What Are You Currently Reading?

[Lamp Post]

I can't believe we don't have this thread, I went through all the threads looking for it.  Brought back such memories, too.  :D  Tell me if I, however, missed it.

 

So, pretty self explainatory.  What are you currently reading?  'Tis appreciated if you'd also say whether or not you'd recommend/not recommend the book, too, so everyone can expand their reading list.  :D 

 

I'm curretly reading:

 - Symphony of Ages Seires -- Elizabeth Haydon.  They're great.  I'm adoring them.

 - The Messenger -- Markus Zusak.  'Tis lovely.  Very down-to-Earth, great writing style, fast moving without too much action. 

 - The Gates -- John Connolly.  Only a few pages into it.  'Tis beyond amazing, though.  I love this author.

 

[Omega]

Just finished Good Omens.

Didn't like it.

[Contradiction]

...omgwut

[Omega]

Everyone says A lot of people say it's an amazing book, the best ever etc etc. So I started it with quite high expectations. It didn't live up to them.

It's a good book. Well written, clever. But I didn't /like/ it. Couldn't get attached to any of the characters enough to care about what happened to them.

[Contradiction]

I suppose everyone has different tastes...

Do you like other Pratchett or Gaiman work?

[Omega]

Pratchett, yes. I love Discworld, but haven't read all the books yet. Gaiman - have read some of Stardust, but nothing else.

[Contradiction]

Ooh, I recommend you read more Gaiman. Especially American Gods.

[Omega]

I'm on the wiki page right now. And am considering it when I get some time.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Now reading Hellstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert
...it's annoying, he jumps around almost as badly as Baxter did. And this is the guy who wrote Dune! Why can't anyone tell a straightforward story and properly limit the amount of time spent on flashbacks? A good story should keep with our present character, save maybe one or two critical flashbacks that assist in establishing a major plot point.

[nathan_p]

>.> In that vein, would it be kosher to tell two stories side-by-side -- that is, even chapters are one, odd chapters are the other story -- because of thematic similarities / to bring the plot to a conclusion?

[EndOfTheEarth]

There's no issue with parallel stories, which is to say, one directly and immediately relates to the other without the characters actually meeting until the end, or performing identical accomplishments throughout without one story having anything to do with the other. My issue sits with stories that jump around in their chronology without convenient rhyme or reason. Baxter's Voyage, for example, incessantly jumped back and forth between the actual Mars mission, and the history of its development, all the way until the end, where the spacecraft is simultaneously taking off on Earth and landing on Mars, and because of this the comfort of continuity and character familiarity was sabotaged.

So, if I'm interpreting you correctly, so as long as the connection is obvious, you should be OK. However, if you're jumping back and forth between chronologies of the same plot to do so, then it's wrong.

[nathan_p]

They take place about 20 years apart, and feature a cast of familiar characters in one plotline versus some promoted minor characters in the other. Essentially the point of doing this is to show the similarities of current events versus what has happened in the past (a violent revolution cast against a bloody, unnecessary war), as well as also showing the psychological background of a few major characters.

[EndOfTheEarth]

And how much do these characters play a role in each other's chronologies?