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[Crash Station]

Got a semi-OK from Cyan to post this here.

Just released my third novel and it's by far the one I'm most proud of. If anyone's interested in psychological mystery thriller horrors, maybe give it a shot.

See it here.

Ten people wake up in a strange facility. None of them remember how they got there or why. With no way of figuring out their situation, they decide to explore the mysterious building.

A camera on the ceiling, steel-plated walls, rooms that shouldn't exist; the deeper they venture, the more confused they get. When impossible things begin to happen, the group struggles to keep their grip on reality—and their lives.

 

[ponpo]

Nihongonese edition.

 

[Green Embers]

So I just finished Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines #1) (along with books 2 and 3 in the same series). Amazon had all of them on sale the other day for cheap. I quite enjoyed them!

I think now I will try reading either Old Man's War or the Forever War, not sure which. Seems I have been in a bit of a sci-fi mood lately.

 

[Cade]

Finished the second Jack Reacher novel. I liked it better than the first.

Now onto:

While I finish up Cloud Atlas and Blood Meridian and The Stress of Her Regard and stuff. help

 

[Ashes]

I finished the 50 books challenge the other day (last book was The Man in the High Castle) and I started reading The Blade Itself, because I've had my eye on it for a while.

Only read about 10% but it's promising so far.

Congrats!

 

[O.DOGG]

Congrats!

Thank you For some reason it feels like a real achievement, I didn't really think I could do it around this time last year.

 

[whatevermort]

Hey,

getting a Kindle Paperwhite from my folks this christmas. I need to get some titles on my amazon wishlist. Some of my favorite books from this year has been Franzen's Purity, Ben Marcus The Flame Alphabet and The People in the Trees. I'm also a major history nerd, so if anyone has read something really good - no matter the period/area - please let me know (if it's on kindle store, that is). No sci-fi/fantasy pls. (sorry)

Merry XXXXX and thanks

I'm interested in the SF thing. Mainly because I'd argue that both FLAME ALPHABET and PEOPLE IN THE TREES are SFF. Based on those, I'd have recommended Mieville's EMBASSYTOWN, but that's definitely SF. So...

 

[Ashes]

Thank you For some reason it feels like a real achievement, I didn't really think I could do it around this time last year.

And here you did. Bloody well done!

--

Finished The Tale of Despereaux. I am in love with Kate DiCamillo's prose. Clear. Precise. Active.
Would that I could write half as well as she does.

Now reading: Little House in the Big Woods

 

[Ashes]

Finished Little House in the Big Woods.

About to start my 49th and last children's book of the year: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. My third DiCamillo book.

 

[Cyan]

Finished Little House in the Big Woods.

About to start my 49th and last children's book of the year: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. My third DiCamillo book.

Have you read Anne of Green Gables?

 

[Ashes]

Have you read Anne of Green Gables?

Nope. Hopefully I will have by this time next year.

Really enjoyed reading these last few weeks. Like really really enjoyed it.

 

[StrongBelwas]

I was reading my way through the dark tower series, after finishing the 4th one decides to take a break and am almost finished with The Stand.

 

[Cade]

Finished Do Androids Dream. Liked it up until once again Dick went off the rails at the end. Overall still pretty good and I want to watch blade runner and compare.

Now I'm listening to The Haunting of Hill House and it's great so far.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Finished We need to talk about Kevin. Yeah that was a tough read. Not do much for the subject but because the characters are so damn insufferable.

Spoiler

Is it bad I was wanting the dad to get killed the entire time?

 

[moojito]

I'm getting my Temeraire on!

I finished the second book earlier this week and thought I'd move onto something else to give myself a break, but I couldn't tear myself away and had to hop back on the dragon for another adventure. Great series.

For anyone not aware, it's set during the Napoleonic era where an English navy captain takes possession of a dragon egg and the dragon that pops out, so he has to leave the navy and join the aerial corps, essentially the air force which is made up of other dragons and their pilots. I always thought it sounded a bit daft, but I'm glad I gave it a go.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Finished Way of Kings and it blew my mind. I couldn't envision a book this huge being this fast a read. Read in like 25 days which is fast by my standards. Absolutely terrific.

 

[X-Frame]

Finished Way of Kings and it blew my mind. I couldn't envision a book this huge being this fast a read. Read in like 25 days which is fast by my standards. Absolutely terrific.

I ended up reading Words of Radiance in like 4 days. I think Way of Kings was 6 days to me, I basically spent any moment reading outside of work/eating/driving.

 

[Necrovex]

I ended up reading Words of Radiance in like 4 days. I think Way of Kings was 6 days to me, I basically spent any moment reading outside of work/eating/driving.

I remember reading Words of Radiance within a week and a half, maybe less. I was in love with that novel.

 

[mu cephei]

I read/ listened to several popular science books recently:
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. This is about how humans are causing a sixth mass extinction event. I enjoyed the parts about current and recent extinctions more than the ancient ones like the megafauna and other human species, which could have been argued a bit more convincingly. Next was The Age of Empathy by Frans de Waal. I enjoyed many of the accounts of studies and experiments, and even some of the anecdotes, but there was a great deal of criticism of other scientists and bizarre point-scoring going on. I love primatology and don’t really disagree with his general point, but I didn’t think this was particularly good. After this I listened to A Universe From Nothing: Why There is Something Rather Than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss, which was fantastic. It was amazingly well explained, and as well as learning new things, I actually understood a few things I’d been wondering about (how they know that Type 1a supernovas are always of the same brightness, for example). The knowledge is slipping from me already, sadly, so I really must read ‘Make it Stick’ sometime soon. Next was Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane. Much of this book was great, though some of it was quite challenging to follow (weirdly-named entities doing arcane things to each other, a bit like some SFF). Most of the chapters were a varying mix of oh wow, uh wut, hm dull, OH WOW. I liked ‘sight’ and ‘hot blood’ a lot, the evolution of sight is just endlessly fascinating, and warm blood was about dinosaurs and stuff. Unfortunately the last two chapters were not as good. ‘Consciousness’ had speculation that it might have something to do with quantum fluctuations, and amusingly he says ‘we don’t even know why there is something rather than nothing’, and I’d just read a book explaining how we do know this. I thought ‘Death’ was also a little weak, it didn’t seem balanced or convincing. I needed more physics after that, and I am currently listening to From Eternity To Here: The Quest For The Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll, which is good, though the humour is getting a bit much, and his explanations are a lot messier than the Lawrence Krauss book. But it’s really interesting as well (light cones!)

 

[Verdre]

Read two books further into Barbara Hambly's James Asher series, Magistrates of Hell and The Kindred of Darkness

I enjoy them, some of the few vampire books I do enjoy, but there's something missing from these books that I can't articulate. She's returned to a few of her series to write sequels a decade or so later and they're all missing that thing that made the originals great.

 

[Ovid]

I finished the 50 books challenge the other day (last book was The Man in the High Castle) and I started reading The Blade Itself, because I've had my eye on it for a while.

Only read about 10% but it's promising so far.

What did you think of The Man in the High Castle? I just finished reading it and thought it was an okay book.

I was expecting more because the plot sounded so interesting.

 

[Mumei]

I read/ listened to several popular science books recently:
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. This is about how humans are causing a sixth mass extinction event. I enjoyed the parts about current and recent extinctions more than the ancient ones like the megafauna and other human species, which could have been argued a bit more convincingly.

What did you find unconvincing about it? I found that stuff less interesting because I'd read about it before, so it felt like review, but I thought it made sense.

 

[legend166]

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo. What a ride. Definitely shoots right up near the top of my favourite books.

Spoilers:

Spoiler

It's funny how at the end, the one who started it all (Danglars) was the only one shown any mercy by the Count.

 

[obin_gam]

star Wars: The Force Awakens novelisation by Alan Dean Foster.
After 2 trips to the cinema I'm still not done withe the story <3

 

[O.DOGG]

What did you think of The Man in the High Castle? I just finished reading it and thought it was an okay book.

I was expecting more because the plot sounded so interesting.

I found the background idea and how it was developed -

Spoiler

the overall implications of the Axis having won the war

- fascinating. With that backdrop the stories of the characters were kind of meh, and the book kind of lost me towards the end where

Spoiler

the reader's not quite sure what's real and what's not

. In hindsight I think I shouldn't have been surprised, though. It seems every Philip K. Dick book (that I've read at least) has similar moments. Overall a good, but not great, book.

 

[Bloody_Five]

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo. What a ride. Definitely shoots right up near the top of my favourite books.

Spoilers:

Spoiler

It's funny how at the end, the one who started it all (Danglars) was the only one shown any mercy by the Count.

Glad to see some love for Alexandre Dumas.
If you enjoyed the Count, check out the Three Muskateers, it's also great.

Fun facts:
-Dumas worked with ghost writers.
He would invent characters, set up the story arc and major story beats + write some key dialogs and let the ghost writers fill up the blanks, more or less acting like a TV showrunner which is almost unheard of in literature.
-Dumas was of mixed blood, his father was of French-African descent,a "mulâtre" making him a unique case in the history of French and European literature

 

[Dead Prince]

Two horror novels I read recently that left an impression were A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay and The Ritual by Adam Neville. I will be 100% honest and say that The Ritual starts off fantastic but I found the second half of the book disappointing. The first half is pretty great, though. A Head Full of Ghosts is good throughout.

I've been on a horror kick lately so if you want more recommendations, let me know.

I'll go with a book that I've recommended and has seen some love recently on this page from other users. The Child Thief by Dan Smith.

thanks for the rec. will start after i finish the other 2 books that finally came in from amazon.

expected more killing, less sap.

about 1/3nd in. heres hoping they get to the violence soon.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

thanks for the rec. will start after i finish the other 2 books that finally came in from amazon.

expected more killing, less sap.

about 1/3nd in. heres hoping they get to the violence soon.

Yeah I read her book "Seed" and gave it 2/5. Unimpressed. I think my wife picked up another of her books but it's gathering dust (if Kindle books can do such a thing).

 

[StrongBelwas]

Quite a large portion of the book focuses on Russia's invasion of Afghanistan and the aftermath. It mostly follows Bin Laden and the formation of Al-Qaeda in the 80's and 90's.



Two horror novels I read recently that left an impression were A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay and The Ritual by Adam Neville. I will be 100% honest and say that The Ritual starts off fantastic but I found the second half of the book disappointing. The first half is pretty great, though. A Head Full of Ghosts is good throughout.

I've been on a horror kick lately so if you want more recommendations, let me know.

I read the ritual a while back and agree the first half is great the presence in the forest and just the forest itself is really oppressive and grim and great. Second half loses that a bit but still overall great book.

 

[demon]

It's several short stories. Finished IHNMAIMS last night and will plow through the book later today. What a creepy story.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Finished American Gods last night. Super fun novel; I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. The audiobook was performed by a full cast and mostly everyone did a stellar job. Highly recommended.

My next audiobook will be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Narrated by Stephen Fry, so I know it's gonna be done well. I've heard a lot about this novel.

 

[ShaneB]

star Wars: The Force Awakens novelisation by Alan Dean Foster.
After 2 trips to the cinema I'm still not done withe the story <3

Likely what I'll be starting shortly as well. Should be a quick read. Figure I can't see the movie again for 2 weeks I might as well read the book.

thanks for the rec. will start after i finish the other 2 books that finally came in from amazon.

Sounds good, hope you enjoy it!

 

[moojito]

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo. What a ride. Definitely shoots right up near the top of my favourite books.

Spoilers:

Spoiler

It's funny how at the end, the one who started it all (Danglars) was the only one shown any mercy by the Count.

I started reading this book, but found it full of strained conversation which read like a really bad translation. It was like "Hi John, how are you today?" "Oh, hi Bob, I am well, how are you?" "I am fine thank you. What lovely weather we have today!" "Why yes, it is very sunny." and so on

Not sure if that describes it well, but it was really impossible to get through. Does it get better, or was this just me, and something you/other people who have read this never experienced?

 

[Saphirax]

I started reading this book, but found it full of strained conversation which read like a really bad translation. It was like "Hi John, how are you today?" "Oh, hi Bob, I am well, how are you?" "I am fine thank you. What lovely weather we have today!" "Why yes, it is very sunny." and so on

Not sure if that describes it well, but it was really impossible to get through. Does it get better, or was this just me, and something you/other people who have read this never experienced?

It probably was due to the bad translation. You'll want to read the Robin Buss edition.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140449264/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[legend166]

Yeah, I read the Robin Buss translation. Obviously I've got nothing to compare it to but it was very easy to read after you get used to the style.

 

[mu cephei]

What did you find unconvincing about it? I found that stuff less interesting because I'd read about it before, so it felt like review, but I thought it made sense.

I thought it made sense, but I wanted more information, or for the information to be better tied into the argument. The brief megafauna section raised a big point in that humans have been causing extinctions for a long time, and I thought it warranted more attention than it got. The Neanderthal section was fine on general information, but a bit short on evidence and mechanisms, offering little more than ‘wherever modern humans went, Neanderthals died out’. General patterns weren't enough of an argument.

 

[besada]

Really interesting look at the clusterfuck that was the CPA in Iraq.

Complex story about living on the moon. Multiracial/multicultural cast, including heavy presences from Brazil, India, and Russia. Every breath is counted, each drop of water puts you deeper in debt.

 

[David H Wong]

I'm only about 20% into it, but enjoying it so far. Very different from John dies at the end, but still has that recognizable David Wong style to it.

About half way through this but I'm really not feeling it

 

[Piecake]

Fantastic book. I would highly recommend that everyone read it.

 

[X-Frame]

A couple chapters into City of Stairs already and I'm already quite hooked!

 

[Maklershed]

I started reading this book, but found it full of strained conversation which read like a really bad translation. It was like "Hi John, how are you today?" "Oh, hi Bob, I am well, how are you?" "I am fine thank you. What lovely weather we have today!"

Oh hi Mark!

 

[tintin1029]

I just finished Ghost/Aliens after months of leaving it

Fantastic Book.

As soon as I have time, I'm gonna start reading Knee-Deep in the Dead

 

[Ikuu]

About 25% through, not feeling it as much as the first one.

 

[Auctopus]

Was in a fanasty mood this Christmas, so decided to read the Throne of Glass series.

Just finished the 1st Installment...

Liked it for the most part but hated the YA trope that Celeana had to be this modest book nerd/piano genius. It gets tiresome having to read about the 5th teenage female protagonist who's in a love triangle but doesn't believe in herself. I know that's a little true to life but it's all written in the same way.

Anyway, moving on to...

Also, finishing off...

 

[Ovid]

I've had this on my bookshelf for a while and decided to start reading it again. It's close to ten years old but a lot the information is still relevant. I'm really enjoying it.

Fantastic book. I would highly recommend that everyone read it.

I remember you recommended the book, "Make It Stick". I haven't read it yet but it sounds like an interesting read now that I'm back in school.

I'll take a look at this one too.

 

[Piecake]

I've had this on my bookshelf for a while and decided to start reading it again. It's close to ten years old but a lot the information is still relevant. I'm really enjoying it.

I remember you recommended the book, "Make It Stick". I haven't read it yet but it sounds like an interesting read now that I'm back in school.

I'll take a look at this one too.

Making it Stick actually has a chapter on Mindset, so if you find that chapter interesting and it resonates with you then I would definitely check out Mindset.

 

[Mifune]

I just finished Stoner by John Williams, and GAF as well as everyone else who raved about it is right. What a stunning book from beginning to end. So many times while reading I got choked up for reasons I can't even explain. An incredibly poignant work.

 

[Ovid]

Making it Stick actually has a chapter on Mindset, so if you find that chapter interesting and it resonates with you then I would definitely check out Mindset.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Maklershed]

I was gonna do City of Stairs next to see what all the hoopla is about but I've been watching Childhood's End on SyFy and while interesting it feels like tons of plot is being skipped so I'm thinking I might read that to see what the show is missing.

 

[Cade]

About half way through this but I'm really not feeling it

David H Wong isn't feeling a book by David Wong?

Boy am I confused right now.


Cloud Atlas is losing me a bit. I don't really care about

Spoiler

clones.