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[IHeartTSwift]

The Trial of Socrates. A hard read so far but quite fun at the same time.

 

[Storm Chamber]

First Song of Ice and Fire book

good stuff

 

[Fusebox]

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)

AYNIK is a great fun book, I'm looking forward to the movie. What's the Viz edition?

Edit: googled it myself, the Viz is just the comic of the book??

 

[Seanspeed]

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.

Keep reading. Still not 100% clear even after finishing the 2nd book, but you learn more.

 

[Rug Monkey]

After a recommendation by a friend (we like to read series simultaneously) i've started Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Fantasy based on an 'alternative middle ages' although it's more sex, religion and politics than traditional sword and sorcery .

First book seems slowed by world-building but is very well written

 

[Tugatrix]

Just finished this:

It's a good book, some bits are really good and others dull, but in the end what is better weight more

Now reading despite the hate

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

They said there was a two day grace period so I didn't have to pay the late fee! Huzzah!

o/ hooray hooray

...and, on American Gods, I quite enjoyed it, but I found Neverwhere a little cuter

 

[Jintor]

I like Neverwhere a bit more because the narrative is more focused and Neil does a lot with London, or at least the urban mythology of London.

 

[O.DOGG]

I absolutely loved American Gods when I read it a good 10 years or so ago. I wasn't really aware of the hype back then, it was a book I found in my sister's room and borrowed on a whim. I'm not sure what I'd think about it if I were reading it today but back then I couldn't put it down.

 

[kmax]

So I just borrowed Finnegans Wake to challenge myself.

guys...

help.

 

[Mr.Towel]

Does anyone have any recommendations for some good weird/surreal mystery novels, maybe along the lines of Twin Peaks or Lethem's Gun, With Occasional Music. I've been playing Danganronpa and it's been getting me in the mood for some whodunnits that are a bit on the weird side.

 

[Switch Back 9]

I don't understand the hype behind American Gods. Gaiman needs an artist for his stories because he sucks at describing people and places. I just don't think he's that strong a writer. His ideas and characters are cool but he is definitely at his strongest in the graphic novel medium.

 

[Mumei]

So I just borrowed Finnegans Wake to challenge myself.

guys...

help.

I'm going to try Ulysses sometime this year, but I have to read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man first. The only other Joyce I've read are his darling letters to his wife Nora* and Dubliners.

 

[nakedsushi]

After a recommendation by a friend (we like to read series simultaneously) i've started Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Fantasy based on an 'alternative middle ages' although it's more sex, religion and politics than traditional sword and sorcery .

First book seems slowed by world-building but is very well written

So many people have recommended this book to me, but I've tried to read it _twice_ and hated it each time enough to give up. It always sounds like something that would appeal to me, but something about it reads like fanfiction to me. And the overbearing foreshadowing..."So this really important thing is going to happen later, but I'm not going to get to it now." x100

 

[The Culture Vulture]

Still trudging through the last third of Blood Meridian. Had to start The Beckham Expirement for a change of pace to ofset all the carnage.

 

[Piecake]

I'm going to try Ulysses sometime this year, but I have to read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man first. The only other Joyce I've read are his darling letters to his wife Nora* and Dubliners.

God, how I hate the main character in A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Of course, the degree of my disdain might be because of the time period when I read it, meaning that I might dislike him less now.

Ulysses made me realize that I hate novels and authors that force me to decipher what the hell they are talking about than actually writing beautifully, but clearly. Wilde>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Joyce

 

[RottenTanuki]

Done reading All You Need Is Kill Viz edition
Terrific adventure about soldier that got stuck in a time loop.

His other book Slum Online is pretty good too.

 

[RottenTanuki]

I started reading Chris Beckett's Dark Eden. I got it with the money I got back from the book price fixing settlement. So far it's kinda slow.

 

[Crazyorloco]

50 percent through the fault in our stars. I like it. I'll probably finish by the end of the week.

I like the way the author writes (even though the 16 yr old in the book sounds like an adult), I'll probably check out his other books after this

 

[ShaneB]

I'm liking 'The Martian' enough where I feel like I will marathon the rest, but I have no idea what to make of the tone of it all. Just all over the place it feels.

 

[Mumei]

God, how I hate the main character in A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Of course, the degree of my disdain might be because of the time period when I read it, meaning that I might dislike him less now.

Ulysses made me realize that I hate novels and authors that force me to decipher what the hell they are talking about than actually writing beautifully, but clearly. Wilde>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Joyce

I haven't read Wilde! I thought Dubliners was beautiful, though.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

The only other Joyce I've read are his darling letters to his wife Nora

Link?

 

[Mackenzie 92]

I'm liking 'The Martian' enough where I feel like I will marathon the rest, but I have no idea what to make of the tone of it all. Just all over the place it feels.

Yeah it's kind of a interesting take on NASA lol

 

[fakefaker]

Finished up The three Musketeers by Dumas last night. Couldn't get it over with soon enough. The Count of Monte Cristo is definitely the better book.

Gonna go with David Nickle's Eutopia next just to change it up.

 

[Tragicomedy]

I'm liking 'The Martian' enough where I feel like I will marathon the rest, but I have no idea what to make of the tone of it all. Just all over the place it feels.

It's on my "to read" list, good friend. Looking forward to hearing your final thoughts on it. I'll probably dive into it after I finish up the last two books of the New Sun.

 

[EverythingShiny]

Still reading The Warrior's Apprentice. Haven't made much headway since I've been either sleeping or watching TV since coming home from having surgery. My copy of The Making of the Atomic Bomb is late, too. I wanted to start it today.

I'm liking 'The Martian' enough where I feel like I will marathon the rest, but I have no idea what to make of the tone of it all. Just all over the place it feels.

I loved The Martian. I picked it up several months ago when it was free and just adored it. It's pretty quirky and I agree it can be a little all over the place, but I thought it was really good.

 

[zou]

The Park Service: Book One of The Park Service Trilogy (Ryan Winfield)

Disappointing, boring read. Not sure why it's so highly rated and why it's being compared to other popular YA novels.


Red Rising (Pierce Brown)

Didn't know what to expect, ended up reading it in one session. Easily the best fiction I've read in a long time.


Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt (Michael Lewis)

Quick, fun read.

 

[ShaneB]

Yeah it's kind of a interesting take on NASA lol

It's on my "to read" list, good friend. Looking forward to hearing your final thoughts on it. I'll probably dive into it after I finish up the last two books of the New Sun.

I loved The Martian. I picked it up several months ago when it was free and just adored it. It's pretty quirky and I agree it can be a little all over the place, but I thought it was really good.

It's trending towards a 2/5 from me, just feels merely ok, just because of some of the issues I'm having with it, which I'll write in my review when finished and will be sure to share here.

 

[Tragicomedy]

It's trending towards a 2/5 from me, just feels merely ok, just because of some of the issues I'm having with it, which I'll write in my review when finished and will be sure to share here.

Is it more "hard" science? I love that.

 

[brianjones]

read the annotated version.. absolutely love it .. so many things i never would have picked up on in a single read through.. really got me back into reading after a dry spell of reading junk food novels

i kinda wanna read Ulysses now as its mentioned quite a few times in the liner notes as being a favorite of nabokav's but i heard it's pretty crazy IDK

i feel like i need to LVL up by slaying a bunch of hood rats first

and speaking of junk food i also read

didn't like it nearly as much as ham on rye which i found quite charming.. found it really repetitive.. get drunk, get laid, work soul crushing job, misogynistic .. which i should be able to relate to i guess but the prose is so straightforward and dull.. and not nearly as funny as the the hype of the quote on the cover would lead you to believe..

 

[Jarlaxle]

I haven't read Wilde! I thought Dubliners was beautiful, though.

I very much enjoyed Dubliners. I haven't attempted Ulysses though. You definitely should read The Picture of Dorian Grey at some point.


As for me, I've just started this today. It feels so small in my hands after reading Words of Radiance.

 

[ShaneB]

Is it more "hard" science? I love that.

Yeah, seems more science fact than science fiction, plenty of units of measurements and descriptors about fixing things and chemistry and botany, and it just does not mesh with how goofy it feels when characters are trying to be funny and whatnot, and given the situation it just all seems very downplayed.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

It's trending towards a 2/5 from me, just feels merely ok, just because of some of the issues I'm having with it, which I'll write in my review when finished and will be sure to share here.

I think I ended up giving it a 3 or 4, can't remember. Overall I liked the castaway aspect of it more than anything. The humor was hit and miss.

 

[Piecake]

I haven't read Wilde! I thought Dubliners was beautiful, though.

While I always heard that was his most 'simple' work, I never bothered reading since I disliked Portrait and Ulysses so much. Maybe I'll give it a shot sometime.

While I liked it and learned quite a bit, it felt rather mechanical. It felt more of a recitation of what he did chronologically and what his beliefs were instead of actually developing him as a person and then situated him in that time and in his beliefs. While there certainly were portions of that, I just wished for more of that and less of he did this, then this.

I am currently reading this, and it is excellent.

 

[Kieli]

Anyone have any sort of fantasy to recommend me? Without resorting to hyperbole, let's just say I was very disappointed with The Name of the Wind. I was expecting a very mature and nuanced take on the fantasy genre. I was not expecting a children's book with extremely pedestrian prose. The biggest "set-piece" in the book

Spoiler

was a drunken drake storming around and crashing into trees. I was not impressed.

.

Perhaps I was holding it to extremely unfair expectations since I had spent the last 2 years studying some of the best literature humanity had to offer (Milton, Shakespeare, etc...). But still. Ugh.

 

[Maklershed]

Anyone have any sort of fantasy to recommend me? Without resorting to hyperbole, let's just say I was very disappointed with The Name of the Wind. I was expecting a very mature and nuanced take on the fantasy genre. I was not expecting a children's book with extremely pedestrian prose. The biggest "set-piece" in the book

Spoiler

was a drunken drake storming around and crashing into trees. I was not impressed.

.

Perhaps I was holding it to extremely unfair expectations since I had spent the last 2 years studying some of the best literature humanity had to offer (Milton, Shakespeare, etc...). But still. Ugh.

The First Law trilogy; Dagger and Coin series; Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series; and of course A Song of Ice and Fire if you're one of the few interested in fantasy that hasn't read it.

 

[Haly]

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH.

A Wizard of Earthsea
House of the Stag

 

[Fusebox]

Anyone else really enjoy trying to decide what to read next after finishing a book? It's gotta be just right, not too close thematically to the last book, preferably a different genre altogether and something from deep in the backlog so I can finally make that pile a bit smaller. Well, virtual pile, I love my kindle pw.

Anyway, today's winner is Hard Luck Hank:

The First Law trilogy; Dagger and Coin series; Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series; and of course A Song of Ice and Fire if you're one of the few interested in fantasy that hasn't read it.

I second that suggestion for the First Law Trilogy, it's probably my favourite fantasy series ever, but with the caveat that he'll still probably hate it given his comment about studying the best literature humanity has to offer.

 

[aidan]

Anyone have any sort of fantasy to recommend me? Without resorting to hyperbole, let's just say I was very disappointed with The Name of the Wind. I was expecting a very mature and nuanced take on the fantasy genre. I was not expecting a children's book with extremely pedestrian prose. The biggest "set-piece" in the book

Spoiler

was a drunken drake storming around and crashing into trees. I was not impressed.

.

Perhaps I was holding it to extremely unfair expectations since I had spent the last 2 years studying some of the best literature humanity had to offer (Milton, Shakespeare, etc...). But still. Ugh.

If you want big set pieces, you want Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, starting with Gardens of the Moon.

If you want a "mature and nuanced" fantasy, you want Elizabeth Bear's The Eternal Sky trilogy, starting with Range of Ghosts.

 

[Verdre]

I'm liking 'The Martian' enough where I feel like I will marathon the rest, but I have no idea what to make of the tone of it all. Just all over the place it feels.

This was basically my opinion of it. Good idea, but ruined for me by the goofy tone.


Finished Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov by Robert Chandler.

It was a great, varied collection of stories with a wonderful appendix and notes that allowed you to go pretty in depth on the tales if you chose. I found the inclusion of a select non fairytales to be dubious even though I liked most of them.

Fairytales like this, in just about their original form, are so amusingly scatterbrained, crude and just plain strange at times. The most bizarre for me was By the Pike's Command, where a lazy guy sits on the stove all day crapping on it. Then he's given magic powers by a fish, which he uses to run people over with sleighs and give his stove the ability to be driven. And that's just the beginning. The opening paragraph:

There was Omelya Lelekoskoy. All he did was sleep on the stove. And he shat big turds – great piles of them, like sheaves of hay. He had to sleep in the middle of the stove – there was no room anywhere else.

And various quotes from other stories:

We’re asleep yet not asleep.
We are thinking a strange thought,
Thinking we are to be slaughtered,
That cranberry branches are burning,
That cauldrons are steaming,
That steel knives are being sharpened.

There on the stove, on the ninth brick, lay a bony-legged baba yaga. Her nose had grown into the ceiling and the snot from it was hanging across the threshold. She had slung her tits up over a hook and was sharpening her teeth.

He married, but not happily. He hated his wife for breathing with lungs, which crayfish do not possess. He divorced his wife – and spent the rest of his life in the service of an idea.

Well, everyone knows what it’s like to live with a stepmother. Do too much – you get beaten. Do too little – you get beaten. Do things just right – and you still get beaten.

 

[Mumei]

Link?

Sis, I'd probably have to ban myself. :x

 

[BriareosGAF]

didn't like it nearly as much as ham on rye which i found quite charming.. found it really repetitive.. get drunk, get laid, work soul crushing job, misogynistic .. which i should be able to relate to i guess but the prose is so straightforward and dull.. and not nearly as funny as the the hype of the quote on the cover would lead you to believe..

I think it's one of his weaker works, I would say Women and Ham on Rye are my two favorite novels of his, followed by Factotum and Post Office. Pulp... ehhhhhhhh.

Fun fact: at Border's in Seattle where my wife worked in the 90s, Bukowski's works were the most stolen thing in the store after the Bible.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

@ brianjones, lolita~ man that's one book that's in my conflicted list. but it was definitely a powerful read. I oscillate between putting it as my number one favourite book and number one most difficult book to read.

@ verdre, such cute quotes ;__; i will have to seek this book




aah bukowski. i really want to pick him up one of these days...

and all this talk about joyce's letter is too tempting. ugh, you guys.

 

[Eduardo Corrochio]

About 3/4 of the way through.

I actually took a strange path to this book. Is never read it or seen the movie but I read about the Room 217 documentary and the premise fascinated me so I thought I should start from the beginning.

I'm going to rage if

Spoiler

Hallorann goes back to sacrifice himself for a child he only met once.

 

[postcyberpunk]

I haven't read Wilde! I thought Dubliners was beautiful, though.

I have lurked here for a while and this simply cannot be true... You seem to have read everything. I advise Wilde, STAT!

Also, Dubliners is incredibly complex. I teach "Araby" sometimes and it always amazes me how much classroom mileage I can get out of a four-page text. Or Pound's "In a Station of a Metro."

 

[Gordon0Freeman]

My next read

 

[Fusebox]

My next read

Intriguing cover, gorgeous art.

 

[Jag]

Bunch of King Kindle stuff on sale at Amazon, but the real bargain is the enhanced edition of 11/22/63 with audio/video for $2.99.

 

[Plasticine]

Thanks. I already grabbed The Shining a few days ago. Went ahead and grabbed 1963 as well. Kind of wish the price dropped lower on his older titles. I don't really feel like spending $5 - $8 for Kindle versions of 'Salem's Lot, Carrie or Night Shift. But that's a pricing problem for backlist titles in general. Big publishers just ask way too much.

 

[ShaneB]

Excited for my lunch break, finally some warm weather where it's enough that I can go outside to read. Can't wait!