books

[Kenneth R.]

Have you read Perdido Street Station? I have been hearing good things about China Mieville and this is the only book they have in stock near me.

I'm just finishing up Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco. Very good!

I have. Perdido Street Station is a great book. Mieville is dark, transparently socialist (look him up on wikipedia), and creepy in all the right ways. His writing is to fiction an urban nightmare just the other side of plausible.

Better still, his works, like Wolfe's, are emphatic about what I previously described as "journey" writing. Your path crosses the narrator's, you travel together for a time, and you part ways. There is no "beginning" or proper "ending". And that is how writing should be.

 

[Wander]

The Dark Elf Trilogy (series) by R.A. Salvatore One of the best series I've ever read. Start with "Homeland". Simply incredible.

I agree, but have you read the (numerous follow-up series to that trilogy? Although some are good, Salvatore really lost his touch later on imo...

Nice list of books anyway. About half of them are unfamiliar to me, so I might check some out...

Talking about horror, I just recently read Let the Right One In (originally Låt den rätte komma in) by John Ajvide Lindqvist and that book was quite amazing. It's really not just about the horror and the vampires aren't overplayed. Definitely recommended.

They made a swedish movie about it too, which is pretty good. In fact, I heard that the Cloverfield makers were going to make a hollywood re-make out of it, because of the ongoing vampire boom (f**king Twilight), but that will most likely suck.

 

[Phanto]

Talking about horror, I just recently read Let the Right One In (originally Låt den rätte komma in) by John Ajvide Lindqvist and that book was quite amazing. It's really not just about the horror and the vampires aren't overplayed. Definitely recommended.

They made a swedish movie about it too, which is pretty good. In fact, I heard that the Cloverfield makers were going to make a hollywood re-make out of it, because of the ongoing vampire boom (f**king Twilight), but that will most likely suck.

John Ajvide Lindqvist wrote a good book about people coming back from the dead called Hanteringen av odöda (Handling the Undead). It will become a (swedish) movie as well last I heard. Hopefully it will be as good as Låt den rätte komma in.

 

[Swabs]

I recently finished David Gemmel's 'Troy' trilogy. Solid stuff, interesting adaptation of the fall of troy. I'd recommend them to people who like seeing History get played with.

 

[Phanto]

I love historical fiction. Roma and The Pillars of the Earth are two of the most entertaining books I've read.

 

[shadowmac]

I have The Chronicles of Amber on my shelf. Very huge book (It is ten in one, I think!) I have been meaning to read that for a while. How does that compare to (The much shorter) Lord of Light?

I must admit that I have not read "Lord of Light", but I will check it out.

"I agree, but have you read the (numerous follow-up series to that trilogy? Although some are good, Salvatore really lost his touch later on imo..." from above post.


As for R.A. Salvatore's later works. Some of the Drizzt books are extremely good (The Chrystal Shard series for example), some are fair and quite honestly, Salvatore's "The Clerical Quintet" is perhaps THE WORST series I have ever forced myself to read uke:; I just kept thinking that this has got to get good and it never even got close to OK!

The first 3 Dragon Lance books are also extremely good...not on par with Tolkien or Martin, but still a very worthy read. I believe the series begins with "Dragons of Autumn Twilight"

Jamie Mac

 

[ArtDecade]

I always go back to the following books...

All things Tolkien
Michael Moorcock's The Elric Saga
Par Lagervist's The Dwarf
Robert E. Howard's Conan books
Frank Herbert's Dune series
Drew Hayes' Poison Elves (Comic)
Poetry of Jim Carroll and Inger Christensen

 

[Kenneth R.]

I love historical fiction. Roma and The Pillars of the Earth are two of the most entertaining books I've read.

Soldier of the Mist.

 

[noble savage]

Anyone read anything interesting lately?

I've spent the past few months reading Peter F Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds and a few other sci fi authors, but am now completely sold on "New Weird/Urban" Fantasy thanks to China Mieville's The City and The City. I'm going to start Perdido Street Station here in a few days. I need a break from science fiction for a while.

 

[keeperxiii]

I'm currently midway through Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and I have The Dark Book of America by Peter Scowen waiting to be read after, I take things slowly though.

I've heard good things about Dark Tower and I plan on someday reading The Odissey (I can thank SX for that )

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Vampire of the Mists - Christie Golden. I never really got into "horror" books BUT I could not put this one down. Crosses fantasy like Tolkien with the Horror of Anne Rice.

THAT was a really great book, Whatever happened to Christie anyway? Would've liked to have seen more from her.

I
The first 3 Dragon Lance books are also extremely good...not on par with Tolkien or Martin, but still a very worthy read. I believe the series begins with "Dragons of Autumn Twilight"

Yes indeed. A great introduction into the world of fantasy less problematic than the Lord Of The Rings because Autumn Twilight ends with a resolution.

The Dragonlance Lost Chronicles was a very fun read. The first book,
"Dragons Of The Dwarven Depths", nicely ties up the gap between Autumn Twilight and Winter Night. The second, and greatest in the series, "Dragons Of The Highlord Skies", takes place just after the first part of Winter Night and tells of the stories of Ice Wall and Kitiara's unity with Lord Soth. I think this may be even greater than any of the original chronicles.
"Dragons Of The Hourglass Mage", tells the story of what happened with Raistlin after the first part of Spring Dawning. I had such high expectations for this story. It was really good, but it just didn't deliver all that I was hoping.

Still, definitely read them if you're a fan.

 

[noble savage]

(...)



Yes indeed. A great introduction into the world of fantasy less problematic than the Lord Of The Rings because Autumn Twilight ends with a resolution.

The Dragonlance Lost Chronicles was a very fun read. The first book,
"Dragons Of The Dwarven Depths", nicely ties up the gap between Autumn Twilight and Winter Night. The second, and greatest in the series, "Dragons Of The Highlord Skies", takes place just after the first part of Winter Night and tells of the stories of Ice Wall and Kitiara's unity with Lord Soth. I think this may be even greater than any of the original chronicles.
"Dragons Of The Hourglass Mage", tells the story of what happened with Raistlin after the first part of Spring Dawning. I had such high expectations for this story. It was really good, but it just didn't deliver all that I was hoping.

Still, definitely read them if you're a fan.

Crap, you made me eat my own words! Well in the sense that for years I have been almost entirely dismissive of JRR Tolkein type fantasy. I just remembered that I actually read the first 3 Dragonlance books and really enjoyed them. Of course, I was 14 at the time. I remember after reading them, I ventured out a bit further into that type of fantasy and ended up giving up entirely on the genre for 7 years.

I would like to re-read them now, but I'm afraid I might be too cynical to appreciate them...

 

[Simfonik_Alex]

DAVID FOSTER WALLACE brief interviews with hideous men, or consider the lobster

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Crap, you made me eat my own words! Well in the sense that for years I have been almost entirely dismissive of JRR Tolkein type fantasy. I just remembered that I actually read the first 3 Dragonlance books and really enjoyed them. Of course, I was 14 at the time. I remember after reading them, I ventured out a bit further into that type of fantasy and ended up giving up entirely on the genre for 7 years.

I would like to re-read them now, but I'm afraid I might be too cynical to appreciate them...

No you won't be too cynical at all. I'm the most cynical member on here(just read my 4th of July post) and people like razoredge will vouch for that. I just re-read them last year and I'm 32. You gain a new appreciation for them; but do it right.

Read them in order.

Read Autumn Twilight, then read Dwarven Depths, then when the companions get spilt up at the end of the first part of Winter Night, put that aside and read Highlord Shies, finish Winter Night, and then when Raistlin vanishes and leaves the companions to sink into the Blood Sea Of Istar at the end of the first part of Spring Dawning, it gets tricky because Hourglass Mage runs neck-and-neck with Spring Dawning and you might have to go back and forth. But finish Spring Dawning after you finish Hourglass Mage.

I believe that's the order.

 

[proulxski]

Just finished up with 'Paradise Lost' and 'The Divine Comedy'... Now I went for a very differint direction,I am currently reading the 'Sookie Stackhouse Novels'. As a fan of True Blood i'm really enjoying them so far!

 

[Kenneth R.]

Anyone read anything interesting lately?

I've spent the past few months reading Peter F Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds and a few other sci fi authors, but am now completely sold on "New Weird/Urban" Fantasy thanks to China Mieville's The City and The City. I'm going to start Perdido Street Station here in a few days. I need a break from science fiction for a while.

Perdido is amazing. You should also read The Scar. His new one just came out, but I haven't read it yet.

Lately I've read:

Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light. Awesome. My only complaint is that it was too short.
Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana. Solid. Not a masterwork, but very good.
Guy Gavriel Kay - Under Heaven. Fairly good. Too western for a Tang dynasty piece.
Patrick Rothfuss - Name of the Wind. Top notch.

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana. Solid. Not a masterwork, but very good.

Phenomenal book.

 

[noble savage]

No you won't be too cynical at all. I'm the most cynical member on here(just read my 4th of July post) and people like razoredge will vouch for that. I just re-read them last year and I'm 32. You gain a new appreciation for them; but do it right.

Read them in order.

Read Autumn Twilight, then read Dwarven Depths, then when the companions get spilt up at the end of the first part of Winter Night, put that aside and read Highlord Shies, finish Winter Night, and then when Raistlin vanishes and leaves the companions to sink into the Blood Sea Of Istar at the end of the first part of Spring Dawning, it gets tricky because Hourglass Mage runs neck-and-neck with Spring Dawning and you might have to go back and forth. But finish Spring Dawning after you finish Hourglass Mage.

I believe that's the order.

I always thought that Chronicles were the first books to read in the series? Although, after browsing Amazon.com, it appears there are hundreds of them!

Thanks for the info, though. I will make an effort to read them again sometime in the near future.

Perdido is amazing. You should also read The Scar. His new one just came out, but I haven't read it yet.

(...)

I actually ordered a copy of The Scar brand new for a dollar last week! Pretty good deal, I think.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Olympos by Dan Simmons. I don't think these two books are as amazing as his 4 Hyperion novels (Come to think of it, most aren't!), but they are very solid, nonetheless.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I loved The Scar.

I just picked up Kraken at www.borderlands-books.com in SF. Hands down, the greatest book store I have ever been to. Until I open mine, that is.

 

[noble savage]

I'll definitely pick up Kraken when it comes out in (Cheaper) paperback.

I'm about halfway through Perdido Street Station now. Holy crap is this good! Some parts of it, like the "ambassadors of hell" section haven't left my brain yet. Can't wait to start The Scar!