What are you reading - 2015 Edition

[Mantis]

Because this folder needs a little more oomph and I've been desperately trying to work my way through a hefty backlog of books this year. At the behest of my significant other I signed up to Goodreads.com and their reading challenge where you set a goal for how many books you want to read in the year and try to nail it. I'm always on and off with reading because my hobbies are so scattershot but having a record online of how much progress I'm making towards my challenge is actually more motivating than I realised it would be; a bit foot in mouth actually because I originally thought it was a stupid idea.

Anyway, I'm currently reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher. A sort of half baked noir crime novel about a private investigator who also happens to be a wizard. Bought it on a whim ages ago because I wanted to try a new series and it had previously been recommended by a friend. Turns out it's actually pretty awful, full of incredibly cliché and vague references to fantasy tropes which makes it feel like the author couldn't really be arsed to create a convincing world. Plus it features a not at all likeable protagonist, which makes the fact that it's written in the first person even more jarring. Would not recommend.

And worth a mention even though I read it in the tail end of last year, but Fevre Dream by G.R.R Martin turned out to be a cracking little novel. I've always enjoyed his style of writing but wasn't sure how well it would translate to a novel outside of the Ice & Fire mythos.

[Sly Boots]

Fevre Dream is great, read that about a year ago.

[Burberry Knight]

Fevre Dream is what I'm currently reading.

[Mantis]

'Sgood innit.

[Burberry Knight]

Aye,I'm definitely enjoying it, still less than halfway through. My reading is very sporadic, I can some times go weeks before reading in between chapters.

[Snowy]

Fantastic book.

I am currently reading Sword of the North by Luke Scull, follow up to his rather decent Grim Company. Best compliment I can give it: it's very Joe Abercrombie.

Also he worked on NWN and Dragon Age, so here in a games-y forum sounds a good place to mention that

[Scrappy]

Still slogging my way through Shogun . This book is good, but it's soooo long and not one you can really take a break from so I've restarted it and got 100 pages in. Decent read if you like your Japanese Samurai- Westernisation era stuff.

[Dr@gon-UK]

Alternating between chapters of these two -

and

Really not a good idea reading David Thorne in a public place, snorting latte out of my nose in Costa so attracts attention.

[Quietman]

If you like those sorts of books I can also recommend Ben Goldacre's books, lots of healthcare, big pharma, tabloid health reporting fuckery exposed.

[Sly Boots]

Still slogging my way through Shogun . This book is good, but it's soooo long and not one you can really take a break from so I've restarted it and got 100 pages in. Decent read if you like your Japanese Samurai- Westernisation era stuff.

Shogun is great. Probably the best of the Clavell novels, but Tai-Pan is also very good, and King Rat is worth reading as well.

[Snowy]

Shogun the book - good. Shogun the TV series - indescribably terrible (in a hammy camp kinda way).

[Scrappy]

Shogun the book - good. Shogun the TV series - indescribably terrible (in a hammy camp kinda way).

Yeah, I heard. I'm not going to even touch the series as this is pretty much what every single person has said on the book - Tv series

Still slogging my way through Shogun . This book is good, but it's soooo long and not one you can really take a break from so I've restarted it and got 100 pages in. Decent read if you like your Japanese Samurai- Westernisation era stuff.

Shogun is great. Probably the best of the Clavell novels, but Tai-Pan is also very good, and King Rat is worth reading as well.

Probably King Rat is my next purchase when I finish a few books. Definitely a fan of his writing.


And on another note I'm reading

The Last Wish - Andrzej Sapkowski - Witcher books. Great read so far, some very interesting stories and I'm really getting sucked into the world.

[Dr@gon-UK]

If anyone else likes David Thorne's humour he's got a new book out next month and he's spared NO expense on the ad -

[Snowy]

Just finished Robyn Hobb's latest, Fool's Quest - her books about Fitz the assassin are just great, each time I start reading a new one I groan to myself then end up loving the gentle, meandering stories that she weaves, even though Fitz himself always needs a damned good kick up the arse.

Now reading I'm The Man, Scott Ian from Anthrax' autobiography. Whether I stick with it or not, who knows

[Scrappy]

God damn yes. Not read Fools Quest just couldn't do it after what happened to Fitz at the end of the last three. Kinda summed up the story for me.

Currently reading Hyperion. Oh boy...I love this book. So damn much. His world is so fleshed out and his kind of writing is exactly what I want. He doesn't explain everything, and you find out a lot of what he's talking about later on in the book in terms of technology and the like. The story is told by a set of 6 flashbacks and tales told to other people with 20 or so pages of whats currently happening. Apparently it all comes together in the next book. Boy i'd have hated that if I was reading when it first came out. Cannot imagine having to wait a few years to read the second book.