Consuming Fire, Scalzi's second book in The Interpendency series is 99p on kindle in the UK now for those interested. I just grabbed it as I bought the first in a similar sale last year.
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I'm about to start GoT. I binged and watched a season of got a day for 6 days straight. Just amazing, but I was so put off by ep 1 of season 7 from the quality and plot by end of season, I had to look up any reasons. Realized they're past books after season 5. I'm not looking forward to season 8, so I'm gonna start over with the books and join the wait.
Amen.
Considering there's a blizzard happening here right now, this is incredibly timely. I'll swear that oath
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk.
Went to Paris over New Years and also stopped by Shakespeare & Co. to pick up some books, which I do mostly blind going just by cover and the description. Of course, I knew her from her recent Nobel Prize win, but haven't read anything by her.
Also finished the mesmerizing and inspiring The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel. Beautiful written and (presumably) researched, Manguel describes the idea of an library in different shades (The Library ...as Shape, as Oblivion, as Imagination, etc.).
That should be right up your street especially if you would like some humour to go with that 👍.
I thought it overstayed its welcome and would have worked better as a short story but one can certainly do far worse than a bit of Scalzi.
Thanks for the heads up! 🐱
Started reading this,
The things I read are never as high brow or as interesting as what everyone else posts in here 😄, but sometimes you can't beat addictive trash
Been looking to get into a thriller after some of the series I am wrapping up right now.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
It has been quite entertaining so far, I'm around 50% of the way through.
It came top of the thriller section from the Goodread's book of the year awards which is how I noticed it.
I'm gonna go back in time and read Bleak House by Charles Dickens next cuz it's winter and it's dark outside.
Many Dickens scholars/fans consider this his masterpiece, and I find it hard to argue.
I've only read 4 pages so far so I won't argue with you as it seems to have much more life to it than the last book I tried reading.
Only Dickens I've previously read was Christmas Carol. Bleak House was free on kindle so I added it to my backlog. Thanks guys.
I enjoy Murakami and also find him wildly overrated, if that makes sense.
The second book in the trilogy, and it definitely feels like it. Lots of things being moved from Point A to Point B, ends on a cliffhanger, and I don't think it especially works on its own in the way the best such entries do. But all that said, plenty of individually compelling elements.
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Finished The Library at Mount Char and didn't like it at all in the end. I described it as 'edgy YA' in an earlier post and... Yeah, that's what it felt like the entire way through.
There's tons of pretty graphic violence delivered with an immature 'this is so cool, right?' voice (rape, gore, suicide, animal cruelty, etc), and extremely on the nose dialogue (especially whenever the 'badass' war veteran turned homeland security guy Erwin would interact with anyone (he meets the President and other assorted officials in the oval office and is swearing and being 'casual' because he's too cool to conform to etiquette AND THEN the President is just a normal dude who isn't offended and invites him to poker on Thursday blah blah... Yuck)). 2/5, would not recommend. Not nearly as weird or confusing as reviews would have you believe, just a fantasy world with poorly defined rules.
Going to jump into The Man Who Fell to Earth next. I've been meaning to read more Walter Tevis for a while now (The Queen's Gambit is one of my favourite books ever, and I've seen the film adaptations of The Hustler and The Color of Money). Plus it's nice and short at 209 pages.
I'm soooooooo convinced Winds of Winter is coming this year, that I've decided to dip back into A Song Of Ice And Fire and recap the series before the biggest release of the year. However, rather than go into GOT first, I decided to start with this. I forgot how good this book was. I really want more Dunk and Egg adventures soon.
Last book I finished was Extracted.
Started off as a rollicking time travel adventure, but once the team is assembled, the writing took a huge nosedive and made absolutely no progress on its own premise. Most of the characters are grating assholes, they curse like kids learning swears for the first time, the lead character has a skillset that fluctuates between everyman and Batman as needed by the narrative, etc. Throw in a smattering of misogyny and complete lack of understanding for survivors of sexual assault. I heard the rest of the trilogy somehow doubles down on the worst aspects.
I just started The Time Machine after having it on my Fire for years and it's already washing the taste out of my mouth.
Started off as a rollicking time travel adventure, but once the team is assembled, the writing took a huge nosedive and made absolutely no progress on its own premise. Most of the characters are grating assholes, they curse like kids learning swears for the first time, the lead character has a skillset that fluctuates between everyman and Batman as needed by the narrative, etc. Throw in a smattering of misogyny and complete lack of understanding for survivors of sexual assault. I heard the rest of the trilogy somehow doubles down on the worst aspects.
I just started The Time Machine after having it on my Fire for years and it's already washing the taste out of my mouth.
Weird aside: I wish I understood the thought process that went in to authors or editors minds when they determine which characters get a quick summary when they're brought up and what don't. We'll have characters that are somewhat deemed as main characters but not brought up often just past off as a character you should remember and no real attention is paid to them, but then a character that comes up just about every other chapter gets a full run down of the single memorable interaction they have any time the characters name comes up. If it was just that one character I'd think, ok this character will end up playing a big role in the end, but it's done with multiple side characters that by all accounts only have one distinct interaction and then just get brought up constantly as they're seen through the story with that one interaction having to be reiterated every time.
Sometimes it's not even character related. Reading The Wheel of Time, I do not understand at all why he reiterates that men using the power is bad every time when it's literally the main story line, or that stilling is this horrible thing that isn't done too often. But by all means, don't give me context at all to a character that hasn't shown up for 3 books and has a tiny role. "Wait, how do I know this character? I don't know, but I damn sure know that men channeling is BAD!"
Sometimes it's not even character related. Reading The Wheel of Time, I do not understand at all why he reiterates that men using the power is bad every time when it's literally the main story line, or that stilling is this horrible thing that isn't done too often. But by all means, don't give me context at all to a character that hasn't shown up for 3 books and has a tiny role. "Wait, how do I know this character? I don't know, but I damn sure know that men channeling is BAD!"
OP
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Finished the last book in the Powder Mage world. I absolutely adored the entire 6 book run.
This final book had the best (and maybe only) female military general I have read. Sometimes men writing woman in typical male rolls falls flat, but he did a fantastic job here. He actually had 2 women generals face off against each other which was pretty cool.
This final book had the best (and maybe only) female military general I have read. Sometimes men writing woman in typical male rolls falls flat, but he did a fantastic job here. He actually had 2 women generals face off against each other which was pretty cool.
Me: This sounds good, I'll look into the first book of the series.Finished the last book in the Powder Mage world. I absolutely adored the entire 6 book run.
This final book had the best (and maybe only) female military general I have read. Sometimes men writing woman in typical male rolls falls flat, but he did a fantastic job here. He actually had 2 women generals face off against each other which was pretty cool.
Also me: Purchased on December 24th 2018.
Whelp....its currently 99p on the amazon UK kindle store if anyone else is interested.
I was reading "Wandereres" got to around 60 percent and just stopped. shit was too depressing. skipped to the last chapters, and I kinda know what happens. oh well. its a huge book 800 pages.
reading "Pines" by Blake Crouch now. Dudes becoming my favorite thriller writer, Dark Matter and Recursion were fun page turners and so is this. already half way through it after a day.
I just don't feel like reading depressing books right now
reading "Pines" by Blake Crouch now. Dudes becoming my favorite thriller writer, Dark Matter and Recursion were fun page turners and so is this. already half way through it after a day.
I just don't feel like reading depressing books right now
I'm reading Gareth Hanrahan's The Shadow Saint, which just came out - a sequal to last year's excellent The Gutter Prayer:
I'm jumping between 2 books at the moment, Time of Contempt and The Templars by Dan Jones
The Templars i'm reading in the office on the Kindle app as it's easy to hide in the office. Time of Contempt, that's my any other time book.
The Templars i'm reading in the office on the Kindle app as it's easy to hide in the office. Time of Contempt, that's my any other time book.
In Germany as well ! I have it borrowed in hardcover. But I dont read hardcover anymore.
I'm reading Gareth Hanrahan's The Shadow Saint, which just came out - a sequal to last year's excellent The Gutter Prayer:
I really really liked gutter prayer! Thank you for the head up
Finally, FINALLY read the second volume of Sandman, in a single sitting to boot.
This is shaping up to be one of my favorite stories of all time. I have a hodgepodge of editions and printings, and I'm more than happy with that.
Only one thing bothered me, in this volume
This is shaping up to be one of my favorite stories of all time. I have a hodgepodge of editions and printings, and I'm more than happy with that.
Only one thing bothered me, in this volume
The story at the very beginning of the volume where Morpheus goes after a teenage girl is pretty damn gross and creepy. It definitely has the tone of myth, though- I can think of a few ways to rationalize it (myths and the living manipulate the Endless, etc.) but it was still a disturbing way to think about the otherwise extremely compelling main character, to me.
Well, I don't think Gaiman's saying grown ass adults going after teenagers is OK or romantic, so it's probably fine. I'm just a stickler for this stuff sometimes.
Well, I don't think Gaiman's saying grown ass adults going after teenagers is OK or romantic, so it's probably fine. I'm just a stickler for this stuff sometimes.
Recently finished:
- The Brothers Karamazov. I don't regret reading it at all, and there are some very intriguing passages, but ultimately I can't say I loved it. A significant reason is perhaps that I fundamentally disagree with the worldview Dostoevsky is trying to convey, although I also had some gripes with the plot itself. It's a long book, and some chapters were really hard to get through.
- Th 2nd Discworld novel (forgot the title). It wasn't very good, but I knew beforehand it was regarded as some of Pratchett's poorer work.
- The 3 published Stormlight Archives books. They were decent/ quick reads and quite enjoyable (I read them as ebooks while reading a physical Karamazov copy, so I could certainly use the change of pace). I don't really regard them too highly, though. They're like blockbuster entertainment.
Now reading: Senlin Ascends. I'm around halfway. The setting is quite interesting, but I have rarely disliked a protagonist so much. In fact, I find most of his characters rather weak. I'll decide if I'll bother with the 2nd book after finishing this.
- The Brothers Karamazov. I don't regret reading it at all, and there are some very intriguing passages, but ultimately I can't say I loved it. A significant reason is perhaps that I fundamentally disagree with the worldview Dostoevsky is trying to convey, although I also had some gripes with the plot itself. It's a long book, and some chapters were really hard to get through.
- Th 2nd Discworld novel (forgot the title). It wasn't very good, but I knew beforehand it was regarded as some of Pratchett's poorer work.
- The 3 published Stormlight Archives books. They were decent/ quick reads and quite enjoyable (I read them as ebooks while reading a physical Karamazov copy, so I could certainly use the change of pace). I don't really regard them too highly, though. They're like blockbuster entertainment.
Now reading: Senlin Ascends. I'm around halfway. The setting is quite interesting, but I have rarely disliked a protagonist so much. In fact, I find most of his characters rather weak. I'll decide if I'll bother with the 2nd book after finishing this.
Yeah the first couple of Discworld books are pretty rough though they have some great one liners. Some of his later work though is fantastic.
Oh man idk if I'm just reading Brothers Kamarazov at the right time in my life for it but I feel like every other chapter makes me question my view on morality and spirituality, and I feel like it's been flipping back and forth so far. Only halfway through though and loving it
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I'm a huge Powder Mage fan. I love the worldbuilding, the magic system, the character development. It combines my love of military fantasy but with a unique spin that the time period is closer to the Napoleonic era rather than standard medieval fantasy. Really one of my favorite series from the last few years. It is a fictional universe, but technologically they are around the early 1800s.
Okay that's what appealed to me, so think I'll jump in. I love that imperial time period in military history
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 😪 (I keep trying to find the passion that other's have for Murakami's work. The writing is just so bland and mechanical and repetitious. There was just a page long conversation about how it's going to be a longer story than expected and I guess this is supposed to be some meta-narrative wink and nod, but circling a drain of words doesn't make the drain deeper.)
After being on and off for two years, I only made to about 50% of Les Miserables.
Today, thanks to a headache, decided to spend the evening reading book instead of gaming. Somehow I managed to add 10% (around 100 pages)...Hopefully will be able to finish it this week. It's easily one of if not the most emotional book I have ever read (to the point I nearly dropped it off on one occasion)
This is the only book that I managed to finish in one sitting. And I'm normally a slowass reader lol.
Today, thanks to a headache, decided to spend the evening reading book instead of gaming. Somehow I managed to add 10% (around 100 pages)...Hopefully will be able to finish it this week. It's easily one of if not the most emotional book I have ever read (to the point I nearly dropped it off on one occasion)
30% done, not bad so far.
This is the only book that I managed to finish in one sitting. And I'm normally a slowass reader lol.
I finished my first time read through of His Dark Materials this weekend while in the car on the way to a wedding. I definitely feel like the first book, The Golden Compass, was the best for me. It had the most world building and I enjoyed the characters. I didn't really love the way the story concluded in the third part but it seems like a lot of people loved the Amber Spyglass, so maybe I'm an outlier.
I also read the side stories, Lyra's Oxford, which was just okay to me, and The Collectors, which I loved, even if it was short. I might also start the final side story, Once Upon a Time in the North.
Has anyone read the new (prequel?) series? I will probably also start reading the HBO series now.
I also read through Siddhartha for the first time and loved it. Starting The Turn of the Screw now to get a feel for how the new season of Hill House might be.
I also read the side stories, Lyra's Oxford, which was just okay to me, and The Collectors, which I loved, even if it was short. I might also start the final side story, Once Upon a Time in the North.
Has anyone read the new (prequel?) series? I will probably also start reading the HBO series now.
I also read through Siddhartha for the first time and loved it. Starting The Turn of the Screw now to get a feel for how the new season of Hill House might be.
I love Murakami but you have to be very, intensely, willing to buy into his bullshit to enjoy most of his work. Don't worry if you can't get into it.
I'm soooooooo convinced Winds of Winter is coming this year, that I've decided to dip back into A Song Of Ice And Fire and recap the series before the biggest release of the year. However, rather than go into GOT first, I decided to start with this. I forgot how good this book was. I really want more Dunk and Egg adventures soon.
Do you need to have read the GOT series to get this book? I only watched the tv series but this seems fun.
Also wrapping up the 2nd book of the Wheel of Time series. The 2nd book is much better than the 1st. How is the rest of the series? I know its 10+ books so wondering if I should keep up with it or wait for the tv series.
Finished 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
I have a weird roller coaster of opinions of this book as it went on. I ended up really liking it and thinking it definitely sticks the landing, I just don't think the whole ride is really all that great along the way. I don't think it really does a good job of setting up all the mystery and really putting all the pieces in front of you. It's almost like the author realized this and suddenly had to create a detective POV to better handle this for the second half of the book.
I absolutely love the concept and think the ending really comes together and it earns it's ending but everything up to that point is kind of all over the place and sometimes too repetitive for me.
I kind of hate how the whole thing is just a damsel in distress. The guys entire motivation through the entire book is to just save a woman. It just changes who and the reasoning from time to time. It's annoying that he's constantly told his loyalty and having to save the girls will screw them in the long run but he is nothing but rewarded. It just feels like a lazy fill in for the character needing motivation since we can't give him his own.
Also love that they talk about a murder mystery on a cruise ship or big boat and his next book is possibly this exact story.
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Before GOT, WOT was my favorite series. Actually I picked up GOT around 1996 only because Robert Jordan endorsed it on the cover!
It definitely drags a bit towards the middle, but it is such an epic ride that I would always recommend finishing the series. And then you can also be a smug book reader when the show hits.
Last year George was talking about going to world con this year, which is being held in July in New Zealand. In this post, he stated that if he didn't arrive with a finished copy of Winds in his hands, then the people of New Zealand have his written permission to lock him up until he finishes it. That seems like more than a joke to me.
Nope. It's set 100 years before the first book (GOT). In fact, Dunk and Egg are sometimes referenced in the main ASOIAF series. Nothing major. Just the odd Easter egg here and there. Might be better off starting here then moving on to ASOIAF, but if not then it's the adventures of Dunk and Egg are not required to enjoy/understand the main series.
I have and I'm quite 'meh' on them - the first one (La Belle Sauvage) is an interesting story about how baby Lyra gets to Oxford, the second one (The Secret Commonwealth) is about Lyra going to find a place called 'The Blue Hotel' where daemons without their humans go. Unfortunately both books seem to be simply setting up future events - the first one Lyra's world in the main books, the second one the Blue Hotel. They both have some good ideas but nothing major. I'll probably read the final one but I'm not overly impressed - although your mileage may vary as I loved The Subtle Knife (although I didn't like the conclusion either!)
Well, I think I'm all in on Sanderson/Stormlight Archives. I read the Mistborn Trilogy in 2019, then took a bit of a break and started up Way of Kings in November. I've got one chapter left (read over 100 pages yesterday, and would have finished it, but it was like 1:00AM and I had to work today). So I'm definitely finishing it as soon as I get home, or maybe even on the shitter at work, we'll see. Should I go straight to Words of Radiance? Is there anything else that fleshes out the universe that I should read first?
Just finished The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Wonderful re-telling of the Mercury missions, and Wolfe is a hilarious and wonderfully stylistic writer. The amount of research that must have gone into this though, fuuuck.
And now just fired up Hyperion by Dan Simmons at the recommendation of... someone on era, I can't recall lol. Seems really nice so far, lovely detailed and specific scifi.
And now just fired up Hyperion by Dan Simmons at the recommendation of... someone on era, I can't recall lol. Seems really nice so far, lovely detailed and specific scifi.
Read Warbreaker before Words of Radiance, and then Edgedancer before Oathbringer.
These aren't really required, and both could be read before Words of Radiance, but they definitely flesh out that world and add to the experience of the 2nd and 3rd books.