like you took your standard fantasy giant city, with all kinds of races, and updated it to some kind of Dickensian steampunk era, and added in a dose of horror. Still, I think if you like that sort of Gaiman stuff (as I do) this will be right up your alley.

[Chief Rum]

I read The Lies of Locke Lamora and highly recommend it. A good read.

I thought enough of it to go buy the next of Lynch's Locke Lamora books, Red Seas Under Red Skies. It's very early yet (first 50 pages or so), but it has been much the same feel so far as the first one (which is good). I'll update when I finish it.

[Peregrine]

Lies of Locke Lamora was really good - I listened to it in audiobook form and really enjoyed it - a good reader who really did the various voices of the characters well.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I read The Lies of Locke Lamora and highly recommend it. A good read.

I just picked this up a couple weeks ago and am eager to give it a try. Glad to see another good review.

[the_meanstrosity]

I finished both of Lynch's Locke Lamora books earlier this year and came away impressed. I'd recommend Joe Abercrombie next if you haven't read his stuff. He and Lynch were two of the "must reads" from sci fi fantasy fans the last couple of years.

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I read The Lies of Locke Lamora and highly recommend it. A good read.

I thought enough of it to go buy the next of Lynch's Locke Lamora books, Red Seas Under Red Skies. It's very early yet (first 50 pages or so), but it has been much the same feel so far as the first one (which is good). I'll update when I finish it.

[Fidatelo]

Just finished The Runelords, Book One. It had some neat ideas in regards to the endowments and such, but the overall writing felt amateurish.

I was also disappointed with how easily a man with thousands of endowments of wit could be foiled in his plans. The whole book just came off as a writer overreaching his own abilities. It seems like he'd have been better off teaming up with another writer and just being the idea-man or something.

Bottom line is that I will not be continuing on with the series.

[Fidatelo]

Currently about halfway through The Chris Farley Show, which has been awesome. I started it about 3 days ago and have just been tearing through it. I grew up watching and adoring Farley on SNL, but I had never heard about any of his problems until his death. Reading this now it is very enlightening to see all the struggles he had with addictions throughout his life, and it's touching to see the portrait painted of him by his friends and family.

The only thing I don't like about the book is that, inevitably, my reading session ends on a down note. It's kind of depressing to turn off the light and go to sleep with all these sad thoughts in my head.

Overall, great book, I expect I'll be finished by the weekend sometime.

[Neuqua]

Finished Bill Simmons' Big Book of Basketball and have to say I really enjoyed it. He does tend to speak too matter of factly sometimes about his opinions, but his enjoyment of the NBA is obvious. The way the book was written reminded me of the way me and my buddies would go on and on for hours talking about "x being better than y" and vice versa. In fact as soon as I was finished, I recommended a couple of my friends to read it.

[terpkristin]

This morning I finished reading The Mists of Avalon, a book that tells the tale of Arthur from the perspective of the women in his life (specifically, his mother, aunt, and sister). I enjoyed it, though the book had some seriously slow parts that felt a bit tedious.

I find it a bit funny, when I told someone I was reading it, he called it "the man-hating book." That's hardly how I'd describe it, it seems much more a book about hating people who are pious hippocrates (and to a large extent, specifically Christians in that bent). In many respects, Guinevere was painted as the one who was vapid and pious to a fault (maybe superstitious and "blaming" it on God is more like it).

I've never read any of the Arthurian tales before this. One thing that hit me while reading it is how heavily the legends of Arthur are referenced in many of the other books I read (notably, the Wheel of Time series).

Now reading WoT book 11, Knife of Dreams. I'm about 1/3 through, and very much looking forward to getting to book 12. I'm also reading a book a friend lent me, "The Way of Shadows" by Brent Weeks. It seems to be a book that so far reminds me of the Assassin's Creed video game, with a little bit of fantasy mixed in. It's pretty good.

I'm probably going to watch the Mists of Avalon made-for-TV movie with my next Netflix DVD.

/tk

[molson]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Currently about halfway through The Chris Farley Show, which has been awesome. I started it about 3 days ago and have just been tearing through it. I grew up watching and adoring Farley on SNL, but I had never heard about any of his problems until his death. Reading this now it is very enlightening to see all the struggles he had with addictions throughout his life, and it's touching to see the portrait painted of him by his friends and family.

The only thing I don't like about the book is that, inevitably, my reading session ends on a down note. It's kind of depressing to turn off the light and go to sleep with all these sad thoughts in my head.

Overall, great book, I expect I'll be finished by the weekend sometime.

I picked this up at the library the other day after reading your post, and I'm tearing through it as well. Great read.

[AgustusM]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Currently about halfway through The Chris Farley Show, which has been awesome. I started it about 3 days ago and have just been tearing through it. I grew up watching and adoring Farley on SNL, but I had never heard about any of his problems until his death. Reading this now it is very enlightening to see all the struggles he had with addictions throughout his life, and it's touching to see the portrait painted of him by his friends and family.

The only thing I don't like about the book is that, inevitably, my reading session ends on a down note. It's kind of depressing to turn off the light and go to sleep with all these sad thoughts in my head.

Overall, great book, I expect I'll be finished by the weekend sometime.

read this earlier this year and really enjoyed it. Yes, it is a sad story - but since we already know how it ends it wasn't as sad as it otherwise would have been.

I am not sure I have ever laughed harder than I did the first time I saw Matt Foley.

[CamEdwards]

I'm about halfway through a really interesting book by Gary Wills called "Henry Adams and the Making of America". Basically it goes through and summarizes the 9 volumes of Henry Adams' "History of the United States 1800-1817". Wills is a great writer, and he does a great job of condensing Adams' research while still making it very readable.

[RainMaker]

Anyone picking up the new Malcolm Gladwell book? I guess it's just his previous pieces written for the New Yorker. I like his writing for the magazine but felt his books were good ideas with too much filler. They are available for free on the site but am a fan of having it all in one place in a book.

[Chief Rum]

Just finished Lynch's follow up in the Gentleman Bastards series, Red Seas Under Red Skies. Very enjoyable read. Not as tightly written as The Lies of Locke Lamora and I didn't find Tel Verrar to be as interesting as Camorr. That said, the characters were still fun to follow, and there were more series plot twists to follow in a series I see now is planned to go seven books.

The next one, A Republic of Thieves, is supposed to come out in the spring 2010, and it concerns the Bondmagi and Locke Lamora's oft-spoken and never met lost love Sabetha, so I am particularly interested to grab that one. Still, it's interesting to note this was actually originally due for release in spring 2009. I don't know about Lynch's personal side like I think we all do GRRM, but I have seen forum posts linking his delay to ones like GRRM's and another author I don't know, a Patrick Rothfuss or someone like that. I hope this isn't some trend we're starting to see where it gets longer and longer in between books in a series.

Just looked around for SM Stirling's Sword of the Lady on paperback, and a release date is still not announce...grumble. I hate hardcover prices (speaking of release times, Stirling is like a clock, his novels are always finished when they are supposed to, and he's prolific, keeps two series and more going at once, and gets books out every year, he must not be human).

So now I am reading Kellerman's Evidence, the latest Alex Delaware novel, a crime mystery series that is a guilty pleasure of mine (it's the hardcover, I got it as a gift ).

After that, I'm not sure. Several nonfiction books I have considered starting. Also considered going back to Ghost Wars, the 2005 Pulitzer winner on the CIA and Afghanistan from the Soviet years up to 9-11; it's very interesting, but very heavily footnoted and huge, so it's not an easy read. If I go with fiction, it will probably be back to scifi; I have Alistair Reynolds The Prefect, waiting to be read.

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Just finished Lynch's follow up in the Gentleman Bastards series, Red Seas Under Red Skies. Very enjoyable read. Not as tightly written as The Lies of Locke Lamora and I didn't find Tel Verrar to be as interesting as Camorr. That said, the characters were still fun to follow, and there were more series plot twists to follow in a series I see now is planned to go seven books.

The next one, A Republic of Thieves, is supposed to come out in the spring 2010, and it concerns the Bondmagi and Locke Lamora's oft-spoken and never met lost love Sabetha, so I am particularly interested to grab that one. Still, it's interesting to note this was actually originally due for release in spring 2009. I don't know about Lynch's personal side like I think we all do GRRM, but I have seen forum posts linking his delay to ones like GRRM's and another author I don't know, a Patrick Rothfuss or someone like that. I hope this isn't some trend we're starting to see where it gets longer and longer in between books in a series.

I really enjoyed Lynch's series and I'm glad to see he's continuing it. I had not heard that. Have you tried Joe Abercrombie's books yet? I've heard very good things about his books.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

I really enjoyed Lynch's series and I'm glad to see he's continuing it. I had not heard that. Have you tried Joe Abercrombie's books yet? I've heard very good things about his books.

No, I hadn't even heard of him. Just looked him up off your post, and he seems like someone I will want to check out in the near future. There seem to be some very good reviews up his First Law Trilogy.

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

No, I hadn't even heard of him. Just looked him up off your post, and he seems like someone I will want to check out in the near future. There seem to be some very good reviews up his First Law Trilogy.

He and Lynch were two of the more popular new authors when their first books hit. I haven't read them yet, but they were normally near the top of people's must read lists.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Finished Winter's Heart (Wheel of Time book 9) recently and am about 200 pages into Crossroads of Twilight. Enjoyed Winter's Heart much more than Path of Daggers, though it is still one of the weaker books in the series. I'm finding that I'm quite bored of the Faile/Perrin/Shaido storyline, although I do really enjoy the character of Balwer. Mat Cauthon's chapters are still my favorite.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Finished Winter's Heart (Wheel of Time book 9) recently and am about 200 pages into Crossroads of Twilight. Enjoyed Winter's Heart much more than Path of Daggers, though it is still one of the weaker books in the series. I'm finding that I'm quite bored of the Faile/Perrin/Shaido storyline, although I do really enjoy the character of Balwer. Mat Cauthon's chapters are still my favorite.

Wow, you're getting through them quicker than I am! I'm about 2/3 through Knife of Dreams (book 11) and eagerly anticipating finishing it and getting to the new one, book 12.

I agree, the Faile/Perrin/Shaido story line drags on a bit. I enjoy Mat chapters (though even now they're getting a small bit annoying), as well as Elayne and Egwene POV lines. Rand's....well, they're few and far between right now, just enough to keep him in mind. Not a fan of the POV stuff of the lesser players (the Sea Folk, etc), though I am interested in what's going to happen with the Children of the Light.

/tk

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Finished "The Lost Symbol" today. I must confess, after awhile it got too repetitive, and the story felt like it was dragging on. Also, the changes in view point at "critical" points felt forced and just annoyed me (I don't remember Brown doing that nearly as much in previous books). It also felt like he got paid extra the more he'd add references to internet searches, Blackberry, iPhone, and stuff like Twitter.

I "read" the book in audio. After the main story was resolved (in the room with the skylight), the audio version had TWO MORE HOURS of crap that just dragged on and on and on. I also don't know if Dan Brown really used the word "disorientate" (or forms of it like "disorientated") as often as he did, or if the narrarator couldn't read, but I assume it was Brown. It drove me bonkers.

In the end, the book definitely wasn't as good as DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it as highly as I did when I was only 1/3 way through or so.

/tk

Just finished this and I agree with all of this. The whole book felt really forced, like he was obligated to write a book. It took me 2 days to get through the final 25 pages it dragged so much, and I am someone who reads fast.

Many of the "twists" were predictable and the climax was a let down.

By far my least favorite of all his books, not just the Langdon ones.

[boberot]

I'm embarrassed to admit I'm just now reading my first Philip Roth book, "The Plot Against America."

It's an "alternate history" take that very plausibly tells the tale of Charles Lindbergh beating FDR in his bid for a third term as president. Roth extrapolates Lindbergh's perceived anti-Semitism, isolationism and Nazi sympathies and creates a chilling tale of America in the early 1940s with Lindbergh as president and America staying out of WW II.

I'm only halfway through, so I'm not sure exactly how autobiographical it is, but the story is told [to great effect] through a 9-year-old Jewish boy in Newark named Philip Roth.

It's incredibly well-crafted, subtle and utterly believable. I could see this sort of story falling into any number of heavy-handed clichés in lesser hands, but Roth deftly avoids them all [so far]. It's the first book I've read in a while where I can't wait until I have an opportunity to get back to it and read more. Highly recommended.

[RainMaker]

Finished The Lost Symbol the other night. Kind of disappointed in it and was expecting much more. It's basically the Da Vinci Code with freemasons and in DC. Same type of characters, same chase, same ambivalence to whether the authorities are good or bad. It had a few good moments but ultimately didn't really keep me that interested. The ending is also horribly cliche and comes across like a Lifetime Movie. It felt like he wrote this book as a screenplay.

[Young Drachma]

Patience with God (A Book for people who don't like Religion (or Atheism)) - Frank Schaeffer

Generation A - Douglas Coupland

Makers - Cory Doctorow

Connected: The Surprising Power of our Social Networks and how they shape our lives - Nicholas Christakis (it's not about social networks in a digital sense,but actual real life ones...)

[DataKing]

Currently reading Glenn Beck's Common Sense.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Finished the latest Wheel of Time book, The Gathering Storm a couple days ago. Though I had a hard time getting into it to start (Sanderson has a noticeably different style than Jordan), about 200 pages in he really hits his stride and delivers a great read.

About to start 1776, which I've been looking forward to reading for a while now.

[Chief Rum]

Finished Evidence, the latest of Jonathon Kellerman's Alex Delaware series. It was a little shorter than his usually are. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I think it will just be a rather forgettable one in the series.

I am back into scifi with my next one.

I am reading Alastair Reynold's The Prefect. Pretty good in the early going.

I must say, it's amazing the kind of leaps Reynolds makes with technology, and they just make sense, leaving me sitting there, thinking, "Why the heck didn't I think of that?"

For example, this book presents (not as a main topic, just another thing that shows up int he book as its going along) the concept of dislexia == security clearance. In other words, sensitive information is "coded" in a way that the human brain can't process it linguistically, so that you would need to take the securing agency's drug genetically made for someone who requires security clearance to read the information. And on top of that, the drug is specifically genetic--meant only for that one person--and if anyone else takes it, it will kill them. Pretty effective security technique. That's the sort of stuff that brings me back to Reynolds, even though sometimes, he goes into some concepts/ideas that are really out there.

[Schmidty]

"Desperation" by Stephen King.

I haven't read a King novel in years and years, but this one is very entertaining. I'm only halfway through, but it's a pretty interesting story, and the plot moves along nicely. Tough to put down at times.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by boberot

I'm embarrassed to admit I'm just now reading my first Philip Roth book, "The Plot Against America."

It's an "alternate history" take that very plausibly tells the tale of Charles Lindbergh beating FDR in his bid for a third term as president. Roth extrapolates Lindbergh's perceived anti-Semitism, isolationism and Nazi sympathies and creates a chilling tale of America in the early 1940s with Lindbergh as president and America staying out of WW II.

I'm only halfway through, so I'm not sure exactly how autobiographical it is, but the story is told [to great effect] through a 9-year-old Jewish boy in Newark named Philip Roth.

It's incredibly well-crafted, subtle and utterly believable. I could see this sort of story falling into any number of heavy-handed clichés in lesser hands, but Roth deftly avoids them all [so far]. It's the first book I've read in a while where I can't wait until I have an opportunity to get back to it and read more. Highly recommended.

My Sister in Law loved it and I am looking forward to reading it but will have to wait until summer.

[boberot]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

About to start 1776, which I've been looking forward to reading for a while now.

I've had this for a few years and think it looks very interesting, but something stops me just short of actually starting it.



I'll be curious to read your impressions.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Finished the latest Wheel of Time book, The Gathering Storm a couple days ago. Though I had a hard time getting into it to start (Sanderson has a noticeably different style than Jordan), about 200 pages in he really hits his stride and delivers a great read.

HOLY MOLY.

I listened to New Spring through Knife of Dreams on a re-read by listening to books from Audible.com. Even though I have The Gathering Storm on audio, I ended up reading the print version of the book. I was so engrossed by it, I wanted it more quickly than the narrators could read it, and ended up spending nights reading instead of watching TV. Needless to say, I went through this book more quickly than I expected.

I was sucked in from the get-go, though did feel that it slowed down slightly about 1/3 of the way in, then picked up and went strong through the end.

I was happy to see many things I expected in the book--and surprised and turns certain storylines took. Even though they were few and far between, I still got bored of the Perrin lines, and strongly preferred the Egwene lines to anything else. I was also surprisingly uninterested in the Mat storylines, even though I think he's on the coolest quest (and I really can't wait to see how that plays out).

Now I'm bummed I have to wait for the next book in the series to come out.

/tk

[terpkristin]

Dola,
Next up for me is a quick jaunt to a trash novel in audio form (Hell Hole by Chris Grabenstein) then onto The Night Angel Trilogy, starting with The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks.

/tk

[lighthousekeeper]

A Friend of the Family, by Lauren Grodstein. Very good contemporary fiction.

[cougarfreak]

I'm tearing through The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell, good stuff.

[Fidatelo]

Just finished The Killing Song by Don Bassingthwaite, the 3rd and final book in his Dragon Below Trilogy.

Good series overall, and a nice introduction to the Eberron world for me. Obviously not on par with epic series by folks like GRRM and Jordan and whatnot, but at about 350 pages a piece these were some nice light reading that kept me interested throughout.

Next up is Freakonomics, but unfortunately my wife dropped it in the tub yesterday and it will be drying out for another couple days (she didn't notice it fall in while the tub was filling, so it literally floated around for like 5-10 minutes).

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Dola,
then onto The Night Angel Trilogy, starting with The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks.

/tk

one of my favorite series I have recently read.

I was in a bookstore the other day and say a book I will be purchasing this week to go along with HBO's reshowing of Band of Brothers

Beyond Band Of Brothers, The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters...this led me into looking into other books one some of the guys within Easy Company and such...I will be picking a lot of them up either from the Library or from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

[Scoobz0202]

Been awhile since I posted here.

I had mentioned I picked up The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins.

I had wanted to read The Road for a couple reasons. One, after hearing people rave about his books I had already read Blood Meridian and couldn't finish it. I decided I would give him another shot with The Road. Two, the movie was coming out and I wanted to read this before the movie came out. Unfortunately I never was able to see the movie as it was never released around me for some reason. Will have to wait for the DVD. But I was glad I read the book, regardless. I enjoyed The Road much more then Blood Meridian and look forward to eventually seeing the movie. The one thing I didn't like about Meridian is that I felt he was trying to hard at times, and found his writing painful to read at times. The opposite was true with The Road and found it to be an enjoyable read and one I would definietly recommend.

The Forever War was an excellent, excellent, excellent book. It was not just an explanation of why the war in the Middle East is going on, but a first hand account of being over there as a reporter, and as a soldier. There are some very powerful passages. Highly recommended.

I also just finished reading Patient Zero Johnathan Maberry. It is the first book of what I believe is to be a trilogy. This is a zombie book. Terrorists have perfected a way of basically setting off a zombie bomb and it is up to Jon Ledger and the rest of the newly formed Department of Military Science to stop it. When I picked this up at the bookstore I was in the mood for something light and enjoyable. This is exactly what I got. The characters are not too deep. The plot is not really that complex. But it was an enjoyable, fast read. I got what I expected so I was satisfied. I may pick up the second book when it is released in a few months, I may not. Who knows.


I have a pretty lengthy to-read list as I ordered a few books off ebay and I still have yet to delve into my christmas gift from Pass. I shall start one of these in the near future:

World War Z by Max Brooks
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
The Year of Jubilo by Howard Bahr
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
A Short History of the World by J.M. Roberts

[Glengoyne]

I just finished reading Charlie Huston's "Caught Stealing" and "Six Bad Things". Crime dramas that are pretty gritty and raw. I downloaded them for free on the Stanza eReader for my iPod. I'm starting into the third book in the trilogy now "A Dangerous Man".

I'm going to be looking into eReader copies of the China Meiville books.

[DeToxRox]

Just read Homicide by David Simon, now I am reading The Corner also by Simon. Homicide was just excellent, and so far Corner is as good if not better.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I'm going to be looking into eReader copies of the China Meiville books.

I may start Perdido Street Station next. Picked it up on the recommendation of somebody in this thread but something about it keeps putting me off. I'm wondering if it's too Sci-Fi for me. Only one way to find out..

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

The Forever War was an excellent, excellent, excellent book. It was not just an explanation of why the war in the Middle East is going on, but a first hand account of being over there as a reporter, and as a soldier. There are some very powerful passages. Highly recommended.

Your recommendation and the reviews on Amazon caused me to order this tonight. Looking forward to receiving it next week.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

HOLY MOLY.

I listened to New Spring through Knife of Dreams on a re-read by listening to books from Audible.com. Even though I have The Gathering Storm on audio, I ended up reading the print version of the book. I was so engrossed by it, I wanted it more quickly than the narrators could read it, and ended up spending nights reading instead of watching TV. Needless to say, I went through this book more quickly than I expected.

I was sucked in from the get-go, though did feel that it slowed down slightly about 1/3 of the way in, then picked up and went strong through the end.

I was happy to see many things I expected in the book--and surprised and turns certain storylines took. Even though they were few and far between, I still got bored of the Perrin lines, and strongly preferred the Egwene lines to anything else. I was also surprisingly uninterested in the Mat storylines, even though I think he's on the coolest quest (and I really can't wait to see how that plays out).

Now I'm bummed I have to wait for the next book in the series to come out.

/tk

This might be considered slightly "spoilerish", so if you're considering reading The Gathering Storm, you may want to gloss over this next part. I was EXTREMELY disappointed with how the Masema plot was wrapped up. I am really, really hoping that the whole debacle that included him has some further-reaching effects than what we've already seen, because otherwise I'm going to be even more disappointed. Outside of that, I thought the entire book was incredible. The only thing that I really had to get into the groove with was Sanderson's penchant for bouncing from storyline to storyline one chapter at a time - since Jordan seemed to grab a "thread" and run with it for a while (often multiple chapters at a time), it was difficult to jump around so much for me at first. Eventually, I liked it more as it seemed to develop the plot in a quicker manner, which was a welcome change.

I am also now quite bummed about waiting for the next installment.

As a further clarification of my disappointment, I'll use the spoiler tags:

Spoiler

I just think that it was pretty chickenshit to have Masema's character killed off in about four paragraphs. He was a huge plot-driving character for three or four books, and then he's just gone. Obviously, he's responsible for shaping Perrin's opinion of the Seanchan and for dispersing the Shaido (he's what sent Perrin out there in the first place, and Faile being captured forced Perrin to demolish the Shaido), but it seems like a rather...clumsy, I guess...plot device for simply cleaning up loose ends, especially since it took three or four books to finally resolve the thing. I mean, I almost feel as if the entire sequence was a shoddy way to A) Clean up the mess of the Shaido, B) Further cement the Seanchan as "not" bad guys and C) Simply to keep Perrin in the storyline until he's more useful/necessary.

I'm also completely confused by the whole Berelain/Faile/Perrin thing. For the entirety of the story, Jordan has built Berelain up to be this politically savvy, incredibly smart woman who isn't afraid to use her looks to get what she wants. She's obviously NOT going to win Perrin from Faile, and she has to realize this. Simply a case of too much pride? As a small nation, I'd think she would be very familiar with swallowing pride in order to live with things that can't be changed. At first the catty nature of Faile vs. Berelain was a nice diversion/sub-plot, but I'm not sure what it adds to the story at this point, and it's been that way for a book or three now.

I've had a really, really packed schedule lately so I have barely gotten to read any of 1776. The 20 or so pages I'm in so far are pretty good, but it's definitely a different beast than the paperbacks I've been reading for the last 5 years or so. Once I get into a groove with it, I'll give more feedback.

[3ric]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I am reading Alastair Reynold's The Prefect. Pretty good in the early going.

I must say, it's amazing the kind of leaps Reynolds makes with technology, and they just make sense, leaving me sitting there, thinking, "Why the heck didn't I think of that?"

For example, this book presents (not as a main topic, just another thing that shows up int he book as its going along) the concept of dislexia == security clearance. In other words, sensitive information is "coded" in a way that the human brain can't process it linguistically, so that you would need to take the securing agency's drug genetically made for someone who requires security clearance to read the information. And on top of that, the drug is specifically genetic--meant only for that one person--and if anyone else takes it, it will kill them. Pretty effective security technique. That's the sort of stuff that brings me back to Reynolds, even though sometimes, he goes into some concepts/ideas that are really out there.

Loved Reynolds' previous books, I have to pick up this one.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

This might be considered slightly "spoilerish", so if you're considering reading The Gathering Storm, you may want to gloss over this next part. I was EXTREMELY disappointed with how the Masema plot was wrapped up. I am really, really hoping that the whole debacle that included him has some further-reaching effects than what we've already seen, because otherwise I'm going to be even more disappointed. Outside of that, I thought the entire book was incredible. The only thing that I really had to get into the groove with was Sanderson's penchant for bouncing from storyline to storyline one chapter at a time - since Jordan seemed to grab a "thread" and run with it for a while (often multiple chapters at a time), it was difficult to jump around so much for me at first. Eventually, I liked it more as it seemed to develop the plot in a quicker manner, which was a welcome change.

I am also now quite bummed about waiting for the next installment.

As a further clarification of my disappointment, I'll use the spoiler tags:

Spoiler

I just think that it was pretty chickenshit to have Masema's character killed off in about four paragraphs. He was a huge plot-driving character for three or four books, and then he's just gone. Obviously, he's responsible for shaping Perrin's opinion of the Seanchan and for dispersing the Shaido (he's what sent Perrin out there in the first place, and Faile being captured forced Perrin to demolish the Shaido), but it seems like a rather...clumsy, I guess...plot device for simply cleaning up loose ends, especially since it took three or four books to finally resolve the thing. I mean, I almost feel as if the entire sequence was a shoddy way to A) Clean up the mess of the Shaido, B) Further cement the Seanchan as "not" bad guys and C) Simply to keep Perrin in the storyline until he's more useful/necessary.

I'm also completely confused by the whole Berelain/Faile/Perrin thing. For the entirety of the story, Jordan has built Berelain up to be this politically savvy, incredibly smart woman who isn't afraid to use her looks to get what she wants. She's obviously NOT going to win Perrin from Faile, and she has to realize this. Simply a case of too much pride? As a small nation, I'd think she would be very familiar with swallowing pride in order to live with things that can't be changed. At first the catty nature of Faile vs. Berelain was a nice diversion/sub-plot, but I'm not sure what it adds to the story at this point, and it's been that way for a book or three now.

Agreed on all counts. That storyline in general has been a disappointment to me for the last few books.

/tk

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Been awhile since I posted here.

I had mentioned I picked up The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins.

I had wanted to read The Road for a couple reasons. One, after hearing people rave about his books I had already read Blood Meridian and couldn't finish it. I decided I would give him another shot with The Road. Two, the movie was coming out and I wanted to read this before the movie came out. Unfortunately I never was able to see the movie as it was never released around me for some reason. Will have to wait for the DVD. But I was glad I read the book, regardless. I enjoyed The Road much more then Blood Meridian and look forward to eventually seeing the movie. The one thing I didn't like about Meridian is that I felt he was trying to hard at times, and found his writing painful to read at times. The opposite was true with The Road and found it to be an enjoyable read and one I would definietly recommend.

The Forever War was an excellent, excellent, excellent book. It was not just an explanation of why the war in the Middle East is going on, but a first hand account of being over there as a reporter, and as a soldier. There are some very powerful passages. Highly recommended.

I also just finished reading Patient Zero Johnathan Maberry. It is the first book of what I believe is to be a trilogy. This is a zombie book. Terrorists have perfected a way of basically setting off a zombie bomb and it is up to Jon Ledger and the rest of the newly formed Department of Military Science to stop it. When I picked this up at the bookstore I was in the mood for something light and enjoyable. This is exactly what I got. The characters are not too deep. The plot is not really that complex. But it was an enjoyable, fast read. I got what I expected so I was satisfied. I may pick up the second book when it is released in a few months, I may not. Who knows.


I have a pretty lengthy to-read list as I ordered a few books off ebay and I still have yet to delve into my christmas gift from Pass. I shall start one of these in the near future:

World War Z by Max Brooks
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
The Year of Jubilo by Howard Bahr
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
A Short History of the World by J.M. Roberts

I started A Conspiracy of Paper this week -- liking it so far.

[BYU 14]

Dumming it down currently, reading Artie Langes "Too Fat To Fish"

Artie is one disturbed guy.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I started A Conspiracy of Paper this week -- liking it so far.

Good good. I really enjoy his writing. I've tried recommending his books to people but I have found that when you explain his books to people it sounds boring as hell but you just have to give it a shot.

I have found that it's the same way with the TV show The Wire which i recently started watching.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Dumming it down currently, reading Artie Langes "Too Fat To Fish"

Artie is one disturbed guy.

I've held this one in the store a couple times, but haven't managed to pull the trigger yet. Is it worth the money to read just how disturbed the guy is?