Genejoke wrote:
The eye of the world…
It's a very good book but it is the beginning of a mammoth series, one which meanders somewhat later on. That said i have read them all several times and they are better when you aren't rushing through trying to find out what happens next. Also the long delay between books is frustrating. or was as the final one comes out in november. Take your time and enjoy them.

I thought Jordan had died?

That series is long… I suspect that was 100% based on commercial considerations. The whole story could've been shortened into two novels. There is a shitload of padding in those books. Beware.

The characters of the “Aiel” (or whatever they're called) and a clumsy homage to the “freemen” in Frank Herbert's Dune. …that's a nice way of saying that's where he ripped them off from; basically awesome mysterious European Arabs.

That said, the first novel was really entertaining… and so were a couple of the other early ones. It only got stodgy and interminable later on.

Yep he died but another author is finishing it, the last two books have been a little more concise than the last few that RJ did.
I found the later books frustrating to read on first reading but when reading them second, third and fourth times they get better. Well maybe I just accepted that they were bloated and enjoyed the “filler”

Is this just for “proper books” or comic books too?
I am currently reading through the latest issue of the “Fantastic Four” CE. Having never read FF before I was a little puzzled, for in the first scene Reed Richards went to a conference and stood about talking. In scene two the characters were sat on the sofa chatting, then there was a story set in a school room. I'm sure I saw a film about these guys and there was fire and swooping cityscape camera work. It must be a dodgy issue.

Talk about whatever books, pamphlets, lyric sheets, poems or whatever Skreem :)
It's alll good!
That sounds like a dull comic though…

Genejoke wrote:
Yep he died but another author is finishing it, the last two books have been a little more concise than the last few that RJ did.
I found the later books frustrating to read on first reading but when reading them second, third and fourth times they get better. Well maybe I just accepted that they were bloated and enjoyed the “filler”

There's no way I could bring myself to read those more than once…

At the start it seemed such a cool read - a good “young adult” type fantasy that was funky and original enough to be really interesting and fun and the first book had a nice satisfying, conclusive ending that segued into the next book without that feeling of something badly unfinished (like a lot of series books).

The thing about the mysterious past being uncovered gradually, the evil baddies being killed off in the conclusions of each book like videogame bosses, Rand slowly developing into a swordmaster and then a master of magic and the girls and all his friends achieving their own masteries… All that was really promising and fun.

But the writing about the relationships between the characters, Rand being such a horrible pussy about any dead girls (dead guys didn't matter apparently), the interminable, obvious and even childish make/female debates and dynamics though reeeeeaaaaallllly got on my tits.

It's like Robert Jordan had some women issues or something and needed to try and show what an understanding guy he was by writing it all out in fake, awful debates between his characters. It was like someone singing over and over:

“What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice!”

reading Clive Barker right now. This one is Sacrament. I'm not a big fan, but when I'm in a certain “fed up” mood (for lack of better articulation), I like easy horror, and I prefer Barker to King. most definitely

At the moment, I'm bouncing between Les Miserables and The Fellowship of the Ring. I haven't read either in a while. It really depends on what I am feeling like.

I'm reading comic books right now. I have read in the past couple of days:
- Kick ass.
- Complete zombies vs robots.
- De Chninkel.
- Daredevil: Yellow.
- Spider-Man: Blue.
- The Walking Dead.
- Earth X
- Universe X
- Smuggling Spirits.
- Joker.
- The Incredible Hercules: Smash of the Titans.
- Kingdom Come.

That must be why I handed in the radioplay pages so late in the game…

About to finish The Flight of the Scarlet Tanager by C.L. Bevill, and I've been working through the complete works of HP Lovecraft in between books.

I just started Necroscop by Brian Lumley. So far it's pretty damn good.

the Steampunk Bible by Jeff Vandermeer

One of the books I really enjoyed this year was Snow Crash by Neal Donaldson(?). Intelligent, cyberpunk with a twist of satire. Great cast of characters with a brilliant bad guy. I highly recommend it!

machinehead wrote: I just started Necroscop by Brian Lumley. So far it's pretty damn good.

I recently re-read that. I too. Enjoyed it. Always been curious to see what the other books in the series are like.

I finished Pride and Prejudice a while ago.

I really don't get what people go on about with this one:
- Darcy is a “bad boy” and that's why he's desirable… No he is NOT! He's a loveable friendly kissy nice fellow who everyone who knows him loves to pieces, except Wickam because Wickam is a dick. To people who don't know him he seems too stuck up… which he is because he's painfully class conscious. Elizabeth hates him till she finds out what he's really like.

- It's a serious, intellectual book about a great love story… It's not in any way. I's a fun, light comedy with a very light, gossipy lovey courtship or two. The only serious things you get out of it are insights into the role and position of upper-middle-class women of the day in regards to their need to marry to retain their position in society and the trouble they have with inheritance etc. Apart from that is a great funny satire on the prejudice of class.

————

Currently reading The Odessy… Or The Iliad or whatever, by Homer.

Currently reading The Odessy… Or The Iliad or whatever, by Homer.

I've had that in a pile of “to read” books for the last decade.

All the books I've been reading for a while are free Amazon ones I read on my phone while on the train, so it's a bit easier for me to get started on them and slog through than it would be for you at home with all the work you do there and the kids and such…

I know how hard it can be to get into some types of books when you're just not in the right mood or space- They seem like work as opposed to something more entertaining and pleasurable, which is more what you need to relax with in your free time. Whereas a boring train journey is the perfect place to approach them. :)
-For me anyway. I could read those for pleasure now, but commuting has helped me get into them. It's helped me get through a LOT of books I may not have completed otherwise. Still, I'm starting to hunger for a good old style SciFi story…

I'm STILL not into the Odyssey proper yet. Still going through the great long, long prologue where they talk about the history of all the translations, Homer, the attribution of the poems and the history of writing and epic poetry in Ancient Greece according to the opinions of all these different people.
SO DULL! T_T

I just started MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: THE CALL today…it's geared towards younger readers, but MAN it's been a blast.

I'm reading “Unemployed” because it's written by a former co-worker about where I currently work. She was in an entirely different department than me – and apparently it was a horror show.

So she didn't hold back, but to avoid ramifications, she did use a nom de plume, changed all the characters names, and changed the work that our group does making a nonprofit org into a commercial manufacturer of designer suppositories.

I just finished reading “Les Assassins de l' Ordre” by Jean Laborde (I guess in english it's "Murderers of Order' which is about a bunch of cops beating some suspect to death and trying to cover it up after, and a prosecutor kind of giving them trouble about it. It's a realistic book, and pretty well written :) I think it was written sometime in the 50s or 60s or something.

ozoneocean wrote:
I'm STILL not into the Odyssey proper yet. Still going through the great long, long prologue where they talk about the history of all the translations, Homer, the attribution of the poems and the history of writing and epic poetry in Ancient Greece according to the opinions of all these different people.
SO DULL! T_T

So why don't you skip that and start immediately with the poet appealing to the muse to help him say the story right, and Telemachus' plights? :P

Tantz Aerine wrote:

So why don't you skip that and start immediately with the poet appealing to the muse to help him say the story right, and Telemachus' plights? :P

Reading that now… it's worse than the intro section T_T

The underlying story sounds pretty fascinating but its just SO hard and awful reading it through the lens of the horrible doggerel poetry that this Alexander Pope translation has rendered it into. It's extremely ironic that the original “poem” would've used techniques like rhyme in order to help the orator and the listener more easily remember the words and understand the meaning (because it was only spoken originally and not written) and that's probably where the whole “poetry” thing comes from, but Pope has actually tried to turn the Odyssey into a more traditional English style poem and that's actually made the story HARDER to understand and remember.

It'd be better as a more direct translation without any stupid contrived English rhymes! I'll have to look for a better version >_<

Well I have read the Greek adaptation (plus some of the old original ancient text) and I can tell you that the rhyming is relatively subtle (not ‘in your face’ so to speak) and it ensures that there is a certain cadence to it when spoken. It's like the ‘Jaws’ theme, when crescendoing to a dramatic or suspenseful point, the cadence speeds up, when it goes into a lulled part it eases up. Maybe having it read to you, like in an audio book, will be better?

But of the two (Illiad and Odyssey) the Odyssey is the more ‘PG’ one and milder one of the two. Maybe you should start with the Illiad. Because in the Odyssey, the actual action/speeding up of story won't start before Telemachus gets to Sparta and so on. :) Also, the Odyssey is like the sequel to the Illiad. (but I'm sure you know that already)

Ya, the sequel. Such as it is…
I think I'll just look for a better translation. I envy you being multilingual!!!!

A Discovery of Witches

It started off well, but then: mounting disappointment, ending with “phooey!”

*sigh*

I check out the latest Naruto and Bleach chapter each week. And every so often I'll look at the latest Hajime no Ippo too. I'm not too big a fan of it but it's not too bad.

.. What do you mean those don't count!? >:(

Thing on the doorstep and other weird story's by H.P. Lovecraft.
Just finished reading A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin and re-reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett and Ghost Story by Jim Butcher! All AWESOME!

I'm just discovering Robert E Howard as a writer, rather than a creator of iconic characters. Reading the whole Solomon Kane series and it's great.

But mostly I read comics. Before finding Drunk Duck, I had spent nearly 20 years *not* reading comics. Hotwire, Sixth Gun, Usagi Yojimbo, and The Unknown. Awesome stuff.

Allyndn wrote:

I'm just discovering Robert E Howard as a writer, rather than a creator of iconic characters. Reading the whole Solomon Kane series and it's great.

Yeah! He's a great writer! I was just thinking the other day that his style, when writing for most of his iconic heroes, is very much like the characters portrayed by Clint Eastwood in his famous western roles.

The Walking Dead. If you haven't read it already, then what the hell are you waiting for? Other than that, just a few comics on Drunk Duck.

I just finished The Bravest Man: the story of Richard O'Kane and the USS Tang which is all about the US submarine war against Japan in WW2. Those guys werereal heroes in what they managed to pull off.

Now I'm into The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet a novel about the building of a cathedral during the 12th Century during the Time of Anarchy also known as the reign of King Stephen of Blois. For a medievalist like me it's a joy and I have trouble putting it down. Now I'm aching to see the Starz mini series.

If you changed the names, made the monksintomages you'd have your average epic fantasy.

@bravo - that is a great read! and there's a sequel (in the life of the cathedral), too - so you can really get immersed.

I enjoyed the mini series, too, which is saying something – frequently when I read the book first and loved it, the subsequent dramatization is disappointing. The worst complaint I had about the series was some of the casting choices – but liveable.
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So it's three months later and I'm trying to re-tackle The Tale of Genji. I'm on the 30th? page of the intro. Fascinating stuff, certainly is helping to get this reader up to speed on typical 11th century Japanese court, but so far it's a history lesson rather than a novel.