Now Reading...

[Rakosh]

I just got started on "Duma Key." Slow start, I still haven't figured out where its going...

Next up is probably "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. Anyone?

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is excellent! The use of language alone is worth reading and re-reading. (I've read it twice so far). Highest recommendations.

Right now I'm working on The Unblemished by Conrad Williams. This a complete throwback to early Clive Barker circa The Books of Blood. Pretty good for what it is so far--porn for horror lovers. Just how many bloody and disgusting images can you really get per page?? I don't know, but Williams is trying to find out!

 

[OrbWeaver]

Hell, if you like her stuff, don't feel guilty about supporting her or buying her books!

I just wandered away when it seemed like EVERY book she was writing
a) involved birds in some way, shape or form, often in the title
b) was co-written with at least one, sometimes two other people, and
c) had so many italics and Creeping Capitalization, it drove me batty.


I didn't notice some of the dreaded CCs had crept into her stuff as early as the Last Herald-Mage series...until I re-read it recently. Blargh.

I've noticed B alot, but not so much A and C. My first exposure to birds at all has been in Wizard of London.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I should re-read Romance of the Three Kingdoms at some point. Excellent Chinese folk history.

 

[Yippee38]

they're missing a lot of major authors, and what they do have, is often only pieces of trilogies and series.

I hate when they only have the most recent book from a series. ARGH!

Do I have any room on the bookshelves for them? NO. I suspect another paperback cull is in order, because there isn't really room for another bookshelf, either...

We have that problem too. All of our bookshelves are full and we have no room for new bookshelves.

 

[Pellaz]

I just wandered away when it seemed like EVERY book she was writing
a) involved birds in some way, shape or form, often in the title
b) was co-written with at least one, sometimes two other people, and
c) had so many italics and Creeping Capitalization, it drove me batty.

I've noticed B alot, but not so much A and C. My first exposure to birds at all has been in Wizard of London.

To wit -- book titles copied from Amazon:

• The Phoenix Unchained
• Phoenix And Ashes
• Firebird
• The White Gryphon
• The Silver Gryphon
• The Black Gryphon
• Owlflight
• Owlknight
• Owlsight <--- bet you didn't see THAT coming
• The Eagle and the Nightingales
• The Robin and the Kestrel
• The Lark and the Wren
• A Cast Of Corbies
• Four and Twenty Blackbirds
• Black Swan
• Freedom Flight (Wing Commander 1) <--- okay, that might be a stretch
• Flights of Fantasy (ed.)

I rest my case.

She's for the birds!

 

[OrbWeaver]

Well technically, Gryphons aren't birds.

But yes, I see what you mean. However, doesn't she have like, a bajillion other books that do not have birds in the title? But yes, Lackey does loves her sum burdes. LOLZ.


But I finished Wizard of London and am now on to Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

 

[SkiBumMSP]

Just finished When True Night Falls by C.S. Friedman, which is the second book of the Coldfire Trilogy. Now waiting for Borders to get their shit together and send me the third book, Crown of Shadows that I ordered a week and half ago! In meantime, I am reading this book called Future Net which is a collection of short stories about computers, cyberspace and that sort of stuff. Pretty neat, though, but nothing really gripping. If and when that damn book that I ordered comes in and I finish reading it, I'll start into the Mars trilogy. I had all three of the books (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) for sometime, but just never had the chance to read them. Basically, I am going through a stack of books that I've had laying around here that I've been meaning to read, but finally getting to them. The only thing was that I had the first book of the Coldfire trilogy, called Black Sun Rising, but got so engrossed with it that I had to go read the other two books, which I didn't already have, thus needed to buy them (and like I said above, still awaiting for that third book to arrive that I ordered over a week ago).

 

[Kenneth R.]

Robinson's Mars Trilogy is excellent. A little slow at times, but very realistic, and the most potent aspect of it is the accuracy of his predictions and the way he envisioned social and political dynamics. Great writer.

 

[Pellaz]

Kim Stanley Robinson, right? He's on a lecture tour right now, btw -- he's making a stop here in Atlanta soon, at Georgia Tech.

 

[Yippee38]

JThe only thing was that I had the first book of the Coldfire trilogy, called Black Sun Rising, but got so engrossed with it that I had to go read the other two books, which I didn't already have, thus needed to buy them (and like I said above, still awaiting for that third book to arrive that I ordered over a week ago).

That's a really good series! I've read it many times. Rumor is that she is going to do more with that world. She has a new book out that I saw in the store. It too looks intriguing.

 

[The_Q]

Not sure if this series has been discussed yet as this thread is now 18 pages long. Anone ever read Enders Game by Orson Scott Card and the subsequent others in the series? Enders Game is a masterpiece!!!

 

[Cheiron]

Ender's Game is alright. But I tend to hate child geniuses/heroes.

 

[spag]

I really liked Ender's Game, and I'm the same way about the child genius thing. The second book was torture for me to finish. I mean, WTF. The third book I couldn't make it through. I started it hoping it might make up for the second.... Nope.

Lets just say that the rest of the books are nothing like the first. Unless I'm wrong and it changes later on in the series.

 

[Pellaz]

I thought Ender's Game was decent, but I didn't think it deserved to win the Hugo that year (either Footfall or The Postman were better IMHO). As for Speaker to the Dead, I reallly didn't think it deserved to win the Hugo either, but alas, that was a weak year for novel nominees.

Hugo Award info, courtesy of the great Locus magazine: http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/HugoNomList.html

 

[OrbWeaver]

Trying very hard to finish Dark Warrior Rising by Ed Greenwood. But so far this premise is so trite and overdone. It's basically a storry about the drow. But they're NOT drow. This is a whole DIFFERENT world, and even though these elves are ebony skinned and live underground, they worship two different deieties. Never mind that they're chaotic, bent on the downfall of other houses, and are looking to further the goals of their own houses. Just like the Drow in Forgotten Realms. But these aren't drow. Really. *eyeroll*

 

[LunaTEKKE]

I have VACATION coming up in March (woo hoo!), so I picked up some beach reading...

Katherine Kurtz - Childe Morgan
Michael Crichton - Next
Jimmy Buffett - Where Is Joe Merchant?

Just got back from vacation (Wailea for my sister’s wedding and then Waikiki Beach for a week) and got through all of the above, plus:

Re-read “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason”
Odd Thomas (good rec from this board – I read this one on the plane ride home)

Vacation rocks!! I think I need to start playing the lottery to finance my early retirement plan.

Next up is “The New Earth” from Eckhart Tolle…a couple of the wedding guests were raving about this, so I picked it up to see what all the fuss was about...

 

[Pellaz]

I finished Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Blood Games -- which was excellent -- and randomy grabbed Anne McCaffrey's The Skies of Pern to read next.

Both are now scheduled to be guests at Dragon*Con this year. The con has really ramped up its literary guestlist this year, which is awesome. And long overdue.

 

[jaimek]

A note about Anne McCaffrey based on my experience last year - she's old, frail, and often wheelchair-bound, and the people who watch over her can sometimes be very strict and change the rules on short notice - but sometimes in a good way. They initially announced that instead of the standard three books, she would only sign two books per person. When I was three people away, they changed it to ONE book. I went "omg do I be selfish and get Art of Michael Whelan signed for myself because I'll probably never see her again or should I be a good daughter and get this one signed for my mother?" and pondering just how much my mom would want an autographed book (I should note that Anne McCaffrey's books were in the house longer than I'd been alive). Anyway, I got to the front of the line still juggling the books and the lady controlling the line smiled at me and told me to go ahead and give her both.

Her son can't write for crap, but he's a nice guy and an entertaining panelist.

 

[Pellaz]

A note about Anne McCaffrey based on my experience last year - she's old, frail, and often wheelchair-bound, and the people who watch over her can sometimes be very strict and change the rules on short notice - but sometimes in a good way. They initially announced that instead of the standard three books, she would only sign two books per person. When I was three people away, they changed it to ONE book. I went "omg do I be selfish and get Art of Michael Whelan signed for myself because I'll probably never see her again or should I be a good daughter and get this one signed for my mother?" and pondering just how much my mom would want an autographed book (I should note that Anne McCaffrey's books were in the house longer than I'd been alive). Anyway, I got to the front of the line still juggling the books and the lady controlling the line smiled at me and told me to go ahead and give her both.

Her son can't write for crap, but he's a nice guy and an entertaining panelist.

Yep, Todd's a nice chap. He was always very cool to my then-homeless friend Moebius, who somehow managed to attend almost every WorldCon.

It's a shame that Anne has become so frail. I'll never forget the time I drove her and her sister back to the airport here after Dragon*Con 1989. At the airport, her sister -- who was around the same age as Anne -- got separated from us during the security screening, and so Anne was really fretting as we waited at the gate, we paged her sister several times, etc.
Finally with only a few minutes to spare, up comes one of those electric carts with her sister riding in back. "Hi, sis! This has been so much fun! Thanks for the ride, sonny!"

Anne and I exchanged a furtive glance, managed to smile at her sister, and forebore to mention how frantic we had been.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I'm currently reading "To Kill A Mockingbird".

~Brian~