Favorite Books and Current Reads

[scy]

[zamisk]

I was just clarifying. Anyways, I'd recommend it to anyone who's into X-Men and enjoys gore and likes reading trippy stories a lot. Probably an enormous demographic right there, I'd assume.

[Trifkin]

Is it the one called Violent Tendencies? If so, I really, really like the .

[scy]

Also worth noting, more people getting into Game of Thrones/ASoIaF:




Edit: Reminds me, did you ever finish 1st to Die, Maxine? I imagine by now you must have since it's a rather short (well, fast anyway) read.

[zamisk]

Same publisher, but this one's called Weapon X

[Rain]

@Scy: I'm at A Dance with Dragons in ASOIAF. Finished A Feast for Crows today. I don't get the hate everyone has for this book. The characters, well the main POVs, anyway, are interesting even if not everyone's favorite is in it (not really a spoiler, Martin couldn't fit everything in one book so some are in ADWD). There's a few boring ones but it's not as bad as, say, Catelyn's chapters.

@Maxine: I still suggest reading it even if the author's old. It's a great series with how everything's just woven in together. There's a lot of political intrigue. So yay, backstabbery. And, the writing gets better as you read though the sex scenes are still hella awkward.

Book Four spoilers (major):

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Etrian Veteran]

I finally took a break from my giant list of incomplete games to start reading all the Poirot books I haven't read. Just finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Gotta say, didn't see that ending coming, though I'm sure by now it's been done to death.

[PLA]

Want to start reading things again, but all the stuff is still a mess. :\

[Kinokokao]

Bitches on goodreads are getting friend requests. I'm not on it hella often. I'm a harsh critic, or rather should I say I'm stingy with my stars. A 2 star book means I didn't like reading it, but I didn't necessarily hate it. Most books get a 3 star rating, some get 4s, and only a few things get a 5 star -- my truly best-of-best picks.

@Game of Thrones

I'm on Feast for Crows right now. Not looking forward to reaching the end of the line and having to wait around for the next book, but at least Martin does shit in his books and actually moves the plot along. Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan both just sat on their hands and went LALALALALAADVENTURETIME! until you wanted to scream. I actually love the relatively brisk pacing for an epic fantasy series -- shit happens, people die, years pass, etc. Rather than 3 books of "Omg battle's a coming! omg!" you just get BAM! BATTLE! EVERYONE DIES FUCK YOU! It's refreshing.

Definitely have my preferred point-of-view characters.

Thoughts so far on point of view characters (minor spoilers):



And general book 4 thoughts (extremely minor spoilers for first 100-odd pages):



And I'm going to go ahead and say that I really, really can't stand the Prologue/Epilogue chapters. I get the function they serve, but I hate them anyway.

I started reading A Feast for Crows, and my first reaction was STOP IT! I CANT HANDLE ANYMORE CHARACTERS. I REFUSE TO FUCKING CARE ABOUT ANY OF THESE PEOPLE FUCK YOU FUCK YOU -- like for serious legit this bullshit needs to stop. This could also be what happens when you sit down and power through an entire dense fantasy epic.

I've also lost complete track of what was in what book. Clash of Kings/Storm of Swords has this weird overlap where I cannot recall what scene belongs in what book. @__@ sigh

[Rain]

@Kino

Major ASOIAF spoilers in general:


Unfortunately, GRRM adds more and more characters. They aren't too bad though that's cause I can remember them. There's really only one non-main character PoV I liked in FfC though.

If I were to rank the books so far:
A Storm of Swords > A Feast for Crows = A Clash of Kings > A Game of Thrones. I haven't finished A Dance with Dragons yet. Anyway, I don't really get all the hate most people have for FfC. I enjoyed the PoVs, except for the ones in the Iron Islands. Fuck that shit.

I agree with the Prologue/Epilogue chapters. I think CoK/SoS can get confusing easily since there's a lot of action in both books.

[Trifkin]

I love Kino's reactions to everything. ^ 3^

[Maxine MagicFox]

^_^ Yay! Friended by Kino!!

:3 No, I think it's better to be star stingy since then people will know when you've read a good book that it really IS a good book. :O I'm too impressed with books so I just give them away too freely.

Currently trying to get my account updated so that all of the books I've read in 2011 are marked so that way I can do the 2011 book challenge. I haven't decided on a number yet. I was first going to see where I currently stand and go from there. Think for my first book challenge year I'm just going to go with 30, but again, I dunno how close to that I've gotten. I don't wanna make it too easy for myself.

Also: errm... Kino has her manga on her list... errm... so does Ian/Archaic Sage... errrm... I dunno to me manga is not book reading but :O I feel bested now and that my list is not at full capacity. ... Think I'll make a seperate shelf called "manga" and add them to it <_<; *sigh* To me, manga just aren't books.

BTW: Scy, enjoying 1st to Die. It's a little shallow in some parts. Not the greatest read of my life so far. I kinda feel that Lindsay is a very plain person which sorta detracts from her, especially considering her situation. Still, the case is good. The second murder has just occurred and the "Women's Murder Myster Club" is "born" (I kinda felt her excuse for creating, for even becoming friends with Cindy in the first place, was kinda shaky. I could feel the author in the words, so to be speak.)

[Kinokokao]

I did the manga so I can keep track of what all I've read and what I own, more so than any type of "book" specific snobbery. My co-worker feels similarly that manga doesn't "count" but my response to that is "count for what?" I don't want to have a separate manga-specific site to keep track of it, and I like the goodreads site design.

But having a manga-specific shelf tag is a good idea. I haven't played around with the options a lot, and should.

My main reason for liking/using goodreads is twofold. First, I like to keep track of what I've read. I have included chapter books from the 3rd grade and up and manga. The ones from my youth... half the fun is trying to remember the titles. This is for my personal benefit more than anything else. Second, I like to see what's available and what people's reviews say. I mostly use this to prowl for gay fiction. I've ordered and read several books based on goodreads reviews.

Trifkin, I'm pretty sure I shot you a friend request. That or there's some poor friend of Maxine's who is wondering WTF is going on.

[beekee]

Are the Song of Ice and Fire books all in third person? I had a friend read me a chapter once but I can't remember.

The series seems like such a big investment that it'd require a pretty solid sell, but I've heard oodles of good things about it. AFAIK the biggest names in fantasy right now are George R. R. Martin and Jim Butcher; seems like genre fans will gravitate toward at least one of them at some point eventually.

Speaking of which, I'm surprised to find no Dresden Files fans here.

@Good Reads: WHAT DOES IT DO
Er, that is, what's the extent of the social media aspect? I'd assumed it was more or less an online bookshelf.