What are you reading?

I'm re-reading Aztec by Gary Jennings; I guess it's been about 15 years since I read it for the first time. I'm enjoying it quite a lot.

EDIT: I finished the book yesterday and I can't recommend it enough, I think it may just be one of my favorite books. It's a historical novel set around the time of the conquest of Mexico. I've read a review somewhere that compared this book to a book called Shōgun by James Clavell and out of the two I have to say that I liked Aztec considerably more.

Has anybody here read or heard about Aztec or Shōgun? I'd find it very interesting to know what people who like Berserk think about these books.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
m said:
Has anybody here read or heard about Aztec or Shōgun? I'd find it very interesting to know what people who like Berserk think about these books.

Haven't read either of them. But I'll make a note of them and so maybe someday I will. :serpico:
 
H

hellrasinbrasin

Guest
Just wrapped up, A Tale of Two Cities; currently reading If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! (I can thank Fringe for this one).
 

Vampire_Hunter_Bob

Cats are great
So far this month I've read: The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, The Sunset Limited, How to Read Literature like a Professor, and How to Read a Novel like a Professor.

Thankfully I really liked everything I read.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I'm about 3/4 of the way through Children of Dune.

I'll be honest: I'm not enjoying these books as much as I did when I read them all those years ago. I'm really struggling with the material. I pride myself on having a great vocabulary, and thought I'd be getting even more out of these books than I did when I was in grade school and junior high, but sometimes I don't know what the hell Herbert is talking about. I'll read a sentence, understand every single word of it, and still have no idea what he just said. That, and the conversations between characters are tough to follow, what with all the spaces between dialogue filled with each side's thoughts and suspicions.

I'm going to try and power through them as best I can, but I want to know if anyone else who has read Dune and its sequels has had these same issues? I hope I'm not alone in this. It's been pretty disheartening.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
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I actually haven't read them in years (since my original read-through in French), and I've been delaying a re-read in English for many years now. I'll get to it eventually, and when I do I'll be sure to let you know.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aazealh said:
I actually haven't read them in years (since my original read-through in French), and I've been delaying a re-read in English for many years now. I'll get to it eventually, and when I do I'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks man! I read another chapter on the bus tonight, which was much easier to get through. It's like he's purposefully lulling me into literary confidence, right before he dashes it to pieces in the following chapter! Damn you, Herbert! :mozgus:
 

Walter

Administrator
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Rhombaad said:
I'm going to try and power through them as best I can, but I want to know if anyone else who has read Dune and its sequels has had these same issues? I hope I'm not alone in this. It's been pretty disheartening.
It's definitely not just you. Herbert has a unique way of throwing in jargon and futuristic terminology that takes some getting used to. It stems from the fact that he's created whole histories, religions and philosophies in an utterly alien world. So of course there are words that don't have binary meanings to our vocabulary.

But though it serves a function, it's definitely annoying. Particularly if you've put the books down for a while and come back to them. (Gom Jab-whaaat?!) That's actually part of what kept me from finishing the series. I liked Dune the best from what I'd read. It has the best story momentum. It feels perfectly crafted. I could be happy reading that book 20 times over.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Walter said:
It's definitely not just you. Herbert has a unique way of throwing in jargon and futuristic terminology that takes some getting used to. It stems from the fact that he's created whole histories, religions and philosophies in an utterly alien world. So of course there are words that don't have binary meanings to our vocabulary.

Oddly enough, it isn't his futuristic jargon that annoys me; it's his writing style. It's hard to explain, but you'll probably know what I mean: conversations, paragraphs, etc. just don't flow the way they're supposed to. His writing style is utterly unique, and utterly frustrating.

Walter said:
I liked Dune the best from what I'd read. It has the best story momentum. It feels perfectly crafted. I could be happy reading that book 20 times over.

I've read Dune the most, and it's definitely my favorite, but despite all I've said, I think you should give the rest of the series a shot. I remember the last two novels, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, were spectacular. But that was some time ago. We'll see how I feel about them this time around. :serpico:
 

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
Recently read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and didn't like it. For a mystery-crime novel, there weren't enough shocking revelations and there were too many people sitting around making coffee. I'm now going to pick up Dune, which is something I've meant to do for about a decade with this thread bringing it to a head.
 

Walter

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Scorpio said:
Recently read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and didn't like it. For a mystery-crime novel, there weren't enough shocking revelations and there were too many people sitting around making coffee.
I also finished that book about a month ago. Wasn't impressed at all.

I'm now going to pick up Dune, which is something I've meant to do for about a decade with this thread bringing it to a head.
Good man! :ubik:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
Oddly enough, it isn't his futuristic jargon that annoys me; it's his writing style. It's hard to explain, but you'll probably know what I mean: conversations, paragraphs, etc. just don't flow the way they're supposed to. His writing style is utterly unique, and utterly frustrating.

Hmm. I'm going to have to re-read the books pretty quickly so that I can disagree more firmly on that!

Rhombaad said:
I remember the last two novels, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, were spectacular. But that was some time ago.

Miles Teg! :ubik:
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aazealh said:
Hmm. I'm going to have to re-read the books pretty quickly so that I can disagree more firmly on that!

Haha, that supposed to probably should have been between quotation marks. I should also be a little more specific: the majority of his writing flows very well, but the occasional sentence, or transition in conversation, leaves me dumbfounded. I think this is more a reflection on my comprehension of his material (or lack thereof), however, than on his writing style. I was in a pretty pessimistic mood when I wrote my initial post and its follow-ups, and after re-reading them, they don't give as much credit to Herbert's detail-oriented writing style as they should. Like I said, I believe the fault lies more with me than with Herbert. I was just curious to see if anyone else had struggled as I have with the novels.

Aazealh said:
Miles Teg! :ubik:

Goddamn right! :guts:

I love the Honored Matres, as well. What great villains!
 
Just finished reading X-Men & Ghost Rider: Brood Trouble In The Big Easy, next up I think I might read Lobo: Portrait of a Bastich. Having a sort of overload on comics for a little while.
 

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
Finished Dune... It's brilliant. What balance in story-telling. I couldn't help but be completely taken in by the first part, where I was continually warned of what was going to happen- to the point of it being completely spelled out- only to be sucked in by the actuality of it. It was like yelling, "Don't go in there!" in a movie theater. The other parts had their own strong themes and I was completely gripped for the whole ride. I definitely should have read this a long time ago.

As for the way Frank Herbert writes: I had no problems with it. The only thing that seemed jarring to me is that I haven't seen the word 'presently' used in some of the ways he made it commonplace before. After reading the whole book I still haven't completely gotten used to it.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Scorpio said:
Finished Dune...

Awesome! :ubik:

Scorpio said:
As for the way Frank Herbert writes: I had no problems with it.

Damn, I guess it's just me, although I've been enjoying Children of Dune the more I read. I'll probably read them all again after I finish Chapterhouse: Dune to familiarize myself even more with the story.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
I bought this when I saw it in a bookstore today.



This book is as big as a bible and it's all shiny and pretty.




Now does anyone have a suggestion as where to begin? What should I read first? or next? I'm thinking Shadow Over Innsmouth since other people were talking about that during recent Berserk episodes. But holy hell there must be 50 stories here! It also had this awesome illustration.

 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Oburi said:
I bought this when I saw it in a bookstore today.

[...]

Now does anyone have a suggestion as where to begin? What should I read first? or next? I'm thinking Shadow Over Innsmouth since other people were talking about that during recent Berserk episodes.

Nice! And I think you should start with The Call of Cthulhu. You should read everything anyway, it'll be quick enough. :guts:
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
Awesome! You know what too, I didn't realize but he was born same place as me :guts: Providence RI.

Edit- Wow some history here, he was also born on my family street (that is, a street named after my family from way back). How did I not know this? This is so cool.
 
Aaz is right on the money, The Call of Cthulhu first. Maybe Shadow over Innsmouth or the At Mountains of Maddness next. The Dunwich Horror is pretty great as well. They're all pretty connected within the Lovecraft Universe. Be prepared to despair! Some truly creepy stories. :magni:
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Sweet book Oburi. Love the psychedelic cover.

I'd recommend to start with The Outsider and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow over Innsmouth and The Dunwich Horror would be next.
Just stay away from At the Mountains of Madness and the Dream cycle stories until you read quite a few of the others.
 

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
As this thread just covered what a hack Kevin J. Anderson is I felt like I should post this here:

http://io9.com/5884531/kevin-j-anderson-will-novelize-rushs-new-album
 
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