OMG BOOKS! ... for people who read books

[rynne]

I'm currently rereading The Crying of Lot 49.  Still trying to decide whether I want to follow it up with Inherent Vice or Voice of the Fire. Anyone have any suggestions?

[luna]

ooh new stephen king in november!
http://www.amazon.com/11-22-63-ebook/dp/B004Q7CIFI/ref=pd_ys_qtk_general_recs_1?pf_rd_p=1286318242&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_i=home&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0FX3TCYH5XJZRQ6QHQDF

[chimera]

rynne: I vote for the former, as I'm very fond of it.

[Goose]

Finished The Fires of Heaven, fifth book of The Wheel of Time series yesterday.  I swear I will eventually get through it all.  I'm sure the last volume will be released before I get up to that point.  In the last couple books, the first 20-ish chapters are really slow going, especially because Robert Jordan decides to spend a lot of time explaining things from the last books, in a detail level that can only be explained by the fact that he thinks his readers didn't read any of the previous books.  I can understand some of it, but it goes a little too far in some cases, and it really brings things down when you're trying to go through the whole series.  Thankfully, when things pick up, they really do and the books can be a little hard to put down (the climactic battles last eight chapters of this book contained a whole shitload of awesome), but I've talked to a number of people who stopped reading at the beginning of either books 4 or 5 because they lost interest, and the reviews I've seen of the next few volumes have similar complaints.

I was going to start interspersing these with Isaac Asimov's original Foundation trilogy, but after reading the author's foreword at the start of the copy of Foundation that I've got, I looked into the series a little more.  Asimov himself wrote that the books are best read in chronological order, and he wrote that after writing one prequel and two sequels in the '80s (one further prequel came out after that).  So, looks like I'm doing a septology instead of a trilogy, starting with Prelude to Foundation.

[Aaron]

I'm on A Clash of Kings I downloaded it a couple hours ago, and I'm just a bit in... Its just over a thousand pages... But I'm digging it.

[sin]

Doubt I'll get through with all of them, but I'm re-reading R.A. Salvatore's "Dark Elf" novels starting "chronologically" with Homeland in preparation for the new one slated for release in early October.  I thought Salvatore was kind of bullshitting his way through the last few books, but I felt Gauntlgrym was a welcome return to form, and it really drew me back into the series. 

In between I'm reading Saberhagen's "Lost Books of Swords," series, although I'm reaching the point that I hear they get kind of retarded (currently reading The Fifth Book of Lost Swords: Coinspinner's Story).  I understand why he didn't include Dragonslicer's Story, as that sword is so specialized, and obviously you can't write Townsaver's Story or Doomgiver's Story, as those swords were destroyed in The Third Book of Swords, but how in the hell do you think you can get away with not writing Soulcutter's Story?!

[rynne]

rynne: I vote for the former, as I'm very fond of it.

And... voting is closed with one ballot cast. We have a winner!   

[Goose]

Finished Isaac Asimov's "Prelude To Foundation" yesterday. Really nicely done story with a couple nice twists at the end which I was totally not expecting. Asimov wrote two each of prequels and sequels well after the original trilogy was published, but I'm going through this series in order of the story, not by date published. I've never done a series in any medium like that before (did the prequels before the first story), so this could get interesting.

[rynne]

Got some new books to read once I'm done Inherent Vice:

Richard Dawkins – The Blind Watchmaker
William Hope Hodgson – Adrift on The Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson
Christopher Priest – Inverted World

I was simultaneously amused and disappointed to see that the William Hope Hodgson book had quotes of praise from HP Lovecraft on the covers, but didn't contain the story Lovecraft singled out to praise, The House on the Borderland.

I understand that the publisher couldn't well put a novella in a "best short stories" compilation, but it still feels like a bit of bait & switch.

[luna]

a co-worker recommended the outlander series by diana gabaldon, i think her description was something along the lines of omg i can't put these freaking books down!...currently halfway through my free preview of the first one

[dee]

a co-worker recommended the outlander series by diana gabaldon, i think her description was something along the lines of omg i can't put these freaking books down!...currently halfway through my free preview of the first one

I can't stand romance novels, but I have the entire Outlander series as well as the Lord John series and I love them. I've reread them so many times I've had to get new copies of the first 4 books. 

  I thought Salvatore was kind of bullshitting his way through the last few books

Boy do I agree with that. The Transitions trilogy was complete crap, especially the last one.

[luna]

Good to know, I'm totally not a romance novel person at all...i was told to at least read until she goes back in time before I decide if i like it or not

[sin]

Doubt I'll get through with all of them, but I'm re-reading R.A. Salvatore's "Dark Elf" novels starting "chronologically" with Homeland in preparation for the new one slated for release in early October.  I thought Salvatore was kind of bullshitting his way through the last few books, but I felt Gauntlgrym was a welcome return to form, and it really drew me back into the series. 

In between I'm reading Saberhagen's "Lost Books of Swords," series, although I'm reaching the point that I hear they get kind of retarded (currently reading The Fifth Book of Lost Swords: Coinspinner's Story).  I understand why he didn't include Dragonslicer's Story, as that sword is so specialized, and obviously you can't write Townsaver's Story or Doomgiver's Story, as those swords were destroyed in The Third Book of Swords, but how in the hell do you think you can get away with not writing Soulcutter's Story?!

Okay, finally finished The Last Book Of Lost Swords: Shieldbreaker's Story.

Good fucking lord.  I have no idea why people rag on this novel.  I loved it.  Great ending to an 11 book series.  Soulcutter got kind of bullshitted out of the series, but it's still a badass series of fantasy novels.

[boofu]

MOTHERFUCKING SONG OF ICE AND FIRE WHAT

On a Feast of Crows...this shit is good.

[rynne]

Mrs. rynne loves murder novels and she also loves cats. So I wasn't surprised when we moved in together that she was reading The Cat Who... series of books, about a retired journalist who solves murders with the help of his two cats.

What I have been consistently surprised is how many *other* cat-focused murder mystery series exist. I think she's found six or seven different authors who've realized how lucrative the cat/murder-mystery Venn Diagram intersection is. (I just got her an book at my office's book sale about a talking cat that solves murders. Seriously.)

Best of all, I found that there's now the Cat in the Stacks Mystery series about a retired librarian who solves murders with her cat. The author obviously made the shrewd assessment that the the cat/murder-mystery intersection is nearly identical to the cat/murder-mystery/bibliophile intersection.