What Are You Reading?

[Veritable Quandry]

I picked up the bundle as well after having read several of the later books. I started with The Colour of Magic for the first time. And he absolutely gets better.

There are several sub-series in the Discworld books. Most people seem to start with the City Watch books. I read Death's books first. I have enjoyed those. But reading how Death is depicted in the first two books I feel like it's an entirely different and less enjoyable character.

The Rincewind books don't have quite the same depth of affection from many Pratchett fans.

 

[Maggy Hazelnut]

I just finished The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride & I highly recommended this book. I'd never read anything by this author before but now will read more by him. It has deep characters that you care about & several unexpected turns along the way. This author is a word master! I got it from the library thru Overdrive/Libby. Borrow it - or buy it - but read it asap!

Also I've noticed something strange in the last couple years with my reading pattern & wonder if anyone else is having this same problem. I usually read with my Kindle Paperwhite & just love it. Sometimes I get the audible version thru my library and "read" that way. But the pattern I've noticed is that not only can I not follow the story well on audible but I can't remember reading it at all! Luckily I keep a book journal & every time I bring up a blank if I've listened to the audible version - simply don't remember a single thing about the book. I can remember movies that I've watched on Netflix but not audible books. WTF!?

Maybe it's because I'm getting older (73 now) or maybe it's because I live alone & rarely talk to a human being anymore. Or maybe using recreational drugs decades ago when I was wild & crazy is finally catching up with me. Ha!

Anyway please do read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride - it's a winner!

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Not a fan of audio books. I can read faster than they talk so it gets frustrating.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Not a fan of audio books. I can read faster than they talk so it gets frustrating.

Agreed! They often talk so slow.... I feel compelled to do something while listening which means I would just miss everything.

As for books I'm actually reading, I've been digging into Equal Rites by the great Terry Pratchet. I like it so far!

 

[Khamon]

also flipping back is difficult with audio to the extent that I don’t then lose that thread of continuity

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

also flipping back is difficult with audio to the extent that I don’t then lose that thread of continuity

Agree this is a big issue too. I have to go back and reread part of a book all the time, and with an audio book I'm also going to lose focus every time much of anything happens. I also like to be able to stop reading and just ponder what I just read for a bit.... with audio books it feels much more awkward to have to pause it all the time.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Agreed! They often talk so slow.... I feel compelled to do something while listening which means I would just miss everything.

Going way...back, the members of the Slow Talkers of America.

 

[Noodles]

I picked up the bundle as well after having read several of the later books. I started with The Colour of Magic for the first time. And he absolutely gets better.

There are several sub-series in the Discworld books. Most people seem to start with the City Watch books. I read Death's books first. I have enjoyed those. But reading how Death is depicted in the first two books I feel like it's an entirely different and less enjoyable character.

The Rincewind books don't have quite the same depth of affection from many Pratchett fans.

Yeah, I have seen some negatives about the Rincewind books. I may just switch to Guards Guards Guards, because I saw that one recommended.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Yeah, I have seen some negatives about the Rincewind books. I may just switch to Guards Guards Guards, because I saw that one recommended.

It's not that Rincewind is bad... The Colour of magic is still very imaginative. ...but Guards Guards was still clearly so much better. I'm also liking Equal Rites so far.

 

[Myradyl Muse]

Also I've noticed something strange in the last couple years with my reading pattern & wonder if anyone else is having this same problem. I usually read with my Kindle Paperwhite & just love it. Sometimes I get the audible version thru my library and "read" that way. But the pattern I've noticed is that not only can I not follow the story well on audible but I can't remember reading it at all! Luckily I keep a book journal & every time I bring up a blank if I've listened to the audible version - simply don't remember a single thing about the book. I can remember movies that I've watched on Netflix but not audible books. WTF!?

Not sure if it's related, but I once read a 'science-ish' summary that described individualized sensory retention. Some of us intake/learn information better via visual, some via auditory, some via tactile, and so on. These sorts of personal sensory inputs then influence our retention and recall of material. So if you're a visual type, you may not parse auditory equally well. YMMV.

 

[Soen Eber]

Not sure if it's related, but I once read a 'science-ish' summary that described individualized sensory retention. Some of us intake/learn information better via visual, some via auditory, some via tactile, and so on. These sorts of personal sensory inputs then influence our retention and recall of material. So if you're a visual type, you may not parse auditory equally well. YMMV.

IIRC I think that sensory recall theory has been debunked or at least downgraded. I do know there is neuroscience that the more sensory information channels are involved the better the recall, so perhaps there is something about reading physical books that embeds mutiple sensory channels, such as sounding out the words in your mind, that improve recall.

 

[Myradyl Muse]

IIRC I think that sensory recall theory has been debunked or at least downgraded. I do know there is neuroscience that the more sensory information channels are involved the better the recall, so perhaps there is something about reading physical books that embeds mutiple sensory channels, such as sounding out the words in your mind, that improve recall.

Yes, you're right. I looked back on it (was an older study I had referenced that was quite popular and used in several past teaching models apparently). A later psychology analysis of the notion found it did not hold up clearly under rigorous scientific scrutiny.
Sorry, my bad

 

[Faithless Babii]

I have been revisiting my childhood and collecting Enid Blyton books.
Some of her books were actually banned for a time in the uk schools due to them not being "well written enough". My parents always bought me one for the journey to Cornwall each year and I adored them. Famous Five & Secret Seven being my all time favourites.
I was so chuffed that after being slightly ridiculed by a few friends about reading them and collecting them- they had thoughtfully managed to buy me some as Christmas gifts!
I prefer to get the original ones before they were fiddled around with and really enjoy some of the inscriptions inside the covers from doting Aunties & Uncles etc. The illustrations are fantastic, sometimes just black and white, some colour. Nothing pleases me more than a well thumbed Enid Blyton, with ageing pages and that old musty book smell.
I have also extended my collection to include some of her "Christmas" collections and Summer annuals.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Hrrrrmph. I should probably do more research before picking an 'epic' to dive into.

I recently finished the AB of Patrick Rothfuss' King Killer Chronicle: "The Name of the Wind" and "A Wise Man's Fear". Then learned that apparently the series is supposedly dead... he ran some sort of charity event, promising to send out a chapter of the third as of yet unpublished (unwritten?) book if the goal was met. It was, he didn't. Big scandal, angry readers, big apology... and now nothing.

So I went on to the next book in my 'to read' stack which was R.R. Virdi's "The First Binding" followed by "Doors of Midnight" ... and it's almost exactly the same damned story.

WTF?! I'm kinda pissed off.

 

[Kokoro Fasching]

Welcome to AI enhanced story templates... the latest thing in self publishing speed writers.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

Welcome to AI enhanced story templates... the latest thing in self publishing speed writers.

Maybe. It seems way more derivative than just the same template, in this case.

 

[Lexxi]

Hrrrrmph. I should probably do more research before picking an 'epic' to dive into.

I recently finished the AB of Patrick Rothfuss' King Killer Chronicle: "The Name of the Wind" and "A Wise Man's Fear". Then learned that apparently the series is supposedly dead... he ran some sort of charity event, promising to send out a chapter of the third as of yet unpublished (unwritten?) book if the goal was met. It was, he didn't. Big scandal, angry readers, big apology... and now nothing.

So I went on to the next book in my 'to read' stack which was R.R. Virdi's "The First Binding" followed by "Doors of Midnight" ... and it's almost exactly the same damned story.

WTF?! I'm kinda pissed off.

Don't try George RailRoad Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice series. He famously takes forever between books, puts out 8000 page books (not really 8000) when a sequel does appear, then says that that is actually half the book, the story was just going so long, so he split it in half. Then, when he finally released another book . . . it was a prequel. A Dance With Dragons came out in 2011, The Winds of Winter has an unknown publication date. A Dream of Spring is supposed to follow that book. And the guy is 76. So....

Stephen King's Dark Tower series is another famous series with lots of breaks between books - but this one has a twist. The author, shockingly, completed the series. So, books published (in order of chronology, date is date work published): 1998 (66 page prequel), 1982, 1987, 1991, 1997, 2012 (~336 page book released after series completed that fits between books 4 & 5), 2003, 2004, 2004. 4,316 pages.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

I really wish I knew what it was that made certain works 'work' for me, and others not. GRRM's SoIF didn't float my boat. Probably ruined because I watched the HBO series first... meh.

I really should sorta keep better track of what I've read and which I enjoyed more than others... a random sampling of which are:

• Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series pulled me in, up until I sorta lost track of where I left off. (book 9? 12? I dunno. I have them... but would likely just have to start over at the beginning).
• Joe Abercrombie's "The Blade Itself" series was engaging, dark, but with very memorable characters.
• Brandon Sanderson's "Stormlight Archive" was neat, but kind of lost itself in too many permutations and combinations of the magic system sorta. I wasn't a fan of his Mistborn series.
• Steven Erikson (whom I keep trying to call Erik Stevenson) and his Gardens of the Moon has a very nifty magic system and vivid locations, but so many characters that I sorta started losing track of them all.
• Jenn Lyon's "The Ruin of Kings" (Chorus of Dragons) was -very- enjoyable, nice balance between both memorable locations -and- characters.
• Brent Week's "Black Prism" first four books were great very enjoyable, the fifth was, imho, objectively bad. It abandoned the unique and interesting culture of the world he built to cram in a bunch of derivative half-baked christian tropes which were as disappointing as they were predictable.
• James Islingon's "The Will of the Many" in a magical roman empire has me hoping there won't be a long wait for the next in the series.
• N.K.Jemisin's The Fifth Season/Broken Earth series was outstanding.
• Kevin Hearne's "Ink&Sigil" series is fun, especially as an audiobook, given that it's filled with accents and dialects. Part of his "Iron Druid" universe, neither of which take themselves very seriously, which is fine by me.
• Wil Wight's "Cradle" series, also in somewhat of a different category. Fun 'Progression Fantasy'. I revisit it occasionally when I need an audiobook in my ears while out walking.

 

[Lexxi]

Heh, I've not read any of those series. Though I have read 2 of the 3 books in the Kevin Hearne Poodle series (got the first book through Netgalley long ago). I mean Oberon's Meaty Mysteries Series. A spin off of the Iron Druid series which I haven't read other than the first book in the series, which was an okay first book but didn't lead me to continue the series.

In fantasy, I've read (at least one book in each series has been rated 5/5 stars):
* IIona Andrews: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: Kate Daniels
* Mishell Baker: Urban fantasy?: The Arcadia Project
* Patricia Briggs: Urban fantasy: Shifters: Alpha & Omega series (spinoff of Mercy Thompson series); Mercy Thompson series;
Fantasy world: Hurog series; Raven series; Sianim series;
* Jim Dresden: Urban Fantasy: Dresden Files (human wizard)
* Debra Dunbar: Paranormal fantasy series?: Imp (from point of view of demon)
* Harry Harrison: Alt History Fantasy: Hammer & Cross
* Drew Hayes: Mixed Fantasy/Our worlds: Spells & Swords (people from our world 'play' in a fantasy world; in the meantime NPC's 'come alive', so to speak, and go on adventure)
* Seanan McGuire: Fantasy Creatures in our World: October Daye; InCryptid Series
* Elizabeth Moon: Epic/Heroic Fantasy: Paksenarrion series
* Kirsten Painter: Fantasy Mystery Series: Jayne Frost
* Mel Todd: Fantasy Mystery series: Twisted Luck series
* Barbara Ann Wright: Fantasy world: Pyradiste Adventure Series

 

[Khamon]

Iron Druid is a bit ST Discovery in that everything, every single thing, goes wrong, then gets worse, then goes to Hell, then resolves. It's an engaging world though and the characters are fun. I have not read the last book because I'm happy with everybody's status...

Spoiler

after the vampire war, with Zeus supposedly holding Artemis at bay, and Loki being relatively quiet.

Thank You Jopsy for the references. Some are on hold in Camelia Net and I will read them as they come.