Books discussion

[fragger]

Thanks muchly Fiach, sounds like a cool read :) :-X I love a twisting, turning book trip, especially when it's clad in a thick hefty tome that I can get my metaphorical teeth into. Would you classify the story as sci-fi, thriller, or something else altogether? Not that it matters much to me, I'll read anything if it's engrossing and original. Hell, I'll read all six sides of a cereal box if I'm in the mood for a read and nothing else presents itself.

And thanks for the warning about the killjoy reviews, I'll remember not to look :-()

Btw, there is a book thread, it's here (it hasn't been accessed for a while - too much gaming going on, apparently ;D):

http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1081.0

You'll be interested to note that this book thread was your idea originally ;)

[Fiach]

Personally I tend to favour the Kellogg's cereals circa 1972   >:D

Well, tbh mate it runs the gamut of many genres, lets put it like this, imagine a book written by Robert Ludlum, Stephen King and Michael Crichton, with Fallout 3 as a backdrop and you wouldnt go far wrong.

But yeah, stay away from the reviews, they are all very good, so you would only get an endorsement of what I have said, plus spoilers  :D

[Art Blade]

the ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

Let's see if I picked that one up correctly by replying "well, there is still Brandon Sanderson who might finish it"  ;D

[Art Blade]

Btw, there is a book thread

merged  :) :-X

[Fiach]

LOL wondered why I couldn't post a reply there, so here it is :

the ending is perfect, so you dont need to worry about the author dying and the series being unfinished.

Let's see if I picked that one up correctly by replying "well, there is still Brandon Sanderson who might finish it"  ;D

LOL :)

The biggest travesty so far is that a bunch of hacks are writing (the deceased) Robert Ludlum novels sequels, they are CRAP!!!!  :D

I used to read a series of books by a fantasy author called Stephen Donaldson (kind of lord of the rings books), I remember waiting years between the 5th and 6th books, it was excruciating!

He since wrote another trilogy, which turned into a quadrilogy at about 1 book per 2 years, so although I have the books all except the last one, I'm afraid to start reading them, in case the fecker pops his clogs and doesnt finish them  >:D

[Art Blade]

I thought you were referring to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time :)

The author died in 2007 while working on what was planned to be the final volume in the series, although he had prepared extensive notes so another author could complete the book according to his wishes. Fellow fantasy author and long-time Wheel of Time fan Brandon Sanderson was brought in to complete the final book, but during the writing process it was decided that book would be far too large to be published in one volume, and would instead be published as three volumes as large as, or larger than, any previous book in the series. The first volume was published in 2009 under the title The Gathering Storm.[2] The final two books are called Towers of Midnight (released November 2, 2010) and A Memory of Light (slated for a March 2012 release).

[Fiach]

Ah, the name threw me, I never heard of that guy, where I have heard of Robert Jordan, actually The Wheel of Time is also a PC game, its a FPS, but with spells, a very good game too, especially if you are a fan of his books :)

[Art Blade]

A trilogy of my favourite fantasy books are by Brandon Sanderson. The books are connected but you don't have to read them in a row. However, if you think you'd like to read a really nice fantasy story, go from 1 to 3.

1) Elantris
2) Mistborn <-- I like this one best, most excellent. You don't need to read 1 or 3 for that.
3) Well of Ascension

If you're more into bloody medieval battle fantasy, read Joe Abercrombie or Poul Anderson. :)
If you're more into space sci-fi, read Orson Scott Card :)
If you're more into witchcraft + detective/thriller fantasy, read Jim Butcher :)

[deadman1]

I just finished Isaac Azimov´s "Foundation" series, and I must say they were as good as I´ve heard. There´s five books in total and they can, and probably should, be read as as two part parts. The first three books would be part one, with four and five making up part two. The reason for this is that Azimov originally wrote books 1-3 as a trilogy and it was some years after the publication of them that he wrote books 4 and 5. Now I´m back reading one of my favorite books " The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, I was lucky enough to find it in english and not translated to swedish so now I can enjoy all of Adams absurdities as they were meant to enjoyed.  :)

[Fiach]

I havent heard of any of those Art, I'll keep an eye out for them, cheers :)

[JRD]

Now I´m back reading one of my favorite books " The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

I love that book... have you read the other three adventures of the same chaps?
The restaurant at the end of the universe is the second book, Life, the universe and eveything else the third and So long and thanks for all the fish the fourth and last!

Books two and four are great, but not as great as the original, book three is crap, but still worth reading!

If Monty Python were to write a sci-fi book it would be much like those!  ;D

Right now I'm reading Umberto Eco's Baudolino that takes place in medieval times, around Constantinopla, the Byzantine Empire and all Italian city states from the XIII century.

Next in line is Alexandre Duma's The three mosqueteers!!!

I love reading the classics!  :-D

[Fiach]

So many people have recommended the HH Guide, but I have never read any of his books.

I just dont get alot of the british humour, especially the quirky stuff like Red Dwarf or The league of gentlemen (even though my dad was english), I find alot of it purile and quite frankly crap. I know its just personal taste and yes I do have quite a (ascerbic) sense of humour, but my dislike of some of the above named stuff has put me off trying the likes of Douglas Adams.

I loved Fawlty Towers and only some of Python stuff, I hated the films for example, but love the parott sketch and the cheese shop sketch.

I think I should bite the bullet and get some DA reading material lol :)

The only Eco book I have read is The Name of the Rose (kinda predictible really lol :)), but it was great even though it was translated (iirc) into english.

[fragger]

I love reading the classics!  :-D

Speaking of which, I recently read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. As expected, the departure between the original novel and the movies based on it was enormous. Far from being a shambling, bolt-necked hulk with a childlike awareness inside a flat head, the "monster" in the book is highly intelligent and possessed of superhuman physical ability, though still hideous to look at, as you would expect a walking conglomerate of dead peoples' body parts to be. Therein lies the irony - the creature is in effect a perfect being, internally at least, but his hideous physicality causes him to be an outcast. He's actually the most human character in the story, as opposed to his creator who is the real monster of the piece.

Many consider Frankenstein to be the first sci-fi novel (written in 1818) since the events in the story result from misuse of science. Shelly doesn't go into specifics about how Victor Frankenstein actually fashions his creation as the story is about the dangers of perverted science, not the science itself. But mostly the story is about how we define "humanity".

The most impressive thing of all is that Shelly was only eighteen when she wrote this - eighteen going on fifty, apparently.

There is one exception to what I said before about the movies. There's a made-for-television one called "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" with Robert De Niro as the creature and Kenneth Branagh as Frankenstein. This film is not half bad and is thus far the most faithful adaptation of the book.

[deadman1]

Now I´m back reading one of my favorite books " The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.

I love that book... have you read the other three adventures of the same chaps?
The restaurant at the end of the universe is the second book, Life, the universe and eveything else the third and So long and thanks for all the fish the fourth and last!

Books two and four are great, but not as great as the original, book three is crap, but still worth reading!

Actually there´s five books in the series, the last one is called "Mostly harmless" and I have all of them in one volume for easy reading. If you like HH you might be interested in checking out the books about Dirk Gently also written by Douglas Adams. The have the same absurd style as HH and they are a good read if you like that sort of stuff.

[Art Blade]

fragger, thanks for that post of yours regarding Frankenstein :) :-X

As to reading classics.. nah.. not any more. Did that when I was younger.. Now I like the idea of reading stuff that has been released recently and the authors being still alive and writing :) Actually, some of them publish parts on the net and respond to reactions from their readers, sometimes it makes them change parts if they receive useful suggestions.. interesting :)

[fragger]

Back when the Firaxis game company was developing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri a similar process took place. A professional writer was hired to concoct a background story for the game, which was posted chapter by chapter on the Firaxis website, and viewers were encouraged to give feedback and advice which would sometimes result in chapters being re-written or retroactive changes being made to the story or characters. This cooperative effort between writer and readers was an intriguing process and resulted in a surprisingly solid sci-fi story.

[Art Blade]

indeed, that's exactly what those authors did :) It must have been cool back in the day to read great authors when they were still alive, now some of their works have become "classics" -- I like the idea that someone who wrote a book which I enjoyed is still active and publishing. Joe Abercrombie from the UK, Brandon Sanderson and Jim Butcher from the USA are still publishing, to name a few, and I had been waiting for some of their books to be released which happened in the meantime and I read those books when they were still warm  ;D

[fragger]

...It must have been cool back in the day to read great authors when they were still alive, now some of their works have become "classics"

In a bookstore in 1869:

"What? You're still out of stock of War and Peace? Forget it - I'll get it via telegraph from Amazon!"

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[Art Blade]

Joe Abercrombie
-The trilogy of the Blade
-Best Served Cold (kind of a sequel)

By the way, the Fantasy trilogy is comprised of
- The Blade itself
- Before They Are Hanged
- Last Argument Of Kings

and Best Served Cold is like a spin-off, characters and places already known make the story feel as if returning to a familiar time and place.

Now, finally, Joe Abercrombie has just released his new Fantasy book "The Heroes" in the UK and I have received my copy today (YAY!) -- already into it, 37 pages so far, and oh boy what a pleasure it is again. Although it is a stand-alone story, it does again make use of characters and mentions events known from those previous books, you feel immediately at home.. immersive :)

[fragger]

It's the Blade himself! :-D

Enjoy the new installment, Art. There's nothing like a good book that really hooks you in :-X

[Art Blade]

I had picked my name before I found out about his books :-D

And yes, it feels great. I really enjoy reading his stuff, I like his sense of humour a lot  :)

[Fiach]

Game of Thrones.

A recent TV series, I had not seen it until after I read the book, while the TV series is quite faithful to the book, the actors were quite wooden.

The book is the first in a series of (probably) six in total, I have read the first and most of the second and cant wait to get stuck into the rest.

The story charts the history of The Seven Kingdoms, told through the eyes of the main families. Chiefly among these would be The Starks (the good guys) and The Lannisters (the bad guys). The author George RR Martin has woven a rich tapestry of action packed stories, Chivalry, politics, love and honour into a series of books describes as a cross between Ivanhoe and The War of the Roses (not the Danny Devito film :)).

Populated by great characters (sometimes it can get a bit confusing as there are so many), each chapter is dedicated to one character as they deal with the trials and tribulations the story presents them with. As the seven kingdoms go to war with each other, in the extreme north, The Nightwatch are battling against a supernatural foe, while across the sea a deposed princess and her brother are seeking alliances to help their return to the Seven Kingdoms to reclaim their throne.

A great story well told :)

[Art Blade]

That sounds interesting.. Reminds me a little of Joe Abercrombie's trilogy and additional books (I read them all, loved them). Only that he writes in a way that makes me think, finally someone who packs some gore and blood in a very, very dark way (including sense of humour) suitable for grown-ups.  :-() "If you're fond of bloodless, turgid fantasy with characters as thin as newspaper and as boring as plaster saints, Joe Abercrombie is really going to ruin your day. A long career for this guy would be a gift to our genre." -- Scott Lynch

I'll keep your recommendation in mind, Fiach, cheers  :-X

[Fiach]

I never heard of Joe Abercrombie, I wiki'd him, looks interesting, I'll keep an eye out for his books, thanks :)