The Book Lair - all book talk ITT

[eddyak]

Hadn't heard of Weeks

Not many have, and it's a damn shame.

Unfortunately I got about sixty pages into the first Dresden Files book before I literally couldn't take any more, so I'll probably be skipping Butcher; it's funny you mention him straight after Weeks, because what made me put Storm Front down was how universally terrible I found its women to be, especially in relation to Very Handsome Not A Self-Insert Wizard Harry Dresden. (For the record, the part in question that made me quit was the introduction of the reporter character - Rodriguez, I think her name was.)

Eh, Jim's good at awesome female characters. I didn't like Susan either, truth be told, but the series gets a lot better. The first few books are dully formulaic, but they get better quickly. Just the fact that Lara and Lea exist more than make up for Susan.

Rothfuss I've heard mixed things about beyond the first book of his trilogy, but it can't hurt to give it a shot.

Mixed things?

(My favourite sci-fi novel of all time is Hyperion, by Dan Simmons; it's kind of pretentious, but definitely gave me a soft spot for the subgenre). Kicking myself over never having read Dune either, so I'd have to be pretty silly not to do that.

I didn't make it past the first few pages of either of those, but maybe I'll give them a retry soon.

[Bloble]

If we're talking Dan Simmons, I had a lot of fun with Ilium and Olympos, even if the latter had some fucked up sex scenes I never thought I'd see outside of bad Doujins. Overall though, both books have plenty of elements that fans of FSN would like, such as crazy hero fights and barely understandable mechanics.

[Vagrant]

Dan Simmons and Branden Sanderson are both great. Mistborn series is my jam.

Anyway, I just finished rereading King Rat by James Clavell and I'd forgotten how much I loved it. It's a historical fiction piece about the prisoners of Changi, a prisoner-of-war jail in Singapore back during WWII. The plot focuses on a British officer who ends up befriending an American known as "The King" because he's the only guy in the camp living in relative comfort thanks to smart trading and profiteering within the prison.

The book is super interesting, even back when I wasn't all that into military history I found it deeply engrossing. The guy who wrote it was an actual prisoner in Changi during WWII so it's all very real and brutal.

I strongly recommend it even to those who aren't usually interested in the military or historical fiction genres, since it's really a framework for examination of characters in a location of extreme desperation and how those characters band together or go against each other and how their preconceived morals and notions have to adapt if they want to survive.

[ratstsrub]

Rothfuss good books but tedious to read.

If it's your first time through then you can't put it down, but if it's your second then you can't keep your eyes open.

That said, there's all kinds of little treats in the way he writes thing.

[Nihilm]

I'll give another recommendation to Weeks' Night Angel trilogy, it was actually pretty good.

[Elf]

I've been really struggling to find stuff to read lately, mostly because my standards tend to be incredibly high. I've been dabbling in nonfiction to put it off, particularly historiography, but I miss really good fiction. The state of the market seems pretty dismal at the moment, particularly in my preferred genres of sci-fi/fantasy, and I'm worried that I'm going to exhaust my local bookstores with my pickiness.

Could anyone help me out with a book recommendation or two? Sci-fi or fantasy preferred; I also tend to lean away from high fantasy and towards the urban, although neither genre seems to have that much great stuff in it.

First off, if you haven't read "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman do so.

Even though it's a "kids" book, I'd really recommend "The Thief of Always" by Clive Barker. It's a very dark fantasy fairy tale, and its awesome. Plus its a fast read. (If you like horror, Barker's Books of Blood series are fantastic.)

You didn't like Butcher. Shame. Maybe skip "Storm Front" and just shoot right into "Winter Knight"- that's when the series starts getting really awesome. Plus Butcher has some of the most awesome female characters in Urban Fantasy- Murphy, Mab, Lea, Molly, Lara . . . Not to mention Zombie T-Rexes Powered by Polka.

I'm also a fan of "The Women of the Underworld Series" by Kelley Armstrong, but that does have a lot of romance in it.

The first ten Anita Blake books are good, but after "Obsidian Butterfly" consider the series done and stop reading.

[Dr.Cruz]

Another Weeks' recommendation here. The Night Angel Trilogy was great. His new series is pretty good too, but far outshone by its predecessor.

If someone is looking for a new fantasy author, I would recommend Peter Brett. His main series "the Demon Cycle" is coming along nicely.

[Shikieiki]

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

I've just started the first one. good to know.

I AM NOT ALONE. \o/
I'm just waiting for the portuguese release of The Slow Regard of Silent Things :] Auri <3

Btw, waifu gave me 1984 and Brave New World as birthday gift. Time to re-read it :]

[Vagrant]

Ian Irvine, plz.

[eddyak]

Dan Simmons and Branden Sanderson are both great. Mistborn series is my jam.

The Mistborn series... I loved how tightly threaded the first book was- how it just flipped all of my expectations and previous assumptions into the trash. I got serious chills the moment I saw the last sentence of that prophecy.

Rothfuss good books but tedious to read.

If it's your first time through then you can't put it down, but if it's your second then you can't keep your eyes open.

That said, there's all kinds of little treats in the way he writes thing.

I dunno about tedious, but yeah, there is quite a bit of extraneous detail. Nowhere near as bad as the Tokien stuff, but enough to make it drag a bit during the more unpleasant and drudge-y sections.

Also I can't help thinking holy shit am i the only person who realised who Denna's patron was the moment i reread the book?

If someone is looking for a new fantasy author, I would recommend Peter Brett. His main series "the Demon Cycle" is coming along nicely.

This. Really good series, though I can't help but feel he's gone way, way too far with the power creep by the latest book. I mean, seriously.

Spoiler:

Ridiculous abilities on those princes? Billions of demons? Is he gonna pull out some stupid-ass MacGuffin super ward that banishes all demons forever or someshit?

I AM NOT ALONE. \o/
I'm just waiting for the portuguese release of The Slow Regard of Silent Things :] Auri <3

oh god auri

She's so waifu, and so broken.

[Nephirin]

The Mistborn series... I loved how tightly threaded the first book was- how it just flipped all of my expectations and previous assumptions into the trash. I got serious chills the moment I saw the last sentence of that prophecy.

I definitely felt like the first book of Mistborn was the best of the trilogy. It was just really well done. The other two, and other stuff by Sanderson is good too though. With regards to Butcher-- Dresden Files is pretty good. I didn't really like his high fantasy series quite as much though. Well, I talked about this earlier in the thread when I first read them.

[Pokingmatter]

I haven't seen a thread that displays what books people like to read: movies, music, games, but not books.
The only rule I have is that if you post anything in here you have to recommend a book for others to read.
This applies to any arguments as well.
I recommend a book titled A Wrinkle in time. A Novel by Madeleine L'Engle an American writer. (science, fantasy)

[Kotonoha]

http://forums.nrvnqsr.com/showthread...-book-talk-ITT

[Kat]

There is already a book thread, you are not lurking enough.

[Pokingmatter]

o sry, but my thread is different than book talk, since I am asking for recommendations.

[Kirby]

You can ask for recommendations in the other thread.

[Pokingmatter]

You can ask for recommendations in the other thread.

That is not the purpose of the book talk thread.

[Kat]

Stop nitpicking, it's enough we have one thread.

[Pokingmatter]

Stop nitpicking, it's enough we have one thread.

I really don't care anymore I was just trying to do something different.
Your complaints don't help, and just serve as a reminder that I should never try to express myself.

[eddyak]

That's a bad excuse. Find out what people don't want you to do, and then do it in a way nobody can complain about!

I've been reading Hyperion. It's odd as shit, the constant references to earth and earth stuff in a far future sci fi feel like the author's constantly nudging you and going "ya see what i did there? eh? eh? eh?"