# October - What are you Reading?



## Mark (Oct 2, 2007)

Chaucer, Ben Franklin, and Emily Bronte.


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## Jakar (Oct 2, 2007)

Started book one of the Saga of the Seen Suns by Kevin J Anderson, called Hidden Empire.  I am enjoying it a lot.  

The other half is up to book 4 and she says it gets better all the time.


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## EricNoah (Oct 2, 2007)

I'm reading and enjoying _Black God's Kiss_ (a book from the Planet Stories line from Paizo).  







I started but am not particularly enjoying another from that line, _City of the Beast_.  






I still have these two in my pile (I'm halfway through Helix).


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## GlassJaw (Oct 2, 2007)

Harry Pot-Pot #4 - Goblet of Fire


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## megamania (Oct 2, 2007)

RA Salvatore's collected book-  The Two Swords


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## Chaldfont (Oct 2, 2007)

Bone compilation and Jeff VanDerMeer's City of Saints and Madmen. The latter is about the fictional city of Ambregris that reminds me of New Crobuzon or Viriconium.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/422075?shelf=currently-reading


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## Wombat (Oct 2, 2007)

Starting my traditional October fare:  begin with Ray Bradbury's _The October Country_, then move to various selections from Poe & Lovecraft, probably to be topped off with some classic Gothic novel (Radcliffe, Walpole, Lewis, Le Fanu; something of that ilk).

I love me some creepies in October


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## Pozatronic (Oct 2, 2007)

Chaldfont said:
			
		

> Jeff VanDerMeer's City of Saints and Madmen.
> 
> http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/422075?shelf=currently-reading





Jeff Vandermeer might be my favorite author in the "new weird" sub-genre. Make sure you check out his Shriek: An Afterword when you finish City. A lot of the names you see in that book crop up as full fledged characters. It's a great book.


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## Tolen Mar (Oct 2, 2007)

Jakar said:
			
		

> Started book one of the Saga of the Seen Suns by Kevin J Anderson, called Hidden Empire.  I am enjoying it a lot.
> 
> The other half is up to book 4 and she says it gets better all the time.




I have every volume so far released.  I have enjoyed them greatly, though I am led to wonder if the next book or two (the last of the series, he says) aren't just going to be sort of an 'afterthought.'

I said last week that I was reading 'A Game of Thrones.'  It isn't bad, or poorly written, but it isn't grabbing me right now.  Over the past couple of months, I have devoured book after book, but when I got to this one, I slowed waaaay down.  In fact, it spent more time on the shelf than in my hands.  

On the flip side, I have been engaged by 'The Skystone' by Jack Whyte.  I can't leave it sit.  So far, it reads like a clone of Starship Troopers (without the moral preaching) set in the Roman era.  It's the first of a series re-telling the Legend of Arthur.  Looks promising so far.

Sometime in the near future, I have to actually read the copy of 'Brother Odd' I keep checking out.  I liked the first two 'Odd' books.  In fact, I picked it up with Skystone in case once I started reading the latter, it turned out to lose my interest.  I may have to try later.


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## GoodKingJayIII (Oct 2, 2007)

EricNoah said:
			
		

>




Who's read this?  It looks really interesting.  I just finished up the Dark Tower series last week and I'm hankering for something as new and thought-provoking.  Ok yeah, the Dark Tower's not exactly a brain-buster, but on top of the fiction there are a lot of great motifs going on and the characters were all so strong and enjoyable.  The Traveller sounds like that as well.


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## Obrysii (Oct 2, 2007)

GlassJaw said:
			
		

> Harry Pot-Pot #4 - Goblet of Fire




Heh, I'm going to be starting that as soon as I finish up _1066: The Year of the Conquest_ by David Howarth.


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## Angel Tarragon (Oct 2, 2007)

I checked out these book from the Public library in the last couple of days:

Akashic Records: Collective Keepers of Divine Expression (Lumari)
Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything (Ervin Laszlo)

I want to understand what I can about the Akashic Field so that I can better understand what is happening in Eureka.


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## sckeener (Oct 3, 2007)

I'm reading Janny Wurts' _Ships of Merior_.....the 2nd book in her Wars of Light and Shadow series.


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## S. Baldrick (Oct 3, 2007)

C.L. Moore's "Black God's Kiss", as published by Paizo's Planet Stories.


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## Steve Jung (Oct 4, 2007)

I finished the last issue of_ Dragon._ I'll probably start on_ Death Masks_ from the Dresden Files next.


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## Pozatronic (Oct 8, 2007)

Finished _Nova Swing_ , the companion novel to _Light_ by M. John Harrison. I enjoyed Nova Swing a bit more than the latter, but it definitley shed some...er...light on Light. Also, from PKD's _Four Novels of the 60's_ I finished _The Man In The High Castle_. Loved it. I'm going to skip _Three Stigmata_ and head right to _Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?_.

I started re-reading M. John Harrison's _The Pastel City_, the first story in the _Viriconium_ collection. I've decided that Viriconium isn't a good choice for the M. John Harrison beginner, so I plan on re-reading most of it.


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## frankthedm (Oct 9, 2007)

[IMaGel]http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/7048/200pxnewtalescthulhumytfh4.jpg[/IMaGel] Still working on this one.


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## Mark Chance (Oct 9, 2007)

Still reading Anthony Everitt's Cicero. Re-reading C. S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew and outlining the chapters to better teach the book to my students. Later this month, we're going to go see a play based on this work as well. Soon I'll be re-reading and outlining Brian Jacques's Redwall for the same reason.


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## Wombat (Oct 9, 2007)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> [IMaGel]http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/7048/200pxnewtalescthulhumytfh4.jpg[/IMaGel] Still working on this one.




Oh man ... I haven't seen that collection in _years!_

It's all about _Crouch End_ and _Balc Man With A Horn_...


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## Thornir Alekeg (Oct 9, 2007)

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.


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## frankthedm (Oct 9, 2007)

Wombat said:
			
		

> Oh man ... I haven't seen that collection in _years!_
> 
> It's all about _Crouch End_ and _Balc Man With A Horn_...



Read crouch in Nightmares and dreamscapes years back. _Trying_ to read Shaft 247, but _everything _ has been interupting me.


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## GoodKingJayIII (Oct 9, 2007)

So, bought _The Traveller_, which so far is a pretty standard conspiracy thriller.  Some interesting sci-fi elements built in, but at least 150 pages in it doesn't feel that unique or definitive.  Going to finish it before I make a final decision.

Also started working on _You Can't Go Home Again_ by Thomas Wolfe.  I'm making an effort to read more of the "canon" of literature, particularly the 20th century American authors.


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## EricNoah (Oct 9, 2007)

Recently dropped everything to read _Axis _ (sequel to _Spin_, by Robert Charles Wilson).


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## Storm Raven (Oct 9, 2007)

Heinlein, Heinlein, and more Heinlein.

I've read a bunch of Heinlein before - _Starship Troopers_, _Time Enough for Love_, _Stranger in a Strange Land_, _Farmer in the Sky_, _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_, _The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_ and so on, but my local used book store had someone drop off what appears to be someone's lifetime collection of science fiction a couple of weeks ago. I bought everything I didn't have already. And that included about dozen and a half Heinlein titles I had never read before.

So I'm reading those now. After that, I'll be going through the dozen or so Arthur C. Clarke books I picked up at the same time. Life is good.


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## Tolen Mar (Oct 9, 2007)

I'm well past the halfway point in 'The Skystone."  I figured I better step in and amend what I said about it so far.  Once you get to where Varrus (the protagonist) retires, the tone shifts away from a 'starship troopers' style.  Still immensly enjoyable, and I hope soon we get more of a hint of how this book links into the Arthur myth.


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## sniffles (Oct 9, 2007)

I just finished Jim Butcher's _Death Masks _ (Dresden Files #5). I'll probaby go on to read _Blood Rites _ (#6) next.


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## Zaukrie (Oct 10, 2007)

I'm on jury duty, and have not been picked either day yet. Monday I read Anansi Boys, and today I read The Golden Compass. Tomorrow (if I'm not picked again) I'll read the Subtle Knife.


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## Krug (Oct 10, 2007)

_The Aleph and Other Stories_ by Borges.


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## Tolen Mar (Oct 15, 2007)

So help me out here...

I'm looking to branch out.  I've noticed lately that the kinds of movies I've been getting into are 'mysteries.'  Not Sherlock Holmes type mysteries, or murder mysteries, though a few of them sneak in.  I'm talking about things like 'The wicker man', where something is happening, but you don't always know what right up until the final pages.  (Though wicker man kinda telegraphed its ending...)  Another recent good read was 'Odd Thomas' by Koontz.

Anyone have any recomendations?


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## Wulf Ratbane (Oct 15, 2007)

_No Country For Old Men_ by Cormac McCarthy.

Read it before the movie comes out. It is an amazing piece of writing. 

Although the movie should be fantastic too; it's the Coen brothers after all. Quite a few trailers available on YouTube.


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## GoodKingJayIII (Oct 15, 2007)

Wulf Ratbane said:
			
		

> _No Country For Old Men_ by Cormac McCarthy.




Yar, great book.


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## Wulf Ratbane (Oct 15, 2007)

GoodKingJayIII said:
			
		

> Yar, great book.




Reading the book will adequately prepare you to enjoy the ending of the movie. 

I'll say no more...


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## Pyrex (Oct 15, 2007)

Finishing up Phantoms (latest Sword of Truth novel.  Better than a couple of the middle in the series)

Once I'm done with that I've got The Golden Compass on my bookshelf.  Movie trailer looked interesting enough I went and grabbed the books.


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## Asmo (Oct 15, 2007)

Pyrex said:
			
		

> Finishing up Phantoms (latest Sword of Truth novel.  Better than a couple of the middle in the series)




I finished Phantom by Goodkind yesterday, and the man delivers, as usual. He sure can write page-turners that makes you both happy and wanting more at the same time. Can´t wait for the final volume. 

Asmo


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## Tetsubo (Oct 15, 2007)

Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons


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## Pyrex (Oct 16, 2007)

Asmo said:
			
		

> Can´t wait for the final volume.




Oh, hey, that's convenient.  I just went and looked and the last book is due out mid-November.


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## Atlatl Jones (Oct 16, 2007)

The Wandering Fire, the second book in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry.


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## Pants (Oct 16, 2007)

"HP and the Deathly Hallows"

Curse you Rowling for your book-based crack. I had to put down the latest Scott Lynch offering to read you!


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## Wombat (Oct 16, 2007)

Finished the basic Hallowe'eny reads and then got sucked into re-reading _The Three Musketeers_, which is always good.

Now that I've finished that, probably on to some Gene Wolfe...  Maybe some time with Severian again...


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## Wulf Ratbane (Oct 16, 2007)

Pants said:
			
		

> "HP and the Deathly Hallows"




I prefer "HP and the Friggin' Bear"


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## el-remmen (Oct 16, 2007)

_A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_, by Betty Smith


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## sckeener (Oct 17, 2007)

sckeener said:
			
		

> I'm reading Janny Wurts' _Ships of Merior_.....the 2nd book in her Wars of Light and Shadow series.




Now I'm on to Fugitive Prince by Janny Wurts, or book 4 of the Wars of Light & Shadow


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## BadMojo (Oct 17, 2007)

I just finished Paul S Kemp's "Shadowstorm"  and absolutely loved it.

I'm now reading Simon Green's "Swords of Haven", a collection of the first three Hawk and Fisher books.  Still trying to get used to style of writing on this one, but I think I'll end up enjoying it.


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## Chaldfont (Oct 17, 2007)

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## megamania (Oct 21, 2007)

Still reading The Hunter's Blades by RA Salvatore.   I'm looking for something different now.  Been reading a lot of SCI-Fi and Fantasy.


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## Zogmo (Oct 21, 2007)

Bonehunters by Steven Erikson 

The sixth book in the series.  So far nothing I've read in my life has been as complex, epic and so well put together. 
His writing is almost poetic in some ways compared to most others.


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## Lazybones (Oct 21, 2007)

My local library just expanded its ILL network, so I was able to finally start Jack Vance's Durdane trilogy with _The Faceless Man_ (also published under the name of _The Anome_). It's good but not the best Vance has written IMO. 

Also reading _Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman. Interesting mix of fantasy and contemporary, but it's not grabbing me quite as hard as the Dresden Files did. 

I just finished a very interesting book entitled _Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance_. It is full of very interesting insights on human abilities and ethics. He's also a very good writer (I really enjoyed his first book, _Complications_ (which really pulls the curtain back from the inner workings of the surgical profession). Both are highly recommended.


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## Chairman7w (Oct 22, 2007)

Ugh, STILL trying to slog through "Dies the Fire."  Once I finish that (less than 100 pgs to go) I plan on reading Dragons of Winter Night.


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## Jubilee (Oct 22, 2007)

I just finished listening to His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik.  I'll probably be waiting about a month before I can get the next one from Library 2 Go.. may break down and buy it before that, though.. 

Going to go back to listening to Curse of Chalion by Buijold, I think, and then Hat full of Sky by Prachett. =)

Bad Mojo - did you read Blue Moon Rising first?

/ali


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## Mark (Oct 22, 2007)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> My local library just expanded its ILL network,





That rocks!  It's nice having what amounts to a much larger library, doesn't it?


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## GlassJaw (Oct 22, 2007)

Finally finished Goblet of Fire this weekend.  Man, that was a bear to get through.  Seriously, I could have read the first 3 chapters and the last 3 chapters and would have pretty much had the whole story.

Order of the Phoenix, here I come!   :\


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## Lazybones (Oct 23, 2007)

Mark said:
			
		

> That rocks!  It's nice having what amounts to a much larger library, doesn't it?



Interlibrary Loan and Amazon.com are the two greatest things to happen to books since covers, in my admittedly self-serving opinion.    Of course, if it wasn't for the former, the latter would rapidly empty my wallet even as it overflowed my bookshelves.


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## Cheiromancer (Oct 23, 2007)

This weekend I read "Servant of the Bones" by Anne Rice.  And "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr.  I really enjoyed the Alienist.  It's a thriller/mystery set in 1896 New York.  Very detailed and vivid.

Earlier this month I read the Dexter trilogy by Jeff Lindsay.  First two were good, but I really didn't like the third.  No spoilers, but if you read it, prepare to block it from your mind- like how you forget the sequels to the Matrix.


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## Tolen Mar (Oct 24, 2007)

Picked up "No Country for Old Men", based on reccomendations here.  Not my cup of tea I must say.  

I'm now in book two of the Camulod chronicles, "The Singing Sword."  Jack Whyte is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors.


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## Wombat (Oct 25, 2007)

Tolen Mar said:
			
		

> I'm now in book two of the Camulod chronicles, "The Singing Sword."  Jack Whyte is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors.




Whyte'll never do it for me -- he knowledge of history is too superficial and his voyeuristic, constantly condemning sex scenes border on the ridiculous; still, he is quite popular.

I've taken a break from anything serious whatsoever -- I am gobbling up some P.G. Wodehouse short stories.


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## Mark Chance (Oct 25, 2007)

I got tired of ancient history and took a break, reading Scott Smith's The Ruins over the past evenings. It was so-so.


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## Tolen Mar (Oct 26, 2007)

Sitting here in the library the other day, I saw that John Scalzi had another book 'The Andriods Dream."  Had to put in a request, it arrived this morning.

I can't wait.  I guess it means I'll have to renew my other books in a few days...


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## BadMojo (Oct 27, 2007)

Jubilee said:
			
		

> Bad Mojo - did you read Blue Moon Rising first?
> 
> /ali




I just started off with "Hawk and Fisher".  Blue Moon Rising is about their exploits up North before coming to Haven, right?

I'll probably read it at some point.  I still have mixed feelings about Green's writing.  The characterization is really good since halfway through the first book I have a really good feel for who the characters are.  The anachronistic dialogue doesn't bother me but the writing just seems a bit clunky at times.  Oh, Hawk seems to "glare" at things an awful lot.  Could be something to due with his lack of depth perception.


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## Jubilee (Oct 27, 2007)

Yah, Blue Moon Rising is their story before they "became" Hawk and Fisher.  It's an interesting contrast.  With "Beyond the Blue Moon" afterwards, they make good bookends to the Hawk and Fisher tales, imo.

Anyway, I'm not always excited by Green's writing style, but I always enjoyed BMR, H&F, and BBM enough that the story carried me through when the style didn't.  I can't say the same of the Deathstalker series..  However, I do like his Nightside books.

/ali


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## thelettuceman (Oct 27, 2007)

_The Satanic Bible_ and _The Devil's Notebook_ by Anton LaVay.  Trying to, at least.  I haven't been able to find time for them yet.

Waiting for Martin's new book to come out.


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## Tolen Mar (Oct 31, 2007)

Finished 'The Androids dream' yesterday.  Lots of fun.  Back to 'The Singing Sword', and then afterwards, I'm thinking of reading Scalzi's other book, 'Agent to the Stars.'  (Since I've now read everything he's written so far aside from that.)


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