Ser Mosh Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 I started reading Otherland a couple years ago and just got bored. I was about 250 pages in when I looked at the 500 or so pages to go and said screw this. I may try again in the future if I ever get through all the other unread books on my shelves, or if I read something else by Tad Williams that restores my confidence in the guy. Come to think of it that's the only book I can ever remember giving up on. And I stuck with Tairy through 7 books or so. Also, I finished RSURS which was great while not quite living up to LoLL. I'm about 20 pages from the end of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and I'm really enjoying it. The characters are very well rounded and you really feel for them. Next up is Catch-22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcf Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 I just finished Set the Seas on Fire by Chris Roberson - I liked it, but since it's a prequel to Paragaea I feel I may not have appreciated it as much as I could have. Next up is The New Space Opera by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (eds). Set the Seas on Fire by Chris Roberson harkens back to an age of exploration and wonder, where one could realistically dream of travel through a world unknown. Set during and just following the Napoleonic Wars, Roberson offers a historical fiction adventure that serves as a prequel to Paragaea: A Planetary Romance, while offering a worthwhile adventure all its own.(full review) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDonegal Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 I've actually started reading regularly again lately. I've read the first 5 books of the Dresden Files so far and will start on the 6th tomorrow evening. I've also bought the first book in the Discworld series just because so many people seem to love it (people that I know, anyway). And because there was a 3 for 2 offer on, I got the first book in the Malazan universe by Erikson. Give it a whirl and see how it is. I nearly bought Goodkind just out of morbid curiosity having never read any of his works. I resisted - I didn't want to waste a free book being taken up by him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Just finished The Sworn Sword. I'm in a wierd phase where I am having trouble reading anything. I just can't seem to focus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I finished Crystal Rain yesterday, and thought it was pretty good. It was an interesting take on the far-future loss of technology theme (and probably my favorite that I've read - the others being Viriconium and The Book of the New Sun). The book was very 'readable' and I felt the pacing was good. Pepper provided a nice mystery throughout the book. The downside was, it wasn't as deep as I thought it would be. I'm looking forward to Raggamuffin, but not yet, because up next is Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies Crystal Rain 8/10 (I also liked the where he got the name of the book from ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeye Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Just finished blade itself, wow just wow. love the realistic /flawed characters all books should have a ferro/arya type too /nod starting red seas and hp 7 after next, darn good month for reading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I finished reading 'Celtika' (Robert Holdstock) this morning, a lesson in how to take a great concept (Merlin meets Jason & the Argonauts) and then smother it to death under dry and overdescriptive prose. Occasional flashes of brilliance only served to remind me how good the book could have been... I'm now well into 'Unmarked Graves' by Shaun Hutson... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I finished The Virtu, Sarah Monette's follow-up to Melusine. Although stuff actually happens in the second book, it still seems to me to be much ado about nothing. Intensely emo. Might appeal to fans of J. Carey. A potentially interesting world though. I also read Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Classic apocalyptic novel set during the Cold War. Good companion piece to this thread. I seem to have developed a weakness for end-of-the-world/day-after-tomorrow novels. This one isn't as thought-provoking as Earth Abides or as atmospheric as The Road, but is still well worth reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I just finished "The Road" myself. It's got to be one of the bleakest things I've ever read. Recommended, provided you're not likely to overdose on the sleeping pills afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 I finished reading Red Seas Under Red Skies which was entertaining, but the slow first half means I wouldn't rate it quite as highly as The Lies of Locke Lamora even if the pirate bits are really good. I'm just about to start Ken Macleod's The Execution Channel. The book's cover blurb is "The War on Terror is over... Terror won", so I'm not expecting it to be much of a comedy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfella Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Just need to finish it before Saturday. Cuz I'm dropping whatever I'm doing and reading HP7 immediately. Well, duh. Isn't everybody? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Nope. Got better things to read than Harry Potter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfella Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 Nope. Got better things to read than Harry Potter. Loser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilroy Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 I just finished reading the Thrawn & Jedi Academy trilogies; set in the Star Wars EU. Suffice to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining the books were to read. I was somewhat hesitant about reading them, but upon hearing a recommendation from a friend I dipped my toe in the water and ended up diving right in! I'm currently reading David Farland's The Sum of All Men and plan to read Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star soon after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mord Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I've just recently finished The Brothers Bishop and I don't know for sure what I think of it, overall. I don't know if it's a guilty pleasure, or if it's legitimately good. I liked it very well, gave me some things to think about, but it looked a little threadbare in some places. Anyone here read it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Finished A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (reviews at metacritic). (Memetic fiction.) Haddon is the author of the absolutely outstanding and unforgettable Curious Incident. This new novel is not as ambitious as CI was, without the great gimmick of that book (namely, narrating it through an autistic child). Still, the novel is masterfully written, extremely funny and poignant. It is also completely harmless and trivial. But I think that's the point he wants to make. What makes me mention it in this forum is the fact that the entire thing uses the exact same form as Martin's SoIaF, with alternating point-of-view characters and very strict adherence to show-don't-tell. Haddon sympathises with each of his characters (the four members of the Hall family) and presents each honestly and with much compassion. Characterisation is as good as anything you'll ever read. Prose is fine and unobtrusive, if difficult for a non-native speaker due to the colloquial tone. (I had to look up "throw a wobbly", and some other passages remain syntactically opaque to me.) Plot, as I said, is borderline trivial, but the book is hugely entertaining an quite un-put-downable. He actually manages to write a page-turner that is basically about whether or not a middle-class family will manage to organise a wedding reception. Great job. Perfect holiday reading, by the way. No sentient trees in it. But one of the characters sees one of the LotR films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteQueen Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Finished A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (reviews at metacritic). (Memetic fiction.) Haddon is the author of the absolutely outstanding and unforgettable Curious Incident. I loved Curious Incident and made everyone int he office read the book. I bought A Spot of Bother, but did not start it yet. I am so glad you are endorsing it. On the other note, I just finished Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje, which was a pretty good read. Most people know his as the author of The English Patient, but he wrote Anil's Ghost and In the Skin of a Lion. The style is beautiful, as usual, and you kind of want to know more about the characters than the author lets you, but it's part of the appeal, methinks. Reminds me of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez somehow -- as the characters are connected though time and space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I finished reading 'Unmarked Graves' (Shaun Huston). In much the same way that my pet dog used to think he was human, this book thinks it's a film so therefore we get loads and loads of descriptions of bodily wounds being inflicted on all and sundry. I'm up for a bit of gore but it just got too repetitive... The ending felt tacked on as well... I'm now well into Tobias Buckell's 'Ragamuffin' which is a lot better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Templar Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (by Michael Chabon), and am currently about half way through Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut). I really liked Kavalier & Clay. Very nostalgic book about 2 cousins who write and draw comics during the WWII era - the Golden Age, as it were. The nostalgia was appealing, and the 2 main characters were vivid and intriguing with their personal quirks and demons. Great read. Slaughterhouse, so far, is awsome. I've never read a Vonnegut book before, and I'm ashamed that I waited until he died before I tried my first. So it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttering Bill Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 Well, I just finished The Summoner and... it a pretty good. It was LoTR with Star Wars characters, lots more ghosts and a few vampires. Nothing really new happening, no suprises, most of the characters were flat, and the story line followed the basic fantasy formula. And tho that sounds bad, it was actually a fun book. A straightforward, engaging, well paced adventure. But don't let them fool you... There were no zombies! Still, I look forward to The Blood King whenever it comes out. Now, off to finish Deadhouse Gats again. :bow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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