What Are You Reading?

david75

mcgovern wrote: »

I've read his book of short stories which was good, his fantasy series is highly rated too.

I'll look him up thank you

mcgovern

david75 wrote: »

I'll look him up thank you

The Paper Menagerie is 99p today on Amazon.

beauf

AOH77A wrote: »

Reread Dune a few months ago , it had been 30 years since I read it originally. Was pleasantly surprised, a great book that stands the test of time.

Funnily enough I then decided to read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant again , I had fond memories of the series. Had to give up after 50 pages, it was really hard work and definitely did not age well.

Maybe I should re-read it. While I really liked Dune when I read it I kinda trudged through the rest of the original books in that series.

Thomas Covenant is an interesting one. Its series that always stuck in my head. haven't re-read it in decades. It was grim going at the time, I don't think I was happy how it ended. But some of the ideas and imagery in it always stuck in my head.

Buford T. Justice XIX

I just started Traitors Blade, the Great Coats book1 by Sebastien de Castell, from a recommendation on this thread.

I'm enjoying it, I must say. Lots of action and a wry humour.

kirk buttercup

Probably been asked here before are any of the star wars books worth reading ?

david75

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Probably been asked here before are any of the star wars books worth reading ?

Lords of the sith, Tarkin, Bloodline are great. Lost Stars, dark disciple and Thrawn are good.

kirk buttercup

I picked up TARKIN . Going to start with this.

david75

Ok I just finished Ready player one.
What a bloody amazing book!!!
I couldn't stop reading

I don't know how they're gonna turn it into a film I really hope they do it right but man. What a brilliant adventure. So glad I read it

machalla

david75 wrote: »

Ok I just finished Ready player one.
What a bloody amazing book!!!
I couldn't stop reading

I don't know how they're gonna turn it into a film I really hope they do it right but man. What a brilliant adventure. So glad I read it

Odd, I was just thinking about that book this morning.

I enjoyed it when I read it but looking back at it it was a very simple story and characters. Does it qualify as a young adult book?

I'm thinking it might be an interesting one to try for my video game mad young nephews at some point.

To get them away from the games I'll give them a book about gaming...

My cunning knows no beginning!

shrapnel222

david75 wrote: »

Ok I just finished Ready player one.
What a bloody amazing book!!!
I couldn't stop reading

I don't know how they're gonna turn it into a film I really hope they do it right but man. What a brilliant adventure. So glad I read it

ready player one was great but don't bother with his new one. abslolute garbage!

Fian

david75 wrote: »

Ok I just finished Ready player one.
What a bloody amazing book!!!
I couldn't stop reading

I don't know how they're gonna turn it into a film I really hope they do it right but man. What a brilliant adventure. So glad I read it

I enjoyed it alot, but I was a child/teen of the 80s, which helped. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it as much without that nostalgia element to it.

Try reamde as a follow up - Neal Stephenson.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10552338-reamde


I was most of the way through that book before I realised the title was not "readme". It is a similar book.

pixelburp

Fian wrote: »

I enjoyed it alot, but I was a child/teen of the 80s, which helped. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it as much without that nostalgia element to it.

Funny, the nostalgia element had the opposite effect on me: I understood all the references & grew up in the 80s, but that was half the problem. The premise seemed like a lazy excuse for a lengthy itinerary of pop-culture; every page felt like I was being hammered over the head with laboured references to some piece of nostalgia. It got a little much. One or two shoutouts would have been cute and fun, but the constant barrage was a bit much.

Just started "Use of Weapons" by Iain (M) Banks. Read the first page and was reminded just how much I love Banks' prose.

david75

Did he write the wasp factory?
I read that in my late teens and really loved it and couldn't tell you why only that it was creepy and sinister and it felt great at that age

pixelburp

david75 wrote: »

Did he write the wasp factory?
I read that in my late teens and really loved it and couldn't tell you why only that it was creepy and sinister and it felt great at that age

Yes; he wrote his more overt sci-fi as Iain M Banks. It tends to have the same dark, slightly twisted edge as his 'normal' fiction & well worth a read. His prose can be quite darkly beautiful IMO.

machalla

pixelburp wrote: »

Yes; he wrote his more overt sci-fi as Iain M Banks. It tends to have the same dark, slightly twisted edge as his 'normal' fiction & well worth a read. His prose can be quite darkly beautiful IMO.

Though he may have written better plots, Consider Phlebas is a book I always return to. Probably my favourite book.

The combination of writing, sheer imagination and an undertone to it of inevitability that gets to me for whatever reason.

It was a revelation in terms of what a really talented author can do in the genre.

Use of weapons is perhaps the best book in the Culture series at the same time having said all that, I hope you enjoy.

I really have to read the last Culture series book but I've been keeping it unread for years now just so I always have a book to go to when nothing else appeals.

Is that just me or does anyone else have a fallback book?

Trojan

machalla wrote: »

Though he may have written better plots, Consider Phlebas is a book I always return to. Probably my favourite book.

Use of weapons is perhaps the best book in the Culture series at the same time having said all that, I hope you enjoy.

Consider Phlebas & Use of Weapons are fantastic. Against a Dark Background is absolutely superb too.

Banks is a big loss to sf

machalla

Trojan wrote: »

Consider Phlebas & Use of Weapons are fantastic. Against a Dark Background is absolutely superb too.

Banks is a big loss to sf

And writing in general.

His non-fiction work was also a great read. The Crow road has one of the more memorable opening lines for a book. “It was the day my grandmother exploded.”

david75

Odd question maybe.
Are the books of his mentioned above available in audiobook and has anyone tried them out?

I recently bought and tried to listen to an audiobook of one of my favourite books ever and the narration and pretty much everything was all wrong. I though it was just me and I'm used to engaging with it this way, then I checked online and no. Everyone hates the audiobook version.

Yet I've had brilliant experiences with other books in audio. Usually ones I'm not invested in going in or know little about

ixoy

33% into Lev Grossman's "The Magicians", the first book in the the trilogy of the same name. It's.. grand so far. Nothing particularly special to this sort of "adult" Harry Potter. I find the magic itself a bit weak - the descriptions don't give you any insight into how it feels to actually cast magic.
I had read synopsis that seemed to indicate a lot of people loathed the lead - Quentin - but I'm not seeing it so far so unless his character take a drastic turn.

All of this being read just so that I can more safely attempt the TV show, which I imagine is spun off from this book.

Johnny Storm

Trojan wrote: »

Consider Phlebas & Use of Weapons are fantastic. Against a Dark Background is absolutely superb too.

Banks is a big loss to sf

He was one of the all-time greats, thats for sure

I thought some of his later stuff was almost too slick. Maybe time for a re-read? :pac:

Dades

Use of Weapons and Against a Dark Background are also my two favourite Banks'! With so many more honourable mentions.

pixelburp wrote: »

I really have to read the last Culture series book but I've been keeping it unread for years now just so I always have a book to go to when nothing else appeals.

Is that just me or does anyone else have a fallback book?

I also have one (Iain M) Banks left on my kindle, which I'm loathe to read as there's no more to come.

--

Just started the first in Scalzi's new "Collapsing Empire" universe last night. Has that Old Man's War vibe I'm liking it so far.

(Non-SF Alert: Finished "In Harm's Way" - true story of the USS Indianapolis made famous from Jaws - great stuff is you like real life endurance stuff...)

pixelburp

ixoy wrote: »

33% into Lev Grossman's "The Magicians", the first book in the the trilogy of the same name. It's.. grand so far. Nothing particularly special to this sort of "adult" Harry Potter. I find the magic itself a bit weak - the descriptions don't give you any insight into how it feels to actually cast magic.
I had read synopsis that seemed to indicate a lot of people loathed the lead - Quentin - but I'm not seeing it so far so unless his character take a drastic turn.

All of this being read just so that I can more safely attempt the TV show, which I imagine is spun off from this book.

I've heard in passing that the TV show majorly deviates from the books after a point. I was loathed to inquire too deeply given I could spoil both book and TV series, but seemingly it's quite the creative leap beyond what was in the novels.

The show itself is pretty decent, though the cast are borderline hateful & universal f*ck-ups to the Nth degree. The method of casting though is pretty intricate and expressive, and apparently is a form of dancing called 'Finger Tutting' hat the production researched and trained the cast to perform.

Thargor

Excession is probably my favourite Culture novel, just perfect sci-fi.

Trojan

ixoy wrote: »

33% into Lev Grossman's "The Magicians", the first book in the the trilogy of the same name. It's.. grand so far. Nothing particularly special to this sort of "adult" Harry Potter. I find the magic itself a bit weak - the descriptions don't give you any insight into how it feels to actually cast magic.

*following*

Update us when you finish.

david75

I've kinda come unstuck. I found two great authors through robin Hobbs personal recommendation on Goodreads. Patrick Rothfuss and Mark Lawrence.
And NK jemisin also.

I love what they do but can't seem to find stuff like that.

Giving a new book and author your time is a huge leap of trust. Never know til you jump in I guess.

Nody

david75 wrote: »

I've kinda come unstuck. I found two great authors through robin Hobbs personal recommendation on Goodreads. Patrick Rothfuss and Mark Lawrence.
And NK jemisin also.

I love what they do but can't seem to find stuff like that.

Giving a new book and author your time is a huge leap of trust. Never know til you jump in I guess.

Well I can comment on both as can many others.

P. Rothfuss and the name of the wind is a brilliant book, the second one is also quite good and everyone been waiting for ever for the third book to ever even get a release date and there are serious doubts if it will ever come. Think G.R.R.M. and the Song of Ice and Fire in only three books basically as he wrote it all and now rewriting the entire thing and releasing a ton of other stuff not related to the third book instead.

M. Lawrence is a bastard who wrote a very nice trilogy with the prince of thorns. It's not knights in shiny armor and the story is not so much about personality growth and exploration as it is about discovering the world and what has happened through the eyes of a anti hero and his band of misfits. It's strongly recommended but can be read relatively quickly as well. The second series is the same story again with the same characters except told slightly differently in a different part of the world with a few minor cross overs. No where near as unique and a much more annoying main charachter but worth reading if you found the world interesting in the first trilogy. In general it's rated a level below the first so if the first was a B then this would be a C.

david75

Oh I meant I've read all three authors mentioned but can't find anything else like their work.

Lady Haywire

david75 wrote: »

Oh I meant I've read all three authors mentioned but can't find anything else like their work.

The First Law trilogy? I'm just at the end of the last book now, really enjoyed it. But have the second book of 'A Darker Shade of Magic' to go onto now

david75

I dropped the last book in the first law trilogy. Became a chore.

Reading the wheel of osheim right now. It's good. I like jalan. He's a bastard. But a funny one.

shootermacg

Started the demon cycle series:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3428935-the-warded-man

I'll keep you updated.