World of Pageantry

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.

About a Wizard Private Investigator.

Kind of like Harry Potter for grown ups meets Sam Spade.

Great characters, plots, action, lots of humor.

I've read all 9 so far, #10 comes out April 1st.

jcys

Kage Baker's "Company" series is the one I'm absorbed now. Charismatic characters, brilliant premise (25th-century company invents immortality and time-travel; sends immortals back through history to save resources and artifacts for 25th-century profit).

Mickey Zuchert Reichart's "Last of the Renshai" trilogy

My all-time favorite fantasy is series is the Legend of Drizzt series by R.A. Salvatore. It's a huge series that is sure to empty your wallet, but I still own and have read everyone of these books:

The Dark Elf Trilogy
1. Homeland
2. Exile
3. Sojourn

The Icewind Dale Trilogy
1.The Crystal Shard
2. Streams of Silver
3. The Halfling's Gem

Legacy of the Drow
1. The Legacy
2. Starless Night
3. Siege of Darkness
4. Passage to Dawn

Paths of Darkness
1. The Silent Blade
2. The Spine of the World
3. Servant of the Shard
4. Sea of Swords

The Hunter's Blades Trilogy
1. The Thousand Orcs
2. The Lone Drow
3. The Two Swords

Transitions
1. The Orc King
Book two of "Transitions is expected in October of this year.

Currently I am reading "Sherwood" by Parke Godwin, a fabulous retelling of the Robin Hood tale, but this is Robin Hood like you've never seen before. Godwin is known for his novels of legendary figures placed in realistic historical settings.

I'm hearing you aceman. I've read the entire dark elf series 3 times.

I obviously need to expand my horizons

I feel so...so...what's the word....UNcultured. Here you guys start busting out RA Salvatore and the best I can say is...

I like Stephen King.

Sheeeeeesh.

I suck.

Nothing wrong with that. The Dark Tower series is probably the best series of books ever. Yep, I'd place it above Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Ryan H. Turner wrote: I like Stephen King.

Come to the dark light Ryan!

Hostrauser wrote:Nothing wrong with that. The Dark Tower series is probably the best series of books ever. Yep, I'd place it above Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Tolkien is only good in small doses. I've pretty much given up on ever reading the Silmarilliion. I've started it a few times, but each time I remember why I stopped the other times, couldn't stay awake.

Ryan H. Turner wrote:I feel so...so...what's the word....UNcultured. Here you guys start busting out RA Salvatore and the best I can say is...

I like Stephen King.

Sheeeeeesh.

I suck.

I read way more than the average person. In fact, if I don't have a book to read at all times, I feel an incredible need to rush to Barnes & Noble and get one. Next up on my reading list is "The Other Boleyn Girl."

The Aceman wrote:Tolkien is only good in small doses. I've pretty much given up on ever reading the Silmarilliion. I've started it a few times, but each time I remember why I stopped the other times, couldn't stay awake.

That's because The Silmarillion was primarily written by Tolkein's son based on his father's notes. The Lord of the Rings series is good.

I too read a lot, though not as much as I like to. As some of you may know, I keep a book-review site; follow the WWW button below or go here.

My last book was "Sky Coyote" by Kage Baker.

My current book is "Howards End" by E.M. Forster.

My next book will be "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson.

I have a personal goal of eventually reading all of Time's Top 100 English Language Novels (since 1920 or whenever). I think I'm about half-way done on the list.

Have to agree with Aceman...Tolkein is only good in VERY small doses (I HATE all the singing in the books..)

Stephen King wrote some decent stuff...but his has become SO formulaic (group of good guys...some pure..some not so pure...goes up against supernatural force of evil....most will die..a few will live...but they win in the end...sort of...) Yawn.

I think his best was "The Stand." Sometime after that I read "Desperation" and said..."OK, that's enough SK for me!"

jcys

I think Hostrauser gave me some guff about this a few years ago (I can't remember for sure--so sorry for picking on you--but I do think it was you), but the "series" of books that I really liked was "The New Jedi Order". For those that don't know about it, it was 27 novels over a course of about 1999 to 2003 or 4 written by different authors (INCLUDING RA SALVATORE...go figure!). Very controversial as diehard Star Wars-ites railed about some aspects of the story being entirely out of character with the established "tenor" of previous stories. The invading "Yuuzhan Vong" apparently reminded folks too much of the Borg from Star Trek (and there's always been a "don't compare me to Star Wars/Star Trek" by both sides of the Geek Auditorium where people hang out and argue about crap like this). Also, artistically speaking (or is that literarily speaking), some found it to be a cheap "gimmick" to have an invasion.

To me though...it was very entertaining. I'm not the deepest most thoughtful person on the planet, so for me, it was just entertainment. I love both Star Wars and Star Trek, and since I'm NOT a geek, I can appreciate both and wear my Vulcan ears while I do a great vocal impression of Darth Vader. I will say that the subplots and character arcs were very interesting, especially a thought being put forth that The Force is neither good NOR dark. Interesting. Challenged me to think differently about The Force. It also featured some character deaths, the most egregious to some but very....oh crap...TOUCHING I guess would be the word, to me, was the death of Chewbacca. Nothing like shaking up the Star Wars Universe than by killing off one of the most beloved characters. And nothing like having Han Solo blaming himself for the death, too. ANYWAY...to each his own--I loved it. Thinking about reading the whole thing again.

One thing about Stephen King--to answer JCYS's formulaic approach to storytelling. Yes...to a certain extent I agree. You can definitely see it in It, Tommyknockers, Pet Cemetary, blah blah blah. But I guess if you go beyond that (which may be difficult I know), what King does VERY well is make you believe in the CHARACTERS. I just read his latest Duma Key, and the formula is there. But I didn't realize I was actually going to enjoy reading about a divorced and very wealthy amputee construction company owner who as part of his recovery from the horrible accident that caused the amputation, "retires" to a rental home in south Florida and there the supernatural shenanigans begin. But as I read it (he writes it in the first person), I really started to dig Edgar Freemantle, sympathize with his recovery, and started to care about how he was able to "paint" what he painted. To me, it IS the formula that King uses, but he does it in the most creative and satisfying way. At least to me.

And I agree. Actually, most people do. The Stand remains my favorite, and I highly doubt it will be surpassed as my favorite. A few years ago I read his complete unabridged, unedited "this is how Stephen King wanted it printed originally" version. I think it was about 14 million pages long. But once you start reading The Stand, you can't put it down.

And yes--I realize his Dark Tower series is supposed to be phenomenal. I was just in Borders the other night, and they actually have a freaking Concordance printed for that series, and it's REALLY (at least to me...ya know...IQ hovering in the high 90's here) a VERY complex DEEP story. I'm not sure I have it in me to understand Roland the Gunslinger....but maybe some day.

Ryan H. Turner wrote:(INCLUDING RA SALVATORE...go figure!). Very controversial as diehard Star Wars-ites railed about some aspects of the story being entirely out of character with the established "tenor" of previous stories.

Story of Salvatore's career, many die-hard Forgotten Realms fans accused Salvatore of doing the same thing (and he hasn't stopped, in the most recent books he actually brings about the building of a non-evil orc community! Gasp!), but it's worth pointing out that Salvatore's books have sold off the charts compared to any other author in the Series. There have been over 200 books published in the Forgotten Realms Setting.

Hostrauser wrote:That's because The Silmarillion was primarily written by Tolkein's son based on his father's notes. The Lord of the Rings series is good.

I thought The Lord of the Rings series was good, but I thought The Hobbit was better. Maybe it was because I had seen movies of LotR before reading the book. But I'm not so sure, The Hobbit seemed to flow better than the LotR books.

Hostrauser wrote:The Dark Tower series is probably the best series of books ever. Yep, I'd place it above Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

I definitely placed it there. Those books are AMAZING. I didn't feel bad at all spending $40 on the final book. Best epic ever, and awesome illustrations, although some of them are a bit graphic o.O

I love most of King's work, although I was dissatisfied with "The Dark Half" and "The Dead Zone."

Hostrauser wrote:Nothing wrong with that. The Dark Tower series is probably the best series of books ever. Yep, I'd place it above Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

*hiss!*








Black, Red, and White (also known as The Circle Trilogy) by Ted Dekker

total mind-bender