What are you reading?

[ich1990]

[b]“The Roadâ€

[FllMtl Novelist]

Fablehaven: Keys to the demon prison by Brandon Mull.

Less then 200 pages from the end! Maybe I'll finish in less than a week!

(Yes I'm a slow reader.)

[Htom Sirveaux]

@ich1990: Oh, I loved The Road! One of the most amazing (if emotionally draining) works of fiction I've ever read. You should totally see the movie if you haven't already. It's incredibly accurate as a book-to-film translation.

[uc pseudonym]

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

If you care about math and haven't already read this, you should consider doing so. Especially since it is available online and is relatively short. Regardless of if you agree, it's worth considering.

You'll understand his argument a few sentences in, but yet briefer: Lockhart contends that our current model of math in schools does a disservice to the art of mathematics. I found many of the ideas interesting but resisted some of his conclusions. For one, I think he's far more optimistic about the average school student (and school) than I would be.

House of Chains by Steven Erikson

This didn't feel like the fourth novel of a series, much less Erikson's. A quarter of the book is devoted to one character. New characters and locations are introduced evenly. Basic concepts that readers should already know are explained. That's a change for the series.

Once things got back to problems of world-wide scope, things were mostly back to normal. But what I especially liked about this book is that despite being a chapter in a larger story, it had a definite theme. Even all of the ancient histories and secrets were tied into it and fully explained by the end. Enough of them that I can see why it would be appropriate for book six to introduce a new continent.

Also, this book managed something that rarely happens for me: a character went from being irritating and shallow to someone worth following. Plus, among the dozens of dead characters are plenty that I didn't care about, so future books will likely have improving casts.

[J.R.]

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I've read it before but I love the book.

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Has been a really interesting read so far.

[Roberts]

House of Chains by Steven Erikson...
...Also, this book managed something that rarely happens for me: a character went from being irritating and shallow to someone worth following...

[spoiler]Karsa Orlong ]
I just finished reading Reaper's Gale (book 7). A part of me wants to talk more about the series, but I don't want to inadvertently spoil anything while I'm at it.

Hopefully you enjoy the succeeding books as much as I have.

[Blacklight]

The Spiderwick Chronicles ("The Completely Fantastical Version", a compilation of all five books, just 'cuz... I decided to read it. The movie wasn't so great.)

Eragon (Because I borrowed the book from my cousin years ago, and I decided to get it from the library to finish it... Yes, I also saw the movie, which is really the main reason. Not that it's my favorite movie... or book so far...)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (... Since seeing the movie (Excellent movie, by the way) I wanted to read Sherlock Holmes. It's interesting so far.)

Artemis Fowl (Another book series I started a ways back and never finished. Haven't begun to read it at this point.)

A book that I shall not name because I am beginning to regret checking it out in the first place. (Just... blah, but I'm almost halfway through it, hoping that maybe it wont be a complete waste.)

[Htom Sirveaux]

[color="Blue"]House[/color][<-fixed] of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Has been a really interesting read so far.

Aw, that's my stuff, bro. One of my absolute favorite books. I can tell you there's gonna be some slow parts, but when you hit those, what's important is that you pay attention not so much to what the text says as what it's doing. You're gonna have some fun.

[KagayakiWashi]

"Brucko" by Bruce Olsen. It's an amazing missionary biography about this 19-year old kid who goes to a super hostile group of Indians. His account is so challenging and really shows God's Hand working in every detail of his journey!

[That Dude]

"Brucko" by Bruce Olsen. It's an amazing missionary biography about this 19-year old kid who goes to a super hostile group of Indians. His account is so challenging and really shows God's Hand working in every detail of his journey!

Oh man, I love that book! It kinda helped shape some of my younger years!

[uc pseudonym]

To Darkness Fled by Jill Williamson

You might think I'm lying to myself, but I really don't like to be critical of speculative fiction by other Christians. In this case, my desire to support a struggling industry outweighed my reservations about the first book. So I was planning to say that the book was decently written but depressing to me.

Part way through, there is an evil priest repeating a magic chant to summon a demon or evil spirit. Three characters intend to rebuke the demon in the names of their world's equivalent of God and Jesus. They do this by chanting in the ancient language, later translated as basically the Shema. Three of them only seem to be enough to bother the demon since the priest is still chanting, but when the main character joins them, it disperses into a cloud of mist.

I'm not twisting or mocking here. That's really what happens. In a book for an audience that will get up in arms over someone saying "Oh my God" because it's taking the Lord's name in vain.

Also, when the main character is at his lowest emotional point, Jesus totally breaks through a window and converts him. To be fair, I'm mocking a little bit here since this is suggested to be a vision. But the window stays shattered in real life, so only a bit.

[spoiler]Karsa Orlong ]
I just finished reading Reaper's Gale (book 7). A part of me wants to talk more about the series, but I don't want to inadvertently spoil anything while I'm at it.

Hopefully you enjoy the succeeding books as much as I have.

I'm sure I'll enjoy them, provided that I can continue to get my hands on them when I have enough time. Things in my life may change in such a way as to make this difficult.

I'd like to discuss the series too (no one where I live reads them that I'd want to talk to), but I don't know how much you can discuss with someone three books behind you. If you like, I have a question with spoilers implicit in the answer, so you can't ruin anything if you can answer the question at all:

Is the Crippled God the ultimate antagonist of the series? He's powerful enough to be, but I feel like it's out of place for the Malazan series to have a villain that's so utterly evil. This is a major issue for me, especially with all the characters suggesting that everything in the world is just nature attempting to create balance in all things.

[Nate]

Also, when the main character is at his lowest emotional point, Jesus totally breaks through a window and converts him.

That would be awesome if Jesus said "OH YEAH!" when he busted through the window.

As part of my continued Earthbound reading, I'm on Agota Kristof's trilogy, The Notebook, The Proof, and The Third Lie. I'm only about halfway through the second book, but I've got to say, already these books are fantastic. The main characters, Lucas and Claus, are horrible people and yet at the same time, admirable people. It's hard to explain, really. They do terrible things, but they also do everything they can to help those who are less fortunate. They seem emotionless, but care deeply about others.

There is also an interesting perspective change from the first to the second book. The first book is told in first person perspective by Lucas and Claus, who are twins, so the words "I" or "me" are never used, it's always "we" or "us." However the second book shifts to third person, since (slight spoiler?) Lucas and Claus go their separate ways at the end of the first book, so the second starts out focusing on Lucas.

So yeah, I'm really liking this, and I can see the effect it had on Itoi for making Mother 3 outside of just the obvious names of Lucas and Claus.

[Hohenheim]

Because I read the Doc Jensen recap of the 'Lost' finale, I was inspired to read some of the books that the finale recap alluded to. They were:

The Little Prince - A great and timeless work for both young and old. It tells of the importance of asking questions, about how the greatest mysteries are more important than what most consider 'serious' business, etc.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Another great book. It speaks to how important the art of storytelling is in life. It is a great work of imagination, of light-heartedness and fantasy. It is also very witty, a great tale of optimism. I recommend it to anyone with a love for works of fantasy.

[Davidizer13]

I'm about 200-250 pages into Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. It's a prequel to the Mortal Engines books, focusing on a time period before the Traction Era. So far, it's been as good as the better books in the series; about on par with Mortal Engines, but not quite as good as A Darkling Plain, but it has a very different (I'd dare say better) feel than any of them. It's whet my appetite for its sequel, A Web of Air, which hasn't shown up in the US yet.

In other words, it's a great read, especially if you've read the rest of the series, but it still stands on its own pretty well.

[rocklobster]

Just started Xenocide, book 3 of the Ender's Game books by Orson Scott Card

[bigsleepj]

Illium, by Dan Simmons. If you love Shakespeare, The Illiad, and space opera science fiction, then you'll love this book.

[Nate]

Well, finished The Third Lie today and um...wow. That was crazy.

There was another perspective shift after the second book, and so the third book starts out with Lucas narrating in first person, but halfway it switches to someone else (but stays first person). It was unexpected, a bit confusing at first, but very well done and really kind of depressing. It was good. Really good.

But this'll probably be my last post in this thread for a while as, well, I've got nothing else to read now. XD

[uc pseudonym]

The Unwritten by Mike Carey

At first this seemed like it was about an author who creates a Harry Potter knockoff series with the main character named after his son, then vanishes and leaves his son to deal with the potential reality that the stories are becoming real. That's the dust jacket premise.

It is much more than that. This is only the introduction to the idea that not only have all the great masters of storytelling (Milton, Kipling, and Clemens make flashback appearances) actually shaped the world, there are immortal (and possibly literary) individuals that have a vested interest in controlling what stories the world knows.

Unfortunately, this is only a slim first volume. I'll have to wait until the story is completed to see how well it really pulls this off. Right now it seems to be aiming high to say something about the way human beings are shaped by the stories they tell themselves.

[J.R.]

Quiet Strength - Tony Dungy

Really good stuff. Very inspiring.

[Atria35]

The Artemis Fowl series. Getting ready for the last book to come out this summer, since my friend is a HUGE fan. And so am I, actually. It's a fun series.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I went on a long, boring trip, so I managed to get to page 600 of Lord of Chaos, the sixth Wheel of Time book (which is far too long). Finally, after this long, things are actually starting to happen, and I actually was surprised! Jordan gets props for accomplishing that, but he gets them taken away again for taking this long to do so.

I also picked up a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, partly because I have to read The Hound of the Baskervilles for school - again. I must say, though Holmes is always ingenious and fun, Baskervilles really shines out in comparison to these minor cases.

[rocklobster]

started A Game of Thrones, the first book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Is it just me, or does A Song of Ice and Fire sound like a title for an epic poem? When I saw that title on TV Tropes, I thought "the title alone sounds good!"

[rocklobster]

Starting Paradise Lost

[Adie]

Finished The Scarlet Letter. It was amazing -- I am definitely adding it to my list of favorite books.

Now I am going to tackle the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm a slow reader, so it's probably going to take me a very long time to finish it. ^^; But I'm still excited to read it since it's considered such a classic~

[Radical Dreamer]

Finished I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President today! This is like, the third or fourth time that I am highly recommending this book. It is so fantastic. XDD

Starting The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart next, I think!

[LadyRushia]

Starting The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart next, I think!

You don't think. You are. Prepare yourself for epic.

To contribute to this thread, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a couple days ago. Next on my list is Hero, Second Class.

[Nate]

Finished The Scarlet Letter.

[ich1990]

[b]“The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visionsâ€

[FllMtl Novelist]

I'm trying to get through The Alchemyst. This is, I think, going to be the last contemporary fantasy title I read for a very long time. I'm just sick of the inevitable "But magic isn't REAL...Is it?" And "You see, normal people are already ignorant, but we use [enter magical substance here] to keep them from seeing all the magical stuff!"

Maybe somebody, somewhere, will write a contemporary fantasy where the protagonist is a ditz who goes, "Magic? Okay!"

[Hohenheim]

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking the Church, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N.T. Wright.

I loved this book. Within it, famed New Testament scholar N.T. Wright argues that current conceptions held by Christians of a disembodied heaven and hell are not biblically accurate. Instead, he claims that the Christian hope is more focused on, in his own words, life after life after death. In any event, Wright backs up this proposal with good, solid evidence. The only complaint might be that some of his ideas should be taken with a grain of salt, as not all of these side premises are given as much argument as the main premise (though Wright does acknowledge that his side points are more based on his own views, and that they may vary across church denominations, etc.). Even so, this book is wonderful, and even for those who disagree with it, it will challenge one's current views on what the afterlife is all about. I recommend it to anyone wondering what the real Christian hope is for life.