Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[yvanleterrible]

Finished the 'Foundation' 15 series by Asimov.

Now in the 'Rama' trilogy by A. C. Clarke

[Azayzel]

Reading the Templar Legacy atm. Seems pretty good so far, decent/realistic action and interesting plot line. At least this one hasn't bored me to tears like the last book I tried to read (title/author withheld).

So many books I want to jump into, why can't there be more me's sharing a single, shared memory??? Can we say "hive-mind?"

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Azayzel

Reading the Templar Legacy atm. Seems pretty good so far, decent/realistic action and interesting plot line. At least this one hasn't bored me to tears like the last book I tried to read (title/author withheld).

So many books I want to jump into, why can't there be more me's sharing a single, shared memory??? Can we say "hive-mind?"

Precisely the reason you should say about what you found boring. There's so much to read that we need other's input. Isn't it one of the main points of this thread?

Having said that, I'd have to be honest or cruel and say that the Foundation series suffers some dragging in almost every tome of the fifteen. It might seem irreverent talking in such a way of one of scifi pillar's work, but it's honest. The whole series could have shrunk to a maximum of eight books instead of the fifteen. The style is beautiful, but the over writing gives the punch away far in advance. Meaning that while the eyes are locked in the flourish of the words, the brain has had ample time to figure the plot. I found out all 15 plots before the end, leaving the eyes to work for themselves. But I did learn more English!

As for Rama, the first one is pretty good but the second, which I'm halfway in, suffers from "enflure verbale"(as we'd say in French) verbal swelling if that conveys an adequate image. I don't know why authors do that in sequels. Do we really need more words to describe things? Or side stories to furnish a thin plot? It changes the rythm that we liked in the first tome; thus the enjoyment.
At least it shoud be consistent in style.

These works are 'must read' to any scifi enthusiasts for they are classics. All that my ramblings point to is that these stories themselves are very good and quite imaginative. But so are stories by more recent authors more akin to today's bustling rythms.

[NatCh]

"Verbal swelling." I like that. And yes, it conveys the image nicely.

[mdbenoit]

Currently almost finished Lady of the Lakes, by JC Hall. If you like fantasy but are tired of the same old David Eddings type, this one is very different. First of all, one of the main protagonists is female, which is very rare in fantasy. Second, part of it is about parallel worlds and traveling between them, but in a fantasy context. Really good. I recommend it.

[Dr. Drib]

It was fast-paced and enjoyable, but not really funny (as I thought it would be).

Other books I'm reading:

I'm also re-reading The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson, and The Thirty-Nine Steps, recently posted in the download section for the Sony Reader.

And last, I'm reading Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley, by Talbot Mundy, that I recently posted.

Don

[Moonraker]

When I was much younger I read the Rama trilogy by A.C. Clarke and I hated it. I felt it could have been combined into one volume. I kept buying the next book hoping the author would provide the answers. Alas I never found the answers I was looking for.

Since then I have been very sceptical of any Sci-fi or Fantasy series when there is always another book to purchase and I dislike these stretched out stories. (Does anyone remember the TV series "The Fugitive" - every episode was the same - just with different characters in it.)

And why oh why do some authors give their characters such unpronouncable names? As soon as I flip through a book and notice these the book gets put back on the shelf.

I mostly avoid sci-fi and fantasy these days unless It is related to life on earth as I know it. It has to be believable (to me) not necessarily realistic.

My favourites tend to be old pulp sci-fi such as, John Wyndham's - The Day of the Triffids, Fredric Brown - The Mind Thing, and any Robot story by Isaac Asimov.

How do I choose my favourite books when I have so many? The list would be very long. However, some of them are:

Pearl S. Buck - The Good Earth
Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
Kenn Follett - The Pillars of the Earth
Bryce Courtenay - The Potato Factory
Larry McMurtry - Lonesome dove
Michael Crichton - Next
Stephen King - Cell
Stephen King - The Stand
Tim Green - Exact Revenge
Simon Clark - The Night of the Triffids

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Moonraker

When I was much younger I read the Rama trilogy by A.C. Clarke and I hated it. I felt it could have been combined into one volume. I kept buying the next book hoping the author would provide the answers. Alas I never found the answers I was looking for.

Agreed, I'm still suffering through it. But I want to know how it ends, I'm 3/4 in the last one!

[nekokami]

I have to say the Rama series didn't do anything for me, either, but I've liked some of his other works. The Deep Range and Dolphin Island come to mind as very readable and enjoyable. But of that era of SF, I prefer Heinlein.

[yvanleterrible]

I have some Heinlein, I'll get to it soon. Thanks Neko.

There is so much to read and the house needs fixing and the days are longer and... pfeww! One day I'll get some vacation...

[Azayzel]

Finished the The Templar Legacy the other night and picked up a guilty pleasure I had been wanting to check out for a long time by one of my favorite authors Piers Anthony.

The Templar Legacy (Steve Berry) - A really enjoyable read that moved along quite nicely, without any noticeable "verbal swelling," it was easy to consume 100+ pages in a quick wind down session before dozing off to sleep for the night. The story follows Cotton Malone as he seeks to aid a friend/ex-boss resolve family issues and the mysteries surrounding her husband's untimely demise and his legacy, uncovering the mysterious secret society, the Templars, along the way.

The action wasn't over-the-top, the facts were quite well corroborated (and detailed in the appendix to separate fact from fiction), and the characters weren't over-developed. I have the next volume in the series, The Alexandria Link, but I'm waiting to pick it up until I've finished a few others. So many books, so little time, plus I like to switch genres between reads. I would defintely read this author again without a hitch, though I'd say my all-time favorite in this theme, secret society, etc., is Foucalt's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco (actually tops my list of favorite books of all time).

Pornucopia (Piers Anthony) - Let me start by saying this book is definitely not for everyone, especially youngsters (if you can't buy Playboy, don't even think about it), so read a review before you pick up the book and if you're easily offended steer clear. Now that's out of the way... I've been reading Piers Anthony since I was originally turned on to his Xanth fantasy novels (25+ in the series) 20+ years ago and really enjoyed his Incarnations of Immortality series as well, he has others too. He is a great author that enjoys his work and does an incredible job at it too! I had heard rumors of his "other" work, but it is nigh impossible to find this book in print, needless to say, I found a copy. The story is actually quite funny, but downright obscene, yet it's moving along quite rapidly (started the other day and I'm almost half-way through it already!). Let's just say, it doesn't leave much to the imagination.

The story is about a man that has a run-in with a succubus (a female demon skilled in seduction) and the story procedes from there. Check out the reviews on Amazon if you want more details, but I don't want to give anything away and want this to remain PG-13. Suffice it to say, it's not for everyone but if you want a funny, yet dirty/raunchy, read and you've read Piers Anthony before and are curious about his lesser-known work, give it a try. You've been warned!

Be advised, if you've never read Piers Anthony's before, don't judge his other titles by the subject matter of this book, they are nothing alike and he's very careful to keep his other novels teen-friendly. He has sold millions of books and they are a blast to read (his Xanth novels are full of silly, and many times dumb, puns, to you always get a good chuckle).

[nekokami]

If you've never read any Piers Anthony, On a Pale Horse is possibly his best. I think the earlier books in any of his series tend to be the best written. But then, I'm indifferent to puns and prefer drier humor most of the time.

On the other hand, if you like puns and somewhat slapstick humor at times, Spider Robinson is worth a try, particularly the Callahan's Bar stories. Somehow I find them more likable (possibly a bit more mature) than the Piers Anthony style of humor.

Or, going in the other direction, you could check out Robert Asprin's Mythadventures series....

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by nekokami

If you've never read any Piers Anthony, On a Pale Horse is possibly his best. I think the earlier books in any of his series tend to be the best written. But then, I'm indifferent to puns and prefer drier humor most of the time.

On the other hand, if you like puns and somewhat slapstick humor at times, Spider Robinson is worth a try, particularly the Callahan's Bar stories. Somehow I find them more likable (possibly a bit more mature) than the Piers Anthony style of humor.

Or, going in the other direction, you could check out Robert Asprin's Mythadventures series....

Thanks for the recommendations Nekokami, I've actually read most of Spider & Asprin's works - it's tough to pick a favorite, but I kind of lean toward the goofy/over-the-top stuff like Asprin & Anthony's works, though I like them all.

My favorite Anthony's work is the Incarnations series, Bearing an Hourglass being my favorite in that one, with For the Love of Evil a close second. I don't know, I guess I just like the idea of the personification of all that power and how they cope with it; i.e., they don't have it forever and what they do with it effects more than just them. My preference could be that Hourglass was the first one I read, even before the Xanth novels, but it opened the doors to a new author for me, one that ended up being one of my favorites.

[NatCh]

I liked the Xanth 'trilogy' up through Golem in the Gears, then they started seeming increasingly rushed, like he got to be in such a hurry to tell the story (and cram in as many puns as possible, so there's good there too), that he lost sight of telling the story of the characters. I stopped buying/reading the new ones entirely some years ago.

[nekokami]

Azayzel, you might like Christopher Stasheff's Warlock In Spite of Himself and sequels. Also, try C. Dale Brittain's A Bad Spell in Yurt etc., and possibly Patricia Wrede's "... with Dragons" books, T.H. White's Mistress Masham's Repose and (for a switch to SF) James White's "Sector General" books (medical mystery humor SF -- that enough combinations for you?) I think you also might like City of Baraboo, Elaphant Song, and Circus World by Barry B. Longyear, which are just recently back in print. I'm sure you've already read Douglas Adams.

And obviously, if you haven't yet read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Prachett, run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore (or internet connection) and get yourself a copy. Possibly more than one.