What ya reading?

[Pentagathus]

Anyone else find that particularly annoying when someone asks what you're reading whilst you're busy reading? And then they ask you what its about because apparently they can't read the portugaling blurb on the back of the portugaling book.
Anyway I'm currently reading  The Quest For The Holy Ale. Its kind of like a discworld book, but only if pratchett was completely off his tits whilst he wrote it.

[comrade_general]

I'm reading The Survival Handbook: Essential Skills for Outdoor Adventure.

[Pentagathus]

Hang on, the adventurer parties don't actually have to go and adventure somewhere do they? Cos I'm kinda busy right now.
Anyway I think I'll be reading Stormdancer soon, partly due to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mei6yRz7pTU&feature=youtu.be
But mainly because its japanese steampunk with mythological creatures and other fantasy stuff.

[Phoenixguard09]

Crucible of Gold, the seventh Temeraire book because Ladyhawk was sweet enough to go order it from overseas before it was released in Australia.

They're a historical reimagining. Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons.

[Shankbot]

I am reading "Wounds of Honour" by Anthony Riches - a great book.

[Jubal]

Just finished A Game of Thrones. Pretty damn good stuff, makes me want to write (again). 

[Gen_Glory]

Earth: Portrait of a Planet
The Dinosaur heresies
And a crap ton of other geological books

[Phoenixguard09]

Also read Game of Thrones recently Jubal. I have to say, the story's great but the way he describes what everyone's wearing gets old pretty quickly.

Not the fact that he does describe it. It doesn't even happen all that often, but the way he does it grates.

Tyrion walked into the throneroom and saw his sister.
"You're looking stunning today, sister."
She wore a gown of blah blah blah.

Then a bit later.

Bran looked around his room. His mother sat in the corner. She wore blah blah blah.

Surely there was a way to subtly put that information into the prose rather than that.

But I'm probably being overly picky. Much like Matthew Reilly and his incessant italicising.

And he put his hand, through the wall!  Yes that's right, through the wall!  And he did proclaim, "Ouch!" with great and terrible pain and agony

And you all think I'm joking....

[boyka]

I am reading Veronica Decides to Die. Self explanatory title, I must say!

[Clockwork]

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.


It's all right.

[Jubal]

What's it about?

I'm struggling through yet more of Bryer & Winfield's Monuments of the Pontus, a book seemingly designed as a murder weapon first and a useful reference work second. I did buy a new Bernard Cornwell book the other day, hell knows when I'll get to read it!

Also, should we merge this thread with the other "what are you reading" thread in the Storytellers' Hall?

[Clockwork]

It's a different take on Alice in Wonderland, it's more steampunk/clockwork and the hatter is  a bodyguard with hidden blades from assassins creed. I like the steampunk setting, I like the weirdness of the original Alice and I like the Tim Burton movie unfortunately the writing is... weird, and not in a good way. There was a line from star wars or something early on in the book and it was really out of place, things generally aren't described well enough (for me at least) and it doesn't do a great job of making any characters meaningful.

Is that more Byzantine stuff by any chance?

Having the thread here is better imo.

[Jubal]

I prefer the location of the other one, so we'll leave both put for now

Anyway - yes, Anthony Bryer really founded the Byz centre here in Birmingham, and did a huge amount of work on Trebizond & the Pontus which I'm drawing on for my current research, it's fantastically detailed and careful work. This particular book is a sort of Byzantinist's guidebook to the northern Turkish coast from Sinope to the modern Georgian border. He's technically still alive, but he's extremely old and his mind is apparently not so much functional any more which is sad

I feel I should read more steampunk as GS&S is ostensibly a steampunk setting, but I often find that steampunky stuff shoves a few too many arbitrary cogs in my face rather than having a good plot and writing.

[Koobazaur]

I'm still reading Polish Wiedzmin: Sezon Burz, the latest of the Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski released fairly recently compared to the oldies. Loving it so far, definitely one of my favorite in the series.


Also picked up another Polish book from my grampa: Tropami Powstańczej Przesyłki, an autobiographical tale from one of the Warsaw Ghetto boy handling mail delivery. Crawling through ruined trenches, getting out of German capture, and watching death and destruction spreading around. Pretty chilling, if fascinating...

[Jubal]

I've been noticing recently just how much literature is unlocked when one can read multiple languages... I have so much learning to do