Author Topic: What are you reading, part 3  (Read 311310 times)

Bookstore Guy

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1605 on: January 07, 2011, 05:01:48 PM »
My copy of Stonewielder finally came.  Sheesh.  My first copy was lost, so the place had to send a new one.  Looking forward to reading it.

I also have a copy of Tim Lebbon's Echo City coming.
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Sigyn

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1606 on: January 07, 2011, 06:31:25 PM »
I'm reading Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillip. It was a Christmas present.  I love Christmas.
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WriterDan

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1607 on: January 08, 2011, 10:54:37 PM »
The Hammer, by KJ Parker.

Up Jim River ended like I figured it would.

My copy of Stonewielder finally came.

Jealous.  I so need to read me another Malazan book.
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain

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mtbikemom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1608 on: January 12, 2011, 07:16:11 AM »
Thank you, thank you Elitist crew for the heads-up on Daniel Abraham.  Book four of The Long Price Quartet is waiting for me at the library and I can hardly wait.  He is now on my short list of favorite authors.

Not as pleased with Tom Lloyd or George Mann.  Just not my cuppa.

Just finished Bujold's Mirror Dance and Brothers in Arms.  Excellent.  Thanks, Peter!

Also enjoyed Shades of Milk and Honey (tx to Vanessa on Elitist) for the fluffy Regency fare and completely reliable content.  I will share this with many.

Have ordered Carol Berg's latest, Soul Mirror.  Her writing is better than her pacing, but I'm a fan and this one is supposed to be better than book 1, The Spirit Lens. 




Bookstore Guy

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1609 on: January 15, 2011, 12:55:44 AM »
Half-way through Tim Lebbon's ECHO CITY.  It has an extremely strong PERDIDO STREET STATION feel to it.  Since I liked that novel, this is a good thing.  It should also give you a hint as to the type of content to expect in it.

In the mean-time I'm compiling the EBR list of the best of 2010, plus our compiled Hugo Nomination list (my personal list will be slightly different than the one EBR posts).  It's tough going, especially since I know that the Best Novel category will be filled with  stuff by the usual suspects regardless of the quality of the work.  It's amazing what blog visibility has done to the Hugos.
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Renoard

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1610 on: January 15, 2011, 01:52:19 AM »
Not sure if I mentioned it, but The Hobbit is on my next read list, but I can't seem to make myself pick it up and get started. Rereading has always been difficult for me. I remember too much content and it takes something special to let me reread without feeling bored.

I don't do amazon and I don't do ebooks. Partly for ethical reasons and partly for the aesthetic. But the B&N and the Borders locally are always very nearly empty of new books. The crappy tradesbound Manga have edged out the decent books for adult readers. I never see a lot of the titles cited here, alas. Why they aren't even stocking WoK, and the massmarket edition is a ways off yet.

sigh!  :-\
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junestormcrow

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1611 on: January 15, 2011, 05:14:38 PM »
I need to go say my thanks for my awesome local B&N then, they still had Kings up when I went after Christmas, and their SciFi/Fantasy section is always well stocked with new and old books.

Almost finished the Jungle. Read Leviathan and Hunger Games last week, both were good and made me want to read the sequels.
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Patriotic Kaz

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1612 on: January 16, 2011, 08:11:46 AM »
Servant of a Dark God was rather well done, however I put the book down a couple of occasions when I found Talen a little too petty and self-righteous.
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Bookstore Guy

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1613 on: January 18, 2011, 08:30:15 PM »
Servant of a Dark God was rather well done, however I put the book down a couple of occasions when I found Talen a little too petty and self-righteous.

I enjoyed it quite a bit--especially after the first few chapters were were forgotten.

As I was compiling a List for the Hugos, I realized that EBR might be eligible for the BEST RELATED WORK category.  So, if you need something to put on your ballot along with Writing Excuses Season 4, put our names down!
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mtbikemom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1614 on: January 18, 2011, 09:28:56 PM »
Looking forward to all the lists!  Go EBR!

Boo hoo, the book waiting for me at the library was not book 4 of Long Price Quartet, it was a manga for my kid.  Can anyone explain to me what Fruits (sic) Basket means?  Even the 14-yr-old doesn't know.  (semi-rhetorical question/rant)

Sigyn

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1615 on: January 19, 2011, 05:40:25 PM »
Fruits Basket is the name of a game where a bunch of kids sit in a circle and each choose a different fruit to be. Someone stands in the center of the circle and yells out a bunch of fruit names. The kids who are those fruit have to get up out of their places and run to a different sitting place while the person in the middle steals one of the sitting places making someone else the person in the middle.  When I was little, we called the game Tip the Basket, because if you yelled that, everyone had to get up and change places. The manga is called that because the main character remembers playing the game when she was little and the other kids told her she was onigiri (rice ball) which isn't a fruit and so was never called so she didn't really get to play.  It made her feel like she was an outsider, and part of the manga storyline is her becoming friends with a whole family of outsiders.
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guessingo

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1616 on: January 19, 2011, 07:48:30 PM »
I don't know of any other fantasy or science fiction review sites that are close to Elitist Book Reviews. I stopped reading fantasy books for years (other than Robert Jordan) in large part because I could not tell from the blurb in the book if it would be any good. The blurbs all read the same. The best part of your reviews is because if you like a book, I can often tell from the reasons that you like it that probably would not like it. If you don't like a book, I can tell from your reasons for not liking it that I might like it.

To me that is the sign of a good book review site. I hope its ok to make one suggestion. Since you review so many books, I think you could use another category.

books we like that are pretty good
books that are great which you think are the best books.

There is a big difference between finishing a book and thinking it was pretty good and finishing a book with the feeling wow, this was terrific.

Bookstore Guy

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1617 on: January 19, 2011, 09:39:36 PM »
books we like that are pretty good
books that are great which you think are the best books.

We've been getting this kind of thing ready.  We are hammering out where the line is.
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mtbikemom

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1618 on: January 20, 2011, 01:28:38 AM »
Fruits Basket is the name of a game where a bunch of kids sit in a circle and each choose a different fruit to be. Someone stands in the center of the circle and yells out a bunch of fruit names. The kids who are those fruit have to get up out of their places and run to a different sitting place while the person in the middle steals one of the sitting places making someone else the person in the middle.  When I was little, we called the game Tip the Basket, because if you yelled that, everyone had to get up and change places. The manga is called that because the main character remembers playing the game when she was little and the other kids told her she was onigiri (rice ball) which isn't a fruit and so was never called so she didn't really get to play.  It made her feel like she was an outsider, and part of the manga storyline is her becoming friends with a whole family of outsiders.

The 14-yr old says, "Ohhhh. . . now I get it."   
I say, (yawn) "Thanks!"

Sigyn

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Re: What are you reading, part 3
« Reply #1619 on: January 20, 2011, 05:39:14 PM »
If I have induced a yawn, then my job here is done.

I'm reading House of Chains and loving it.
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