Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Mefustae on May 27, 2008, 08:57:36 am
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For some darned reason, i've been reading a lot more recently. Of course, it's a pain in the ass to come up with good books, so I thought it'd be interesting to get an HLP perspective. We're all intelligent people (Dekker need not apply, :p), so it's logical to assume most of us are in the middle of a good book at the moment.
So, yeah, what's everybody reading at the moment?
Personally, i'm reading both American Psycho and Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South, and i'm keeping an eye out for some more Antony Beevor books after how much I adored Berlin and Stalingrad. I like to keep it eclectic.
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Just finished the Dark Mechanicus, now reading Harry Turtledove's Darkness series. Also waiting on my library booking of Jade Phoenix Trilogy.
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I just started "Star Wars: Republic commando: Hard Contact"
I just started chapter 3, and it's a good one.
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I just started "Star Wars: Republic commando: Hard Contact"
I just started chapter 3, and it's a good one.
Thats on my to buy list. Is it a good book ?
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I'm somewhere in book four of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, the Shadow Rising. I must finish the series...
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Re-reading the George RR Martin books while he finishes writing the next one!
(he's being slow about it)
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Re-reading the George RR Martin books while he finishes writing the next one!
(he's being slow about it)
Have you read Song of Ice and Fire ?
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I'm actually trying to read a few, at least when I can find the time: Speaker for the Dead, The Divine Comedy, 1985, and we. SftD is okay so far, but I'm only like six pages in or so. I started reading Dante about three months ago, and on top of the other books, I'm only a few cantos into Inferno. 1985 (no, I don't mean 1984), I'm reading for school. And I'm reading We just because it looked semi interensting.
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Too many books at once. But, uh, for example I'm going through Kevin J Andersons Saga of Seven Suns at the moment.
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I just finished 'Great Expectations' and I'm about to start 'Around the World in Eighty Days.' I'm trying to catch up on my 19th Century literature.
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I've been reading the sequels to Ender's Game recently, and am now on Children of the Mind.
Afterward, I plan on some Discworld novels.
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Afterward, I plan on some Discworld novels.
I recommend reading Night Watch. Its one of my favorite books of the series, beside the book where Death gets fired.
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I've already checked out Guards! Guards! and Soul Music... the library didn't have Nightwatch, at least at that branch.
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I've already checked out Guards! Guards! and Soul Music... the library didn't have Nightwatch, at least at that branch.
Ah. Guards! Guards! is also quite intresting; introduces one of the series' main characters. Soul Music is part of the Death series. Generally the Discworld books I read are from either one the Death series, or the Watch series.
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Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy and I want to see if I ever finish My System.
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Connor Kostick's Epic and Saga are good books, and BTW they kick major MMORPG butt. Take that, you ****ing soul-eaters!
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I'm nearly done reading Philip Palmer's Debatable Space. It's interesting; he fiddles around with formatting on a few occasions, although nothing ergodic. Something about it's not quite clicking for me, though. By the point I'm at the characters are doing some pretty epic things, but it doesn't feel as big as it should.
Part of it's because the book is short and Palmer glosses over a lot of things, but mostly I think it's because there's very little serious conflict. There's plenty of personal conflict between the characters, but they bowl over what ought to be daunting obstacles like they're not even there. They liberated an entire planet and the bad guys never even had a chance.
Quite a fun read, though.
Too many books at once. But, uh, for example I'm going through Kevin J Andersons Saga of Seven Suns at the moment.
Does that series improve after the first one? I've considered committing to the series but Hidden Empire was far from encouraging.
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I've been reading the sequels to Ender's Game recently, and am now on Children of the Mind.
Read up through Xenocide a couple years ago. Then didn't start reading Children of the Mind until a couple weeks ago, which I just interrupted with Invincible, the last of the Legacy of the Force books.
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JSTOR articles.
No one tell me how it ends.
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Too many books at once. But, uh, for example I'm going through Kevin J Andersons Saga of Seven Suns at the moment.
Does that series improve after the first one? I've considered committing to the series but Hidden Empire was far from encouraging.
It's about the same in the second book, as far as I've gotten. I liked the first book, however, as I'm a big fan of space opera.
I've also read obscene amounts of pulp, as well as discussed this hydrogue theory intensively before even stumbling over this series.
JSTOR articles.
No one tell me how it ends.
I must say they vary awfully much in quality.
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I haven't gotten around to reading any fiction in years. Maybe I should get back into it at some point.
At the moment, I am reading "Ten lectures on wavelets" and "Interpolation and sampling in Banach spaces of analytic functions." :p
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Re-reading the George RR Martin books while he finishes writing the next one!
(he's being slow about it)
Have you read Song of Ice and Fire ?
That's what I'm talking about. I'm waiting for the last 3 parts to come out. He's taking his sweet time
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I just started "Star Wars: Republic commando: Hard Contact"
I just started chapter 3, and it's a good one.
Thats on my to buy list. Is it a good book ?
It's good so far for me. And that's really saying something.
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Microsoft Windows EULA :nervous:
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Microsoft Windows EULA :nervous:
I hear it ends in a twist
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Yeah, Karajorma warned me all too late. By the time i clicked "yes i agree" Bill gates owned all my organs.......
I'm re-reading the dark tower series and the stand by Mr Stephen King.
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Your posts, obviously :P
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Your posts, obviously :P
Ownage.
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Non-Fiction: Fire In the Sky, Eric M. Bergund
Fiction: Finally got around to starting on the Discworld series. :P Just finished the first two, need to find the third.
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I recently read Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley and was quite impressed. It could have gotten preachy at any number of points, but took more of a morally ambiguous approach which made it much more interesting.
Also read Axis by Robert Charles Wilson which was so-so. Good writing, good characterization, but when the big climax finally happened, it didn't feel very climactic. (Ransom, I feel your pain.) Granted, this was the middle book in a trilogy, and almost all middle books seem to suffer from this in some way or another. The first book, Spin, was spot on, so I haven't written off the next one yet.
Currently reading Quantico by Greg Bear. I'd shelved this one for a long time because, although I generally like his writing, the topic didn't interest me as much as other books in the queue. I'm not far enough in to say anything other than his writing is still very immersive. The primary POV has changed each chapter, so I'm not quite sure who are the main characters and who are there for window dressing.
I've been thinking of re-reading Heads and Hardfought lately. I can still remember how much those made my jaw drop when I first read them years ago. Short, but very very good.
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Fiction: Finally got around to starting on the Discworld series. :P Just finished the first two, need to find the third.
Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin.
:wtf:
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Rereading the Redwall series.
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Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin.
:wtf:
Yes, haloboy, Discworld is that weird.
One of the main characters (and my personal favorite) is Death, aka Bill Door.
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Death doesn't really speak, you see, so there are no quotation marks on what he says.
But it's always in bolded all-caps.
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Also read Axis by Robert Charles Wilson ... the middle book in a trilogy...
Ah, good, I hope we finally meet some aliens.
I haven't read a good book for some time, been a while since I went to the librairy. I recommend Legacy of the Force, and anything written by Timothy Zahn. Oh, I also check out the fanfics on theforce.net.
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There's always www.fanfiction.net
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I haven't read a good book for some time, been a while since I went to the librairy. I recommend Legacy of the Force, and anything written by Timothy Zahn. Oh, I also check out the fanfics on theforce.net.
I like his Cobra series.
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Timothy Zahn is a really nice guy. He was a teacher at a twelve-week writing workshop I attended the past two years. Great conversationalist, full of funny stories.
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That's what I'm talking about. I'm waiting for the last 3 parts to come out. He's taking his sweet time
I'm trying to track down a relatively good condition copy of the first book. Not easy.
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There's always www.fanfiction.net
Unless you're going there for the MechWarrior/BattleTech section...
But seriously. ff.net is mostly a wasteland.
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/490259/
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Maybe I should put my short stories up there.
I see ngtm1r has some stories thar.
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I haven't read a good book for some time, been a while since I went to the librairy. I recommend Legacy of the Force, and anything written by Timothy Zahn. Oh, I also check out the fanfics on theforce.net.
I like his Cobra series.
I've read the first 4 LOTF novels but then college interrupted. I need to get the next one from the library. And right now I'm reading The Icarus Hunt by Zahn. I'm about 1/3 of the way into it and it's been really good so far. A lot of interesting twists. I need to pick up the Cobra series sometime as well.
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Now I've started on Jeff Lindsay's Dexter in the Dark. Man, this series is fantastic.
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I'm reading the Dune series. Currently im reading "children of Dune"
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Have located a pretty good condition copy of Song of Ice and Fire. I'm intending to buy asap and start straight away.
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Which one? Song of Ice and Fire is the name of the entire series.
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First book. A Game of Thrones. Very pleased with my acquisition.
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You will read all 4, then be pissed he isn't done yet.
I'm betting on it.
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Can I read one and be pissed he wrote it?
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Yes it's far cheaper that way
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the liner notes to f.o.a.d.
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Well. I'm a patient person. I'm waiting for the third Eragon book, and now I find that the kid's gonna write a 4th book.
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My siblings have read the Eragon books. I've only seen the film and have been told that it does no justice.
I'm reading the saturday papers. (Hard copies, call me old fashioned)
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Currently reading through a few books by Dean Koontz. "Intensity" and "Fear Nothing" notably, both of which are excellent. :yes:
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My siblings have read the Eragon books. I've only seen the film and have been told that it does no justice.
I'm reading the saturday papers. (Hard copies, call me old fashioned)
Yes. The film fails. Majorly fails at portraying the events in the first book accurately or even interestingly..
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In the book there are literally thousands of dwarfs. You're lucky to see 3 in the movie.
And please tell me that Stephenie Meyer has not been read in this thread. Please...
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And please tell me that Stephenie Meyer has not been read in this thread. Please...
Okay. Stephenie Meyer has not been read in this thread.
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And please tell me that Stephenie Meyer has not been read in this thread. Please...
Okay. Stephenie Meyer has not been read in this thread.
Good.
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My siblings have read the Eragon books. I've only seen the film and have been told that it does no justice.
I'm reading the saturday papers. (Hard copies, call me old fashioned)
Yes. The film fails. Majorly fails at portraying the events in the first book accurately or even interestingly..
Agreed, movie really sucked, to be blunt. The only thing the same were the names, and so much was skipped it's not even funny.
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I recently bought myself this beauty
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Serrano-Legacy-Omnibus-Sporting-Colours/dp/1841494844/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212278138&sr=8-3
Just need to find the time to read it, and then get Volumes 2 and 3
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Ive never read the Eragon books. they along with A christmas carol, moby dick and several others are on my list of "books to read at some point"
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A Christmas Carol is actually a book? :wtf:
(joking)
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I recently bought myself this beauty
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Serrano-Legacy-Omnibus-Sporting-Colours/dp/1841494844/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212278138&sr=8-3
Just need to find the time to read it, and then get Volumes 2 and 3
Nice.
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I just finished re-reading Chasm City :)
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Ive never read the Eragon books.
Probably for the best.
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Ive never read the Eragon books.
Probably for the best.
Why don't you like them?
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Ive never read the Eragon books. they along with A christmas carol, moby dick and several others are on my list of "books to read at some point"
Try NOT to read them. Although I did, the Eragon books are nothing too new nor great. Sure, a fine piece of literature for a 15 year old boy, but highly copied from LOTR and SW nevertheless, and we are not even talking about the extremely predictable storyline.
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Why don't you like them?
They're poorly written, cookie-cutter fantasy full of Mary Sue characters and amateur storytelling. Not to mention they're essentially just a mish-mash of concepts from better books. Paolini's mess represents much of what is wrong with the fantasy genre today.
It's awesome that he wrote a novel at that age, don't get me wrong. I don't blame Paolini for writing that gash, I blame him for not having the sense to realise his craft needs more time to grow.
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:lol: Actually i agree with you. I watched eragon cos my sister is a dragon nut...and i agree with something Johnathon Ross once said in a reveiw of the film. That it is basically Star wars with Dragons instead of Tiefighter/X-wing, swods in place of lightsabres, Magic in leau of the Force, Last of the Dragon Riders=last of the Jedi...A missing sibling...breaking into an enemy fortress to rescue a princess then joining hidden rebels
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:lol: Actually i agree with you. I watched eragon cos my sister is a dragon nut...and i agree with something Johnathon Ross once said in a reveiw of the film. That it is basically Star wars with Dragons instead of Tiefighter/X-wing, swods in place of lightsabres, Magic in leau of the Force, Last of the Dragon Riders=last of the Jedi...A missing sibling...breaking into an enemy fortress to rescue a princess then joining hidden rebels
tl:dr = star wars with magic and dragons.
Oh yea. Anyone reads the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher? They're my favorite series. I've read them all, and i'm trying to buy them all now.
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:lol: Actually i agree with you. I watched eragon cos my sister is a dragon nut...and i agree with something Johnathon Ross once said in a reveiw of the film. That it is basically Star wars with Dragons instead of Tiefighter/X-wing, swods in place of lightsabres, Magic in leau of the Force, Last of the Dragon Riders=last of the Jedi...A missing sibling...breaking into an enemy fortress to rescue a princess then joining hidden rebels
tl:dr = star wars with magic and dragons.
Oh yea. Anyone reads the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher? They're my favorite series. I've read them all, and i'm trying to buy them all now.
That's a show now, in case you didn't know.
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Why don't you like them?
They're poorly written, cookie-cutter fantasy full of Mary Sue characters and amateur storytelling. Not to mention they're essentially just a mish-mash of concepts from better books. Paolini's mess represents much of what is wrong with the fantasy genre today.
It's awesome that he wrote a novel at that age, don't get me wrong. I don't blame Paolini for writing that gash, I blame him for not having the sense to realise his craft needs more time to grow.
Well said, Ransom! Expressed my feelings precisely.
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That's a show now, in case you didn't know.
Already DL'd and watched it a long while back. The book and the show are very different, though.
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Always are.
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Yea, but they almost seem like two different series, the book and the show, I mean.
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Ah, just finished Soul Music, and Death is more and more awesome a character... as is Susan.
I'm trying to hunt down Hogfather now... I've heard the film version was quite good, both to fans of the books and people who'd never heard of Discworld.
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Try Borders. Or Kinokuniya if you have those shops.
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"Very Good, Jeeves!" by PG Wodehouse.
As if I needed further proof that I'm going to die alone and friendless.
It's actually a good read, though. I find Wodehouse's novels ponderous, but I enjoy his short stories.
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"Smoking Kills" by Golden Virginia......
Not bothered though.. :pimp:
Still reading Dark Tower series by Mister King.,