What 📔book are you reading right now?

*is shocked*

What? WHAT?

When did A Feast for Crows come out? And why was I not informed???

Quite recently, wasn't it? It's the fourth one, isn't it? I got half way through A Storm of Swords before getting distracted by something else that actually had something happen in it...

Lindir said:

I think Martin is one of the best fantasy authors ever, maybe even the best (and I do include Tolkien).

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EEK! Blasphamy!!!

(no really, Garth Nix is the best, Tolkien included!)

^

The statement is funny on so many levels.

No really, I love me some Lirael BUT.....

Oh well. Reading 'Siddharta' by Herman Hesse.

I'm currently working on The Da Vinci Code again (thought it would be interesting to read it again because I know so much more about the history mentioned now) and Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell. I need to start on Froissart's Chronicles tonight, though cos I've got a documents test on it next Monday

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin--I get really involved while I'm actually reading it, but once I set it down I can go days without picking it up. And why do modern fantasy epics have to go careening between ten or so major characters with every chapter? I bond with a character, and then have to read sixty pages about some characters I'm less interested in to find out what happens to her....

Recent reads include Neil Gaiman's wonderful Anansi Boys and a handful of graphic novels, including a couple of volumes of Sin City and V for Vendetta.

I am reading ' The Horse and His boy ' by C. S. Lewis.
it's the third book of the Chronicles of Narnia, For those who
don't know.

...depending on how you count. I've always read it as the fifth.

Why? then it would be after Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Because that's the order they were written and originally published in--The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle. I've always read them in that order, and I'm not a fan of the 'new' order, which is chronological according to events.

i didn't know that.

I prefer to do it chronologically, as it lets me get two of my favourites in the first three. On the subject of what I'm reading now, the sad answer is 'nothing', but I'm planning on binging on the whole seven chronicles as soon as I can find a library. My copies are too far away.

Rhiannon said:

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin--I get really involved while I'm actually reading it, but once I set it down I can go days without picking it up. And why do modern fantasy epics have to go careening between ten or so major characters with every chapter? I bond with a character, and then have to read sixty pages about some characters I'm less interested in to find out what happens to her....

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Exactly the same reason I got bored of A Storm of Swords. Guess I'll have to pick it up again someday. It was suggested to me that reading all the chapters of one character then moving onto another character doesn't spoil the story at all, so I might try that.

I've almost finished Bernard Cornwell's Harlequin, and about to start Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.

Hammersmith said:

I prefer to do it chronologically, as it lets me get two of my favourites in the first three. On the subject of what I'm reading now, the sad answer is 'nothing', but I'm planning on binging on the whole seven chronicles as soon as I can find a library. My copies are too far away.

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Mine are in a box in storage somewhere, though I managed to re-read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe while I was with my homestay family. I like the publishing order better because I think Lion is the strongest book, story-wise, and a better introduction than The Magician's Nephew, and you can see the development of the world. But there's a whole thread devoted to discussing this, isn't there?

It was suggested to me that reading all the chapters of one character then moving onto another character doesn't spoil the story at all, so I might try that.

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I started doing that at the end of Game of Thrones, but my brother made me stop If I keep reading (I want to know what happens, but how willing am I to put up with the author treating me like a ping-pong ball in a match with too many players?) I might do it anyway.

I'm not quite done with Game of Thrones, but last night I started Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman anyway. Why on earth did I wait so long to read this? It's amazing.

I expect that the Chronicals will be filmed in Publishing Order, woudl you like that Rhi? lol.

The new book (the last one!) in the Midford series has hit stores. I am going to get it this week!! Can't wait to read it!

Rhiannon said:

I'm not quite done with Game of Thrones, but last night I started Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman anyway. Why on earth did I wait so long to read this? It's amazing.

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Absolutely. I was pleasantly surprised when I diverted from the Discworld stories for a change. Does anyone know if Neil Gaiman all by himself is equally good?

DGoeij said:

Absolutely. I was pleasantly surprised when I diverted from the Discworld stories for a change. Does anyone know if Neil Gaiman all by himself is equally good?

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O yes, Neil Gaiman is very, very good. I warmly recommend everything he has written.

Neil Gaiman is phenomenal. Don't read him expecting Pratchett, though--he's very different, though they have similarities. I started with Neverwhere and then American Gods, which are both fantastic, and his most recent Anansi Boys is awesome. You might also try his collection of short stories, Smoke & Mirrors, which is full of really amazing stuff.

I'm also a big fan of his Sandman series of graphic novels, which starts with Preludes & Nocturnes--not the best volume in the series, because Gaiman and the artists were all finding their stride while doing a very, very unique month comic, but the last episode is still my favorite out of what I've been able to read of the series. Neil Gaiman also collaborated with Dave McKean on the recent fantasy film MirrorMask (he scripted and produced, McKean designed and directed), which has had a very, very limited release, but which is really good.

Rhiannon posted,

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin--I get really involved while I'm actually reading it, but once I set it down I can go days without picking it up. And why do modern fantasy epics have to go careening between ten or so major characters with every chapter? I bond with a character, and then have to read sixty pages about some characters I'm less interested in to find out what happens to her....

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That's certainly a big downside of the narrative structure employed by Martin in aSoIaF. More of Arya and less of that god-forsaken Catelyn would have awesome. Though, as the story pans out and you get better acquainted with the world and the characters themselves, many of these POV's supplement each other very well - often throwing away witty quips or tidbits of interesting information impossible to depict with a single prespective.

They also help a great deal in character building, adding layers of depth rarely achieveable with the stereotypical third-person narration. The character of Imp is a good example of that. Looking at Tyrion from the POV of, say, Ned Stark will reveal a man very different from what his own POV shows us.

The fact that Martin is able to juggle such a huge cast of characters as to give every single one of them a distinguishable identity of their own whilst maintaing coherent storylines is one of the fundamental tenants of what makes him, arguably, the best epic fantasy writer ever.

But than again, I am a rabid Martin fan. I finished AGoT in a single sitting, not even pausing for a meal.

I'll second Neil's Gaiman's excellence. Though I enjoy everything I have read by him (including certain blog enteries ), his short stories probably contain some of his best stuff. (and by extension some of the best writing done in genre fiction)

I stay well away from comics in general but I wish I could get my hands on the 'Sandman' series.

Oh, how much I wish! Sometimes, it almost becomes a physical annoyance.







[Appologies for the double post]