Books: What have you been reading?

[Double 0]

Finished Between the World and Me. Fantastic work by Coates.

On the other hand, I'm also reading Foundation. Good god, this book is dry. And a complete sausage fest, which I can take when it's not done for antiquated reasons. Fantastic ideas from Asimov, unique worldbuilding (a surprising lack of detail though), but it feels dated.

[John Ossie]

Game of Thrones Book 2. Closer to the end than the beginning but not like really the end of it LOL. Definitely some obvious differences between the book and the television series but that's to be expected in every adaptation. Enjoying it for the most part, particularly the parts about Tyrion and Arya who are by far my favourite characters in the story.

I recommend people giving it a go at the very least.

[batnbreakfast]

Game of Thrones Book 2. Closer to the end than the beginning but not like really the end of it LOL. Definitely some obvious differences between the book and the television series but that's to be expected in every adaptation. Enjoying it for the most part, particularly the parts about Tyrion and Arya who are by far my favourite characters in the story.

I recommend people giving it a go at the very least.

It creates a better atmosphere than the show but the show makes reading the books while seeing the actors in your head even better. You get more from the story and interesting small stories/worldbuilding stuff. As I tell non readers... the show gives you a battle with 10 foot soldiers, the books a battle with 100 knights on horses. There's no budget for writers. The battles are actually the least interesting thing about Westeros. The constant betrayals and alliances breaking and reforming are to me.

[tombo]

personally Brandon Sanderson s timetable puts me off, it suggests to me he is going to write the books whether he has good ideas in time or not. I want Grrm out there taking his time and living life, so that he meets people to inspire characters as good as brienne and tyrion, and goes to places as powerful as the ones that inspired the wall and eyrie. Writers need ideas, getting a book down shouldn't be a chore like painting kitchen.

[Ragdoll]

Some recent reads
All 8 Dexter books
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Alcatraz Vs The Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
The Expanse books 2-3 plus 3 different novellas set between books

personally Brandon Sanderson s timetable puts me off, it suggests to me he is going to write the books whether he has good ideas in time or not. I want Grrm out there taking his time and living life, so that he meets people to inspire characters as good as brienne and tyrion, and goes to places as powerful as the ones that inspired the wall and eyrie. Writers need ideas, getting a book down shouldn't be a chore like painting kitchen.

I like to imagine Sanderson doesn't announce something will come out unless he already has the book outlined and knows that all it needs is to be put to words. Some writers don;t like relying on an outline or book-bible. Stephen King renounces them and says he just lets the story come to him. King luckily puts out multiple books a year, but other writers who use his process may not be able to put things out as fast. Sanderson sounds like he has everything planned out big picture from the very beginning.

[batnbreakfast]

personally Brandon Sanderson s timetable puts me off, it suggests to me he is going to write the books whether he has good ideas in time or not. I want Grrm out there taking his time and living life, so that he meets people to inspire characters as good as brienne and tyrion, and goes to places as powerful as the ones that inspired the wall and eyrie. Writers need ideas, getting a book down shouldn't be a chore like painting kitchen.

This. The fans might be loud but I want the best version of a story not the rushed one.

[Hiromi]

Ehhh here's the problem, a lot of people would say the quality of the series has actually declined as the wait between books has gotten longer(the first three books were released with only 2 year breaks in between, book 4 came out 5 years later, book 5 came out 6 years later, and book 6 is 5 and counting, and really book 4 and 5 were one book so he took 11 years to put out one book that's considered by far the weakest one to date), so taking his time may actually be worse in this case, like a cook overdoing his stew. Sometimes it's better to get the idea out of your head before you've had time to poke it too much.

And Sanderson's stuff is more an outline of his personal goals, not a set in stone production thing, he just keeps his fans updated about where he is in the writing process and puts out the release date when he knows what it is, it also seems he doesn't start writing his book until he knows more or less where he wants it to go, he's been doing pre writing research to prepare for the Rithmatist sequel for a few years now for example

I like to imagine Sanderson doesn't announce something will come out unless he already has the book outlined and knows that all it needs is to be put to words. Some writers don;t like relying on an outline or book-bible. Stephen King renounces them and says he just lets the story come to him. King luckily puts out multiple books a year, but other writers who use his process may not be able to put things out as fast. Sanderson sounds like he has everything planned out big picture from the very beginning.

Which sadly probably explains a lot about how much trouble King has ending his stories

[tombo]

Just read a review gushing about Vernor vinges series saying it's the best sci fi series since dune. It just gone on my to read list. Previously I was thinking of trying him but only possibly someday if I ran out of other authors.

[batnbreakfast]

Just read a review gushing about Vernor vinges series saying it's the best sci fi series since dune. It just gone on my to read list. Previously I was thinking of trying him but only possibly someday if I ran out of other authors.

Having read A Deepness in the Sky (great title btw) and liking it as a reader who is not very into sci-fi. Good stuff.

[Chicken Pocket]

I'm in the middle of The Golem and The Jinni by Helene Wecker. Historical fiction combined with mythological fantasy, set in NYC. Enjoying it a lot, so far.

[batnbreakfast]

I'm in the middle of The Golem and The Jinni by Helene Wecker. Historical fiction combined with mythological fantasy, set in NYC. Enjoying it a lot, so far.

Have you read American Gods or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell?

[Chicken Pocket]

Have you read American Gods or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell?

I have read American Gods (was actually thinking that folks who like that might like this one, too), but I haven't read JS & Mr. N. Will have to check that one out, thanks for the tip.

[batnbreakfast]

I have read American Gods (was actually thinking that folks who like that might like this one, too), but I haven't read JS & Mr. N. Will have to check that one out, thanks for the tip.

JS & Mr N is different from American Gods but otherwise one of my favourite books ever. There's a TV adaption but I don't know if its good.

[Stony]

JS & Mr N is different from American Gods but otherwise one of my favourite books ever. There's a TV adaption but I don't know if its good.

I enjoyed it, it was one of my favourite shows of last year.
Slow... but slow is good sometimes, and nowhere near as slow as I found the books

[JediMindTrick]

I just finished Within These Walls by indie horror writer Ania Ahlborn. The ending was f&*^ed up.

I also read the first 5 Dexter books. Given how bad the Dexter show was by the end, I am hoping this will have a more intense ending when I get to the final books. The show doesn't follow the books, not even loosely like Walking Dead, so the story is 100% different after the first book/season.

Thats because the show caught and passed the books within the first three seasons. You can see elements of books two and three in some plotlines but after that the show had to completely go its own way since there were no more books. I've only read (actually listened) through book seven but overall I find the TV series, even at its worst, far superior than the books (I'm able to listen to books at work so I go through a lot a lot of books, even mediocre ones). The books have some of the worst plot induced stupidity ever put on page and Jeff Lindsay seems to be trying as hard as he can to make every character utterly unlikeable.