Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 104530 times)

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Hallack

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #120 on: October 20, 2008, 06:47:24 PM »
Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard
A friend of mine bought this a few weeks back, but haven't had the chance to read it yet, so I'll ask you: Is it any good?

hehe, so far it is just mostly VERY Long.  It has been very good so far as well.  It is an interesting and well written (though certainly can be dry but hell this is economics and political theory type stuff).

I've got it on PDF.  You can get it in that format free.  I am going to see if I can get it from the library though.
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Tshern

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #121 on: October 20, 2008, 07:05:13 PM »
I dislike reading books on my computer, so I'll just borrow it the book from the aforementioned friend some day. Though I am an amateur at economics, it is interesting, so length is no obstacle. Cheers for the tip.

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altpersona

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #122 on: October 20, 2008, 07:09:28 PM »
i have always bitched about reading stuff on the computer...

but i have started to recently... i find if i ctrl+ html text, it gets big, and i can read it from a distance.. set the mouse to scroll down and start reading.. like the starwars intro..
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Omen of Peace

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #123 on: October 20, 2008, 08:10:24 PM »
I. C. Esslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard - part of the Malazan series which I'm a fan of. Damn good.

E. Hamilton's (Greek) Mythology. I used to love mythology and know a lot about it, but I forgot much of it. I used to take it mostly as a bunch of stories, whereas now I get to understand the underlying "philosophy".
It's hard to imagine the relation between the Greeks and their gods - they have very human defects and yet...
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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #124 on: October 21, 2008, 04:20:51 AM »
i have always bitched about reading stuff on the computer...

but i have started to recently... i find if i ctrl+ html text, it gets big, and i can read it from a distance.. set the mouse to scroll down and start reading.. like the starwars intro..

You can do ctl+ in the foxit pdf reader, and then scroll with the mouse wheel.

My biggest problem with reading from a computer is that for some reason I still prefer taking notes in a notebook. Tping text into a computer doesn't really fix information into my head the same way that taking notes with a pen does.

Irthos Levethix

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #125 on: October 21, 2008, 12:27:46 PM »
I finally finished reading Magician: Apprentice and am now on to Magician: Master.  That only took me 8 months, woohoO!

Pug just completed his training, and Tomas is turning into a badass.  These books have been pretty good, hope they don't turn into pulp as the series goes on.
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InnaBinder

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #126 on: October 21, 2008, 12:33:00 PM »
I finally finished reading Magician: Apprentice and am now on to Magician: Master.  That only took me 8 months, woohoO!

Pug just completed his training, and Tomas is turning into a badass.  These books have been pretty good, hope they don't turn into pulp as the series goes on.
The Riftwar series doesn't turn to pulp at any time, really.  D&D players are often especially drawn toward it because the series itself is based on a D&D campaign (2e, if I recall correctly) that Fiest DMed.  That and he's a wonder for getting you to turn pages to see how they deal with the latest impending DOOOOOOOM!
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Stratovarius

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #127 on: October 21, 2008, 12:42:46 PM »
The Magic Army about the American Army in England before D-Day.
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Chemus

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #128 on: October 21, 2008, 09:49:23 PM »
I finally finished reading Magician: Apprentice and am now on to Magician: Master.  That only took me 8 months, woohoO!

Pug just completed his training, and Tomas is turning into a badass.  These books have been pretty good, hope they don't turn into pulp as the series goes on.
The Riftwar series doesn't turn to pulp at any time, really.  D&D players are often especially drawn toward it because the series itself is based on a D&D campaign (2e, if I recall correctly) that Fiest DMed.  That and he's a wonder for getting you to turn pages to see how they deal with the latest impending DOOOOOOOM!

OK being corrected when I'm not wrong is one of my biggest peeves so I'm sorry if I offend ya, but I thought that R.E. Feist actually made up a percentile system with his buddies in college. Is that what they played? Also, IIRC, the book is almost as old, if not older than, 2e (2e came out in '90 or '91, I think)

I'm currently reading Small Favor, by Jim Butcher

And a compilation of A.C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.
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InnaBinder

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #129 on: October 21, 2008, 09:58:25 PM »
I finally finished reading Magician: Apprentice and am now on to Magician: Master.  That only took me 8 months, woohoO!

Pug just completed his training, and Tomas is turning into a badass.  These books have been pretty good, hope they don't turn into pulp as the series goes on.
The Riftwar series doesn't turn to pulp at any time, really.  D&D players are often especially drawn toward it because the series itself is based on a D&D campaign (2e, if I recall correctly) that Fiest DMed.  That and he's a wonder for getting you to turn pages to see how they deal with the latest impending DOOOOOOOM!

OK being corrected when I'm not wrong is one of my biggest peeves so I'm sorry if I offend ya, but I thought that R.E. Feist actually made up a percentile system with his buddies in college. Is that what they played? Also, IIRC, the book is almost as old, if not older than, 2e (2e came out in '90 or '91, I think)

I'm currently reading Small Favor, by Jim Butcher

And a compilation of A.C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.
I wasn't speaking to correct you; I apologize if that was the impression I gave.  You may be right about it predating 2e, but I've specifically seen an interview that said it started with a D&D group.  Given the nature of D&D, it could very well have morphed into a homebrew percentage monstrosity at any point, of course.  Especially 1st and 2nd ed.
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Chemus

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #130 on: October 22, 2008, 12:15:10 AM »
InnaBinder, I was saying that it was a peeve of mine, so I was apologizing in advance If I was incorrect in my correction of you. I don't recall having said anything about Magician: Apprentice/Master. :)
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AfterCrescent

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #131 on: October 22, 2008, 02:23:28 PM »
I finally finished reading Magician: Apprentice and am now on to Magician: Master.  That only took me 8 months, woohoO!
See, that was my issue. I loved Magician: Apprentice so much that I actually got that really big hardcopy that has both in one. But it's so long I never got around to reading the rest of the series...
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Dan2

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #132 on: October 22, 2008, 03:59:20 PM »
I finally finished reading Magician: Apprentice and am now on to Magician: Master.  That only took me 8 months, woohoO!
See, that was my issue. I loved Magician: Apprentice so much that I actually got that really big hardcopy that has both in one. But it's so long I never got around to reading the rest of the series...

It is an excellent series.  I recently re-read the series, and it reminded me what I like about fantasy stories.

Right now, I'm working my way through Children of the Mind, the last of the Ender's Game series.
I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to read the companion series.

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #133 on: October 22, 2008, 07:16:13 PM »
Oh, as an update, I just finished that new book in the Dragonlance universe. Still can't remember the name, but it's the first in the Elven Exiles series... I give it a 6 out of 10. Ok story, Ok characterization... Ok ending. Nothing really stood out as very good or very bad... I liked Gilthas, and the Lioness was Ok, I actually really liked one of the villains, Hengriff. So there you have it, take it for what it's worth.  : P

Now on to Confessor (Last in Sword of Truth series)

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #134 on: October 22, 2008, 09:01:35 PM »
The sword of truth series was good, up to a point.

I really, really enjoyed the story, but Goodkind made an error that I though he'd avoid.
He stops the plot every so often to give a short exposition on why his (the main characters') views are right.
When you read the subtext, it's more than blatantly obvious that he supports capitalism and damns communism and socialism (and organized religion), and he shouldn't have to stop his plot to tell the reader about it.

His ability to move the plot was why I got hooked with his books for a while, but later books had a lot more short essays than were needed.

AngelBlade

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #135 on: October 22, 2008, 09:21:32 PM »
yeah, i agree to a point. the first 3 books were great... but going from the 4th-ish, to the 7th-ish, the sermonizing got old. But he seems to pick up the story again in the end, as far as i can tell. So we'll see how this last one goes, how he ties up all the loose ends.

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #136 on: October 22, 2008, 09:22:42 PM »
Having read Confessor within the last week, I have to agree with Dan2: Goodkind just goes off on these philosophical tracts that is pages of one character talking about it. I think the worst of them was the Pillars of Creation, but I don't remember the exact title. I just remember skipping the first 2/3rds of the book because nothing happened, and people just talked a lot.
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Omen of Peace

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #137 on: October 22, 2008, 09:33:45 PM »
<Fans of the Sword of Truth series... skip this post !>
I liked the first book, and so went on with the series. The quality was declining but I kept reading them... out of habit, I guess. Until Faith of the Fallen, where his unfettered objectivism (as in, fucking Ayn Rand's doctrine) just took over the plot. It was too much for me - I skipped quite a few pages at the end of the book and swore never to buy one of his works ever again.

In retrospect, I have trouble understanding what I liked about the muscled, powerful, handsome and daring hero with deus-ex-machina powers (he has no clue how to use them until the plot demands it !) and his beautiful wife saving the world again, and again, and again...
There are quite a few parodies of his work on the Internet - some of them funny.
[spoiler]From http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/08/some-general-goodkind-parodies-or-ones.html (yes, I realize some will find it lame)
Quote
As he stalked into the gloominess of the dark cavern, his eyes ajusted to the gloominess, they're puples widening to let in more light. From the corner of his peripheral vision he could barely scrutinize a mysterious object in the gloom ahead. Ponderusly he edged further into the dark cavern, getting himself deeper into it and closer to the more distant and non-proximus parts of the cave. Whom was there he could not fathom to think. Whom? Indeed.

Suddenly, a slow movement of the obstructed object he had been looking at caught his eye. It was nothing but an avariciously meticulus specter of ashen fury. Turning towards it he got into a war stance like no other war stance. The luminous walls of the dark groto thrummed with the power that was corsing through his pulsing veins. It seemed as though everyone stood still, holding their aspirations, tension filling the air.

"You there, I can see you, I know you are there. Get out and stand up right now, this is your final warning," he howled through clenched teeth.

The object wheeled about and through itself at him with a sudden lurch. Almost imperseptably fast, and with amazing speed, he whipped around, turning, and dropped into a fighting stance. Before anyone knew what was going on, he slowly stealed himself and gathered his rage for his assault. When it came, it came so fast that even the damp walls of the cave shuddered with exhilerant surprise. He shattered the object's face with a single blow of the sword. Bits of unidentifiable brain, skin and bone fragments sprayed everywhere, oozing.

"You can come in, now," he called out to the outside of the cave. And the goat entered, flooding the enclosed space with silent nobility.
[/spoiler]

See http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/08/goodkind-parodies.html for a list of horrifying trivia.

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« Last Edit: October 22, 2008, 09:36:59 PM by Omen of Peace »
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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #138 on: October 27, 2008, 01:10:09 AM »
The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin. An extremely stereotypical fantasy novel rife with cliches and stock characters and author/divine intervention. Recently, it seems like it took a huge page from D&D with spell levels and whatnot. I keep expecting to see stuff like "Tris studied the spell carefully, learning each motion and gesture of the Fireball spell." But I don't. I wouldn't have even bothered with this book if it didn't have a cool cover (I'm a sucker) and it didn't involve necromancy and undead pretty heavily. Those are about it's only redeeming qualities.

What I should be reading: The Blade Itself (Joe Ambercrombie). Or The Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe) or maybe The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss, who has one of the most brutal beards I've seen in a long while).

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #139 on: November 01, 2008, 05:05:30 PM »
Re-reading The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

...apparently The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is also in a the library, so I'll be reading that as well.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2008, 09:40:51 PM by Kai »
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