Author Topic: Book Thread  (Read 50032 times)

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Offline JMW IV

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #475: August 19, 2013, 03:50:27 PM »
there is a book series that I want to finish reading, and I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it. I remember a few small details and it's not enough for me to figure it out, cause for some reason i never did finish the first book in the series.

Basically, the main protagonist is a kid who was raised in like a tribal situation, up in the mountains. but apparently he's some displaced Prince or something like that and doesn't know it. he and his friends find some sort of amulet in the mountains and they get into a spat with some highborn wizard student kids over it, and the wizards almost burn a forest down by accident, and the whole event almost starts a war between the Mountainfolk and the Highborns down in the city/kingdom.

the protaganist at some point ends up attending a magical academy of some sort where he meets the highborn wizard kid that he was arguing with up on the mountain again.

any help at all here?

Offline tomterp

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #476: September 03, 2013, 03:55:48 PM »
I actually read all of Shaara Jr.'s books. I like them, as they fill a niche that I enjoy. As good as his dad? Naw, pop won the pulitzer for a reason.


I've read Gods and Generals, and Last Full Measure in addition to Killer Angels.  Guess I like the niche too.


Offline PANatsFan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #477: September 03, 2013, 09:09:55 PM »
I preorded the sequel to the shining. I hope its good...

Offline saltydad

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #478: September 05, 2013, 02:12:05 AM »
Finally decided after 2 'accidents' with my Kindles rendering them inoperative, to order the new paperwhite. After 2 weeks it still hadn't showed. Called my favorite company Amazon (seriously, they are); customer service said they were temporarily out of more! So...she sent me a 3G/wi-fi instead and wrote off the 70 buck increase as a promo credit. Got it today. I LOVE AMAZON!!

Offline Nathan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #479: September 05, 2013, 02:16:08 AM »
I'm strongly considering the new kindle to replace my several generations old one that's been pretty much usurped by my dad since I loaned it to him.  Nexus 7 is great but I kind of want a dedicated e-ink device for ebooks again.

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #480: September 05, 2013, 07:37:46 AM »
Paperweight is a huge improvement, over the Old e ink readers- I'd highly recommend it

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #481: September 05, 2013, 08:50:25 AM »
Paperweight is a huge improvement, over the Old e ink readers- I'd highly recommend it
Ditto, I have the original Paperwhite and love it. I've read something like 40 books on it.

saltydad, that's an amazing story! One time UPS delivered $125 worth of Amazon goods to the wrong address and Amazon happily sent me the stuff again for free. Their customer service is as good as websites get.

Offline JMW IV

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #482: September 06, 2013, 08:10:35 PM »
reading the Wheel of Time now.

for the first time in 4 books, I am actually interested in reading about Egwene and Nyneavea(spellings) adventures.

In the middle of the 4th book now, where the Aes Sedai leader just got brutally deposed, and I'm assuming that one of the two chicks mentioned above will end up being the new leader at some point.

prior to this I had to force my way through them going out, being stupid and getting caught and then saved repeatedly to get to the good parts of the books.

Online 1995hoo

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #483: September 06, 2013, 08:31:18 PM »
reading the Wheel of Time now.

for the first time in 4 books, I am actually interested in reading about Egwene and Nyneavea(spellings) adventures.

In the middle of the 4th book now, where the Aes Sedai leader just got brutally deposed, and I'm assuming that one of the two chicks mentioned above will end up being the new leader at some point.

prior to this I had to force my way through them going out, being stupid and getting caught and then saved repeatedly to get to the good parts of the books.

Since I've read the whole series (started in 1992, finished when the final book came out in January), all I will say is...  :whistle:  Really, I don't believe in spoilers.


I am reading The Third Kingdom by Terry Goodkind. It's part of a sequel trilogy to his Sword of Truth series. I really liked Sword of Truth, although sometimes the characters got preachy. I'm not sure I enjoy this book. The writing style is extremely....well, juvenile, in that it uses lots of really short sentences that read like they were written by a grade-school kid. The first half of the book consists mostly of talking as the protagonist tells you what he's reading on a wall, and it also then consists of him running from, and fighting, people who are trying to kill him while he worries about running out of energy to fight. It just feels stale. Goodkind's first several books were very good, but I feel like his writing has gotten lazy and that he's just churning out books to meet his contract with Tor.

Online 1995hoo

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #484: September 11, 2013, 09:56:24 AM »
....

I am reading The Third Kingdom by Terry Goodkind. It's part of a sequel trilogy to his Sword of Truth series. I really liked Sword of Truth, although sometimes the characters got preachy. I'm not sure I enjoy this book. The writing style is extremely....well, juvenile, in that it uses lots of really short sentences that read like they were written by a grade-school kid. The first half of the book consists mostly of talking as the protagonist tells you what he's reading on a wall, and it also then consists of him running from, and fighting, people who are trying to kill him while he worries about running out of energy to fight. It just feels stale. Goodkind's first several books were very good, but I feel like his writing has gotten lazy and that he's just churning out books to meet his contract with Tor.

Finished reading that book yesterday morning. I was disappointed in it, although I'll probably read the sequel just to see what happens because it will be the final book in this particular story arc. I'll decide then whether to keep reading Goodkind. The story had potential and the primary antagonist strikes me as someone who could be a very good villain if Goodkind would write about him some more. Problem is, it took over half the book to reach the point where the villain appeared. Only after you encounter him do you begin to get any idea of what's going on. Had the story gotten to the point sooner, we could have seen a more action-packed book that delves into the characters' psyches and the like. Alternatively, had the story gotten to the point sooner, this trilogy could have been written as a single book (I guess the publisher wouldn't approve of that). Meanwhile, one of the two protagonists is virtually ignored. The writing has also degenerated, as I mention above.


What underscores my dissatisfaction is that last night prior to and after the soccer game, and then this morning while eating breakfast, I read When the Tripods Came by the late John Christopher (yes, I read the whole book that quickly, it's only 151 pages). It's the prequel to Christopher's White Mountains trilogy (often called the "Tripods Trilogy," though I consider that a misnomer). While it was written as "young adult fiction," I read it because it became available for the Kindle yesterday and I loved the White Mountains books when I read them as a kid 30 years ago. I've always remembered the story but had never read the prequel (which was published in 1988), so even though I knew the general story of the Tripod invasion I thought I'd give it a read. The book was far better-written than the Terry Goodkind book I finished yesterday, even though the Tripod book was a kids' story and the Goodkind book is not. It had a more compelling plot, moved along without plodding filler, and didn't talk down to the reader. Perhaps this is more a case of speaking well of John Christopher than of speaking poorly of Terry Goodkind, but it's frustrating when a kid's book you read in the space of a few hours is more enjoyable than something that's supposed to be part of an ongoing "epic fantasy" series.

Offline mitlen

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #485: October 06, 2013, 04:00:49 PM »
I'm not a Billy Crystal fan.   I watch him but he's not a TV clicker destination.    My brother-in-law suggested his book, "Still Foolin' 'Em".    If you're of a certain age (over 60), this book will make you laugh and/or cry.

Offline Nathan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #486: October 06, 2013, 04:34:36 PM »
My kindle came, picked up reading Wheel of Time that I sort of stopped reading after a few chapters back in January.

Offline UMDNats

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #487: October 06, 2013, 10:59:24 PM »
need a book or series to start. my commute is dull on the subway without a book to read every day.

open to a lot of stuff obviously

Offline Nathan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #488: October 07, 2013, 12:24:01 AM »
The Wheel of Time series is 14 books and a prequel, and my friend keeps telling me how great it is, so I'm going at it.  If you like fantasy, you'd at least have plenty to read in that series :lol:

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #489: October 07, 2013, 12:31:10 AM »
I'm working through the Harry Potter series.  I'm in the middle of the fourth book and have enjoyed them quite a bit.  I will admit that I'm cheating a bit and going the audio book route.

Offline TigerFan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #490: October 07, 2013, 12:46:55 AM »
I'm working through the Harry Potter series.  I'm in the middle of the fourth book and have enjoyed them quite a bit.  I will admit that I'm cheating a bit and going the audio book route.

Isn't that like watching the movie with your eyes closed?

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #491: October 07, 2013, 12:53:27 AM »
Isn't that like watching the movie with your eyes closed?
If you want to look at it that way, I guess.  What led me to do it was I have some friends of mine who host a movie night every week and they're going to do the HP series sometime over the fall/winter.  I haven't seen any of the movies and aside from Harry and Dumbledor, I don't know who any of the actors are in the movie.  I wanted to be able to imagine it all on my own.  I wished I would have been done that for LotR, so I wanted to make sure I did that for these, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to sit and read them before they got through the movies.

Offline UMDNats

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #492: October 07, 2013, 10:25:48 AM »
speaking of lord of the rings, i am in the process of reading the triology (on the second book), and it's so different from the movies holy cow

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #493: October 07, 2013, 10:32:18 AM »
speaking of lord of the rings, i am in the process of reading the triology (on the second book), and it's so different from the movies holy cow
I had planned on reading that before HP.  I'll try and tackle them again when I'm finished.  Paper book for that, not audio book.

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #494: October 07, 2013, 10:34:33 AM »
I had planned on reading that before HP.  I'll try and tackle them again when I'm finished.  Paper book for that, not audio book.

the Hobbit audio book on audible is great, but the narrative is much more straight forward than LOTR (I find that makes audio books easier to follow)

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #495: October 07, 2013, 10:39:34 AM »
the Hobbit audio book on audible is great, but the narrative is much more straight forward than LOTR (I find that makes audio books easier to follow)
I read the Hobbit about a year ago.  Really enjoyed it.  I want to read the LOTR series traditionally.  I might go back and do the audio book thing for them later.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #496: October 07, 2013, 11:32:54 AM »
Jim Lehrer is on Diane Riehm talking about his new novel about JFK's assassination, "Top Down"...utterly fascinating. 

Offline TigerFan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #497: October 07, 2013, 04:46:51 PM »
DPMO I just read your response.  Sorry if my question came across dickish.  It was late and what I meant to ask was if audio books do a good job of setting scena and detailing characters like a book does or of you lose some of that on audio books as if you were watching a movie with your eyes closed.  In that scenario you lose out on a lot of things your eyes would clue you in on. 

Offline mitlen

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #498: October 07, 2013, 04:47:51 PM »
Question about books on tape:    Is it the exact book or do they leave things out?

Online HalfSmokes

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #499: October 07, 2013, 04:49:53 PM »
Question about books on tape:    Is it the exact book or do they leave things out?

they should say abridged or unabridged