Author Topic: What are you reading? (Read 1060244 times)

Sandikal · **Reply #1925 on:** August 01, 2011, 11:29:51 PM

Quote from: FireTurtle on August 01, 2011, 01:02:26 AM

Quote from: CryptoMe on July 28, 2011, 11:10:12 PM
Quote from: Talia on July 26, 2011, 05:25:06 PM
Aw, I love Harry. He's hilarious (if occasionally irritating).

I am really enjoying Harry Dresden, too. But I think it has to do with the fact that I am listening to the audiobooks narrated by James Marsters, who does a fabulous job (even if I do keep thinking of Spike ).

The new one isn't narrated by Marsters. This is crushing me. I mean they finally got him to say "runes" instead of "ruins" and other fantastically funny mispronunciations that somehow made him more and not less endearing to me. Now someone new? Argh. It's a good thing I can't bear to abandon the series....

The only one of the books I've listened to instead of reading was "Side Jobs". I really liked how Marsters voice the supporting characters, but he just didn't sound the way I heard Harry in my head when reading the books. I finished "Ghost Story" yesterday and I really liked the was John Glover narrated it. He sounded much more like Harry Dresden to me. However, if I had listened to all the books instead of reading them in print, I might think differently.

stePH · **Reply #1926 on:** August 02, 2011, 02:37:42 AM

Finished The Sound and the Fury this weekend. Definitely what I call an "English class book". I need Cliff's Notes to make any sense of the damn thing. Reading its Wikipedia entry helped a bit, and maybe I'll re-read it someday now that I've been through it from front-to-back; blurry things in the early sections should come out clearer the second time around.

Now into Ask the Parrot, Richard Stark's penultimate Parker novel that begins moments after where Nobody Runs Forever ended.

Listener · **Reply #1927 on:** August 02, 2011, 03:06:31 PM

Finished and reviewed "Spectyr" by Philippa Ballantine.

About to start an ARC.

Would ideally like to squeeze "The Quantum Thief" in there somewhere.

stePH · **Reply #1928 on:** August 02, 2011, 04:45:42 PM

Quote from: Spindaddy on July 22, 2011, 08:34:42 PM

Quote from: stePH on July 16, 2011, 07:45:32 PM

On a related note, I have no more idea why the Rush song is called "Tom Sawyer", than I do why the Gorillaz song is called "Clint Eastwood".

IF you ever do, please clue me in on that as I have been wondering those two questions myself.

I'm told "I've got sunshine in a bag" is a line from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, or maybe it was A Fistful of Dollars; I can't remember.

iamafish · **Reply #1929 on:** August 02, 2011, 04:50:46 PM

Back to slogging through WoT, after my brief interlude with J.D. Salinger. The ending of Catcher did nothing to improve on the rest of it, by the way.

I'm just over half way through Crossroads of Twilight, and I swear we only just got past where we left off Winter's Heart. It's interesting to read - Jordan has a gift for creating likable, believable and flawed characters and putting them in interesting and exciting problems, but he's not very good at getting the hell on with the actual important stuff! This stuff is all very interesting, but I can't help but feel we could do with actually moving the plot forward a bit faster! Fortunately I only have this and Knife of Dreams to go before we get into Sanderson's additions to the story.

However before I get to that, I may or may not dip into A Game of Thrones. I'm currently on holiday and don't have access to my bookshelf. My mum is reading GoT at the moment, so, unless I streach CoT out a bit longer, that will be next in line. I want to read GoT, but I don't like interrupting series mid way through, certainly not to start another series of a very similar ilk (albeit a much shorter one!) Ah well, needs must.

stePH · **Reply #1930 on:** August 04, 2011, 04:46:04 PM

Finished Ask the Parrot yesterday.
Before finishing Stark's/Westlake's "Parker" series (Dirty Money being the final book), I'm going into a long-overdue first read of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

DKT · **Reply #1931 on:** August 09, 2011, 08:47:45 PM

Please be patient as I play Dave's catch-up!

Quote from: FireTurtle on August 01, 2011, 01:02:26 AM

Quote from: Listener on July 30, 2011, 10:12:59 PM
Quote from: Scattercat on July 28, 2011, 03:47:50 AM
Quote from: kibitzer on July 28, 2011, 03:16:12 AM
About to give up on Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. It's not holding my interest. Everything just seems incredibly improbable, if not outright impossible, including -- but not limited to -- the tech, the zombies and the character interactions. Most annoying.

Yeah, I was deeply unenthused when I read it, which was sad after how awesome it sounded in principle.

Same. Dreadnaught, the sequel, is MUCH better.

Haven't read Dreadnaught yet, but dig the novella Clementine much more than Boneshaker (which I also was incredibly disappointed by, and I love me some Cherie Priest).

Quote from: stePH on July 30, 2011, 07:22:15 AM

Quote from: Scattercat on July 30, 2011, 04:04:28 AM
(She doesn't even use quotation marks. Just dashes.)

I only ever encountered that style when reading James Joyce.

See also: Either Cormac McCarthy or Charles Frazier (I think it's Frazier. I don't think McCarthy even uses the dash. He's too badass.)

Quote from: FireTurtle on August 01, 2011, 01:02:26 AM

Quote from: CryptoMe on July 28, 2011, 11:10:12 PM
Quote from: Talia on July 26, 2011, 05:25:06 PM
Aw, I love Harry. He's hilarious (if occasionally irritating).

I am really enjoying Harry Dresden, too. But I think it has to do with the fact that I am listening to the audiobooks narrated by James Marsters, who does a fabulous job (even if I do keep thinking of Spike ).

The new one isn't narrated by Marsters. This is crushing me. I mean they finally got him to say "runes" instead of "ruins" and other fantastically funny mispronunciations that somehow made him more and not less endearing to me. Now someone new? Argh. It's a good thing I can't bear to abandon the series....

Dude, this is a bummer, and I don't even like Dresden that much. But Marsters made it almost work for me, so much so that I picked up the third one on audio when it was featured for $5 (or something). Marsters just sounded so good. But I'll probably never make it that far into the series anyway. (Glover might be okay, but there are a lot of pissed off listeners begging to have Marsters re-record it.)

I just finished listening to American Gods (the original recording, not the new expanded one with the full cast). I read it 10 years ago, and wow. I had no idea a) how much of a timestamp on the turn of the century that book was, and b) how much I loved those characters. I picked up Fragile Things just so I could listen to Monarch in the Glenn right after.

Not sure what I'll listen to next...have a helluva podcast backlog

Currently also reading:
Clementine, by Cherie Priest
Black Hills, by Dan Simmons
and have about five other books that friends seem ready to strangle me for if I don't start reading them THIS WEEKEND. (It's cool, though, because I want to read all of them too.)

Listener · **Reply #1932 on:** August 19, 2011, 04:17:44 PM

Now: "The Magician King" by Lev Grossman... although I've been falling asleep while reading, and haven't really gotten through as much as I'd like.

Soon: "The Quantum Thief" by Hannu R-Icantspelltherestofitsorryaboutthat

Eventually: A couple of new Star Trek novels that came out, Reamde by Neal Stephenson (another 1000-pager that makes me glad to have an e-reader, especially when I'm reading on my back and I fall asleep -- Anathem to the face is no fun at all).

stePH · **Reply #1933 on:** August 19, 2011, 11:29:28 PM

The final Parker novel by Richard "Donald E. Westlake" Stark is down. Like the very first three, these final three should be put together in a single omnibus volume, they're so closely-tied.

Now reading Brothers of Earth by C.J. Cherryh.

Scattercat · **Reply #1934 on:** August 22, 2011, 03:37:01 PM

Read volumes 3 and 4 of "Locke and Key" (and perforce reread 1 and 2 to catch up on the nuances of plot.) This series is friggin' amazing. I love it to pieces. There are so many subtle details woven in that you really have to stop and examine each page instead of rushing as one often does with gripping graphic novels. It rewards revisiting, as well. Also Bode is awesome and I hope my child ends up just like him (well, maybe not exactly like him, given the events of the end of volume 4). This series and "Unwritten" are two of my absolute favorite things.

Also read the latest Dresden Files. Big old meh. I mean, it's not bad as far as light entertainment. It's reminiscent of the earlier arcs, with Harry actually having to struggle against non-apocalyptic foes, but I really think this was a Reichenbach Falls moment; he had the chance to end things cleanly and maybe start a new project or maybe take the series in a new direction with short stories from other viewpoints a la "Side Jobs," but instead he just brought back his goddamned drizzit. At some point, a character stops being able to grow in any new or interesting ways and should be respectfully shelved to make way for other things. I suspect Jim Butcher will become another Salvatore for me and I will end up not buying any of his new stuff because I've lost faith in his ability to manage his own characters and narratives.

DKT · **Reply #1935 on:** August 22, 2011, 04:13:28 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on August 22, 2011, 03:37:01 PM

Read volumes 3 and 4 of "Locke and Key" (and perforce reread 1 and 2 to catch up on the nuances of plot.) This series is friggin' amazing. I love it to pieces. There are so many subtle details woven in that you really have to stop and examine each page instead of rushing as one often does with gripping graphic novels. It rewards revisiting, as well. Also Bode is awesome and I hope my child ends up just like him (well, maybe not exactly like him, given the events of the end of volume 4). This series and "Unwritten" are two of my absolute favorite things.

ZOMG, I *HEART* "Locke and Key." Volume 1 was a decent horror comic - totally enjoyable and everything - but then I read Volume 2 and when Bode unlocked his own head in the beginning? I totally squeed myself. And volume 3 was even stronger. I just started reading volume 4...YAY!

Anyway, with Y the Last Man and Ex Machina both done, Locke and Key is the comic I look forward to getting new volumes of. There are some damn good comics out there.

Scattercat · **Reply #1936 on:** August 23, 2011, 02:55:33 AM

I tend to wait for complete runs, just because I hate cliffhangers. "Y: The Last Man" and "Ex Machina" are both on my shelf, though. (Have you tried "Unwritten," DKT? It's way cool in an odd internet-age kind of way.)

Bdoomed · **Reply #1937 on:** August 23, 2011, 04:43:18 AM

Hmm looks like I haven't posted here since finishing A Dance With Dragons! It was a fantastic book, and now I get to wait an eternity for the next one to come out! joy.

Anyway, I'm now on to How to Succeed in Evil by Patrick E. McLean of The Seanachai fame. Really good stuff, kind of peppered by typos tho, but I've contacted him and I'm marking all of the typos to send to him to fix.

He's also mentioned that he is re-tooling the ebook release because of some weird double characters and such.
Either way, the read is great, typos or no. Definitely recommend it.

After HtSiE, I think I'll read his other book, Unkillable. That is, if I have time with school starting up again and all.

Scattercat · **Reply #1938 on:** August 23, 2011, 04:45:28 AM

I started listening to "How to Succeed in Evil" and stopped about halfway through. It just was not interesting at all, and I *love* superhero fiction.

Bdoomed · **Reply #1939 on:** August 23, 2011, 05:51:11 AM

There was a second rendition of it, I don't know which you heard.

kibitzer · **Reply #1940 on:** August 23, 2011, 10:38:15 AM

Nearly through all five Hugo novel nominees. From last year.

Scattercat · **Reply #1941 on:** August 23, 2011, 10:42:29 AM

Quote from: kibitzer on August 23, 2011, 10:38:15 AM

Nearly through all five Hugo novel nominees. From last year.

At least you're keeping pace, ne?

DKT · **Reply #1942 on:** August 23, 2011, 04:09:28 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on August 23, 2011, 10:42:29 AM

Quote from: kibitzer on August 23, 2011, 10:38:15 AM
Nearly through all five Hugo novel nominees. From last year.

At least you're keeping pace, ne?

I hear this year was overrated, anyway

I only read half of last year's...although I would like to one day bump that up to 5/6's or all. (Sawyer's being the one I'm iffy on.

This year, I read one of the novels. Damn. I do need to do better next year.

kibitzer · **Reply #1943 on:** August 24, 2011, 03:43:11 AM

Quote from: DKT on August 23, 2011, 04:09:28 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on August 23, 2011, 10:42:29 AM
Quote from: kibitzer on August 23, 2011, 10:38:15 AM
Nearly through all five Hugo novel nominees. From last year.

At least you're keeping pace, ne?

I hear this year was overrated, anyway

I only read half of last year's...although I would like to one day bump that up to 5/6's or all. (Sawyer's being the one I'm iffy on.

This year, I read one of the novels. Damn. I do need to do better next year.

Sorta keeping pace ;-) Only reason I'm reading them all is because I received them as eBooks in last year's Hugo Voter Package. I Keep meaning to do a run-down. Probably will. Soon. RSN.

Talia · **Reply #1944 on:** August 25, 2011, 03:07:15 AM

So I just finished Sawyer's 'WWW: Wonder,' which concludes his 'WWW' trilogy (Wake/watch/wonder) about a sentience that develops on the Internet. The concept behind these books is neat, I enjoyed that aspect but.. the books really aren't written very well. Particularly the concluding volume. There were numerous scenes that were just SO irritating, so.. cloying, so unlikely to ever actually occur, that at times I had to set the book down and growl.

It's weird to say, but I enjoyed the overall plot development, but not so much the books themselves. I'm not sorry I read them, I just wish the execution had been better. I'd recommend them to anyone willing to deal with some irritation if the overall idea is interesting (which it is).

I've liked some of Sawyer's other work, so I won't hold these books against him - at the very least they show he has some neat ideas. And I do feel that quality in a writer is important.

Faraway Ray · **Reply #1945 on:** August 25, 2011, 02:41:32 PM

Just finished reading all of the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. Man, Martin really likes killing off his characters. It's kind of annoying actually. "Oh hey, that interesting guy I spent two books building up? Yeah, dead."

Confound you George RR Martin! *shakes fist*

DKT · **Reply #1946 on:** August 25, 2011, 04:25:52 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on August 23, 2011, 02:55:33 AM

I tend to wait for complete runs, just because I hate cliffhangers. "Y: The Last Man" and "Ex Machina" are both on my shelf, though. (Have you tried "Unwritten," DKT? It's way cool in an odd internet-age kind of way.)

Getting to this late, but...funny you should mention The Unwritten. The same friend at work who let me read the first two volumes of Locke & Key gave me the first two volumes of The Unwritten. He didn't like it so much, but knew I really enjoyed some of Carey's other work. (Hellblazer and his Felix Castor novel.)

So it'll be something I check out pretty soon, I think.

kibitzer · **Reply #1947 on:** August 29, 2011, 03:36:23 AM

Finished The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang. I enjoyed it, though it seemed to take a long time to get there -- possibly a little over-long.

However, it exhibits what I consider the characteristics of great sci-fi: pose a question (what if...?), consider the possible implications, do it in such a way that leaves the reader thinking about the consequences. Awesome. It touches on a lot of issues: sentience; the rights of non-human intelligences; how do we treat our kids?; the things we do for love; letting go; obsession/dedication. It's odd. Whilst I wouldn't count it a great character piece it is certainly a story that will stay with me.

Recommended.

DKT · **Reply #1948 on:** August 29, 2011, 06:29:19 PM

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom over the weekend. How much longer until the next volume comes out?

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Devoted135 · **Reply #1949 on:** August 31, 2011, 01:49:15 PM

Realized I haven't chimed in for a while. I'm currently finishing up The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks, the first in a trilogy. I'm debating just reading through all three in a row, even though I normally like to split trilogies up for the sake of variety.

Very engaging, but wow did he need an editor in the first 100 pages or so! We really don't need a whole paragraph comparing the architecture of various surrounding countries when the whole point is simply to let us know that this country is a run-down hodge-podge with no culture to speak of. However, silly stuff like that is well worth the overall story.