Book: What Book Are You Reading?

[Munsu]

Now that i am FINALLY done with finals, it just occurred to me that i haven't had the chance to sit down and read a good book in quite a long while.

Since this is a thread on books people are currently reading, i was wondering if i could get some recommendations.

My favorite type of books are usually fantasy/fiction novels along the line of Eragon but i'm not a very picky person so i am willing to read almost anything as long as it hold my interest.

I've only read a couple of series, so I don't have much to go on.

The Godless World me an my brother have been enjoying quite a bit; it's the debut series for the author. He says it reminds him a bit of the series A Song of Fire and Ice, which is his favorite book series. I haven't read that myself so it's probably worth checking out too... an HBO series is coming out based on A Song of Fire and Ice.

The Ranger's Apprentice is a fun simple series for children and young adults. The books aren't long, about 200-400 pages, and an easy read.

Some book series I'm planning on reading that look interesting are:
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Riftwar
The Wheels of Time

All three have been highly recommended to me, so you might want to try them out.

But again, I don't know much about novels and stuff. And I'm not picky either, so keep that in mind... I'm easy to please in the enjoyment department.

I just started reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, a debut novel for the author, but I've only read about 30 pages so far. Don't know where it's going, but the plot concept seems original to me, and the dialogue is fun and vulgar.

[Ryllharu]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Snow Crash, one of the more well know Cyberpunk novels in the genre.

I'm enjoying it, even if a little of it comes off seriously pretentious of the author.


In terms of fantasy/fiction novels, it is more of a modern-day fantasy, but I've really enjoyed the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. The first book is ill Wind (lowercase on 'ill' here simply for clarity). It's about a secret organization of people (who work out of the UN) who have abilities to control the weather and other elements so that the earth doesn't kill everyone on the planet thanks to storms and other natural distasters. There are also djinn, beings of fire and death (genies pretty much) who are bound to these people in order to assist this effort. Of course, everything goes to shit pretty fast. Six books are out so far.

[Bread-sama]

Reading It written by Stephen King, finally.

[Junior]

Started Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay.

I *love* Dexter.

[Ryllharu]

Well, they're not really novels, but I'm reading the first three trade hardcovers of Marvel's Runaways.

[Shinda]

"Catcher In The Rye" by J.D. Salinger and "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov.

[saman]

sense and sensibility by jane austen. i'm also reading the narnia and artemis fowl series, having just started the voyage of the dawn treader in the former series, and just finished the arctic incident in the latter one

[Sidnne]

Anyway I recommend Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas if you haven't read it.

I concur. Watching a movie version of it is not enough, too much is left out. The book is great.

Also, anything by Bernard Cornwell is amazing. He is an historical fiction writer, who basically takes a point in history (a period, war, or specific battle), creates a character, and tells the story through that character's point of view.

His books about medieval Europe are fantastic. He has a three-book series about King Arthur (beginning with The Winter King), a 3-book series called The Grail Quest (beginning with The Archer's Tale), which takes place during the early Hundred Years War, a currently 4-book series The Saxon Tales, with a fifth book in the works, about the danish invasion of england during the reign of Alfred the Great (beginning with The Last Kingdom). And a novel called Agincourt, a new release, which is about the epic battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years War. Plus many, many other novels and series', including the widely popular Sharpe series (some may have seen the TV show based on it) and the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles.

My favorite of his books is easily the Saxon Tales novels and I'm dying for the 5th book to come out. I also absolutely loved the Grail Quest series.

If you're looking for a great story full of adventure and action, and maybe even a little historical accuracy as a bonus, you can't go wrong with Cornwell's books.

http://www.bernardcornwell.net/

[glyphes]

I love books! Books are the reason I watch anime - cause I'm a story junkie! I haven't read some of the more fiction oriented stuff people have mentioned in this thread (like the Dan Brown stuff), but I have read most of the scifi/fantasy stuff. . .here are my favorites in no particular order, some of which have already been mentioned.

For the urban heroines (like the previously mentioned Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine, which I liked, but got a bit boring, same with Kim Harrison's stuff):

Patricia Briggs (Love her older fantasy stuff the best - the new Mercy Thompson series is worth a read)

Laurell K Hamilton (Love/hate relationship indeed - I've basically given up on her, but her early stuff is amusing and fun)

Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse series, my favorite vampire series - way better than Hamilton)

Karen Chance (Her Cassandra Chance series is about a clairvoyent - a bit different from the regular butt-whomping heroine)

Tanya Huff (She had a vampires and strong heroines way before anyone else AND her assassin and Wizard of the Grove series are top notch.)

Fantasy Gives Way To Scifi - Authors Who Write Both and Write Them Well.

Lois McMaster Bujold (She has lots of series - Miles Vorkosigan series [space opera] and Curse of the Chalion and the subsequent books set in the same fantasy setting, and the recent Sharing Knife series[fantasy])

C.J. Cherryh (For her Foreigner series, great alien/human contact stories, and Fortress of ____ series, fantasy)


Detective/Supernatural Stuff

Jim Butcher (For his wizard detective in Chicago series [Dresden series], don't watch the scifi show, read the book! I like his Codex Alera series better sometimes, I flip flop, straight up fantasy vs supernatural mystery.)

Simon Green (I liked him long ago for his Deathstalker [space opera] series and Hawke and Fisher series [fantasy] but I like some of his new stuff better, the Nightside series [supernatural kinda weird noire mystery], and Eddie Drood [magical James Bond guy] series)

Whew, that's alot already, sorry for being long-winded, but I really like this stuff! I know it seems that I read alot of women authors, but it's only cause I started listing the butt kicking heroine genre and only women seem to write about, well, strong women. Why's that? Women write about guys, don't they? I actually don't like most of the stuff that comes out in that genre nowadays - alot are Hamilton rip offs. . . but the ones I mentioned are staples Maybe I'll list some of my other favorites later!

[Munsu]

Well, I finally finished the Sword of Truth, with Confessor being the final volume. I've heard that he might return to the series once again, but from the looks of it this is the end.

I also just finished reading the first two books of the Riftwar Saga, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master. Good stuff, and reading this now I can see that the series Ranger's Apprentice got a lot of inspiration from this one. Now waiting for the next two volumes of the saga to arrive.

Some months ago I tried reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, but for some reason I didn't get into it. I'm giving it a second chance at the moment, and it's getting better. I think some here will enjoy it.

[Munsu]

And here's another update:

Still waiting for the next two books of Riftwar to arrive.

I read The Lies of Locke Lamora, and it ended up being great in my opinion. I should've been more patient on my earlier attempt to read it... if I had read two more chapters during that time I would've stuck with it.

It has fun characters, a ton of violence, vulgar and funny dialogues. You guys should give it a try. I also read the sequel too, Red Seas Under Red Skies, which wasn't as strong as the first one but still quite entertaining.

I may start reading The Wheel of Time, unless the books I'm waiting for arrive soon.

Anyone cares to update on what you have read as of late or are reading?

[KitKat]

I've been wanting to read The Lies of Locke Lamora. My brother read it and raves about how good it is.

I haven't read much except for a book entitled Water by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson. It's a series of short stories about water, and made for great holiday reading while travelling on the bus and waiting at airports. But then, I absolutely adore anything written by Robin McKinley to begin with.

I just put down a deposit on a room, so I'm moving into the heart of Vancouver next month and my new house will be a block away from a brand new library branch. Woot! I'm looking forward to getting a library card and seeing what treasures I can find there. I should probably get around to finishing up the Sword of Truth series since I put that on hold almost 10 years ago, saying that I'd finish it when all the books were written.

And, from looking at glyphes' post, I thought I'd mention that I actually met Tanya Huff in person. She lives really close to where I grew up, so for my grade 12 English project, I wrote my paper on her, and the gracious lady that she is, she agreed to come meet me for an interview. We actually spent half the time talking about our respective cats (this is the dangers of conversations between two cat people). I'm pretty sure I messed up a lot of my interview questions because I was all shy, and it was my first time meeting a Famous Person. She was great though, and the humour and mischeif that you see in her writing style is definitely there when you talk to her in person.

[masamuneehs]

i'm reading Haruki Murakami's "Norweign Wood". bit depressing, and there's almost too much description of seemingly random things, but it's an interesting read and hits pretty close to home for me with the characters.... despite being set in 1970s Japan...

one thing I can't get over is every time I find a spelling / grammar error. I understand that it had to be translated, reprinted, etc, but, seriously, this guy is a fairly famous Japanese author, even abroad. It makes me want to claw my eyes out to know that some shmuck got paid to do this half-ass job...

[Nadouku]

I am currently reading Brave New World. It's quite interesting to see a world where everyone was at the same level, no smaller nor bigger and had the same capacity as every other people. Also, famous people are used as figures of speech: "For our Ford" for example.

[Munsu]

I've been wanting to read The Lies of Locke Lamora. My brother read it and raves about how good it is.

Well I highly recommend it for you guys that like the fantasy genre and are looking for something a bit different within the genre. It's quite refreshing in that regard, and worth it just for that. The author has 7 planned novels in this series, two are out.

I am currently reading Brave New World. It's quite interesting to see a world where everyone was at the same level, no smaller nor bigger and had the same capacity as every other people. Also, famous people are used as figures of speech: "For our Ford" for example.

Seems like the movie Equilibrium with Christian Bale was inspired quite a bit from this book, seeing as society tries to supress feelings, etc.


Anyways, finished reading Eye of the World, the first book from the Wheel of Time series, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I see some similarities with the Sword of Truth series, but better written. Right now I'm in the middle of the second book, The Great Hunt, and I'm liking it more.

I just bought myself the Night Angel Trilogy (The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, Beyond the Shadows), from Brent Weeks, and this are his first three novels written. Seen quite a bit of praise for it, so I might get into it soon.

The other novel I just bought is The Name of the Wind, first book of The Kingkiller Chronicle, which is also a first for the author Patrick Rothfuss, and from what I see it's considered by many the best fantasy novel of 2008.

Any of you read or heard anything of these novels?

[Xelbair]

I'm mostly reading lately a polish fantasy(Narrenturm, God's Warriors, Lux Perpetua and Witcher Saga by Andrzej Sapkowski and Ragnarok 1940 by Marcin Mortka, Mordimmer Madderin Saga(aka. Inquisitor Saga) by Jacek Piekara).

Ragnarok 1940 is alternative version of history - imagine that vikings survived to the XX century - communistic rebellion in Russia was pacified thanks to them and western Europe, Germany is torn with civil war between Nazi, communists and rest. 1st world war was started by the Norseman, and they are now beginning an operation Ragnarok(it starts with assault on Iceland, supporting rebels in Saudi Arabia, and finally assault on Great Britain(part with Berserkir troops was very good - they were psychopaths used as one-time paratroopers armed with best rifle Stutr, some grenades and axe and dropped onto the Edinburgh ). Now i need to buy second tome. Oh and i forgot to mention that each Jarl of Norse alliance is descendant of one of gods, Norway's Konnung is descendant of Odin, henceforth he has some paranormal abilities(not d&dish but rather weak ones).

Inquisitor Saga might offend some people. It is also an alternative history, this time, Jesus, when he was crucified, broken the cross and with apostles killed half of Jerusalem. It is set in XIV century, now inquisition is hunting heresy, but its not so simple - church and inquisition are 2 separate organizations - corrupted one the church and not-so-good one but not corrupted Inquisition... of course they hate each other. Add to this fantasy elements, demons, angels, political plots, and put it into dark fantasy setting. I really enjoyed this series, and i can't wait for next book.
"..and give us strength
to don't forgive those who trespass against us..."
(i've got no idea how original prayer Our Father goes in English - but this is the version translated from the book by me, it shows the rules of that word best)

I would really like to read Wheels of Time, but thanks to f***ed up copyright laws there are chances near 0% to get it in normal store(and used ones are really rare - and they are mostly for 100-200PLN(25 - 50 USD) for one book. Company that bought copyright law for this has ended up bankrupt, but the copyright was for their director and its impossible here to have 2 people/companies have copyright for same thing... and the funniest thing is that nobody can reach that guy.

[Munsu]

Wow, that sucks.

If you want, then torrent this PDF which has all the books inside. Just 16mb and it includes some of the prequel novels, which you should ignore at the moment. Just scroll down to Eye of the World and begin from there.
http://www.torrentz.com/a92ef7b98e5d...5ceb0a3b1a0f16

Anyways, updateting a bit. Read the 3rd book of WoT, Dragon Reborn, and really liked it... cool series so far.

Also read The Name of the Wind and I thought it was really good, waiting for the 2nd book to come out. Some of you that enjoy fantasy should like this one.

Also read the Ways of Shadows, the first of the Night Angel trilogy and although its writing wasn't strong, it was enjoyable. I would equate it to going to the movies to watch an action flick.

[Ryllharu]

Again, not really novels, but I just finished the ten trade paperbacks of Y: the last man. Written by Brian K. Vaughan (some Marvel, some DC, best known for Runaways), it's about a plague that kills every living creature on Earth with a Y chromosome, except for one man, and one monkey. Lots of time skips, a very healthy dose of post-apocalyptia, and covers some tougher issues about humanity...regardless of gender. A good mix of humor and drama, plenty of violence, and some really great characters.

Before reading those, I also read Undone, the first of the spinoff books to the Weather Warden series (mentioned before in this post).

So now I'm back to murder mystery novels, Kisscut by Karen Slaughter. Her novels go pretty far down the graphic road, but they're well written for the most part and usually tough to guess the murderer until you get considerably far into each book (a big plus in that genre).

[Nadouku]

Have you guys read Flipped? Very compelling story about a boy and a girl whose feelings are switched as the years go by. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes romance.

[Death BOO Z]

Finished reading: Superman, last son of Krypton


it's a great book, especially after watching smallville for a few years.

The storytelling itself reminded me of 'hitchikers' guide' - small points of interest (like an alien race of bureaucrats and their 23 plants big archive of the diary of each one of them who lived in last 8 million years) get fully explained, while the plot itself gets a scarce line or two, so figuring out what happened is rewarding by itself.

and seriously, Superman never looked so badass, he saves hundreds of people in less than a paragraph, and then goes to track Luthor by following electrons on the phone line.

oh, a premise of the plot: When Einstein died (not after delivering Kal-El to the Kents, mind you), he left a single invention in his will, and said it should be opened 25 years after his death. when the time of unraveling comes, it gets stolen by luthor. then someone else steals it from luthor, and Superman must co-operate with Luthor to find the intergalactic thief and foil an awesome plan (or two) that involves destroying the time space continuum.

it just gets better. it's a 30 years old book, and it still hits the exact spot for anyone who has the slightest interest in Superman.