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[Cade]

Fall of Hyperion isn't as good, and doesn't have the same narrative structure, but it does have some interesting story payoffs. I haven't read the other two, and am not really sure why they exist given the ending in the second book.

I'll probably read it sometime later this year then and see what happens. I wasn't in love with the novella -> tiny amount of current plot -> novella structure anyway, so no loss for me there.
I do wanna see what happens though, given the ending of the first. Thanks!

I also wanna read some more works by the author as I did like his writing a lot.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

I'll probably read it sometime later this year then and see what happens. I wasn't in love with the novella -> tiny amount of current plot -> novella structure anyway, so no loss for me there.
I do wanna see what happens though, given the ending of the first. Thanks!

I also wanna read some more works by the author as I did like his writing a lot.

Fall of Hyperion is good and, if i recall correctly, doesn't follow the same story structure as Hyperion.

Most people will tell you Empyrion and Rise of Empyrion are ass and not worth reading, but I think they were ok. Part of the problem is that Hyperion was the best book of the series and a tough act to follow.

 

[Ceebs]

I hear it's an American classic.

My favorite book of all time. I must have read this one at least 20 times.

 

[Servbot #42]

My favorite book of all time. I must have read this one at least 20 times.

I finished it today, it was a certainly a great book and i enjoyed it. I liked that radiation and fallout wasn't a big focus of the book and it was more about what would happen to a community when it got deprived of things we take for granted every single day. However after watching Threads i did find the depiction of nuclear devastation in this book a bit mild, which now that i think about it might be for the best because that stuff is horrific, god i hope we never see nukes unleashed on the world.

 

[kerotan_eater]

I think it was on NSW's eng. lit roster, one of the suggested paths anyway.

I know its overall popular but I don't ever recall it ever being mentioned in Victorian schools as reading material. Not that the book isn't an overall popular classic, just cult classic in Australia perhaps? It's just not so much a thing in Australian highschool literature which I hear Farenehit 451 is big in the States and that is where a lot of people there know it.

 

[Hop]

Somehow I wrote and published a furry novel without actually reading any furry novels. Figure I was overdue.

 

[ryseing]

I hear it's an American classic.

Just read this and Canticle for Leibowitz. Nice thematic pairing I think.

Fall of Hyperion isn't as good, and doesn't have the same narrative structure, but it does have some interesting story payoffs. I haven't read the other two, and am not really sure why they exist given the ending in the second book.

The sequels feel worthwhile even if I wasn't the biggest fan of them. Fall does leave a number of unanswered questions and the sequels address those in fairly extensive detail. They're OK. I consider the first to be the only classic out of the bunch though. Siri...

 

[Switch Back 9]

I just wanted to post a little success story here.

I come from a very book-heavy family. We all love reading, and my sister and I were raised with a huge appreciation for the enjoyment that comes with a good book.

My girlfriend, however, comes from a different background, and has never actually finished a book on her own (outside of stuff she had to read in high-school)

I've been slowly trying to encourage her to pick it up as a habit instead of watching Netflix every night to fall asleep. For Christmas, my mom bought her some books, and as of two days ago she finally finished one! She's super proud and is now looking over my collection to see what she wants to read next.

It took a while, but it looks like she's finally starting to get some joy from reading and it's just the best feeling ever for me to see this blossom.

 

[Soulfire]

I just wanted to post a little success story here.

I come from a very book-heavy family. We all love reading, and my sister and I were raised with a huge appreciation for the enjoyment that comes with a good book.

My girlfriend, however, comes from a different background, and has never actually finished a book on her own (outside of stuff she had to read in high-school)

I've been slowly trying to encourage her to pick it up as a habit instead of watching Netflix every night to fall asleep. For Christmas, my mom bought her some books, and as of two days ago she finally finished one! She's super proud and is now looking over my collection to see what she wants to read next.

It took a while, but it looks like she's finally starting to get some joy from reading and it's just the best feeling ever for me to see this blossom.

My parents were actually like that only reversed. My mom came from a very book obsessed house, any time they went on vacation they each took a brown paper bag full of books, while my dad managed to graduate high school without reading a single book. Now thirty years later my dad reads more books than my mom does in a year.

 

[Mifune]

I'll probably read it sometime later this year then and see what happens. I wasn't in love with the novella -> tiny amount of current plot -> novella structure anyway, so no loss for me there.
I do wanna see what happens though, given the ending of the first. Thanks!

I also wanna read some more works by the author as I did like his writing a lot.

I preferred Fall of Hyperion because it didn't have the Canterbury Tales structure. Both are great books, though.

The Endymion books are weak, especially the last one, which I absolutely hated.

 

[kswiston]

I just wanted to post a little success story here.

I come from a very book-heavy family. We all love reading, and my sister and I were raised with a huge appreciation for the enjoyment that comes with a good book.

My girlfriend, however, comes from a different background, and has never actually finished a book on her own (outside of stuff she had to read in high-school)

I've been slowly trying to encourage her to pick it up as a habit instead of watching Netflix every night to fall asleep. For Christmas, my mom bought her some books, and as of two days ago she finally finished one! She's super proud and is now looking over my collection to see what she wants to read next.

It took a while, but it looks like she's finally starting to get some joy from reading and it's just the best feeling ever for me to see this blossom.

Awesome to hear!

My youngest brother has always hated reading, but I got him hooked on audiobooks 3-4 years ago. He listens to them at work mostly. He's pretty set on lighter sci fi and fantasy stuff, but it still gives me an extra person to talk to when we overlap on series.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Finished a cookbook: Everyday Whole Grains 175 New Recipes From Amaranth to Wild Rice

Unlike another one I read recently most of the stuff in this book can be instantly bought from a store or simply ordered easily online ( a few of the dried grains like Quinoa (red Quinoa), Farro, Barley, Amaranth all on AMZN). I haven't looked at a store to see if they are found easily there but I imagine it is so. Its also a well written one and many of the pictures are nice. It also has a nice mix of classic American dishes to the probably most common dishes of other areas in the world (Chicken Biryani, Korean Roasted Barley Tea) so it is nice for looking a bit beyond the usual. But overall, I found about 15 of 175 dishes I would actually make in the next few days in the book, which is better than from when I got an Italian Cookbook which only had three dishes I would try (which were good).

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

I tried to start Hyperion but the way it just drops you into the world just didn't sit well with me for some reason. Though I was also reading The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi and it was making me unreasonably mad at random things. Luckily I finally finished it today (over three months for barely 400 page, ugh) so I can move on to other things. I have another of his books on my to-read list but I'm going to take a longer break between his books than I took for this one. Give me some time to relax.

Also finished the fourth book in The Stuff of Legend series. The only niggling thing I have with it is that the bad guy is pretty much omnipotent and you know he's going to lose somehow. I really had bad guys like this because there's nothing but loss after loss for the good guys and somehow they still win. Luckily the story and art are just that good. So far. Apparently he (or the artist? Neither wants to point fingers.) is taking forever on book 5 and there's going to be 6 total. I may forget about the series by the time they come out.

 

[TTG]

Do you ever find the quality of a book appreciably dropping after the opening chapter(s)? I don't mean when an author wants to start off spectacularly or an iconic first page that can live apart from the book like A Tale of Two Cities.

I'm reading something right now that was brimming with great descriptions, great writing in general. I was highlighting stuff and my Kindle calculated the reading speed to be at like half of what it usually is. Now that I'm a hundred pages in I feel like it's the middle of a tv season or something, we're padding stuff and there hasn't been a remarkable sentence in at least the last two hours.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

*cough*

Spoiler

I freely admit it was the patois that threw me. I got the audiobook though so hopefully that will help. I find that hearing the way a word should be pronounced is better to my understanding than trying to figure it out.

 

[Silent Chief]

Very interesting read.

The 19e century, when Europeans didn't need Muslims and were still killing one another while blaming it all on third parties.

 

[Cyan]

I just wanted to post a little success story here.

I come from a very book-heavy family. We all love reading, and my sister and I were raised with a huge appreciation for the enjoyment that comes with a good book.

My girlfriend, however, comes from a different background, and has never actually finished a book on her own (outside of stuff she had to read in high-school)

I've been slowly trying to encourage her to pick it up as a habit instead of watching Netflix every night to fall asleep. For Christmas, my mom bought her some books, and as of two days ago she finally finished one! She's super proud and is now looking over my collection to see what she wants to read next.

It took a while, but it looks like she's finally starting to get some joy from reading and it's just the best feeling ever for me to see this blossom.

 

[MilkBeard]

Do you ever find the quality of a book appreciably dropping after the opening chapter(s)? I don't mean when an author wants to start off spectacularly or an iconic first page that can live apart from the book like A Tale of Two Cities.

I'm reading something right now that was brimming with great descriptions, great writing in general. I was highlighting stuff and my Kindle calculated the reading speed to be at like half of what it usually is. Now that I'm a hundred pages in I feel like it's the middle of a tv season or something, we're padding stuff and there hasn't been a remarkable sentence in at least the last two hours.

I've read some Chuck Palahniuk novels that start off with a really strong concept, but then fall apart by the second half of the book.

 

[TTG]

I freely admit it was the patois that threw me. I got the audiobook though so hopefully that will help. I find that hearing the way a word should be pronounced is better to my understanding than trying to figure it out.

Well, don't ever read Trainspotting then. But seriously, there's a point where it's confusing by design. You are not suppose to see the entire picture of how a particular event unfolds until later in the book, that was my takeaway. Also, next time you hear Through The Wire by Kanye you'll get the joke about blood clots.

I've read some Chuck Palahniuk novels that start off with a really strong concept, but then fall apart by the second half of the book.

I don't mind that so much, sometimes the writer swings and misses. What I'm reading seems like he put a lot of effort and time in getting things going and now that he feels he's got the reader hooked the moment to moment quality and attention with which he's writing is not at all the same.

Do you think Fight Club fell apart? I liked it a lot, not as much as the movie, but then again I saw the movie first.

 

[MilkBeard]

Do you think Fight Club fell apart? I liked it a lot, not as much as the movie, but then again I saw the movie first.

It's been a while since I read Fight Club; I must admit, I also saw the movie first. What a good adaptation that movie was. The book itself is pretty good, and I found that it was good through most of it. The ending though, was not as good as the movie's.

The one that came to mind was Lullaby. I thought the concept was great when I picked it up, and the way it started out was really intriguing. But, somewhere later on, the book shit the bed. It was such a long time ago though, I just remember this really terrible sex scene, and I was like, 'alright, I'm out.'
I would like to read Invisible Monsters though, just to see what it's like. Even if I feel like his writing is so-so, he has some great ideas from time to time.

 

[whatevermort]

Do you ever find the quality of a book appreciably dropping after the opening chapter(s)? I don't mean when an author wants to start off spectacularly or an iconic first page that can live apart from the book like A Tale of Two Cities.

I'm reading something right now that was brimming with great descriptions, great writing in general. I was highlighting stuff and my Kindle calculated the reading speed to be at like half of what it usually is. Now that I'm a hundred pages in I feel like it's the middle of a tv season or something, we're padding stuff and there hasn't been a remarkable sentence in at least the last two hours.

Sometimes happens with debut novels. The start of the book is the part that usually gets worked/edited the most when you're a new author - it's the bit you send to agents, so you polish it; it's the bit you wrote first, so you polish it more; it's the kindle sample, the point of entry, so it gets a lot of care and thought etc - and then the novel sometimes tails off. Is what you're reading a debut? (Other thoughts: a lot of writers get super excited about a new idea, write the start, love it, and then realise they have to finish writing the book, and maybe they're not so keen to. That's a thing as well.)

 

[Maklershed]

Daredevil and The Division have really been chewing up my reading time. But they're both so goooood.

 

[Cyan]

(Other thoughts: a lot of writers get super excited about a new idea, write the start, love it, and then realise they have to finish writing the book, and maybe they're not so keen to. That's a thing as well.)

This is why I have so much trouble finishing novels. :/

 

[RedSparrows]

This is why I have so much trouble finishing novels. :/

I dislike all the 'top tips for writers' that spam the net, as everyone is different in their creative needs, tastes and processes, but the absolute #1 cast-iron rule for me is:

Finish what you're fucking writing, you fucking slacker.

The 'fucks' are aimed at me, not you Finishing is obviously essential, but so hard to do. So finishing a crap draft is still an achievement. Get the words down.

 

[Haly]

This is why I have so much trouble finishing novels. :/

The beauty of short stories.

Too bad they don't sell. Or even get published.

 

[MilkBeard]

Sometimes happens with debut novels. The start of the book is the part that usually gets worked/edited the most when you're a new author - it's the bit you send to agents, so you polish it; it's the bit you wrote first, so you polish it more; it's the kindle sample, the point of entry, so it gets a lot of care and thought etc - and then the novel sometimes tails off. Is what you're reading a debut? (Other thoughts: a lot of writers get super excited about a new idea, write the start, love it, and then realise they have to finish writing the book, and maybe they're not so keen to. That's a thing as well.)

Yeah, that's why it's probably better as a writer to not meander too much, and stick to the plot and keep it tight and concise. Well, there are some great long books. Shantaram is really long, and amazing for the most part.

I just finished Catcher in the Rye for the first time, which is a pretty quick read, and it definitely benefits from it. If Salinger had gone off on long tangents then I would have found myself getting bored. But the story was really consistent all the way through. I would say it was probably as perfect as it could be.

 

[Cyan]

I dislike all the 'top tips for writers' that spam the net, as everyone is different in their creative needs, tastes and processes, but the absolute #1 cast-iron rule for me is:

Finish what you're fucking writing, you fucking slacker.

The 'fucks' are aimed at me, not you Finishing is obviously essential, but so hard to do. So finishing a crap draft is still an achievement. Get the words down.

Haha, yeah, pretty much. I can force myself to finish short stories because it's not like it takes very long. But when I get halfway or two thirds of the way through a novel and lose steam, it's really hard to force it. Blah.

I'll get there eventually.

 

[TTG]

Sometimes happens with debut novels. The start of the book is the part that usually gets worked/edited the most when you're a new author - it's the bit you send to agents, so you polish it; it's the bit you wrote first, so you polish it more; it's the kindle sample, the point of entry, so it gets a lot of care and thought etc - and then the novel sometimes tails off. Is what you're reading a debut? (Other thoughts: a lot of writers get super excited about a new idea, write the start, love it, and then realise they have to finish writing the book, and maybe they're not so keen to. That's a thing as well.)

I've noticed it a couple of times recently, what I'm reading now feels like the nuance that impressed me in the beginning has drained away. But then again, I'm not even halfway through, so I don't want to trash it prematurely.

Haha, yeah, pretty much. I can force myself to finish short stories because it's not like it takes very long. But when I get halfway or two thirds of the way through a novel and lose steam, it's really hard to force it. Blah.

I'll get there eventually.

That's where your Goodreads account goes to work, guilting you into finishing it lest there be an unsightly time gap in your list of books read. No one will ever know that you've been reading all this time!!!

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I'm currently re-reading Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. I am still entertained by this book, but I don't feel like I had the same amount as I did when I read it the first time, but I am only at chapter 5 right now.

 

[MilkBeard]

I'm about half way through 'On the Road' by Kerouac currently. Good book.

 

[ryseing]

Beyond Armageddon, which is an anthology edited by Walter M. Miller (the author of Canticle for Leibowitz). I've been on a post-apocalyptic kick lately, specifically fiction written during the Cold War period where nuclear weapons weren't fully understood yet and fear seeped through every word and page. All these authors knew was that nuclear war would be bad and whatever managed to survive would be forever changed. Stories in Beyond that I've enjoyed the most thus far have been The Big Flash, Tomorrow's Children, and The Store of the Worlds. Alas, Babylon and Canticle were the two I read before Beyond, and I'd love suggestions for fiction in a similar vein.

 

[Night Angel]

Since Hugh Howie's stuff is (all?) up on Kindle Unlimited for free, I'm reading a lot of his books.
Wool was great (read last month, sue me), and I really enjoyed the Silo/Dust follow-ups as well. It's a series about a post-apocalyptic society in an underground silo with a single window to the outside world. Believable characters and excellent writing.

Beacon 23 is about a man assigned to a deep space satellite to monitor for signs of an impending extraterrestrial attack. It was more focused on the emotions/psychology of its main character than the threat itself, and I really enjoyed it. Probably my favorite of his books.

Sand was a fantastic concept for dystopia. A society in a world of constant wind and sand with technology that has developed around such an environment. Very unique and entertaining.

Halfway Home is about a ship of colonists who inhabit an alien world, ruled by an AI with unknown motives. Like the rest of his books, it's very much a character-focused story.

And finally, I'm currently reading his book I, Zombie. I'm on page 10, and... damn.

Each one of these is about 300 pages, so they're pretty quick reads. I recommend giving them a shot, especially if you have Kindle Unlimited.

 

[lawnchair]

I'm about half way through 'On the Road' by Kerouac currently. Good book.

good to know that that book is still being read

 

[Atraveller]

Started The Fall of Hyperion, I have no problem with the new format honestly, I'm already hooked by the universe.

 

[VyechnayaSlava]

Just finished Sanderson's Bands of Mourning (Wax and Wayne are better than Vin, just saying) and Calamity and have moved on to The Night Circus. Listening to the audiobooks since that's all that I have time for, and Jim Dale's voice is the only thing keeping me listening.

 

[kswiston]

Started The Fall of Hyperion, I have no problem with the new format honestly, I'm already hooked by the universe.

New format isn't bad or anything.

 

[Mumei]

I am currently reading Emma and The Iliad. I also recently read the first volume of the manga series Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga, and the first two American volumes of Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi, which corresponds to the first five volumes of the original releases. I enjoyed both, though Cross Game is far more enjoyable at this point. I also wish that Ooku's translation, which uses archaic English, actually made proper use of "you / thou." Ever since reading The Goblin Emperor I have been irritated by it. I also read New Thinking in Islam: The Jihad for Democracy, Freedom, and Women's Rights, which had interesting arguments in the interpretation of The Qur'an. I don't know if they are right, but I'd like them to be right! I also read another play by Euripides, Medea, also translated by Robin Robertson. Frankly it wasn't as interesting as Bacchae, though that seems to be a high personal bar. I'm going to read Sophocles' Theban plays sometime soon, I think. Lastly, I read Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber by Anthony C. Yu, which gave me a window into an area of appreciation for the novel that wasn't open to me, by interpreting the novel in a Chinese cultural context and more particularly by examining the use of the particular advantages of the Chinese written language that can't be translated into English. Oftentimes there are words that operate as signposts that appear in multiple contexts as logographs, but in English would be translated as entirely different words, thus causing that aspect to not translate properly into English.

 

[Mifune]

Started The Fall of Hyperion, I have no problem with the new format honestly, I'm already hooked by the universe.

I very much appreciated the more traditional structure actually.

 

[MattyG]

The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan

I got turned on to this book because of the new Tina Fey movie inspired by it, and I'm really glad I did. It's a fantastic read that gives a lot of insight into the state of these two countries in the 00s, and from a really cool perspective.

 

[ryseing]

Started The Fall of Hyperion, I have no problem with the new format honestly, I'm already hooked by the universe.

It really depends how you feel about Raul. I'm personally not a fan. The Church stuff is great though.

 

[lt519]

Finsihed Predictably Irrational, loved it.

Onto We Are Anonymous, looking for another Ghost in the Wires type story and not totally delivering on that front so far. But still good.

 

[Apt101]

Almost finished with The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. Lord it got depressing. I didn't sign up for this.

 

[Number45]

Liking that short books list I found on GR. Might just go down them one by one when I want something quick to read, even if it's something I might not necessarily like the sound of... just to try and broaden my limited reading horizons.

 

[fakefaker]

Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh is a bust. I gave up on it. I don't know if I'm getting too picky or older Hugo award books are not as great as they say. Gah, I hate quitting a book.

I've heard really good things about the next book I'm going to read: I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume.

 

[Nymerio]

About 15% into The Cycle of Arawn

It's fun so far.

 

[MedicUnderFire]

Enjoying it so far.

 

[charlemagne]

*picture of The Little Prince cover*

YES.

 

[mu cephei]

I am currently reading Emma and The Iliad. I also recently read the first volume of the manga series Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga, and the first two American volumes of Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi, which corresponds to the first five volumes of the original releases. I enjoyed both, though Cross Game is far more enjoyable at this point. I also wish that Ooku's translation, which uses archaic English, actually made proper use of "you / thou." Ever since reading The Goblin Emperor I have been irritated by it. I also read New Thinking in Islam: The Jihad for Democracy, Freedom, and Women's Rights, which had interesting arguments in the interpretation of The Qur'an. I don't know if they are right, but I'd like them to be right! I also read another play by Euripides, Medea, also translated by Robin Robertson. Frankly it wasn't as interesting as Bacchae, though that seems to be a high personal bar. I'm going to read Sophocles' Theban plays sometime soon, I think. Lastly, I read Rereading the Stone: Desire and the Making of Fiction in Dream of the Red Chamber by Anthony C. Yu, which gave me a window into an area of appreciation for the novel that wasn't open to me, by interpreting the novel in a Chinese cultural context and more particularly by examining the use of the particular advantages of the Chinese written language that can't be translated into English. Oftentimes there are words that operate as signposts that appear in multiple contexts as logographs, but in English would be translated as entirely different words, thus causing that aspect to not translate properly into English.

I hope you love Emma, but if you don't, I *really* hope it doesn't put you off from reading Northanger Abbey, which is hilarious and wonderful.

Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh is a bust. I gave up on it. I don't know if I'm getting too picky or older Hugo award books are not as great as they say. Gah, I hate quitting a book.

I've heard really good things about the next book I'm going to read: I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume.

That's the edition I have, I love that cover.

Spoiler

I hope you're wrong about Cyteen, I've liked her other stuff

 

[fakefaker]

That's the edition I have, I love that cover.

Spoiler

I hope you're wrong about Cyteen, I've liked her other stuff

I read the first story last night and it made me chuckle throughout, so that's a good sign.

Spoiler

I gave the old girl a chance
She grabbed me and we started to dance
She stepped on my left foot
And then on my right
With that I grimaced and said "Good night!"

I do hope you like it, most people do. Do you recommend another book of hers?

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

About 15% into The Cycle of Arawn

It's fun so far.

I'm familiar with the Arawn myth from the Prydain series, is this the same guy?