Book thread

[Maclowery]

I've always mentally added a few years onto the kids in the series to make things less icky.

I'm re-reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, which I've been somewhat following for a good 15 years. The first four or six books are so much fun, then it just drags hellishly from 7 to 9. I've powered my way through 9, and apparently 10 is the worst book of the series, so I'm gleefully paging through entire chapters of ancillary characters. There are a hilarious amount of names that I don't recognize. I don't care, i just want to get up to 13.

[Swirls]

You're almost there, Mac. Books 10 and 11 are both pretty bad - you can tell Robert Jordan is dying, because the writing seems totally different from the first six books.

Book 12 was a good transition book w/ Brandon Sanderson, as a lot of the book (and certain parts of books 13 and the upcoming book 14) was written by Jordan prior to his passing. Brandon just filled in the holes for book 12, but the majority of book 13 was his, as well as the majority of book 14 when it comes out.

Book 13 is really, really awesome. I think it's easily my second favorite book of the series, beaten only slightly by book one. It's just non-stop action from the main characters, and none of the ancillary character development [expletive] for 100 pages that you see in some of the prior books. You can tell the end of the series is painfully close, because everything is FINALLY coming together and resolution is coming for some of the lesser characters. The Last Battle is on, [expletive]!

And Saigon, at least in the ASOIAF series, the sex scenes are humans (albeit young ones). Unfortunately, I can never un-read the hilariously bad writing of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, where there are rather graphic sex scenes of females being raped by monsters and demons.

[Maclowery]

terry Goodkind is the most mocked author, bar none, on the GRRM forum I frequent that is a very weel-respected fantasy/scifi/literature online community. Threads specifically mocking his stunningly stupid tripe are a beloved staple there a la our offseason tourneys, to such an extent that Goodkinds publicist asked forum owners to limit the personal attacks on the dude.

I want might put aside WoT for awhile, as I have a ton of other books backlogged. Joe Abercrombie reread starting today. I want some hard ass violence and lots and lots of cursing.

[Swirls]

I did a full WoT re-read last year before book 13 came out. Book 14 is still expected to be released late-Spring 2012. With my work schedule, I'm not sure I could get through re-reading all 13 books before #14 comes out.

EDIT: Looks like my late-Spring 2012 guess won't happen - maybe I'll have time to do a full re-read after all.

[Swirls]

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
It is a step I don't think we want to take. Better to stop while we're ahead. I'm sorry, but they probably won't ever happen.
29 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
But lots of people are asking about outriggers/prequels. The answer is still the same. We'd rather not risk exploiting RJ's legacy. (more)
30 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
Another common question: How many revisions will I do? The last two took about a dozen. (On no-wot books, I do about seven or eight.)
33 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
As for when the book will come out, Tor should do an announcement soon. Revisions will take a good six months. So fall, I expect.
44 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
Ladies and gentlemen, A Memory of Light--the final book in The Wheel of Time--has been finished.
51 minutes ago

[Freed Roger]

Hope to find King's new novel under the tree this year.

King evokes horrors of history in '11/22/63'

I'm about 300 pages into this and I love it so far. If you're a big Stephen King fan I don't think you'll be disappointed.

IIRC, this book is my first time reading Stephen King. Am about at the 300 page mark as well and liking it - he takes the reader into the time warp with him. Makes you think about the "butterfly effect."

[JackofDiamonds]

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
It is a step I don't think we want to take. Better to stop while we're ahead. I'm sorry, but they probably won't ever happen.
29 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
But lots of people are asking about outriggers/prequels. The answer is still the same. We'd rather not risk exploiting RJ's legacy. (more)
30 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
Another common question: How many revisions will I do? The last two took about a dozen. (On no-wot books, I do about seven or eight.)
33 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
As for when the book will come out, Tor should do an announcement soon. Revisions will take a good six months. So fall, I expect.
44 minutes ago

BrandSanderson Brandon Sanderson
Ladies and gentlemen, A Memory of Light--the final book in The Wheel of Time--has been finished.
51 minutes ago

Just because twitter operates in a [expletive] up timeline doesn't mean that you can't correct it when you repost it. That was confusing.

[MrSaigon]

So I read Crichton's latest posthumous/finished by someone else book, 'Micro.' I'm a big fan, but most of his best stuff was in the 80's and 90's ('Jurassic Park,' 'Congo,' 'Sphere'--fantastic books) anyway, and this one--while there were some good, imagination capturing, moments--was pretty weak. Given all his books, it may not really be logical, but I just had trouble buying into the premise (Honey I Shrunk the Science Team). The science explanation behind it was especially unconvincing this time around.

Not a very good book.

Still need to read the pirate one, though.

edit: going through his works I think I was wrong to try to pin down a best era for him. Congo was 1980, Jurassic Park was 1990, and, as I never would have guessed, Andromeda Strain was in 1969. His last few haven't been very good, IMO. I'll have to read some of his earlier 'John Lange' stuff.

[Donnie Ebert]

Hope to find King's new novel under the tree this year.

King evokes horrors of history in '11/22/63'

I'm about 300 pages into this and I love it so far. If you're a big Stephen King fan I don't think you'll be disappointed.

IIRC, this book is my first time reading Stephen King. Am about at the 300 page mark as well and liking it - he takes the reader into the time warp with him. Makes you think about the "butterfly effect."

I finished this the day after Christmas. My one word review: Obdurate.

[IMADreamer]

I just started ESPN: Those Guys have all the Fun.

I really like it so far, but I'm only on chapter 3.