Now Reading...

[ashaman7122]

Well...The Girl In The Plain Brown Wrapper (McGee #10) was a huge disappointment in a series that had only been gaining strength. The first third of the book was top-notch, but it just fell into boring, senseless, unnecessary complexity with a bunch of no-face characters thrown in to muddy the proceedings...bleach! Hope the next one is better.

After getting so wound up about the new HBO series, I dug out my copy of Game Of Thrones to start...but I got sidetracked...

Currently up -- Excellent Cadavers-The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic: I survived the brilliant chaos that was Gomorrah by Saviano, and this was recommended as a logical step back into the twisted world of the Italian mob. Mind-boggling stuff!

 

[Magius]

Ian C. Esslemont: Return of the Crimson Guard

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

Damage by John Lescroat.

 

[TheLongshot]

Finished off Terry Pratchett's Jingo. As with most of the Watch books, there is a dark edge to everything. I guess the same goes with the Witches books as well, but I better relate to Vimes than I do to Granny Weatherwax.

Next up is SM Sterling's "In The Courts Of The Crimson Kings".

 

[Bamafan]

Just finished Michael Connelly's The Reversal. It was pretty typical Connelly: fast paced, tightly written, with limited character development. I am working on Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy. This is my first Clancy novel in years, so I'm interested to see if he has his mojo back.

 

[RagePSV]

Just finished Michael Connelly's The Reversal. It was pretty typical Connelly: fast paced, tightly written, with limited character development. I am working on Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy. This is my first Clancy novel in years, so I'm interested to see if he has his mojo back.

Ha! It's Clancy's first novel in years also. It's on my list, I'll get to it eventually.

 

[booB]

Finally read the Rothfuss sample from Name of the Wind, and while it's not the most original thing in the world, it was incredibly well-written. Seriously, the fantasy genre is sorely in need of wordsmiths like this guy. Promising.

Putting it in the queue for after I *finally* finish the First Law trilogy. Also threw my chips on the table and preordered the digital edition of the new GRRM book.

 

[Pellaz]

Finished off Terry Pratchett's Jingo. As with most of the Watch books, there is a dark edge to everything. I guess the same goes with the Witches books as well, but I better relate to Vimes than I do to Granny Weatherwax.

No kiddin'! While I like both the Watch-based books and the witches books, I like the former more. It kinda helps that Ankh-Morpork is a GREAT setting for...almost anything.

The only two Discworld books that disappointed me have been Feet of Clay (somewhat) and Unseen Academicals (majorly).

Ha! It's Clancy's first novel in years also. It's on my list, I'll get to it eventually.

Ah, so he DID write it? It's not some weird "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" spinoff?

 

[OrbWeaver]

The only two Discworld books that disappointed me have been Feet of Clay (somewhat) and Unseen Academicals (majorly).

Eric is the only Discworld book that disappointed me. Unseen Academicals was somewhat rambly, which I wonder if that's a direct result of the Alzheimer's. :/

 

[Cronopio]

LOVED Under the Dome. The only thing better than a good Stephen King novel is a 1000-page good Stephen King novel.

You probably already know this, but still:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11/22/63

 

[Justin G]

You probably already know this, but still:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11/22/63

Very cool. I had not heard about that. Kind of reminds me of "The Killing Hand" from Dream Theater's debut.

 

[Pellaz]

Eric is the only Discworld book that disappointed me.

Well, I kinda regard Eric as a sort of Discworld EP.

Unseen Academicals was somewhat rambly, which I wonder if that's a direct result of the Alzheimer's. :/

Good point.

*sigh*

 

[TheLongshot]

No kiddin'! While I like both the Watch-based books and the witches books, I like the former more. It kinda helps that Ankh-Morpork is a GREAT setting for...almost anything.

Which is probably why most of the later books are set in Ankh-Morpork. (Tho, it sounds like the new one will be an exception, taking Vimes outside of Ankh-Morpork)

I started off with Wyrd Sisters, which I really couldn't get a hold of the tone, which sometimes it wanted to be silly and sometimes it wanted to be dead serious. I don't know if Terry got a better handle on it in other books, or if I just got used to it.

The only two Discworld books that disappointed me have been Feet of Clay (somewhat) and Unseen Academicals (majorly).

Feet of Clay wasn't disappointing at all to me. I haven't read Unseen yet, and my wife isn't unbiased enough to give me a fair review. (In her mind, Terry can do no wrong.)[/quote]

Eric is the only Discworld book that disappointed me. Unseen Academicals was somewhat rambly, which I wonder if that's a direct result of the Alzheimer's. :/

I can't remember enough to Eric to remember if it was any good.

As for Unseen, my understanding is that Terry really struggled with that book because of his Alzheimers, so much so that he was considering hanging it up. Since then he's hired someone to take notes and keep his thoughts in order. That being said, even imperfect Discworld novels are better than no Discworld novels.

 

[OrbWeaver]

I can't remember enough to Eric to remember if it was any good.

As for Unseen, my understanding is that Terry really struggled with that book because of his Alzheimers, so much so that he was considering hanging it up. Since then he's hired someone to take notes and keep his thoughts in order. That being said, even imperfect Discworld novels are better than no Discworld novels.

Eric = Faust, discworld style.


He did struggle with it. I remember there was a paragraph-long dedication at the start (or at the end?) of the book thanking the person who sat at the computer and typed, while Pratchett dictated.

I really hope he keeps writing Discworld novels with help, and that his help is able to keep it from being too rambly or disjointed. I will be very sad the day Terry's words are silenced.

 

[Bamafan]

No kiddin'! While I like both the Watch-based books and the witches books, I like the former more. It kinda helps that Ankh-Morpork is a GREAT setting for...almost anything.

The only two Discworld books that disappointed me have been Feet of Clay (somewhat) and Unseen Academicals (majorly).



Ah, so he DID write it? It's not some weird "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" spinoff?

This one is the real Tom Clancy. I'm about 1/4 of the way through. It certainly doesn't break any new ground, but it is entertaining.

 

[booB]

1/4 of the way through Last Argument of Kings, the First Law series is *finally* getting really good. This is the most interesting stuff to happen since the whole Glotka/Dagoska scenario from the first book. I was ready to write this series off after the lackluster second book, but it seems there will be a payoff coming.

I'm not sure I would go out of my way to read anything further by Abercrombie, but at least I no longer feel like I wasted a bunch of time.

 

[Akumu]

Aww, I liked Eric. The only Pratchett novel that I've been unimpressed with so far is Making Money, but that's probably because I didn't read Going Postal beforehand, so I was rather lost. D: I'll pick it up again sometime.

Just finished The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany - apparently this caused a huge scandal in Egypt upon publication, and I can see why, but wow, this was a downer. The prose (even in translation) was beautiful, though, so I'm torn between liking it because of the writing and never wanting to pick it up again because of the harsh subject matter.

I picked up The Wise Man's Fear last week, but I'm waiting on another book in the mail first.

 

[jaimek]

Finally read the Rothfuss sample from Name of the Wind, and while it's not the most original thing in the world, it was incredibly well-written. Seriously, the fantasy genre is sorely in need of wordsmiths like this guy. Promising.

That was my reaction when I first read it as well - it doesn't break much new ground as a standard bildungsroman, but I rarely see the English language wielded with as much grace and humor and sheer enjoyment as Rothfuss.

I'm not far into Wise Man's Fear (maybe a fifth?) but so far this continues to hold true - I'm waiting for something to HAPPEN, but I'm enjoying the read nonetheless.

 

[metalprof]

bildungsroman

Great name for a new black metal band.

Ken

 

[Perditions Ghost]

Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov.

After Lolita was such a fantastic experience to read, I needed more Nabokov. As luck would have it, suddenly other Nabokov books were on the shelves at my local Borders. Have three others lined up after this, but wanted to start with Ada, which, the first four chapters aside, has been superb so far.