Books

[Sierra]

Read Lackey's gryphon books in high school, original Valdemar trilogy a couple years later. Thought it was pretty unremarkable mainstream fantasy, personally.

[Scar]

I've only been exposed to the soT books and haven't read any of the others. Blame it on some chick I was dating always talking about richard and his sexy beard, blah blah blah.

I enjoyed the first 2 books. The goriness was kind of unexpected. The only other fantasy books I have ever read were Narnia, LoTR type stuff. It seemed like the adult versions of everything.

and all of you hush, the apple scene is/was amazing.

~

Going to start reading a couple of books my brother wanted me to read, notably, "Brave New World."

[Taishyr]

You know, every time I think of an apple scene I think of The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

And remember part of how I figured out I was asexual.

[Ultradude]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening

It's... the same characters, and basically the same story, only all the details are different from the anime. Tomino's attention to detail and sense of humor both translated quite well, though he can go off on a tangent at times, and loves his technical details.

Also, very short, as the three individual books make up the actual length of a full novel.

[Lady Door]

So I'm about 2/3-3/4 of the way through The Outstretched Shadow. Overall? It's kind of meh.

That it's team-written is ridiculously obvious, a saddening fact. It seems to be targeted for the, ahem, denser set of fantasy readers -- the main character is himself dense. Though this could have been handled well (and indeed it was somewhat refreshing to see a character that isn't secretly competent at everything except token skill X), the narrative is often third-person focused on this character, so his very belated discoveries come pages and pages, if not chapters, after the reader has figured it out. Since the book is a bildungsroman of sorts, this is problematic.

As ever with fantasy I don't particularly like, however, I'm enjoying the world in which it's set. The characters are nifty too, I just don't think the book is a cohesive effort.

C+.

[Luther Lansfeld]

I have three books that I want to finish by the end of the summer; Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb which I got for my birthday, Ender's Shadow, and Animal Farm. It's been a while since I've really read much of anything, so we'll see how lofty this goal is.

[OblivionKnight]

I'd suggest Animal Farm first.  Pretty short, and a good book classic that will probably be more beneficial to have knowledge of than the others.

Also makes Grefter happy.

[Lady Door]

Finished Outstretched Shadow right around May 21 and it's about how I typed it in my partial review. I'll get around to reading the other books in the trilogy, but I'm not particularly motivated.

Since then:

New Moon from the Twilight series. I can't help it -- I like vampire/werewolf stories and I hate being out of the loop on book hype for people my age. I remember the first one was like eating a sugar cube: pretty basically structured, thin on the outside, gives you a temporary rush and has no substance whatsoever. This book is the same. And yet... I am looking forward to the next book. Side rant: AHMGOD romance heroines are dippy. Fuck.

About A Boy. Meh? It was okay. I totally didn't realize the author was British, so that really threw me for a loop. Once I found that out (and it's pretty obvious early on), it read like a British novel. Don't ask me to explain that, it was just... typical of British fiction.

Ella Minnow Pea HOLY SAT WORDS, BATMAN. I bought it because it was $1 and I remembered selling a few copies for high school reading back when I worked at Barnes and Noble. It's intriguing, and I love that someone thought to use the epistolary format. I couldn't shake the feeling it was a book with an Agenda, though, which really took away from the story. The SAT words also annoyed me to no end. Vocabulary is one thing, but Jesus.

Guns of Avalon I really love Roger Zelazny, and it's because of the Princes of Amber series. I read it a long time ago (maybe 10 years? goddamnit, I'm too young to refer back to things like that) and I recently picked it up again because Andrew's dad bought the first book for Andrew. I'll note, by the way, that Andrew hasn't touched it yet. Heathen. ;_;

What's up next: a lot of other trashy novels I picked up. House of Sand and Fog, Damia, The Ship Who Did Something Or Other (Anne McCaffrey), and whatever else I pick up along the way.

CAN YOU TELL I'VE MISSED READING FOR FUN?

[superaielman]

Sanderson has a new novel out next month (Warbreaker), that sounds good.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

New Moon from the Twilight series. I can't help it -- I like vampire/werewolf stories and I hate being out of the loop on book hype for people my age.

Wait, you're fifteen years old? </badumpissssssssssh>

I know that was mean and that I just lost twenty years of my life span for the joke, but I couldn't resist it.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Wait? Twilight's -not- directed at 15-year-olds?

I'm seriously asking this. I recently read half of the first book, and if that's not directed at 15-year-old girls and under, I'm going to be very very depressed.

I'm not trying to be elitist. I'm well aware that there must be some kind of audience for meaningless romance/vampire fluff. I mean, I like meaningless action fluff, so I assume that Twilight is the female equivalent in book form.

...But honestly, it read like a children's story. And not even a particularly well-written one. The whole experience was just kind of frustrating, but I know that I'm not the target audience.

I don't know how old LD is, and I don't think there's anything wrong with someone older reading something that targets a younger audience, but I was honestly under the impression that Twilight was a YA novel aimed at 13-15 year-olds.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Wait? Twilight's -not- directed at 15-year-olds?

Implying that LD is a vapid fifteen-year-old (when she's actually not and she's also totally awesome) was the underlying joke. That will presumably get me choked by the hands of death.

[Cmdr_King]

Andy is Death? ... well, does explain the catgirl thing.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

No, Ashley is Death. Andy is just a cuddly little Flareon.

[Taishyr]

I am now picturing Sandman Death rubbing a Flareon's fur and calling it "Peachy Keen".

This is an awesome image.

[Sierra]

I dunno, I prefer "The hands of fate have doomed this man" as a reference to illustrate Snow's impending demise. But I also never read Sandman.

[Lady Door]

<_<

"People my age" refers to anyone under 25 (and I'm 23, so I still count). That Twilight was written for tweens/young teens is not the point. That it was written as if by a tween/young teen is also not the point. Simple fact is that people my age do read it, and thus I feel out of the loop if I know nothing.

I'll also have you know my mother read all 4 of them. ;) (And she's who I usually get my reading material from, and it really isn't typical Twilight fare either, tyvm.)

Besides. Age-appropriate material is lame. If I did that, I wouldn't've watched It when I was 9 and thus had coulrophobia defined for me.

...

As Andrew says, apparently I will have to kill someone at the DL just to make a point. XD

[Ultradude]

As Andrew says, apparently I will have to kill someone at the DL just to make a point. XD

...man, making me feel even worse about not being able to go

[Dhyerwolf]

You really want her to kill you?

[Excal]

My bet is that, in true DL fashion, she'll Hatbot the decision, leading to Andy's untimely demise.

[Hunter Sopko]

Besides. Age-appropriate material is lame. If I did that, I wouldn't've watched It when I was 9 and thus had coulrophobia defined for me.

Hahaha. Am I the only one who watched it back then and didn't become afraid of clowns?

[Grefter]

Sopko that just means that you are destined to be a clown.

I'm not trying to be elitist.

Why not?

Also

But I also never read Sandman.

You should get that fixed.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I'm not trying to be elitist.

Why not?

It doesn't suit me.

And more importantly, that wasn't the tone I wanted my question to convey.

Besides, people have covered (with far better humor than mine) the problems with the Twilight series. It's been said, and I had a different question to ask.

[AndrewRogue]

The Chronicles of The Black Company by Glen Cook- Finished The Black Company (book 1) and enjoyed it despite some minor annoyances.

Finished Shadows Linger (book 2) today and I feel the need to say something. Keep in mind, overall, I'm really digging this. Just, fuck you for doing that, Glen Cook. Just, fuck you. I don't care if you really did or didn't kill that character off. That was one of the more epic instances I've seen of trolling in a fantasy novel in quite a while. Just... what the fuck, man.

[NotMiki]

Besides. Age-appropriate material is lame. If I did that, I wouldn't've watched It when I was 9 and thus had coulrophobia defined for me.

Hahaha. Am I the only one who watched it back then and didn't become afraid of clowns?

Forget that, try watching the animated Watership Down when you're 4 and not being terrified of bunnies.

EDIT:




...yeah, I was 4.  That's years of therapy you're looking at right there.