What you are reading and why?

[Krian]

I would like to know what everyone is reading right now and why they picked it up. The reason for this is that for some reason i like to create theories on why things happen, this week's topic is why people read what they do. Most of it i'm sure is recommendation's by other readers and friends. I am still curious as to why you picked a book off the shelf at your local bookstore and are reading it. I also would like to know the title of the book and author mostly because I'm just getting back into reading after a long while. Well thanks in advance.

 

[Heresy]

I've almost finished reading this book: the Bridge of D'Arnath.

I'm trying to open my head to authors I haven't read before which is why I decided to try her out.

 

[Bengoshi-San]

I'm reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett because I was told it was extremely funny and it is.. very funny. I needed a comical break after reading some of the very length fantasy series that I am reading.

 

[Heresy]

Going Postal is a great book! You're going to enjoy every word.

 

[Luke_B]

I'm reading Line of Polity by Neal Asher because a runcible AI told me I should.

 

[ThornofCamorr]

Working on Reapers Gale, because once you start Malazan, you don't stop till its over.

 

[King Bonez Xx]

i'm reading a few things at the moment....

mistborn: the final empire by brandon sanderson is one, which i'm reading because it's the book of the month. woohoo!!

the gargoyle by andrew davidson is occupying most of my reading time at the moment. i picked it up on a whim in borders, and am oh so glad i did. great stuff.

thirdly, deadhouse gates by steven erickson. i'm reading it because gardens of the moon was fantastic (i read that book because of recommenddations all over the internet, so i didn't have much of a choice ).

i'm also reading the shining for english, and the american pagent for social studies. man, summer reading is great!!

 

[Rob B]

This thread is kind of redundant, isn't it? We've got the monthly reading thread running: Reading in August 2008

 

[Michigan]

I'm currently reading Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan because I was looking for something new and Morgan gets alot of praise over at the SF board.

 

[Krian]

Redundant

I guess it is, i suppose i was more interested in why people picked those particular books. If you feel that it is a bit redundant then by all means close the thread.

 

[Metta]

I'm reading The Bonehunters because the Malazan series is the most humbling sequence of fiction I've ever read.

 

[Randy M.]

Non-fantasy: Killing Floor by Lee Child. Mystery/thriller. I've heard from several sources that this series is quite good, I have a long-standing inclination toward hard-boiled mysteries, and I wanted something rather like a beach read for August. Turns out this is pretty well-written (if you don't mind intentional sentence fragments by the dozens).

Randy M.

 

[kingston]

I guess it is, i suppose i was more interested in why people picked those particular books. If you feel that it is a bit redundant then by all means close the thread.

Yeah, that's something of interest to me too. Not so much 'what you are reading?' but 'how did you decide to pick it'?

In my case, I was reading Memory Sorrow & Thorn, largely as a result of reading threads and posts on this forum.

I had been avoiding authors with less than stellar comments about them on this board....like Goodkind, Brooks, Weis & Hickman, Eddings, Salvatore, etc.

I read the first book of Memory Sorrow Thorn in about 2 weeks, and looked at Tad Williams summaries of subsequent volumes, and realized I was looking at 6 weeks or more of reading that series, so it began to look like an assignment, rather than an entertainment. I was enjoying it, but not THAT much, and wanted to try something else.

I picked up book one of Sword of Truth and thumbed around, I was kind of intrigued/appalled at the comments on Amazon about the torture aspect.

So I began reading it and am in the middle of book 3 now, and have enjoyed it.

Maybe my tastes are not as refined as some critics.....I tuned in Ebert and Roeper one year to see their '10 Worst Movies of the Year' and dang if 2 of them were not a couple I really enjoyed.

So I'm gonna try some of the other 'lesser lights' like Brooks and Weis & Hickman later.

I have a funny situation, I only began reading fantasy around 9 months ago, so everything is 'new', and I have around 8000 electronic books to choose from.


Hope that helps with your questions about how we choose what we read.

BTW, that's the first time I've bailed out of a series. I read all of McKillips Riddlemaster series, even though it was not my cup of tea.

 

[fk1523]

I had been avoiding authors with less than stellar comments about them on this board....like Goodkind, Brooks, Weis & Hickman, Eddings, Salvatore, etc.

I would not any of those authors is bad, especially Eddings. Belgariad was pretty entertaining. People seem to believe they are not good writers, whatever that means. I think Robert Jordan is a horrible writer, but an excellent world-builder. To me, Eddings is just a good storyteller, like Goodkind. The first several books just sucked me in. Someone correct me if I'm totally off base, but when Pawn of Prophecy was published in the early 1980's, it seemed to me that it was the most popular fantasy series at the time. Then Wheel of Time came out in the 1990's and took its place in popularity. When you compare Eddings' to Jordan's, of course Wheel of Time is better.

For an older fantasy, I'll check reviews and the boards. For a new one by a new author, I'll read it until I hate it. Also, for the past several years I've been trusting Rob B's recommendation, ever since he recommended Marco and Stover. He's like the Roger Ebert of sf/f.

 

[AuntiePam]

Sometimes one book leads to another. For example, the actress who played Suellen in Gone With the Wind died in July. Someone on a message board raved about her autobiography, so I read it. That led me to Gone With the Wind, which I might have read as a teen but couldn't remember. It also led me to Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary, a collection of letters written in the 30's and 40's by a woman who worked with Selznick. So there's three books read, all because Evelyn Keyes died.

Sometimes I'll get stuck in a time period. Right now I'm in the 19th century -- one book leads to another, Zola leads to Turgenev and Dickens and somewhere in there will be a British historical mystery. Same time period, different countries, different cultures. I like to be immersed.

 

[Michigan]

I guess it is, i suppose i was more interested in why people picked those particular books. If you feel that it is a bit redundant then by all means close the thread.

Don't mind the mods, they are just doing their best to keep traffic here as slow as possible. I actually think it's a totally different thread since I doubt many people in the other thread are bothering to mention why they picked the book.

 

[Michigan]

Non-fantasy: Killing Floor by Lee Child. Mystery/thriller. I've heard from several sources that this series is quite good, I have a long-standing inclination toward hard-boiled mysteries, and I wanted something rather like a beach read for August. Turns out this is pretty well-written (if you don't mind intentional sentence fragments by the dozens).

Randy M.

Beach read is exactly what Child is. They are fun, fast paced and exciting. They also all follow the same formula and have absolutely zero character depth.

 

[Croaker]

I just finished reading the Sundering Duology (Banewreaker and Godslayer) and they have to be some of the best books I've read, right up there with The Black Company series. I picked to read them b/c I got tired a while back of the usual hero working for the greater good. I know it's realistic, and it's what you'd probably do in real life, but it just gets so boring after a while. The Sundering books were very well written, and uniquely from the "bad guy's" point of view, though it does seem kind of like Lord of the Rings a little.

I have to say though reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss really brought be back into the regular fantasy types of books.

 

[kingston]

Sometimes one book leads to another. For example, the actress who played Suellen in Gone With the Wind died in July. Someone on a message board raved about her autobiography, so I read it. That led me to Gone With the Wind, which I might have read as a teen but couldn't remember. It also led me to Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary, a collection of letters written in the 30's and 40's by a woman who worked with Selznick. So there's three books read, all because Evelyn Keyes died.

Sometimes I'll get stuck in a time period. Right now I'm in the 19th century -- one book leads to another, Zola leads to Turgenev and Dickens and somewhere in there will be a British historical mystery. Same time period, different countries, different cultures. I like to be immersed.

Interesting you brought up Evelyn Keyes. I just ran across the name while looking at Artie Shaw's entry in Wikipedia:

Shaw had long suffered from adult onset diabetes and finally died of complications of the disease at age 94. In 2005, Shaw's eighth wife, Evelyn Keyes, sued Shaw's estate, claiming that she was entitled to one-half of Shaw's estate pursuant to a contract to make a will between them. In July 2006, a Ventura, California jury unanimously held that Keyes was entitled to almost one-half of Shaw's estate, or $1,420,000.[3]

In view of Shaws history and reputation, she probably earned the million point four.

BTW, did you know Alicia Rhett was the winner of a casting contest in Atlanta, prior to the filming?

She played India Wilkes in the movie.

And did you know that Selznick's first wife, Irene, was daughter of Louis B Mayer and later became a producer of early Tennessee Williams plays?

Guess I know a lot more movie trivia than fantasy.

 

[Rob B]

Also, for the past several years I've been trusting Rob B's recommendation, ever since he recommended Marco and Stover. He's like the Roger Ebert of sf/f.

Stop! You are making me blush.

Since you mentioned Stover, I'm reading Blade of Tyshalle right now for the 2nd time (Kollberg is on sick twisted SOB) in preparation for Caine Black Knife, which I have. It is staring at me, pointing saying c'mon sh!theel! Read me, get on with it!