What book are you reading...

"Alien: Phalanx" by Scott Sigler. I was reading the complete "Under the breaking sky" by Nick Clauson but at 49% through I realised I was continuing as an obligation to read, rather than something to do for fun.
I switched to Alien: Phalanx and it's a breath of fresh air. I'm reading because I want to see what happens again, not just because I want to complete the (incredibly dull) book.
 
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I'm just over half way through The Count of Monte Cristo and honestly, I don't know if I have the desire to slog through the second half. There is just so much gumpf and "look how wealthy he is". So little has happened for such a long time! I enjoyed the first quarter or so but the second has been dragging so much. Any care to chime in on whether its worth finishing?
 
On holiday at the moment, so it's the obligatory Jack Reacher for me, The Secret. The only problem is they only last me a few days, so I've also got my Kindle with plenty to choose from later.
 
fez said:
I'm just over half way through The Count of Monte Cristo and honestly, I don't know if I have the desire to slog through the second half. There is just so much gumpf and "look how wealthy he is". So little has happened for such a long time! I enjoyed the first quarter or so but the second has been dragging so much. Any care to chime in on whether its worth finishing?
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Just give up and watch the Jim Caviezel film version. It's rather good and done within 2 hours.
 
Meridian said:
Currently reading "How Westminster Works - and why it doesn't" by Ian Dunt. Tackles pretty much every aspect of English (some bits are about the other parts of the UK, but mainly it's about England) politics and governance and explains why most of it is a dismal failure. Usually for many complicated and interconnected reasons.
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I’ve recently finished Rory Stewart’s ‘Politics on the Edge’ which gives an inside view of the workings (or rather, not workings) of the Conservative Party during his time as an MP up to his failed leadership bid.

I imagine many of the failings Stewart highlights feature in Dunt’s book.
 
On to the sixth Wheel Of Time book now - Lord Of Chaos.

Must admit it's starting to drag a bit now. 80 pages in and nothing much has really happened, just a reprise of what various characters are doing, more new names brought in to add to the confusion or maybe one or two recast under a different name.

The fifth book had a fairly strong finish but was still bogged down by pages and pages of Aiel politics and Aes Sedai ruminations. And I have lost all sympathy for Rand, Robert Jordan has turned him from shepherd boy out of his depth to a rather unlikeable character.

Good story, but not always great storytelling. Book 6 is nearly 1000 pages - Tolien managed to tell the entire LOTR story (if you include The Hobbit) in less than 1500 pages.

Well I'll see if I can wade through this one, then might go back to reading The Witcher books for a bit - at least those have a bit of whimsy and humour. The other problem with RJ's story - very deadpan, almost like he is writing in a documentary style.
 
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Just finished Clarkson's third book about his farm and feel slightly cheated by it's size and content. It reminded me of a child's book with illustrations and multiple blank pages per chapter. Read it in a day basically. Also me and my partner have sold a load of her old books to Zifit and got 150 quid for them in total.
 
I finished Of Men And Monsters, by William Tenn, yesterday. It was good. Giant aliens have invaded earth and, generations later, humans are effectively vermin infesting their houses.

A bit sad, as I have now read all his stories (without acquiring rare and expensive 1950s Sci fi mags).
 
Further to above... Thrown the towel in on Wheel Of Time for now. Got to around Page 100 of the sixth book, Lord of Chaos and most of it is just turgid, padding waffle (a bit like my forum posts). The thought of that and another 8 books like it to see the end of the story just too much. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the New Year.

So for now gone back to re-reading the Witcher books, picking up with Blood Of Elves where I got to about half way through.

Just glad I was getting the WOT books out the library and didn't pay over £100 for the entire collection.
 
Vern1961 said:
Further to above... Thrown the towel in on Wheel Of Time for now. Got to around Page 100 of the sixth book, Lord of Chaos and most of it is just turgid, padding waffle (a bit like my forum posts). The thought of that and another 8 books like it to see the end of the story just too much. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the New Year.

So for now gone back to re-reading the Witcher books, picking up with Blood Of Elves where I got to about half way through.

Just glad I was getting the WOT books out the library and didn't pay over £100 for the entire collection.
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It does become a bit of a slog during the middle part of the series, but It does pick up again. Don't forget Brandon Sanderson wrote the last 3 books so the pace does pick up.
 
j.col said:
It does become a bit of a slog during the middle part of the series, but It does pick up again. Don't forget Brandon Sanderson wrote the last 3 books so the pace does pick up.
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Never a truer word said. The last three books are excellent. I do think Robert Jordan was told by the publishers to stretch out the story as much as possible which is a shame as he was a great writer.

I was given The Books of EarthSea by Ursula K. Le Guin, a mighty tome of eleven-ish books in one. I hadn’t realised that they were originally written for what we call “young adults” these days so the books are quite short by todays standards - first two are around 130 pages for example - but the text is dense and the prose is sublime. I’ve read some modern YA books and comparing them to EarthSea its very easy to see how standards in written language have dropped in just 50 years.
 
j.col said:
It does become a bit of a slog during the middle part of the series, but It does pick up again. Don't forget Brandon Sanderson wrote the last 3 books so the pace does pick up.
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Thanks. I ended up reprieving the book from going back to the library and will stick with it a bit longer.

I know it's the main thrust of the story, but Books 5 and 6 to me seem too Rand and Aiel focused, the latter especially in Book 5, rather than the more ensemble protaganists in the first four.
 
Vern1961 said:
Thanks. I ended up reprieving the book from going back to the library and will stick with it a bit longer.

I know it's the main thrust of the story, but Books 5 and 6 to me seem too Rand and Aiel focused, the latter especially in Book 5, rather than the more ensemble protaganists in the first four.
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I tend to skim read the boring parts of the books, you can still get the gist of what RJ is trying to get across without all the slog.
 
I'm still reading through the wheel of time, I'm currently half way through book 10, so believe I am about to get past the 'slog' of books.
 
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