What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Tristan]

I'm reading Mistborn and Dune. I'm taking my time with Mistborn because the story I'm writing is turning out to be quite similar and I don't want the book to influence my precious story. Lol

[AerionBFII he/him]

Currently Reading: The Thousand Names by Django Wexler

I've only just started it but it seems promising

 

On a side note i love this Thread, I've turned it into my personal hunting ground when trying to find new series. 

[Briar King]

I finished Expanse 5 last night. My least favorite so far. It was so boring till last 150 pgs or so.

i have now dug out Malazan 1 Gardens. Have read about 50 pgs and have def run into stuff already that you would have to have read before to understand. No clue if I ll stick with it for a full series reread quite yet. I really want to finish Safehold 1st.

[Ammanas]

On Monday, April 24, 2017 at 1:44 AM, AngelEy3 said:

Just finished Best Served Cold. What a bunch of rotten chull-heads that group was... On to The Heroes. 

  Hide contents

 

Let's see if Abercrombie can keep one-upping himself on the creation of horrible human beings. 

Best Served Cold is definitely his darkest book. The Heroes might be my favorite Abercrombie book and Red Country actually has a happy ending...or at least as happy as Joe Abercrombie can get

[AngelEy3 he/him]

1 hour ago, Ammanas said:

Best Served Cold is definitely his darkest book. The Heroes might be my favorite Abercrombie book and Red Country actually has a happy ending...or at least as happy as Joe Abercrombie can get

I'm about halfway through The Heroes right now. Enjoying it so far. I like the progression of characters met in the first book. 

Spoiler

Also, I got chills at the part where it's revealed that Beck is the son of Shama Heartless. I really like seeing that stuff come back around in the circle of life. 

 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Just read Batman: Widening Gyre.

...interesting read XD

[Briar King]

REALLY enjoying my Gardens reread! Almost 300 pgs in.

[Koldun he/him]

Currently reading the second book in the Old Man's War series.

[Briar King]

Has anyone here read Tigana? It's going to be my 1st GGK ever. It's hotly debated on Malazan board. Either loved or hated it it seems. I'm really curious how I will take it.

[Ammanas]

50 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Has anyone here read Tigana? It's going to be my 1st GGK ever. It's hotly debated on Malazan board. Either loved or hated it it seems. I'm really curious how I will take it.

GGK is one of those authors that many seem to adore, but I just can't get into any of his books. I have tried Tigana, the Finovar Tapestry, and the Lions of Al Rassan (I'm sure the sp is off on these titles). I have not finished any of them.

[Briar King]

16 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

GGK is one of those authors that many seem to adore, but I just can't get into any of his books. I have tried Tigana, the Finovar Tapestry, and the Lions of Al Rassan (I'm sure the sp is off on these titles). I have not finished any of them.

He has massive credit on Malazan but Tigana is a big debate on there. It so large I decided I must read that one 1st. I'm really excited to start it when it comes in mail.

[Ammanas]

21 minutes ago, Briar King said:

He has massive credit on Malazan but Tigana is a big debate on there. It so large I decided I must read that one 1st. I'm really excited to start it when it comes in mail.

I'm reading the Long Price Quartet by Abraham right now. It is very different than his other series (Dagger and Coin and Expanse). It reminds me a lot of GGK, but works for me and I am enjoying it. It would be worth your time to check out sometime.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

Has anyone here read Tigana? It's going to be my 1st GGK ever. It's hotly debated on Malazan board. Either loved or hated it it seems. I'm really curious how I will take it.

I couldn't get into it. A hundred page in and I still had no idea what the story was about nor who the main protagonist were. I gave up. I might try it again, someday.

[Dunkum he/him]

2 hours ago, Ammanas said:

GGK is one of those authors that many seem to adore, but I just can't get into any of his books. I have tried Tigana, the Finovar Tapestry, and the Lions of Al Rassan (I'm sure the sp is off on these titles). I have not finished any of them.

I've read all of those, plus a few more.  I liked Tigana a lot, more than any of his other books, and thought Lions of Al Rassan was pretty good, though by that point there were certain things GGK does in his writing that were starting to annoy me.

[StormingTexan he/him]

This is interesting because I thought it was just me but man I could not get in to Tigana at all. It's praised a lot and it was the first (and only) book of his I've read. I gave up about a 1/3 through I think. Is it just a slow start? I don't know exactly what it was about it besides nothing really grabbed my attention at all. 

Edited April 30, 2017 by StormingTexan

[Left he/him]

So after watching the wonderful movie, Coming Through the Rye, I was inspired to read Catcher in the Rye.
I did not like it. I think I get and totally appreciate what the author is trying to say- people are often mean, jerks, or dumb, and a culture of conformity can crush people who are naturally non-conformists, and that youth should be protected from the ugliness of human behavior- but I really don't like the book. Holden, even though he should be given slack for the mental pressures that eventually make him break down, is the most unlikable protagonist I've ever come across. He's a liar, a jerk, and it seems like he's more prideful than any of the people he's constantly judging. Since he's the narrator the entire time, it was very hard for me to read the book for any extended period of time and I almost didn't finish it.

So basically, I think ya'll should watch Coming Through the Rye and skip the book altogether.

 

I've got Hunters of Dune. So far I definitely don't enjoy the change in writing style, the watering down of the dialogue and philosophy, and the amount of time easy the reader into the world. C'mon, this is Dune, just throw the reader in. We'll figure it out. All that being said, so far it's not as bad as I'd feared. I've heard others say this and I'm repeating it. I'm going to read the books to try and get some sense of completeness now, but when I die one of the first things I'm going to do is track down Frank and get him to tell me how it's all supposed to work out.

[Dunkum he/him]

2 hours ago, Left said:

So after watching the wonderful movie, Coming Through the Rye, I was inspired to read Catcher in the Rye.
I did not like it. I think I get and totally appreciate what the author is trying to say- people are often mean, jerks, or dumb, and a culture of conformity can crush people who are naturally non-conformists, and that youth should be protected from the ugliness of human behavior- but I really don't like the book. Holden, even though he should be given slack for the mental pressures that eventually make him break down, is the most unlikable protagonist I've ever come across. He's a liar, a jerk, and it seems like he's more prideful than any of the people he's constantly judging. Since he's the narrator the entire time, it was very hard for me to read the book for any extended period of time and I almost didn't finish it.

Had to read catcher in the rye back in High School.  it was one of the worst books I have ever had to read for a literature class (though not the worst) and for the life of me I have never been able to understand why anyone likes it.

[Briar King]

@Left

as I've said in the past, I encourage people reading Dune bks to also read the 2 by his son and KJA and never read a single other one by the duo.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I'm in the middle of reading The Alloy of Law. It's so good! I know I'm gonna finish it today, so I should've waited until I had books two and three before I started this one, but oh well.

[Left he/him]

2 hours ago, Dunkum said:

Had to read catcher in the rye back in High School.  it was one of the worst books I have ever had to read for a literature class (though not the worst) and for the life of me I have never been able to understand why anyone likes it.

I didn't come away from it feeling like it was just a bad book. I just really didn't like it. I can get how people appreciate it as literature....at least a little....But I agree, I have no idea how anyone could rave about it. 

 

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

@Left

as I've said in the past, I encourage people reading Dune bks to also read the 2 by his son and KJA and never read a single other one by the duo.

I'm planning on following your advice. I'm gonna get through Hunters and Sandworms and call it quits. There's a part of me that wants to read the Butlerian books, but I know that there's NO WAY they could do that kind of story justice. A story about the Butlerian Jihad should be absolutely epic, with conflicts escalating well beyond what's actually seen in the Dune trilogy, and with characters stronger than those in God Emperor through Chapterhouse. It would be a very different type of story, one that I doubt Frank Herbert could've pulled off himself. There's no way I trust those two to do it justice. 

[Guest]

15 hours ago, StormingTexan said:

This is interesting because I thought it was just me but man I could not get in to Tigana at all. It's praised a lot and it was the first (and only) book of his I've read. I gave up about a 1/3 through I think. Is it just a slow start? I don't know exactly what it was about it besides nothing really grabbed my attention at all. 

I was in the same position. I didn't get it. I felt I ought to, but it slipped past me, just like Malazan. I dunno what it says about me as a reader.

[Ammanas]

22 minutes ago, maxal said:

I was in the same position. I didn't get it. I felt I ought to, but it slipped past me, just like Malazan. I dunno what it says about me as a reader.

It doesn't say anything. The original 10 malazan books might be my all-time favorite series. That being said, when people ask for fantasy book recommendations I place it pretty far down the line. It is a difficult series to get into and many people I know of have given up on the first book and throw their hands up in defeat. I only recommend it to people that have read many of the more popular series and looking for something different and challenging.

[Briar King]

4 hours ago, maxal said:

I was in the same position. I didn't get it. I felt I ought to, but it slipped past me, just like Malazan. I dunno what it says about me as a reader.

Try Malazan again. It is so epic moving past bk 1. Very few books can make me have a physical emotional response but those bks get to me. There is zero hand holding in this series and it can be a huge struggle to understand what is going on but there is so much depth to the story and characters it's crazy. Large chunks of it won't even register until a reread. 

[Erandeni he/him]

I am rereading the Belgariad, I love these books.

[Dunkum he/him]

On 4/30/2017 at 1:59 PM, Left said:

I didn't come away from it feeling like it was just a bad book. I just really didn't like it. I can get how people appreciate it as literature....at least a little....But I agree, I have no idea how anyone could rave about it. 

At the time I didn't even get the appreciation as literature.  I might now, if I had any inclination to reread it, but at the time, I just thoroughly hated it.