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[Criptfeind]

Wheel of time is not really a martial arts fantasy thing. More straight up magic or old fashion weapon use, when there is combat. But yeah. Honestly the whole series is super slow and mostly made out of loads of characters you don't care about doing things you don't care about. I mean, I'd still say it's quite good, and I enjoyed reading it (for the most part. The ending was awful and in a way I felt a bit cheated out of all the time I put into the books) But if the first book doesn't do it for you the series as a whole really isn't going to be your thing, the last couple of books (*cough* the ones written after Robert died *cough*) pick up a bit and are the highlight of the series, but it's probably not going to be worth slogging though the first like 11 books for that.

[TheDarkStar]

The first several Wheel of Time books are decent (it starts off a bit slow and gets better) but the middle of the series sags quite it a bit (iirc I skimmed a book or two - 10 and 11? - because nothing happened). The last three books are really good (there's a return to some of the epic things from book... 5? 9? one of the earlier books with battles and important things happening), though, and I felt like they were a decent payoff.

[hops]

I'm also currently almost done with Moby Dick and I hate this book yet I don't want to give up.

That seems fitting.

+1

I have read an article talking about how the point of the book is that it's a labor to read, but I'm not really sure how it's going to reward me excepr to be a test of my patience.

[ChairmanPoo]

The wheel of time... well here are my thoughts

- I never thought it was really good. Entertaining, ok. But good?  Its a storm of cliches and sues.

- the first book in particular is pretty bad because it can be summed up as 'every fantasy book ever'

- lots of early installment weirdness in the first few books actually, and ludicrously slow plot.

I do tend to agree that Sanderson is overall a better (if cookie-cutterish)  writer than Jordan. He struggled to bring the series to a close, though. And some parts were lame. In particular I found Ishamael's motivations shallow as fuck by the end.  I was hoping a buildup to something deeper

[Yoink]

Finished Titus Groan last night, goodness what an amazing book.
I shall have to track down the sequel... I actually have the third one in the series, just not the second.

Today I am getting stuck into Trainspotting, after reading a couple of chapters yesterday on the train after I bought it. First time I've read it (though I've read a couple of Welsh books and would probably count him amongst my favourite authors) and I am eager to see how it compares to the movie, which is a brilliant film indeed.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Reading "The Collapsing Empire" by John Scalzi

pretty good, but feels very DUNEish

[Yoink]

Spoiler: Non-spoilery spraff about Trainspotting (click to show/hide)

Trainspotting was good, as expected, but I actually think it may be one of those rare cases (The Hunger Games is the only other example that springs to mind) where I prefer the film adaptation to the book. The book's still a great read, of course, but all those typical film-friendly "abridgements" they made in the adaptation seemed to be actually very well executed for once. The superfluous characters who were concerned into others were never really missed, a lot of sadder parts were sadder and funny parts funnier, and I felt that a lot of the narrator's rants were actually better placed in the film, tying into everything more nicely.
Perhaps with the recent film sequel I should read Porno first, then watch the film, to see if my opinion is the reverse this time around? Who knows.

Now I've almost finished The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs, also by Welsh.
Good gods, this book is horrifying. Brilliantly horrifying. Ah jist cannae pit it doon.
I think it might top even Marabou Stork Nightmares in terms of sheer literary brutalization. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I shall quickly polish this one off before getting to work on the countless chores I need to take care of.

[NRDL]

On to book 2 of Skulduggery Pleasant. "Playing with Fire." Went to the library hoping to find it, nearly the entire series is there. Managed to get a third of the way through the book before I realised I had to get home.

[hops]

I finally finished reading Moby Dick.

It was nice.

Do I recommend this book to other people?

No.

[Gatleos]

Do I recommend this book to other people?

No.

That thought always makes me question whether I really enjoyed something, or if I'm just glad to be able to say I read/watched/played it.


...I'm reading From Bacteria to Bach and Back by Dan Dennett, it just came out earlier this year. I just got to the part where he starts discussing co-evolution of human brains alongside free-floating cultural ideas, like viruses but made of non-physical information. It's a lot more accessible than I just made it sound.

[JoshuaFH]

I'll actually check that out, microbiology is a new interest of mine.

Right now I'm reading "We make the road by walking" by Myles Horton and Paulo Friere. I gravitate the most strongly towards wise, sagacious old men authors, and this book has two. My first impression from the first chapter is good. Though I got it because I also am interested in pedagogy, and my initial web search revealed this.

[Yoink]

Currently I am reading Ivanhoe, and it is bloody excellent.
Honestly, I wasn't really expecting it to be so good, especially considering it's by the author of Rob Roy which I remember just about boring me to tears when I tried to read it years ago, and I was in fact putting off starting Ivanhoe due to my low expectations.

How foolish of me! This is probably going to claim a place amongst my very favourite books ere the story's finished. Sumptuous descriptions of medieval life and scenery, a decided lack of the usual pussyfooted-ness I would usually (no doubt incorrectly) expect from a classic from its period, some of the snappiest, most sharp-witted dialogue I've encountered in a book from any era, and to top it off I feel like I'm learning a lot more about English history than I ever really knew before.

I've been doing more reading lately than I had been for a long time, 'tis good.
Also it's getting quite exciting indeed. Thrills the blood, it does.


In addition to that, the only novel I'm currently reading (trying to stick to one at a time, despite my enticing backlog of unread books), I've been reading a  lot of poetry here and there. A collection of Keats I got from the library, the works of some fellow called Longfellow that I found at a "flea" market last weekend, those of some other guy named Francis Thompson that I've had for a while (and yet barely scratched the surface of for some reason, I shall have to remedy that), some prose translations of Rimbaud and this old, aesthetically lovely little book of "Comic and Curious Verse", selected by J.M. Cohen and printed in 1952. A lot of the verse within is very old, filled with archaic words and terms and difficult to understand, but there are definitely some poets in there whom I should like to read more from.

[Parsely]

Currently I am reading Ivanhoe, and it is bloody excellent.
Honestly, I wasn't really expecting it to be so good, especially considering it's by the author of Rob Roy which I remember just about boring me to tears when I tried to read it years ago, and I was in fact putting off starting Ivanhoe due to my low expectations.

How foolish of me! This is probably going to claim a place amongst my very favourite books ere the story's finished. Sumptuous descriptions of medieval life and scenery, a decided lack of the usual pussyfooted-ness I would usually (no doubt incorrectly) expect from a classic from its period, some of the snappiest, most sharp-witted dialogue I've encountered in a book from any era, and to top it off I feel like I'm learning a lot more about English history than I ever really knew before.

I've been doing more reading lately than I had been for a long time, 'tis good.
Also it's getting quite exciting indeed. Thrills the blood, it does.


In addition to that, the only novel I'm currently reading (trying to stick to one at a time, despite my enticing backlog of unread books), I've been reading a  lot of poetry here and there. A collection of Keats I got from the library, the works of some fellow called Longfellow that I found at a "flea" market last weekend, those of some other guy named Francis Thompson that I've had for a while (and yet barely scratched the surface of for some reason, I shall have to remedy that), some prose translations of Rimbaud and this old, aesthetically lovely little book of "Comic and Curious Verse", selected by J.M. Cohen and printed in 1952. A lot of the verse within is very old, filled with archaic words and terms and difficult to understand, but there are definitely some poets in there whom I should like to read more from.

You mean this Ivanhoe, right? http://www.gutenberg.org/files/82/82-h/82-h.htm#link2H_INTR

I think I'll start reading it too.

[ChairmanPoo]

Maybe I'm the only one but when I read the title "Ivanhoe" I get an earworm of a voice singsonging "eh, hoe, Ivanhoe"  to this tune   https://youtu.be/Quk0EV9aryc

[Arx]

I picked up The Divine Comedy last night. The translation I have is surprisingly readable, and surprisingly loaded with contemporary references for such a well-known classic. 14th century politics, not the most transparent to the modern reader.