Kevin's Watch

Avatar wrote:...despite Linden being annoying...

THOOLAH! THOOLAH! THOOLAH!

Avatar wrote:Reading Pratchett's Blink of the Screen now.

Aaaah, Av. I've long known you to be a man of impeccable tastes, as evidenced by your love of Sir Terry. There are some great short stories in A Blink of the Screen, like "Theatre Of Cruelty" and "The Sea And Little Fishes". About 5 years ago, I must confess to having ordered and obtained a copy of something called Once More With Footnotes, only ever published in the US, that had most of that stuff in it, but A Blink has got it all and more.

Have you read Raising Steam yet?

Since last posting in here, I've read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black and The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty. Next I'll be starting Parasite by Mira Grant.

All my reading this year so far has been 2013 releases to decide my Hugo nominations.

TheFallen wrote:

Avatar wrote:...despite Linden being annoying...

THOOLAH! THOOLAH! THOOLAH!

Nah, not me actually. I was specifically referring to Runes there. (Ok, and FR.)

Have you read Raising Steam yet?

Nah, waiting for it to come out in paperback. Only Discworld book I don't have.

Anyway, I'm reading Gaiman's American Gods now.

--A

Just finished The Postman, an early novel by David Brin. Not quite what I thought it would be, but good all the same. Hints of A Canticle for Leibowitz in there, and it turns into a bit of an action/adventure by the end. I'm a fan of Brin, my favourite is probably, The Uplift War.

Avatar wrote:Anyway, I'm reading Gaiman's American Gods now.

Is this worth reading? I picked it up (again!) the other day and could find nothing other than episodic vague humour as I flicked through it. I've never read Gaiman as I'm not a fan of humour-based fantasy/sci-fi (can't read Pratchett, for instance )

u.

ussusimiel wrote:I'm a fan of Brin, my favourite is probably, The Uplift War.

Startide Rising (part of the Uplift saga) might be in my all time top ten. Top twenty no sweat.

ussusimiel wrote:

Avatar wrote:Anyway, I'm reading Gaiman's American Gods now.

Is this worth reading? I picked it up (again!) the other day and could find nothing other than episodic vague humour as I flicked through it. I've never read Gaiman as I'm not a fan of humour-based fantasy/sci-fi (can't read Pratchett, for instance )

Well, if you can't read Pratchett, there's obviously no hope for you.


Anyway, depends. It's not my favourite of his books, but I prefer it to Anansi Boys.

There's nothing Pratchett-like about it, it's relatively serious actually. It's an interesting concept certainly, and I like how he depicts the various gods. IIRC, I'm not a big fan of the ending though.

--A

Yeah, Gaiman is nothing at all like Pratchett (although yes, they did collaborate on one novel).

If you want some good Gaiman, his last novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, is very good. Also short.

Avatar wrote:Well, if you can't read Pratchett, there's obviously no hope for you.

It's that old 'taking-myself-too-seriously thing' again. Surely there's a drug for it by now! (Oh yeah, it's called alcohol. Tried it, didn't work! )

Avatar wrote:Anyway, depends. It's not my favourite of his books, but I prefer it to Anansi Boys.

There's nothing Pratchett-like about it, it's relatively serious actually. It's an interesting concept certainly, and I like how he depicts the various gods. IIRC, I'm not a big fan of the ending though.

Looking at it a little more the feeling I'm getting off his style is that of fantasy set in the 'real' world. Not my usual cup of tea, which may explain why I've never made an real effort to read him.

I'm Murrin wrote:If you want some good Gaiman, his last novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, is very good. Also short.

Thanks for the tip, Murrin, I'll keep an eye out for that one.

u.

ussusimiel wrote:Surely there's a drug for it by now! (Oh yeah, it's called alcohol. Tried it, didn't work! )

There are others...

Anyway, reading Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer again. So nearly done I might as well list what's next. I think it'll be...Claw of the Conciliator actually.

--A

Sword of the Lictor, Book 3 of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun.

--A

I am almost finished reading The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson. I'm enjoying it a lot, it's very good.

Finished listening to DragonDrums and The White Dragon

finished listening to the short Story The Smallest Dragon Boy

Currently about 1/4th of the way through listening to Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern

Probably catch up on some Doctor Who Universe Audios after Moreta (I believe I've got about 15 hours of Doctor Who stuff waiting to listen to), and read the physical book of Nerilka's Story, since it's the only one not available on Audio

How are you enjoying Pern, sindatur?

Startide Rising. ussusimiel made me do it.

Menolly wrote:How are you enjoying Pern, sindatur?

Quite well, thanks.

Great characters, uplifting heartwarming stories and DRAGONS

Citadel of the Autarch. Last of the Book of the New Sun.

Spoiler for Sword of the Lictor:

Spoiler

I tell you, the shattering of Terminus Est is always a hard moment for me.

--A

I'm halfway through A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar.

For several months now, I've been reading old Doctor Who Eighth Doctor adventures novels that were written from the 1990s to the early 2000's.

They range from weird to interesting. But even when they're weird and a little hard to follow at first, I can't seem to stop reading them.

Reading The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I'm all about character development and finding it a little slow. Still, I'm 300 pages in, may as well finish, although if the pointless battle is still going on by the end of the book I may decline the rest of the series.

I've been watching the reboot Doctor Who series and really enjoying! I'm new to the Doctor. How do the books compare? My sister has been a Whovian forever and she said the old series was more about killing monsters, whereas the new series was more "emotional" (her word); that is, character development.

Gene Wolfe's The Urth of the New Sun, sequel to the Book of the New Sun.

--A