(Post shamelessly stolen from thread starters of the prior years)
Previous threads:
2011 (49 pages) 2012 (58 pages) 2013 (165 pages!(!!!)) 2014 (back to 75 pages ) 2015 (54 pages We miss you, sam) 2016 (18 pages boo) 2017 (17 pages I think we are converging) 2018 (19 pages, I am fine with that)
Format: 1) What you just finished reading (or gave up half way through) 2) What are you currently reading 3) What you plan to read next
Try to post both the book title in text as well as image. The Amazon images usually work well. The random google images are sometimes too big or too small.
It would also be great if you could post a little something along with the books. Did you like it, why or why not? How was the plot, how was writing style, how was the character development? What makes the book you are currently reading interesting? It’s not 100% necessary that you do so, but it tends to foster lively discussion of books, which is really what this thread is all about.
Also, please try to keep criticism of entire genres out of this thread. If you didn’t like a particular book then feel free to say so, but it’s not terribly productive to state that you dislike all of science fiction or existentialist literature etc.
Use spoilers appropriately, obviously.
Thanks to Cambiumpackrat386Surth for the OP that I basically stole from last year
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Reading:
I have not made much progress over the last few days due to family duties. Still fantastic.
Recently I started reading Brandon Sanderson s non-Cosmere books, started with Skyward, which came out a few months ago
It is very very good, I ve seen it tagged as young-adult, which I would only partially concede to. It is a very well written sci-fi from a technical point of view, characters feel very real, world building is top notch. 2nd book is done, gonna be released this year, with 2 more in the waiting.
Currently reading the Reckoners series, which has a post-apocalyptic alternate Earth setting. Basically it s a superhero comic-book type of book-series, a strange event starts giving people power, but instead of becoming superheros, they pretty much all go the opposite route, becoming tyrants and the current world-order / civilization collapses. Read the first one, Steelheart, and im halfway into the 2nd book, Firefight. It s an enjoyable read, but not as good as Skyward or Sanderson s Cosmere books (Mistborn, Stormlight Archives, Warbreaker etc.)
has anyone ever read 'worm' by john mccrae? i tend to have to finish what i start so at 1.68m words it's a heavy investment. i think it originally started out as a writing exercise and finished as a massive superhero book so somewhat dubious to how good it could be but have heard a lot of good things.
Ah I see some of you are men of culture as well, reading Brandon Sanderson. ATM I am on "Shadow of Self"
which is part 5 of the mistborn series. In truth this is part 2 of the 2nd series after the main events of the mistborn trilogy set some 1000 (?) after the main trilogy concluded. Its got that kind of western/steampunk feel to it now, but still with the great magic system in place =) I guess the feeling is best described as a little bit similar to King's "The Dark Tower" series with the main guy being a revolver-wielding lawman. I am enjoying it quite a bit. Obviously after part 2 will come part 3 "The Bands of Mourning". I also heard that there will be a part 4, so I'm looking forward to that ^^
After that, I also have Sanderson's "Oathbringer" on backlog to read. I'm looking forward to getting back into that fantasy world and characters.
I also purchased Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company series and will try to dive into those books in the coming weeks/months.
On January 07 2019 01:49 Latham wrote: Ah I see some of you are men of culture as well, reading Brandon Sanderson. ATM I am on "Shadow of Self"
which is part 5 of the mistborn series. In truth this is part 2 of the 2nd series after the main events of the mistborn trilogy set some 1000 (?) after the main trilogy concluded. Its got that kind of western/steampunk feel to it now, but still with the great magic system in place =) I guess the feeling is best described as a little bit similar to King's "The Dark Tower" series with the main guy being a revolver-wielding lawman. I am enjoying it quite a bit. Obviously after part 2 will come part 3 "The Bands of Mourning". I also heard that there will be a part 4, so I'm looking forward to that ^^
After that, I also have Sanderson's "Oathbringer" on backlog to read. I'm looking forward to getting back into that fantasy world and characters.
I also purchased Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company series and will try to dive into those books in the coming weeks/months.
Oh, you lucky man, you still have Oathbringer to read, this year! And I understand he just started working on Stormlight Archive book 4. Also, if you havent already, read Warbreaker before Oathbringer. It is a smaller Cosmere book, on another world, with a different magic-system, but there are a lot of small and not so small crossovers/ easterggs with Oathbringer. And a very cool story on its own right. I think it can be found for free on Brandon's website.
Finished Roadside Picnic. It was oddly straightforward and had some semblance of being well-grounded compared to other stuff.
Not an explosive ending but not all endings have to be explosive to be good(Hyperion as an example).
Overall it was worth the money.
Started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep around 50 pages. So far so good and easily digestible (which is surprising as it is a very old work that tackles a complex concept ) so i'm starting to see why this is popular(not just because of bladerunner which i haven't seen)
On January 07 2019 01:49 Latham wrote: Ah I see some of you are men of culture as well, reading Brandon Sanderson. ATM I am on "Shadow of Self"
which is part 5 of the mistborn series. In truth this is part 2 of the 2nd series after the main events of the mistborn trilogy set some 1000 (?) after the main trilogy concluded. Its got that kind of western/steampunk feel to it now, but still with the great magic system in place =) I guess the feeling is best described as a little bit similar to King's "The Dark Tower" series with the main guy being a revolver-wielding lawman. I am enjoying it quite a bit. Obviously after part 2 will come part 3 "The Bands of Mourning". I also heard that there will be a part 4, so I'm looking forward to that ^^
After that, I also have Sanderson's "Oathbringer" on backlog to read. I'm looking forward to getting back into that fantasy world and characters.
I also purchased Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company series and will try to dive into those books in the coming weeks/months.
SoS is pretty fucking good but i'll let you read it for yourself as to why. Oathbringer is just as good as the two prequels but you already know that prolly.
I liked the first two books a lot and i'm surprised as how good the Codex Alera series is, considering how it came to be. scifi.stackexchange.com
I tried The Black Company but it was so bad i could not finish it. It's written in first person i a style i found very annoying. Something like this: "I wake up. I hear a knock at the door. I get up. I walk to the door. I open the door. I look who it is."
On top of this, the characters were not interesting and the plot was going nowhere. It seemed to just be a successions of scenes meant to shock, for the sake of shocking. It left me with the same sense as a horror movie which relies on grossing people out instead of actually being scary.
Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I have now finished both mistborn series as well as the stormlight archives (as far as published), about to finish skyward and looking to read Warbreaker next. Would you recommened reading any of his short stories next? Or Elantris? Or something I am missing completely?
I liked the first two books a lot and i'm surprised as how good the Codex Alera series is, considering how it came to be. scifi.stackexchange.com
I tried The Black Company but it was so bad i could not finish it. It's written in first person i a style i found very annoying. Something like this: "I wake up. I hear a knock at the door. I get up. I walk to the door. I open the door. I look who it is."
On top of this, the characters were not interesting and the plot was going nowhere. It seemed to just be a successions of scenes meant to shock, for the sake of shocking. It left me with the same sense as a horror movie which relies on grossing people out instead of actually being scary.
I haven't read the Codex Alera. I read a lot of the Dresden files. The stackexchange calling Jim Butcher (or maybe a quote of himself) a good author is a bit of a stretch though. It's entertaining. But it's repetitive pulp that he can churn out one after the other with mediocre writing. Oh, and every single woman is incredibly attractive. And he spends at least a few pages in every book describing exactly how attractive they are. I understand it's aimed at adolescents with raging hormones, but come on...
Brandon Sanderson exists on exactly on the line where I want to own physical copies of the book. Most of the "disposable" fantasy I have read exist on my Kindle. Including Mist Born, which I enjoyed a ton, but will never re-read. But as his books have continued, I think I want physical copies.
Also, I know it shouldn't matter, but I do like that his books have different styles of cover art in his later works. So many publishers just stick with one or two artists. That Oathbringing's art makes me want to return to The Stormlight Archive series.
On January 10 2019 23:12 InFiNitY[pG] wrote: Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I have now finished both mistborn series as well as the stormlight archives (as far as published), about to finish skyward and looking to read Warbreaker next. Would you recommened reading any of his short stories next? Or Elantris? Or something I am missing completely?
I finished all his Cosmere stuff starting in 2018 and ending roughly near the end of the year and just picked up Rofthus's books.
If you want to read the standalones from Sanderson it depends on how invested you are in the Cosmere at this point.
Since you read both Mistborn series you will definitely enjoy Secret History which is a short story in Arcanum unbound (start with this)
And if you havent read Edgedancer I would recommend that aswell.
You could just pick up Arcanum unbound but most of the other stories other than these 2 might not make much sense. So I wouldnt suggest reading the other stories before atleast Reading Elantris and Warbreaker, but again I didnt follow my own advice and still enjoyed..
My order was
3 Stormlight (edgedancer goes with this) Warbreaker 3 Mistborn (Secrety History) Elantris (Emperors Soul from Arcanum goes with this but is unrelated to the story, just same world) Arcanum Unbound (various collection of short stories from Cosmere worlds including the above) 3 Mistborn 2 (this set is fresh for me since I just wrapped up before the Holidays and I enjoyed it ALOT I was very sad to find that its been pushed to 2020 at the earliest after initially being planned for this year) White Stand (not very good)
If I had a choice to go back I would probably have gone
Mistborn Mistborn 2 Stormlight (Stormlight or Mistborn first doesnt really matter) Arcanum (the stories related to these two) Warbreaker Elantris Finish of Arcanum Fuck White Sand.
Its nice feel good young adult fantasy so its pretty nice. I wouldnt say I could comfortably fanboy any of them but I am bit of a completionist and I can say I certainly enjoyed all of them except well White San which I forced myself to finish and its a graphic Novel. I havent really read any Fantasy before this except Tolkien seriously (which was alongg time ago) so it was quite refreshing to stuff I normally read.
I started the KingKiller books the first of which is pretty good so far. Very different writing style alot more absorbing in its ability to draw you into the story telling, but the world building and magic/power systems arent quite as fun so far.
On January 11 2019 03:18 Plansix wrote: Brandon Sanderson exists on exactly on the line where I want to own physical copies of the book. Most of the "disposable" fantasy I have read exist on my Kindle. Including Mist Born, which I enjoyed a ton, but will never re-read. But as his books have continued, I think I want physical copies.
Also, I know it shouldn't matter, but I do like that his books have different styles of cover art in his later works. So many publishers just stick with one or two artists. That Oathbringing's art makes me want to return to The Stormlight Archive series.
Oathbringer was my favourite of the lot, I must say the first third of Way of Kings was a chore but I never drop books and in this case Im glad I didnt.
On January 10 2019 23:12 InFiNitY[pG] wrote: Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I have now finished both mistborn series as well as the stormlight archives (as far as published), about to finish skyward and looking to read Warbreaker next. Would you recommened reading any of his short stories next? Or Elantris? Or something I am missing completely?
Definitely read Warbreaker! While every single one of Sanderson's Cosmere stories are readable as stand-alone books/series, Warbreaker has a lot of easter eggs/hidden gems/crossovers with Oathbringer (not just Hoid).
It's a very cool story, i was put off by the description of the book I've seen on Goodreads or somewhere, which went something like this [Romance] [Adventure] "Two princesses of a troubled kingdom set out to...." and I was like, ok, screw that.... It's not that! I think it's one of the best book he has written, and it isnt super long.
I'm totally in love with the Stormlight Archives series which is by far the most ambitious epic fantasy series to this day, more about the structure, it's not actual spoilers: + Show Spoiler +
Each book is basically a trilogy and a series of short stories/novella (flashbacks) woven into a single book. The books are planned out to be a double series of 5+5 books, in total 10 books, which if he keeps up the page-numbers of the first 3 are gonna be equivalent of about 25 normal sized fantasy books. Compare that to other very long series, and (if he finishes) he's gonna dwarf them all. Like the Malazan book of the fallen have 10 books, but the overarching structure is very loose, you could easily skip entire books and plot-lines and the end-game wouldnt change. And that's just the size, the fake-history and the magic-system involved are top notch etc etc
. I admit that when i first picked it up for a while I was like, well, ok, not as good as Mistborn, but now im totally on the S.A hypetrain.
As for Elantris, the problem for me was that I have read it after Mistborn, SA, and Warbreaker. Elantris was his first Cosmere full novel, and while it's very good and won him a lot of recognition and paved the way for the rest of the Cosmere, it's just not as good compared to his later work. If I could go back in time, for full enjoyment of the Cosmere I would read it like this.
1. Soul of the emperor 2. Elantris 3. Mistborn Era 1 and possibly Era 2 as well 4. Way of Kings, Words of Radiance (EDIT: +Edgedencer) 5. Warbreaker 6. Oathbringer (7. Mistborn Era 2 if I didnt read it after the era 1)
Havent read White sand, since afaik the graphic novel is as of yet uncomplete, waiting for the final installment to be released. There are 2 more short stories Im gonna read in the coming days, Sixth of the Dusk and Shadows for the Silence in the forest
On January 10 2019 23:12 InFiNitY[pG] wrote: Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I have now finished both mistborn series as well as the stormlight archives (as far as published), about to finish skyward and looking to read Warbreaker next. Would you recommened reading any of his short stories next? Or Elantris? Or something I am missing completely?
Definitely read Warbreaker! While every single one of Sanderson's Cosmere stories are readable as stand-alone books/series, Warbreaker has a lot of easter eggs/hidden gems/crossovers with Oathbringer (not just Hoid).
It's a very cool story, i was put off by the description of the book I've seen on Goodreads or somewhere, which went something like this [Romance] [Adventure] "Two princesses of a troubled kingdom set out to...." and I was like, ok, screw that.... It's not that! I think it's one of the best book he has written, and it isnt super long.
I'm totally in love with the Stormlight Archives series which is by far the most ambitious epic fantasy series to this day, more about the structure, it's not actual spoilers: + Show Spoiler +
Each book is basically a trilogy and a series of short stories/novella (flashbacks) woven into a single book. The books are planned out to be a double series of 5+5 books, in total 10 books, which if he keeps up the page-numbers of the first 3 are gonna be equivalent of about 25 normal sized fantasy books. Compare that to other very long series, and (if he finishes) he's gonna dwarf them all. Like the Malazan book of the fallen have 10 books, but the overarching structure is very loose, you could easily skip entire books and plot-lines and the end-game wouldnt change. And that's just the size, the fake-history and the magic-system involved are top notch etc etc
. I admit that when i first picked it up for a while I was like, well, ok, not as good as Mistborn, but now im totally on the S.A hypetrain.
As for Elantris, the problem for me was that I have read it after Mistborn, SA, and Warbreaker. Elantris was his first Cosmere full novel, and while it's very good and won him a lot of recognition and paved the way for the rest of the Cosmere, it's just not as good compared to his later work. If I could go back in time, for full enjoyment of the Cosmere I would read it like this.
1. Soul of the emperor 2. Elantris 3. Mistborn Era 1 and possibly Era 2 as well 4. Way of Kings, Words of Radiance 5. Warbreaker 6. Oathbringer (7. Mistborn Era 2 if I didnt read it after the era 1)
Havent read White sand, since afaik the graphic novel is as of yet uncomplete, waiting for the final installment to be released. There are 2 more short stories Im gonna read in the coming days, Sixth of the Dusk and Shadows for the Silence in the forest
Curious, can I ask why you would place Emperors Soul at the top ? + Show Spoiler +
I think for that one having a better idea of how the cosmere's magic systems work (especially given the particular skils in Emperors Soul are closer to some abilities in Stormlight then the actual world its set in)
I think your order is great but I disagree with the first choice.+ Show Spoiler +
You would end up finishing a short story that segues properly into nothing and doesnt build onto anything (because you havent gone through the content that elaborates the concepts used so heavily in that particular story)
Sixth of the Dusk and Shadows for Silence are huger teases btw. They are standalone entries that give tantalizing tidbits that reference events across to the Cosmere but leave you with more questions then you started with.
i really enjoy sanderson but man i really disliked elantris and i dont dislike many things. not sure where the love of it comes from. relatedly, i just finished the powder mage trilogy by brian mcclellan. pretty strong sanderson influence in his writing. i think he was taught by him at some point. mostly reads as a less strong (but still enjoyable) version of sanderson but with better characterization.
On January 10 2019 23:12 InFiNitY[pG] wrote: Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I have now finished both mistborn series as well as the stormlight archives (as far as published), about to finish skyward and looking to read Warbreaker next. Would you recommened reading any of his short stories next? Or Elantris? Or something I am missing completely?
Definitely read Warbreaker! While every single one of Sanderson's Cosmere stories are readable as stand-alone books/series, Warbreaker has a lot of easter eggs/hidden gems/crossovers with Oathbringer (not just Hoid).
It's a very cool story, i was put off by the description of the book I've seen on Goodreads or somewhere, which went something like this [Romance] [Adventure] "Two princesses of a troubled kingdom set out to...." and I was like, ok, screw that.... It's not that! I think it's one of the best book he has written, and it isnt super long.
I'm totally in love with the Stormlight Archives series which is by far the most ambitious epic fantasy series to this day, more about the structure, it's not actual spoilers: + Show Spoiler +
Each book is basically a trilogy and a series of short stories/novella (flashbacks) woven into a single book. The books are planned out to be a double series of 5+5 books, in total 10 books, which if he keeps up the page-numbers of the first 3 are gonna be equivalent of about 25 normal sized fantasy books. Compare that to other very long series, and (if he finishes) he's gonna dwarf them all. Like the Malazan book of the fallen have 10 books, but the overarching structure is very loose, you could easily skip entire books and plot-lines and the end-game wouldnt change. And that's just the size, the fake-history and the magic-system involved are top notch etc etc
. I admit that when i first picked it up for a while I was like, well, ok, not as good as Mistborn, but now im totally on the S.A hypetrain.
As for Elantris, the problem for me was that I have read it after Mistborn, SA, and Warbreaker. Elantris was his first Cosmere full novel, and while it's very good and won him a lot of recognition and paved the way for the rest of the Cosmere, it's just not as good compared to his later work. If I could go back in time, for full enjoyment of the Cosmere I would read it like this.
1. Soul of the emperor 2. Elantris 3. Mistborn Era 1 and possibly Era 2 as well 4. Way of Kings, Words of Radiance 5. Warbreaker 6. Oathbringer (7. Mistborn Era 2 if I didnt read it after the era 1)
Havent read White sand, since afaik the graphic novel is as of yet uncomplete, waiting for the final installment to be released. There are 2 more short stories Im gonna read in the coming days, Sixth of the Dusk and Shadows for the Silence in the forest
Curious, can I ask why you would place Emperors Soul at the top ? + Show Spoiler +
I think for that one having a better idea of how the cosmere's magic systems work (especially given the particular skils in Emperors Soul are closer to some abilities in Stormlight then the actual world its set in)
I think your order is great but I disagree with the first choice.+ Show Spoiler +
You would end up finishing a short story that segues properly into nothing and doesnt build onto anything (because you havent gone through the content that elaborates the concepts used so heavily in that particular story)
Sixth of the Dusk and Shadows for Silence are huger teases btw. They are standalone entries that give tantalizing tidbits that reference events across to the Cosmere but leave you with more questions then you started with.
I put the Emperor's soul first because it's a very strong, but short story, and you get a sense of how well Sanderson writes. As i've said, for me Elantris wasnt as enjoyable, i attribute it to reading it late, but I guess i cannot be sure. So I would rather have started with that, but I agree, The Emperor's soul can definitely be read later on, even after S.A., it doesnt suffer.
I agree that Elantris is the weakest of the novels for sure. Its clear he was still developing at that point. Emperors Soul is clearly a more mature work and right up there as a short story.
Almost finished: Autbiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa Economics in One Lesson Just starting: Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus
Fukuzawa's biography is a lot of fun. He comes across very likable and honest and his life is a heck of a story. Economics I'm trying to at least learn a bare minimum to give better understanding of history and current events. I like this book but I'm sure it's extremely simplified. Very excited to start the theurgy book. Neoplatonism seems to offer a good philosophical grounding for polytheism but I had a hard time trying to dive in to the primary texts. This seems fairly easy to read so far and might be what I've been searching for.
A short story collection which ranges from scifi to fantasy, a lot of them with a touch of chinese culture and mythology. Like in any short story collection some stories are better than others, but the overall quality is fairly high i think. Some of the themes and ideas one has already seen somewhere else, but it's pretty hard to be fully original these days so i give him a pass on that one.
Salem's lot by Stephen King
Wanted something which will be read rather fast and king surely fits that quite well. 150 pages in atm, liked the buildup so far, seems to be one of the better king novels as far as i can tell atm. Hopefully the ending will deliver, something he usually doesn't get right.
After i am done with king i will either start with some pynchon or nabokov, still not entirely sure what to choose though.
I am reading V. by Thomas Pynchon right now after my second attempt at Gravity's Rainbow ended in a fairly confused me. I've heard V. is a more concise novel that captures essentially the same themes as GR, so I'll give it a try first.
Almost done with salem's lot and i am a little disappointed, definitely falls into the king category which would be: way too long for what it wants to tell. I will finish it because i always do, but the buildup was better than the climax :D
On January 18 2019 01:12 CoupdeBoule wrote: Been re-re-rereading my favorite book 19Q4 as a warmup to Murakami's newest book Killing Commendatore. Excited about that. Anyone read it?
1Q84 was pretty good, and Murakami is my favourite author, but it isn't my favourite of his. I'm a huge fan of 'Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' and 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' personally. I haven't read Killing Commendatore yet though. I've been slowly building up my collection and now have nearly all of his books.
I finally decided to take the plunge into the Wheel of Time series given that so many people rate it so highly and that Amazon is turning it into a TV series. I'm up to Book 9. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm very surprised at how PG rated it is compared to other contemporary novels. There's a remarkable amount of chivalry in it. The biggest problem with the series is how slowly it moves (and this is a remarkable statement for me to make given how patient I typically I am). There are a lot of unnecessary plot lines and plot points. The most egregious example so far has been the Ebou Dar trip and hunt for the bowl. Resolution of major conflicts is drawn out for no good reason. It shouldn't take until Book 5 for the hero to finally get laid by one of his love interests.
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. It's really good, really short, everyone should probably read it. At least read The Library of Babel and Funes the Memorious.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Had this highly recommended, but didn't really care for it. There's a section outlaying the picnic comparison which is cool, but the rest isn't very interesting or well written.
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. This is also really good. Would've been great to read this when I was younger.
Recently read Skyward, which was decent. Wished Sanderson would write more adult books again, Elantris and Mistborn were great and the finale of Wheel of time showed that he really could pull a connected saga off. His more recent books are all decent (read alloy of law 2 and part 2 and 3 of his superhero series last year) and I can't really find a major flaw in them, but they don't impress me like some of his earlier books did. They are just a tad too much by the book and the fact that he writes them as separate stories instead of parts of a longer arc doesn't help.
On January 31 2019 08:36 xDaunt wrote: I finally decided to take the plunge into the Wheel of Time series given that so many people rate it so highly and that Amazon is turning it into a TV series. I'm up to Book 9. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm very surprised at how PG rated it is compared to other contemporary novels. There's a remarkable amount of chivalry in it. The biggest problem with the series is how slowly it moves (and this is a remarkable statement for me to make given how patient I typically I am). There are a lot of unnecessary plot lines and plot points. The most egregious example so far has been the Ebou Dar trip and hunt for the bowl. Resolution of major conflicts is drawn out for no good reason. It shouldn't take until Book 5 for the hero to finally get laid by one of his love interests.
Yeah the middle part is extremely slow, especially Perrin's part. That Jordan apparently thought that females are aliens and that they are mostly irritating across the board as a result doesn't make it better and especially the jealousy parts are really bad.
It gets better once Sanderson takes over though and the finale is great.
Tbf that the characters developed their romances slowly didn't bother me, new fantasy seems to require a sex scene every 100 pages, which at times is annoying. I couldn't care less whether or not Tyrion meets a whore in a shaggy town city and feels bad about it. I don't have the attention span of a 5-year old, I can read 200 pages without a sex or a gore scene.
On February 04 2019 21:29 Archeon wrote: Recently read Skyward, which was decent. Wished Sanderson would write more adult books again, Elantris and Mistborn were great and the finale of Wheel of time showed that he really could pull a connected saga off. His more recent books are all decent (read steelslayer 2, part 2 and 3 of his superhero series last year) and I can't really find a major flaw in them, but they don't impress me like some of his earlier books did. They are just a tad too much by the book and the fact that he writes them as separate stories instead of parts of a longer arc doesn't help.
On January 31 2019 08:36 xDaunt wrote: I finally decided to take the plunge into the Wheel of Time series given that so many people rate it so highly and that Amazon is turning it into a TV series. I'm up to Book 9. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm very surprised at how PG rated it is compared to other contemporary novels. There's a remarkable amount of chivalry in it. The biggest problem with the series is how slowly it moves (and this is a remarkable statement for me to make given how patient I typically I am). There are a lot of unnecessary plot lines and plot points. The most egregious example so far has been the Ebou Dar trip and hunt for the bowl. Resolution of major conflicts is drawn out for no good reason. It shouldn't take until Book 5 for the hero to finally get laid by one of his love interests.
Yeah the middle part is extremely slow, especially Perrin's part. That Jordan had a very limited view of females and they are mostly irritating across the board doesn't make it better, and objectively worse in Perrin's part. It gets better once Sanderson takes over though and the finale is great.
Tbf the development of love stories didn't bother me, new fantasy seems to require a sex scene every 100 pages, which at times is annoying. I couldn't care less whether or not Tyrion meets a whore in a shaggy town city and feels bad about it.
How are you mentioning Sanderson's recent work and ignoring the Stormlight Archive books?
Those are quite adult.
Also, the Alloy of Law series is recent too, with the 4th (and final) book of the series being released this year (or maybe next, no definitive date yet). The first one isn't great and it seems both he and the reader need some getting used to Mistborn magic in a Western style universe. But the second and third installments are very good.
On February 04 2019 21:29 Archeon wrote: Recently read Skyward, which was decent. Wished Sanderson would write more adult books again, Elantris and Mistborn were great and the finale of Wheel of time showed that he really could pull a connected saga off. His more recent books are all decent (read steelslayer 2, part 2 and 3 of his superhero series last year) and I can't really find a major flaw in them, but they don't impress me like some of his earlier books did. They are just a tad too much by the book and the fact that he writes them as separate stories instead of parts of a longer arc doesn't help.
On January 31 2019 08:36 xDaunt wrote: I finally decided to take the plunge into the Wheel of Time series given that so many people rate it so highly and that Amazon is turning it into a TV series. I'm up to Book 9. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm very surprised at how PG rated it is compared to other contemporary novels. There's a remarkable amount of chivalry in it. The biggest problem with the series is how slowly it moves (and this is a remarkable statement for me to make given how patient I typically I am). There are a lot of unnecessary plot lines and plot points. The most egregious example so far has been the Ebou Dar trip and hunt for the bowl. Resolution of major conflicts is drawn out for no good reason. It shouldn't take until Book 5 for the hero to finally get laid by one of his love interests.
Yeah the middle part is extremely slow, especially Perrin's part. That Jordan had a very limited view of females and they are mostly irritating across the board doesn't make it better, and objectively worse in Perrin's part. It gets better once Sanderson takes over though and the finale is great.
Tbf the development of love stories didn't bother me, new fantasy seems to require a sex scene every 100 pages, which at times is annoying. I couldn't care less whether or not Tyrion meets a whore in a shaggy town city and feels bad about it.
How are you mentioning Sanderson's recent work and ignoring the Stormlight Archive books?
Those are quite adult.
Also, the Alloy of Law series is recent too, with the 4th (and final) book of the series being released this year (or maybe next, no definitive date yet). The first one isn't great and it seems both he and the reader need some getting used to Mistborn magic in a Western style universe. But the second and third installments are very good.
I might have been reading the wrong books Thanks, will check out stormlight archives.
Read alloy 2 and thought it was decent, but Waxillium is imho far too smart and powerful and the scenario lacks some of the boldness and extremity that the original Mistborn had. The end was well executed though and I intend to read book 3 this year.
I never got around to finishing the Wheel of Time because of its weird obsession with logistics of moving around armies and dreadfully slow pace. I was young(like middle school) when I started it and the series lost a lot of direction after the third book.
Going back and reading some of it now, it feels dated and stuck in this Tolkien style of conflict between good and evil. Nobility vs corruption. I also don’t know how I ever accepted The Dark One as a name for a Big Bad. I think the one selling point of the series was that being the Dragon, or chosen one, in the series was a god damn nightmare and not at all desirable. From obtaining magical power to slowly going mad, it made the struggle of becoming the hero of legend seem impossible for the protagonist. I just wish it didn’t happen over tens of thousands of pages.
Also some of the worst cover art in fantasy. Nothing about that cover art made the series look cool.
I'm about finish with it and it was really a nice read. Midway between a ethnological/philosophical essay and a biographic travel story, Levi-Strauss give a portrait of his time studding native population in Brazil in the 1930-40. It's a bit eclectic at time, but it make for a nice book to read a chapter each night. It also give an easier introduction to the structuralism analysis that Levi-Strauss will develop in the rest of his purely scholar work.
On January 31 2019 08:36 xDaunt wrote: I finally decided to take the plunge into the Wheel of Time series given that so many people rate it so highly and that Amazon is turning it into a TV series. I'm up to Book 9. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm very surprised at how PG rated it is compared to other contemporary novels. There's a remarkable amount of chivalry in it. The biggest problem with the series is how slowly it moves (and this is a remarkable statement for me to make given how patient I typically I am). There are a lot of unnecessary plot lines and plot points. The most egregious example so far has been the Ebou Dar trip and hunt for the bowl. Resolution of major conflicts is drawn out for no good reason. It shouldn't take until Book 5 for the hero to finally get laid by one of his love interests.
Yeah, me too, i put the series on hold for a while. It came highly recommended, so I started with high expectations, and the first book just isnt good. It's very much LOTR-esque, couldnt shake the feeling. I was reassured that goes away in the following books, and book 3 is amazing, so I read on. Book two was Ok, book three was better, definitely the best of the first 3, but not mind-blowing or anything... And everywhere it is said that the middle books are kinda meandering and boring, so if Book 3 was a high-note than I decided I would invest my time elsewhere. Eventually i will come around and finish it.
On February 05 2019 03:03 Plansix wrote: I never got around to finishing the Wheel of Time because of its weird obsession with logistics of moving around armies and dreadfully slow pace. I was young(like middle school) when I started it and the series lost a lot of direction after the third book.
Going back and reading some of it now, it feels dated and stuck in this Tolkien style of conflict between good and evil. Nobility vs corruption. I also don’t know how I ever accepted The Dark One as a name for a Big Bad. I think the one selling point of the series was that being the Dragon, or chosen one, in the series was a god damn nightmare and not at all desirable. From obtaining magical power to slowly going mad, it made the struggle of becoming the hero of legend seem impossible for the protagonist. I just wish it didn’t happen over tens of thousands of pages.
Also some of the worst cover art in fantasy. Nothing about that cover art made the series look cool.
I'd say the draw is that it's a great blender of many things and that Jordan/Rigney was a great worldbuilder. Many characters are likeable and fallible, fantasy is quite rooted in the world (Shadar Logoth, mage-armies, the white tower being a political power), there's a lot of attention to detail, politics make mostly sense and the action is pretty crisp. There is some of Tolkien's mystique some of the modern gruesomeness. Some of the scenes just flashed me back then, the first battle of the Ash'aman f.e.
It also hit the sweetspot for me between Tolkien's very descriptive writingstyle and the very fast paced action style that many modern fantasy writers prefer. Whenever I read a little in the books I'm amazed how good Jordan/Rigney is at describing a scene on the fly without getting boring.
From a plot perspective it's a fairly stereotypical fantasy epos and heavily leans on LotR and a hero's journey, no doubt. And getting sidetracked is definitely the biggest flaw of the books.
I liked the covers :/ (outside of the one of the great hunt)
On February 04 2019 21:29 Archeon wrote: Recently read Skyward, which was decent. Wished Sanderson would write more adult books again, Elantris and Mistborn were great and the finale of Wheel of time showed that he really could pull a connected saga off. His more recent books are all decent (read steelslayer 2, part 2 and 3 of his superhero series last year) and I can't really find a major flaw in them, but they don't impress me like some of his earlier books did. They are just a tad too much by the book and the fact that he writes them as separate stories instead of parts of a longer arc doesn't help.
On January 31 2019 08:36 xDaunt wrote: I finally decided to take the plunge into the Wheel of Time series given that so many people rate it so highly and that Amazon is turning it into a TV series. I'm up to Book 9. It's entertaining, but not great. I'm very surprised at how PG rated it is compared to other contemporary novels. There's a remarkable amount of chivalry in it. The biggest problem with the series is how slowly it moves (and this is a remarkable statement for me to make given how patient I typically I am). There are a lot of unnecessary plot lines and plot points. The most egregious example so far has been the Ebou Dar trip and hunt for the bowl. Resolution of major conflicts is drawn out for no good reason. It shouldn't take until Book 5 for the hero to finally get laid by one of his love interests.
Yeah the middle part is extremely slow, especially Perrin's part. That Jordan had a very limited view of females and they are mostly irritating across the board doesn't make it better, and objectively worse in Perrin's part. It gets better once Sanderson takes over though and the finale is great.
Tbf the development of love stories didn't bother me, new fantasy seems to require a sex scene every 100 pages, which at times is annoying. I couldn't care less whether or not Tyrion meets a whore in a shaggy town city and feels bad about it.
How are you mentioning Sanderson's recent work and ignoring the Stormlight Archive books?
Those are quite adult.
Also, the Alloy of Law series is recent too, with the 4th (and final) book of the series being released this year (or maybe next, no definitive date yet). The first one isn't great and it seems both he and the reader need some getting used to Mistborn magic in a Western style universe. But the second and third installments are very good.
I wouldnt call Stormlight anymore adult than Mistborn is tbh.. its all like young adult/teen at best. I really liked the transition to mistborn era 2 personally. + Show Spoiler +
It was a very interesting take, not just the western/steampunk aspect but also the fact that everyone is to a degree limited including the main characters made the combat alot more enjoyable than Vin tearing heads not stop for a 2 and change worth of books.
Havent read his non cosmere works so cant comment on those.
On February 07 2019 14:51 Starlightsun wrote: This book is super interesting. Jung's name popped up in a couple podcasts I listened to so I decided to jump in. Wish I'd read his stuff sooner.
I have a few of his myself. He was super smart but also not a good writer. Some of it is just a nightmare to read. I remember being stuck on one chapter for about 3-4 months because I just couldn't get what he was trying to explain.
On February 07 2019 14:51 Starlightsun wrote: This book is super interesting. Jung's name popped up in a couple podcasts I listened to so I decided to jump in. Wish I'd read his stuff sooner.
I have a few of his myself. He was super smart but also not a good writer. Some of it is just a nightmare to read. I remember being stuck on one chapter for about 3-4 months because I just couldn't get what he was trying to explain.
Yeah can't say I understand all of it, but the parts I do are full of very striking and original ideas. I guess this is probably one of his more accessible works since it's a series of lectures he gave.
On January 16 2019 03:50 Flicky wrote: Has anyone read Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue? Sounds intriguing but have only heard of it from someone who hasn't read it yet.
I've read Sudden Death and liked it enough to wholeheartedly recommend it.
I recently finished Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and I must say it's probably his weakest yet (I have read them all excluding the latest one) although I felt happy and proud that it was placed partly to my home country
I have high hopes for Killing Commendatore though, the plot seems intriguing.
2019 To Be Read List (hopefully) Another Roadside Attraction – Tom Robbins The Brothers Karamazov -Dostoevsky Dubliners-James Joyce Ulysses – James Joyce The Cantebury Tales -Geoffrey Chaucer Fearful Symmetry - Frye William Blake (Collected poems) Leaves of Grass -Walt Whitman Wallace Stevens (collected poems) The Bible Leonard Cohen – Stranger Music Lorca (Collected poems) Irving Layton (collected poems) Emily Dickinson (collected poems) Frank O'Hara (collected poems) Amy Clampitt (collected poems) Alexander Pope (The Rape of the Lock)
I'm interested in writing my own poetry so I want to know what other voices have said to be aware if I'm creating pastiche.
On February 04 2019 20:31 Flicky wrote: Recent ones:
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. It's really good, really short, everyone should probably read it. At least read The Library of Babel and Funes the Memorious.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Had this highly recommended, but didn't really care for it. There's a section outlaying the picnic comparison which is cool, but the rest isn't very interesting or well written.
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. This is also really good. Would've been great to read this when I was younger.
Everyone loves Library of Babel but personally Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius is probably my favorite Borges across all his short story collections. Death and Compass was also really good.
I read No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. Apparantly it is very popular in Japan, but it was recommended to me by a friend in english. It is the most peculiar book I've ever read. Though it's similar to Crime and Punishment in that it is a tragic story of an otherwise good man, it takes it in a very different direction.
Also recently read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I recommend these very much. I'm not sure how useful Holmes' deductive techniques will be to someone who reads these books, but it certainly feels like I've learned something in addition to having fun trying to figure out the puzzles (and invariably failing despite it being a fair mystery usually).
I didn't realize we had a book thread. I am now back to reading again after having read almost nothing since 2013 (life happened is the short answer). Gonna post mostly fantasy books, but since I am a slow reader it might be a while before I post again.
Just finished: The Many Adventures of Peter and Fi Vol.1 by Kelvyn Fernandes
(I received a free copy of this book from the author by participating in his Reddit Fantasy Writer of the Day thread.)
Overall it was a fun adventure book. I don't want to say too much, but the book follows Peter and Fi who are both on an adventure together for their own gain. I really enjoyed the world building in this book. Instead of having everything thrown at you at once, you get to gradually explore the world the book takes place in.
Starting next: The Yoga of Strength by Andrew Marc Rowe
(I won an ARC of this book in a giveaway that took place on the Fantasy subreddit. The book releases April 19th)
I recently started to read Plato's dialogues on Socrates. Before it I read Xenophon's Memorabilia and even before that I read Plato's Republic. And I read a few pages daily from The Philippics, a series speeches of Marcus Tullius Cicero against Marcus Antonius but it is not a book in itself so I do not know if it's relevant. Anyway, it's beyond impressive how Cicero expressed himself, I am in complete awe of his ability. Small wonder he is considered to be the most eloquent speaker in history. Cheers!
Brought Arcanum Unbounded (which has alot of novellas that are Cosmere related .. it is a good deal for one book).
Read(which was one of the novellas of arcanun unbounded):
I did expect it to be quite good given that it is his Hugo award winning story after all but what i didn't expect was that it completely lacked the usual "sanderson avalanche" or the explosion of the culmination of the detail setups for the plot near the end of the book which is actually how all of his books work.
It has the least sanderson-ish quality for a sanderson book.
On February 07 2019 14:51 Starlightsun wrote: This book is super interesting. Jung's name popped up in a couple podcasts I listened to so I decided to jump in. Wish I'd read his stuff sooner.
If you like a psychotherapist talking about the philosophical roots of their ideas i recommend Nathaniel Branden's "Judgement Day". He revised it in 1999. I recommend the 1999 version of the book. I think the climactic line from the book is : "every day is judgement day and your ego is the judge"
I find it fascinating to examine the evolution in thinking behind baseball.
For all of his #s and statistical analysis, Bill James, has no clue a wave of dominicans is about to hit the majors and change the way every GM and Prez of B-Ball Ops scouts for talent.
James is able to better predict what will happen a year in the future compared to previous statistical analysts. This book represents a small incremental step forward in statistics and measurements of baseball players. The way it is presented in the movie and book "Moneyball" is that Bill James' thinking is a giant quantum leap forward. And... its not. Patient hitters have always been way more valued than aggressive hitters.
just an immense pleasure to read. history, life, love and other oddities of and about historically important people - in letters. Stalin to his daughter, Augustus to Caesar, Anton Chekhov to his publisher...
I very much remember a gripping and graphic one by an English aristocratic woman who lived around 1800, who was being operated on without anesthesia - in France.
that woman's name? Fanny Burney, one of the very few best selling female novelists when "dabbling in such things was disreputable"
There is a new book exchange box roughly like this near the playground where we go with the kids. I found this there This was rather surprising since there are very little English books in that box, so I took it and started reading. I stared reading without any expectations whatsoever, but so far it is fantastic. I would never have guessed that there are some many interesting aspects about the life of a butler.
Recently Read:(yes i am aware these are lit that kids read but i only encountered them now)
Fairly straightforward scifi but pretty good at execution i guess. It was a good read (not my favorite philosophical scifi but good enough)
I read alot of opinions about this about how it was good. Well it was good even tho it was kinda simplistic(not complicated at all) and most characters are nice but they did do good with a girl pretending to be a boy so that she can become a knight aspect that the book advertised.
Certainly targeted for teens/kids tho
This is basically Mulan but sort-off old-school fantasy twist with actually reasonable cast (idk there was a lack of petty character which i am not used to).
This was some good swashbuckling fun. Takes place in the 1600's, an Irish doctor is falsely accused of taking part in a rebellion, gets sold into slavery in Barbados, then escapes to become a pirate captain roving the Caribbean.
About halfway through this. The story is quite interesting but the style takes some adjusting to. Single sentences running more than half page and inconsistent, illogical punctuation use. It's exciting though, jumping right into a life or death drama set against a rich historical back drop. It's a pretty short book too which is a plus.
This year so far: Didin't like them one bit. They aged badly. The only value they have right now is historical, read them if You want to see how sci-fi looked back then and what was the state of writers/readers minds of that age. I saw nothing else of value there.
Great book with slow start. One i can certainly recmomend, it defends itself prety well even on science part (sans the network-web thing) despite being 20 years old. Really insightful on some society related topics.
Weird as all Dark Tower books. Nothing interesting in terms of story, the strenght lie in the world building and mystery. You read it and You want to know "what the fuck is it about?", "How the fuck this world function?" i guess chances are i dont get my answer at the end of the saga. Mystery based stories often fall short at the end. Still i have hopes and will try to read on. Its worth mention there is yearly LARP event in Poland inspired by this book.
I had a bit of a dystopian dip earlier this year, when I made my list for 2019. I went through Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell, A Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick before I had to take a break for work taking more time. Looking forward to getting back to it during the summer. On the 2019 list I planned are the following works:
Dayworld - Philip José Farmer Red Rising - Pierce Brown The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L’Engle V for Vendetta - Alan Moore&David Lloyd Animal Farm - George Orwell Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury The Circle - Dave Eggers Battle Royale - Koushun Takami Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
On May 23 2019 02:15 Starlightsun wrote: Yeah I don't care for Ray Bradbury either... surprised you got through three of his books.
They were recently published in Poland toghter in one tome so once i bought it I had it all and once i started reading I:1)Hopeed it will get better 2)Pushed myself to finish.
Been a while since I've read this much (even though it's still not alot) What I've read so far: A Maze of Death (Philip K. Dick): lacks in execution, has an ending we collectively loathe now because we've grown out it as a species. Does have interesting ideas with characters and world building (but that's what he's good at I've heard). You kind of wonder what else is there.
City Of Illusions (Ursula Le Guin): Some good prose in there, but mostly story telling, which is strong, as I was continuously triggered to find out what came next. Sketches a great world of fallen civilization. Protagonist is great, especially later on.
The Marathon Photograph and Other Stories (Cliffard D. Simak): Very nuanced sci fi. What a gentle way of approaching this genre. Shares great insights in his writing and while it's not going to wow you with events, it might definitely blow your socks off because of it holding back where others would blow it out of the water.
1984 (George Orwell): What a fucking genius. Little over half it kind of started to drag a bit, but the last quarter was an amazing display of helplessness and desperation. The concepts thought of are timeless and are now more relevant than ever.
Animal Farm (George Orwell): Cute fairy tale about the dangers of communism.
Currently reading: Thinking, fast and slow (Daniel Kahneman): opening my eyes very rapidly about what being human entails (or at least, the lessons I'm learning of how biased everyone actually is and how difficult it is to decouple yourself from that). I'm really enjoying his anecdotes.
The "waking up from a dream", or "it was all in the imagination" or "it was all told by a story teller" bit is something that might've been interesting and innovative at the time (and I don't have any gripes with it personally), but I don't see any modern writer doing it because it gives you an easy way out. I did, however, really like the dread he finishes with. I guess that's the "true" ending, but the main story can just be seen as filler and doesn't have much weight to it like this. Maybe there were some interesting dynamics I missed during the main part, that would be intriguing to find out about in a re-read, but I don't know, it kind of cheapened the entire experience for me.
Yeah thats pretty shallow and overused trope, when You are teenager You think its super deep and eyeopening but when You get older You realize its just lazy. If i recall correctly Dick also used it in "Eye in the Sky" and other works. A testament to the era perhaps? You know lsd, hippies, transcanding mundane reality. That kind of vibe.
On May 23 2019 17:06 Silvanel wrote: Yeah thats pretty shallow and overused trope, when You are teenager You think its super deep and eyeopening but when You get older You realize its just lazy. If i recall correctly Dick also used it in "Eye in the Sky" and other works. A testament to the era perhaps? You know lsd, hippies, transcanding mundane reality. That kind of vibe.
EH.
Literally everything is a trope. It just depends on how it was setup and executed. Hell even readers mood/preference factors on how much one story will be enjoyed no matter how "well-done" it seems. It wouldn't matter if the reader wasn't up to that form of work at that moment.
Everything is a trope and everything is overused to some degree. Unless you are implying nothing can ever be enjoyed
There's no one true way of enjoying storytelling lol
Well, my impression of Philip K. Dick has always been that he has great *ideas* for stories, but is not very good at working them out into actually great stories. Very many of his stories have served as inspiration for movies which have turned out far better than the novel (or usually, short story) that he originally wrote.
Sure, but I'm also saying we've grown out of it culturally. At one point it was all innovative and then the next best thing came along which we focused on. It's in our repertoire and I'm sure at one point it can be used again to great effect, but it'll have to be perfect, because if it's not, it'll just be groaned at.
I don't think the issue with 'it was all a dream' is that it has been done many times before. I think it's largely a cheap ending. The way it can work is if there are hints along the way that things are not as they seem (sort of a Truman show that doesn't reveal towards the end, but there are all those oddities that keep crashing into the real).
But there is a sort of feeling of meaningless that comes from 'it was all a dream'. You are invested in a story and a world, and in the end none of it happened. It's basically a broken promise the reader- a story's beginning promises to the reader that it's going to be a certain sort of story- comedy, horror, grimdark, high fantasy, etc. If you pull the rug out at the very end 'nope. It wasn't that sort of story' and there were no buried clues that can be seen in retrospect, it's just a straight up cheat. All that stuff I wrote before? None of it matters. You could make a switch part way through- a sort of Matrix I reveal. But you gotta drops clues right away that something is up and Matrix I is really good at that.
Without the clues, and just pulling the rug out at the end, it's surprising all right. But it isn't clever. It's just a box of nothing. Which is just really disappointing.
In larp design this kind of trope or solution is called "false floor" and its consider an example of bad design. If You give players/readers/movie goers some false reality - You invest them emotionally in it and then at the end drop the bomb "its dream, alternate reality, matrix or whatever" without actually giving player/reader means to pierce the veil and get to the true meaning before it its just gotta make them angry and frustrated. Its lazy design.
Matrix isnt a false floor because the veil is pierced pretty early and the entire story is build about it. If during the entire movie we would follow Neo's life in Matrix and he would be given a a pill only at the end it would be shitty movie. A great pilot for TV series, great opening for the story but if it would end just there it would be bad.
" the road to hell is paved with `good intentions` "
There is too much adult interference in children's lives. This "zero tolerance for bullying" becomes a weapon to bully others. You can bully people with the threat of the bully label. Its better to let kids settle stuff amongst themselves. I watch the whining and complaining that goes on amongst adults under 25 and I wonder to myself "did this person ever lose a physical fist fight in their lives?". Generally speaking, adults under 25 do not know how to deal with the word "no".
One of my biggest customers is a very large nursing organization. The Canadian born and raised nurses under 25 are pretty close to useless; as a group they have a reputation for being very mentally weak.
On May 23 2019 19:45 goody153 wrote: Everything is a trope and everything is overused to some degree.
I disagree. While it might be true in regards to plots we can still find some truly orginal works in world construction for example.
The next thing you read as "JAW DROPPING" is basically mediocre to somebody who is ahead on the reading curve of the same genre/theme/tropes/etc.
It all depends on the reader. Mood, readers experience ,reading preference, genre preference and etc etc
You may think of yourself as an elite but i doubt that people have inflated egos lol
Everything is a trope. The most recent thing you read as amazing somebody on another part of the world at some time already found it boring as hell.
I bet one of the things you found amazing with is probably garbage to me or just plain unimpressive.
Enjoyment of fiction isn't absolute like how laws of science/math works.
You are usuing too much strong quantifiers for my teste and on top of that most of what You wrote isnt even on topic. Sure i agree that that perception of work quality is relative. But thats not what i am claimed. I wrote that there are original works created at least in terms of world building and i stand by it.
About a third of the way through this but I don't think I'll finish it. Feel no attachment or interest for any character, and it feels gross the way this author is writing female characters in first person. Other authors have done that well (Bleak House comes to mind) but something feels off here. Not surprised to read that the author was accused of sexually abusing his children and committed suicide.
This was really long but good read. It's amazing how bad the racism was back then. Even many on the Union side considered blacks to be an inferior race that should be kept separate. Also interesting how many people were against Lincoln in his lifetime and his struggles and imperfections. Things really get whitewashed away so that you only get a caricature things so it's really educational to read a good history like this.
Also I can understand better why people still defend the Confederacy even though it is so reviled. I think it doesn't matter how morally wrong your side is, you'll defend it when you're being slaughtered, invaded and pillaged by an outside force. The scale of devastation the South suffered from the war is hard to imagine. Actually the suffering on both sides is pretty hard to imagine, and I'm thankful not to have experienced anything like that. In these times when people keep saying "the country is more divided than it has ever been", I think it would be good to recall the horror of the Civil War.
Has anyone read "The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu? I'm 200 pages into the book and so far I find it quite underwhelming, both in terms of the ideas and in terms of the execution. I'm considering putting it back on the shelf and I was wondering whether it gets better at a later point.
On July 03 2019 03:58 MajuGarzett wrote: I liked all three books but I would say they stay pretty similar the whole way through.
I'd say that the first two are quite different. "The Dark Forest" feels more like a dispassionate chronicle. Character development is even worse than in "The Three-Body Problem", and many characters seem to speak in the same manner. But what's bothering me the most is how explicitly everything is laid out, and the book is supposed to be about human deception. T___T
My favorite parts in the first book were actually the historical retrospection passages.
The books were really hyped up but so far I am not really impressed. I find the writing in "The Expanse" much more satisfying.
Has anyone read Fools & Mortals by Bernard Cornwell? I've made it 7 chapters in so far and I just can't get into. I usually like his work though!! Does it pick up later?
I'm put it on hold and restart the Mercy Thompson novels by Patricia Briggs until I can decide on what I want to start on..
Has anyone read "Metro 2033"? I want to practice my Russian. The cheapest option is to buy the books directly from Russia as Amazon prices are ridiculously high. The best option would be to buy all three (it's a trilogy, I believe) because if I were to buy one, the cost of shipping would be half the price.
I read it in Polish (only first book) it was decent, but i heard bad things about second one so i skipped it. I also read the Petersburg books from the metro universe (which were ok) and the one in Rome (got it as a gift) i never finished that one.
People of the Dark (Stories of Robert E Howard) - Love the raw intensity of his writing.
Africa in History (Basil Davidson) - Got this at used bookstore. Trying to read more history and hadn't read anything focused on the African continent yet. It kind of breezes over things so I'm afraid that I'm not getting as much out of this as more in depth books.
Principles of Economics (Gregory Mankiw) - I got this because the last history book I read talked a lot about things like tarrifs, interest and inflation and I find myself lost trying to understand all that. I expected this to be dry but it's surprisingly light with lots of real life case studies and news articles to break up the theory. It's amusing how economists have broken down so much human behavior into neat little mathematical models.
Teaching of the Buddha (Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai) - This is the book you find in hotel drawers alongside Bibles. I like the short, concise sections in it and the plainspoken English. Years ago I was real into the early Indian Buddhism found in the Pali cannon, but those are written in a difficult style. This book is easy to dip in to and it references those early texts a lot and tells the same stories, parables and teachings.
Havent posted here since last years thread, so just gonna summarize this year for me!
Finished: The red queens war (Prince of fools/The liars key/The wheel of Osheim) Mark Lawrence The band (Kings of the wyld\Bloody Rose) Nicholas Eames The faithful and the fallen (Malice/Valor/Ruin/Wrath) John Gwynne
Red queens war was good, the band was as close to epic as a series can be, and the 3rd book cant get released fast enough! Faithful and fallen was also an impressive surprise for me, for sure gonna revisit the new books when i have read some amazing books coming up soon!
Currently reading Circe by Madeline Miller. Was told is an amazing book, but something about the way its written doesnt sink in with me. Thinking about laying it away and take a break until "A little hatred" by Joe Abercrombie is released. That book is gonna be epic from start to finish
I just ordered the Dune series and I'm super excited. I have no idea how I've got to 34 years old and not read them yet. Seems like the kind of thing that's right up my street. Political/philosophical sci fi <3
Both are really surprisingly fantastic novels(which i didn't expect for red sister as i was not that impressed with his other book prince of thorns ). And both have one common element other than being great which is the really catchy first paragraph of the book below.
IT IS IMPORTANT, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.
Ninja Nuns.
Also the best almost all girls novel i have read(which is surprising as the author isn't a girl and he wrote them as if they are girls as opposed to uhm other works that i have read from male authors). This is a weird thing too as i have read more better male protagonist with female authors than male authors themselves.
I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,00 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.
Murderbot is seriously my spirit animal in my early 20's and late teens. Also it never felt boring reading that stuff at all. Good scifi adventure style without the sense of doom for the universe.
I am considering buying the sequels for both but i still have waay too many brought books to finish. I couldn't binge read like before anymore with so many things in life(like job eating up all my time ugh)
Next Up:
American Gods and Lightbringer (already reading both but focusing more on lightbringer.
Read a few (a lot) of her other books before but never got around to the rest of the Hainish Cycle for some reason. This book holds up well still. Can tell it is around 50 years old by now in the views and science used. Though the core of the Sci Fi and ways of viewing society holds up very well. Depending on where you live, where you grew up and which phase of life you are in you are likely to find things resonating strongly. Examining things is good for you regardless of positive or negative opinions.
These old school feminist works feels like they are written about a normal current society when you live in a Scandinavian country. Then you think back to why it was radical at its time and can only be glad for how much better it has gotten, even if we still have a ways to go. The contrasts in this book highlights it pretty well, shows how Le Guin considered her contemporary time and thus gives me food for thought.
Apart from that I follow way too many online novels, translated or original. Probably started ~80 of them this year apart from the normal books I've finished. I really like the unique ideas they portray, even if the writing isn't always the best. Good writing there is so much of, new and interesting ideas is what keeps me around. (Then the writing makes me drop it after the idea isn't fresh any more.) That has cut my reading this year down to 45 "novels" though I've probably read thrice the amount of pages.
Highlights for me this year has been a bit of a mixed take. The Dispossessed (Hainish Cycle) Street Cultivation (It isn't a good book, I liked it anyhow) Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 1) The Alloy of Law: A Mistborn Novel Foundation's Edge (Foundation Novels) Foundation Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: The inspiration for the films Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049
A bit interesting to me that I have read 9 books from Tao Wong and 0 made it to the top list of the year. They resonate with me while reading and are page-turners, yet don't really leave an impression I guess.
Also interesting goody153 mentioned Sanderson and Murder bots. Got around to books 4-6 in Mistborn just a few months ago as audio books on the way to and from work. I also have Murder bots in my ever expanding to be read list. Though it has made it to my pocketbook, so chances of me reading it is way up from the paper books laying about.
On July 03 2019 03:45 maybenexttime wrote: Has anyone read "The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu? I'm 200 pages into the book and so far I find it quite underwhelming, both in terms of the ideas and in terms of the execution. I'm considering putting it back on the shelf and I was wondering whether it gets better at a later point.
I had the same feeling, i put it on shelf about 6 months ago and havent touched since. I am thinking about finishing it though.
So i ended reading just a couple of chapters on both Lightbringer and American Gods (Lightbringer was surprisingly not as well-paced as i thought which lost my interest and well i brought a Peter Watts book so i kinda lost interest with American Gods) but no matter i'll just go back to it in a later date when i am much more interested in both books(i really do this). On the other hand from the books i finished in the meantime.
Recently Read:
5/5
Now this is a surprise(as i read the another work of Mark Lawrence which was Prince of Thorns and i did not like it but not because of the atrocities but rather it was kinda not good tbh). The 2nd book is actually better than Red Sister which says alot considering as Red Sister was fantastic(as if it wasn't written by the same author of Prince of Thorns)
I'll be honest if the 3rd book keeps up the quality or do even better it might dethrone my favorite trilogy of all time for sure.
I would say outside the heavy deconstructions, unique themes used and overall humor. It actually mediocre in other sense not that it was bad but it wasn't great either.
Just ok and i still did have fun reading a Dark Lord as a protagonist.and alot of hypocrisy with the characters.
3/5
4/5
Do not let others set your limit. You are your own limit.
Not an actual quote from the novel(just madeup) but it sums up what the novel is all about.
And this is Will Wight's magnus opus where he went from promising the fans a sequel series to Travelers Gate to completely forgetting about Travelers Gate franchise and kept releasing like book after book of Cradle until now we still don't have a Travelers Gate sequel news whatsoever in favor of Cradle's 7th book(and 8th book already under way) lol
I can see why this is actually popular(and why the author himself abandoned it). It is impressive in a really unique way (i heard it is a deconstruction of a genre of a chinese novel but i haven't read a chinese novel ever so i don't know but it was still pretty good for me without it). Really great progressional fantasy
Both Red Sister franchise and Cradle franchise makes me look forward for its sequels.
Next Up
I am halfway on both Rifters by Peter Watts and Semiosis by Sue Burke. I read too many fantasy novels lately time to catch up with the scifi backlog i have. (i will try as i ended up reading different books all the time)
Finished Dune; loved it, although my main criticism is that + Show Spoiler +
I didnt like how the protagonist couldn't do anything wrong. I like innate talent and abilities, but how perfect and awe inspiring everything he did was just a tad too much for me. Also, the writing style sometimes felt a little too superlative. Other than that; epic story; great depth in the universe he's shapen and with just enough left out of it that it becomes very intriguing.
Me and my friend brought some books on bookrepository(but it arrived like more than a month later) anyways this was short book so i read it in a span of 2 days(so immediately returned to starfish, 2nd book of cradle and semiosis).
However it is kinda impressive. I don't believe in all the ideas of the but i do believe in one idea it tries to tell the readers
That to truly live sometimes you really have to live like you have no time anymore to live
(not an actual quote from the book but same idea)
5/5 (originally rated 4/5 but overtime as i thought about the book it deserves a perfect score for me considering the the things i am going through atm)
edit:
Also finished (just now)
Ok Cradle is indeed addicting even moreso than his Travelers Gate series. If this even gets better per book i think i might just end up dropping everything i have been reading so far and just binge all Cradle upto the latest.
4/5
another edit after 3 days:
Also finished (Cradle is addicting)
what can i say ? It is addicting. The scope keeps getting bigger and the story just gets more flashier. The pacing gets alot better each book(i guess Will Wight has been getting stronger in writing as his protagonist is)
another 4/5 and already reading the next book (at this point i am gonna end up finishing what's left in a week or so)
On September 11 2019 21:45 Jockmcplop wrote: I just ordered the Dune series and I'm super excited. I have no idea how I've got to 34 years old and not read them yet. Seems like the kind of thing that's right up my street. Political/philosophical sci fi <3
So I finished Dune and Dune: Messiah and they are two wildly different reads. Dune has all the hero's journey stuff in there but Messiah is something else. Its dark and depressing as all hell. I love it. I'm going straight on to the next one and I'm super excited about this series in general. I'd recommend these books to anyone interested in philosophy and politics (and sci-fi of course).
I've only read the initial novel, but I hope the cultures he writes about (Fremen, Harkonnen, Bene Gesserit) are expanded upon, because that was awesome.
This reminded me a lot of the Witcher books. Kind of similar concept, a lone warrior traveling around dispatching monsters, finds that the people hiring him are often pretty monstrous themselves. The writing (or translation) is a little more childish in comparison, but not too bad.
I liked this because the readings are short. It's a collection of source documents grouped into different subjects like the atom bomb drops, civil rights, women's liberation, vietnam war etc. Good to get a quick acquaintance with the many things that have happened post WW2 in America.
Just finished up Wool. A short story turned into full length novel.
I read a review that said it was a story driven and not character driven plot. Something I found myself fully agreeing with. It felt like things should happen this way and the character traits were made to suit it. Despite that I strongly enjoyed the sense of mystery and many of the early twists were great.
The book is split into 5 "short" stories with the last two more fully integrated and somewhat suffering from being that long. Would recommend just reading the first short story that is also free on Amazon.
The full book didn't keep the same quality as the short idea that spiralled into a series. Personally felt like an early work in an author's career to me. Good ideas, decent execution and missed potential.
@goody153 I know he needs no defenders, but Butcher really improves over the course of the series. His first few books are full of what I call "western tropes" like copy pasted passages and Murphy being predictably an idiot every single book. He cleans it up a lot and even makes fun of himself a few times in later books. I can't say the series will change your life, but I found it overall very enjoyable and it's gone in an interesting direction. We'll see if he goes off the rails Rowling style in the last few books.
Agency by William Gibson. It's not a bad read but it suffers from a lot of ideas not really finding a voice and kind of seems ad hoc to the main premise of AI gaining agency/sentience.
EPT
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Thanks, will check out stormlight archives.
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