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What are you reading? (April 2014)

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thomaser

Member
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Haven't read much since last summer because of school, but I have a couple of weeks free before exams and just started The Leopard by Tomasi di Lampedusa. Started it now because I was just in Sicily, and this is probably the most famous book written by a Sicilian.
 
I have been working on Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance and finding it very bland and sterile.

Also started a reread of A Song of Ice and Fire and man, the two fantasy series just don't compare...I'll have to slog through WoR before reading any more ASoIaF if I have any hope of finishing it.

They are very different styles.

Honestly... I cannot stand ASOIAF, while I love WoR.
 

enemyairship

Neo Member
fPq04w

After seeing a post by a fellow GAFfer about how the moviegoers won't understand the story, I decided to pick this up. Ended up seeing the movie before it arrive in the mail, but hopefully I will enjoy the book more picutre Scarlett Johansson.
 
Saw this online. Know there are more than a few Vonnegut fans in here sooo...

I want one!

I have been working on Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance and finding it very bland and sterile.

Also started a reread of A Song of Ice and Fire and man, the two fantasy series just don't compare...I'll have to slog through WoR before reading any more ASoIaF if I have any hope of finishing it.

You are the bizarro version of me. I put down the GRRM saga two hundred pages into the first book. Love the show, hate what I read.

I loved The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance.
 
Inherent_vice_cover.jpg
TheDouble.jpg

(The Double)

both are pretty slow going so far

fPq04w

After seeing a post by a fellow GAFfer about how the moviegoers won't understand the story, I decided to pick this up. Ended up seeing the movie before it arrive in the mail, but hopefully I will enjoy the book more picutre Scarlett Johansson.

i just finished it cause i really liked the movie and i thought it was pretty silly tbh

movie does more with less
 
fPq04w

After seeing a post by a fellow GAFfer about how the moviegoers won't understand the story, I decided to pick this up. Ended up seeing the movie before it arrive in the mail, but hopefully I will enjoy the book more picutre Scarlett Johansson.

Oh, I didn't know the movie was based on the book. I haven't seen the movie, but the book sounds creepy and is available for loan at my library. I may read it next. The cover reminds me of the Social Network movie posters.
 

ShaneB

Member
Loving The Shock of The Fall. I don't think it'll be a 5/5, as some of the reasons I love it are also some of the reasons that keep it from a 5, but definitely trending towards something to recommend.. edit: as I near the end, this is definitely trending back to a 5/5. I think I'll finish this tonight because it's at that point where it's hard to stop.
 

Chorazin

Member
About halfway through 11/22/63, and I'm really enjoying it. He has a great way of making the time period feel alive and fresh, and I'm enjoying the underlying creepiness that's building up with all the "harmonizing" the past does. Can't wait to see where it all ends up!
 
fPq04w

After seeing a post by a fellow GAFfer about how the moviegoers won't understand the story, I decided to pick this up. Ended up seeing the movie before it arrive in the mail, but hopefully I will enjoy the book more picutre Scarlett Johansson.

The book is incredibly good, but if you manage to picture ScaJo when reading it, you're a better man than I. The character in the book is extremely physically strange.
 

jred2k

Member
About halfway through 11/22/63, and I'm really enjoying it. He has a great way of making the time period feel alive and fresh, and I'm enjoying the underlying creepiness that's building up with all the "harmonizing" the past does. Can't wait to see where it all ends up!

I found the later half very disappointing. It can never again reach the levels of of tension or atmosphere, I feel, he developed in Derry. It almost feels like two different books. I was really let down by how little he does with the concepts built in the first half and it basically turns into (slight spoilers)
a period romance
. Despite some interesting ideas, the end feels very rushed and awkward.

Make sure you share your impressions you're finished. I'll be interested to see how your feelings line up with mine considering I'm close to how you feel about the first half.

One positive I can say about the book is it has made me want to learn more about the history of that period. I'm Canadian, so the JFK assassination was never something I studied or took interest in, but now I'm looking for some more reading material on the tensions during that time.

Actually, I came to the thread looking for recommendations of a book or books that look at the Cuban Revolution. Preferably something that focuses on the events and ideas rather than the people involved.

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B001NEKA6G/

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00HU85DVG/

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005FMK9O0/

Those are some that I have found. A few of the books I was looking at aren't available for Kindle, which is unfortunate.
 

kick51

Banned
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The original book that the movie got its name from (edit: nevermind, they got it from the burroughs version i talk about below.) It's a totally different story-- one about a national healthcare system that admits people based on some eugenics heuristic, which spawns an underground medical economy with rogue doctors, medical suppliers, and patients who can't go through the national healthcare system because they will be sterilized in exchange for healthcare. it's a really interesting dystopic world he's got there--and I know it because that's all the characters can talk about. They just talk about everything, all the time, like it's a Metal Gear game. I actually put it down halfway through because they just talk about shit non-stop. The world and concept for the story are really interesting, but wasted in an ocean of expository and explicatory dialogue that just makes you want to go to sleep.

I suggest instead:


Bladerunner: A Movie by William Burroughs, which is a screeplay based on the Nourse book (nothing to do with the Scott movie.) It's about half the length, contains all the world building, a 1/10th of the dialogue, along with plenty of Burroughs' drug-induced satirical horror. It's about as obscure and underrated as Burroughs' work gets, but has become more relevant over time, in my personal opinion. It reads like a complete satire of conservative "elderly death squad" nightmares about nationalized health care. It's small, takes about an hour to read, and so damn over-the-top, you can't help but laugh.
 

Wiktor

Member
Finished:
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Liked it a lot, especially the fight scenes. Nice fast read. The only bad thing was the main hero, who obviously is a realization of some author's sort of personal fantasy - excellent at everything, genius intellect, chosen one, strongest will etc. Also ugly as hell, but still gets the preeties woman in the book.

Started (and about halfway through):
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Excellent so far, especially the prose. The first person narration is just wonderfully done and colours the whole story with strong personality of main character.
 

Lafiel

と呼ぶがよい
Pouring through The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara right now. Currently about 240-ish or so pages in, and it's completely and utterly brilliant, and trying to recommend it to as many of my closest friends as possible. Can't wait to finish it.
 
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