Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I think everything of Neil Gaiman's is worth reading - he's one of my favourite writers. But a real stand-out for me is "Neverwhere".

Does Neverwhere have vampires, wizards, or paranormal elements? The book's description is vague. Thanks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

I don't know about your other choices, but if you're just starting Discworld I wouldn't start with the first two books (though I know there are others who disagree with me). Possibly start with one of the more standalone books like Small Gods, Moving Pictures, or Pyramids (personal recommendation would be Small Gods). OR you could start one of the other series-within-a-series, such as the Death series which begins with Mort or the Watch series beginning with Guards! Guards! The Wizards and Witches books are, to my mind, better read after one has a feel for the setting and situation.

I read Thief of Time, the last Death book, first, when I was eleven. Then Equal Rites, then I started from the beginning and have been reading them in order ever since. If I had read the first two books first I'm not sure I would have kept going (not that they're bad books, they're just very different to the other books, and to be honest, they're nowhere near the standard of most of the others).

Just an opinion though! Really, start anywhere in the series and you'll be golden, they're all great books (well, all the ones I've read).

(Also, sorry if you're not actually new to the series and I'm just blathering pointlessly.)

I have to highly disagree. If PB is new to Discworld, the way to read is in published order. If you skip the first two books, you miss a lot of information you do need for other books. Terry does not recap and he does refer back to previous books. So you miss out on things you'd not have missed out had they been read in order. You don't want to jump into a book that has characters that were introduced in other books.

It's gives the best overall read to read in published order.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Cruise reading... so... what of all the "stuff you have read" above would you recommend for my cruise? I figure I can get a book or two read.

I was thinking of getting a good start on a series, which all or many books are available. Two possibilities are:

A Game Of Thrones... there first 4 books are available as a bundle for kindle for $30.

Discworld... ok, so no way I can read all these on a 4 day cruise... but I expect I could get a book or two read.

Any other great SF/Fantasy trilogies out there? Keep in mind I've read LoTR, Shannara, Sward of Truth, Belgariad and some other pretty popular ones.

BOb

On the last cruise I took, I read Hyperion. It was quite enjoyable. I still need to start the second book in the series. After I finish 11/22/63 (would also be a good cruise book) I'm going to read Hogfather.

Have you read all of the Shannara books? If not, get the next one and give that a read.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Hmm... interesting.

I have listed to the Chalion books on Audio. Actually, listened to the first one and about 1/2 through the second one.

Edit: Just looked these aren't available for Kindle yet. Are there ebooks of this somewhere, perhaps Bane?

What are all those "Miles" books?

BOb

Another series I have waiting to read is the Green Rider series by Kristin Britain.

Green Rider
1. Green Rider
2. First Rider's Call
3. The High King's Tomb
4. Blackveil

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

Books I'd absolutely recommend for the beginner are:

• Small Gods
• Mort
• Guards! Guards!

I have to very much disagree. Good way to ruin the series. Terry says the way to read is in published order and I have to agree.

Even if you find the first two books hard to read, they are still important to have read before moving on.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Does Neverwhere have vampires, wizards, or paranormal elements? The book's description is vague. Thanks.

"Neverwhere" is set in another London, somehow underneath the one we know. It is fantasy but it's almost indescribable - very clever in the way he takes well-known names from London and turns them into something quite different. Earl's Court (an earl and his followers in a train carriage that you can only get into from a disused underground station), Knightsbridge (the bridge over the night and a very dangerous place), The Angel Islington ... but I won't tell you about that.

All I can say is that this book is brilliant and unputdownable and I'm going to reread it very soon for the sheer pleasure of it. I'm so grateful to my sister for introducing me to him!

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Finished The Riverhouse!! Enjoyed it a lot! It is an unusual ghost story with a quite unusual haunted house.

I just bought another G. Norman Lippert book, his latest, just released last month. It's called Ruins of Camelot and appears to be a straight fantasy, which I don't normally read, but it was the only thing by G. Norman Lippert (I seem to be on a G. Norman Lippert spree) available that I hadn't already read and was only $2.99 at lulu.com.

A few days ago I finished reading Ruins of Camelot. WOW! I was blown away. It appears that Lippert has planned this as the beginning of a series and it's made me rethink my habit of ignoring straight fantasy. I'm anxiously looking forward to the next book (as I also am with the James Potter series)!

I've begun reading a series written by Dana Stabenow, called Liam Campbell Mysteries with the first book, Fire and Ice. I've had problems not being willing to put it down (love it when I feel like that). It used to be available for free without DRM infestation at Stabenow.com and will be again when Amazon's promotional exclusive runs out (see below).

The Liam Campbell Mysteries

The Liam Campbell novels are enrolled in the pilot phase of the Kindle Lending Library program, which allows Kindle owners with Amazon Prime memberships to borrow them for free! Unfortunately, this means that they’re off sale at Stabenow.com, iTunes and Barnes & Noble until March 2012. (You can still purchase them from Amazon.)

[missimpossible]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have to very much disagree. Good way to ruin the series. Terry says the way to read is in published order and I have to agree.

Even if you find the first two books hard to read, they are still important to have read before moving on.

I didn't intend to ruin the series for anyone. I actually, by and large, read the books in order, and I haven't really found the first two books all that helpful in my ability to understand them. They weren't hard to read - they just weren't anything like as good as the others and might have put me off if I hadn't read Thief of Time first. My second book was Equal Rites, which I hated. Then I read CoM and have read in order ever since, which I feel has had its advantages and disadvantages, but it works for me. If I'd read CoM, followed by LF, followed by ER, I wouldn't have got any further, and that would have been a damned shame.

However, the biggest Discworld fan I know hasn't read any of them in order and that hasn't affected his enjoyment of them at all - and he remembers more about any of them than I do, despite having read them much longer ago than I did. I don't think there's one right way of doing it, which I said in my original posts, I was just saying what worked for me and the people I know who've read Discworld. It certainly hasn't ruined it for any of us - quite the opposite.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie. Four Hercule Poirot mysteries. Her 30th book.

And that was fun. Nice little mysteries. In fact, I'll go straight on to her next book,

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie.

Her 31st book, and it'll be the 200th book I've read this year.

[pilotbob]

Well, I decided to get a couple of books I've had on my Wish list. _The Drowning_ and _The Tide Mill_ by Richard Herley, I've enjoyed two of his others , _Refuge_ and _The Penal Colony_ both great books.

Also from my whishlist I got _Mindscan_ by Robert J. Sawyer.

In addition I have _And Another Thing_ by Eion Colfer although it is a library book and it may expire soon.

So, I should be good for the 4 or 5 days anyway. Thanks for all the info an suggestions.

BOb

[tecweston]

Just finished:

- God, No: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales by Penn Jillette: I've been a Penn Jillette fan since the first episode of Bullshit! and have followed him through the Free FM radio show, the Crackle.com show, and the Revision3.com show. So I've heard most of these stories already, but Penn's still a fascinating guy and I was entertained all through the book.

Currently reading:

- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (67%)

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King (23%)

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (20%)

- The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (3%)

eBooks I will be reading as soon as I finish these:

- A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

- The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick

- The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz

Books I'm on the waiting list for at my library:

- Plugged by Eoin Colfer

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

...In addition I have _And Another Thing_ by Eion Colfer although it is a library book and it may expire soon....

Eion Colfer's And Another Thing is fun, but Colfer is not Douglas Adams, and it shows.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

A few days ago I finished reading Ruins of Camelot. WOW! I was blown away. It appears that Lippert has planned this as the beginning of a series and it's made me rethink my habit of ignoring straight fantasy. I'm anxiously looking forward to the next book (as I also am with the James Potter series)!

I've begun reading a series written by Dana Stabenow, called Liam Campbell Mysteries with the first book, Fire and Ice. I've had problems not being willing to put it down (love it when I feel like that). It used to be available for free without DRM infestation at Stabenow.com and will be again when Amazon's promotional exclusive runs out (see below).

I finished reading Fire and Ice this evening and I was highly impressed by it. Now I've just started reading the 4th Kate Shugak book, A Cold-Blooded Business.

[bizzybody]

Currently re-reading the entire Dragonriders of Pern series. I got all the Second Interval/Third Pass series by Anne and Todd McCaffrey and Todd on his own. Was somewhere into the second when she died.

So I finished those and re-obtained all the rest to read through chronologically, including picking out the short stories as needed from the anthologies, starting with "The Survey: P.E.R.N" from First Fall, then Dragonsdawn followed by the rest of First Fall.

Am now partway through Dragonseye (AKA Red Star Rising in the UK). Apparently I've never read Dragonseye before. Missed it somehow when it was originally published.

I'm tempted to ebookize the lot and shuffle them all into one massive "Pern Chronology" volume. Might just do that if/when the publisher decides to actually publish the final Anne and Todd collaboration book, which has been ready since at least May 2011.

Anne had long been working on another book, set post-Ninth Pass, working title "After the Fall is Over". Hopefully there's enough to it that Todd can finish it.

I've found his solo efforts in the Pern universe to be very good stuff, especially since his mother liked them so well she wanted a piece of his action.

[Wordeater]

David Halberstam's "The Brightest and the Best' on my Sony 650, and Richard Whittle's "The Dream Machine. The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey" (DTB)


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