vinay87

wonderful! It's okay that you didn't read it back then, I think it's far better now. All thanks to Giulia's advice about rewrites? Hey is she still around? I'll pop in to Karsa's profile and ask him then. Can I tell him you told me he may be interested? And are you still using your old email id? I'll mail it to you asap if you are! nice! Yeah that area's changed the most! I have cousins there. Yes I have heard of that series and I'm not really interested in trying those books. The writing is apparently very bad and I don't think I could stand that. I'm not exactly religious but the idea is really crazy. It's become sort of this country's go to topic, our mythology I mean. There's so many of these things around that I don't feel like trying any of them. That book became famous only due to the viral marketing gig they pulled with a video. My friends read a lot of fantasy and they abhor the guy's style. I trust their tastes enough to steer clear of it too. Yep I write mainly fantasy fiction. I've written two books of which I've polished one enough to consider publication. I'll post a summary here after asking a mod or two and if you like it i'll gladly send it to you.

(sorry about the triple posts but I'm using a very old cell phone to post this.) i'm sending it in to agents James. Finshed the second draft in fact and working on the third. Writing the second book too, though the momentum is still lacking. I'm also planning and outlining a Terry Pratchettesque novel on a University for Gods on the side. Got a lot of ideas so I'll see how it turns out.

Dear God that took me by suprise! I'm working in Hosur now though. My parents live in Jayanagar and I go to visit them frequently. Yeah the place has changed for the worse now. Not like it used to be. Where're you now?

what you read is the prologue I guess. It's 230000 words long now and completely unrecognizable. It's also different from any fantasy I've come across and falls more along the lines of mythology now. You still abstain from reading fantasy? If you or your friends want to read a different take on it, let me know. I didn't 'advertise' it here because I'm not a regular as such and I'm not sure what the rules regarding that are right now.

Yikes I'm late for this one. Heya, I'm from Bangalore. Where are you from?

I haven't read a single book since I finished Gibbon in February. I've tried picking up several books but nothing worked for me. I'm going to try sit through an entire nonfiction book, read a hundred pages every day and see if it works. The book I'm reading is called Dresden : Tuesday 13 February 1945 by Frederick Taylor.

I haven't popped in here in months. Been getting used to my new job, and life alone in a small town. I have loads of free time now, I will begin reading once more and hopefully write more as well! Both of that equal more time on this forum I'm also going to save up to buy a Kindle I can't keep buying books until I'm settled and I have enough money for a new bookshelf or the patience to set up a library in my house.

I tend to read the Wheel of Time over and over again whenever I'm going through stuff. Besides that, not much else into my reading patterns.

Had no idea JKR was writing again. Then again, I'm pretty sure I won't buy the book unless I find it second-hand.

Put the D'Artagnan Romances up for hold while I read through India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. It's an awesome read about India post 1947 which anyone remotely interested in the current situation in India should read.

I recommend My Experiments with the Truth too. I've never heard of this book though, might look into it since I'm currently reading on Indian history myself.

Completed The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. I salute the man for writing this, and I hope I can read the entire collection some time before I die. I'll try rereading this book before the year ends, it's a good month's read and I haven't really paid much attention for the last one-third of the book. The information density increases as the book ends and he jumps back and forth a lot. But it's still readable and this really could bethe greatest book on history ever written or even attempted. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the Roman Empire. Next up are the D'Artagnan Romances!

Gibbon's still going on, haven't read much in the last month or so I'm afraid. Bought a few new books, hopefully will be the last books I buy for sake of wanting to save money so I can move to another town for my next job. 1. The Nibelungenlied 2. The Song of Roland 3. Alexandre Dumas - Louise de la Valliere (Pocket hardcover! Cannot believe I found this!) 4. Alexandre Dumas - The Man in the Iron Mask (Bought a pocket hardcover!) 5. Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre (Read it before, bought it for the sweet gold embossed leather binding. Reserving it as a gift for my best friend though!) I plan on finishing Gibbon within this week and beginning the D'Artagnan Romances immediately. I was waiting to get all the books and now that I have most of them, excepting the Vicomte de Bragellone, I can begin.

buy now!!! No explanation needed

Well since the WoT is finished, (the final book is done btw, just in the prepublishing stage), there's no more reason to wait! I know I'm pitching a difficult read, but trust me, tWoT is worth it!

If there is no mention of Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time on this thread, it would be blasphemy. Do read the Wheel of Time, it is the biggest Fantasy epic out there. RJ died in 2007 before he could complete it, he left the series with the 11th book and Brandon Sanderson was called on the finish the 12th book which had to be split into 3. The 12th and 13th books are by far some of the best books in that series, and although the series did lag in the middle, the wait is definitely worth it. The 14th book is due early this November so if what you say is true about Feist, then two of the biggest fantasy writers will have ended their decade spanning career simultaneously. I only picked up Feist in November, reading through Magician, Prince of the Blood, The King's Buccaneer, the Conclave of Shadows series and the first book in the Darkwar trilogy. I have yet to read the Krondor series and the other series, which I forget the name of. Feist is definitely refreshing to read, I especially love Nakor, that little imp! By way of suggestions, I agree with the David Eddings recommendation, if you love Feist, you will adore Eddings. The series are complete and you might find it interesting to know he wrote most of it with his wife, Leigh Eddings. Both of them have passed on sadly. The Fantasy genre is headed for an entirely new generation. I'd recommend you staying away from GRR Martin since he isn't likely to finish his series in the next decade. I stopped after his fourth book and won't bother returning to the series until it is finished or Martin's dead.

Finished The Epic of Gilgamesh, this translation read like a bedtime story and was quite entertaining. It has definitely piqued my interest enough to want to buy an expanded translation some day. The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest epics to have been found, predating the Homeric epics by at least a thousand years. The story is of a king called Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, in Uruk who is oppressing the people into tutelage. The Gods make a wild man called Enkidu and the story unfolds to reveal how Enkidu is "tamed" by a prostitute's vices and how he comes to meet Gilgamesh, fighting him until he loses. Gilgamesh befriends Enkidu and together, they attack Humbaba, the god of a vast forest. Enkidu warns Gilgamesh against this but he doesn't listen to his friend's advice. The story contains a lot of Assyrian mythology, and I haven't encountered any of these names before, so it was very interesting to read. I think a complete reread will let me enjoy the story further, when I have time for it. At least only when I'm through with Gibbon, as for which I'm only about two-thirds of the way through it. It gets too tedious now, it's hard to keep track of all the Caesars who've ruled for barely a month or two. I will not stop though, this book is one of the best on history I've ever read.

Hello there! Just noticed Terry Brooks on your interest list and thought I'd pop in and talk about him. He starts out really slow and it becomes highly clichéd Tolkienesque fantasy but his later books show more promise. However, he doesn't improve much beyond a limit, I used to love his books and found them really entertaining, but once I discovered other fantasy writers I felt Brooks had a lot left to learn. As you might already know, you can start with The Sword of Shannara. His books are mostly standalone, grouped together in threes or fours. The groups tend to become continuous towards the later parts of the story and he has a few recurring characters in all of them. His "wise old man", Allanon, is really interesting but even so his novelty wears out in time. On another note, do you read much fantasy?

Folio Society Edition?! I'm really envious of you right now! But I'd recommend getting an abridged version still, it's heavy duty enough as it is. Yes, Decline is definitely enjoyable. I just finished the second part and now I'm on to the third (will begin tomorrow en route to work) I started reading Gilgamesh, skipped the introduction and went right to the text. Only 20 pages left to go — which isn't saying much, the main story is just 60 pages long mind you. I'll add a "review" of sorts as soon as I'm done.

Ouch, the Wordsworth edition supposedly lacks all the chapters. That's why this is a difficult book to purchase. The Modern Library Classics edition is the only one with all of the chapters. And it's the only one which focusses on the religious part and not the wars. I want to buy the Wordsworth edition too. Decline is worth at least 2 reads from different editions I can't stop ogling at the Poe book I hope I get to open it before it is drenched in drool. The edition of Gilgamesh I purchased is a very short version, and apparently frowned upon since the entire thing is only 130 pages long and more than half of that is the introduction. I think a book like this is best for the first read. The language is really good, very easy and sounds like a fairy tale. It's from penguin and more of a retelling than a translation by N K Sandars. I like the book, despite the reviews since I'm not Assyrian and do not want to spend my time with footnotes and outdated references to dead kings. My reason for buying Gilgamesh is to hear a good story, which is why the poem must've been composed in the first place. Also, this is a prose retelling by the way.