What's Everyone Reading - September 2007 Edition

[Berin Kinsman]

Feeling my way through Chris Roberson's Paragaea. It's supposed to be a "planetary romance" in the style of Barsoom or Flash Gordon. So far, it feels like a history buff's fantasy roleplaying campaign. Two of the lead characters are a Napoleonic-era British Navy officer and a female Cosmonaut from 1964. Apparently, for no reason thus far explained, people and stuff from Earth fall into this world all the time.

There are jaguar-men and bird-men and dog-men and reptile-men and an evil cult and sorcerers and all that stock stuff. Plus, airships. It's a fluffy fun read, and good for idea mining.

[Ruminator]

I'm part way through Terry Brooks' The Elves of Cintra. So far so good.

[Hank Harwell]

Understandable Statistics

Computer Concepts

Psychology

Sigh. Textbooks are my life for a while...

[Bill V]

I'm ripping my way through the first novel of the Horus Heresy. I barely made it through one other Dan Abnett novel (it was one of the Gaunt's Ghost novels) and was left wondering why people geekd out over Mr. Abnett... yes, I know, Heresy!

With Horus Rising, all doubt has been erased. My faith in the 40K Cult is renewed although I don't know about that Terran Emperor, he seems like a shady fellow.

I'm also slowly making my way through The Last Wish Andrzej Sapkowski - aka "the Witcher Novel". I need a Solomon Kane itch that needs scratching and I can't find any Kane books for cheap or on bookmooch.

For self-improvement at work, I'm studying "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In". Easy to read and one of the better books on negotiation out there, IMO.

All Hail Bookmooch!

What's next?
* Well I got Paizo's Pathfinder #1 in the mail. I took a quick peek and I'm wondering why I haven't looked into more Paizo products before.
* I also got Laura Joh Rowland's 3rd book in the Samurai Mystery series: "The Way of the Traitor". It's been a few years since I've read the first couple of books I liked "Shinju" a lot. I had to make a concerted effort to read through "Bundori" as it was only ok. I still dream of the day when I can play a samurai detective in an game like L5R.

[Deidzoeb]

I'm on the last chapter of The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser. He does an amazing job of dredging up and exhibiting all the cliches, while consciously reminding you that they are cliches, then goes ahead with it anyway in a funny and ironic way.

"Guttering torches lit the scene as the sailors grunted and heaved and chewed quids of plug tobacco and spat and swore rich sea-oaths as they laboured, for every tarry-handed mother's son of them had learned his trade in the Jeffrey Farnol School of Historical Dialect, and could growl 'Belike' and 'Look'ee' and 'Ha -- cheerly messmates all!' in that authentic Mummerset growl which would one day keep Robert Newton in gainful employment."

The joke about Jeffrey Farnol went over my head, but I knew Robert Newton played Long John Silver, the man responsible for single-handedly establishing the stereotype that pirates say "Ar". (Unless Robert Louis Stevenson or the Disney scripter wrote the dialog that way, in which case it would be their fault.)

[MountZionRyan]

The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn, bk 2 of her Twelve Houses trilogy. I really enjoyed the first one, Mystic and Rider. IMO its rare that a book captures the ensemble nature of fantasy RPing accurately. Shinn seems to do just that.

[mrmontie]

this is cheating as I havent read the book yet, but just came back from a lecture by Ishmael Beah. He was a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone and graduated from Oberlin in 2004. His book was just published this spring.

Interesting young man and a good public speaker, which is rare in the extreme these days.

I should be purchasing it and reading it, but as previously mentioned, I can't really justify it with my bank account and the amount of books I have on the shelf unread. If you have any interest in the region or the subject matter, I'd recommend it based on the strength of his presentation.