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Thread: Currently Reading

  1. #31
    Not breaking faith today Shaibana's Avatar
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    A Game of Thrones..
    the first book.
    i am a very slow reader, ill read one chapter and forget about it for a week, but now i am making some faster progress. im a tiny bit over the half now

  2. #32
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    I was thinking of posting this in the memoir thread, but as I have the last post there, I'll post it here instead.



    I just finished reading The Glass Castle, and I'd like to know more about what other people think of it. I had pretty high expectations as it is a book that seems to be extremely popular, and more importantly, almost everyone in both memoir classes I took gave it rave reviews.

    But for me, it fell flat. There are some great things about it: I think this memoir probably has the cleverest opening chapter of any I've read, it has great recurring imagery, and it does the enviable job of racing through a vast amount of material in under three hundred pages.

    However, the prose was just...basic. It wasn't lyrical, and the narrator was so emotionally detached that I found it difficult to care at all what happened to any of the characters. I found myself getting bored, with the exception of when Jeanette saved up to go to New York (the second time). I usually appreciate a level-headed, balanced memoir, but this just had no emotional depth at all. This book was definitely clever, but I didn't find it engaging or beautiful. Sigh.

  3. #33
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    I thought it was great. Not in a great literature sense but I thought it was a fascinating story and I enjoyed reading it.


    Quote Originally Posted by Locky View Post
    I'm almost at the end of the 2nd in the Call the Midwife series (Farewell to the East End). I love them, they're such easy reading, but at times just so upsetting. Worth a read if you enjoy period-drama.
    This is next on my list of things to read! I watched a few episodes of the show that's based off the books and didn't love it and heard the books are much better.

  4. #34
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    Ahhh Miriel! I highly recommend them! At times they're very upsetting, and sometimes I found myself having to put the book down because the detail can be quite graphic. But it's not done just for the sake of it, I found it such an informative and emotional series! It's not the best written in terms of amazing range of language, but oh my god it's just so hard to put down and leaves an impression!

    Right now I'm reading Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, because I just wanted some light reading. I am finding it so disturbing how much I am like the protagonist though, it's scary actually...


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    Just finished The Tyrant's Law, very good prose, but it suffered from middle book syndrome in that it didn't have its own climax to make the story stand out in the series.

    I'm wondering what to read next, I have the next Witcher translation, the next Accursed Kings comes out soon, and I'd like to start the Kingkiller Chronicle but I feel I've been in series waiting to be finished/translated for too long and would like something complete. I'm thinking either Bakker's Prince of Nothing of Abercrombie's First Law.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bolivar
    Bakker's Prince of Nothing or Abercrombie's First Law
    Keep in mind that, while both of these trilogies are complete, they are also both parts of larger series that are, as far as I know, ongoing. The First Law is pretty much self-contained (and the three novels he's written since are also apparently self-contained, although I haven't read them) but I haven't read enough of Bakker to know how self-contained his works are. It is worth noting, however, that Bakker initially planned the trilogy to be part of a larger series (which was initially supposed to be a trilogy and two duologies but has expanded to two trilogies and a duology, and possibly the third series will also become a trilogy).

    Abercrombie signed a contract with Gollancz in 2011 for four more novels set in the First Law world. I think two of them have been written, but maybe just one. I'm not really sure. At least he writes quickly, unlike certain other authors I could name. *cough* Martin *cough* Lynch *cough* Rothfuss *cough* Still not as quickly as Sanderson though.

    As for me, I'm still on a Discworld binge. I also downloaded a bunch of other novels to take with me on my forthcoming vacation.
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  7. #37
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    My friend recently lended me the rest of the Harry Potter books (already read the first two), so I started on Prisoner of Azkaban and am about 1/3 through it.

    I'm also in the middle of Chainfire by Terry Goodkind (more of a chore to get through it, but oh well), and the Dunk and Egg stories by George R.R. Martin.

    Starting on my left with one, your number comes up, you go.

  8. #38
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    I am currently reading Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries by Niel Degrassi Tyson

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    I'm reading Winterling by Sarah Prineas

    I randomly found it in the digital library .. It's pretty good so far! Kind of "Chronicles of Narnia"-ish.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Locky View Post
    Right now I'm reading Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, because I just wanted some light reading. I am finding it so disturbing how much I am like the protagonist though, it's scary actually...
    The Confessions of a Shopaholic are my guilty pleasure books! I love them! I've seriously read them all. It starts getting really crappy towards the end of the series but the first few are great!

    Quote Originally Posted by Lonely Paper Star View Post
    My friend recently lended me the rest of the Harry Potter books (already read the first two), so I started on Prisoner of Azkaban and am about 1/3 through it.
    Awww, that's so exciting! I wish I could be reading them again for the first time. Siiiigh.

  11. #41
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    I wish I had gotten into the books earlier. I was so stubborn about Harry Potter's massive popularity when Rowling was still writing them, so I brushed them off. But I'm surprised now at how wonderful and whimsical they are; I wish I had her imagination. ;A;

    Starting on my left with one, your number comes up, you go.

  12. #42
    Bolivar's Avatar
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    I started The Darkness that comes Before by Bakker. I'm almost done with chapter 2, but so far it's been full of some pretty wild trout.

    It reminds me alot of the first time reading Dune. Very similar to Herbert's writing where these characters have their own world views and philosophic backgrounds. They're very introspective and make all kinds of detailed observations and critiques on human nature, which the reader can apply to her own experiences in different ways. I wonder if the world building is overboard, sometimes he's hitting you with 3-4 unfamiliar names/locations at a time but what he's setting up is pretty fascinating so far. I also like how he's not afraid to throw readers into the deep end with some pretty dark and heavy things happening right of the bat. I've seen this recommended more than almost any other modern fantasy series and so far it has delivered.

  13. #43
    The Nerd Who Knows Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr Unne View Post
    Attachment 47546

    This is a dark fantasy series, in the sense of a bunch of flawed people doing flawed things in a realistically crappy world, and the heroes aren't really heroes. It follows a military unit as they travel around. The setting is swords and magic but it's got a down-to-earth style. It's what I imagine it'd be like to actually be in a medieval-era army (i.e. disease, bad teeth, and mostly everyone dies).

    It's told in first person, and in some books there are different narrators, which is always interesting, because some of the authors are unreliable.
    I am reading this too! I got to the third book in it. I need to figure out where it is and finish it.

    I also am reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth. It is the second in in her Divergent series. A cute girl at a book store told me I should read it. She said it was better than Hunger Games, which I didn't get to read because my wife told me the whole plot as she read them.
    It is pretty good though.

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  14. #44
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    I read Divergent, but I only read about 10 pages of Insurgent before I moved on to something else. I thought Divergent was great, though, even though Tris is sort of unbearable. Why can't YA Fiction have actually likeable female protagonists?
    Quote Originally Posted by Fynn View Post
    Jinx you are absolutely smurfing insane. Never change.

  15. #45
    The Nerd Who Knows Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World's Avatar
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    Because YA teenage girls are stupid. Duh. This is why I really don't read YA fiction very often. Too much drama and childishness. It is kinda accurate though, I suppose.

    <PaperStar> live fast, die young, bad plefs do it well

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