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About 25% through

So far, kind of boring, but in a decent way. The last two were some real "epic universe changing" shit, so what is essentially (so far) a little mini-war between colonists and corporate goons is kind of refreshing, albeit a bit slow.

I'm sure some shit will hit the fan sooner or later, but right now it's pretty ok.

 

[SamastahSukhino]

Walk in the woods - bryson

 

[valeo]

Silo/Wool trilogy; got them all for $15.

Has been great so far; though I'm scared that when the mystery has fully gone that it'll get a little boring - always the issue with these kinds of books.

 

[opticalmace]

Do all y'all like to read books in a series one after another? Or do you like to mix it up with different genres?

I just finished Asimov's Robots of Dawn and I'm unsure if I want to go straight to the next one, Robots and Empire, or some type of side diversion, like perhaps Harry Potter.

 

[Atraveller]

I'm on to The Girl on the Train now, I'm a bit busy recently and don't when I'm gonna finish it.

I just finished the first chapter of American Gods. Some guy just got swallowed whole by a woman's vagina. If that isn't an indication that I'm entering into a great book, I don't know what is.

lol

 

[macfoshizzle]

Finished the Time Scalvenger. Haven't read a lot of time travel sci fi but this one was pretty good. Just a fun book and entertaining book. Like a good summer fun movie.

Just started this.

So far very good.. My very first space opera. Didn't know which space opera to start with and I think i made a good choice.

 

[pa22word]

Taste of war by lizzie collingham


Should I feel bad if I want to go buy hearts of iron 3 after reading this book x_x

 

[Mumei]

Do all y'all like to read books in a series one after another? Or do you like to mix it up with different genres?

I just finished Asimov's Robots of Dawn and I'm unsure if I want to go straight to the next one, Robots and Empire, or some type of side diversion, like perhaps Harry Potter.

It depends on the series, really.

 

[kinoki]

Do all y'all like to read books in a series one after another? Or do you like to mix it up with different genres?

I just finished Asimov's Robots of Dawn and I'm unsure if I want to go straight to the next one, Robots and Empire, or some type of side diversion, like perhaps Harry Potter.

Usually, I prefer some kind of rotation. Right now I have the self-imposed rotation of every other book in Swedish and the other in English. Since most series I read are read in the same language that usually means that a series is given a bit of a breather. I like the chance to reflect on every book as a contained whole instead of rushing into the next one (unlike how I binge Netflix-series).

 

[Cade]

Guys I finished a novel for the first time in 40 billion years (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold). Feels.. feels good, man. Still working on The Stand and Blood Meridian but I'm gonna throw another short novel in, probably Children of Men.

 

[mu cephei]

I recently finished The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. It was really good. I thought it was even weirder than the PKD stuff I've read. It had a definite absurdist flavour imo. I thought Boas was a bit problematic, or at least the way the narrator read him was (I listened to it). But for the rest, the characterisation was pretty decent, and though the alien Salo only showed up in the final act, he/ it was great, his plight rather moving. The Martian Army was really excellent. I don't know much about Vonnegut, but I gather he was deeply affected by WWII and I think this showed, those bits were piercing.

I'm currently listening to Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. It is unfortunately a little boring. Or slow, at any rate. The characterisation is mediocre (I thought it was good in Revelation Space so this is disappointing). Reynolds is, however, excellent at toxic, manipulative familial relationships. I recall Dan Sylveste having a vile relationship with his father in Revelation Space, and in BRE, 'the cousins', Hector and Lucas, are the most obnoxious people one could have the misfortune to come across. The main characters are a bit one-note. Sunday is reckless, Jeffrey is cautious. The future world Reynolds imagines was initially unconvincing, but it's growing on me. And although the story so far is a bit silly, basically a treasure hunt across the solar system, something game-changing has just happened and hopefully things are about to kick off.

I've conked out on A Brief History of Seven Killings, I haven't read it in over a week. My excuse is I'm pooped at the moment and have a cold. What I really want to read is The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley, but if I start that I don't know if I'll ever finish Seven Killings... oh the worry.

 

[aidan]

Finished the Time Scalvenger. Haven't read a lot of time travel sci fi but this one was pretty good. Just a fun book and entertaining book. Like a good summer fun movie.

Funny you say that: it's been optioned by Michael Bay.

 

[Parmadillo Marshmallow]

Holy shit you guys, the sequel to Shantaram dropped this week. I've been waiting for this for YEARS. Seriously, holy shit:

 

[LordAmused]

An hundred pages in and it is good, very good. Much better beginning than Fall of Giants, in my opinion.

Spoiler

Maybe it's because Follett doesn't have to introduce many "new" characters as it mostly follows the same families.

I'm giving up on this one. Made it to page 315 but can't go any further. It really lacks any kind of interesting stories I think, and it's pretty predictable so far.

Going back to my favorite French Canadian author, Patrick Senecal and his new book, Faims.

 

[The Shadow]

Are you talking about those Dostoevsky Vintage covers? Because WHERE DO YOU GET THE GALL TO CALL FYODOR PRETENTIOUS!!!?!!?


Ahem, anyway, these new Vorkosigan covers are slightly better because you can't do much worse than this:

Pretty sure that second one is Dennis Quaid staring at Dennis Quaid. Shit is about to get real.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

I've been going through a bunch of Hemmingway short stories. I love reading his stuff, yet I always come away with one main thought; I will never love anything as much as that man loves Absinthe. Never.

Anyway, the stories.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro- Eh, it was alright. I love his sparse prose and dialogue, and his constant toying with a relationship built up by lies. I found it surprisingly sweet, though maybe not the best aged since this plot has been played out so many times before.

Hills like White Elephants- Kinda over my head. I tried to rush through it during my break, so maybe I just didn't really let it sit in. I'll probably give it a reread. Next, some of his older short stories.

 

[kswiston]

Bought a bunch of books from the discount section of Indigo. Ancillary Sword (which is convenient since I am reading the first book), Emperor of Thorns, Old Man's War, Northanger Abbey, Middlemarch, and Winter of the World.

They had a bunch of less popular Charles Dickins novels (no A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, or a Christmas Carol) there for $2 each, but I wasn't really sure what novels from him were worth reading.

Off of the top of my head, they at least had The Pickwick Papers, Bleak House, and Hard Times.

 

[whiterabbit]

Two thirds through What's Eating Gilbert Grape? by Peter Hedges. There's also a movie by the same name starring Johnny Depp. Good movie, good book.

 

[kswiston]

So I decided to skip the 50/50 challenge this year, because I felt like it was constricting what I chose to read (and the movie part was a chore). Looking at Goodreads, last year I read 50 books comprising of close to 18 200 pages. This year, I have so far finished 34 books, but my page count is already at 14 300. I'm not going to hit 50 novels for the year, but my page count could end up higher depending on December. I'm still reading about the same amount, which makes me think that I made the right choice. I don't have to debate starting a 700 page book because it will mess up my monthly progress.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Bought a bunch of books from the discount section of Indigo. Ancillary Sword (which is convenient since I am reading the first book), Emperor of Thorns, Old Man's War, Northanger Abbey, Middlemarch, and Winter of the World.

They had a bunch of less popular Charles Dickins novels (no A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, or a Christmas Carol) there for $2 each, but I wasn't really sure what novels from him were worth reading.

Off of the top of my head, they at least had The Pickwick Papers, Bleak House, and Hard Times.

My favorite Dickens is probably Little Dorrit. It's good, and it has enough absurdism lingering at it's edges to make the thick victorian text a little easier.

 

[Maklershed]

Bleak House is also fantastic.

 

[pa22word]

Iron wall by avi shalom and ally by Michael oren.



I honestly dont think there exists an objective evaluation of Israeli-Palestinian relations at this point, and I will take basically everything on the subject with a massive grain of salt from now on.

 

[Mumei]

So I decided to skip the 50/50 challenge this year, because I felt like it was constricting what I chose to read (and the movie part was a chore). Looking at Goodreads, last year I read 50 books comprising of close to 18 200 pages. This year, I have so far finished 34 books, but my page count is already at 14 300. I'm not going to hit 50 novels for the year, but my page count could end up higher depending on December. I'm still reading about the same amount, which makes me think that I made the right choice. I don't have to debate starting a 700 page book because it will mess up my monthly progress.

Mm. Personally, I think that having a goal of reading ~10,000 pages should be considered equivalent. Who cares whether that's divided over 20 books that average 500 pages or 50 books that average 200 pages, really?

 

[Ashes]

Finishing up Wuthering Heights. Man is this way more Gothic than I thought it'd be.
Narrator is so well spoken.

 

[Peru]

Finishing up Wuthering Heights. Man is this way more Gothic than I thought it'd be.
Narrator is so well spoken.

2nd half is in some ways the best because that's when things really get unpleasant.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

Finishing up Wuthering Heights. Man is this way more Gothic than I thought it'd be.
Narrator is so well spoken.

2nd half is in some ways the best because that's when things really get unpleasant.

love among wolves

 

[opticalmace]

Just finished this Asimov's Robots of Dawn, and I just started the first Harry Potter book.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Finishing up Wuthering Heights. Man is this way more Gothic than I thought it'd be.
Narrator is so well spoken.

I love Wuthering Heights for all the wrong reasons. I think Heathcliff is great. Every terrible ridiculous thing he does I gush over. He's just so entertaining to read. For a similar reason, I really love Rochester from Jane Eyre.

 

[Pau]

About halfway through The Knife of Never Letting Go. I'm really liking it. It's been a while since I read any YA so I didn't expect to find it so enjoyable. Also didn't expect it to be so sci-fi which is nice.

I love Wuthering Heights for all the wrong reasons. I think Heathcliff is great. Every terrible ridiculous thing he does I gush over. He's just so entertaining to read. For a similar reason, I really love Rochester from Jane Eyre.

I think if you understand that they're shitty people, then you're good. It's people who actually find the stories romantic (in the lower case r sense) that I wonder about...

It's weird though. I love the atmosphere and writing in gothic lit but it's usually so hard to care about the characters so I can't say I enjoy the actual story.

 

[Ashes]

I can't tell whether I am supposed to hate him or feel sorry for him. Is he a hero or is he a villain? I'm leaning more toward villain.

Edit: he being Heathcliff.

 

[You Know Nothing]

Just finished today. I thought I had the entire book mapped out but the way it punched me in the gut and completely flipped all of my expectations toward the end was great. Such a depressing book overall.

 

[Mumei]

Just finished today. I thought I had the entire book mapped out but the way it punched me in the gut and completely flipped all of my expectations toward the end was great. Such a depressing book overall.

Yes, I also quite enjoyed it. I never felt completely emotionally engaged with it - like I was reading it at a remove, almost - and I felt like the writing of battle scenes made it hard to track for me, or at least difficult to visualize. But it definitely has its strong points, and the ending is one of them.

 

[TimeEffect]

Hey people, I've been interested in reading short stories lately. Any recommendations?

I liked Everything that Rises must Converge. Open to any genre, philosophy/sci fi would be neat

 

[Nymerio]

Hey people, I've been interested in reading short stories lately. Any recommendations?

I liked Everything that Rises must Converge. Open to any genre, philosophy/sci fi would be neat

 

[Peru]

I can't tell whether I am supposed to hate him or feel sorry for him. Is he a hero or is he a villain? I'm leaning more toward villain.

Edit: he being Heathcliff.

Well he's doing villainous, indefensible thing. He's violent. Abusive towards women. But he's not doing it because he's born ~evil~. He's shaped by society. He was brought up in a society of bigotry. Victim of racism and verbal and physical abuse. He was taught to be an outcast, to be defensive, taught that hatred and egotism rules the world. One thing kept him sane: Cathy, a friend who took him for a human being and companion. So when society deems that relationship impossible and not even Cathy can withstand the pressure of norms and conventionality he breaks down. Nothing left to do other than to torment others as revenge. And Cathy, similarly, turns to hate because she wasn't strong enough to stand ground for what she believed in. So heroes - no, villains - no. It's just a circle of violence. It's sign of its quality that people can't decide if characters are heroes or villains, though.

 

[Maklershed]

Looking for recs for fiction to go along with a Deadwood marathon. Something set in the mid 1800s in unestablished type area in US or Canada. Doesn't have to be western but those are good.

Real class fellow that author. Only posts in the finest of threads.

 

[Aureon]

I have finally started Wheel of Time.

... Send help if i don't emerge within 4500 pages.

 

[Westlo]

Finished off Gardens of the Moon after 7 days and went straight into Deadhouse Gates

Liked it quite a bit more than its predecessor, introduced some interesting characters as well as giving a larger role to minor ones from the prior book. Deadhouse took me 10 days to get through compared to Gardens, but it was a bigger book and work has been nuts lately... Anyway I ordered the next 4 novels in the Malazan series as well as Night of Knives which I believe slots in between 5 & 6 of the main line.

While waiting for them to arrive I had a good 50 books to choose from next... and I settled on..

 

[BrokenFiction]

Anyway I ordered the next 4 novels in the Malazan series as well as Night of Knives which I believe slots in between 5 & 6 of the main line.

One of us! One of us!

Seriously, you're in for one of the greatest sequences of fantasy around. Books 2-5 of Malazan are amazing tier.

 

[Hanzou]

Finished off Gardens of the Moon after 7 days and went straight into Deadhouse Gates

Liked it quite a bit more than its predecessor, introduced some interesting characters as well as giving a larger role to minor ones from the prior book. Deadhouse took me 10 days to get through compared to Gardens, but it was a bigger book and work has been nuts lately... Anyway I ordered the next 4 novels in the Malazan series as well as Night of Knives which I believe slots in between 5 & 6 of the main line.

While waiting for them to arrive I had a good 50 books to choose from next... and I settled on..

Let us know what you think of Shadow in summer. I read it last year and thought it was OK,no strong desire to read the rest of the series.

 

[ShaneB]

Bit of a reading hiatus the past few weeks.

I'll start this shortly.

A Robot in the Garden: A Novel by Deborah Install

 

[Ashes]

Well he's doing villainous, indefensible thing. He's violent. Abusive towards women. But he's not doing it because he's born ~evil~. He's shaped by society. He was brought up in a society of bigotry. Victim of racism and verbal and physical abuse. He was taught to be an outcast, to be defensive, taught that hatred and egotism rules the world. One thing kept him sane: Cathy, a friend who took him for a human being and companion. So when society deems that relationship impossible and not even Cathy can withstand the pressure of norms and conventionality he breaks down. Nothing left to do other than to torment others as revenge. And Cathy, similarly, turns to hate because she wasn't strong enough to stand ground for what she believed in. So heroes - no, villains - no. It's just a circle of violence. It's sign of its quality that people can't decide if characters are heroes or villains, though.

Hmm. Yes.

 

[nailbombxx]

I just finished Thomas Ligotti's first short story collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, from the new Penguin Classics volume of his first two collections.

Is there anything else like it out there? Even Ligotti's early work is a mindbogglingly strange reading experience, I have trouble putting it into words. While you will often hear his name uttered in relation to Lovecraft, or Poe (those comparisons are not without merit), his work is one of a unique singular vision. Even from this first collection, this is apparent.

Now onto the contents of this collection. His horror stories are complex, strange, experimental, hallucinatory, dream-like, etc. His prose is beautifully florid, yet morbid and detached. A nihilistic view of our own reality and its own dusty, decaying towns and the cosmic horror and beauty of the realities beyond them. There is a strong metaphysical theme that pervades all of his work, even the less experimental of Ligotti's horror stories are laden with glimpses of the otherworldly. However, at this early stage Ligotti has not yet injected corporate horror into his philosophy.

Nontheless, there are some really, really strong stories in the collection, a few that I'm certain are masterpieces. The Frolic, The Chymist, Drink to Me Only With Labyrinthine Eyes, The Lost Art of Twilight and Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech to name a few. My least favorite stories of the collection are those that are more like a loose sketch of Ligotti's strange visions and complex philosophy, rather than a fascinating concept told through a well-rounded short story. Still, those more esoteric stories are worth reading for their intrigue and Ligotti's prose.

Extremely good, all things considered. I wouldn't hesitate to call it essential reading if you are big on weird horror like Lovecraft and Poe.

 

[ngower]

Like 120 pages into A Little Life and really enjoying it so far. I'm gonna have to do some work on it this week—my loan expires in two weeks. This is one I'd happily buy to finish, though.

 

[Mumei]

Piecake, thanks for the suggestion. I just suggested it for purchase at the library, since they didn't have it yet.

I'm currently reading The Sixth Extinction, which is pretty interesting popular science, though honestly not much I hadn't heard before.

Like 120 pages into A Little Life and really enjoying it so far. I'm gonna have to do some work on it this week—my loan expires in two weeks. This is one I'd happily buy to finish, though.

woo

 

[Piecake]

Piecake, thanks for the suggestion. I just suggested it for purchase at the library, since they didn't have it yet.

I'm currently reading The Sixth Extinction, which is pretty interesting popular science, though honestly not much I hadn't heard before.



woo

No problem, it seemed to be right up your alley. Plus, once you read it you can tell me how it is!

 

[AngmarsKing701]

City of Stairs Kindle version on sale for $5. Grabbed that and Tales of the Ketty Jay for $2.

Now I just gotta wade through the last of A Crucible of Souls.

 

[Cade]

City of Stairs Kindle version on sale for $5. Grabbed that and Tales of the Ketty Jay for $2.

Now I just gotta wade through the last of A Crucible of Souls.

Shit, thanks for the heads-up. Now I have to decide between COS and our book-of-the-month Ship of Fools, though.

EDIT: Actually I'm gonna finish my Kindle book and then decide. If I can stop procrastinating, dammit.

 

[Fireblend]

Not sure what happened to me today, but after leaving The Light Fantastic unattended at like 33% some months ago, I finished that and read the entirety of Mort today. The first one was sort of a pain to read through, but the second one was all sorts of amazing - absolutely loved it. Now I need more Discworld novels (other than those 2 I've read The Colour of Magic and Guards, Guards).

I'm getting the Night Vale novel tomorrow. A bit wary of that one, but we'll see how it goes.

I'd like to ask: Was Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage any good? I love Norwegian Wood, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore, but feel like Murakami's most recent books were sort of a miss for me.

I feel like I have missed a ton of great books this year and the last. Thinking of buying an e-reader soon so I can try to catch up on some of the ones I've missed. I think I'll read through the thread and see if there's anything that catches my eye. Any recent sci-fi/fantasy recommendations? Preferably stand alone.

 

[fakefaker]

Finished up Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt. It's a short read and took me a bit to get into, but once I did I couldn't stop. Now onto something epic with Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. I bought the book back in Nov. of last year so glad to be starting it.