Currently Reading?

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Unlucky-for-Some » Sun Apr 06, 2014 9:55 pm

Just re-reading Ender's Game ... enjoying it about as much as when I last read it 15+ years ago, which is to say, not all that much.
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by ghostwolf » Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:49 am

I just finished the Takeshi Kovacs series by Robert K. Morgan; Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies. Phenomenally good transhuman literature. Working my way into the Joe Ledger books by Jonathan Maberry.

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Gkom » Sun May 04, 2014 10:21 am

Currently reading Pride and Prejudice. rather impressing considering it's writing time.
Also read the epos of Gilgamesh recently.
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by SamWiser » Sun May 04, 2014 1:08 pm

Sheesh. We're all reading Hunger Games and Harry Potter, and you're reading Gilgamesh and Pride and Prejudice. You're making us look bad. :P
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by thinkslogically » Sun May 04, 2014 1:33 pm

I like Pride and Prejudice :) Had to study it in school and it's one of the only books that I've HAD to read that I actually still like afterwards. If you haven't seen the BBC dramatisation (the good one with Colin Firth) then I highly recommend that as well. It's a 6-hour mini-series, but it's excellent and very faithful to the book, awkward bits and everything.

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Gkom » Mon May 05, 2014 12:51 am

My Proffeseur told me I shouldn't... Maybe at some latter point.
And Gilgamesh is really good! If you like eposes it is.

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Wolfie » Mon May 05, 2014 12:48 pm

I'm currently reading "The Chronicles of Nick" series. Currently on "Infamous", which is the third book (out of 6 so far.. I think). Borrowed it from a friend since the author is one of my utmost favorites, Sherrilyn Kenyon.

So far it's good, and yes, I'm aware the main protagonist is only 14 when the series starts, so it's more for young adults than someone who's 30. :P Sue me.
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Mec » Mon May 05, 2014 1:07 pm

I'm reading vintage "Twilight Zone" stories by Rod Serling. From the Amazon Kindle monthly deal -- $2 for 6 stories.

Did you know that Serling was both writer and producer? (He wrote a majority of the Twilight Zone episodes but not all of them). That enabled him to produce his stories the way he wanted.

So far, my favorite story: "Walking Distance". I'm a total sucker for time-travel nostalgia stories. And this one is now a classic retro time-travel nostalgia story!

On the heavyweight side: Winston Churchill, "Their Finest Hour". (That was another Amazon bargain special).

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by SamWiser » Wed May 07, 2014 4:39 pm

I started rereading "The Hobbit" last night. I was surprised at his wording. I know it was a story he told his children, but it's almost like he took a transcript of what he told his kids and put it into book form. It is definitely much easier to read than LOTR.
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Krulle » Thu May 08, 2014 1:09 am

The story is also much lighter......
Personally, I like"There and back" also much better than LOTR, although the vastness that is LOTR is drawing me in every year and a half...
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by willpell » Wed May 14, 2014 6:14 am

I'm getting back into H.P. Lovecraft's books, after many years of just knowing them conceptually. Interestingly, my latest read of "The Call of Cthulhu" convinced me that, contrary to popular assumption, it totally would work as a Hollywood blockbuster. The framing story is no more convoluted than that of "Inception"...you'd have to flesh out a lot of the details that Lovecraft leaves vague, but only the R'lyeh scene would be at all difficult to do justice to, and I'm convinced that there are enough talented Mythos artists out there that you could manage to do a decent job of it.

@ SamWiser - Interesting to contrast that with the movies, isn't it?
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by SamWiser » Wed May 14, 2014 12:48 pm

The movies aren't... terrible. I understand the lighter tone when compared to LOTR. My biggest problem is that Peter Jackson seems to be sacrificing the books plot a little too much for his own. The stuff with Gandalf is cool, but Legolas has too big of a part in it. We'll see how the last movie goes.
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Terry Pratchett

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Tea » Thu May 15, 2014 12:49 pm

Well, I guess I can't convince people into reading more Tolkien... seems like most of them already are. (if not, no, I won't try to shove it down your throat,..well,...not much...)
At pretty much any given point in time I am reading/planning to read Tolkien or China Mieville. (Finally getting around to reading Hobbit after realizing that I couldn't criticize the movies without remembering the book. Oh, and on that note, Tolkien's writing is just adorable! I've read a few chapters of Silmarillion (still working on getting past the first few chapters,...it's a book I think I have to buy since a few chapters is about all I can get through before I have to return it to the library.), and that's pretty much the epitome of his dryness and then Hobbit comes along and well, it's still Aarda/Middle Earth (haven't quite worked out the distinction yet) but it's just awesome that we get to see a completely different side of him, but at the same time, it's still Tolkien.)

Hobbit Movies....well....I'm seeing that it isn't really as much of a LOTR rippoff as I thought it was, but I'm not convinced out of it. Unrelated, but I'm also missing the days when I could go see a movie and actually be able to finish the thing in one part...why does each book of LOTR get two (counting with the extended edition) while this little children's book gets three? Nothing against the dwarves, but this is tiny compared to Lord of the Rings! On an even more unrelated note, should anyone want to make a movie of the Silmarillion and try to stay true to the book (maybe a fictional docudrama?) I'll promptly head to the nearest theater with the hopes that by some miracle no one tried to make it any less dry than it is.

Okay, not completely derailing this, back to books. China Mieville hasn't been mentioned yet of whom I am currently reading Looking for Jake (which I definitely recommend, it's some short stories so while not as complex as his novels, it give a good introduction to his style without having to read through some tome (okay, if we're throwing around Tolkien, tome is probably a misnomer...I wouldn't want to throw Tolkien at anyone, that would hurt...a lot....). I'm also told he's not for the faint of heart as (his verbosity aside) his stories get really weird, but that's kinda the reason I love him, well, one of them at least. A good starting place, well, Bas Lag seems relatively safe, since it's a fantasy universe, I haven't gotten my hands on Iron Council or King Rat (I think that's a Bas Lag) yet but Perdido Street Station is one of his best works to date.

Oops, sort of derailed again. I also picked up a Charles D. Lint (or was it D'Lint?) which is proving a very interesting read and now vow to delve deeper into Newford.

And now, the story of my life. Too many good books, too little time. :becry: it's just terrible...

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Lurks Silently » Thu May 15, 2014 6:58 pm

I'm still slogging through Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy (when I actually read a chapter I enjoy it, but it's hard to convince myself to do so). I am also re-reading the original Timothy Zahn Star Wars trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command), and am on the third book. It's been about 12 years since I've read them, and they hold up surprisingly well. I'd forgotten how much of a magnificent bastard Grand Admiral Thrawn was.

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by willpell » Thu May 15, 2014 7:43 pm

SamWiser wrote:but Legolas has too big of a part in it.
Any part that Legolas has in the Hobbit is too big, since he wasn't in the Hobbit at all. Heck, I haven't checked the official Tolkien geneologies or anything, but I kinda thought Legolas in the LOTR books was a young Elf who volunteered to join the Fellowship, and quite possibly not even alive (or at least not mature) when Frodo's much-less-than-eleventy-one uncle was off adventuring with Gimli's father and twelve other dwarves.

Really, if Jackson wanted to make three more movies featuring Legolas, he should have just made more Lord of the Rings movies. The literature contains six "books" published in three volumes, so it's not inconceivable that it could be a series of six movies. You could restore what was left out of the first trilogy, although of the three scenes I remember (the Old Forest, the Barrow-Wights, and the Scouring of the Shire), none contained Legolas. I'm pretty sure he just wasn't supposed to be that important in the movies.

But you could do an entire movie of Legolas and Gimli adventuring together after the Ring was destroyed, and it'd be totally canon.
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Synch » Thu May 15, 2014 8:29 pm

Just finished Hugner Games trilogy - that was shit! - and now about to start either The Broken Empire series, the Night Angel trilogy, or the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Probably the latter.
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by SamWiser » Thu May 15, 2014 10:54 pm

willpell wrote:Any part that Legolas has in the Hobbit is too big, since he wasn't in the Hobbit at all. Heck, I haven't checked the official Tolkien geneologies or anything, but I kinda thought Legolas in the LOTR books was a young Elf who volunteered to join the Fellowship, and quite possibly not even alive (or at least not mature) when Frodo's much-less-than-eleventy-one uncle was off adventuring with Gimli's father and twelve other dwarves.

Really, if Jackson wanted to make three more movies featuring Legolas, he should have just made more Lord of the Rings movies. The literature contains six "books" published in three volumes, so it's not inconceivable that it could be a series of six movies. You could restore what was left out of the first trilogy, although of the three scenes I remember (the Old Forest, the Barrow-Wights, and the Scouring of the Shire), none contained Legolas. I'm pretty sure he just wasn't supposed to be that important in the movies.

But you could do an entire movie of Legolas and Gimli adventuring together after the Ring was destroyed, and it'd be totally canon.
After digging around the LOTR Wiki, it seems that Legolas was born sometime after the year 1000 in the Third Age. The Hobbit took place in 2941-2942 of the Third Age. It is entirely possible that he was already over 1000, and possible much older when The Hobbit takes place. I'm fine with him being in the movie, but I don't think he should have had a major part.

I would totally watch a movie about Legolas and Gimli adventuring together, but I don't see any more movies from the original trilogy being made, nor anything from the Silmarrilion. Maybe a tv miniseries or something, but no movies.
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ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by willpell » Fri May 16, 2014 10:35 am

SamWiser wrote:After digging around the LOTR Wiki, it seems that Legolas was born sometime after the year 1000 in the Third Age. The Hobbit took place in 2941-2942 of the Third Age.
I stand corrected. I guess he just looks young because elf. (Though I don't think Haldir or Galadriel seemed young, just sorta timeless. Elrond of course does look old, but he's half human so that's sensible. Also, y'know, actors have actual ages, that might also play a part, though of course the whole point of the makeup department is to counteract that in some cases.)
I would totally watch a movie about Legolas and Gimli adventuring together, but I don't see any more movies from the original trilogy being made, nor anything from the Silmarrilion. Maybe a tv miniseries or something, but no movies.
Well there will definitely be movies made about LOTR again, but probably not for a couple decades.
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by DrinksTooMuchCoffee » Fri May 16, 2014 11:46 am

IIRC, Legolas also mentions that Fangorn makes him feel young.

Beren and Luthien would seem the best of the Silmarilion stories to actually produce in moving pictures, being a real story and not so much just some stuff that happens. Turin Turambar would also qualify as that, but that's a big "Jesus, Grandpa. What are you reading me this for?" story. ;) I guess they *could* expand some of the other stories to give them more of a narrative structure, but I can imagine the pitchforks and torches over that.

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by WastesTime » Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:17 am

Currently reading Tad Williams' "Dragonbone Chair". So far, I love all of the main characters except for the hero. Maybe it's because he's 15 and annoying and I'm yet to see him grow and become less of a burden and more of the protagonist but right now I cannot stand the boy :P
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Krulle » Sat Aug 02, 2014 3:58 am

Currently reading "In the First Circle" (in a German translation) by Aleksandr Solzhenistyn.
The boom is from the stash I rescued from the attic before I refurbished the house of my parents.
Apprently, my grandfather gave the book to my father in 1970 (inscription inside the book).
My grandfather was in one of the Gulags...
I need to talk with my father a tiny bit about this book (can't talk about the time of my grandfather in the Gulag though, as he never talked to anyone about it, except that he's been Russian war prisoner from 1943-1949).

It's far less hefty than I thought, but then it follows the life of highly educated prisoners in a special prison, where they are trated well, as they are working of "top-secret" technology...
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Wolfie » Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:16 am

I have started Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World"... What have I gotten myself into????
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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Quarg » Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:51 am

Has anyone else read the Goblin Emperor?
It seems odd that on Goblins we have no mention of it...
Really...why are you reading this?

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by mustache_man » Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:34 pm

Wolfie wrote:I have started Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World"... What have I gotten myself into????
I enjoyed the series.

Currently reading Colin Woodard's "The Republic of Pirates".

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Re: Currently Reading?

Post by Wolfie » Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:13 am

I'm now on Book 6: Lord of Chaos.

I ended up buying the second book when my friend couldn't furnish me with his copy of it due to him still reading it. I then bought the third, then the fourth, ... :) I'm a third of the way through this one and I'm sure I'll continue until I'm done and look back and try for another round. I'm sure I've missed something.
"This is my therapy dragon, she's for my panic attacks. I attack, everyone panics." (Quote found on http://outofcontextdnd.tumblr.com/)

"If I have a +2 strength sword and I stab you, you won't get a +2 strength, you get wounds" ~Sir Butcher

"How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them." ~Benjamin Franklin

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