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What are you currently reading?


jwcarlson
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Movie thread got me thinking.  Also, searched and didn't see a reading thread other than favorite books.  If I missed it, please banish me to the shadow realm.

I am currently reading The Wheel of Time series (15 books, I think) by Robert Jordan.  I'm on book four The Shadow Rising.

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Edited by jwcarlson
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I just finished Elmer Kelton's "Many a River."  In my opinion he's a highly under-rated author, probably because his novels are set in Texas, and mostly in the 19th century, so he's thrown in with other Western writers.

I'd recommend his work even to people who usually don't care for Westerns.  His characters are ordinary people in real situations instead of 7' tall and bulletproof.

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I'm rereading the otherland series by tad williams (i love his books). Of his series this is my least favorite but i'm bored and the 6 books (wind of winter is one of them) I'm waiting for have not been published (another book i'm waiting for is stone door and yet another book is the sequel to dark age so we can finally learn the fate of the reaper of mars. So that is 3 of the 6 books I'm waiting to be published. I bet stone door will be last - sometime next century. Anyway in rereading the otherland series i'm realizing i forgot a lot of the details so it is a good read. I'm in the middle of book 2 of 4 and each is around 750 pages. Tad likes dense books with one too many characters. He has two books on my want to read list of unpublished books. I wish people would publish the books i want to read before i want to read them so i could read them when i want to read them.

 

Oh btw they now claim winds of winter will be release nov 2023. For those who wonder the books are like 10000000000 times better than the tv show. I read the books first - well the ones that were published. I wish there had never been a tv show so the other books could have been published faster.

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On 2/17/2022 at 2:22 PM, anewbie said:

I'm rereading the otherland series by tad williams (i love his books). Of his series this is my least favorite but i'm bored and the 6 books (wind of winter is one of them) I'm waiting for have not been published (another book i'm waiting for is stone door and yet another book is the sequel to dark age so we can finally learn the fate of the reaper of mars. So that is 3 of the 6 books I'm waiting to be published. I bet stone door will be last - sometime next century. Anyway in rereading the otherland series i'm realizing i forgot a lot of the details so it is a good read. I'm in the middle of book 2 of 4 and each is around 750 pages. Tad likes dense books with one too many characters. He has two books on my want to read list of unpublished books. I wish people would publish the books i want to read before i want to read them so i could read them when i want to read them.

I'm also waiting for Wind of Winter and The Doors of Stone.  I didn't particularly like A Wise Man's Fear, but I think Rothfuss writes beautifully.

 

I don't get too worked up about waiting on books.  Creativity can take time and I don't envy any author trying to tie up as many loose ends as books like WoW and TDoS.  I started a series called Gentlemen Bastards awhile back.  Three books and I SWEAR I'd heard it was a trilogy.  I got done with the third book and was like, man... that really didn't stick the landing.  Turns out he's planning on something like seven or more books!  Opps.

I don't avoid unfinished series, necessarily, but I do give extra points to series that are done or are nearly done with a prolific author like Sanderson or King (though King has had plenty of drawn out releases like The Dark Tower).

I still think it's a process and worth waiting for in a lot of cases.

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On 2/17/2022 at 2:30 PM, jwcarlson said:

I'm also waiting for Wind of Winter and The Doors of Stone.  I didn't particularly like A Wise Man's Fear, but I think Rothfuss writes beautifully.

 

I don't get too worked up about waiting on books.  Creativity can take time and I don't envy any author trying to tie up as many loose ends as books like WoW and TDoS.  I started a series called Gentlemen Bastards awhile back.  Three books and I SWEAR I'd heard it was a trilogy.  I got done with the third book and was like, man... that really didn't stick the landing.  Turns out he's planning on something like seven or more books!  Opps.

I don't avoid unfinished series, necessarily, but I do give extra points to series that are done or are nearly done with a prolific author like Sanderson or King (though King has had plenty of drawn out releases like The Dark Tower).

I still think it's a process and worth waiting for in a lot of cases.

The dark tower was pretty hokey - the last book tied up ends but it was not one of this better works. Now the stand (not a series) was a great book.

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My problem with the stone door is like it has been 100 years since he finished the last one. Rumour is that he never intended (or intends) to write the third book 😞

 

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On 2/17/2022 at 2:32 PM, anewbie said:

The dark tower was pretty hokey - the last book tied up ends but it was not one of this better works. Now the stand (not a series) was a great book.

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My problem with the stone door is like it has been 100 years since he finished the last one. Rumour is that he never intended (or intends) to write the third book 😞

 

I will eventually read The Stand, and have read a lot of other King.  He's one of my favorite authors.  I think The Dark Tower is great, actually my favorite series.  It's "not for everyone" though, like any book!

 

Not sure about that rumor, I just watched a stream where he read the prologue for DoS and talked about having more books in the same universe.  In any event, it's been ~10 years since TWMF, very similar timeline to the gap for GRRM after A Dance with Dragons.  I think TWMF and ADwD were both published the same year, if I'm not mistaken.  I'm not saying this is your attitude, but I've never understood the mentality that an author owes their readers something in some arbitrary timeframe.  Now, I know there's plenty of promising and stuff that isn't met... and that is cruddy.  

More than anything I just hope that any of these long-awaited books (when they do happen) live up to their fan's expectations. 🙂

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On 2/17/2022 at 2:30 PM, jwcarlson said:

. . . I don't avoid unfinished series, necessarily, but I do give extra points to series that are done or are nearly done with a prolific author like Sanderson or King (though King has had plenty of drawn out releases like The Dark Tower).

I still think it's a process and worth waiting for in a lot of cases.

I don't avoid them either, but I prefer series where each book stands on its own.

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On 2/17/2022 at 2:08 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I'm reading a classic I never picked up before thanks to a relative who bought me a special edition that is illustrated by Minalima (lots of cool illustrations, pop ups and small details). The story is not complex but a simple enjoyable read. 

Resized_20220217_104209.jpg.7b43af5c3e30d1e51e23bb905584b759.jpg

After I finish that book I'll be starting on this one: 

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I loved The Secret Garden when I was a kid and your edition is beautifully illustrated, what a treat.

I am reading:

 Hardcover Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal Book

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On 2/17/2022 at 6:51 PM, PineSong said:

I loved The Secret Garden when I was a kid and your edition is beautifully illustrated, what a treat.

I am reading:

 Hardcover Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal Book

I like canned tuna fish - well to be precise exactly one brand and one type from that brand; but i really like it. Does that qualify as an American Meal?

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Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft

Still new to reading as a hobby so I'm starting by going through some of the classics. Pretty sure At The Mountains of Madness is still going to be my favorite Lovecraft story by the time I'm finished with it though since Cthulhu is spending time with drawing out backstories on characters I just don't care about.  

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On 2/17/2022 at 3:22 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’m reading a bunch of brain candy from my kindle unlimited but recently finished Neal Stephenson’s newest book and Andy Weir’s Hail Mary. Both are excellent. 

I loved Project Hail Mary. I followed it up fairly closely with his Artemis, which was great too. Now I just need to finish one I'm in the middle of and a book club read with a deadline and then grab The Martian.

I'm currently reading Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. Then I need to read A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore by March 3rd for a book club I attend. And I just realized that gives me less than 2 weeks. Oops, I probably should have started it already.

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I occasionally read a good fiction book, I tend to lead more into history, self improvement, educational stuff. Besides devotional Bible reading, I'm currently reading From Paycheck to Purpose by Ken Coleman.  So far I'm enjoying it. Really making me do some deep thoughts and reflections about my career.

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If we count audiobooks, I'm currently re-reading Terry Pratchett's Disc World series for the umpteenth time. On Interesting Times right now. I basically do this yearly, around this time as a comfort thing, and a break from heavier reading. 

I'm seeing lots of books here I've read and loved, and other that I will be adding to that ever growing TBR list. It's nice to see that there are lots of readers in the FW side of the hobby as I haven't been on any forums since I got out of Reef tanks about 10 years ago due to a TBI. There is nothing better than spending some time by the tanks with a good book IMO. 

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On 2/24/2022 at 3:56 AM, CoriNotCory said:

If we count audiobooks, I'm currently re-reading Terry Pratchett's Disc World series for the umpteenth time. On Interesting Times right now. I basically do this yearly, around this time as a comfort thing, and a break from heavier reading. 

I'm seeing lots of books here I've read and loved, and other that I will be adding to that ever growing TBR list. It's nice to see that there are lots of readers in the FW side of the hobby as I haven't been on any forums since I got out of Reef tanks about 10 years ago due to a TBI. There is nothing better than spending some time by the tanks with a good book IMO. 

Audio books count for sure 🙂

I want to read Disc World someday, I actually own two of the books... Where do you suggest starting?

The vast majority of my reading is physical copy, but I do try to listen to some audio books while walking the dogs.  I can't find my bluetooth ear buds now, but if I could I would be listening every night doing my discus water change.  I greatly enjoyed "re-reading" The Dark Tower Series last year in audio format.  Was a good way of revisiting the series for me, which I've re-read quite a bit over the years.

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On 2/24/2022 at 4:42 PM, jwcarlson said:

Audio books count for sure 🙂

I want to read Disc World someday, I actually own two of the books... Where do you suggest starting?

The vast majority of my reading is physical copy, but I do try to listen to some audio books while walking the dogs.  I can't find my bluetooth ear buds now, but if I could I would be listening every night doing my discus water change.  I greatly enjoyed "re-reading" The Dark Tower Series last year in audio format.  Was a good way of revisiting the series for me, which I've re-read quite a bit over the years.

I can't really advise on a place to start, other than at the beginning because that's where I started. But even I admit that the first couple of books are not the best of the series. For me they establish the basis of the world enough that I find them very much worth reading. There are entire websites dedicated to the reading paths for the different series within the series. The Night Watch(main city police force shenanigans), Death, The Witches, etc. And there are what are essentially standalones, such as Small Gods. Google up "discworld reading order" and you'll find the maps and directions. I can't do it. Sometimes I get the urge to read from one storyline or another, but since I started reading them around middle school, they are kind of like family to me. 

This may not be a book nerd correct suggestion, but the original audio recordings are almost always available to listen to on youtube. I used to own those on tape, but they have long since given up the ghost, and I've bought so many copies of the books (paperbk and hard bk) over the years that I don't feel bad about it. I heard that Audible is doing the series soon as a cast performance which I think is great since the old audio versions are no longer available to buy. There are also some new hardback specialty editions available that are really lovely. I'm collecting them a couple at a time. 


Also, please don't watch any Discworld related visual media and judge the series by that. It simply does not translate well to that format. The narrative voice is where a lot of the story is. 

 

Happy Reading! 

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