Metal Reviews

i'm bookless :( i can't find any of the pooks i'm looking for at the local stores.

they did have a lot of stuff from Orhan Pamuk. what do you guys think of "My name is red"?

I loved it. You have to dig middle-eastern writing at least a bit to understand it, though. A bit of knowledge about Islam helps as well.

Finished the first Wheel Of Time. Wow, I totally didn't see that happening.

Started The Autograph Man, by Zadie Smith.

but the story, is it engaging, does it grab you and make you want to find out who and why?

From memory, I'd say so. It's told from multiple viewpoints, so is a bit confusing at first, but it's interesting, and almost good enough to read again, I found. And I NEVER read books twice in a row. Go for it.

i stopped by the store again on sunday and.. the one copy they had of that book was gone. fucking hell!

anyway i started Watership Down while i was there, but didn't buy it.. i had heard a lot about it, but didn't have time to get past page 30.

and i tired more Kurt Vonnegut again (this time Breakfast of Champions) but i just can't get into it. shame :/

It is, and Brooks admits it. It is an outstanding series, though, and after the first book he's definitely carved his own niche. If you choose to do so, you've got a chance to read a long line of great Shannara books (just read them in order).

Are you talking about just that first book? Brooks has created an outstanding world/storyline, and his writing and characters have been great! I like how he's now incorporated his Word & Void trilogy into the Shannara series.

Yeah. Actually I read the Sword because I read the First King Of Shannara first, and I loved, didn't find it a ripoff at all.

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction at the moment, as most fiction I read seems to be pile a pile of turdage

Yeah, First King is good. The problem with Sword is that it was his first book, and he struggled with creating his world while telling a good, original story. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that I started really liking it. It was just slow. But it's his first book. You can't really use that as the benchmark.

I actually first read the Voyage of Jerle Shannar trilogy first. Probably a dumb thing to do, but I found the first book in the discount bin for $5.98 and thought it sounded great. Some stuff I didn't get, but it was still a great series. I totally recommend the rest of his stuff.

Yeah, the first part was kinda slow. My favourite character is Panamon, maybe Menion Leah... As soon as P turned up M became a lot more interesting.

And I thought I should start with the Shannara series because I really liked the three Landover books I read (For Sale, Black Unicorn, Wizard at Large)

Yeah, Landover is great. Just a good, fun read. Brooks has basically connected all his stories now. His latest book, Armageddon's Children, is about the Great Wars, what caused our world to become Shannara. It starts, though, with his Word & Void trilogy. So, if you end up reading all his Shannara books, you'd have to quit reading at Straken, and then read the Word & Void trilogy before reading Armageddon's Children—which I will be reading soon.

So basically, since the Word & Void trilogy is based in our time, as is the Landover series, he's basically connected all his books; though the Landover series has no direct connection, really.

Am I making sense?

Still Dune. I suck.

i got "Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn" (both stories in one book) and "A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court", both by Mark Twain, from my uncle's place.

i'll start today but frankly i doubt i'll like them. of course, bookless as i am atm there's nothing to lose.

I haven't read Tom Sawyer, but Huck Finn is a great piece of satire. You can take it as a kid's book, but its great for adults too. Mark Twain is oh so witty.

And Eyesore: I did only read the first book of Shannara, but that was enough for me. To each his own, eh?

yeah, so says every website and comment i read. thing is, is a 19th century american's humor enjoyable for someone like me? will i get his criticism of the time and place he lived in?

only way to find out is reading, i guess.

I think you'll be able to get it. I mean, if you want, read a quick encyclopedia article about 19th century, pre-civil war racial relations in the U.S., but the satire is pretty easy to get in Twain.

Sure. But just know that your opinion is only correct based off of that one book, not all of them.

Thats very true; I should have specified, appologies all around.

Mini-tribal!