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[Quake1028]

Some people might be interested to know that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a $1.99 Kindle daily deal today

http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316130738l/76852.jpg[img][/url]
[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76852.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke[/url][/QUOTE]

Have you read it Mak? How is it?

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Finished off Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton;

It was a bit of a slog at times and took a long while to explain itself, but the pay off was satisfactory, given the epic interplanetary scale of the story it tells.

Spoiler

The action mostly takes place in Newcastle and on St. Libra, a planet orbiting Sirius, with sojourns to Jupiter in between, and though it was confusing the way Hamilton introduced some characters (Saul) for seemingly little reason, only for them to later become more integral to the story,

I very much enjoyed the way things pan out and the unique mix of detective murder mystery and politically charged action sci-fi thriller Hamilton employs. Recommended.

I was really disappointed with it, and there really wasn't much to the

Spoiler

investigative side of the murder mystery in Newcastle which still ended up taking up half the book with nothing interesting happening. Overall It had its moments and Angela's Saga was great, but the Newcastle stuff really slogged it down for me.

Added spoiler tags, because I'm not sure how sensitive some people are to them.

Have you read it Mak? How is it?

Kinda wondering this too, it seems a little Harry Potterish to me, which I'm not a fan of.

 

[British Monsoon]

I was really disappointed with it, and there really wasn't much to the

Spoiler

investigative side of the murder mystery in Newcastle which still ended up taking up half the book with nothing interesting happening. Overall It had its moments and Angela's Saga was great, but the Newcastle stuff really slogged it down for me.

I thought the

Spoiler

Newcastle investigation started out well enough, and I liked the detail Hamilton put into the futuristic surveillance and forensic procedures at the police's disposal, but once it got into the zone recreation theatre stuff I agree that it was a bit of a chore to read through every time the story returned there, especially when it was only to further emphasise how little progress they were making

. In general, although the book could have done with cutting down in places, I really appreciated the scale of the story and, for the most part, the manner in which it was told.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

I think I'm giving up on Hamilton. His books are so bloated I wonder if he has a editor.

 

[Maklershed]

Have you read it Mak? How is it?

I have not. I've had it in my backlog for awhile though.

 

[mike23]

Just found out about this really cool kickstarter via Patrick Rothfuss' facebook page. The Game of Books

Books get a card created by a Pandora-like algorithm for books and then you get exp and sometimes badges for books you read.

There's something very alluring about increasing my Medieval Weapon and Combat level.

I went in for $25, hopefully they reach their goal.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Just found out about this really cool kickstarter via Patrick Rothfuss' facebook page. The Game of Books

Books get a card created by a Pandora-like algorithm for books and then you get exp and sometimes badges for books you read.

There's something very alluring about increasing my Medieval Weapon and Combat level.

I went in for $25, hopefully they reach their goal.

That would be kind of cool if it could be incorporated into goodreads.

 

[Metrotab]

Bought this book. Read the first chapters, and found it amazingly well written.

This book is exactly what I was searching for.

 

[FiRez]

Just started:

This book made a huge impact in the way I saw the world, even more than The God Delusion.

 

[Bloodbeard]

Just finished Doctor Faustus and Persepolis

Next Up:

Team of Rivals (thought the movie was great, a slow burn for sure, but great).

 

[Metrotab]

What order is best to read Dawkins' other works? I find his writing style very pleasant and comfortable.

 

[phisheep]

Some people might be interested to know that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a $1.99 Kindle daily deal today


Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I loved this book.

Then lent it to my brother and never got it back.

For now, I'm working through a truly enormous backlog. Close to the end of the first of four volumes of Richard Crossman's diaries. Heavy going, needs to be taken in short slices, but great fun.

Anyone want it when I am finished all four volumes? It's going to the charity shop or the tip otherwise - I need the space.

 

[thomaser]

Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell. Another book in the reading list for my study of The American Detective Novel. Seems to have a heavy focus on forensic investigation, which is no surprise as Patricia Cornwell herself is an expert in the field. The opening is intriguing, with a puzzling murder.

 

[Maklershed]

Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell. Another book in the reading list for my study of The American Detective Novel. Seems to have a heavy focus on forensic investigation, which is no surprise as Patricia Cornwell herself is an expert in the field. The opening is intriguing, with a puzzling murder.

I enjoyed her book about Jack the Ripper. Although it did make me queasy at times.

 

[Collete]

Finished this yesterday:

First Pratchett book, definitely not my last either!
Glad to think I'm back being a reader again (kind of).

 

[phisheep]

First Pratchett book

Wow!! You're in for a hell or a treat or fifteen or more as you go on ...

 

[Collete]

Wow!! You're in for a hell or a treat or fifteen or more as you go on ...

Heh, hopefully!
Is there a specific order on which novel to start next in the Discworld series or do I just pick a random one and go with it?

 

[Uncle]

Heh, hopefully!
Is there a specific order on which novel to start next in the Discworld series or do I just pick a random one and go with it?

It's not exactly necessary, but there are some jokes that you might miss if you read them in a totally random order (one from The Truth comes to mind). The books themselves are pretty much stand alone things. But here's one, if you don't want to stick to the publication order:

http://i.imgur.com/TXS4q.jpg

 

[phisheep]

Heh, hopefully!
Is there a specific order on which novel to start next in the Discworld series or do I just pick a random one and go with it?

There are all sorts of different themes to follow and suggested orders and all that.

I'd avoid the very early ones for now (like The Colour of Magic) when he was feeling his way a bit. Worth coming back to later.

"Mort" is the earliest awesome one.

"Guards! Guards!" sets you up nicely for the rest of the Ankh-Morpork series.

There's also a whole load of stuff about the Wizards of the Unseen University, but to be quite honest I found it hard to get into and can't think of a good starting place. Love them now.

If you are in the UK, worth popping down to Wincanton where the shop is ("The Cunning Artificer") which does all things Pratchett, all the staff know Pratchett, and they have all the ins/outs/sideways of all the books and what goes where.

EDIT: That Guide that Uncle posted is really useful. I'd still avoid the two at the top left for now, go for Mort and Guards series and jump into Pyramids which is truly Ptfandageourus! Work it all out yourself from there on.

 

[thomaser]

I enjoyed her book about Jack the Ripper. Although it did make me queasy at times.

Sounds interesting, didn't know she had written a book about that! Will keep it in mind for later.

 

[Woorloog]

Finished off Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton;

http://i.imgur.com/oS7P6.jpg[img]

It was a bit of a slog at times and took a long while to explain itself, but the pay off was satisfactory, given the epic interplanetary scale of the story it tells. The action mostly takes place in Newcastle and on St. Libra, a planet orbiting Sirius, with sojourns to Jupiter in between, and though it was confusing the way Hamilton introduced some characters (Saul) for seemingly little reason, only for them to later become more integral to the story, I very much enjoyed the way things pan out and the unique mix of detective murder mystery and politically charged action sci-fi thriller Hamilton employs. Recommended.
[/QUOTE]

Read it earlier this year. It was a bit slow and for most part good... and then the damn ending. Was too fast, wasn't satisfying.


Currently reading [B]The Cobra Trilogy[/B] by Timothy Zahn.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/G724j.jpg

Pretty good. Feels like a standard space opera at first... and then changes. Quite a lot even. Feels pretty realistic as far as space operas go.
Will probably have to get the sequels, liking this so much so far. Previously read only Zahn's Star Wars books, which are the best of SW EU.

EDIT horrible cover art. Should have featured the leg laser too, hard time visualizing that despite normally not having any problems with visualizing things even from a short description.

 

[maniac-kun]

Iam reading:

 

[Collete]

It's not exactly necessary, but there are some jokes that you might miss if you read them in a totally random order (one from The Truth comes to mind). The books themselves are pretty much stand alone things. But here's one, if you don't want to stick to the publication order:

There are all sorts of different themes to follow and suggested orders and all that.

I'd avoid the very early ones for now (like The Colour of Magic) when he was feeling his way a bit. Worth coming back to later.

"Mort" is the earliest awesome one.

"Guards! Guards!" sets you up nicely for the rest of the Ankh-Morpork series.

There's also a whole load of stuff about the Wizards of the Unseen University, but to be quite honest I found it hard to get into and can't think of a good starting place. Love them now.

If you are in the UK, worth popping down to Wincanton where the shop is ("The Cunning Artificer") which does all things Pratchett, all the staff know Pratchett, and they have all the ins/outs/sideways of all the books and what goes where.

EDIT: That Guide that Uncle posted is really useful. I'd still avoid the two at the top left for now, go for Mort and Guards series and jump into Pyramids which is truly Ptfandageourus! Work it all out yourself from there on.

Oh, that is interesting chart there!
Kind of interesting on reading about "Death" more.
I'll probably head on to Mort on my list then!
Thank you both very much!

 

[BrokenEchelon]

True Love was pretty great as are the Powell and Donovan stories.

 

[Mumei]

Iam reading:

This is the most hilarious cover of that book I have seen.

 

[DieUnbekannte]

Just got a hand on some books of Murakami and have no idea with which of them I should start. Got "A Wild Sheep Chase", "Norwegian Wood" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" from a friend who needs to clear out his bookshelves. I've never read any books of Murakami so I would be happy for some recomendations.

 

[Mac_Lane]

Michel Strogoff, by Jules Verne.

A classic that I had already read as a child. Truly an epic journey, and a great description of XIXth century Russia, from Moscow to Irkutsk in Eastern Siberia.

 

[fierrotlepou]

So guys, I'm looking for a book I saw an image from on the internet a while ago. It's a book (for children) with a cruise ship as a cover, and you can see the whole interior on different levels. It's a children's book.

Does anyone know what book I'm talking about? I think I saw someone post an image here in one of the nostalgia threads but I can't find it.

 

[8BitsAtATime]

Im about to start reading Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard. I tryed reading iy when i was in high school but it kicked my ass.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Help me, Reading-GAF.

I just finished Abercrombie's "Red Country." Absolutely loved it.

Spoiler

The Bloody Nine!!!!

Now I'm staring at my bookshelf and trying to figure out what to read next. I've decided against Hamilton's Judas Unchained, as I barely survived Pandora's Star. I'm also deciding to skip the follow-on Rama books, as Rendezvous felt perfect and I hear the sequels are mediocre.

So these are my choices:
The First Book of Swords - Fred Saberhagen
Day by Day Armageddon - J.L. Bourne
Feed - Mira Grant
Winterlong - Elizabeth Hand
Shadowmarch - Tad Williams
The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell

I've narrowed it to these. Any recommendations for or against? So far in 2012 I've only read 3 books because Hamilton's Pandora's Star took me 10 months to slog through.

 

[Mastadon]

Just got a hand on some books of Murakami and have no idea with which of them I should start. Got "A Wild Sheep Chase", "Norwegian Wood" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" from a friend who needs to clear out his bookshelves. I've never read any books of Murakami so I would be happy for some recomendations.

Norwegian Wood is a great starting point for his books IMO.

 

[survivor]

Just got a hand on some books of Murakami and have no idea with which of them I should start. Got "A Wild Sheep Chase", "Norwegian Wood" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" from a friend who needs to clear out his bookshelves. I've never read any books of Murakami so I would be happy for some recomendations.

Start with Norwegian Wood

 

[Frost_Ace]

Finished The Hobbit and came back to Kafka on the shore:

I love the ufo-like mystery in the flashback chapters lol.

 

[mhayze]

I'm rereading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and once I finish, I'm either thinking of L'Morte D'Arthur or The Simarillion. I haven't decided which one.

I've read the Silmarillion a few times at this point, but never in one continuous push, and usually after finishing the LOTR trilogies It's more of a cross between the Bible and a history textbook. It's worth reading, but it's not exactly captivating prose. Even the Iliad and other classic epics are more compelling reading.

Le Morte d'Arthur is again, a lit. class reading assignment / discussion type deal for me - it is fun to ryyd the owlde prowse, but as an Arthur / Holy Grail story, I've preferred books like Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, etc.

STEPPENWOLF
50 pages in. Really good so far.

I loved this book. Siddartha and Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game) are my favorites though.

 

[DieUnbekannte]

Norwegian Wood is a great starting point for his books IMO.

Start with Norwegian Wood

Thanks to both of you. After I've finished Shadowplay from Tad Williams, which I started last week, I'm going to read Norwegian Wood, my first Murakami book. I heard a lot of good things about his writing style so I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Mumei]

Just got a hand on some books of Murakami and have no idea with which of them I should start. Got "A Wild Sheep Chase", "Norwegian Wood" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" from a friend who needs to clear out his bookshelves. I've never read any books of Murakami so I would be happy for some recomendations.

I just read them in order (of those, A Wild Sheep Chase -> Norwegian Wood -> The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) and that worked fine for me. I don't think you can go wrong regardless of order, though Norwegian Wood is very, very different in style to the other two (so maybe reading it in the middle would serve as a sort of palette cleanser?).

I started reading Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe During the Second World War by Simon Kuper yesterday after finishing Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe which - even after reading A Personal Matter - was bizarre and unsettling and discomfiting and just plain weird. I still liked it, though.

 

[Necrovex]

How different is the writing style between Norwegain Wood and Kafka on the Shore? I'm thinking about renting that Norwegan Wood from the library.

 

[Kyleripman]

Some people might be interested to know that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a $1.99 Kindle daily deal today

Thanks for the heads-up, grabbed it last night. Hard to beat that price!

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Dad by day is really short if you wanna knock that out. A single sitting would do it. Its just ok as far as zombie stuff goes.

Help me, Reading-GAF.

I just finished Abercrombie's "Red Country." Absolutely loved it.

Spoiler

The Bloody Nine!!!!

Now I'm staring at my bookshelf and trying to figure out what to read next. I've decided against Hamilton's Judas Unchained, as I barely survived Pandora's Star. I'm also deciding to skip the follow-on Rama books, as Rendezvous felt perfect and I hear the sequels are mediocre.

So these are my choices:
The First Book of Swords - Fred Saberhagen
Day by Day Armageddon - J.L. Bourne
Feed - Mira Grant
Winterlong - Elizabeth Hand
Shadowmarch - Tad Williams
The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell

I've narrowed it to these. Any recommendations for or against? So far in 2012 I've only read 3 books because Hamilton's Pandora's Star took me 10 months to slog through.

 

[FilthyLies]

How different is the writing style between Norwegain Wood and Kafka on the Shore? I'm thinking about renting that Norwegan Wood from the library.

Norwegian Wood is a very straightforward novel, whereas pretty much all other Murakami fiction is surrealistic. It's not that crazy of a difference, just not what Murakami is generally known for.

 

[nakedsushi]

Just finished:


Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Andrés Vera Martínez

A quick comic book broken down into short sections. The art style was great and matched the time and mood of the stories. It's about the author's experiences growing up in post-Mao China.

 

[Monroeski]

Oh, that is interesting chart there!
Kind of interesting on reading about "Death" more.
I'll probably head on to Mort on my list then!
Thank you both very much!

The Death series of books are my favorites.

 

[nakedsushi]

Also wrapped up:


My Life in France by Julia Child

Lovely! It's everything I was hoping it would be. I recommend it to people who aren't even interested in French cuisine (like me) just because Child's writing draws you into how life was in culinary Paris post-war.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Dad by day is really short if you wanna knock that out. A single sitting would do it. Its just ok as far as zombie stuff goes.

Thanks. I think I'm going to keep this and Feed off to the side until TWD comes back. That way I can drown in zombies.

Which would be ... creepy.

I'm going with --

 

[Curtisaur]

I fell out of reading for a long time. I couldn't finish anything I started so I am trying to get back into it by starting with simpler reads. I bought Looking For Alaska yesterday and am enjoying it so far.

 

[Trouble]

Finished

Probably one of the most contrived and ridiculous premises for a YA scifi trilogy I've ever read, much moreso than Hunger Games or even Maze Runner. That said, I didn't hate it.

I'm not going to do the whole trilogy at once, partly because the 3rd book isn't out and partly because it just didn't pull me in and make me really want to know what happens next.

Not sure what's up next, either In the Garden of Beasts (Erik Larson) or The Scar (China Miéville)

 

[Epcott]

Listened to Snow Crash from Audible this month.

Can't wait for next month to get Diamond Age.



In the middle of reading A Wrinkle in Time for the first time for research.

 

[Nymerio]

Started Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

I'm usually not someone who really laughs while reading a book a but the part with the Asshole BrainPal actually got a good chuckle out of me. I'm really liking it this far, but I'm only about 20% in.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished up Echoes of Earth this morning and since The Lost City of Z keeps referencing it, decided to start The Lost World


The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

[EVOL 100%]

After going through Albert Camus' works I needed something a bit lighter and more casual.

It was pretty good, the art was very refreshing, and the story was engaging enough. Pretty depressing though.