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What are you Reading Now?

Still wading through The Stand by Stephen King. It has great characters and interesting use of verbs/nouns to convey mood and character. I'm taking a break for a while and reading the much shorter Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I'm working on Titus Groan, the first book of the Gormenghast trilogy. It is... painful. I'm only about 17% in and really struggling. It's not even a matter of not being interested, or there being something wrong with the book, I just find it dreadfully unpleasant to read. Everything that is depicted so far is ugly and grotesque and repulsive. I take it that's the point, but well, it's not the sort of experience I like to have while reading. At least now I know what Steerpike's name is a reference to.

Steerpike isn't a pleasant sort.

I like C.S. Lewis' quote about the Gormenghast book, namely that "they are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience."

Most people I know either love it or hate it. I'm in the former category - I think the books stand among some of the best literature as a whole, and I can't think of anything I've read in fantasy that surpasses them. Dissenters will be dealt with when the feline invasion occurs, and cats rule people's reading lists with iron claws.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Steerpike isn't a pleasant sort.

I like C.S. Lewis' quote about the Gormenghast book, namely that "they are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience."

Most people I know either love it or hate it. I'm in the former category - I think the books stand among some of the best literature as a whole, and I can't think of anything I've read in fantasy that surpasses them. Dissenters will be dealt with when the feline invasion occurs, and cats rule people's reading lists with iron claws.

I can't say I agree with Lewis' quote at the moment. I'm 50% through Titus Groan and had to take a break to read some Pratchett because it's just torture. But it's not even unique torture. I'm not experiencing any sensations I haven't experienced before. Though I suppose when it was written it was more original, obviously. Nowadays I can pick up a handful of random fantasy books and at least 2 will repulse me the way this one does. I would place it among the worst literature as a whole. :p

Though I really am trying to reserve my final opinion for when I'm done with the book. According to wikipedia it doesn't seem there's actually a completed story here though. The full arc is completed in the second book. I shudder at the thought of reading two of these. No, I don't think I can stand it.

Thanks for the actual Lewis quote. That was enlightening.
 
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Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I can't say I agree with Lewis' quote at the moment. I'm 50% through Titus Groan and had to take a break to read some Pratchett because it's just torture. But it's not even unique torture. I'm not experiencing any sensations I haven't experienced before. Though I suppose when it was written it was more original, obviously. Nowadays I can pick up a handful of random fantasy books and at least 2 will repulse me the way this one does. I would place it among the worst literature as a whole. :p

Though I really am trying to reserve my final opinion for when I'm done with the book. According to wikipedia it doesn't seem there's actually a completed story here though. The full arc is completed in the second book. I shudder at the thought of reading two of these. No, I don't think I can stand it.

Thanks for the actual Lewis quote. That was enlightening.

The full arc is completed in the second book, yes.

I agree with Lewis, and I don't think there are any other fantasy books you can find that are on par. At least, I've read a ton and haven't found any. You may find some that you don't like or that repulse you in equal fashion, but if you find any that are written on a level comparable to Peake, I'd like to find them so I can read them too.

Of course, neither the subject matter nor the writing style is going to appeal to everyone (or even most people, I suspect). I still think in 2015 they're more original than the vast majority of what has come since.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Well, I don't find the writing particularly special nor do I think that originality is very important and actually it can often be a negative factor, as in this case. There simply isn't anything about the book so far that appeals to me. Honestly, at this point, I think the only ending that would please me is if at the end of the book a meteor fell out of the sky and crushed Gormenghast, killing everyone inside. Alas, I know that isn't how it ends. ;)

It's just one of those examples of how dramatically tastes can differ. :)
 

Tom

Istar
I just got a copy of Noelle Stevenson's Nimona. I'm so excited that I can actually hold a tangible copy of my favorite webcomic in my hands! I made the mistake of flipping to the end right away, and that made me remember why I cried my way through the last few pages when I first read it... :cry:

Oh, the feels....
 

Alcowski

Dreamer
Malazan book of the fallen... book 5 right now... get into it if you think grrm is good. Also reading some lovecraft stuff and stephen king for variety.

Lähetetty minun GT-S7710 laitteesta Tapatalkilla
 

Incanus

Auror
Finished Tanith Lee's Night's Master from the Tales of the Flat Earth series. An out-of-print rarity. I enjoyed it. She writes beautifully.

I'm now reading Darkness at Noon. Quite harrowing, but most excellent.
 

Incanus

Auror
Yikes, I hadn't realized she just passed away less than a month ago. Too young. And the subject of the non-fiction biography I'm reading just passed away last month as well. Maybe the next thing I read shouldn't be by a living author, just in case...
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Finished Tanith Lee's Night's Master from the Tales of the Flat Earth series. An out-of-print rarity. I enjoyed it. She writes beautifully.

I'm now reading Darkness at Noon. Quite harrowing, but most excellent.

Adding it to my List.


I've gotten sidetracked from Titus Groan. (Big surprise.) But I swear I'll return to it at some point!

Right now I'm reading The Wee Free Men by Terry Brooks. First reread. Still excellent.

Also, I'm rereading a bunch of volumes of Dunsany looking for this one short story that I read ages ago and really want to find again but I can't remember what it was called. Wasn't in The Gods of Pegana. Currently rereading Time and the Gods. Which is just enjoyable anyway.

Also started reading The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. A rare non-SFF read for me. This is a mystery novel about Richard III and the Princes in the Tower examined by a modern detective who is laid up in a hospital bed and studies faces to pass the time. He can't get the face of Richard III out of his mind, so he begins to dig deeper into the centuries old mystery. So far very intriguing! Though I think it would have helped if I knew English history better.
 

Incanus

Auror
Yes! I forgot to mention that the Tales of the Flat Earth should qualify for your list. Glad you caught that. I think that list is AWESOME. Pretty much all my fantasy favs are on it. I refer to it from time to time to find titles I'd overlooked or hadn't gotten around to.

Waiting in the wings:

Dracula
Titus Groan
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Yes! I forgot to mention that the Tales of the Flat Earth should qualify for your list. Glad you caught that. I think that list is AWESOME. Pretty much all my fantasy favs are on it. I refer to it from time to time to find titles I'd overlooked or hadn't gotten around to.

I've actually just done some major work on the List. I should post an updated version here somewhere.
 
Reading the Dragonbone Chair right now. This might be my reader fatigue setting in (I just burned through The Runelords by David Farland--specifically the Earth King saga), or just the fact I did a ton of code review that day, but I am finding it hard to go through. So, I have to ask is it good? Because I am had a hard time getting through the first couple of chapters.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Reading the Dragonbone Chair right now. This might be my reader fatigue setting in (I just burned through The Runelords by David Farland--specifically the Earth King saga), or just the fact I did a ton of code review that day, but I am finding it hard to go through. So, I have to ask is it good? Because I am had a hard time getting through the first couple of chapters.

Well, I didn't think it was very good. It's way too long and despite some interesting things on the periphery, I felt the main storyline was just dull and mundane and predictable.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
The Poem of the Cid, a Spanish medievel epic which has its very own style and rather interesting to get into the chivalric mindset.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I stayed awake for hours last night to finish The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. This is the first book in quite a while that has made me want to do that. It was surprisingly thrilling considering that literally nothing happens except a detective laid up in a hospital bed the whole time reading and talking about events that happened 400+ years previously. But it was SO GOOD! I really hate the Tudors now.
 
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