[Dec] What are you reading?

[Krug]

Still reading Perdido Street Station. Truly brilliant. I wasn't so impressed by King Rat, but this is amazing.

Also received Blankets, a mini phone book sized graphic novel by Craig Thompson. Only read the initial parts. Also quite amazing.

Next up is probably Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland, a samurai detective story thing.

 

[WayneLigon]

I finished The Last Coin, then cast about for something else. Tried The Digging Leviathan and The Fifth Ring (got about a chapter or two into each) before I decided on War of the Flowers by Tad Williams. Stand-alone book. So far, pretty darn good.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Currently I'm reading Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship by Colin Duriez. Wow! Its a great read, about the friendship the two of them shared, their influences on each others writings, and the Inklings, their shared literary circle at Oxford. I knew that they had both read and commented on each others writings, but had no idea just how much of an influence each had, despite their widely different views on many issues.

 

[CCamfield]

Lion's Blood, alternate history by Steven Barnes. Pretty good so far, but as some of the altered bits in history are revealed (Alexander the Great didn't die when he did historically) some things sound very unconvincing ("Greek" steamships c 400 AD?! Dubious.).

 

[Desdichado]

Just finished the first Dark●Matter novel, now I'm about 20% into Perdido Street Station myself. After that, I've got Wizard's First Rule on deck. I'm also re-reading the Riftwar Saga, and I've already hit the first three, so The Darkness at Sethanon will be making an appearance sometime soon. I might also reread some of my old Barsoom books soon -- those are always pretty fun.

EDIT: Oh, and also a book on the discovery of exoplanets, translated from the French. Can't remember the title, though.

 

[Wombat]

Just finished An Eye of the Fleet by Richard Woodman (I'm a sucker for Napoleonic-era naval books). Nicely written, although the point-of-view scurries around like a scared rabbit, which tends to annoy me. Also read Wilbur Smith's River God -- reminds me a lot of a book about the Aztec's I read years ago -- seems to be fairly well-researched with an overly lurid bodice-ripper-and-gratuitous-violence plot that is, at best, embarrassing.

Now starting K.J. Parker's "The Fencer Trilogy" -- Colours in the Steel, The Belly of the Bow, and The Proof House. A friend recommended this to me as good "realistic fantasy" books. The first one is running along smoothly with some great characters and a LOT of information on siege warfare.

 

[kingpaul]

Well, I just finished the LotR thrilogy...again. I'll probably start reading the ENWorld selection soon...can't recall its name, but I did buy it already.

 

[Asmo]

Dave Duncans highly enjoyable "A tale of the King´s Blades" series.
Sword and Sorcery at it´s best!!

Asmo

 

[Justinian]

Lion's Blood, alternate history by Steven Barnes.

I just finished that myself, in fact. Barnes was at a recent convention here in Portland, and so I wanted to read one of his books. I liked it, mostly, although some of the alternate history, as you mentioned, was a little odd. Mozart? I don't think he would show up as such...

After that, I've got Wizard's First Rule on deck.

I just have to say that this book is one of the examples of bad writing that I sometimes tell people about. First, it's very stereotypical fantasy. Don't expect much new here in terms of ideas. Except for the...less board-friendly elements, let's say, that Goodkind dropped into the middle of his book. There's an extended portion that didn't do much for the story, other than make me wince. That said, Goodkind can write stereotypical fantasy as well as anyone. Until around book three or four, when he takes a break to rip off Jordan for a little while. This is about when I gave up.


On topic, I've just blazed through the Malazan books by Steven Erikson. They're from the UK, and hard to get, but worth it. I had tried before to read the series, but couldn't get through the first book. Once I made it halfway in, though, it really turned around. Next book comes out in the spring of 2004, and I'll be waiting. Definitely recommended, but they're not an easy read.

Next up for me is the sequel to The Praxis, which is called The Sundering. By Walter Jon Williams, these are the first two books of a space empire epic. This is another UK book, but that's why amazon.co.uk is my friend.

Later this month, Mike Stackpole's The Grand Conspiracy will be out. I've been waiting for this book since one year ago, when I finished the previous on in the series. This one will complete his DragonCrown trilogy.

Also later this month, The Destroyer Goddess will be published. This is the third book in a series by Laura Resnick. The first two are In Fire Forged and The White Dragon. It's excellent so far, and includes some characters that you can almost see in a D&D world.

What am I reading right now? Well...not much. I plan to pick up Impossible Odds soon, which is in Dave Duncan's King's Blade series that Asmo mentioned. But I really don't have anything right now, other than the CD of David Drake's previous books that came with The Far Side of the Stars. Most of his stuff I've read before, but I've gone back and reread some of it.

 

[roytheodd]

I'm reading "The Once and Future King"... yeah it's because I saw it in X-Men 2. Im' about 150 pages in and so far King Arthur is still a child and the book is actually somewhat dull. I like the author's sense of humor and all, but I wish the story moved along rather than just the social satire.