What fantasy/science fiction book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

A place for anything *not* Donaldson.

Moderator: I'm Murrin

Post Reply
Mr Hat
Servant of the Land
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:55 am

Post by Mr Hat »

I know I'm late to the party, but I've recently been working my way through the Harry Potter series, currently on the Goblet of Fire. Never really got around to reading them before, until my girlfriend bullied me into reading them. To be honest, I had quite a negative perception of them, so wasn't really expecting much.

I was pleasantly supprised - even though the first few books are clearly for kids, there's still a load that adults can enjoy as well, I even had a few laugh-out-loud moments. I'm liking the way that the series is getting more darker and more adult and complex as it progresses.

Sure, some people can be quite snobbish and dismissive of them and I think time will tell if they eventually get labled as classics. And even if they aren't, one can't live on steak - sometimes it's nice to have a dirty kebab every now and again :-)
Top
User avatar
Spiral Jacobs
Giantfriend
Posts: 444
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:03 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by Spiral Jacobs »

Finished Memoirs Found In A Bathtub. Not an easy read, but gripping and hilarious at times. I found myself grinning like a fool on the bus while listening to this (it was an audiobook).
Also, the translation is amazing: I know nothing of Polish, but I've read Lem's language is difficult to translate. The English sounds very natural to me, and the prodigious amount of word play, rhymes, songs, witticisms and even new words (especially in the chapter when the protagonist is in the archives) must have been very hard to do. Pretty impressive.

Definitely gonna read more Lem.
Top
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:
Contact I'm Murrin

Post by I'm Murrin »

Lem as in Stanislaw?
Top
User avatar
Menolly
A Lowly Harper
Posts: 24184
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 12:29 am
Location: Harper Hall, Fort Hold, Northern Continent, Pern...
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 15 times
Contact:
Contact Menolly

Post by Menolly »

Mr Hat wrote:I know I'm late to the party, but I've recently been working my way through the Harry Potter series, currently on the Goblet of Fire. Never really got around to reading them before, until my girlfriend bullied me into reading them. To be honest, I had quite a negative perception of them, so wasn't really expecting much.

I was pleasantly supprised - even though the first few books are clearly for kids, there's still a load that adults can enjoy as well, I even had a few laugh-out-loud moments. I'm liking the way that the series is getting more darker and more adult and complex as it progresses.

Sure, some people can be quite snobbish and dismissive of them and I think time will tell if they eventually get labled as classics. And even if they aren't, one can't live on steak - sometimes it's nice to have a dirty kebab every now and again :-)
:biggrin:
Feel free to come post in the JKRowling forum down in The Library. We would love to hear the perspective of a virgin HP reader. Just be cautious of spoilers!
Image
Top
User avatar
Spiral Jacobs
Giantfriend
Posts: 444
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:03 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by Spiral Jacobs »

Murrin wrote:Lem as in Stanislaw?
Yup.
Top
User avatar
Cambo
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 2022
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:53 am
Location: New Zealand

Post by Cambo »

Just finished up my re-read of the Gap cycle. Took me a while to find TDAGD in the library (I own all the others). I'd forgotten that
Spoiler
Hashi Lebwohl got the last word of the series
- that was a pleasant surprise for me. The re-read confirmed he's my favourite character of the series, one of my favourites Donaldson's ever written. And the ending put tears in my eyes.
^"Amusing, worth talking to, completely insane...pick your favourite." - Avatar

https://variousglimpses.wordpress.com
Top
User avatar
Vraith
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 10623
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:03 pm
Location: everywhere, all the time
Been thanked: 3 times

Post by Vraith »

Hashi was always a special char. but over the last couple years, I now think he might be my fave in any work by anyone. Definitely top 5. Explaining why would take hours, so I'll just leave it at that.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
Top
User avatar
aTOMiC
Lord
Posts: 24966
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 6:48 am
Location: Tampa, Florida
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 13 times
Contact:
Contact aTOMiC

Post by aTOMiC »

danlo wrote:Good luck with that TOM! :P
I wasn't quite sure what you meant by "Good Luck" until I began the story.

Here is the body of an email I sent dANdeLION after I completed the first quarter of Wizard's First Rule.

"What do you think of Terry Goodkind?
I don't remember you mentioning you read any of his books but in case you had I wanted your opinion.
I'm about a quarter way through the first Sword of Truth book - Wizard's First Rule and I'm kind of unimpressed.
I don't know if it's Terrys in general but the style seems pretty clumsy, reminds me of how I felt as I began reading the Sword of Shannara. The names, places and themes seem rather stereotypical like someone trying to emulate a good fantasy author without really understanding the subject matter very well. It might be Goodkind's first book ever so I may give it a pass but I didn't have to give Donaldson a pass with LFB."

Nuff said.


:biggrin:
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
Image

"There is tic and toc in atomic" - Neil Peart
Top
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

Struggling through the last quarter of Reaper's Gale
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11

(:/>
Top
User avatar
aliantha
blueberries on steroids
Posts: 17865
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:50 pm
Location: NOT opening up a restaurant in Santa Fe

Post by aliantha »

The Habitation of the Blessed by Cathrynn Valente. I started it awhile back and set it aside, then picked it up again this past week. It's pretty good. :)
Image
Image

EZ Board Survivor

"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)

https://www.hearth-myth.com/
Top
User avatar
MsMary
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 7126
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 pm
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 6 times

Post by MsMary »

Leviathan Wakes.
"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
***************************************
- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?

- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.



Image


__________________________

THOOLAH member since 2005

EZBoard Survivor
Top
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

About to start Toll The Hounds.

Reaper's Gale got so much more enjoyable after the Silchas/Clip/Udinaas/Fear/Kettle group got their finale.

The scene with
Spoiler
Fiddler and Hedge and Quick Ben sending Silchas Ruin packing, was very satisfying
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11

(:/>
Top
User avatar
Fist and Faith
Magister Vitae
Posts: 25458
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2002 8:14 pm
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 57 times

Post by Fist and Faith »

Stonemaybe wrote:About to start Toll The Hounds.

Reaper's Gale got so much more enjoyable after the Silchas/Clip/Udinaas/Fear/Kettle group got their finale.

The scene with
Spoiler
Fiddler and Hedge and Quick Ben sending Silchas Ruin packing, was very satisfying
And Fiddler has the best line in the entire series right there.
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon

Image
Top
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

Fist wrote:
And Fiddler has the best line in the entire series right there.
I get that comment quite a bit, every time I recommend a book to gf! :lol:
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11

(:/>
Top
User avatar
I'm Murrin
Are you?
Posts: 15840
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:09 pm
Location: North East, UK
Contact:
Contact I'm Murrin

Post by I'm Murrin »

I'm currently reading Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
Top
User avatar
ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5346
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Just began China Mieville's 'The Iron Council'. Great start, drew me in immediately. (I got it second-hand as a Xmas present for my brother. Hee hee, he won't know that I'm one of the people who've read it before him. An old trick of mine :lol: )

BTW, this is the perfect place to find the name of a fantasy book that has eluded me for a number of years. The reason I remember the book is that the hero (a young country boy, so far so unique!) is being taught magic by an older wizard (so original!) but what stuck in my mind was that when the boy tries his first spell (to lift a rock) his legs sink into the ground (in reality they would probably fracture into a gloopy, bloody mess). The magic in the world seems to work on the basis of equal and opposite reaction.

Anybody recognise the story? I thought it was the the beginning of a Brooks, Eddings, Goodkind type of series but when I went looking for it a while back I couldn't track it down.

Help!

u.
Top
User avatar
wayfriend
.
Posts: 20957
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:34 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 6 times

Post by wayfriend »

Reading The Algebraist by Iain Banks.

I found this blurb in it, which I really liked, and I relish the thought of quoting it to someone at some point.
Any theory which causes solipsism to seem just as likely an explanation for the phenomena it seeks to describe ought to be held in the utmost suspicion.
Sorry, Uss. No idea. Eragon series?
.
Top
User avatar
ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5346
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

wayfriend wrote:Sorry, Uss. No idea. Eragon series?
No wf, long before 'Eragon'.

u.
Top
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

Uss, I know the book you mean. Sure it's not Eddings' Belgariad?
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11

(:/>
Top
User avatar
ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5346
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Stonemaybe wrote:Uss, I know the book you mean. Sure it's not Eddings' Belgariad?
Might be, but I'm fairly sure that I tried a reread of 'The Pawn of Prophecy' and failed to find it there (or finish the book. Is it just me or are there too many characters in that novel (and too unsympathetic!).

u.
Top
Post Reply

Return to “General Fantasy/Sci-Fi Discussion”