The 13th Age

Pet cemetery by Stephen King

By the Sword.

It's a history of dueling and fencing seen through the filter of several different cultures and time periods. Pretty interesting so far. Lots of blood and gory tales of noble gentlemen slicing each other to pieces over everything from women to peace treaties.

Right now one non-fiction and a fiction one (I will finish first the non fiction one, it is that interesting).

Non fiction:

- William Poundstone. Prisoner's Dilemma: John Von Neumann, Game Theory and the Puzzle of the Bomb. 1993.

This is an excellent approach to the game theory and the controversial figure of Von Neumann and some other scientists involved with the military during WWII and the Cold War.

Fiction:

- Peter Watts. Echopraxia. 2014

This is science fiction, or speculative fiction (SF). The sequel to Blindsight, by the same author. The reader may agree or not with many of the conclusions that the writer draws or the axioms that he holds, but at least it will make you think. The first book was a bit slow at the beginning, with a crescendo starting at the half. In this second book he tries to make up for it introducing action at the beginning, and then dividing the book in parts, each one with its own climax. In this second book, the writer draws from his experience as a biology scientist, not just about the science but about real life problems of scientists (pressure to publish, etc).

Worth it if you want a book that will make you think. If you require likeable protagonists, you may find the first book a bit hard. This is no Ursula K. Le Guin, Zenna Henderson or Clidford Simak (which I would recommend!).

[Edited to include the links].

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Finished "A Wild Sheep Chase" by Haruki Murakami.
Since i am a compulsive buyer, when the money will allow me, i have a high pile from where chose next.

Good one, follow it with the Fall of Hyperion!

Then, if you really like it, you may go on with the Endymion couplet. It does not disappoint.

Last book read was Heiress of Magic. See my full review for more, but like I said there, if somebody'd have told me what it was really about, I probably wouldn't have spared it a second thought, yet just reading it like I did... Tore me apart. One of the best written books I've ever read, but not exactly... safe to read if you respond strongly to the emotional impact.

Next should be The Cavalier Club, which I seem to have won on a Goodreads giveaway, so getting to it when it'll arrive. And after that I may finally get around to A Dance with Dragons. Kept saying I'll sit on it till the 6th will appear (and in paperback), to at least read 2 in a row, but heh, been long enough.

The star trek tng companion.

I started Children of Dune as I stated before and all I can say is it's off to a good start. Frank Herbert is still brilliant at writing briliant characters.

But that's not what I want to talk here. I also re-started reading comic books after a long time - does them count for this thread? - and searched a lot to pick some really great ones. I'm reading Groo, Concrete, Invincible, Usagi Yojimbo and... Cerebus!

Holy hell, Cerebus is deep! And I'm just starting it, but I already know it's going to be even more, a lot more.
But it's also great, genious maybe. So here's a recommendation outside books to all.

Well, maybe not all, it's very tiresome to read a single issue, but rewarding at the same time if you pull through.

A world undone by G. J. Meyer

Been on this history craving for a while, and especially WW1. Listen to The hardcore historian podcast and this book was recommended. Picked it up and i'm already in love with it, very well written.

Does anyone have a book on the Russian revolution that they can recommend? Would love to read about that after I'm finished with this one.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - Stephen King
The Consultant - Bentley Little

Stephen King must be one hell of a writer because people keep lining up for his books and reading them. In every book thread I follow he's present at least once per page.

I never read anything from him but I always wonder: why every movie/TV/Comic book adaptation from his works suck real hard.

Granted, I've never watched The Shining, which I hear is good, but then again it's Kubrick, but everything else I've seen from him was either bad or comically bad. Christine, Langoliers (ugh), Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher (uuughh), IT, the Dark Tower Comic book... all this puts me off of starting reading the guy.

I mean, it must be the producers fault, not the author.... right?

Anyway, finishing up Children of Dune. I appreciate suggestions for my next book, preferably a classic or in the fantasy/sci fi genre. It's either that or another D&D book...

You didnt like The Shining ?

I said I didn't watched it in the previous post. I know, I know, it's a must see movie, but I'm not finding time to anything besides reading and playing computer games. Books and adventure games take a lot ot time!