[2012] What are you reading?

[bobrek]

Originally Posted by arkoe I liked The Devil in the White City a lot. I was between starting In The Garden Of Beasts and Issac's Storm.

I was a bit disappointed in Beasts.

[RedNation]

Are any of ggk books on kindle? I went to a couple of bookstores and neither had under heaven or lions

[ScriboErgoSum]

Originally Posted by RedNation Are any of ggk books on kindle? I went to a couple of bookstores and neither had under heaven or lions

A good number of them. Just looking at Amazon, and they have Under Heaven in Kindle format, but not Lions of Al-Rassan.

[RedNation]

Originally Posted by ScriboErgoSum A good number of them. Just looking at Amazon, and they have Under Heaven in Kindle format, but not Lions of Al-Rassan.

Dang. Guess I'll have to go with Under Heaven then Never read this author before so hope he is a pleasant surprise and good to read

[RedNation]

Finally got under heaven for kindle. Will start it today

[ScriboErgoSum]

I finished up A Game of Thrones the other day. It was amusing to me that after swearing off this novel for years, I realized that I had read it in the past. I had exchanged emails with Tad Williams back in 1997 while working on my first novel, and he smacked me down after I said I didn't like this novel on his BBS. About 10 pages in I remembered some deaths that took place, and knew instantly that I would like Jon Snow, Arya, Tyrion, and Bran.

I can see exactly why this novel frustrated me 15 years ago. I was hip deep in The Wheel of Time back then, just went it drove off the cliff (book 6-7). I became convinced rightly that Jordan would die before finishing the series. This was about the time that I swore off all incomplete series, a promise which I kept for over a decade.

But rereading it all these years later, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Martin is verbose, but he doesn't bog down the story to stroke his own writing ego. Perhaps the excessive details about every minor character's banner logos goes a bit far, but I was engrossed in this book and polished it off pretty quickly despite having a brutal work schedule. The fact that I can move right on to the next novel makes ending Game of Thrones a hell of a lot easier. No need to wait to years to continue a character's arc.

I'm halfway through A Clash of Kings and am thoroughly enjoying the overall story. I've gleaned that **** goes down in A Storm of Swords and am eagerly anticipating that novel. Hopefully having A Dance with Dragons at the ready will help the slow pace of A Feast of Crows go down a bit easier.

And now I can watch the HBO show. I've been looking forward to seeing that, and my appetite is definitely whetted after reading the book first.

[VesceySux]

Working on Game of Thrones now. Bought the 4-book paperback set for $18 on Amazon. Damn good deal.

[Isabel]

Over the holidays, I read all the Kate Morton books and really enjoyed them. For those (most) of you who are not female, I might not recommend them, as they are more geared toward women's interest, but they are more intelligent than "chick-lit".

[RedNation]

Just read the first couple of chapters of Under Heaven. The writing is amazing so far and you can really see every detail. I usually get very annoyed when authors try to give details on every single thing but I actually am enjoying this so far. I just hope that there is more of a story soon (although it has been a very good start)

[ScriboErgoSum]

I've got to revise my list of 2012 most anticipated novels. Turns out that Carlos Ruiz Zafon published The Prisoners of Heaven late last year in Spanish. It's due for translation and release in June this year. The few reviews I've read are calling it the best of the three books. Shadow of the Wind is my all-time favorite novel, but The Angel's Game, while featuring beautiful prose, was underwhelming.

Originally Posted by Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Blog The Prisoner of Heaven returns to the world of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons bookshop. It begins one year after the close of The Shadow of the Wind when a mysterious stranger enters the shop, looking for a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Drool.

[Yung-T]

My university scripts, exams start Feb 6th. I really like studying Business&Economics, but damn some of the stuff you have in the first semester is dry. Going through 500+ pages on markets and basic economy, filled with diagrams and math can make you fall asleep.

[NewRoxFan]

just got two books on Kindle through my local library, The Last
Stand (about Custer's) and Robocopalypse.

[MoonDogg]

[TheresTheDagger]

Originally Posted by Groogrux How is it? It'll be my first e-book.

Excellent so far.

King has a way of writing the way people think that is better than most. And of course if you are fascinated by period pieces or the assasination I predict you will enjoy it.

I'm still not finished. Only about 1/2 way through. If I had to make one complaint it would be the length of the book. Probably could have dropped 200 pages from it and it would have been fine.

Oh and for you King fans out there, lots of easter eggs from his previous books which are always cool to come across.

[RedNation]

Wow.I haven't had much time to read under heaven but so far it is AMAZING. I am about a third through the book (a little bit into part 2). The characters are very well done and they are not one dimensional. The story is intriguing (although it is a bit slow) and I love the flash backs kay uses. I'm looking forward to finishing it!

[elrond]

Currently reading Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. About halfway through, and I'd say the jury is still out. At this point it's still split into independent story lines for the different characters, and haven't really seen yet how(if?) things are going to tie together. It's quite the tome, at ~1300 pages. For his other books, I'd currently rate it as Mistborn Trilogy > Elantris> Warbreaker.

Re: Guy Gavriel Kay, I also really enjoyed both Tigana and Lions of Al-Rassan. Hard for me to decide which is better. The only other book I read was Last Light of the Sun, which was mediocre. Sounds like I'll have to go look for Under Heaven.

For fantasy, I recently finished Patrick Rothfuss' The Wiseman's Fear, which is the sequel to The Name of the Wind. I'm liking this series quite a bit, hope the next book doesn't take too long.

I'm not really as big a fan of George R. R. Martin as most people, but I've read through the first 4 books. I think the time between books makes it so that I end up forgetting what is going on, and reading the new books feel like a chore after awhile. Currently these books aren't really ones that I feel the desire to reread every time a new book comes out.

For the Stieg Larssen books, I'd say the first 2 are good, but the 3rd one starts getting a bit dull. The characterization of the main character as every woman's object of desire is a bit annoying as well.

[ScriboErgoSum]

I need to read Sanderson's Alloy of Law, which is a stand alone novel that takes place several hundred years after the Mistborn trilogy. Guns mixed with the pushing\pulling metal magic system sounds cool. I'm not touching Sanderson's Warbreaker series until it's complete. I hate waiting on a mammoth series like that to be completed, even though Sanderson is a machine when it comes to writing his novels.

Under Heaven is such a great novel, and Kay is such a talented author. Elrond, Last Light is Kay's worst novel. You should check out Under Heaven, and the two book series (Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors) if you enjoyed Tigana and Lions of al-Rasan.

I'm zipping through Martin's series. I enjoy it, but I think I'm going to get very frustrated when I finish the fifth book and have to wait 12 years for Martin to eventually finish it. That is if he doesn't die first. I'm getting a very Robert Jordan feel to this, and the further we get into the story, the more that Martin has to paint every little plot and maneuver in detail. I expected more in Storm of Swords. There were some unexpected elements, but the story definitely left a slew of threads and plots wide open. I'm about a third of the way through A Feast for Crows and agree with the common frustration of all the new POV's and the lack of POV's from the main characters from the first three books. Still, I'm reading at a pretty brisk pace and wanting to find out what happens. I do feel like the pace is bogging down, and he's got too many balls in the air. Hopefully Martin can eventually weave this to a satisfactory conclusion.

[RedNation]

I have to order something on amazon and to get the total at 25 dollars, I have to add something. So, since I like Under Heaven so much I am thinking of getting Lions of al-rassan or The Shadow of the Wind.
Which should I get?

[Depressio]

I'm reading the entire Wheel of Time series. I was on book 4 over Christmas, and had only bought the 4... I got every single other book for Christmas, so now I'm on book 6 (Lord of Chaos) with 8 (I think) more 700-900 page books to go. It will occupy me for a very long time.

If you like the Lord of the Rings or Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series, you'll probably like Wheel of Time. And there's a lot of it.

[rezdawg]

Just finished City of Thieves...great book, complete page turner.

Im about to start Thinking, Fast and Slow and American Sniper.