The Books/Reading Thread

[The Ozzman]

So, you're not sticking with the Jordan series? I'm not judging, I would quit as well; I made it through the third book before I realized it wasn't worth it.

I'm gonna see how I feel after the first one. Several people tell me to read them all, but I have books I bought several years ago collecting dust and I need to read those before I start with something new in physical form. Books on my Kindle are an exception since I really only get that done while I'm doing cardio.

My goal is to read more this year, but I'm already in the middle of 5 books, so I guess I started late last year haha.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

We all know what I jerk my dick off to regarding fantasy, but so many people tell me that I have to read Glenn Cook's "The Black Company" series and I have yet to read Moorcock's "Elric" series as well. You should also crack open the occasional Howard short story.

No clue on Sci-Fi, but I enjoyed the Arthur C. Clarke that I've read (2001, 2010) and I've flipped through the first 30 or so pages of Dune and enjoyed it immensely. Shit, I may read that next.

 

[Einherjar86]

Elric is weird. I mean, it's fine for what it is, but... it's strange.

The Black Company stories are very good; I own the omnibus collection Chronicles of the Black Company, and it's great. I have The Books of the South lying around somewhere, never read them though.

Dune would definitely appeal to fans of high fantasy.

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

last week i finished The Malazan Boom of the Fallen by Steven Erikson after starting it in august. the pic is of my bookshelf which also has some other books mentioned in the last few posts. i found Malazan to be good but not great. the world is too big and around book 7 i just stopped caring about any new characters that were thrown into the mix and was rooting for them to die. Erickson is currently working on a trilogy about Kurald Galain which i'll probably read after all of them are published. i think ozzman was looking to start the series and if you do you'll need the following:

Malazan Reread of the Fallen has chapter summaries and discussions by a new reader and someone that's going through the series for a second time. going through this will probably take just as long as actually reading the books.

Malazan Wiki i had this bookmarked on my phone to get a quick refresher of characters that i didn't have a clear memory of. some characters disappear for a few books and then pop up again later

Malazan Empire forum and the Malazan subreddit to discuss shit that doesn't sense

 

[unknown]

some of my favorites. What'd you think of 2666, Ray? I've been getting into Bolano, and one of my lit friends is a HUGE Bolano nerd

 

[Einherjar86]

2666 AND House of Leaves; nice shelf Ray!

 

[J.]

Dune would definitely appeal to fans of high fantasy.

My favorite book. I've read the original Frank Herbert books multiple times. Highly recommended. A shame he passed away before he wrote DUNE 7.

the prequels and sequels written by his son are just guilty pleasure simplistic garbage. that being said, i cant get enough of the duniverse.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I don't know what I would fucking do without the Malazan Re-Read of the Fallen.

 

[tagradh]

It feels like at least 50% of the posts in this thread are about MBOTF.

 

[Westsiyeed]

Some of the books I'd recommend that have been released in the last couple of years (within the SFF genre):

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker:

The Martian by Andy Weir, a real page turner about an astronaut left marooned on Mars.

also The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber is an original sci-fi read, about Peter, a devoted Christian preacher, who takes on a mission to the planet Oasis which is settled by employees of a large corporation, but is also home to the strange native Oasan people.

The religious side of the story put me off initially, but once I started getting into the book it was immersing.

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

some of my favorites. What'd you think of 2666, Ray? I've been getting into Bolano, and one of my lit friends is a HUGE Bolano nerd

awesome book. i read it when i didn't have electricity for almost two weeks after hurricane sandy. it's a must read for those obsessed with death. The Part about the Crimes was the most brutal thing i've read.

 

[unknown]

interesting. I've been meaning to read it for a while, but it's a beast. Maybe over summer

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

is House of Leaves comprehensible? I remember seeing it and thinking it was art or something.

 

[unknown]

It is. It takes a bit to get used to, but you get the hang of it. Part of it is also figuring out what's not important to read (such as lists of names or books). It's a pretty intense book and one of my absolute favorites

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Not important? In other words, nothing?

 

[Einherjar86]

is House of Leaves comprehensible? I remember seeing it and thinking it was art or something.

I think you'd love it. It's one of the scariest books I've ever read. And one of the funniest.

 

[tagradh]

Got my Kindle back and finally finished Ancillary Justice. It grew on me in the second half. Still doesn't seem good enough to have been the first book to win the Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke awards. Feels like people got a bit carried away because it's the author's first novel, and she's a (gosh golly!) woman. Worth reading for anyone that likes authors like Iain Banks or Peter Hamilton though.

Good enough that I just ordered the sequel anyway.

Also ordered

And I read the first 50 pages of Conn Iggulden's Emperor: The Gates of Rome last night as I've had it sitting around for ages. As a story it's okay so far, but it's not the best written and I think the historical inaccuracies are going to start to bug me soon.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

It is. It takes a bit to get used to, but you get the hang of it. Part of it is also figuring out what's not important to read (such as lists of names or books). It's a pretty intense book and one of my absolute favorites

I think you'd love it. It's one of the scariest books I've ever read. And one of the funniest.

I'll definitively go to B&N, sit down and check it out.

Just finally bought Neuromancer and picked this up on a "True Detective" reading list hunt

 

[unknown]

yeah. I mean if you're on a True Detective hunt, you might as well read Thomas Ligotti (specifically The Conspiracy Against the Human Race), since Pizzolatto practically plagiarized a number of passages from it.

 

[unknown]

finished Rendezvous with Rama. I enjoyed it. It's funny how convenient everything is in some older sci-fi. Clarke's captain was a straight, intelligent male who never had any sort of internal conflict. Everybody always knew how to figure a problem out. It's also interesting looking at the political allegories in older sci-fi, especially Poul Anderson's early stuff. Very cold war.

Picked up an interesting book from City Lights when I was in SF that Ein might be interested in. It's called Wigrum. It's a story about a man who went missing, and it's told through cataloging all of his belongings (as I understand it). Check it out:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Wigrum-Daniel-Canty/dp/0889227780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421774963&sr=8-1&keywords=wigrum&pebp=1421774968570&peasin=889227780[/ame]