Just finished reading Dragonfly Falling, 2nd installment of the Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Once again, I'm highly recommending this series, I'm sure most of you fantasy readers will really enjoy it. It really has a good mixture of interesting characters, with peculiar characteristics, some great individual fights and mass battle, science vs. magic, political drama...
Really, take my word for it with this series. Reading the 3rd book now.
And now I'm done with all that's out from Shadows of the Apt after finishing Blood of the Mantis. Again, this is really good series, and I'm really recommending it.
Now I'm back to continuing The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher which I started a couple of weeks ago, and I'm really enjoying the series. Up the the 4th book at the moment, Summer Knight.
Last edited by Munsu; Fri, 10-02-2009 at 04:23 PM.
It was Yom Kippor this week, so I had time to finally go through the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy (Philipp Pullman).
the books are nice, although they hardly go anywhere. but I can say that the golden compass movie seriously messed up things. bunch of morons who missed the entire point, the books had almost perfect foreshadowing. the movie was piece of what the hell?
edit: turns out I wrote the wrong name for the trilogy. fixed.
Last edited by Death BOO Z; Wed, 10-14-2009 at 01:42 AM.
sig made by Itachi-y2k5, thanks, dude!
Currently Watching: probably a show directed at 9 years old girls, lets be honest.
You know the important distinction between Batman and me? Batman is fictional. In real life, there isn't always an alternative.
My bro had the omnibus for this but it turned to shit, so I had to trash it. Guess I should go find the trilogy... I've been skeptical about reading it since I've seen a multitude of mixed responses.Originally Posted by Death BOO Z
Right now I'm reading "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli. It's a pretty intense read but pretty good so far.
I've read it a few months back.
A good book, though it requires someone to explain all the examples (unless you happen to be an expert of the subject of Italian politics) and how the chapters reflect Machiavelli's situation at that time.
sig made by Itachi-y2k5, thanks, dude!
Currently Watching: probably a show directed at 9 years old girls, lets be honest.
You know the important distinction between Batman and me? Batman is fictional. In real life, there isn't always an alternative.
The copy my cousin lent to me has notes in the back which give brief explanations of his political examples. I'm trying not to get too hung up on who's who right now and just try to focus on the philosophical and political aspects of his writing (which can be pretty hard because I tend to become a little obsessive over minute details). I'll probably re-read this at later to get a more in-depth understanding of the material.
read the first thing ive ever fully read over the course of the past couple months while i was here in setagaya. it was Twelfth Night by old man Willie Shakes, and as much as i do not usually go in for Shakespeare, i have to admit that it was pretty funny, olde english and all.
now i am about half way through Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevesky, because i love everything the Russian writes, even if it is weird semiphilisophical rambling.
Humans are different from animals. We must die for a reason. Now is the time for us to regulate ourselves and reclaim our dignity. The one who holds endless potential and displays his strength and kindness to the world. Only mankind has God, a power that allows us to go above and beyond what we are now, a God that we call "possibility".
I love the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, it's one of my favorite trilogies of all time.
"Leaving hell is not the same as entering it." - Tierce Japhrimel
I'm still reading The Dresden Files. Up to book 9 at the moment. I'm really hooked with the series, much better than I had expected it to be. Funny, witty, lots of action, fast paced... and the story gets better each book; doing a good job of connecting all the plots together while introducing new ones and new elements.
As mentioned in the Dresden Files thread, I finished reading all 11 books that are out of the series and I really enjoyed it.
I also read Child of Fire first book of the series Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly, a new author. The book is similar to that of the Dresden Files series, so those that enjoy Dresden should be able to enjoy this.
At the moment I'm reading the first book of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Brandon Sanderson, for those of you that don't know, is the author that is going to finish The Wheel of Time series now that Robert Jordan is dead... I think his first book of WoT just got released.
Anyways, read 80 pages so far of Mistborn and it's been good so far. The magic system is quite interesting.
Just finished up Malcom Gladwell's Outliers. Sort of par for the course for Gladwell: well-written and engaging, but with a couple of rough patches that the editor should have caught, and with the usual non-academic lightness of research that sort of skips past the "correlation != causation" bit of the scientific method. As a bit of pop sociology, it's definitely compelling and recommended.
Starting on Superfreakonomics for controversy-inducing giggles in the next couple of days...
Well here's what I've read in the last two months or so:
Codex Alera which is the other series by Jim Butcher. While Dresden is urban fantasy, this is more traditional fantasy. First book was a bit weak, but the series got better by each book, in all it was quite fun and entertaining. Nothing really groundbreaking, some good characters, good amount of action, and a bit of political intrigue.
I also read The Magicians by Lev Grossman and the best way to describe it is as an adult version of a combination of Harry Potter and Narnia. First half was quite slow, but the second half I found to be quite interesting. Their take on magic and it's consequences, and how it affects young people (around college level) with magic and how they deal in a world were magic is not used (and are ignorant to it) by the rest of the population is interesting. I'm really recommending it, though it can be slow at times, in my opinion the payoff makes it worth it. Overall well written, and it can be thought inducing. Not for everyone though.
I also read the remaining Wheel of Time books I had in hand, Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams. Crossroads of Twilight was pure shit, one of the most useless and boring books I've read. Knife of Dreams though was one of my favorites in the series, so it made up for that.
I'm hearing that The Gathering Storm, the next book from WoT.. first one written by Brandon Sanderson is great, so really looking forward to getting my hands on it.
Last, but not least, I read The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, also known as The Painted Man in the UK. One of the top debuts of 2009, and it really delivered in my opinion. Great characters, grim world, great action. I'm hearing that early word on the sequel, The Desert Spear is great, so it might be something you guys want to check out. Keep in mind that there are some minor changes between the US and UK editions, so if you read The Warded Man make sure you continue with the US edition of the series and viceversa. If not mistaken Brett has already sold movie rights for the series.
Just finished The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It was written post-Vietnam as a response of sorts to Heinlen's Starship Troopers, and that's a pretty accurate description. It deals a lot with the numbing dispair that comes with coming back after the time-dilating effect of relativity from an interstellar war. Heinlen himself apparently really liked the book. It has the benefit of being really gritty because Haldeman was a veteran himself.
Now that I'm done with that, I'm going to read Dune. Should be fun.
Over the past few weeks I've read:
"How to Build a Robot Army" by Daniel H. Wilson - pretty funny book about robotics, some factual info mixed in with science-fictiony material.
"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch - autobiography about a man dying from pancreatic cancer and how he spends his last few months, very uplifting.
"Festivus: A Holiday for the Rest of Us" - an okay book about Festivus (anyone who watches Seinfeld should know what it is), its origin and various people who celebrate it.
I also read some books from the "Simpsons Library of Wisdom" - Homer, Bart, Lisa, Krusty, Comic Book Guy, and Moe. All were pretty funny except the Krusty book.
For the last month or so I've done quite a bit of reading, here are the notables:
The Vlad Taltos series by Stephen Brust - this is pretty much the series I'm currently reading, and I've been enjoying it a ton. Those that enjoy The Dresden Files should be able to enjoy this. It's narrated in first person, and it follows the life of a human assassin in a world where humans are the lowest of class.
Wolfbreed by S. A. Swann - excellent novel in my opinion about a warewolf that is being used by the Crusades in order to attack pagan villages. After years of service, the warewolf seems to have had enough and escapes to the care of a family with their own share of misfortune. Love and betrayal ensue. One would think this is a romantic novel, and although it has a bit of romantic elements here and there, this is not a romantic novel. It has a ton of violent action and horror. Well written and highly recommended. A sequel should come out later in the year called Wolf's Cross.
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. Cool debut for the author that just came out earlier this month and the first of a new series. Set in a what can I only assume to be a post-apocalytic world, and it follows Cale who has been raised in some sort of monastery cruelly being trained to be some sort of perfect soldier and killer.
The Psalms of Isaak by Ken Scholes. Two books out so far, Lamentation and Canticle and they've both been excellent.
Right now I'm reading The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott and it looks excellent so far. The cover is awesome.
A bit off-topic but it still has some relevance.
I've been wanting to buy a kindle and is still rather undecided after reading reviews. I was wondering if anyone here have experiences with one and could recommend it?
My best bet would be to wait a bit to see if something better comes along. Things are finally getting developed in that market, and I would say that it might be too much of an investment at the moment.
Though, many people seem to like them. One thing that worries me is the capability of transferring your ebooks to another device if you so wish to upgrade... I think that at the moment you're stuck with the ebook on the device you bought it with. I'm not certain.
I am thinking about starting to read Lord of The Rings Triology.
Actually wanted some good opinions from gotwoot members :P
The Authors i whos books i absolutly loved where : Roger Zelazny (Amber Chronicles only though), Jack London and Edgar Allan Poe. ( thin list O.o )
So if you can recommend any books that are similar to these characteristics please do would love you for each contribution
I just started reading "Beyond Good and Evil" by Nietzsche. We only got a taste of some of his readings in my first year philosophy class last term and I've been meaning to read more of his work.
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