The Book Club: Fiction Discussion Thread

[Libertad]

This thread is where we discuss fiction and literature.

I'll start off with a series I particularly enjoy: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter.

So I've read the first 3 novels.  I think that Anita's internal monologues throughout the books add much to her personality, and I like the whole idea of creatures like vampires and werewolves live in the open albeit segregated.

I'm also checking out Dracula by Bram Stroker (thank you for the free copy, Kindle!).  Did you know the eponymous Romanian vampire had a mustache in the original story?

[Mooncrow]

This thread is where we discuss fiction and literature.

I'll start off with a series I particularly enjoy: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter.

So I've read the first 3 novels.  I think that Anita's internal monologues throughout the books add much to her personality, and I like the whole idea of creatures like vampires and werewolves live in the open albeit segregated.

I'm also checking out Dracula by Bram Stroker (thank you for the free copy, Kindle!).  Did you know the eponymous Romanian vampire had a mustache in the original story?

My advice?  Walk away from the Anita Blake series now; technically, you have a couple books that are still ok left, but you're heading into some bad, bad territory =/  (unless you're into books that are mostly orgies with various vampires and were-things, and solving the plot at the very end through the "previously unrevealed power" schtick - I mean, I don't judge)

There's a lot of decent Urban Fantasy out there that's similar to the early Anita Blake books now, and stays firmly in "fantasy" genre rather than the "soft-core porn" genre. 

[Libertad]

Don't worry, I know to stop by Narcissus in Chains.

Thanks for the warning.

[Mooncrow]

Don't worry, I know to stop by Narcissus in Chains.

Thanks for the warning.

No problem - I actually read them as they came out, so if I can spare someone else my pain...

Series I really enjoy:
Michelle West's Essalieyan series
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn/Elantris/Stormlight series
Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim
Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces
Simon R. Green's Nightside
Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer

along with some of the staples like Jim Butcher and Patrick Rothfuss. 

I don't know that I'll contribute much to this thread though - I love reading, but outside a handful of people with similar tastes, general tastes just differ too much to enjoy talking about books.  I'll never understand why people can enjoy reading GRRM or Terry Goodkind - I won't say they're wrong to enjoy them, but there's really no common ground there =/

[Libertad]

I've just finished reading Isaac Aasimov's Foundation and Empire.  I can see why people view him as one of the gurus of science fiction.  I made the mistake of purchasing Foundation and Earth, not knowing that it was the last in the series.  I'm going to read them in order (except for the prequels).

I'm also keeping up with Stephen King's Dark Tower series.  I got the first 2 on Amazon Kindle, but for some reason all but the 3rd one's available on it.

[veekie]

Recently got hooked on Brandon Sanderson's stuff. The Mistborn trilogy, Elantris and The Way of Kings so far.

[Mooncrow]

Recently got hooked on Brandon Sanderson's stuff. The Mistborn trilogy, Elantris and The Way of Kings so far.

I really enjoy Sanderson's writing, Elantris especially.  The whole book is great, but Hrathen is one of the most fascinating characters I've run across.  Any time I want throw a complicated villain at my players, I look to him for inspiration. 

[veekie]

^^
I would to, but complicated characters are difficult to portray at a table setting, where the PCs can only see the actions. Sides, you know if you had him along one of your players would have assassinated him before the final arc

[Mooncrow]

^^
I would to, but complicated characters are difficult to portray at a table setting, where the PCs can only see the actions. Sides, you know if you had him along one of your players would have assassinated him before the final arc

Haha, so true^^  I do have one table that likes a much heavier roleplay element, so I get to pull out a complicated character every once in a while

[konnerthefirst]

I recently started reading Kraken by China meville

its pretty good so far. Anybody else read this? I am not that far into the book but so far it has me hooked

[Sinfire Titan]

Got the Liber Necris for my birthday. Always fun getting a Warhammer flavor book for various reasons.

I may ask for Horus Heresy for Christmas. 40K isn't normally my thing, but it's supposed to be really damn good.

[konnerthefirst]

Got the Liber Necris for my birthday. Always fun getting a Warhammer flavor book for various reasons.

I may ask for Horus Heresy for Christmas. 40K isn't normally my thing, but it's supposed to be really damn good.

I do like some 40k books occasionally the space marine space wolves one is intresting

[SneeR]

I've just finished reading Isaac Aasimov's Foundation and Empire.  I can see why people view him as one of the gurus of science fiction.  I made the mistake of purchasing Foundation and Earth, not knowing that it was the last in the series.  I'm going to read them in order (except for the prequels).

Oh, he's great! For some reason, i always thought his stuff would be dry and never read any...
One of my favorite books is The Stars, Like Dust. It was my first Aasimov story, but I now respect the man to no end.

[sirpercival]

Oh, jeez.  I read sooo much fantasy and sci-fi, it's kind of sad. 

Some of my favorite authors include Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Neal Gaiman, and Neal Stephenson.

[InnaBinder]

Insert obligatory Midkemia plug here.

For a writer and a series that's not exactly fantasy, I think I've talked before about Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles, which retell the Arthurian legend as if it were historical fiction, rather than sword-and-sorcery fantasy and romance.  He's got another series out that deals with the Crusades, I believe.

[trappedslider]

I keep trying to pick up A game of Thrones,but the book is always checked out

I need to finsh buying the rest of The Dresden Files too,need to pick up the new Grisham and King novels as well

[sirpercival]

Dresden files is so good... I hate having to wait a year between each new one.

What do people think of David Farland's Runelords?  I think I read the first four, and am considering whether to pick it up again.

[Mooncrow]

What do people think of David Farland's Runelords?  I think I read the first four, and am considering whether to pick it up again.

That's the one where casters are linked to a bunch of people that "give" them their strength and speed, etc, right?  Man it's been a long time, I remember getting pretty bored with the series, but I can't really remember why.  Interesting concept though.

[kurashu]

Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer

I read the first one and it was alright, if a bit dull and trite. But I threw the second one across the room when one of the characters -- the monk-type follower I think -- slyly mentioned that he was journaling their exploits in a book he was going to call "Chronicles of the Necromancer." Ugh. The only book that has managed to self-insert itself into its fiction and not make me mad is House of Leaves.

Anyways, good science fiction and fantasy? I'm going to drop the mandatory Gaiman plug. But you really need to look towards one of his heroes for some of the best fiction I've ever read: Gene Wolfe. Book of the New and the Wizard-Knight are excellent and have a prominent display on my bookshelf. An Evil Guest is also very good but I'm only about 50 pages in so far.

And of course the perennial favorite: Lovecraft. But Clark Ashton Smith, in my opinion, writes a better weird tale than Lovecraft (but not necessarily more horrific...) and Luis Jorge Borges was inspired partly by Lovecraft and has written some of the best short fiction that has ever graced my eyes. Robert W. Chambers and Robert E. Howard are also very good short fiction writers.

Borges partly inspiring House of Leaves, which brings me full circle.

[Libertad]

Oh, jeez.  I read sooo much fantasy and sci-fi, it's kind of sad. 

Some of my favorite authors include Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Neal Gaiman, and Neal Stephenson.

Several months ago I read Ender's Game.  I really liked it; all along I was hoping that poor Ender would take revenge on his abusive mentors, yet I know that the ending was right for the book.

I don't know if I'll read the other books in the series; I hear that later in the series his political and religious beliefs bled into his work to the point where it became preachy.

Like Anita Blake, I read up to the point before the series jumped the shark.  That way, most of my memories are fond ones.  It's what I did with the West Wing TV show when Aaron Sorkin stopped writing for it.