A recurring theme on here is books and eReaders. And I've also noticed that quite a few of us have the same taste in authors. I am always looking for recommendations on what to read next and so, I am a member of http://www.goodreads.com/ Here you rate books you've read and can see what others are reading/have read and hat they thought. I like it because I can link facebook friends, email addresses, etc. I thought I would share.
Overall Rating: votes
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Oh, thank you, Gypsie! I will definitely bookmark that! :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Oooh, that looks dangerous! I have too many bad habits already!
My current list of books/authors I can't get rid of -
Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series.George RR Martin's Game of Thrones series, although I'm not all the way through yet.
Paolini's Eragon series - gee, I wish I'd had publisher parents to print my first novel at 17, too. (Just don't watch the movie - baaaad!)
I've kept the 3 Vanyel novels from Mercedes Lackey. I finally let the rest I had go, although I do make sure to get them all from the library as they come out. She's got an overwhelming number of Valdemar novels and a lot of other series, all too much to store. I've started to do the same with Tanya Huff. I've only kept the 4 quarters series. The rest are all at the local library.
I have all the Pern novels from Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd, as well as the 3 Pegasus in flight novels that started off the FT&T series. I let loose all the other series because I wasn't re-reading them. She's been so prolific that I would need one whole bookcase just to keep her series if I had them all.
Harry Potter, of course. That's like having a spare pot of chicken noodle soup in the freezer for when you just need some comfort food.
Jim Butcher's Dresden files series are my favorites. Even that I've done better with uncluttering, though, by not keeping all the short story compilations he's contributed too. I'm not thrilled with the other series he writes, so I don't usually even read that one.
Rebecca Well's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Little Alters Everywhere,
I've got a series of original Perry Mason novels from my Gram's collection just because of the great graphics on the covers and the hysterically over-the-top titles. One of these days I'll actually read them.
And, of course, the entire Calvin and Hobbes Collection.
As for stray books -
Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic,
The What Not To Wear rules,
and my Gram's copy of How to Avoid Lawyers. (To put on my desk when I finish school and start working for one.)I've got several to-be-read stacks, either from paperbackswap.com or from thrift stores, but those only stay if I truly love them - most get swapped back out to the website or passed on to friends as soon as I'm done.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Bookmarked, good to see it's free.
I had a look at Librarything but it only allows you to put in a limited number of books for free.Posted 1 year ago # -
@jbeany
I've been meaning to get to the Game of Thrones series and really like the Paolini books as well. Completely agree on the movie. I was so disappointed. I've also read a lot of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
I think if we were ever to meet, we'd become fast friends just based on books you (we) like to read. I didnt even know What Not to Wear had a book! Will have to look that one up.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm checking it out as well. I'm more of a mystery/suspense reader than SF, though I love Harry Potter, and Diana Gabaldon.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm a mystery/suspense reader too. Complete collections of Dick Francis, Ngaio Marsh, Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver series, Laurie R. King, Bruce Alexander, and Elizabeth Peters' Egypt series. Among others. :-)
But I also have A LOT of Star Trek (TOS) books in my closet, all of Julian May's Pliocene Exile books + related titles, and read hundreds of SF novels in my teens & twenties. One of my great finds was an autographed first edition of "Cyborg," by Martin Caidin, in a used-book store, for a couple of bucks.
Oh, and the funny part is, I was so thrilled to find the hardcover first that I didn't even realize the thing was signed until I got it home!
Posted 1 year ago # -
@jbeany No one is done reading Game of Thrones because Martin won't finish writing the d@#*^$d series!!! (though I know what you mean.) Ugh, I'm so frustrated with him. I love the series, but it's been 5 years since the last one was published. And all my favorite characters weren't in that one!! He said that book got so long he had to break it into 2, making what was supposed to be a 6 book series 7 books. So I thought, if he's almost done writing it, and just had to break it into 2 books, the next one should come out soon. WRONG! And as awful as my memory is, I'll have to re-read them all anyway before I read the next one...if he ever publishes it.
/end rant
Posted 1 year ago # -
@ Gypsie - The What Not to Wear is from the original Brit version of the show, by Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine. They have two actually - one based on body shapes, and one about appropriate clothes for different occasions. The first, just titled What Not To Wear is fabulous for decluttering your wardrobe. They have pics to demonstrate "Worst Skirt" vs. "Best Skirt", etc, based on which figure flaw you want to hide - like big butt, no waist, short legs, etc. Snarky and funny and totally accurate.
All my favorite conversations are with my Sci-fi addicted friends!
I like and read a lot of other book genres as well, but I keep and re-read more sci-fi than anything else.
@jsights - on the bright side, I don't have to hurry and get through the rest of Martin's series!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Must-keep books:
The "Star Trek" TOS novels by Diane Duane, John M. Ford and Margaret Wander Bonanno; the Duane books were the first I bought and put on my Nook. Because I am a geek. (Said Nook has an LCARS screensaver and wallpaper, and a black silicone sleeve. It's probably hopeless.)
Quite a few books by Ursula Le Guin, particularly "Always Coming Home", my go-to book when my uncluttering gets stuck.
Mercedes Lackey's "Vows and Honor" series. I love that Tarma and Kethry come down with colds, have to replace worn-out clothing, do armor repairs and talk about things other than men, work or their Troubled Pasts.
There's . . . kind of an embarrassing amount of CJ Cherryh here. *blushing* And Terry Pratchett.
The UK editions of Alan Titchmarsh's gardening books, in hardback (gifts from friends)
Nigella Lawson's early cookbooks, especially "How To Eat" (although that's now available as an e-book and I'll definitely be getting a copy)
The Complete "Calvin and Hobbes".
Posted 1 year ago # -
If you think readers are frustrated about the pace of Martin's series, try being the ordering librarian who wants to keep her avid Sci-Fi readers happy, and is always checking and finding "oops, publication pushed back XX months" (or in one case over a year! Grrr. I know people love his books, but as someone trying to keep up, it was a nightmare. And then to keep the various series straight......
Rant over.
Love Calvin and Hobbes.
Posted 1 year ago # -
So far as comic strips go, I'll admit I'm a Far Side fan.
Posted 1 year ago # -
My 8 year old LOVES Calvin and Hobbes, he's always reading this massive volume I gave him and reading out bits to me :)
I joined goodreads a while ago, but have been too busy to look for a while, am reading that book about typefaces and it sends me to sleep really fast. I read William Boyd's latest recently ('Ordinary Thunderstorms') and thoroughly enjoyed it, one of my fave authors.
I just uncluttered all my books, donated any I thought I wouldn't read again and put the rest on new shelves in my room. There are actually very few, most new books come from the library and there aren't that many books that I want to re-read all the time. One exception is my favourite book 'Ladder of Years' by Anne Tyler, which actually really speaks to anyone uncluttering as the protagonist unclutters her life completely by leaving her family :)Posted 1 year ago # -
Agreed on stuff getting pushed back. About five years ago I just started refusing to start series until they are done and finished. There is plenty of other stuff out there to read. I also have a big issue with the INSANE decompression in most fantasy/sci-fi series, but that is another conversation for another day.
Have to agree with jbeany about the Dresden Files books. Just amazing. I am about 3 behind having been rereading the first 10 as I buy them on my Kindle. I would HIGHLY recommend it to just about any reader.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Wow, lots of sci-fi and fantasy fans here! I'm a GRR Martin fan too, also frustrated with the slowness of the series, but I'm hoping the forthcoming HBO series will distract me (and motivate him... he's gotta write enough to keep generating material for the series if it's successful).
CJ Cherryh, What Not To Wear, Harry Potter, Mercedes Lackey in common too. Wish there was more LeGuin available on Kindle. I've read a couple of short stories of hers that I liked and want to read more.
LOVE Orson Scott Card and HAD all his books in Dead Tree until I uncluttered a few which weren't my favorite series. Go me!
Just downloaded my first Diana Gabaldon on my Kindle (Outlander - it was free for a while), but I haven't been able to get into it yet. Hoping it's just a slow starter. Switched off to "A Reliable Wife" and will pick up Gabaldon again when bored. Tried a sample of Daughter of the Blood and it looks interesting enough to read the whole thing. Good to see some recommendations on here for it!
The thing about having a Kindle is that I now have an incredible backlog of reading to do! My Kindle is TOTALLY cluttered with book samples, but at least I was able to create folders for them (one each for fiction and nonfiction). I'm getting pretty good at deciding quickly whether I want to someday read the entire book, or whether a particular selection just doesn't speak to me.
I'll have to look into these Dresden Files y'all are excited about... they're available on Kindle? Sign me up!
BEST book I've EVER read? The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It's an AMAZING and true memoir.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm an sf fan but I read darker, geekier books I think. Like Iain Banks' Culture series, Charlie Stross novels, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge. But also Lois Bujold.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Kamakazi, I am interested to find out what you mean by "insane decompression". I hope you will post again about it!
Zora, I like dark books too, and I'm a total geek. I'm not familiar with the authors you mention, so I'll have to go load some more samples onto my Kindle. Fun!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Dragons of Pern books
Darkover books
Canticle for St. Leibowitz
For you Aussies: The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay!!!
Robin Hobb - The Royal Assassin (Farseer trilogy)
Again for Aussies: Shantaram
And much much morePosted 1 year ago # -
spacadet: First of all I should say I am sure many people will disagree with what I am about to say. But here it goes.
I find decompression to be a serious issue in modern fantasy series. Basically when I say decompression I mean the author has no sense of the fact that sometimes, less is more. An example I would use would be Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. I read the first few volumes and I have say they would all have been more enjoyable if they were half as long and more tightly edited. This phenomenon seems to be everywhere in fantasy/sci-fi as well, so I don't want it to sound like I am just picking on Goodkind. I think it is something that has just been building as it always seems like each author things they need that 25,000 page series of books that is their opus. Then it seems like half the time the series never ends anyway, and it just keeps going and going because the author refuses to give it any sense of finality.
I should say though since people buy them, it isn't entirely the author's fault. I just know I won't be reading many of them.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Needtocleanhouse, I love The Power of One! That's one of the keepers I have on my bookshelf!
Posted 1 year ago #
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