What are you reading?

Vallie

@Anedhel - I'm excited to read it! The ones I've enjoyed most are all around Death/his daughter or the police, but I really liked the one-off about the Post. I'm very interested to see what this book's like!

@Liyane, @Bann - I'm also super curious about this! I'd guess that since it's sort of a Daoist text (I could be wrong), it leans towards more relaxed governance and political control...plus, Daoism's considered 'religious' in China as opposed to Confucianism (which unsurprisingly to me preaches obedience), so I think that means that it's already under some amount of state monitoring. Add to that that the current turmoil with the two groups that aren't quite fitting right in, and I'd postulate that Daoism might be seen as one of the disorderly viewpoints. #onlytimeIeverusedthatphilosophyclass

Liyane

Apparently, it's seen as being outdated and has not been translated into modern Chinese (at least as far as she knows). I wouldn't be too surprised if some of the points @Vallie raised aren't true though; if not directly suppressing tham at least indirectly discouraging it being popular.

Trilliana

I just read Carrie Fisher's The Princess Diarist yesterday after the news hit... but I just grabbed a Discworld collection and don't know where to start! Totally blaming the fact that my boyfriend had me watch The Hogfather on Christmas.

Nazihk

Trilliana said:

I just grabbed a Discworld collection and don't know where to start! 

Guards! Guards! or Men At Arms.

Vallie

Which books are in it? He's written soooo many!

Liyane

Trilliana said:

I just read Carrie Fisher's The Princess Diarist yesterday after the news hit... but I just grabbed a Discworld collection and don't know where to start! Totally blaming the fact that my boyfriend had me watch The Hogfather on Christmas.

Watching Hogfather is a Christmas tradition for me.

I've found this chart to be a great resource as it indicates the different "storylines" in the series.

Edit: wouldn't let me attach. Here's a link:
https://goo.gl/images/AbPuQk

Edit 2: phone post autocorrections...

Trilliana

Vallie said:

Which books are in it? He's written soooo many!

.. This is gonna be a LONG list. (Alphabetical because... file order)
A Hat Full of Sky, Carpe Jugulum, Equal Rites, Eric, Feet of Clay, Going Posta, Guards! Guards!, Hogfather, I Shall Wear Midnight, Interesting Times, Jingo, Judgement Day, Lords and Ladies, Making Money, Maskerade, Men at Arms, Monstrous Regiment, Mort, Moving Pictures, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, Night Watch, Pyramids, Raising Steam, Reaper Man, Science of Discworld, Small Gods, Snuff, Soul Music, Sourcery, The Amazing Maurice and His Educate, The Annotated Pratchett File, The Colour of Magic, The Fifth Elephant, The Folklore of Discworld, The Last Continent, The Last Hero, The Light Fantastic, The Truth, The Wee Free Men, The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld, The World of Poo, Thief of Time, Thud!, Turtal Recall, Unseen Academicals, Where's My Cow, Wintersmith, Witches Abroad, and Wyrd Sisters.

I'm so out of practice with typing, fingers hurt XD

Liyane said:

Trilliana said:

I just read Carrie Fisher's The Princess Diarist yesterday after the news hit... but I just grabbed a Discworld collection and don't know where to start! Totally blaming the fact that my boyfriend had me watch The Hogfather on Christmas.

Watching Hogfather is a Christmas tradition for me.

I've found this chart to be a great resource as it indicates the different "storylines" in the series.

Edit: wouldn't let me attach. Here's a link:
https://goo.gl/images/AbPuQk

Edit 2: phone post autocorrections...

That is perfect!

Nazihk

Guards! Guards! into Men at Arms to start with.

If you don't like the Guards books you won't like the Discworld, basically.

Trey

The Colour of Magic will always be my favorite, I think.

Vallie

That collection is awesome! I had to leave most of my books when I moved, I need to start re-hoarding.

@Liyane's chart is great, and I second the suggestion of Guards! Guards! first. It was also the first book I read and got me hooked. I absolutely loved Mort and Reaper Man, and basically everything along that series, and was least fond of the witches (but I'd still read them again). My favourite if I were to pick right now would be Thief of Time - I read it long after the rest of the Death series so it felt fairly standalone, but even then it was enough to get me tearing up.

Liyane

I rarely get to read for pleasure these days, with grad school and professional development books taking up most of my time, so I've gotten an Audible subscription and used it to buy the otherwise extremely expensive audio books. Sadly, they don't have the rights for Carpe Jugulum for whatever reason... but otherwise I highly recommend it for any busy Pratchett lovers.

Aegis

Bann said:

The Art of War, because @Aegis.

Haven't read this since my time in the Marines. Such good lessons. Applies to real life, too.

If you're reading this, you should also read Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman as well. It is a book replete with explanations and analysis of most historical wars, such as Napoleon.

 WAAAAAAAARRRRR!! 

Anedhel

Although to really enjoy it completely you might want to be familiar with the Discworld universe first (meriting a re-read when you know the Watch a bit better), a good place to start might be Thud! because it reads a bit easier than most Discworld books, and at the same time is completely and totally Pratchett-y. Since it centers almost exclusively on Vimes, too, it gives you a narrower focus than, say, the ones that deal with the Wizards or the stand-alones, which (I think, at any rate) means that you can very much tell if you'll enjoy most of the Discworld books or not from just one read. 

Alternatively, I always found Monstrous Regiment to be very endearing, if only because it's a very Pratchettesque take on a familiar theme/story. Reading that might also give you a good feeling for his style and his humour, and if you enjoy his treatment of that subject and find the jokes appealing there, then I think you'll definitely be a good match with Discworld in general! 

Skye

I love Discworld but I myself never really got into the Wizard books as much. It has its moments but the City Watch is what draws me in the most. Vimes is easily one of the most compelling protagonists I've ever had the pleasure of reading and I love the way Pratchett is able to write him as so intense and often dark in his head, and he goes into some pretty sombre perspectives but has absolutely no problem having fun with him or at his expense. I kinda feel like that's a rare quality in a lot of writers and fantasy novels.

He also has a knack for approaching contemporary world/social issues and discussing them in the candid and familiar environment of his books. I can't tell you the number of times I've read something in the paper and thought 'Pratchett said something about this' and be able to pull out a quote. A lot of it has to do with the nature (or indeed the stupidity) of Man.

I miss him

Tahquil

When my friends and I were 16 we made Nanny Ogg's jelly wobblers. We didn't quite visualise the end result when we picked it out, we were just like 'jelly and icecream, that can't be hard'.

When we upended the first flute of jelly we began screaming with laughter when we realised what it was.

It's a dick and balls.

Kyrra

I actually started on DiscworldMUD before reading any of the books, so I love the Witches before any others, though the Watch probably comes in second for me. 

Nicola

I started my love of all things Discworld with Wyrd Sisters, highly highly recommend as a platform to get into the writing style and wonder.

Liyane

Now it's my turn to ask for suggestions:

I just got a Kindle for Christmas and, as a life time Star Wars movie watcher/game player/toy owner/lover but never Star Wars reader, I'm looking for suggestions for Star Wars books to try out.

I don't care much about old or new canon and I tend to prefer things set BEFORE the Empire but basically anything with a Jedi is interesting to me (Star Wars without Jedi just seems lackluster...)

Amranu

The Portable Nietzsche

Trey

Liyane said:

Now it's my turn to ask for suggestions:

I just got a Kindle for Christmas and, as a life time Star Wars movie watcher/game player/toy owner/lover but never Star Wars reader, I'm looking for suggestions for Star Wars books to try out.

I don't care much about old or new canon and I tend to prefer things set BEFORE the Empire but basically anything with a Jedi is interesting to me (Star Wars without Jedi just seems lackluster...)

For as much shit as anyone (including me) can talk about the stories, New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force are two decent series that are somewhat Jedi-centric. It's well after the original trilogy, but I like it. Start with NJO, goes chronologically.

Aegoth

Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn for Star Wars books. Hands down best series of the legacy books. Starts with Heir to the Empire

Nazihk

Liyane said:

Now it's my turn to ask for suggestions:

I just got a Kindle for Christmas and, as a life time Star Wars movie watcher/game player/toy owner/lover but never Star Wars reader, I'm looking for suggestions for Star Wars books to try out.

I don't care much about old or new canon and I tend to prefer things set BEFORE the Empire but basically anything with a Jedi is interesting to me (Star Wars without Jedi just seems lackluster...)

Like Aegoth says, the Thrawn Trilogy by Zahn are the best books in the entire Star Wars EU. No contest. They're so good that they basically created the entire Star Wars EU and they're head and shoulders above pretty much anything else in the series.

Heir to the Empire
Dark Force Rising
The Last Command

They start after Return of the Jedi, but the remnants of the Empire are still around making trouble for them.

Aegoth

There's also the sequel to that: Hand of Thrawn series. Spectre of the Past and Vision of the Future.

Ismay

Been rereading the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I first read them from the library a few years ago, and finally decided to break down and buy the lot of them. Was definitely the best investment I've made in a long time. I don't generally reread most books, so it takes quite the author to keep me coming back like his do.

Nazihk

The Sword of Truth is a terrible series written by a terrible author who hamfistedly crams his terrible opinions into his terrible books.

Aegoth

I mean... Nazihk is absolutely correct... but before I learned that it was Atlas Shrugged 2.0, I enjoyed it as a fantasy novel with fireballs and lightning bolts

Ahmet

Sword of Truth is one of my favourite series of all time :dissapointed:

Ismay

Right?! I mean, who doesn't love a little world system and morality opinion mixed in with their fantasy?

Oh, and he's also got a new thriller out called Nest. It's an interesting read, making for a different feel from his usual genre.

Amranu

If you like Philosophy in your fantasy books, try R. Scott Bakker.

The Prince of Nothing trilogy is phenomenal.

Vender

Currently reading The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan. I think I might have read parts of it a long time ago but since I have the Cold Commands (the second book of the series) and I want to read that, I want to go ahead and re-read all of Steel Remains so I'm not behind on anything. It's really good so far and it still has that sort of cyberpunk style and violence that Richard is famous for (Altered Carbon) even though this series is fantasy.