What book are you reading...

Had a thought today. How far do you go with a new book before giving up on it? A few chapters? 50 pages?

I think for me, I need a hook or something exciting or unusual to happen in the first few chapters to keep me going, or if you can 'see' that it's going somewhere interesting and it's just setting the scene perhaps.
On the odd occasion, writing style can really put me off though. Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian was too much for me, despite reading The Road.

One of my favourite books/series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I found really arduous for the first 100 pages with my first read so I really pushed myself to continue in that case and it paid off.

I think the only book I have actually never finished reading is The Farm by Tom Rob Smith, mainly because there was so many things that were just plain wrong for as a Swede (the book is set out in south Sweden). Otherwise I will finish every book that I start even though some of them can take time.
 
I really don't give up with books, it takes something special to make me give up a book or series. Only one I've given up on in recent times is Peter Brett because of the weird rape stuff.

Are you talking about the Painted Man series here? I can't remember any weird rape stuff, maybe I blocked it out? (Or perhaps worryingly, didn't think it was that weird? :eek:)
 
Magician : Raymond E Feist

It's one the few books I have read multiple times. I would love it to be turned into series. Films are so yesterday (unless of course the film is 3hrs long)

This was the first Fantasy novel that I read. It's one of the best. And like you I have read it many times!!
 
Just finished The Stone Man by Luke Smitherd and have just started the sequel The Empty Man.

First up The Stone Man. The description of the book in the Kindle store intrigued me and It was a reasonable price so I bought it. This is hard one for me to judge. I didn't like the writing style. I hated the constant navel gazing by the two main characters. But, there was something about it that kept me turning the pages to see what happens next.

I started the Sequel, The Empty Man, last night. So far it's the same terrible writing style and the two main characters have notched up the navel gazing to a whole new level. It's not the same page turner as the first book.
 
Just finished The Barbie Murders by John Varley- 70s scifi short stories. Pretty much standard stuff for 70s scifi. A couple of decent stories, the rest forgettable.

I'm reading "World's Best Science Fiction: 1965" anthology edited by Donald Wollheim now. That's much better- just decent stories, with logical plots. No ham-fisted attempts at being edgy, which is where the 70s scifi really falls down for me.
 
No one mentioned the new Dresden Files books that came out last Oct/Nov? "Peace Talks" and "Battle Ground" came out within a couple of months of each other, after a several year hiatus as Jim Butcher dealt with writers block.

If you've been waiting for years for a new Dresden Files book, these are both fantastic. The two books are basically one story split across two books, where Dresden is (as usual) being pulled in several directions at once. He starts in "Peace Talks" with being assigned as the security detail on the large meeting of many supernatural powers getting together for political talks, he's been loaned out as the Winter Knight to repay a favour to a sometimes enemy, and at the same time having to deal with his brother seemingly going off the rails. Dresden is also dealing with being a dad to a young daughter, a new romantic relationship with Karen Murphy, and the new balance of power with the Wizard Council and the criminal underworld of Chicago. As expected, things are not what they seem, and the big bad comes from offscreen, with a massive supernatural army determined to bring the world back to darkness, starting with Chicago.

In "Battle Ground" we see the battle that takes place in Chicago, and all the heavy hitters come out on one side or another. Even the people of Chicago are pulled into things, as the scale of the powers finally bursts free from hiding in the shadows. Things are simply too big to hide by this point as Chicago is turned into the final choke point before the end of the world.

These two books are a great return to form by Jim Butcher, and in many ways is the payoff we've been waiting for a long time. We finally see apocalyptic level powers on display and pounding on each other. Butcher pulls his usual Dresden tricks (such as ending each chapter on a cliff hanger), but Dresden's story arc continues. He suffers losses and achieves triumphs, his position astride human and magical worlds again shifts because his unorthodox methods are condemned, but at the same time necessary. Dresden moves a couple of steps closer to his unknown destiny.

If you're a fan of the Dresden books, these are a couple of great additions.
 
Just finished Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force, Book 1 audiobook.

I very much enjoyed it. Took me a while as I don't get much time to listen these days, I usually listen during my long commute a couple of days a week but lockdown and home working has put a temporary stop to that.

The narrator, R.C.Bray, did a cracking job, especially voicing Skippy, one of my favourite characters in a long time,

I'll give it a solid 8/10. Was planning to jump into All These Worlds (Bobiverse Book 3), but I enjoyed this more than the last one. So, SpecOps: Expeditionary Force, Book 2 it is!
 
If you're a fan of the Dresden books, these are a couple of great additions.

Thanks for the reminder. I am a huge fan of the Dresden Files. And since Butcher stopped writing them, I went looking for other Urban Fantasy books. I tried Rivers of London, Alex Verus, Iron Druid Chronicles and the Nightside. None of them grabbed me the same way the Dresden Files did.

It will be nice to see what Harry is up to these days :)
 
Just finished Death's End (part 3 of The Three Body Problem)

It was a long and enjoyable ride and I rank it up there with Asimov's Foundation series.
Book 1 took a while to get started and it was a bit of a slog, Book 2 was devoured and Book 3 just built on this.
Highly recommended series for sci-fi fans.
 
Thanks for the reminder. I am a huge fan of the Dresden Files. And since Butcher stopped writing them, I went looking for other Urban Fantasy books. I tried Rivers of London, Alex Verus, Iron Druid Chronicles and the Nightside. None of them grabbed me the same way the Dresden Files did.

It will be nice to see what Harry is up to these days :)

The new ones are fantastic. Personally I rank Alex Verus up with Dresden files, love that series.
 
Currently ploughing through Harry Potter... about 1/4 of the way through Book Six - Half Blood Prince. The books are good, much darker (especially Harry) and far more background and insight than the movies which play more like a series of set pieces. Have to say I find Horace Slughorn even more odious and creepy in the book than in the film, comes over like a cross between Jimmy Edwards and Cyril Smith. Not really sure why Rowling needed to write in a character with (to my mind) strong undertones of potentially abusive behaviour - inviting children to private suppers etc.

Also Book 6 (a bit like Book 4) is essentially a holding piece until the massive events in the last book.
 
I just finished As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee (author of Cider With Rosie). He went to Spain on his own, penniless and knowing nothing about the country, in 1934. He walked across the country, busking with his violin to buy food. The end of the book is the start of the Civil War, and everyone knew something was coming. There's a real sense of foreboding as war creeps closer.

I really enjoyed it, although it has made me want to go to Spain and walk down a dusty road to nowhere in particular...
 
Just finished Dark Age by pierce brown, apparently a 6th one is coming out cant wait.

Anyone recommend anything similar in the mean time?
 
I've just finished H Is For Hawk by Helen MacDonald. It's an autobiographical account of the immediate aftermath of her dad's death, her subsequent troubles and her training of a goshawk.

It's excellent and the language is beautiful.
 
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