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What are you reading? (August 2012)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
I got a lot of reading done of Pride and Prejudice. It was a bit of a slow burn for me at the start, but it has grown on me a lot. And I like Elizabeth better than I might partially because the annotator does a really good job contrasting her with other contemporary female heroines, elaborating on the stifling social context that she lives in (and which Austen's audience would have been familiar with, presumably), and it becomes more obvious the ways that she... I wouldn't say "rebels" but at least has some push-and-pull with it. I have about 50 pages to go, which for my edition is about half of Volume III.
I also read the first volume of Wandering Son yesterday. It was ... cute, I guess. I enjoyed the author's self-deprecation at the end about all the characters looking the same... because they did.
I also read the first volume of Wandering Son yesterday. It was ... cute, I guess. I enjoyed the author's self-deprecation at the end about all the characters looking the same... because they did.
I just finished the Millennium trilogy, I like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo more than the sequels, but enjoyed all of the series. Any suggestions for something in the same genre? I don't read this type of book often, so I don't want to go for something completely different just yet.
Thanks for the tip! I will do that in the future.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston
Thanks to the recent thread on the Uganda Ebola outbreak, I just finished this book. I listened to the audio book version. Pretty frightening but compelling, like staring into the abyss or watching a train wreck - hard to look away.
Lamel
Banned
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston
Thanks to the recent thread on the Uganda Ebola outbreak, I just finished this book. I listened to the audio book version. Pretty frightening but compelling, like staring into the abyss or watching a train wreck - hard to look away.
Dat black vomit.
Maklershed
Member
Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained and the Foundation trilogy might be up your alley.
Ohh that sounds good. Added to my wishlisht.
I'm a great fan of The Big U. As a first novel it's kinda a mess, but I thought it was a really fun mess, and considering how much time I've spent refusing to leave college one way or another I appreciated the broadly satirical look at campus life. I hope you dig it!
FnordChan
Such awesome book, be sure to watch the movie too (starring Bogart).I just started this, only 5 chapters in (they're short chapters). I'm liking it so far.
I just started this, only 5 chapters in (they're short chapters). I'm liking it so far.
I love most of Chandler's novels. His works definitely have more literary value than the average detective novel, IMO.
Incedentally, I started reading Trouble Is My Business last night. Hopefully his short stories are as good as his full lengths.
Leeroy3101
Banned
Oh my goodness, why haven't I ever read more of Ray Bradbury?! Only thing I've read by him is Something Wicked This Way Comes. Finally got around to reading some more of him this month.
Just finished reading this:
I loved how he was able to link all the individual tales together. It reminded me a lot of 2001 by Arthur C Clark in that manner. I was impressed with Bradbury's social commentary, too. Definitely one of my all time favorite books.
Working on this:
It's more of a short story collection than an actual novel. Still, it's an incredibly well put together book with complex short stories. I'm loving it so far.
Just finished reading this:
I loved how he was able to link all the individual tales together. It reminded me a lot of 2001 by Arthur C Clark in that manner. I was impressed with Bradbury's social commentary, too. Definitely one of my all time favorite books.
Working on this:
It's more of a short story collection than an actual novel. Still, it's an incredibly well put together book with complex short stories. I'm loving it so far.
Good to hear - I'm just about to start a university course about the American Detective Novel, and The Big Sleep is one of the nine books we have to read. Really looking forward to it!
The other books are: Grafton: ""M" is for Malice", MacDonald: "Black Money", Paretsky: "Tunnel Vision", Cornwell: "Body of Evidence", Hammett: "Maltese Falcon" and "Red Harvest", Mosley: "Devil in a Blue Dress", and Parker: "Promised Land". I know Hammett's books are supposed to be great, and Grafton's is a famous one, but what about the rest? Are they good too?
I'm only familiar with Hammett and Macdonald but I'd say that they're both worthy of recommendation.
Subterranean
Member
Finished A Storm of Swords and it was just amazing. I was on my knees begging for more after that ending so I decided to hop right into A Feast for Crows.
Maklershed
Member
Working on this:
It's more of a short story collection than an actual novel. Still, it's an incredibly well put together book with complex short stories. I'm loving it so far.
I should probably read this. I watched the movie recently and none of the stories made a lick of sense but they were oddly intriguing none the less. I'm guessing the stories in the book are much easier to understand.
DanDeschain
Member
I forgot to add - earlier this month I picked up this book after the author wrote a column regarding the recent mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado.
Columbine by Dave Cullen
I'll admit that perhaps it doesn't tell the whole story of what happened leading up to the shooting at Columbine, but it is a pretty good book. Made me sick to my stomach reading it.
Columbine by Dave Cullen
I'll admit that perhaps it doesn't tell the whole story of what happened leading up to the shooting at Columbine, but it is a pretty good book. Made me sick to my stomach reading it.
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
Just finished House of Chains by Steven Erickson. This book series is easily the most difficult I've read; not because the books are boring, or the prose is difficult, but because it's incredibly important to pay attention as you read. Erickson plans so far ahead, and he throws little hints and important tidbits in previous books that may not come to fruition for two or three more books. I tend to skim over large sections of text in a lot of the books I read, but I can't do that with the Malazan novels. Erickson trusts his readers to intellectually put together clues he scatters everywhere. All that said, the series is becoming one of my favorite, and pretty much everything about these books has tickled my fancy so far.
I'm going to move onto American Gods by Neil Gaiman before reading the next Malazan book, Midnight Tides.
I'm going to move onto American Gods by Neil Gaiman before reading the next Malazan book, Midnight Tides.
nakedsushi
Member
I got an email saying StoryBundle is up. Not sure of the quality of the books in the bundle, but since it's pay as you like, it's easy to take the plunge. It's like indie game bundle, but for books.
Will post my reviews as I go through the books.
http://storybundle.com/
Will post my reviews as I go through the books.
http://storybundle.com/
What are the next-best Cyberpunk novels after Neuromancer and Snow Crash? (Those are the two I hear talked about most at any rate)
To add to this discussion besides just looking for recommendations - Finished Crime and Punishment. Absolutely fantastic, though the prose was far more dense than Im used to. Probably would've taken another week or so to finish it (mostly on account of its prose), but our cable/internet/tv was out last thursday and friday which left me with little to do but read haha. But like I said, just fantastic.
In my continuing effort to be reading some more classics inbetween all of my sci-fi and fantasy fare,
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Been a long time fan of Sherlock Holmes since my dad introduced me to the old Granada TV Show, and finally getting around to reading these. Great and entertaining stories, though the text is so small that it feels like I'm barely making any progress as I read through it haha.
To add to this discussion besides just looking for recommendations - Finished Crime and Punishment. Absolutely fantastic, though the prose was far more dense than Im used to. Probably would've taken another week or so to finish it (mostly on account of its prose), but our cable/internet/tv was out last thursday and friday which left me with little to do but read haha. But like I said, just fantastic.
In my continuing effort to be reading some more classics inbetween all of my sci-fi and fantasy fare,
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Been a long time fan of Sherlock Holmes since my dad introduced me to the old Granada TV Show, and finally getting around to reading these. Great and entertaining stories, though the text is so small that it feels like I'm barely making any progress as I read through it haha.
House of Chains seemed to generate lots of divisive opinions, but I liked it alot.
Also, Erikson, not Erickson.
Currently reading The Mongoliad by Neal Stephenson et al. and Röde Orm by Frans G. Bengtsson.
diamond age
when gravity fails
river of gods
altered carbon
looking for the mahdi
black man
etc
Leeroy3101
Banned
Good luck. I wanted to like American Gods but it never happened. I finished it but I was utterly disappointed.
wat
let me try this
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
This is actually a re-read, but since I didn't actually own the book before and it's been a few years since I last read it I'll post it here. Probably my favourite of all the Watch books, though I haven't read Snuff yet.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
amazing books, love them. number 6 (a prequel) is great as well. number 5 is about the length of 1-4 combined I think. not entirely sure as I read it on kindle, but I think it's by far the longest.
That's the same habit that I have. I'll skim quickly over a paragraph or two and have to go back and reread just in case I've missed the one vital bit of information that was casually thrown out there.
I almost feel like, after the first 5 books, I should go back and do a reread of them, before moving onto books 6 - 10, just to clarify things in my head. That, or try and devise a mind map for how everything connects. I imagine that would be quite an undertaking though.
As I said earlier in the thread, from the comments I've read HoC improves greatly if you go back and read it again at the end, as there's a lot of setup and foreshadowing that seems to make the book feel incomplete the first time through.
I'm just about to start Midnight Tides which I'm hugely looking forward to.
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
Whoops, Erikson.
Also, someone posted this website earlier(http://www.tor.com/features/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen) that has a summary of each scene plus commentary from someone who is reading the book for the first time and someone who has read them all already. Careful of the comments section. It really helped me to understand some things that were confusing me, and they're usually pretty spot on.
Oh, and I second Diamond Age for anyone looking for a cyberpunk novel, although I'm not quite sure it can be called cyberpunk
Yeah, that was me that posted that tor reread - it's come in super handy, though I seem to outpacing them so I've no idea what I'm going to do once I'm ahead of their reread chapters.
The forum over at Malazanempire.com is really useful too and helped to clarify a few things I'd overlooked but they're only worth reading after finishing the particular book you're on.
Also - I second the Diamond Age recommendation. It was my first Neal Stephenson book and I enjoyed it immensely.
DesertEater
Member
(It's Guns, Germs and Steel for those browsing without images)
Just finished this yesterday. Very informative. Some of the late chapters dragged a bit but its a great book nevertheless.
Today I started Lolita. My first book to read by Nabokov. Very excited
Alligatorjandro
Banned
Starting
walking fiend
Member
Reading a Feast for Crows; the books is just AMAZING, I am engrossed, so much better than the TV series.
---
I also read [rather skipped through after being fed up with reading same shit over and over in each chapter] Fifty Shades of Grey; absolutely horrible, like those vampire books horrible [can't even remember the name, lol]
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I also read [rather skipped through after being fed up with reading same shit over and over in each chapter] Fifty Shades of Grey; absolutely horrible, like those vampire books horrible [can't even remember the name, lol]
I found it to be substantially better than the TV series.
Mackenzie 92
Member
In for a fiver, the covers for the bonus books scared me off of getting them. Probably gonna start with Undersea.
Undersea by Geoffrey Morrison
Edit: kinda cool that you can have them sent straight to your kindle as well.
it's cyberpunk.
Halfway through this edition, and well what is there left to say. It's considered one of the greatest novels of all time for a very good reason. The characters are vividly drawn, and their many interactions feel incredibly alive, despite the fact that most of the conversations are long discussions about faith or the nature of existence. Can't say too much about the storytelling so far, except that some of my favorite bits are the short tangents that have little to do with the overall narrative. It's a sprawling, rambling, epic tale that seems to tackle just about every one of Dostoevsky's pet themes.
Anyway, it's long and looks imposing, but I think you'll find that once you get into it it's as engrossing as anything else out there. I do recommend that you attack the reading in big chunks, so that you can really immerse yourself in the language.
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
hmmm, the only "punk" section of the book is in the very beginning
read:
Savages/Don Winslow
It almost felt like I got stupider* while reading this, what a horrible writing style.
Adam Copeland on Edge
It basically only describes every match Edge had (to this point) not bad but certainly not what I expected, a bit boring and unpersonal.
Reading:
Market Forces/Richard Morgan
Premise sounds (and is) a bit stupid but man no one can describe action better than Morgan. Love that dude
*yes, that was intentional
Savages/Don Winslow
It almost felt like I got stupider* while reading this, what a horrible writing style.
Adam Copeland on Edge
It basically only describes every match Edge had (to this point) not bad but certainly not what I expected, a bit boring and unpersonal.
Reading:
Market Forces/Richard Morgan
Premise sounds (and is) a bit stupid but man no one can describe action better than Morgan. Love that dude
*yes, that was intentional
I just finished the Wool omnibus myself, and it was definitely one of those books that would keep me up until 4 am on a work night (actually a few times, I'm still tired. Took about a week). Excellent book.
Only one mention of first shift (the prequel) here. Has anyone else read it? I'm itching to pick it up...
EDIT: I was even thinking of making a thread for it, given the news about a possibly movie deal with ridley scott's studio, but maybe I'm just in that post book craze, and there's probably not enough overall traction yet for it
Only one mention of first shift (the prequel) here. Has anyone else read it? I'm itching to pick it up...
EDIT: I was even thinking of making a thread for it, given the news about a possibly movie deal with ridley scott's studio, but maybe I'm just in that post book craze, and there's probably not enough overall traction yet for it