What are you reading Thread

buska wrote:

I just picked up a huge collected Lovecraft edition, but I don't think I'll read it all in one go.

I saw you tweet about this, if you don't mind me asking how much was this & where did you get it?

Drunkalilly wrote:

Dune is very good, but don't bother with any of the subsequent ones.

I line my books up on the shelf by my bed in the order I'm going to read them. This lets me plan ahead and have, say, a light and breezy Star Trek after something that might be grim. It also forces me not to read two from the same series in a row. If I was reading Mistborn I'd have had the first one followed by something like Star Trek or Halo I know I'll enjoy, in case I didn't like it, then something classic that might be a bit of a chore, then some page turner I'm excited about, then I'd let myself read the second one.

Recently, I've finished Ian M Banks' Look to Windward. Not the best Culture novel, but almost entirely from alien and mechanical characters' perspectives, which was interesting.

I just picked up a huge collected Lovecraft edition, but I don't think I'll read it all in one go.

I can't bear to break up series myself when I'm on a roll.  I like to get completely immersed in things when I read, so when a series has direct continuations I usually have to read them immediately.  Series that aren't direct continuations on the other hand I'll break up, sometimes.  Like Mistborn, books 4-7 being a separate series 300 years later I have no desire to dive straight in.  Okay that's a teensy lie nobody is going to believe and I want to dive right in but I know I'll appreciate them more waiting.  Never been one for extensive planning of reading myself, my mood's a fickle thing and until I start something I'm never really sure what I'll want to read after finishing something.  Plus the OCD organizer in me can't stand having things out of their specific order.

Thinking about Mistborn again I think Dune'll have to wait (again), still too busy contemplating the end of Mistborn to get myself immersed in another dense world.  Might be time to dip in to the Harper Hall trilogy instead.


...


Waitwaitwait!  Did you just imply Mistborn isn't a page turner of the most epic order in the bolded?  Mistborn is the greatest thing since sliced bread, nay, better than sliced bread!

Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums, aka the Harper Hall trilogy.  

Very easy reads these were, while the first two books of the Dragonriders of Pern series were aimed at the higher young adult area these three were aimed very distinctly at the young adult young adult area.  Did it matter?  Not a jot.  The first two parts of the trilogy focussed on musical prodigy Menolly, and her journey from the conservative and abusive Hold that deprived her of her musical talents to Pern's own Harper Hall (and owner of nine fire lizards).  Dragondrums closed out the trilogy with the unexpected, shifting focus from Menolly to former sidekick Piemur, a young singer whose voice breaks, but rather than spelling the end of his time at Harper Hall instead sees him drafted as a sort of spy by Robinton himself.  Both Menolly and Piemur's journey's as they grew in to their callings in life were a genuinely enjoyable ride.  

The books didn't really move the overall series storyline along much, however its set up two very likely big players in the events to come and were enjoyable yarns.  A perfect way to exit Mistborn and exactly the light change I needed.  


Up next: The White Dragon to close out the original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy.

Athrun888 wrote:

Never been one for extensive planning of reading myself, my mood's a fickle thing and until I start something I'm never really sure what I'll want to read after finishing something.  Plus the OCD organizer in me can't stand having things out of their specific order.

I know my own moods well enough to know I have to force myself to read certain things. If I didn't I'd just read one or two series forever and never expand my horizons.

The White Dragon, final book of the main original Dragonriders of Pern trilogy, fifth in the series proper, and sixth in the Ninth Pass.  

Jaxom, rider of the White Dragon, Lord of Ruatha, and protagonist of the sixth novel.  I have to say, from his three chapters in Dragonquest I never would've picked him for a entitled whiner (heh, like I'm one to talk), but there ya go.  He never got outright annoying with it per se, just that he had a tendency to in his quest to find a role in a world where he was pulled between being a Lord and being a Rider, with each of those two aspects preventing him from taking up a role as either one properly, feel rather petulant at times.  

Besides Jaxom's adventures there was the resolution of the Oldtimers conflict from the first two main books, which was satisfyingly done despite only being a small portion of the book.  Small though it may have been it was fitting for a series where the main conflicts are typically political rather than about big wars and huge battles, although for a while it did almost look like the Oldtimers might trigger one.  

Overall a fun and pleasant novel if slightly below the others.  The influx of previous major characters such as the Harper Hall crew Robinton, Menolly, and later on Piemur kept Jaxom's little tangents in check, and the story ends on a note that leaves a lot open for what might happen to the world of Pern next.  

Now, what to read next, I've had a nice little vacation from heavier stories so perhaps it's time to delve in to the more epic novels on the shelf. . .

The_Jaster wrote:

I saw you tweet about this, if you don't mind me asking how much was this & where did you get it?

Sorry dude, didn't see this! I bought it right off the shelf in Waterstones. It was £25 but the girl accidentally charged me £15, even after I said as much and tried to give the extra tenner back.

No worries & that's less than I thought it'd be so I might give it a wee look.

I'm only about a third of the way through, but I'd definitely recommend it. Assuming you can let the racism/ classism off as "of their time", the stories are all quick, exciting reads full of incredible imagery. You can see how much of popular culture was inspired by his stuff.

Still Perning it up, finished Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern a week back.  A decent instalment, leaving the ninth pass for an earlier one where not only thread, but an epidemic, threatened the world and its denizens.  The book dragged at times with the usual Anne McCaffrey problems of going on about characters who are nothing more than names (the amount of names dropped in the penultimate chapter was truly staggering), but ultimately the magic of the relationship between dragon and rider is still as present and appealing as it was in the first three books.  

I won't spoil it on the off chance somebody happens upon this thread who hasn't read either Pern or this book, but I will say the final few pages were more emotional than I expected them too given earlier books already tell you the ending of this.  


Moved right on to Dragonsdawn, title should be fairly self-explanatory here.  The novel that details the first colonisation of Pern, the creation of the Dragons, all that jazz.  The first fifty pages or so were SUPER BORING, like, actually a chore to read boring.  That problem I mentioned about Moreta?  Even worse in the first fifty pages.  I won't blame this on Mcaffery though, this is the sort of thing editors are supposed to sort out.  

Fortunately the book picked a couple of protagonists soon enough, and when it focuses on them it's actually fairly good and interesting.  I'm going to guess this book is going to continue fluctuating between interesting and snooze-fest for its entire duration, although I'm hoping I've passed the big hurdle.

Nick Harkaway.

His books are fat. But so very readable. They bulge with ideas that just about hang together, and with prose that makes me smile more than anyone since Sir Terry Pratchett. The Gone-Away World has one of the best plot twists I've experienced, while Angelmaker's villain is tremendous.

If you're looking for funny clever well-written prose that straddles realism and fantasy, his books come highly recommended.

Dragonsdawn

Finished this up before crashing last night, and I have to say, it improved a lot over its duration.  A proper story took shape, characters got much more of a focus, and the main issue that plagued the first hundred or so pages, listing people who we have no idea who they really are doing random things around the colony, was sorted out.  

Perhaps I should explain why that last was such a problem.  After all, plenty of things do that sort of thing.  The reason it was an issue was mostly because none of it really tied together.  It simply showed what life was like, and while that can be said of a great deal of the previous Pern novels (hell Dragonsinger didn't even really have a plot so much as "the first week of Menolly's life at Harper Hall") that was all it was doing.  We weren't seeing this from the eyes of specific characters half the time which is the big difference between why it dragged here and didn't in previous novels.  

Once it did pick up things got surprisingly dark in a couple of points later on in the novel, for Pern anyway, with one character in particular (a good person at that) meeting a rather grisly fate which was somewhat refreshing.  Also nice to get a good showing of Thread in action, before it was sort of this shapeless threat we never saw up close and personal, here we finally get some nice (and ugly) descriptions of exactly what it does when it contacts and consumes organic life.  

I won't go over the basic details of the book in a summery, since it's rather obvious from the title.  First settling on Pern, formation of the Dragon Riders, and the migration from the southern continent to the northern, ect.  Despite that position on the timeline it's definitely best read after the main trilogies and not one of those prequels that can be used as a starting point.  


Now, onwards to Renegades of Pern! I was going to break things up with a different book after this, but I'm no longer in the mood for Dune right now, need more of a break from Mistborn, and not in the mood for the doorstop that is book one of the Stormlight Archive, so more Pern it is!

Having finished Faceless Killers at the weekend, I've started up The Pact by Jodi Picoult. This is purely because it's one of the larger books on the shelf - once I've read it, I can send it to the charity shop and free up some precious, precious space.

So, just finished reading a lil' booky wook called The Final Empire. Yeah, it was alright I suppose

The first Part or so took a bit of effort; it very quickly introduced a lot of concepts and the main plan. It was almost like a videogame; here's the world, here's the baddy, here's the goodies, here are the powers, here's the mission...

From there though, it was an absolute page-turner. I read almost the entire second half of the book in one sitting last night. Exciting, atmospheric and full of brilliant characters, with a brilliantly realised world of downtrodden slaves and hateable aristocracy.

Technically, this was book one of a trilogy but it did come to a reasonably satisfying conclusion so I'll read a few other things before I pick up The Well of Ascension.

I can't really say anything because the last two books change the game so much I'd probably let slip a spoiler by accident!  I will say that the two main characters continue to develop really well. The world remains as well realised as the first book too.


Finished another Pern novel: The Renegades of Pern

A mixed bag this one.  Billing itself as a story of revenge and a grudge between a leader of a pack of efficient raiders and a roving trader beset by them it spent more time on the various goings ons on the Southern Continent than it did this story.

By no means bad because of it, the ongoing storyline involving the people of Pern rediscovering their long lost origins is and has been a good read over the course of the series, it just feels a shame more time couldn't have been spent on the malicious vindictive and insane Lady Holdless Thella and her reciprocated grudge with Jayge the trader, especially given the book is kinda sorta called The Renegades of Pern.  Although one could argue Southern Lord Holder Toric was a renegade himself given his origin story.  

That all said, the story involving the Raiders of Pern did, despite losing the focus of the book a third of the way through and only regaining it for a chapter near the end, came to a good conclusion.  So I guess it really didn't actually need more time, the problem was more the amount of time between the bulk of the storyline and its climax led to a release of tension that otherwise would have been maintained.

As usual McCaffrey's knack for compellingly written characters remains true, and one cannot help but be pulled in to the journey of Jayge, the machinations of Land-Hungry Toric, the new insight in to the journey of Harper Journeyman Piemur in Southern, and the world of Pern.

Now, at long last, the book that has been built up to for a long long time. All The Weyrs of Pern!

I rattled through Harry Potter and the Cursed Child over a couple of days. Naturally, you'd be better off experiencing it as intended on stage, and I think it'll translate very well to the stage based on the script. There's moments of cloying theatre cheese, but in general it's a surprisingly sad look at Harry's later years. Some of it does read like fan fiction though, but as it's come from the creator herself, I can't fault that.

I'M READING A TOME, IT'S ACTUALLY A TOME. I'VE NEVER READ A TOME BUT I'M A THIRD OF THE WAY THROUGH IT. A TOME. TOME.

It's called shogun and looks like this::

Shogun, as the name may suggest is an epic set in pre-edo period Japan (that is, before the year 1600) written by a guy called James Clavell who became interested in the Japanese afte being interned there during the second world war. A good thing too, or we wouldn't have this awesome book. It is incredibly detailed to the point that the world feels very tangibly real - Almost as if Japan is a real place. The characters are really well developed, the actual situation of Japan is similarly well detailed if a little confusing but I'll assume it's intentionally confusing and not down to my reading comprehension. Obviously there's blood, fights and sex scenes (some of the bloody bits are a little bit disturbing, in a good way. ) so there's plenty of action to keep your attention as well as the occasional funny bit to lighten the mood when it needs to be lightened. As I say I'm only a third of the way through the 1100 page behemoth but I've loved what I've read so far.

JayMoyles wrote:

I rattled through Harry Potter and the Cursed Child over a couple of days. Naturally, you'd be better off experiencing it as intended on stage, and I think it'll translate very well to the stage based on the script. There's moments of cloying theatre cheese, but in general it's a surprisingly sad look at Harry's later years. Some of it does read like fan fiction though, but as it's come from the creator herself, I can't fault that.

A lot of writers can come across like fan fiction when they return to their own work.
For my part, I've got tickets for the play next year and I'd rather wait for that, but I'm not sure I'll hold out. My girlfriend picked up the script but we've agreed we're both going to read all seven novels first and see how long is left after that.

I think it'll be such a drastically different experience on stage that you can pick up the script, rattle through it and still really enjoy the play when you see it. Having said that, a few of the plot twists are probably best left for the stage as they didn't translate as well on paper as they likely will on stage.

I really, really want my first time to be in the theatre but I know I won't be able to hold out.

All The Weyrs of Pern done.  Bit of a mixed bag this one, while it was enjoyable and a good conclusion to the series it suffered the same problems previous entries had, namely the lack of any novel spanning conflict, again doing what the previous novels did with introducing some juicy conflicts only to put them in a fridge for half a book before wrapping them up in half a chapter well before the book ends.  

While not as bad as Renegades in this department, the conflict did have its resolution near the end of the book and did sort of kinda of get a major character killed in its aftermath, it just feels like wasted potential.  

Still a satisfying conclusion to the major recurring cast and overall storyline regarding the lost technology, just could have used a bit more excitement.  



With that I conclude my Pern marathon.  Up next?  The doorstop that is book one of Brandon Sanderson's (Mistborn's author) second big fantasy epic the Stormlight Archive, The Way of Kings!



On the subject of Harry Potter's "eighth" novel, can't say I'm interested in it. The feedback hasn't piqued my interest and the play format just sounds like it'd get under my nose. For me the end of the series is and will forever be that climax of absolute perfection that is the Deathly Hallows.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

I read this today, almost entirely in one sitting. Obviously, it wasn't the first time but it was at least 15 years since I last did so.

Obviously, Harry Potter was a good read. This is one of the most successful novels of all time, a cultural phenomenon and a definer of childhoods. It created an epic series, an enormous franchise and a fictional world incredibly dear to many hearts. This one is slight, with a short length and fun tone, and very obviously a children's book. To my recollection, each book is pitched roughly at a child of Harry's age, which is perhaps why they always landed so well with me.

There was a lot I'd forgotten about, perhaps for its exclusion from the films. The surprisingly subtle and deep groundwork laid for future plot points, the greater depth of character, the increased amount of magic and whimsy compared to the cinematic adaptation all showed what a masterclass in literature this is. It's easy to throw shade at Harry Potter in 2016, because success breeds contempt, but basically: shut up. It's ace.

With the resurgence of Pokémon, the imminent return of Power Rangers and the wealth of new material and love for the Harry Potter series, I think we can safely say 90s kids are getting the nostalgia boom 80s kids enjoyed in the last decade. It probably won't be quite as successful -- we don't have as much disposable income as people who were our age 10 or 15 years ago -- but I'm glad to see it.

I'm noticing in particular the trend in things we loved compared to previous generations. We didn't have Star Wars and Superheroes, we had Pokémon, Digimon and Harry Potter. We didn't look up to, and imagine becoming, adult heroes. Instead we enjoyed fiction in which kids like us could step into an invisible world a little less bleak than the everyday one. Sure, there was terrorism and crime, but maybe we were secretly wizards or digidestined. I don't have a big point, it just makes you think is all.

Up next, I'm reading Carla Ellison's Embed With Games then it'll be Chamber of Secrets.

Just finished part one (of five parts) of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, normally I'd wait till I'd finished a book before posting my incoherent thoughts, but after finishing I just had to say how much I'm loving this book right now.  Since the Mistborn trilogy Sanderson's absolutely nailed the slow burn, and I'm loving every second of it.  

Early minor spoilers:

Okay, not really many "thoughts" so much as a quick "I like this book" post, but after the ending of part one and the engaging character development throughout its duration I just had to fanboy a bit.  Safe to say I'm eager to continue when I go to bed tonight.

I finished Embed With Games.
Go and buy it and read it, right now. If you're on this forum you're into them videogames and this was such a great, insightful, emotionally raw exploration of the wide and varied world of games development that it needs to be read. There are so many little stories all over the world that nobody is hearing about. I want more of this- I want to really get to know the people making these amazing things I love.

I also want to go and download and try some of the games she touches upon ASAP. I'll flick through it again at some point to make a list.

Aaaand that's Chamber of Secrets done! Man, the film really dumbed this one down!

Reading through these from the start, I really am inclined to believe JK had planned all 7 books out. So many things laid down early on so they can become more important later on.

I've never really seen where the detractors of Harry Potter got the whole "nothing was planned" thing from honestly.  As you say the series built up the things that would go on to become the crux (   ) of the series from a very early point. Either they were planned or it was darn good use of established lore, either one being good.