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What are you reading? (December 2012)

A

AngmarsKing701

Member
Mattdaddy said:
About halfway through it. My god the Bloody Nine is one of my favorite characters ever.

Mid book spoiler
When they go to meet Ghosts at the fire and discuss terms... I was giggling like a schoolgirl. Vintage Bloody Nine handywork.

I love that character and the way Abercrombie writes him is so much fun. Just a complete psycho.

I always like the pure brawn barbarian style characters. Victarion Greyjoy, Conan, Cnaiur from Prince of Nothing.... but Bloody Nine may take the cake. (I'd like to see Cnaiur vs Bloody Nine)

Any other good violent characters you guys could recommend like this in a fantasy setting?
Click to expand...

I have less than 100 pp left in this. I have found myself giggling a couple of times.

I'm not sure whether there's anyone else out there who portrays the violence and savagery of a guy going battle berserk as well as Abercrombie.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Neuromancer said:
I suppose I could have been more clear...
Click to expand...
Nah, I'm just dense :lol I get what you meant.

I need to read more Gibson. Neuromancer is one of my favourite books ever, and I enjoyed Count Zero, but that's all I've finished. I have the Burning Chrome collection and Mona Lisa Overdrive on my shelf, just haven't gotten to them for whatever reason.
 
M

Mackenzie 92

Member
Mattdaddy said:


About halfway through it. My god the Bloody Nine is one of my favorite characters ever.

Mid book spoiler
When they go to meet Ghosts at the fire and discuss terms... I was giggling like a schoolgirl. Vintage Bloody Nine handywork.

I love that character and the way Abercrombie writes him is so much fun. Just a complete psycho.

I always like the pure brawn barbarian style characters. Victarion Greyjoy, Conan, Cnaiur from Prince of Nothing.... but Bloody Nine may take the cake. (I'd like to see Cnaiur vs Bloody Nine)

Any other good violent characters you guys could recommend like this in a fantasy setting?
Click to expand...


Ah yeah, that was awesome.
"I got another deal for ya!"
Bloody Nine is my favorite fantasy badass. Haven't ran across any other like him yet.
 
T

Trouble

Banned
Finished
200px-World_War_Z_book_cover.jpg

Enjoyed it quite a bit more than I was expecting. I thought the oral history thing was going to be gimmicky, but it actually did a good job of telling the history of the 'war' from several different viewpoints. I also can't think of other Zombie books/movies that tell the entire tale from the initial onset until the 'end'. They always seem to insular tales about a group of survivors.

That said I can't see how the hell they are going to adapt this to a movie.

Next up:
2meHo.jpg
 
V

Vee_One

Member
World War Z - Based on the trailer, badly

I have been reading the "Sandman Slim" series by Richard Kadrey - 4 books. Basically a "B" grade movie in book form and it's amazing. Without spoiling anything it's about a guy that busts out of hell to seek revenge and the story builds from there.

The hardback editions are also beautiful to hold and look at.
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
TeethMummy said:
this book was excellent. I've posted about it in these threads a few times
Click to expand...

Then you may be the one who turned me on to it over a year ago (sat on my amazon wishlist for a while) since I'm pretty sure I found out about it here. Thanks. :)
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
Fjordson said:
Nah, I'm just dense :lol I get what you meant.

I need to read more Gibson. Neuromancer is one of my favourite books ever, and I enjoyed Count Zero, but that's all I've finished. I have the Burning Chrome collection and Mona Lisa Overdrive on my shelf, just haven't gotten to them for whatever reason.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think you'll really dig Burning Chrome. I reread it every couple years, same with Neuromancer.
 
P

PaleFolklore

Member
Just finished The Sun Also Rises, really enjoyed it.
qPPTq.jpg


Now I'm reading As I Lay Dying by Faulkner.
IPzMm.jpg


Up next is Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence.
z7DBz.jpg
 
M

Maklershed

Member
On the Kindle side of things I finished up Best Served Cold and started Echoes of Earth thanks to Dan's suggestion.


Echoes of Earth by Sean Williams

About Best Served Cold - it was fantastic. I absolutely loved it. I think I actually liked it more than the First Law Trilogy because
while its still not happy go lucky its not nearly as depressing and I think there's a bit more resolution to the whole situation - although the war between Ghurkul and The Union still rages on! Also .. who did Shenkt work for. He said he was an agent of chaos and I know he doesn't work for Bayaz anymore but he doesn't work for the other fella either does he?
 
I

Iceman

Member
Just got my hands on Two Graves by my favorite author(s)/team, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Last book in the Helen Esterhazy/Pendergast Trilogy. Can't wait to tear into it. I was disappointed with the two Pendergast novels (Wheel of Darkness and Cemetary Dance) prior to this trilogy, but Fever Dream was good and Cold Vengeance was great - dare I say back to form?
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Maklershed said:
On the Kindle side of things I finished up Best Served Cold and started Echoes of Earth thanks to Dan's suggestion.


Echoes of Earth by Sean Williams

About Best Served Cold - it was fantastic. I absolutely loved it. I think I actually liked it more than the First Law Trilogy because
while its still not happy go lucky its not nearly as depressing and I think there's a bit more resolution to the whole situation - although the war between Ghurkul and The Union still rages on! Also .. who did Shenkt work for. He said he was an agent of chaos and I know he doesn't work for Bayaz anymore but he doesn't work for the other fella either does he?
Click to expand...
Love to hear that. I'm really excited to get to the standalone novels. I love how Abercrombie mentions a specific genre influencing each one. I think he said like a gangster revenge sort of setup for Best Served Cold if I'm remembering correctly

Right now I'm 26% through The Last Argument of Kings according to my Kindle. It's great so far.

(also, this was a difficult post to make without reading any of your spoiler :lol)
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
Fjordson said:
Love to hear that. I'm really excited to get to the standalone novels. I love how Abercrombie mentions a specific genre influencing each one. I think he said like a gangster revenge sort of setup for Best Served Cold if I'm remembering correctly

Right now I'm 26% through The Last Argument of Kings according to my Kindle. It's great so far.

(also, this was a difficult post to make without reading any of your spoiler :lol)
Click to expand...
Abercrombie is my favorite author. The wait in between books is crazy, then I try to read it in a modest amount of time, because if I go too fast then I know I'll be bummed for even longer as I wait for the next one.

Most of the time I'm not reading Abercrombie I spend trying to find an author like Abercrombie that can fill the void. I like Sanderson, Kay and GRRM too, but both Kay and GRRM take forever to churn out books.
I know the feeling; I haven't gotten my first book up on Kindle yet.
 
S

SlowRevolution

Member
I'm about a hundred pages into The Signal and the Noise. Pretty interesting. Nate Silver did a better job making it all accessible than I thought he would.
 
L

luxarific

Nork unification denier
Just finished Prince of Thorns and King of Thorns. The series reads like the bastard child of
GRRM and Gene Wolfe
, but that's a plus in my opinion
(I really love it every time the protagonist runs across from ancient tech from his past, our future.)
Waiting for Emperor of Thorns to come out next summer will be painful.
 
N

Nymerio

Member
luxarific said:
Just finished Prince of Thorns and King of Thorns. The series reads like the bastard child of
GRRM and Gene Wolfe
, but that's a plus in my opinion
(I really love it every time the protagonist runs across from ancient tech from his past, our future.)
Waiting for Emperor of Thorns to come out next summer will be painful.
Click to expand...

I was like O_O when (Prince of Thorns spoiler):
they nuked the castle
. I love the fact that the one of the castles seems to be a
parking garage
 
A

Ashes

Banned
I've just finished the turn the of the screw. Spooky. Ambiguous. & Short.

Onto the big sleep!

I need to read 4 books to reach 50 novels for the year. Well, three after the big sleep. I'm definitely reading Winnie the Pooh & The Wind in the Willows. And one final book.

And all this within the three remaining weeks of the year. Should be good. :)
 
F

FillerB

Member
Dropped: "Before They Are Hanged" by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law #2)
Didn't really like the first book and 20% in to the second my mind hasn't changed yet. It's not that the book is badly written, far from it in fact, but I just... don't give a damn about the setting, the story or any of the characters. Maybe I'll pick it up a few months from now.

Next up: "The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Ashes1396 said:
I've just finished the turn the of the screw. Spooky. Ambiguous. & Short.

Onto the big sleep!

I need to read 4 books to reach 50 novels for the year. Well, three after the big sleep. I'm definitely reading Winnie the Pooh & The Wind in the Willows. And one final book.

And all this within the three remaining weeks of the year. Should be good. :)
Click to expand...

Loved the Bogart movie.
 
choodi

choodi

Banned
jwinverting.jpg


Absolutely fascinating.

Over Christmas I'll be reading Fall of Hyperion and continuing my Terry Pratchett journey (not sure where I'm up to).
 
F

Fjordson

Member
AngmarsKing701 said:
Abercrombie is my favorite author. The wait in between books is crazy, then I try to read it in a modest amount of time, because if I go too fast then I know I'll be bummed for even longer as I wait for the next one.

Most of the time I'm not reading Abercrombie I spend trying to find an author like Abercrombie that can fill the void. I like Sanderson, Kay and GRRM too, but both Kay and GRRM take forever to churn out books.
I know the feeling; I haven't gotten my first book up on Kindle yet.
Click to expand...
I'm really impressed by Abercrombie. Not sure why I waited so long to read his stuff, but I guess it's nice that I now have all these books already out from him to read.

And yeah, Abercrombie is the only current fantasy author that I've enjoyed as much as GRRM. Just wish his speed could rub off on him Martin a bit. I came to ASOIF pretty late, so I was able to read 1-4 all within half a year, and then Dance With Dragons the next year. Winds of Winter is the first big wait for me and it's really a drag :lol

I'm excited that he's doing another trilogy in the First Law world. Apparently it's set in the future (or at least future in relation to the first trilogy).
 
E

eattomorro

Neo Member
Finished Budapest Noir by Vilmos Kondor as my outside reading book. Awesome little work if you're into noir.

Started Titanicus by Dan Abnett for something completely different.
2977407.jpg
 
N

Nymerio

Member
I've started this from the Humble eBook Bundle:

tumblr_mbltf0wXep1r09qkf.png


I'm not really feeling it though. I'm only at about 3% and I don't like the settings or the characters. I think I'll drop this.
 
C

Celegus

Member
eattomorro said:
Started Titanicus by Dan Abnett for something completely different.
Click to expand...

Let me know what you think of that one, it's one of the few Dan Abnett 40k books I have not read yet. Not that I'd expect anything to surpass it, but it's kind of a bummer my first foray into 40k was Eisenhorn... everything is downhill from there.

Finished Old Man's War - I really liked the beginning where nobody knew what was going on, and then it turned into a generic military sci-fi action book. I won't be reading the rest of the series.

Next up:

5146UKREBPL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Just finished The Man in the High Castle. *jackiechanmymindisfulloffudge.jpg*

So am I understanding correctly ...
when Juliana Frink and Abendsen (The man in the high castle) consult the I Ching, they discover their reality, where Japan and Germany win WWII, is fictional and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is the true reality?

Also, my next hard copy book will be The Lost City of Z


The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
 
T

Trouble

Banned
Finished:
2meHo.jpg

I quite liked it. Pretty cool concept. So much possibility for more stories in this universe, but who knows if Pratchett and Baxter will colab on another.

Next:

Time for some young-adult sci-fi (my kryptonite)

Divergent_%28book%29_by_Veronica_Roth_US_Hardcover_2011.jpg
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
TCRS said:
I found it lame. My first and only Sanderson book.

Which reminds me I still have to finish The Wise Man's Fear. It's really good but I have no time.
Click to expand...
wise man's fear is a drop off from the first in the series but decent. I will probably read the next one but will likely wait for paperback.
 
M

Monroeski

Unconfirmed Member
TCRS said:
I found it lame. My first and only Sanderson book.

Which reminds me I still have to finish The Wise Man's Fear. It's really good but I have no time.
Click to expand...

I thought Elantris was decent enough but it was very obviously a first novel. The last page (and last sentence in particular) literally made me groan out loud with how stereotypical it was.
 
C

Celegus

Member
AngmarsKing701 said:
wise man's fear is a drop off from the first in the series but decent. I will probably read the next one but will likely wait for paperback.
Click to expand...

I actually liked Wise Man's Fear much much more, aside from the
warrior training and sex training parts that went on for way too long
. I thought Denna and his friends at school were much more complex and interesting than the first book.

Edit: spoilerized!
 
B

British Monsoon

Member
Finished off Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton;

oS7P6.jpg


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.

Now, I'm reading Thomas Pynchon's Vineland;

MuV7d.jpg
 
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