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[AngmarsKing701]

Finished up The Power That Preserves, the final book in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant trilogy. Really took quite a well to grind through this series. Overall Donaldson's writing improved. I thought book 3 was certainly better written than book 1, but I'd still give it a 3/5 star rating for the trilogy.

Onto another older fantasy, Lyonesse by Jack Vance.

 

[neojubei]

Finished up Catching Fire last night and now I'm on to the finale. It's the first book I'm reading on my Kindle and I'm loving it so far. Awesome present.

Just started this book today. Finished the first 2 books.

 

[Dresden]

Finished Ghost Story by Jim Butcher.

I think I'm done with the series now. Horribly indulgent and filled with so much contrived shit, it hurt.

 

[Ratrat]

Komatsu - Nihon Chinbotsu (Japan sinks)

This book was written 1973. I read the German version. Pretty weird stuff, especially considering the condition of Japan in early 2011. Komatsu is well-known to Sci-Fi fans worldwide, and after what happened on March 11 he got even more famous - at least to non-Japanese outside Japan. The book describes how Japan literally sinks down into the Pacific ocean due to geological circumstances which I won't describe here in detail.

In this novel the biggest earthquake hits Japan on the 3rd of March! Being just a coincidence (the Tohoku quake happened on the same date) it was nevertheless a quite disturbing read, considering how Komatsu describes the ongoing natural desasters: tsunami waves are constantly hitting the eastern coast of Japan, whole parts of Osaka and the coastal Kansai region are being swept away in an instant while petroleum tanks explode on the shoreline (well, at least not nuclear plants), black petroleum fumes mingling with the smoke and ashes coming out of dozens of active volcanoes etc pp

Interesting read for everyone interested in dystopian novels and the soul of the Japanese people.

March 11th actually.

 

[Forsete]

Currently finishing up Stephen Kings '11/22/63'. Pretty good so far, but some parts are a drag. We'll see how it ends.

 

[Deified Data]

Working my way through The Scar by China Mieville. Compared to Perdido Street Station, it's a lot more consistent, but I miss the variety of environment New crobuzon offered. Armada isn't as compelling a setting.

 

[alphaNoid]

Got this for Christmas, starting with GoT even though I watched it on HBO.

 

[ameratsu]

Fascinating topic. About 60 pages in, so far so good.

 

[Maklershed]

Currently finishing up Stephen Kings '11/22/63'. Pretty good so far, but some parts are a drag. We'll see how it ends.

I like how King peppers his books with easter eggs of his previous works. Unfortunately I've only just started reading his works this year but so far in 11/22/63 (I'm about 15% in) I've caught a reference to ...

Spoiler

Shawshank and It

 

[Guileless]

Currently finishing up Stephen Kings '11/22/63'. Pretty good so far, but some parts are a drag. We'll see how it ends.

The descriptions of Oswald family life were the only parts that dragged for me.

 

[LordPhoque]

 

[The Culture Vulture]

Kind of stumbled into reading this book. Was checking out how digital loans work with my library and grabbed this off the new release section not knowing anything about it. Decent, nothing special. Really goes off the rails in the 3rd act.

 

[f0rk]

Got a Kindle for Christmas and have started with World War Z. Enjoyed it, very believable. Some of the transitions between stages could have been fleshed out a bit more I think, like the first arrivals and outbreaks in NA and Europe and then between isolated instances to the Great Panic. Also more about Israel after the lock down. Could have done with some maps as I'm from the UK and not completely familiar with the geography of the States.
I found the chapter about American immigration to camping in the north and how that broke down to be a stand out.

On to Hunger Games now.

 

[Clever Pun]

Finished this last week:

I enjoyed a few of the stories a lot (The Feather Pillow, the Decapitated Chicken, & the Dead Man) but for the most part they felt like pretty standard short stories in the tradition of Poe.


I'm about 3/4th of the way through this at the moment:

and I'm really enjoying it so far, a whole lot more than Stranger in a Strange Land (the only other Heinlein I've read)

 

[PersonaX]

I'm finished with this soon

which will be followed by Never Let Me Go and Neuromancer.

 

[Maklershed]

^ Absolutely loved Inferno breezed through that and the sequel (Escape from Hell) in no time.

 

[ultron87]

Somewhat less than halfway through this. Seems pretty cool so far. Still a lot of establishing stuff, but when one has a planned 10 book series I can't necessarily blame them for stretching their expositional legs for a bit.

 

[Arment]

Somewhat less than halfway through this. Seems pretty cool so far. Still a lot of establishing stuff, but when one has a planned 10 book series I can't necessarily blame them for stretching their expositional legs for a bit.

The cover art there for shardplate looks nothing like I'd imagine it would be or how it's described.

I found the book alright until the last 1/3. It picks up exponentially from there.

 

[ultron87]

The cover art there for shardplate looks nothing like I'd imagine it would be or how it's described.

Yeah, but at least that cover is slightly more striking than "generic fantasy dude standing on a cliff". Which is the cover of the book I actually have.

 

[Arment]

Yeah, but at least that cover is slightly more striking than "generic fantasy dude standing on a cliff". Which is the cover of the book I actually have.

I like that one after knowing the context of the scene but yeah I agree. Cover art for fantasy in general is just so lackluster sometimes.

 

[Buckethead]

 

[forgeforsaken]

Reading Curse of the Windigo the follow up to The Monstrumologist

 

[JLG-]

 

[ymmv]

Yeah, but at least that cover is slightly more striking than "generic fantasy dude standing on a cliff". Which is the cover of the book I actually have.

That cover was done by Michael Whelan, the most respected cover artist in the SF/fantasy field. He has won 28 Locus Awards and 15 Hugos for best cover artist in his career. He retired from the field in 1996 so it was quite something that he did a cover for the Sanderson book.

 

[Mumei]

In a bit of a rush to finish get to my goal for Goodreads:

The Word for World is Forest

Invincible

(don't know why they are different sizes!)

Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery

The Book of Imaginary Beings

And I am currently in reading The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History. It's really fascinating, strongly recommend it if you have an interest in history on the level of "petite gens."

 

[.:Sam:.]

So I just finished reading Clash of Kings, what an amazing read that was! Taking a break now and reading what people have said to me is an absolute classic, which I am so far thoroughly enjoying.

The Once and Future King

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

http://www.japansubculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/adelsteintokyo-263x400.jpg

Im reading this, and its great! Its about a reporter working in different divisions of the Japaneses police to get information. Is there an American counterpart? As an American I would like to hear a similar story from within my own country

 

[Salazar]

And I am currently in reading The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History. It's really fascinating, strongly recommend it if you have an interest in history on the level of "petite gens."

Good taste.

I can report, being halfway through it, that Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia is one of the most tremendously exciting pieces of history I have read. My impression that it was Flashman made real has been thoroughly affirmed.

My next book, a little for work and a little for pleasure, is Massimo Montanari's Cheese, Pears, and History in a Proverb. The proverb of the title is "do not let the peasant know how good cheese is with pears". It's an examination of the negotiations and representations of social order, change, and conflict through food - the pear being an icon of pleasure and sustenance estranged from labour, and cheese being something that has to be worked - something resonantly proletarian.

 

[beje]

I'm almost halfway through The girl who kicked the hornet's nest, will start either We have to talk about Kevin or 1Q84 as soon as I'm done.

 

[Mastadon]

The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia

I picked this up after seeing it mentioned earlier in the thread. My knowledge of Central Asian history is embarrassingly sparse though, will I be able to jump straight into this, or do I need to do a bit of research beforehand?

 

[AAequal]

The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy

Crossing is pretty much the only good one and even it's not really that great. Prose again is amazing but other then that not feeling it. Love story in the first book is just awful, Cormac really can't write female characters (he is about to prove the haters wrong in his next book), everything in this trilogy follows coincidences after coincidences so it's really not that interesting plot structure. Main characters are good at everything no matter what they have to do they do it without any troubles at all, books also have plenty of small side characters that only appear to give their piece of wisdom and then disappear. Crossing is only worth the time and last book is going to make helluva movie but doesn't work as book.

 

[Salazar]

I picked this up after seeing it mentioned earlier in the thread. My knowledge of Central Asian history is embarrassingly sparse though, will I be able to jump straight into this, or do I need to do a bit of research beforehand?

No research required. I don't find that it has assumed much knowledge on my part. If I hadn't known that Napoleon marching into a Russian winter was one of the colossal fuckups in recorded history, this book would have told me. It is very largely just great stories about daring motherfuckers, cruel warlords, macro-political biffo.

 

[Mastadon]

No research required. I don't find that it has assumed much knowledge on my part. If I hadn't known that Napoleon marching into a Russian winter was one of the colossal fuckups in recorded history, this book would have told me. It is very largely just great stories about daring motherfuckers, cruel warlords, macro-political biffo.

Fantastic, looking forward to it.

 

[Clever Pun]

The Book of Imaginary Beings

This is such a cool little book!

Spoiler

It's an especially great resource for fantasy/sci-fi writers.

Also, if you haven't read any other Borges, especially Labyrinths, I highly recommend it.

 

[Yen]

Currently reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep aka Blade Runner. Dare I say, better than the movie, though they are quite different I admit.

Been reading a lot of King lately. Had about 100 pages left in Dark Tower 2 and Christmas arrived and forgot all about it! I have Carrie, Green Mile and The Stand to read after that. However I don't think I'll get round to The Stand anytime soon. Don't have the time to devote myself to 1200 pages of King.

Also read Chris Kamara - Mr Unbelievable which is a great book if you're a fan of Kammy, Stelling etc

 

[Divius]

The Hobbit,

After I finish it: Hunger Games.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

and

 

[sparky2112]

Holy mother of god, where is an editor when you need one?!? Ladies and gents, step right up! Watch closely as Stephen King turns a 400 page book into a door-stopping 800! You won't believe your eyes!

 

[Kraftwerk]

Finished Rendezvous With Rama. Loved it. Arthur C. Clarke is one of the few writers who can capture that sense of wonder of mystery of space perfectly.


Onwards!

 

[idlewild_]

Just finished ADWD...somewhat disappointing, I feel the last two books have been fairly mediocre when compared to the first 3. I hope that GRRM can get back into his groove with the next book

Spoiler

basically 1800 pages of setup for future books, ugh

.

Picked up the Steve Jobs biography and have Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku on deck after that.

 

[Maklershed]

Anyone have any familiarity with Ray Kurzweil? I'm trying to figure out which book of his to get. I'm thinking maybe The Singularity is Near?


The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil

Anyone? Also, a recommendation of a book about the Clinton presidency (or biography I suppose) would be appreciated.

 

[Kosh]

Finished Rendezvous With Rama. Loved it. Arthur C. Clarke is one of the few writers who can capture that sense of wonder of mystery of space perfectly.


Onwards!

I finished the audiobook of RwR a couple weeks ago. I've heard the sequel wasn't as good and haven't decided if I want to pick it up. Would love to hear yours and others thoughts on it.

 

[Kraftwerk]

I finished the audiobook of RwR a couple weeks ago. I've heard the sequel wasn't as good and haven't decided if I want to pick it up. Would love to hear yours and others thoughts on it.

Eh, I never listen to reviews. If I enjoyed the first one, I will still enjoy the sequels to some degree. I remember reading Hyperion / Fall of Hyperion, then some people told me to never read Endymion / Rise Of Endymion since its terrible. I did read them both, and enjoyed them a lot.

My opinion at least.

 

[Cousteau]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457074 post 382

so far it seems good, I like the pacing.

 

[SolKane]

To be honest I'm not a big fan of Bukowski, but I found this to be the worst of his books I've read.

 

[thomaser]

Finally reached page 1000 in Pynchon's Against the Day. 86 to go! Started it in July, but got sidetracked by so many things this fall that I haven't been able to finish it yet. Will try my best to get through it this year!

 

[JaCy]

I'm half way through The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, I really like it so far but I felt the beginning of it kind of dragged on.

 

[Holmes]

Love the Dark Tower series, but the second book is the best one. Hope that doesn't discourage you, though. My sister got me The Hunger Games for Christmas, and I'm at chapter 8 at the moment.

 

[FL4TW4V3]

I've read about half of Ready Player One already. Such a page turner. Perfect for anyone growing up in the 80s as there are so many references. I don't know if it's the Neuromamcer of it's generation, but it's certainly a great book.

 

[hamchan]

Just finished:

I enjoyed it very much. The way Sanderson brought guns into the universe and how the allomancy affects it is very impressive. The action scenes were well written and easy to follow. Also some good references to the previous books without going overboard.

I would like it if he made a sequel to this book and just made a new Mistborn trilogy out of it.