What is everybody reading?

[Atreyu]

I'm sure other folks might enjoy that sort of thing more, but that's not my cup of tea in terms of reading and experiencing a story. I don't want to decipher languages, I just want to read a story.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I'm sure other folks might enjoy that sort of thing more, but that's not my cup of tea in terms of reading and experiencing a story. I don't want to decipher languages, I just want to read a story.

I think you’re missing my point, but okay. It’s not meant to be deciphered. It’s meant to give you the experience of otherness, for lack of a better word. Not understanding at the outset is part of the experience. You’ll grow to understand more as you read. But if that doesn’t sound appealing then that’s totally understandable.

 

[Atreyu]

I understand your point, it's part of the intention of the author to experience the story. However that's not how I wish to experience a story. Out of every book I've ever read, this is the first to do this in my experience. If a book confuses me or it doesn't grab me in the first chapter or two, I personally tend to leave it and move on. H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" is an example of that. The words were fine but I didn't like the way the story was written or set and so I passed on it around the first chapter.

However, I will not say that I don't recommend it, because I can't give a genuine review when I haven't read it fully. Other folks might get a different personal experience out of it for themselves and that's totally fine. It simply didn't work for me, and is more-so something I mention so that others might know what they are getting into before obtaining a copy of the book, and if it is something they wish to read with that authors' way of storytelling in mind.

 

[Atreyu]

Finished We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Phillip K. Dick. I took a bit of a break between books, but this is a very short story, can get through the entire story in an hour. Can't say it's well chaptered since it's so short that it isn't chaptered at all.

Since I have experienced the movie first and the questions that movie raises, the original story does actually explain that a bit more. However, while I enjoyed the story, it IS short. While the movie shrouds itself so you're forced to ask questions, it is at least longer, and has much more action and has a satisfying villain and end goal.

I would say that the movie is better in my honest opinion, however I also think that the book is a very good companion piece to the movie, since it helps to answer the questions that the movie raises, or at least provides a bit more context than the movie.

Next I'll be reading "Terminator 2: The Future War" by S. M. Sterling.

 

[Jrzag42]

I keep forgetting to post here. I finished Books Of Blood volumes 2 and 3. I didn't care much for 2 outside of the first story, Dread. Volume 3 was decent, its first story Son Of Celluoid really deserves a film adaptation, you can do a lot with the concept of a haunted movie theater.

I'm currently 200 pages into Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, and I'm loving it. I already had an odd fascination with the movie, and the book is even better.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Finished Mistborn: The Final Empire and now moving on to Lonesome Dove.

 

[Atreyu]

Finished Terminator 2: The Future War by S. M. Sterling. It is relatively well chaptered, it just took me a while to get through the book since the writing is small on the pages and the chapters are quite long.

A little context:

The Terminator movies. I liked the first 4; T1, T2, T3 and Salvation. I didn't like the garbage that came out after Salvation. However my only gripe of those is with T3, the casting of John was a poor choice, other than that it's a solid movie. What I appreciated with those movies was that they actually progressed the story, moving towards the future war with Salvation. Of course, the movies after that were determined not only to not progress the story, but instead try to change things with different actions and time travel etc. If I remember correctly, if we follow ALL of the terminator movies, it currently stands that Skynet is now called Legion and terminators are now called REVs. It became a Chinese bootleg of itself, a joke, in my opinion.

So, the book. Little did I realize that there are 2 other T2 books before this one, and I had started on the 3rd book first. However, I decided to try it anyway, undetstanding that it might reference things from the previous 2 books that I won't understand having not read them, or even own them yet. The story itself is actually pretty great. I am unsure if it retcons T3 or Salvation, perhaps in theory the events of Salvation could still technically happen with this story.

It covers Judgement Day up to Kyle Reese going back in time. It is what I wanted the movies to accomplish story wise but the movies only barely got to with Genisys then totally screwed it up.

Highly recommended, will be looking for the first 2 books.

Next will be my set of 6 Assassin's Creed books by Oliver Bowden.

 

[Atreyu]

Finished my 6 book set of Assassin's Creed.

These consist of: Assassin's Creed The Secret Crusade, Assassin's Creed Renaissance, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Assassin's Creed Forsaken, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag.

I enjoyed them all in their own right. All are decently chaptered. Forsaken is the only book that doesn't cover the events of the games as such, it moreso covers the story of Connor's father from Assassin's Creed III, not Connor himself, to a degree. Also Forsaken and Black Flag are written in a similar style to Bram Stoker's Dracula, they act as journals of the main protagonist.

Of course there are more Assassin's Creed books in existence but I don't own them, but I shall seek those out over time.

My next and final book will be "The Coming of the Barbarians" by Pat Barr. It is the last book I currently own that I have not yet read. After I finish that I'll be taking a long break from reading books as I have a large backlog of TV Series I need to catch up on. I might pick back up on reading next year when I own more books from my list of books to obtain. The final review will be incoming over the next few days.

 

[INIGHTMARES]

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and I've been going through the Ender's Game Series (4 books) again for like the 4th time, and the Bean Series (4 books*). The film was awful and a travesty upon the series.

Finished my 6 book set of Assassin's Creed.

I should listen to the Assassin's Creed audiobooks. I love several of the games and didn't even know they had books.

I keep forgetting to post here.

Ya I am exploring the forums a bit myself..

*The Bean Series has more books but the main core I like and listen to.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Finished Lonesome Dove; moving on to House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds.

 

[Atreyu]

Finished "The Coming of the Barbarians" by Pat Barr. The book is well chaptered, and was relatively quick to get through.

The book tells of Japan and how people from the west came along and made attempts to bring trading to the country as well as to bring modern ideas to the country to help make it better and prosper.

It was actually quite a riveting book, it is basically a history book yet part of it reads a bit like the Assassin's Creed books I've just finished prior to this one, as there is fighting and battles involved, on top of that some parts of it read like Black-Adder due to the humor and wit within the book. These aspects make the book highly enjoyable on top of being educational. It truly shocks me that I only learned about these events through this book; it's not something that ever came up in my school history lessons.

In the past I'd never actually believe that I'd enjoy a factual history book, but here we are.

And that's it for reading for me for a long time. I'll come back to it next year probably once I've managed to wade through my backlog of TV Shows, and actually own more books off of my "to obtain" list to read. Adieu!

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Finished House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. Now trying to decide between The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Neither of which I’m super excited for.

Edit: decided on Mistborn 2. I own the three book set and figure if I don’t continue soon, I likely never will.

 

[asterixsmeagol]

I loved House of Suns. Every time the story switched I would get upset because I wanted it to keep going, but then immediately I got immersed in the new story.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I loved House of Suns. Every time the story switched I would get upset because I wanted it to keep going, but then immediately I got immersed in the new story.

It has persuaded me to try one of his series. Most seem to recommend Revelation Space, so I’m starting with that.

 

[Jrzag42]

I finished Dreamcatcher, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end! I thought it would be funny to read Stephen King's worst book, and I ended up getting a book that provided a better experience than any other Stephen King book I've read. I'd like to point out that it has a much better approach than any other media I've seen regarding the trope of "person has super powers derived from their mental disabilities". The book is far from perfect, but I really dig it. A good example of how a creator hating their own work doesn't necessarily mean that the work is bad.

Yesterday I started The Thief Of Always, I was really curious how a Clive Barker book for children would work, and I was curious about the illustrations by the author. I'm about halfway through and it's pretty neat. There's a Pinhead easteregg in one of the drawings, and it makes me curious if this is the first time that Barker himself has drawn the character. I find myself getting weirdly unnerved reading this, it's clear that something sinister is coming but I have no idea what to expect. Really wish I got to read this in school, or at some point growing up.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Finished Mistborn book #2, The Well of Ascension; moving on to book #3, The Hero of Ages.

 

[Jrzag42]

Finished Thief Of Always, loved it. Clive Barker is just as good at writing all-ages horror as he is writing explicitly adult horror.

Now I'm a hundred pages into the novelization of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It's great getting new context for my favorite Star Trek film. I didn't need to know Valeris' whole backstory, but it's cool to know that she's close friends with Saavik fron movies 2&3, and that her name is of Klingon origins. There's a plot point about Carol Marcus getting caught in a Klingon attack that adds to Kirk's hatred to Kirk's hatred of the Klingons. There's so many extra bits and bobs that are probably standard for a film novelization, but I haven't read many in my day so it's still pretty magical to me.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I finished Mistborn book 3: The Hero of Ages. Next up is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I really disliked the Secret History by the same author, but I’ve heard it is common for people to like either one or the other.

 

[hothstation]

A follow-up to one of my personal favorites covering Nirvana.

 

[ScottCrane]

Finished Thief Of Always, loved it. Clive Barker is just as good at writing all-ages horror as he is writing explicitly adult horror.

I completely agree with you. During the latter part of the nineties there were advanced plans for an animated movie based on this book, featuring music by Jerry Goldsmith. Sadly that project never saw the light of day...