I'm guilty of buying a book based on it's cover art as well. I probably never would have read the Sword of Shadows series had it not been for the great cover art from A Fortress of Grey Ice. It's hard to say though I'll often look at comparisons of books I've read to other books on amazon and then go and try to find them locally. I like to support my local bookshops

I just finished the latest work by Steven Erikson, Reaper's Gale.
If you have not read any of the Tales Of The Malazan Book of The Fallen series, I would say do so now. It's a must read for epic fantasy lovers.
Other than that I am in the middle of Shadowplay by Tad Williams, the second book of that series.
And I already have in line for my next read the latest by Sarah Ash.

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Remember to always use fresh macaroni, if the box rattles throw it away.

I was introduced to Fantasy by a friend, so he's my go to guy when I'm stuck for something new to read

I just finished the Chronicles of the Necromancer books last week and before that it was the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. Almost finished The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski and loving the witcher character.

I just finished reading "Shadowplay" by Tad Williams. Perhaps it's just me but I had a tough time getting through it. SO much going on there, I am interested in book 3 though.

Right now I'm reading "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. It is excellent! I highly recommend it.

If anyone wants to try something away from fantasy, I highly recommend Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson. There is action, romance, politics, and best of all its a true story.

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The names Diana, but you can call me Di.

I found the first Malazan book unreadable. I tried, I really did, but in the end I gave up - after two weeks effort! - and re-read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie because it's excellent. Next up is that Rothfuss book (can't wait) after which I'll try Tchaikovsky's Empire in Black and Gold, which I'm not entirely certain about but we'll have to see.

Also reading some works in Italian (or trying to!) and dipping in and out of some travel writing by Ryszard Kapuscinski as well as Cleland's Fanny Hill. I'm ADHD, what can I say!

I also have read the first bool by Erikson in the Malazan Cycle and I just couldnt get into it enought o buy the rest.

First of all its hard to tell who to root for, I didnt care about any of the characters, seriously could not care less if any or all of them died? They all seemed ingenuine and there was little to no background for them. And where in all of this does a guy get a name like Whiskey jack? It didnt make sense, its like Erikson decided "I like the name Whiskey jack and I am going to name a character that even if it makes no sense."

Second there was simply too much power displayed, Tattersail could destroy the world she seemed so powerful, but then there was this other guy who could wipe the floor with her. THen there was the big dude in the flying moon who could kick everyones butt until the old sorcerer in the tomb thingy woke up and now everyone needs to watch out at least until the big living house thingy grows to full size, and watch out for the new power that wasnt even in the book who can kick everyones butt.... at least until the next book any way.

Phedre, I just read Kushiel's Dart and I liked it very much, I want to read the rest but I screwed up and read the plot summary on wikipedia and now I know what happens so I need to wait a while so I can forget.

I had some Barnes and Noble coupons and picked up a few books that I have been meaning to read for a while. Robin Hobb's Soldier's Son first book was one and the other was Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, I just started with the Hobb book first and I gotta say she has a knack for gripping you in the first few pages. Awesome writer.

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sumigo is just an online handle, my real name is Brandon.

I'm on The Baker's Boy, then its hopefully going to be A Sword from Red Ice.

And uber excited about Heir to Sevenwaters, Juliet Marillier's new one which should be out in a few months.

If I ever get off the fantasy list, I think I'll tackle the most recent Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach.

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"It may be the kind, where, at the age of thirty you sit in some bar hating everyone who comes in looking as if he may have played football in college."

I don't know if I've mentioned this before elsewhere Sumigo, but vis-a-vis Erikson, those are exactly the same problems I had. I was anticipating something truly excellent, and was thoroughly let down. I've lent the book to two avid fantasy readers, and they both gave up on it in short order. Next, I want to see what my Dad thinks- he's the one who got me started on fantasy quite a few years ago now. Maybe he'll like it, I don't know.
Currently reading "We need to talk about Kevin", which is actually quite good, and "Watchmen" by Alan Moore. Then I have a Katherine Kerr book- about the 15th in the series lol!

how funny dumbdegenerate, I'm reading A Sword from Red Ice and will then move on to Baker's Boy. I read Cavern and Fortress about 3 yrs ago, then re-read them during the past 2 months, prior to starting Sword. Inbetween the first and second reads of Cavern and Fortress, I read Barbed Coil. I'm also on a huge break (about a yr) from Wheel of Time, right in the middle of book 7. I'll get back to that but I'm going to read JV's book of words trilogy first. Chronicles of the Necromancer sounds cool also, I may check that out as well.

D

I just finished Gail Martin's The Summoner, Chronicles of the Necromancer Book 1.

The plot is very interesting and the characters are written well. However, Ms. Martin overuses cliches and the "Higher Being" saving the main characters just in time. Even with those drawbacks, the book is worth borrowing from the library or a friend.

I'm on the second book of the series now, The Blood King. I'm about 20 pages into the book and the writing has improved from the first book.

I had the same feeling with Golden Compass. Things would just conveniently happen the whole time. You know, a twig would snap as just the right moment, and so on. Other than that it was a pretty enjoyable read though.

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The names Diana, but you can call me Di.

thanks for the heads-up on 'the chronicles of the necromancer' fastbookworm44. Its such a cool sounding title.

As for the golden compass, I couldn't put the first book down and went through it relatively quickly. I wish I could say the same for books 2 and 3, but it wasn't meant to be. perhaps they should have called it "golden compass in the nick of time". I remember when a damon was something running in the background of linux, heh. It was a decent story overall, I just wish the momentum could have been maintained throughout.

I'm a 101 pages into The Baker's Boy, Baralis' dove just found Melli and Jack! And now, I have to put the book down to go meet up with some friends, life is cruel!!! haa haa haa

After that I've got a couple of choices, as I've ordered two of the four books that JV mentioned in a recent journal entry; The Deed of Paksenarrion and Assassin's apprentice. If I had to bet my lunch money, I'd say that I'll be checking out Paks first.

Dave

Quite interesting to see the books that Robin Hobb recommends.

Here is the link

http://www.robinhobb.com/books-recommended.html

I am slogging through "son of the dragon" which is a Margaret Weis book- i am finding it difficult to get into it- the characters are not endearing and the book isn't stimulating- but i am loath to stop reading it half way through.

i am hanging out to finish it though, so i get to read my brand new copy of Wyrd Sisters by Terry "freakin' brilliant" Pratchett.