What's everyone reading right now? I'm working on Gordon Dahlquist's The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters vol II right now and getting kind of frustrated...
What's everyone reading right now? I'm working on Gordon Dahlquist's The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters vol II right now and getting kind of frustrated...
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. It's really interesting so far, but I'm only 100 pages in.
I'm currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, and loving it.
I'm currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, and loving it.
What's Lies of Locke Lamora about?
I just finished re-reading the entire Landoer series by Terry Brooks and today on my flight from Seattle to NYC read about 1/3 of the next Landover novel, A Princess of Landover, which comes out this August from Del Rey. So far I am loving it! Familiar characters I've missed for 12 years back finally! Bout time!
After I finish Princess, I'll read Lamentation by new author Ken Scholes. And after that The Red Wolf Conspiracy. :)
Shawn, you have the best job! TWo of the books I really want to read for this year, and you get them this week. Let me know id Lamentation is as good as the buzz.
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.
Just finished The Blade Itself and am currently rushing through The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
'The January Dancer' by Michael Flynn. Guy know how to really flesh out a sci-fi universe with backstory and culture in just a few pages. Recommended to people who liked 'Firefly' on TV, definitely has that outer space fringe vibe.
"Recommended to people who liked 'Firefly' on TV"
Sold!
Promenade of the Gods by Koji Suzuki. A cool, very interesting mystery which I hear ties into the RING cycle at some point.
Hero Killer,
Let me know how you like the Road...... I have been ambivalent to starting it. I am obviously descending into a deep need for space opera, as I am rereading the Honor Harrington books again. I'm blaming the weather.
I finished The Road a couple of days ago and I really enjoyed it. At 250 pages or so with large font and big gaps between the short sections the book shouldn't take you more than a couple of sittings. As for the book itself it was beautifully written and very disturbing. It is also a very emotional story and I found myself getting choked up quite often (maybe because I'm a father who knows). One scene in particular where the father finds a packet of hot cocoa and gives it to his son and pretends he is drinking it too by blowing on a cup of hot water, then his son realizes this and chastises him for not having some himself had me choked up for awhile lol.
Very depressing yet very moving quick read.
Over the last 2 days I flew through The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. The Graveyard Book for those who are not aware is a modern retelling of Kipling's Jungle Book taking place in a graveyard apposed to the jungle. Had a lot of fun with that one. The characters are all over the top and interesting and it is fun to see which of the characters relate to their Jungle Book counterpart (I still haven't figured out them all). Definitely recommended.
Now I am moving on to read either Before They Are Hanged or the Gears of War novel "Aspho Fields" by Karen Traviss. I'm a little leery of the later seeing as its a novel based on a video game, (one of which I haven't played much at that) but I run a small book club with my friends and one of them picked it so I'll have to get to it eventually. :P I'll let you know how that goes.
I just started Lamentation by Ken Scholes..... I've been waiting for it for a few months since I first started hearing about it, official release is Tuesday, but B&N had it out on Saturday. So far.... It's awesome.
Shawn did you get it stated yet?
@ Hero Killer, thanks for the update. I may have to pick it up.
I just finished Lamentation.
This is what all first books should be. It is tightly plotted, a vivid and fractured world, and a cast of believable characters. This is not the next rote experience in fantastic literature, it is a unique and thoughtful look at what the world might be like, after the 2nd Armageddon.
I have nothing to compare it to, but I think it falls into a category of amazing first novels that I have deeply enjoyed over the last few years, The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Name of the Wind, and Mainspring among others,that reset the limits of the genre and continue it's evolution and it's message.
Now if only it were September when his next book will be available.
Went a complete different direction with my reading. Decided against either of the 2 previous mentions (though I'll have to go back to them later) and decided to read Crimson by Gord Rollo. I'm on the Leisure Horror Book mailing list. They send me 2 horror novels a month for about $10 a month. 120 pages into Crimson and I'm enjoying it the story is very similar to Stephen King's "IT". I also enjoyed Mr. Rollo's first horror novel The Jigsaw Man.
Lamentation by Ken Scholes right now. Good book so far.
China Mieville's The City & The City.
Good so far & deliriously weird just the way a Mieville book should be. Kinda like if you took Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler & George Orwell, blended them up & poured them into a big ol' glass of Weird.
I've got The City & The City sitting on my bookshelf - can't wait to get to it!
Oh, yes yes yes! I had the opportunity to read The City & The City at the end of last year and was thrilled with it. Interestingly, I compared it to both PKD and Chandler as well.
Um, is that great minds thinking alike? That's what I'm going to claim, anyway.
The City & The City is not available yet in the US so I am still eagerly awaiting it. I'm constantly waiting for new books that I know are all ready available else where but I suppose it doesn't matter when you have a TBR (to be read) pile the size of an elephant sitting at home anyway. :P
Working on Nights of Villjamur by Mark Newton.
I just finished Jeff Smith's Bone series! In color!
I am finishing up The Warded Man by Peter Brett. It's oh-so-good!
I just finished The Warded Man myself. I was deeply impressed by it, and look forward to the next one. It is a little mature in theme at times, but he does a great job of keeping the narative going.
I was waiting for some indication of where the story was going, but when the narrative finally got to the finale it flew by.
Perfect? No.
Still an awesome read? Definately.
Working on The Dragonbone Chair now. Probably will get into the Warded Man next.
Currently working through the US edition of Mark Chadbourn's WORLD'S END. Fantastic so far.
Just finished reading Rob Roger's DEVIL'S CAPE. It was fantastic! Kinda like taking the superhero and supervillain idea and adding a little reality to the mix (just enough to make it kinda gritty) while keeping the overall shine of earlier superhero stuff. Something about this book just got to me and I loved it.
Now to find the next book. There's a bound manuscript I was given that looks pretty interesting. Something about vampires. Apparently, it's good stuff. But then there's also FROSTBITE by David Wellington. Never read Wellington, but he's building a reputation as a great "monster fiction" guy, taking vampires and zombies back to their monster-ous ways. Frostbite is his entry into the werewolf realms.
So many choices...
I'm reading AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman. God it's spooky! Reading it right before bed is not a good idea. It's got all my worst nightmares in it. But it's also very compelling.
I NEED to read Fables vol 12 soon too.
Narrated masterfully by Jonathan Davis, Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" is stunning and sweeping, with a vocabulary that sticks (particularly thinking in economic terms of "expansion" and "contraction" vs. "recession" etc.), and a story that is engaging at several levels, from character, to setting, to plot. This audiobook has me looking both for more stories from Bacigalupi and narrations from Davis.
Ugh, sorry for the canned "reviewer" format of that post. I'm about halfway through the audiobook for "The Windup Girl" and enjoying it very much; it has me very, very curious to see where things are going next.
Ugh, sorry for the canned "reviewer" format of that post. I'm about halfway through the audiobook for "The Windup Girl" and enjoying it very much; it has me very, very curious to see where things are going next.
Christine H., American Gods is one of my favorite books. I hope you love it as much as I do!
I just finished Star Wars: Death Troopers and thought it an incredibly fun read. Nothing heavy, for sure, but definitely entertaining. Zombies in the Star Wars universe is just cool!
I am about halfway through Acacia by David Anthony Durham. Loving it!
I just finished Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, and I thought it was good, I do think he could have cut out one of the POV characters and had a better story.
I'm reading Shadows & Light: Tales of Lost Kingdoms edited by Alva J. Roberts, it is a n anthology of short stories, most of the stories are pretty good so far.
Follow my new science fiction novel at my blog:
http://thespellwalker.blogspot.com/
Just started Carrie Vaughn's series of "Kitty" books . Finished the 1st and 1/2 way through the 2nd.
I am currently in the middle of "The Stand" for the 5th time. Not the pansy 800 page original release ... but the 1200 page behemoth. There is something about this story that I truly love and I find myself getting totally immersed in the characters each time.
Reading John Grisham's Ford County ... as usual a good collection of thrilling short stories...
Those are fun reads, Lisa! Vaughn is such a wonderful writer. I hope more people find out about her! And she is super nice too!
SciFiTribe, I read UnCut Stand every five years or so. Love it. I see something new every time -- or maybe I just forget it in my dottage! haha
Nail, I haven't read much Grisham. I should. Hmm...
I am reading Spellwright by Tor Books newcomer Blake Charlton. So far it is very good. My kind of writer. Descriptive with great dialog.
Reading Hood by Stephen Lawhead. I like how he moved the Robin Hood legend out of Nottinghamshire over to the Welsh Countryside. Love the Welsh mythology and how words are said in old Welsh.
Nothing exciting, just mundane research for my manuscript. It's called "Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World 500-1500 AD." I like this book because it includes Naval Battles and I'm planning one :). It's about tactics, equipment and combat skills.
Essential stuff for every fantasy writer who likes to write about battles and small skirmishes.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight---incidentally was on Margaret Weis' website tonight and saw the cover for the omnibus of the Dragonlance Chronicles.. Really beautiful artwork.
http://www.margaretweis.com/wp/2009/12/sneak-peek-dragonlance-chronicles-omnibus-cover/comment-page-1/#comment-133
I love her books.
I am reading Buddha Da, A Novel by Anne Donovan. I am enjoying it.
Right now I'm re-reading Gibson's Neuromancer, and I'm reading some sci-fi classics, including Niven's Ringworld (confession: I've never read it!) and Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (never read this either!).