What are You Reading Right now?

the chronicles of amber, amazing book series

 

This is the first book of the Legends of Dune trilogy, set like 10,000 years before the first book. It has been my plan for this trilogy to be the end of my Dune reading, leaving out only 4 books. The standalone book Winds Of Dune and the Great Schools of Dune trilogy. But I just read that they're releasing a new Dune trilogy starting in October with "The Duke Of Caladan" and I'm debating reading it. The main problem is that, clearly to take advantage of the film, it's yet another prequel series that leads up to the events of the first book. Supposedly that's what the Prelude To Dune trilogy was supposed to do but it ended like 14/15 years before Dune. It gave me more backstory than I needed though and I really don't feel like I NEED those 14 years filled in. "Paul Of Dune" had a flashback storyline that pretty much filled it in and seemed like it took place immediately before the events of the film. So this is an era and characters that have been explored to death when there are so many more interesting things they could explore. Or finish that God Emperor book they set aside a while back. I'm kind of tired of Duke Leto and his family.

As for the book, I only just started but its at least entertaining so far. The first 5 chapters were this huge battle between humans and the thinking machines. I'm guessing Frank had something more subtle in mind for the Butlerian Jihad than big flashy battles between giant crablike robots and spaceships dropping bombs on them but its already infinitely better than the Prelude To Dune trilogy.

 

To me, you're a hero for plowing through these, @NunbNuts Thank you! Once you're done (with all the books you can be bothered reading), might I ask you to please do a ranking/summary/review/whatever of the books in terms of which ones you would recomend Duneology fans to read and which onces to stay away from? (Wow, that was a sentence, apparently!) That would be a huge help to slow-readers like myself who will never be able to fit all of those spin-off books into the busy reading schedule.

 

I actually hadn't planned to read as much as I've done (and I'm contemplating reading those last 4 books just to have read them all) but Brian and Kevin have made Expanded Dune so connected that you can't really do much cherry picking of which books to read or jump around. Pretty much every book is part of a trilogy or duology and sometimes those are the sequel to one or more other trilogy trilogies/duologies. Even a book like "Paul Of Dune" which is supposed to stand alone (well not entirely, it's supposed to be the direct sequel to Dune filling the gap between Dune Messiah) spends half of its time wrapping up storylines from the Prelude To Dune trilogy... a trilogy I don't really recommend. The 2-part finale to Frank's series that serve as Dune 7/8 spends just as much time wrapping up threads from the Legends Of Dune trilogy as it did continuing the story from Chapterhouse.

There are 5 books you could read though, the most important stuff from Expanded Dune and the stuff you would probably be most interested in as a fan of Frank's originals. And basically that's the stuff that chronologically bookends the series as the story comes somewhat full circle. Or at least attempts to. So you'd want to read the Legends Of Dune trilogy about the Butlerian Jihad then jump to the finale in Hunters Of Dune and Sandworms Of Dune. I mistakenly just jumped into Dune 7/8 after Chapterhouse and it would have been better if I'd gone in publishing order. Everything else I've read hasn't been very important but for better or worse those 5 I mentioned have been the best and most interesting Expanded Dune novels.

Anyway I've moved on to the 2nd book of the Legends Of Dune trilogy

 

On to the final book of the Legends Of Dune trilogy...

 

I'm not reading this (I read these as a kid then re-read them a couple years ago) nor did I really need another copy of this because I have the cool leatherbound Darth Vader edition Barnes and Noble put out as well as an old paperback containing the trilogy I got sometime in the 90s as well as vintage paperbacks of each individual novelization. But this looked so pretty and I used to have this picture (I'm guessing some recently worked up TESB poster) as the background on my tablet until I recently did a reset and I guess I just thought it would look neat with all my other Star Wars books.



Is there some legal reason they still don't credit Alan Dean Foster for the ANH novelization? Though it's probably the best OT novelization it's not Foster's best (The Thing or Alien probably take the cake) but it's one of his highest profile works and while I could be wrong I don't see George fighting over the credit for novelizing the film. Especially since Glut and Kahn got their credit. Since Foster continued to work in the EU over the years (starting the EU with the first two Star Wars novels I guess) and wrote the novelization for TFA I wouldn't imagine it's something there's too much drama or hard feelings over.

 

I've come to the last trilogy of my Dune reading... though there is a new trilogy beginning soon I'll be able to read them as they're published instead of binge reading them. I should finish this trilogy and then the final Dune book I have to read (Winds Of Dune) just as the new book is released next month.

 

I am very, very impressed with the speed of your reading and your stamina, sir. I wish I could read as many books as you! (I go through like... 3-4 in a good year... )

 

I'm currently reading "George Lucas : A Life" by Brian Jay Jones. The author is VERY thorough but it is fascinating so far. I read a Jim Henson biography by the same author and it was wonderful as well.


Over the summer I also read two books by Robin Sloan. These were FANTASTIC!!! Both full of fun and heart. I would highly recommend "Mr. Penumbra's 24hr Bookstore" and "Sourdough"

 

Challenged myself to read all the winners of Hugo Award for Best Novels in chronological order a while ago (except the ones that I've already read).

Recently finished:
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953)
They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley (1954)

Currently reading:
Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

 

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Only because it required for Academic Decathlon at my school, but it is a fun read.

 

Well that last book ended up putting me in a rut, it wasn't very good and it took me 3 weeks to force myself through it. But it got better near the end so I'm less depressed about still having a few books left than I was. I almost quit but I'm too close.

I did decide to kick off October with some seasonal reading in addition to my Dune stuff, picked this up a while back



Pretty entertaining so far. In the movie they always stay in New York but they apparently fly to Marin county to dispose of a ghost for George Lucas at ILM and Isaac Asimov is calling them for some unexplained reason... either a ghost or just to ask questions about their equipment. And the scene with Winston just showing up answering an ad in the newspaper, and being the only one, makes a little more sense. In the book he's just gotten out of the military where he was trained in electronics/radar/computers and the Ghostbusters ad in the paper was this cheery, normal sounding want ad except asking if you had experience with heavy weaponry, radar surveillance, electronics, etc.

 

Before Rhythm of War drops and takes over all of my free time (and Spider-Man: Miles Morales takes over all of my free time after that), I wanted to do what I haven't done in a bit and go on a comic splurge. Over the past two weekends I've been out hunting for the comics I want. Yes, I could have ordered them off of B&N or Amazon, but where's the fun in that?

First up, continuing my '90s nostalgia I finally decided to jump into Boom! Comic's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers series. I know more or less how the plot goes due to TV Tropes (I didn't think I'd be interested in the comics until I decided to buy them), but I've really enjoyed them so far! It takes all of the heart of the original show but updates it for modern times in ways that still respect the characters. The series starts right after Tommy's brainwashing wears off and he joins the team for good, so he's still the Green Ranger three volumes in. Rita Repulsa is a far larger threat (and far more menacing) than the show ever made her. Volume 3 also introduced some really big villains I knew about but I didn't think we'd see for a while. But they're here, and I'm loving every bit of it.



MMPR feels like the opposite side of the coin of the 2017 Power Rangers movie. The movie was best when it focused on the Rangers as teenagers and their struggles there. In a weird sense, it was a good teenage(rs with attitude) action movie but a bad Power Rangers movie. Conversely, this Power Rangers comic focuses on the heroics and the realities of being a hero (the price of leadership, the trauma involved in what amounts to being a child soldier, the fact that it more or less kills your social life, etc) while still being respectful to the heart and soul of the series; but the focus on the teenagers being teenagers only really appears in Kat and Tommy's budding romance.

Of all of the comics I'm reading, Power Rangers and Skyward are probably my favorite right now. And good news! Barnes and Noble AND comic book stores have Skyward Vol 1 and 2 in stock! Skyward Vol 3 is nowhere to be found, sadly, so I might resort to Amazon or B&N for that one. Overall, if you liked Power Rangers as a kid, still hold some affection for it now, and want a nice comic to read, this is definitely worth trying out. (And if you're looking for a cool sci-fi Hero's Journey, Skyward is great...as is the Sanderson book of the same name.)




Speaking of Sanderson, I don't think I mentioned it here but I read the comic inspired by world he made called Dark One. It's the journey of a young man named Paul who is transported to another world and discovers that he's not the hero of this story - he's the Big Bad. There's more to the plot and more to the world outside of just that, but it's a comic I highly recommend you check out.





Next up is Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows. This has been on my list for a while, and I've actually already read the first volume before. But revisiting it right when Spider-Man: Miles Morales comes out has been a real treat. In many ways, this story is my canon for Peter Parker.* I LOVE seeing Peter married and happy. The man is always down on his luck and struggling to just live in the modern day, and seeing him finally get some semblance of that happy ending he so deserves makes it so much sweeter. I'm also just a fan of "next generation" stories, because the combination of powers and the themes of legacy always make me feel some type of way! I'll be on the lookout for the rest of the run (only four volumes), and I play to enjoy it as much as possible.



Currently I'm reading James Tynion IV's first volume of Batman, titled Their Dark Design. It's...good. The art is well done, as is the writing, but it doesn't pop as much as Snyder's run did. That's fair, however, since this is not only the beginning of a new run, but straight off the heels of Tom King's more controversial run. Frankly I don't think we'll see Scott Synder's run surpassed anytime soon, but I'm enjoying it. I'm a little worried about Volume 2: The Joker War, because I feel like I've seen that storyline far too much already. Synder did it twice, I'm sure Tom King did it at least once, and Geoff Johns just finished his Three Jokers comic. The Joker needs to rest for some time. Adding to that, a reviewer I generally trust named The Comicstorian doesn't necessarily like the run, blaming it's faults on the cyclical nature of mainstream comics. So yeah...




Next up is Scott Synder's Justice League run. I just bought the first volume, but I'm excited to see how it turns out. I'm not sure Synder can work with other characters as well as he clearly can with Batman, but I loved Superman Unchained - it's my second-favorite Superman story, right behind the Godfall (which is terrible, but I love it anyways), and Dark Nights: Metal was great, so I'm willing to give him a chance.





Lastly is Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther run. I'm saving what may be the best for last!




Comics I have yet to find:

Justice League Rebirth Vol 5: Legacy - I don't think this comic will be that good, but again, I'm a sucker for those "alternate future" storylines.



Young Justice Vol 2 - I liked Vol 1, and I want to at least see how this wraps up.





*My current "Happy Peter Parker Family" headcanon is that Peter has two daughters, May (aka Spider-Girl) and Annie, and one baby son in Benji. He and MJ live(d) a happy life together, and he's more or less retired from the role of Spider-Man, letting Miles take over. I'd like to see Peter and Silk get together, but I don't want to kill MJ to let that happen. I'll figure it out eventually.

 

Speaking as one who just finished the book less than an hour ago, you're in for a fun ride.

 

Well I didn't make it to the end of all the Dune books, I was 2 books away from having read them all but the previous two were so bad (one of of the books I had to go was the conclusion of a trilogy that began with those two books) that I called it a day. If any of you ever decide to read the Expanded Dune novels, take my advice and skip the Schools of Dune dumpster fire. After 22 Dune books I was already getting burned out and just had no patience for something as bad as that last trilogy. Anyway I've been getting back to Earth by reading some sandworm-free non-fiction. I read a book about the 1985 Chicago Bears that was pretty good and now I'm reading this book that was filmed as Ford v Ferrari which I still haven't seen yet. Even though I'm not really into cars or racing it's fun/interesting.