What book are you reading currently?

[Darkpig]

I have started the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. I really like his writing style.

 

But does this mean I actually like a human being?

 

FAAAAAAACCKK NO!

I mean no...

[Varelia]

Right now I'm reading Starcraft: Ghost Nova and after this I'll have to read the Necronomicon (yes I'm serious, this book promises to be great)

[Grey Cloud]

The Cambridge Ancient History Vol 02, Part 02 - The Middle East and the Aegean Region, c. 1380-1000 B.C.

Over a thousand pages of which a tenth are of interest (if I'm lucky).

 

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 12:41 AM, Darkpig said:

I have started the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. I really like his writing style.

The late, great Terry Pratchett. All his books are mad in the best possible way. Anyone who calls ships 'camels of the sea' has got to be worth reading.

[DocClox]

Currently? Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. It's set in a fairly standard DnD-esque fantasy world, but where all the adventurer parties are called "bands". Short for "warband" , presumably.

 

But after having established that, they tag the book "It's time to get the band back together" and hit every rock and roll cliche they can. It's not bad. The rock-n-roll gag is a little forced in places, but it doesn't take itself too seriously and the hero is a likeable sort.

 

I was worried we were going to delve into Spellsinger music-and-magic territory, but that hasn't happened. In fact there's a running gag that Saga's (the protagonist's bad) Bards keep dying with the same sort of frequency as Spinal Tap drummers.

 

Decent read so far

[Clea Strange]

I just started reading  "Outstretched Shadow" Book one of of the Obsidian Trilogy and I plan on reading the other two novels when I'm done. 

[D3nt0n]

Just read ( well listened to the audiobook) Yahtzee Crowshaw's "Will destroy the galaxy for cash". It was great, I've really liked his last 3 books. Speaking of the wonderful Terry Pratchet as we were, I'm beginning to think crowshaw could well take up his mantle as the best comedy/scifi/fantasy author out there. 

[TangoG]

Currently reading The Golden Fleece : A journey through Britain's knitted history by Esther Rutter. I am fascinated by the history of textiles and this is an interesting book. 

 

[Asphyia]

Currently, I'm reading Metro: 2035

[Darkpig]

I'm reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito.

 

It is a fun little horror book about spirals.

 

I highly recommend it for people of all ages. It is a great gift for friends, family and children.

[FauxFurry]

American Splendor-The Life and Times of Harkey Pekar. At this point, it is almost like ground level archaeology written by a clever well-educated layman rather than an academic.

[ItalianDragon]

"Le Radici del Cielo" by Tullio Avoledo

[Clea Strange]

I have been reading Game of Thrones but waiting forever for George Martin to finish Winds of Winter and not sure if it will ever be released

[FauxFurry]

I am currently re-reading Batman: Death in the Family. 

 

There is nothing in this book that would be tolerated if pitched in a modern DC series run. The thing is about leaving the dirty work of making the decision whether or not to kill off Robin to the audience then having the Joker carry out the task in a very over-the-top manner (beating him within an inch of his life with a crowbar then blasting him to Kingdom Come (another DC book which would not see publication today) with a bomb before running off to his new job as Iran's Ambassador to the UN where he immediately enjoys his newfound Diplomatic Immunity, for goodness sake.

[Swanky]

31 minutes ago, FauxFurry said:

I am currently re-reading Batman: Death in the Family. 

 

There is nothing in this book that would be tolerated if pitched in a modern DC series run. The thing is about leaving the dirty work of making the decision whether or not to kill off Robin to the audience then having the Joker carry out the task in a very over-the-top manner (beating him within an inch of his life with a crowbar then blasting him to Kingdom Come (another DC book which would not see publication today) with a bomb before running off to his new job as Iran's Ambassador to the UN where he immediately enjoys his newfound Diplomatic Immunity, for goodness sake.

To be fair, a lot of it feels like it's a product of its time. It just wouldn't work today. Not sure it worked back then either. Don't know what the records say about it. Other than that the bottom line of Jason being dead it had quite a lot of impact on some of the later stories as back then it was still a continuity. Also, Superman asking himself why it feels that Bruce is always one step ahead is a win.

 

Last I've read are

Gottfried Keller: Kleider machen Leute (clothes make people), roughly 1850 romantique style comedy in which a tailor with no job but eloquent clothing style gets mistaken as a polish lord and that escalates right quick.

Pratchett: Maskerade (about the opera) and MacBest (a parody of MacBeth - which I've read last year for the first time).

Love Pratchett. His writing style is so weird and wild that has all these little quirks and unforseeable twists and annotations that it's a joy to read, even the less interesting stories.

 

Also reread the first Turtles Comics. There was a fantastic collection by IDW with annotations from the authors released a few years back. The very first black and white run has, in my opinion, some of the best art from the eighties. Everything is dark and gritty, full of detail - and very much different from the archie stuff a bit later. Personal favs are issues 1-3, the Leonardo One-Shot and the Return to New York arc.

[worik]

No funny reading at all

Spoiler

 

[cailic]

I haven't read anything for a long time.  I tried reading some of my old favorites and it was like reading a military tech order to me.  "Why did they do that?  That doesn't make any sense.  They should be dead by now.  Why is taking so many pages to describe a journey?".  I seem to lost my imagination at some point. 

 

Thomas Covenant series.  Took me awhile to actually get through the first book, "Lord Foul's Bane".  It started out slow.  I think there are six books in the series.  Maybe more by now.

 

Mary Stewart is an awesome author.  I enjoyed her rendition of King Arthur and Merlin.  The books were mainly about Merlin.  "The Crystal Cave" and a couple other titles.  Three books in the series, last time I checked.

 

Katherine Kurtz did the Deryni series.  Several books in that series.  The Deryni were a magic using race.  It was set sometime around mid-evil Europe.

 

If you want some over the top fantasy punniness, Piers Anthony wrote many books.

 

Have you ever heard of "The Hobbit"?

 

 

[Lexi SubZero]

Do comic books count? 'Cause I'm knees deep in the Coffinverse. 

[Ascend the Apprenticeship]

Currently just started the wheel of time series (only read the prologue of book 1 The Eye of the World before getting busy) seem quite interesting and am looking forward to what it'll provide  

[spoonsinger]

Currently Stephen Donaldson's "The Gap Cycle" series

[Clea Strange]

Anyone here remember the Dragonlance Novels? I use to read those up to the current ones which was a few years ago. I think the authors stopped making Dragonlance Novels

[FauxFurry]

I decided to revisit Bloom County (specifically the content collected into The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos) just to be reminded of what competent satire looked like.

[Kendo 2]

1937 Beaupré 4th edition of 'The Tale of the Rhine Gold'.  It's an original with the Donn P. Crane illustrations.

 

This is one of the images; Sigfried killing Fafner in dragon form with Meemy in the background.

 

Spoiler

[FauxFurry]

10 minutes ago, Kendo 2 said:

1937 Beaupré 4th edition of 'The Tale of the Rhine Gold'.  It's an original with the Donn P. Crane illustrations.

 

This is one of the images; Sigfried killing Fafner in dragon form with Meemy in the background.

 

  Hide contents

Sigfried should serve as a lesson on one of the more interesting ways to handle and extremely pure and powerful protagonist for modern writers to follow. That very purity and lack of true adversity in his life leaves him vulnerable to manipulation that leads to his destruction and that of the world around him simply due to his not being capable of comprehending the fact that he could be manipulated in such a way.

[Kendo 2]

9 minutes ago, FauxFurry said:

Sigfried should serve as a lesson on one of the more interesting ways to handle and extremely pure and powerful protagonist for modern writers to follow. That very purity and lack of true adversity in his life leaves him vulnerable to manipulation that leads to his destruction and that of the world around him simply due to his not being capable of comprehending the fact that he could be manipulated in such a way.

Purity without being Pollyanna and power without being Mary Sue are lost causes in modern literature.  I doubt anyone writing now could pull off Sigfried's flaws without making him a douche.  IMO, audiences today want to insert themselves into the role of the protagonist, and authors cater to that.  Sacrifice the overarching morality to make it 'relatable'.

[gregathit]

14 minutes ago, Kendo 2 said:

Purity without being Pollyanna and power without being Mary Sue are lost causes in modern literature.  I doubt anyone writing now could pull off Sigfried's flaws without making him a douche.  IMO, audiences today want to insert themselves into the role of the protagonist, and authors cater to that.  Sacrifice the overarching morality to make it 'relatable'.

This is so very true......and so very sad.  One of my favorite series as a young kid was by John Christopher:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_the_Spirits

Similarly the protagonist is lied to, humiliated and betrayed a stunning number of times, often just barely surviving by pure dumb luck.  Life is often messy, why shouldn't some fantasy literature be any different?  Hell, Conan novels are very similar.  It is that tragedy that protagonists suffer that helps us to relate to them so well.