What are you reading? 2016 edition

[Groundhog]

I could've sworn there was already a 2016 thread, but apparently not.

After reading some horror and westerns the past couple of months, I continued on my quest to find a fantasy series that grips me outside of the first couple of ASoIF books.

I picked up Brandon Sanderson's (creative parents) first book in the Mistborn series, The Final Empire, for no other reason than my local bookstore had all his books on their main display, and the goodreads rating was high.

There's a few things that turn me off most of the fantasy novels I try - overly poetic descriptions of every single object in the world, excessive world building over plot, flat 2D characters, and (related to the last point) bad/unnatural dialogue.

I didn't mind this book though. If anything the world felt a little under-cooked here, almost 'fairy tale' like - a kingdom far, far away with a king who has ruled over his lords and slaves for a thousand years - but I liked that different details were introduced slowly (although usually foreshadowed, sometimes obviously), and that it wasn't all explained. The characters themselves were pretty flat though I thought, and the dialogue ranged from bad to functional, which gave the whole book a 'young adult' feel to me.

The story itself started slow but picked up pace around the half-way mark, and the home-stretch was interesting enough to keep me up until 1am this morning to finish it. Sanderson put a lot of thought into the Allomancy stuff, especially some of the battles, but it just never really grabbed me.

Overall, probably a 3/5 for me. Don't think I'd continue with the 2nd book, but got my money's worth.

[Peregrine]

I'm reading The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones - really good coverage of the period and quite easily approachable. This is the period of English history which Game of Thrones is loosely based on and it is easily understandable - power politics, betrayals, executions etc all over the place - really interesting.

A couple of weeks ago I finished Comm Check - the Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia. I found it really interesting to see all the internal stuff that led up the Columbia disaster and the sort of bad safety culture that made it possible. I had read another book a few years ago on the Challenger disaster and it's pretty amazing how the same sort of "well we survived it before therefore its not dangerous" attitude gradually took hold in both cases.

[Pyser]

Finishing up the 3rd gentlemen bastards book. Thanks to all who recommended in earlier threads. I cant say I love them, but I keep going back for more, so there must be something there I'm enjoying...

Also recently read Stoner, a mid-20th century book that was republished a few years ago and caught fire in France (?). Was really awesome, just a simple story about a simple life. Pretty existential.

[Groundhog]

Made it through Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns last night. I was looking for some darker fantasy, and this was certainly that... Only reason I pushed on past the first 15-20% was due to a few reviewers (including Robin Hobb on Goodreads) saying the pay-off is worth the effort, despite the violent start and unlikable protagonist. I'd say that was barely true - the last 20% was a good read, but the other 80% ranged from not interesting to cliched.

I liked the setting, especially as more and more details were slowly revealed during the story, and a few of the background characters, although no one was really anything more than one-dimension. I didn't like the main character at all, which I realize is sort of the point here and does fit within the story, but all the same it doesn't necessarily make an enjoyable reading experience.

For something different I finally started on Pratchett's Discworld series, The Colour of Magic. Yeah, 33% in and I have no idea why I waited so long. Fun, clever, and like nothing else I've ever read.

[Marc Vaughan]

Currently just started Half the World by Joe Abercrombie - he's a fantastic author and does a unique style of fantasy fiction which is far grittier than most, well worth reading ..

[ISiddiqui]

Am about halfway through Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy and wow... what a sobering look at the criminal justice system. Stevenson is a lawyer and the book is his memoir dealing with his work in trying to free innocent people on Alabama's death row. The way some of these people were railroaded (a LOT of it based on race) is just appalling and then the hoops he had to jump through to get their convictions looked at, even when witnesses said they'd been coerced to testify, was incredibly heartbreaking. It really is a must read.

[Groundhog]

Finished the 2nd Discworld book, The Light Fantastic, and bought the 3rd last night. I liked both, but The Light Fantastic was a step forward in the writing department, with Pratchett really ramping up the comedy. I don't find the real Monty Python-esque humour 'laugh out loud' funny, more 'smile to myself as I turn the page' funny.

Maybe this is the fantasy series I was looking for. Being able to get through a book in a couple of nights rather than slog through 800 pages of intrigue and battles makes for a nice change of pace, too.

[AlexB]

Rereading as it turns out the Anthony Kiedis biography Scar Tissue. Really enjoying the read, got to the first set of photos and they looked familiar... Gradually realised I had bought the hardback 10 years ago!

However other than a couple of relationships pretty much everything bar the photos is new to me again, so still enjoying the read and slightly concerned about why I remember so little about a book I've definitely read before

[Ryche]

These threads have provided me with a lot of reading material.

Read all 3 Gentleman Bastards books. Very entertaining, looking forward to the next one in July. My enjoyment has slid a little from book to book but they kept my attention all the way.

Been reading a lot of Sanderson as well. Loved the Stormlight Archive, Mistborn trilogy as well although the first was definitely the strongest again there. Just finished Alloy of Law, may have been even better than the Mistborn trilogy. Liked that world much more and the characters were more interesting I thought. Going to follow it up with Shadows of Self soon.

Reading Firefight now after just finishing Steelheart. Had fun with Steelheart, only 2 real complaints. Don't like the main character, he's fairly annoying and I had that stupid Steelheart song from the 80s stuck in my head while reading it. But a great premise that I thought was well executed and likely to make an interesting movie one day.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ryche

These threads have provided me with a lot of reading material.

Read all 3 Gentleman Bastards books. Very entertaining, looking forward to the next one in July. My enjoyment has slid a little from book to book but they kept my attention all the way.

Been reading a lot of Sanderson as well. Loved the Stormlight Archive, Mistborn trilogy as well although the first was definitely the strongest again there. Just finished Alloy of Law, may have been even better than the Mistborn trilogy. Liked that world much more and the characters were more interesting I thought. Going to follow it up with Shadows of Self soon.

Reading Firefight now after just finishing Steelheart. Had fun with Steelheart, only 2 real complaints. Don't like the main character, he's fairly annoying and I had that stupid Steelheart song from the 80s stuck in my head while reading it. But a great premise that I thought was well executed and likely to make an interesting movie one day.

I'm a big Sanderson fan. Love all of his stuff!

[Groundhog]

I've struggled to find a book I stick with lately, but grabbed Stephen King's The Dead Zone for no other reason than a lazy Goodreads recommendation, and really enjoyed it. Not quite King at his best, but a different kind of story from him, too, and I like that he left some things unexplained. Scary how much of a Trump vibe I got from Greg Stillson, and a google search shows me I'm not the only one.

Sticking with the Goodreads recommendations, I picked up Watchers by Dean Koontz, who I find hit or miss with me. This is one of his more popular books, but I've never read it or even really know what it's about. 1/5th through and I'm looking forward to seeing how the three different characters end up coming together.

[Solecismic]

Right now, I'm in the middle of Epitaph, by Mary Doria Russell. It's a well-researched story of the events leading up to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. I think it's been worth it, though I am sick of Doc Holliday's coughing. Damned lungers.

[Izulde]

A scattering of stuff here and there, most of which didn't leave a lasting impression on me. That said, I weirdly enjoy the Twilight series, and am partway through Breaking Dawn. Yes, I know it's awful in so very many ways, but the story is an engaging one, and Meyer has excellent sense of pace, which is a really underrated skill that far too many authors with better writing style fail at.

Honestly, I understand Twilight fandom far better than A Song of Ice and Fire fandom - For all the former's numerous flaws, it outshines the absolutely wretched writing and lifeless quality of the latter (and no, that's not an intended joke about people dying everywhere in AGOT).

[Groundhog]

Twilight fandom isn't hard to understand considering the target audience. ASoIF is an entirely different beast - I don't even think the books have a 'fandom'. The show is popular, but it's more evenly spread between the sexes and different age categories than something like Twilight, which is, what, 90% 16-30 year old females? I don't think I'd call Game of Thrones popularity 'fandom' at all, really. It's just massively popular, both with more casual fans and more hardcore fans.

As for the comparison of the two... well... to each their own.