AcolyteI'm currently reading Poetic Edda with commentary as well as Joe Abercrombie's Best served cold. I'm enjoying both immensely, for completely different reasons. Usually I despise reading old books with commentary, but I don't think I could get through this without some outside insights.
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What are you Reading Now?
- Thread starter Mythopoet
- Start date
Incanus
Auror
I'm concentrating on short stories right now, so short stories it is for while. I'm bouncing around 6 books' worth:
A Weird Tales collection
Jack Vance Green Magic
Poe
Kafka
A collection called Strange Dreams
Dreamsongs vol. I, a collection of Martin
A Weird Tales collection
Jack Vance Green Magic
Poe
Kafka
A collection called Strange Dreams
Dreamsongs vol. I, a collection of Martin
Addison
Auror
I haven't been able to read as much as I usually do lately. Job hunting is tedious and wears out the shoes faster than running a marathon. But I did finish "Year of the Griffin" by Dianna Wynne Jones (R.I.P Dianna, we'll miss you.) Which was incredible. like everything she writes.
On top of that I have completed reading:
Janitors, Brandon Mull
Around the Cauldron, anthology
The School for Good and Evil, Simon Chinani
The Hobbit, J.r.r Tolkein
The Sisters Grimm Detectives, vol 1
How to Catch A Bogle, by Catherine Jinks
I am in the process of reading:
The School for Good and Evil: A World Without Princes, Simon Chinani
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R Tolkein
The Underworld Chronicles
Queen of the Tearling
The Magickers
Here There Be Dragons, by James A Owen
The Last Dragonslayer, by Jane Fforde
Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
Now I do have a list of books I want to read. Thanks to be kid sister buying me the third installment in the "Land of Stories" series. So books to buy/read are:
Land of Stories books 1&2
Rithmatist
Bruce Coville Anthologies
Chrestomanci Chronicles, all volumes
Candy Shop War book 2,
Adventurers Wanted book 4
My wishlist on amazon is REALLY long, but those are the top books.
On top of that I have completed reading:
Janitors, Brandon Mull
Around the Cauldron, anthology
The School for Good and Evil, Simon Chinani
The Hobbit, J.r.r Tolkein
The Sisters Grimm Detectives, vol 1
How to Catch A Bogle, by Catherine Jinks
I am in the process of reading:
The School for Good and Evil: A World Without Princes, Simon Chinani
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R Tolkein
The Underworld Chronicles
Queen of the Tearling
The Magickers
Here There Be Dragons, by James A Owen
The Last Dragonslayer, by Jane Fforde
Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
Now I do have a list of books I want to read. Thanks to be kid sister buying me the third installment in the "Land of Stories" series. So books to buy/read are:
Land of Stories books 1&2
Rithmatist
Bruce Coville Anthologies
Chrestomanci Chronicles, all volumes
Candy Shop War book 2,
Adventurers Wanted book 4
My wishlist on amazon is REALLY long, but those are the top books.
- Thread starter
- #164
Mythopoet
Auror
Wow, Addison, and I thought I read a lot of book simultaneously.
I've recently read the first 5 stories in The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. Really bizarre, creepy stuff. I can see how it influenced Lovecraft. I think I've fallen under the influence now as well.
I also read Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson which is a novelization of the Rush album of the same name. The story was developed by Anderson and Rush's Neal Peart and written by Anderson. I got it as part of a book bundle and found it to be a pretty pleasant and undemanding read. It's set in a secondary world with a steampunk vibe and mostly follows the adventures of one young man as he travels around the world seeking the places he's dreamed about from storybooks, none of which are what he expected them to be.
I kind of hated Anderson for a long time for being an accomplice to the abominations that were the Dune books written by him and Brian Herbert. Having read this, I have to admit he's not a bad writer. I still won't forgive him though.
I've recently read the first 5 stories in The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. Really bizarre, creepy stuff. I can see how it influenced Lovecraft. I think I've fallen under the influence now as well.
I also read Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson which is a novelization of the Rush album of the same name. The story was developed by Anderson and Rush's Neal Peart and written by Anderson. I got it as part of a book bundle and found it to be a pretty pleasant and undemanding read. It's set in a secondary world with a steampunk vibe and mostly follows the adventures of one young man as he travels around the world seeking the places he's dreamed about from storybooks, none of which are what he expected them to be.
I kind of hated Anderson for a long time for being an accomplice to the abominations that were the Dune books written by him and Brian Herbert. Having read this, I have to admit he's not a bad writer. I still won't forgive him though.
I am finding this to be a hard read over all but the depth of the story is great. Daylight War by Peter V Brett. The only thing that makes it hard is there is a jump back in time to the past with no warning given the reader.. no time stamp.. know inner voice from the character, its just BLAM 18 year sin the past etc. Also the over use of world based terms with no definition. Other than that he creates villains you want to like and good guys that annoy you but you like them anyway. He also seems to have little fear in killing characters.
- Thread starter
- #166
Mythopoet
Auror
I've FINALLY finished Witch World by Andre Norton. It's only 222 pages but it took me forever to read because it was so dull.
On to August's reading group pick, The Elfin Ship by James P. Blaylock.
On to August's reading group pick, The Elfin Ship by James P. Blaylock.
- Thread starter
- #168
Mythopoet
Auror
It was the first, yes. I didn't dislike it because it was more oriented toward a male audience. I seldom have a problem with books like that. It was just so dull and boring. The world was so drab and bland and generic. The characters were almost entirely uninteresting. (Loyse was somewhat interesting, but she was shunted off to the side as quickly as possible.) The plot was boring and predictable and constantly focusing on the generic story elements rather than anything that had a hint of originality. The prose was so dull I wanted to poke my eyes out. There was no voice, no style, nothing to engage me. I think this may be the most dull and boring fantasy book I've ever read.
I'm currently reading The Remnant by Paul B. Spence.
It's got an interesting premise in that it starts out as a fairly traditional sci-fi story, but strands the main character and his followers on a planet that's probably somewhere in the late medieval stage. I guess you could say it's a sci-fi story in a fantasy setting. This idea really appeals to me, but I'm having issues with the occasional minor detail and it irks me a bit.
It's also really cool to see how some of the sci-fi elements take on an almost Lovecraftian aspect within the fantasy setting. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but I worry about some of the characters.
It's got an interesting premise in that it starts out as a fairly traditional sci-fi story, but strands the main character and his followers on a planet that's probably somewhere in the late medieval stage. I guess you could say it's a sci-fi story in a fantasy setting. This idea really appeals to me, but I'm having issues with the occasional minor detail and it irks me a bit.
It's also really cool to see how some of the sci-fi elements take on an almost Lovecraftian aspect within the fantasy setting. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but I worry about some of the characters.
Yep, its all of that. However, when first written, those were mostly newish and semi-original concepts. That book is dang near as old as I am.
'Year of the Unicorn' written a few years later and set an ocean away on the same world has a core concept very few present day fantasy authors deal with, yet one of interest to women: to win a war against a superior foe, a group of petty lords bartered their daughters in marriage to a group of were-creatures. (And literally abandoned the lot of them in were-creature territory.)
'Toads of Grimmerdale', a short story, gets into the consequences of camp follower life and what happens when war drives men mad.
CupofJoe
Myth Weaver
I've just finished the crime novel Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman. She's the daughter Tony Hillerman and this is a continuation of his Navajo Police series of Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee stories. While not Fantasy there is a lot of mythology and Native American [especially Navajo] story telling in it.
Like her father, Anne's writing is spare, almost sparse, never using two words where one will work and she lets the world around the characters grown in your mind by not telling you much detail but letting you know how the characters react to it. It's a technique that I'm going to try to use myself more... Show don't tell...
At the end I can't say I loved the book, it was okay, maybe even good. I did finish it and that's a first for far too long but I can't see myself going back to read it any time in the future.
The end seems hurried and disjointed... One moment someone is slipping away to a seemingly inevitable death and the next they are recovering and on their way to their old-selves... I didn't want to see the character to die, but it did see a bit "with a leap our hero was free" for me... It had to be, I can see the set up for a new series/franchise and you can't really do that if you kill one of the major players...
Don't know what to read next... probably won't be crime or fantasy...
Like her father, Anne's writing is spare, almost sparse, never using two words where one will work and she lets the world around the characters grown in your mind by not telling you much detail but letting you know how the characters react to it. It's a technique that I'm going to try to use myself more... Show don't tell...
At the end I can't say I loved the book, it was okay, maybe even good. I did finish it and that's a first for far too long but I can't see myself going back to read it any time in the future.
The end seems hurried and disjointed... One moment someone is slipping away to a seemingly inevitable death and the next they are recovering and on their way to their old-selves... I didn't want to see the character to die, but it did see a bit "with a leap our hero was free" for me... It had to be, I can see the set up for a new series/franchise and you can't really do that if you kill one of the major players...
Don't know what to read next... probably won't be crime or fantasy...
Jabrosky
Banned
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
So far it is an unpleasantly mean-spirited book. For me, the most disturbing parts are when young Tarzan uses his makeshift rope to kill off the African warriors one by one. That these African people are portrayed as hideous and cannibalistic savages is unsurprising for the book's time period, but the image of African men being brutally hanged by the European hero takes the wrongness to a whole new level.
Oh, and Tarzan also learns to read all by himself without anyone else's guidance. I have no idea if that is even possible.
So far it is an unpleasantly mean-spirited book. For me, the most disturbing parts are when young Tarzan uses his makeshift rope to kill off the African warriors one by one. That these African people are portrayed as hideous and cannibalistic savages is unsurprising for the book's time period, but the image of African men being brutally hanged by the European hero takes the wrongness to a whole new level.
Oh, and Tarzan also learns to read all by himself without anyone else's guidance. I have no idea if that is even possible.
- Thread starter
- #173
Mythopoet
Auror
Whoa, been a long time since there was an update to this thread.
Well, I've read a bunch of books, but I can't remember them all off the top of my head. I should start a reading journal or something.
Right now I'm reading The History of the Caliph Vathek by William Beckford. It's a "gothic novel" from back in 1786 written in the style of one of the Arabian Nights tales and a forerunner of the modern fantasy genre. So far I'm finding it easy to read and quite interesting.
Well, I've read a bunch of books, but I can't remember them all off the top of my head. I should start a reading journal or something.
Right now I'm reading The History of the Caliph Vathek by William Beckford. It's a "gothic novel" from back in 1786 written in the style of one of the Arabian Nights tales and a forerunner of the modern fantasy genre. So far I'm finding it easy to read and quite interesting.
DaFlaminUnicorn
Inkling
I'm reading the Fablehaven Series right now. It's more of a children's series, but it's interesting and keeps me entertained. In addition to that my Literature teacher suggested Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. It's good. It's an old book but it's pretty interesting.
Tom
Istar
I'm reading The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier. The characterization's a little bland, but I'm in it for the worldbuilding--especially the magic. For some reason, the writing style reminds me of German that's been translated into English. Just the way the sentences are structured and such. I kind of like it.
Two books I'd like to read but haven't gotten to yet are The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (actually, this one's not even out yet. January 15th is the release date.), and The Young Elites by Marie Lu.
Two books I'd like to read but haven't gotten to yet are The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (actually, this one's not even out yet. January 15th is the release date.), and The Young Elites by Marie Lu.
The Passage by Justin Cronin.
A post-apocalyptic tale about a disease that ravages the world, turning survivors into vampire-like creatures.
A post-apocalyptic tale about a disease that ravages the world, turning survivors into vampire-like creatures.
Dubliners, by James Joyce (re-read; the short storyThe Dead is brilliant)
Ravenor, a Warhammer 40K novel by Dan Abnett
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (still)
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
Orison, by Daniel Swensen
Ravenor, a Warhammer 40K novel by Dan Abnett
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (still)
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
Orison, by Daniel Swensen
Just finished Orison by Daniel Swensen and now I'm diving headfirst into Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. I think Wendig pins down the kind of style I like reading: funny, dark, fast-paced, and weird.
CupofJoe
Myth Weaver
Being reading this since New Year's Day
Diné Bahaneʼ The Navajo Creation Story
I've only just got through Part 1 The Emergence.
There are three parts to go [The Fifth World, Slaying the Monsters & Gathering the Clans] so this will take a while, as it is not a "leaps of the page" kind of story but it is wonderful to read...
Diné Bahaneʼ The Navajo Creation Story
I've only just got through Part 1 The Emergence.
There are three parts to go [The Fifth World, Slaying the Monsters & Gathering the Clans] so this will take a while, as it is not a "leaps of the page" kind of story but it is wonderful to read...
Tom
Istar
Re-reading Beowulf, this time reading both its original form and Burton Raffel's translation simultaneously. I surprised myself by realizing I like Raffel's translation better than Tolkien's. It sticks better to the rhythm of the poem, whereas Tolkien's almost seems like prose to me.
