Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you READING?

I finished "Burning Chrome" by William Gibson. It contained a collection of his short stories. Johnny Mnemonic was pretty good, but the best story in the book was Dogfight. Really nice read. The rest of the book was a little lacking. Frankly, Gibson's success mystifies me somewhat.

I am currently reading the 4th Tarzan book, "The Son of Tarzan." So for I am about halfway through it, and it is easily the best of the Tarzan books I have read thus far.

In the middle of Jeff Gordinier's X Saves the World. It's right in my wheelhouse; it's one of the more entertaining GenX books I've read.

Unseen Academicals from Terry Pratchett.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

This Immortal by Roger Zelazny. I got lucky and found Lord of Light, Madwand, and This Immortal in a used bookstore along with a Louis L'Amour book I never had before. Got all four books for less than fifteen dollars.

I love those lil' mom and pop places.

Was WARBREAKER the one that had color-based magic, Arachne? If so, I enjoyed it (though apparently not enough to remember the title...)

Did you know that author has been finishing the recently-deceased Robert Jordan's WHEEL OF TIME series?

The first volume of the trilogy that concludes WHEEL OF TIME is out. It's called THE GATHERING STORM. I enjoyed it-- it was fun revisiting this 'world' after so long.

And some events actually come together and reach conclusions, of a sort.

That's the one. I'm really enjoying it. Maybe not as much as the Mistborn trilogy, though. That knocked Song of Ice and Fire out of my top epic fantasy spot.

Funny you should mention The Gathering Storm, someone mentioned it on another board yesterday and I saw it in the store today. I gave up on that series a long time ago, though.

I am currently reading "The Broken Crown" by Michelle West. It's kind of a snoozer, so I read 1 chapter per day. The rest of my reading time is taken up by Gary Jennings "The Journeyer." Much better.

Just finished Get Real, the last Dortmunder story we'll ever see, by the late great Donald Westlake. What are we going to do without Westlake?

I just finished the 5th Tarzan book, "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar." It was nowhere near as good as the last book in the series.

I have just started on one of the early Forgotten Realms novels, "Pool of Radiance."

Read Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest last night.

Pretty good. I had known but forgotten the fact that it was a major influence on Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars, with the basic plot of a "man with no name" entering a corrupt town and then pitting the various factions against one another.

I'm readin "confessor" by Terry Goodkind.
Horrible book by a horrible write.
This series started of with a ton of potential then when downhill quick.
I'm only reading it because I invested so much time into the series (Sword of Truth).
Every book is worse than the last and serve as nothing more than a soapbox for goodkind to peach his ideals upon.
If your lucky you haven't started reading this series.
I really can't recommend this to anyone.

I continued the Hammett reading last night with The Dain Curse. It was okay, but I guessed the identity of the master villain really quickly.

I'm a firm believer in buying and getting people presents of newspapers and magazines, so for Christmas I got my mother and brother a subscription to National Geographic. I also got one for myself--this way, we can all read it each month and talk about anything really groovy, since we're always discussing science, politics, relgion, art, movies, etc. My Mom love National Geographic and kept meaning to get a subscription herself.

Got the first issue in and have been reading it during my lunch break when I don't have errands to run. Great reading when you're looking for something interesting to relieve your boredom!

Now reading "the Song of Tears" trilogy by Ian Irvine.
This is his third series and his writing improves with every book.
Each series is a sequel to the previous and all of them are great.
I'm only a few chapters into this new series (its fantasy, like most stuff I read) but it really good.
If you enjoy fantasy novels this series (and his previous two) are must reads.

Cobie, I got myself Nation Geo, NG Adventurer, and NG Traveler for my b-day back in Sept. NG Adventurer is getting cancelled though so they are extending my NG Traveler.

I am reading Fellowship of the Ring (almost done) and The Road by McCarthy.

I've finished reading all five Hammett novels since my last post.

The Maltese Falcon was absolutely fantastic! I was a bit worried, as I've loved the movie for years, but this is one of those rare cases in which the novel and the movie really complement one another, without one being clearly better than the other. The novel has a lot of interesting stuff that didn't make in the movie. Perhaps the coolest detail that's in the novel that's not in the movie is the fact that Brigit's fear/hatred of Cairo is the result of the fact that his homosexuality makes him immune to her manipulations. The movie makes certain plot elements move a lot more smoothly. One entire character (The Fat Man's daughter) is actually left out of the movie, though her appearance in the novel in so tantalizingly brief that I think the story probably works better without her.

The Glass Key was probably my least favorite of Hammett's novels. It was okay, but I just found it really hard to get into. Maybe the problem is that the hero was probably Hammett's most "anti-heroic" character.

The Thin Man is also one of my favorite movies, but, unlike The Maltese Falcon, I think it was clearly much improved in the movie version.

the Last days of Krypton by Kevin j. Anderson, the book takes place about a year before Kal-El's birth, it goes into the politcal climate of Krypton, and it's Xenophobia with the rest of the galaxy, the abduction of Kandor by Brainaic, the rise and fall of Zod to power, Jor-El's courting and marrage to Laura, Zor-el and his wife have an important role in the tale also, i'm 3/4 of the way finished with the book and i've noticed that Kara Zor-el has not been mentioned in the book at all so i'm guessing that the book is not Cannon.

I'm rereading Dune for the fifth time. Frank Herbert’s masterpiece does not dull with time and its impact on the science fiction genera is large.

I've also been reading some different sorts of books than what I am use to. Some cheap fantasy with more of a romance edge to them and some more mainstream stories. I am looking for some recommendations though on what is the good fantasy and sci-fi genera's today.

I've been so busy with my fanfictions though it's hard to read.

Just finished Dune. Now on to Dune Messiah.

Ha! Too funny! I recently noticed that I don't seem to own a cope of Dune any longer (it might be merely misplaced) so I picked up a copy at a used book store recently. It is near the top of the stack of books I will soon read. Best science fiction book ever, IMHO. I thought the sequels were quite lacking, though.

I did buy a copy of "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" by Robert Heinlein recently. I bought it off ebay for 99 cents. It is a well worn hardback, but does appear to be a first edition. Anyway, I read it quickly. I love the Heinlein juveniles!

I am currently reading "Shapechanger's Song" by Jennifer Roberson and the seventh Tarzan book - "Tarzan the Untamed." The Roberson book is mediocre, while this is one of the better Tarzan books. Tarzan vs. the Germans in Africa during WWI. Can't wait for the movie...

Good fantasy...lets see for more Romanitic Fantasy you'll want to check out Elizabeth Hayden's "Symphony of the Ages" series or Lois Bujold's "Sharing Knife" series.

If you are looking for more Epic fantasy, then there are 3 modern writers to look into (none of these series are finished yet)
Stephen Erikson's "Malazan" books
Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series
George RR Martin's "Song of Icce and Fire" Series

Some other fantasy writers I have enjoyed include
Ian Irvine (currently reading his most recent series)
Russell Kickpatrick
Sara Douglass
Terry Brooks (more of a young adult writer, but still enjoyable)
Fred Saberhagen
Kate Elliott

One writer to avoid like the plague is Terry Goodkind. Most writer improve from book to book, he gets worse.

Currently reading McCarthy's The Road. Almost done.

Just finished the The Fellowship of the Ring, going to read The Two Towers next.

Ultra Jorge - You are reading some of my favourite ever books! Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

I am currently reading (and LOVING!) a book by the Greek-Australian author Christos Tsiolkas called The Slap.

It came out last year (I think) and made somewhat of a splash on its debut - winning awards and getting lots of press and so on. And I believe it's now even being turned into a play.

The premise is killer IMO - Barkyard barbecue. Lots of people in attendance. Mixture of adults and children. One of the children is a badly-behaved brat and its overly-permissive parents barely do a thing to discipline it. Finally having enough, another adult delivers to the brat the eponymous *slap*. The fall-out begins.

A lot of people don't like this book and I can fully understand why. It is *very* adult - full of sex and drugs and promiscuity and swearing and nearly all of the characters are somewhat unlikeable... but gosh-darn if I can just not stop thinking about it, even long after I've put it down.

Tsiolkas' gift with the pen is outstanding IMO and his ability to bring these characters to life is *flawless*. I don't think I've ever read a book with as REAL-feeling people (the word "characters" just doesn't do them justice) in it.

I've still got about a 1/5 of the book to get through but I know it's going to be one that stays with me for a long time to come. Highly recommended.