What are you reading? Book discussions and reviews

[Aliaz]

I have been in a massive reading slump lately, mostly brought on by working full time plus studying part time.

Vacation is coming up so I went into my local bookshop and went on a shopping spree, time to read!

 

[Pork Chop Express]

Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, Gurdjieff.

After coming off Chronicles of Conan, this was difficult to get into (yet again) so I had to put it down.



Starting on Tolkiens Unfinished Tales, Harper Collins Deluxe Edition.

 

[Aliaz]

I really like those Deluxe Editions. I have LOTR and the Hobbit, I'm hoping for another black friday sale so I can pickup the rest of them.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

I really like those Deluxe Editions. I have LOTR and the Hobbit, I'm hoping for another black friday sale so I can pickup the rest of them.

Only ones I still need are Children of Hurin and the Complete History of Middle Earth. Will make a nice set when all together. Might get others like Legend of Sigurd and the Fall of Arthur.

 

[DinoDB1975]

Finished 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (regardless of the movie being a typical Hollywood conversion, Michael Bay really did the story a disservice) and Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (read out of order as I had read the second book in the series, Finders Keepers, first).

Finally started reading It.

Hope to get to End of Watch by Stephen King and City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin next.

 

[Matt S]

Witcher series

short story collection 1 &2: The Last Wish & Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. Both excellent. I swear Geralt is even more sarcastic in the books.

Reading first full novel by same author now, 'Blood of Elves'

If you have liked or loved any of the games, the books are fantastic. If you read them, start with the proper order: first two short story collections and then the novels. Its amazing how long it took them to publish Sword of Destiny into English. Skipping that one really would have left readers asking, 'WTF?' with the first novel

 

[Aliaz]

While I'm waiting for my order of new books to arrive I started reading Harry Potter again.

Read the first 3 books in 4 days, good to be back in my reading groove.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

Good entertaining read.

 

[Patriot666]

While I'm waiting for my order of new books to arrive I started reading Harry Potter again.

Read the first 3 books in 4 days, good to be back in my reading groove.

Are you a genius? That's some seriously fast reading!

 

[Aliaz]

Are you a genius? That's some seriously fast reading!

Always been a extremely fast reader.

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Good entertaining read.

Just finished reading that and I agree. Going to start on the sequel now.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

Just finished reading that and I agree. Going to start on the sequel now.

Sequel? Had no idea, this is probably the 3rd time I've read it and will definitely pick up the sequel.

Just ordered from Amazon, should have it this week.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Just picked up this alternate history, a favorite topic of mine, book at a really great price.

Hitler Triumphant: Alternate Decisions of World War II

Based on a series of fascinating What ifs posed by leading military historians, this compelling new alternate history recontructs the moments during World War II which could conceivably have altered the entire course of the Second World War and led to a German victory.

Based on real battles, actions and characters, each scenario has been carefully constructed to reveal how, at points of decision, a different choice or minor incident could have set in motion an entirely new train of events altering history forever. Scenarios in this volume include the fall of Malta in 1942 and the likely consequences and the possibility of Halifax making peace with Hitler.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

 

[DinoDB1975]

Finished IT for the first time a few days ago...enjoyed it, but didn't love it as much as Stephen King's other novels like Salem's Lot, 11/22/63, and of course, The Stand (off the top of my head). One particular thing puzzled me, and may have affected my overall enjoyment of the novel.

Currently reading Justin Cronin's The City of Mirrors, the final book in his Viral trilogy. Really liked The Passage and enjoyed The Twelve (although I felt it wasn't as good as the first book in the series. Hopefully this is a worthy end to the trilogy.

 

[Otomofan]

OK....Game of Thrones.

Well, it's summer vacation and I've said for years I was finally gonna read the books once there was no chance of them spoiling the TV show.

I'm about 300 pages in and it's dreadfully dull. Is it dull cause I know what's going to happen? Could be. But I think it's dull cause I simply don't like the fantasy style of storytelling.

All this exposition...all these minute details about the tunics and leathers and what they ate for breakfast and all that. Hundreds of named characters, one after the other, and I'm only at the very very beginning!

Obviously it's one of the best television shows in the history of mankind. But I can't believe the books that everyone raved so intensely for all these years feel like a homework assignment to me.

I read The Martian in two days. It grabbed me from the first sentence and I couldn't put it down. But this...everytime I pick it up, I just sigh. I couldn't get in to Tolkien either. Maybe it's just the genre. Maybe I can only handle SEEING fantasy stories on a screen, rather than reading all these details about horses and clothes and eye color and blah blah blah.

Anyway....not sure if I'm going to bother committing to another several thousand pages of this if it's already such a dull slog. I'm so disappointed. I thought the books were like "the greatest thing ever writtten!!" and "SOOO much better than the show!!"

Anyone else with me or do I just "not get it" or something?

 

[Adolfo]

 

[Aliaz]

Heres what I've read in the past month or so:

Harry Potter book 1-7: I love these books. The first one really got me into reading when I was ten. Or reading more than random books picked up at the school library anyway. I've read this series more than once. Prisoner of Azkaban used to be my favorite but I think I'm starting to lean towards The Half-Blood Prince now.

The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring: Another re-read. Love these books even more than Harry Potter.

A Scanner Darkly: Another fantastic re-read.

Company Town by Madeline Ashby: Cool setting and characters, abit of a weird read. Did not like the ending at all.

The Builders by Daniel Polansky: Man, what a ride! Full speed right from the start. A nice twist on a revenge story by using animals as characters, and really good characters at that.

Dracula: I've never actually read this. Was a bit hard to get into but I enjoyed it.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: Read it before, just wanted to refresh my memory before reading the sequel.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

Used bookstore run:

R. Chandler, Pick-up on Noon Street.
R. Chandler, The High Window.
J. Thompson, Pop. 1280.
J. Thompson, The Golden Gizmo.
J. Thompson, Recoil.
J. Thompson, Cropper's Cabin.
P. Roth, The Dying Animal.
P. Roth, Patrimony.
R. Matheson, The Beardless Warrior.

 

[Aliaz]

Just finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Easy to read since it is a script but I liked it, good story.

 

[Breakspear]

Starting to read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

Just finished his Stormlight Archive series (The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance) and loved it, can't wait for the rest of the series!