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What are you reading? (April 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
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The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
The cover does look good. Reminds me of something from Studio Ghibli. The blurb _does_ sound good (Yes, Nabokov!), but in looking for the cover, I read some Goodreads reviews, and opinions really seem to be polarized! Interested to hear what you think after you read it.
I glanced at some of the reviews on Goodreads yesterday, actually, and they're polarized because of content, not because of execution. In other words, the low reviews tended to be people who were offended by the narrator. It's very clear what the book is about - one of the blurbs even says that it is, among other things, "a monstrous confession, and a fascinating consideration of moral relativism," and it gives away what he did on the first two pages in the form of two news articles prefacing the entire book.
But somehow some people saw all that, read the book anyway, and were offended (or at least couldn't get past it) when it was exactly what it said it was going to be on the tin.
I've read both Red Dragon and American Gods. Absolutely loved both of them, but Red Dragon was better.
Let me know your thoughts on it when you finish it. I am rather interested in the topic as well
Maklershed
Member
Halfway through book 3 of Mistborn and shit is getting real.
Anything but American Gods, anything but American Gods, anything but American Gods, anything but American Gods. :b
Anything but American Gods, anything but American Gods, anything but American Gods, anything but American Gods. :b
I finished The People in the Trees.
Lord.
When I read, I don't often become physically involved in it. It's not that I'm emotionally uninvolved (though my emotional involvement tends to be in the realm of sentimentality), but I don't become angry or viscerally disgusted, where my heart races and I realize in the midst of reading it that I'm starting to bite my tongue in anger. But I did reading this!
It was quite an experience. Strongly recommend at least giving it a try.
Lord.
When I read, I don't often become physically involved in it. It's not that I'm emotionally uninvolved (though my emotional involvement tends to be in the realm of sentimentality), but I don't become angry or viscerally disgusted, where my heart races and I realize in the midst of reading it that I'm starting to bite my tongue in anger. But I did reading this!
It was quite an experience. Strongly recommend at least giving it a try.
Tragicomedy
Member
It's not a great book. Listen to this man.
Disgusted and angry? I dunno if I can deal with that right now. I need happy books.
FUBAR McDangles
Member
Finished Code Zero. Good ending and a solid read throughout.
Next up:
Next up:
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
Started this in late March, but finished it last week. Was an interesting read, but had its ups and downs. The first section was good, as was the section on Target (kind of blew me away, really). The rest was OK. The whole idea of how to change habits is definitely something to think about and apply. However, too much of the topics didn't seem like they had anything to do with habits to me, at least not in the basic sense, but I probably don't know what I'm talking about. Anyway, overall, it was definitely worth a read. It actually made me realize why it's been so hard for me to break some of my bad habits and equally hard to keep up new habits such as meditating.
I've just started the following two. No Country I started reading years ago, but stopped two thirds through for whatever reason.
Willpower seems like it'll be a great read, and a couple chapters in, it is. Basically, this researcher/scientist, Baumeister, figured out that willpower "operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse" and is "fueled by glucose." Really interesting stuff.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11104933-willpower
Disgusted and angry? I dunno if I can deal with that right now. I need happy books.
It's so great, though!
But if you insist upon this need to read something uplifting and life-affirming, you should read this:
I can't read Spanish, so I can't tell you if the English translation is even a good approximation of what his poetry is actually like but I loved it for what it was.
Finished Ammonite by Nicola Griffith - takes place on a planet where a virus has killed off all male colonists centuries before the beginning of the story. The main character is an anthropologist sent to test a vaccine against the virus, in addition to exploring the technologically regressed society that populates the planet.
While some parts of the story felt a bit forced and I wasn't too fond of the main character, the setting was quite interesting, with a lot of attention given to the various tribes populating the planet and their cultures and traditions. At times it felt like the story could have taken place on one of Ursula K. Le Guin's Ekumen planets.
This was my first Nicola Griffith but I think I'll be picking up more eventually!
Right now I am reading The Alloy of Law by Sanderson - entertaining enough but also quite forgettable so far. It's been a super quick read so I expect I'll be done soon. I still can't believe Sanderson thought that Waxillium was a good name for a main character. D:
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
Just finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Still not sure how I feel towards some of the themes presented in it. It was easy to read and I enjoyed parts of it very much. I have the Year of the Flood waiting and MaddAddam, too.
.
Now reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island
@ RatskyWatsky - I loved Vonnegut's Cat Cradle! That one and Slaughterhouse V gave me so much smiles : >
Fable is also one of the prettier comics out there, I think. I need to pick that series back up, actually.
@ postcyberpunk - i've read that one, pattern recognition. for me i cant quite sink into it as i could with his older stuffs. It was still a good read, and an interesting idea. Gibson's a very fun author to read.
The whole idea of Oryx being this enigmatic sensual female jesus that would forgive her abusers does not sit quite well with me, at this stage. I might have to sit and let the book sink deeper. She's too constructed for me right now
Now reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island
@ RatskyWatsky - I loved Vonnegut's Cat Cradle! That one and Slaughterhouse V gave me so much smiles : >
Fable is also one of the prettier comics out there, I think. I need to pick that series back up, actually.
@ postcyberpunk - i've read that one, pattern recognition. for me i cant quite sink into it as i could with his older stuffs. It was still a good read, and an interesting idea. Gibson's a very fun author to read.
Haters gonna hate.
Oh... I had completely missed the pun with the names... D: But instead of excusing the idea, I feel it almost makes it worse...
One thing that has been bothering me so far is that (not really spoiler but tagging anyway to be safe)
after a bit the continuous references to the original Mistborn start feeling gratuitous rather than clever. The whole fangirlish perspective on the main character doesn't help either - basically we need other characters to remind us that the protagonist is fantastically awesome since it's really not evident otherwise.
I still do really like the magic system, though! The fights are always a lot of fun. Hope the next novel in the setting is more in line with the original trilogy.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Fuck fuck fuck! You just reminded me! My copy was due back at the library today! Ack! Now I have to pay a late fee
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Reading this currently. While may not agree with everything he says, its still a very well written and insightful book. Am enjoying it so far about halfway done.
Will be reading this next.
Will be reading this next.
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I finished the Silo series last night, it's one of the best sci-fi series I've read. Excellent writing, Hugh Howey created a really terrific world to spend time in. Pretty incredible to think it began as a short-story and grew into 3 cohesive novels. Highly recommended GAF, and the books are only $5 each on Kindle.
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
Ratsky, maybe you can sweet talk the admin person to waive late fee???
Parakeetman, woooo neuromancer! that's a fun book. hope you will enjoy it!
maybe you can sweet talk the admin person to waive late fee???Parakeetman, woooo neuromancer! that's a fun book. hope you will enjoy it!
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Ratsky,
She's not particularly nice so I doubt it
I've read Neruda in Spanish, but I prefer other Spanish poets.
That was a while ago though, so maybe I should revisit.Oh yay! If this is endorsed by my queen, Ursula, then it might be the comfort read I need.Finished Ammonite by Nicola Griffith - takes place on a planet where a virus has killed off all male colonists centuries before the beginning of the story. The main character is an anthropologist sent to test a vaccine against the virus, in addition to exploring the technologically regressed society that populates the planet.
While some parts of the story felt a bit forced and I wasn't too fond of the main character, the setting was quite interesting, with a lot of attention given to the various tribes populating the planet and their cultures and traditions. At times it felt like the story could have taken place on one of Ursula K. Le Guin's Ekumen planets.
This was my first Nicola Griffith but I think I'll be picking up more eventually!
I too fucking hated this. I know it's told through the point of view of a dude, but Atwood has such a fascination with the whore archetype that it just ends up feeling more of the same thing and it's not even a deconstruction.
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
yes yes yes
so glad someone else gets the same response to her oryx ! the whole character feels borderline fetishization of the whore character archetype ! and jimmy's character felt as if it was stilted almost purposely, at parts, to ensconce Atwood at her chosen subject fetish.
for oryx, in particular, Atwood's selected ethnicity for her added to my discomfort. she's so heavily tokenised as the exotic mysterious beauty that it was difficult to digest her character.
i still think it's a very interesting read, and i enjoyed it, and certainly i will be reading the other two in the trilogy, but yeah... her treatment of the prostitute typecast can be too much, for me.
so glad someone else gets the same response to her oryx ! the whole character feels borderline fetishization of the whore character archetype ! and jimmy's character felt as if it was stilted almost purposely, at parts, to ensconce Atwood at her chosen subject fetish.
for oryx, in particular, Atwood's selected ethnicity for her added to my discomfort. she's so heavily tokenised as the exotic mysterious beauty that it was difficult to digest her character.
i still think it's a very interesting read, and i enjoyed it, and certainly i will be reading the other two in the trilogy, but yeah... her treatment of the prostitute typecast can be too much, for me.
The race thing was really gross, yeah. It was pretty much like, look at how "OTHER" she is! For someone who identifies as a feminist author, I think it's just... jarring that Atwood is so obsessed with the whore/Madonna complex and she doesn't even try to deconstruct it with Oryx. (I would say that even when the trope is deconstructed enough that the deconstruction of it has become just as eye-rolling as the regular execution of it.) I think Atwood would defend herself with the whole, oh it's the point of view of Jimmy who would obviously fetishize her like that. But if you read Year of the Flood, it's the same god damn thing. The main characters are both whores, once again, and at least from what I read, they're lives and stories revolve around their sexuality. It's just. Really? Can women be something else in your novels Atwood? (The Blind Assassin is an exception and my favorite of her books.)
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
: > !!!!!
now i really want to read The Blind Assassin <3
thanks for the discussion, pau !
now i really want to read The Blind Assassin <3
thanks for the discussion, pau !
Gordon0Freeman
Member
Anyone know what Alastair Reynolds is working on? I'm not really feeling his Poseidon Children series
Edit: Fucking shit Never mind! Just checked his twitter. He's writing the final book to the series. I need me some more House of Suns! I'm Currently rereading it.
Edit: Fucking shit Never mind! Just checked his twitter. He's writing the final book to the series. I need me some more House of Suns! I'm Currently rereading it.
Because some people think it's overrated and just not that much fun to read? I couldn't make it halfway through before I lost interest because of the plodding pace and lack of characters I could root for. My little spare time is too precious to waste on a book that doesn't hold my interest.
whatevermort
Member
Reading this as research for next novel. It's fascinating. While some of the ideas are leaps, they're all at least logical. And it's so well written (and easy to read) that it's just a dream.
Also:
Which is utterly amazing. Weird second person narrative trickery (tough to pull off, in terms of reader response), but it's so well constructed I can't fault it so far. Somebody said it's like Dickens if he wrote about things as they actually were, and that's probably quite true. (Lots of prostitutes and drugs.)
Its definitely an eye-opener. Its about our perception of disadvantages and how such disadvantages can lead to people thinking out of the box, basically becoming successful by being unconventional, whether they realize it or not. That and various other ideas of how underdogs can expose weaknesses like no one else and so forth. The book, so far as I have read it, constitute mostly of anecdotes, though they are very fascinating for all that. Recommended, if you are into those kind of stories.
An example would be how a below average girl basketball team, with a coach who had never done basketball before went on to win the national championship. Or how certain dyslexic people went on to become very successful businessmen, because of that very dyslexia.
BriareosGAF
Member
I'm not sure Gaiman has written anything as compelling in standard prose as he did in the comics realm. His skills seem perfectly tuned for the amount of narrative, characterization, and exposition that comics require, but as soon as you jump up to novels it gets thin and ends up gasping a bit.
Plasticine
Member
Finished Code Zero. Good ending and a solid read throughout.
Next up:
This is my favorite King book. I've been meaning to reread it for a while. Maybe soon. Early King is the best King.
That is admittedly a high bar you've set - I don't know many authors period who've written something as compelling as Sandman. And even though his prose work has never reached that level, I thought Stardust, The Graveyard Book, and Coraline were all very good.
I didn't like American Gods because there was just something very flat and dull about it. The characters felt emotionally detached, and this extended to the narration, which had this sort of aimless quality. It also had this habit of repeatedly describing certain characters in the same ways, in almost a rote or mechanical way. I don't need to hear that Shadow is a big man seven thousand times; I've got the picture in my head by now. I was hesitant to read more of his prose work after reading American Gods, but I thought that the other three books I'd read were much more vibrant.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
How much animal torture/cruelty is there in the book?
postcyberpunk
Banned
Alright, detective-book GAF, I read a collection of poetry in an undergrad course by an African-American poet. I cannot remember the name of the author, or the collection, but the poem was "Chiaroscuro." The only other detail of the collection I remember was that the author included a Miles Davis quote, "If somebody told me I only had an hour to live, I'd spend it choking a white man" in one of his poems. Anyone?
RepairmanJack
Member
Finished Lexicon by Max Barry
I thought it was alright over all. I liked how the story was told and how the suspense and mystery was kept up, but I ended up not really caring or really liking the story by time it started answering questions and got to the end. Or at least the answers it was giving. (Spoilers in general)
Overall ok, It was fun while reading it but I came away from it feeling pretty meh toward it.
I thought it was alright over all. I liked how the story was told and how the suspense and mystery was kept up, but I ended up not really caring or really liking the story by time it started answering questions and got to the end. Or at least the answers it was giving. (Spoilers in general)
I just sort of lost interest once it got to the point of instructions overlapping and Love being a bare word overall the love story in general. I really liked the idea of the overall story and I was really interested when it seemed like it was heading toward a bigger overall story, but then it seemed to wrap everything up so tightly and in pretty anti-climactic ways. The mysteries seemed built up pretty nisely but then asnwered so easily and neatly.
Overall ok, It was fun while reading it but I came away from it feeling pretty meh toward it.
TechnicPuppet, it's been more than four years (and literally hundreds of books) since I read it. I don't recall any, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't there.
I've heard from many people that his short stories are better than his novels, but I haven't bit the bullet yet.
I've heard from many people that his short stories are better than his novels, but I haven't bit the bullet yet.
I think the main thing is that he doesn't have to build a coherent world or spend a lot of time developing things; he can kind of just slug you with these crazy, insane concepts and leave. Like dreams.
If you think about it Sandman was probably about 60% short stories anyway, they just happened to say something about the Endless while he was doing it.
If you think about it Sandman was probably about 60% short stories anyway, they just happened to say something about the Endless while he was doing it.
Echoing this, Gaiman's strength lies in one-off ideas rather than overarching narratives. Part of the reason I loved Stardust was because of how interesting the world of Faerie was; the Market, the Fellowship of the Castle, the Lilim etc. Gaiman's real talent is outsourcing his work to the reader's imagination and letting your mind go wild with the bits and pieces he gives you.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Ratsky,
They said there was a two day grace period so I didn't have to pay the late fee! Huzzah!
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
Done reading All You Need Is Kill Viz edition
Terrific adventure about soldier that got stuck in a time loop.
About to start reading Tiger! (Harimau Harimau)
Terrific adventure about soldier that got stuck in a time loop.
About to start reading Tiger! (Harimau Harimau)
Ventilaator
Banned
15% into The Way of Kings
I like it. The smaller scale of just two main characters (so far) means it's really easy to immediately start keeping track of what's going on, as opposed to...how seemingly every other fantasy book ever works?
....but what the fuck is spren.
I like it. The smaller scale of just two main characters (so far) means it's really easy to immediately start keeping track of what's going on, as opposed to...how seemingly every other fantasy book ever works?
....but what the fuck is spren.
Spren are little spirit/fairies that show up in response to human emotion. It's like, I dunno, imagine you're playing some weeaboo game and characters do some kind of emote and little hearts or sweatdrops show up, that's what spren is but less animu.
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