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[Keen]

On to The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker. Then back to Legacy of Kings by C.S. Friedman and Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

I think Orb, Sceptre and Throne by Ian Scott Cameron comes out soon too. More Malazan, nice!

edit: the fuck? Kindle, jan 19th, one hardcover (out of print) Feb28th, and another one May 22nd? What is going on?

edit2: Ok, people on Malazan forum have got it. At least on Kindle.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Probably June.

Fuck. Why? That's so stupid. I'm not waiting for June. I guess I'll have a mismatched set. :/

 

[Sleepy]

as much as I like GRRM, no

no we are not going to be studying him

Please...I read all seven Harry Potter books for a grad school class on Children's lit. There is no out of bounds anymore.

Still plugging away on The Girl Who Played With Fire. I pretty much hate it. Salander was so much more interesting as an enigma.

 

[aidan]

Fuck. Why? That's so stupid. I'm not waiting for June. I guess I'll have a mismatched set. :/

Because that's how it works with every novel released? A year, at least, between high-margin hardcovers and basically-just-an-ad-for-the-next-book paperbacks. Frankly, I expect ADWD will hit trade paperback in June and Mass Market Paperback another 6-12 months after that.

 

[Oxigen_Waste]

Started Dark Tower... I thought I'd give it a chance...

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Because that's how it works with every novel released? A year, at least, between high-margin hardcovers and basically-just-an-ad-for-the-next-book paperbacks. Frankly, I expect ADWD will hit trade paperback in June and Mass Market Paperback another 6-12 months after that.

I generally don't buy books when they release, so I have no idea how it works.

 

[Kosh]

I don't know anybody that studied Tolkien in school. His influence is undeniable, but the writing itself isn't particularly special.

My daughter had to read Fellowship of the Ring last summer for her English II class. I was kind of surprised myself.

Edit: Every student had to read it and they had a test on it the second week of the school year.

 

[dralla]

Finished up The Hunger Games earlier today. Won't be reading the others, not interested in where it is headed.

My next book is likely going to be 1984. I was originally going to go with Dune but I heard bad things about the Kindle edition. Than possibly Hyperion after 1984.

 

[bengraven]

Loving it, drinking it down deeply.

While it is quite obvious the book is inspired by countless centuries of vampire fiction, the locations and time frame bring to mind Interview with the Vampire. Only Martin uses much sparser, more snappy narration than Rice. Oh, but George gets flowery at times, too, but that's when he describes the countless meals his fat, bearded main character eats.

It really does feel like an Anne Rice novel, but one written by George R. R. Martin. Maybe once they leave New Orleans things will change.

Finished up The Hunger Games earlier today. Won't be reading the others, not interested in where it is headed.

My next book is likely going to be 1984. I was originally going to go with Dune but I heard bad things about the Kindle edition. Than possibly Hyperion after 1984.

Agreed with what you said about HG: I actually got about 1/3 through the second novel and put them away for almost a year now.

Don't worry about the Kindle edition of Dune, though. I read it through last year on Kindle and it was fine.

 

[nakedsushi]

Loving it, drinking it down deeply.

That was one of the better vampire books I'd read last year. It's like if Mark Twain wrote a book about vampires. I enjoyed it a lot and I'm happy to hear you are too.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Loving it, drinking it down deeply.

While it is quite obvious the book is inspired by countless centuries of vampire fiction, the locations and time frame bring to mind Interview with the Vampire. Only Martin uses much sparser, more snappy narration than Rice. Oh, but George gets flowery at times, too, but that's when he describes the countless meals his fat, bearded main character eats.

It really does feel like an Anne Rice novel, but one written by George R. R. Martin. Maybe once they leave New Orleans things will change.

This one sounds good. I think I'll pick it up.

 

[Dresden]

This was pretty fucking good. Ended up just slogging through it in one sitting--it's a pretty short book. Bitterly angry and somewhat humorous. I raged as I read it and that felt good. About the poor of India, and how one man decides that enough is enough.

 

[bengraven]

This one sounds good. I think I'll pick it up.

That was one of the better vampire books I'd read last year. It's like if Mark Twain wrote a book about vampires. I enjoyed it a lot and I'm happy to hear you are too.

It's definitely a lot slower than Martin's other works (as in, some chapters are obviously Martin just living inside the time period and enjoying himself) but as Naked said, this is one of the better vampire books out there. It's definitely written by a master of genre, though, with great scene settings and dramatic moments.

Vampires are handled much differently than modern fiction has utilized them and they're more in line with the classic folk definition of the vampire/strigoi/etc before Bram Stoker or Palidori or Byron got a hold of them. And inside of that conceit, they play with the modern interpretations in a way that put a smile on my face.

Spoiler

They wear crosses, keep tons of silver in their environment, and huge huge mirrors to keep suspicion off them. "Vampires reflections don't appear in mirrors, see? I'm no vampire..." Clever girl.

Agh, anyway, just loving it. He said in a recent interview he'd like to do a sequel when he's finished with Ice and Fire and now I'm pretty excited for that. Don't die George.

 

[Arment]

Well I just finished this series up. I went to bed around 11 (4 am now) and I popped on to post this before I try to sleep. Thankfully I don't have anything to do...today. When I get to the end of a book I have absolutely no willpower to stop and I find myself suddenly awake and energetic.

About the book...I'm just shocked I guess. Probably the darkest ending to a book I've ever read. I understand the message though, and love Abercrombie to death for it. I hope to read books just like this in the future. Glokta, Bayaz and Ninefingers are some of the finest characters I've come to know since my first read through of ASoIaF.

Say one thing about The First Law Trilogy, say it's a dark series.

Anyhow I feel like I'm on a roll with good books lately...Mistborn and now this. Probably going to read The Crippled God now. That loose end is gnawing at me.

 

[coldvein]

i thought the first book of that abercrombie trilogy was boring as fuck. never moved on.

ah well. opinions..

 

[Arment]

Only series I ever gave up on the first book, lately, was The Book of the New Sun. I know many who love it. The book put me to sleep in a timely fashion each night though. One day I'll try it again.

 

[Leave_Scars]

About halfway through the extended version of Stephen King's The Stand.

 

[coldvein]

About halfway through the extended version of Stephen King's The Stand.

that's about as far as i got..

good luck.

 

[Karakand]

How come?

 

[Salazar]

Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford.

The most sane (in fact, acutely sane) of the Mitford sisters. Beautiful memoir, treating life with an extraordinarily fucking dotty family.

 

[BluWacky]

Strange, very dryly humourous novel about a Russian sci-fi author forced by Stalin to come up with an alien invasion scenario for propaganda use then abruptly told to forget about it - until it starts coming true.

Enjoying this quite a lot at the moment.

 

[adam.chance]

Is there a website that people do this on? I have seen a few of these things lately. I know I should not learn grammar from something like this, but it makes me think about grammar more, which is a good thing.

 

[Kosh]

I don't know where you're getting those from, but I'm imagining a forum filled with the wannabe English majors of NeoGAF and Fark.com.

 

[Salazar]

NM.

 

[finowns]

What is up with him hating on GRRM?

 

[Roi]

Reading The Wall/Le Mur from Sartre, great reading.

 

[Refrigerator]

I've long neglected this book. Actually, it has sat on my book shelf for six lonely years waiting for its chance to impress. Ironically, it sits there still since I am now reading the Kindle version I received as a Christmas gift.

It's depressing to consider the arc of political influence of the Senate and the legislative branch as a whole throughout the 20th century. Though his legacy was tainted by the Vietnam War, LBJ was truly one of the most gifted and important politicians of that century.

 

[Karakand]

Is there a website that people do this on? I have seen a few of these things lately. I know I should not learn grammar from something like this, but it makes me think about grammar more, which is a good thing.

Definitely do not learn grammar from these. Not even sure why it's talking about past perfect continuous when "had dawned" is just past perfect. Reference to the subsequent sentence maybe? smh just smh

 

[coldvein]

lame, karakand. lame.

"WTF UNEXPLAINED TERMINOLOGY, I DONT GET IT" ....

cool... critic... guy..

 

[coldvein]

is this reader really bothered by the term "wildling" as "jargon"? so the author didn't go back and say;

what i meant by wilding is a person who lived north of the wall and was part of some clan structure etc. etc. etc.

really?

 

[Karakand]

lame, karakand. lame.

"WTF UNEXPLAINED TERMINOLOGY, I DONT GET IT" ....

cool... critic... guy..

It's one thing to introduce a piece of critical jargon in the opening of a work (like "the reaping" in the Hunger Games I presume) and another entirely to just spew it out incessantly.

 

[coldvein]

It's one thing to introduce a piece of critical jargon in the opening of a work (like "the reaping" in the Hunger Games I presume) and another entirely to just spew it out incessantly.

i'm not touching the hunger games with a twenty foot pole. i thought it was pretty okay, as a writer, to note things that are "known" in the world that the writer created. no explanation needed. you get it as you go.

that critic is like

"WHATS A WILDLANG I CANT BELIEVE HE'S USING THIS TERM BEFORE I HAD IT TOTALLY EXPLAINED TO ME, IT MUST BE "JARGON".". that's bullshit. that isn't criticism.

 

[Emerson]

This is literally the worst piece of criticism I've ever seen.

I don't know anybody that studied Tolkien in school. His influence is undeniable, but the writing itself isn't particularly special.

It's pretty cliche to say that there are numerous college courses based on Tolkien, but it's true. My girlfriend took one last summer.

 

[Brazil]

i'm not touching the hunger games with a twenty foot pole. i thought it was pretty okay, as a writer, to note things that are "known" in the world that the writer created. no explanation needed. you get it as you go.

that critic is like

"WHATS A WILDLANG I CANT BELIEVE HE'S USING THIS TERM BEFORE I HAD IT TOTALLY EXPLAINED TO ME, IT MUST BE "JARGON".". that's bullshit. that isn't criticism.

Oh, preconcepts.

 

[Kuraudo]

What's Hate Week or Ingsoc or Double-Think or this Big Brother thing? WTF give me a glossary before I begin this book.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished up Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (book 2 of the Heechee Saga). Good book and a great series so far. I highly recommend it if you liked the Foundation (Asimov) or Commonwealth (Hamilton) series. Having said that now, I hope the last two books don't take a nose dive but I don't think that will be possible at this point.

 

[Clever Pun]

Finished up Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (book 2 of the Heechee Saga). Good book and a great series so far. I highly recommend it if you liked the Foundation (Asimov) or Commonwealth (Hamilton) series. Having said that now, I hope the last two books don't take a nose dive but I don't think that will be possible at this point.

I haven't read the 4th book yet, but the 3rd definitely doesn't take a nosedive. It's more like the 2n than the 1st in terms of structure and quality, so if you enjoyed that one, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the 3rd.

I just finished up A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, and now I'm on to Giant Thief from Angry Robot Books.

 

[Oxigen_Waste]

Finished up The Hunger Games earlier today. Won't be reading the others, not interested in where it is headed.

My next book is likely going to be 1984. I was originally going to go with Dune but I heard bad things about the Kindle edition. Than possibly Hyperion after 1984.

After 1984 I'd suggest you read this:

It's the novel that started the whole "dystopia" trend of 1984/Brave New World/Atlas Shrugged, etc etc etc.

 

[brianjones]

that cover sold me

 

[Guileless]

Though his legacy was tainted by the Vietnam War, LBJ was truly one of the most gifted and important politicians of that century.

So good. The first two volumes are too. In the counterfactual future of Stephen King's new book

Spoiler

where JFK lives, shit hits the fan in the 60s even more messily than it actually did because JFK is unable to pass civil rights legislation as LBJ did.

If everyone read that book, discussions about the pace of political change in this country would be much more enlightening.

 

[f0rk]

I don't think ASoIaF will be taught much in class either, but they stop talking about books for their grammar well before kids would be older enough to read A Game of Thrones.

 

[charlemagne]

Finished The Help. It's a great novel, and the author does well with the different POVs. I recommend it.

Up next, I'm delving into Tyra Banks' debut novel, Modelland. One chapter in and I'm already questioning if I can even get through it. It's a train wreck, and not in a good way.

 

[.GqueB.]

Just started this:

It's very good so far, but I didn't realize there was so much eroticism. I was reading it at work for a bit and started to get hard when I got to the passage where the narrator fucks Maria.

God I hated this book. It starts off so well then all of a sudden switches to a different form of storytelling that is downright awful. I was reading it on a train one day and I just suddenly put it down and left it there.

 

[Empty]

master of the senate by robert caro[/MG]

I've long neglected this book. Actually, it has sat on my book shelf for six lonely years waiting for its chance to impress. Ironically, it sits there still since I am now reading the Kindle version I received as a Christmas gift.

It's depressing to consider the arc of political influence of the Senate and the legislative branch as a whole throughout the 20th century. Though his legacy was tainted by the Vietnam War, LBJ was truly one of the most gifted and important politicians of that century.[/QUOTE]

i love this book. especially the first 100 page or so historical overview of the senate as an institution. i really want to read more of his biographies, in particular the power broker, as i enjoyed his writing style so much but they're so fucking long.

 

[Monroeski]

Still reading this, but almost finished with it.

HOW DID I MISS THIS ON THE FIRST PAGE

 

[thomaser]

Just finished Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom". Was a little skeptical to it at first, since it seemed like one of those family dramas where everything goes wrong and you just end up depressed at the end. It turned out to be much more than that, and I ended up loving it. Very engaging emotionally, and beautifully written in a flowing, natural style.

Next up, a novel I'm required to read for my English studies:

"Brooklyn" by Colm Tóibín.

I had not heard of the book or the author before seeing the syllabus, but it turns out that the author is kind of a big deal, at least in Ireland. Three of his books have been listed for the Man Booker Prize, including this one. Is anyone familiar with his works?

 

[Cfh123]

Finished Book One of Bernard Cornwell's Alfred the Great series, which was excellent. All six books in the series are highly rated on Amazon (all 4.5 stars out of 5).

Now onto book two:

 

[ultron87]

Finished up Use of Weapons. It was good, and it did come together quite well at the end, but I feel somewhat let down based upon the hype.

End Spoiler:

Spoiler

I guess I kind of saw the twist coming, since there was a lot of uncertainty about his identity. I'd really have liked to seen just a little more explanation on how it occurred instead of just "he's this guy". *book over*

Starting up The Black Prism by Brent Weeks.

I really enjoyed the Night Angel trilogy, so I have high hopes. FYI this is 2.99 on Kindle right now.

 

[W1SSY]

Finished Book One of Bernard Cornwell's Alfred the Great series, which was excellent. All six books in the series are highly rated on Amazon (all 4.5 stars out of 5).

Now onto book two:

I have read all of them except for the one that just came out and really enjoyed them. I am actually in the middle of reading through them again.

 

[Fou-Lu]

So far this month I've read the Ring trilogy by Koji Suzuki, the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Honestly enjoyed every single one. I have yet to decide what to read next.

I'm not sure which genre I feel like right now. Something horror would be nice, but I feel like I've read most of the good horror that doesn't resort too much to gore.

Loving it, drinking it down deeply.

I loved this book, one of my all time favorites. Enjoy it man.