A Reader Live(s) A Thousand Lives Before He (or she) Dies

[Rumelylady 188]

We have threads for movies and music, what about this medium as well?

 

So, what cha reading lately?

 

I've been reading The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft. I've been enjoying everything I'm reading of his, but it's a bit strange for me to be reading and seeing the words on the almost as often as I'm visualizing what's going on. Normally I'm basically watching a movie in my head. I'm blaming it on how long ago it was written.

 

When I'm done that I'm either going to start The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (book for fitness group bookclub), Below Stairs by Margaret Powell, or Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham. I haven't planned that far ahead.

 

New Saga came out this week as well as Darth Vader. We're picking those up after work, so I'll be devouring them as well.

[Drifter 851]

Right now I'm currently about 3/4 the way through "The Wild Truth" by Carine McCandless.  She's the sister of Christopher McCandless (Into the Wild movie was about). I read Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer a few years back which was the story of Christopher McCandless' life,  his sister's book is more in depth into the family life they had and what drove Chris to do what he did.

[Sennex 1,903]

I enjoy the Darth Vader series, but Saga just didn't interest me as a title. I really enjoyed it at first, but then it just fell off around the 4th issue or so.

 

I am almost fully done with the Black Company series. I think I have two books after this one. (Book 7 of 9)

 

After that I am going to read the Harry Bosch books.

[McNasty 260]

Struggling to get into the Lies of Locke Lamora. Picked it up because of reviews I read but so far it hasn't caught my attention.  It's all over the damn place and only 60 pages in.  Before that I read the new Vince Flynn book (written by Kyle Mills).  Vince Flynn died a few years back and Kyle Mills is picking up the Mitch Rapp story line from here.  It was good, but it was a little overdone in my opinion.  I hope he can do a better job of matching Flynn's writing style, or at least coming up with his own.  It seemed like he tried too hard.  Difficult to explain I guess.  I've read all the Vince Flynn books so maybe I'm biased.

 

Read a few Jim Butcher books which weren't bad.  Couldn't get into the series though with a wizard living in a real world setting.  Just didn't connect with me.

 

I'll probably go back and read the 2nd Night angel book next.  I read Way of the Shadows and thought it was excellent.

[Docwagon 856]

Struggling to get into the Lies of Locke Lamora. Picked it up because of reviews I read but so far it hasn't caught my attention.  It's all over the damn place and only 60 pages in.  Before that I read the new Vince Flynn book (written by Kyle Mills).  Vince Flynn died a few years back and Kyle Mills is picking up the Mitch Rapp story line from here.  It was good, but it was a little overdone in my opinion.  I hope he can do a better job of matching Flynn's writing style, or at least coming up with his own.  It seemed like he tried too hard.  Difficult to explain I guess.  I've read all the Vince Flynn books so maybe I'm biased.

 

Read a few Jim Butcher books which weren't bad.  Couldn't get into the series though with a wizard living in a real world setting.  Just didn't connect with me.

 

I'll probably go back and read the 2nd Night angel book next.  I read Way of the Shadows and thought it was excellent.

The Butcher books get better as they go. First three are formulaic, but character development and story is vastly better after that.

[tronic44 3,642]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Loved the original film so had to pick this up, absolutely great read so far, so much more you can do with a book, twice as haunting as any film could be.

[ChaosGladiator 812]

I'm reading through the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie for what's probably the 10th time. Placed and order for his 2 latest books on thursday as well. Should be here sometime next week.

[Rumelylady 188]

I settled on Below Stairs by Margaret Powell for my next book and started on Saturday. It's a non-fiction, sort of autobiography, of a woman who worked in the kitchens in houses starting in the 1920's at the age of 15. If you've seen and enjoyed Gosford Park (and apparently Downton Abbey) then it's a bit like that.

 

It's especially interesting to me because my great-grandmother used to write for the Acton Freepress up here. Basically her articles are the early 20th century version of a blog. She wrote it for something like thirty or forty years, including in the 20's, so it's really interesting to see the lifestyle differences between a English kitchen girl and a Canadian farm wife.

[Sennex 1,903]

I had to edit the title. Sorry but it was really bothering me.

[Jason 1,245]

I had to edit the title. Sorry but it was really bothering me.

Finally.

[Sennex 1,903]

Finally.

 

I've been staring at it since the thread was made, I was hoping someone would catch it and say something. I really don't like editing posts without the OP or someone else asking

[Sennex 1,903]

The Humble Book Bundle this time around is a Science Fiction set

 

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/wordfire-press-science-fiction?utm_source=Humble+Bundle+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Humble_Book_Bundle_Wordfire_Press&utm_medium=email

 

I buy a lot of PDF's from them, so thought I would share

[McNasty 260]

https://newrepublic.com/article/133876/pulp-friction

 

Something I didn't really think about with the demise of Barnes & Nobles and similar outlets is the impact it's going to have on authors and readers across the board.  I just figured that authors would still be able to put their stuff out in digital form and to them it's no skin off their back.  I never really thought through the flow of money and how pre-orders are used to advertise and market.  Without that up-front capital to work with, how is any new author supposed to promote their work?  I still prefer physical to digital books, but 90% of the time I'm reading digital.  It's just easier and I like reading 2-3 books at a time.  The print market has been trending down for a few years now but I guess I haven't really noticed any impact.  Crappy times to be an author I guess. 

 

Anyway thought it was a good article

[JsinOwl 644]

Yeah, it was interesting. Not sure what to make of it all. I don't read like I used to, but I was for sure getting frustrated with quickly escalating price of books and equally frustrated by how little cheaper digital books were.

[phil bottle 9,767]

Thanks for sharing. I still prefer paper to digital if I'm reading a book. Mina has a kindle and it's all very nice and everything but it's not the same.

Books are incredibly expensive, we used to have lots of public lending libraries in this country but they're slowly being whittled away under the guise of 'austerity measures'. Sad state of affairs.

[tronic44 3,642]

A few months ago i read both Bruce Campbell's autobiographies, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor and Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way.

 

If Chins Could Kill was a look at not just him but everyone involved in the original Evil Dead films, he seems to try and not focus the attention on him but instead give the spot light to everyone that worked on those films. Great book, especially if you're into reading about people starting off in the industry.

 

Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way was no doubt one the best autobiographies i've ever read, i had to stop half way through and check because i thought it was fiction  That man has lived the most insane life ever! 

 

I really don't want to say too much, if anything about the books, apart from that they were a brilliant read. I think my love for these books is mainly based on me being a massive Bruce fan but i really think even if you weren't you'd end up liking them any way. They were pretty damn groovy 

[Docwagon 856]

I just finished "The Bands of Mourning" by Brandon Sanderson.  It was the best in the Mistborn Era II series so far, and the epilogue says the next book is the conclusion.

 

If you haven't read the original Mistborn trilogy, go do it.  Now.  Era II started out slow and not so "epic" as the first set, but that was a ruse.  It ramps up quickly and in ways I would not have expected.  Sanderson is one hell of an author.

[McNasty 260]

I read the mistborn trilogy per your recommendation a while ago. Such an amazing story, with probably the best ending I've seen in a book series. I recommend them to everyone I know who reads.

If I loved the first 3 books, assuming I'll love these as well? I didn't realize they were a new series.

[Rumelylady 188]

That's a trilogy that I'm keeping in the back of my mind to keep an eye out for cheap books. It looks like one that both Chad and I will enjoy.

 

Also, why are so many fantasy books published as trilogies in the last few years? It's hard to find a single stand alone. We have so many damn series on the go now between the two of us.

[McNasty 260]

I've been searching for more trilogies in all honesty.  If I find a good character, I want to stay with them.  If you like fantasy books, you have to read Mistborn.  It's like saying you like fantasy movies and have never seen Lord of the Rings.

 

Personally I think Mistborn is a better story than Lord of the Rings.

[Rumelylady 188]

... Chad has never watched Lord of the Rings (among many, many other movies). It's annoying. I can't make any references that aren't outside of the books.

[Docwagon 856]

I read the mistborn trilogy per your recommendation a while ago. Such an amazing story, with probably the best ending I've seen in a book series. I recommend them to everyone I know who reads.

If I loved the first 3 books, assuming I'll love these as well? I didn't realize they were a new series.

 

The first one is meh.  I mean, it's a good story and all but it's just not what I expected on terms of scale.  I suspect this was now by design, as the main character's scope of duty goes from the pedestrian lawman vs criminal to...a whole lot more...and the character's reaction to that growing scope.  Sort of a different take on the reluctant hero.  "I don't mind being a hero, it's pretty cool, but I want to be a big fish in a little pond" sort of thing.

 

They pick up, though.  The most recent one is just as good as the first trilogy.  

[McNasty 260]

... Chad has never watched Lord of the Rings (among many, many other movies). It's annoying. I can't make any references that aren't outside of the books.

 

[Rumelylady 188]

Well, this has languishing for while.

 

This year I want to start actually reviewing the books I read. I mostly am doing it through Goodreads, but I might as well copy it over here as well. I'm pretty wordy, so sorry for that.

 

Malice by John Gwynne, book #1 of The Faithful and The Fallen series

 

Tl;dr: Good vs. Evil. Somewhat hollow characters while building overarching story. Enjoyed and currently reading book two.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

In all likelihood, this book (and the rest of the series) would probably have sat on my bookshelves for a number of years before being picked up if not for my husband. For Christmas 2017 rather than give gifts or do anything formal we decided that we would give each other a book that we had previously read and thought the other would also enjoy. This is not what I had expected him to hand me at all. There were at least three other books I was prepared for and this series hadn't even crossed my mind. It's been a delightful surprise.

As with most series now the main perspective switches between a series of characters (maybe it's always been this way? I guess with Tolkien it was...). It's your basic good versus evil type story included "The Chosen One" (times two!) and all that trope-y stuff, including a war between God and the Devil, but it didn't make the story any less enjoyable for me. The somewhat novel (HAR) of the story, at least for me, is that you get to read from both the view of the "good guy" as well as the "evil guy" and several others in between. The only other series that I've experienced that with is The Traitor Son Cycle. Sprinkled throughout seems to be themes and ideas drawn from Norse mythology as well as influences of vague Celtic culture and fighting styles of ancient Greece and Rome. It creates an interesting blend.

So, our "Chosen One" for the side of good seems to be Corban. He starts off the book at the age of 14 and with that comes all the annoying-ness of people at that age. One could only hope that over the course of the book he matures and becomes a more enjoyable. While I didn't hate him, I would have liked to have given him a couple swats up the side of the head (this is why I shouldn't have children). The best redeeming quality of Corban in the early chapters is that of his family members and close friends. I look forward to learning more of his family friend, Gar. Over the course of the book two years pass and he matures and grows and becomes a man by the cultural standards. Less that awesome things happen to him and it results in some maturity. By the end of the book I couldn't help but like him. Mr. Gwynne has written Corban in such a way that he has this undercurrent of natural charisma that you can't help but be drawn towards. I found myself gradually looking more and more forward to his chapters. I couldn't help but cheer him on and feel sorrow for his hardships.

Nathair is the "Chosen One" for the side of evil. We don't directly get to read his headspace, but those close to him. Just the same, I couldn't help but both hate him for his actions and feel pity for him at the same time. He has been tricked to believe he is acting in the name of good. To put it politely, though, he's an egghead. I look forward to his end.

One of the main people we get to know Nathair through is Veradis, his First Spear. Honestly though, I loathed his chapters. He is an empty shell of a character that blindly follows Nathair and within what seems like minutes he's entirely devoted to him without question. I found him incredibly annoying and the only reason I didn't consider skipping some of those chapters was because I knew that I would miss some of the most important plot points. And speaking to that, it seemed odd to me some of the conversations he was privy to. He's one of Nathair's closest companions and head of this war clan, but he seemed be allowed to hang around for some really important conversations but not others. That's just me being nit-picky though.

There were other things that made me a bit nit-picky as well, mostly due from just coming off The Traitor Son Cycle and completely adoring that universe. During battle scenes (and life in general) I found myself wondering why there weren't squires and the like in the makeup of the lines. I would have to remind myself that based on the description that the war style of this book we're looking at a more Greek/Roman style (i.e. shield wall techniques have just started being used). There were other little things that bothered me as well, but they also were more stylist choices that weren't my favourite rather than faults of the book itself.

I hope that as the series continues on that there is more character development for the other, somewhat secondary characters that we meet. I think because it's the first in a series of four books the overarching story was being established rather than character development for anyone other than Corban and Nathair.

I'm glad my husband gave me this book to read. It really seems like it's going to be an exciting series and I'm looking forward to plowing through it over the next couple months. The concept of the book and series doesn't seem to be anything too outside of the box, but it's interesting and has drawn me in. I'm already a quarter of the way through book two at this point and likely where it's going as well.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Rumelylady
Because I'm an idiot who forgot to actually include the book I was reviewing.

[phil bottle 9,767]

Nice write up, might inspire me actually, I haven't been reading much lately. Think the last one was a Paul Auster novel that I had to force myself to finish. But i love reading.

 

I'm probably being dense here, but what book series are you reading and who is the author?😊