Reading List Thread

[Northern Lights]

Today I finally finished Winter's Heart after having tried to read it for six months now... (compared to eg The Great Hunt which I finished in less than a week)The ending was probably the best part of it, though I wish Jordan would just stick to his point... He does stuff like the ending so well, why not keeping doing that and quicken the pace a little? It would work miracles, and maybe the series would regain its glory of the early days... anyway, I've whined enough about that.

Now reading: "The distant echo" - Val McDermid. She's impressed me before, and what I've read so far seems promising.

I also purchased Arabian Nights and a book containing diary entries and letters by two Swedish artist sisters who lived and worked in the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

 

[King Chaos]

Yesterday I finished Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens Of Titan". I bloody loved it. It has a philospophy of its own that is so over the top I couldnt get the grin off my face through out the whole book. Its got such an Ironic humour, and funilly enough I think it practically predicted the events of the sixties using its own explanation of the meaning of life. It's a very manageable and fun read.

Oddly enough Ive moved on from this Scifi master work to 'A Game Of Thrones', and I have to say so far its not doing much for me (the opening didn't have much bite to it and the characters weren't nearly as well developed as I thought)... but I know Im not totally in to yet because I just finished one of the best books Ill probably ever read, and anything would seem lacking in comparison. I just got to give it a bit more time I think. I cant see myself enjoying this more than Eddings' works at the moment, but we'll see... Im sure Im going to eat these words after my next read of it, which will comence in about 5 mins.

 

[Northern Lights]

@KC: 'The opening didn't have much bite'? Are you sure we read the same opening? I thought it was very captivating.

 

[hyena]

i'm still on le carrè's "absolute friends", because i'm stripped for reading time and the story is so good that i'm trying to make it last (also, contrary to what i said about films, i am actually understanding the plot eventhough it's a tangled spy story). it won't survive the end of next week tho and i'm a bit undecided, i've got de lillo waiting for me but it's a bit too disgusting for my current tastes and all the rest i've got handy is nonfiction or heavyweight classics. what i don't like about reading for purposes different than mere leisure is that of course there's going to be an all-revealing passage in a 900-page book, but it's not going to be useful if you don't receive it in the story's context... so at the end of the day i have a feeling of excessive duress, one has got to allot large quantities of their time to activites such as reading, say, dostoevskij in order to get that one brilliant, life-changing moment of clarity... it's not bad per se, but maybe a bit unfair...

 

[King Chaos]

@KC: 'The opening didn't have much bite'? Are you sure we read the same opening? I thought it was very captivating.

yeah, I just dont think I was in the mood or something... I was still tripping from Vonnegut . I read further on now and Im getting into it. I think when I finish Ill definately want to read it again... its got alot of empire this and empire that in it, and when the book is about state affairs I dont follow it aswell as when its about personnel affairs... Shit what do I know, Im prejudging it somewhat. Anyway, I do take back what I said earlier, I just had to get into it. I dont know why it took so long.

 

[Strider]

Today I finally finished Winter's Heart after having tried to read it for six months now... (compared to eg The Great Hunt which I finished in less than a week)The ending was probably the best part of it, though I wish Jordan would just stick to his point... He does stuff like the ending so well, why not keeping doing that and quicken the pace a little? It would work miracles, and maybe the series would regain its glory of the early days... anyway, I've whined enough about that.

I totally agree with you... and the problem is that Crossroads Of Twilight is more of the same... seemingly pointless meandering and then a good ending (but not as good as Winter's Heart's one)... I read that Jordan means to finish the saga in another two books... In the way he wrote the last 4 books I can't imagine how can he accomplish such an enormous task while pulling all the strings and explaining all the things he's thrown in. I don't know, but I'm afraid I'll be disappointed...

 

[rahvin]

I read that Jordan means to finish the saga in another two books... In the way he wrote the last 4 books I can't imagine how can he accomplish such an enormous task while pulling all the strings and explaining all the things he's thrown in. I don't know, but I'm afraid I'll be disappointed...

yes, i think we all share this common fear. #11 is coming out next january, and if amazon is reliable at all, the number of pages hasn't increased much. tying all the loose ends alone would probably require another lord of chaos, in terms of length. it's technically impossible to dedicate enough attention to the fate and fortune of every big character and take the plot to its ending in just another 700+700 pages. and i wish it was, because i'm not looking forward to reading another six thousand.

 

[Strider]

yes, i think we all share this common fear. #11 is coming out next january, and if amazon is reliable at all, the number of pages hasn't increased much. tying all the loose ends alone would probably require another lord of chaos, in terms of length. it's technically impossible to dedicate enough attention to the fate and fortune of every big character and take the plot to its ending in just another 700+700 pages. and i wish it was, because i'm not looking forward to reading another six thousand.

yes I too... the first books have been really really good... but the idea of waiting other six books and 15 years to see the end... gosh I think Jordan "si è fatto prendere la mano" (excuse me, non-italians, but I don't know the english expression... rahvin please help me!!!!) well let's hope for the better... in any case, we still have Martin, haven't we?

 

[rahvin]

gosh I think Jordan "si è fatto prendere la mano" (excuse me, non-italians, but I don't know the english expression... rahvin please help me!!!!)

"he got a little carried away" seems an ok way of putting it, imo.

 

[Strider]

"he got a little carried away" seems an ok way of putting it, imo.

"he got a little carried away"! how come I didn't think of it? maybe it is the monday morning syndrome...

 

[Lost To Apathy]

Atheism - The Case Against God / George Smith

dunno why I got that book, but it's an interesting read, haven't finished it yet though.

And I'm gonna try to go over The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy once more, it's brilliant.

EDIT: I now know exactly why I got that book!

WORRY THEE, ATHEIST! CHRIST IS COMING!!, October 30, 2004

Reviewer: Wes (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
AND WHEN HE AND THE FATHER ARRIVE, THEY WILL TORTURE YOU FOR REFUSING TO BELIEVE! IF YOU WANT TO BE SAVED, DO THE FOLLOWING: GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT, BURST YOUR EARDRUMS, AND CUT YOUR THROAT. OBEDIENCE IS KEY! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, GOD LOVES YOU! HE JUST WANTS YOU TO LOVE HIM (AND WORSHIP...AND ADORE...AND DEFEND...AND GLORIFY...AND HONOR...AND RESPECT HIM!!) SO DO IT NOW ATHEIST! GOD WILL SHOWETH NO MERCY TO THOSE SHEEP WHO WILL NOT FOLLOW! JESUS IS LORD!! HE IS RISEN!!!!

 

[Naku ist krig]

I decided that it´s my time to participate:
I am currently reading "Deliver us from love" (for Danes "Fri os fra kærligheden") by Suzanne BroØgger.

The writer, BrØgger, is -or at least was- a quite radical female (her gender drips from the lines). The book is written 1973, so it might be that she has changed her ideals by the time that has ran or it might be that she has not - I don´t know.
In this book she has so far (I´ve about 3/4) attacked against nuclear family, private life, ideal of naturality and monogamiousity (sorry about that - new word and I don´t know how to handle it), and with attacking I don´t mean mindless M60 -fire, but a blow in the basement (to make the building collapse - yeah it´s like a game). In other words, she has found the words to make her ideas to make sense.

The book is about 200 pages long, and partly translated to quite weird form (plain mistakes?).
I am reading the finnish version so do not worry - I don´t think there will be any fuck ups in other versions of the book.

 

[La Rocque]

Currently reading Tommy Land by Tommy Lee , pure mayhem

 

[hyena]

i've finished "beijing doll" by chun sue. it's pretty standard as far as coming-of-age stories go, and i don't think i will be reading another similar one anytime soon because i've had my fill of that type of book, but it gives interesting insights on contemporary beijing. i didn't even know it had a large local punk scene.

 

[Dark_Jester]

Finished reading Joseph Goldblatz's 'The Law of Armed Conflict'. Legal text, but very interesting, and gives much more insight to the current world situation.

 

[Northern Lights]

Ben: You actually read it all? Now, get back to "A game of thrones" before I slap you

I just finished David Eddings' "The Diamond Throne" which I found very very enjoyable, and I shall now attempt to move on to the second book, provided I can find it somewhere. Started on "Crossroads of twilight" and it's already trying my patience... and that's just the prologue.

 

[hyena]

i'm on john le carre's "the russia house", but i don't really have time for reading so i'm only having little snippets at mealtimes... which completely ruins the experience of a spy story. i guess i'll devote a part of the weekend to the book, which seems (expectedly) to be extremely good.

 

[Hitori]

I'm being forced to read "Dragonlance" by my 11 year old brother, who asks me what part I'm in each time we talk. It's so bad it's... I wish I could say "good" here, but I can't. It's just so, so, bad, so full of clichés, and most of all SO CHEESY (the "wedding" was so cheesy it should have a new adjective just for it). Scratch that, all "love" scenes are cheesy, and this is coming from the cheesiest most romantic-comedyish person possible.
It has a couple of ok characters but I just wish the rest would all painfully die. Of course, the few times they ARE dying and I'm celebrating, they're brought back to life
All in all, i don't need to be a literature student to say this is one of the crappiest most poorly written series I've ever come across with.
But I'm sort of enjoying reading it, in a very typical-masochist-me way, and then ranting about how much it sucks to innocent people.

edit: I keep editing as I forget important things to hate about it. Worse, I'm readng the "annotated version" which is full of stupid comments by the authors on how much they resemble Tolkien here and there.

 

[Rusty]

I'm being forced to read "Dragonlance" by my 11 year old brother, who asks me what part I'm in each time we talk. It's so bad it's... I wish I could say "good" here, but I can't. It's just so, so, bad, so full of clichés, and most of all SO CHEESY (the "wedding" was so cheesy it should have a new adjective just for it). Scratch that, all "love" scenes are cheesy, and this is coming from the cheesiest most romantic-comedyish person possible.
It has a couple of ok characters but I just wish the rest would all painfully die. Of course, the few times they ARE dying and I'm celebrating, they're brought back to life
All in all, i don't need to be a literature student to say this is one of the crappiest most poorly written series I've ever come across with.
But I'm sort of enjoying reading it, in a very typical-masochist-me way, and then ranting about how much it sucks to innocent people.

I think you suck. Though there is clearly better fantasy out there... if people don't start reading Robin Hobb soon, I'm going to get really quite annoyed.

edit: I keep editing as I forget important things to hate about it. Worse, I'm readng the "annotated version" which is full of stupid comments by the authors on how much they resemble Tolkien here and there.

Eurgh. Well that does sound a bit crap. It serves you right for not liking the rest of it though.

EDIT: Come to think of it, you may want to try the second trilogy at some point, if you can borrow it from someone. It's much less cheese-filled, has a better storyline, and is less cliched.

 

[Hitori]

oh no, not you too
that is the worst part: that so many people whose judgment i usually trust say it's so good! but please!

ok here I was going to type an example of a cheesy part but it would be going to too much trouble. let's talk about it next time we're on MSN

ps. i do not suck!