What are you reading?

[ShiroiHikari]

I am reading a book called 20 Master Plots. Before the author even gets around to talking about the "master plots", he spends a good deal of time talking about the concept of plot itself. Very interesting reading; I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm not done with it yet but judging from what I've read so far, I would recommend this to all you aspiring writers out there.

[Edward]

I just started reading Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Stormfront by Jim Butcher
I dislike first person and I'm not much of a fan of detective novels or urban fantasy. This book is all of those but I still enjoyed it. The author clearly knows what he's doing mixing hardboiled detective stories with wizards and the narrative tone is generally fun. I may return to the series after covering other new authors. For anyone who has read more: does the series remain with episodic "cases" or does it develop a larger plot?

If you like those, you might check out Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. novels. It's a similar concept, but in a fantasy world-type setting and Garrett himself is nonmagical. And lest you think he's aping Jim Butcher, Cook did it first.

Me, I'm on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in the CoN series, and based on sheer whim, about to start Conan the Cimmerian: The Complete Tales by Robert E. Howard. $2 on Kindle, yay!

[FllMtl Novelist]

[quote="ShiroiHikari (post: 1456297)"]I am reading a book called 20 Master Plots. Before the author even gets around to talking about the "master plots", he spends a good deal of time talking about the concept of plot itself. Very interesting reading]
Awesome. I'll make a note of that. Thanks!

[Blacklight]

Finished Vampirates: Demons of the Sea by Justin Somper tonight. I'm... not sure what exactly to make of it. XD

I read that a while back. Yeah, I can say about the same thing, but I did actually decide to read the next book. (I need 100 books this year, might as well...)

And it may be good to note that when I first saw the title, I was more or less obsessed with pirates AND vampires... So... yeah. I read it a year or two later.

Recently finished Abarat book 2, and didn't care for it. The Way of Shadows I liked, but wouldn't recommend to some people... mostly younger friends... Almost finished with The Bad Beginning after having resumed reading it the other day after leaving off months before.

[Kaori]

Joni, the autobiography of Joni Eareckson Tada (quadriplegic artists who draws by holding a writing implement in her mouth). This is a pretty okay book—neither outstanding nor terrible. I do appreciate that she is frank about some of the uglier things she has done, said, or thought (though she also doesn’t go into unnecessary detail), making the story seem real and not whitewashed. And although I find nothing about the book to be particularly amazing, there is still a bit of food for thought present.

[Atria35]

Saw His Majesty's Dragon at the library- just an amazing book. I think I'll finish out this series!

[TWWK]

Just finished Silence by Shusaku Endo, after picking it up and putting it down (due to time constraints, not the content) many times. As others have said here, it's a bit of a troubling read, but certainly an important and very well-written one. Working on a post about it for my blog...

[bigsleepj]

I'm currently reading Drood, by Dan Simmons. It is about the last 5 years of the life of Charles Dickens, told from the point of view of an opium-addled Wilkie Collins, and is about their 'hunt' for a mysterious figure named Drood, who may be a demon, a thief, or Charles Dickens himself. Though not the best book I've read, it is as fun to read as it must have been for Simmons to write it. Its like Philip K Dick, only more expansive and gothic.

The novel is what is called a 'secret history', a genre that explores interesting / plausible / outrageous events behind the facade of accepted history, with the rule that no characters and facts must be changed for the convenience of plot.

[Edward]

I'll be starting Mythology by Edith Hamilton and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Oh, forgot to mention I finished the first Ranger's Apprentice book (by John Flanagan, I think). It was pretty darn good. I will definitely read the next installment.

[mechana2015]

Stormfront by Jim Butcher

I dislike first person and I'm not much of a fan of detective novels or urban fantasy. This book is all of those but I still enjoyed it. The author clearly knows what he's doing mixing hardboiled detective stories with wizards and the narrative tone is generally fun. I may return to the series after covering other new authors. For anyone who has read more: does the series remain with episodic "cases" or does it develop a larger plot?

It develops an incredibly intricate plot, while maintaining the case format, which really kicks off in book 4, if I remember correctly. Stormfront is the most episodic by far, in that it's got the least mentioned recurring aspects in the later books.

[Sheenar]

Just started reading The Hobbit for the first time last night.

I really hope this is more successful than my last several attempts to read a book --I've been starting books, then fizziling out halfway through --no fault of the books --they are good books --my brain/focus just hasn't been cooperating with me.

[That Dude]

I'm reading through "Wizards First Rule" by Terry Goodkind. I'm liking it quite a bit so far. It's the only fiction book I've read in quite a while that has kept me interested enough to keep on reading it.

[Atria35]

Just started reading The Hobbit for the first time last night.

I really hope this is more successful than my last several attempts to read a book --I've been starting books, then fizziling out halfway through --no fault of the books --they are good books --my brain/focus just hasn't been cooperating with me.

Wishing you luck. The Hobbit needs a lot of patience to get through, so if you can read it, you're well-off

[Edward]

I'll be starting Mythology by Edith Hamilton and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

I'll also be reading Zombies vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier.

[Nanao]

Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters

[rocklobster]

Finally started Fablehaven by Brandon Moll.

[Maledicte]

The Pirate Hunter, a biography on Captain William Kidd. Getting myself into pirate-mode for a story I'm writing, but I enjoy nautical stories anyway.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Wishing you luck. The Hobbit needs a lot of patience to get through, so if you can read it, you're well-off

And it's just about the easiest read Tolkien ever did.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I don't think The Hobbit requires patience. It's an easy read. Parts of The Silmarillion require a lot of patience though. That's a heavy book. More a fictional history book than a novel.

[Atria35]

I don't think The Hobbit requires patience. It's an easy read. Parts of The Silmarillion require a lot of patience though. That's a heavy book. More a fictional history book than a novel.

I agree about the Simarillion, but The Hobbit is still a decently tough book to get through. I read like a mad fiend, was reading college-level books in Jr. High, but could not manage to get into the writing Tolkien used for The Hobbit until I was a Sophmore in HS. It's archaic and verbose and most definitely requires time and patience to read.

[Edward]

Oddly enough, I found The Hobbit to be very easy to read, but had trouble with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since I was able to finish The Silmarillion (or at least everything 'Akallabeth' and 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age'), maybe I'm ready to read the trilogy now. And I agree, parts of The Silmarillion certainly require patience.

[Maledicte]

In agreement on The Hobbit being a fairly easy read, especially if you've seen the cartoon beforehand. The Simarillion is...wow. I read it and I still don't think I actually read it. @_@

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Man, guys, I read The Silmarillion in third grade, it isn't so bad once you begin to keep track of names. Turin is the worst offender in that regard, with, what, seven names?

[the_wolfs_howl]

I read it and I still don't think I actually read it. @_@

That's exactly how I felt! I read it in fifth grade (after reading the LotR trilogy and understanding most of it, at least enough to cry at the end of TTT), and I'm sure I didn't grasp the half of it. I remember liking the quest for the Silmarils, whatsherface who's like Shelob (or is she Shelob? I forget...), and all the creation stuff in the beginning. That first chapter that talks about Iluvatar singing the universe into existence is gorgeous.

Anyway, I finally finished reading the sixth book of Wheel of Time, and...well, at least the last page was cool <_< Yeah, I think I'm just gonna drop this series for good now. I absolutely don't care about any of the characters anymore except for Perrin, and I'm not slogging through seven or eight more books just for him, cool as he is, because he's not around enough to warrant that. I'm just plain sick and tired of reading 1000 pages of people doing stuff that could fit comfortably in 300 pages.

[Htom Sirveaux]

I remember liking the quest for the Silmarils, whatsherface who's like Shelob (or is she Shelob? I forget) . . .

That much I remember, though it's been ages since I read The Silmarillion. It was Ungoliant, great grandmomma of the giant spiders. LotR's Shelob was the last of her kind, and she was peanuts to Ungoliant.

I myself am going back and forth with stuff on my Kindle, but right now I'm on a pulp jag, so I'm reading stuff like McNeale, Howard, Lovecraft, etc.

[Atria35]

Henry V for my English class. Poitical butt-kissing has been around since the first tribal leader, but I didn't know whether to laugh or facepalm when I read the part with the three traitors coming forward and basically saying:

"Oh! Great King! Thank you for finding out out treachery! Thank you for whatever sentence you give us, even death!"

I know that this is all part of the politics, and that Will could have been killed for anything else, but at the same time, that doesn't make the play itself more palatable.

[TWWK]

My short review of Silence by Shunsaku Endo is up on my blog! In short: it was a challenging read spiritually, and certainly deserves all the praise it's received.

[uc pseudonym]

The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson

My least favorite Malazan novel so far. The convergence at the end was fun, but the buildup to it had all manner of issues. I'm not going to give a full review, since not many here have/will read this book, and instead talk about one thing I find most irritating.

I have had mixed feelings about how Erikson handles power, but the climax of this novel made me decide he no longer has my benefit of the doubt. Any battle where elite fighters die like flunkies is questionable as far as I'm concerned. However, Kalam is a veteran established as one of the best, Tavore knows how to use her otatoral, and T'Amber is possessed by an elder goddess. I can buy that they could fight their way through a lot of Claw in guerrilla warfare. The play by play (and what it costs them) makes it acceptable.

Then Apsalar takes out hundreds of Claw in half a page. It's especially bad that it was her, since the only reason she isn't just a fisher girl is that she was possessed by Cotillion for a while. Having her be one of the most powerful mortals in the world doesn't make any sense to me (like a lot of power in the Malazan books that feels unearned). At least when Erikson made a little girl turn out to be a High Mage, he had the decency to make her be currently possessed by a god. And I'm not going to get started on the Deragoth vs the Hounds vs the T'rolbarahl.

The good news is that I have every reason to believe Reaper's Gale will be better. Many subplots are out of the way, good characters are coming back, and there should be payoff from the setup that made this novel less interesting.