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RedImperator wrote:

weemadando wrote:

RedImperator wrote:Cryptonomicon, followed shortly by Iron Council and Use of Weapons.

China Mieville's Iron Council? If so - fuck yes. Good job sir. Not quite as good as Perdido St Station or The Scar, but still better than most other extant fantasy.

The very same. I have no interest--zero, none, null--in Tolkien ripoff style sword and sorcery fantasy (for that matter, I have no interest in Tolkien himself), but I've fallen in love with Meiville. I'm glad he doesn't write in my genre, or I'd probably just lay in bed all day feeling like a hack.

Based on your recommendation I decided to get his compendium of short stories, the synopses of which seem pretty cool. I also ordered the latest Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus and the Firefly comic omnibuses, since I watched it again recently and still cannot fathom why Fox were such douchebags.

Rye wrote:

RedImperator wrote:

weemadando wrote:
China Mieville's Iron Council? If so - fuck yes. Good job sir. Not quite as good as Perdido St Station or The Scar, but still better than most other extant fantasy.

The very same. I have no interest--zero, none, null--in Tolkien ripoff style sword and sorcery fantasy (for that matter, I have no interest in Tolkien himself), but I've fallen in love with Meiville. I'm glad he doesn't write in my genre, or I'd probably just lay in bed all day feeling like a hack.

Based on your recommendation I decided to get his compendium of short stories, the synopses of which seem pretty cool.

Would that be King RAt?

At this very moment... I am reading through Watchmen. I am still amazed at how good it is after all these years.

I'm reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Awesome book.

weemadando wrote: Would that be King RAt?

King Rat is his first novel. Looking for Jake is the short story collection.

Sorry, that's right. I always confuse those two.

Unseen Academicals, which I totally forgot about, and I notice that Discworld books are as of late chock-full of spelling errors.

Just finished 'The Day Watch' and along with the first novel 'The Night Watch' the theme seems to be' no matter how genre savy, well prepared, or knowledgeable you are. Your boss has your number, what ever you do, is exactly what your boss planned for you to do.

Dalton wrote:Unseen Academicals, which I totally forgot about, and I notice that Discworld books are as of late chock-full of spelling errors.

My wife is picking up a copy of that today from the library - I'll have a go after her. I'm currently on the Wee Free Men/Acuhing trilogy to break up the Kursk history which is DENSE.

weemadando wrote:

Dalton wrote:Unseen Academicals, which I totally forgot about, and I notice that Discworld books are as of late chock-full of spelling errors.

My wife is picking up a copy of that today from the library - I'll have a go after her. I'm currently on the Wee Free Men/Acuhing trilogy to break up the Kursk history which is DENSE.

Let me know what you think. Quite frankly I found it a bit formulaic and disappointing, as well as missing a few good opportunities to expand the plot or backstory. Not to mention relegating major characters in other books to, honestly, insulting bit parts.

Have just finished Feed by Mira Grant. It's a tight political conspiracy thriller, with added zombie spice. The story takes place in a world 20 years after the zombie apocalypse, society has basically recovered, so the zombies are part of the backdrop to the story rather than the story itself, but the world they create is fun and unique, with ultra-paranoid security and quarantine protocols in force everywhere.

I've also read Vicious Circle, Mike Carey's second novel about Felix Castor, he's starting to strike out a bit more now, so whilst the shadow of John Constantine is still present the world and characters are very much all their own, and Carey is exploring them well.

Also Crossed, by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows, which is pretty much the sickest and wrongest comic ever to not be Japanese, and therefore great.

I just finished America: The Teachers Edition and now I'm about three chapters into Lies My Teacher Told Me, which I'm really enjoying.

Interestingly enough, though, is that I actually know quite a few of the corrections the author is making. I'm not sure where I necessarily came across those corrections, but I'm certainly not ignorant of many, if not most, of them so far.

I'm finally on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The final stretch is almost within view.

I finally started Heroes Die by Matthew Stover, based on someone's recommendation on the board. It's good so far.

I'm also reading Shadow King by Gave Thorpe and The Initiate Brother by Sean Russell (although I'm not making much headway on that one). Soon I will read Kitty goes to war and The Desert Spear. Lots of good books still wait on my shelf--if only there was time enough to read them...

Time enough at last...

the radical's handbook, all three Haarlock's Legacy Books, and the most recent rolling stone....

damn poor Gaga, McCrystal, and Dennis Hopper.

What happened to Gaga? Do you mean Lady Gaga? I thought you were talking about authors. I am so confused, Bear.

I've stalled on my progress of reading The Cambridge History of Ancient Egypt and Iron Kingdom (a history of Prussia) for reasons mostly having to do with boredom. I may take the latter book back to the library, seeing as how I already read it two years ago for a class.

I've got Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart and Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt ready to go from the library. Which one should I read first, or not read? I was tempted to do the Robinson book, but after getting burned by the "Science in the Capital" trilogy plus Blue Mars, I'm hesitant to start it at all.

I purchased Fool Moon The second Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher. I finished it around bedtime. So yeah, damn engrossing read. Noticing a few commanalities of plot between it and the first book.

Crazedwraith wrote:I purchased Fool Moon The second Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher. I finished it around bedtime. So yeah, damn engrossing read. Noticing a few commanalities of plot between it and the first book.

The Third book is where the over-arching arc begins...but that doesn't mean those plot similarities won't still be there. Most of the Dresden Files follow a formula, although Butcher does mix it up a bit later (especially in Changes). The series is still tremendously fun throughout, though.

Please tell me there's not a 'this is how I treat women' paragraph in every book. It's already getting old. The main similarities i thought were him being brokem which I suppose when you rely on wizarding for income is fair enough and the hilarious bit were Murphy flips out on the slightest provocation to arrest him again.

Crazedwraith wrote:Please tell me there's not a 'this is how I treat women' paragraph in every book. It's already getting old. The main similarities i thought were him being brokem which I suppose when you rely on wizarding for income is fair enough and the hilarious bit were Murphy flips out on the slightest provocation to arrest him again.

Well, in later books Murph doesn't flip out nearly so often. Also, he's less broke in some of the stories (but, yeah, not rich either).

Every book has at least some introduction to the characters for first time readers, so there will always be a bit of repetition in there somewhere. His white knight syndrome is a big flaw that enemies will exploit later in the series, so it does tend to come up fairly often.

So the old dude down the street from my aunt passed away and his wife gave me his Patrick O'Brian collection. All in hardback, looked beautiful on my shelf. Then it turns out the old dude promised the whole set to his grandson. Easy come, easy go. However they agreed to let me keep them until I finish the set. Should take most of the summer, I reckon. Just started Post Captain the other night.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has to be one of the greatest books I've ever read.

Rubicon by Tom Holland. Great read, he has a knack to really bring the characters alive in his narrative.

Bob the Gunslinger wrote:What happened to Gaga? Do you mean Lady Gaga? I thought you were talking about authors. I am so confused, Bear.

The most recent Rolling Stone, has the following articles, LAdy Gaga is currently borderline for Lupus going active on her.