Maybe because his books are verrrrrryyyyyy sloooooowwww gooooing.
What are you reading?
- Thread starter Bone2pick
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Maybe because his books are verrrrrryyyyyy sloooooowwww gooooing.
I'm currently reading the first book of Earthsea. It's really small so including huge breaks, it took me a day. I have 30 pages left.
I picked it up because it's highly praised. Honestly, in the first sixty pages, I was confused over why people enjoyed it so much. My bad memory did not enjoy being bombarded with this much world building, summary, and little plot progression.
But after the inciting incident (which took around 70 pages), I really started to enjoy it, and I truly loved the underlying message and the mystery behind the shadow. I would love to see how it ends.
I don't read much fantasy. I think the only fantasy I read were the 14 or so volumes of Wandering Witch. A reason I wanted to give the genre another try is because somehow, I seem to be good at writing it. Every time I write fantasy, it's clear that people enjoy it a lot better than what I usually write.
I picked it up because it's highly praised. Honestly, in the first sixty pages, I was confused over why people enjoyed it so much. My bad memory did not enjoy being bombarded with this much world building, summary, and little plot progression.
But after the inciting incident (which took around 70 pages), I really started to enjoy it, and I truly loved the underlying message and the mystery behind the shadow. I would love to see how it ends.
I don't read much fantasy. I think the only fantasy I read were the 14 or so volumes of Wandering Witch. A reason I wanted to give the genre another try is because somehow, I seem to be good at writing it. Every time I write fantasy, it's clear that people enjoy it a lot better than what I usually write.
I’ve never read anything from him, but I do have A Perfect Spy on my bookshelf. I’d like to get to it before the year’s end.
He's the man. This particular one I'm reading just took a long time to get going.
smileys people and tinker tailor are probably my favourites, although i prefered len deighton, shadow of shadows and the hook line sinker series
After finishing El Borak and Other Desert Adventures, I circled around to The Bloody Crown of Conan to finish my Conan reread with “A Witch Shall be Born” and The Hour of the Dragon.
“A Witch Shall be Born” has a lot of fun concepts and visuals—Conan crucified, the emergence of Thaug from the Temple of Ishtar, the entire character of Salome—but a lot of what should be the most interesting parts of the story are related secondhand, which undercuts the whole thing.
I’m still early in my reread of The Hour of the Dragon, but I’m already reminded of how it reads like a greatest hits album of all Howard’s other stories with Conan. Great fun, and if you’re chronological read of the stories, it offers a satisfying ending.
I’m also reading through the Swords & Heroes e-zine over on Substack. The stories themselves feel a little uneven so far, but there’s a lot of variety and some real gems.
“A Witch Shall be Born” has a lot of fun concepts and visuals—Conan crucified, the emergence of Thaug from the Temple of Ishtar, the entire character of Salome—but a lot of what should be the most interesting parts of the story are related secondhand, which undercuts the whole thing.
I’m still early in my reread of The Hour of the Dragon, but I’m already reminded of how it reads like a greatest hits album of all Howard’s other stories with Conan. Great fun, and if you’re chronological read of the stories, it offers a satisfying ending.
I’m also reading through the Swords & Heroes e-zine over on Substack. The stories themselves feel a little uneven so far, but there’s a lot of variety and some real gems.
Child of a Rainless Year. Jane Lindskold
Currently working on K. J. Parker's Devices and Desires. Not a bad book, but really not what I was looking for at the moment. I'm only like 30 pages in, so haven't given it a proper chance. I like some of the humor so far, it's pretty subdued and snarky in a way I can stand behind. I gotta fucking get away from it and try again later, I guess.
Also been reading The Invisible Library by Genivieve Cogman, and I like it a lot, it's pretty much up my alley. I just get the usual trouble I do with audiobooks where I can't pay attention for shit. I like most of what I've seen so far, it's a good story.
Apart from that I've been dipping into some more esoteric stuff lately. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Terzin Wangyal Rinpoche is one such. A very fascinating read that hits a few of my personal obsessions. Got The Tibetan Book of the Dead lined up for afterwards.
Also been reading The Invisible Library by Genivieve Cogman, and I like it a lot, it's pretty much up my alley. I just get the usual trouble I do with audiobooks where I can't pay attention for shit. I like most of what I've seen so far, it's a good story.
Apart from that I've been dipping into some more esoteric stuff lately. The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Terzin Wangyal Rinpoche is one such. A very fascinating read that hits a few of my personal obsessions. Got The Tibetan Book of the Dead lined up for afterwards.
secrethousemate
New Member
Having finished The Dead Zone by Stephen King, I am now browsing through a local history book The Borders by Alistair Moffat. The Borders in question being the border region between England and Scotland. Interesting factoid from this book so far: The whole region is rising by approximately 55cm per century in places, due simply to the vast weight of ice (it was 200 metres thick on average across Northern Britain) having been removed from the land by the melting of the ice sheets that happened about 15,000 years ago. In total the land has risen by as much as 100 metres so far.
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The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. "A delightful jaunt throughout the history, development, and extraordinary peculiarities of the English language" (according to the blurb) and it seems to live up to the promise.
There doesn't seem to be an answer to that. *shrug* Because ... they want to go down in history as having achieved something, and they don't care if it's good or bad?
Just finished Anima Rising by Christopher Moore. Lots of good lines and general absurdity. Gave it to my husband to read and am curious as to what his reaction will be.
Yesterday afternoon, I reread Sue Grafton's B is for Burglar. I wanted to start rereading with A, but it wasn't in the library.
Next in line is a history book, Extreme Civil War by Matthew M. Smith, about guerilla warfare in the Trans-Mississippi. I've been looking forward to reading it, but it is one of those university press books that skimped on type size, no doubt to save money at the price of readers' eyesight. I don't expect all books to be large print versions, but c'mon. It's pretty challenging to focus on a whole text in print the size usually used for footnotes.
Yesterday afternoon, I reread Sue Grafton's B is for Burglar. I wanted to start rereading with A, but it wasn't in the library.
Next in line is a history book, Extreme Civil War by Matthew M. Smith, about guerilla warfare in the Trans-Mississippi. I've been looking forward to reading it, but it is one of those university press books that skimped on type size, no doubt to save money at the price of readers' eyesight. I don't expect all books to be large print versions, but c'mon. It's pretty challenging to focus on a whole text in print the size usually used for footnotes.
Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock. I’d started this one on Audible a while back, but I don’t think audio fiction is for me (too easy to get distracted and lose my place), so I went and grabbed the ebook version instead. Since this volume collects four books, it feels like quite the steal.