What are you Reading Now?

[Steerpike]

Tried Sword of Shannara, didn't catch. So now I am trying the Blade Itself.

Abercrombie's weakest book. Not bad, but the rest of the series (and his books) improve quite a bit. Best Served Cold is still my favorite.

 

[Mythopoet]

I've gotten sidetracked rereading Tiffany Aching books so I can read The Shepherd's Crown. I think I'm going to have to get it from the library though. The price for the ebook is ridiculous.

 

[Incanus]

Started tackling The Brothers K.

The opening is nowhere near as compelling as Crime and Punishment, but I still think I'm going to appreciate this book. I'm slow, and it's big, so I probably won't be posting in this thread for some time to come...

 

[Steerpike]

Started tackling The Brothers K.

The opening is nowhere near as compelling as Crime and Punishment, but I still think I'm going to appreciate this book. I'm slow, and it's big, so I probably won't be posting in this thread for some time to come...

Great book. Doesn't open in the same manner as Crime and Punishment, but by the time I was done with it I considered it Dostoevsky's best work.

 

[Mythopoet]

Well, I reread both A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith. I can't quite convince myself to spend 9.99 to reread I Shall Wear Midnight so I'm going to have to wait until I can make it to the library. My daughter's been sick all week and now I'm sick again so...

But I did find The Hundred Thousand Kingdom by N. K. Jemisin was only 5.99 so I have been reading that. I'm over half way through and though it is an interesting and well written story, I find the world it's set in to be quite unpleasant. I don't think I'll want to read any of the other books.

 

[KnightofCrescent]

I'm reading Dragonfly in Amber the second book in the Outlander series. Lol I've been reading it since last April. Usually I can finish books fast but this one took quite some time to get interesting, I just probably didn't use the opportunities I had to read. Good thing is I'm almost finished and I'll probably be done before April, and ready for season 2.

 

[Mythopoet]

Well, I finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. It was a pretty decent read. I might actually try the second book at some point, mostly because it looks like it's from a totally different POV than the first and so might be more interesting. The world still makes me vaguely uncomfortable though.

I've started reading Silverlock by John Myers Myers. So far it's been a fun read.

I'm struggling to finish Eyes of the Overworld because honestly at this point I've kind of had it with Cugel's callous treatment of everyone he encounters.

 

[Steerpike]

Silverlock! There's a little known classic!

 

[Brithel]

I finished Dune by Frank Herbert a week or so ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I quite liked how the setting had this strange mix of arabic and eastern with more familiar things. The middle section was a bit dissapointing as it lost some the politcal intrigue of the first section, but it picked up for the ending. I was worried about getting into Dune as I hear the sequals are crap, but with further research it appears the books done by his son are the bad ones so I'll probably avoid those.

Before that I finished 'Breaking the Maya Code' by Michael Coe. While it was interesting it served as a history of decipherment rather than a guide describing the technical details of the process so it was bit dissapointing in that regard.

I'm currently reading through 'His Dark Materials' Phillip Pullman in an attempt to rekindle my childhood spirit as these where my favourite books as a child. I'm about a third of the way into The Northern Lights and thusfar it, thankfully, still holds up to my memories.

 

[kennyc]

I finished Dune by Frank Herbert a week or so ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I quite liked how the setting had this strange mix of arabic and eastern with more familiar things. The middle section was a bit dissapointing as it lost some the politcal intrigue of the first section, but it picked up for the ending. I was worried about getting into Dune as I hear the sequals are crap, but with further research it appears the books done by his son are the bad ones so I'll probably avoid those.

Before that I finished 'Breaking the Maya Code' by Michael Coe. While it was interesting it served as a history of decipherment rather than a guide describing the technical details of the process so it was bit dissapointing in that regard.

I'm currently reading through 'His Dark Materials' Phillip Pullman in an attempt to rekindle my childhood spirit as these where my favourite books as a child. I'm about a third of the way into The Northern Lights and thusfar it, thankfully, still holds up to my memories.

Yes, I thought the next three were good but it went bad after that...

Dune (1965)
Dune Messiah (1969)
Children of Dune (1976)
God Emperor of Dune (1981)

Enjoy!

 

[Incanus]

I'm struggling to finish Eyes of the Overworld because honestly at this point I've kind of had it with Cugel's callous treatment of everyone he encounters.

I was sort of wondering if you might eventually come to this conclusion. This part of his character doesn't change and runs all through the subsequent book as well.

As far as I'm concerned there is no right or wrong way to view these things, but for myself I put 'interesting' character above 'likable' character. Or in other words, I'm much rather read about an interesting unlikable character than an uninteresting likable character. And good, strong writing factors into this as well, which is why 'Eyes' is among my very favorites. If the most likable character ever created is written using only mediocre prose, that would be something I wouldn't be able to get on board with.

And just so you know ahead of time--the character of Rhialto the Marvelous is essentially Cugel with a different name. You won't much like him either. Might be time to just cross this series off the list. You've checked it out, and that's what is important.

As they say, "To each their own."

(I'd like to check out Silverlock some day too. Good idea. Used to own a copy, but it dissappeared somewhere.)

 

[Mythopoet]

I was sort of wondering if you might eventually come to this conclusion. This part of his character doesn't change and runs all through the subsequent book as well.

As far as I'm concerned there is no right or wrong way to view these things, but for myself I put 'interesting' character above 'likable' character. Or in other words, I'm much rather read about an interesting unlikable character than an uninteresting likable character. And good, strong writing factors into this as well, which is why 'Eyes' is among my very favorites. If the most likable character ever created is written using only mediocre prose, that would be something I wouldn't be able to get on board with.

And just so you know ahead of time--the character of Rhialto the Marvelous is essentially Cugel with a different name. You won't much like him either. Might be time to just cross this series off the list. You've checked it out, and that's what is important.

As they say, "To each their own."

(I'd like to check out Silverlock some day too. Good idea. Used to own a copy, but it dissappeared somewhere.)

But "interesting" and "likable" are not mutually exclusive. There's absolutely no reason I should have to choose between them. Though in this case I don't think Cugel meets either criteria. I found him bland and uninteresting before I started to really dislike him for his repulsive personality because there's zero character development in the book.

Anyway, I finished it and he pretty much got what was coming to him so that's something. I understand why Vance has made these characters the way they are. This is pretty much a world where all sense of morality has broken down because everyone believes that the sun will go out any day and they're all determined to look out for themselves until that happens. They're living with death looming over their heads and it has basically turned the world into a living hell. From a worldbuilding perspective I can totally respect that. But I would enjoy it better I think if the characters felt a little more real and less like devices used to show off the world.

Frankly, each of the short stories in the first volume "The Dying Earth" had more characterization and a better plot than Eyes of the Overworld. I enjoyed some of the worldbuilding ideas, but they never became anything I could enjoy because they were always passed by for new ones that would also not be developed much. All the while a stock plot with no character development played out. The Dying Earth was fantastic. The Eyes of the Overworld was a disappointment.

 

[Incanus]

But "interesting" and "likable" are not mutually exclusive.

Oh, I completely agree. I didn't say anything of the sort, and I didn't even imply it, though I suppose one could maybe read it that way.

For me, 3000 pages of Cugel adventures still wouldn't be nearly enough. All the Dying Earth books are some of the most entertaining reads ever. Period.

I guess a lot of my favs (but by no means all) have the fantasy element more prominent than the character element. Tolkien, Vance, Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, H.P Lovecraft, to name a few--characters aren't really these author's greatest strengths.

 

[Mythopoet]

You just named 3 of my top favorite authors. I don't have any issues with prominent world building. But Eyes of the Overworld was all great world building but terrible plot and characterization. World building cannot stand on its own, nor can prose style, in my mind.

It might not have been so bad if Cugel were not so repulsive. I simply find it physically uncomfortable to read too long about characters such as he. He did not meet a single person that he did not lie to, cheat, steal from, abuse, rape or a combination of the above. He used lives the way I've been using tissues lately. He contemplated raping a girl that he had lured to be eaten and abused by rat people, only she was too smelly for him by then. At the moment I cannot think of a character as devoid of any sense of right or wrong (other than if it's done to me, then it's wrong) or morality or honor or integrity or remorse as Cugel and no amount of brilliant world building or style, even if a great plot were added in, could induce me to read another word about him right now.

Fortunately, I'm half way through Silverlock which is a much more entertaining read. Silverlock (A. Clarence Shandon) himself was kind of a jerk at the beginning in multiple ways, but he is gradually evolving over the course of his adventures and that is enjoyable to read. The Commonwealth is a very interesting setting. You never know who you'll meet next. Though I have to despair for Shandon who though a university man does not know who Robin Hood, Beowulf, Don Quixote, or even Zeus and Hera are. So much for a college education.

 

[Incanus]

Understood. Given your stated preferences/requirments, it makes perfect sense that you wouldn't like The Dying Earth books (well, 3 out of 4 anyway). Cross it off the list and move on.

 

[Mythopoet]

Understood. Given your stated preferences/requirments, it makes perfect sense that you wouldn't like The Dying Earth books (well, 3 out of 4 anyway). Cross it off the list and move on.

I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but I feel like you keep trying to oversimplify my point of view. It is not simply that I "dislike" the Dying Earth books. Saying that does not describe my feelings about the books at all. It is merely Cugel that I dislike strongly. And I am certainly not trying to just cross anything off my list and move on. I am trying to learn. I still feel that the whole Dying Earth series has much to recommend it and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others with a few warnings to those who might need them.

 

[Incanus]

My apologies for oversimplifying. Sometimes a blunt tool is all I have time to employ.

Still, I guess I'm not entirely sure how you go about assessing these things. And that's OK, it is not a requirement (Indeed, I'm perfectly happy to chock it up to my own shortcomings and lack of insight).

For myself, I would only use descriptions like 'terrible plot and characterization', a 'repulsive' MC, being 'physically uncomfortable', and 'not wanting to read another word', for a book I disliked. I read (or misread) those as a very solid and thorough condemnation of a book, even with the acknowledgement of another aspect that is strong. Therefore, I suppose my recommendation to 'cross it off' is more a reflection of how I would react to something like this than anything else.

 

[skip.knox]

Currently reading two books. One, Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I'm not enjoying it much. Her magic system is nicely done, but the book plods and wanders as it plods. But I've been giving up on far too many fantasy works lately and am going to *ahem* plod through this one anyway.

As a kind of reward for reading Hobb, I'm reading Graham Greene's Ministry of Fear. Not fantasy, but superb writing. During WWII a man wins a cake at a country fair and he's nearly killed for it. Then things get strange.

 

[Chessie]

Has anyone heard of M.C. Beaton? I can't believe that after being a lifetime lover of Agatha Christie, I only heard about the Agatha Raisin mysteries last week, of which I am reading one "Dishing Dirt" and loving it. I'll definitely be looking into her other work but I'm really liking the comedic aspect to the story.

Also got a few other books at the library this past week; one western fantasy, dragon fantasy, and a vintage romance "The Lost Heiress".

 

[Heliotrope]

E.J Patten The Legend Theif. It's pretty funny. Geared towards kids. I'm reading a lot of kids book recently.

Lee Child, Tripwire for the suspense. I love Jack Reacher.