Kevin's Watch

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

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.

Lem as in Stanislaw?

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

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!

Murrin wrote:Lem as in Stanislaw?

Yup.

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.

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.

danlo wrote:Good luck with that TOM!

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.

Struggling through the last quarter of Reaper's Gale

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.

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

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.

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!

I'm currently reading Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

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 )

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.

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?

wayfriend wrote:Sorry, Uss. No idea. Eragon series?

No wf, long before 'Eragon'.

u.

Uss, I know the book you mean. Sure it's not Eddings' Belgariad?

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.