Fantasy Aficionados discussion
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Achive
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What Are You Currently Reading?
I'm reading a lot about windows updates and comparisons on McAfee vs Norton's? one of these days I will finish 33AD. I hate malicious virus attacks. Oops wrong thread sorry
Bobbie, if you can afford it, I highly suggest Norton 360. It kicks major ass!
I currently have McAfee but my 1 yr is nearly up and I was not really impressed at all so im shopping around now for a new program. I looked and Norton is a little higher but after crashing twice this past year from viruses and once from parts I'm not really bargain shopping
If you do decide to get Norton, I highly suggest the 360. It has a strong firewall and security, along with the typical virus check. It also helps to keep your computer tuned and fixes errors.
Jon wrote: "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 ..."I enjoyed those books by Carol Berg a lot. It was a cool concept.
I have Amber Magic coming up next.
Jason wrote: "If you do decide to get Norton, I highly suggest the 360. It has a strong firewall and security, along with the typical virus check. It also helps to keep your computer tuned and fixes errors."Thanks Jason
I agree with you Jason on the Norton 360.
I'm currently trudging through The Way of Kings, getting bored and starting Palimpsest which is beautifully and nonsensically written and has just now started to seemingly develop a plot about halfway through.I understand The Way of Kings picks up after about 600 pages, so am sticking with it, although 600 pages seems like a ridiculous amount of time to engage the reader. This is my first Sanderson and I am wondering what all the hoopla is about as I understand this is his best so far.
This one is also a quite good anti-virus software: http://www.free-av.com/en/download/in...It's free, you get a lot of updates and since using it, I never had any problems with a virus
I started reading A Game of Thrones. Hopefully I have more time for reading during the next weeks, although I doubt it :/
Started The Color of Magic. About 60 pg in and not really into it yet but it's so short, I feel like I need to finish it.
I finished
and I loved it! It's a terrific fairytale/love story. The fact that he has to crawl up his girl's vagina to another world to discover why it's "haunted" is not even an issue.I am currently reading
and listening to
. Succulent Prey is marvelously gross when covering the topic of serial killer/cannibal. Shouldn't cannibalism be depicted as grossly as possible? No elegant wine here. The Heart-Shaped Box is well-done in the creepy factor, but the plot is predictable to me. I predicted the big revelation before it came.I'm halfway through
, but it was getting ridiculous with them pissing, having sex and masturbating over everything. I just read the part where they got turned on by a corpse and pissed and masturbated over it. It's a famous book so I'll be finishing it.I still intend to go through my short story collections, in particular
. I haven't this week because I got engrossed in my other books.
I am reading
I am liking it but at the same time I am resisting. I don't care for it a whole lot but I can't seem to not read more. I am almost halfway through. I've never read Modesitt before.
I got a little hung up with The Way of Kings and am listening to an audio -- brand new -- of Janny Wurts' Stormwarden, which is smashing. I also started the fourth trilogy of C.J. Cherryhs Foreigner trilogy and it is infinitely better, so am compelled to read all three before returning to Sanderson.
Aloha wrote: "I finished and I loved it! It's a terrific fairytale/love story. The fact that he has to crawl up his girl's vagina to another world to discover why it's "hau..."Story of the Eye sounds like a good example of the good old adage 'just because something's famous doesn't mean it's good.' I can think of oodles of examples of exactly that.
I finished Finch by Jeff VanderMeer last night at work. It is an increadible read, IMO. Definately dark, wierd fiction! I highly recommend it.
Sandra, you are right about The Story of the Eye. But I'm only halfway through, so I'm still waiting for something redeeming about it. I also have to think in terms of history. At that time, few people are doing something that weird, so it is ahead of its time in the juxtaposition of the odd and distasteful, with the sensual . In a way, it's a precursor to the Bizarro fiction. I'm almost halfway through
. I'm at the part that is ruining my enjoyment of the book. This is where the female captive is still enamored with the guy after he kidnapped and mutilated her. Right now, they're having a wonderful understanding and she's going to help him find a cure for his cannibalism. We need some back ground music here, like "Love is a Many Splendored Thing, " or something. *BARF*I still have to finish
, with all the pissing and masturbation over pissing in abundance, and a corpse, too.I'm 15 mins. from being done with
. Well-written in the creepiness factor but predictable. If this is his best work, then he has a way to go to catch up with his old man's (Stephen King) body of terrific work. He's young, so there's a lot of potential.Anyway, I'm dying for some thought-provoking books that has sense and depth.
I'm a little over half-way through The Sheep Farmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon. I'm finding it hard to get into, because the writing level is very simple and I don't feel a terribly deep level of characterization. Paks seems more like a 15 year old girl than an young woman of almost 20, but perhaps it would be that way if you were raised on a farm, I don't know.I'm also working on the fist book of The Lion of Senet series, and so far so good.
Non-Fantasy, I'm reading the Hunger Games (pretty good so far), and Practical Demon Keeping by Christopher Moore who is always good for a laugh.
And to those reading Way of Kings as your first taste of Sanderson, I'd say stop where you are and read one of his other books first. I think Mistborn is the best choice, because you'll see what he is good at much more quickly, and realize better how the first couple of courses build up and support an excellent entree.
Transformation by Carol Berg! A breath of fresh air after that heavy brick of a clunker, The Way of Kings. Also finished Janny Wurts new audio of Stormwarden, which was great fun, a good YA fantasy, first in a trilogy. Am waiting for #2 to be released.
What am I reading...I could scream suddenly! I had 15 library books (that had been on my hold list for when they came in) all come in at once. They ALL have to go to the top of my currently reading stack... Talk about not taking your time.Incarceron, A Game of Thrones, Tunnels, Shadows Bend: A Novel of the Fantastic and Unspeakable, Selected Tales of Algernon Blackwood, I won't list the nonfiction titles, but they need to be read and sent back. One is inter-library loan and renewing it would be a huge hassle. Trapped by my own preplanning.
oops! Left off Infinity and Anathem, both fantasy.
Some of them are downloaded audios... I listen as I do other things. I have to budget my time. :)
I'm a big audio fan myself. I listen to audio, read with my eyes and read with my fingers in braille, all at the same time. You should try it.
I don't read braille, like many my sight is a blessing I suppose I take for granted. Still I can see that the multiple sensory inputs (3 as opposed to 2) might expand the experience. I have print books and for times when I can't stop and read (or my eyes are tired or I'm in a situation where I just can't read) I listen to CDs or downloaded books. I found audios years ago getting them for my wife who needed them and then listening to them myself in my vehicle at work.
You really should try it. Inputting several different reading materials through different senses is similar to inputting frequencies of sound in your head to create an etheogenic effect. You might travel to a different plane of existence. You need to vary your genres, though. You can listen to a horror via audio, read literature via braille, and read fantasy via your eyes.
That sounds interesting, Thoa. Learning how to read braille would also be interesting.
I just finished Transformation, and audio version of Faulkner's Light in August - not fantasy, but awesome. Transformation was totally awesome also. Got three books from Barnes & Noble today -- Little, Big, and hard covers of Deceiver and Conspirator, which I am greatly looking forward to. I started Revelation on my Nook as soon as I finished Transformation which was only available in mmp. Isn't that mystifying? Why would they not have the first book of a trilogy available in the same format as the last two? The insanity of the publishing business.
I have noticed this phenomenon often.
I have the ins to everything, Jason. And when you want to know the secret to patting your head, rubbing your belly, blowing bubble gum, and jump rope all at the same time, just ask me.Jason wrote: "That sounds interesting, Thoa. Learning how to read braille would also be interesting."
I can do all that except jump rope...but I think that's because of my knees....
Yeah, I can't jump rope, either. At least not for long. My feet always manage to get tangled. As for doing all that all at once? God no! I can pat my head and rub my belly at the same time, though.
I'm reading
. All I can say is wow.
I had to put aside
. I couldn't get past the forced part where they became sappy with each other after he bit off and ate her body parts, and she doesn't have a "being eaten" fetish. I like WJW's style of urban writing, and I can see he's a writer not afraid to push the boundaries, so I'm going to pick up his other book
, when I'm done with some of the books I'm currently reading. I heard that was a better book.I'm in the middle of listening to
audio. It's well-written in the old horror style, with beautiful descriptions and wording. Unfortunately, since I saw the movie first, it's hard separating the book from the movie and not making comparisons. The book is better than the movie, IMO.On my iPhone, I'm continuing with
, but not as enthusiastically. That's only if the paperback and the audio is not practical or available where I am.On paperback, I am reading
. That is a wonderfully well-written book so far. The Japanese horror movie "Audition" was based on that. I heard the movie is excellent, as well as the book.Speaking of Japanese books, last week I had a major craving for Asian writing, in particular books by Japanese authors. I think it was the popularity of Haruki Murakami, who is up for the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature, and Bryan's referring me to some cutting-edge Japanese novelists whose horror movies were based on. I had a bunch of these books put aside on my Amazon wish list, when I decided to do a search on eBay for them. By a very lucky chance, I encountered a person with a HUGE collection of books by Japanese authors who is moving abroad. Last night, I won the almost complete collections of books by Natsuo Kirino (Grotesque, etc.), Yasunari Kawabata (1968 Nobel Prize in literature), Yukio Mishima (of the staging his own suicide fame by taking over Tokyo's headquarters and committing seppuku), Miyuki Miyabe, Ryu Murakami (In the Miso, etc.), and Kobo Abe (The Woman in the Dunes, etc.). All for $150. All in great condition, some in hardback. I would have spent 3 times that were I to purchase them all on Amazon. And I know I would have purchased them all over time.
Lady Di, I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray when I first read it. Wow is definitely how I would describe the book. It should be on everybody's reading list.
Great haul, Aloha. Congratulations. Yes, I am glad I read Dorian Gray. Very interesting book.
Thanks. I'm looking forward to seeing the mailman like an adored lover.
came in from Amazon today. It's a really cool book with zombie illustrations even if you're not planning to practice drawing them, which I'm planning to. I'm bored. I need new amusements.
I have my MFA in painting. I hope by the time I got my MFA, I know how to draw.
Jason, there are some very early drawings in my profile.
I just took a peek, and wow, you're very good, Aloha! Do you do many horror work?
Actually, if you don't count my body of work in graduate school, no I have not done horror work. This is going to be my first attempt at horror creatures. If you can draw one thing, you can draw another. It's a matter of mind/hand connection skill. At least, that's how it is for me. If you can't visualize it in your mind, it won't come out of your hand. That's why I need the book to help me.
Please share with us the results, Aloha!
I know some people don't like to see "side discussions" in threads so I'll keep this as short and to the point as possible. Just thought I''d mention it to Aloha. My late wife was an artist and she seemed to be able to move to new endeavors (landscapes to florals etc.) by simply doing it. She'd move to something new and in a project or two she'd be doing remarkable work. One of the primary types gifts she enjoyed getting was/were books on new techniques or subject matter. She had just started getting interested in "fairy" type subject matter when her first (major) stroke took away the use of her right side. I kind of know what you mean about getting new books on new subjects, hope it goes well.
Jason wrote: "I gave up on Bone Song and picked up Something Wicked This Way Comes."I downloaded a sample of Bone Song on my nook, thought it wasn't interesting enough to continue with.
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I just found out that Finch is the third in a trilogy. Grrr... I hate that, even though you don't have to have read the first two in order to understand the third.