Right, let's test this new baby out on making new threads.

Since our old thread disappeared, and doesn't seem as if it's ever going to come back, I'm starting a new one.

You'all know the drill.

I'm going to autocombust if this thread disappears as well. 

I'm reading a very controversial book called "The God Delusion " by Richard Dawkins.  I guess to discuss it in depth would break the forum rules.  Suffice it to say,the reviews on Goodreads end up pretty interesting and entertaining, and the comments on the reviews are even more of a circus.    I don't see why one cannot combine science and religion, but I dare not say more, just that statement probably is already forbidden on here.  MMmumble mumble mumble... 

Also reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.  I've been wanting to read this one for a long, long time.   ..but now it's slow going because... well, it's rather wierd.

Also reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , by Haruki Murakami which is also weird, but in a different way.

So because of all the weirdness and controversy, just to foil all of the above with some very lyrical, poetic writing, I'm moonlighting with The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsany.

If I may stretch the parameters of the thread a little, I've been re-reading The Phoenix Requiem, a rather enjoyable horror / Gaslamp Fantasy webcomic with lovely artwork.

The setting seems to be an alternate Victorian England (I'll confess that my history is weak; I take the use of that era from the page linked-to above), where the primary religion involves the worship of the Spirits, entities that are believed to have once both conducted human souls to the afterlife and given to humankind the gift of magic.  They, however, were contested by the "Hellions", who in the end settled for sealing both groups away.

The story begins with Jonas Faulkner, found near the village of Esk, lying in the snow bleeding from gunshot wounds.  It continues to follow him and those who he befriends in the town through the curious events that follow, and the momentous (and at times terrible) events that follow those...

If that doesn't count, I've been on-and-off reading an anthology of short horror- and fantasy- stories, which has seemed to have somewhat of a mix of stories that I enjoyed and stories that didn't overmuch interest me.

I'm reading Shadowplay by Tad Williams, the second in a quadrology. It's epic fantasy, huge world, lots of characters and POVs. I was underawed by the first book, but the second has me hooked. I read a lot of epic fantasy, and I'm very careful selecting them because they rarely have something that sets them above the rest. So far, I have to say that this latest William's series is enjoyable and hopefully at least as memorable as my favorite William's books - Otherland.

Tad Williams is on my list, Colpet.. for the longest time, actually, but so many books so very little time, and most of his works are very long. 

Which would you suggest I start with, when I do - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, the Otherland series, or The War of the Flowers?

@ Thamaturge -another thing which I've not been getting time for, is looking at more graphic novels.  Listen, I know I owe you a review on a story, will PM you tomorrow, ok?

Originally Posted By Traveller (11 JAN 2012 2:17pm)

Listen, I know I owe you a review on a story, will PM you tomorrow, ok?

There's no hurry - I don't want you to feel that you have to give your review, or that there's pressure for it to be done to some standard of punctuality. :/

If you have it ready, then I'd be glad to recieve it, however, and thank you. ^_^

Trav, I would recommend War of the Flowers since it is a standalone, and an interesting take on Faerie. The Otherland series would represent a commitment of more time, since there are 4 fairly hefty books in the series.  

Originally Posted By colpet (11 JAN 2012 4:30pm)

Trav, I would recommend War of the Flowers since it is a standalone, and an interesting take on Faerie. The Otherland series would represent a commitment of more time, since there are 4 fairly hefty books in the series.  

Thanks, Colpet, that's useful to know.  With so much to read out there, I definitely prefer shorter to longer. 

(Heheh, like they say:  Bigger is not always better...)

Trav,

Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is purposely confusing at the beginning because of the point of view of the character who is narrating it.  It won't make a lot of sense until you hear from other characters in the story.  If you read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, there was a similar technique used with the chief's inner dialogue at first.

I finished several mysteries by Iris Johansen, and am now reading The Scar, the second novel that takes place in China Miéville's New Crobuzon world.  So far, so good.  

Currently reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5.  It's terrible but in a good way.  Why didn't I discover Vonnegut earlier?

LadyK, I've decided to put Sound and Fury on hold until later in the year, when one of my groups at Goodreads will be reading it.

..and talking of New Cruzobon, Perdido Station by China Mieville is next on my list.

Hi all! Long time no see.

I'm currently recovering from surgery and have all the time in the world to read books. Not just two pages per night and then fall asleep as I usually find myself doing, but actually immerse myself in story and characters. Right now I have Freedom by Jonathan Franzen on my night table and only one quarter left. I don't want it to end I'm so intrigued by this family and their struggle with each other and themselves.

University has started and I'm seriously depressed about the amount of work I shall have to do.  

So now I'm reading I, Claudius by Robert Graves.  It's a good read and I'm astonished at some of the small personal details I've learnt (like how Cleopatra had children to Mark Antony) but I'm feeling overwhelmed at the moment.

I read and liked all three of the New Crobuzon novels, Trav, including Iron Council, which I recently finished.  The novels are only loosely connected storywise, but Miéville creates a very imaginative steampunk fantasy/sci-fi world of dirigibles, trains, strange races, robots, and magic.  I think the last one could have been trimmed a bit because I found myself wishing he'd get on with it in a couple of spots, but I love his use of language and juicy, interesting words.

Hello, Jelena!  It's good to see you here again.  I hope you heal up quickly from your surgery, but not until you get some more reading done.

I really liked I, Claudius and the sequel, Claudius the God, Caroline. I assume you also saw the wonderful tv series with Derek Jacoby as Claudius.  Siân Phillips, who played Livia in that series, was in a play called Lovesong I saw in London this past January and her performance was wonderful.

Any one else on here who have read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen? I'm towards the very end of it now and it would be nice to hear other opinions on it. Specially American voices, since even though Sweden is in many ways like America, being a western culture, it's also in many, many ways different. Reading Freedom I've been peeking into a window of an American family's house observing 'stay at home moms' and college sports just to mention two phenomena that I'm not very familiar with from my life.

@ LadyK:

I read and liked all three of the New Crobuzon novels, Trav, including Iron Council, which I recently finished. The novels are only loosely connected storywise, but Miéville creates a very imaginative steampunk fantasy/sci-fi world of dirigibles, trains, strange races, robots, and magic.

I ended up reading Jeff Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen instead, and found it very good.  You might want to try it.  I heard his Finch is even better though - I'll be giving it a whirl soon.

Originally Posted By Jelena (4 MAR 2012 3:40am)

Any one else on here who have read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen? I'm towards the very end of it now and it would be nice to hear other opinions on it. Specially American voices, since even though Sweden is in many ways like America, being a western culture, it's also in many, many ways different. Reading Freedom I've been peeking into a window of an American family's house observing 'stay at home moms' and college sports just to mention two phenomena that I'm not very familiar with from my life.

Hey there, Jelena!  Missing you both here and on Good Reads.  Well, I'm adding Freedom to my list.  I'll see how soon I can get hold of it, thanks for the recommendation. 

PS, I missed the post about you having surgery.  I hope everything went well, and is all better by now. 

Originally Posted By Caroline (29 FEB 2012 2:53pm)

University has started and I'm seriously depressed about the amount of work I shall have to do.  

 

So now I'm reading I, Claudius by Robert Graves.  It's a good read and I'm astonished at some of the small personal details I've learnt (like how Cleopatra had children to Mark Antony) but I'm feeling overwhelmed at the moment.

Hi.  I've been very bad.  I started working hard at the beginning of term, but have seriously slacked off by now... 

Re I, Claudius, I did find that the film series moved a lot faster than the book, (which is usually the case, isn't it? ) so I'm feeling sorry that I watched the series before attempting the books.

I finally finished  Hegel's The Philosophy of right. It was a slow read, and I felt like he was far too often using too many words to describe otherwise relatively simple concepts. I sometimes found myself forgetting what his point was halfway through a description, simply because it was so awkwardly written (or possibly translated). Not a book that I'll highly recommend, that's for sure. 

*edit* Why did the text turn red? *edit 2* Fixed

Originally Posted By Fnord (4 MAR 2012 9:18am)

I finally finished  Hegel's The Philosophy of right. It was a slow read, and I felt like he was far too often using too many words to describe otherwise relatively simple concepts. I sometimes found myself forgetting what his point was halfway through a description, simply because it was so awkwardly written (or possibly translated). Not a book that I'll highly recommend, that's for sure. 

*edit* Why did the text turn red? *edit 2* Fixed

Just in case you thought i'd read Hegel's "The Philosophy of Being"  i haven't, i just like the tortuousness of the quote i put in my sig....
Anyway, congrats if you've managed to read one of his work from front to back cover... 

Originally Posted By Traveller (4 MAR 2012 7:28am)

Hey there, Jelena!  Missing you both here and on Good Reads.  Well, I'm adding Freedom to my list.  I'll see how soon I can get hold of it, thanks for the recommendation. 

 

PS, I missed the post about you having surgery.  I hope everything went well, and is all better by now. 

Just finished Freedom yesterday late night. I'll truly miss the Berglunds.

Recovering from this surgery has taken longer than expected due to a couple of complications and an extra week at hospital.

But finally it has turned for the better.

Originally Posted By Jelena (5 MAR 2012 12:02am)

 

 

Recovering from this surgery has taken longer than expected due to a couple of complications and an extra week at hospital.

 

 

Sorry to hear about that, Jelena!  That can be so frustrating!

But finally it has turned for the better.

 

Good, I hope you now make a complete recovery!  ..and don't be a stranger, it was nice to hear from you again, I do sometimes think of you and miss you being around. 

Nice to see you again Jelena and I hope you make a speedy recovery.

I'm currently reading about alchemy and medieval medical beliefs which frankly, begger belief, but hey.... interstesting stuff.  Also got my nose into The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer.  It's very readable, packed with lots of interesting tidbits and is nicely divided into useful chapters.   So far I'm impressed.

I am reading The Walking Dead right now.

Not a book, a comic, but it'll do for the convo right now

I'm reading the Norwegian author Jo Nesbo's latest novel Gengångare. He writes crime stories that imo are better than most other in the genre. And Sweden and Norway have lots of crime story authors! I really don't know why that is so. I gues they make money.

His latest book might not be translated into Engslish yet, but I believe he's made a name for himself outside of Scandinavia as well. I used to read mostly crime stories for several years until I got so tired of the 'crime-story-swamp' I had ended in. Nowadays I enjoy the genre again but keep it to no more than every third book or so. I've never gotten into the fantasy or horror genres when it comes to reading although I do enjoy games from those genres.

Crime is the genre at the moment.  We have crime shows on our TV every blessed night on every damn channel and sometimes one after the other.   It's nothing but murder, murder everywhere.  And they wonder why society is becoming immune to death and suffering and the youth are more violent.