What are you reading ?

Thanks to my new MP3 player I've been discovering audio books on my commute. I'm in the middle of Philip K Dick's the Man in the High Castle. Its a story of several people in the Western US 10 years after Germany and Japan have won World War 2. The Man in the High Castle himself is actually an eccentric author who wrote a very popular fiction saying the US and Great Britain won instead.

More or less on- or off-topic (depending on the view) : On Branwell Brontë

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
More or less on- or off-topic (depending on the view) : On Branwell Brontë

Interesting material, and a lot of truth to the idea that everybody has an agenda, even--or especially-biographers.

Needed a short break with fun and so bought another Pratchet, this time it's Carpem Yugullum and it's fun. I like these books even though the style gets slightly boring with more games you read from him…

I've actually found a review and a official site for the "Night Watch" (German : "Wächter der Nacht") book/movie : http://www.waechterdernacht-game.de/

There are two other languages available apart from German :
http://www.waechterdernacht-game.de/…php?sprache=uk
http://www.waechterdernacht-game.de/…php?sprache=us

Since it's turn-based, I'm actually looking forward to it.

I can't say much more, since I discovered the site literally just minutes ago.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
I've actually found a review and a official site for the "Night Watch"

I have had a look at the Wiki for the Night Watch movie and books as I've been playing. The game reminds me very much of Hammer & Sickle, but I think it is better. H&S I thought was a mess, but this actually seems to somewhat work. Not great, but the tactical combat has more time to shine.

Not really a book, but it's something I read every chance I get:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootslatest.html

It's a comic that pokes gentle fun at AD&D with a group of adventurers called the Order of the Stick. I'd suggest reading from the beginning

Order of the Stick ? This is a classic among my friends !

Oots is a MUST read for me, along with PvP, The Noob, Looking for Group, and Real Life!! I like to begin each day with a smile!!

Originally Posted by Corwin
Oots is a MUST read for me, along with PvP, The Noob, Looking for Group, and Real Life!! I like to begin each day with a smile!!

You wanna link to your sources, Corwin? Or are you keeping your reading material to yourself

Yeah, guess I can share my source code!!

PvP
Real Life
The Noob
LFG

I'm finishing Atira of the Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust. So far this series has been an astonishing mix of great and not that great books. Atira, sadly is one of the latter.

I just got done reading several series of books by Tamora Pierce: Song of the Lioness(4 books), The Immortals(4 books), Protector of the Small(4 books), and Tricksters(2 books). These books all contain the same basic character. A young female who has an extraordinary talent that slowly developes throughout the series.

(Allana, Lioness) is a girl who wishes to become a knight. This is a male only class though, so she dons a disguise and the story is fairly predictable throughout.

(Daine, Immortals) is a girl who can speak to animals, called Wild Magic. Her power grows through the books and this was the best of the 4 series.

(Keladry, Protector) is almost like a rewrite of the Lioness series. The main difference is that while Allana was a solo-knight, Keladry is part of a squad and eventually has commander type status.

(Aly, Tricksters) is a spy. She gets kidnapped and once free becomes a tool for a god, Kyprios, and helps him to regain power through her skills.

All of these books are decent reads. Immortals was best, followed by Lioness, Trickster, and Protector. Protector rates lowest only because most of the first two books have very little differences from Lioness. A great thing about this series is that previous heroines have cameo roles throughout the following series. These books would be ideal for any young teenage girls that you might have lying around.

I'm trying to read a series by Kate Forsythe next but it's really going slow so far. If it doesn't pick up real soon I may have to bail. It's called Witches of Eileanan and so far it's dull as lead.

Oops, I've also read Buzz Bissinger's Three Nights in August. This is about what goes on behind the scenes during a baseball season. It follows St. Louis Cardinal's manager Tony Larussa, showing all the decisions that get made during a game, how different players are dealt with, etc. It's a very good read if you are a fan of baseball. It's almost mandatory reading if you're a diehard Cardinals fan, as I am

I'm currently half way through Feist's 'Flight of the Nighthawk' which continues on from the Conclave of Shadows series!!

Originally Posted by crpgnut
(Aly, Tricksters) is a spy. She gets kidnapped and once free becomes a tool for a god, Kyprios, and helps him to regain power through her skills.

My older son read one of the Trickster books, and keeps meaning to get back to them … he generally isn't so much into female leads (he *is* 10 … ) but really liked Aly.

I've started 'Night Watch' - decent start, we'll see how it goes.

Finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diane Gabaldon and was vastly relieved to see she left an avenue to continue the series, instead of killing off the main characters as the previous book implied. Til she writes her next one, I'm going back to an old favorite, the Everien trology by Valerie Leith--starting with The Company of Glass with Tarquin the Free lost in the floating city of Jai Perdu.

I'm rereading The Worm Ouroboros, a fantastic novel I first read more than ten years ago, although at that time Eddison's pseudo-elizabethan (or thereabouts) language was quite the hurdle for the young Cormac. It's at the top of my (short) list of great fantasy novels, better than Tolkien, and right there with Leiber.

Has anyone read alot of Mercedes Lackey? I wouldn't mind reading a series or two of hers, but I can't abide homosexual males in my reading material. Has she written any series where she stays away from that? I've tried twice to read some of her work but both times she's had a gay male character. Sorry, I just can't read that crap without wanting to puke.

Originally Posted by Cormac
I'm rereading The Worm Ouroboros, a fantastic novel I first read more than ten years ago, although at that time Eddison's pseudo-elizabethan (or thereabouts) language was quite the hurdle for the young Cormac. It's at the top of my (short) list of great fantasy novels, better than Tolkien, and right there with Leiber.

That's an excellent read, though I agree the language is a bit cumbersome. Since I read it in high school back at the dawn of time, I've pretty well forgotten the plot--but I do remember it stood out from the fantasy crowd. IIRC, he added some books to that world later in life, but I haven't read them.

Originally Posted by magerette
That's an excellent read, though I agree the language is a bit cumbersome. Since I read it in high school back at the dawn of time, I've pretty well forgotten the plot--but I do remember it stood out from the fantasy crowd. IIRC, he added some books to that world later in life, but I haven't read them.

Indeed, he added two: A Fish Dinner in Someplace I Cant Pronounce, and Mistress of Mistresses (I think), but I never read them as I cant find them.
Now that I'm not so young anymore I can appreciate what the author attempted with the language and I rather enjoy it -- it's much more alive then the dull prose of most fantasy writers, anyway.