What are we reading

[Nimrod]

I read it. Legion has no fantastic elements, but it's clear that it's his style. Legion was good, but unfortunately it's not a finished story, so I hope he'll write a sequel.

[Nimrod]

Simcha wrote: "Nimrod wrote: "Starting The Emperor's Soul :)"

The Emperor's Soul was good but too short. I like my Sanderson books to be heavy enough to double as a weapon (not that I would use it as such...) an..."

I finished the book.It's true that it's short (not as Legion though) but it has a closed and very satisfying ending, and I enjoyed reading it.
Just think that he wrote most of this book on a flight, it's like a candy to his fans, not instead of his other works.

My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Esther]

I have not had any great reading experiences recently :0(
I started To the End of the Land. Too post-modern for me. I want to finished it but I will be taking it a couple of chapters at a time.
Then I had a YA streak with Leviathan(which was great but stopped in the middle, though it was good enough I will continue the series), The Revenant a decent ghost story and Vampire Academy which was good but I feel like I have over-dosed on high school angst.
I have just finished Bethlehem Road Murder: A Michael Ohayon Mystery in a rubbish translation and I have just started Cutting for Stone.

[Simcha]

Esther wrote: "I have not had any great reading experiences recently :0(
I started To the End of the Land. Too post-morder for me. I want to finished it but I will be taking it a couple of chapters at a time.
The..."

I really enjoyed Cutting for Stone. It's not my usual reading but it was nice to veer of for a bit, and it was a good book.

I've also been having some trouble with reading late. I can't seem to finish any book, either because of the book itself doesn't appeal to me or because I just haven't been in the right mood (which is the case with The Book Thief, which I do hope to finish eventually). I can't even remember the last book that I finished. I think I'm going to try something different though, and after watching the BBC mini series about Sherlock Holmes I'm now curious to try reading the books. Maybe these will help me get past my reading funk.

[Esther]

Well Cutting for Stone letting me down. The historical background was interesting enough. But I really disliked the character of Shiva and although the narrator was OK I couldn't feel any emotional attachment to him.
It felt like one of those epic-style books you could pick up at airports in the 1980s but with a better quality of writing.
It reminded me of the The Poisonwood Bible which I liked even less.

[Esther]

After my disappointment with Cutting for Stone I read a middle-grade book Ties That Bind, Ties That Break about foot binding in China. It was simple but interesting.

Next I read The Casual Vacancy which is certainly no Harry Potter - not a single element of fantasy or magic in sight - but very good.
And then I read Never Let Me Go. I had heard I lot about this book, maybe too much. My mother read it while she was in hospital and was totally creeped out. I found it interesting but a little flat. The writing style was similar to Oryx and Crake which also didn't thrill me.

There is this thing were 'literary' writers refuse to admit that what they have written is scifi or fantasy and the general assumption is that it is due to the fact that people look down on these genres and as a result literary authors don't want to sully their names with the connection.
However I am beginning to believe that literary authors don't want to be classed in the scifi genre because their writing would suffer by the comparison.
Much scifi and fantasy leaves me at the edge of my seat, in tears, heart pumping to hear what comes next, so involved with the characters I often don't want to turn the page if I think something horrible is going to be their fate.
Most literary fiction leaves me thinking 'Oh that was interesting.'

[Nimrod]

I just started reading Dune, after a long time that I didn't have time for reading.

Does anyone here read something interesting lately ?

[Shir]

currently reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated, i'm not enjoying it as much as i enjoyed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close but its still a very unique and fun read, besides it hits close to home because it talks about a trip that he takes to a ukranian town in order to find this woman named Augustine who saved his grandfather from the nazis

[Simcha]

Sadly, I can't even remember the last book that I really enjoyed. I'm going through a terrible reading slump and everything I read bores me, and as a result I just haven't been reading so much lately.

[Shir]

hey simcha i know the feeling, let's try to take you out of your slump! have you tried Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman? best book i read lately, also according to your page you haven't read the Song of Ice and Fire saga, if that's the case i can guarantee this would do the trick, it's the best fantasy books i ever read.

[Nimrod]

Simcha wrote: "Sadly, I can't even remember the last book that I really enjoyed. I'm going through a terrible reading slump and everything I read bores me, and as a result I just haven't been reading so much lately."

Do you find it that difficult to find something that you may like?

So far Dune seems like a good book (and quite long).

[Genia]

I'm going to be the voice of dissent and say that if you are in a reading slump especially, A Song of Ice and Fire is really not the thing. They're pretty good, but they are not what I would recommend to get a person out of a reading funk.

I actually feel rereads of stuff I loved help me when my brain is incapable of liking anything new. I also enjoy books that have a lot of humour, and light, fun and don't require me to work too hard. One of my recent discoveries in that vein was Midnight Riot - it's not anything like a great work and it's not going to win prizes, but it's fun. I also think one of the standalone books by Scalzi, like Agent to the Stars or something along those lines might do the trick. These are all books you can finish in one shabbat night, in bed. Or if you don't want sci-fi, you can try a Raymond Chandler, which is just all around delicious.

[Nimrod]

I've heard good things about Midnight Riot. It looks a bit similar to The Dresden Files.
The series is very known in the UK, but much less in the US (probably because the author is from the UK), thus it's less likely that this series is going to win prizes, but who gives a damn to prizes (whatever they would be) ?

[Genia]

It has some commonalities with Dresden, but it's also quite different. And the London ambiance is very enjoyable. Of course, I will freely admit that if it were not for Jerusalem (I have a Jerusalem problem), London would be my favourite city.

[Shir]

Genia wrote: "I'm going to be the voice of dissent and say that if you are in a reading slump especially, A Song of Ice and Fire is really not the thing. They're pretty good, but they are not what I would recomm..."

i see your point because they are very large scale books bug is she's a fantasy buff then IT won't matter so much because Martin's writing is very captivating.

[Genia]

I have to confess that I find Martin's writing indifferent, not in the sense that it is bad, but in the sense that it really doesn't do anything for me in terms of emotional impact or how engrossing it is. I also think this is why the series makes such a good television show; it doesn't lose much in writing. Martin's strength is in dialogue, his descriptions and language seem indifferent on the whole.

That is not to say it's bad; the quality is consistently decent, which is really saying a great deal. It just doesn't touch me or grip me very much. but that is an entirely subjective opinion.

P.S.: I am reading A Storm of Swords as we speak, so I am giving these impressions entirely fresh.

[Jon]

What I love about ASOIAF is the world GRRM created, including the characters, history, religion, politics, theories, etc.

As for the writing, I think it is ideal for a story like this. Intentional indifference might be a good way to describe it.

PS Confession: I'm addicted to the books and show.

[Nimrod]

The show is great. The first two episodes of season 3 were quite a long introduction to season 3, and nothing interesting happened. The forth episodes was AMAZING, and the last scene with Dany was truly EPIC !!!

In the books Dany is portrayed like the series, or a bit different ?

[Jon]

I think they did a great job with Dany. In the book she is only 13 or 14, but other than that they're pretty similar.

I'm loving season 3 so far. Can't wait to watch episode 5 tonight.

[Shir]

Genia wrote: "I have to confess that I find Martin's writing indifferent, not in the sense that it is bad, but in the sense that it really doesn't do anything for me in terms of emotional impact or how engrossin..."
ן i respectfully disagree, i feel that there is a lot of soul in his visceral writing style so that just goes out to show how subjective emotion is, what seems indifferent to you may seem very emotional to someone else, another thing i love is that the language he uses is very rich and his prose is the kind that makes me want to re read sentences just because they are so wonderfully constructed, as far as writing style goes, Martin is definitely my favorite author

[Simcha]

Thanks for the suggestions Shir but to tell you the truth I've never gotten too far with A Game of Thrones. I tried it a while back and again recently, when all my non-fantasy reading friends became enamoured with it because of the show. But I just found the book to be too light in the fantasy department and too heavy in the politics department for my liking.

I guess I'm more of a fan of traditional fantasy though the current trend of really dark anti-heroes and lots of detailed scenes of blood and gore really aren't my thing, so that also limits what's available to read. No Mark Lawrence or Joe Abercrombie for me.

And while I think Neil Gaiman is pretty awesome the only book of his that I really enjoyed was The Graveyard Book. I just don't really find myself connecting with the protagonists of his books.

I did read Midnight Riot recently and it was entertaining enough though I didn't feel moved to pick up the sequel. UFs with male protagonists don't really seem to do it for me.

I hope I don't seem like I'm being too difficult here because I really do want to find a great book, so keep those suggestions coming. In the meantime I guess I'll take Genia's suggestion and do some rereading.

[Nimrod]

Soon The Rithmatist will be published, you may find it interesting (it's sanderson). I'm not expecting it to be superb, but it could be a very good YA.

I guess I'll read it shortly after it gets published, so we can have a "buddy read" here, if anyone is interested.

[Shir]

Simcha wrote: "Thanks for the suggestions Shir but to tell you the truth I've never gotten too far with A Game of Thrones. I tried it a while back and again recently, when all my non-fantasy reading friends becam..."

i'm not big on Geiman as well but Neverwhere was my exception

[Nimrod]

I've read Stardust,and it was just fine, no more than that. Good Omens and Neverwhere are also on my list.

Next month The Ocean at the End of the Lane is about to be released, I guess I'll try that one, it looks quite interesting.

[Simcha]

I just discovered that Sanderson has a new book coming out in September, Steelheart, so that's got me excited. I'll definitely be preordering it. I'm not sure about The Rithmatist though. Has anyone else read Sanderson's YA books? Are they any good? (well, I can't imagine him writing anything bad, but still...)

[Nimrod]

I'm not expecting too much from his YA books. I guess they will be good and probably very good, but not as good as his other works.

[Esther]

I have just finished Child 44. Although it is a historical murder mystery I have put it on my dystopian shelf because seriously Stalin's USSR has got to be one of the the most dystopian regimes anyone has ever dreamed-up. It is horrific.
Now I am on to The Age of Miracleswhich is good but not gripping. I am really enjoying it but I am not as emotionally involved as I would like to be for a 5 star book.

[Esther]

@Simcha I would suggest YA. They are normally wracked with angst and emotion and low on the sex/violence quotient.