What are you reading ?

Finished Aliens: Phalanx

This is the worst of the lot. It got so bad near the end that I was harboring actual aggressive feelings towards the story and author - which I never do.

Maybe it's because it was so long and I felt like I'd wasted to much time.

Not sure, but it was beyond terrible.

It took me quite some time but I finally got through the first two books of the Riftwar saga, Apprentice and Magician. I'm about thirty pages into book three now, A Darkness at Sethanon, and it's great stuff. I've not read these books in a long time and they still stand tall.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
It took me quite some time but I finally got through the first two books of the Riftwar saga, Apprentice and Magician. I'm about thirty pages into book three now, A Darkness at Sethanon, and it's great stuff. I've not read these books in a long time and they still stand tall.

I read literally thousands of books due to Kindle Unlimited, Royal Road, and many other ways of getting books cheaply or free. To me, a book is special if I can remember the character names a year or so after reading. Hmm Riftwar…

Pug, Tomas, William, Gamina, Jimmy the Hand, Nicholas, Amos Trask…these are pulled from memory and I haven't read those books in a decade. Incredible series.

P.S. I'm typically horrible with names. I can't even remember the name of the main character of the book I'm reading now. Something very common like James or Tom or something…

Book I'm reading: The Game of Gods: The Beginning. Typical Post-Apoc gamelit/litrpg.
Dude's name is Charles and he has a telepathic dog named Alli. It's okay.

I've also started Aubrielle's new book (haven't got very far). So far I like it.

a pibbur who also spends his time in the 20's. Mostly the 2020's, that is.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Mark Twain :
The awful german language

Mark Twain :
Meisterschaft, oder : Even german is preferable to death

That bad, huh?

Ein Pibbur: Die Deutsche Sprache gefällt mir gut.

PS. Probably a few mistakes inh the above. DS.

PPS. My youngest daughter moved to Berlin last autumn. Can't wait to visit her - but I obviously have to, a couple of years. DS

Originally Posted by Arhu
The Empire trilogy (with Janny Wurts) was the next high point for me, right after the original Riftwar Saga.

You're right, I haven't read those. I think I was going to at one point, but then read about the whole "Tekumel rip-off" thing. Might see if a friend still has them.

Currently I'm reading some Discworld novels. I gave up on them years ago, after around book 26 (Thief of Time). Finished Night Watch a few days ago and just started Monstrous Regiment. Really enjoying them, like spending some quality time with an old friend.

Originally Posted by khaight
Recently wrapped up the Licanius trilogy by James Islington (The Shadow Of What Was Lost, An Echo Of Things To Come and The Light Of All That Falls). It's that great rarity, an epic fantasy trilogy that actually finished in three books. I thought there was a law against that; guess I was wrong.

I enjoyed them and would recommend them to others. I'll definitely read the next thing the author produces.

Finished the first one a few weeks ago. Probably one of the better books I've read recently. I always space out my series so it will be a bit before I get into book 2 but I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'll second your recommendation.

Let's see, other stuff… Currently chugging thru a re-read of the Black Company, which I started again so I could drop the latest addition into place chronologically. Don't re-read books all that often, but Black Company deserves to be an exception.

Done with first two of RS Ford's War of the Archons series. Good stuff, waiting for book 3 to be released. Next book after book 5 (now book 6) of the Black Company will be Book 2 of Jay Kristoff's Nevernight Chronicles. Book 1 was excellent.

Had a couple of months of no reading (gasp). Wanted to finish up Esslemont's Malazan books with Assail but instead decided to finish up Ward, John C. 'Wildbow' McCrae's sequel to Worm, the latter of which is still my favorite Superhero work of all time. While Worm was a page-turning, eye-bleeding, can't-put-it-down exercise in continuous escalation of threats, Ward deals more with the aftermath and coping. As such it's a bit more relaxed and not quite as much of a thrillride, but still enjoyable.

I'm reading a book called "The most fun I never want to have again" about a community bank in Georgia that went bust during the 2008 crises. I'm no banking expert, but it's fun reading a first hand account of these events as opposed to a journalists interpretation of what happened.

I'm no banking expert either, but I am fascinated by economics, banking, investing, and finance. Maybe I should take a look at that book.

Two books I'm working through right now:

American Gods, 10th anniversary edition, by Neil Gaiman. The original was published in 2001 but it feels a lot older. There's talk of Blockbuster and VCRs. I grew up in Wisconsin, and the descriptions of tiny backwater Wisconsin towns brings back memories.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill. I'm reading it with my kids. We all love it. There's a girl, and a witch, and a tiny dragon that doesn't know it's tiny, and a swamp monster. It's very cute and very fun. My youngest daughter didn't like it at first because she was scared for the baby who gets left out in the forest for the witch. But after she realized that the witch is a very nice old lady who has no idea why the villagers leave babies in the forest, she started liking the book.

And recently finished: Fortunately the Milk, by Neil Gaiman. We actually read this book a few times a year. It's hilarious. There's an older version and we don't like the illustrations as much. The new version has goofy illustrations that are almost as much fun as the text.

Read lots of trash but some that stood out for me recently are:
* Agency - William Gibson (13/5/20) A+ wow!!!!
* Goldilocks - Laura Lam (14/5/20) A+ tremendous sf thriller. Wow!
* Limited Wish - Mark Lawrence (15/5/20) A-

Still reading a bunch of free power fantasy novels on Amazon.

Who knew so many harem books are available to read.

Robin Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles. I love her prose. It's just so pleasant and relaxing to read.

Meanwhile I'm through with Mark Twain's "THe awful german language", I can highly recommend it, especially for those who actually know some bits of both languages !

His drama "Meisterschaft" is equally funny. More fun if you know both languages ! Highly recommended !

One reason I love Kindle is that they frequently offer boxed sets of 3 or 4 books for less than a dollar. Some were actually 7 or 8 books. Incredible value as I usually read at least 3 books a week, often more unless I'm wrapped up in a new game!!

I'm currently trying to re-read The Talisman by King & Straub. Real life bullshit keeps getting in the way.

I last read it 30 years ago (!), but misplaced it some time ago. I've owned the hard back of its sequel, Black House, since its release, but have been waiting for the opportunity to re-read The Talisman before starting that. Got a second hand copy recently, so now's the time.

Just finished Stormblood, a really great SF book, fast paced action and as good than Neal Asher first books in the Polity.

Orconomics, great book, nice plot and funny. What if raiding dungeons and killing monsters was the heart of the economy and the hoards, because of over-killing, started to become smaller and much rarer?

Seven Blades in Black, awesome book, very grimdark and a plot I cannot really tell without spoiling it.

and the last book of this week! Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World. A serious book but easy to read. Very very interesting.

Charles Johnson : The Way Of The Writer

I had bought this book in 2016, and had dragged it with me on every vacation, no matter how short it was - like Bilbo's Red Book or Leonardo's Mona Lisa, but it couldn't quite catch it, no matter how much I tried.

Now, I was ready.

I had a incredibly silent and great one-week-vacation in a really , really small town out in the country, in a place where the sound in the night is actually NOTHING.
NOTHING. No sound. Nada. Niente. Nichts. Rien.
That, together with the small mountain/hill looming over the two-to-three towns in the background, that was a fascinating way of wandering within the summer's naturre. No exscessive heat, it was close to perfect.

There, I was writing on my second attempt of a longer story. and how I … I … brooded about it !

The book needs quite some time until it catches fire, but the deeper I read into it, the deeper the feeling grew of "this man knows about writing !".
(You'd say : "Of course he does !" - but to me, this man was no-one I knew, because I don't read "high literature".)

Last night, I was able to FINALLY resolve a "plot knot" ! I was SO HAPPY afterwards !

And today, I really learned through him, through his writing, that he really knows what the problems of true writers are. Even although he has an immensively HUGE professional background, and probably wouldn't even understand me, I understood him. Or so, his words spoke to me, as I finally read today his article/essay about "The Alpha Narrative". Or, as I'd rather like to put it with his own words from his own book : "What is the difference between a storyteller and a writer ?"

And, for the very first time in my whole life, I felt UNDERSTOOD as an author ! As a writer ! As a Storyteller !

Thank you, Mr. Johnson,
and please note that some kind of wisdom needs its time to ripe until it can be plucked by the pupil.

Finished Red Noise by John Murphy. Enjoyable, and even more so if you are an Akira Kurosawa fan.

I tend to listen to a lot more books than I read these days, I hope that counts? After having thought about it but never getting around to it I've finally reached the end of Dune (the first book). I wasn't expecting too much going in, it's a book over 60 years old after all, and I find those seldom age well (I feel the same way when comparing LotR to modern Fantasy. Fantastic as a genre builder, but a pretty lackluster read).

Having reached the end I have to say it's an ok book, but nothing I would propose anyone outside nerd cycles to listen to. Now a question, should I continue on with the rest of the series? Does it get more interesting in regards to characters and intrigue, or is it more of the same?