I've read this right after my 2nd brain surgery. The nurses got quite worried by my laughter - they feared I'd gone mad. Carl Hiaasen always there to get me through harsh times. Love his books.
Wrapped up Glen Cook's Reap the East Wind last night. This is the first volume in the Last Chronicles of the Dread Empire trilogy, which closes out the Dread Empire series (supposedly). Curiously, it's also the first book to really go into any real depth within the Dread Empire - we've seen plenty of characters and a significant conflict between them and the heroes, but the plot of this book largely places Imperial characters in the role of protagonist. It was a bit short and had a couple of odd things going on structurally, but overall, I enjoyed it enough to immediately pick up An Ill Fate Marshalling. (with titles like With Mercy Toward None, An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat, A Shadow of All Night Falling, All Darkness Met and A Path to Coldness of Heart how can there be any doubt that this is an upbeat, optimistic light hearted trip into fantasy tropes?)
I am in the middle of reading "Ghost Stories", which is part of the Dresden Files. It's quite awesome.
I felt like those just got better and better.
It's pretty damn good.
Right now, I'm reading "Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. The reasoning is because I am part of a geek book club on FaceBook and it was decided we read it. I'm about halfway through and it's fair at best. Not loving it and it's a shame. I wanted to like it more than I am.
I try to read at least one classic a year that I haven't read before. This year I am reading "The Count of Monte Cristo". I am about 3/4 of the way through, it has gotten rather slow but still generally enjoyable.
Agreed. I am about 3/4 of the way through too and it basically stops once he returns to Paris. But that's 19th century french literature for you! Les Miserables was an amazing story that could have been 450 pages shorter. But it was the time of writers being paid by the word...
Yeah this Paris stuff alternates between interesting and super boring. I thought once they got out of Rome it would speed up haha. Anyway I am excited to finish it. I have a feeling that most of the questions I have wont get answered but I am ok with it. Like you said, its very 19th century french literaturey.
For the record, I finished it and it answered absolutely every question I had.
Wrapped up Glen Cook's An Ill Fate Marshalling last night. Pretty interesting in that it actually starts just before the previous volume Reap the East Wind, goes on to touch on that story at different points throughout it's own plot and then wraps up some short time after the previous volume ends.
Next on to A Path of Coldness of Heart to wrap up Cook's Dread Empire books followed by either James S.A. Corey's (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck's nom de plume) Leviathan Wakes or Scott Lynch's Republic of Thieves.
Finally finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I'm haviung a hard time deciding what to jump into next. maybe Split Second by Alex Kava just as a change of pace.
BTW I just started playing with the Calibre program and was wondering if there was any way to pull Kindle books from my I-Phone into Calibre, convert them to EPUB and slide them over to my Nook. Calibre recognizes my Nook as a device but not the I-Phone. I've had the program for about a year but just started playing with it over the weekend so any help would be appreciated.
Finally finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I'm haviung a hard time deciding what to jump into next. maybe Split Second by Alex Kava just as a change of pace.
BTW I just started playing with the Calibre program and was wondering if there was any way to pull Kindle books from my I-Phone into Calibre, convert them to EPUB and slide them over to my Nook. Calibre recognizes my Nook as a device but not the I-Phone. I've had the program for about a year but just started playing with it over the weekend so any help would be appreciated.
If you have iTunes open when your phone is connected and on the bottom of the apps tab there is a section for file management. You'll see the kindle app, select it and you should be able to move files to and from the app as you see fit.
Finally finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I'm haviung a hard time deciding what to jump into next. maybe Split Second by Alex Kava just as a change of pace.
BTW I just started playing with the Calibre program and was wondering if there was any way to pull Kindle books from my I-Phone into Calibre, convert them to EPUB and slide them over to my Nook. Calibre recognizes my Nook as a device but not the I-Phone. I've had the program for about a year but just started playing with it over the weekend so any help would be appreciated.
If you have iTunes open when your phone is connected and on the bottom of the apps tab there is a section for file management. You'll see the kindle app, select it and you should be able to move files to and from the app as you see fit.
Finally finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I'm haviung a hard time deciding what to jump into next. maybe Split Second by Alex Kava just as a change of pace.
BTW I just started playing with the Calibre program and was wondering if there was any way to pull Kindle books from my I-Phone into Calibre, convert them to EPUB and slide them over to my Nook. Calibre recognizes my Nook as a device but not the I-Phone. I've had the program for about a year but just started playing with it over the weekend so any help would be appreciated.
If you have iTunes open when your phone is connected and on the bottom of the apps tab there is a section for file management. You'll see the kindle app, select it and you should be able to move files to and from the app as you see fit.
So just drag and drop into the Calibre library?
I think you can do it that way, you can also save the files to a folder and then use the "Open" function under "File" to open it from there. You may need to download additional plug-ins for Calibre though, I had problems with newer DRM initially.
Finally finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I'm haviung a hard time deciding what to jump into next. maybe Split Second by Alex Kava just as a change of pace.
BTW I just started playing with the Calibre program and was wondering if there was any way to pull Kindle books from my I-Phone into Calibre, convert them to EPUB and slide them over to my Nook. Calibre recognizes my Nook as a device but not the I-Phone. I've had the program for about a year but just started playing with it over the weekend so any help would be appreciated.
If you have iTunes open when your phone is connected and on the bottom of the apps tab there is a section for file management. You'll see the kindle app, select it and you should be able to move files to and from the app as you see fit.
So just drag and drop into the Calibre library?
I think you can do it that way, you can also save the files to a folder and then use the "Open" function under "File" to open it from there. You may need to download additional plug-ins for Calibre though, I had problems with newer DRM initially.
gotcha, thanks. i'll give it a crack here ina couple of days.
Reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Enjoyable, if somewhat directionless and oddly-paced.
Grossman based the story structure of The Magicians on Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Not the typical story structure for a fantasy novel.
I really enjoyed The Magicians and The Magician King. Magician King is a bit more typical in its structure.
Far enough into it now where I see the directionlessness and odd pacing to be an integral part of the story.
Just finished The Magician King.
There's a Brakebills short story in the Dangerous Women anthology I bought for the Dresden Files story, then I'm caught up until the third volume comes out. Good stuff. Nice twists on traditional tropes. Good characters. Solid endings.
Reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Enjoyable, if somewhat directionless and oddly-paced.
Grossman based the story structure of The Magicians on Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Not the typical story structure for a fantasy novel.
I really enjoyed The Magicians and The Magician King. Magician King is a bit more typical in its structure.
Far enough into it now where I see the directionlessness and odd pacing to be an integral part of the story.
Just finished The Magician King.
There's a Brakebills short story in the Dangerous Women anthology I bought for the Dresden Files story, then I'm caught up until the third volume comes out. Good stuff. Nice twists on traditional tropes. Good characters. Solid endings.
Yeah, I need to read the short story. I doubt my library will get that one though. They tend to not get many anthologies.
Reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Enjoyable, if somewhat directionless and oddly-paced.
Grossman based the story structure of The Magicians on Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Not the typical story structure for a fantasy novel.
I really enjoyed The Magicians and The Magician King. Magician King is a bit more typical in its structure.
Far enough into it now where I see the directionlessness and odd pacing to be an integral part of the story.
Just finished The Magician King.
There's a Brakebills short story in the Dangerous Women anthology I bought for the Dresden Files story, then I'm caught up until the third volume comes out. Good stuff. Nice twists on traditional tropes. Good characters. Solid endings.
Yeah, I need to read the short story. I doubt my library will get that one though. They tend to not get many anthologies.
Only things I buy in hardback right now are Discworld and Dresden Files.
Reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Enjoyable, if somewhat directionless and oddly-paced.
Grossman based the story structure of The Magicians on Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Not the typical story structure for a fantasy novel.
I really enjoyed The Magicians and The Magician King. Magician King is a bit more typical in its structure.
Far enough into it now where I see the directionlessness and odd pacing to be an integral part of the story.
Just finished The Magician King.
There's a Brakebills short story in the Dangerous Women anthology I bought for the Dresden Files story, then I'm caught up until the third volume comes out. Good stuff. Nice twists on traditional tropes. Good characters. Solid endings.
Yeah, I need to read the short story. I doubt my library will get that one though. They tend to not get many anthologies.
Only things I buy in hardback right now are Discworld and Dresden Files.
You raise an interesting sub-discussion here: Which books are worth getting in hardcover. For me, at this point:
Stephen R Donaldson George RR Martin
My big frustration now is the trending toward going from Hardcover to TPB to MMPB. Much of what I've been reading is either first appearing in TPB or using it as an extra money making step in the process (I'm looking at you Erikson/Esslemont Malazan books!) The $5+ added to the price for what is frequently a poor quality of coverstock does not make this reader happy.
Been looking for it - I like to buy books in person rather than online. Not finding any copies in the brick and mortar stores in this area.
Barnes and Noble can order it for you.
I may have to break down and do that. I had a particularly bad experience with ordering through B&N.com that ended up costing me $. That was, admittedly, an order from home. At this point, I've taken the stance of not supporting their online division at all, including via in-store orders.
At this point, I'm starting to feel like I'm losing that particular crusade.
Been looking for it - I like to buy books in person rather than online. Not finding any copies in the brick and mortar stores in this area.
Barnes and Noble can order it for you.
I may have to break down and do that. I had a particularly bad experience with ordering through B&N.com that ended up costing me $. That was, admittedly, an order from home. At this point, I've taken the stance of not supporting their online division at all, including via in-store orders.
At this point, I'm starting to feel like I'm losing that particular crusade.
Finished Scott Lynch's Republic of Thieves. It was good, continued the plots from the first two and fleshed out the characters a bit more.. Can't wait for the next one.. The world building in which Lynch continues to develop is top notch..
Finished Scott Lynch's Republic of Thieves. It was good, continued the plots from the first two and fleshed out the characters a bit more.. Can't wait for the next one.. The world building in which Lynch continues to develop is top notch..
Good to know. This is on my short list to pick up.
I bought that from Tom at C2E2 last April but still haven't finished it. I think I only made it 50 or so pages in. I'm curious to know what you think.
I'm right around page 50 also. I'm enjoying it. I'm really curious about The Blue and what really happened to Ultimate. I think it's too early to judge where this story is really going but I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.
I bought that from Tom at C2E2 last April but still haven't finished it. I think I only made it 50 or so pages in. I'm curious to know what you think.
I'm right around page 50 also. I'm enjoying it. I'm really curious about The Blue and what really happened to Ultimate. I think it's too early to judge where this story is really going but I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.
i didn't dislike it. but i struggled with the structure a bit, i think. I found the flow interrupted a bit and i had a hard time gettign into the groove of the story. I may need to pick that up again and give it another crack.
Has anyone read S.? Written by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst. I'd never heard of it but got it for Xmas and it looks really interesting. It beautifully packaged with loads of little inserts. Just wondering if anyone had actually read it. It does get great reviews on amazon, but seems to be a little bit of an under the radar type thing.
Reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Enjoyable, if somewhat directionless and oddly-paced.
Grossman based the story structure of The Magicians on Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. Not the typical story structure for a fantasy novel.
I really enjoyed The Magicians and The Magician King. Magician King is a bit more typical in its structure.
Far enough into it now where I see the directionlessness and odd pacing to be an integral part of the story.
Just finished The Magician King.
There's a Brakebills short story in the Dangerous Women anthology I bought for the Dresden Files story, then I'm caught up until the third volume comes out. Good stuff. Nice twists on traditional tropes. Good characters. Solid endings.
Yeah, I need to read the short story. I doubt my library will get that one though. They tend to not get many anthologies.
Only things I buy in hardback right now are Discworld and Dresden Files.
You raise an interesting sub-discussion here: Which books are worth getting in hardcover. For me, at this point:
Stephen R Donaldson George RR Martin
My big frustration now is the trending toward going from Hardcover to TPB to MMPB. Much of what I've been reading is either first appearing in TPB or using it as an extra money making step in the process (I'm looking at you Erikson/Esslemont Malazan books!) The $5+ added to the price for what is frequently a poor quality of coverstock does not make this reader happy.
For me only Dark Tower books and Dresden Files books are stuff I both getting in hardback. Oh and Wild Cards novels.
Comments
Right now, I'm reading "Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. The reasoning is because I am part of a geek book club on FaceBook and it was decided we read it. I'm about halfway through and it's fair at best. Not loving it and it's a shame. I wanted to like it more than I am.
Next on to A Path of Coldness of Heart to wrap up Cook's Dread Empire books followed by either James S.A. Corey's (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck's nom de plume) Leviathan Wakes or Scott Lynch's Republic of Thieves.
BTW I just started playing with the Calibre program and was wondering if there was any way to pull Kindle books from my I-Phone into Calibre, convert them to EPUB and slide them over to my Nook. Calibre recognizes my Nook as a device but not the I-Phone. I've had the program for about a year but just started playing with it over the weekend so any help would be appreciated.
There's a Brakebills short story in the Dangerous Women anthology I bought for the Dresden Files story, then I'm caught up until the third volume comes out. Good stuff. Nice twists on traditional tropes. Good characters. Solid endings.
Stephen R Donaldson
George RR Martin
My big frustration now is the trending toward going from Hardcover to TPB to MMPB. Much of what I've been reading is either first appearing in TPB or using it as an extra money making step in the process (I'm looking at you Erikson/Esslemont Malazan books!) The $5+ added to the price for what is frequently a poor quality of coverstock does not make this reader happy.
At this point, I'm starting to feel like I'm losing that particular crusade.