what books are people reading?

[harper]

I finished The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan tonight and it was excellent. I'm looking forward to the second book in the series, The Sea of Monsters, which comes out next April. I've started reading book 1 of The Land of Elyon

I sent one of my students home for winter break with a box of books to read. She's already borrowed and read the first five Riftworld books by Raymond Feist and a couple of the Myth Adventures books by Robert Asprin.

I sent her off with:

the first two books in the Riftwar Legacy series by Feist
the first two books in the Empire trilogy by Feist and Janny Wurts
the first seven books (in two collections) in the Myth series by Asprin
the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce
the Complete Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen

All of those books are parts of series that I love and I'm sure she'll have read most of them by the end of break since she reads pretty fast. I loaned the 3rd Empire book and the 4th book in the Immortals series by Pierce to another student. I keep a small library in my room at school to loan out and am thinking of expanding it a bit.

[Shishio]

Last month I finished Arslan by Mary Jane Engh, which was not even close to what I expected it to be, and after caving and buying A Feast for Crows, the fourth, and latest book of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, I devoured that as well. ASoIaF is hands down, the best series of books I have ever read so far.

I also started the first book of Robin Hobb's The Assassin's Apprentice trilogy, or whatever it's called, because it was heartily recommended to me, but it bored me, and I haven't resumed reading it for awhile.

[NERD]

Last month I finished:
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai,Property by Valerie Martin, The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley, Kindred by Octavia Butler, and Mythologies by Roland Barthes. Though to be fair, I had to read these books for class. Being an English major sucks.

I just picked up the complete The Chronicles of Narnia as a light reading over the winter break, and Sandman by Neil Gaiman, though technically it is a comic book. I might try to finish Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein if I get some spare time, or Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Have stacks of books I've started but lost interest and never finished reading them.

[mawande]

I've been enjoying the Discworld books lately.

[Kuzzy]

I highly recommend reading Jiddu Krishnamurti. More specifically, I very much enjoyed "Think On These Things".

[harper]

deleted stuff

I love the Discworld books. A few years ago, I read the entire series for the first time over a 3 month span. I've been keeping up with them ever since. I read Thud! back in October and loved it.

I read the Assassin series by Robin Hobb when it came out and I liked it a lot, but it is a very slow moving series. I haven't tried reading the Liveship Traders or Fool series that followed this one yet.

I'm planning to reread the Narnia books soon. I liked Sandman when it came out and I have all of the hardcover collections.

[Phyphor]

..March to the Stars by David Weber and John Ringo.

Very good stuff, lots of funny parts. John Ringo rox.

[six-eight-ten]

and after caving and buying A Feast for Crows, the fourth, and latest book of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, I devoured that as well. ASoIaF is hands down, the best series of books I have ever read so far.


I second that. Way back when the first book was just out in paperback, I started reading it on my lunch break one day (I worked in a bookstore). I bought it the second day. I wasn't yet halfway through, and I was tracking down a hardcover copy, which wasn't easy.

Even though his story is growing in the telling, I don't get the feeling that he's lost control of his storyline. The books are huge, but things are happening, and when it's over, I want more. Especially Feast for Crows. How he could end some of those storylines where he did... grr. He's got the best characterization I've ever seen, and a plot that's very intricate and yet doesn't bog itself down. I highly recommend it.

Other than that, I've been reading some of the most recent Star Wars books while waiting for my Calvin and Hobbes set to come.

[PopCulturePooka]

Reading Brilliance of the Moon, final book of the Tale of the Otori trilogy.

[Dorcas Po]

Calvin and Hobbes set. I want that. I really really want that.
Damned Christmas shopping... damned loved ones...

I've not read much since school. Not only the stuff they made you read, the stuff you read while doing nothing. Handheld videogames back in those days were nothing like today's.

I've been reading the Mega Man Anniversary Collection instruction booklet; you know, there are plots to those games you'd never grasp without the instruction manual. Deep stuff. And thick Engrish accents. True classics, an amazing compilation.

[anver]

Right now I'm reading Shakespeares A Midsummer Night's Dream.
I started with Umberto Ecos Foucault's Pendulum in July, but I sorta stopped. Plus I borrowed two books by de Sade, Juliette and The 120 Days of Sodom and one by Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment.

[Jon885]

I enjoy reading almost anything by Andy Mcnab and "The Cat Who" series.

[shimanotaka]

I'm reading "Ring" by Koji Suzuki, and I'm about to start browsing through some astronomy books also.

[harper]

..March to the Stars by David Weber and John Ringo.

Very good stuff, lots of funny parts. John Ringo rox.

Have you picked up the 4th book yet? We Few is also very good. I read it over Christmas break last year. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be several years until book 5 comes out.

I've got a bunch of other John Ringo books, but haven't gotten around to reading them yet. I've read all of David Weber's books, though, and they are pretty good too. Especially Honor Harrington and the Bahzell series.

[decswxaqz]

I've been enjoying the Discworld books lately.
\o/
I've nearly finished reading his whole series. I'm on The Truth at the minute. Love his books.
I've actually got 3 of my books signed by him (seen him twice) and got a few more signed for my brother who loves his books too.
That's all I seem to read nowadays. Might end up reading Narnia again since I can't remember what happened and just seen the film.

[anver]

I've been enjoying the Discworld books lately.

Yeah, they're great. The last one I read was Going Postal.

A great site about Pratchett and his writing is The L-Space Web (http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/) , especially the Annotated Pratchett File (http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html), which lists most, if not all, references.

[Bobbybirdtree]

I finished reading A Tale of Two Cities awhile agon and now I'm reading 1984.

[Encryp]

Love Terry Pratchett's books. Also a big fan of Feist's as well.
Recentley i've read Ravenheart and Midnight Faclon, both by David Gemmell. As those books tell you, im a fantasy and heroic adventure nut. Been trying to get into sci-fi, but so far the only author's books i can enjoy have been Arthur C Clarke's.

[that guy]

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

It's a really good book, actually.

[thomear]

Harper, Fiest is good, but if you want some REALLY good writing, go more towards the adult fiction. At the moment, I am about to sink my teeth into A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin , who is a bestselling author, whom many rate as the best adult fantasy writer. Coming in close behind, in my mind, is Steven Erikson , his books just get better and better. Other than that, there's Robert Jordan, who started off well, but now into writing his 12th book it seems that he's gotten lost in the absolutely huge amount of characters etc that he's written about. Robbin Hobb is another great author, who's books are a little different, but they're great.

Don't get me wrong, Magician by Fiest is a GREAT book, and so are most of the others, but it's good to move on, which Fiest must understand (he's written pretty much every book with same world, and most with the same characters. One of my favourites would be the ones written with Janny Wurts because it showed you the other side of the story, and was so very different, it was great).

[Mechs]

I read BlackHawk Down two months ago. That is a very good book if your interested in the military. Right now I'm reading the 6th Harry Potter book. Just saw it in the my school library so I grabbed it.

[Dorcas Po]

Tonight I happened to read some Scary Stories. 'dem pictures is bitchin'. Why don't grown-up books ever have pictures? That's just stupid. http://tinypic.com/ipws2d.jpg
Someone mentioned 1984. I recently heard someone say something quite eloquent about that book, summed it up nice, something about how the setting was really cool and the story was pretty good, but the main characters sucked.

My sympathy was lost when the male romantic lead described how he wanted to rape and murder the female romantic lead. Points for honesty, yeah, but I just didn't much like the guy after that, and didn't particularly care what happened to him, as an individual.

Animal Farm was much, much better. Talking animals are funny.

(golly, glad I check this stuff; I spelled “romantic” as “ramantic” twice somehow… I would ‘ave looked like an idiot)

[Kuzzy]

http://tinypic.com/ipws2d.jpg

I love you.

[harper]

stuff


Magician is my favorite book ever (though Ender's Game is right up there) and the Empire trilogy is one of my favorite series, but I will disagree when you say that it is time to move toward adult fiction. You may not mean it as such, but I see that as a bit of a slam at Feist and at me. I enjoyed Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy quite a bit, though I haven't gotten around to reading the Liveship Traders or Tawny Man yet. I have Martin's books, but am going to wait until he actually finished the series before reading them. I've read the short stories he wrote for the Legends anthologies and I enjoyed those. I don't want to be stuck waiting 5 years between books, though, and he says that the series will wrap up in 2-3 more books. I wouldn't consider Robert Jordan adult fiction at all, just long winded.

I have a wide variety of tastes and read around 120 books per year, including a number of juvenile fantasy books because they are well written and enjoyable. Some of these books include Airborn by Ken Oppel, Peter and the Starcatchers by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry, Drift House by Dale Peck, Septimus Heap by Angie Sage, Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan, and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. All of these were a lot of fun to read and are good books. I also enjoy the works of Tamora Pierce, who can put together a pretty good story. For science fiction, try CJ Cherryh's Chanur series or Cyteen or perhaps Catspaw by Joan Vinge. There's lots of good stuff out there.

I've never read anything by Stephen Erikson, though, so I'll give him a look at some point.

For more 'adult' tastes, I recommend the works of Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and Hallowed Hunt in particular for fantasy lovers, though I really enjoy her Vorkosigan books as well. I also like the books of Catherine Asaro, Jack McDevitt, Mike Shepherd, Tanya Huff (Valor series), Isaac Asimov, Julian Stockwin, Dudley Pope, C.S. Forester and many others. You don't have to have a million different plot threads to be

[Phyphor]

Have you picked up the 4th book yet? We Few is also very good. I read it over Christmas break last year. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be several years until book 5 comes out.

Nope, We Few contines after MTTS?





I've got a bunch of other John Ringo books, but haven't gotten around to reading them yet. I've read all of David Weber's books, though, and they are pretty good too. Especially Honor Harrington and the Bahzell series.


Definitely get the Posleen (Aldenata?) Series:
A Hymn before battle
Gust Front
When the Devil Dances
Hell's Faire <- Totally awesome Sluggy Freelance references.
Cally's War
Hero
Watch on the Rhine

(IF you don't have them already)

Through the looking glass - very cool, but it does show JR's obsession with power armor. Ah well, still an entertaining read.

[Phyphor]

Those that want to read John Ringo's works (or anyone elses, under this publisher, ) can find them here, free, downloadable or viewable with a browser:

Baen free library (http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm)

[Sho™]

Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time', is an incredible series. It completely and absolutely pawns Lord of the Rings for the title of the greatest Fantasy books of all time.

Read it. You won't be disappointed.

[six-eight-ten]

Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time', is an incredible series. It completely and absolutely pawns Lord of the Rings for the title of the greatest Fantasy books of all time.

Read it. You won't be disappointed.


No, you'll just be bored out of your mind around book 9 or so, when the plotlines have screeched to a painful, grinding halt and you get 700+ pages of filler in which nothing of any import whatsoever happens. I think it was around book 10 or 11 in the series where there were 400 pages talking about nothing but what each woman in the room was wearing, what it was made of, the color, and how she felt about it that day with a little bit about what kind of tea they like thrown in to break up the gripping discourse on silk and wool.

I really liked the series up until around book 7 or 8, though. Until then, I might have agreed with you about it being one of the greatest fantasy series. Unfortunately, it's fallen very far from its beginnings.

And then I read Geroge R.R. Martin's series, which has already been praised in this thread. Another good fantasy author worth checking out is Guy Gavriel Kay. Some of his earlier stuff is a little rough around the edges/could use some polishing, but I enjoyed them quite a bit regardless. And for a lighter, but fun and entertaining read (still in the fantasy genre), check out some of Micheal Stackpole's work. Not on the same level, but still fun.

Bernard Cornwell's books are good, too. I'd classify him as historical fiction, though some of his books border on fantasy, particularly his Arthurian books. Actually, for a good contrast, read his newest trilogy (book 2 just out recently) and Guy Gavriel Kay's Last Light of the Sun , both of which draw from some of the same source material, Alfred the Great. kay's is Fantasy, Cornwell's is historical fiction.

I'm getting long winded. Time to shutup.

[Rogue_7]

Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time', is an incredible series. It completely and absolutely pawns Lord of the Rings for the title of the greatest Fantasy books of all time.

Read it. You won't be disappointed.

hah whatever! I just read the first book, and to say 'derivative' is putting it mildly. The 'interactions' between males and females in that book were atrocious, and I hear it gets worse.

On a ligher note, yeah I do love Bernard Cornwells Richard Sharpe books, well researched swashbuckling fun.

Speaking of which, I'm about halfway through Shogun right now, and really enjoying it. Its nice and thick too, and cheap. I like thick cheap books. I think I'll read Tai-pan next. Of course I'd really like to track down a good biogaphy of Tokugawa Ieasu, (sp? Im too lazy to check, I think thats right!) but unfortunatly I haven't found one. Guess I'll have to make do with a general history.

[harper]

I'm about halfway through Shogun right now, and really enjoying it.

I've read Shogun a couple of times and loved it. The miniseries was excellent too. If you like books about Japan from that time period and haven't already tried these, you might want to check out the following manga titles:

Lone Wolf and Cub (28 volumes)
Samurai Executioner (5 volumes so far)
Vagabond (20 volumes so far) (this is an adaptation of the novel Musashi)

Some people might also recommend Lady Snowblood which is a bit different. For American titles, there are Usagi Yojimbo and the samurai Heaven and Earth mini series.

[harper]

Nope, We Few contines after MTTS?


yes, We Few is the 4th book in the March series and came out last April. It has Roger and the other survivors getting back home, though not without confronting a number of problems, of course. I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy right before Christmas last year and loved it. There are eventually going to be 7 books in the series, but Weber is really busy right now so no word on book 5. It'll probably be a few years. I've got all but 1 or 2 of Ringo's books up through an advance of Princess of Wands, which comes out in January. The only Ringo I've tried that wasn't my type was Ghost, which is a technothriller. I just need to sit down and start reading the rest.

[Daishikaze]

Lets see, I finished George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows a few weeks back, I'm dying for him to finish writing A Dance of Dragons.

Last Week I read Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword by Gu Long, fan translation by Meh and Bliss. This was an awesome story IMO, Sometimes the translation was abit sloppy because Meh felt like being abit lazy, but a damn fine read anyways. Long really knew how to convey how the character felt. Li Xunhuan is my current favorite Gu Long hero at the moment.

This week I finished The Sword and the Exquisitness by Gu Long, fan translation by Athena. This one had a more epic feel to it than "Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword", but the last few chapters were written by someone else on Gu Long's behalf, and the ending kind of kills it because it really screwed up the flow and didn't really resolve anything, which pissed me off. Its still a damn good read though I must say. Yu Peiyu was a pretty interesting charactor, its a pity his story has so many loose ends that didn't get tied up in the end.

[Shishio]

To anyone who enjoys Shogun, I would like to recommend Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka, which is an excellent book. He has also written Autumn Bridge, but I have not yet had the pleasure of reading it.

The manga Harper recommended is also excellent. Lone Wolf and Cub ranks alongside Akira as my favourite manga of all time. And I am one of those who would also recommend Lady Snowblood.

And as long as I'm making recommendations, Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami, is another excellent read. (The book, that is. The manga is pretty good, but not as good as the book.)

[NekoChan]

Catcher in the Rye and By the Shore

[Spaatz965]

Right now I'm re-reading the Narnia books (have them in a compendium).

Recently have read Knife of Dreams, the most recent (and 11th book) in Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I've been sucked into the story and am looking forward to it wrapping up in the next book. There were several books that seemed little more than filler. A buddy of mine told me of something he read, indicating that Jordan's publishers convinced him to stretch the series...and it certainly seems like that was done without anything good beeing contributed. Knife of Dreams was much better than books 9 and 10, which seemed to be too much filler...this is starting to wrap the action, and at times seemed like it was rushing to do so. Wife is reading this book now (I got her into the Wheel of Time series).

Also recently read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling. I don't know how they'll ever condense this one down into a movie...I've become a fan of the series (my wife got me started on it).

Wife also turned me on to the Valdemar serieses by Mercedes Lackey...lots and lots of books, covering huge expanses of time. Great reads for fantasy lovers.

I very much enjoyed Fiest's books...and have been aching to re-read them...but my copies were destroyed by flooding in my basement a couple years back, and haven't gotten around to replacing them.

Others I enjoyed greatly:

The Vampire Cronicles by Anne Rice.
The Ender Series by Orson Scott Card.
The Ryan universe books by Tom Clancy
Tarrot, Incarnations of Immortality, and Adept serieses by Piers Anthony (don't talk to me about Xanth...had to forget about the series forever after the agent orange pun in Ogre Ogre).
The Bifrost Gaurdians by Mickey Zuchart Reichert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, Number of the Beast and Friday by Robert Heinlein
Drawing of the Dark by Timmothy Powers
The Postman by David Brin (much better than the Costner flop of a film)
The Dune Series by Frank Herbert
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (also love his poetry - he wrote limericks)
The various David Eddings Serieses

Long ago (in highschool) I absolutely loved the Dragon Riders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery...I'd dearly like to re-read them, but don't have them in my library...may have to go on a book buying spree...or head over to our public library.

And finally...to throw in a graphic novel, Watchmen by Moore and Gibbons

There's more I could go on about. Reading is one of the constant joys in my life...can't go to bed without a good book to escape with.

[Rogue_7]

To anyone who enjoys Shogun, I would like to recommend Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka, which is an excellent book. He has also written Autumn Bridge, but I have not yet had the pleasure of reading it.

The manga Harper recommended is also excellent. Lone Wolf and Cub ranks alongside Akira as my favourite manga of all time. And I am one of those who would also recommend Lady Snowblood.

And as long as I'm making recommendations, Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami, is another excellent read. (The book, that is. The manga is pretty good, but not as good as the book.)

I found the Battle Royale Manga both incredibly disturbing and totally engrossing. Very much a love hate relationship. Freaky yet compelling etc.
love the movie tho!

[harper]

Wife also turned me on to the Valdemar serieses by Mercedes Lackey...lots and lots of books, covering huge expanses of time. Great reads for fantasy lovers.

Others I enjoyed greatly:

The Ender Series by Orson Scott Card.
Incarnations of Immortality, and Adept serieses by Piers Anthony (don't talk to me about Xanth...had to forget about the series forever after the agent orange pun in Ogre Ogre).

Long ago (in highschool) I absolutely loved the Dragon Riders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery...I'd dearly like to re-read them, but don't have them in my library...may have to go on a book buying spree...or head over to our public library.

It looks like we have pretty similar tastes. I love most of the Valdemar books, but there was a bit of a lull in the mid90s. I didn't like the Mage Winds series much, though Mage Storms was bit better. They weren't as good as the Vanyel, Arrows, or Tarma and Kethry books. I think she took a break after that and when she returned, the books were much better. I really enjoyed Brightly Burning, Take a Thief, Exile's Honor, and Exile's Valor as well as the Owl series. I'll be reading the third collection of short stories (Crossroads) after Christmas. She writes the lead story and then other people write the rest.

The Ender series is very good. I got into the Ender's Shadow series last year and enjoyed the final book, Shadow of the Giant, when it came out last April.

I also lost interest in Xanth wit Ogre Ogre, though I struggled through a few more books before dropping the series. I reall liked the Bio of a Space Tyrant, Of Man and Manta, Dragon's Gold, Incarnations, Mode and Adept series.

I started working my way through the Pern books back in May and still have a few to read. The next one on my list is The Dolphins of Pern. I had two of the Science Fiction Book Club collections for 20 years before finally reading them this year. They had been part of my initial order when I first joined the SFBC as a teen. The series is very good.

[Spaatz965]

I really enjoyed Brightly Burning, Take a Thief, Exile's Honor, and Exile's Valor as well as the Owl series.
Read the two Exile's books earlier this year. Really enjoyed them. Come to think of it, the Tarma and Kethry books were pretty good too (read them last year, I think). Am working tomorrow and then am off for the rest of the year. Haven't quite decided what I'll be picking up after I finish off the Narnia books (just started on Prince Caspian last night).

The Ender series is very good. I got into the Ender's Shadow series last year and enjoyed the final book, Shadow of the Giant, when it came out last April.
Read through the shadow books just before I read Knife of Dreams. I soooo want to know what happened to Bean's kids.

I reall liked the Bio of a Space Tyrant, Of Man and Manta, Dragon's Gold, Incarnations, Mode and Adept series.
If you can find it, check out the Tarot series. It's out of print and is very phillosophical and a somewhat perverse take on religeon.

I started working my way through the Pern books back in May and still have a few to read. The next one on my list is The Dolphins of Pern.
Dolphins of Pern??? Dang, I must have missed out on some, or there were more I missed after Highschool (class of '87). Just more reason to add some of the Pern books to my collection.

Yup, our tastes do seem to coinside. If you want to take a break from sci-fi/fantasy, check out Clancy's Ryan universe novels. If you want to read them in chronological order, start with Without Remorse...about John Clark (not John Ryan). On the more historical side of fantasy, definately check out Drawing of the Dark.

I just might have to revisit some of the earlier Valdemar series...or actually grab some of the Pern books...maybe rebuild my Feist collection :)

Cheers!

[harper]

If you can find it, check out the Tarot series. It's out of print and is very phillosophical and a somewhat perverse take on religeon.

Dolphins of Pern??? Dang, I must have missed out on some, or there were more I missed after Highschool (class of '87). Just more reason to add some of the Pern books to my collection.

Yup, our tastes do seem to coinside. If you want to take a break from sci-fi/fantasy, check out Clancy's Ryan universe novels. If you want to read them in chronological order, start with Without Remorse...about John Clark (not John Ryan).

I just might have to revisit some of the earlier Valdemar series...or actually grab some of the Pern books...maybe rebuild my Feist collection :)


Lackey has sold 3 more Valdemar books, but I don't expect them to start coming out until 2007. I'm looking forward to them. Anne McCaffrey came out with a number of Pern books. She seems to have turned the reins over to her son, Todd, after cowriting one of them with him. Here are the ones after 1987.

Dragonsdawn (1988)
The Renegades of Pern (omnibus) (1989)
All the Weyrs of Pern (1991)
Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993)
The Dolphins of Pern (1994)
The Dolphins' Bell (1994)
DragonsEye (1996)
The Masterharper of Pern (1997)
The Skies of Pern (2001)
On Dragonwings (omnibus) (2003)
Dragon's Kin (2003) (with Todd McCaffrey)
Dragonsblood (2005) (by Todd McCaffrey)
Dragon's Fire (2006) (by Todd McCaffrey)

One interesting thing that she did was go back and tell stories about the first landing on Pern and what happened after that.

I've got the Tarot books, but have never gotten around to reading them. I'll have to dig them up when I get a chance. Feist finished up his latest trilogy last April and the story continues in Flight of the Nighthawks next April (though it is already out in the UK). I've read the first 3 Clancy books and have most of the others, but haven't been able to force myself to read them. I had the same problem with Hunt for Red October, but loved it once i actually started reading it. I'm expecting to get about 10 books for Christmas and those will occupy much of my time for several weeks after.

[Rhuarc]

It saddens me to see so many people get bored with the Wheel of Time between books 6 and 10, but there is so much happening just beneath the surface... a huge portion of the plot is being built which is why so many people find it dry, you are getting hints everywhere about what people are doing and what's happening in the politics of the nations and it is the lack of immediate consequences and outcoms that turns people off... just wait until book 11 and 12 hit and everything comes together suddenly, i expect to see so much stuff come to a head that it will be one crisis to the next for our heroes to quash. the last 4 books have also shown such a huge leap in power for Rand and Mat and Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne that the last two books are going to be awesome seeing them farmkids from Two Rivers make the world dance to their tune.

Also I personally found the hints without confirmation excellent. Like seeing Morgase in the Citadel of Light with Pedron Niall was awesome, it went on for chapter after chapter of her visiting him and playing stones and nothing overt happened but you were shown them each trying to maneouver the other into doing what they wanted, it was exciting, but todays readers don't have the patience to see something slowly build, they want the event->event->event-> conclusion in quick succession that is found in smaller works like single books or trilogies.

The idea of having 12 books to tell this story gives Robert Jordan so much more time to to build tension and fully explore the content and environment

personally I'm glad they talked him into stretching it to 12 books instead of 9.
I love what I'm getting out of his books, and I'm not getting bored at all.

They way it is written you can often forget that Rand is aimed at a final battle to end all battles and you can follow him and the other characters as they do what they need to do now without thought for what they have to do eventually. It's like actually looking into their life as they lead it instead of looking into a portion of their life when you already know how it will end.

For example in the Lord of the Rings, it's only three books, so you can already tell that the books will encompass significant portions of their journey from one place to another, as it is laid out in the beginning that Frodo must go from home, to Mount Dhoom and throw the ring in. So you're jsut along to see what is throw at Frodo while we goes somewhere.
Whereas in The Wheel of time, the main character(s) are told that they are integral in the final showdown with evil, but not where, when or how. the entire point is them trying to figure out what is going on and how they are supposed to fight something so huge and unknown.
this story is about gaining knowlege and applying it to the current situation as opposed to overcoming adversity on the way to a predetermined goal.

and hey everyone loves Harry Potter, which is this journey of discovery only on a smaller scale. Broaden your horizons and tackle these books again with discovery in mind, I sincerely hope you will not be as easily dissuaded and disappointed as you seem to have been the first time through.

[thomear]

You may not mean it as such, but I see that as a bit of a slam at Feist and at me.

I was somewhat having a go a Feist... the first couple of series were great, and I thoroughly enjoyed them as well. But, as far as I can remember, it became a bit of a hero story, and I've moved on. I'm in the middle of like 6 series at the moment, and getting into new stuff. Whilst Feist was a great author to draw me in, I just have so much else to read, as well as lots of school (I'm into the important stuff now, this will effect my uni placement) so there isn't a huge amount of time to read. I'm not saying that he's a child fiction author (my cousin, who is around the same age as me, I'm 16, recommended R A Salvatore to me. He game me the first book, and it wasn't bad. Dark Elves underground, plotting amongst each other. But then, as usual, one of them was a goodie, and went onto the surface, and became a bit of a lone ranger. I thought it was pretty darn ordinary).

Robert Jordan, the first 5 or so are good. But he gets just so lost in the sheer amount of characters. As you pointed out, there is a huge amount of filler. The last 4 books could have been made into one, but that's just how it goes. He's going to try to wrap it up in 2 more books, hopefully they can be as good as the first 3 or 4 were when I first read them. I don't particuarly view him as adult fiction. His books are too... fantasy, but they are verging on the more adult form.

Robin Hobb is great, because it is just such a different take on fantasy compared to most of the stuff you read. The Liveship Traders were so much different from any other fantasy I had read, and the Assassin's Apprentice books were great as well. I recently went to a signing and had a chat with Robin about her new book, which was really open ended. This new series could go anywhere.

C S Forester is great, Hornblower is great. But I must say, and again, not having a go at you or anything, it's a bit of a boy's adventure novel (in that he achieves so much). I read all of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin series (Master and Commander). They blew me out of the water. The amount of detail in the sailing, the battles, as well as the espionage side by Maturin, and Aubrey's misadventures in England are absolutely superb, and if you liked Hornblower you will LOVE Patrick O'Brian.

Shogun was great, and I'm in the middle of Gai-Jin (about the wider opening of Japan to the Westerners). However, other books from other series come out and I've lost my way a bit but when I go down to the beach I'll have plenty of time on my hands and I look forward to finishing it.

And gee, what an absolutely HUGE wait for Feast of Crows (what was it? 4 or 5 years?). Thank God due to him writing too much and splitting it in 2, there will be another along in the not to distant future (touches wood).

I loved the Tom Clancy books as well. If anyone can recommend some non-fantasy thriller/action books, something like Tom Clancy, it would be great. Fantasy is good, but I'd like some variety.

Wow that was long. Last thing, I don't understand why people love The Lord of the Rings so much. The movies were great, but I wasn't a big fan of the books. They were good, and they inspired a lot of authors to write fantasy, but I just thought that not a whole lot went on. Perhaps it was too focused on a small group of people together?

[by_lethe_wharf]

Since everyone has read most major authors, I'll mention a few which seem to be slipping under everyones radar-

Steven Erikson, mentioned before, really deserves to be emphasized. If you are tired of most fantasy, or find something missing, this is for you.
His books are fantastic. The pacing of his stories is awe-inspiring. The plot will suck you in, and the charachters will make you care about them.
I've ended up wishing all books were written that way.
If you ever see his books, buy them.


Ian Irvine's Well of Eternity series, is another great series which hasnt been mentioned with wonderful charachters in a well crafted world.

Le Modesitt's Recluse series-
Slow, and your going to end up knowing more about cheese, bread and woodworking than you may have cared to. Yet the consistency of his characters and world never fails, and is always rewarding. Again, a well crafted world where fantasy is there for more than just convenience.



And, only because it hasnt been mentioned, the Shannara series.

[thomear]

Steven Erikson, mentioned before, but really deserves to be emphasized.

He is great. He tells you absolutely nothing, and the first 2 books are awesome, discovering the world as you go. House of Chains (book 4) isn't his best, but I've heard VERY good things about his upcoming book, due early next year (apparently it's up there as his best).

[harper]

C S Forester is great, Hornblower is great. But I must say, and again, not having a go at you or anything, it's a bit of a boy's adventure novel (in that he achieves so much). I read all of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin series (Master and Commander). They blew me out of the water. The amount of detail in the sailing, the battles, as well as the espionage side by Maturin, and Aubrey's misadventures in England are absolutely superb, and if you liked Hornblower you will LOVE Patrick O'Brian.

I don't understand why people love The Lord of the Rings so much.

I liked Hornblower quite a bit, but there's more to Forester than just Hornblower. The Captain from Connecticut, for example, is really good. I've read Master and Commander and was very bored with it. I plan to go back and try reading more books in the series eventually to see if it gets better siince a lot of people recommend it, but I found it difficult to finish the first one. I liked Dudley Pope's Ramage series, Julian Stockwin's Kydd series and parts of Alexander Kent's Bolitho series much more than Aubrey/Maturin.

I sort of agree about Lord of the Rings. I read it when I was 13-14 and enjoyed it, but when I tried to reread it a few years later, I just couldn't get into it at all. The movies were excellent, though.

I tend to read one book at a time and see it through to the end before starting a new one. If I'm reading a long series like Pern, though, I'll sometimes go away from the series after a while for a change of pace and then come back to it at a later date.

The Shannara books were just mentioned above. I stopped reading Sword of Shannara after about 120 pages and gave up on it. I tried again a couple of years later and just loved it and the two books that followed. I was disappointed with the Heritage of Shannara series, but liked First King. I haven't read the latest series yet. I thought Terry Brooks's Magic Kingdom of Landover series was fun and wish he would do more books in that series.

[rush]

I just finished re-reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. One of my favorite books, written by one of my favorite authors.

[Rogue_7]

I just finished re-reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. One of my favorite books, written by one of my favorite authors.

Totally. I love that book. A true classic for the ages.


As far as WOT is concerend, and this is having read only book one, it was just not well put together. They spent so much time running away, then all of a sudden it was like, whoops we better wrap this sucker up quick like a bunny, on to apocolyptic battle #1 (of 12). That and the fact that I have read a fair amount of Fantasy, and I felt like I'd read it all before. Youths summoned for mysterious showdown with ultimate evil. *yawn* And the way all the women were superintelligent and the men bloody morons. sheesh. I guess I've been spoiled by Martins Song of Fire and Ice. Those books are so damn good. There is no ultimate evil, there is no magical doohicky that will save us all. There is just plotting, death, revenge, and danger at every corner. Love it.

[Lettuce]

I'm currently reading The Witch of Cologne. I admit I was attracted merely by the cover. :P I'm about 3/4ths through and thusfar I find it mediocre at best. It's by Tobsha Werner and is the first book of hers I've read. I can't really say I'd be interested to read anything else by her, however. It's not that she's necessarily a bad writer, but I find the story and characters to be predictable and cliche. Also, she makes use of descriptive sex scenes that may be considered at times appropriate, but mostly I find the opposite, that she uses gratuitous sex scenes to hold readers interest in an otherwise stale story.

[CrystalThrall]

I am a huge Anne McCaffrey fan but I didn't really find the Dragonriders of Pern books that enthralling. I absolutely loved the Crystal Singer series (hence my name & title), as well as the Freedom series and the Tower & the Hive series of books. She always seems to find the right mix of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Romance in these particular series.

I've all but finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings book. All I can say is "damn"...the movies barely scratch the surface of this awesome story.

[more cheerios]

I personally believe the best fantasy writer to be Juliet Marillier. Read book one of the Sevenwaters Trilogy-- Daughter of the Forest. You'll be hooked. It's not fantasy with dragons and wizards and princesses. It's along the lines of Celtic lore. I love it. :)


Right now I am reading Mother Earth, Father Sky by Sue Harrison.

[NERD]

I'm just totally blown away by the number of fantasy readers. Preferred Science Fiction tales in high school, detective novels as a kid, but haven't had chance for much leisure reading since starting college. Most 'light' readings are magazines and comic books for me.

[harper]

I'm just totally blown away by the number of fantasy readers. Preferred Science Fiction tales in high school, detective novels as a kid, but haven't had chance for much leisure reading since starting college. Most 'light' readings are magazines and comic books for me.

I started reading comics when I was 7 and still read them today. I liked detective novels when I was a kid, too. The Three Investigators series is still my favorite series, though I liked Nancy Drew and, to a lesser extent, Hardy Boys books as well. I started reading science fiction and fantasy when I was 11 or 12 and have been reading it voraciously ever since. I probably read more science fiction when I was younger because fantasy was somewhat scarce, but it is a pretty even split now. I've never been one for magazines, though. I read Locus, Wizard and Comics Buyers Guide, but that's about it.

[NERD]

I was soooo much into detective novels- I actually read most of the Sherlock Holmes series, some of Arséne Lupin, and a lot by Agatha Christie. My favorite mystery novels would be:
And Then There Were None, Murder On The Orient Express, The A.B.C. Murders, all by Agatha Christie, The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe, The Egyptian Cross Mystery and The Tragedy of Y by Ellery Queen and Phantom Lady by Cornell Woolrich, aka William Irish.

I usually pick up Electronic Gaming Monthly, Wired, and maybe Wizard, National Geographic, or some art magazines from time to time. Actually if I could, I would love being a writer for Wired, one of the best magazines out there IMO.

[by_lethe_wharf]

Sci Fi! I miss Asimov :(. A.C. Clarke fortunately is still with us. Other than them, I think Ian Banks does a good job, or used to.
Dune gets its mandatory Honourable mention.
Who else writes great sci fi?
Fantasy credit - Michael Moorcock and Roert Zelazny's Amber series. Hmm.. this seems to be more a post of what has been read, as opposed to being read.

[Rogue_7]

I used to read Sci-Fi, but I was much more into the more classic era. I loved Clarke, Niven, and such of the 60, 70s. The more modern cyber-sci fi is not really to my liking. Even though I am a big fan of David Webers Honor Harrington series.

[Spaatz965]

Man...talking Sci-Fi, totally forgot about Stephen Donaldson's Gap series...that is one nasty series. Space pirates, but not the namby pamby plastic glorified image of pirates...think low down criminal raping and piliaging pirates.

And his White Gold Weilder serieses...A leper who finds himself in a fantasy world, first thing he does is rape a girl he finds wandering around alone.

Actually, I liked the Gap series better, but both were pretty good reads.

[harper]

Sci Fi! I miss Asimov :(. A.C. Clarke fortunately is still with us. Other than them, I think Ian Banks does a good job, or used to.
Dune gets its mandatory Honourable mention.
Who else writes great sci fi?

Heinlein used to when he was alive. I like CJ Cherryh's books, especially the Chanur series, the Faded Sun series, and Cyteen. Lois McMaster Bujold writes excellent science fiction and fantasy. Neil Gaiman is a good fantasy author. Robert Silverberg has written a few pretty good novels.

I wouldn't necessarily classify it as great scifi, but I am also a big fan of David Weber's various series. The Honor Harrington books sometimes get bogged down with infodumps, but usually have a lot of action. I'm looking forward to the next Bahzell book too.

[Spaatz965]

Heinlein used to when he was alive.
Still haven't done it yet, but Heinlein's Number of the Beast got me wanting to read the OZ books. Stranger in a Strange Land is one of my all time favorites.

[harper]

I went back to Pern after reading a lot of other stuff and I read The Dolphins of Pern. It was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to reading the last half dozen Pern books.

[Praetorian]

...Just finished reading "About a Boy". And thoroughly enjoyed it. :o

[harper]

...Just finished reading "About a Boy". And thoroughly enjoyed it. :o


I've heard that Nick Hornby's books are good. I saw the movie and enjoyed it.

[Lan]

The Three Investigators is an awesome series =D. When I was younger, I also read the Animorphs, most of Beverly Clearly's books, and pretty much everything in the library (it wasn't a big one). Older now, and I read 'The Cat Who...Went Up the Creek' and I enjoyed it a bit (I like cats) except I found the protagonist had too much money...made things seem too easy. I also liked The Moon's Shadow by Catherine Asaro, but I tried reading some of the others in that series but didn't like them.

The one series I'm a true follower of is the King's Blades by Dave Duncan (http://www.daveduncan.com/). Swords and fencing and court intrigue...Duncan is really good at creating the world and writing out the little details. I'm working my way through the series again. =) Too bad he said he finished writing for it and is working on new projects now. I felt he coulda explored some more things....fleshed out a few more conspiracies he references throughout the series.

Judging from his books, I think Dave Duncan has a thing for flaxen-haired, cornflower blue-eyed girls XD

[harper]

Some of Asaro's books are easier to get into than others. I'm planning on reading her latest, The Final Key, sometime soon. My favorite books in that series are The Last Hawk and The Quantum Rose, os if you haven't tried those two, you might want to check them out. Primary Inversion, Catch the Lightning and Spherical Harmonic can be a little harder to get interested in. With 2003's Skyfall, she went back to a much earlier time to when Roca meets Eldrinson. Schism and The Final Key follow Skyfall. She jumped around in the timeline a lot in her earlier books which can make it hard to follow.

[Canis Lupis]

Right now I'm reading Hitler's Shadow War , and hopefully I'll be able to start Anne Rice's Christ the Lord Out of Egypt before winter break is over.

[Shamu]

I have so many things that I'm reading right now. If we're talking regular books and not manga, then I'm currently reading (and have been for a while) Scotland, The Story of a Nation
For a history book, it's surprisingly good and well written. Not dry at all.
Otherwise, I usually have some romance novel that I'm reading. I can't remember the title of the current one, probably something like "Take Me Now" :p *goes to check title* Ok it's You and No Other, close enough :rolleyes: . I do recomend romance novels to everyone though. They're a riot and you can pick up a few sex tips along the way too, because you know, everyone should know how to have sex in the back of a carriage while undoing a corsett and shooting at bandits! :p :D
As for other things I'm reading, I usually have a manga or two that I'm reading. Right now, that would be Samurai Deeper Kyou and Rurouni Kenshin. I need to get my butt in gear and catch up with Naruto, Bleach, and Fruits Basket though :)

[Stephy]

I do recomend romance novels to everyone though. They're a riot and you can pick up a few sex tips along the way too, because you know, everyone should know how to have sex in the back of a carriage while undoing a corsett and shooting at bandits! :p :D

:o I am still a little scared to start on my first romance novels you sent me. I will though! Need to get some courage first. I read the Bleach manga you sent me. I started Fruits Basket and Fushigi Yugi. I like them. Yay my first manga. Maybe I will even start watching anime. (I really hope I spelt all that right.)

So besides that I am reading The Elephant Man. There are tests as soon as I get back to school on this.

[Shamu]

That's ok Steph, you don't have to read the "naughty" parts of a romance novel. In fact, sometimes I just skip them because they get in the way of the rest of the story. The ones I sent you have a cute enough story that you don't need to read the sex scenes to make the story line enjoyable. A good portion of the time, that part of a romance near the end of the book anyways, and you'll know when you get to it too ;)
I'm glad you like Bleach! It's a very interesting story. I think that's why I like manga stories, because they're so different from what I'm used to and it makes you think outside of the western parameters in terms of happy endings and plot line, yet has alot of elements/themes that are common to all humans throughout the world, like love, grief, ect...
I think you'll like Fruits Basket, the story is just so sweet and funny, yet heartbreaking at the same time.

[NERD]

I really don't get people who read romance novels. Of course, the fact that majority of them are for women may be the reason.

[Alphonse v.2]

Well one time, during lunch, I read the comic section.

[Shamu]

I really don't get people who read romance novels. Of course, the fact that majority of them are for women may be the reason.
Most of them are so funny though! It's like reading a comedy!
I made my ex read one once and he was laughing the whole way through.
I think alot of guys would like them, just for the comedy value alone. That and you get a woman's perspective of what we'd like out of sex (some of us anyways :p ).

[harper]

I read the Bleach manga you sent me. I started Fruits Basket and Fushigi Yugi. I like them. Yay my first manga. Maybe I will even start watching anime.

Fruits Basket is very popular with the students at my school. You might also enjoy Love Hina. Fushigi Yugi has a total of 18 volumes, though there is a sequel to it starting in the US next year. I read a lot of different manga and enjoy it quite a bit.


I finished reading Dragonseye by Anne McCaffrey. I'll be taking a break from Pern for a while because I got 10 books for Christmas with over 4000 pages combined. I'll be busy for a few weeks.

[harper]

I read Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold and I finished Skybreaker by Ken Oppel and both were very entertaining. Skybreaker is the sequel to Airborn which came out last year and takes place on an alternate earth where great airships ply their trade like ships sail the seas. These were two books I got for Christmas so two down and eight to go.

[ellie]

I just started Barrel Fever by David Sedaris. . .he is sooo funny, I've read a couple of his books now, my favorite being "Naked".

[Druid]

Well....I'm currently re-reading the entire Wheel of Time series, skimming through Stephen Kings "The Dark Tower" series, trying to find the Chronicles of Pern, getting ready to buy "Art of War", writing really long run on sentences, hoping to find another new book in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, and reading LotR casue I'm pimp like that. Actually, scratch the pimp part....

[Druid]

Oh, and I'm looking for a book called "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz.

[aseriana]

Currently:
Brüder Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen / Grimm Brothers: Children and House Fairytales
(yes, even though I'm an adult, I love fairy tales T____T; My brother bought me a complete collection of their Fairytales, so I'm enjoying them all)
&....
Genji Monogatari / The Tale of Genji
(In the words of my fiance... "Ancient porn" :D)

Druid- My brother is reading "Odd Thomas", and he has told me it's really great so far. Once I finish one of the books I'm reading now I'll read that. Have you ever read "Lightning" by Dead Koontz?

[Druid]

Hell yes I have. I've read alot of Koontz's books. Fear Nothing was the most recent one. Pretty damn goo too. I've also read By the light of the moon, Seize the Night, Ride the Storm, Servants of Twilight, Strange Highways, and a few others that I can't remember but know I've read damnit. Going senile at 15.

[aseriana]

Hell yes I have. I've read alot of Koontz's books. Fear Nothing was the most recent one. Pretty damn goo too. I've also read By the light of the moon, Seize the Night, Ride the Storm, Servants of Twilight, Strange Highways, and a few others that I can't remember but know I've read damnit. Going senile at 15.

Haha. All I've read thus far is Lightning, but I absolutely loved it. My aunt is a huge fan of Koontz so she's been giving my brother and I books to read whenever she can. I didn't have much reading time during my school semester- but I have til 17. january til my new semester begins- I plan to do some heavy reading. :D

[Druid]

I've go a back to back plain flight to indianapolis. I'm probably gonna play animal crossing THEN read. That game consumes all...

[denjin]

Has anyone else read Murakami Haruki? One of my favourite books of all time is 　ノルウェイの森　 (Norwegian Wood).

[Acolyte]

I'm currently re-reading When The Devil Dances, by John Ringo. It's a great miliary sci-fi book, plus has the added bonus of a bunch of oblique Sluggy Freelance references.

[harper]

Have you read the two books that come before When the Devil Dances?

A Hymn Before Battle and Gust Front

There are also a few that come after, namely

Hell's Faire, The Hero, Cally's War, and Watch on the Rhine

[Acolyte]

Yeah, I've read the first 4 Polseen books, but I didn't know about the 3 after Hell's Faire. I'll have to look out for them when I hit up the bookstore next.

You know, come to think of it, so much of my geekiness can be blamed on When The Devil Dances. I mean, it led me to Sluggy, which led me to webcomics in general, which led me to webcomic forums...and it just sorta exploded from there.

[harper]

The other 3 books all have coauthors along with John Ringo, but I don't think that hurts it really.

Hero - Ringo and Michael Williamson
Cally's War - Ringo and Julie Cochrane
Watch on the Rhine - Ringo and Tom Kratman

The Ringo/David Weber collaborations are my favorite - the March series

[karob]

I am reading "If you Survive"

It's about a army officer in WW2 who goes through some crazy situations. Definately a entertaining read.

[harper]

I just finished reading Kris Longknife: Defiant, the third book in the series by Mike Shepherd. It was very entertaining and I am loving this series. The next book won't come out until next fall so I'll have a while to wait. If you like Honor Harrington or other military science fiction series, it is worth checking out.

[rameek]

The Birth Of Time by John Gribbin

[rush]

The Real Ultimate Guide to Ninjas by Robert Hamburger

For anyone that's ever been to realultimatepower, it's the same guy. And it's hilarious.

[Gestalt]

Denjin said:
Has anyone else read Murakami Haruki? One of my favourite books of all time is Norway no Mori (Norwegian Wood).

I've read a few of his books. Just finished reading 「海岸のカフカ」 - Kafka on the Shore. I've heard a lot about Norwegian Wood, have to read it sometime soon.

[Spike]

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk.

[harper]

I just finished reading the latest science fiction novel from Jack McDevitt - Seeker. It was very entertaining and continues the adventures of Chase Kolpath and Alex Benedict who search for lost historical treasures in order to sell some of them to private collectors. It takes place about 10000 years in the future and this books deals with the search for one of Earth's earliest colonies which was lost and never heard from again.

[FirstStrike]

The Winds of the Forelands series by David B. Coe. Excellent series, well written (currently up to book 4 with 5 on the way) and has a great twist on backstabbing and politics all in a fantasy setting. I'm really enjoying it.

[Wiss]

I've been diving into the Garret, PI series by Glen Cook. Basically detective noir set in a fantasy world, first few are prettty good. Also just finished John Ringo's There Will be Dragons. Most people have recommended the current good fantasy series (Jordan's WoT, George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice, Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth). Other than that David Weber is good military SF with the first couple of Honor Harrington books, Lois McMaster Bujold is good with the Miles Vorkosigan series, Elizabeth Moon also has some good military SF books out as well (Once a Hero is the one I started with), other than that as some mentioned Guy Gavriel Kay is good (really recommend Tigana), L E Modesitt is pretty good too (good SF and Fantasy), Mathew Woodring Stover's Once a Hero may be good to check out as well. Better wrap this up before I keep going on.. .and on :)

[EIJI]

Denjin said:
Has anyone else read Murakami Haruki? One of my favourite books of all time is Norway no Mori (Norwegian Wood).

I've read a few of his books. Just finished reading 「海岸のカフカ」 - Kafka on the Shore. I've heard a lot about Norwegian Wood, have to read it sometime soon.
I think "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" is the best.

[harper]

Lois McMaster Bujold is good with the Miles Vorkosigan series, Elizabeth Moon also has some good military SF books out as well (Once a Hero is the one I started with)

The Vorkosigan series is one of my favorites. I just reread Ethan of Athos which features Elli Quinn over Christmas. Bujold also writes excellent fantasy, including Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and Hallowed Hunt.

I like Moon's Serrano series and have enjoyed her newer sf series about the Vatta family. The third book should be out early this year. Moon also has written an excellent fantasy trilogy called The Deed of Paksennarion and it is available in a single volume now.

[master of my domain]

at the moment i in the middle of the battle royale novel

so far its awesome :pop:

[Matt W]

I am currently reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is very good. Before that I read A Feast For Crows, which I am glad to see seems popular on this board. Martin is a master. There was talk of Robin Hobb earlier, and I just want to recommend her Liveship Trader trilogy to fantasy fans, it is great.

[Monkey]

How about the J.V.Jones books. Start with the book of words trilogy and then move onto her new series. They are a great read.

[harper]

I agree. JV Jones has a similar feel to Robin Hobb in some respects. I liked Baker's Boy and the rest of the Book of Words trilogy.

I'm currently reading the new Robert Asprin Myth book - Class Dis-Mythed. If you want humorous fantasy, this is an excellent series. I've been enjoying it for over 20 years now. There are 16 books available, though there are omnibuses available that contain 3 or 4 books in ones volume.

[jindojim]

"Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss....
....
..
Or so I wish...instead I'm studying the contents of "Organic Chemistry" by John McMurry. Particularly about the Wittig Reaction. If you know anything about this, drop me a note cuz I could use some guidance.

But...on that note, "Hop on Pop" is pretty deep too. It could be a Freudian expression of the Oedipal complex, where the child is beginning to hate and fear the father-figure.

[thomear]

Go Dog Go by Seuss as well

best book ever (well favourite Seuss one anyway)

[Idlethought]

I just read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, i thought it was spectacular

[PinkRanger]

Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki


Fantastic book. I've already read it a while back but its so good I felt like reading it again.

[KiwiKitty]

Currently, Weapons of Choice, first book in the Axis of Time trilogy by John Birmingham. Once I finish this, I'm going to track down book 2, Designated Targets, and then begin the wait for book 3.

[harper]

I've heard that Weapons of Choice was good. but haven't read it. I'm currently reading Wizards at War by Diane Duane, the seventh book in the Young Wizards series. I should finish it some time this evening.

[Druid]

Terry Brooks Tanequil. Kickin ass and taking names so far. I'm also reading a book called Memory of Earth. It roxors my boxers. Very good book.

[Star Market]

Just finished The Unfettered Mind by Takuan Soho and currently on Jarhead by Anthony Swofford.

[Pookie42]

reading heart of darkness for school itsgotsome really beautiful language but i tthink conrad hasmoments where hebeats u over teh head with his point a little too much with his ideas. someone earlier mentioned Robert Jordan and i totally agree i gave up on his books aroudn book 6. Terry Goodkind wrote somethign of very similar content but i think written better but then he got too obsessed with blood, his characters got way too self righteous and he got a lil blindly patriotic in teh last couple books/intolerant. but book one was good. just finished memoirs of a geisha too. umm when i have time i wanna start the other boleyn girl. ^^

[Iria]

i dont read much
my fav book is the name of the rose

[Pierrot le Fou]

In the past 6 months:

Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Valley of the Horses by Jean Auel
The Mammoth Hunters by Jean Auel
Plains of Passage by Jean Auel
Shelters of Stone by Jean Auel
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhabazan by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince by JK Rowling
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
History of Sexuality, Part 1 by Michel Foucault
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg
My Mother's Delicious Cooking (Japanese) by the woman that wrote 'Darling ha Gaikokujin'
The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
A Boy and his Horse by CS Lewis
Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
The Dawntreader by CS Lewis

On deck (in my apartment and in the queue):
Guns Germs and Steel
The last 2 Narnia books
Deception by Dan Brown
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Darling ha Gaikokujin (1 and 2)

My book habit costs me almost as much as my beer habit. My bookshelves are sagging from the weight (granted they're cardboard boxes, but...)

[Hatsumomo]

HAHA, "Valley of the Horses." I remember that book being so big in middle school because of the sex in it.

Books I've Read/Reread Recently:

Battle Royale - Koshun Takami
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami
White Oleander - Janet Fitch (Best. Book. EVER. I've read it at least 20 times and it never gets old)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden(?)
Alone - Lisa Gardner
The Perfect Husband - Lisa Gardner
The Next Accident - Lisa Gardner
The Killing Hour - Lisa Gardner
The Other Daughter - Lisa Gardner (obviously I love her books)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

College and work has prevented me from reading a lot more. I miss reading. I need to hit up the library for some more books.

[harper]

I've had the Jean Auel books for 10-15 years, but haven't read them. Did you like them?

I plan on rereading the Narnia books some time in the next month or so. I'm just starting the 7th book I got for Christmas (out of 10). It's The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce. I also got 3 more books for my birthday and plan to read those, too, before I get to Narnia.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I absolutely love the Clan of the Cave Bear novels. I had read the first couple back a decade ago, but didn't really enjoy them (partly because I was forced to read one for school reading). However, I think I can relate to them really well now because of my experiences in Japan, as they seem to parallel things in my daily life rather well, even if the setting is radically different.

I've probably read them each 3-4 times since getting here when I don't have a new book to read. The long descriptions tend to get repeated a lot (which is very noticeable when you read them one after another), and the sex scenes tend to be a bit excessive in my opinion, but the plot, character development, and attention to detail in creating a fictional society is really well done.

[Masa the Masta]

I haven't had the time to go back and re-read this thread but..

Has anyone ever read, "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho? I loved this book.

[Suneru]

Clan of the cave bear books are really good. So much detail and work she put into them. Wonder when the next book will come out.

I just finished reading Philip K. Dick's - Ubik. My head hurts too much to read for a little bit. Gonna play PSP.

[Idlethought]

Guns Germs and Steel


You know, I've bought that book and havent touched it. I think im gonna start on it tonight.

[PinkRanger]

Samurai Girl books 3 - 6
Mao's Last Dancer
The Samurai's Tale
Pass it On



...Just to name a few.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Apparently she's a fair way done with the next book, but not close enough to releasing it to have a date set. I'd guess 2007 or 2008, but that's just because these things take time. I wish the bloody books didn't end in cliffhangers so that you want to learn what happens and have to wait 4-5 years...

[PinkRanger]

Are you talking about Samurai Girl? If you are, I agree! I just finished book 6 today and I was highly disappointed because of the huge cliffhanger and something that happened in the book. I have no idea when the next release will be. I went through 3 - 6 in about 35 hours the day before yesterday, I love the series. I'd already read 1 and 2 a few years ago and couldn't find the others until recently.



...I'm gonna feel really dumb if you weren't talking about Samurai Girl. >.<

[Hatsumomo]

I want read books of the "dystopia" genre, like Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange. I've read 1984 and I loved it. Same with Battle Royale (since that falls into a dystopian Japan).

Any other books of this subject?

[Kusoyaro]

I have a bad habit of reading Encyclopaedias.
I'm done the great books, and I'm on Prague in the encyc. proper.

I just finished reading Keats, I'm starting on Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzche is fucking awesome ("There is no god[s], because if there were, i would be one, so it is therefore true that they do no exist." WUSSUP ANUBIS?! gods!), i can't get enough of his sugarcrisps.
Pierrot, whatchoo think? Any comments or prepratory advice before I begin my journey into pure illogical hardwisdom? Hmmmm?

[ellie]

Just started "Fool on the Hill" by Matt Ruff, and am 60 pages into it already. It's so great! The premise is like a children's story, but with adult elements and adult langage. Kind of a fairy tale, and I think it's going to be kind of a romance later on. Has anyone else read this book, or even heard of it??

[harper]

Are you talking about Samurai Girl? If you are, I agree! I just finished book 6 today and I was highly disappointed because of the huge cliffhanger and something that happened in the book. I have no idea when the next release will be. I went through 3 - 6 in about 35 hours the day before yesterday, I love the series. I'd already read 1 and 2 a few years ago and couldn't find the others until recently.


I've got all 6 Samurai Girl books in my pile of stuff to read, along with other series like Outcast and Pendragon. I'll probably get around to reading them some time in the next couple of months. I've been alternating between regular fantasy/science fiction and juveniles lately, and the series sound like fun. I don't like the sound of a cliffhanger with no book 7 in sight, though.

[crow-kun]

I've read a good book called Backroads it has all the fun taboos like incest, screwing your nextdoor neighbors hot married wife who has two kids, murder, incest...incest, jacking off in a toilet paper holder in your aunt's bathroom and did I mention incest.

[Spike]

Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk

[Kusoyaro]

Lol, of course. Chuck owns. I read that one where that wmoan has all that surgery? Or was it by Bret Easton Ellis, i can't remember.

American Psycho, screwed me up bigtime.

[Daishikaze]

Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi: Pretty damn good, gives you alot of background information that the Movie didn't portray.

Currently reading:

The Eleventh Son by Gu Long, translated from Chinese by Rebecca S. Tai: So far its a damn good read, it will probably be my second favorite Gu Long story after Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword.

[Druid]

Velocity by Dean coontz is a really good book. Tis about a killer who sends a bartender notes that gives hime the choice of killing two people. For example, the first note the freak sent went as follows:

"If you don't take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher somewhere in Napa County.

If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work.

You have six hours to decide. The choice is yours."

It's teh awesome.

[MSquared]

Nothing at the moment, but if I ever pick something up it'll probably be something by Malcolm Gladwell. I've read far too much from his website.

[harper]

I'm about halfway through Conventions of War, the third book in the Praxis trilogy by Walter Jon Williams. It is excellent so far, but I still have 300 pages to go. It is a long book, though I've read longer (Shogun, War of Honor, etc.).

[Saeglopur]

Right now I'm reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, and A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick. After I finish them II'm going to start reading the Narnia books. The movie was really good, and made me want to re-read the books.

[fa11en87]

I just read Memoirs of a Geisha. It was very interesting.

[Cybilcora]

I plan on reading more Banned books. Like right now I am reading The Butterfly Revolution

Next I might re-read Fahrenheit 451.

[Fuiru]

I'm reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, its not my ideal type of book, but I'm reading it for school and it must be read XD. Once I've finished I'll start reading The Devil's Companions by John Misto

[Scapegoat]

I'm Reading:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained by John Milton
Dante's Inferno
and Lullaby by Chuck Palaniuk

[Roxie]

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy

And I'm listening to
Don't Get Too Comfortable : The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD) by David Rakoff (Narrator)

I think it's awesome he's narrator. You get to hear everything exactly the way he meant it. Inflections, humor, seriousness, all.

I just finished
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was awesome.

[harper]

I finally finished Conventions of War, but I had to stay up until 2am each of the last two nights to finish it. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to start my next book.

[Bobbybirdtree]

I'm reading Frankenstein now for english class.

[Spike]

I'm Reading:

and Lullaby by Chuck Palaniuk

Same heh. I'm on a Chuck craze right now it seems..

[MoosecatcherPrime]

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert; it's awesome, as is everything by the author.

[Balain]

I have a couple bokos going right now
To have and Have Not
A clash of kings (A song for fire and Ice is the frigging coolest Series I've read in a long time)

I think when I'm done going to re-read Les Miserable. That is the best story I think. OKay Hugo can be long winded sometimes, but the overall story is Soooo good.

[Shishio]

I finished reading The Sea Wolf by Jack London yesterday. It was great. And it is nice to know I'm not the only person that thinks like I do, even if the only other person to do so is a fictional character. (Wolf Larsen.)

[harper]

I enjoyed a lot of the books I had to read in high school, but Sea Wolf ranks as my favorite of all the high school reading selections. I agree, it is an excellent book.

[Fuiru]

I'm reading Frankenstein now for english class.

Frankenstein annoyed me to no end :bang:. Its so damn long winded. I had to read it for English too

[Vic_Rattlehead]

Meiji and his world - Donald Keene

and if you call it reading..
みんなの日本語 :D (Japanese language book) :hat:

[Bobbybirdtree]

Frankenstein annoyed me to no end :bang:. Its so damn long winded. I had to read it for English too

I know what you mean. Every time i start reading it i get flashbacks to when i had to read "A Tale of Two Cities" for my paper. Seriously that much detail i can do without. :knockout:

[Shamu]

I've started reading When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka and I've also started reading the Death Note manga (thanks Bleach twin for the "recomendation" :P)

[Collapse]

Marcus Aurelius: Meditations.

And I am moved with a mind free of desire and passions. Cut away delusions and let rational and logical thinking move in.

And I like it very much. Just finding inner peace through calm thinking and adhering to moralistic principles.

[harper]

I just finished reading Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick, which is the first book in a 5 book series. It wasn't bad, but wasn't as good as other military scifi I've read recently, such as Kris Longknife and Conventions of War. I'll read the other books in the series when they come out, though.

[NERD]

Henry IV part one for my Shakespeare class, with Merchant of Venice next on the syllabus. Not to mention a bunch of short stories- from The Fall of the House of Usher and The Purloined Letter Edgar Allan Poe, Young Goodman Brown and The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I expect to read at least 30-40 more short stories by end of the semester.

[Angelyne]

1421 (http://www.1421.tv/) by Gavin Menzies. Very interesting stuff :watson:

[Druid]

Dant's Divine Comedy-English translation

[PinkRanger]

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin


FANTASTIC book. It's about this poor Chinese boy that grew up in the Li Commune. He was chosen to be one of Chairman Mao's Red Guards and dance in Madame Mao's ballet. Its his autobiography from his childhood to present life about what he experienced during Chairman Mao's cultural revolution and how after being devoted to Chairman Mao for so long, he defected to America for a free life.

[PoorlyConstructedAlias]

Currently reading Shadowrun Fourth Edition (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932564667/sr=1-1/qid=1139202464/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1963742-8860652?%5Fencoding=UTF8) and Infernal (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765312751/sr=1-1/qid=1139202479/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1963742-8860652?%5Fencoding=UTF8), by F Paul Wilson

[Rogue_7]

Martin's newest, A Feast For Crows. Its hella badass, I love this series.

[Tenlaius]

any book I have/manga

at the moment been reading Tenjo Tenghe

[harper]

I just finished Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud, the third book in the Bartimaeus trilogy, and it was an excellent read. The first two books in the series were also very good. Stroud has two earlier novels that I am going to read and I'll be sure out check out Stroud's next series as well.

[Krezeb]

hmm..
Right now I'm re-reading "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan.
Just finished re-reading the "Dune" series.
Planning on re-reading the Harry Potter series.

I need to get some new books...

[harper]

I just reread Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold by Terry Brooks. I'd loaned it to one of my students and then decided to reread it since I hadn't read it in a decade or so. It was very good, but now I'll have to reread the other 4 books in the series. The sacrifcies we make for a good series...

[harper]

I finished reading The Leap by Jonathan Stroud. It was good, but is very different from his Bartimaeus Trilogy that I recently completed. That series is your more typical fantasy with magic and demons, but The Leap is a more personal story about a young girl whose best friend drowns and she nearly drowns trying to save him. She searches for him in her dreams and is convinced that she can bring him back.

[Maladroit]

Anyone read Thomas Pynchon?

Vineland
Gravity's Rainbow
The Crying of Lot 49

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -Hunter S. Thompson

Slaughter House 5- kurt vonnegut

[harper]

I finished reading Crossroads and Other Tales of Valdemar which is the third anthology in the Valdemar universe. With as many authors and stories as most anthologies have, the stories can sometimes be a bit uneven, with a few really good ones and a few really bad ones. I enjoyed all of the stories in this volume (some more than others, of course), with a few of them being very good.

[Idlethought]

The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey very very slowly lol. Im writing notes on it as I'm goin along.

[ellie]

Setting Free the Bears by John Irving (my literature hero) and am about to borrow my friend's book on how to give the best blow job (not that I need any help with that, but I figure I could at least learn some new things that I hadn't thought of before)

[DarkFire168]

Chainfire by Terry Goodkind, from the Sword of Truth Series.

[harper]

I just finished reading Buried Fire by Jonathan Stroud - A fantasy about a dragon buried beneath a hill for centuries who may be waking from its slumber. It was very good, better than The Leap which I read earlier this month.

[Kou123]

The Japanese Mind by Robert C. Christopher

[Rogue_7]

slogging through Clavelle's Nobel House. Its good, but a bit weighty.

[Digital Masta]

Finished the 3rd Vampire Hunter D nove "Demon's Deathchase" SOOO VERY DIFFERENT AND BETTER than Bloodlust the movie that this book was inspired by.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Two Dr. Seuss Books (for school)
Dune trilogy by Frank Herbert

[Roxie]

Coming Of Age in Somoa by Margret Mead
Devil in the Details : Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig

[harper]

I finished The Final Key by Catherine Asaro and it was an very entertaining. This is the 11th book in her Skolian Empire series and the early part rehashes some of what came before, but once it got rolling it was very good. The series was not written in chronological order. The best way to read the series would be to either start with Skyfall (the earliest book in the timeline) or with Primary Inversion (the first book written). Asaro's writing has gotten much more polished over the years so Primary Inversion is a bit rougher than later books. The Last Hawk and The Quantum Rose are probably my two favorites in this series which is definitely worth checking out if you like science fiction.

[Daishikaze]

Finished the 3rd Vampire Hunter D nove "Demon's Deathchase" SOOO VERY DIFFERENT AND BETTER than Bloodlust the movie that this book was inspired by.

You mean the book that the movie was based off of, don't you? I mean the book was written quite a few years before Bloodlust

[ManiacLove]

The most recent..

"Berserk" (Volume 30) ~ Kentaro Miura
"Pet Semetary" ~ Stephen King
"The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963" ~ C. Curtis (I love this book!)
"Memnoch the Devil" ~ Anne Rice
"The Prophecies of Nostradamus" ~ Erika Cheetham

[harper]

I finished the revised and expanded edition of Deryni Checkmate by Katherine Kurtz. It was very good, but definitely setting things up for the third book in the trilogy as well. I've read the trilogy a few times before, but it's been 8-10 years since the last time I read them.

I got back to my read-through of the Pern series this morning with The Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. This book tells the life story of Robinton, who features so prominently in man of the other books. I really enjoying the book and stayed up later than I should have to finish it last night. I've heard some people comment about how the quality of the Pern books goes down as they go along, but I've been enjoying the later books quite a bit. Maybe I'll change my mind when I get to the Todd McCaffrey books, but so far so good.

[Rogue_7]

hacking my way through Nobel House. Its pretty good, but loooong. Now I want to visit Hong Kong!

[Shadowblade]

I just recently read Trudi Canavan's Dark Magician trilogy and I finished reading Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey at the moment I'm re-reading The Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix.

[harper]

What did you think of Dragonsblood? I still have Skies of Pern and Dragon's Kin to read before I get to it.

[harper]

I finished Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb tonight and loved it. It is extremely rich in detail and is one of the best books that I've read in a long time, and I've read a lot of good books over the past year. It was a bit slower reading than many of the books I've read, but that was because it has a lot of depth and I was savoring it as I read. It is the first book in the Soldier Son trilogy and I will definitely be back for part two, probably toward the end of the year.

[Daie]

I'm currently reading Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb, and I'm a little sad that I've come to the end of the Fitzchivalry books. I've loved them, they're beyond compare.

[harper]

I'm currently reading Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb, and I'm a little sad that I've come to the end of the Fitzchivalry books. I've loved them, they're beyond compare.

I loved the first trilogy, but haven't gotten around to reading the second trilogy or the Liveship Traders series yet. I know they're going to be good, but I haven't wanted to commit to reading the whole trilogy just yet. Probably later this year.

You should check out Shaman's Crossing, though it's a whole different world (apparently).

[Daie]

They're really good. Be prepared for sadness though, mind you, FItz's whole story is sad. I'm going to Liveship Traders next, then SHaman's Crossing

[ZaichikArky]

wow so much fantasy discussion. I can't stand fantasy. no biggie ^_^

For class, we had to read "The Beach" and "Tracks". I loved both of them. the third book for that class is pretty boring and not worth mentioning

the last non-class book I read was "Memoirs of a Geisha". I was also kinda in the middle of my boyfriend's Hunter Thompson book. Forgot the name. it's somewhere around here.

[harper]

They're really good. Be prepared for sadness though, mind you, FItz's whole story is sad. I'm going to Liveship Traders next, then SHaman's Crossing


You might want to read Homecoming, which is a short story by Robin Hobb depicting how the Liveship Traders first settled the area. It is included in the Legends II anthology and was pretty good.

[harper]

I've started to reread the Narnia books for the first time in over 20 years. I'm reading them in the 'author's preferred reading order' this time. I started with The Magician's Nephew and enjoyed it. I found that I didn't remember much of it since it had been so long since I read it. It was a pretty quick read since it is only about 100 pages long. I'll read the other 6 books over the next week or two.

[harper]

I finished Anne McCaffrey's The Skies of Pern. It wasn't quite as good as Masterharper of Pern, but it was still pretty good. I have 2 Pern books left, those written with/by Todd McCaffrey. Hopefully they will be entertaining.

[Crowley]

Uh... Japanese for Busy People?

*shame*

[TygressVirgo]

The Dark Materials Series by Phillip Pullman

next - Vanity Fair

[NERD]

Just read The Mick by Mickey Mantle. Next up- Wired mag April issue.

[Destiny]

Wow, so many fantasy fans... *in awe* :clap: Ive been hooked up ever since my brother brought in the first Robert Jordan back in junior high. As has been mentioned, it got down to a really slow and fashion-food-countryside-description pace which considerably dampened my enthusiasm. George Martin was pretty engaging the first 3 books, but, honestly, people, the 4th??? Its a shame, doing this separating of characters, ups, spoilers alert, but the plot got damaged if you are asking me. Shannara, of course, Gemel, the classics.
I LOVE Terry Pratchet! Hes like a modern version of Jerome K Jerome, with a bit of fairy-tale to add color. The guy has a hilarious sense of humor and very insightful about politics as well, if you read it carefully.
As a side research for school Im waiting for the delivery of several globalization books - the lexus and the olive tree, the clash of civilzations, etc.
And that appears to be it.

[harper]

I just finished reading the third of the Narnia books (chronologically) - A Horse and His Boy. I loved it and so far it is my favorite of the three. It follows the adventures of Shasta, a boy who was found by a fisherman when Shasta was an infant. The fisherman raised him as his son, but treated him like a slave. Shasta meets up with Bree, a talking horse of Narnia and they decide to run off to Narnia and the North. I'm going to read Prince Caspian soon and I remember enjoying that a lot when I was younger.

Curiously enough, after reading about Shasta and Bree, I found myself somewhat hungry and thirsty...

[Roxie]

I'm reading Strangers In Paradise.

I reccomend to everyone, boy and girl, old and young. It's really very well done and has won several accolades in the comic community. Even praise from Neil Gaiman (sp on the last name)

[harper]

I'm reading Strangers In Paradise.

I reccomend to everyone, boy and girl, old and young. It's really very well done and has won several accolades in the comic community. Even praise from Neil Gaiman (sp on the last name)


Are you reading the trades straight through from the beginning? It is an awesome series with 1 year left to run. When it ends, I might dig out the whole series for a read through. It doesn't seem like it has been around for 12 1/2 years, but it has been a lot of fun along the way.

[TygressVirgo]

I just finished reading the third of the Narnia books (chronologically) - A Horse and His Boy. I loved it and so far it is my favorite of the three. It follows the adventures of Shasta, a boy who was found by a fisherman when Shasta was an infant. The fisherman raised him as his son, but treated him like a slave. Shasta meets up with Bree, a talking horse of Narnia and they decide to run off to Narnia and the North. I'm going to read Prince Caspian soon and I remember enjoying that a lot when I was younger.

Curiously enough, after reading about Shasta and Bree, I found myself somewhat hungry and thirsty...


I love this series, I reread it over and over throughout the years. My favorite in the series is TLTWTW. There is just something about that book that I have always loved.

[PinkRanger]

I've just finished:
Blue Fingers
Bad Girls

Currently I'm reading:
Auschwitz

[Druid]

Just finished reading the fourth installment of Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom. So far, it's really good. Btb, Did you say Blue Fingers? Thats the story about the clan of Ninjas right? I rather liked that one.

[shimanotaka]

"Underneath it all" by Traci Lords.

[Idlethought]

The Black Panthers Speak
By Philip S. Foner

I JUST started reading it today. It's interesting seeing how the FBI was really really aggressive in trying to discredit and destroy the Black Panther Party in the 60's and 70's

[rush]

Just finished re-reading Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk. One of my favorites.

[harper]

I finished Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey. I wondered how the collaboration would work as Anne McCaffrey handed Pern over to her son and I emjoyed the book quite a bit. It has a smaller scope than a lot of the recent Pern books, but was a nice little story. I on;y have one Pern book left and I'll have the whole series read, though there's another one due out this summer.

[Josh]

Im rereading 1984. I just really like that book.

[conners]

Dragon Ascending-Henry Kamm

[Roxie]

Are you reading the trades straight through from the beginning? It is an awesome series with 1 year left to run. When it ends, I might dig out the whole series for a read through. It doesn't seem like it has been around for 12 1/2 years, but it has been a lot of fun along the way.
Yeah, the trades (pocket books) from 1-5. the next one will be out in July 07'...but what if I can't read by then!?

Wow, 12 1/2 years?!!? Wow. I didn't know that. I just got into it.

[harper]

I'm halfway through an anthology of 6 science fiction mystery/detective stories published by the Science Fiction Book Club called Down These Dark Spaceways. So far each of the stories has been very different and very good.

Mike Resnick's Guardian Angel deals with a private investigator searching for the runaway son of a wealthy socialite.

David Gerrold's In the Quake Zone deals with a California fractured by timequakes where people in the wrong (or right) spot can find themselves transported into the past or future. Some people ride the timequakes to buy old comics or other collectibles (or stocks). Others take cases where they try to prevent murders or rapes or other events from happening. This story is about one such investigator trying to stop a serial killer before he kills his first victim in the late 60s.

Catherine Asaro's The City of Cries takes place in her Skolian Empire universe and deals with a private investigator hired to track down a Majda prince who has disappeared. The Majda police force has had no luck finding him so they turn to an outsider for help, someone familiar with the underworld because she grew up there.

I'm looking forward to the last three stories and hope they are as good as the first three. The book is only available from the SFBC, though a mass market edition may be in the works.

[harper]

I finished Dragonsblood tonight, the first Pern book by Todd McCaffrey. I liked it quite a bit and couldn't tell much of a difference between his writing and his mother's. With this book, I have now finished reading all of the Pern series and am looking forward to the next book late this summer. I think my favorites were the first two Harper Hall books with Menolly and The Masterharper of Pern.

[wimmpy]

The Wizard the second book in the Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe.

[DragonQueen]

The Riven Shield by Michelle West--fifth in a series of six books. It's incredibly thick fantasy, very detailed with a lot of different storylines going on at once, and none of the books are under 700 pages. XP They're so long I get bored with them...

[NERD]

Just finishing up Sandman- The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman. Once I'm done with that, will move onto Of Wolves And Men by Barry Lopez.

[Duke Luke of Juke]

Right now I'm reading The Lais of Marie de France, for my World Lit. course. It's pretty good, and unmistakeably mid-evil.

[blakkmoon]

I Dont remember when was my last ficction book, I finished my third Cronwell s book, are medical forensic stories and are very interesting,
Ive read, Nietzsche, Stephen king, few more.
can you tell me a good fantacy writer????.
bye

[Roxie]

Right now, I just finished most of Y: The Last Man...I read the trades in..5 days.

I hear the last one comes out real soon! I can't wait!

[harper]

Right now, I just finished most of Y: The Last Man...I read the trades in..5 days.

I hear the last one comes out real soon! I can't wait!


Volume 7 comes out on May 17th and is called Paper Dolls. It contains issues 37-42. I just got Y #44 in my comic shipment today. If I haven't mentioned it before, you might want to check out Fables, another cool Vertigo series.


I've got about 50 pages left in Engaging the Enemy, the latest book in the Vatta series by Elizabeth Moon. It has been very good, but I'm getting the feeling that this is just setting the stage for the next few books where the war is going to kick into high gear. Nevertheless, I'm enjoying it a lot.

[Roxie]

If I haven't mentioned it before, you might want to check out Fables, another cool Vertigo series..
Silly harper, I mentioned before in this very thread! And you responded :innocent:

[harper]

Silly harper, I mentioned before in this very thread! And you responded :innocent:


I thought so, but I was too lazy to go back and check :duh:

I'll blame it on getting all lobsterfied going to Opening Day today and sitting out in the sun. I think it fried some brain cells.

Another series worth checking out is a new one called DMZ. The first trade comes out on June 7th.

By the way, I love your avatar.

[Myrsilus]

Hiroshima - By John Hersey. Pretty good so far.

And yeah, MNJetter made a pretty good avatar for her.

[harper]

I finished reading Kringle by Tony Abbott. It is a fantasy set in the early part of the 5th Century in England and is about a boy named Kringle who becomes friends with elves, children and reindeer, battles goblins, and becomes a legend. I enjoyed it quite a bit and liked how the various pieces of the legend were woven into the story.

[Matt W]

can you tell me a good fantacy writer????.
bye

George R.R. Martin, his A Song Of Ice And Fire series, the first book is A Game Of Thrones.

[harper]

Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksennarion trilogy is worth checking out and is available in a single volume.

Lois McMaster Bujold has three excellent fantasies - Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and Hallowed Hunt

[Vic_Rattlehead]

The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchet
Lords of Chaos - Michael Moynihan & Didrik Søderlind
Anton: oder Die Zeit des unwerten Lebens - Elisabeth Zöller
Minna no Nihongo pt1 kana version 3A Corporation

@Blakkmoon-

Try some H.P Lovecraft's books on Cthulhu Mythos. etc

[harper]

I just finished the new Raymond Feist book, Flight of the Nighthawks. It was very good, though I thought the book before this, Exile's Return, was a bit better. It was good to see Pug play more of a role in this book, though the focus is more on Pug's son, Caleb. The series has advanced about 100 years since the start of Magician, which is still my favorite book ever.

[NERD]

Would anyone be interested in starting a book club? It could be a simple discussion about books we've read, or finding new books that someone picks, read it then talk about it.

Seems like there are enough people who read on their spare time, so I'm not asking a lot either.

[Yang]

Red Dragon - Thomas Harris....

i haven't seen the movie yet....but the book is awesome....

[harper]

Would anyone be interested in starting a book club? It could be a simple discussion about books we've read, or finding new books that someone picks, read it then talk about it.

Seems like there are enough people who read on their spare time, so I'm not asking a lot either.


We sort of do that here in this thread. If you're thinking of having everyone read the same book and then discuss it, that could be interesting, though people have different taste in books and it might ne hard to find one everyone agrees on.

[NERD]

I am aware of that.... it could be one of the 'classics', like 1984/Animal Farm, H.G. Wells or Shakespeare. Have a chance for some in-depth discussion, rather than throwing out a sentence and a two.

[Shishio]

I actually like that idea.

Unfortunately, I do not read nearly as much as I should, so I could use something to motivate me to read more. Also, I need to read 1984... I've been discussing it for years even though I have only read the first 50 pages or so...

Oh, and I am currently reading The Dresden Files 01 - Storm Front by Jim Butcher. It's about Harry Dresden, a magus and freelance consultant on Paranormal matters. It's OK so far.

[Inigo_Montoya]

After getting through Underworld, I've just bought White Noise by Don DeLillo.

[Klilynkun]

I am currently trying to get up to date with Y: The Last Man


I keep my book reading to a minimum because of a childhood incident that changed my life

[Daie]

I'm up for the book club idea.

[NERD]

Okay, give me some time to create a thread.

[harper]

I finished reading The Blue Djinn of Babylon by PB Kerr. It is the second book in his Children of the Lamp series and it was pretty good. Kerr describes an interesting Djinn culture living side by side with humans.

[Frankey-eh]

The Forest of Norway

so far, it's about a guy dating his dead best friend's girl friend...

and I was expecting a plane crash story, based on the introductions I've read :eyepop:

Japanese fiction is interesting though. very different from western fiction I'm used to reading.

[harper]

I got back to the Narnia series and read Prince Caspian. It was very good and is the logical book to film next. All four children play a large role in the book which takes place a year after they return home through the wardrobe (though quite a bit of time has passed in Narnia). In A Horse and His Boy, Edmund, Lucy and the others are all much older since it takes place during their reign. This would be better saved for later when the actors are older or by recasting the parts for adults. However, with Prince Caspian they are still children.

Checking a Narnia website, it says that Prince Caspian is indeed the next movie they are working on.

[Dresh]

Recently finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Now I am reading Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa.

[harper]

I like both Charlie books by Dahl. Have you read Danny the Champion of the World by Dahl? I thought that was pretty good.

[Dresh]

The name sounds familiar, though I've not read it as of yet. However, I do typically enjoy Dahl's work.

[BushyDough]

Im reading Plato's Republic atm. Great philosophy book if your into 'em.

[Matt W]

Murder In Three Acts-Agatha Christie

[Shishio]

I just finished The Dresden Files 02 - Fool's Moon today and quite enjoyed it.

[Vincent]

To anyone who can't finish or has yet to read 1984, it's one of the great English pieces of literature and a biting satire, you can't just pick it up and read it in the frame of mind that it'll be a fun and quaint read.
I am now tossed up between several books, the Count of Monte Cristo (the full 1300 pages), The Master and Margarita (amazing Russian novel), The Hound Of Baskerville (Sherlock Holmes), and I'll have to read some other book for A.P English in the comming week before exams, yay.

[harper]

I read 1984, but didn't like it. I enjoyed Animal Farm quite a bit more than 1984. However, I do know a number of people that liked it. It just wasn't to my taste.

[/|/@/|/@し]

I'm reading.. well actually just finished Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. (All 5 books). And it was really good. I don't usually read science fiction much and this was an interesting take on it.

I read half of 1984 too and I didn't like it much.. It might have been the style of writing though, I'm very fickle about that kind of thing.

[harper]

I read Eoin Colfer's latest book, Half Moon Investigations. I've enjoyed Colfer's Artemis Fowl books along with the Supernaturalist and Wish List and think this is likely the start of a new series. If so, I'll definitely check out the next book because this one was very entertaining. A pint size 12 year old with a private investigator's badge who isn't taken seriously as a detective by most people.

[Myke Malicious]

Just finished Dan Brown's "Angels And Demons"

About to start Huxley's "Point Counterpoint"

Very much like Wells from what I understand...

[harper]

I finished Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan, the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The series focused on the half-blood children of the Greek Gods. Percy Jackson is the son of one of the big three - Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades and is thus potentially more powerful than most half-bloods. Mount Olympus follows Western Civilization so it is currently situated high above the Empire State Building. The series is pretty interesting so far. Various characters from mythology appear in the series, such as Circe, the Fates, Dionysus, etc.

[delen]

I don't know how to read. :(

[Kannon]

Recently I've started to read quite a bit more. Have read Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained; Milton, The Divine Comedy; Dante, Iliad and Odyssey; Homer, The Da Vinci Code; Dan Brown (had to read it before the movie came out) and moving on to Angels and Demons; Dan Brown.

[anver]

Read Confession of a Murderer by Joseph Roth today.
I liked it, especially the supernatural overtones and the setting, France after and Russia before WWI.

[gentlemanandscholar]

Currently reading Master and Commander as a fun little read, then probably going to get back into some post-colonial lit. I highly recommend it to everyone here... every novel is nothing short of a mindfuck.

[harper]

Currently reading Master and Commander as a fun little read, then probably going to get back into some post-colonial lit. I highly recommend it to everyone here... every novel is nothing short of a mindfuck.

I got bored with Master and Commander and didn't continue with the series. I plan to read more Aubrey/Maturin books eventually. I do like naval fiction and highly recommend:

the Ramage series by Dudley Pope (18 books)
the Kydd series by Julian Stockwin (6 books so far)
the Hornblower series by CS Forester (11 books) (Captain from Connecticut was great too)
the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent (25+ books - the first dozen or so are the best)


I've also enjoyed the DeLancey series by C Northcote Parkinson and a few other series as well. I've heard Sharpe is good, but have yet to try them.


I just finished reading The Adventures of Vin Fiz by Clive Cussler. It's a bit of a departure from Cussler's usual fare and is only around 160 pages, but it was a fun, quick read. It's a kids book about two kids who fly across country in an enchanted airplane. The airplane is based on a design by the Wright Brothers and the story appears to take place 50 or more years ago, though the time isn't clear.

[harper]

I finished reading The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner and it was very good. It starts with a talented thief who is in the King's Prison because he bragged about his abilities to the wrong person. The King's Magus needs him to steal something very important so he is taken out of prison and they go on a quest. The book had lots of humor and was well thought out.

[Matt W]

I just started reading The Dark Arena, by Mario Puzo