What are you reading?

I finished the Silver Spike early yesterday, and immediately dived into the first book on the Southern series, Shadow games. I've never read the books of the south before, so that will be a new journey for me. I'm roughly half-way through the novel now and I've enjoyed what I've read, so far. As to which books are worth reading, the first three are must-reads for certain. Glen Cook just has a way of telling stories that really resonates with me.
 
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duerer said:
Note to self: realized again that vintage King is the best King, when his books were less than 500 pages, were twisted southern gothics instead of straight horrors, and fueled by his memories.
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Beholder said:
Did you read The Stand?
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To me The Stand is the ultimate doomsday soap, an apocalyptic Forsyte Saga: full of fascinating stuff, but the thing just wouldn't end.
Best read in small doses throughout the year.
 
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duerer said:
To me The Stand is the ultimate doomsday soap, an apocalyptic Forsyte Saga: full of fascinating stuff, but the thing just wouldn't end.
Best read in small doses throughout the year.
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Totally agree on the aspect on "when will it end?"

I read the uncut version, which was a 1,091-page behemoth, along with the
audiobook. It remains one of the longest books I've ever read.
 
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I have the whole holiday break for me to read Haruki Murakami's 1Q84. I started early today though.
 
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Reading Empire of Grass by Tad Williams in the Last King of Osten Ard series. Great stuff if you loved the original Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series.
There is also a stand alone novel set in between the two trilogies called The Heart of What Was Lost. It expands on the norns (basically dark elves) and their society. It gives a lot of nuance to an otherwise one dimensional "race" in the series. Instead of being just evil you now undertand their motivations and how their society works. A really fun read.
 
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duerer said:
To me The Stand is the ultimate doomsday soap, an apocalyptic Forsyte Saga: full of fascinating stuff, but the thing just wouldn't end.
Best read in small doses throughout the year.
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Beholder said:
Totally agree on the aspect on "when will it end?"

I read the uncut version, which was a 1,091-page behemoth, along with the
audiobook. It remains one of the longest books I've ever read.
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Couchpotato said:
Try reading the Wheel of Time series.

Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

12,000+ pages over 14 books.
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Two quick remarks:
1. You CHEATER!!!! :) This is a series of books, so this one does not count.

2. Speaking of million page epic series of books: I absolutely loathe them.
The first book of The Wheel of Time was an enjoyable read, but afterwards, it is just a long, endless fantasy serial / soap.
This applies to practically all major fantasy / scifi book series.
The repetition and familiar themes eventually lose steam and the whole stuff becomes an excuse for "professional writer works for a living and gets paid by the pages".
 
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I finished Shadow Games this morning, which is book one of the novels in the South series, after the proper Black Company books, written by Glen Cook. I've never read the books of the South before, and while I did enjoy reading it, I honestly didn't find it as good as the prior four books in the first series. I started Dreams of Steel, which is book two in the Southern series, and I'm hoping it is better.
 
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duerer said:
I absolutely loathe them.
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I've heard many, many people say the first, at most, four Wheel of Time books
are great, while the rest is utter shit and not worth the investment. I've
debated long and hard on whether to start the series, but, man, 14 books with a
not-so-great plot? I have way too much on my backlog to consider sinking almost
two years worth of books in a single series.
 
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I finished the first of two Elder Scrolls novels in a series. It was quite good but ended on a cliffhanger, hence why you have to read the second book. I have the audiobook but haven't had the inspiration to delve in yet. Curious how this story wraps up though.
 
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I read the entire Wheel of Time series and thought it was worth it. It took me 7 weeks, not 2 years. Then again, I don't have a problem reading doorstopper novels generally. I also liked the Malazan Book of the Fallen, for example. I average 80 to 100 books a year.

On that topic, I finished _Salvation Lost_ and _America's Revolutionary Mind_ and have moved on to a space opera short story collection called _Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers_.
 
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I'm going to complete the Black Company series, then I'm going to reread Cornwall's Saxon tales series over the holiday, after that I'm likely to reread those Malazan: Books of the Fallen early next year.
 
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Thought I was the only one who reads 100+ books every year. Though mine are the short 150-200 page books you read for free on Amazon Prime nowadays. Glad to see the days of needing a publisher and getting your book printed are not required anymore.
 
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I'm pretty sure I clock well over ninety books a year, at least when I'm not sucked into Everquest. Maybe I'll try keeping a better count and get a firmer number!

I finished Dreams of Steel this morning, which is one of the Black Company books, and it was a bit different from the others. The focal point of view was from a new person, so that was initially jarring, yet I got used to it and even enjoyed the new perspective after a while. The physician still had a few chapters to narrate so that kept me hooked as well. Next up for me will be Bleak Seasons, which I believe is the first book in a new chapter of the Black Company.
 
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Akunin's series about Fandorin! It's a great detective story which imho is even better than Doyle's one about Holmes.
 
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Bleak Seasons turned out to be pretty good. I think I'm adjusting to having different points of view now, it isn't as jarring as I initially found it. This morning I started reading She is the Darkness, which is book two of the Glittering Stones series. This one picks up right after the prior book, but also has flashes backwards and forward in time, which can be a bit disconcerting if you're not playing close attention.
 
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I am re-reading the whole Saga of Recluse series by by L. E. Modesitt Jr..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_of_Recluce

Great stuff. I have always loved fantasy about Chaos and Order. Some others along those lines:

The Time Master books - one of my very favorite series relating to Chaos and Order: http://www.louisecooper.com/fiction/tm_books_tm.html

And, of course, all the books by Michael Moorcock in regards to Elric and the Eternal Champion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eternal_Champion_(novel)

And another favorite I will re-read if I can find all the books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Princes_in_Amber
 
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Beholder said:
Holy crap, dude. What's your secret? Do you prefer an eReader or physical book?
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It's a matter of priorities, I guess. I've been a heavy reader since childhood, so I tend to default to reading whenever I'm not actively doing something else. These days I do the bulk of my reading on tablet or Kindle, because it means I don't need to find physical storage for new books. There are a few series I still buy physically (e.g. Sanderson's Stormlight Archives books), and I tend to buy non-fiction in physical book form because it's easier to mark up and use for reference.

It helps a lot to not have kids, too. Those things are a massive time sink.
 
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