What are you reading?

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Postby aliveinHim » Thu Aug 25, 2011 12:11 pm

I'm reading Holy Spirit Power by Charles Spurgeon. It's a must read for every believer. It almost brought me to tears.
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:1-7

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Postby FllMtl Novelist » Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:12 pm

Finally finished Deborah Tannen's You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Possibly the most fascinating and helpful book I've ever read. It was recommended reading for writing the opposite gender, which was why I got it in the first place, but it's been useful beyond that. Suddenly I can make sense of things guys (and occasionally women) say that used to utterly baffle me.

I could go on and on. I can't think of a single thing I disliked about this book, honestly.
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Postby the_wolfs_howl » Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:20 pm

I started reading The Body by Stephen King, though that probably wasn't very smart since I'm now in college and have no time to read anything.
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Postby Blacklight » Mon Aug 29, 2011 4:58 pm

Recently re-read Howl's Moving Castle and read The Vampire's Assistant (The second book in the Cirque du Freak series, which I wasn't as impressed by as the first. I'll go ahead and keep reading, though.)
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Postby Edward » Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:56 pm

I've started reading The Faded Sun Trilogy by CJ Cherryh.
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Postby Htom Sirveaux » Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:42 pm

Once again I've had to tap out on IT. Too much of Stephen King's intolerable writing style. Plus alongside that one, I've been reading Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule. Some 200 fewer pages and there's a lot more story going on. Much more entertaining. Goodkind seems to know that there are other ways of fleshing out your characters besides hitting the reader all at once with a full biography right down to what they had for freaking breakfast.
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Postby rocklobster » Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:49 pm

Reading Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America by Ann Coulter.
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Postby Atria35 » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:36 pm

Maze Runner- Dark stuff. And far better-written than Hunger Games imo.
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Postby Atria35 » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:36 pm

Maze Runner- Dark stuff. And far better-written than Hunger Games imo.
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Postby Makachop^^128 » Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:47 pm

been reading girls gone wise its a pretty good book so far, basically how to be a pure and wise women in God, they use a lot of verses which I like a lot in christian books :)
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Postby bigsleepj » Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:00 am

I'm currently reading Philip K Dick's Ubik. It is about the future (1992 - eek!) where humans have developed psychic abilities while others have developed anti-psychic abilities to counter this, and the two faction battle it out as private firms and crime syndicates. Problem is reality is unravelling. Or is it? As expected from the author whose works inspired the movies Minority Report, Blade Runner and The Adjustment Bureau, this book is a complete mindscrew.
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Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Fri Sep 02, 2011 7:45 pm

I've got to say Dick's stories aren't very well-written but mate, that guy has some of the most intriguing ideas and premises ever.
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Postby rocklobster » Sat Sep 03, 2011 1:29 pm

Just started This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.
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Postby bigsleepj » Sun Sep 04, 2011 11:05 am

Warrior 4 Jesus (post: 1501703) wrote:I've got to say Dick's stories aren't very well-written but mate, that guy has some of the most intriguing ideas and premises ever.


Indeed, many of his fans agree that his prose is stylistically very bad but in Ubik its adequate, at least. But it still can be pretty effective if it needs to be.
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Postby Xeno » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:05 pm

I'm reading yet another Rob Bell book, this time it's "Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile."
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Postby Edward » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:59 pm

I just finished Kesrith by CJ Cherryh, the first book of the Faded Sun Trilogy, and Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X Stork.

Now I'll start reading A Planet Called Treason (the 1979 version) by Orson Scott Card for fiction and Life in a Medieval City by Joseph and Francis Gies for non-fiction.
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Postby uc pseudonym » Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:26 am

I've done another wave of new authors, so I think I'll be going back to my favorites for a while.

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

This was a fun book. It takes real historical oddities and makes a fantasy out of them. For example, Lord Byron's journals speak of an incident where several people saw him in an entirely different country. Probably a case of multiple mistaken identities, but here it's a case of an ancient cult worshipping Anubis creating a magical copy of him in order to assassinate the king. This is also a time travel story, and though it doesn't take a particularly novel view of things, it does it well.

Od Magic by Patricia McKillip

My inclination is to call this something like a "fun little story" and I don't like how that sounds condescending. But it did feel very brief and the events take place in a relatively small window of time. While I enjoyed it, nothing really inspired interest in the world or other books by the author.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

A rarely addressed advantage of ebooks: no one can see that you're reading a book with a shirtless man on the cover. This book very much wants to pull in a paranormal romance crowd, but aside from a few sections it was actually an interesting urban fantasy. If the series gets into some of the potentially interested backstory, I might follow it.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Yes, there are werewolves and vampires, but the main character is a shapeshifting coyote from American Indian mythology. Some elements of the world are like things you've seen before (which may or may not be a good thing depending on your perspective) but many are a little different than usual. I wasn't particularly interested by the werewolves, but if this author's other books focus on other aspects (like the Grey Lords) then I want to keep reading.

Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell

I didn't expect this to be a standalone book, but the pacing increased greatly in the last third of the book. That cut short a number of things I thought might have been interesting.
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Postby Atria35 » Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:38 am

uc pseudonym (post: 1502654) wrote:City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

A rarely addressed advantage of ebooks: no one can see that you're reading a book with a shirtless man on the cover. This book very much wants to pull in a paranormal romance crowd, but aside from a few sections it was actually an interesting urban fantasy. If the series gets into some of the potentially interested backstory, I might follow it.


I ended up disliking this series because I read the sequel/prequel first, and discovered it's the exact same story (characters and all!) except set in a different time period.
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Postby bigsleepj » Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:44 am

uc pseudonym (post: 1502654) wrote:Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell

I didn't expect this to be a standalone book, but the pacing increased greatly in the last third of the book. That cut short a number of things I thought might have been interesting.


I read this book and rather liked it. Alas, bluntly ending stories is a common failing with Gemmell.
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Postby Kaori » Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:26 am

uc pseudonym (post: 1502654) wrote:Od Magic by Patricia McKillip

My inclination is to call this something like a "fun little story" and I don't like how that sounds condescending. But it did feel very brief and the events take place in a relatively small window of time. While I enjoyed it, nothing really inspired interest in the world or other books by the author.

I’]
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld[/I] is also somewhat interesting ideologically in that it takes a serious look at the consequences of violence and revenge-taking. Romance is a major part of the plot, though, whereas IIRC the romance present in the Riddle-Master Trilogy was much more low-key, so if you ever decide for some reason to give McKillip a second chance, I would suggest the Riddle-Master Trilogy.
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Postby mysngoeshere56 » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:17 pm

Finished reading the second Artemis Fowl book last night! :)
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Postby Atria35 » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:37 am

Started on both Ready Player One and Dragons of the Autumn Twilight. Ready Player One seems to be super-popular, and I can see the appeal. It's pretty interesting. Definitely a sci-fi book, so I have to disqualify it from my BotM club (we do fantasy, so yeah). Dragons... off to a good start! I'm very fond of epic fantasy, so this tickles that fancy.
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Postby the_wolfs_howl » Sat Sep 10, 2011 9:58 am

The Lost World of Genesis One by John H. Walton, a look at the creation story from a different perspective than the usual ones you hear about. In short, Walton says that creation wasn't about creating material things at all (which is what we usually think of when it comes to creation); God was creating functions - for example, the account is telling how God created time rather than the sun. That's not to say that He didn't create the material; that's just not what Genesis 1 is talking about.

I have to say, this book completely blew my mind. I'd never thought about creation like this, but after reading all his explanations, I think I'm sold on this view now. It has a lot fewer holes than all the other explanations of the chapter.
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Postby A_Yellow_Dress » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:05 am

The Knife of Never Letting Go. My cousin told me to read it, because he hates the ending. He likes the rest of it, though, so I told him it couldn't be that bad of a finish.

I just started it.
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Postby Nanao » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:57 am

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. This is one of my all time favourite books. I love how Scott works with words, both in description and in the conversations of the characters. Reading it aloud with my sister.

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie. Still working on getting through all of her books. This one is a Hercule Poirot.
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Postby FllMtl Novelist » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:19 pm

I've finished Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight, both by Terry Pratchett.

Both were really, really good. And funny. And Tiffany was awesome, as always. The ending of I Shall Wear Midnight made me absurdly happy. (I started shipping those two about halfway through the book. XD) I really hope Pratchett keeps writing Tiffany Aching books, but at the same time this would make a solid conclusion to the series, so I'm conflicted I guess.

I should go read some of his other stuff. >_>
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Postby Atria35 » Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:13 pm

FllMtl Novelist (post: 1503436) wrote:I've finished Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight, both by Terry Pratchett.

Both were really, really good. And funny. And Tiffany was awesome, as always. The ending of I Shall Wear Midnight made me absurdly happy. (I started shipping those two about halfway through the book. XD) I really hope Pratchett keeps writing Tiffany Aching books, but at the same time this would make a solid conclusion to the series, so I'm conflicted I guess.


He probably won't be writing any more Diskworld after the next book in the series, because he has alzheimers. And he doesn't want the quality of his work to decline.
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Postby FllMtl Novelist » Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:39 pm

Atria35 (post: 1503451) wrote:He probably won't be writing any more Diskworld after the next book in the series, because he has alzheimers. And he doesn't want the quality of his work to decline.

Oh, I didn't realize! D8 I'm very sorry to hear that.
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Postby rocklobster » Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:14 am

Started Throne of Fire on Saturday.
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Postby GeneD » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:22 am

I am about half way through The Sword of Albion by Mark Chadbourn. It took me a while to really get into it but it's not bad so far.
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