Books

[Nightcrawler]

Read any books recently? Or, are you currently reading anything?

I just read Temple of the Winds from the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's the fourth book in the series. The first book was one of the best books I ever read. The second was also good, but not quite as stellar. The third took a bit of a drop. Now for the fourth.

The first half to two-thirds of this book were very enjoyable and reminded me of the strengths of the first two books. Unfortunately, the last third of the book was so far out in left field, I may not read any other books in this series. The characters just seemed to start acting out of character. Then, the whole requirements to enter the temple of winds deal was terrible. And lastly, it was just too fixated on some sick things.

You know, I don't mind a little sick, twisted evil or some gruesome torture in my books (says a lot about me I guess!). In fact, I found the whole thing with Denna in the first book fascinating, and one of the most interesting takes on that kind of thing I've ever read. The second and third books sat OK with me as well as far as that kind of content went. However, this one just took it too far. It was too fixated on it and dragged it out to the point I had to wonder what the point was any more. It was too the point where you have to put the book down and question why you're reading such sick stuff. It takes a lot to illicit that kind of response from me. I'm desensitized.

I hope the rest of the books pull back into the infield, although I may never read them. This book left a black mark of bastardizing the otherwise enjoyable characters of Richard, Kahlan, and Cara. I couldn't believe they would say or do some of the things they did. It seemed so unlike them.

Anybody read this book and the subsequent ones?

[I.S.T.]

When they made a TV series out of this, I looked it up on Wiki.

It all goes downhill from there. Trust me.

[Nightcrawler]

I really enjoyed the Legend of the Seeker TV series. It didn't follow the books that well, but I didn't care. I enjoyed the cast and thought it was a fun show to watch anyway. I liked that they always kept everyone (Zedd, Kahlan, Richard, Cara) together in the show. I was sad to see it canceled so soon. Although, it never really was on any major networks to begin with. Most people didn't even know it existed.

[Gideon Zhi]

Still slogging through The Dark Tower. On book 5 at present. Also listening to the Dresden Files as audiobooks. On book 9 of those.

[ultpaladin]

I've been reading mostly history books lately.  I just finished Gitta Sereny's Albert Speer: His Battle with the Truth which deals with Speer's knowledge of the Holocaust.  A friend bought me a trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins from the Hunger Games series so I might try that out pretty soon.

[Next_Gen_Cowboy]

I'm reading Robert E. Howard, my friend let me borrow his horror stories, and I read through them, and they were amazing, so he let me borrow the Conan short stories. Seeing a writer walk the line between classic 20's horrow pulp, and brilliant artistic writing is awesome, alas it was probably why Howard never lived 'til 30. Conan should be amazing!

I love the Dark Tower, but I sure as Hell never got 5 books in!

[Gideon Zhi]

I love the Dark Tower, but I sure as Hell never got 5 books in!

It helps that I book-read one thing and audiobook-listen to another. I progress one hell of a lot faster through the audiobooks than I do through the Dark Tower books, but I'm getting there! Almost done with #5.

[Next_Gen_Cowboy]

I got my hands on the Collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, and I was extremely suprised to see that in one story "The whisper in the Darkness" he mentions not only the county I live in, but the town as well as the towns sorounding it.  I know a majority of the stories take place in Rhode Island, and Mass, but I was shocked to see one about Vermont.

Overall the stories are generally amazing, the lore is astounding, and aside from the fact that most of them were written for magazines, and you have to sift through the same kind of introductions on many of the stories (same thing with Howard) they're very well written, very tense, and for the most part extremely interesting.

A few of the stories are actually scary, I don't mean shocking, and I don't mean pyschologically thrilling, but truly, and utterly scary. I was pleased.

If anyone hasn't read them some of my choice picks are: The Call of Cthulu, which is what he's most associated with.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - My personal favorite, primarily because of the length, which allows for more in depth characters.

Herbert West Reanimator - Another famous story, and one of the more shocking and dark stories, I found myself drawn to the necromancy more than the Old Gods mythos.

The Shunned House - It was the first story I read, and it gave a wonderful overview of some of the things to come, and exemplifies the science versus myth, and human acceptence of such things.

[Gideon Zhi]

I got my hands on the Collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, and I was extremely suprised to see that in one story "The whisper in the Darkness" he mentions not only the county I live in, but the town as well as the towns sorounding it.  I know a majority of the stories take place in Rhode Island, and Mass, but I was shocked to see one about Vermont.

I grew up in Ipswich, MA - which, according to Lovecraft's map of New England, is right next to both Innsmouth and Arkham. How creepy is that?

Good stuff, though! Charles Dexter Ward is a favorite of mine too; some of the others I really like are Rats In The Walls and The Thing on the Doorstep.

[Next_Gen_Cowboy]

That's very awesome, you clearly studied at the U!

The thing on the Doorstep reminded me of every failed relationship I've ever had...

I'll admit I enjoy reading Stephen King stories that take place around New England, primarily because I know the area. The scenes, the backdrops, valleys and mountains are all easily envisioned. Reading Lovecraft is much the same thing, with a whole area gaining mythological status. I really enjoy it.  Just saying if you grew up next to Innsmouth that could explain quite a few things...

Onto the thread itself, I've been writing alot recently, and I've been reading various books in an attempt to better write action sequences. Nothing of note but if anyone has a particular novel they like that has gripping, tense, but flowing action in it, I'd be glad for some ideas.

[Nightcrawler]

What are you guys reading now?

I've got Inheritance waiting for me that I got as a gift. I have read the first two books in the series. The first (Eragon) was pretty good, especially for such a young author. The second (Eldest) was a lot of filler and a bit disappointing. Then, he announced that the third book would be split in two and I thought that would really be milking it. I soured a bit on the series, but I got the last book as a gift. So, I skipped the third one and read a summary instead.

The other book I have waiting for me is The Time Traveler's Wife. I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was an interesting take on time travel and relationships. My friend had the book, so I decided to borrow it. Has anybody read this? I hope it's as good (or better) as the movie.

I have to pick one of those two books to start reading. I'm not sure which one. It will probably take me a few months to get through either as I typically only read a chapter before bed and misc. when time allows.

[Nightcrawler]

I finished the The Time Traveler's Wife. It was a good book. I'd recommend to anyone who interested in reading about time travel or intelligent relationships. As the title suggests, the focus of the book is the characters and their relationships. Time travel just happens to be a backdrop that it takes place over. I found it unique. I've never personally read anything quite like it.

It was of course expanded in many areas over the movie, which I enjoyed. It's now been quite some time since I saw the movie. I think I'm going to re-watch again.

I'm about 200 pages into Inheritance so far. I skipped the third book in the series altogether after having not liked the second as being a big milking of the series with so much filler. From the summary I read, the third book was much the same. So far into this 4th book, it's mediocre, but at least I know it will have a conclusion and I won't be subjected to all filler again.

You know, I find it very interesting that Eragon was so much better and had much more substance when the author started writing it at 15. Now, he's many years older and and the writing and story is worse in my opinion. Probably the only fault of Eragon was it borrowed quite a bit from other famous fantasy authors and stories. That never bothered me though. Few fantasy books don't borrow some concepts from Tolkien or George Lucas's empire.

I guess the guy decided he couldn't be accused of borrowing anything if he wrote books where nothing happened! Ha!

We'll see what happens. It's still way to early to really judge this book yet though. 600 pages are left. Unfortunately, my experiences are that few can write a book that long that keep good pace and interest throughout. So, I'm not overly optimistic.