Books to date
I think this year I will make one "books to date" post and update it with stuff I've been reading.
So far this year:
Books
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
Swords against Wizardry by Fritz Lieber (only 186 pages, but it is a book..)
Thicker than Water by Mike Carey
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Changes by Jim Butcher
1Q84 (book 1)
1Q84 (book 2)
Bridge of Birds
Ready Player One
Tome of the Undergates by Parcelan Sam Sykes
Declare by Tim Powers
Skavenslayer (part of the first Gotrek and Felix omnibus)
Daemonslayer (as above)
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Short stories:
Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge
Raise your hand if you're dead by John Shirley
Dunk and Egg: The Mystery Knight by George RR Martin
Skeleton by Ray Bradbury
The Jar by Ray Bradbury
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
Another Fish Story by Kim Newman
Malleus, Incus, Stapes by Sarah Totton
The Vicar of R'yleh by Marc Laidlaw
Sticks by Karl Edward Wagner
The Death of Me by Jonathon Howard (http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/09/the-death-of-me)
The House of Sounds by M.P. Shiel
The White People by Arthur Machen
There's a few short stories missing here, I know.
Other
Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering by Robin D Laws
Graphic Novels
Hellboy 1: Seed of Evil
Hellboy 2: Wake the Devil
Hellboy 3: The Chained Coffin and Others
Hellboy 4: Conqueror Worm
Webcomics:
Skullkickers
Partially complete:
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Shogun by James Clavell
The Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Kraken by China Mieville
Never Unprepared by Phil Veracchio
The Republic of Thieves
The Invention of Murder
Abandoned
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
Those who hunt the night by Barbara Hambly (for now)
- Already talked about Red Country. Very solid. Western-y. Feels like you should be drinking bourbon while reading.
- Swords against Wizardry: Hrm. This one is a classic of fantasy, especially the school that inspired D&D. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are like, the original adventurer bros. However, Leiber's not that great with characters - even for a fantasy world, a lot of his characters act really stiffly and oddly, more like actors in a play than people. But the adventuring settings and weird monsters are pretty cool.
- Turn Coat Hoo boy. I didn't even entirely mean to read this one. I got kinda stuck on it, though, and once I started, couldn't stop reading it. This surprised me, as I have a lot of problems with how the series is written: Harry Dresden is kind of a dick. The characters around him mostly don't feel fully realized at all, compared to him. The descriptions of women are just terrible, cringe-inducing stuff. And most of the supernatural creatures are defined into clear systems (the Courts) that can even be color-coded. (Vampires, for instance, are grouped into Red, Black, White, and Jade.) In this one, he has an English character with an excruciating accent. But. I finished the book, when I hadn't finished anything else in months. And, despite my serious complaints, I have to admit that Butcher can keep a narrative moving and dish up some very cool scenes. So despite my complaints, I still burned through the book at a blistering pace. The scenes on Demonreach were very cool and .. actually worth reading most of the book. So, I have that admit that Butcher has some skill in putting together a story that pulls you in and then along until the end of the book. And it felt so good to finish a book, even if it was extremely easy-reading.
- Changes by Jim Butcher. Not as much to say about this one, because I enjoyed it a lot more. Butcher got away from a lot of the things that bothered me about previous books as he kicks everything out from under Dresden. He brought his A game for this book and showed a lot of the things he's learned since writing the first few books. There was one line in particular that I really liked, given the context, something like, "Even in winter it is not always dark and the wind not always chill." The finale is perhaps a touch overdramatic, but reading it while listening to super-dramatic anime music.. it worked pretty well. I'll probably take a break from these for a bit, but burning through two of them helped get my reading engine going again.
1Q84. This one. Hm. It's flowing and difficult at the same time. It's dark, but it's also very weird. I still have one book (of the three) left to read, and I'll have more to say about it then.
Bridge of Birds was an absolutely charming folk tale type story spun out into a novel. I hate to say too much about it, or to spoil it in any way, but I was really impressed how it came together with many seemingly disparate plot threads. I'd heard a lot of good things, but never really got into it - I guess this is a lesson to me about books that are worth sticking with.
Skavenslayer: So I had already started this one; it was just a matter of finishing it. But! Other than a few repetitive phrases, it was really enjoyable. I like having a supremely bad-ass dwarf as a character, as opposed to a blacksmith or comic relief one. And, despite it being tie-in fiction, the writing is .. actually not bad at all. The action scenes are brisk (too many books, fantasy and otherwise, let the pace flag by describing too much in action scenes) and there's a lot of little details that help the world feel alive. One of my favorite parts involves a visit to the temple of the Death God, which is scrupulously clean and scented with flowers rather than being a stinking crypt. I'll probably read more of these; they're enjoyable popcorn hack and slashers.
Daemonslayer I felt this one was a little slower than Trollslayer or Skavenslayer, but the look at a dwarf society was pretty neat. Some of the outcomes were predictable, but overall a pretty good read. Lots of travel scenes, though. I guess forgivable, since the previous stories had been short stories and this was more of a real novel. Last fight of the book was pretty great.
Short stories:
- Mentioned Lesser Demons before.
- Raise your hand if you're dead was pretty well done, but mostly felt like a lead-in to a larger story to me. Not a huge amount of pay-off?
I still sometimes feel kinda guilty about reading fantasy stuff. Like, couldn't you be doing something more grown-up with your time? I am not sure where this idea came from because when I say it that way, I don't agree with it at all. It's more of a feeling that I can't quite shake. But then I look at forums for ideas on other stuff to read and end up just reading forums, which is sort of like snacking on crackers and pickles. Not much substance there. Even reading stuff that isn't 100% your cup of tea with books or webcomics can challenge you to think about why you don't like it or what could be better. With forums, it's basically .. "this person's tastes are different" or less charitably "they are just wrong."
There is also, really, no sharp distinction between cyberpunk, sci-fi, fantasy, modern fantasy, a lot of horror, and post-apocalyptic stuff to me. It's shades on a spectrum, and certainly some of it lets you feel a little smarter when you're reading - but when you come down to it, they're not very different.
So far this year:
Books
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
Swords against Wizardry by Fritz Lieber (only 186 pages, but it is a book..)
Thicker than Water by Mike Carey
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
Changes by Jim Butcher
1Q84 (book 1)
1Q84 (book 2)
Bridge of Birds
Ready Player One
Tome of the Undergates by Parcelan Sam Sykes
Declare by Tim Powers
Skavenslayer (part of the first Gotrek and Felix omnibus)
Daemonslayer (as above)
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Short stories:
Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge
Raise your hand if you're dead by John Shirley
Dunk and Egg: The Mystery Knight by George RR Martin
Skeleton by Ray Bradbury
The Jar by Ray Bradbury
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
Another Fish Story by Kim Newman
Malleus, Incus, Stapes by Sarah Totton
The Vicar of R'yleh by Marc Laidlaw
Sticks by Karl Edward Wagner
The Death of Me by Jonathon Howard (http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/09/the-death-of-me)
The House of Sounds by M.P. Shiel
The White People by Arthur Machen
There's a few short stories missing here, I know.
Other
Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering by Robin D Laws
Graphic Novels
Hellboy 1: Seed of Evil
Hellboy 2: Wake the Devil
Hellboy 3: The Chained Coffin and Others
Hellboy 4: Conqueror Worm
Webcomics:
Skullkickers
Partially complete:
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Shogun by James Clavell
The Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
Kraken by China Mieville
Never Unprepared by Phil Veracchio
The Republic of Thieves
The Invention of Murder
Abandoned
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
Those who hunt the night by Barbara Hambly (for now)
- Already talked about Red Country. Very solid. Western-y. Feels like you should be drinking bourbon while reading.
- Swords against Wizardry: Hrm. This one is a classic of fantasy, especially the school that inspired D&D. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are like, the original adventurer bros. However, Leiber's not that great with characters - even for a fantasy world, a lot of his characters act really stiffly and oddly, more like actors in a play than people. But the adventuring settings and weird monsters are pretty cool.
- Turn Coat Hoo boy. I didn't even entirely mean to read this one. I got kinda stuck on it, though, and once I started, couldn't stop reading it. This surprised me, as I have a lot of problems with how the series is written: Harry Dresden is kind of a dick. The characters around him mostly don't feel fully realized at all, compared to him. The descriptions of women are just terrible, cringe-inducing stuff. And most of the supernatural creatures are defined into clear systems (the Courts) that can even be color-coded. (Vampires, for instance, are grouped into Red, Black, White, and Jade.) In this one, he has an English character with an excruciating accent. But. I finished the book, when I hadn't finished anything else in months. And, despite my serious complaints, I have to admit that Butcher can keep a narrative moving and dish up some very cool scenes. So despite my complaints, I still burned through the book at a blistering pace. The scenes on Demonreach were very cool and .. actually worth reading most of the book. So, I have that admit that Butcher has some skill in putting together a story that pulls you in and then along until the end of the book. And it felt so good to finish a book, even if it was extremely easy-reading.
- Changes by Jim Butcher. Not as much to say about this one, because I enjoyed it a lot more. Butcher got away from a lot of the things that bothered me about previous books as he kicks everything out from under Dresden. He brought his A game for this book and showed a lot of the things he's learned since writing the first few books. There was one line in particular that I really liked, given the context, something like, "Even in winter it is not always dark and the wind not always chill." The finale is perhaps a touch overdramatic, but reading it while listening to super-dramatic anime music.. it worked pretty well. I'll probably take a break from these for a bit, but burning through two of them helped get my reading engine going again.
1Q84. This one. Hm. It's flowing and difficult at the same time. It's dark, but it's also very weird. I still have one book (of the three) left to read, and I'll have more to say about it then.
Bridge of Birds was an absolutely charming folk tale type story spun out into a novel. I hate to say too much about it, or to spoil it in any way, but I was really impressed how it came together with many seemingly disparate plot threads. I'd heard a lot of good things, but never really got into it - I guess this is a lesson to me about books that are worth sticking with.
Skavenslayer: So I had already started this one; it was just a matter of finishing it. But! Other than a few repetitive phrases, it was really enjoyable. I like having a supremely bad-ass dwarf as a character, as opposed to a blacksmith or comic relief one. And, despite it being tie-in fiction, the writing is .. actually not bad at all. The action scenes are brisk (too many books, fantasy and otherwise, let the pace flag by describing too much in action scenes) and there's a lot of little details that help the world feel alive. One of my favorite parts involves a visit to the temple of the Death God, which is scrupulously clean and scented with flowers rather than being a stinking crypt. I'll probably read more of these; they're enjoyable popcorn hack and slashers.
Daemonslayer I felt this one was a little slower than Trollslayer or Skavenslayer, but the look at a dwarf society was pretty neat. Some of the outcomes were predictable, but overall a pretty good read. Lots of travel scenes, though. I guess forgivable, since the previous stories had been short stories and this was more of a real novel. Last fight of the book was pretty great.
Short stories:
- Mentioned Lesser Demons before.
- Raise your hand if you're dead was pretty well done, but mostly felt like a lead-in to a larger story to me. Not a huge amount of pay-off?
I still sometimes feel kinda guilty about reading fantasy stuff. Like, couldn't you be doing something more grown-up with your time? I am not sure where this idea came from because when I say it that way, I don't agree with it at all. It's more of a feeling that I can't quite shake. But then I look at forums for ideas on other stuff to read and end up just reading forums, which is sort of like snacking on crackers and pickles. Not much substance there. Even reading stuff that isn't 100% your cup of tea with books or webcomics can challenge you to think about why you don't like it or what could be better. With forums, it's basically .. "this person's tastes are different" or less charitably "they are just wrong."
There is also, really, no sharp distinction between cyberpunk, sci-fi, fantasy, modern fantasy, a lot of horror, and post-apocalyptic stuff to me. It's shades on a spectrum, and certainly some of it lets you feel a little smarter when you're reading - but when you come down to it, they're not very different.