What are you reading?

[Monte Carlo]

Thanks. I've picked it up, will share my thoughts anon.

 

Django Wexler is a very cool pen name.

[Oerwinde]

The Last Mythal trilogy by Richard Baker. Its not bad, not some of the better FR books I've read, but not bad. I think the Erevis Cale stuff has been my favorite in the FR so far.

[Agiel]

Picked up a naval warfare strategy book on the recommendation from a fellow grognard, and got a chuckle from this passage:

 

 

 

When Admiral Burke, the last of our World War II tacticians, was asked what he would change in the new class of guided-missile destroyers , his namesake the USS Arleigh Burke class, he said he would add a brace of cutlasses.

 

-Wayne Hughes (2014-08-01). Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat: Second Edition (Kindle Locations 3993-3994). Naval Institute Press. Kindle Edition.

 

 

"Yaaargh..."

[Monte Carlo]

My Django Wexler book took a while to get into, but now I am I'm enjoying it. It's like reading the Sharpe books but with sorcery I suppose.

 

I've just downloaded everything HP Lovecraft ever wrote for 79p on Kindle. Am going to have some spooky holiday reading next week...

[Amentep]

I liked to dip in and out of the Lovecraft works.  But I like reading them in Fall as the shadows start getting longer and the days shorter...

 

I'm reading Tuned for Murder by Paul Ernst (writing as Kenneth Robeson).  Pulp hero reprint (featuring Richard Benson, the Avenger).  I'm a sucker for The Avenger, The Shadow and Doc Savage stories from the 30s and 40s...

[Tale]

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, but I've probably already mentioned this. Almost done.

 

Also Shadows Beneath, the Writing Excuses Anthology. The stories themselves aren't fantastic, but it's great to see how drafts change between first and final.

[Sarex]

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, but I've probably already mentioned this. Almost done.

 

Also Shadows Beneath, the Writing Excuses Anthology. The stories themselves aren't fantastic, but it's great to see how drafts change between first and final.

 

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but take a look at"writing about dragons" videos on youtube.

[ShadySands]

My Django Wexler book took a while to get into, but now I am I'm enjoying it. It's like reading the Sharpe books but with sorcery I suppose.

 

I've just downloaded everything HP Lovecraft ever wrote for 79p on Kindle. Am going to have some spooky holiday reading next week...

 

Which book are you reading?

 

I just finished the Thousand Names and I had a tough time getting into at first as well. I'm having the same issue with the second book in the series.

[BruceVC]

I'm reading some non-fiction books at the moment, "The State of Africa" by Martin Meredith. Informative, objective and well written account of the political and social reality of Africa since colonialism ended. Its not a " Africa is a bad place m'kay" but rather explains why African countries are at the level of governance they are at. Its discusses the good and bad, I recommend it to all who want to know why Africa is how it is

 

But I have another question, several posts mention reading 2 books at once. How do you do this, do you read one chapter one night and then go to another book the next day? Doesn't this dilute the immersion and break the mental synergy of a story you get when you read, especially when it comes to fiction?

[Dakhran]

Just re-read the entire Transmetropolitan series, for something like the fifth time.

 

Incidentally, how awesome is it that the "skeptical" smiley looks like Spider Jerusalem?

[Guard Dog]

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. This mans observations are just brilliant. I find it hard to believe he wrote this in 1832.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I've been reading historical English novels, and it's funny how the issues they were dealing with are the same ones we're still dealing with; like the one I'm reading now has a stock market bubble in 1820's, and it sounds exactly like early 2000's. Truly the nature of man never changes.

[Malcador]

Reading Terms of Enlistment. Author is doing a thorough homage to the Black Hawk Down incident with Detroit as Mogadishu

[Monte Carlo]

 

My Django Wexler book took a while to get into, but now I am I'm enjoying it. It's like reading the Sharpe books but with sorcery I suppose.

 

I've just downloaded everything HP Lovecraft ever wrote for 79p on Kindle. Am going to have some spooky holiday reading next week...

 

Which book are you reading?

 

I just finished the Thousand Names and I had a tough time getting into at first as well. I'm having the same issue with the second book in the series.

 

 

Yeah the Thousand Names. It took me a good ten chapters to get into it.

 

My issue with modern fantasy and sci-fi is word-bloat.

 

This is a good story, but could easily lose ten thousand-plus words IMO.

[Woldan]

I've been reading historical English novels, and it's funny how the issues they were dealing with are the same ones we're still dealing with; like the one I'm reading now has a stock market bubble in 1820's, and it sounds exactly like early 2000's. Truly the nature of man never changes.

 

I've read translated texts from a roman era retiring soldier and people where confronted with exactly the same problems with have nowadays. 2000 years of technological advancement later and the core problems of humanity remain completely unchanged and unsolved. 

Edited August 9, 2014 by Woldan

[Amentep]

I liked to dip in and out of the Lovecraft works.  But I like reading them in Fall as the shadows start getting longer and the days shorter...

 

I'm reading Tuned for Murder by Paul Ernst (writing as Kenneth Robeson).  Pulp hero reprint (featuring Richard Benson, the Avenger).  I'm a sucker for The Avenger, The Shadow and Doc Savage stories from the 30s and 40s...

 

Finished Tuned for Murder (I'd guessed wrong on who the ultimate villain was).

 

Now reading The Smiling Dogs.  So far we have politicians being driven crazy by visions of a short man with bright red skin leading a bright green dachshund lead by a chain of daisies.  And the dog is smiling.  Also something about mineral springs in Montana and at least three murders and two attempted murders.  No clue how its all going to connect up yet.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

Right now I'm reading Ed Brubaker's Fatale. Lovecraftian horror mixed with noir. Words can't express the awesome.

[Amentep]

Fatale is very good.

[egamer4lyfe]

Sherlock Holmes books in Old English. Love those books.

[Gleipnir]

Lord of Light by Robert Zelazny

 

I have been reading a top 100 sci fi book list and this one stands out.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Gleipnir

[Ahvz]

Just finished The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. I enjoyed it, but the ending (actually, everything from the appearance of 'The Warded Man' on) was underwhelming. I'm still debating whether to actually read the next one in the series or not. 

 

I've gotten quite a few ideas for what to read next from this thread, though. Thank you to everyone who's posted!

[ManifestedISO]

Despite my local B&N's penchant for poor inventory administration, I finally got a copy of Fifth Edition Player's Handbook.

 

Actual disclaimer, page two:

 

 

Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the consequences of splitting up the party, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, "Are you really sure?"

 

The character-creation chapter I'm in now, has numerous quotes, art, and author credits from various D&D novels, describing races and classes. Wizards is happily and forthrightly pushing the depth of the D&D multiverse. It's been a really good read, so far. 

[Blarghagh]

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman.

 

It was boring. First Neil Gaiman book that I found a huge disappointment.

[Monte Carlo]

I'm reading Charlie Stross's 'The Laundry' series of books. Written in 2003 / 2004 they feel their age (Palm Pilots? Saddam's Secret Police?) and are a bit clunky, but the premise is novel: the Lovecraftian otherworld of Eldritch horror is real, explained away by advanced maths. The Laundry is a top secret organisation dedicated to keeping it secret, and stopping the tentacled-ones from breaking through. The protagonist is an IT professional turned intelligence agent, but lives in the unglamorous world of dingy bedsits and, er, IT.

 

Lots of geekery ensues.

 

An aside: I found his take on the Holocaust actually quite offensive (i.e. the Wansee conference was designed to fuel a Nazi necormancy experiment, ten million deaths powering an extra-dimensional gate - personally using the Shoah like this strikes me as being in extraordinary poor taste), but apart from that the story is solid. Stross's world-building and cast of geeky mathematician-spies is intriguing enough for me to buy the second and see where it takes me.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I dropped $12 on a Kindle collection of short stories by William De La Mare, after all my efforts to find "Out of the Deep" for free proved fruitless. Stupid Mickey Mouse copyright!