What are you reading?

[Edward]

I recently read The Ruins of Gorlan, the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice series, for about the fifth time. And now I'm reading Enchantment by Orson Scott Card, which I am really enjoying.

edit: I'm still reading Life in a Medieval City. It's quite interesting, and I would suggest that anyone interested in the topic check it out. My only problem with it is the fact that it is written as if it were actually the 13th centurey, so when the authors use words like 'contemporary' they are actually referring to 1250 AD. Other than that, I really like it, and would like to read some of their other books if I can.

[bigsleepj]

I'm currently reading The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers, a collection of interlocking short-stories built around a fictional play that may cause harm to all those who read it. For no good reason this is a very eerie read.

[GeneD]

I am about half way through The Sword of Albion by Mark Chadbourn. It took me a while to really get into it but it's not bad so far.

Yeah, so the second half of The Sword of Albion dropped like a rock off my priority list when I found Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight at the library yesterday. So far it's quite a bit darker right off the bat than the other Tiffany books, which I'm not saying is a bad thing.

[Edward]

I just finished Enchantment and now I'm going to start reading Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis.

I'll also be reading parts of The Canterbury Tales in English class.

[rocklobster]

started Sign of the Moon part 4 of the Warriors: Omen of the Stars arc.
[spoiler]Hollyleaf is back![/spoiler]

[Jingo Jaden]

Chelsea Cain - Heart Sick

[bigsleepj]

Hyperion - Dan Simmons.

[MomentOfInertia]

Artemis Fowl: Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfier
Better than 'time paradox' but not as good as 'lost colony.'

[rocklobster]

Starting CrookedStar's Promise the latest Warriors superbook. I didn't read the one before it, but these are one-shot spinoffs, so that doesn't matter.

[the_wolfs_howl]

The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Coogan

I didn't really care for this one very much; Coogan doesn't appear to be a Christian, so his stance on the Old Testament was that each book was cobbled together by later editors, there's no historical proof for lots of it, chunks of it are copied from other cultures' myths, etc. I was especially disturbed by his interpretation of a passage that he said was about angels coming down to earth and having children with human women a la Greek gods

I'm also reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, which is very interesting but also much longer than I can deal with at the moment @_@

[Edward]

I just finished Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis. It was quite interesting, though a little too short, imo. I would read the rest of the trilogy immediatly, but I do not have access to them at the momemt. So, I'll be reading the Warriors anthology, edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois.

[Popyman]

I'm reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It started as a NaNoWriMo novel so, of course, I HAD to read it. It is quite good so far!

[mysngoeshere56]

Finished "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" a few hours ago.

[Edward]

I've just started reading Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. I'm still reading the Warriors anthology.

[Stephen]

Starting book 1 of the A Song of Ice and Fire series tonight. Figured if I am watching Game of Thrones I should probably read the books.

[Nanao]

History of Europe by J.M. Roberts

[Blacklight]

Currently reading Shadow's Edge (Night Angel Trilogy, book two) and am yet to reread The Reptile Room (book two of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I decided to reread to form a better opinion of the series).

[Edward]

I just finished Xenocide. It was really good, [s]and now I'm going to start reading Children of the Mind. I haven't heard the best things about this book, but I'm going to read it anyway because I'd like to finish the Ender Quartet.[/s]

Nevermind. I think I'll start reading The Eye of the World, since I don't think I have any other good books that I feel like reading right now, and I actually haven't read it yet.

[Atria35]

Started (and didn't finish) Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It was a little too thick and heavy to finish with the schoolwork I have. Started reading Good Omens instead.

[Sheenar]

Started Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger today in honor of Banned Books Week. I'm 2 chapters in and like it so far.

[bigsleepj]

I finished Dan Simmons' Hyperion and is now reading its sequel, The Fall of Hyperion. These books are generally filed under 'space opera' science fiction, and yes, it has enough of the ingredients to qualify as that, but these books should really be filed under horror. I've read a lot of Stephen King and I've read HP Lovecraft, but nothing they ever wrote or edritch abominations they employed are as spine-chilling as the Shrike.

[Okami]

Been re-reading Randy Pausch's 'The Last Lecture.' I haven't picked it up in a few years....I forgot how much I like this book!

[Dante]

I just swallowed Hermann Hesse's Beneath The Wheel yesterday night in one sitting. I had gotten through 30 pages, then last night ate through the remaining 150. Very good, but very very sad :'(. The way the author paints the scenes is awesome and when he decides to get comical once in a while, the imagery leaves you gasping for air with laughter. It would probably help to have a lot of experience in academia though as the book revolves around the subject from the beginning to the end.

It's been the first fiction book I've read in quite a while. Outside of that, I've been reading through Pro C#.NET 2008 by Troelsen... not nearly as poetic, but supprisingly funny on occasion:

Code: Select all

static void AskForBonus(EmpType e)
{
    case EmpType.Manager:
        Console.WriteLine("How about stock options instead?");
    break;
case EmpType.Grunt:
        Console.WriteLine("You have got to be kidding...");
    break;
case EmpType.Contractor:
        Console.WriteLine("You already get enough cash...");
    break;
case EmpType.VicePresident:
        Console.WriteLine("VERY GOOD, Sir!");
    break;
}

or my personal favorite!

// Ack! You can't cast frank to a Hexagon!
Hexagon hex = (Hexagon) frank;

But yeah - Beneath the wheel was far more enjoyable, but I'm happy that my non-fiction authors are a bit funny at times as well... even if their humor is... nerdy.

[uc pseudonym]

This response is rather delayed thanks to poor internet (this village is rural enough we have only one ISP, and since they don't have any competition they don't care much). I've done more reading, but I think I only have time for responses today.

I ended up disliking this series because I read the sequel/prequel first, and discovered it's the exact same story (characters and all!) except set in a different time period.

This is the kind of feedback that makes this thread useful (in addition to interesting). I was considering putting more of this series in my next round of reading, but knowing that is enough to push me off the fence in the other direction. It would have to move forward substantially to hold my interest.

I read this book and rather liked it. Alas, bluntly ending stories is a common failing with Gemmell.

I enjoyed it too, though my thoughts (and hence what I wrote here) were distracted by the way it ended. I wouldn't mind reading more Gemmell, but other books are probably higher priority. Would you have a particular recommendation from his work?

Her Riddle-Master Trilogy is different: as one of her earliest works, it feels rather rough-edged, but it has a fascinating concept and strong plot twists that her other books lack. To try to explain without spoilers...

That sounds interesting enough for me to put it on the big list.

[GeneD]

I recently bought and finished Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's quite different from the movie but good in it's own way, although I think I actually like the movie more.

Still reading The Sword of Albion.

[FllMtl Novelist]

I've finally finished Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. Once I made myself focus on it, it was actually pretty good. Nicely different from everything else I've read recently. I wasn't a huge fan of the main character, but I really liked how the world was built.

I was thinking I'd now read his previous work, Here Lies Arthur, but my sister has informed me that I wouldn't like it because two adults in it are huge idiots. Despite that and hating some 'praise' for it on the back of Fever Crumb (some famous critics who should have known better said "Smart teens will love this!" ), I'll probably still look into it.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Just discovered Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan/The Executioner books. Good, short, sweet, military-espionage pulp fun. Like a Tom Clancy novel with the fat trimmed away. I was not at all surprised to find out that Mack Bolan was pretty much the basis (or at least a major influence) for Marvel Comics' The Punisher.

Also, being October now, it's time for a reading of my favorite seasonal book, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

[ich1990]

"The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis

I recently got into a "life after death" debate with a friend and re-read this book as a refresher on some of the more esoteric positions I had been arguing. I was astonished to find how much this book has influenced my thoughts on the subject. I had even quoted passages from the book during my argument without even realizing their source. For an imaginary tale, this story holds more theological weight than many treatises.

[bigsleepj]

I enjoyed it too, though my thoughts (and hence what I wrote here) were distracted by the way it ended. I wouldn't mind reading more Gemmell, but other books are probably higher priority. Would you have a particular recommendation from his work?

I have read only about two or three books by Gemmell (including Knights of Dark Renown) and mean to read more later. Generally speaking his "Drenai" novels are considered his best.

Another novel of his that had interesting ideas (and a few decent scenes, both action and story driven) is Midnight Falcon, which is nominally part of a series known as 'the Regante Sequence', but like KnightsODR it has a lot of good ideas that don't seem properly developed. That is, he develops them to a point but instead of taking it further decides to end the story.

[uc pseudonym]

The White Man's Burden by William Easterly
Yet another scathing critique of the aid industry. Why do we spend billions on foreign aid and yet still have children dying of diseases that cost 12 cents to cure? There are many complex reasons, but Easterly says one is behind much of the problem: the aid industry is accountable to donors instead of the poor, so it has developed to serve the needs of the wealthy who want to feel like they're changing the world, not the people who need that change.

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
For a while I wasn't sure what exactly this book was trying to be, then I realized it was taking the structure of a revenge plot while undermining it. This isn't a classic tragedy that weeps over the follies of revenge, it shoves your face into the ugliness of it and yells "Isn't this awesome?" Abercrombie writes perhaps the most violent books I've read that are deeply against violence.

Iron Council by China Miéville
Interesting, but oddly structured and somewhat disappointing after The Scar. I feel like I'm just not sure what Miéville is going for in terms of prose, since it obviously isn't the same things other authors prioritize. When he writes another New Crobuzan novel I'll read it, but otherwise I'll read other authors.

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
Reading this was a strange mix of positive and negative, which led me to try the author's other series...

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
While some things did work better for me, I'm not sure I'm as interested in the plot. I may return to this series at some point, but right now I'm going back to the Dresden Files at least through the fourth book (more due to numerous recommendations than the series itself).