What Are You Reading?

[kingoffighters]

I read before bed, and for about an hour in the mornings before I go to work.

Same, I usually read for 1/2 hour before bed time. Also during commute on the train.

[A Robot Bit Me]

I eat lunch at my desk and reserve my break for reading.

[Josh]

Commuting is for podcasts, imo.

[kingoffighters]

I don't listen to podcast.

[Josh]

You're an asshole.

[kingoffighters]

Right on.

[sedition]

I'm in line with what kof said about the Malazan series. To someone new to fantasy I'd recommend the first three books of Song of Ice and Fire. Beyond that, if they are willing to invest more time in the genre, and want to take it to the next level of dark fantasy nerd-dom, The Book of the Fallen is my first suggestion. Steven Erikson is an impressive creator and writer. I can imagine his writing style won't sync with some people. To get an idea of his thought process you might want to take a look as his bloggy thing Life as a Human. Most of it has to do with his ideas on the how writing should be done. I'd like to iterate kof's suggestion of getting through the first two books before seeing if you want to go on. The second book, Deadhouse Gates, exemplifies how the series as a whole plays out. It had a lot of great points mixed in with times I felt like I was struggling to get through, but at the end I are ultimately satisfied.

At this point in The Crippled God (about 100 of 900 pages in) things have slowed down from the constant switching of epic PoVs, to the revisiting of the soldier camp continuation of Dust of Dreams as they regroup. So, it's chopping from soldier to soldier, some are being introduced for the first time, some are familiar, others I have no idea who they are. It's actually a little overwhelming. I have confidence that it's going in a specific direction though.

I've read a lot of fantasy.. and tried to stay away from the unicorny shit. The Malazan series has a lot of payoff. My favorite fantasy series. GRRM's first 3 ASoIaF books are the only thing close. Cook's Black Company stuff can be read after you've exhausted all the prior options. I wouldn't invest in Jordon's Wheel of Time series(I think I gave up around book 5 or 6) or Ambercrombie's First Law series.

I'm on the fence about defending A Feast for Crows... let's see if I can build up some motivation by actually working at work for a bit.

[kingoffighters]

Sed, you didn't like Abercrombie's series? I read Best Served Cold and thought it was a pretty good revenge tale. I am thinking of reading his other books.

How about Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet?

[sedition]

The First Law trilogy just didn't do much for me. He kind of borrows from things that work... There is a Tyrion-esque character, that's just not as well done. The three cultures mirror almost exactly three races, Cimmerians, Aquilonian, and Stygians from Conan lore. I can't really get into some of my other gripes without spoiling the story... but if you liked Best Served Cold (which I haven't read) give it a shot.

I haven't heard of Abraham's The Long Price Quartet. I'll look into it someday. Is it supposed to be decent?

[A Robot Bit Me]

I signed out The Fattening Of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What to Do About It to use as a reference for a paper I'm writing and wound up reading it cover-to-cover. It's largely the same stuff you've heard in any number of sociologically/economically-inclined books and films about our fat asses, but Finkelstein has such a lean, droll, affable way of delivering it that makes this a great read. All of the arguments are amply supported with statistics, but the book never came close to suffocating me with numbers. The way Finkelstein relates every chapter back to his obese Uncle Al is super endearing.

Highly recommended to anyone even slightly interested in this kind of thing!

4/5