Books

uae

I've read a fair few of his books, but i've made a point to not buy all of them at once, so i can enjoy them more. Have a good few to read yet. Have you read any Raimond E. Feist by any chance?

SmashedHombre

Which ones have you read? In my opinion Legend, despite being one of his first books, his still by far his best. Yeah I have, I've read all the Magician and Riftwar books

uae

I've read these so far:

Dark Prince
Dark Moon
Echoes of a Great Song
Legend
Winter Warriors
Hero in the Shadows
White Wolf
The Swords of Night and Day
Sword in the Storm
Midnight Falcon
Ravenheart
Stormrider
Lord of the Silver Bow
Shield of Thunder

Plenty of Drenai titles left for me

uae

You read the trilogy Feist did with Janny Wurts? Thought that was brilliant. Magician was the book that got me hooked on fantasy though.

SmashedHombre

Yeah- pretty much all the Druss and Waylander ones! Also the Sigarni books (cant remember the name of the series), the Lion of Macedon series, and the Stones of Power (the ones set in Britain). Nice. A lot of good reading in there.

Is that the Empire series? No, I've not read that. Better than Raymond E. Feist's solo stuff?

uae

Yeah it's the Empire series. Haven't read the books in ages so can't say if it was better. I do remember really enjoying it though, as I do all his work really. Definitely worth a read i'd say.

spinoza

I liked Robin Hobb's first few books, but they've become a bit formulaic since. I guess most authors run out of ideas eventually. Probably why I can't seem to get interested in David Gemmell (anyone recommend a good one to start? Please?).

spinoza

Feist is another one who's run out of ideas.

uae

I never really got into Robin Hobb. Read the first book of the Soldier Son trilogy, but found it a chore almost. Bought the second but never read it.

Legend is probably the place to start for Gemmel, as Smashed has said.

David Farland is a good author i've recently discovered as well.

SmashedHombre

Yeah Legend or any of the Drenai or Rigante series really. Legend is definitely my favourite, if you don't get engrossed I promise I will actually eat my hat.

If we're naming author's who have run out of ideas, then Eddings is another one. He seems to have the same perfectly unflawed characters in all of his books. I used to like them, but theres only so many perfect good guys and stereotypically evil bad guys you can read about before it gets a bit tiresome.

Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch and Brian Ruckley are all relatively new up and coming authors in the fantasy genre I would recommend though. Oh and someone please check out Jennifer Fallon's second son trilogy, I think i might actually be the only person besides Jennifer who has read it.

uae

Her name seems very familiar. I think i must have seen a book of hers and decided against buying it for some reason or the other. Will make an effort to check out the trilogy though.

SmashedHombre

She's good, although her Demon Child and wolfblade trilogy's weren't ones I would sing too loudly about, I really was surprised at how good the Second Son's trilogy is. The way she develops the main characters is superb, and it is full of so many twists. Be warned though, it make take you a couple of chapters to get into it, but stick with it, it really is worth it.

uae

I knew i recognised her name. Just googled her, and seen the book titles. They only had books 2 and 3 in the bookstore last time i checked so never bought em.

SmashedHombre

Yeah I had difficulty getting hold of her books in most stores as well. Had to buy most of them from amazon, which I wont complain too much about as I probably saved £15

uae

Here's 2 more authors for you smashed.

1. Karen Miller. Only read her Kingmaker Kingbreaker series, which consisted of two books but really enjoyed them. Don't think she's done anything else, but i thought this series was a great read.

2. Ian Irvine. Took me a while to get into the first book i read by him, but once i did, i couldn't put it down. Good author and a good few titles to read.

SmashedHombre

Ian Irvine I have read. It was probably about 6 years ago mind and I can;t for the life of me remember what book. I think it was something like shadow on a glass? I think the main character was called Karan and if I remember rightly she seemed to carry a block of chocolate with her? I think you have just jogged my memory on an author I have been meaning to get back into for a long time!

Karen Miller I haven't read, but will definitely check out. I mentioned a few authors above to check out as well if you ever run out of reading material

uae

You are right about Irvine. Main character in the first series is Karan. Second series is further in the future, but same world. Third series started not long ago.

I'll keep an eye out for those new authors you mentioned.

It's great finding authors that are new to you, good and have written a few books. Call me nerdy, but it always puts me in a really good mood.

SmashedHombre

Yeah it is, as much as I love David Gemmell, nothing beats losing yourself in a new authors world.

spinoza

Try Chris Roberson.

http://www.solarisbooks.com/books/th...free/index.asp

His book called the Dragon's Nine Sons is out in the shops. It's pretty entertaining from a brief skim through. Will probably buy it once I get through some of my current pile.

SmashedHombre

Not really a great fan of sci-fi to be honest. Especially ones as abstract as that seens to be! I'm more of a fantasy or historical fiction person. Which reminds me Conn Iggulden is another author worth checking out if you like the historical fiction genre

SmashedHombre

Is anyone here a Bernard Cornwell fan? I've never read any of his stuff but wouldn't mind giving him a read. Was thinking the Arthur Trilogy

Lizard King

I've finished On The Road by Jack Kerouac and I'm now starting Alan Ginsberg's Howel

Beatniks =

The_Red_Hope

Loved On the Road.

'The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" '

is one of my favourite quotes of all time.

M'n'M

I like to read a mixture of fact and fiction, usually alternating between the two.

One of my favourite books is Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown - the true story of the persecution of the North American Indians at the hands of the white man. A very moving, well written book.

I have just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy which was fantastic.

Currently reading The White Lioness by Henning Mankell. It's the first I have read of his but it's pretty good so far.

Other faves are:

In Harm's Way by Doug Stanton - the true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis when hundreds died and many more survived in shark infested waters for days while their colleagues were being eaten around them - very harrowing.

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

And the Ass Saw The Angel - Nick Cave

For an easy read I have also read everything by James Patterson & Harlan Coben.

SmashedHombre

None of you illiterate gimps Bernard Cornwell fans then?

peterstorey

I heard a radio interview with him once in which he was very interesting on the mechanics of writing a best seller. Key advice: take something you like or aspire to and deconstruct it chapter by chapter. Then plan your book to the same template. His own stuff sounded like turgid historical fiction and didn't send me rushing to the bookshop.

SmashedHombre

That's what I'm worried about, more history than fiction. I like historical fiction, what I don't like are authors who put all their effort into showing you how much they know about a time period, and completely forget they are supposed to be writing a fictional book. Fact and figures do not make up for lack of plot, direction and character development.

M'n'M

Have you tried Pompeii by Robert Harris? I read it on my honeymoon in Sorrento after a day trip to Pompeii and loved it.

SmashedHombre

No, I remember looking at it a while ago, but it got some pretty bad reviews on amazon. Predictable and almost impossible to form any sort of attachment to the characters being two things that I remember being said about it. I actually don't mind books that you can kind of guess the storyline, they can still be engrossing if the story is told properly. But one thing I don't really like is poor character development. It's one of the reaosns I think Dan Brown is highly over rated as an author.

cesc's_mullet