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What Book are you Reading?


Beocat

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Hey all, I figure there are probably some bibliophiles around here like me so let's share our books and maybe we'll find some interesting titles among us.

 

I'm current reading the third book in The Sword and the Staff series, A Draw of Kings. Found the first two books at the local library and fell in love. The series is about a young drunk who becomes forced by the church to travel to join a readers conclave, and becomes a hero along the way. I love the writing and character development (set in medieval type of times). Errol is exceptionally well written and the plot is never dull. I highly advise the series so far :)

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I used to read constantly.  I guess i still do, but these days it is more web pages, tech manuals, and training material.  :)  I really haven't read that many actual books this year.  I started on Leviathan Wakes, the first book in the Expanse series, but I kind of lost interest and haven't made any progress recently.  The whole Ceres thing required a bit too much suspension of disbelief for me.  I think the last book I finished was either O'Neill's 2081 (a reread) or Mahaffey's Atomic Accidents.  Not sure when that was though.  Besides the other two books in the Expanse series, in my to-read stack I still have the last 3 issues of Analog magazine (a science fiction/fact periodical) as well.  A couple times in the last year or so I've had the urge to go back and re-read some older, "classic" SF.  Maybe Niven's Known Space stuff.  Or Banks' Culture series.  I hear they're going to be making a movie out of Consider Phlebas.  Might also be interesting to reread stuff like Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress with the ongoing Bezos/Musk rivalry in mind.  :D

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I'm currently reading The Fall of Dragons, the last book of Miles Cameron's Traitor Son Cycle (Link to the 1st book). Amazing series, I have to say. Miles Cameron is pretty good at making a medieval Fantasy world historically authentic which I haven't seen before, (The fact that he's a historian, HEMA practitioner and medieval enthusiast helps, though), his prose is great, though sometimes a bit hard for a non native speaker like me, everyone of his (countless) characters feels unique, as well does the magic system, and the world he crafted is intriguing.

I'm waiting for a Box Set of the Monogatari  (I got it on amazon) novels by Nisio Isin to arrive (Since it gets released on the 20th and takes some time due to overseas shipping I'll have to wait some more weeks) and I think I'll read The Silence of the Lambs (Read the first 2 books a long time ago but stopped right before lambs) before they arrive, or maybe Dazai's Schoolgirl - I think it is the only translated books of Dazai that I haven't yet read (Interestingly, there are two stories translated into German that never made it into English >.<). Originally I wanted to read TLODR (finally got the english books) or the Simplicius Simplicissimus but I think they are a bit too long to read before Monogatari arrives...

If anyone has some short novels to recommend.... I'm open to (almost) everything >.>

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 @efaardvark ever read The Uplift Saga? My favorite physics professor actually recommended it to me back in the day. I never finished the first book (life got in the way) but it was very good and might be right up your alley if you can find a copy. I totally understand the tech manuals thing. If I go hardcore on studying for a new certification exam, I'll be up to my ears in manuals all over again too.

@leinwandname  errrr....define short.... I'm guessing some of my 1000+ page favorites do not qualify. 😁

 

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1 hour ago, Beocat said:

 

@leinwandname  errrr....define short.... I'm guessing some of my 1000+ page favorites do not qualify. 😁<span>

 

 

Unless you consider War and Peace, Search for the Lost time and Bottom's Dream afternoon-reads. :P But if they're your favorites, sure, I'd gladly add them to my list! 

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@leinwandname okay...but you asked...  Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series, starting with The Way of Kings (Goodreads link) is my definite recommendation to anyone who loves medieval settings with a great "magic" system. It isn't an easy read...the sure volume is immense, the characters are varied and many (some introduced here to be revisited in a later book even) and extremely well developed and introduced, but it delivers a story so entrancing that I couldn't put it, Words of Radiance, or Oathbringer down. I am blown away by every book and wishing the next were already out.  He also wrote the Mistborn series, which is probably more afternoon reading like you wanted and I'd highly recommend it as well.

 

If you want something shorter, I'd suggest The Noble Dead Saga from Barb and J.C. Hendee. It is a lot of books but more in the 200-300 page range. If you enjoy the writing and stories, Barb's Mist-Torn Witches series is set in the same world. In the Noble Dead it is easy in the first two books to see that they are new writers but they improve very quickly and the entire series is quite well imagined. Mist-Torn and Dead Seekers came last so they are very well written. :) I have more in store so if you enjoy those two series, let me know if you want more.

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@Beocat I've read the Stormlight Archive so far (and dang it, book 4 probably won't come until 2020!) and I have Mistborn on my to-read list - I think I might start this series now that it's quality was validated by you :P (apart from the fact that it's by Sanderson!)

The Noble Dead Saga, too, looks interesting. Definitely going to check that one out! Thank you! :-] 

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@leinwandname  I know! When I read his blog on that news, I was so sad.  2020 is a long ways away ☹  Mistborn will really make you think. It has a darker, dirtier world, but the main characters are no less compelling. Let me know what you think of Mistborn and the Noble Dead when you've been reading them. :)

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On 3/14/2020 at 8:49 PM, RuthisianCodex said:

Currently reading Bag of Bones by Stephen King

I love Stephen King. 

I'm reading the Liar's Club, by Mary Karr. (Feeling thankful that the library gives online access to ebooks)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm so happy this thread exists! I've been a bookworm my whole life. 

Currently reading a collection of works by Dostoevsky, also a few books on hold because of work and generally not feeling like reading those lately 😁

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On 4/22/2020 at 12:02 AM, Amali said:

Currently reading a collection of works by Dostoevsky, also a few books on hold because of work and generally not feeling like reading those lately 😁

I had started reading Russian literature such as Dostojewski and Tolstoi as well because they describe interesting cases to think about, but because I have to read so much for work, I never really finish a book. What do you think so far?

Edited by Illusion of Terra
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4 hours ago, Illusion of Terra said:

I had started reading Russian literature such as Dostojewski and Tolstoi as well because they describe interesting cases to think about, but because I have to read so much for work, I never really finish a book. What do you think so far?

Dostoevsky is my favourite author and because Russian is my native language I actually read the originals. What I like a out Russian classics is that the make you think. And because they show people's different personalities and thoughts in a very interesting ways. I think Tolstoy is famous for his descriptions (there a joke about a description of the ball going on and on in the War and Peace 😂). Dostoevsky's works are personality and society focused I think, at least going by my favourite books of his like, for example, the Idiot. 

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10 hours ago, Amali said:

Dostoevsky is my favourite author and because Russian is my native language I actually read the originals. What I like a out Russian classics is that the make you think.

it would be great if I could read them in Russian, but I don't know any Russian. the 'making you think' part is exactly why I wanted to read them. I am interested in their ideas and the interesting cases they describe. I enjoy thinking about stuff 😂 

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Thinking about re-reading The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. One of my favorite dystopian novels which has extra nostalgia for me as I read some of it when I was about 8 and then couldn't find what the title was until I was 18.

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On 4/26/2020 at 11:21 AM, Illusion of Terra said:

it would be great if I could read them in Russian, but I don't know any Russian. the 'making you think' part is exactly why I wanted to read them. I am interested in their ideas and the interesting cases they describe. I enjoy thinking about stuff 😂 

As long as you find good translations it is going to be interesting ;) For Dostoevsky's books, I'd recommend 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Idiot', they're one of his most famous works along with 'The Karamazob Brothers', and they're definitely my favourites <3  Enjoy! :)))

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I am currently reading Sociobiology Examined, edited by Ashley Montagu. It is a pretty mixed book as the quality can vary with the contributions. On the whole, I am quite enjoying it though. I am also wanting to get back into reading The Marx - Engels Reader edited by Robert Tucker. I am about a 3rd of the way through it. At times it can be quite difficult to follow, to be perfectly honest. I am getting through it though. 

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  • 2 years later...

I am on Chapter 7 of this book

Claudia Gray - Master & Apprentice Audiobook Free

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Summary

What we know of the Jedi Order is still developing, even as The Surge of Skywalker rapidly approaches, ending what we can assume is our first nine-part lesson on a significant factor in what will certainly be their supreme background. In canon, we actually haven’t had much content depicting how the Jedi Order operated prior to the situation in the Republic came to be a full-scale battle, eventually consuming the Jedi into darkness and leaving their few surviving seeds of hope spread in the wind. Claudia Gray – Master & Apprentice Audiobook Free. Claudia Gray has actually provided us what I wish will certainly be the very first of several tales highlighting how tough it could be to commit as well as exist within the Jedi Order. The human vulnerability of each participant in its ranks starkly contrasts the stoic principles Jedi are expected to possess all at once. They are anticipated to exist within a challenging, varied galaxy as a pillar of justice and also modesty, yet the struggle to maintain that code within each individual is where the splits potentially show up. An order, ethical and dogmatic, is depicted to have reached its surge within the virtuously decaying Republic it is intended to safeguard.

The reader definitely sees flashes of the radiance one would certainly expect in the golden era of the Jedi, yet you can also see the trouble the Jedi are gone to and also just how the Sith no question saw this age as the best time to strike. The Jedi Order ended up being an anachronism as the corruption of the Republic spread like a quiet virus whose signs and symptoms its residents and also protectors ignored until it was far too late. That’s not to say the Jedi were contented or inefficient– Master & Apprentice narrates that shows how terribly the Jedi are required in this age of the galaxy.
Qui-Gon Jinn is absolutely the star of Master & Apprentice. His character is not much various on the surface than the professional Jedi we met in The Phantom Hazard. Nonetheless, Qui-Gon Jinn is a labyrinthine combination of uncertainty and faith, continuously questioning whether he is the best Jedi and also most significantly, the very best educator, he can be. Liam Neeson’s excellent efficiency in The Phantom Menace shared a peaceful dispute however reviewing it in Gray’s reliable passages gives specificity that makes the fatality which caused his eventual absence from the Duplicate War and also Anakin’s tutelage that a lot more terrible. Qui-Gon Jinn was as altruistic a Jedi as could be expected, often annoyed with an Order connected like an inadequate gear in the immorality equipment of the Republic. I constantly presumed there was something downhearted concerning Qui-Gon; instead, Gray’s composing indicates the Jedi held healthy and balanced skepticism regarding the galaxy yet eventually believed in the good of the Force and the Jedi’s ability to be a force forever. That benevolence really did not come without a logical eye wanting to the past and feasible future in the many revelations of the Jedi.A revelation was the stimulant for the entire Skywalker saga so it seems proper Gray would certainly take a look at the stressful partnership Jedi had with them. Being “existing in the moment” is a mantra repeated in canon and also suggested to be a core Jedi technique, which is why predictions seem to fly in the face of this model of the Jedi Order. The Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn’s tendency for the Chosen One revelation is discussed right here and it comes from his master, Dooku. Dooku makes appearances in Master & Pupil, but those appearances are absolutely nothing contrasted to exactly how his training looms over a lot of things Qui-Gon does. In this tale, Dooku has already left the order to help with the administration of his homeworld Serreno, but those who were closest to the powerful Jedi Master think there is more to his departure than obligation to his homeworld and also family members dynasty. Where Dooku researched predictions for a function that at some point came to be much darker, his fascination with what they might forecast as well as mean was presented not just onto Qui-Gon Jinn. Dooku had an apprentice before Qui-Gon, a personality I suspect fans will certainly be howling for even more of as soon as they complete this unique Rael Averross (we’ll reach him in a second). Nevertheless dubious most Jedi respect prophecies, Dooku left an enduring curiosity within Qui-Gon, which is never rather sated, as the Jedi describes checking into the distant past of galactic history to take a look at if some might have currently concerned fruition yet thinks several have yet to pass.
Before we obtain unfathomable right into Jedi mysticism (that could be a whole series of write-ups), allow’s talk about the tale of Master & Pupil, as it’s a well-contained story that takes us on an adventure set against the thorny, political backdrop of a brand-new planet called Pijal. The tale opens up on the Hutt controlled world of Teth. The Jedi have been sent off to check out missing out on shipments of farming the Hutts are presumed of taking. After a brief standoff where Qui-Gon negotiates for Obi-Wan’s life while holding a blade to a Hutt crimelord’s throat, the Jedi go back to Coruscant to report to the Jedi Council. Gray makes no illusions that the relationship between Qui-Gon and also Obi-Wan is a smooth one at this point in time (canonically this takes place eight years before The Phantom Threat). It’s not as combative as the one Obi-Wan will later on have with his very own apprentice however there is an established skeptical undertone in the bond between the one he’s had with his master considering that the first day of his apprenticeship. Both master and also pupil question if they are a great fit. Qui-Gon is worried if he’s a capable educator as a result of his uneasyness with Jedi dogma and also testy connection with the council; while Obi-Wan can just discover ground in ignoring his own defiant propensities by sticking to the rigorous Jedi guidelines, which feeds doubt.Obi-Wan isn’t truly sure what to think about his master. The Padawan is seventeen and also on his 4th year of training under Qui-Gon’s direction. When Kenobi came to Qui-Gon he had a defiant reputation of his own and part of Yoda’s intent behind the suit was to utilize Obi-Wan’s natural uncertainty concerning authority to push him toward the Jedi code. Because Qui-Gon weaves in and out of Jedi conviction it forces Obi-Wan to accept it as his very own way of discovering his freedom from his master. Master & Apprentice (Star Wars) Online. It’s an odd however brilliant technique by Yoda, coupling to individuals with each other so comparable they contrast each other by their inherent nature to rebel versus the familiar and the status-quo, whether that’s their very own vibrant or the way they see the Jedi Order. Obi-Wan isn’t the confident, cocky young adult we fulfill in The Phantom Hazard. He’s untried, unclear, and also always wondering about if he’s doing the appropriate point. Regardless of the highlighted defiant streaks in his persona, Obi-Wan quite wants to be a good Jedi, he’s just unclear if he’s worthy of his master’s lessons or if they are the ideal fit.
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