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What are you reading?

Nihilistic_Impact

Nihilistic_Impact

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Aug 14, 2009
In the past BMR has attempted to do a book club, well this thread isn't for that as it's difficult to get people to read the same book in the same time period. Instead just state what you're reading and what your thoughts on it are, if you like. If you just read a book, share, and if you're about to start a new one, share that too.

To begin.

I'm currently in the middle of a number of books so I'll just list the ones I've been reading most frequently.

Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. I like it, it's a giant omnibus of all his Amber books which are a fantastical mind fuck. Our world is just a shadow of another, patterned upon the great City Amber. Corwin, one of many heirs, fights to take the throne. Very intrigue heavy.

Ultramarines Omnibus by Graham McNeill. I'm really just reading it to read, it's alright. Decent smurf action, a chapter I've never really enjoyed, and not too heavy on the thinking. My bathroom book.

Enforcer by Matt Farrer, a 40k omnibus about the Arbitrator Calpurnia. Not a good place for anyone to start with 40k as it's rather densely written; but a good source of inspiration for my Dark Heresy campaign I'm intending to run for my TTRPG group.

So folks, what are you reading?
 
I needed some inspiration for one of the role plays I was working on ( plus it's a secret indulgence of mine >w< ), so I am reading a trashy paperback romance called "Bridal Bargains" by Michelle Reid. It's three books in one for extra value. Steamy romance ahoy!

But I am also re-reading The Hobbit and a Mass Effect novel called Revelation at the same time.
 
Largely because I adored the Game of Thrones television series to-date, I started reading the novels they are based off of. Currently in the first quarter of the third book and have realized that there are a ton of little details in the books that they don't share in the tv series - I LOVE all the little things that add up and give me that "A-ha!" moment. Next on the list, time permitting, is Laurel K Hamilton. [I have yet to catch up on her Anita Blake series. I think I left off at book 21!]
 
Book club so failed. It almost worked. Almost.

Currently re-reading Death's Mistress by Karen chance since she wrote a new one called Fury's Kiss or something like that.
 
I know Hahvy, and I'd never blame it on you.

In addition to the above books I am also re-reading Heretics of Dune, it is my car book, by Frank Herbert. I love the series so much and each read through provided a greater detail of understanding. Unlike the earlier books that focused primarily upon the intrigues of normal people the later deal with the idea of perfect prophecy and memory.
 
It's cool. I knew it was a bit of a stretch but this thread will work better in the long run.

So I read this manga called, "Are You Alice?" And it's a very interesting take on Wonderland. A male character shows up in wonderland who has been named "Alice." He has no memory of who he is or where he came from, only that he is looking for his name and a place to belong. The Cheshire Cat is the pet of the Duchess who is "alice's substitute" and takes the beatings of a creature that is a combination of Regrets, which are the dead spirits or souls of the previous "Alices," that tried and failed to become "Alice."

The Queen of Hearts has absolute power over Wonderland and has taken Hatter's Time so that his clock always reads 6. He is "Alice's" protector. This "Alice" is told that he is the only one who can kill The White Rabbit who is pining after the Original Alice who has been lost.

It's only the first volume but it's a really delightful read so far. I'm quite impressed with the storyline and the artwork. I suggest it for any manga fans.
 
Reading a french book called Le donjon de Naheulbeuk: L'orbe de Xaraz. (The dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The orb of Xaraz.) It's a pretty clever parody of tabletop D&D RPGs and the second 'book' in the series, which is also the fifth 'season' of the adventure. The first 3 seasons were in audio format, although they have since been redone as comic books as well. Season 4, 5 and 6 are all in book form only.

I have to say that I'm quite enjoying the books, maybe even more so than the audio seasons. The ragtag group of adventurers's antics is much more fun to read in text form as it brings a bunch of details to the table that would be left to nothing but the imagination had the author chosen to retain the audio format. (Which is fine too, don't get me wrong.)

The group is comprised of characters with no actual names called 'The ranger, the elf, the dwarf, the sorceress, the barbarian and the elf.' Which is about as impersonal as it gets, but shows the 'parody' intent of the whole thing quite clearly here. As you would expect, the barbarian is a dumb brute who's always trying to fight everything, and the sorceress is a wise-ass who's always trying to talk her way out of everything, if not blasting it with magic. The ranger is the 'leader' of the group and a sniveling coward who usually hides during battle... I don't think he has actually participated in ANY fights so far, despite reaching level 3. Yes, the book literally tells you about the adventurers going up in level, as it is a 'real' physical thing in their world and the characters are aware of it.

The ogre is nothing but a stomach on legs, always trying to eat anyone and anything if not stopped. (the sorceress is his 'friend' of sorts and speaks his language.) But my favorite characters are the elf and the dwarf. The elf is a complete head-in-the-clouds moron who knows less than nothing about pretty much everything that doesn't concern forests or nature... She's very often getting naked for all sorts of reason, and as a result of gaining 'charisma' points when leveling up, her busts increases in size with every level... So you can imagine what her nudity does in most instances, although it turned out to be quite useful in fighting off a group of bandits who were too busy staring at her when she had been trying to sunbathe previously.

The dwarf is completely insufferable and regards anything and everything that's not 'dwarven' (beer, rocks, weapon and other dwarves basically) as completely worthless, and constantly reminds the group of it. He never loses an opportunity to insult or throw sarcasm at the others and has gotten the group in undesired fights with the locals more than once. He even eats a brand of candy known as 'Chiantos' which in english would loosely be 'Annoytos' a parody of the mentos candy which causes whoever eats it to turn into a complete asshole.

... But yeah, I'm rambling. It's funny, but most anyone here will be completely unable to read those books, so honestly I'm not sure why I'm writing all of this. I'll leave this post with a loosely translated quote from the first season, which I nabbed from the TVTropes article regarding this series.

The Elf: (who has fallen in a hole) Help me, I'm stuck!
The Dwarf: She says we can leave her behind.
The Elf: Get me out of here, it's slimy!
The Dwarf: She says she wants us to drop rocks on her and put her out of her misery.
Click to expand...
 
Status update,

Finished the first book in my Ultramarines omnibus, it was alright. High point was that it kept me entertained and I actually wanted to finish the story. Low point was a few plot holes, like why didn't the inquisitor have the weapons on hand if he knew the situation could potentially get out of hand, and if that wasn't an option why not call them in just in case your last ditch effort to stop ultimate evil fails? That and some repetitive use of words, spinning into their guard, alright once; but it sticks with you when you see it three or four times with no word variation.

Over all I liked it; but I felt the writing was better suited to a series of short stories then a novel format.
 
Currently starting a book called "Reckless" by Amanda Quick. Her books are interesting and she writes under different names. Depending on which name she uses depends on the type of book. Amanda Quick is placed more in the Victorian Era's. They are kind of a mix of different things but I enjoy her work quite a bit.
 
Let's see, books I'm reading...

The Rise of Nagash by Mike Lee for my heavy reading.
For the joy of it, re-reading Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Probably in my top five favourite books of all time.
And finally, gearing up to actually re-read the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steve Erikson. My favourite Fantasy series. Actually, my favourite series period. The high water mark that ll other fantasy is measured by in my mind.
 
Alvis Alendran said:
Let's see, books I'm reading...

The Rise of Nagash by Mike Lee for my heavy reading.
For the joy of it, re-reading Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Probably in my top five favourite books of all time.
And finally, gearing up to actually re-read the entire Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steve Erikson. My favourite Fantasy series. Actually, my favourite series period. The high water mark that ll other fantasy is measured by in my mind.
Click to expand...


I have Nagash the sorcerer. Is it any good?

Also I've been trying to read Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw but I have like zero time in my day anymore... and Netflix kinda robs me of reading time as well. ^///^
 
It's a different, more in depth look at the Nagash story. I []iliked[/i] Nagash in Warhammer, so I enjoyed it really. I do think that it would read best as a full collection, rather than pieced out over the three books. Omnibus for the win! But overall, I do think it was well owrth the read. Mike Lee does some very good work.
 
I've read Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana book and really enjoyed it, currently have it on loan to a co-worker. I intend to pick up some of his other books; but I'm not sure what ones to start with.

The Malazan series is awesome from what I've read thus far, I need to pick up House of Chains; but so far the ride has been good. I'm glad I gave Garden's of the Moon a second go because I had a false start initially. Might I suggest giving R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing books a try?
 
Nih, my recommendation would go towards Last Light of the Sun if you want a damned fine story, with some pretty interesting writing style choices worked in. It also has vikings. And I'm a sucker for well written vikings. :) Otherwise, I also give a heraty recommendation for Under Heaven as well.

And good lord Nih, you just earned about ten thousand points of awesome for being one of the only other people I've talked to that has actually read a part of the Malazan series! And you read 40k books too! Good sir, my hat is off to you! If you enjoy 40k works, I reccomend Dan Abnet's Gaunt's Ghosts. A bit of a long haul, with quite a few books, but they tend to be smaller than most, making them a fairly quick read.

Next chance I get, I'll look into Prince of Nothing! I am currently in the market for a new project for reading.
 
I've already read the three Gaunt's Ghosts omnibuses. Good stuff there, though I prefer his Eisenhorn trilogy. I need to get around to reading the Ravenor books.
 
I honestly cannot say too much on either of those series, as I've not touched them. Black Library books are getting a bit easier for me to come across, but they're certainly still not common around here.

Have you tried the Malus Darkblade series? Mike Lee and Dan Abnett collaborating on a pretty extreme series. Given that they made a five book series out of what was basically a 30-40 page comic series, it turned out pretty damned swanky in my mind. And was the first real look into the actual Dark Elf society (makes Drow and any other environments I've seen dark elves look like tree hugging hippies.) Good read, but at times damnably cruel and sadistic.
 
I've not really touched the warhammer fantasy novels. Though I did read and enjoy Blackhearts. That might have something to do with it having Chaos Dwarves in it and I love those bastards. I may need to pick up Malus Darkblade as you're the second to recommend it to me.
 
Don't know if you folks have read his works; but Iain M. Banks, writer of the Culture novels, has passed away today. I know know I enjoyed his writings immensely and hope to someday write a story following a similar narrative structure to his Use of Weapons novel.
 
Well currently I'm reading the entire works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on my Kindle, but I'm listening to the audiobook of Game of Thrones (not at the same time haha!). I listen to it while I'm doing the housework. My mum got me into audiobooks. It's great if you don't have much time on your hands.
 
Today I finished reading Sword & Citadel, the last half of the collection known as the Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. An amazing story, one which I'll eventually re-read as it has a lot of subtle little points that become clear in the conclusion. It'll be interesting to read it in a new light.

I will also need to pick up Wolfe's other books in the same setting.
 
Currently reading Ours to Love by Shayla Black.

It's a steamy romance novel about two brothers who fall in love with and share the same woman.
 
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