What are you reading.....

[Bloodscythe 2,225]

As a side note I LOVE this thread.  I'm a piranha when it comes to reading, and have combed through this thread looking at new titles to possibly read.  Many players that have posted here I find interesting as people, so by proxy more willing to give their read a try.  I hope this thread continues, my bookshelves say otherwise.  Because i'm a dog person and have always had a dog, I often instinctively like people that have dogs, or people I find walking trails, or Kayakers.  Bumping into readers is the same for me, now my raging inner geek is showing.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Bloodscythe

[MissWilc 521]

If you like reading about military history, I recommend this book series by Bernard Cromwell.

It's about an English Archer in the middle ages who joins the war against France and ends up leading his own group of archers. It's very detailed, realistic and the writing is great, it really captures the essence of what the battles were like with the raiding of cities with people pillaging and ###### the french etc.

 

I love this series. And the Saxon series, and the King Arthur trilogy.

[Ayes 3,715]

Nothing! Since retirement and the advent of computer online games my reading enjoyment has been severely curtailed. Don't really miss it much now anyway but I grew up on ER Burroughs sci-fi books for escapism from an unpleasant living environment. Pilip KDick later for some pretty far out stuff along those lines, as well as some of the more well known sci-fi writers.

 

Strange how some of their imaginings have come to pass and who knows but that the future will continue to evolve along those lines. Plug your brain into the computer to live inside worlds created there? Body dies and you are stuck inside? Don't even need a physical body in the "outside" world anyway? The Matrix series replaced a lot of reading as well, with its visual but depressing storyline.

 

Will paper physical books gradually phase out to be replaced with online versions? Then they will merely be mere rare collectors items from the dead poets no longer around. Will they even care then?

 

=Ayes=

[Nachtmahr 96]

Will paper physical books gradually phase out to be replaced with online versions? Then they will merely be mere rare collectors items from the dead poets no longer around. Will they even care then?

 

=Ayes=

No... not gonna happen.

 

I'm sitting behind a screen basically 24/7... but I never read a single e-book other than learning material I needed at work right away.

Just 25 years old but books will always be the "good old times" thing for me, since as a child I literally devoured books nonstop.

 

A lot of my friends (and again, a lot of them behind screens the majority of their time) favor printed books as well... so no... I don't see the day coming when physical books become obsolete

Maybe not paper.. but synthetic materials.. but still keeping the hands on feeling

[Klaa 4,872]

Oh yeah Im sure even centuries later there will be those who prefer something printed for their fingers... and the smell... and the taste...  Even today there are those who still make vellum. Not to mention book collectors in general.

On the otherhand, my Kindle Fire HDX can hold ALOT of books, really handy when traveling far. Also I still have to go through my hardcopies once in a while to clear out shelf space, and my siblings tend to use my collection as a library. Probably should start cataloging and charging dues.

The Dune books aren't too bad, gets a little weird towards the last few Herbert originally did.

Course it didn't help that he died leaving a lot unfinished; though, relatives discovered outlines and the like left (approx. ten years later), not to mention getting Kevin Anderson onboard to help. Personally haven't read those yet.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Klaa

[As_I_Decay 1,592]

Actually listening to an audiobook for the first time ever.

Messed with an audiobook once. Think it was 16-20 hours worth of audio that I endured when I could have just read the book in 5-6 hours.

To stay OT, much of my reading is done these days via the internet. The last book I picked up was around a year or so ago, which happened to be 'Darth Plagueis', by James Luceno. 

[The Moidart 36]

If you like reading about military history, I recommend this book series by Bernard Cromwell.

It's about an English Archer in the middle ages who joins the war against France and ends up leading his own group of archers. It's very detailed, realistic and the writing is great, it really captures the essence of what the battles were like with the raiding of cities with people pillaging and ###### the french etc.

I tried Bernard......Not my thing. More of a classical Greek freak! I like my BC.

Enjoyed Conn Iggulden's Emperor series, or for something a little heavier, Alexander of Macedon, by Peter Green. 

 

I picked up Neil Gaiman's American gods a few months back and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Not generally my scene.

 

Any Lord of the rings junkies in the house? First books I ever read, a looong time ago. Still remember being totally and utterly absorbed for days and weeks on end with Tolkien and his world. I was quite literally a Tolkien sponge. I don't think there is anything (published) of his I have not read. 

[Shalbriri 698]

Audio books are a godsend for people on the move, but I never got into them as a replacement for traditional (print or ebook) unless I'm absolutely unable to be reading traditionally.  Was just something about the audio book format that doesn't work for me unless I'm on the road in my truck headed to work or travelling somewhere, but in those cases, I love them and likely listen to about 3-4 hours a day of audiobooks.

 

It sure beats AM or FM radio, anyways.  I'll take The Gunslinger, aka Roland of Gilead for the 100th time via Audible audio book vs. Nickelback on the radio any ole day of the week.

[Redd 4,281]

The last book I read was Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky (in English). I recommend the book for anyone who's a fan of the Metro series, even if you've played both games.

 

I enjoy Eastern European fiction, preferably mystery/adventure books.

I didn't realise there was a book series on this o.O totally gunna buy it now, thanks!

Finished the LotR series recently, going to buy the silmarillion for some good LotR nerdyness

[Pwent 113]

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rise-King-Companions-Dungeons-Forgotten/dp/0786965681" target="_blank">Rise of the King by R.A. Salvatore</a>

It is absolutely mindblowingly brilliant, and it makes me want to read the 20+ previous books in the series again!

<spoiler>
I finally die in this book though, very sad :-(
</spoiler>

Edited May 20, 2015 by Pwent

[Tilda 651]

Thumbs up to this thread  I'm currently doing a reread of an entire series by Phil Rickman, love most all of his books but particularly the Merrily Watkins series. Those are a bit of mystery/crime/paranormal/British Welsh history all rolled together. Currently on the second Merrily book called Midwinter of the Spirit, which is currently having a tv pilot filmed here in the UK and I'm very much looking forward to the books becoming a series.

[Klaa 4,872]

I didn't realise there was a book series on this o.O totally gunna buy it now, thanks!

Finished the LotR series recently, going to buy the silmarillion for some good LotR nerdyness

Aye, never played the games, so no idea offhand how well they kept the spirit of the books. Undoubtedly there's differences, its two different entertainment mediums and experiences after all.

I really dislike when adapters mess with character development or even add something completely out of character. For example in the tv adaption of Game of Thrones they completely cut out a lot of the prime motivator for Tyrion shooting his father, which was in a fit of rage after learning a few things about Tyrion's first wife, Tysha.

http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Tysha#In_the_books

Then there's the movie Salem where MLK jr's wife is just completely misrepresented in a manner not befitting the RL woman. Not to mention LBJ; though, I probably would not have cared if it had just been him.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Klaa

[Nachtmahr 96]

Rise of the King by R.A. Salvatore

It is absolutely mindblowingly brilliant, and it makes me want to read the 20+ previous books in the series again!

<spoiler>

I finally die in this book though, very sad :-(

</spoiler>

 

My first account in Wurm was called Selvetarm

[Firestarter 1,210]

I've just started reading Motorworld by Jeremy Clarkson.

[Herrfritz 181]

nice threat.  =)

 

Some nice suggestions right there, allthough there may be some i wouldnt read a second time.

Will probably save that caterpillar book for the finish.

 

I am not into military history really, but here some books i enjoyed reading:

 

Philiph K.###### - philosophical SF stuff (can be a tough read at times tho) - most of his books a good reads

Strugatzki - some more SF stuff (mostly short stories)

Frank Herbert - Dune (most amazing stuff, allthough the later books you either like or, well, not so much. Dont ever try to read the books by his son - you were warned)

 

Terry Pratchett - Discworld (Fantasy) - neat and funny

Steve Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen series (Fantasy)

Christopher Moore - 'Lamp: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal' (Funny)

 

Stieg Larrson - 'the girl with the dragon tatoo' -series.  (Thriller?)

Dan Abnett - Ravenor (thats WH40k stuff, but reads more like an evening with your pen and paper pals)

Edited May 20, 2015 by Herrfritz

[Klaa 4,872]

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Heh there was a Robot Chicken skit that summed up my feelings on that one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXmrXct1Taw

Indeed I would have liked to see that second draft...

EDIT: Oh yeah, loved this one when I was still learning to read, and had to have them read to me.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Klaa

[MightySheep 46]

I really dislike when adapters mess with character development or even add something completely out of character. For example in the tv adaption of Game of Thrones they completely cut out a lot of the prime motivator for Tyrion shooting his father, which was in a fit of rage after learning a few things about Tyrion's first wife, Tysha.

 

That's just a tiny part of the things they've changed, it's kind of crazy how different they are making the TV show but tbh I'm not really surprised, nobody would ever remember the ridiculous amount of different characters and subplots that are in the book, it's already too complicated for most people. Also frankly, I think the books get a bit boring after the red wedding & Tywins death. Daenarys stops her conquest to settle down in some shitty slave city for a few years and King's Landing becomes some boring thing revolving around religion and Cersei. It's not surprising to me that this season's ratings are plummeting.

 

Edit: +1 to Herrfritz Discworld series, my stepdad loves Terry Pratchett and has the whole collection in hardback so I've read them all. It's hard to even describe them, they are just very funny (and weird). The author died a month ago so the books have gained a lot more popularity since then.

Edited May 21, 2015 by MightySheep

[Ayes 3,715]

The Dune books aren't too bad, gets a little weird towards the last few Herbert originally did.

 

 

Any Lord of the rings junkies in the house? First books I ever read, a looong time ago. Still remember being totally and utterly absorbed for days and weeks on end with Tolkien and his world. I was quite literally a Tolkien sponge. I don't think there is anything (published) of his I have not read. 

 

Read the original Dune series back in the day. Didn't appeal to me as much as some of the other sci-fi stuff.

 

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series were great. I can still remember purchasing them at the Either/Or bookstore back in the late 60's. Easy to escape into those lands of the imagination. Much better than the movies interpretation of them, I later found.

 

My friend had a Dianetics book laying around the place, which after glancing through I found of no interest but I did go on to read many of L.Ron Hubbards sci-fi books, which I found to be pretty good reading along those lines.

 

=Ayes=

[Kristoff 56]

I'm not reading anything in particular at the minute though I am in between Megatokyo Endgames short novels. You can bet I'll be reading again once the next book comes out!

I used to read a LOT back in school. Series like The Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, Merlin (the lost years), The Obsidian Trilogy, and plenty others. Sadly the only series that I finished was Obsidian as it was composed of 3 books. I got 5 or so books into each of the other series because that's usually how many we could convince our librarian to order, having only 2 ppl in the whole school that was likely to even pick them up lol.

[scottfree 32]

Heris Serrano .. its all 3 of Elizabeth Moons books on her in one volume. ... military Scifi/space opera.

[Pandalet 1,848]

Currently reading the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons; not really enjoying it, but I've run out of other stuff .

 

If you enjoy Terry Pratchett, I recommend the Thraxas series by Martin Scott (or Martin Millar, if you prefer his real name).  Also check out Tom Holt's earlier stuff (I'd stop at Little People).  And definately Good Omens (Pratchett / Gaiman), but you probably already knew about that one.

 

If you enjoy Russian-style sci-fi / fantasy, Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch series is excellent, although the most recent book could be safely ignored.

 

If you enjoy George R. R. Martin, consider Guy Gavriel Kay, in particular Sailing to Sarantium; he tends towards fewer main characters, but he does tend to kill off main characters horribly.  Still, the writing and world-building is amazing.

 

Also check out Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn) and Dave Duncan (A Man of his Word + A Handful of Men series).  If you like Raymond E. Feist, you'll enjoy Dave Duncan.

 

John Ringo writes good space opera, although he's pretty heavy-handed with his political beliefs.  David Weber tends to milk a single idea or setting into the ground, but is a good author of modern sci-fi.  Michael Z Williamson is pretty good future sci-fi stuff.

 

And if you have children handy as an excuse, The Talking Parcel by Gerald Durrell and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster should absolutely be taken advantage of!