Current book being read/just finished

[Chefpatrick871]

Reading book 3 of J.L. Bournes Armageddon: Day by Day. Really good zombie apocalypse books.

[the wicked child]

My friend just gave me the first 8 books in the Wheel of Time series...here we go

I am now a fair bit into the 2nd book in the series (there are 14 total). Great, great stuff. For anyone that loves the epic fantasy-type novels, I really couldn't recommend it more.

I decided to pick up the first book. If this sucks, I am holding you personally responsible.

So I'm a decent bit into the first book now. I'm enjoying it, but I can't help but notice a ton of similarities to LOTR. I'm also trying to figure out how there are 14 books in the series... at least so far doesn't seem like a story that could warrant that many books, but I guess I'll see. Also could have sworn I saw that there is also a prequel book available on Amazon when I was looking to pickup book 1... so 15?! Crazy.

[largegarlic]

My friend just gave me the first 8 books in the Wheel of Time series...here we go

I am now a fair bit into the 2nd book in the series (there are 14 total). Great, great stuff. For anyone that loves the epic fantasy-type novels, I really couldn't recommend it more.

I decided to pick up the first book. If this sucks, I am holding you personally responsible.

So I'm a decent bit into the first book now. I'm enjoying it, but I can't help but notice a ton of similarities to LOTR. I'm also trying to figure out how there are 14 books in the series... at least so far doesn't seem like a story that could warrant that many books, but I guess I'll see. Also could have sworn I saw that there is also a prequel book available on Amazon when I was looking to pickup book 1... so 15?! Crazy.

I started reading the Wheel of Time series when I was in high school. At that point, I think the first 3 or 4 books had been published. I thought they were fantastic. The world and plot really expand after the first book, and the series finds its own voice and style. I waited feverishly for the new books to come out, and the next couple were still pretty good, but by 7 or 8, it was really frustrating. There were so many characters and subplots that you'd wait several years for a new book to come out and only see the main plotline advance incrementally. Then Robert Jordan died, and Sanderson finished the series from his notes and fragments. I read the final books grudgingly just for the sense of completeness, but I'm not sure I could say my reading experience as a whole was entirely enjoyable.

It will be probably be better reading it now that you can be sure it will have an ending, and you know you can feel free to skim/skip lots of stuff in books 7-10. Still, this series is why I'm not going to read the George R.R. Martin books until that whole series is complete.

[the wicked child]

Your description there does not seem too unlike the last couple ASOIAF books, tbh.

[largegarlic]

Your description there does not seem too unlike the last couple ASOIAF books, tbh.

Exactly, I've heard the complaints and I watch Game of Thrones and get nervous about the subplots and minor characters that keep building up. I get worried that it's heading down the same road as the Wheel of Time.

[the wicked child]

At least as far as the TV show goes, Martin has supposedly shared his ultimate vision for the overall story... so if he were to kick it, they could at least finish out the show... but yeah, I'm definitely concerned so far as the books go.

[eddysnake]

reading "the Spook's apprentice" and just found out there's 13 books, not sure I want to get into something like this

[Gaucho]

Open City by Teju Cole. A marvellous book.

[PensFanInDC]

I refuse to read Wheel of Time because Jordan isn't the one who finished it. That's just my personal choice.

[Shyster]

Reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. The book analyzes what makes some people successful. While Gladwell certainly recognizes that successful people are often smarter or harder working than others, he makes a convincing point that success also often depends on supplementary factors—many of them purely matters of chance—and those factors can play a tremendous role between failure and success.

One of the examples is hockey related. Top-level Canadian junior hockey players, like those who make all-star teams, overwhelmingly have birthdays in the early months of the year. Why? The explanation is that the age cutoff for amateur hockey in Canada is January 1. Take for example a league where you have to be 7 years old as of January 1 in order to play. Someone with a birthday of January 2 will be almost a full year older than someone with a birthday of December 30, even though they both become eligible to play in the same year. The older kid will be bigger, faster, and stronger due to that age advantage, and that extra maturity is almost always mistaken for extra talent. The older kids are thus more likely to get the extra coaching, extra attention, selection for special tournaments, etc. necessary to become a top-level player, while the younger kids are relegated to lesser roles and don’t receive that. This trend is found in other sports and other countries. For example, the best players in European soccer are much more likely to have birthdays closely following the age cutoffs in the countries where they grew up.

This is a really interesting book on the intersection of fate and talent, and I highly recommend it.

[mikey287]

Yeah, I've read Outliers once or twice before. Very interesting, I read it even before I had any idea that Gladwell would talk about my favorite junior team (Medicine Hat Tigers)...interesting little dose of serendipity (maybe...) for me.

Howe (March), Orr (March), Gretzky (January) don't necessarily disagree either (even though there's a "special talent exemption" of some sort that Gladwell references)

[eddysnake]

After my wife powered through The Wise Man's Fear this week, I think I'm going to go back and reread Patrick Rothfuss Kingkiller Chronicle (The Name of the Wind/Wise man's fear) again in anticipation of the 3rd rumored to be coming out next spring. I think a couple people on here have read them and for those that are looking for something in the fantasy genre, check them out. The writing is fantastic, really cool stories. I believe Fox has recently bought the rights for a TV show as well, so here's hoping that turns out better than one could assume.

[Gaucho]

If you love The Wire and haven't read David Simon's Homicide and The Corner yet, you'd better do something about it.

[columbia]

The TV show "Homicide" seems to have been forgotten, because of The Wire.

[canaan]

Andre Braugher was awesome on that show.

[Troy Loney]

I've been reading some David Foster Wallace essays. Such a waste that he killed himself, he was really brilliant and insightful. He could write about anything and make it seem like the most interesting thing ever. His insights on commerce and advertising at the US open is great, also tennis related, I don't know the sport at all, but he articulated so well why Federer was so good that I felt instantly better able to understand the game. His experience on a cruise ship is amazing and hilarious.

[Gaucho]

His essay on the Illinois State Fair is outstanding, too. I believe it's in the same collection?

[Troy Loney]

The cruise ship is the only essay i've read out of that volume. I'll read the illinois state fair next though.

[columbia]

His essay on the Illinois State Fair is outstanding, too. I believe it's in the same collection?

Hah....it is.
I wish I knew what happened to my copy of that book.

[Gaucho]

There's another hilarious tennis essay in it. Wallace explains how he was pretty successful at it because of his utterley boring style, which only worked on the wind-driven courts of Illinois.

[Troy Loney]

I love the part on the cruise ship essay when he loses to a prepubescent girl at chess. When she starts of by telling him about how other cultures view the white as death and the black as the lighter side, and he's like 'yeah, I already know that".

[Digitalgypsy66]

Finished Under the Dome...in 5 days (I've been traveling a lot). Fantastic book, and once again Stephen King at his best. The concept is a little terrifying.

For those that have read the book, is there a definite end point to the story? Other than the book ending, does it have a satisfying ending? I don't want to invest my time in a 1000 page book to get an unsatisfying ending.

[Shyster]

For those that have read the book, is there a definite end point to the story? Other than the book ending, does it have a satisfying ending? I don't want to invest my time in a 1000 page book to get an unsatisfying ending.

Does it have a definite ending? Yes, Is it satisfying? That would depend on your definition. It's relatively satisfying for a Stephen King book, if that helps.

[largegarlic]

I've been reading some David Foster Wallace essays. Such a waste that he killed himself, he was really brilliant and insightful. He could write about anything and make it seem like the most interesting thing ever. His insights on commerce and advertising at the US open is great, also tennis related, I don't know the sport at all, but he articulated so well why Federer was so good that I felt instantly better able to understand the game. His experience on a cruise ship is amazing and hilarious.

I feel kind of weird in that I've read DFW's novels, but haven't read his essays. The Infinite Jest in particular was so massive in so many ways that I can't help but see his essays as kind of inconsequential by comparison. I'll have to get over it and read them someday.

[Gaucho]

New novels by Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, and Jonathan Lethem, Dissident Gardens, out this month.