What are you currently reading?

[Geo Dude]

First time?

Yes.

[Ataraxia]

I read Thomas Covenant a looong time ago and TIGANA is on my TBR shelf.

[nesf]

I didn't want to start a brand new thread over just one book so:


Is this worth picking up for a novice?


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-Listeners-Guide-Michael-Steinberg/dp/0195126653/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327183100&sr=1-8

[SonicMan46]

I didn't want to start a brand new thread over just one book so:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-Listeners-Guide-Michael-Steinberg/dp/0195126653/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327183100&sr=1-8

Hello and no need to start a thread over a music book; Michael Steinberg is a good writer - I own that book and also his on 'Concertos' - these read like notes that you would get in attending a concert - i.e. a nice introduction to the works that he discusses - you might want to review the TOC and if those are compositions & composeres that interest you, and if you are indeed a newbie, then these books would likely be of interest - check out the reviews on Amazon (a little mixed) - good luck in your choices! 

[SonicMan46]

Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson - about 2/3 through this bio - WHAT do you think for those who have read this book on an amazing entrepreneur of the end of the 20th century?  I don't want to go into details on my thoughts at the moment but he was the impetus for so many changes in the computer & the digital 'environment' at the end of the latter century and the beginning of the current one - probably deserves a thread on this topic itself?  Any thoughts, ideas, comments - a fascinating character to say the least!  

[nesf]

Hello and no need to start a thread over a music book; Michael Steinberg is a good writer - I own that book and also his on 'Concertos' - these read like notes that you would get in attending a concert - i.e. a nice introduction to the works that he discusses - you might want to review the TOC and if those are compositions & composeres that interest you, and if you are indeed a newbie, then these books would likely be of interest - check out the reviews on Amazon (a little mixed) - good luck in your choices! 

Well, define newbie! My classical listening time runs into hundreds of hours but I still feel like I know very little about classical music! There's listening and then there's listening after all.

I reviewed the TOC and yeah, there's definitely some pieces in it I'm interested in learning more about. I was looking at the other books in the series too. We'll see, I'll have a think about it. I suppose what drives me here is that I find my enjoyment of a symphony or concerto really increased if I've read some bit about the movements and ideas in the piece.

[Ataraxia]

.[asin]1907992448[/asin]

Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio's peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror's House Of Horrors...

Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the 'Arkangel' races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out:

What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of?

What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them?

Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men?

And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself?

Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel.

[Henk]

Palmen (a diary book), Gorter (poems), Nietzsche (Human all to Human, The Gay Science), Empedocles, Dostojevski (Winter remarks about summer impressions), Van Middelaar (The Passage to Europe). And a bit of Horatius and Gerbrandy (The torture of pleasure). Going to continue Vergilius also (Country life).

[Fëanor]

Palmen (a diary book), Gorter (poems), Nietzsche (Human all to Human, The Gay Science), Empedocles, Dostojevski (Winter remarks about summer impressions), Van Middelaar (The Passage to Europe). And a bit of Horatius and Gerbrandy (The torture of pleasure). Going to continue Vergilius also (Country life).

Judging by this impressive list, I think your eyes must be a good deal better than mine. 

[Lethevich]

.[asin]055357342X[/asin]

I don't usually read recent fiction, but experienced a curiously strong urge for some fantasy, and this series stood out on the bookshelf. If I had any sense I'd have gone home and Wikipedia'd it to check the chronology but I decided that I wanted this one, which turned out to be bang in the middle of an extended series. Not too bothered, though, as I doubt I would manage the whole set.

[DavidW]

Lethe, but the first novel is the best and then it's just downhill (not bad though)!

[nesf]

Seconded, the first novel is superb. The latter novels are ok bar the 4th which annoyed me, all very good by fantasy standards though, just paling in comparison to the first. I'd strongly urge picking up A Game of Thrones as even my "I don't read fantasy" wife really like the series.


If you're looking for a long complete fantasy cycle I quite like Steven Erickson's Malazan series, starting with "Gardens of the Moon". Very convoluted and sometimes confusing plot but rewarding overall.

[Lethevich]

Lethe, but the first novel is the best and then it's just downhill (not bad though)!

Ah curses, I had vague memories of people obsessing over this series like mana from heaven. If I like this book, I'll definitely get the few that preceeded it (this is #3?).

If you're looking for a long complete fantasy cycle I quite like Steven Erickson's Malazan series, starting with "Gardens of the Moon". Very convoluted and sometimes confusing plot but rewarding overall.

Sounds neat, I'll be on the lookout (rule of thumb: if a book has a cool cover, it sticks in my mind, and Gardens... does)

[nesf]

Sounds neat, I'll be on the lookout (rule of thumb: if a book has a cool cover, it sticks in my mind, and Gardens... does)

It's worth it just for Chain of Dogs alone. Though that's a fair bit into the series. Some weak books in the series, the same as any long fantasy epic but for complicated fantasy it's pretty good. All lovely shades of grey too which is welcome!

[DavidW]

Ah curses, I had vague memories of people obsessing over this series like mana from heaven. If I like this book, I'll definitely get the few that preceeded it (this is #3?).

Many fans went from obsession to meh to hatred with the huge multiple year gaps between volumes with no end in sight.  There are still obsessed fanboys but they are newbies that got into the series from watching the tv show and haven't felt the slow burn of the glacial release schedule and the slowing momentum of the story.

That being said even if Martin published every year like Erikson did the first novel is still the strongest, the best.  Martin fell into the Robert Jordan trap-- too many plot threads sunk the momentum of the series and also led to more bookkeeping on resolving the plot and less rewarding character arcs.

[TheGSMoeller]

About to read Neil Gaimen's American Gods for the first time, kindle/nook did a sale for $1.99 for a day so I jumped on it.

[DavidW]

It's worth it just for Chain of Dogs alone. Though that's a fair bit into the series. Some weak books in the series, the same as any long fantasy epic but for complicated fantasy it's pretty good. All lovely shades of grey too which is welcome!

Do you mean the chain of dogs story in the Deadhouse Gates or do you mean House of Chains?  Gardens of the Moon blows.  If I hadn't pushed myself to read Deadhouse Gates I would have given up on the series.  It seems like Erikson became a much better writer after the first novel.

[nesf]

Do you mean the chain of dogs story in the Deadhouse Gates or do you mean House of Chains?  Gardens of the Moon blows.  If I hadn't pushed myself to read Deadhouse Gates I would have given up on the series.  It seems like Erikson became a much better writer after the first novel.

You're correct I'm thinking of Deadhouse Gates. I enjoyed Gardens of the Moon on my second reading of it. I was a bit so-so on it at the first but it grew on me.


Edit: Wrong book first time. :/

[DavidW]

You're correct I'm thinking of Deadhouse Gates. I enjoyed Gardens of the Moon on my second reading of it. I was a bit so-so on it at the first but it grew on me.


Edit: Wrong book first time. :/

I figure it would be a much easier read for me now than it was then!

[nesf]

I figure it would be a much easier read for me now than it was then!

It all makes a lot more sense on a reread. I'd agree that the first book of series should be more like Deadhouse Gates though than Gardens of the Moon.