Ermagerd. Berks!

[pickdropper]

Wow, it's been almost a year since anyone posted to this thread?

I've spent the last week binge reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

If you like fantasy, this is a really good series.  Amazing world, realistic characters, and well written.  The first bit of the 2nd book was a bit slow, but the third book more than made up for it.

I'll have to check it out.

I finally decided to dig in an read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I'm currently on book 6.  I should finish the series sometime around April.

April of 2023?

Isnt there like twenty or so books in that series, I remember wanting to start reading that in high school and at that point there was an alarming amount ofbooks. Thatwas over fifteen years ago when i had long hair.

Yeah, maybe not April.  I plan on finishing book 6 of 14 this weekend.  I believe I started reading them in November.  May or June is probably more realistic as most are 800-1000 pages.

[rockola]

I think the last actual-paper book I read was an English translation of the Kalevala, very fun read, that was.

One of the main characters, Väinämöinen, was heavily into DIY music gear: he built a kantele from the jawbone of a pike.

[mjg]

Wow, it's been almost a year since anyone posted to this thread?

I've spent the last week binge reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

If you like fantasy, this is a really good series.  Amazing world, realistic characters, and well written.  The first bit of the 2nd book was a bit slow, but the third book more than made up for it.

I'll have to check it out.

I finally decided to dig in an read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I'm currently on book 6.  I should finish the series sometime around April.

April of 2023?

Isnt there like twenty or so books in that series, I remember wanting to start reading that in high school and at that point there was an alarming amount ofbooks. Thatwas over fifteen years ago when i had long hair.

Yeah, maybe not April.  I plan on finishing book 6 of 14 this weekend.  I believe I started reading them in November.  May or June is probably more realistic as most are 800-1000 pages.

From memory, I found book 6 or 7 really slow going...or maybe it was book 8.  When Brandon Sanderson took over to finish the last few books, things really picked up. 

I wouldn't be terribly upset if GRRM let Brandon Sanderson finish the Game of Thrones books.  At least they would be done. 

[pickdropper]

Wow, it's been almost a year since anyone posted to this thread?

I've spent the last week binge reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

If you like fantasy, this is a really good series.  Amazing world, realistic characters, and well written.  The first bit of the 2nd book was a bit slow, but the third book more than made up for it.

I'll have to check it out.

I finally decided to dig in an read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I'm currently on book 6.  I should finish the series sometime around April.

April of 2023?

Isnt there like twenty or so books in that series, I remember wanting to start reading that in high school and at that point there was an alarming amount ofbooks. Thatwas over fifteen years ago when i had long hair.

Yeah, maybe not April.  I plan on finishing book 6 of 14 this weekend.  I believe I started reading them in November.  May or June is probably more realistic as most are 800-1000 pages.

From memory, I found book 6 or 7 really slow going...or maybe it was book 8.  When Brandon Sanderson took over to finish the last few books, things really picked up. 

I wouldn't be terribly upset if GRRM let Brandon Sanderson finish the Game of Thrones books.  At least they would be done.

Once I finish book 8, I'll let you know which one I guess you are referring to.  It could be 6, but I need more info.  ;-)

[alanp]

Eh, I didn't like Sanderson's continuation. It didn't feel the same. I am glad the series was finished, though!

Not that I liked the ending, but I won't spoil anything.

[mjg]

I didn't mind the change of author.  But yeah, opinions seem split on that.  As you say, I'm glad that the series got finished. 

I also read Fire and Blood over the holiday break.  Was really excited when I heard there was a new book in the Game of thrones series, but it turned out to be a prequel.  It was interesting, but a large part of me couldn't help but ask why he didn't spend his time writing the last books, rather than doing a prequel, which in itself was only part one of two. 

[pickdropper]

Eh, I didn't like Sanderson's continuation. It didn't feel the same. I am glad the series was finished, though!

Not that I liked the ending, but I won't spoil anything.

* pickdropper throws books into the fireplace

[midwayfair]

This is really getting out of hand. I need at least one new bookshelf but I have nowhere to put it.

[somnif]

Eh, I didn't like Sanderson's continuation. It didn't feel the same. I am glad the series was finished, though!

Not that I liked the ending, but I won't spoil anything.

Sanderson is an odd author to me. I love his world building. He is fantastic at ramping up, building tension, writing characters, and weaving plot threads together.

And utter garbage at climaxes.

His stories always end in these massive, enormous, big "epic" battles that really just end up as a messy 18 POV collection of smash cuts between characters. Everything gets muddled and messy, he will kill off a half dozen characters you care about in a page and a half with no time for caring about them, spend another 40 pages on the dull characters and plot threads that he forgot were still hanging around till then, and then messily tie everything together with a vaguely mystic hand wavey denouement that you can't tell if is meant to be religious allegory or just "deep". Usually with a little wink at the camera and then the story just stops.

Its frustrating as hell. I read his books voraciously, but I've never finished one of his series (including Wheel of Time) feeling satisfied.

(and this is all just my opinion, obviously)

[jkokura]

Yeah, I don't know why, but I love Sanderson's stuff. I first read his finishing of Jordan's books, the Wheel of Time. I thought he wrote Mat better than RJ did, like waaaay better. I also liked the small character changes and developments that, after reading the rest of his material, are obviously his choices. I loved the world of WoT, but Jordan's obvious style is tough to read, especially his treatment of women. Nynaeve is like one of the worst characters ever for the longest time.

So since I've read just about everything Sanderson has ever written, I have found he has a unique style that I just really enjoy. Hard to wait for the continuation of any series he's done.

One set of books that I'm also eagerly waiting for is a guy named Robert Jackson's series called Foundryside. I had someone recommend it, and found I couldn't stop reading it.

Also, if you really like buddy-cop style movies, you may really like the buddy-antihero series by Michael J. Sullivan, called The Riyria Revelations. Quite a cool setup, and characters that are realistic. I enjoy his style because he writes the whole series before releasing anything, so the editing process is done on a completed work, so there's less to tie up at the end, because he paces and reveals things along the way, moving elements of the story around. Then the books get released over time, but only after the whole set is written. Not a good way to write a whole series, but very satisfying to read because there aren't plot holes or issues with the completed set of stories, as is common in long series like WoT or GoT.

I got like 80 pages into the GoT book, put it down and have no desire to continue. The content is just not worth the story in my opinion.

Jacob

[madbean]

Before I had a tablet/laptop: I visited the library every week and read (on average) two non-fiction books a week. Now, I read (on average) one book a year. I'd really like to change this but I just cannot seem to shift my habits.

Apropos of nothing: anyone else experience this phenomena: reading before bed then dreaming the book you were reading! As in, a complete non-visual dream...you dream about the story you were reading awake. Some of my favorites.

[thesmokingman]

worked through the Franklin Barbecue book ... its fun to read how other people do things and its interesting to read the parallels in outside interests ... I found a torrent of nothing but bbq books so I'll probably work through a couple others over time.

[jkokura]

Before I had a tablet/laptop: I visited the library every week and read (on average) two non-fiction books a week. Now, I read (on average) one book a year. I'd really like to change this but I just cannot seem to shift my habits.

I have dealt with a different problem. Pretty consistently during my life I have read during my down time. On the bus, waiting for something, even on my lunch break when I was working through college. During work shifts doing overnight security. I read a LOT of books. Fiction, non-fiction, history, biographies, all sorts of stuff. And most typically, I read fiction before going to sleep every night, by lamp light in bed.

Well, as we all do, I got married, and for a while my wife tolerated the lamp, but at some point she refused to let me read at night before bed, because it kept her awake. Especially when she had to get up early and I didn't, this caused friction that was not worth the fiction.

I resorted at first to using my old, first gen iPod, to jerry-rig an e-reader, but then I learned about audio-books. That was huge for me. I also now have a kindle, but I actively listen to audiobooks through just about all the various audiobook apps you can get.

Also, having a phone has diminished some of my reading. In those downtimes I usually am on that thing. Fortunately, I'm still reading, it's just not always books anymore. News, articles, blogs, research on various topics I'm interested in. And now, I read a lot for work, so whereas once I read in my downtime from work, I now do a lot more reading as a part of my work and it balances out a bit.

One of the things my kindle has done for me is help me put my distracting phone down. All it does is give me words to read. No email, no facebook, no Youtube. Just the book. Plus ebooks cheaper than buying physical books, and they store much more compactly.

Jacob

[pickdropper]

Before I had a tablet/laptop: I visited the library every week and read (on average) two non-fiction books a week. Now, I read (on average) one book a year. I'd really like to change this but I just cannot seem to shift my habits.

I have dealt with a different problem. Pretty consistently during my life I have read during my down time. On the bus, waiting for something, even on my lunch break when I was working through college. During work shifts doing overnight security. I read a LOT of books. Fiction, non-fiction, history, biographies, all sorts of stuff. And most typically, I read fiction before going to sleep every night, by lamp light in bed.

Well, as we all do, I got married, and for a while my wife tolerated the lamp, but at some point she refused to let me read at night before bed, because it kept her awake. Especially when she had to get up early and I didn't, this caused friction that was not worth the fiction.

I resorted at first to using my old, first gen iPod, to jerry-rig an e-reader, but then I learned about audio-books. That was huge for me. I also now have a kindle, but I actively listen to audiobooks through just about all the various audiobook apps you can get.

Also, having a phone has diminished some of my reading. In those downtimes I usually am on that thing. Fortunately, I'm still reading, it's just not always books anymore. News, articles, blogs, research on various topics I'm interested in. And now, I read a lot for work, so whereas once I read in my downtime from work, I now do a lot more reading as a part of my work and it balances out a bit.

One of the things my kindle has done for me is help me put my distracting phone down. All it does is give me words to read. No email, no facebook, no Youtube. Just the book. Plus ebooks cheaper than buying physical books, and they store much more compactly.

Jacob

Yeah, the Kindle has really been helpful as its backlight is subtle enough that I can read it without it being a distraction.  A significant improvement over a lamp.

[somnif]

I have a Nook, and I, quite literally, take it everywhere I go. I read constantly. I have it in my lap as i type this in fact. I'll work through several books a week. I... may have something of a problem quite honestly.

But I love it. I don't have that many physical books around anymore. Well, novels anyway. The Nook isn't great for anything with a lot illustrations or that you will jump between pages a lot. So reference books, textbooks, cookbooks, all that fun stuff I still keep around.

Just means the 300 odd paperbacks I would be hauling around otherwise now fit in my pocket. And the newer edition has a nice soft backlight that lets me read when I go on walks after sundown.