Books: What have you been reading?

[Deathstroke]

I finished the James Patterson & Marshall Karp book NYPD Red 2.

[Vernedi]

I re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azbakan, some Goosebumps books (nostalgia trip) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Do comic books and audio books count or does it have to be printed prose to participate?

Just asking because some grouchy people I've met don't consider comics to be books. Same for audio books.

[BaneBreaker]

How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale by Jenna Jameson, then heading back into The Count of Monte Cristo from Dumas.

[Ragdoll]

The original Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks.

I tried to slog through LOTR a few times since middle school, but it never really clicked. Still, I've wanted to get into the Fantasy genre and Brooks was a non-Tolkein, non-D&D* name that kept coming up in my research. Plus, I've been meaning to read more this year in general, and the books are relatively light reads that I can get through in about a week..

Did you start reading them because of the new show? Me, too! I just read book 1 and really dug it. I am going to wait for the show to wrap up its season before I read books 2 and 3, though. But reading book 1 put the show in perspective in lots of ways. I'm digging the show, despite usually hating shows on MTV. Cool fantasy setting with lots of eye candy.
Like you, I also never could get into Tolkien. The Shannara book felt like an homage to Tolkien's style, but also made it less off-putting than Tolkien always feels to me. Brooke's definitely clicks with me better than JRRT ever managed to.

Do comic books and audio books count or does it have to be printed prose to participate?

Just asking because some grouchy people I've met don't consider comics to be books. Same for audio books.

Audiobooks count. They're the only way I take in so many books, listening to audiobooks while working all day makes it easy to take in a few novels a week.

But the whole entire rest of the site is for discussing comic books. I guess you could mention what comic book you read, some people have in here, but there's likely already a thread going somewhere with active discussion for any comic book, new or old, where you're more likely to get better responses. Even if I bet most here consider graphic novels as real books, most people stick to literary novels in this thread.

[BatGlamorous]

Did you start reading them because of the new show?

More or less. I had the books collecting dust for a while (impulse buy from Goodwill iirc), and had always meant to read them but never had a good excuse until the show was announced.

Although I did the opposite of what you're doing, I actually wanted to have the second book completely read before watching any more of the show. The show is actually a pretty loose adaption imo, it feels like two different stories with the same basic characters/plot devices. Fantasy doesn't always translate well to the big (or small, in this case) screen, so I can't hold that against them. The LOTR movies were extremely faithful to the source material, but it took them three epic-length movies to get there.

[batnbreakfast]

Did you start reading them because of the new show? Me, too! I just read book 1 and really dug it. I am going to wait for the show to wrap up its season before I read books 2 and 3, though. But reading book 1 put the show in perspective in lots of ways. I'm digging the show, despite usually hating shows on MTV. Cool fantasy setting with lots of eye candy.
Like you, I also never could get into Tolkien. The Shannara book felt like an homage to Tolkien's style, but also made it less off-putting than Tolkien always feels to me. Brooke's definitely clicks with me better than JRRT ever managed to.

How does Shannara compare to A song of Ice and fire (forgive me a silly question)?

Galveston- Nic Pizzolatto, for fans of True Detective and no country for old men

[JediMindTrick]

How does Shannara compare to A song of Ice and fire (forgive me a silly question)?

Well one way is that Brooks isn't afraid to kill off beloved characters.

[GoldSurfer]

Finally going to read The Power of Now. Gets so much hype. Going to see if it's worth it.

[Ragdoll]

The newest Mistborn book was insane. The last sentence was the biggest twist in town.
spoilers:

The Survivor Kells lives!!!!

end of spoilers

[batnbreakfast]

Audio book for the car: Purity- Johnathan Franzen

[John Ossie]

One Mile Under by Andrew Gross.

[Brigonos Chomhgaill]

Starship Troopers. Damn that is one boring book.
I actually watched the movie again just to cleanse my mental palette - the movie, at least, is not boring.

[Malvolio]

Yeah. I've often heard Heinlein spoken of in the same terms as Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke as the giants of science fiction, but I just don't think Heinlein measures up. His stories are OK, but when Starship Troopers is mentioned as if it's his Foundation or Martian Chronicles or 2001, you can see that he's not quite at the same level as Asimov, Bradbury or Clarke.

[JediMindTrick]

I read Heinlens The Moon is a Harsh Mistress about 20 years ago. . . it didn't any impression on me for good or bad. I recently tried listening to the audio book version and quit after an hour because I couldn't take the Russian accent the narrator was doing . . . I don't remember the plot anymore as that was 100's of books ago but I couldn't take the narration.

I've read other Heinlein books (Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, and probably a few others besides Moon) but none of them have left a real impression me. I didn't hate them but none left me with any kind of emotion of love or hate (except the narrative accent in Moon but that has nothing to do with Heilein).

[tombo]

I read Heinleins' big, respected novels, like Harsh Mistress, 10 years ago when I was trying to become a well read sci fi fan, and I enjoyed them and found them thought provoking, but haven't gone back to them in the years following. However, a few people since have told me that his "fun" novels (slightly less known and possibly aimed at younger readers) are a lot better and loved more by some fans, so I intend to try them soon.