Books!

[Viisikielinenkantele]

Perdido Street Station was very good, but I have been disappointed by others books For me, China Miéville is marvelous at creating universes, but the story might suffer of a lack of... something. The Scar was not at Perdido Street Station level, in my humble opinion, and Iron Council had good ideas but I was unable to really enjoy my reading... but he's still good in the creation

Do you know Steph Swainston's books ? The Year of Our War was the only one translated in France, I had been obligated to read the next one in english with a dictionary ^^ (And it's not fault to have asked the publishers at every festival several years, but sadly it doesn't find readers here.) It's a more dark and adult fantasy, the main character, Jant, is one of the Immortals in a land in "war" against the Insects, the Messenger, the only one who can fly BUT a junkie. You'll not find fantasy's cliché (Middle-Age, princess, powerful wizard, prophecy, elves or dwarves...) inside. I still have the third book to read. In english. With a dictionary. But The Year of Our War is one of my best reading in fantasy
I'm glad you liked this book It was my last reading when I saw Minna's drawing for the first time ^^

I can relate to your not liking "The Iron Council". I like the stand-alone-books of China Miéville more, because every time he manages to create a whole new world and this I find fascinating.

Steph Swainston's "Castle"-books are fun to read, but I lost interest halfway through the fourth book. It just felt like she had no new ideas. But the first three I can recommend!

Do you know Jasper Fforde's books? I really enjoyed the "Thursday Next"-series, the protagonist works for jurisfiction, a police unit ensuring the smooth run of reading, because books can be altered by persons entering them. It plays in an alternate London. The books are full of literary hints and I laughed quite a few times reading them. His "Nursery Crime"-books are fun too, about a detective trying to solve the murders of nursery rhyme protagonists.

[Mélusine]

Steph Swainston's "Castle"-books are fun to read, but I lost interest halfway through the fourth book. It just felt like she had no new ideas. But the first three I can recommend!

Do you know Jasper Fforde's books? I really enjoyed the "Thursday Next"-series, the protagonist works for jurisfiction, a police unit ensuring the smooth run of reading, because books can be altered by persons entering them. It plays in an alternate London. The books are full of literary hints and I laughed quite a few times reading them. His "Nursery Crime"-books are fun too, about a detective trying to solve the murders of nursery rhyme protagonists.

I'll read again the first books of The Castle, but in english, before discovering the last one. The changes between french and english were disturbing, the last time
I know the name of Jasper Fforde but have never tried one of his books yet. Thank for the advice !

[Tap10lan]

Locke & Key

by

Writer Joe Hill
Artist Gabriel Rodriguez

Since this is a comic (well, by now it's a bunch of collections, and finished), it's possible there's another thread for it, but if you haven't read this yet, I highly recommend it.
It has a bit of a Lovecraftian/Stephen King vibe to it, but it's all its own thing, with a metal with which you can make keys that turn you into a giant, give you wings, etc. Those examples are actually the most mundane! And it's a scary story, too. Well, it would be, if I associate it with Lovecraft/King, wouldn't it?

Also, I mention it since Humblebundle are "selling" all of the albums right now for less than 20 bucks (well, it's mostly for good causes, in this case Traveling Stories, so you can of course plonk down a lot more ...).
So if you can stand e-comics/e-books, and have the money, this is a great thing!

[Tap10lan]

And oh, I forgot to mention, (since I tend to think everyone knows what I know ...) the Locke & Key books are just a part of what's going on with humblebundle's books offering right now.
They have Darwyn Cooke's rendition of Richard Stark's Parker books, too. I really like those.
Also, a few of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books. They're on the good side of OK, but not his strongest work, if you ask me.
Plus a bunch of other stuff I don't know.
(I wouldn't do this shilling thing if it weren't for the good "price", and the fact that the money goes to good causes. )

[meshebe]

Well, it's a books forum, I've got to say something but I'll try to keep it short!

Title: DUNE
Author: Frank Herbert
Genre: SciFi
Description: "Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib."
Comments: This is probably my favorite book, there were so many little details and little truths in this one book.  Unfortunately the next books in the series become more and more details and less and less action... I enjoyed the next book (Dune Messiah) but I know many people who did not.

Title: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings triligy
Author: JRR Tolkein
Genre: Fantasy
Description: You know it.
Comments:  I can't believe the large amount of people who have not read these books but also love fantasy.  I suggest reading the hobbit first, it helped me a lot to get into the series.  I also tried to read the lord of the rings in grade school and it scared me away "waaaay to dense!" but later in life (college) I appreciated every little detail.  It's a world you can get lost in, that's for sure. 

Title: The Dark Tower Series (7 books)
Author: Stephan King
Genre: Fantasy/Western?
Description: "The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower."
Comments: This series is not like other books by Stephan King - It is not excessively...gross.  I discounted King's books after trying to read Desparation, but I am so glad that I read these books.  I've never been so startled and surprised by a story in a book, and I don't think I've ever read 700 page book so quickly. 

Anyway, I hope someone enjoys my "two cents"

[Robert]

Title: DUNE
Author: Frank Herbert
Genre: SciFi
Description: "Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib."
Comments: This is probably my favorite book, there were so many little details and little truths in this one book.  Unfortunately the next books in the series become more and more details and less and less action... I enjoyed the next book (Dune Messiah) but I know many people who did not.

I've heard people advise reading the first two or three books in the DUNE series and stopping there.

For those that like cats I suggest reading "Tailchaser's Song" by Tad Williams.  It's epic fantasy without much distracting politics and with cats as the main characters.  They act like cats too, which just makes it even better.

For those that want fantasy that is neither set in a pseudo middle ages nor in the modern world there are two pairs of books by Sean Russell.  "Beneath the Vaulted Hills" and "The Compass of the Soul" are set in a period like the Enlightenment, though magic definitely exists and one of the major secondary characters is a trained mage.  He's the only one, but "It takes a lifetime to make a mage." as they say in the book.  The second set "World Without End" and "Sea Without a Shore" are set at least 40 years later and includes a major plot thread set on a Navy survey ship.

[Tap10lan]

For all who, like me, are still sad about Ian (M.) Banks passing way earlier than I'd hoped he would:

I'm reading

Ancillary Justice

by

Ann Leckie

You know how blurbs read "... picking up the mantle ...", "A NEW Ian M Banks", etc.?
Well, this time I hadn't tweaked to it. (As an aside: W00h00! I've finally learned how to ignore (at least some) zero transmissions such as ads! )
Instead, when I started reading Leckie, it felt like coming home.
It's as if Banks had written a book that's pre-Culture, with remnants of one of the larger Ships going about their stuff, inside one of the evil empires.
DANG!

So yeah, I'm telling everyone who might have missed this fact.

(And hey, her last name sounds Scottish, so she's up there with the best contemporary SF writers: Ian M Banks, Michael Cobley, Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross (well, I just made him honorary Scotsman, I guess). OK, then, the Brits have a few, too, like Alastair Reynolds.
And now I made the mistake of checking Ann Leckies background. Turns out she was born in the States. Well, it was a nice theory, while it lasted. Anyway, she's great, and she writes in the grand tradition of Ian M Banks.

READ!

[ParanormalAndroid]

Gah, when I heard Iain M Banks had died I actually cried, only slightly but still.
He was an exceptional author.

[Tap10lan]

Gah, when I heard Iain M Banks had died I actually cried, only slightly but still.
He was an exceptional author.

Me too. I'm still sad when I think about it. I'd sort of settled into an expectation of getting new books from him to read every now and then, and now ...

Still, I do recommend Ann Leckie. Like Banks, she combines sociology, cool extreme science, and some action, switching scales in a natural way. And there's something in her language that makes me think of Banks, too. It's unhurried, and ... thoughtful (?). I like it.

I think I have a penchant for sociological literature (well, I found the original Foundation books a bit boring, sorry ).
I love Steven Erikson's Malazan decalogue. It most definitely is the best fantasy EVER.
Quite possibly, Ursula K LeGuin is one of the top 10 best ever SF/fantasy authors ever ... Apart from all the well-known fantastic stuff she's written (Earthsea, Hainish, etc.), I'd like to mention an oddity: a "novel/anthropological study" about a future (?) "indian" tribe, with songs, stories, legends, artwork, and a specific story about a member of this tribe. A fascinating read!

[Tap10lan]

Oops. I forgot to actually write the TITLE ... 

It's

Always coming home

by

Ursula K LeGuin

[snotra]

Does anyone have advice on how to limit your book-buying inclinations without restraining you from ever entering book shops unless you absolutely have to and how to manage your buying habits so you won't run out of shelf space? I have so far tried to externalise the bought books by instantly gifting them to someone else and then keeping the title in consideration for borrowing later.

[mithrysc]

Does anyone have advice on how to limit your book-buying inclinations without restraining you from ever entering book shops unless you absolutely have to and how to manage your buying habits so you won't run out of shelf space? I have so far tried to externalise the bought books by instantly gifting them to someone else and then keeping the title in consideration for borrowing later.

Uh...I may not be the best person to answer this, given that I am currently looking at a shelf stacked (two deep, and with an extra row on the top) with books. At least I personally did not buy them. Or much of them.

Perhaps some sort of "book-buying" budget--limit the amount of money you can spend on books, which hopefully means less books bought (and hopefully not more cheap copies bought)?

A rule of thumb for me would be to first borrow an interesting title (via friend or library), and then only if you think it's good enough for a re-read go and buy it.

[snotra]

Most of my stuff tends to come from second-hand bookstores where most titles are rapidly becoming so archaic the elderly light up when I make a reference to the characters or its story, so that might be a bit difficult.

[Tap10lan]

Does anyone have advice on how to limit your book-buying inclinations without restraining you from ever entering book shops unless you absolutely have to and how to manage your buying habits so you won't run out of shelf space? I have so far tried to externalise the bought books by instantly gifting them to someone else and then keeping the title in consideration for borrowing later.

I've tended to do like snotra, and I have a wall that's something like 24'x8' packed with books, comics, and old-style vinyl records/CDs. But I've been at this a while ...

Libraries are of course a way around this, as mithysc says.

Also, nowadays you can get stuff cheaper by e.g. getting e-books. humblebundle often has good deals with really good quality books/comics.

If you want to REDUCE the consumtion, I guess finding another poison is the "solution", although watching movies/tv series in cinemas/at home doesn't reduce my interest in books.
Neither is gaming, come to think of it ... Or art, or music. Dang ...

[Silent Fox]

I stumbled across the first book in a used book store a few years ago and loved it. It's a great series!

Another really good series is Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series. It's set during WWI in an alternate universe and is of the steampunk variety. Also The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima is the first book in a really good fantasy adventure series and I highly recommend it.

Seconding Chronicles. Just finished the first book and it kept me interested.
I've also read the first book in the Ice People series by Margit Sandemo; wasn't bad, but the English translation isn't quite my cup of tea (and I hate when this happens!).
Also, I'm reading Jurassic Park for the first time now, and my god the writing is great! Why didn't any of my old friends ever tell me?!

Does anyone know of any books/comics that are specifically similar to what SSSS is doing? Plot wise? I don't even know what genre it would be categorized in?