OT: Read a Book. Read many Books.

kdapiton · Post #621 » by **kdapiton** » Tue Jun 9, 2015 2:12 am

Any one here read the Map of Time by Felix J Palma?

kdapiton · Post #622 » by **kdapiton** » Tue Jun 9, 2015 2:13 am

majortom71 wrote:Hi Bulls fans!
Great thread, I'm currently reading the book American Gods and it's quite fascinating.
It's fantasy but more with the modern twist which I also like.

Any other fantasy books you guys would recommend. I know LOTR is the king of the hill when it comes to that genre but with my schedule I need something a little lighter. Thanks for any recommendations.

Can't go wrong with A Song of Ice and Fire. The Mistborn series is also a good one. Very good story but not too daunting.

23forever · Post #623 » by **23forever** » Tue Jun 9, 2015 6:35 pm

I really like "The Old Man and the Sea" for a summer read. It's a novella, intended by Hemingway to be read in one sitting. It's perfect for a day at the beach.

Stampiron · Post #624 » by **Stampiron** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:50 pm

dougthonus wrote:I recently read: The Girl with all the Gifts

It was really enjoyable. I probably wouldn't have read it had I realized it was zombie book, but seriously, read it despite that fact. It's awfully good.

Just read this on your rec and I thought it was great. Very similar lead character to Justin Cronin's The Passage, which is also a good PA zombie/vampire story.

bentheredengthat · Post #625 » by **bentheredengthat** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:16 pm

jc23 wrote:
bentheredengthat wrote:
jc23 wrote:Finished "War God" by Graham Hancock, it was ok, but im not sure i care to read the next two books in the trilogy.

I'm gonna try this. I'm a bit burned out on fantasy, so maybe a little historical fiction stuff might work for now.

Coolest thing about the book is the writer is very knowledgeable about history so its like reading a fiction story with "many" non fiction elements thrown in. Majority of the characters were real people.

I'm about 25% through this book.

The dialect is throwing me a little bit. Seems like the language is really contemporary in style which seems kind of strange for a historical piece. But he's definitely a good story teller.

kdapiton · Post #626 » by **kdapiton** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 3:09 am

Just getting in on Joe Abercrombie stuff now. Starting Half A King.

Post #627 » by **Michael Jackson** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 3:37 am

kdapiton wrote:Just getting in on Joe Abercrombie stuff now. Starting Half A King.

In my queue. Seems to be a ragarded writer.

waffle · Post #628 » by **waffle** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 4:29 am

Brought him up before. Love me some J. Abercrombie. The First Law series - so good.

ImSlower · Post #629 » by **ImSlower** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:00 am

Don't do Half a King, in my recommendation (he is absolutely one of my favorite authors). The First Law series is what you want. Half a King is very straightforward and more of a Young Adult themed book. You want to go to the really, really good stuff that is The First Law. First the trilogy, then 3 fantastic stand-alones set in the same world.

waffle · Post #630 » by **waffle** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 5:25 am

The bloody 9 - say no more....

League Circles · Post #631 » by **League Circles** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 12:22 pm

Has anyone been able to make it through "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy?

I want to say I'm half through it and have given up unless I can be convinced that it becomes good enough to finish.

Also people on here - Doug I think - have told me that The Stand by Stephen King isn't really good enough to spend the time on. Anyone else have any comments on that?

Magilla_Gorilla · Post #632 » by **Magilla_Gorilla** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:10 pm

Gar Paxdorf wrote:Has anyone been able to make it through "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy?

I want to say I'm half through it and have given up unless I can be convinced that it becomes good enough to finish.

Also people on here - Doug I think - have told me that The Stand by Stephen King isn't really good enough to spend the time on. Anyone else have any comments on that?

Just an incredible book. So incredibly bleak and almost painful at times to read. I don't know that I've ever been hit as hard by a book before as i was reading The Road.

Post #633 » by **DuckIII** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:17 pm

majortom71 wrote:Hi Bulls fans!
Great thread, I'm currently reading the book American Gods and it's quite fascinating.
It's fantasy but more with the modern twist which I also like.

Any other fantasy books you guys would recommend. I know LOTR is the king of the hill when it comes to that genre but with my schedule I need something a little lighter. Thanks for any recommendations.

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) is considered by most to be the best fantasy series, and even though I'm not a big fantasy reader (though I'm kind of becoming one) it is significantly better than any other fantasy I've read. Its in a class by itself.

I'd also strongly recommend the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. To be a trilogy, only two books released so far.

Sidenote: Note a huge American Gods fan.

Second Sidenote: Many consider it science fiction, but I think Frank Herber's Dune is more like fantasy. And its amazing.

Post #634 » by **DuckIII** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:20 pm

Magilla_Gorilla wrote:
Gar Paxdorf wrote:Has anyone been able to make it through "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy?

I want to say I'm half through it and have given up unless I can be convinced that it becomes good enough to finish.

Also people on here - Doug I think - have told me that The Stand by Stephen King isn't really good enough to spend the time on. Anyone else have any comments on that?

Just an incredible book. So incredibly bleak and almost painful at times to read. I don't know that I've ever been hit as hard by a book before as i was reading The Road.

Second the vote. Only book I've ever cried while reading, and I think that was like on the 12th page or something. A masterpiece. But so brutal.

If you like it, read Blood Meridian by McCarthy as well. A completely different type of read written in a completely different style, but also a masterpiece.

To Gar: I disagree about The Stand. Its worth the time to read it. Its not going to change your life or anything, but is entertaining.

Magilla_Gorilla · Post #635 » by **Magilla_Gorilla** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:30 pm

DuckIII wrote:
Magilla_Gorilla wrote:
Gar Paxdorf wrote:Has anyone been able to make it through "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy?

I want to say I'm half through it and have given up unless I can be convinced that it becomes good enough to finish.

Also people on here - Doug I think - have told me that The Stand by Stephen King isn't really good enough to spend the time on. Anyone else have any comments on that?

Just an incredible book. So incredibly bleak and almost painful at times to read. I don't know that I've ever been hit as hard by a book before as i was reading The Road.

Second the vote. Only book I've ever cried while reading, and I think that was like on the 12th page or something. A masterpiece. But so brutal.

If you like it, read Blood Meridian by McCarthy as well. A completely different type of read written in a completely different style, but also a masterpiece.

To Gar: I disagree about The Stand. Its worth the time to read it. Its not going to change your life or anything, but is entertaining.

Let me second Blood Meridian as a great book. Read it after The Road, so expectations were high but McCarthy delivered.

I also really enjoyed No Country for Old Men.

6_Rings · Post #636 » by **6_Rings** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:43 pm

gonna start reading this tonight.

bentheredengthat · Post #637 » by **bentheredengthat** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:12 am

bentheredengthat wrote:
waffle wrote:
bentheredengthat wrote:Also I need a good biography. I love inventors, game changers, and science. Anyone have any suggestions?

well, this covers all 3 - The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. TERRIFIC READ.

Thanks Waffle! it's officially on the summer reading list!

Holy crap! I just bought this. It's 900 pages long

My brain is ready... here I go...

Post #638 » by **dougthonus** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:00 am

majortom71 wrote:Hi Bulls fans!
Great thread, I'm currently reading the book American Gods and it's quite fascinating.
It's fantasy but more with the modern twist which I also like.

Any other fantasy books you guys would recommend. I know LOTR is the king of the hill when it comes to that genre but with my schedule I need something a little lighter. Thanks for any recommendations.

As someone who loves fantasy, let me say, I really don't care for LOTR. Many aspects of the story have become so cliche due to all the derivative works that it's simply not that great to me. The writing is very tedious and many aspects of it are really just kind of silly compared to more realistic fantasy works.

Great fantasy series IMO:
A song of ice and fire - George R.R. Martin
This series is epic overall, it is the best fantasy series written IMO, only con is that it might be another decade before Martin finishes the last two books.

Kingkiller chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
This is quite a bit different than Martin's work but similarly great. It's a three book series with book three likely out next year.

StormLight Archive, Mistborn, or Elantris - Brandon Sanderson (I am a huge Sandeson fan boy)
Stormlight archive is similar to the above books in that is very deep with great story telling and lengthy. Mistborn and Elantris are both really great, Mistborn is three books (+4th in the same world but set way in the future) and is very good while Elantris is a single novel.

A Raven's Shadow series - Anthony Ryan
He has two books done. I'm a really loved the first, the second took me longer to get through though, but overall very good if somewhat traditional fantasy style writing.

Bobby Dollar series - Tad Williams (Most of Tad's work I find decent to good, but this was my favorite)
Bobby Dollar series has a ton of humor in it and just a joy to read compared to some of the other fantasy which can feel kind of weighty all the time.

Powder Mage series - Brian McClellen
This one felt really unique and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nice overall story that felt suitably different than other stuff. Not as epic as some of the above but a very strong effort.

bentheredengthat · Post #639 » by **bentheredengthat** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:17 am

dougthonus wrote:
Kingkiller chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
This is quite a bit different than Martin's work but similarly great. It's a three book series with book three likely out next year.

Whenever that third book comes out I'm going to have to re-read the first two to get caught up.

But I'm REALLY looking forward to that.

majortom71 · Post #640 » by **majortom71** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:35 am

dougthonus wrote:
majortom71 wrote:Hi Bulls fans!
Great thread, I'm currently reading the book American Gods and it's quite fascinating.
It's fantasy but more with the modern twist which I also like.

Any other fantasy books you guys would recommend. I know LOTR is the king of the hill when it comes to that genre but with my schedule I need something a little lighter. Thanks for any recommendations.

As someone who loves fantasy, let me say, I really don't care for LOTR. Many aspects of the story have become so cliche due to all the derivative works that it's simply not that great to me. The writing is very tedious and many aspects of it are really just kind of silly compared to more realistic fantasy works.

Great fantasy series IMO:
A song of ice and fire - George R.R. Martin
This series is epic overall, it is the best fantasy series written IMO, only con is that it might be another decade before Martin finishes the last two books.

Kingkiller chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
This is quite a bit different than Martin's work but similarly great. It's a three book series with book three likely out next year.

StormLight Archive, Mistborn, or Elantris - Brandon Sanderson (I am a huge Sandeson fan boy)
Stormlight archive is similar to the above books in that is very deep with great story telling and lengthy. Mistborn and Elantris are both really great, Mistborn is three books (+4th in the same world but set way in the future) and is very good while Elantris is a single novel.

A Raven's Shadow series - Anthony Ryan
He has two books done. I'm a really loved the first, the second took me longer to get through though, but overall very good if somewhat traditional fantasy style writing.

Bobby Dollar series - Tad Williams (Most of Tad's work I find decent to good, but this was my favorite)
Bobby Dollar series has a ton of humor in it and just a joy to read compared to some of the other fantasy which can feel kind of weighty all the time.

Powder Mage series - Brian McClellen
This one felt really unique and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nice overall story that felt suitably different than other stuff. Not as epic as some of the above but a very strong effort.

Thanks for the recommendations! I will certainly check these out, a friend of mine mentioned the Discworld series would you know anything about this? Also I really enjoyed the Earthsea chronicles, anything similar you would recommend?