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What are You Reading Right now?

Discussion in 'Books & Comics' started by Suspiria, Aug 26, 2015.

  1. Angelman

    Angelman Servant of the Whills -- Slave to the Muses
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    I haven't read any of Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson's spin-off books, but the answer I typically get to that question from my Dune friends is (and I'm obviously paraphrasing):

    "Read Frank Herbert's 6 books* and then, if you feel the urge to, read Hunters of Dune & Sandworms of Dune (i.e. the books based on Frank Herbert's notes for Dune 7). And then, read any other spin-off books that seem particularly interesting to you (and you certainly don't need to read them all). Only Frank Herbert's original 6 are must-reads, however, and the Brian & Kevin's voice & style & talent are very different (and inferior) to Frank Herbert."

    *Do note that the 4th book, God-Emperor of Dune, is weird and can be tough to get through. It's quite awesome, but Frank Herbert breaks all the rules on what makes a page-turner. It is set 3500 years after Children of Dune and is basically (although I'm exaggerating here) a 138k long conversation. Not for everyone. The last two books, Heretics of Dune & Chapterhouse Dune are fun action rumps and very easy to get through.
     
    #481 Angelman, Jan 29, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2020
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  2. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    Thanks, that's helpful and what I was hoping. There were some of the expansion books that looked interesting but I didn't want to have to read them ALL in order to check them out.

    On a side note I had a cool find at the used bookstore today...

    [​IMG]

    Sure it's just a price guide, incredibly outdated prices at that, but I had this book as a kid and I'd just flip through it and look at the pictures of all the Star Wars/Star Trek toys for hours. I spent almost as much time drooling over the toys I didn't have and couldn't find anymore as I did playing with the ones I did. Looking through it now I'm surprised I spent so much time immersed in it, with exception of a small section of color/glossy pictures the majority of the images are just small black/white pictures printed onto the paper and not all that great. Still I'm glad I picked it up, just seeing it sitting there (and I noticed it by mistake walking past a reference section on my way out and it just happened to catch my eye) brought back tons of nostalgia. It also brings back lots of memories of a time when looking for Star Wars merchandise meant going to flea markets and garage sales, kind of sad times.
     
    #482 NunbNuts, Jan 29, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2020
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  3. Addi Ras

    Addi Ras MASTER TEA MAKER
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    A couple of really good Scandi Noir books to get me through winter.

    20200213_151051.jpg
     
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  4. Snazel

    Snazel Force Sensitive

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    I just finished re-reading Kim Gordon's "Girl in a Band" autobiography about her days in Sonic Youth.

    I'm about to take on a Sarah Vowell book about Lafayette next.
     
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  5. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    Continuing my Middle Earth reading, I finished The Hobbit and LotR and have moved on to...

    [​IMG]

    I think I mentioned here, or in another thread, I accidentally tried reading this years ago because I thought it was a stand-alone Tolkien novel and at that time I had only read The Hobbit and only seen 1 or 2 of the movies... so it was a disaster. My memory of the confusion and effort it took to push forward in it, before finally giving up after learning that it should be read after all the other Tolkien novels, led to quite a bit of dread about reading this but I knew it was necessary if I was going to actually read this series. However I've found it pretty enjoyable so far, with some context it's interesting and not too hard to follow.
     
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  6. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    Still reading about Middle Earth, finished The Silmarillion and The Children Of Hurin then moved on to The Unfinished Tales.

    I also just finished...

    [​IMG]

    I'm not sure why I decided to read this, I like the movie but I was never a giant fan. I always thought it was a good movie with a good story but slow at times and overall more interesting than frightening. Not that I mind that, but it has this reputation of being insanely scary and I just don't see it. It seemed like it probably worked better as a book but I was just never interested enough to check it out. I heard about it several times recently and that it was good so I gave it a shot. I did enjoy it and even though I've seen the movie many times was actually wondering what was going to happen next as there were some subplots scaled back or left out of the movie. There was one, which turned out to be misdirection, that almost had me thinking the book and movie were going to be VERY different. It's obviously not for the kiddies but probably not as risqué as the average Stephen King novel.
     
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  7. Addi Ras

    Addi Ras MASTER TEA MAKER
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    Just started The Mirror & The Light the 3rd & final part of Hillary Mantel's trilogy of books about Thomas Cromwell.

    20200309_171112.jpg
     
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  8. Lord of the Rens

    Lord of the Rens Gatekeeper & Avatar Maker

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    Just finished...
    upload_2020-3-9_16-38-14.png
    &
    about to start...

    [​IMG]
     
    #488 Lord of the Rens, Mar 9, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2020
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  9. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    I just finished my Middle-Earth reading project and since I was a little too mentally drained to jump right into the Dune series as I had planned I'm reading this as a nice/easy transition out of Tolkien...

    [​IMG]

    It's surprisingly good with a sort of Crichton feel to it. Novelizations are more often miss than hit and while I've always enjoyed Stargate since I first saw it (I was in HS when it came out and couldn't get anybody interested to go see it so I had to rent it from Blockbuster as soon as it came out), but it's never been one of my favorite movies or anything. I never bothered with the TV show but the VHS/DVD/Blu Ray of the movie has always been in my collection. Anyway like I said it's a pretty fun read and it does a really good job of keeping the spirit of the movie while expanding on it enough to still be interesting.

    I'm also reading this book called "Milk It" about the Alternative Music explosion of the 90s but it kind of blows. It's more of a scrapbook of articles and reviews written by a total tool of a music critic. He must have really needed the money because putting all his stuff in one book like this sort of demonstrates how pointless his opinion was. For instance he put all his Nirvana articles together in one chapter, it would appear he hates them and bashes everything they stand for until the article where he's interviewing them and suddenly he's kissing their butts and putting them on a pedestal. Then when Nirvana is no more he's back to dismissing them, his Cobain obituary just turns into his views on firearms and he sort of mocks Grohl for trying to go solo... until it works and then Grohl is a genius again. I don't mind differing opinions but it would be nice if their opinion about a subject didn't change depending on which way the wind is blowing. This may be one of those rare books that I give up on.
     
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  10. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    [​IMG]

    I was going to wait a couple of weeks before starting the series but on a whim I just jumped in this morning. I read this about 20 years ago, at the time I was psyched for the then upcoming mini-series on Sci Fi Channel that looked really cool. I enjoyed it but I think a lot of it went over my head and it was kind of a struggle during parts so I didn't even dream of reading more of the books. This time I plan to go at least 12-13 books deep into it.
     
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  11. delph

    delph Rebelscum

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    Permanent Record by Edward Snowden.
    [​IMG]

    A very good book from the famous hacker. I discovered the book after I watched the movie.
     
  12. Angelman

    Angelman Servant of the Whills -- Slave to the Muses
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    Bloodline.jpg
    Finally finished Bloodline today. It took me a while and I struggled getting into this one; nothing happened for the first 80 pages or so. But I stuck to it and the novel did get better. I thought it was a bit unfocused, and for a book about Leia and her fall from political power Bloodline spends a whole lot of time on other characters. But all in all, the story is fine and two or three sequences felt quite inspired; I loved how Leia’s secret was treated.

    In the end, any problems I had with the novel was my own doing. I always do this, fan-boying over a writer before actually reading their work, and reality never compares to the rock star ideal that I build up in my head. I’ll be interested in reading another one of Gray’s books for literary comparison.


    I would give Bloodline a 6 or 7/10.
     
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  13. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    I'm on the third book of my Dune-ing

    [​IMG]

    I'm enjoying it, not as much as the first book but much more than the second. This is a mixed experience, I love the story and setting but Herbert's writing is pretty rough in my opinion. I love his imagination but not always his execution.
     
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  14. Embo and His Pet Anooba

    Embo and His Pet Anooba Jedi Commander

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    Anna Karenina. It’s a lot better than War and Peace I find, seeing as War and Peace had too much peace. Additionally, while this is also true for Anna Karenina to a lesser degree, it is hard to connect with the social views of an nineteenth century author and his characters, however realistic these characters are portrayed.
     
    #494 Embo and His Pet Anooba, Apr 8, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2020
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  15. NunbNuts

    NunbNuts Rebel Official

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    [​IMG]

    The last book got pretty confusing but overall I enjoyed it. This one is very strange from the beginning but it sucked me right in and I'm liking it so far.
     
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  16. Vehcra

    Vehcra Guest

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    This Book is so hilarious.

    91wXB76P-xL.jpg
     
  17. Lenerith

    Lenerith Rebelscum

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    I Won this Book at a Tombola last Year.
    Oh my, it is so heartwarming!

    rules-seeing-front-cover_0.jpg
     
  18. Addi Ras

    Addi Ras MASTER TEA MAKER
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    Re reading OATHBRINGER the StormLight achive book 3

    20200422_163402.jpg

    Which is absolutely fantastic & long so will probably last about 2 weeks also it's heavy so I can work out just by holding it up to read :p
     
  19. Jedi Master Wysk

    Jedi Master Wysk Rebelscum

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    I'm about a third through 'The Making of Star Wars- The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film.'
     
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  20. Angelman

    Angelman Servant of the Whills -- Slave to the Muses
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    I'm currently delving back into Ancient Egypt as research for a future novel and I'm loving me some Shaw's tOHoAE right about now! :D I haven't read the book since I studied Egyptology at AuC in Egypt WAY too many years ago, under the lovely Salima Ikram & al., and I'm having a blast revisiting this stuff. <3
    Oxford HoAE.jpg
     
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