Kevin's Watch

Order of the Phoenix..

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I'm stuck in Deadhouse Gates... I just can't bring myself to read it for some reason. Gardens of the Moon, I made it through pretty well, and enjoyed it, but there's new characters in DHG that (so far) don't seem to relate to the ones I spent the last book reading about and it's making me not want to read more than a couple pages at a time.

After having just slogged through Wheel of Time before this, I'm not sure I'm ready for another long drawn-out read.

Does it pick up at some point? I'm about 10% through so far...

Uh, DHG is one of the best (if not the best) of the Malazan books. So yes, it's worth it, and yes, it picks up. (Which character?)

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I've been on a Meiville kick for most of the last year reading the New Crobuzon trilogy--really dug Perdido Street Station, thought the middle of the Scar was a little odd, but brought things together nicely at the end, ish. The Iron Council had great character development and was engaging, but the elementals and concepts he introduced, somewhat o/o the blue, made the last 4th fairly confusing and a little lackluster. Now reading the 2016 Hugo Award winning The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin about a volatile planet and castes, communities and psychics and stone people, really weird ala Meiville , but pretty darn engaging.

I read Perdido Street Station recently, didn't realise it was a trilogy...have to find the rest now...

Anyway, finished The Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows this weekend, about to try a random charity shop purchase, "Marco & The Blade of Night" by Thom Madley...looked like it might be amusing.

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Reading Half-Blood Prince this weekend. I bought the whole series on Kindle. Go big or go home, right?

I have this book I bought ten years ago for reference. It's called "Europe" (a history book) and it's a dense 1300 pages long. I am seriously considering tackling the behemoth. I keep looking at it and wanting to say, "Challenge accepted!!"

Well, Av it's not exactly a trilogy--it's more like 3 different stories that revolve around New Crobuzon and it's semi-current history on the (demented) planet Bas-Lag

Close enough for me to check them out...sorta glad they don't follow on...PSS was a bit rough.

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The Forge of God by Greg Bear. Sounds dramatic, doesn't it

A friend of mine has given me half a dozen books, which are all the start of a series, to read and see what I think, and if I like them, he'll give me the rest of the series to read. Good friend, eh!

deer of the dawn wrote:
I have this book I bought ten years ago for reference. It's called "Europe" (a history book) and it's a dense 1300 pages long. I am seriously considering tackling the behemoth. I keep looking at it and wanting to say, "Challenge accepted!!"

Depends a lot on how dry it is. I bought The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edward Gibbon) a while back (all six volumes for $1.99 on Kindle - who could resist?) - actually not as dry as I expected, but it's going to take some time to finish.

Reading a stand-alone doorstopper of a book called The Golden Key by no less than 3 authors, Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliot.

Read Melanie Rawn's books before and liked them, no idea who the others are.

Set in a medieval Moorish / Spanish world, and spanning many years, where art is used for documenting critical events etc. and so painting is considered one of the greatest skills.

Not bad so far.

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The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, probably my favourite Heinlein book ever.

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VALIS - Philip K Dick

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The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales by H P Lovecraft, Vintage Classics edition.

I'm reading this thing called Overshadowed by Tabitha Chirrick. I'm finishing it because I started it and it's mildly engaging, but I doubt I'll read the rest of the series (it's one of those first-in-the-series-is-free dealios). I like the different species of critters, but it glares that while they come from many planets hundreds of millions of miles apart (although have been traveling between planets apparently from the get-go) they all speak the same language with very little idiomatic shift from one to the other. That doesn't sit right. Also, I don't believe the love interest.

Iain M Banks, The State Of The Art.

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Consider Phlebas. (Looks like I might be going on a Culture jag...)

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I'm finally reading again. Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee

The Player Of Games, Iain M Banks.

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I picked up three books at a garage sale today.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (whole series)

I've never read Dune and don't really know what to expect from it. I'm familiar with it only in the sense that I hear the movies/series made about it aren't as good as the book, or faithful to the book, or something along those lines. I haven't seen any of the movies or series.

I'm not familiar with Goodkind, but I did google him just now. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, just like me! Looks like the main character in this book is from a (seventeen!?) book series, although it says no where on the book about it being part of a series. I was vaguely under the notion that Goodkind had some sort of stupid long series something like Wheel of Time, and I only grabbed this book based on the assumption that it was not part of a series. I tried reading a random Wheel of Time book once and it was gah-bage.

I read The Dark Is Rising series as a teenager and really enjoyed them, so I am looking forward to re-reading them. I am highly disappointed that no one else in my household is showing any interest in giving them a try (two nieces 11 and 12, and their mother, 33).

So, I am probably going to hit The Dark Is Rising first real quick, and then try jumping into Dune. I may need some convincing to give Goodkind's book a try (it's a meaty 800+ pager, and if it takes sixteen more of these chunky monkeys to get through the story, it better be damn good!).