Books, Books?, Books!, Books...What are YOU reading? aka the WoT, GoT, Orson Scott Card thread

[Edgie]

I need some Dungeons and Dragons books to read, preferably the ones set in Forgotten Realms. Anyone know where I can find some?

[Cichy]

So after hearing for a long time about H.P Lovecraft and his influence I decided to read the Necronomicon. I liked a lot of the stories and it was pretty fun to spot the works that pulled from him. Never realized that the world of Batman pulled so much from him.

[Cantih]

That reminds me, there was another writer who had a good short story at the same site I first saw Constellation Games guy, and he was supposed to have his first book out soon the last I knew. Should go see about that.

Following up on this, as between the self-sus blitz on WoW and my PC crashing left me in a not wanting to deal with this shit state, I've been catching up on some reading.

The book and author in question, Windswept by Adam Rakunas, is a pretty damned enjoyable read. It's essentially a Caribbean detective style yarn: just sci-fi, more a Hong Kong ramshackle fusion, and Union vs. Corp than detective. But the house is the same house even with a different coat of paint and furniture. It's not as fantastic as the short story, but still good.

Now I'm gonna try The Goblin Emperor, and next week the third book in Steinmetz's 'Mancer series comes out.

[Souj]

Hitting up the used book store today. Went back a few pages for some stuff to look for and now I've got another question.

Terry Pratchett. What books should I look for? I've heard he's great, but I've never read anything of him. Last time I was there I saw a lot of his books, but didn't know where to begin as far as what's his best, what's his flops, where i should start, what are sequels, prequels, etc. and didn't want to spend an hour on Google looking em up. I'm going to presume the very best of his stuff has already been bought up, so I'd appreciate even a list that goes a little further down than his "absolute best"

[Zetanio]

Hitting up the used book store today. Went back a few pages for some stuff to look for and now I've got another question.

Terry Pratchett. What books should I look for? I've heard he's great, but I've never read anything of him. Last time I was there I saw a lot of his books, but didn't know where to begin as far as what's his best, what's his flops, where i should start, what are sequels, prequels, etc. and didn't want to spend an hour on Google looking em up. I'm going to presume the very best of his stuff has already been bought up, so I'd appreciate even a list that goes a little further down than his "absolute best"

I actually hated Discworld. I read two of the "best" books and found them to be fairly bad considering the hype around him.

[Cichy]

I finished Princess of Mars (John Cater book 1) and Fevre Dream by GRRM. Enjoyed both books very much especially the Fevre Dream.

[mallister]

Praetorian of Dorn. not *quite* done yet but it's one of the best 40k (well, it's heresy era/30k) books i've ever read. so good.

[Intrinsic]

Halfway through the first book of the Stormlight series from Sanderson, solid writing. Also read the Reckoners books, interesting concept, just ok writing.

[Rulke]

I thought Reckoners was a nice overall read; different from Sanderson's usual stuff.

[Wulfgang]

Reckoners is for young adults, hence why the prose is very different (underwhelming potentially). I didn't love the series and stopped halfway through the second book; David (or w/e the main character's name) just wore on me.

[synistar]

Good that you saved yourself from reading Calamity. Underwhelming ending.

About done with Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. Standard for Butcher. Fun enough read to pass some time. A lot better than the Codex Alera stuff.

[Aumaan_Kujata]

Hitting up the used book store today. Went back a few pages for some stuff to look for and now I've got another question.

Terry Pratchett. What books should I look for? I've heard he's great, but I've never read anything of him. Last time I was there I saw a lot of his books, but didn't know where to begin as far as what's his best, what's his flops, where i should start, what are sequels, prequels, etc. and didn't want to spend an hour on Google looking em up. I'm going to presume the very best of his stuff has already been bought up, so I'd appreciate even a list that goes a little further down than his "absolute best"

No love for Pratchett here, apparently, so here's a limited but better-than-nothing answer. Just hit up "Discworld" on wikipedia or wherever for the order of the dozens of books in the main "series", which is really just a main setting with a lot of subseries going on in it, unified mainly by the humor style. Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic as a pair make up the beginning of it, but they're quite a bit different in tone than the bulk of it, so you'd probably want to go a bit past them if you're on the fence after finishing them. Guards, Guards is the first book to focus on the City Watch characters, and might make a decent alternate starting place that's closer in tone to the rest of them. Mort or Equal Rites (or Small Gods, but that's another strange one) might work as starters too- they're the first books for other subseries.

He's written a lot of stuff outside of the Discworld series too that I mostly haven't gotten around to yet, so I can't say much, but Discworld is what he's mostly known for. That being said, in my mind the single best thing he's written is Good Omens (with Gaiman), which is standalone, so if the used bookstore has that around, snap it up and start there. It's amazing.

[mallister]

^seconding. Good Omens is *really* good.

[Souj]

I read both Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear both in two weeks. Really great (obviously), though there was some times when I was getting a little bored with the more monotonous romancey sections- The dragon in the denner forest was making me want to start skipping.

Read 1st Black Company book and half way through the second now.

I'm assuming I'll read the third black company after that (since I bought the book that comes with them packaged together) and then maybe the second Ciaphas Cain warhammer omnibus.

Then after that, maybe the Prince of Thrones trilogy.

[Rulke]

/sigh. Well I finished up book 3 of the Greatcoats and sadly this series took a long walk off a short cliff just after book 1 imo. Really disappointing overall, had great potential. Not sure what I'll read next, tired of striking out. Maybe I will re-read something I already have.

[Dantrag]

Read these two books:

A book of spirits and theives
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Spirits-...sap_bc?ie=UTF8

Darkest Magic
https://www.amazon.com/Darkest-Magic...GE90W5W4FN8TH6

Both were good reads and enjoyable. There's another coming out at some point but I really liked the characters and the way the stories are told.

Also reading this book now, about 1/2 way through and it's really good as well:

Mystic
https://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Trilog...eywords=mystic

[Cream Soda]

Not sure if this is the thread for it, but recommended audiobooks?

Anything with real world application (self help, informational, etc.)

I'm back to biking 20 miles a day, so that gives me a good hour a day in which to learn shit

[Zetanio]

Any language, honestly.

[dasva]

Yeah learn jp so you can sweet talk your pillows!!!

[Souj]

Oye, just spent $40 on a used paperback copy of the Warhammer Ravenor omnibus. That shit better not get a reprint soon.