The Great Hullabaloo: BOOKS.

[BillyG]

He's going to be in Austin doing a signing tomorrow I believe. I are sad.

Finished The Wise Man's Fear last night. Good, not quite as good as Name of the Wind, but very enjoyable. I did not care for how long he spent on Felurian, that whole section just dragged ass. Interesting cliffhanger but not an OMG moment at all.

[Nathan]

Simon Pegg wrote a book
http://www.amazon.com/Nerd-Do-Well-J...8065959&sr=8-2

[Jan]

Damn, now that´s - baddapish! - depressing news.

But I´ll promise to learn how to spell Lamora correctly until the third book comes around.

That sequence you referred absolutely floored me as well. Though the whole book is full of sequences that will knock it out of the park if done right on the big screen. I am particulary happy that the series has the best way to jump the shark in the first book already. And that is a compliment!

[Martin]

Scott Lynch suffers from depression, so I'd take my November date as "maybe". I'll wait for that kind of quality. I loved the 2nd one as well. But still, the scene at the end of the 1st book

  Spoiler: SPOILER 

when Locke stabs the badguy when he makes him believe Jean is right behind him

is one of my favorite moment in litterature. A wonderful payoff. As was the chairs bit in the 2nd book.

And Erikson delivered a 10 books series, and just finished it. With one book to go, all I can say is HOLY SHIT this is good.

[Jan]

The sequel is pretty excellent as well, indeed. I am actually dying for the third book. Amazon over here has a publishing date beginning July of this year but according to other sources it will be released in Oktober. Can you shed any light on that? Surely my local Amazon is right, if only because that would be in mere few weeks!

Maybe I´ll give the TV adaption a spin first then, when it´s gonna be released over here. According to all the buzz it delivers and then some. But I´ll keep Mr. Erikson in mind to tackle after I am through my still-to-read-shelf.

Thanks for the advice!

[Martin]

Halfway through "The Blade Itself" by Abercrombie and I have to say that it rather lives up to the hype so far. While it can´t hold a candle next to Scott Lynch´s "Locke Lamorrah"-books it is definitely a brisk and funny read with good pacing and an interesting world building.

While not being a big fantasy reader, should I give the "Game of Throne" books a chance, given the ravings about the TV-adaption and my previous stated tastes?

Look, Lamora is one of my favorite book ever (tried the sequel? Fun stuff too!).

As for Game of Thrones, I thnk the TV adaptation is superior to the book so far. Martin ain't great as a writer, but he writers great plots, and those are well transposed on screen. But overall, his books are a BIT better than the Abercrombie books (good ones as well), but I'd recommend you some Steven Erikson. He REALLY pushed the genre, like Martin did. So, GoT are good book, worth your time, but I'd try Gardens of the Moon if I was you and if you're unafraid of non standard fantasy that actually challenges you.

[Captain Russ]

Ellroy's America is a place I could see myself spending the rest of my days.

It is the perfect mix of myth, fact, and insanity.

[Captain Russ]

To say my portrait of Dudley Smith is schizophrenic is an understatement.

Especially at the end of Jazz.

EDIT: Nice choice, sir.

[Jan]

Oh, and Pete Bondurant was a long used name of mine on another board. So there is that.

[Jan]

Well, since these books all built up on each other, you must´ve had some rather integral character arcs destroyed, most notably Dudley Smith. But the books work on their own nonetheless obviously.

What I love about American Tabloid is that Ellroy took what worked in the LA Quartet and expanded it onto the grand picture of the underbelly of America´s history. The whole story is a grand, bizarre, violent and insane blend of history, facts and fiction structured vintage Ellroy. Amazing how he manages to still corporate so many characters and arcs from the LA Quartet.

In a way he´s Tolkien when it comes to world building in hard boiled crime stories.

[Captain Russ]

I didn't go in any order when I started picking up his works, as I started with the LA quartet (I started with Big Nowhere, then Dahlia, then White Jazz, then Confidential), and I felt I missed several inferences that I would have picked up had I kept to the structure of things.

So that's how I'm going about the Underworld Trilogy. I'm really excited to see how far Ellroy goes with the scenario. Frenchman Pete is my favorite of the three protagonists as of now. I suppose it is mostly because he is the most small-time of the sleazebag trio, but also it is somehow easier to slip into his side of the story with his character tropes (the bored hitman).

[Jan]

American Tabloid is Ellroys masterpiece in my opinion. And I love me some Ellroy.

A sprawling HBO series tackling that book is still the pinnacle of my geek dreams.

[Captain Russ]

Haven't really been reading much besides a few chapters here and there of American Tabloid.

Instead, I've been elbow deep in the old Walt Stanchfield books. More for research purposes than anything else, but I'd take a bullet for that man were he still alive and in immediate danger.

[Abraham Smashington]

Reading some book called Dead City (I think). I bought it cause they use the same font that the new BDR site is gonna have. Also zombies.

[BillyG]

Fucking hell, I just got through the big Felurian chunk in Wise Man's Fear. WHAT A FUCKING SLOG that portion was.