My favourite series were the Death ones and the Mage ones, not so much for the Watch
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I quite like the Watch ones, but I'm with you on the Death ones. Great stuff. Never could get into the Witches, though.
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The Witches one is good, but not the best, those are indeed the Death and the Mages (including that Eric) ones.
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I'm very partial to some of the one-shots too, like Small Gods.
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I should probably start reading that series again. I only meant to stop for a short while because the binge read was becoming a bit of a grind, just never got round to it.
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So far this year I've read 4 books of The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, halfway through Mostly Harmless. And also 70% through Watch_Dogs: Dark Clouds.
After those I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 and will resume my Complete Sherlock Holmes audiobook.
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Fahrenheit 451 is a hard book to read. Sherlock is mostly great, in the middle there it was "easy" to solve the case on the first page :)
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Can't be worse than any Spanish book by Benito Pérez Galdós (holy shit those are some deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeense and overly descriptive books)
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He is my favourite Spanish writer, Doña Perfecta is a great novel.
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He's from the very same island as me (Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands), and there's certain nationalist pride attached to his figure, but I still found his novel Miau to be a bit... overextended, you know? No bad, but it just doesn't fit in my likes.
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In Spanish, but as I said, didn't find it bad, just very far away from my comfort zone.
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Well, I'm spanish and sometimes I get a bit lost with descriptions, because of some words that are old or those that I've never heard in my life. But his histories are very interesting and his endings are simply brutal. I remember when I readed "Juan Martín el Empecinado"... what an open final... I was upset but stoked at the same time.
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That's what I feel when I try to read El Quijote, probably I'll never finish that book because of that
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I didn't found it hard at all. Good read anyhow. The hitchkicker is fun, althought the later ones were far from the first.
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Indeed, the first one was pure science-fiction-fueled hard comedy, the later ones are more like humanist, abstract books, and while they are not bad, they don't have much to do with the first one... I think it should have ended with Life, The Universe and Everything.
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Fahrenheit 451 is one of those books I sincerely think everyone should read at some point. Great choice!
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Somehow, I managed to avoid reading a lot of classics in school. Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Catch-22, etc, so I had to go back and read them as an adult. I suppose they were just trying to discourage us getting ideas about questioning authority, as though it simply never entered our minds.
Oddly enough, I was reading Catch-22 while I was on deployment to Egypt and was actually browbeaten by a Lieutenant about reading it. He said it was going to give me a negative mental image about the military. I asked him if he'd read it and his response: "Oh, of course. But that's different". It gave me kind of a swirly feeling where I wasn't sure where the book stopped and real life started.
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I've read everything I own at the moment, so I'm just rereading my favorites. I finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman a couple days ago, and The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle before that. I haven't decided on what to reread next, I'm thinking either the Narnia series or The Giver series.
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As much as I'd love for an American Gods TV series, it seems more and more unlikely to happen the more I read about what's been going on with it.
Still, if they could do a good job with it, I'd most certainly love it. I'd love to see if the actor they'd have as Shadow matches how I see him in my mind.
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Yup yup! Neil is one of my favorite authors.
Funny thing is, I didn't find him by his books, my first encounter with Neil was with The Sandman series. Easily one of my favorite comic series, then I stumbled onto his books and fell even more in love with his work.
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I found out about Sandman much later - because it wasn't released in Poland for a long long time ;p
But as a kid I've read a lot of Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (until I grew up bored with the same setting over and over ;p), so once I bought a non-Discwoirld book by Pratchett and some guy I never heard about. The book was "Good Omens" ;p Needless to say 1st thing I did after finishing it was to go to book store again and buying Neverwhere ;)
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Good Omens is a great book, another one of my favorites. It's funny actually, for me it was the reverse. Good Omens introduced me to Pratchett. I'm still working on the Discworld series, though it's going to be a very long time before I get all, what, 40 or so books?
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This summer I've read so far:
"King of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence - 2nd tome of trilogy, awesomely graphic, grim and unforgiving dark fantasy. Probably my favoritue Dark Fantasy series since Peter V. Brett's debut.
"Feast of Souls" by Celia S. Friedman - didn't like this one too much, maybe because of crappy translation, but I won't continue this series. So not much of a recomendation gfrom me on that.
"The Russian Anti-Popular Tales" by Dmitry Glukhovsky - Series of political-commentary short stories set in various sf/realistic/urban-fantasy settings in Russia commentating current russian politics and life. If you expect next Metro you will be dissapointed, but if you want intelligent commentary using non-standard formula - it's worth reading :)
"Time to live, time to kill" by Miroslav Żamboch - Quite enjoyable set of shjort stories and one longer novela by top Czech fantasy author, who goes back to one of his most famous characters, mercenary Bakly. It's not very intelligent, mostly action-based, but very relaxing to read.
"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" by George R. R. Martin - Just to read something while waiting for freaking "The Winds of Winter"
"False Gods" by Graham McNeil - 2nd tome of Horus Heresy WH40k series. I'm just starting with WH40k books (knew universe mainly from video games, board games and Space-Hulk LARPs), but Horus Heresy is a good starting point ;)
"Whispers of the Mist Children" by Trudi Canavan - Honestly I wasn't impressed. 2-3 stories were nice and clever, but Canavan should stick to long gfew-tome stories which she execute much much better.
And a few books by polish authors ("Samotność Anioła Zagłady" by Robert J. Szmidt, "Takeshi Cień Śmierci" by Maja Lidia Kossakowska, "Ja Inkwizytor - Głód i Pragnienie" by Jacek Piekara and "Pomnik Cesarzowej Achai t3" by Andrzej Ziemiański) but these are probably to never be translated into english anyways, so no need to talk about them in details here ;p
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Stanisław Lem has been translated so who knows ?
I'll try to get my hands on a russian copy of the the anti popular tales. Books are always better in their original language.
As to R.R Martin... i'm grateful that he isn't good enough for my taste, otherwise i'd feel constantly frustrated by the years long wait.
A polish author i like to recommend and offer copies of is Ryszard Kapuściński.
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Well, Lem is a little different league ;p He was widely known outside of sci-fi readers population, same goes for example for Sapkowski. It surely helps to get translated ;) And Kossakowska, Piekara, Ziemiański - may be famous in PL as fantasy writers, but not commonly known by people who don't generally read sf/fantasy. And Szmidt isn't even that popular even in fandom (generally mostly people who are into post-apo will recognize him, for the rest - not so much), so it's much lesser chance than any of them gets translated in the nearest future. To endlish at aeast, as Ziemiański and Kossakowska were already translated to Czech for example.
As for Glukhovsky - sadly I'm from the generation that didn't learn russian, so cannot read original ;p On a more lucky side russian-polish translators are quite good and the book still felt as it should ;)
I'm not a big fan of Martin's style (it's very un-even, sometimes it will be wonderfully detailed and sometimes it will be flat and boring as hell), but I love his world, lore and plot creation which are top notch. And because of it despite of style lacks every now and then I really enjoyed SoI&F so far... and yes, because of that I know the pain of waiting for a few years for a book...
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"As for Glukhovsky - sadly I'm from the generation that didn't learn russian"
I love the "sadly" part. Perhaps "fortunately" would be more appropriate ? rofl.
And if you're not from that generation, it means you're from the one that still has more than enough time to learn :-) Reading a book as it was written instead of some crappy translation is always fun a a good reward for the efforts.
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ofc it was a sarcasm, sorry ;p
And no, not really have time to learn new language nowadays ;p by generation I meant being born in mid-late 80s, thus going to school in mid 90s ;) so now being after all education process it's kinda to late to start learning russian - especially to learn it just to read non-translated books ;P
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I mainly read sf/fantasy so:
As for modern russian authors I really enjoyed "Wybrakówka" by Oleg Diwow (sadly cannot find original name -.-) - very dark and grim dystopian political-fiction. But I tried other books by same author and found them weak so I guess it was his one-shot.
As for older ones, Strugatsky brothers are awesome! with the most popular "Roadside Picnic" at the top! :)
And there are ofc great non-fantasy classics, like "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyewsky or "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov.
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While talking about Russian I've remembered one of the books I've read and used for Matura written work about fantasy (don't remember exact title, it was quite a few years ago). It was The Master and Margarita the book was really good and amusing.
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Harry Potter series and Hunger Games Trilogy are my favorites.(normally I listen audiobooks, not reading, I listened many books) I also liked The Sword of Truth, but I didn't listen all of them, only 4-5, if I like to continue I will need to do it from the first again. Also Dan Brown books were good. Now I'm trying to read, not listen, Spice & Wolf novels.
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This book alone, or any book by dumas, or any book by a french writer or poet, is worth learning french just for it :-)))
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i´m reading that at the moment. I wouldn´t say best book ever, but certainly a good one
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I also liked The Scarlet Pimpernel for the same reasons.
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I've read two or three of his books I think. He takes a while to jump into the action, but the stories are pretty decent :)
From those few I've read, I liked The Redeemer (I think that's the english title) the best.
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I read books on a daily basis. Recently I've been filling the gaps in my Pratchett and Agatha Christie backlog. Right now I'm reading the first part of The Dresden Files: Storm Front. The next one on my list is Anne Rice.
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I've always wondered if the Dresden novels were any good. I'd never heard of the series until the TV show, which had some very mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it, in spite of them airing out of order. I have a very limited taste for magic and fantasy and whatnot, but the characters were interesting. It might have just been the actors, though.
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You should definitely read the books then. There is of course lots of magic and fantasy, but it is more in the genre of urban fantasy, but modeled more around detective novels. Plus the universe of the Dresden Files has very consistent rules that Jim Butcher sticks by, which really bugs me about most magical fantasy.
Be advised though that they changed quite a bit for the tv show, so some characters are going to be different that you expect. Also the 1st and 2nd book are a little rougher than the later ones. They're still good and I'd recommend reading them, but the series doesn't really hook you as hard until the 3rd and 4th books, when the overarching plots start to happen and things consistently get intense and interesting without somehow jumping the shark. And still hasnt even though we're 15 books in now!
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I read most of the times especially now when it's so hot and I have nothing to do.I usually read Bukowski,Palahniuk,Irvine Welsh,Stephen King,Philip Roth,Dean Koontz and some of the classics (Tolstoy,Dostoyevsky).The last book I finished was Compartiment tueurs by Japrisot and now I'm reading The girl who loved Tom Gordon by King.
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That really depends on the kind of books you like. I personally love dystopian/contemporary novels.
A few of my favourites are Jodi Picoult's Keeping Faith, Handle With Care and My Sister's Keeper.
A book series that I would highly recommend is George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire
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currently finishing "the mysterious island" its so old school science
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Have just read: (Over summer holidays)
On the road: Jack Kerouac
A clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess
The Beach: Alex Garland
The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck
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The Time Machine and The Islang of Doctor Moreau by HG Wells.
Neil Gaiman's Sandman series and Alan Moore's Watchmen. (But skip the Before Watchmen series.)
I should get copies of The Long War & The Long Mars (have The Long Earth, 1st in the series and it's pretty good. Have read the Long War, but don't own it.).
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I usually only read nonfiction, but I'm currently working on A Game of Thrones. Not only is it a fun book, but the chapter lengths are perfect for someone like me who doesn't get much time to read. What Cops Know is an excellent book of police short stories.
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Evolution by Stephen Baxter
Existence by David Brin
The Language Instinct by Pinker
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Those are some of the books I've read in the past year that also land in my all-time favorites list.
Right now I'm reading Count Zero by William Gibson.
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+1 for the Mote in God's Eye. Footfall was another excellent collaboration between them.
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Hmm I have a small private library of fantasy based books :)
The Witcher series (7 tomes, I lack the last one), All books Trudi Canavan wrote (except stories, so 10 books), The Nights Angel trilogy, Ranger's Apprentice all 15 tomes, and few Terry Pratchett books (8 or 9 I think)
My favourite would be the whole Ranger's Apprentice series :)
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Night Angel trilogy was good. Try the Deepgate Codex trilogy.
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Nights Angel was good but still it was falling behind The Witcher and The Black Mage Trilogy (Canavan), maybe it's because of unproper translations, after a dozen of mistakes I was kinda annoyed (+ then I was a bit sad it's so hard to get english version of books - or overpriced).
Right now I'm amining at a different series, Inquisitor storyline by Jacek Piekara and Pan Lodowego Ogrodu by Jarosław Grzędowicz (Polish writers) I heard from a friend that those were really good (though ppl not from Poland probably wont be able to read those books).
And I'm waiting for Millennium’s Rule Trilogy by Canavan :)
But probably I will still give Deepgate Codex a try after I finish the books I bought but haven't read yet.
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15?! Ranger's Apprentice only has 12 books, I'm quite sure. I'm currently on book 10 and it's one of my favorite series'.
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I mean Ranger's Apprentice is light and I've read it quickly, The Witcher is a bit heavier to read at some times. Over all my personal 3 favorite would be Ranger's Apprentice, The Black Magican Trilogy, The Witcher, with little to none difference, as I would recommend any of the three with the same dose of enthusiasm.
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I just finished the first volume of marlborough biography by churchill, i'm reading sons of the yellow emperor wich is about the chinese diaspora along with sylvia earle message from the oceans. Once i finished one of them i will jump into the second volume of marlborough biography.
Here is a very incomplete list of some of the books i have see if you like something ( got different lists for different languages and places where my books are )
http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/7UY9SIF6YZ18
My all time favorite book would be marcus aurelius meditations.
Check http://www.bookfinder.com/ to find the best deals.
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it has a book limit that is far from being sufficient for me even with multiple separated lists + the amazon list can be read by third party websites such as camelcamel that keep me updated on prices ( for those books that cost several hundreds or thousands, i receive an email alerting me that the price has gone down to something more affordable of my choice ) whereas goodreads and similar are not useful or compatible for such alerts.
I am not actually really using the amazon list for anything else than receiving alerts on prices and checking if i already have a certain book or if the one i want to get has to be in a certain edition/translation. Goodreads is more about social stuff.
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I know, Books are not that common for gamers, but anyway, what books did you recently read, which are your favourites and such.
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