What are you reading? November 2018 edition

[jolhoeft]

Maybe it is time to read The Silmarillion again. The first time I read it I was expecting a novel, and it was a slog. But now I think of it as a history text and find it quite enjoyable.

 

[carrot]

Maybe it is time to read The Silmarillion again. The first time I read it I was expecting a novel, and it was a slog. But now I think of it as a history text and find it quite enjoyable.

It helps when you have read it more than once so that all the "F" character names become more distinguishable.. It took me a couple of attempts to read it all, but I thoroughly enjoyed when I did.

I feel the urge to have a re-read...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

One of the things that makes The Silmarillion so great (by my book, anyway) is that it adds whole layers of meaning and significance to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

 

[Fluerdemal]

One of the things that makes The Silmarillion so great (by my book, anyway) is that it adds whole layers of meaning and significance to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Agreed. Of course, I was also one of those kids devouring the Appendices in Return of the King - so we might be outliers...


Rereading Tolkien reminds me of the original flavor of much of my campaign world, it's been somewhat lost over the years, but I can still see hints of it when I look.


D.

 

[Janx]

Presently reading the second Destiny Aurora book by the guy who wrote Star Trek:Renegades because the wife bought the board game.

 

[Blue]

The sixth Wearing the Cape book had crossovers, and one of those was with the "Velveteen vs." short stories by Seanan McGuire. Luckily the first seven or so are free on her website to give me an idea about the characters and world. But that lead me to her first October Daye book, "Rosemary and Rue", which was only $1.99 on Amazon and I figured I'd give it a try.

So far it's pretty decent. Some fresh twists on classic fae-court-based urban fantasy. Likable characters. Some well turned phrases that make me read them out-loud to the wife.

I'm not at the end yet to give a complete review, but I'm quite happy so far.

Oh, a worry I often have with cheap books on Amazon is self-published with poor editing. That is not a concern here. (Also the rest of the series are more normally priced, I think they just discounted the first to get readers into the series.)

 

[Blue]

Finished Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire. Had some fresh twists on fae court urban fantasy, which you need since that's a common subgenre. I haven't picked up later books in the series but I'm open to it.

Also finished The Shepard's Crown, Sir Terry Pratchett's last Discworld novel. It's Discworld, Tiffany Aching, and the closure of [Spoiler Redacted]. What's not to enjoy?

Also, also finished the second book in Jacqueline Carey's Agents of Hel series, Autumn Bones, and I'm reading the third, Poison Fruit. It's entertaining, but not the same quality as her Phredre series (serieses?) which really spoiled me.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Finished Feist’s Magician: Apprentice. Good stuff, and much grander in scope than what I expected. Read Elizabeth Bear’s Bone and Jewel Creatures. A glittering and interesting novella, just the right length to get where it’s going, without sacrificing pathos and development.

Now it’s Fire & Blood, GRRM’s history of the Targaryens (part 1). So far, I’m enjoying it, but I can’t help but feel like I’m rewarding bad behavior with my purchase.

 

[Blue]

Finished the Agent of Hel trilogy. The first two books felt like she was writing a series, the last book felt like the last in a trilogy. Like there were all these long term threads for a series, and poof let's wrap them up. It was still enjoyable, but one really big payoff moment from all three felt like it zoomed by.

I'm back to Pratchett, this time reading Thief of Time. I've read it several times before - but that was before I finally decided to seriously fill in my Discworld chops (not realizing how much there was), and this time around two of the major characters are enjoyable returning characters vs. the same characters as confusing characters with complex backstories that I wasn't familiar with.

 

[Jhaelen]

I finished 'The Unconsoled' by Kazuo Ishiguro today. No big surprises there. It pretty much ended as I expected.

Next up is 'The Fifth Season', part one of the 'Broken Earth' trilogy by N. K. Jesimin.