What are you reading?

[Butchern]

I am familiar with the controversy. I'm about 75% of the way through and, honestly, I was expecting more . . . controversy. Given my expectations, I find it mild and tame and not that funny (though I suspect some of the humor is lost on me). The (almost-but-not-quite) magical realism-style dreams and visions were a lot of fun and made it worth the time. My wife says that Midnight's Children is also good and probably more accessible. We don't have it though. I'll order it next time we are at the library.

No books for the next few weeks. Second job is calling at the moment.

[Basil_Bottletop]

Wool was quite the breath of fresh air when it came to sci-fi action books. I felt the pacing to be really well done. It was slow when it needed to be slow and it was quickened when details weren't necessary. I did learn -I think from Butchie- that the prologue was the original short story that the rest of the series was based on. I don't think it diminishes the book at all knowing that little tidbit nor does it really assist in it. If anything, I know there are people out there that regularly complain that books aren't hindsight competency porn. People make mistakes and rationalize choices and all that mess and it's real. Being perfect in both retrospect and in future choices is not real and I don't really have any interest in reading about their dull lives.

 

The second book is kind of a prequel by the looks of it. I'm not going to jump into it right away, as I'm not terribly interested in that part just yet.

 

Shadow of the Gods became available to me again, so I'm diving back into that instead. Only 13 more hours to go. The first few chapters the other night were basically just me trying to remember who people were and adjusting to the accents again. I hope I didn't miss anything.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

It’s been a while, so I’m revisiting the early Robin Hobb books. Currently working my way through Assassin’s Apprentice.

Also currently reading Tanenbaum’s Modern Operating Systems for shits and giggles.

[pesukarhu]

I just finished Kaiju Preservation Society, which was light and fluffy and a lot of fun, and I'm working on Legends & Lattes, which is also pretty light and fluffy. It's summer. My partner's doing a Hugo award nominee reading group, so I mooch some books from there.

[farothel]

Currently reading Michael Shaara's 'The Killer Angels' about the battle of Gettysburg. It's the book they based the 1993 movie Gettysburg on.

[leons1701]

On Kaiju winning the Ohioanna book award this last week, Scalzi noted that it's now tied for his most awarded work, apparently people like it when he writes light and fluffy. Which, yeah dude, it's not that he can't be serious, but light and funny is always going to be his primary skill set. Which gives me definite hopes for Starter Villain later this year.

Killer Angels was excellent.

[cailano]

On 7/30/2023 at 12:59 PM, farothel said:

Currently reading Michael Shaara's 'The Killer Angels' about the battle of Gettysburg. It's the book they based the 1993 movie Gettysburg on.

Nice! That was a great film.

I'm reading Asimov's Foundation, which has been fun. My next book up is Lonesome Dove. I'm a fan of Western movies, but this will be the first Western novel I've ever picked up. But, I talked to a guy who has read hundreds of them written over many decades, and I asked him to recommend a single book for me. He answered "Lonesome Dove" without hesitation.

 

[farothel]

7 hours ago, cailano said:

Nice! That was a great film.

I'm reading Asimov's Foundation, which has been fun. My next book up is Lonesome Dove. I'm a fan of Western movies, but this will be the first Western novel I've ever picked up. But, I talked to a guy who has read hundreds of them written over many decades, and I asked him to recommend a single book for me. He answered "Lonesome Dove" without hesitation.

 

I've read the Foundation right before 'The Killer angels' (I also bought them when I was in the US as they're cheaper there).

[cailano]

Just started a re-read of Magician: Apprentice, which is the first book of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga. I read it back in the early Nineties and I don't remember much about it other than I liked it. I'm halfway through the first book now.

 

It's good! Very Tolkieneque/D&D-esqe world with elves, dwarves, goblins, and whatnot. It's well-told, and has good pacing. If anyone is up for a classic, epic fantasy read then I would recommend it.

 

Even though I don't remember the specifics of the series, I can see as I go through it how much it colored my view of what RPG settings should be like.

[leons1701]

The initial Riftwar books are really, really good. So is the Empire Trilogy, Krondor's Sons and probably Serpentwar. After that, I thought it got a bit too ridiculous and I never even finished the final trilogy.

 

And it is of course, D&D-esque precisely because it started as a D&D campaign. Or at least a homebrewed system similar to D&D.

[cailano]

For those interested, Humble Bundle has the entire Malazan series in a bundle for $18. I didn't really like the first book and never continued the series, but even I couldn't pass that deal up. I mean, you never know, right?

[cailano]

8 hours ago, leons1701 said:

The initial Riftwar books are really, really good. So is the Empire Trilogy, Krondor's Sons and probably Serpentwar. After that, I thought it got a bit too ridiculous and I never even finished the final trilogy.

 

And it is of course, D&D-esque precisely because it started as a D&D campaign. Or at least a homebrewed system similar to D&D.

I think I only read the first four books back in the day. My intention is just to re-read those, and probably the Empire Trilogy, since I already have two of the three.

I didn't know it had started as a D&D campaign, but that doesn't surprise me!

[leons1701]

5 hours ago, cailano said:

For those interested, Humble Bundle has the entire Malazan series in a bundle for $18. I didn't really like the first book and never continued the series, but even I couldn't pass that deal up. I mean, you never know, right?

Huh. Well, Malazan certainly has it's fans (and the way some of them act is part of the reason I was reluctant to read it for years). I recall thinking the first book was decent when I broke down and gave it a try, don't recall exactly why I stopped. 17 books includes all of the main series and some of the other stuff (there's a LOT of "Other Stuff", yet another reason I've been slow to give Malazan another go).

[Basil_Bottletop]

For lack of anything while I wait for some Libby holds to finally release, I've picked the Dresden Files back up with Death Masks. Let's see what Harry's been up to since last I checked in on him.

[yxanthymir]

Almost finishing The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie. Just 10 to 20 pages.

 

Time to choose the next one to read, but I will choose something different for a couple of books before returning to the series.