What are you reading? (November 2015)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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My girlfriend does a weekly segment on the radio where she'll pick a book.
This was last week's book. I finished it yesterday and it was fantastic.
Finished off Hobb's Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy, #2). Liked it, probably around the same level as the first novel, but it was a bit frustrating... a bit fillerish and slow to start.... will get around to finishing the last novel in the Farseer Trilogy sometime soon...
Now I'm reading Memories of Ice (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3), about 220 pages in and I'm really enjoying it so far, a much more engrossing start compared to the prior two novels. Can't wait to see what happens next, in this novel and beyond.
After I finish this up I'll probably jump straight into Malazan #4, House of Chains. If I do side track from Malazan I'll probably go with Red Rising.
Now I'm reading Memories of Ice (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3), about 220 pages in and I'm really enjoying it so far, a much more engrossing start compared to the prior two novels. Can't wait to see what happens next, in this novel and beyond.
After I finish this up I'll probably jump straight into Malazan #4, House of Chains. If I do side track from Malazan I'll probably go with Red Rising.
Done. I will hold Mumei responsible if I don't love it. Spent a whole 60 rands on it!
I moved onto Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell. It makes a nice break when Seven Killings kills me.
I'm totally in love with it. It's about a war against a previously unknown alien species when the humans have had hundreds of years of peace and no-one has any experience with fighting a war. Most of the action takes place on the bridge of a warship, so you get a lot of back and forth between the different stations and the captain giving orders. If you've seen Battlestar Galactica you could compare it the bridge there. They're very quick reads, so I'd suggest you try the first one and see if you like it.
kinoki
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
About half-way into The Sound and the Fury now. Not quite as gripping as As I Lay Dying but still a good piece of writing in its own right. Makes me want to read more of Faulkner.
Not reading Endymion & The Rise of Endymion to finish the series?
As for me I finished this last night
The entire series was in the kindle deals the other day for £2 a book so I picked them all up, should see me though the month.
Maklershed
Member
Are you shitting me? Damnit. I love the Bosch series. I'm up to book 5 now. I would've loved to snatch up a bunch for cheap. Although maybe they weren't on sale in the US Amazon? I'd really enjoy the series even more if they reset the clock on the timeline. I particularly enjoyed it more in the 80s when the tech was lower and there were no cell phones. Book 5 he seems to be in the mid 90s now.
Unrelated: Summer of the Apocalypse is really good. Anyone looking to get yourself ready for Fallout next week, I recommend this. The environment isn't similar but its just a good story split into two time frames: right when the apocalypse (plague) occurs and 50 years later.
That answers what I was wondering about the series, I wasn't sure if all the books were set in the 80's or if the timeline advanced over the series, really enjoying the 1980's setting so far but I'm looking forward to seeing how the author handles things as the years pass. Its also going to be interesting seeing how the Mickey Haller and Terry McCaleb spin offs tie into the Bosch series.
Man, I would love to read some articles about how Invasion of The Body Snatchers was received when it was released. It seems incredibly modern in its writing and it's genuinely funny/charming. I wasn't expecting it at all.
EDIT: And guys I finally finished The Stand! It was good. I don't like it as much as The Dark Tower stuff, but it was good. I don't understand people who don't like the ending, though.
EDIT2: I'm a moron I guess the novel is only called The Body Snatchers
EDIT3: No I guess reprints have changed the name so I'm not an idiot
EDIT: And guys I finally finished The Stand! It was good. I don't like it as much as The Dark Tower stuff, but it was good. I don't understand people who don't like the ending, though.
EDIT2: I'm a moron I guess the novel is only called The Body Snatchers
EDIT3: No I guess reprints have changed the name so I'm not an idiot
MollyWhomp
Neo Member
Reading Shogun for the fourth time. I didn't intend to, but someone gifted me the Kindle version and all of sudden I'm (checks Kindle), 8% of the way in again.
Thanks. I read the sample last night and I believe I'm in. I guess I have to buy myself some Amazon credit and once again neglect my backlog of books in German. I have found a used book store and made quite a nice haul.
Maklershed
Member
In a way its fun seeing Bosch and his partners struggle with cell phones and computers.
I enjoyed The Stand and don't much remember the ending but I remember wading through 1,000 pages and character development out the wazoo all for it to be pretty meaningless. I remember it feeling like King said, "Oh yeah and this happened. The end" and most of the main characters had little to no impact. Didn't the main villain
die before the end battle even began?
I finished reading Ilana C. Meyer's debut fantasy, Last Song Before Night on the weekend and adored pretty much every moment reading it.
On her website, Meyer lists Guy Gavriel Kay as a major influence, and it's easy to see his fingerprints all over Last Song. It doesn't quite match his subtlety, and ending is a bit rushed, but the worldbuilding, and the layered relationships between the small cast of characters, is very much in the mold of Kay. It also compares favourably to something like Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion. Meyer's just beginning her career as a novelist, but I can see big things for her in the future.
Now, I'm rereading Leviathan Wakes in preparation for writing a retrospective series on Tor.com leading into the SyFy television adaptation. It's still a lot of fun!
Dedication Through Light
Member
Oh nice the Pirate Hunters nonfiction book I read this year is in the goodreads best of the year poll.
I'm pretty sure that it will only reflect badly on you if that's the case!
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Just finished "To Kill a Mockingbird" and it was as masterful as you'd think. There's nothing beyond that to say other than if you haven't read it yet, you should.
I'm actually mad at my high school now for not having us read that. Weird.
edit: reading some one-star reviews on Goodreads and it's like...did you even bother reading the book? Or are you just pissed you were assigned it by that evil English teacher and therefore it's a bad book?
I'm actually mad at my high school now for not having us read that. Weird.
edit: reading some one-star reviews on Goodreads and it's like...did you even bother reading the book? Or are you just pissed you were assigned it by that evil English teacher and therefore it's a bad book?
Which book is this. A non fiction book about pirates?
Not a great idea.
You Know Nothing
Member
Dedication Through Light
Member
It's more like
there was no real final battle, the whole evil town just blew up
Maklershed
Member
Yeah but the main protagonist, who a lot of the story focuses on,
doesn't even make it there for that
Moving onto this next, know someone posted it before, and just sounded pretty dang interesting.
Boo by Neil Smith
Finished this earlier today. What a wonderful book it was. Wonderful characters in a great story that had me hooked. Plenty of funny moments, but some pretty heavy stuff at times as well. Only regret is that I finished it at work, so I couldn't really let it sink in and enjoy the ending. Still though, easy to recommend if it sounds interesting to you.
I'm trying to think of who you'd mean by main protagonist, but yes, essentially:
Basically four guys, including the two main dude characters leave, but one of them breaks their leg and is waylaid. The other three get there, one dies like immediately and then the pyromaniac character shows up with a bomb and everything explodes. It's anti-climactic, but it seemed in line with the themes, that humans fuck themselves over every time with bigger and better weapons, etc.
TheKaeptain
Banned
My favorite tumblr.
Maklershed
Member
Oops I meant antagonist. The one who
dies of a fever before they eve reach the final showdown.
LordAmused
Member
Going to my city library to pick up this one, it will be my first Science Fiction since Deep Storm, by Lincoln Child.
Heard great things about it, and after reading 1000+ pages bricks lately, I'm in for something on the shorter side.
Heard great things about it, and after reading 1000+ pages bricks lately, I'm in for something on the shorter side.
I lost it at the Malcolm X review.
TheOctodad
Member
Just finished the Hyoerion/Fall of Hyperion books as well. So good, loved them.
Reading East of Eden now.
Then jumping back into some Simmons.
I haven't read any fiction for ages (I get hung up on dry and boring academic theory) and I realised that I was getting stale so I bought Amis's 'Zone of Interest'.
I love MA and his writing (apart from Lionel Agbo, I don't really know what was going on there) and ZoI doesn't disappoint. Although it is about the Holocaust, it has a darkly comic-tone, as if he's aware of all the stereotypes around the Germanic teutonic master-race and he just inverts it.
The discussions around the morality of Auschwitz are intriguing at the micro-level. Were these people really so detached, was it the fact that it was their job, their duty, or was the world so ignorant of it that it appeared to be something which was so horrible as to be 'unspeakable' (as the blurb puts it).
I would recommend this book, even with its subject matter and dark inferences - if it's good enough to get me back into fiction, then that's saying something.
I love MA and his writing (apart from Lionel Agbo, I don't really know what was going on there) and ZoI doesn't disappoint. Although it is about the Holocaust, it has a darkly comic-tone, as if he's aware of all the stereotypes around the Germanic teutonic master-race and he just inverts it.
The discussions around the morality of Auschwitz are intriguing at the micro-level. Were these people really so detached, was it the fact that it was their job, their duty, or was the world so ignorant of it that it appeared to be something which was so horrible as to be 'unspeakable' (as the blurb puts it).
I would recommend this book, even with its subject matter and dark inferences - if it's good enough to get me back into fiction, then that's saying something.
Silver Arrows
Banned
Just finished reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. It's my first time reading a work of his, and it was a very fun ride, surprised at how fast I went through it. (Bought on Saturday, finished last night)
His writing style is so stream of conciousness, and it works so well, especially in scenes with two characters.
It just feels so natural, seeing a conversation ping off between two people.
One thing that I really didn't like was that it felt too much like I was reading a movie screenplay at some points, especially concerning Ed Tom's chapter opening monologues. Then again, considering that two of Cormac's 2000-era novels have been adapted for movies (Three I guess with The Councillor if you wanna include that, but that was built to be a movie by design) it makes sense. It also explains why the Coen brothers had a relatively painless experience in adapting said book into movie form.
Still, I enjoyed it, and I can't wait to read my next McCarthy novel, whenever that may be.
His writing style is so stream of conciousness, and it works so well, especially in scenes with two characters.
Anton killing Carla Jean being a fantastic example
One thing that I really didn't like was that it felt too much like I was reading a movie screenplay at some points, especially concerning Ed Tom's chapter opening monologues. Then again, considering that two of Cormac's 2000-era novels have been adapted for movies (Three I guess with The Councillor if you wanna include that, but that was built to be a movie by design) it makes sense. It also explains why the Coen brothers had a relatively painless experience in adapting said book into movie form.
Still, I enjoyed it, and I can't wait to read my next McCarthy novel, whenever that may be.
Just got to the 2nd book, which is around page 140, in Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. It took me a bit to get into, as I've been watching stuff on Netflix, but last night it clicked and did around 100 pages. My GF is sick and I don't have a life so all I do then is read haha.
Just added this to my "To Read" list!
I'm finishing up the audiobook for Lolita, narrated by Jeremy Irons. Physical books for this month are The Little Prince and (finally getting around to) The Walking Dead graphic novels.
Dedication Through Light
Member
Reread the The Lady Or The Tiger?, why are short stories like these written anymore. It just stays on the mind and makes you think of how it would end.
This I actually don't recall, and checking the synopsis nothing jumps out at me. There is a lot of strange anticlimax in The Stand but that's par for the course with King, I think.
nailbombxx
Member
Just started this, my first McCarthy novel... I can already feel the depravity seeping deep into my bones
Jag
Member
I actually rush read all the books before I started W3. It was hard as hell not to start the game before finishing the books, but it was worth it seeing the little references scattered through the game.
So I just want to say fuck "introductions" that spoil the ending of the book. The version of blood meridian I am reading has an intro of a few pages by some guy. I skipped it cause I know it can go in depth but after a it wanted to read the first paragraph of the intro cautious to stop when he talked about story. The writer then about 5 sentences in sneaks in a sentence explaining the very end like it is just a random fact contained in the book. Fuck that. His intro goes into such depths referencing passages and stuff this should be in the back of the book. Total BS
Just started this, my first McCarthy novel... I can already feel the depravity seeping deep into my bones
Bought and started reading Carol (Originally called The Price of Salt) by Patricia Highsmith. About 40 pages in and so far it is about main character Therese going through an existential crisis while be stuck in a dead end mall job. So if you hate that kind of thing this book is probably not for you, but so far it is pretty good.
Oooh. Sounds interesting, based entirely on the Bujold reference!
Not to be captain hindsight here, but I never read introductions before completing a book. Spoilers aside, why attach all that baggage before you even start?
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