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Reading Stephen Baxters "Transcendent". I'm about half way through and the Tom character is seriously grinding on my nerves. Hope he stops being a cunt by the end.

Bernard Cornwall's newest, "The Burning Land" another story of Uhtred of Bebbanburg. I luke Uhtred, he's a horrible git, arrogant, warlike hostile and blustering.

Let me know what you think of that Temeraire series as it's on my shortlist for "next fiction series to look at".

On to R.A. Salvatore's Exile, book two in the Drizzt biography. Next in line is Sojourn

Broomstick wrote:On to R.A. Salvatore's Exile, book two in the Drizzt biography. Next in line is Sojourn

Are these the books known collectively as "The Icewind Dale Series"?

I, also, am curious about Temeraire.

Dartzap wrote:Just finished My Shit Life So Far, Frankie says at the end that he intends to get out of the buisiness in the next year, which is pretty shit.

Just got aload of 40k/WHF book, as well as the first His Majesties Dragons book, which I hear good things about.

Frankie's quitting comedy? Oh, man, now who's going to make myself and all my mates roar with laughter at those dirty, dirty scots?

I'm reading Andrew Bacevich's The New American Militarism, and William Easterly's White Man's Burden. I'm not too far into the first one, but unlike the other Bacevich writings I've read, it's not been a complete snooze at least to the point I'm at. Easterly is, of course, interesting - think of him and Jeffrey Sachs as being opposite poles of the Foreign Aid Mechanism planet.

weemadando wrote:Let me know what you think of that Temeraire series as it's on my shortlist for "next fiction series to look at".

The one with the dragon ? Not really challenging literature (I'd compare it to the Potter-series), but fun to read due to the setting's premise (which I loved).

On a lighter note, just found Dan Abnett's Titanicus in softback, read through it once for fun and now dissecting it for techie bits; more seriously, a secondhand copy of Gordon Craig's "The Politics of the Prussian Army", and being quite surprised (although I should have known better) that Gerhard von Scharnhorst was an enlightened liberal. Also Donald L. Miller's "Eighth Air Force."

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:

Broomstick wrote:On to R.A. Salvatore's Exile, book two in the Drizzt biography. Next in line is Sojourn

Are these the books known collectively as "The Icewind Dale Series"?

Nope! Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn are the "Dark Elf Trilogy". Icewind Dale is the second Drizzt Trilogy. (though it actually was the first three books published). Following that is the tetralogy, "Legacy of the Drow". There is also "Hunter's Blade Trilogy" and "Transitions" trilogy.

I don't normally read fantasy, but I was curious as to this character who managed to get so many books written about him. Staying power is not always indicative of quality (sometimes, it's just good marketing) but it can be an indication of such. Not sure I'll read every Drizzt book, but so far it's been a fun ride.

If I were planning to read some of the Drizzt books, should I start with the first published series, Icewind Dale, seeing as it was obviously popular enough to launch the juggernaut, or start with the chronologically first, but maybe not as good, Dark Elf Trilogy?

I just finished reading Savrola, a curious little novel written by Winston Churchill (yes, THE Winston Churchill, not the American writer with the same name). It is a pretty interesting look at imperialism, and has a nicely done bittersweet ending.

At the behest of my beautiful girlfriend I started reading the Harry Potter books. Read the first 3 in the last few days. I never got caught up in the Harry Potter hype and have made a point of ignoring the movies yet I find myself hooked by them.

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:If I were planning to read some of the Drizzt books, should I start with the first published series, Icewind Dale, seeing as it was obviously popular enough to launch the juggernaut, or start with the chronologically first, but maybe not as good, Dark Elf Trilogy?

:::: I don't know, I've only been reading Drizzt books about 4 days now myself. I started with Dark Elf. I suppose you can start with Icewind Dale which, presumably, is able to stand on its own. I have noticed that when the action/story might call for knowledge of prior events from before the current novel Salvatore does provide sufficient background in an unobtrusive manner. I suspect they're all, to greater or lesser degree, stand alone novels that could be reach in almost any order. Don't know for sure, but that's my impression.

Just started re-reading Stainsław Lem's Eden in English. I enjoyed the Hungarian version, but did not understand some of the descriptions. I wonder with a slightly more mature mind and with what looks like an accurate English translation, whether I will get different results.

I took it in because I grew a bit tired of the non-fiction textbook style stuff I read but never go much beyond the first chapter, if to that at all.

Right now I'm reading Ian Kershaw's Fateful Choices.

It's not bad so far.

Reading Clarksons latest, it's definitely not his best. Although his last few are basically collections of his newspaper columns these just aren't as interesting. Two of his best were Motorworld and I Know You've got Soul.

Armor, by Richard Ogorkiewicz. It hasn't been lent out for sometime, I found a due-date slip from 1981 in it.

Lord Pounder wrote:At the behest of my beautiful girlfriend I started reading the Harry Potter books. Read the first 3 in the last few days. I never got caught up in the Harry Potter hype and have made a point of ignoring the movies yet I find myself hooked by them.

They do tend to do that. Wait until you get to the later books.

I just finished Richard Morgan's The Steel Remains. I liked it, although the viewpoint characters start to sound alike after a while.

I'm about to start on Richard Preston's The Hot Zone - apparently I had the sucker sitting in my book pile and forgot about it. I'm also tempted to do a full re-read of Song of Ice and Fire, but I just know that doing so will just make me disappointed over the long wait for the fifth book all over again.

Started reading Necroscope by Brian Lumly last night. Even though the setting is a little dated now it's a very good read and flows well. Love the creepy atmosphere, though dislike the card board cut out EVIL COMMIE RUSSIAN's.

Reading and Greatly enjoying "The Painted Man" by Peter V Brett.
Interesting, very well written and good realistic characters and world. Flows fast and well, without falling into any pitfalls.

The Grim Squeaker wrote:Reading and Greatly enjoying "The Painted Man" by Peter V Brett.
Interesting, very well written and good realistic characters and world. Flows fast and well, without falling into any pitfalls.

I second this selection, although in the US, it's called "The Warded Man". I thought the book was an open-ended stand alone when I read it, but it turns out that there is a sequel coming out soon, The Desert Spear.

I've finished the Mercy Thompson and Kitty Norville series and loved them both. The latest Kitty Norville even gets props for including a crazy fundie who hunts "inhuman monsters, such as witches, vampires, werewolves and atheists" and goes after a stand-in for Richard Dawkins. I'm starting Nightlife, re-reading Ciaphas Cain, finishing up Percy Jackson and the Olympions (on book 4 now), reading A Thousand Sons and picking up a Karen Chance novel to work into my schedule soon.

I was reading:

Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller - During my first reading of Finding Darin's God I noticed a lot of the arguments against creationism had been used in the later Only a Theory. That was a bit disappointing. He also had, for a believer, very few arguments against the "Gods of Disbelief", like Dawkins and Dennet although he does devote a sizeable chapter to outlining how they use biology to justify their views. The later chapters on God and physics were thought provoking, to me at least, if a little dry. I didn't quite grasp everything that was said in relation to physics and his arguments were dense.

He only had a chapter or two justifying his beliefs in God and I ultimately felt underwhelmed. But maybe he had so little about God because of his integrity as a scientist and not his overwhelming need to be a Christian apologist.

I am reading:

Pragmatism by William James - I picked this up at the library. Interesting so far...he reminds me of the phrase "Can't we all just get along?" He grasps at the horns of the conflict between rationalism and empiricism from the get-go which piqued my interest. However, if there ever was a true conflict between the two philosophies, it must have existed in 1902...

The Courage To Be by Paul Tillich - I got this at the library too. He's a German theologian. I suspect I won't be walking away from this one a believer but, as I read more on philosophy, I nontheless found his ideas on God interesting. And it's nice to know what Protestant theologians think in contrast to everything I grew up with in the Catholic church.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins - Library again! Not what I expected because I kept thinking of his "The God Delusion", but Kenneth Miller said it was "the best book" on behavior ever written. So far it's only barely dry because Dawkins a very lucid writer.

The Witcher: The Last Wish by Andrezj Sapokowski - I've enjoyed every bit I've read so far and I actually own this one. I haven't really read fiction in over a year so reading about Geralt be a stud/assassin is a wonderful change of pace. The theme of evil in the last story I read was neat too and fit nicely into the philosophy books I've been reading.

Eastern European (and Russian) fantasy is in my experience far better than western.

Stark wrote:Eastern European (and Russian) fantasy is in my experience far better than western.

Can you please give us a few titles and authors besides Nightwatch and Lyubyenko (or whatever his name is)? I would be interested in reading such novels but I have no idea where to start.