What books are you reading now?

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:17 am

I'm reading Kage Baker's Anvil of the World series.

It's a riot.

Part of the background...this woman who led her people out of slavery was a living saint. She could heal the sick and raise the dead and there was more than a bit of a goddess to her.

Her people settled in a huge forest called the Greenlands. At the center of which was a high dark mountain, inhabited by a wizard who commanded not only the obedience, but the loyalty of thousands of demons, because he dealt with them fairly (there's a big loophole a ton of people exploit. He doesn't do it). The Master of the Mountain let his demons indulge in raids on the Living Saint's people for a while, and then she went and offered herself up as a hostage, if he would stop the brigandage. He accepted and the raids stopped, and her people were much touched by the nobility and depth of the love their living goddess had for them.

...Then they were a little surprised when she came back for the rest of her stuff, moved into the mountain for keeps, got married, persuaded the Master of the Dark Mountain to give up evil dark lording in favor of starting up insurance companies, and then began producing a huge brood of semidivine, semidemonic kids.

The demons are still there. Being put to work as servants and guards and so on. They're under but a few geases--one of which is they must kill anyone who harms one of the children, except under certain circumstances (rightful punishment, so on).

Well, the older kids sometimes try to duel or assassinate each other, not very hard...But it blue-screens the geas because 1) They're supposed to keep the children from harm and deliver retribution upon those who would harm them 2) The kids themselves are the ones trying to do it. One demon said it was "Damn inconsiderate" of them.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 3:49 am

Anyone read Ben Yahtzee Croshaw's Mogworld? I found it when I wasn't entirely certain who he was, but now that I do know who he is, I'm intrigued, and wondering if it's any good.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 4:52 am

Finished reading Daughter of the Empire (~10 years ago I read Magician and the next two, and then I think a couple of trilogies after that. The furthest I remember is... the twins (ending in the Empress condemning a traitor to a stupidly overkill torturous death?), then the one with their younger, club-footed brother. And Nakor of course). It was pretty good.

And started reading Hammer and Anvil, sequel to Faith and Fire. Yeah, it's about Battle Sisters, so I'm amazed there's anyone out there under the general employ of GW who remembers who they are.

And my 11yo sister sent us a couple of books she liked: Halo, and Hades. About angels and demons and people being dragged to hell, apparently, and each one being ~400 pages. I thought that would be a bit heavy reading for 11yo children, but maybe I'm just too old to remember and that's the norm.

Not entirely related, she also sent a personalised bookmark, that she got my stepdad to laminate: it has a photo of our dog on it, chewing one of his chewtoys and looking cute.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 7:15 am

Just started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Only 50 pages in and its already pretty awesome.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:13 am

Prak_Anima wrote:Anyone read Ben Yahtzee Croshaw's Mogworld? I found it when I wasn't entirely certain who he was, but now that I do know who he is, I'm intrigued, and wondering if it's any good.

I read it. Good, but not great.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 4:09 pm

Maxus wrote:I'm reading Kage Baker's Anvil of the World series.

Great series. My wife really got a kick out of all the descriptions of "proudly jutting breasts".

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 6:56 am

I'm reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a free collection of stories on Amazon Kindle. I'm not ashamed to say that the movies turned me on to the books.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 6:43 am

I recently finished Christopher Hitchens' "God is not Great." It is a damn good read. A great read even.

I'm slowly working myself through "A Song of Ice and fire." I"m on "A storm of swords." I have this feverish dream that I shall finish the series before the new year. Let me see how that goes.

For the heavier reading, I"m slowly working myself through Darwin's "Origin of the species." For a mostly physics guy, this is tough and dry.

Also working through Eric Shanower's "Age of Bronze." It's a retelling of the Trojan war in comic form. It is interesting in that the Gods are mentioned and seen. But only through the mouths of prophets and through dreams. The trial of paris happens in a dream. Even Kheiron the Kentaur isn't really a Kentaur (centaur?) but a stout man with inordinately hairy legs (which might conceal a second pair)

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 7:23 am

Finished Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...my coworker has the 2nd, so I'll start that when I go back to work on tuesday.

Short summary, I loved it...similar to how I love Stephen King (very dark, but good). Can't even begin to describe how much I love Salander as a character.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 1:46 pm

The proto-fantasy stories of Lord Dunsany. The influence he had on later authors is apparent.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 2:29 pm

Cynic wrote:I recently finished Christopher Hitchens' "God is not Great." It is a damn good read. A great read even.

Yeah. Shame he died recently.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:40 pm

angelfromanotherpin wrote:The proto-fantasy stories of Lord Dunsany. The influence he had on later authors is apparent.

Which collection?

Currently starting, UnSpun: finding facts in a world of disinformation amidst the Lovecraftian research. Found another academic article on tentacle sex!

Blicero · Post by **Blicero** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:34 pm

I'm reading a book called the Tao of Physics. It's an argument that Eastern mysticism and modern physics share a lot of beliefs and attitudes. The author, despite being a PhD physicist, doesn't really seem to understand modern quantum theory, but it's still an interesting book.

Post by **fbmf** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 11:47 pm

A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist.

Game On,
fbmf

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 11:59 pm

Shadowrun: Rhein-Ruhr-Megaplex

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 12:06 am

I finished "Feast of Crows" and it was awesome but annoying because of the missing characters. "Dance with dragons" has like 15 holds on it at the library. I'm not fond of audio books. If it really comes down to it, I'll read it as a pdf.

I also picked up "Theft of swords" by Michael Sullivan. The book apparently is just a compilation of two books "The crown conspiracy" and "Avempartha"

The series is just another take on the Fafhrd/Grey Mouser combo. One ultra-strong awesome very moral warrior and an equally sneaky and amoral thief. The setting isn't that original. It literally takes the tolkien Elves/human/dwarf created by Gods and in the same particular order. The characterization of the women in the book is downright awful. You are either a prostitute or a sometime strong yet overall crying and doubting woman. There are whole paragraphs devoted to how they are only a silly girl and how they should have left their brothers handle the business. There's even a suggestion of a cool female fencer from the most famous fencing family. Except that when she realized that she had to be a lady, she gave it up.

Despite all of these faults, the action is brisk and it was an easy read. The book is only 600 pages. I finished the book in two nights.

--

I'm still struggling through "Origin of species"

I picked up a random book at the library called "The Dark side of love" by Rafik Schami.
It takes the Romeo/Juliet trope but places it in Damascus with tension between Christians and the muslims. The translation of the book is a little bland but the book sounds pretty cool.

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:10 am

I'm currently reading:

A Lawyer's Journey: The Morris Dees Story

Morris Dees is the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and his biography describes how events within his personal life and the Civil Rights Movement convinced him to battle racist hate groups in the courtrooms and overturn prejudiced laws.

Statism and Anarchy

Written by the modern anarchist, author Mikhail Bakunin writes an account relating to Russian history, anarchism as an ideology, and a critique of Karl Marx's Communist ideology as a tool for revolution.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:25 am

I'm chugging my way through Mike Carey's Felix Castor series at the rate of about a book a week. In addition to the ongoing Lovecraft research, which I have spent far too much $$$ on so far.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:55 pm

Just started The Hunger Games. Good stuff so far.

shau · Post by **shau** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:56 am

PoliteNewb wrote:Just started The Hunger Games. Good stuff so far.

Really, me too. Though I am kinda ashamed to admit it. Reading things published by Scholastic really takes me back.

BTW, did you finish Stieg Larsson's series? I thought the last one was the best personally,but I think I might be a minority in that.

RiotGearEpsilon · Post by **RiotGearEpsilon** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:03 pm

I just finished Children of the Sky (Vernor Vinge) and Incandescence (Greg Egan). Moving on to Clockwork Rocket (Greg Egan) and a nonfiction about the Great Leap forward from the perspective of a specific chinese village. I may re-read Making Money or Small Gods soon.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:02 pm

shau wrote:
PoliteNewb wrote:Just started The Hunger Games. Good stuff so far.
Really, me too. Though I am kinda ashamed to admit it. Reading things published by Scholastic really takes me back.

Why be ashamed? A lot of young adult lit is better than a lot of the "adult" books being put out.

I finished the first book, and I'm about halfway through the second (another advantage of YA books is, for me, that they read fast). So far slightly predictable, but I still find Katniss a good protagonist, and I think shit is about to get real.

Side note: I enjoy the emotional dynamics of love triangles, but part of me cant' understand why the answer doesn't end up being "just have both of them". Wheel of Time, for all it's problems, actually used this solution and it worked reasonably (not perfectly, but very few things are perfect).

BTW, did you finish Stieg Larsson's series? I thought the last one was the best personally,but I think I might be a minority in that.

I did finish it. I wouldn't call the 3rd book the best (just because I thought book 2 was pretty fucking awesome), but I will admit the trial where they totally destroy the opposition was great. I also enjoyed Figeurola, and wish they'd settled that thread with her and Blomqvist a little more solidly.

Larsson reminded me a little of Stephen King, but he does not go in for King-esque bittersweet endings or phyrric victories. His heroes win, and they win big.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:29 pm

I'm bouncing around Christopher Moore. I just finished Fluke.

And then I loaned one of the clerks at the used bookstore my Sherlock collection (yes, turns out my bookshelf has enough eclectic that sometimes I have something they don't).

Wait a few days, and I come back in and she's going on about how much she loves it (she's more of a literary fiction reader), the descriptions, how she read all the stories I marked for her then went back and started on the novels and so on.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:07 pm

Maxus wrote: And then I loaned one of the clerks at the used bookstore my Sherlock collection (yes, turns out my bookshelf has enough eclectic that sometimes I have something they don't).

That's something I love about my new kindle...thousands of free classics. I downloaded a Sherlock Holmes collection, and I've been reading them between other things...so far just "A Study in Scarlet" and "Sign of the Four".

Also picked up a H. Beam Piper collection (32 stories) for just 2 bucks.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:57 am

So I finished the Hunger Games trilogy. The ending was...unexpected, at least for me (well, not some aspects; I was pretty sure which boy she'd end up with). I think I saw it described as "bittersweet", but IMO there is a LOT more bitter than sweet there...think chocolate with 80% cacao content. This is definitely not a Steig Larsson ending.

On the one hand, I liked this, because it is actually a fairly realistic portrayal of what someone who has been through the shitstorm that was Katniss's early life would be like (for all the characters, really). On the other hand...it wasn't satisfying, somehow. Maybe it was just that the final chapter 'wrap-up' was too abstract, too impersonal. I would have liked some more dialogue rather than just "oh, and then this happened" for something as emotional as her reconnecting with Peeta.

One thing I really appreciated about this: they didn't do any bullshit resurrections. People died, often in horrible ways, and they stayed dead. Some of them even caught me off guard. This gave a lot more suspense and gravity to the narrative, IMO.