The HFC Book Club! Book Discussion Thread!

Hey all, I thought it would be fun to have a little book club thread where we can discuss what we are reading, recommend things to each other, post reviews, etc.

I'll start!

I am currently rereading The Silmarillion, I got interested in Middle Earth again by playing LOTRO with HFC, but I could not find my LOTR books I think they are in storage or something. Next, I think I am going to read one of Charlaine Harris Vampire books, as I am addicted to HBO's True Blood series. I am not ussually a mystery fan, but I do like all the Anne Rice books and True Blood, so hopefully I will like Harris's series.

So, what are you all reading?

I have several books on the go at the moment, including 1776, Paradise Lost, Brisingr and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I highly recommend all of them as they are all great books, although some of them are rather, er... tedious to get through.

Trust me, You will LOVE Charlaine's books since the show is based off of them. The show sticks pretty closely to the book storyline so you won't be disappointed.

There are 7 books in the Sookie Stackhouse collection. Enjoy.


Oh, and just to throw this in, I am also reading War & Peace for the 3rd time. I love that book, it's amazing

I had to read 1776 (I'm assuming the tedious one) when I was in college. (I have a history degree) Great read. I just finished The Story of Edgar Sawtell. Great book although I was disappointed in the ending. Also recently finished The Dark Tower series by King. Good series although I did find some of the volumes a bit self indulgent on King's part, specifically the last two. I'm also reading The Forever Bright...can't remember the author, and so far it's an interesting read. Fiction about a little girl who is abducted and the perspectives of all parties involved, including the abductor.

Not a huge sci-fi or fantasy fan, although many of the King and Koontz books I read certainly qualify. For my money The Shining by far King's best.



Rave (aka Spud)

I most recently read "At the Earth's Core" by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Age of Conan had recently inspired me to go back and consume a lot of Robert E. Howard's stories, which in turn led me to some other "pulp" era stuff, including Burroughs'. I had not realized that "At the Earth's Core" is thought to be a heavy influence on H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" (thanks Wikipedia!). Lovecraft is another favorite writer of mine.

I tried starting a thread like this a week or so ago and I was banished to the "watering hole" as I was told this was not the right place for this type of discussion.

You crazy rebels!

This was my original post and one I will add to this thread:

\Howdy All,

My wife posted her app recently and had a good but of
book/lit details that seemed to attract the attention of some like
minded folks. And this gave me an idea to have a small humble thread to
discuss books, mostly because I read what I consider a pretty good one
recently.

Last week while away on business I picked up The Road
by Cormac McCarthy at the airport and had a tough time putting it down
until I finished it. It is a bleak book thematically and tonally. I was
most impressed with the style in which it was written. Very "show don't
tell". The two main characters are never given names but are man and
boy (or some variation there of), dialogue is embedded into the prose
without traditional punctuation, and the pacing is at times languid and
at times frantic.

I don't want to put out any spoilers at all
but my main comment would be this. If you are a father this book will
likely tear you up. The toilsome road the father travels in this book
to care and protect his son makes a persons real life "sacrifices" seem
quite small and to me were a small inspiration.

Anyone read this? Anyone have a book or novel they would like to recommend?

Peace

Andway wrote:Trust me, You will LOVE Charlaine's books since the show is based off of them. The show sticks pretty closely to the book storyline so you won't be disappointed.

There are 7 books in the Sookie Stackhouse collection. Enjoy.


Oh, and just to throw this in, I am also reading War & Peace for the 3rd time. I love that book, it's amazing

Wait what?

Really? How did I not know this? I have been dying for a good series to read.

Running off to google, thanks!

I didn't realize that True Blood was based off of a series of books. I'm really like the HBO series and I like vampire books so I'll have to check these out.

As far as what I'm currently reading I'm afraid it's not as interesting as the rest of you. I have become a bit of a Star Wars geek and have been reading the Star Wars novels for quite a while now.

Alanras wrote:I have become a bit of a Star Wars geek and have been reading the Star Wars novels for quite a while now.

A bit!!!???? Excuse me!

Sorry about that Sin! I didn't realize that nobody would post there! From now on I will use more discretion in my banishings .

Annewing wrote:

Alanras wrote:I have become a bit of a Star Wars geek and have been reading the Star Wars novels for quite a while now.

A bit!!!???? Excuse me!

lmao...Uhoh.

Call him out Anne..Call him out.


Oh and yeah, the series is based off of her series. 5min after I watched the 1st episode I looked online and researched the show finding out it was based off of books. I religiously watch the show every Sunday at 9pm (and sometimes make Kahan so I have someone to talk about it with) and i'm dying to get the full series. I read a little bit online and..yeah..It's really making me want more even if I am watching the show.

Andway wrote:...I religiously watch the show every Sunday at 9pm (and sometimes make Kahan so I have someone to talk about it with) and i'm dying to get the full series...

Religiously doesn't even begin to describe it. Good luck getting a word out of her till the show is over and done with. And yeah, you stoped "making" me watch after the first show.

I have picked up and am just finishing the last of the books Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson wrote to finish off the Dune series. They've also wrote several prequel books explaining the events leading up to the Butlerian Jihad and three prequels to Dune itself. Very entertaining and fill out the history and storyline of the original books very well.

Balamac wrote:Sorry about that Sin! I didn't realize that nobody would post there! From now on I will use more discretion in my banishings .

No worries mate, someone has to keep us in line!

In regards to the general "True Bloodiness" going on. I concur, this is the show I look forward to every week. I tried to get my wife to watch it when it first came on but I think she thought it was going to be all blood and guts. Granted they are there but it's a character show, and those are my favorites.

If anyone has yet to check this out I do highly recommend it.

I am glad to hear I am not the only True Blood fan! I am not too surprised though, I just hope it stays around a while. Seems like all the shows I like on HBO go the way of the dodo fast (ie Carnival and John from Cininatti). This is definitely my wife and I's next series of books then. Generally, she starts the series because she can finish the first book in a week, then she finishes the series before I am done with book 1 (I am a slow reader).

I have picked up and am just finishing the last of the books Brian
Herbert and Kevin Anderson wrote to finish off the Dune series

I need this. I hope it is good. I read the prequels, but they where only so so IMO. I only was able to keep reading them because of my love of the Dune Universe.

Balamac wrote:Sorry about that Sin! I didn't realize that nobody would post there! From now on I will use more discretion in my banishings .

I almost posted in OT, but chose here because of the traffic, and because I do not see a reason why it should not be public. In fact, maybe someone who happens upon the site via a game forum will read this thread and learn more about us and our likes/dislikes and want to join us all the more. Books and authors are often mentioned in apps as well.

I didn't know Koontz wrote a frankenstein series....I might have to check that out. I've read just about everything else by him.


Rayve (aka Spudd)

Ok so I recently read Dean Koontz's Frankenstein:
Prodigy Son a few days ago (only took me 2 days to read..ohh yeah) and
i'm planning on buying the 2nd book this evening. I was wondering if
anyone else is reading this series. I know the 3rd book won't be out
until around Dec 1st, but...Was just curious if anyone else is finding
them as interesting as I am.

I read the first Frankenstein book from Koontz. I need to get the other ones. I have always found the Koontz books to be hit or miss, some I like, some are just written way to fast. I started his series about the guy who is alergic to sunlight, which was good, I hear that series is worth finishing so I may read more of it as well.

They made a TV movie for the Koontz Frankenstein as well, I think it was on Sci-Fi channel, but not sure.

Yeah he originally meant for the Frankenstein books to be a show on USA Network. However the network and the producers were rewriting it and screwing with it so Koontz didn't even want to have anything to do with it, so he took is script and turned it into a 3 book series.


And I know how you feel about his books, you're right..they are either hit or miss, but I find a lot more hits than misses. He's my ultimate favorite author.

Just finished Duma Key by S. King.

I got at an airport on business (that's my excuse see), pretty bland and not worthy of being read. I don't really know why I actually finished it. I used to like him (The Stand) but he seems to have lost me on the "new" Dark Tower books, everything has been bland and boring since.

I think I will get around to picking up the First Sookie book tonight.

Damn I just got Duma Key......haven't started it yet. Oh well. I know what you mean about the Dark Tower series, some good, some bad. I liked The Cell, until the end. Boy was I annoyed. Just finished "The Bright Forever", that was pretty good oddly enough, albeit a bit disturbing.

Rayve (aka Spudd)

I highly suggest those wanting to read a great series (only 2 books are out so far) to pick up these 2 books by James Clemens:

Shadowfall


Hinterland


Great books, very interesting characters and a great world so far.

My wife enjoyed these and also read his other series:

The Banned and the Banished:
Wit'ch Fire
Wit'ch Storm
Wit'ch War
Wit'ch Gate
Wit'ch Star

I just picked up the first three Sookie Stackhouse books. They look like fast reads, so they should last my wife about a week or less, and should last me 2-3 months lol.

I am looking at the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordon too. Any opinions on that?

LeoDeSol wrote:I am looking at the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordon too. Any opinions on that?

One of the greatest fantasy series of all time comes to mind. There are a lot of people that will argue that that series is second only to Tolkein's Lord of the Rings series. It is one of my favorite series for sure. I have read through it a few times (read, every time a new book came out I read through the whole series again. lol).