On January 16 2013 04:21 Ctesias wrote:
Finished reading (in December 2012, but still):

A Song of Ice and Fire, book 1 and 2.
Ivanhoe.

Currently reading:

The Idiot.

Planning to read next:

Book 3 and 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire, as soon as they arrive by mail.

The Game of Thrones books are great. Been waiting for two months for the third and fourth book to arrive (sidenote: Ecuadorian mailsystem sucks), and just keeping myself busy with other books while I wait. Ivanhoe wasn't good. Pretentious language, awfully slow moving and uninteresting characters. The Idiot is 'alright', but as soon as the books arrive I will give it up - possibly finishing some time later.

I'm in the middle of The Idiot as well and struggle at times to keep moving through it. I really enjoy Tolstoy's works and then think that the same should apply to Dostoyevsky, but to be honest I just struggle to get through some of his works (Crime and Punishment excluded). I enjoy the characters and themes, I think I just find Dostoyevsky to be such a chore to read because of the amount of effort required. That also might have to do something with the fact that I chose that as my pleasure reading to compensate for all the managements books I'm reading now for school and all the junk I read for work.

Currently reading:

The Idiot.

Planning to read next:

Mockingjay (Hunger Games)

After reading Dostoyevsky, I'm going to want something light and easy that I can plow through in an afternoon or two and read pretty mindlessly.

Hypemeup

Sweden2783 Posts

January 15 2013 20:34 GMT

#83

Finished Re-Reading American Psycho, I dont know why but I have probably read this book like 5 times over the last 2 years. Hrm.

Currently Reading:

Intriguing read, really.

jxx

Brazil307 Posts

January 15 2013 20:38 GMT

#84

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

His writing style is identical to George Martin from the ASOIAF series but he tries to be historically accurate so it's really cool that he leaves certain hints of the middle-age world. I just don't like the fact that he uses the good/evil duality because it makes for a more juvenile style of writing but it's entertaining nonetheless and I definitely recommend this to everyone!

Ctesias

4595 Posts

January 15 2013 20:43 GMT

#85

On January 16 2013 05:34 Hypemeup wrote:
Finished Re-Reading American Psycho, I dont know why but I have probably read this book like 5 times over the last 2 years. Hrm.

While 5 times in 2 years would be too much for me, I can understand you. It is a great book.

Acertos

France852 Posts

January 15 2013 20:45 GMT

#86

Have been re-reading The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.

I'm also searching for other fantazy-like, well writen series of books (like all the Tolkien's books and the Amber chronicles).
Is Game of Thrones any good? So many talk about it that i'm afraid it might be over valuated.

sam!zdat

United States5559 Posts

January 15 2013 20:48 GMT

#87

Right now I'm reading a collection of Zelazny short stories "The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of his Mouth." Excellent stuff so far. You should also check out his novel _Damnation Alley_.

Game of Thrones is probably the only (edit: post-Tolkien) epic fantasy that's actually worth reading. Recommended.

edit: as a random suggestion, you might check out _Perdido Street Station_ by China Mieville.

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

January 15 2013 21:15 GMT

#88

On January 16 2013 05:48 sam!zdat wrote:

Game of Thrones is probably the only (edit: post-Tolkien) epic fantasy that's actually worth reading. Recommended.

Says a lot about the overall quality of the genre urgh...

sam!zdat

United States5559 Posts

January 15 2013 21:16 GMT

#89

Yes, yes it does

All fantasy, Tolkien included, is essentially a reactionary ideological escape. Fantasy is quite literally fascist. But better that than actual fascists, I suppose. Martin is fun to read though.

dAPhREAk

Nauru12397 Posts

January 15 2013 21:19 GMT

#90

dragonlance is good as an epic fantasy.

DearestSnot

Germany200 Posts

January 15 2013 21:20 GMT

#91

I read The Hunger Games...it was ok. Felt very much like 1984.

Nub4ever

Canada1981 Posts

January 15 2013 21:24 GMT

#92

On January 16 2013 06:16 sam!zdat wrote:
Yes, yes it does

All fantasy, Tolkien included, is essentially a reactionary ideological escape. Fantasy is quite literally fascist. But better that than actual fascists, I suppose. Martin is fun to read though.

In that matter I am reading Game of THrones right now :D

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

January 15 2013 21:28 GMT

#93

On January 16 2013 06:16 sam!zdat wrote:
Yes, yes it does

All fantasy, Tolkien included, is essentially a reactionary ideological escape. Fantasy is quite literally fascist. But better that than actual fascists, I suppose. Martin is fun to read though.

Tolkien has an interesting metaphorical reading, at least.

farvacola

United States18836 Posts

January 15 2013 21:29 GMT

#94

You know, it might not explicitly count as fantasy because of its roots, but Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is actually quite good, and I think it might challenge your declaration, Sam

Rayeth

United States883 Posts

January 15 2013 21:31 GMT

#95

I'm currently trying to get my professional coding knowledge up so I am reading Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin.

The book is a bit dense, but readable. Not something your average person would pick up certainly, but interesting in a professional sense. It smells a bit of a cargo cult, but the ideas there are certainly useful. Up next, I have no idea, maybe something fun.

sam!zdat

United States5559 Posts

January 15 2013 21:42 GMT

#96

that's not what I mean by fantasy and you know it, you sophist

TheFear

United States55 Posts

January 15 2013 21:47 GMT

#97

I read: "The Racketeer" I enjoy Johns' writing style, I think he offers a lot of details with a unique perspective. Some people, based on a few reviews I have read, seem to think he overly indulges irrelevant details. I for one think that his style adds a lot to the overall panorama of the story. I think in this particular work he doesn't focus as much on research as he does creating the story, and although I can appreciate well researched fiction, I think that a seasoned writer like him can pull it off occasionally.

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I am in the process of reading "Deadly Disclosures". So far it seems pretty captivating for me, this particular book is the first of a three part (up until now) mystery series covering an FBI Agent and starts with the instance of an issue involving the Secretary of the Smithsonians' disappearance. From the get go I feel like it's shaping up to be a solid read all around. Julie Cave is an author of Christian fiction. and I am looking forward to finishing off this first book and continuing onward with the rest of the series:

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Reading this book "Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything." soon also, as I picked it up on my iBookstore:

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Short synposis: A non-fiction account of someone that digs into the ins and outs of memory and some of its' competitive aspects within the arena of the U.S. Memory Championship. I just read the back of the book and the introduction fwiw, but I am sure I will enjoy it. One of my professors at the University of Miami recommended it to me a while back, and I figured it was worth reading based on his suggestion. Seems legit

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Cool thread by the way, good to see that it was revived for 2013 real quickly. Hope you all enjoy your reads as well.

Iranon

United States983 Posts

January 15 2013 21:56 GMT

#98

Just finished:
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A Bridge of Years was amazing. A lot of SF is either regular fiction with fancy technology added, or the reverse: it's about some Big Idea and the plot is more or less ancillary to exploring how cool it is. This book had plenty of Big Ideas but wasn't about them at all, it was still a very character-driven story. Hard to put down.

Currently reading:
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It's also amazing; I've never seen anything like it. I'll let the book jacket text speak for itself... "This is hard science fiction with a difference, the difference being that the hard sciences are Ptolemaic astronomy and Aristotelian physics and biology." Oh, and the Greek empire fueled by the resulting technology is waging a large-scale war against the Chinese empire, whose technology is fueled by qi (which appears magical from the Greek perspective).

BaconofWar

United States369 Posts

January 15 2013 22:00 GMT

#99

nuff said

Enki

United States2548 Posts

January 15 2013 22:02 GMT

#100

Last Read:
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Will to Live - Was quite a good read. As I said in the other book thread, he dissects a bunch of survival stories and goes over what they did wrong and right. Only issue I had was that he was a bit condescending towards them sometimes. Kinda sad to know that most of the stories in the book where people ended up dying were because they went in completely unprepared, or were too cocky thinking they knew everything.

Reading Now:
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Ready Player One - Was pretty slow starting out. I am around 150 pages in now though and things are picking up and getting interesting.

Reading Next:
I change my mind of this all the time....probably Neuromancer though.

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