Fantasy Aficionados discussion
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Achive
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What Are You Currently Reading?
I was also hooked immediately. But I can understand about there being too many characters. Some of the minor ones get lost in the background. lol
Donna wrote:"I TRIED to start The Gargoyle but in just a few chapters decided it was a little too graphic for me." Yeah, not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed it, even though it was a very emotional read.
Enjoying reading The Name of the Wind at the moment. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of Stephen Hawking's new book The Grand Design, so that'll be next. THEN I can start working through the big pile of books I just bought from my favorite local bookstore. Used-books summer clearance sales FTW! I managed to get a ton of good stuff. Cat's Cradle, The Way of Shadows, The Summer Tree, Assassin's Apprentice, probably enough to keep me busy for a least a little while :)
I'm reading
, which is YA fantasy in which all the people over 14 disappear. It's very good.
I tried reading Stephen Hawking before. Got lost in simply trying to comprehend the man's theories...lol
Jason wrote: "I tried reading Stephen Hawking before. Got lost in simply trying to comprehend the man's theories...lol"I've had one like that this year. Nothing like a good book to turn your brain to mush when it comes to comprehension.
Jason wrote: "I tried reading Stephen Hawking before. Got lost in simply trying to comprehend the man's theories...lol"Carl Sagan is much easier to read! Love him :) Feel kinda bad we didn't travel space as far as he'd hoped by this point though :(.
I'm looking forward to a long weekend reading (provided I don't get distracted by Netflix streaming episodes of Pillars of the Earth). I hope to finish Song of the Beast by Saturday so I can start reading The Way of Kings, which I received yesterday, signed and numbered by Brandon.Otherwise, I've got some GoodReads group book-of-the-month selections to read and a couple of non-fiction selections for my church. You can visit my current-month shelf for my dynamic list of September reads.
Wolves on the BorderThis is an extremely well-written book and the author is not afraid to make his antagonists actually evil. If you enjoy characters that feel very concrete and real, you should check this one out.
Dune - an audio with a full cast even though I read the book years ago in high school and The Spellman Files which is quite entertaining so far.
I'm reading
. Pretty good.
After Let's Go Play at the Adams in hardback, I'm starting several collections, rotating through them: Richard Matheson's Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, H P Lovecraft's Ultimate Collection, and Thomas Ligotti's Song of a Dead Dreamer. Already read Lovecrafts The Call of the Cthulhu.I'm continuing listening to the second half of The Name of the Wind. It's getting interesting since it introduces the odd characters in the school, reminiscent of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series, but without the whimsicalness.
Aloha, I thought Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was a very good collection of stories.
The first one I read was Dress of White Silk. I'm going to have to into that topic at HA because I have some questions about it.
I know I read that one, but I drew a blank when they were discussing it at HA. Guess I need to do a reread.
I agree with Shawn's explanation. My thinking was that the dress had something to do with her transitioning to some sort of a monster.
I'm still plugging away at Acacia War with the Mein. Although I nearly put it down over the first third, it's grown on me and now I will definitely finish it. (about 2/3 of the way in).
I'm on page 73 of Let's Go Play at the Adams. Loving it! It's like a fine tune playing of the psychological piano. I'm 3/5 of the way into the Something from the Nightside, which is a dark fantasy detective noir. I enjoy the narrator's voice which perfectly matches with the protagonist's. That is very entertaining. I expect to finish both of those books by this weekend or over the weekend.I'm pausing on Acacia: War with the Mein, and The Name of the Wind. I'll finish them when I shake this feeling of ennui. I'm getting tired of long fantasies. Unless an epic fantasy has an astounding idea like Dune, I'm going to stay away from it for a while.
I would like to start on a short story from Thomas Ligotti's Song of a Dead Dreamer. Maybe over the weekend, too.
Finished Acacia and just began Something from the Night Side. Am planning to re-read Gardens of the Moon as a side project after seeing Steven Erikson's interesting comment on the tor.com site in response to the discussion of Gardens of the Moon there. It can be found here if you're interested: http://tinyurl.com/3aapcf3
I'm in between books. Just finished the Mist Born series by Brandon Sanderson. I'm looking for some good suggestions. I've read a lot but tend to focus on the same authors - so now I'm looking to branch out. I would say I'm an epic fantasy fan. I really don't get into Urban fantasy. Suggestions?
Leighann, I really enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch . And thought Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld one of the best books I've read this year. Leviathan has some really interesting ideas in it, and delightful main characters.
Well, IMO you can't beat Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts for epic fantasy. And two groups are currently reading the series.
Jason wrote: "You might like Guy Gavriel Kay, if you haven't read him."Tigana is very good. A must read, I would say. Guy's characters are so strongly developed, you really care for them. As a result, his novels can hit pretty hard. I think Tigana is his best.
I'm well into the first book of the Mistborn series. It's great!
A friend just recommended that. He's loving it.
I'm on p.145 of
. It is riveting. As the victim becomes more objectified, I wonder how much more cruel these children can be. The magic of this is that Johnson constantly reminds me that they are children, and that the acts are from the perspective of their minds. He somehow managed to retain their innocence as they commit insensitive, sadistic and criminal acts. I can hear innocent children's piano music in the background as they do these awful things to their babysitter. This reminds me of Lord of the Flies. It is scarier in that it takes place in suburbia within our environment and time frame, and the children are like the children we know. I finished
audio. The narrator is perfect for the story and did a bang up job. If you're into detective noir, this is for you. It's an entertaining dark fantasy with nightmare creatures and weird plot twists. The romance is not believable to me, but this is a detective noir, where the protagonist is often analytical and human relationships are not deeply touched upon.I'm on the fence as to whether to listen to
audio, or finish
and
audios. I'm drooling over Heart-Shaped, but I feel I should finish my fantasy obligations. It confirmed that I'm crazy about horror right now. Once those obligations are done, I should go horror until I'm sick of it.I'm still having little tastes of the anthologies
in eBooks,
in hardcover. The Call of the Cthulhu did not impress me that much considering its fame and influence, but I have to keep in mind how original it was for its time. I loved Matheson's Dress of White Silk in its openness to interpretation and symbolism. I haven't started on the Ligotti, but I'm eager to start. This hardback book is beautiful with its Hieronymus Bosch type illustration. The cover is not like the one you see here. I have the special signed edition. I heard that he's a thinking horror nut's author, which I am. One HA member considered him the best horror author. I have to see for myself.
You're doing some serious reading, Aloha. That's cool!
Brainycat told me that I should read
. I'm adding that to my collections rotation. He said he's still deeply thinking about the stories. My serious reading just got more serious. LOL
I suggest you listen to the Joe Hill book. Heart-Shaped Box is an awesome ride! I don't know if the audio is any good. But the book itself is!
Thanks, Jason. It doesn't take much persuasion for me to do it.
I've finally gotten to start the Name of the Wind and man I gotta take Todd's advice more on books!I honestly haven't read a fantasy novel that hooked me as much as this one has. Unfortunately I gotta stick to the new writing I started yesterday rather than curling up with it like I'd like to do!
Amanda, I feel you. I was completely sucked in by The Name of the Wind. I was sad when it ended.
hmm. I thought it was only okay. I'm not all that impressed with Red Pyramid which I'm about a third of the way through. Granted, YA but it seems a bit, uhm, simplistic.
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Amanda, I feel you. I was completely sucked in by The Name of the Wind. I was sad when it ended."Well if Pat keeps to the current schedule about this time next year there'll be more :)
Majkia wrote: "hmm. I thought it was only okay. I'm not all that impressed with Red Pyramid which I'm about a third of the way through. Granted, YA but it seems a bit, uhm, simplistic."I keep seeing this YA reference on this book and I really don't see it. A lot of higher fantasy is written like this and not YA. I'm also a bigger fan of story than I am of high falluting style or massively complex world building. So I don't judge an author if they don't use those to write the book so it's odd to me that others seem to require it of fantasy authors.
well, my feelings about it have nothing whatever to do with the world building. it's fine. And fairly complex. I'm more talking about the characters. Especially as it is told in two first person POVs and while the kids are likeable, it limits what the reader can 'see' and understand so much, I'm simply frustrated.
Majkia wrote: "well, my feelings about it have nothing whatever to do with the world building. it's fine. And fairly complex. I'm more talking about the characters. Especially as it is told in two first person PO..."Well since I'm on 41 I might haven't gotten to that part (right now kovthe is meeting the Chronicler at the bonfire) . We'll have to see what I think when i get there.
I tend to like books that are simply written more than those that are over-elaborate and florid in the writing style. Now, there are some writers who are so gorgeous and lush in their prose that they seduce me. But, I think it takes a special skill. If given a choice, I prefer a writer just write with an economy of words over a pretentious writing style.That's why I didn't enjoy The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Amanda wrote: "Majkia wrote: "well, my feelings about it have nothing whatever to do with the world building. it's fine. And fairly complex. I'm more talking about the characters. Especially as it is told in two ..."oh lol, those comments were about The Red Pyramid. Sorry for the confusion.
Right now I'm reading Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley and Finch by Jeff VanderMeer. It's way too early for me to tell if I'll enjoy Winterbirth yet, but I can say that Finch is one strange, dark futuristic fantasy. One of the strangest books I've read this year! And that's saying something.
After ten days and a thousand pages, I finished The Way of Kings (my review) last night. I slept on it before writing my review and kept it as spoiler free as I could. Not sure what I'll pick up next. I got a call from the library this morning, so I probably have The Passage waiting to be picked up from the hold shelf. Next week I'm scheduled to attend a real-life book discussion of Jane Eyre, which I've already read but probably should skim to refresh my memory.
I just finished
, and now I'm reading
.
I'm listening to The Heart-Shaped Box
. It's really good. He's being mind-f*cked by a ghost hypnotist. I like the narrator, too. I would definitely recommend it as an audio.I'm rotating my collections, too.
. With the addition of the Bizarro Starter Kit, I think I'm leaving the
alone for a while. I would rather read the modern stuff in modern language than try to like the old style language. Besides, the conversion to eBook was so mediocre, that it's irritating getting past the typos.For novels, I thought I was going to start on
but was given
. That looks like the kind of stuff I like to read. I'm in the mood for some bizarre erotica. So I think I'm going to start on that, instead.
Reading Lawhead's King Raven trilogy.
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Fantasy Aficionados
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I TRIED to start The Gargoyle but in just a few chapters decided it was a little too graphic for me.
So now I'm alternately listening to the audio of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal which is HILARIOUS, and reading The Book of Lost Things which I'm about halfway through and am really enjoying it. The Book Of Lost Things reminded me a little of the Narnia books but with a darker twist. The way he describes how his character feels about books is one thing I absolutely love.