Hey Bookworm, What Are You READING?

[s4nder]

I'm currently reading Alastair Reynolds' work. I recently finished "Pushing Ice" and am now reading books from the Revelation Space universe, starting with "The Prefect."

His is a dark, vicious, technical, hard science fiction that I've found I enjoy quite a bit.

[Risingred]

I'm currently giving Cormac McCarthy a hundredth second chance. Reading Suttree.
I find his earlier work to be much more palatable. Here's a favorite excerpt of mine:

Stealing watermelons eh? said Suttree. Harrogate grinned uneasily.
They tried to get me for beast, beast …
Bestiality?
Yeah. But my lawyer told em a watermelon wasnt no beast. He was a smart son of a *****.
Oh boy, said Suttree.

And the usual nihilistic lyricism:

In the long arcade of the bus station footfalls come back like laughter. He marches darkly toward his darkly marching shape in the glass of the depot door. His fetch come up from life’s other side like an autoscopic hallucination, Suttree and Antisuttree, hand reaching to the hand.

[BRKO]

Have just finished the Hyperion tetralogy by Simmons and I am amazed. Made me do much side-reading to deepen my knowledge of physics, christianity and poetry. Gets a big educational plus from me

And I have ordered Kraken by China Mieville, cant wait to find it in my post box. I plan to read it during christmas holiday but its gonna be hard to resist the temptation and wait till xmas

[Conner MacDermott]

I remembered reading The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant by Stephen Donaldson during my student years, and was quite impressed with the overall story.

There are three books from the First Chronicles, three more books from the Second Chronicles, and presumably four more books from the Third Chronicles. The last two books from the Third Chronicles have not been published yet, but the eight books that were published are definitely worth reading.

[BRKO]

The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant by Stephen Donaldson

Havent heard about these before. Made a remark to check it out, thanks for recommendation .)

[BobCox2]

Re-Reading Squares of the City

Spoiler

The Squares of the City is a science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1965 (ISBN 0-345-27739-2). It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1966.
It is a sociological story of urban class warfare and political intrigue, taking place in the fictional South American capital city of Vados. It explores the idea of subliminal messages as political tools, and it is notable for having the structure of the famous 1892 chess game between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin. The structure is not coincidental, and plays an important part in the story

[SonataArctica]

Tale of the Body Thief.

[Conner MacDermott]

Tale of the Body Thief.

Hi, SonataArctica.

Who is the author?

Thanks.

[TheNix]

Havent heard about these before. Made a remark to check it out, thanks for recommendation .)

Donaldson is a very difficult author to read, I'm not saying he's a bad author, just that he makes you work. I've loved a lot of what he's written, but I've never re-read any of it. The TC series' are good, but Mordant's Need, another fantasy, and the "Gap Cycle", a sci-fi series, are better.

[Knarlfist]

Donaldson is a very difficult author to read, I'm not saying he's a bad author, just that he makes you work. I've loved a lot of what he's written, but I've never re-read any of it. The TC series' are good, but Mordant's Need, another fantasy, and the "Gap Cycle", a sci-fi series, are better.

Wow... I have such a wildly different impression of the Thomas Covenant books. They are part of a small group of books that I find myself re-reading constantly, sometimes every couple of months. I am talking books like Magician: Apprentice/Master, Four Lords of the Diamond, Deathgate Cycle, etc.

It is not very often you get to read about a character like Thomas Covenant, who ends up paying such horrible consequences for the equally horrible choices (and crimes) he has done... and through it all the reader can understand where he is coming from due to the traumas he has suffered recently in life. You don't agree with his actions, but you can at least understand where it stemmed from.

Not to mention the real gravy of the Chronicles: getting to the chapter titled "Lord Mhoram's Victory". If you have never suddenly stood up and cheered from emotion while reading a book, you will after reaching this culmination.