What book are you reading right now?
When I was younger I used to read loads but haven't read much recently, thanks largely to technology such as my iPod touch which has resulted in TV programmes and games replacing books as my entertainment material of choice when I got to bed.
Recently, however, I've had more time to read during the day and have read a couple of very different books on my holidays by the poolside.
The first was The Disappearing Spoon: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Same Kean which, as the name suggests, recounts the interesting stories behind the discovery and use of many of the elements. The disappearing spoon reference alludes to an old laboratory prank involving teaspoons made of gallium. Due to their close proximity in group 13 of the periodic table, gallium has very similar properties to aluminium, including it's appearance, so makes very convincing metal utensils. Unlike aluminium, however, gallium melts at low temperature so these teaspoons would seemingly disappear into the cup of an unsuspecting user. As a chemistry geek I find all this rather interesting.
The second book I read (for the second time) was Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. I first read it when I was about 13 (a lot of the content is probably inappropriate for a 13-year-old but I still liked it) and had forgotten how good it was. The recent film adaptation is pretty good too. If you haven't read it, I would urge you to do so, although it's not exactly a light read.
My room is full of books I haven't read or don't remember reading so I just need to pick something else to start on now; I'll probably go for a fantasy novel of some sort.
Anyone else enjoy reading and, if so, what are you reading right now?
Maybe you should check out The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. It's an autobiography of an Italian-Jewish Chemist during WWII. It's more of a collection of short stories from his life, each revolving (loosely) around a different element. It starts with his ancestors and moves through his imprisonment at Auschwitz and into post-war life. I found it entertaining, if not a little depressing as well.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I used to love gallium. It was fun to play with in high school chemistry as it would melt in your hands, and solidify on the table when you dropped it.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Maybe you should check out The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. It's an autobiography of an Italian-Jewish Chemist during WWII. It's more of a collection of short stories from his life, each revolving (loosely) around a different element. It starts with his ancestors and moves through his imprisonment at Auschwitz and into post-war life. I found it entertaining, if not a little depressing as well.
That sounds really interesting. I'll definitely have a look at it. 
I used to love gallium. It was fun to play with in high school chemistry as it would melt in your hands, and solidify on the table when you dropped it.
I wish we were able to play with elements so freely in school. I've never even seen gallium, let alone touched it! 
I decided to settle on The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin as my next book. I was given it as a present a few years ago but only got halfway through the first story. I'm going to start again from the beginning as I can barely remember what it's about.
Does manga count?
If so, I've been reading The Battle Royale manga version. If you don't know what Battle Royale is ,well than to put it simply its a survival story.
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of 42 ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
The rules: only one student can survive after 3 days on an island or else they all perish. Weapons are handed out and each student is sent out into the field alone and unprepared for the horror that awaits them. The classmates turn upon themselves in a battle for survival, treaties are made and broken, and former friends become foes as the relentless countdown continues. Amid the betrayals and rising body count, two classmates confess their love for each other and swear to survive this deadly game together.
The art in the manga is by Taguchi Masayuki. That guy is awesome. The art this book is ...wow. There is a lot of swearing, sex, and blood. What more can anyone ask for...
Here is the MOVIE. The novel was published in 1999. The movie was made in 2000. And the manga was made in 2008. So there are differences Between the three. Especially the Manga. As i said. Sex,swearing,blood.
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
Maybe you should check out The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. It's an autobiography of an Italian-Jewish Chemist during WWII. It's more of a collection of short stories from his life, each revolving (loosely) around a different element. It starts with his ancestors and moves through his imprisonment at Auschwitz and into post-war life. I found it entertaining, if not a little depressing as well.That sounds really interesting. I'll definitely have a look at it.
Wikipedia has info on the book, including chapter titles and subject lines for each one, if you want to check it out a little before deciding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Periodic_Table_(book)
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Does manga count?
Manga certainly counts. That sounds like a pretty good story actually. Indeed, sex and violence are always popular! 
Wikipedia has info on the book, including chapter titles and subject lines for each one, if you want to check it out a little before deciding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Periodic_Table_(book)
I had a look on Amazon and was able to use their 'Look Inside!' feature to read a few pages of it. I found it interesting from the start, with him talking about his family and comparing them to the noble gases so I'll definitely get myself a copy. Thanks!
Currently reading "The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death" by Jill Lepore. It's an exploration of cultural ideas and assumptions surrounding life and death - mainly American, mainly from the mid-19th century through the present.
I'll just note that my 3 piles of books-yet-to-be-read add up to 34 books. 8 of those are e-books, 1 is fiction and the rest are history books. 5 were acquired in response to Assassin's Creed (Robert Hughes' history of Rome, a biography of Venice, 2 (2!) about the Pazzi Conspiracy and another about the Bonfire of the Vanities).
i am currently inbetween books
i am waiting for the final book of the Whel of Time series to be published, that's gonna happen in January.
and i am also waiting for the third Mass Effect book that i ordered to arrive, and i have no idea how long that's gonna take cause the library is so slow right now.
other than the waiting, i got absolutely nothing, and i have no idea what i should try.
it feels a bit strange not to have anything to read, i kinda need it more than i realised.
some tips would be nice
Currently reading nothing because all my books are ash.
i am currently inbetween booksi am waiting for the final book of the Whel of Time series to be published, that's gonna happen in January.
and i am also waiting for the third Mass Effect book that i ordered to arrive, and i have no idea how long that's gonna take cause the library is so slow right now.other than the waiting, i got absolutely nothing, and i have no idea what i should try.
it feels a bit strange not to have anything to read, i kinda need it more than i realised.some tips would be nice
Never got past the first Wheel of Time book. That thing was denser than Tolkien! Might return to it eventually, I keep hearing that the series is really good after the first book.
And you mean Mass Effect: Retribution? That book is pretty good, gives some nice insights into the Reapers, and ME3 game builds off of it a bit (and ignores other really good branches they could have had). I am still hearing backlash over the fourth book, though.
To the topic: Just finished re-reading Ender's Game and its parallel novel Ender's Shadow, both by Orson Scott Card, getting ready to read Shadow of the Hegemon, sequel to the latter of the above. Nice Sci-Fi books with believable characters and some nice shifts in plot (can't call them twists). Also, the beauty of the two as parallel novels is how they build off each other immensely when read right in a row, especially surprising considering they were written ~12yrs apart. Another interesting Orson Scott Card book I would have to recommend is Pathfinder, whose sequel is coming out this Fall. That one has a really nice twist at the end as all of the parts that you have slowly been fed come together. The pacing is a little slow at times, and some of the logic leaves you scratching your head (time manipulation is involved). Also, if you enjoy Greek Mythology, I have to recommend Rick Riordan books.
@JoeyForge
Horrible to hear. I hope nothing truly irreplaceable was scorched.
@JoeyForge
Horrible to hear. I hope nothing truly irreplaceable was scorched.
Ha, the name made me laugh.
There were all my comics, graphic novels, trade paperbacks, nerdy memorabilia, baby pictures of me as Batman/Robin (depending on my mood)...probably good the last ones were burnt.
Jfighter777 wrote:
@JoeyForge
Horrible to hear. I hope nothing truly irreplaceable was scorched.Ha, the name made me laugh.
There were all my comics, graphic novels, trade paperbacks, nerdy memorabilia, baby pictures of me as Batman/Robin (depending on my mood)...probably good the last ones were burnt.
I thought I got something wrong with the name, but I was in a rush to give book advice and get off. I hope that you recover all that you can and you hit some good luck for a while to make up for it.
I still had a few books I hadn't finished yet. 'Have Space Suit, Will Travel', 'Don Camillo', 'Ender's Shadow'...
'Don Camillo' was getting pretty slow when I left off. Interesting nonetheless!
"Skeletal Muscle Damage and Repair". Because fuck fiction.
I finished that book about the American Revolution (1776 by David McCullough) and was pleased to see that it ended with brief coverage of the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The crossing of the Delaware is such a good story.
For my vacation I wanted a lightweight paperback that was easy to start/stop reading in airports, etc. Perhaps a comedy about politics... So I went to the bookcase and found Downsize This! by Michael Moore. It probably wasn't very good to begin with and is less relevant now, 17 years after it was written. There's a bunch of stuff about the Clinton administration and George H.W. Bush (the elected one). It filled the bill for my trip but I wouldn't recommend it.
I'm currently 'reading' Connexions Méthode de français Niveau 2 as, for some unknown reason, I've decided to start a French course at university, having not studied it for three years. My university offers a free Languages For All course for first-year undergraduates so I thought it would be a good idea to expand my knowledge of French a bit further - I REMEMBER NOTHING!
I could help you if you have any questions. If I remember correctly I'm not the only french member here so ask away !
Thanks. At the moment I'm just trying to get my head around the basic grammar that I've learnt before but have totally forgotten - tenses, moods, verb conjugations etc. The Wikibooks lessons are really useful for all of this.
I'll be sure to ask if I get stuck!
i'm currently reading a book on the Punic Wars.
that time in history is my favorite, and i realised i knew nothing about probably the most important war after the death of Alexander.
(apart from the regular stuff with Hannibal, but that's just a small part of it)
Finished The Mansion of Happiness, finished a biography of Paul McCartney, just finished The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Excellent book. AC2 tie-in: the main subject of the book concerns Poggio Bracciolini and how he re-discovered a manuscript of Lucretius' poem On The Nature Of Things, which hugely influenced the modern view of reality. He had a son Jacopo who was involved in the Pazzi Conspiracy, for which he was hanged in 1478.
Perhaps next I'll read The Montefeltro Conspiracy, which is about.... the Pazzi Conspiracy.
i got in my hand the very last Wheel of Time book now.
this is a ten year long journey that is finally gonna reach it's end for me...until i reread it later.
this is a piece of history right now
I'm just finishing 6 x H, a collection of six sci-fi short stories by Robert Heinlein. It's not that great. The first story is like 125 pages long, over half of the book, and had an unsatisfying ending.
The one that I keep thinking about is "---All You Zombies---". You know the classic time travel paradox where a guy becomes his own ancestor? This story takes it about three steps further.
My last two books were clunkers. Now I'm enjoying a well-written novel, The Fermata by Nicholson Baker. It's an erotic sci-fi about a guy who can pause time indefinitely and move around the world in freeze frame. Instead of using this superpower to become a superhero or supervillain, he uses it to be a super-voyeur (mostly by removing women's clothes and ogling them). Yes, it's pervy but at the same time an exceptional work of literature. I checked it out from the Hawaii State Library.
The better story is how I heard about The Fermata. While stabgal was getting her hair done I picked up a copy of GQ. Salons never have magazines that interest me. Inside was a two part article by novelist and video game expert Tom Bissell. You may recognize the name from his book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. In the first part of his article, Bissell reviewed Fifty Shades of Gray and totally panned it: As a work of art, the only way it could be worse is if it ended with "Heil Hitler." His main point was that he didn't find it the least bit erotic.
In part two, Bissell recommended five erotic novels that don't compromise on prose. The Fermata caught my attention because of the sci-fi angle. By the way, in music a fermata indicates a note to be sustained indefinitely at the conductor's discretion.
I'm reading Grimm's Fairy Tales... nothing like the stories Disney sells you in the movies... fun bed time reading... knock one or two out a night without much effort.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I should check out The Fermata. The explanation of its title makes a lot of sense, and in addition to liking the sound of the premise, I like clever wordplay like that.
What I'm reading at this very moment is A Brief History of the Knights Templar by Helen Nicholson. No bonus points for guessing why I'm interested in that stuff haha
I was out sick last week and still getting over it this week. That's why I haven't been around much.
So I needed a book to read while resting in bed. My first choice was Wicked by Gregory Maguire, the one about Oz's Wicked Witch of the West. I had recently seen the Broadway Production, which was entertaining, and figured the book that started it all would have some funny parts as well. Wrong! This book is slow-paced, dramatic, and has some elements of fantasy that don't appeal to me. I tried to give it a fair chance. About 50 pages in, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) was still 1.5 years old. That's where I gave up.
The next book I grabbed was Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. This one is more my speed and it's about assassins, real ones! Vowell has been obsessed with the assassinations of U.S. Presidents for years. She travels to museums and historic sites related to presidential assassinations. In this book she covers Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. I'm not sure why she skipped Kennedy. Anyway, it's equal parts history with good insights and funny stories about her own travels. I'm enjoying this one much more than Wicked.
Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier: The Narrative of Joseph Plumb Martin (http://goo.gl/jDjIp)
This book has been republished several times, this is the version I'm reading. Some have more footnotes than others, from what I'm told, this one has none. That said, I should have splurged the extra dollar and gotten the one with footnotes, as language has changed since the 1700s.
These are the true tales from a CT soldier in the revolutionary war. He was at Valley Forge (for a bit) and at the Battle of Monmouth (I think, based on what he described, it was Monmouth anyway - never mentions that battle by name), has run ins with Putnam (who twice -- so far-- should have reprimanded the young soldier, yet he escaped), Charles Lee, the Baron von Steuben, and (I think) General Washington.
You may think the day-to-day dealings of a soldier are boring, and at times they are. But this guy really makes it fun and is highly quotable. It's a short (165 page) book, and is quite enjoyable for a non-fiction work (maybe because of AC3 maybe because I live in the area and know where he's talking about when he mentions cities, but mostly the writing style).
I can open to any page and find a memorable/funny quote:
... we were forced by our old master, Necessity, to lay down and sleep if we could, with three others of our constant companions, Fatigue, Hunger and Cold.
after a battle clearly lost, on the retreat:
We had been encouraged during the whole siege with the promise of relief. "Stand it out a little longer and we shall be relieved," had been the constant cry. The second day of our march we met with two Regiments advancing to relieve us. When asked where they were going, they said, to relieve the garrison at the fort. We informed them that the British had done that already.
I can sum up the book and the author's opinion in one passage taken from the same battle:
I was at the siege and capture of lord Cornwallis, and the hardships of that were no more to be compared with this, than the sting of a bee is to the bite of a rattlesnake. But there has been but little notice taken of it; the reason of which is, there was no Washington, Putnam, or Wayne there.
Simply put - history is rewritten by the winners. And even within the winner's history, it and its heroes are highly romanticized. There is a lot here that you won't read about in a normal history book.
He also has quite a way with words. Rather than "I ate some bad meat and it made me sick," we get...
... I had not had it long in my stomach before it began to make strong remonstrances and to manifest a great inclination to be set at liberty again. I was very willing to listen to its requests, and with eyes overflowing with tears, at parting with what I had thought to be a friend, I gave it a discharge.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I decided to come to this thread, because I don't think SMALLVILLE97 would look here.
I decided to come to this thread, because I don't think SMALLVILLE97 would look here.
???
Did I miss some drama? 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
JoeyFogey wrote:
I decided to come to this thread, because I don't think SMALLVILLE97 would look here.???
Did I miss some drama?
Nah, it was just a joke at him since he only talks about CoD and stuff.
I am currently reading The Shadow's Edge (book two in the Night Angel trilogy) for the second time to get a better familiarization with some of the characters and events. I believe the time period of the plot is around the 1400's, but that's just a complete guess. The series is basically what you'd get if you took the fellowship out of The Lord of The Rings, and replaced it with someone training to be better than Altair at assassinating and killing.
The first book is about a wetboy ("A wetboy is to an assassin as a tiger is to a kitten") named Durzo Blint who is idolized by an 11 year old street rat named Azoth, who Durzo takes under his wing to train despite his vow to never love anything again (it's hard for me to explain in short).
The story picks up quickly after that apprenticeship is formed and there is plenty of magic, violence, romance and heroism supplied in each of the three books. Brent Weeks is the author, and for someone who doesn't care for books as much as every other source of entertainment I found myself unable to put these books down. I could, but after a meal or deciding I could keep going I'd be sucked into the tale for another few hours at a time.
Very well done, well written and I'd recommend them to anyone who has an interest in The Lord of The Rings or anything of that fantastic nature. They're pretty graphic, but it all adds to the excellent atmosphere. I think The Black Prism will be my next read, as it's the only other book I have that is fantasy/science fiction (please be nice to my loose categorizing). Can't wait! Thanks for making this thread, really a great idea to get me interested in some good books, such as Assassination Vacation. Sounds good, I might take a stab at it myself. 
I'm currently reading the Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland.
The books are probably for children/teenagers (I bought them when I was about 10) but I never got round to reading all three and now that I'm nearly 19 I'm finding them a great read. I don't remember finishing the first book when I was younger but bizarrely my copies of the second and third books are well-worn so I must have moved on at some point!
Anyway, the trilogy is the diary of a thirteen-year-old boy, Arthur de Caldicot, and begins in 1199 on the border of England and Wales. Arthur's mysterious guide, Merlin, presents him with a seeing stone in which he observes snapshots of the life of the legendary King Arthur and the events within the stone mirror those in Arthur's own life. I've just started the second book, At The Crossing Places, which sees Arthur go into service as a squire, with the Fourth Crusade imminent. Arthur has not yet worked out the significance of the stone but I'm sure all will be revealed in good time. The books are written with 100 short chapters each, many of them documenting the everyday life of Arthur on his father's manor. This helps you to empathise with Arthur and makes him much more real.
Overall, I have found the Arthur trilogy to be a wonderful insight into the struggles of Medieval life, interwoven with a cleverly constructed fantasy storyline.
I am currently reading The Shadow's Edge (book two in the Night Angel trilogy) for the second time to get a better familiarization with some of the characters and events. I believe the time period of the plot is around the 1400's, but that's just a complete guess. The series is basically what you'd get if you took the fellowship out of The Lord of The Rings, and replaced it with someone training to be better than Altair at assassinating and killing.The first book is about a wetboy ("A wetboy is to an assassin as a tiger is to a kitten") named Durzo Blint who is idolized by an 11 year old street rat named Azoth, who Durzo takes under his wing to train despite his vow to never love anything again (it's hard for me to explain in short).
The story picks up quickly after that apprenticeship is formed and there is plenty of magic, violence, romance and heroism supplied in each of the three books. Brent Weeks is the author, and for someone who doesn't care for books as much as every other source of entertainment I found myself unable to put these books down. I could, but after a meal or deciding I could keep going I'd be sucked into the tale for another few hours at a time.
Very well done, well written and I'd recommend them to anyone who has an interest in The Lord of The Rings or anything of that fantastic nature. They're pretty graphic, but it all adds to the excellent atmosphere. I think The Black Prism will be my next read, as it's the only other book I have that is fantasy/science fiction (please be nice to my loose categorizing). Can't wait! Thanks for making this thread, really a great idea to get me interested in some good books, such as Assassination Vacation. Sounds good, I might take a stab at it myself.
I have the Night Angel Trilogy on my shelf right now. Slated to read after I finish the Caine's Acts of Atonement duology by Matthew Woodring Stover. The Acts of Caine books are brilliant; great mix of fantasy and sci-fi where Hari Michaelson (AKA Caine) is an Actor on a future Earth; where Actors get sent to Overworld, another universe where magic exists, and have entertaining adventures to be sold on Earth (where entertaining means lots of drama and murder). In the book, Hari's wife (another Actor) goes missing from the monitoring equipment Earth uses to track its Actors, so they send Hari to hunt her down; their reasoning being that Caine is a popular character and they can make an eventful storyline out of his search while using him to overthrow the Emperor who is beginning to suspect the truth of the Actors. And, as Caine states in the third book quite accurately, everything get more complicated once Caine gets involved.
Great adventure; extremely brutal violence and some graphic sequences, yet also some very good commentaries on destiny, choice, and self-discovery (as well as human fascination with violence and human nature). Not for the squeamish, I grant that; but Stover has a way of bringing characters to life.
I'm thinking of getting Alamut, since it has served as inspiration for AC. I know some of you have read it, what do you think? Would you recommend it?
It's great, though the characters are super naive and stuff.
Does anyone here know about book publishing and the process/can you hook me up in any way, shape, or form?
Does anyone here know about book publishing and the process/can you hook me up in any way, shape, or form?
I'm a writer too, so this question is also of interest to me. If I find anything out, Joey, I'll message you everywhere I can.
PS: I'm reading The Way of Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy)
Recently read the first 5 books of A Song of Ice and Fire. (Started in September, ended in December). It's the basis for the HBO show Game of Thrones. I generally don't like the fantasy genre due to the ridiculous magic etc in the world, but I didn't mind this one. It's not really magic/mystic-centric (if magic is even real??) and is kind of fun. It's loosely based on a fuedal/medieval society, if you know nothing about it, where different factions of people are trying to become the king. The majority of the characters don't have "plot armor" either (spoiler alert: everyone dies).
I am now working my way through the tales of Dunk and Egg (The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight) by the same author and take place in the same world about 90 years prior to the events in ASoIaF. They are much more light and jovial (and MUCH shorter - 80 pages each instead of 800+).
I don't really read that much, generally, so this has been weird for me. Up next (while I'm still on this reading kick) is the Night Angel Trilogy, and the last couple Michael Crichton books I own but haven't read: Micro, State of Fear, Travels (non-fiction) and Five Patients (non-fiction). Maybe I'll read some of his earlier stuff (released as other authors before he made a name for himself) after that... or, more likely, I'll get bored of reading and not pick up another book until the sixth installment of ASoIaF is released.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I've also read the A song of Ice and Fire novels and they're absolutely amazing. While I always was a fan of things like Lotr etc, this franchise has really captured my interest. And I've also read the the graphic novel of the first Dunk and Egg story, Hedge knight.
I would definitely recommend anyone who watches Game of Thrones to also read the books since they really expand the universe/story that is shown in the show. I'd also recommend people who haven't seen the show/read the books to start watching the show and/or read the books.
hey coonwich >> http://thehiddenblade.com/game-thrones
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Does anyone here know about book publishing and the process/can you hook me up in any way, shape, or form?
the author Brandon Sanderson. (the last 3 books of Wheel of Time, Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker and like 20 other things) has in my experience been very open with his process.
he is part of a podcast called Writing Excuses, where i guess he and some others talk about writing.
http://www.writingexcuses.com/
i haven't listened to it myself, cause i'm not a writer so i can't actually say if it's any good or not.
but maybe you can give it a try and see if any of it helps. they're only like 20 minutes a piece, and the topic they talk about is written in the title of them, so it should be easy to find specific things.
PS: I'm reading The Way of Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy)
Way of the Shadows was good; Shadow's Edge left me unsatisfied. Parts don't quite add up as well as I would like, and they had an ending twist that had no build up, no lasting character ramifications, and was therefore completely useless except to be cliche and stupid. I still have Beyond the Shadows to read, but I got sidetracked by A Brief History of Time and Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking (and probably his graduate students). Very eye-opening and interesting. I don't like some of his more religious-related conclusions, but he mostly stays unbiased throughout the two books.
So I started the Night Angel Trilogy (as per recommendations on this board) about a week ago. I'm very very early in the book.
What I don't get, and what I hope is explained at some point, is in the below spoiler tags.
We are told that Durzo is the best wetboy around.
We are taught by Durzo himself that the deaders are dead as soon as the contract is made.
Azoth is told to obey without hesitation.
But the first time we see Durzo, he's on as assassination mission, and chooses not to assassinate his target. So I wonder, why was he there if it wasn't to complete a mission? Why does he get to pick and choose which of the targets to not go through with, etc? I understand that he is reeling from Vonda, or whatever her name was, but we're told Durzo is the best around and very professional, and the first time we see him, he's failing his mission by choice. 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Brisingr, third book of the author of Eragon. I read part of it a few years ago and decided to catch up on the rest.
@2xMcStab, there will be some things explained in more depth later. I've got to start reading the second book but rest assured that there are a few huge plot twists coming your way.
@2xMcStab, there will be some things explained in more depth later. I've got to start reading the second book but rest assured that there are a few huge plot twists coming your way.
good. 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
@2xMcStab, there will be some things explained in more depth later. I've got to start reading the second book but rest assured that there are a few huge plot twists coming your way.
Book 1 did have some nice twists along the way. It was pretty good.
My comment on Book 2:
Was reading Mortal Instruments instead. Pretty good; they have some nice twists here and there. Need to get started on book 4. Too many other things got in the way.
PS: and I just noticed I already put my comment on Book 2 about 5 posts ago... oh well... just goes to show my disappointment...
Brisingr, third book of the author of Eragon. I read part of it a few years ago and decided to catch up on the rest.
Brisingr has to be my favorite of the Inheritance Trilogy-turned-Quartet. Definitely has the best flow of the series.
I picked up two new books last night.
A Dance of Cloaks (assassin, roguish stuff)
Prince of Thorns (roguish stuff)
Taking recommendations (sorry in advance for the rambling).
Most recently finished (in the last year or two):
AC: Forsaken
Night Angel Trilogy
A Song of Ice and Fire (well, the first 5 + Dunk and Egg + Princess and the Queen)
Hunger Games trilogy
The Night Angel Trilogy was interesting... but too much magic for my tastes. No interest in the works of Tolkien. Not really a huge fantasy guy in spite of everything I've read recently being square in the genre. I also have no interest in the Divergent series of books unless they are vastly superior to the movie, which had too many plot holes and/or overlooks for me to really enjoy.
I have a few more Crichton books to read in the meantime before I find something else that catches my attention. (I've almost read all of them). I like his brand of science fiction, not the space-and-aliens brand. (Although, as I say that, maybe I'll read Hitchhikers Guide).
At this point I'm thinking of taking a switch to reading some oldies-but-goodies I haven't read yet... Fahrenheit 451, 1984, etc.
Anything else that should be on my radar?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
If you haven't read Brave New World, definitely read that. It's... Very unsettling, creepy, and extremely thematically similar to Fahrenheit 451, 1984, The Matrix and Assassin's Creed (which are really all about the same thing, but told in different ways.)