Because they're created for the universe, or just difficult words? Because dictionaries exist.
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What are you reading? (February 2016)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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It's my first book to read through in more than a decade. I don't even really know what it's about but it seems interesting. Not sure if it can keep my attention.
No, I'm not gonna look up words every time I read. Kindle would have helped with that but I decided to go for the physical feel of a book.Because they're created for the universe, or just difficult words? Because dictionaries exist.
sparky2112
Member
Not quite mine, but you can't be faulted for this choice.
VisceralBowl
Member
Bryson mentioned this book in At Home and it sounded pretty interesting. Started it yesterday.:
I also want to read For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga but I don't think there are any digital copies or audiobooks.
I also want to read For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga but I don't think there are any digital copies or audiobooks.
I'm fully converted to Kindle so it's obviously easier for me (not that much easier thanks to the Kindle constantly highlighting sentences instead of words), but I really enjoy this. It's usually pretty easy to get the general gist of the word from the context, but it's nice for confirmation and to understand the nuances.
Guess I'm adding it to my to-read shelf.
Yes. I loved it on my Kindle Paperwhite which I unfortunately sold. It also works on iPhone but I'm not gonna read a whole book on my 5" screen heh.
Guess it was a lucky choice for my "first book".
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
I like it, but I think I'm getting a little tired of his protagonists.
I'm two books into Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin series and am enjoying it. It's well-written character-driven fantasy told from the vantage points of five people, each with admirable points and failings. Unlike a lot of fantasy with its themes of transformation (e.g., farm boy to hero) these characters remain in character, so to speak, each acting consistently according to their education, past traumas, expected social roles, physical abilities, etc. It's like a faster-paced, more streamlined, less action-oriented, not so grim take on George R.R. Martin's style. And the final book in the series comes out next month, so there's no interminable wait involved.
I had that before I sold it. I were looking forward to reading it. I haven't read any of his books anyway.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
I like it, but I think I'm getting a little tired of his protagonists.
Yay! I love this series so much. I'm reading the final volume right now and it's terrific. Excited to reach the end, but also sad to know that I won't be spending anymore time with Cithrin, Marcus, Clara, etc.
Geder, though...
Tragicomedy
Member
You can finish it in 2-3 hours and see for yourself. Strong writing in a terribly dull story that leads nowhere.
They were all so enthusiastic, you could hear it in their voices. It does seem a shame to have people who are so knowledgeable and love their subject come in, then only let them talk for half an hour or whatever, it's such a waste.
I would totally listen to a podcast of academics talking about older literature, that would be cool. I've downloaded all the 'in our time' eps on literature (and other stuff) from the archive - they rather amazingly go back to 1999! - though I haven't got round to listening to them all yet.
koopathecat
Member
Love how minty fresh those books look. Mines only stay like that for the first half hour or so of reading lol.
Great picture!
Imp the Dimp
Member
God, Mistborn is really good. Wonder if I'll ever find an author that entertains me as much as Sanderson.
Is this actually about John Lennon?
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
I like it, but I think I'm getting a little tired of his protagonists.
sparky2112
Member
I'm going to start reading this on Saturday:
It's a quick read. White people of a less-than-open mind need not apply.
Finished H is for Hawk this morning. I liked it, but at times, especially nearing the end, I found it to be a bit of a slog. I'm fully aware that English not being my native language played a part in this, as the book is filled to brim with names of birds, other wildlife, plants and trees, and too often I found myself pausing to look up (English) dictionary definitions on my e-reader. That said I really enjoyed Helen's early moments with the hawk and the progression of Mabel's training and the bond that forms between the the hawk and falconer. I also found the parables to T.H. White's training of his goshawk and the insights in his life to be interesting, though at varying degrees.
Next up: Cormac McCarthy's The Road. A book that I've tried to read twice, but somehow never managed to finish. It's been nagging at me ever since, because by all accounts it should be a perfect book for me.
Next up: Cormac McCarthy's The Road. A book that I've tried to read twice, but somehow never managed to finish. It's been nagging at me ever since, because by all accounts it should be a perfect book for me.
Maklershed
Member
Oil! by Upton Sinclair is $1.99 today. Anyone read it? And if so is it recommended?
So, thanks to this thread, i read something out of my (scifi,fantasy,thriller etc) habit.
Well. Long but good. Some moments with not so dry eyes.
The moment JB
. Also
My mind is going back to this book now even days after i have finished.
Now i don't know what to tackle next. Wan't to read something lighter but don't know if i should start one of the many Sanderson series/books (fantasy) or go back to SciFi since the last series i've read was pretty good (Expanse and before this the Revelation Space series). Would maybe prefer a single mid size book instead of a huge series.
Or maybe something to laugh (non scifi,fantasy novel)? Haven't checked the "what are you reading" threads for a while since i read way less atm (thanks to my little daughter) so i don't know what is new and hot now.
Have to check my goodreads (which is filled with stuff i saw on gaf".
Well. Long but good. Some moments with not so dry eyes.
The moment JB
imitated Jude, i was W T F and had to stop reading. I did literally say "no you didn't" out loud in the metro full of people
Caleb ...
My mind is going back to this book now even days after i have finished.
Now i don't know what to tackle next. Wan't to read something lighter but don't know if i should start one of the many Sanderson series/books (fantasy) or go back to SciFi since the last series i've read was pretty good (Expanse and before this the Revelation Space series). Would maybe prefer a single mid size book instead of a huge series.
Or maybe something to laugh (non scifi,fantasy novel)? Haven't checked the "what are you reading" threads for a while since i read way less atm (thanks to my little daughter) so i don't know what is new and hot now.
Have to check my goodreads (which is filled with stuff i saw on gaf".
whatevermort
Member
I've read it and I thought it was incredibly boring. Just tedious, and not even that brilliant in terms of language etc.
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Finished this in a single setting. Pretty heavy, but not that graphic given the subject marter. I don't know if that's Dazai's Japanese sensibilities at work or something else but it gave the work a surreal veneer. I thought Kokoro was easier to invest in.
Going back to Soseki with:
Going back to Soseki with:
Have you read the bit about the title in Japanese?
Haven't started yet. I hope that's in my Kindle edition.
If it isn't, it's just about the register it is written in; it's "Wahagai wa neko de aru" which is just a really high register of speech, befitting a cat's sense of self-importance. It's a funny little joke that doesn't really have an easy translation into English.
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
The Trouble Empire by Timothy Brook.
Dr.Horrible
Member
Just finished it last week. It really does go quick and I absolutely loved it.
Vampirolol
Member
The Pillars of the Earth: it's mt first time reading something from Follet and I'm loving it. The beginning was slow but then the book sucks you in and it's impossible to stop reading. Also fuck William Hamleigh.
Maklershed
Member
The mini-series is really good too. It's got Eddie Redmayne, Ian McShane, and Hayley Atwell.
FUBAR McDangles
Member
Had a fantastic day yesterday at Barnes and Noble, getting a bunch of books on steep sale:
Grand total of $40 for all of the above. Really excited to dive into The Dark Tower and the Stormlight Archive books.
(Hardcover)
(Hardcover)
(TPB)
(TPB)
(Hardcover)
Grand total of $40 for all of the above. Really excited to dive into The Dark Tower and the Stormlight Archive books.
That's by far Follett's best work. The sequel, World Without End, repeats a lot of the same material, apart from a new character who largely feels like he was trying to out-misery Sansa Stark.
I just finished reading Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister, the fifth of the Philip Marlowe novels. Chandler's prose is extraordinarily expressive (particularly when, as I do, you read the whole thing in Humphrey Bogart's voice), but I can never keep track of all the details in any of these novels.
Not really.
Cat's Cradle got less clever in the second half as it reached the inevitable ice-nine-induced conclusion and repeated itself. Professing that the meaning of life is meaninglessness, the only truths are lies, the only order is chaos over and over becomes less and less sapient. Damn funny though.
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl has some flaws but Brownstein is adept at writing about her feelings without anything coming off as pat. She's anxious, funny, impassioned, rash. Fun read.
Two hours ago I started I Hate The Internet by Jarret Kobek, which came out earlier this month. The tagline calls it "a useful novel against men, money, and the filth of instagram." Blew through the first quarter. It is hysterical, cynical, no-bullshit/all-bullshit. It is self-mockingly "woke," constantly deconstructing every subject mentioned to consider race, gender, class, biology, slavery, war, gentrification. Not in any way that's supposed to naively and insufferably inspire consciousness or unplugging—just in a hilariously despairing way. It's amazing.
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl has some flaws but Brownstein is adept at writing about her feelings without anything coming off as pat. She's anxious, funny, impassioned, rash. Fun read.
Two hours ago I started I Hate The Internet by Jarret Kobek, which came out earlier this month. The tagline calls it "a useful novel against men, money, and the filth of instagram." Blew through the first quarter. It is hysterical, cynical, no-bullshit/all-bullshit. It is self-mockingly "woke," constantly deconstructing every subject mentioned to consider race, gender, class, biology, slavery, war, gentrification. Not in any way that's supposed to naively and insufferably inspire consciousness or unplugging—just in a hilariously despairing way. It's amazing.
I use Goodreads quite a bit and follow a few GAFfers. There's a mostly dead NeoGAF group as well!
Tragicomedy
Member
How does social stuff work on Goodreads? I scroll through your bookshelves when I'm bored, but that's about it. Also, every single book I've ever searched for there has been marked "to-read" by Mumei. Should we make a list? Lists are fun.
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