[September] What Are You Reading?

[Warehawk]

Would also love to find a good book about pirates (preferably a fictionalized story - I read Under the Black Flag, which is excellent, but if anyone has a suggestion for a salty old sea dog of a tale...)

Here are a couple I've read in recent years:

Mad Morgan by Kerry Newcomb

and

The Requiem Shark by Nicholas Griffin

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

It's an epic fantasy, that's for sure, with an ensemble cast. Threads of their stories weave in and out, usually changing per chapter but sometimes not.

Thanks Wayne!

 

[d4]

i finished Dune just a while back. hard to believe i've never read Dune before; finally figured it was about time.

more recently, i just finished Daniel Keys Moran's Emerald Eyes and The Long Run and am about to dive into The Last Dancer. these three books make up the beginning of his "Continuing Time" series, which IMO is one of the most interesting and innovative SF universes in print. i read "Dancer" about 8 or 9 years back without realizing it was the third book in the series. i was only recently able to pick up the earlier two.

after that, i'll most likely move on to the second Dune novel. which one is that? Children of Dune?

i'll agree with the Mean Eyed Cat's opinion of Perdido Street Station -- i read that back in January and although i still think about it on occasion, i can't really make up my mind one way or the other on it. i guess that means it was a good book.

 

[drnuncheon]

Just finished Falling Sideways by Tom Holt, and was kind of underwhelmed. It seems that you can't have a humorous British writer without comparing him to Douglas Adams, so maybe my expectations were too high - I was hoping for another Adams or Pratchett. Is his other stuff better?

Also re-read John Steakley's Vampire$.

On the list:
Guns, Germs and Steel
Anvil of the World by Kage Baker

and anxiously awaiting
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

J

 

[Zaukrie]

Liars' Oath by Elizabeth Moon. Not sure how I missed this when it came out a long time ago. I enjoy her Gird/Paks (not going to try to spell it) books.

Waiting for Lord of Castle Black by Brust to get into the library. Then, I'll read that. Though, I could use with a little less of the annoying language use. Some is good, as much as the last book was annoying, but the stories are so good I gotta read them.

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

I just finished The Light Ages, which I throughly enjoyed. I'd recommend it to fans of non-traditional fantasy such as China Mieville's books, or to alternate history fans who don't mind a bit of fantasy mixed in.

The sterling review of this book on SF Weekly by Paul DiFillipo (an accomplished SF writer himself) is what motivated me to pick it up.
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue318/books2.html

SF Site just put up a review as well: http://www.sfsite.com/09a/la159.htm

Internet reviewer dkennedy says "Ridiculously heady, raises the bar for the entire Fantasy genre; A+":
http://www.dkennedy.org/C2025243227/E1398891952/index.html

 

[JediSoth]

I just finished The Deed of Paksenarrion (a trilogy comprised of Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold), a most excellent set of fantasy novels about a young girl who becomes a mercenary to avoid an arranged marriage and eventually becomes a paladin.

I am now engrossed in my 4th or 5th reading of The Lord of the Rings. It gets better every time I read it, though there are still some chapters in Fellowship that I tend to rush through *COUGH*Bombadil*COUGH*.

JediSoth

 

[Justinian]

Just finished Falling Sideways by Tom Holt, and was kind of underwhelmed. It seems that you can't have a humorous British writer without comparing him to Douglas Adams, so maybe my expectations were too high - I was hoping for another Adams or Pratchett. Is his other stuff better?

The best Tom Holt, in my opinion, is Expecting Someone Taller. It helps if you understand Wagner's Ring cycle, though. Holt is kind of hit-or-miss overall, I think.

I'm currently in the middle of Fortress of Grey Ice, the second J.V. Jones book mentioned upthread a ways, and it's good so far. I'm probably going to break down and order the third book from the UK when it comes out this fall, rather than waiting for Tor to get it, likely next year. Edit: This has been postponed until April 2004.

Upcoming this month: Tong Lashing, the third Apropos book by Peter David, Monstrous Regiment, Paladin of Souls (the sequel to Curse of Chalion), and simply for the sake of completeness, Hybrids. Only some of those are published so far, the others coming out in the last week of September. Until then, I'm killing time rereading the Covenant books by Stephen R. Donaldson.

 

[Ruined]

I've been trudging through 'Lord of Chaos' by Robert Jordan, trying to get back into the Wheel of Time series since so many of my friends follow it. I can knock out a chapter or two a day while at work, so it will get done this way.

Think I'll look into the Black Ice books mentioned above. They look promising.

 

[javapadawan]

Currently I'm having a hard time putting down the second book of the Ice and Fire series. I bought them after hearing so much praise for them here on the boards, and only recently got a chance to start reading them.

Egads, they're good. (<- Understatement.)

Now I'm torn between devouring them as quickly as possible so I can finally read all those old threads about them with *Spoiler* in the title, or trying to enjoy them as slowly as possible, knowing I still have to wait for the fourth book...