[Dec] What are you reading?

[Claude Raines]

I just finished "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer" which is the tie-in book to Stephen King's Rose Red. (Not written by King.) It was a mediocre haunted house story, but had too many fantastical elements to adequately suspend any disbelief.

I'm now reading "Hunting Badger" by Tony Hillerman. I love his Navajo detective stories. I also have Sauron Defeated (Hist. of Middle Earth 9) on tap to be followed by Brust's Taltos. After that I'll probably read Lumley's Blood Brothers.

 

[Kesh]

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King. After that, maybe I'll finally read the Moreau Omnibus or dip into my Phillip K Dick collection. I still have some King books to catch up on, though.

 

[diaglo]

Everything is Illuminated by Safran Foer
Complete Warrior by Andy Collins

Chainmail by G & P
Booklet I Men & Magic
Booklet II Monsters & Treasure
Booklet III.....etc.....

 

[Pants]

I'm rereading A Storm of Swords in anticipation of A Feast for Crows. I hope it comes out soon.

I will, at some point, finish rereading RotK, but at this point I probably won't finish it before I see the movie.

 

[Desdichado]

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.

Yeah, I've heard a bit about that portion, and I've avoided the book for years because of it. Nonetheless, I saw it at Waldenbooks for $2.99 and I thought to myself "it's gotta be really bad to not be worth $2.99." Not only that, all the countless fans have got to be on to something although I'm not sure what. I also liked his short story in that big compilation that came out not long ago with the Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin story, the Dark Tower short story, etc. What was it called? Masters of Fantasy or something like that?

I mentioned to someone else that my reading "to do" list included Perdido Street Station followed by Wizards First Rule and they thought it odd that I was reading first a book that was really revolutionary in expanding the scope of the fantasy genre, followed by a book that was revolutionary within the scope of traditional fantasy. I don't know if he's right or not. So far Perdido Street Station is more like William Gibson on fantasy, which is interesting and I enjoy it, but I think the claims of innovative and revolutionary are a bit overstated. Then again, I'm only about 15-20% or so into the book, so it may be too early to tell.

 

[MarauderX]

I am about 100 pages into a book called "the Last Samurai". No, not the movie, at least not so far, as it deals with a woman and how she is raising a genius kid, who she makes read volumes of old works before giving in to teaching him greek. It's... interesting... not a classic, not humorous, just entertaining enough to keep reading, which is how I suspect it will end. No Tom Cruize swinging a katana around as of yet.

 

[Wolf72]

Sheri S. Tepper's True Game ... okay now that I've finally got into it a bit. I read Grass, which was okay.

 

[nHammer]

Dark Tower V: The Wolves of Calla by Stephen King

Next up..

The Scar by China Mieville

 

[Justinian]

Yeah, I've heard a bit about that portion, and I've avoided the book for years because of it. Nonetheless, I saw it at Waldenbooks for $2.99 and I thought to myself "it's gotta be really bad to not be worth $2.99." Not only that, all the countless fans have got to be on to something although I'm not sure what. I also liked his short story in that big compilation that came out not long ago with the Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin story, the Dark Tower short story, etc. What was it called? Masters of Fantasy or something like that?

I mentioned to someone else that my reading "to do" list included Perdido Street Station followed by Wizards First Rule and they thought it odd that I was reading first a book that was really revolutionary in expanding the scope of the fantasy genre, followed by a book that was revolutionary within the scope of traditional fantasy. I don't know if he's right or not. So far Perdido Street Station is more like William Gibson on fantasy, which is interesting and I enjoy it, but I think the claims of innovative and revolutionary are a bit overstated. Then again, I'm only about 15-20% or so into the book, so it may be too early to tell.

It's true, cheap books are an entirely different story. Given a sale or a used book store, many authors I wouldn't normally buy show up in my take-home list. It's probably worth $2.99, and if you're forewarned going into it, it won't be that bad. It's just...offputting at times, I guess. Legends is the collection you're thinking of, and I believe they're publishing a Legends II soon, although I may have the title wrong. It was an excellent collection.

I was not impressed with PSS either. "Revolutionary" isn't an automatic selling point for me, and I felt that it could have been more than it was. It felt like Mieville shot dozens of ideas at the reader, and developed a few into the plot. His deep background felt to me like chaos.

To contrast, there are two authors whose backgrounds, while equally deep and intricate, feel like history rather than chaos. Those authors are Steven Erikson, as I mentioned upthread, and Michelle West in her Sun Sword series, due to be completed in January of next year.

While these authors may be just as hard to casually comprehend as Mieville, it doesn't seem as random in their writing. I recommend both series.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Return of the King--gotta finish it before I see the movie.

After that, I'll probably re-read Cruddy, and then read American Gods--I think I have two copies of that.