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[Narag]

Han Solo's Revenge by Brian Daley

Found this at a used bookstore and bought it for laughs since it was a dollar or two. I was surprised to find out it was actually rather good as far as star wars books go.

 

[Qwomo]

Han Solo's Revenge by Brian Daley

Found this at a used bookstore and bought it for laughs since it was a dollar or two. I was surprised to find out it was actually rather good as far as star wars books go.

Nooo! You're the only person I've heard who liked those books.

The AC Crispin trilogy is so much better.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/617086.The_Paradise_Snare

 

[Dresden]

Anticipation rising. Just loaned it out, with Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, after he spoke at my uni earlier this month. I've read his non-fiction, but this will be my first time delving into his historical fiction.

What the hell? Early shipment from Amazon or B&N, I'm guessing? The Book Depository has failed me.

I need to read that soon (Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree). I'm building up a backlog again though; I've also been wanting to check out Leo Africanus, which I may suggest for the book club since I'm an opportunistic git. :3

As for Dragon's Path, yeah, they shipped early. It's an ugly book, though. Just feels very cheap.

Gonna have to do a reread of Howl's Moving Castle, in memoriam.

RIP Diana Wynne Jones.

Whoa. RIP.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

I saw a bunch of press about whether there is or isn't a Sandman TV series: as far as I know, nobody has actually optioned SANDMAN as a TV series from DC Comics, who own it. Eric Kripke (of Supernatural fame) pitched his approach to DC and to me last year, and we liked it and we liked him, but it didn't feel quite right at that point, so we passed.

Poor Kripke. I would've liked to have seen his Sandman. Gaiman is probably holding out for HBO/AMC, though.

The AC Crispin trilogy is so much better.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/617086.The_Paradise_Snare

Testify.

Gonna have to do a reread of Howl's Moving Castle, in memoriam.

RIP Diana Wynne Jones.

RIP.

 

[Bananakin]

Just finished Stranger in a Strange Land, which I chose largely due to gaf's book club. My goodread's review:

Suffice to say I didn't really like it. I'm told this is considered to be a classic of science fiction literature, but truth be told I don't really grok where people are coming from when they say that. Granted, the premise (that of a human raised by Martians coming to Earth for the first time) is interesting, in that it allows for an examination of society from a fresh ("alien") set of eyes. But that's really the problem - Heinlein basically uses the whole novel as an excuse to wax philosophical about society and what he thinks is wrong with it. The book reads like a series of essays mashed together in the form of long monologues, with some interconnecting events that serve to move the minimal plot forward. If there's one thing I hate in books, it's mouthpiece characters that only serve to spew out opinions of the author (the later books in the Ender's Game series are particularly guilty of this). Social commentary can be great if done well, but for god's sake don't bludgeon me over the head with it.

On top of the that, the book ends up feeling extremely dated. Now, obviously I can't really blame Heinlein for that - he wrote the novel when he wrote it. At the same time though, blame isn't really a useful mode of thought when assessing one's enjoyment of a work - a bad thing is bad, after all, even if it's no one's fault. In any case, what we end up with is a distractingly inaccurate portrayal of a near-future earth, and an underlying philosophy to the novel that reflects the time in which it was written (particularly in regards to the treatment of women). Simply put, the book hasn't aged well.

Anyway, that makes two supposed Heinlein classics that I've read and disliked (the other being Starship Troopers). It's not completely without merit - I actually liked Jubal as a character, and amidst the constant philosophical meanderings some interesting points are occasionally made. In the end, though, the book is held back by its almost complete lack of conflict and plot development, which weirdly enough I consider to be important in novels.

Now reading Catcher in the Rye, which is interesting so far.

 

[MacGurcules]

Just finished Stranger in a Strange Land, which I chose largely due to gaf's book club. My goodread's review:

Now reading Catcher in the Rye, which is interesting so far.

Oh man. Catcher in the Rye... I'd better not say anything.

But Heinlein, I can see your angle. The thing I like most about Heinlein is that you can give one of his books to two people and they'll come away with completely opposite messages. And they'll both be completely convinced that theirs is the right one.

 

[Lafiel]

Finished (i actually finished this a few days ago).

All caught up now, feels good, now the waiting begins for the next vorkosigan book, although it's a bit of a bummer that the next book isn't going be about miles, since I'm really eager to see what directions bujold is going to take the character after the ending of Cyroburn, still with ivan as the lead it should be awesome either way!

Now Reading

About 80 pages in, and wow does ursula k le guin have a amazing prose and style of telling the story, the setting also somewhat reminds me of zelda and miyazaki in a good way. I have the rest of the earthsea books sitting here (with the exception of the other wind) and really looking forward to reading them afterwards, if this level of quality keeps up.

 

[Guileless]

Is this a record number of replies for a reading thread? Something about March makes people want to read?

And I'm sold on trying Rebecca. Sounds like a perfect read for late November. Will put it on my list.

 

[nakedsushi]

Just finished Stranger in a Strange Land, which I chose largely due to gaf's book club. My goodread's review:

Hear hear! I was disappointed by the book for the same reasons, but you voiced them more eloquently. I also think it was just a poorly put together book that sorely needs an editor to cut some repetitive stuff out.

Is this a record number of replies for a reading thread? Something about March makes people want to read?

And I'm sold on trying Rebecca. Sounds like a perfect read for late November. Will put it on my list.

Maybe people are staying indoors to read because of allergies? I read less books in March because it took me a while to finish Stranger in a Strange Land and Name fo the Wind was slow going in the beginning.

Great choice in trying out Rebecca. The more I think about it in hindsight, the more I like it. Even though I have the ebook version, I'm thinking of purchasing a hardcover just to have around to lend to people.

 

[Guileless]

I stayed indoors because we had a February relapse and finished The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva over the weekend, the latest in the Gabriel Allon series. Good pageturner like all of the others (although the title sounds bad and it is derivative of earlier books.) I've never actually talked to anyone in real life or the internets who has read the series, but they're all bestsellers.

 

[Mumei]

I finished rereading A Game of Thrones, so it's on to A Clash of Kings. Once I finish rereading A Song of Ice and Fire, I'm going to try to read some stuff on my backlog. I'm out of the habit of reading longer works of fiction in the last few years, and I've been feeling the itch again recently. May as well read some of those impulse purchase books I've had on my shelf for years without reading!

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

It's a pretty good and very light read. I typically don't care about the celebrity bullshit but I figured that it would be a decent read at least.

 

[Dresden]

Been reading The Dragon's Path by Abraham for the last hour, and it's so good.

And he's writing three different series under three different names. Goddamn.

 

[coldvein]

trying to finish up all of kerouac's novels. currently reading Pic.

 

[Cr0wn0]

Finished up a Feast for crows, It wasn't my favorite of the series but its not as bad as some people told me it would be. I loved the entire series! Next up is the name of the wind I think.

 

[mike23]

Been reading The Dragon's Path by Abraham for the last hour, and it's so good.

And he's writing three different series under three different names. Goddamn.

Is there magic in Dragon's Path?

 

[Pau]

Finished (i actually finished this a few days ago).
About 80 pages in, and wow does ursula k le guin have a amazing prose and style of telling the story, the setting also somewhat reminds me of zelda and miyazaki in a good way. I have the rest of the earthsea books sitting here (with the exception of the other wind) and really looking forward to reading them afterwards, if this level of quality keeps up.

Well, it's Miyazaki's favorite book for a reason! At least, I once heard it was... Anyways, the quality definitely keeps up. The Tombs of Atuan is probably the best book in the series and one of my favorite novels ever. But a warning: there was a big gap in the books' publishing after The Farthest Shore, and they change considerably in style, tone, pacing, and content. Tehanu in particular I remember as being incredibly slow. Also, the later books are very feminist and while I personally thought it was fascinating to see LeGuin tackle such themes in a fantasy setting, many people like to pretend that the later books don't exist. If you don't enjoy Tehanu, at least give Tales from Earthsea (the short story collection, not the movie) a try as LeGuin is also an incredibly gifted short story writer.

And I'm sold on trying Rebecca. Sounds like a perfect read for late November. Will put it on my list.

Once you do get around to it, there's also a Hitchcock adaptation. And may I also suggest (this goes for nakedsushi as well) Daphne du Maurier's short story The Birds? While Hitchcock did base his movie on it (he seemed to love her stories enough to adapt three of them) besides the basic premise they don't have much in common.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I read through The Boy in the Striped Pajamas quickly, based on a friend's recommendation. I was told it was depressing, and yep, it was. Very good too, though I have some issues with the ending.

I'm thumbing through The Salmon of Doubt now and still reading Lord of Light in my spare time. I think I might start Blindness soon, too.

 

[Fjordson]

Been reading The Dragon's Path by Abraham for the last hour, and it's so good.

And he's writing three different series under three different names. Goddamn.

Glad to hear it's good. Been considering reading that next, but I wasn't sure.

 

[aidan]

Is there magic in Dragon's Path?

A little bit. The potential for magic in later volumes is pretty high, though.

 

[sixteen-bit]

just got wind up bird chronicle, will probably start reading it today.

 

[Tyrion81]

I've had a copy of The Alienist for years that I've never gotten around to reading. Maybe I should get to that...

Both the Alienist and Angel in the Darkness are great reads. Paint a very interesting picture of turn of the century New York, and the development of the forensic sciences.

 

[nakedsushi]

Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli

Radio Shangri-La was a quick, entertaining read but had some faults. The parts about the newly-emerging democracy was informative but boring and read like a newspaper article. I felt like the book didn't know what to be and oscillated between being a "finding yourself" novel and a memoir about an exotic country.

Despite its shortcomings, I would still recommend this to anyone who likes reading about foreign countries. I love reading about everyday, non-tourist life in countries like Bhutan.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Reading Game of Thrones for the first time now. Only about 100 pages to go and I am loving it. When I get down this close to finishing a book is when I hate that I only read at night. I did not want to stop reading last night at all. Great book can't wait to read the rest of the series.

 

[the_painted_bird]

just got wind up bird chronicle, will probably start reading it today.

Good man.

 

[Manics]

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Reading for the 2nd time

 

[LocoMrPollock]

Both the Alienist and Angel in the Darkness are great reads. Paint a very interesting picture of turn of the century New York, and the development of the forensic sciences.

I'll second this. I read through them both within a few days. Great, great books.

 

[charsace]

Reading these:

 

[mike23]

Done through book 7 in the Nightside series. I'm liking it quite a bit. I like that they're short novels with a complete story with an interesting overarching story. The main character has an over-powered gift, so it's a little annoying when the author has to limit it somehow in each book.

edit:
I've read 16 books so far this year, ~7000 pages. Pretty decent for me. I usually read 20-25 books in a year

 

[demon]

Finished Siddhartha a few days ago. Reading it really kind of did feel like an uplifting, profound experience.

Just started this:

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Man, I remember a time I tried to find that book and COULD NOT get a copy. This was about 6 or 7 years ago when it wasn't uncommon for Amazon to run out of copies of their books and you would have to wait a few weeks.

I just remembered it thanks to you, I should try and pick it up.

I haven't had the time to read more than 3-4 stories, but it's surprisingly good, and the Holmes/Cthulhu universes gel together surprisingly well. I've ordered the complete Sherlock Holmes collection off Amazon, as I've never read any of the original stories, but I'd really like to get into them.

 

[corpserot]

Really love Brett Easton Ellis, and this is actually my first time reading Less Than Zero. Excellent book.

 

[Lafiel]

Finished -

Good stuff, the ending felt predictable considering how often I've seen it done in that sense before in other mediums, but it was thematically fitting.

Plus there's the fact this book was released in the 1960s.

Now reading -

Half-way through (around 160 pages) the prose and writing is simply incredible, and it's making it a lot more addictive to read then most books I've read recently. And i gotta say considering the reputation it has for it's subject manner, I'm finding it far less erotic then what i expected.:lol

 

[Guileless]

Really love Brett Easton Ellis, and this is actually my first time reading Less Than Zero. Excellent book.

I read that a long time ago. I may dig out my copy and revisit it.

 

[DesertEater]

Now reading -

Half-way through (around 160 pages) the prose and writing is simply incredible, and it's making it a lot more addictive to read then most books I've read recently. And i gotta say considering the reputation it has for it's subject manner, I'm finding it far less erotic then what i expected.:lol

One of my class mates said that she had a hard time reading the book, do you agree?

 

[Jay Sosa]

lust lizard of melancholy cove and just like every other cmm book i read its brilliant.

 

[Siegfried]

I usually don't read books, but last week I saw someone post something here about Masters of Doom and thought to myself "I'm a huge id fan, Doom 2 is what made me play games in the first place, why have I never read this before?".

So, I picked up a copy and OH MY GOD. I can't stop reading it. I'm already at page 160 and I just can't stop reading it. Every gamer out there should read this book.

 

[ultron87]

Finished Way of Shadows

Now I'm deciding between:

The sequel, Shadow's Edge:

Or some sci fi books:

A Fire Upon the Deep

Altered Carbon

Will probably just read the Kindle samples of each and then make up my mind.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

Incredible book. So well written and thoroughly researched. Here's a passage to get an idea of what it's like.
"Following one of his trips outside, Jarvis looked down and saw what he thought was egg white on his bare arms. It was not egg white; it was the viscous state of his skin now that the water had boiled out of it. Jarvis flung it off himself, and then he saw that where the egg white had been he could now see roasting muscle. He looked at his legs and his abdomen. His skin was dripping of his body in sheets. Panicked, standing there in the frigid night outside the inferno of his mother's home, naked but for his boxer shorts, which he'd inadvertently soaked in water while fighting the fire, Roland Jarvis began pushing sheets of skin from himself, using his hand like blunt tools, wiping and shoving the hide from as much of his body as he could reach. He'd have pulled the melting skeins of skin from himself in bigger, more efficient sections, but for the fact that his fingers had burned off his hands. His nose was all but gone now, too, and he ran back and forth among the gathering neighbors, unable to scream, for his esophagus and his voice box had cooked inside his throat."

 

[Jay Sosa]

altered carbon is really really good, you have to read that one. probably my favorite scifi book.

 

[bengraven]

I normally scoff when people post graphic novels, but I picked this up at a flea market for $4 and I'm getting into it:

 

[nyong]

Great book, but much of the rest of the series is quite disappointing. She becomes a hardcore feminist later in life and....let's just say it shows. Well written, but sexist to the point of stupid.

Also, if you've read Tehanu:

Spoiler

It's weird how the protagonists are darker--the clearly evil guys white--but then has the main female hero, and only white hero, basically worshipped by the darker characters because of her beautiful white skin and intelligence. Makes no sense.

 

[kinn]

altered carbon is really really good, you have to read that one. probably my favorite scifi book.

This.

Loved it.

 

[nakedsushi]

I usually don't read books, but last week I saw someone post something here about Masters of Doom and thought to myself "I'm a huge id fan, Doom 2 is what made me play games in the first place, why have I never read this before?".

So, I picked up a copy and OH MY GOD. I can't stop reading it. I'm already at page 160 and I just can't stop reading it. Every gamer out there should read this book.

I don't understand people who don't read books. What do they do while they're waiting in line? Or in their free time?

 

[thomaser]

My first Mark Twain book, Huckleberry Finn! Reading it for school. I'm happy they chose this one. 60 pages in, and it's a great read already.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I don't understand people who don't read books. What do they do while they're waiting in line? Or in their free time?

Watch TV, get drunk at home, get drunk at the pub, go clubbing, play video games, watch movies, work out or visit friends and relatives etc., I guess?

Spoiler

Although I do agree they'd be missing out on so much by never reading books

 

[Attackthebase]

I don't understand people who don't read books. What do they do while they're waiting in line? Or in their free time?

Video games (portable gaming for outside obligations), watching television, hanging with friends, hibernating.

Edit: Beaten.

 

[nakedsushi]

Free & Legal ebook alert!

Never Knew Another by J.M. McDermott

Fugitive Rachel Nolander is a newcomer to the city of Dogsland, where the rich throw parties and the poor just do whatever they can to scrape by. Supported by her brother Djoss, she hides out in their squalid apartment, living in fear that someday, someone will find out that she is the child of a demon. Corporal Jona Lord Joni is a demon's child too, but instead of living in fear, he keeps his secret and goes about his life as a cocky, self-assured man of the law. The first book in the Dogsland Trilogy, Never Knew Another is the story of how these two outcasts meet.

download (pdf & epub) here: http://bit.ly/fUBqUh

The book smugglers gave it a pretty good review: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/02/joint-review-never-knew-another-by-j-m-mcdermott.html

It's been on my to-read list ever since then.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up


Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
(RIP Diana Wynne Jones)

Then moving on to a book a publisher was nice enough to send me. Then I definitely need to tackle my growing list of free ebooks.

 

[MacGurcules]

Altered Carbon

http://www.richardkmorgan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/richard-morgan-altered-carbon-UK-PBK.jpg

I rather enjoyed Altered Carbon. It's pretty pulpy and fairly noir, but in a good way. It's not so great that I'd tell you to set aside everything else. But I do recommend reading it at some point.

What's the deal with Way of Shadows/Shadows' Edge? From the cover image, it seems like it's pulling kind of an Assassin's Creed vibe.

Done through book 7 in the Nightside series. I'm liking it quite a bit. I like that they're short novels with a complete story with an interesting overarching story. The main character has an over-powered gift, so it's a little annoying when the author has to limit it somehow in each book.

I don't know what to think about The Nightside. I've only read one, so I suppose I can't really firmly stand in judgement. But it seems like the author just had a laundry list of characters and settings that he wanted to buzz through so he wrote a shoestring plot to just jump from one to the next. That's not really bad, I guess, but the whole first book seemed rather thin and contrived. Does it get better as it goes?

In personal news, I'm currently reading The Atrocity Archives by Charlie Stross. Seems decent but I'm not blown away. Like most of the stuff I've read from him, it has a pretty interesting setting but a fairly ho-hum narrative.

 

[nakedsushi]

Finished two books today:


Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Really liked it. It reads like a children's book with some dark elements to it. Even though I watched the movie first, I don't remember much of the movie at all. I connected more with the characters in this book than I ever did with the movie. Very sweet.


Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
Finished this in one sitting. I guess you could call it a thriller, but (plot spoiler)

Spoiler

the whole spirits/ghost of abused and beaten boys seeking their revenge by luring teenagers to bury themselves and die was too far-fetched.

The book is like a longer story built around a ghost story.