Recently Purchased/Borrowed

[Martin]

I've bought:

- Lost In A Good Book - Jasper Fforde; I'm currently reading Fforde's The Eyre Affair, which I love, so I reckoned I should also buy part two of the series (especially considering that I own part three, too).

- The Double - Jose Saramago; I loved Blindness, really one of the best books of last year, so when I saw this, his latest, at Waterstones, I just had to have it.

Cheers

 

[RaVeN]

You think you're mad? I'm the one with the writer's cramp.

Anyway, never let it be said that I wander off topic.
I've been on a fantasy book buying binge lately and have bought:

Dragonsbane, Dragonshadow & Night of the Demon Queen by Barbara Hambly
Assassin's Apprentice, Assassin's Quest & Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
Chasing The Devil by Sheriff David Reichert (his 20 year quest to capture The Green River killer. Not exactly a musical comedy)
The Changling by Alison MacLeod- a novel of the Pirate Anne Bonny


RaVeN

 

[cloudsandstars]

Went to the store today and purchased:

Wicked by Gregory Maguire (anyone read it? like it? hate it?)

Got in the mail yesterday from Amazon:

Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts (don't yell at me for this one, okay? I love her.)

I'm looking forward to reading both of these, especially Wicked.

Susan

 

[Øystein]

Let's see, what I've got recently. All of these are Norwegian translations, except the Wodehouse, since Norwegian and English are the only languages I feel wholly comfortable reading. I'll include the English translation's title in parantheses.

Herman Hesse - Siddhartha
P.G. Wodehouse - Jeeves in the Offing
Orhan Pamuk - Benim Adim Kirmizi ("My Name is Red")
Naomi Klein - No Logo
Thomas Bernhard - Alte Meister. Komödie ("Old Masters")
Michel Houellebecq - Platforme ("Platform" )
Marlen Haushofer - Die Wand ("The Wall")

Most of these were bought with a gift certificate I received on my 24th birthday, while the Wodehouse was a present from my father. Surprisingly, really, as he has a hoary, near-complete collection of the Jeeves books already; certainly pleasing though!

I haven't come around to reading any of these yet, as I keep grabbing way too many library books with me. I believe I have 15+ unread library books in my closet at this moment.

 

[Rogue]

I justed ordered two books on amazon:

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

The decision was a very difficult one, because I wanted Blindness, The Handmaid's Tale and The Time Traveler's Wife too. Maybe the next time.

Cheers

 

[Wabbit]

Dragonsbane, Dragonshadow & Night of the Demon Queen by Barbara Hambly
Assassin's Apprentice, Assassin's Quest & Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
Chasing The Devil by Sheriff David Reichert (his 20 year quest to capture The Green River killer. Not exactly a musical comedy)
The Changling by Alison MacLeod- a novel of the Pirate Anne Bonny


RaVeN

Dragonsbane and the Tad Willams trilogy are a couple of my all time fantasy reads! hope you enjoy them! Will be interested to know what you think!

Oh, and Martin, I liked SnowCrash I would be interested to know what you think about that one also.

 

[Martin]

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers

 

[Severian]

Let's see, what I've got recently. All of these are Norwegian translations, except the Wodehouse, since Norwegian and English are the only languages I feel wholly comfortable reading. I'll include the English translation's title in parantheses.

Herman Hesse - Siddhartha
P.G. Wodehouse - Jeeves in the Offing
Orhan Pamuk - Benim Adim Kirmizi ("My Name is Red")
Naomi Klein - No Logo
Thomas Bernhard - Alte Meister. Komödie ("Old Masters")
Michel Houellebecq - Platforme ("Platform" )
Marlen Haushofer - Die Wand ("The Wall")

Most of these were bought with a gift certificate I received on my 24th birthday, while the Wodehouse was a present from my father. Surprisingly, really, as he has a hoary, near-complete collection of the Jeeves books already; certainly pleasing though!

I haven't come around to reading any of these yet, as I keep grabbing way too many library books with me. I believe I have 15+ unread library books in my closet at this moment.

*wave* hi Øystein. good to see you here. how's the music?

 

[direstraits]

Assassin's Apprentice, Assassin's Quest & Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

raven...

i oh so want to know how good robin hobbs is. did you like it?

george rr martin likes her books a lot, apparently, and that's a very good endorsement for me...

ds

 

[Wabbit]

I know you didn't ask me but I am going to stick my nose in

Everybody loves Robin Hobb! She gets great reviews and has been recommended again and again on this forum and on many others. So I guess you will like her.

Me, personally, I read the farseer trilogy ( well, until about 200 pages from the end of the third book where I gave up ). I hated it.

I just found it cliched. We have "new" fantasy which is just old fantasy without the monsters.

A REALLY irritating central character that whines and moans though the whole books and gets pushed about by everybody.

A plot that never moves at all. As I said, I got to the third book and still had no idea who the raiders were and quite frankly didn't care either.

On the plus side, I thought that she wrote very good prose.

Well, those are my thoughts on her. Having said that, I have never actually met another person that has not liked her books. So I think it's just me

 

[direstraits]

I know you didn't ask me but I am going to stick my nose in

glad of it.

Me, personally, I read the farseer trilogy ( well, until about 200 pages from the end of the third book where I gave up ). I hated it.

now *that* i pay attention to. i can relate to that, hating something.

many years ago, i bought melanie rawn's book, the one about this prince with a sunrunner wife (i packed my stuff and all my books are in boxes, so i cannot refer to it just now). so anyway, i was into a couple of chapters, thought it was okay, and went ahead and bought the remaining 2 books in the trilogy (i was young, and a blasted completist to boot, thanks to my early comics years).

suffice to say i felt like trudging thru thick mud trying to read it - i had to force myself to plod on until i realized that i could actually stop reading a book i didn't like. so i think i finished the first book, with the remaining two somewhere collecting dust (in the carton box, i'd imagine).

you were about 200 pages from the third book of a story you didn't like - so close! were i in your shoes i might have bitten the bullet, but as it were i feel lucky to have stopped with the first.

thanks for your feedback!

ds

 

[Wabbit]

I just know that somebody is going to ask me if you hated it why did you read so much of it? lol

Well, I just wanted to be stuborn and fnish the thing. Also, I kept expecting that it would move on in terms of plot. I just kept saying to myself that it's gonna get better and you will find out some stuff. But I never did, and it never did.

 

[RaVeN]

raven...

i oh so want to know how good robin hobbs is. did you like it?

george rr martin likes her books a lot, apparently, and that's a very good endorsement for me...

I'll have to get back with you on that, as I've yet to receive The Assassin's Apprentice. It was difficult finding the hardback in the States so I had to send to some place called Walsall, West Midlands to get it. I've been notified that it's on it's way though and should be here any day.

Meanwhile, I sould finish Deaver's Garden of Beasts tonight and if my book doesn't arrive in tomorrow's mail, will probably start Dragonsbane.

Like you, I read GRRM's comments on the Hobb books as well. Between that and the endorsements on the forum, I couldn't pass them up.


RaVeN

 

[direstraits]

Like you, I read GRRM's comments on the Hobb books as well. Between that and the endorsements on the forum, I couldn't pass them up.

so you check up on GRRM also? what do you think of his Song of Ice and Fire? i couldn't get enough of them - they are so different from what i was used to! i still remember the shock of reading of Bran's fall... this is one guy who doesn't pull punches...

ds

 

[direstraits]

...Also, I kept expecting that it would move on in terms of plot. I just kept saying to myself that it's gonna get better and you will find out some stuff. But I never did, and it never did.

maybe the change occurred in the last 200 pages.

ds

 

[Wabbit]

Well, for sure but by then I really didn't care

Anyway, you will prob like those books. Everybody else seems to lol I think it's just me!

I do want to read those G R R Martin books "Songs of fire and ice" But I am waiting tillt hey are all out and read them at once!

PS: Nice avatar

 

[direstraits]

I do want to read those G R R Martin books "Songs of fire and ice" But I am waiting tillt hey are all out and read them at once!

arrrgh, the thought that someone will put off from reading GRRM!!! it's... difficult.... but i'll... refrain... from sending free copies.... to your house... in a pathetic attempt... to force you to read.... them...!

PS: Nice avatar

thanks! took me darn long to find one i liked!

ds

 

[Wabbit]

arrrgh, the thought that someone will put off from reading GRRM!!! it's... difficult.... but i'll... refrain... from sending free copies.... to your house... in a pathetic attempt... to force you to read.... them...!

ds

No, no, please don't regrain at all! Send me free copies at any time

 

[RaVeN]

so you check up on GRRM also? what do you think of his Song of Ice and Fire?

Yep, I check his site every week or so for any updates.

What do I think of his series? I think it's some of the most enjoyable reading I've ever done and eagerly await his next book.

I'd not done much reading of that genre until what's-her-spork suggested GRRM. Now it appears I'm hooked...at least for the time being.

Good call Sporky!
RaVeN

 

[direstraits]

did you read GRRM's stories for Robert Silverberg's anthology Legends and Legends 2? they are both brilliant, those i suppose i preferred the first (violence galore!).

there's also a comics adaptation of the _The Hedge Knight_, GRRM's story for the first Legends.

i say read the story first, then if you want, the comic adaptation.

ds