What Are You Reading, Part 2

[+Sorana]

@Ammanas

I think the discussion fits better here

I know both series by Tad Williams you mentioned already. Although I only read a translated version I borrowed from a friend.

[Ammanas]

Did you read both? What did you think of them? I hesitate to recommend  them because they do require a certain type of reader. If you expect rapid plot advancement you will be very disappointed! I wonder if the authors style comes across in the translated editions...

Edited January 19, 2019 by Ammanas

[+Sorana]

From experience I would suspect a lot of his style was lost when it was translated (which is why I usually prefer to read the original version).

To answer your questions:

Yes, I read them both and I enjoyed them a lot. They were a tad slow, but the world and the characters were worth it. Especially the ending - it's not that it was unexpected, but the way he wrote it touched me. Though I have to admit it's been a few years and I mostly remember the ending.

[Orlion Blight]

On 1/13/2019 at 3:22 AM, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Did you finish this yet? If so, what did you think?

It's one of my all time favorite books.

Any book that has a serious character who happens to be an associate of the devil and also happens to be a cat wearing pince nez is worth a read in my book.

If you're a fan of deal with the devil Faustian bargain stories, you should check out Peter Sclemiel by Aldebert Von Chamisso, it's about a guy who sold his shadow to the Devil for a pair of 5 league boots.

I'm reading Stonewielder right now, and just got some info about the mysterious Ruthan Gud. Very interesting...

Also reading the Johnny Dixon books by John Bellairs with my daughter. Those books are awesome and Edward Gorey's illustrations are so beautifully rendered, atmospheric, and creepy.

I had actually lost it for a bit, but am back to reading it. So far, I like the whimsical, magic-realism aspect of it. Reminds me why I somewhat detest the current trend to "explain everything" regarding magic. It can really strip the soul out of writing when you try to turn magic into physics. 

I had just finished Venusburg by Anthony Powell. 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

@TheOoklaThatComesBefore, let me know when you're done reading Master and Margarita, it has one of my favorite scenes of any book in it and it would be fun to hear what you thought of it.

Also, have you read Murakami's Kafka on the Shore? It has a scene that reminds me an awful lot of Woland from M&M, and it's an amazing book and not nearly as bleak as the Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Honestly, my favorite Murakami book is Hard Boiled Wonderland / End of the World, especially the End of the World portion.

Just read about Venusberg, sounds like an interesting book, I'll check it out when I take my daughter to the bookstore to get some more Diary of a Minecraft Zombie (which I'm going to be reading the first volume of, because it comes highly recommended).

[Orlion Blight]

6 minutes ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

@TheOoklaThatComesBefore, let me know when you're done reading Master and Margarita, it has one of my favorite scenes of any book in it and it would be fun to hear what you thought of it.

Also, have you read Murakami's Kafka on the Shore? It has a scene that reminds me an awful lot of Woland from M&M, and it's an amazing book and not nearly as bleak as the Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Honestly, my favorite Murakami book is Hard Boiled Wonderland / End of the World, especially the End of the World portion.

Just read about Venusberg, sounds like an interesting book, I'll check it out when I take my daughter to the bookstore to get some more Diary of a Minecraft Zombie (which I'm going to be reading the first volume of, because it comes highly recommended).

I am just going through an Anthony Powell phase. His best work is, of course, the 12 part A Dance to the Music of Time. So far, the other two novels I've read of his are fun, if a bit problematic

Spoiler

In Afternoon Men, we have the funniest suicide jokes I've ever read...so there's that to consider. 

But if you don't care too much about that, they are pretty funny comedies of manners. I would call Afternoon Men a funny The Sun Also Rises, especially if Hemingway did not take himself so seriously and believed his own hype. 

[Ammanas]

To be honest I have never heard of Anthony Powell, but upon looking it up it kind of reminds me of Prout's In Search of Lost Time or Rememberance of Things Past (depending on the translation). I was wondering if you have ever read the Proust's work and if so what are your thoughts on it?

Edited January 20, 2019 by Ammanas

[Orlion Blight]

38 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

To be honest I have never heard of Anthony Powell, but upon looking it up it kind of reminds me of Prout's In Search of Lost Time or Rememberance of Things Past (depending on the translation). I was wondering if you have ever read the Proust's work and if so what are your thoughts on it?

I have not read Proust yet, but Powell was certainly an admirer. There is even an excerpt of In Search of Lost Time in one of the books of A Dance to the Music of Time.

From that excerpt, Powell's writing is not nearly as stylish. 

I do own a translation of Rembrance of Things Past and plan on reading it, I'm just not sure when. Then I can enter the All-England Summarize Proust Competition! 

 

[Mini Beans]

What you see is what you get - by Alan Sugar
recommend

[Briar King]

Cracked open the beast that is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms omni. Only 1400+pgs. My hands are going to hurting over the next month or so.

[+Wax]

15 hours ago, Briar King said:

Cracked open the beast that is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms omni. Only 1400+pgs. My hands are going to hurting over the next month or so.

You have it in you... you are probably the most prolific reader in the thread!

[Jaywalk]

Finished Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series, and I just started Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. It’s really good so far, though I’m only 50 pages in. Interesting magic, well-developed world, relatable characters...the list goes on.

After that, it’s on to Archenemies, the second book in Marissa Meyer’s Renegades series, and then on to The Expanse series.

[Briar King]

Little over 100 pages into Inheritance 1. I must say that I’m enjoying it but it doesn’t hold a candle to sheer lvl of love I had for Broken Earth by that point. I would very likely be much further in by now but I have been devoting most of my free time to Xenoblades 1&2 past few days.

[Orlion Blight]

I had finished The Master and Margarita a few days agone. Twas fantastic, almost the perfect novel for me! 

Am now reading The Devil's Dance by Hamid Ismailov.

[Sunbird]

Finally got my hands on a library copy of Vengeful by V.E. Schwab! Less than 100 pages in so far, but already enjoying it.

[Wander89]

Have currently just finished my re-read of Elantris and White Sand. First re-read of the entire series and am picking up little bits & pieces scattered throughout the Cosmere that I didn't before which is fantastic! Also currently reading some Paul Tremblay novels. The guy does horror so grittingly squeamish. A Head Full Of Ghosts is a masterpiece!

[+Wax]

Finished the broken earth trilogy.  Good writing, a bit melancholy and a truly alien experience.

[Ammanas]

I recently tried Broken Earth again and just have admit it isn't for me. It's a shame because I can tell the writer is very talented, but as you said its just too melancholy for me. It opens up with a child being beaten to death by the father's bare hands and a girl being abused by her parents before a stranger takes her away. I just couldn't take anymore.  I thought I was a calloused reader, but I just started feeling down while reading it. I'm in line for her hundred thousand kingdoms series so perhaps that will be more to my taste.

[Orlion Blight]

11 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

I recently tried Broken Earth again and just have admit it isn't for me. It's a shame because I can tell the writer is very talented, but as you said its just too melancholy for me. It opens up with a child being beaten to death by the father's bare hands and a girl being abused by her parents before a stranger takes her away. I just couldn't take anymore.  I thought I was a calloused reader, but I just started feeling down while reading it. I'm in line for her hundred thousand kingdoms series so perhaps that will be more to my taste.

For a pick up my mood book, you should read what I'm reading now: 

Positive Nihilism: My Confrontation With Heidegger by a Hartmut Lange 

[Jaywalk]

I’m about halfway through The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. So far it’s in the running for my top five favorite books. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that induces such a sense of wonder. And the writing? It’s beautiful.

[Dunkum]

5 hours ago, Ammanas said:

I recently tried Broken Earth again and just have admit it isn't for me. It's a shame because I can tell the writer is very talented, but as you said its just too melancholy for me. It opens up with a child being beaten to death by the father's bare hands and a girl being abused by her parents before a stranger takes her away. I just couldn't take anymore.  I thought I was a calloused reader, but I just started feeling down while reading it. I'm in line for her hundred thousand kingdoms series so perhaps that will be more to my taste.

I'm working on the first book of Broken Earth, and I have to say while I can get past that, the fact that every other chapter is in second person is kinda bugging me.

[Use the Falchion]

Anthony Ryan's Empire of Ashes, with a desire to reread Star Wars Dark Disciple again. But I can really only focus on one book at a time. 

[SandersonFanderson]

Keeper of the Lost Cities book 2, also Legion

[Draginon]

Finished reading A Game of Thrones last night. My review for this series is going to be structured differently from the others I've done since these books have clear breaking points with the POVs and each POV tends to be it's own story with a little crossover happening so I'm going to give my thoughts on each POV character and the story being told with them. I will have to pick my battles on the story part since some aren't completely told from that POV (like Eddard in King's Landing having some told through Arya and Sansa)

So this doesn't get too long and avoid spoilers for those who have managed to not get spoiled by the show I'll put each POV in a spoiler tag

Prologue

Spoiler

Not sure there's enough here to really get a lasting feel for the character.

Storywise this was a good opener with the Other attack.

Bran

Spoiler

I liked Bran well enough but he's just average at this point.

Storywise I like the infodumps we get with him. Jaime and Cersei are such asses for crippling him for the rest of his life. I liked his growing relationship with Summer throughout his story.

Catelyn

Spoiler

Catelyn Stark... I don't really know how I feel about her at this point. She was such a mean spirited slontze at the beginning but then I grew to admire her cunning towards the end. Will have to wait to read the sequels to get a better fix on her.

Storywise I loved her story. Her protective nature towards her family to put duty first after realizing how bad a mother she was after the assassin attack by... leaving without properly explaining what she was doing so Rickon didn't become feral. Her taking Tyrion hostage was such a dumb move there's not enough desks to pound ones head against.

Daenerys

Spoiler

Dany is such a great character going from a scared girl to being a leader.

Storywise I liked how it was separate from everything else so it had to stand on its own legs. I didn't expect to love the marriage of her and Drogo but I did. Can't wait to see the mother of dragons in action in the next books!

Eddard

Spoiler

Ned I liked how honest he was not putting up with the crem dung of the court but he definitely should've known when to play along a little.

Storywise i both liked and hated how it went. The hate is more how his decisions lead him to the blue eyes of death than anything. I had known about the twincest before reading, thank you HBO for spoiling that, so I was just waiting to see how he came to find out about it. It did not disappoint.

Also I don't think I've read a book where one of the main POV characters just plain dies, not counting Eshonai here since we still have stuff for her coming.

Jon

Spoiler

I liked Jon when he was at Winterfell but he just became dull to me once he was at the Wall and only shined there when Tyrion was there. I do hope he gets better after this.

Storywise, well, this was my least favorite of all the stories. The Wall and the conditions Jon experienced at Castle Black just didn't hold my attention, probably because most military related stuff doesn't hold my interest long so that shows how well Sanderson does with that stuff if I can like it. Hopefully going Beyond the Wall will improve Jon's story here on out.

Arya

Spoiler

I like Arya more than Bran but she's the typical 'girl doesn't want to be girly, she wants to be a knight' story. I do like her personally wise, though it's sad we only get 5 chapters out of her.

Storywise I liked where it was going. It did get tedious her little squabbles with Sansa, but I did like how during the eureka moment she did feel sorry for ruining Sansa's dress and even offering to repair it.

Tyrion

Spoiler

Tyrion's probably my favorite character of the whole book. He's witty, funny and a blast to read!

Storywise he feels like an outlier, is it any coincidence that he's an outsider to the Westoros story just like how he's a literal outsider for being short? I do like his observations of what's going on during his chapters, outsmarting other characters and realizing when he's been outsmarted and not being an chull about it. Keep it up Tyrion!

Sansa

Spoiler

Funnily I could say I was kind of like Sansa at her age. Very fanciful but then one day having to mature and realize rainbows and unicorns isn't the full extent of life so I don't really fault her for her dumb mistakes but that doesn't mean I don't like them.

Storywise her maturing towards the end was worth all the idiocy she does during the book. In a way her story is a game of Screw (she screwed Arya, Jeyne and even her father), Marry (her whole goal was to marry Joffrey), Kill (she practically killed her father in a way), but she forgot to read the rules.

Anyway I'm taking a break from Westoros and going with someone lighter, in tone and length. Coming up next is Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch by Serena Valentino

[Wander89]

So I recently purchased Ursula Le Guin's illustrated Earthsea books which come in a beautiful binding with illustrations by the talented Charles Vess. A Wizard of Earthsea was the first fantasy book I'd read from start to finish and to have it all collected into 1 volume is great.

 

Highly recommended series that isn't too long, the collection is about the size of Oathbringer, yet it still manages to cram as much fun, lore and magic that it excites you completely.