What are you reading?

Yakoob on 25/4/2013 at 23:21

Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate

Turns out,, its not all about elves and dwarves and fantasy stereotypes. It is a very good read. So much so that I'm already 10 chapters into the 7th book. (8th technically since I read the prequel book first) And these things aren't small books. If anybody was debating whether or not to read them, I think I'll give my recommendation.

Like Yamatotakeru I was curious to check them out and now that I almost read up on all my current list, I might pick it up next! Thanks Advoc!

Yakoob on 22/9/2013 at 16:44

Reviving from the dead - Just wrapped up The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett and started really good but got a bit eh towards the end.

I love the premise and there's definitely a thought put into the Corelings, Core, and where/how they came about, and I am really curious to find out. It was also interesting to see glimpse into the medieval-esque, fear-ruled society and how (realistically) messed up it is with violence or rape (hello Witcher or Game of Thrones), if tending too much towards sexism.

HOWEVER, what starts quite interesting end very predictably trope-y by the end. The characters all grow from the typical "messed up kids" to archetypal "heroes" (tho it's kinda funny how it matches game tropes with the tank, healer/mage and bard heh). Worst is the warded man itself who goes from a little kid to superhuman powers in literally blink of an eye; I know the book skips like a decade but still, the transition was pretty jarring (I didn't think the brief episode in the desert was sufficient to explain it).

Will I continue on book two? Kinda want to. Still curious about the coreling mythos, warded man's link to the creatures, and the mentions of ancient technology, but I also fear the books will just get more and more predictably tropy which is kinda boring to me personally.

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Also I got some 70 pages into The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time) and it was starting pretty good, just got to the bit where main cast left their home and just arrived at first town but then my library lease ended and I had to return it :| The book is apparently in high demand, a bummer given how thick it is, and it reads kinda slow (especially the "mythical/prophetic/lore" descriptions I tend to gloss over)

june gloom on 22/9/2013 at 20:56

God my reading habits have gone to shit. I never finish books anymore. Hell, I'll get a book out to start it, and never even start it. I'll read 20 pages then let a book sit for two weeks.

I gotta fix this somehow. Reading used to be so important to me.

SubJeff on 22/9/2013 at 22:59

I find the same thing.

I started The Book of Skulls, Snow Crash, Flow My Tears The Policeman Said and The Demolished Man in the last few months.

Snow Crash is the only one I'll finish soon and it's the last one I started.

Neb on 23/9/2013 at 01:16

I've always been terrible at finishing books. I'm STILL reading Nostromo and it's STILL one of the best books I've ever read, and I plan to eventually get through everything written by Joseph Conrad.

This is the shit for me when it comes to fiction:

Quote:

Mrs Gould knew the history of the San Tomé mine. Worked in the early days mostly by means of lashes on the backs of slaves, its yield had been paid for in its own weight of human bones. Whole tribes of Indians had perished in the exploitation; and then the mine was abandoned, since with this primitive method it had ceased to make a profitable return, no matter how many corpses were thrown into its maw.

...

Quote:

But afterwards another government bethought itself of that valuable asset. It was an ordinary Costaguana Government - the fourth in six years - but it judged of its opportunities sanely. It remembered the San Tomé mine with a secret conviction of its worthlessness in their own hands, but with an ingenious insight into the various uses a silver mine can be put to, apart from the sordid process of extracting the metal from under the ground. The father of Charles Gould, for a long time one of the most wealthy merchants of Costaguana, had already lost a considerable part of his fortune in forced loans to the successive Governments. He was a man of calm judgment, who never dreamed of pressing his claims; and when, suddenly, the perpetual concession of the San Tomé mine was offered to him in full settlement, his alarm became extreme.

henke on 23/9/2013 at 08:38

Quote Posted by dethtoll

God my reading habits have gone to shit. I never finish books anymore. Hell, I'll get a book out to start it, and never even start it. I'll read 20 pages then let a book sit for two weeks.

I've been the same way for the past few years. I've listened to a lot of audiobooks (while walking) instead. But this summer I actually read two entire physical paper books.

Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, by Patton Oswalt

Autobiography by my favourite stand-up comedian. Highlights include his stories about working at a movie theatre with a bunch of crazy lunatics, and spending a terrible week in a Canadian small-town comedy club where no one liked his jokes. There are also some completely fictional chapters, like the one which is just punch-up notes for a hilariously terrible movie script.

The Fault in our Stars, by John Green

Young adult novel about a 16 year old girl with lung cancer, who falls in love with an equally cancer-ridden boy. As an adult man I should probably be all eyerolls about this one, but it somehow managed to be both heartwarming and tragic. Really well written, and not as heavy as the premise implies.

Renzatic on 23/9/2013 at 10:57

I read many books.

Currently I am reading books of dinosaurs. I am learning many facts (of dinosaurs).

Yakoob on 24/9/2013 at 03:20

Quote Posted by dethtoll

Used to never read books when I was younger but now I got an almost daily routine: I wake up early, while its still chilly and cloudy outside, brew a fresh cup of tea with milk, grab a cookie, and sit down to read for an hour.

It's literally my favorite and most relaxing part of the day. And weird fusion of similar habits of living in north Ireland and India - working on my masters at starbucks with a hot coffee and rain outside, mixed with the obligatory milky chai and cookie to jump start the day the maid made for us every morning :p

Volitions Advocate on 24/9/2013 at 04:27

Koob,

When I read through the WOT books I alternated back and forth between the audios and the books when I was at work. Sometimes at work I could read, and other times I could pack it on my phone and listen. I suppose it helps with the more long winded parts.

You're just getting to the good stuff. The later books get a little big too big for their own good, but I'm on book 10 now and it seems to be getting back down to the stuff that made it great. Book 5 seems to be the hard part. at least it was for me, necessary for the story, but pretty dry. Then it picks back up afterwards.

I've also been looking on ebay, and so long as you're not buying a first printing or a signed copy, they seem to be pretty cheap. like 3 - 8 dollars for a hardcover.

Yamatotakeru on 24/9/2013 at 07:22

Quote:

've always been terrible at finishing books. I'm STILL reading Nostromo and it's STILL one of the best books I've ever read, and I plan to eventually get through everything written by Joseph Conrad.

And I thought I'm the only one still alive who loves this book :cheeky: . Nostromo really is one of the greats. Something I want to reread in the future. I also plan to check out everything by Conrad, though it's difficult to get some of his books where I live, due to the price :( .

Right now I'm reading Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist and I love it to bits.