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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

I just bought a new Kindle Voyage last week having never used an eReader before and wow I'm converted! So much nicer to read on than say an iPad or iPhone! So I did a little splurging and bought;

Lord of the Rings.... will be my 3rd time reading it.
Derren Brown - Happy. Heard good things and I remember wanting it when it was released but completely forgot until it appeared on my suggestions list.
2001... absolutely love the intro section. Each time I read it I get lost in such meandering thoughts. Phenomenally well painted descriptions.
At the mountains of madness.... heard it's wonderful and I'm loving the environment. Very slow paced and haunting.

They're just whats on my queue for now. Looking to line up some more classics that I missed out on. I tried the Divine Comedy last year and just kept getting tripped up on it, maybe it was the translation or maybe it was just way over my head!
 
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RootBeerMan said:
Not a bad series. I read it back when it originally hit the market and remember it as a good read. Not your usual vampire stories, though.
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Exactly, not the usual. That's one of its best features! When an author weaves new and slight modifications to the upir mythos, not "changing the canon" but expanding it, bending it, and all this while mantaining a modicum of believability. It's a characteristic this book shares with fangland and the strain. I love it.
 
RedKite said:
Love the detail of the world. I grew up around mountains and forests and reading it warps me back to my childhood playing pretend with friends. Really enjoy the movies too.
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I can see someone reading The Hobbit again.

But not the trilogy. It is soooooo time consuming and wandering. Once was enough for me.
 
pachyderm said:
I can see someone reading The Hobbit again.

But not the trilogy. It is soooooo time consuming and wandering. Once was enough for me.
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I don’t disagree. It’s sensible to tackle it only once. I should probably say I haven’t read it in 16 years so there’s plenty I’ve forgotten about it! And I am scared a bit just looking at the total number of pages on Kindle.
 
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RedKite said:
I don’t disagree. It’s sensible to tackle it only once. I should probably say I haven’t read it in 16 years so there’s plenty I’ve forgotten about it! And I am scared a bit just looking at the total number of pages on Kindle.
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Enjoy!

I complain but it is beautifully written isn't it?
 
RedKite said:
Just the best. At least if memory serves. I’ve never even tried reading the hobbit. Have you? How does it compare? I haven’t seen the movie version either.
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It's great!

I think most folks read it first then the trilogy.

My problem with the trilogy, IMHO, i that it is The Hobbit on steroids.

Too much wandering and way too many characters in the trilogy.
 
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On Lord of the Rings... why read it again?
I've read it 3 times (as well as the Hobbit)

There is so much I missed in my first reading that makes so much more sense on the second, knowing how things will develop
And that was true of the third reading (after watching the movies)
The movies are great, but they deviate in many places and I'm like "whut?", so a re-reading confirms what I knew and allows comparison

I read a LOT, so I don't find LOTR a chore or a drudgery, but a delight
[doublepost=1517141810][/doublepost]Anybody read the Frontlines series?
It was recently featured in a post on The Verge
Looks interesting to me, but would like some comments

frontlines.png
 
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Zenithal said:
Precisely the reasons I can't enjoy high fantasy or fantasy movies. You lose track fast if it's not your ideal genre.
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My biggest problem (gripe) is the names that are usually used in fantasy books
I can't pronounce them easily (sometimes not at all), so I can't attach myself as easily to them
I am forced to just try and recognize the name by sight, and sometimes characters have similar names as well

If they would just name them Bob, Fred, John, Steve, Susan, Betty, and Lisa I would be good
They could even throw in some exotic names like Robert, Anthony, Angela, and Brittany if they had to
 
MacDawg said:
My biggest problem (gripe) is the names that are usually used in fantasy books
I can't pronounce them easily (sometimes not at all), so I can't attach myself as easily to them
I am forced to just try and recognize the name by sight, and sometimes characters have similar names as well

If they would just name them Bob, Fred, John, Steve, Susan, Betty, and Lisa I would be good
They could even throw in some exotic names like Robert, Anthony, Angela, and Brittany if they had to
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Two points occur:

But Bob, Fred, John, Steve, Betty and Lisa are only familiar within the western world; not everyone who reads fantasy - say from the Indian continent, parts of Africa or elsewhere would attach easily to these names either.

And, with fantasy, one wants the possibility that one is dealing with a different world. Bob et all are only of relevance as names if it is a kid from London or New York - or someplace similar - who somehow stumbles into another world.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Two points occur:

But Bob, Fred, John, Steve, Betty and Lisa are only familiar within the western world; not everyone who reads fantasy - say from the Indian continent, parts of Africa or elsewhere would attach easily to these names either.

And, with fantasy, one wants the possibility that one is dealing with a different world. Bob et all are only of relevance as names if it is a kid from London or New York - or someplace similar - who somehow stumbles into another world.
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LOL, while true... Bob and Betty could just be exotic names for those readers as well, and I would be happy... after all, its all about me :)

And, in this digital world, the books could have a button for "convert crazy names to ones I will recognize" and whoosh, find and replace takes care of it
Would make things a little difficult when discussing characters, but there could be a conversion chart online of course
I kid... sort of
 
MacDawg said:
LOL, while true... Bob and Betty could just be exotic names for those readers as well, and I would be happy... after all, its all about me :)

And, in this digital world, the books could have a button for "convert crazy names to ones I will recognize" and whoosh, find and replace takes care of it
Would make things a little difficult when discussing characters, but there could be a conversion chart online of course
I kid... sort of
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Hm, I beg to differ.

Bilbo is Bilbo; were he Brian, I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed him - or his adventures (in the book The Hobbit) quite as much, and, while I can't abide Frodo, I'd like him even less if he were named Fred.

The only Brian I identify with in such story telling is Brian in "The Life of Brian".
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
Hm, I beg to differ.

Bilbo is Bilbo; were he Brian, I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed him - or his adventures (in the book The Hobbit) quite as much, and, while I can't abide Frodo, I'd like him less if her were named Fred.

The only Brian I identify with in such story telling is Brian in "The Life of Brian".
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You are taking me way too literally, and that's ok
But certainly Bilbo and Frodo aren't hard to pronounce

But many fantasy books have names and places that are totally unpronounceable and not easily identifiable
I'm not literally advocating for Bob and Fred, just something more reasonable in certain cases

LOL, here's a website: http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

Screen Shot 2018-01-28 at 10.20.14 AM.png
 
MacDawg said:
You are taking me way too literally, and that's ok
But certainly Bilbo and Frodo aren't hard to pronounce

But many fantasy books have names and places that are totally unpronounceable and not easily identifiable
I'm not literally advocating for Bob and Fred, just something more reasonable in certain cases

LOL, here's a website: http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

View attachment 748912
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Nah, I'm not taking you literally, just disagreeing with your premise. But that's okay too.

However, I will concede that some names in fiction (especially the fantasy genre) are perfectly ludicrous, not to mention downright self-indulgent.
 
“Airframe” is my first Crichton novel, I must admit. This thriller is a page-turner despite its predictabile plot and weak character insight. I could not put it down and I am glad that I’ve read it. It also brought back some memories of my years in aerospace R&D. Reading about Crew Alerting System, miscompares, FCC’s, CVR’s, FDR’s was quite nostalgic for me.

51xsxdG51VL._SX282_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


On a side note I also finished Jocko Wilkin’s Discipline’s field manual. I did not have high expectations for it, but it’s a great kick in the back that sometimes is needed as a reminder of our own potential.
 
When it comes to LOTR names, I always presumed they were variations of various North European, Central European and Indo European names, with a good amount of Welsh and Gaelic names thrown in for good measure.
 
Zenithal said:
When it comes to LOTR names, I always presumed they were variations of various North European, Central European and Indo European names, with a good amount of Welsh and Gaelic names thrown in for good measure.
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LOTR names are actually quite mild compared to those in other fantasy/scifi works (except for when the elves are involved)
 
Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta by Srila Sanatana Goswami. English translation by Gopiparanadana das.
 
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