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Post by scribblingninja on Apr 11, 2012 15:46:46 GMT -5
Exactly like the title says; What are you reading right now?
To stop this just becoming a list of books, tell us about the thing you're reading. Is it good? What's it about?
I tend to have... four or five books on the go at once because books are shiny. (And 25-or-so tabs of fanfic, but I'm gonna ignore those for sake of not being here all night, lol)
At the moment I'm reading:
Black Powder War, by Naomi Novik - The third Temeraire novel, the series being basically "The Napoleonic War. With Dragons." I'm not far into it yet but if the two books before are anything to go by it should be awesome. Politics, war-drama, intrigue; and did I mention dragons? They kind of end up being some of the best characters, they're just adorable. Also (because I am a graphic designer and get nerdy over this...) the covers are gorgeous.
Moon Over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch - Part Two of "Rivers of London" (which I think was called "Midnight Riot" over in the US). It's pretty much "Wizard Policemen" and it has that kind of late-nineties TV-horror/sci-fi feel to it. It's pretty gory; head's asplode and the large part of the plot is to do with magically-motivated acts of violence. There's also a bit near the end where... well... y'know that movie "teeth"? If you're not old enough to watch that, you probably shouldn't read this book.
Characters are small in number but all likeable and interesting. Plot is epic awesome, though I did figure it out before the main character did.
The UK cover has a gorgeous sprawling hand-drawn map of London with tiny bits of writing like "Chaucer worked 'ere for 2 shillings" all over it
The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson - Part one of a trilogy and pretty cliche-ful so far. (Grimdark setting, slavery, tyrannical king, I'm wondering whether the plucky-thief-girl or the escaped slave/criminal mastermind will turn out to be the inevitable chosen one.) That's OK though, I like cliches. The tagline for the book is "What if the Dark Lord won?" and it... does what it says on the tin. The characters are likeable, so I'm happy.
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Do I really need to explain this one? I mean, it's Sherlock Holmes! If you've seen the BBC series, it's... kind of like that, only with less mobile phones and more drug use. The edition I'm reading happens to be part of a vast "Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes" edition that I bought yesterday. (And I mean vast, it's close to four inches thick) It also has the old illustrations in it.
So. There. I appear to have spent more time talking about cover designs than characters and plot. Uhm... my bad, I guess.
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Post by mystmyst on Apr 11, 2012 17:59:21 GMT -5
I am currently reading Maximum Ride which is about a family of genetically altered people (mutants) with aviary DNA in them giving hem the ability to fly and altering them so they have the ability to fly, they are trying to figure out what is up with the "School" they were at in the book I am in. I really like this book started with the manga and moved on to the actual book, it is really good and has nicely developed characters.
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Post by punkusjr on Apr 11, 2012 19:20:57 GMT -5
I currently don't read alot outside of school. When I read multiple books at the same time they tend to meld together. (Test, "Describe the inner conflict that Frankenstein's creature faces." Me, "He wants to be the very best, like no one ever was.") (ok so it's not that bad, but I have mixed events together.)
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Post by Ajahli on Apr 12, 2012 19:14:34 GMT -5
okay HMMM~ I really had to think about this one but I'm gunna try. (Also lots of cool recommendations, I really want to read some D: I've been really curious about Maximum Ride-I've read some of the manga but not the actual books- so maybe in the future...)
No. 6 (light novels)-written by Asano Atsuko. If anyone has seen the anime (which I doubt) the novels are much MUUCH better. At the moment they have been summarized and the person doing the good translations is currently on volume 6 (of 9). Basically it's about a boy named Shion who lives in the utopia of No.6 One day a boy named Nezumi shows up in his room bleeding from a gunshot wound. He's a criminal on the run (at 12 years old... but the mystery gets solved) but Shion treats his wound and shelters him for a night. This destroys all of his privileges in the main district, Chronos, and sends him down to a common level where the jobs aren't as great and the living not as luxurious. Basically the big chunk of the story happens 4 years later when Shion finds a dead man in the park, comes into contact with a parasitic bee that kills its host by making them age instantly and hatching out of them, and Nezumi returns to save him, and take him to West Block to see what this dystopic city does to the rest of the world.
There's more but I can't give away too much without giving spoilers. It's basically sci fi, a bit supernatural, there are undertones of Shounen Ai (UNDERTONES. Don't judge it based on that) and it is actually quite disturbing in a lot of places. It kind of mirrors what is going on in the world today. Which I guess makes sense since it's pretty recent.
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin - I just finished Book 2: Clash of Kings. If you have seen or read Game of Thrones I really don't need to give a summary but it's basically 7 kingdoms competing for the Iron Throne. It's epic fantasy at its best, kind of intense and definitely for mature audiences but I'm hooked. I WANT TO KNOW WHO WINS.
SO I GUESS I WILL SHUTUP AND READ THE REST OF THE BOOKS
AND BTW I AM TOTALLY ROOTING FOR DAENARYS AND ROBB OK
aaand that's basically it. Manga wise I'm re-reading FMA, reading K-On! and Sailor Moon and trying to get through the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya novels. It's a bit tough when I already know what happens OTL
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Post by scribblingninja on Apr 13, 2012 3:37:46 GMT -5
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin - I just finished Book 2: Clash of Kings. If you have seen or read Game of Thrones I really don't need to give a summary but it's basically 7 kingdoms competing for the Iron Throne. It's epic fantasy at its best, kind of intense and definitely for mature audiences but I'm hooked. I WANT TO KNOW WHO WINS. SO I GUESS I WILL SHUTUP AND READ THE REST OF THE BOOKS AND BTW I AM TOTALLY ROOTING FOR DAENARYS AND ROBB OK I've seen the first season of the TV series, I keep meaning to start on the books but... shelf-space is limited. OH! Maybe I'll get them on my kindle. I usually prefer physical books because cover designs are that big of a deal to me but... the Song of Ice and Fire covers are all hideous anyway. Arya Stark is the most adorable little badass ever. She's awesome.
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Post by Ajahli on Apr 13, 2012 7:42:27 GMT -5
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin - I just finished Book 2: Clash of Kings. If you have seen or read Game of Thrones I really don't need to give a summary but it's basically 7 kingdoms competing for the Iron Throne. It's epic fantasy at its best, kind of intense and definitely for mature audiences but I'm hooked. I WANT TO KNOW WHO WINS. SO I GUESS I WILL SHUTUP AND READ THE REST OF THE BOOKS AND BTW I AM TOTALLY ROOTING FOR DAENARYS AND ROBB OK I've seen the first season of the TV series, I keep meaning to start on the books but... shelf-space is limited. OH! Maybe I'll get them on my kindle. I usually prefer physical books because cover designs are that big of a deal to me but... the Song of Ice and Fire covers are all hideous anyway. Arya Stark is the most adorable little badass ever. She's awesome. Oh man yes I LOVE Arya~ I stumbled across some spoiler fanart on tumblr (figures. haha) and I can't wait to read more of her chapters ;v;
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Post by scribblingninja on May 13, 2012 20:05:39 GMT -5
Time for another episode of "Cazzie prattles on about books you probably don't care about!" So, I just picked up " The Power of Six," which is the sequel to " I am Number Four" (because I needed another book to be reading~) So, this book... I don't really know what I was expecting from "I am Number Four," the idea intrigued me immensely, but, all I knew was that it was a movie and there was some fairly hefty promotion going on, and it was written under a nom de plume/pseudonym. (Don't bother with the movie. The book is definitely better in this case.) Actually though, I was impressed pretty much from the get-go. A lot of the alien stuff has really stupid names, but there's a kind of undercurrent of tension running throughout the entirety of the first book that means by the time you see the villains in the flesh for the first time, you'll be a nervous wreck; they are genuinely scary. Book two is pretty much... more of the same, with our characters now running cross-country to avoid both the alien villains and the law. It's definitely got dark moments, (particularly one character's backstory). I'm just over halfway through and I definitely foresee some late nights on the horizon to finish this one. Another book I've finished recently is an e-book called " Steampunk Holmes", Which is... exactly what it sounds like. All the usual Sherlock Holmes mystery-solving with a side of steampunk ridiculousness that works so so awesomely I'm surprised it took this long for somebody to try it. (Watson has a mechanical arm. It fires rockets. Also, there's Captain Nemo, and a Zeppelin.)
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Post by punkusjr on May 13, 2012 20:14:50 GMT -5
Those sound really interesting, I'll have to look into getting them. (I'm not a heavy reader, it's not that I don't like to read; it's just that I don't. I do, however, enjoy a good story, no matter the medium.)
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Post by Ajahli on May 13, 2012 20:17:59 GMT -5
I was curious about Number Four, actually! I mean, I didn't even know there was a book. I would prefer that to a movie I think. I know my little sister was carrying on about it and after that she was going on and on about The Hunger Games, which I may read just for the sake of reading. Cause people say it's good. IDK But scary villains? Can do! Is it mostly sci fi then??
Also Steampunk Holmes xD Zepplins are always a plus for me. I've been wanting to read more steampunk novels, actually. I just get a little confuddled with the way they are written. Like the book Soulless I started reading, then they made a manga adaptation, which I read and loved immensely, and now I am going to go back and re-read it.
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Post by scribblingninja on May 13, 2012 21:25:37 GMT -5
@punkus - I'm kind of like that. Sometimes, I'll plough through a massive book in next to no time (Lord of the Rings was just under three weeks, for example), and then other times even reading a few pages will take me weeks. It kinda depends how distracted I am with drawing and internets. @ajah - The plot is roughly this. Nine aliens come to Earth, each with their guardian. The aliens hunting them can only kill them in a particular order; One, Two and Three are dead, and our main character is Four, who goes by the name John Smith. Eventually, the awesome superpowers turn up and then it goes from "suspense/thriller" to "action!" although there is still a certain amount of suspense, mainly due to the very squishy humans who potentially get caught in the cross-fire. I have to admit, I did spend a lot of Steampunk Holmes thinking "This would work better as a comic." Not that it wasn't well-written, because it was, but steampunk is quite a visual thing, IMO. Plus, there are some character-drawings on the website, and their Watson is such a badass. Seriously look at this guy. And yes, Mycroft is a woman in this version.
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Post by Ajahli on May 17, 2012 21:19:59 GMT -5
WOWWWWW~ Okay any novel or book that has epic illustrations is great in my book! Also I am Number Four sounds cool. SOLD. Will add it to my list of "need to read"
Which reminds me I recently signed up on Goodreads ;A; My life has suddenly become a hop from internet community to internet community. BUUH.
HMM okay what am I reading. I don't have the energy to give any proper summaries but I'll just list off...
Storm of Swords (still): The third book in A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin. Mostly I am eagerly awaiting Arya's chapters.
I recently read the Maximum Ride #1 (manga), Soulless #1 (manga) and I am trying to read Black Prism by Brent Weeks. I fell in love with his Night Angel Trilogy but I am having some difficulty getting into it.
And I still read the newest chapter of No.6 every sunday.
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Post by punkusjr on May 17, 2012 21:56:29 GMT -5
Can we count web comics? If that's the case I read this really cool one about this dead girl and she's like a grim reaper wraith thing, and it's super cool! ^o^ can't remember what it is called though, atm.
/serious mode on. Ok nevermind I dont have much serious to say, I just graduated and I'm all super excited.
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Post by Ajahli on May 17, 2012 22:04:03 GMT -5
PFF be excited! Graduating is pretty awesoooome~ Congratulations! And yes! Please tell us what webcomics you are reading~ Because tbh I kind of slacked off on my reading. I WAS reading Unsounded, Strays, Gunnerkrigg Court and Vattu but I have so much catching up to do >_>;
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Post by punkusjr on May 17, 2012 22:07:11 GMT -5
Other than grs I read xkcd and brawl in the family. Grs is the first serious web comic that I've found that I like.
Comics that I constantly re-read are JtHM, Squee, I feel sick, Filler bunny, and Scott Pilgrim.
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Post by Ajahli on May 17, 2012 22:15:32 GMT -5
hmm those I have not heard of! Also GRS is the first serious one you like? ;v; uguuuu~ *proud* Seriously, that's a compliment! I just looked up Brawl in the Family aaand I think I'm going to be following this one too ; Scott Pilgrim: I feel like the one person in the world who HASN'T read Scott Pilgrim (or seen the movie). I really want to though :c
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