When I'm not feeling thermophysical enough to deal with the former, I continue my journey through the American release of Spice & Wolf (I'm currently rereading volume 1). A fantasy novel series set in what seems very much like a pre-Renaissance Europe, rather than messing around with typical tropes of the fantasy genre, it's all about economics and the relationship between its hero (a traveling merchant with aspirations of settling in a town and opening his own shop) and heroine (a wolf deity who, after serving as the harvest god for a village's wheat crop, wishes to return to her homeland). Volume 6 was released just last month, and it's my opinion that the series has only gotten better with each new entry. Unfortunately, its American publishing company (Yen Press) only releases a new volume every 6 months, so at that pace, it won't be until 2017 that the final volume (#17) will be available. Yen Press tweeted in April that they're quickening the pace to 3 volumes per year, but that only shortens the wait for volume 17 by about a year. T_T

There are two different pieces of cover art for each volume. One is the translated, original Japanese cover art; the second is the redesigned dust jacket art requested by American retailers to appeal to a wider audience.

Volume 1:
Original: + Show Spoiler +

Redesigned: + Show Spoiler +

Volume 2:
Original: + Show Spoiler +

Redesigned: + Show Spoiler +

Volume 3:
Original: + Show Spoiler +

Redesigned: + Show Spoiler +

Volume 4:
Original: + Show Spoiler +

Redesigned: + Show Spoiler +

Volume 5:
Original: + Show Spoiler +

Redesigned: + Show Spoiler +

Volume 6:
Original: + Show Spoiler +

Redesigned (left): + Show Spoiler +

Snaap

Germany22 Posts

July 24 2012 12:45 GMT

#762

I'm reading the first book of the dark tower series right now. not a huge fan so far, but from what i heard the next books will get better and the first book is short anyway so Its okay I guess.

malaan

365 Posts

July 24 2012 16:36 GMT

#763

Currently reading Game Of Thrones... it's awesome of course.

[image loading]

This is what I just finished. Got the next 2 books ready to go. A really fucking awesome book.

zalz

Netherlands3704 Posts

July 24 2012 20:47 GMT

#764

The idea of a heist story set in a fantasy world seemed interesting, but I have never found Sanderson to be a very impressive writer.

He can come up with interesting ideas, but the characters generally feel flat and unintresting. It wasn't surprising to learn that he was obsessed with creating magic-systems because it is easily the only things where he is really original.

Other than that it is really just generic fantasy, not that there is anything wrong with that.

My favorite active fantasy writer is Scott R. Bakker and his "Second Apocalypse" series.

Most fantasy is set in medieval-europe times, whereas his takes place in a world inspired by the old testament, so about as grim as you can possibly get. He mixes his fantasy with a lot of philosophy, which isn't surprising since he pursued a degree in philosophy.

His "Warrior-Prophet" had me in tears at one point, and the White-Luck Warrior had the most exciting fight scene I have ever read in a book. His prose is exceptional, much more so when you consider how poor the prose in a lot of fantasy is.

I used to like GRRM more, but after two weak books I feel that Bakker's series is better. But he is currently a midlist writer, so he barely makes enough to live off the work.

The first book is "The darkness that comes before," for those interested.

Leth0

856 Posts

July 24 2012 20:53 GMT

#765

Internet forums

Ba dum tss

User was warned for this post

SFactor123

6 Posts

July 26 2012 06:01 GMT

#766

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snotboogie

Australia3550 Posts

July 26 2012 06:11 GMT

#767

On July 26 2012 15:01 SFactor123 wrote:
I am reading Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, the movie based on this novel is on its way and I wanted to read the book first. Keira Knightly is playing the role of Anna in the film and I am super excited for this film as the novel is great to read.

Tolstoy's writing is a joy to read, even in English. The words just flow perfectly and he understands human nature so well.

Even so, I must admit I paused reading Anna Karenina halfway through the book about 3 years ago and have yet to resume it. I think I've become too used to modern writing (especially the fast pace) to have the patience to sit through the classics.

Thanks for reminding me of this awesome book =)

Must... finish... sometime...

YoucriedWolf

Sweden1456 Posts

July 26 2012 06:31 GMT

#768

Reading Nights dawn trilogy so far it is very much worth the read but im only ~600 pages in the first book.
For anyone interesting in sci-fi "Hyperion" and "The fall of hyperion" by Dan Simmons are absolutely must reads though.

Question: I have a few books of the dresden files but the first one in the series I own is the 4th. I've heard that it's not supposed to matter in which order you read them but not from any reliable people so I am still sceptic.

SFactor123

6 Posts

July 26 2012 06:52 GMT

#769

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Badjas

Netherlands2038 Posts

July 26 2012 07:31 GMT

#770

Currently reading on and off:
Plato - The Republic
It feels more like an instruction on how to be a cult leader...

I should pick up more books of the dune and ender's game series. Preferably in e-book format.

Where do you all buy your e-books, and are they DRM restricted or not?

gossip07

United States13 Posts

July 26 2012 07:46 GMT

#771

I'd seriously like to start a reading habit because the rare times I do read, I tend to enjoy it. I tend to stick to life improvement books etc. Whats the best way to build a strong reading habit? Should I try to read for 15 minutes and buildup, read a # of pages a day, per chapter?

Kyrillion

Russian Federation748 Posts

July 26 2012 07:47 GMT

#772

This, on Egyptian writing [image loading]

and that, on Russian vocabulary : [image loading]

Vardant

Czech Republic620 Posts

July 26 2012 08:27 GMT

#773

On July 10 2012 19:34 Emporium wrote:

Show nested quote +

This series is one of the best series of books i have read, Jack Reacher is an awesome character!

It was good, but didn't entirely convince me to continue in reading the rest.

In the meantime, I started reading this.

[image loading]

Ramong

Denmark1706 Posts

July 26 2012 09:23 GMT

#774

+ Show Spoiler +

On July 25 2012 01:36 malaan wrote:
Currently reading Game Of Thrones... it's awesome of course.

[image loading]

This is what I just finished. Got the next 2 books ready to go. A really fucking awesome book.

Yeah, read them about a year ago, great fantasy books.

There is actually a fourth book that takes place a couple of hundred years after the last of the trilogy
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law

{CC}StealthBlue

United States41117 Posts

July 30 2012 19:14 GMT

#775

Gotmog

Serbia899 Posts

July 31 2012 17:17 GMT

#776

During my summer vocation (8 days) i read the following:

-Born To Run: Insanely good book....and thats coming from a nerd who never loved running in his life. Made me want to start... 10/10

-Ender's Game : Really great book as well....10/10

- Hunger Games : Interesting read. 9/10

- 2001 A Space Odyssey : My dad recommended me this book and i found it stashed in my laptop library during the holiday

Its a cool book, never read anything like it. 8.5/10

Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingstone, Seagal : Its a short book, quite cool. Very nice to read while laying on a beach one day :D 6/10

Tales of Beedle the bard : Had it on my kindle, was short, so i just blasted through it. It was meh at best tbh...Read it in 30min if you are a fan of HP, if not, you can safely ignore it

3/10

Planning to read eaither Stiven King or Lord of Flies next...

Gotmog

Serbia899 Posts

July 31 2012 18:17 GMT

#777

On July 26 2012 16:46 gossip07 wrote:
I'd seriously like to start a reading habit because the rare times I do read, I tend to enjoy it. I tend to stick to life improvement books etc. Whats the best way to build a strong reading habit? Should I try to read for 15 minutes and buildup, read a # of pages a day, per chapter?

Maybe you could start reading when you go to bad and are trying to fall asleep, you know instead of watching TV/browsing www or w/e you do.
Also, you could maybe start by reading some long series of books, A song of ice and fire,dresden files, harry potter....are the first that pop to mind. That way you will want to go to the next book and next and next because you will feel that story is not finished.

Brainsurgeon

Sweden359 Posts

July 31 2012 18:21 GMT

#778

I'm currently reading this book that I got from my grandmother. It's an old issue, from 1955, which I thought was rather cool.

ZapRoffo

United States5544 Posts

July 31 2012 20:31 GMT

#779

On August 01 2012 03:21 Brainsurgeon wrote:
[image loading]

I'm currently reading this book that I got from my grandmother. It's an old issue, from 1955, which I thought was rather cool.

I'm reading that right now too, I was really into it when my internet was down for a couple days, but then Pilar's story about her town (starting like 100 pages in), which was hard to read, and my internet coming back really slowed me down.

Just finished re-reading The Sun Also Rises also, which I feel like I got a lot more out of this time around, like I could hardly remember the main action or what any of the characters were like from the first time I read it.

A note on something from The Sun Also Rises:
I’ve heard people criticize Brett Ashley as being part of his misogynistic streak, but it’s weird because she seems very normal to me looking with a modern eye, like she many aspects of her wouldn’t be out of place at all in the 21st century (aside from her general lack of consideration for practicalities). She’s a destructive force in the social context of that time period though and men's expectations in it. Looking at just this book, it seems to me like it’s hinting that most of the men’s problems come from themselves, and it actually seems to me like that looking at her as a sort of antagonist requires an socially regressive, antiquated perspective. But then that’s possibly the viewpoint Hemingway comes from himself? The evidence for that is how romantically he sees the bullfighting and the young bullfighter, and how ashamed Jake is for bringing him among their group’s jaded, amoral drinkers, which Brett is highly representative of. I don’t feel like she’s treated any more or less sympathetically than pretty much anyone else though.

Antisemitism though? Yes, there’s a definite streak of that permeating the book.