Which book(s) are you currently reading?

Discussion in 'BOARDANIA' started by Roman_K, Aug 18, 2005.

  1. peapod_j New Member

    I'm reading Moving Pictures the last Discworld book I have yet to read. I'm finding it very diffrent from his other books but I will finish it.
  2. randywine Member

    Loved Moving Pictures - all the movie references totally blew me away...

    I've just read 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter' (the first of the Dexter novels) and was a wee bit disappointed - I thought the writing would be a bit more funky than it was (I apologise for any Jeff Lindsay fans out there but, to me, the book read like a James (YUK) Patterson) - I suppose seeing the first couple of episodes of the first series may have ruined the 'flavour' of the novel for me.

    I am now about 3/4 of the way through American Gods - it is an interesting read , I honestly don't know if I'm enjoying it or not - I like a story to sort of flow through me and this one keeps jarring - but I won't decide on it until it is done.

    Cheers,

    R.
  3. TamyraMcG Active Member

    The one good thing about being laid up is having the chance to read I just read A Deeper Blue and Hell's Faire by John Ringo and now I have some Orson Scott Card Ender books to go to.
  4. redneck New Member

    I've just recently started my foray into George R R Martin and Tad Williams.

    I finished Martin's "A Game of Thrones" yesterday. That is a big book. Martin is very good at keeping the story line moving without bogging it down. I like the way one chapter will follow one individual and then next will follow another. He has also evoked some of the strongest emotions from me while reading. I guess it's just the way he sets up the dialog and plot that brings me into the story. I've had my heart race, wanted to cry, and wanted to slit the character's throat.

    Overall, it has been one of the more emotionally draining books that I have read in a while. It has also been one of the better ones too.

    Williams' "The Dragon Bone Chair" was a good read. It is also a big book. Finished it earlier last week. Very interesting storyline. His is a completely different read from Martin. Both are excellent writers, but I think I may like Martin a little more. I'll see when I have finished both series.
  5. Sunna New Member

    Am also starting on George Martin
  6. Tephlon Active Member

    Lets see. Last week I read Making Money, reread Thud!, read Wintersmith and now I'm rereading Making Money. I usually don't reread books that fast, but at the end I felt that I missed stuff.

    I really liked Wintersmith. Pratchett has Tiffany down.
  7. peapod_j New Member

    I realy like Wintersmith as well. nearly finished Moving Pictures. I dont have another book up here so i will have to re-read Making Money again as that the only other Pratchett I have at my digs and I'm not going to my libary this weekend (aka my parents house).
  8. Katcal I Aten't French !

    I have finally got my grubby paws on a paperback of Making Money, and I'm now enjoying mistreating it in my bag on the train and so-on. I do like Moist's adventures, and I have been smiling at a lot of things, but no Laugh out Loud rolling around on the floor laughing my arse off moments yet (except for one, but that doesn't count, it just so happened to coincide with a private joke between friends and therefore nonPterry)

    Also bought the first two Artemis Fowl books, thanks Waterstones for the 3 for 2 offer, took me a while to find out which order they should be in, no number or anything, but I guess the Harry Potters didn't either. Well, at least you could sort those by increasing thickness...
  9. Roman_K New Member

    Finished Newton's Cannon, and also the next book in the series - A Calculus of Angels. Pretty enjoyable series so far, overall.

    Nearly done with The Road to Death by Matt Forbeck, the second book its series, based in the DnD world of Eberron. I found Marked for Death, its predecessor, to have as many flaws as it has potential, many of its characters flat, and myself left only to observe something resembling an accelerated action-fantasy movie. Still, there was that tinge of potential left in there, and thus... I read on.

    The second book had what I was expecting - pulpy action, but now... there actually seemed to be deeper plot. And the characters, though mainly the same ones from the first book, seemed to have gained an extra dimension. The improvement in the quality of the writing more than made up for the effort I had to put in at times to actually finish the first book. Thus, by itself, I while I would not reccomend Marked for Death, I would reccomend the trilogy in its entirety. There is enough in the first book to draw you on, but not that much. Not unless you actively plan on reading the entire trilogy.


    I'm also close to finishing another book that I purchased recently - this one a rather odd fantasy work called The Etched City by K. J. Bishop, which is both dark and weird enough to fit into the New Wierd genre. I'd compare it to works like China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, and The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The setting, a dark and desolate world with seemingly little of the unnatural and magical, reminded me a little of a kind of Western at first, where the heroes are all dead and all you're left with are some of the lesser villians trying to make ends meet...

    It's a great book, doesn't suffer from any niticable flaws save from, perhaps, not being that suitable for the easily depressed or even for the weak of stomach... Reminded me of William Gibson's Neuromancer in terms of sheer depressive desolation, decreptitude, and violence that becomes part of the scenery.
  10. Roman_K New Member

    Haven't updated this thread in a long time - a lot of books under the bridge by now, and few of them mentioned here. Frankly, I'm starting to think I'm treating this thread as more of a book review repository.

    Not that bad an approach, really...

    So, let's get some of the more important backlog out of the way - some of what I've read lately was pure gold.

    Firstly, in the DnD based fantasy novels we have... Paul S. Kemp, with Shadowbred and Shadowstorm. Kemp's a bit of a personal favorite of mine in the new line of authors Wizards took on in the last few years, giving the Forgotten Realms a much more vivid feel, if on the dark side of affairs. Not sure if I've mentioned the author or his works before or not, but give his Erevis Cale plotline a look. It's well worth it, even if you're not at all familiar with the setting. Kemp has a talent when it comes to weaving hero and anti-hero together to form a rather conflicting personality in the main character, and overall feel of his books is close to the top when it comes to the pulpier fantasy purveyors.

    These two books of Kemp's most recent series, The Twilight War, showed me that Kemp has been improving so far in writing quality, giving even his flavor characters a better feel.


    Next, we have Joe Abercrombie. Searching through Amazon's reccomended reading for a more Steampunkish experience, I ran into this. Which wasn't Steampunk at all, but close to the book I was using as a reference point for the search. Dark fantasy, of a decidedly dismal and gritty feel.

    The First Law series comprises of The Blade Itself, Before THey Are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings. The main plot isn't all that original as far as fantasy writing is concerned, though still very well written, but the characters... the characters are worth their weight in diamonds, with the exception of a couple. And even those are pretty close to gold. It's rare to see characters that have so much depth, keeping the reader constantly interested even through plotlines that sometimes take ages to weave together. Pretty much all the characters have severe character flaws, which only adds to the overall feel of realism.

    Dark realism, mind. I'd say that the only one of the main characters even close to being nice is the arrogant and self-certain nobleman. They're not evil, really. Even the inquisitor who spends most of the series torturing people in a rather vivid display of skill in his... craft.

    A must read.


    Then we have The Etched City by K. J. Bishop, something of an experiment of mine in buying ebooks from a specific store that ended much better than I expected. I found the book while looking for more of the New Weird genre, and hit jackpot. The book is dismal in its post-apocalyptic start-off, dark and rather unsettling in its contents, but rather good, in a disjointed way. It's what China Mieville could have achieved if he wasn't so entirely fixated on his political manifesto. Worth looking into if you like the odder type of tale.


    Now on to The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod. I'd file it as Steampunk, with a rather interesting fantasy influence. There's really very little about the book that's fantasy, by and large. Magic is there, but as a mythical mineral that grants its users abilities beyond the norm, with something resembling a systematic scientific approach to the substance of ether. I think I'd mark this book as a sub-genre of Steampunk - Etherpunk. Exceptional book, which I left with a far better impression of it than what I had when I first began reading it.


    More to follow, eventually.
  11. Katcal I Aten't French !

    I picked up Just After Sunset, the new Stephen King collection of short stories. I hadn't read anything by Kind for a good while, but I always enjoyed his short stories, and this collection is no exception. However, if the author's notes didn't state otherwise I would honestly think he had ripped of a faire chunk of the plot of Wee Free Men... Stone circle protecting a "thin place between the universes through which nasty things can come, especially at the solstices, if a certain ritual is not performed". Hmmm.
  12. Roman_K New Member

    Seeing as how Pratchett took a rather well-known myth for the main plot of Wee Free Men, I'm not surprised that another author took the same plot device for a different genre.
  13. Katcal I Aten't French !

    Gahhh!!! Stop ruining my conspiracy theories, can't a bunny have a bit of fun? :p
  14. Roman_K New Member

    Fun is for the weak. *broils*
  15. Katcal I Aten't French !

    In that case, broil me all you want, I'd rather be weak and have fun :razz:
  16. Roman_K New Member

    Been a while since I've posted on this thread, though it's not to say that I haven't been reading books - perish the thought! ;)

    I've recently managed to go through the entirety of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, mostly historic fiction at an incredibly high-quality, with just a small touch of fantasy thrown in - though it would have survived just as well without it.

    The sheer size of these books is staggering - in most cases, the three volumes were actually split up into three or two paperbacks when published. And the several interconnecting plot-lines starting from the middle 17th century and ending at the start of the 18th century remained a fascinating read - the general themes were scientific (mainly Newton vs. Leibniz and the Royal Society), vagabond-adventures, religious dissidents in England, politics and wars around succession, and slavery.

    I recommend these to anyone who can clear up about a month to read it all.

    Also, I've recently started reading science-fiction books written by Harry Harrison - my father has a collection of all of Harrison's works to date, albeit in Russian, and as I was bored at the time I put my general principle (reading books in their original language when I can) on hold. Fortunately, the translation is very good, and I'm going through The Stainless Steel Rat series of books. So far I've read the following:


    1. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
    2. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
    3. The Stainless Steel Rat
    4. The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge
    5. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
    Which, with the rather annoying exception of the fifth in the list, were all good - humorous, short, albeit predictable science-fiction. I've just yesterday started reading The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You, which seems far more promising.
  17. randywine Member

    Roman,

    That Baroque Cycle sounds pretty interesting, thanks for the recommendation.

    Slippery Jim and Jason DinAlt(Deathworld) are the two Harrison characters that first got me into the whole Sci-fi Genre at a young age.

    I didn't even realise the similarities between Jim DiGriz and Moist von Lipwig untill someone pointed it out on this here forum.:lol:

    I have just started The Dark Tower series of books by Stephen King.

    R.
  18. TamyraMcG Active Member

    I am re reading Fallen Angel, Science fiction fans saving the day!
  19. Hsing Moderator

    I'm glad someone dug this thread out!

    Same here.
    My second half of 2008 contained the following:

    Neil Gaiman: The Sandman I to VI (yes, graphic novels opr comic books, but still great); Hy Bender und Neil Gaiman: The Sandman Companion (I'm such a fangirl);
    Erwin Koch: Sara tanzt ("Sara dances", at first I thought it was a great read, but I am still extremely ambivalent about how this book came to be - ie by telling pretty much exactly the story of a woman who really existed and who always said she didn't want anyone to write a novel about what she endured);

    C.S. Lewis: The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, The Return to Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Last Battle - well, I had a single volume edition and I'm not good at putting books down half read...

    David Sedaris: Me talk pretty one day; Barbara Gowdy: Seltsam wie die Liebe; Walter Moers: Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär; Walter Moers: Der Schrecksenmeister; Knut Hamsun: Die Königin von Saba und andere Novellen; Max Aub: Die besten Absichten; Erich Heller: Franz Kafka; Hanif Kureishi: Intimacy (boring, sorry...), Walter Moers: Ensel und Kretel; Stefanie Zweig: Irgendwo in Deutschland (very good read); Sherman Alexie: Indian Killer (great irony); Terry Pratchett: Colour of Magic; Andrew Vachss: Shella; D. B. C. Pierre: Vernon God Little (finally finshed it and thought it was great, the first time I read it I just didn't get the English... I was lost in translation, so to say), and, as the final book in 2008 and another favourite read of the year, Muriel Barbery: Die Eleganz des Igels (Elegance of the Hedgehog).

    I took out any other graphic novels and some none fiction, and every read that was job or studies related.... Sorry for the flooding anyway.

    Sorry for the German titles, if they're in German, I usually read the book in German, if they're in English I read it in English, etc. This year's reading experience was, all in all, that the books which were hardest to get into were the most gratifying in the end (which isn't always or automatically the case). Kazuo Ishiguro, Christa Wolff and Muriel Barbery...
    [FONT=&quot]

    2009 I'll post later. But one thing: I come back to this thread for recommendations, so it has at least has a passive use for me from time to time even if I neither post more tzhan three times a year, nor are the books really discussed per se, which is a bit sad (but I'm for opening thread in the particular sections for real book discussions anyway!). What I am trying to say is, don't stop posting here because there's not much feedback, but it's still interesting to see who reads what.
    [/FONT]
  20. DEATHOFRATS New Member

    I'm reading the LoTR parody "Bored of The Rings". Vulgar in places, but quite amusing.
  21. Maljonic Administrator

    I'm reading Love Marriage by V. V. Ganeshananthan, the title meaning a marriage for love as opposed to an arranged marriage, about life in Sri Lanka- especially the Tamils and the Tamil Tigers.
  22. Joculator The 'Old' Fool

    It's amazing what you can unearth from boxes in the loft. I've just found a few books by Geralld Durrell - Beasts in my Belfry, The Bafut Beagles and A Zoo in My Luggage. It's been so long since I read them all I can remember is they covered his animal catching trips in Africa. They should keep me going for a week or so.
  23. Hsing Moderator


    That sounds interesting...
  24. Hsing Moderator

    *revives*
    The season of late evenings spent wrapped up in a blanket next to a can of tea and a pile of books has begun again.
    (As opposed to the summer months, which, admittedly, for some of us are just the season of late evenings spent next to a can of ice tea and a pile of books, sans blanket.)


    I've read quite a few books since last time I posted here... about a year ago or so...
    The last one was recommended by a friend, "Already Dead", by Charlie Huston. I was a bit wary, what with all the more or less romantic Vampire novels who seem to be more of an outlet for self fulfilling fantasies (a la "Twilight"). But it was really entertaining to read, grown up, a bit Raymond Chandler meets shadow Run meets Philip K. Dick... very nice (so far - I yet have to find out wether there's the often seen drop in quality after the second volume).

    Other than that, I read lots of Japanese contemporary literature (no, not Manga, although come to think of it... I read some Manga too.) "Hard Boiled / Hard Luck" from Banana Yoshimoto, among others, whose writing -or what makes it into the German translation, I like very much. :]
  25. wilva New Member

    I read the jasper fforde books & really liked them, esp ones with humpty dumpty ( or was that another author??). have started a cj cherryh but not convinced its worth reading
  26. Garner Great God and Founding Father

    I'm not reading anything at the moment in book form, though I'm starting to get a slight itching to open up some Horselover Fat material for the first time ever.
  27. rockybottom New Member

    Just read all the 'Aberystwyth' books by Malcom Pryce - very funny, quite surreal, sort of reminded me of Rankin. Also Rude Awakenings by Jonathan Eaves, a hilarious comic fantasy with Pratchett-like footmotes!
  28. Roman_K New Member

    Reading the Bridge Trilogy by William Gibson. Virtual Light was good, Idoru was a bit weird and chaotic, but All Tomorrow's Parties seems to be better.
  29. randywine Member

    Under the Dome, by Stephen King.
  30. Hsing Moderator

    I've picked up Raymond Chandler, but I'm so tired most of the time right now that I glance a while at the cover and then fall asleep with the lights still on...
  31. willbaforce New Member

    Having just finished Unseen Academicals, I've currently only got two on the go, in the forefront, "Stephen Fry in America", which so far reads like it sounds, and on the back burner "Brave New World" by Huxley - something I've been reading on and off for about 6 months now... :rolleyes:
  32. Katcal I Aten't French !

    Well, I got myself a 1-volume version of the Hitchhikers trilogy of four, and have read 3 out of 4. Haven't read those books for so long, and my individual volumes seem to have been scattered by moving house and by cheeky relatives.

    I am also half way through the 2nd book in the Millenium series. I quite liked the first one, and then, as I started the second, a friend of mine pointed out some very obvious and very annoying traits of Larsson's writing that I had kind of noticed but was ignoring. Now they've been pointed out, they are annoying the hell out of me! Still, will try to ignore them and finish this one. Not sure if I can make it through a whole 3rd volume though!
  33. randywine Member

    Are you not going to share, with us, what they are?
  34. Katcal I Aten't French !

    Well, no, just in case any of you are, or will be reading and enjoying them, I don't want to spoil it for you!
  35. WitchBrisco New Member

    Currently on The Fifth Elephant by our very own Terry Pratchett. Another extremely entertaining book involving Captain Vimes, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Nobby, Sarge Colon, and a bevy of new watchmen. Gotta love it!
  36. Joculator The 'Old' Fool

    I've just started reading 'And Another Thing..' by Eoin Colfer.

    Although he is better known for the Artemis Fowl series of books, this novel was commissioned to be the sixth and final part to Douglas Adam's famous 'five part' trilogy, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

    Although Adams died in 2001 it's nice to see the old characters coming to life again even though the story is coming from a different person. There are still the chaotic and wild experiences of all the characters and so far, after about a dozen pages, it is still possible to see Adams' style coming through.
    It wil be nice to see if it lasts throughout the story.

    Thanks to the local library I haven't had to buy it to find out if it lives up to my expectations. So far I think I will be ordering a copy to complete my set.
  37. Katcal I Aten't French !

    Reading Maus by Art Spieglemann at the moment. My uni library only had the first volume so I never finished, and I thought I'd treat myself. It is just brilliant, sad but lovely. Also, reading a book with a massive swastika on the cover seems to deter people from sitting next to me on the train. Strange.
  38. Marcia Executive Onion

    I'm currently reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.
  39. Buzzfloyd Spelling Bee

    I'm reading Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Very funny fantasy noir.
  40. TamyraMcG Active Member

    I'm trying to read the sequel to David Weber's Armageddon Reef, By Schism Rent Asunder. The title should have been a clue that it wasn't going to be so easy but I still have hope I'll manage to get into it as much as I usually do books by Weber. I have the next in the series on hand as well. I may just have to start at the beginning though.
  41. jaccairn New Member

    I've been reading the latest Harry Dresden 'Changes'. Exciting stuff, but if anyone can't stand being left hanging at the end of a book and having to wait for the next one to be published then don't read the last 6 pages. You'll get enough of tying up the storylines and it won't leave you screaming 'NOOOOoooo! You can't leave it at that!'
  42. Bezoomnycheena New Member

    I've been reading Cock & Bull by Will Self, perhaps one of the oddest books I've ever read but it's really interesting. If you're interested by subversion of gender roles/sexuality then it's a must read, and Self's writing style is amazing.

    And, of course, rereading the Pratchett Death sequence for the old dissertation :smile:
  43. mavzb New Member

    Currently nearing the end of The Last Theorem - Arthur C Clarke and Frederick Pohl. The timeline does get a bit fragmented towards the end, but (without giving anything away) I thin it has to to reach a meaningful conclusion.

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