book recommendations

[Mikeyis4dcats]

didn't know there were so many grown men into fantasy books.

[pvegs]

My recs for '13:

Memoir
Son of a Gun - Justin St. Germain (fmr Stegner Fellow, friend, all-around stud)

Fiction
The Circle - Dave Eggers (McSweeney's founder, hugely prodigous, most know him from "Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius")
The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (NY Times notable book, int'l book award winner, gf's bestie)

Poetry
Mayakovsky's Revolver - Matthew Dickman (frequent SEA reader, Huge stud in PDX, Tin House editor)

[bubbles4ksu]

Anyone read Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath" ?

it's just ok. i read "blink" first and his other books have been kinda disappointing. you'll learn some interesting stuff that's fun to talk about over beers.

just started d&g. seemed interesting.

it's good. i should have said how much i loved blink. it changed a lot of things for me and the other books have only been very good.

[michigancat]

didn't know there were so many grown men into fantasy books.

Are you like trying to say they are children or something? Or women?

[The_Wippuh]

For the Fantasy Dorks

I'm really big into Martin's Game of Thrones and Jordan's Wheel of Time stuff.  As a teen, I read through the majority of the pulp out there (Forgotten Realms, Salvatore, Eddings, Fiest, etc...).

Rothfuss' stuff is probably the most well written and creative stuff out right now.  He's taking FOREVER, but it's simply brilliant.  He blows away Sanderson's Mistborn novels.  Sanderson is creative, but he's a pretty poor writer.  His new series has a lot of promise, but it's almost like he finished the complete butchering of Jordan's world and decided that he wanted to write something more grand.  You could cut 700 pages out of The Way of Kings and it would be pretty intriguing.  Instead, it's bloated with way too much about bridge runs and pseudo angst.

Rothfuss is wildly creative and has a great style when it comes to prose.  He is exactly like Martin in that, except he's more into the imaginary world stuff.  I cannot recommend it enough.  Read Mistborn when you need filler, read The Name of the Wind when you want to be blown away.

[Mrs. Gooch]

After I finished reading the Wheel of Time series I read a couple of chapters of Mistborn online, but I guess it wasn't holding my attention enough because I haven't gone back to it. Maybe I need to check out this Rothfuss guy; but not sure I want to start another unfinished series right now.

Right now I'm working my way through the Enderverse; so maybe when I'm finished with that I'll come back looking for a suggestion.

[Mr Bread]

didn't know there were so many grown men into fantasy books.

Are you like trying to say they are children or something? Or women?

I would certainly hope not.  He read the Hunger Games trilogy after all.  Though it is mikey, so maybe. 

[Mr Bread]

For the Fantasy Dorks

I'm really big into Martin's Game of Thrones and Jordan's Wheel of Time stuff.  As a teen, I read through the majority of the pulp out there (Forgotten Realms, Salvatore, Eddings, Fiest, etc...).

Rothfuss' stuff is probably the most well written and creative stuff out right now.  He's taking FOREVER, but it's simply brilliant.  He blows away Sanderson's Mistborn novels.  Sanderson is creative, but he's a pretty poor writer.  His new series has a lot of promise, but it's almost like he finished the complete butchering of Jordan's world and decided that he wanted to write something more grand.  You could cut 700 pages out of The Way of Kings and it would be pretty intriguing.  Instead, it's bloated with way too much about bridge runs and pseudo angst.

Rothfuss is wildly creative and has a great style when it comes to prose.  He is exactly like Martin in that, except he's more into the imaginary world stuff.  I cannot recommend it enough.  Read Mistborn when you need filler, read The Name of the Wind when you want to be blown away.

If you haven't read Abercrombie, then you can go ahead and just shut your rough ridin' face.  GRRM and Abercrombie are the best.  Maybe this Rothfuss guy is good too.  Pete seems to like him.  I'm not touching it until he finishes. 

[Mr Bread]

Just finished the new Dark Tower book.  It was much better than the last three of the series, IMO.  Just a short one that basically tells a couple stories about crap that happened before the DT series starts in The Gunslinger. Really hope that King keeps spitting them out.  Should be plenty of possibilities to do similar stories about prequel stuff. 

Anyway, it's a quick read and enjoyable if you like the DT series.

it would be nice to get the bitter taste of the ending of that series washed away

Are the DT series worth reading?

Mixed bag.  The first book is one of my favs.  I don't reread many books, but have reread that one several times.  The Drawing of The Three was slow.  Wizard and Glass was really good.  The last three were very forced and sucked balls.

Overall, the first four set up a very good story and King muffed it like crazy on the last 3.  You could tell that he just had no idea how to proceed from the middle of the series to the last quarter of the last book.  That said, I would read it knowing what I know now.

Missed this the first time.  Completely agree with CNS here, Pete.  Really great stuff starting out and then he just lost it.  Still probably better than a lot of the fantasy stuff you'll run into out there in total.  I reread the first four because he had like a six-year hiatus before the last three.  The first four are definitely worth it. 

[Goddamnitnappa]

more of a short story. The Most Dangerous Game is pretty good

[Skipper44]

If you enjoyed the political intrigue/scheming of GoT and like historical fiction The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cromwell and subsequent books are easy and straightforward reads.  The story is basically how King Alfred united all of England while fighting off the French and Vikings; no dragons tho.

[puniraptor]

no dragons tho.

spoiler

[sys]

If you enjoyed the political intrigue/scheming of GoT and like historical fiction The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cromwell and subsequent books are easy and straightforward reads.  The story is basically how King Alfred united all of England while fighting off the French and Vikings; no dragons tho.

cromwell is great.  also writes like a fiend.  like a book a month or something, so you're not waiting around for him to finish stuff.

[Pete]

eff.

I hadn't realized that Rothfuss hasn't finished the series yet.  I am like Bread, in that I hat to wait for the next book.  GRRM has ruined me that way.


I am going to finish Name of the Wind, then jump into Abercrombie.  By the end of those maybe Rothfuss will be done.

I like that Kvothe character though...sucks to have to wait. 

[whatdacatsay]

A short history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson. It's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds. It's actually quite an entertaining read

[Frankenklein]

A short history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson. It's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds. It's actually quite an entertaining read

I heard it doesn't have a lot of women in it and is a huge sausage fest.

[whatdacatsay]

A short history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson. It's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds. It's actually quite an entertaining read

I heard it doesn't have a lot of women in it and is a huge sausage fest.

Well obviously. It's a book about history. I can't recall any women doing anything noteworthy.

[jmlynch1]

Just ordered the First Law trilogy.

[michigancat]

Currently reading 1491:

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

Very interesting so far. Did you realize Squanto (who helped the Pilgrims) had already been to Europe and back before they started Thanksgiving?

[CNS]

Currently reading 1491:

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

Very interesting so far. Did you realize Squanto (who helped the Pilgrims) had already been to Europe and back before they started Thanksgiving?

My little bro has been telling me to read this for a couple years.  Need to give it a whirl, I guess.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

reading another Lee Child- Jack Reacher novel called "A Wanted Man." its pretty good so far...

[ben ji]

Currently reading 1491:

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

Very interesting so far. Did you realize Squanto (who helped the Pilgrims) had already been to Europe and back before they started Thanksgiving?

O man, love this stuff! Cant remember the name(1492 maybe?) but I watched a documentary a couple months ago on this exact same subject...One of the things I found interesting was the vast herds of buffalo early pioneers saw were a relatively new occurrence. It was only after European diseases wiped out the Native Americans that the buffalo herds reached such vast numbers.

Also I'm sure its been mentioned but Guns Germs and Steel is a great book as well, just watched the 3 part documentary on Netflix.

[Emo EMAW]

Currently reading 1491:

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

Very interesting so far. Did you realize Squanto (who helped the Pilgrims) had already been to Europe and back before they started Thanksgiving?

O man, love this stuff! Cant remember the name(1492 maybe?) but I watched a documentary a couple months ago on this exact same subject...One of the things I found interesting was the vast herds of buffalo early pioneers saw were a relatively new occurrence. It was only after European diseases wiped out the Native Americans that the buffalo herds reached such vast numbers.

Also I'm sure its been mentioned but Guns Germs and Steel is a great book as well, just watched the 3 part documentary on Netflix.

I'm quite  about this.  Native Americans didn't become efficient hunters of the buffalo until after they had the horse.  It was the horse that enabled the explosion in Native American populations on the prairies.

[CNS]

Maybe settlers were feeding them their plentiful leftovers allowimg them to flourish?

[ben ji]

Currently reading 1491:

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

Very interesting so far. Did you realize Squanto (who helped the Pilgrims) had already been to Europe and back before they started Thanksgiving?

O man, love this stuff! Cant remember the name(1492 maybe?) but I watched a documentary a couple months ago on this exact same subject...One of the things I found interesting was the vast herds of buffalo early pioneers saw were a relatively new occurrence. It was only after European diseases wiped out the Native Americans that the buffalo herds reached such vast numbers.

Also I'm sure its been mentioned but Guns Germs and Steel is a great book as well, just watched the 3 part documentary on Netflix.

I'm quite  about this.  Native Americans didn't become efficient hunters of the buffalo until after they had the horse.  It was the horse that enabled the explosion in Native American populations on the prairies.

Not saying its the truth just interesting...Also before Native Americans had horses they would drive whole herds of buffalo off cliffs and crap. I Could see how that would help keep the numbers down.