I tried reading Cloud Atlas but... well, I just can't. It bored me.
I tried reading Cloud Atlas but... well, I just can't. It bored me.
Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora yesterday, so onto the sequel. After that I think I shall read the other Tiffany Aching books.
Good to finally see someone reading those books! I loved both of them two bits, get ready for some crazy shit for the next book.Originally Posted by Serenegoose
It's really sad Scott Lynch suffered mental problems and had to postpone writing the books, I've been waiting forever for the third book now. Wiki says the third book is expected publication in autumn 2013 but I guess that can be taken with some salt.
Steam | Origin: xRavelle | Skype: TheRavelle | PSN: Voltburn | Watch me struggle through my backlog
Kafka on the Shore... more like, Kafka on the WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON
I am reading a book called "Ghastly Ghost Stories".
Man's Search For Meaning.
Good read. Finished it in one seating.
With a title like that it'd be more surprising if the book wasn't completely incrompehensible.
haha, it's actually not so much incomprehensible, as just really random and off-the-wall. But in a good way, it's intriguing. And I do love me some Franz Kafka too :)
Have you read Kangaroo Notebook?
I've been reading Mein Kampf.
Very intriguing indeed though I enjoyed 'Norwegian Wood' more.
I'm reading Foucault's Pendulum and it embarrassess Dan Brown and it's code in every possible way.
What a masterpiece.
Poorly Made In China by Mr. Paul Midler, a US business consultant stationing in Guangdong, Southeastern China, specializing in solutions for importers who are in trouble with Chinese manufacturing, quality issue is often the issue he is hired to sort out. Kinda freelancer he is.
As the title suggested, this book concerns quality problem of Chinese manufactured products, and what cause them. He claimed from the beginning of the book that he wasn't intending to provide solution for the issue, since he wasn't prepared so yet, but it would be essential to address the nature of the problem first so that we can study it more thoroughly for solutions. I've read 6 chapters out of 22. He explained why importers all over the world choose to procure from China in spite of all the negative issues they have to face here, and it seems not likely for them to move their manufacturing base to other regions in the near future.
This book is not that well organized in my opinion. In the each of the first 6 chapters, it is quite noticeable the focus is easily distracted. But I admire his observation, which so far is very consistent with mine who is adapted to the business culture here (but of course, do I have a choice otherwise?!)
BTW, really interesting to learn that in the west, restaurant is kinda business emerged only after the French Revolution 1789. Is this true?
Last edited by squirrel; 13-09-2012 at 02:10 PM.
I've finished the book, and am a bit underwhelmed. Well, I was expecting something like A Song of Ice and Fire with more wizardry and orcs, but these two do not have much in common. Erickson, unlike Martin who gives more attention to the characters than world-building, Erickson tries to keep it balanced. Gardens of the Moon follows a bunch of characters but also focuses on the world whose history spanning hundreds of thousands of years has an effect on the present events and the characters. The setting and lore kept me interested, but the storyline and characters, those I found to be fucking awful.
The characters feel shallow and coarse, with bullshit motivations and make stupid choices. Lorn baits to Tyrant to Darujhistan and unleashes a Demon Lord despite knowing that either of these could flatten the very city that she had been sent to help conquer. I feel that the duality in personality that Erickson tries to portray amongst characters like Lorn, Rallick, Crokus et al was poorly depicted and left me doubting the sanity of these folks. Characters that have been alive/sentient for millennia do not differ much from mortals is their intelligence or motivation. Oponn makes two the characters its tools which accomplishes nothing other than putting itself in peril and having its tools used against it. All of the good guys making it out in one piece was another thing that pt me off. The one character I didn't outright hate was Anomander Rake but he too felt more like a victim of the uber-badass cliche.
The book felt like something a D&D player would write; a deep history, a number of cultures, epic stuff happening, dragons, feminist streaks, magic, well defined rpg-ish classes, this is a setting that begs for a tabletop adaptation unless it hasn't been done already. Anyway, I don't think that this series is for me, I look for different things in a fantasy novel than what it chooses to focus on.
I read any type of romantic books preferred to read and these books fulfill over sexual requirements...any body like this?????
NTEP scale
Last edited by Lanko; 22-09-2012 at 01:23 PM.
Spot on, that's the origin of the world, it was a rpg world created by Erikson and Esslemont, and I think Gardens of the Moon originally started out as a script for a movie.
Just finished reading The Suicide Shop by Jean Teule. Picked it at random in a book store waiting for my train and it's surprisingly hilarious.
About to get started on The Tibetan Book of Life and Death that my former boss gave to me last week. Going to be a loooong read.
I think my current reading plans are:
Finish Red Seas Under Red Skies (amazing.)
Grab one of the Tiffany Aching books to read and finish that in time for...
Oct 4th, when The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M M Banks is released, and then finish that in time for Oct 18th, when Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie is released. Good month for books, October is. Lots of Red in what I'm reading, too. Oh goodness, now it's doing that thing where I've typed the word out and it's lost meaning.
Your name makes a lot more sense now, Orrin.
.
It was intended to be a movie originally... ICE and Erikson tried to get it funded, out of Hollywood, for quite a while. At one point it was going to be a comedy movie based on the Phoenix Inn regulars (Kruppe, Rallick Nom, Murillo etc). It was never intended to be a book, until someone suggested they try that route. I think, from this and the rewriting, that it does suffer somewhat.
I can understand people having issues with Gardens of the Moon. It's a good book, I think... but it isn't the best introduction to the Malazan series. It definitely has its problems. If you do have Deadhouse Gates though, I would give that a read before you give up... It changes the focus quite a lot, the Chain of Dogs is a brilliant bit of story telling, and it feels more like the first book of the Book of the Fallen. If not, I apologise for my hard sell on the series, if I misrepresented it or pushed it on you.
Anyway... I'm currently reading the Anabasis by Xenophon. It's not fiction, but instead the true story of 10,000 Greek/Hellenic mercenaries, who went to Persia at the behest of the Persian King's brother to kick some arse. Unbeknownst to the majority, that arse was the one belonging to the Persian King. They fought a battle, won, but their employer was killed, their allies bought/scared off... and they were left in a foreign, hostile land, with no idea how to get home, surrounded by enemies, under almost constant attack, and the threat of annihilation (they were largely heavy infantry, while their enemy had lots of cavalry - the enemy could run away safely and never be caught/wiped out. They couldn't run, ever, or would be destroyed). It's actually one of the inspirations of the Chain of Dogs I mentioned earlier. It might be the translation I got, but it isn't the most emotionally told story... it's a little dry, not much description or 'character' to it. But it is a historical text, and very insightful. Xenophon was a contemporary of Socrates and Plato, and he could write very well in an analytical and informative way.
I've also just finished reading Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire books 1 and 2 (Prince and King of Thorns). It's another of these that seeks to completely invert the traditions of Fantasy, I think. Instead of the story of the Fantasy hero, and his arc/development, it's the arc of a Fantasy 'villain', the big bad. It's also not the 'historical' sort of fantasy, but is set in a post-apocalypse, where the previous advanced civilisation has been all but wiped off the face of the earth, and society has reverted to a feudal state. It was utterly compelling, and I found it difficult to put down the two books... ripped through them in about a week. It's definitely not going to be for everyone... the main character is, largely, a bastard. An absolute bastard. Amoral, unflinching, driven. But also somewhat charming. I won't spoil anything, but he isn't completely irredeemable. Almost so, but not quite.
After that, I started a re-read of Joe Abercrombies 5 books, starting with The Blade Itself, in preparation/anticipation of a Red Country. I'm very much looking forward to that... Nicomo Cosca and Logen Ninefingers!
That's a shame to hear about Scott Lynch. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 Locke Lamora books, even if they weren't the grandest, epicest, mature books, and was looking forward to Republic of Thieves.
ARPS unofficial motto - And then we leave. No heroic stands.
Halfway through "The October Horse" by Colleen Mccullough.
Some may know it, but if you dont its a series of 7 set in the mid to late republic/early principate of Rome. I just finish the 7th book then seem to go back to the first again.
But during my upcoming holiday I have Magician and Beevor's Second World War to read. Much excite
Truth aint gonna change the way you lie, Youth aint gonna change the way you die
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