Reading anything?

[indianasmith]

I KNOW!!!  I actually wanted to punch the author in the face after I read about the "Red Wedding!"  But at least one of the victims came back from the dead . . . . kind of.

My wife is reading it now, and I have given her no  spoilers whatsoever.  She's gonna be TICKED!

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es.

And still more miscellaneous, or, short reviews of several graphic novels recently read.

Janet and Alex Evanovich's "Troublemaker" in 2 vols.

Best known for her Stephanie Plum series, she has another mystery series about a race car driver named Hooker and his female mechanic Barnaby. This is the 3rd book in the series, but the 1st in graphic format.

I was surprised at how much humor there was in it, but the humor worked well within the story.
Living in south Florida, the author seems to have the flavor of Miami and Key West down pat.
And, surprising, what happens in the story is alot more plausible than what happens in alot of other stories. I was impressed.

Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" and Ender's Shadow" in grapic format. Each in 2 vols. v.1. "Battle School." v.2. "Command School."

I know Card has his adherents, including some on this board, but I was singularly unimprssed. Maybe it's the graphic format, but . . .

I found none of the characters to be credible.
The boys' by-play was unbelievable.
And I found the profanity grating to my ears.

Next time: the "Fantome," the "Kursk,", the "Medusa," and the "Titanic."

[Hammock Rider]

I KNOW!!!  I actually wanted to punch the author in the face after I read about the "Red Wedding!"  But at least one of the victims came back from the dead . . . . kind of.

My wife is reading it now, and I have given her no  spoilers whatsoever.  She's gonna be TICKED!

  This series blows me away. And Dance of Dragons is coming out next month!


   Right now I'm reading Upriver & Downstream. It's a collection of short stories and articles about fishing originally published in The New York Times.

[lester1/2jr]

"early economic thought"  I am kind of shocked by Aristotle. It's really barbaric and awful in many respects, yet for his time it was probably pretty forward thinking.

[El Misfit]

eh, I should start reading Blink sometime soon. If I finish it soon, I could start reading Dark Star

[InformationGeek]

For my philosophy class, I had to sit down and read The Subjection of Women.  Damn, that was a hard one to read and get through.  The paragraphs just never seemed to end!

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es.

The Fantome, The Kursk, The Medusa, The Titanic

4 ships sank.
2 civilian. 2 military.
1 American. 1 British. 1 French. 1 Russian.
1 Aground. 1 Collision. 1 Internal explosion. 1 Storm.
1 west African. 1 north Atlantic. 1 Caribbean. 1 Murmansk.

You think there'd be no similiarities between them. But . . .

1. Politics played a large role in all four. If not before the loss, then after the loss.

2. Everyone forgets the all for one and one for all. As everyone starts looking out for number one. The lines being drawn along the lines of age, class, politics, and race.

3. All the losses were due to lack of knowledge.

4. Almost no one was punished for the losses. And if someone was punished, it was often the wrong person.

5. All the losses brought out the best and worst in human behavior.

And the four books . . .

Jim Carrier's "The Ship and the Storm"
Robert Moore's "A Time to Die"
Jonathan Miles' "The Wreck of the Medusa"
Jay Stevension's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Titanic"

Next time: Even more miscellaneous

[Cthulhu]

I just read Just after Sunset by Stephen King. It had a few lame short stories, but also some pretty good ones. N. kicked ass, for example.
I'm also about to read The 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldricht by Philip K. Dick.

[InformationGeek]

My continuing adventure through my public library's comic collection continues forward.  I am now reading the following:

American Vampire (Best damn vampire anything in the past few years, expect possibly Let Me In)
Dragon Drive (It's a new form of Digimon apparently)
Hunter X Hunter (Not too bad for the first two volumes)
Moonphase (More vampire stuff.  Not too bad, nothing special)
Emma (Who knew romance and British maids from the late 1800's made such a compelling story?)
K-On! (A pretty good comedy about a group of girls and their music club.)
Hikaru No Go (A very surprisingly good sports comic about the game of Go.  Makes me want to play it!)

[Criswell]

I'm currently about halfway through The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Its pretty good so far.

[Cthulhu]

Should I buy Dragons of Winter Night? (Second book in the Dragonlance series.) I've heard that the series is really good, but the first one just seemed allright. I was kinda p**sed off at some points, too:(SPOILERS for example, a few characters die, only to be brought back pages later. You can't do that.)
So I was wondering:Will it get better? Because I kinda feel like there is no weight to it. feel like characters dying doesn't have any consequences.
So, should I buy it?

[BoyScoutKevin]

Should I buy Dragons of Winter Night? (Second book in the Dragonlance series.) I've heard that the series is really good, but the first one just seemed allright. I was kinda p**sed off at some points, too:(SPOILERS for example, a few characters die, only to be brought back pages later. You can't do that.)
So I was wondering:Will it get better? Because I kinda feel like there is no weight to it. feel like characters dying doesn't have any consequences.
So, should I buy it?

The series (IMHO) gets better as it goes along. And I really like the series and the authors. What you must understand is that the book you read was the first one written by the team of Weis and Hickman, and like most first time collaborations by somewhat inexperienced writers their first novel is normally not their best work. But as they become more experienced with their second novel and so on, their writing skills improve as do the books. But, I must add, I love the character of Fitzban in the first novel. A character that just makes me ROTFL!

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es.

Even more miscellaneous or short reviews of several graphic novels.

Two in the Halo series. Peter David's "Helljumper" and Fred van Lente's "Bloodline." I actually found the 2nd one to be the better of the two, as it is the more complex of the two graphic novels. Which is somewhat of a surprise as Peter David is one of my all-time favorite authors. But on the downlow, "Bloodline" is also the more confusing of the two, and when the characters get into their armour, it is almost impossible to tell one from the other. And both graphic novels suffer from overly confusing fight scenes.

Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" A writer of over 30 books. Both fiction and non-fiction. Children's and adult's. This is probably his best known work. And if you read it, read it also for the interview with the author. A great ranconteur who has some great stories about the great people he has known, including Marilyn Monroe and her then husband Arthur Miller, who he knew when he was still in high school.

Terry Brooks' "Dark Wrath of Shannara." One of my favorite fantasy series. Supposedly written originally as a graphic novel. Maybe. But I swear I read it also in a  print version at sometime.  The only problem is that the artist's interpretation of the characters never match up with your interpretation of what the characters should look like.

Next time: Gary Corley's "The Pericles Commission"

[Cthulhu]

Should I buy Dragons of Winter Night? (Second book in the Dragonlance series.) I've heard that the series is really good, but the first one just seemed allright. I was kinda p**sed off at some points, too:(SPOILERS for example, a few characters die, only to be brought back pages later. You can't do that.)
So I was wondering:Will it get better? Because I kinda feel like there is no weight to it. feel like characters dying doesn't have any consequences.
So, should I buy it?

The series (IMHO) gets better as it goes along. And I really like the series and the authors. What you must understand is that the book you read was the first one written by the team of Weis and Hickman, and like most first time collaborations by somewhat inexperienced writers their first novel is normally not their best work. But as they become more experienced with their second novel and so on, their writing skills improve as do the books. But, I must add, I love the character of Fitzban in the first novel. A character that just makes me ROTFL!

Thank you for the advice!

[AndyC]

Nearly finished Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest. It's the first steampunk novel I've tried, and it's very good.

Yesterday afternoon was nice and sunny, so I took my boat out on the lake with my book and a few cans of pop, and just kind of drifted and gently rocked, and read in near perfect peace and quiet. I hate being interrupted when I'm reading, so it's hard to beat being surrounded by water, far enough from anything that the loudest noises are only faintly heard.