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[Lamel]

Has anyone read The Brothers Karamazov? It'll probably be the book I read after Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy.

I bought this edition but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Any thoughts on it?

I am reading that same edition right now. The Pevear/Volokhonsky translation is the best you can find.

I am around 40% into the story and let me tell you, it is really something. Dense and packed with details so you will have to pay attention...but somehow Doestoevsky's prose makes it easy to visualize all the little details. Seriously enjoying it so far. And what can I even say about the characters, just captivating.

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.

Agree with everything this guy says.

 

[nakedsushi]

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.

I agree with the covers. But hey for $7 for 7 books, I can't really complain if they're decent reads. Is the send to kindle function working now? It wasn't working last night.

 

[Yen]

This week I read Catch-22 (fantastic, not only is it hilarious but extremely well written, the paradoxical nature of the book, and war, was brilliant. Probably one of my favourite books ever!), Never Let Me Go (enjoyable enough, wished more of the universe the novel was within was shown, but then that would've taken away from the fact the kids were in the dark over nearly everything), Slaughterhouse-5 (alright, I like metafiction, but coming off the back of Catch-22 meant I was comparing the two, which is unfair on S-5) and The Outsider. Disappointed by the Outsider, obviously Meursault was stoic, but it felt like absurdism 101 and nothing more.

 

[thespot84]

This week I read Catch-22 (fantastic, not only is it hilarious but extremely well written, the paradoxical nature of the book, and war, was brilliant. Probably one of my favourite books ever!), Never Let Me Go (enjoyable enough, wished more of the universe the novel was within was shown, but then that would've taken away from the fact the kids were in the dark over nearly everything), Slaughterhouse-5 (alright, I like metafiction, but coming off the back of Catch-22 meant I was comparing the two, which is unfair on S-5) and The Outsider. Disappointed by the Outsider, obviously Meursault was stoic, but it felt like absurdism 101 and nothing more.

If you dug S-5 I highly recommend the Sirens of Titan

 

[Jintor]

it's cyberpunk.

You're cyberpunk.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

I agree with the covers. But hey for $7 for 7 books, I can't really complain if they're decent reads. Is the send to kindle function working now? It wasn't working last night.

Yeah, worked perfect for me.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Yesterday I finished:

So I picked up this and read it today (A fast but really satisfying read):

And staying on target with Scalzi, just started this:

 

[Dan]

diamond age
when gravity fails
river of gods
altered carbon
looking for the mahdi
black man
etc

I heartily approve of those two recommendations.

Also, everything else by William Gibson.

 

[brianjones]

Savages/Don Winslow

It almost felt like I got stupider* while reading this, what a horrible writing style.

yeah i felt the same way

 

[Dresden]

You're cyberpunk.

no u

It's more of a thematic consideration as opposed to an aesthetic one.

---

Finished Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon--he began writing with the title Jews With Swords, or so he notes, and I guess it was largely that.

There's certainly a lot of adventuring and the time period it is set in should have been interesting, but in the end it just felt underwhelming. Not a waste of time, and the short length + Chabon's style means it was a brisk read, but it was decent at best.

Also went through Jerusalem by Guy Delisle, which is a comic depicting the time he spent in and around that area, replete with racial tensions, settler drama, Gaza bombings, and the thrill of babysitting children. Entertaining stuff, and Delisle's art has a nice charm to it.

Kinda want to hit up Dostoevsky again, or maybe revisit Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, which I read and loved like ten years ago.

 

[Mumei]

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice yesterday, and I really enjoyed it a lot more towards the second half. I'm not sure why this is, but I am looking forward to rereading it someday because of it.

I am going to read the second volume of Wandering Son tomorrow, and then continue reading Three Kingdoms.

 

[Fjordson]

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.

Wow. The premise for that sounds incredibly interesting. Toss another onto the ol' backlog.

I am nearing the last 20 percent or so of Tigana. I've been going pretty slowly through it, but I like it.

 

[Lamel]

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice yesterday, and I really enjoyed it a lot more towards the second half. I'm not sure why this is, but I am looking forward to rereading it someday because of it.

I've tried to read this. One day I will finish it.

 

[Jintor]

I've tried to read this. One day I will finish it.

I suspect it's the most readable of Austen's works.

 

[Neffarias_Bredd]

I suspect it's the most readable of Austen's works.

It was for me at least

 

[alphaflightlives]

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

I just finished it this evening. Thought it was ok, was enjoying it more before the last 100 pages or so where everything just kinda goes really nuts. You can already tell Stephenson has some interesting ideas which I'm looking forward to reading more of in his other books.

Tonight I will be starting


Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami

Which I'm pumped about. Love Murakami's fiction so I'm excited to read a different side of his writing.

 

[The Culture Vulture]

Finished Reading

Nice short YA sci-fi book.

and

Fun read about food and to see how Tony got his start in the buisness.

Starting

and

I have high expectations for both.

 

[Proxy]

Recently decided to read through all the books in the L.A. Quartet series and just finished up reading The Black Dahlia. Not a bad book, although the sex scenes in it are pretty stilted.

 

[nakedsushi]

Just finished this sensational book:


Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

It's about two women who are best friends during World War II. One gets caught by the gestapo. It's told in epistolary format. I highly recommend it if you want a suspenseful thriller that might leave you weepy in the end. It took me a while to get really into the book but once the First Reveal came, I couldn't put it down.

 

[Beads]

On my kindle I am finishing up

and starting

I am also reading a hard copy of

 

[Mumei]

Just finished this sensational book:


Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

It's about two women who are best friends during World War II. One gets caught by the gestapo. It's told in epistolary format. I highly recommend it if you want a suspenseful thriller that might leave you weepy in the end. It took me a while to get really into the book but once the First Reveal came, I couldn't put it down.

Sounds fascinating, and I love epistolary novels.

 

[nakedsushi]

Sounds fascinating, and I love epistolary novels.

You should give this one a shot. I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I find the shortcoming of a lot of epistolary novels I've read is that the "writer" is too omniscient. It's hard to let go of my sense of disbelief when too much is revealed in the letter.

 

[Awesome]

For every reader here, do you prefer books in the 1st or 3rd person point of view?

 

[Zerokku]

For every reader here, do you prefer books in the 1st or 3rd person point of view?

3rd.

Maybe its just the fact that its so common in YA books, but with a handful of exceptions, 1st person tends to come off somewhat... juvenile.

Spoiler

I probably need to read better books in 1st person

 

[Mumei]

You should give this one a shot. I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I find the shortcoming of a lot of epistolary novels I've read is that the "writer" is too omniscient. It's hard to let go of my sense of disbelief when too much is revealed in the letter.

The last one I read was Augustine. Have you read it?

 

[Lamel]

For every reader here, do you prefer books in the 1st or 3rd person point of view?

Hm, honestly it really depends.

But I think third person is preferred by me slightly simply because it is more of a traditional "story telling." (if that even makes sense)

 

[Maklershed]

Took me awhile but I finally finished Bleak House. Now on to The Dog Stars.

Kindle

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

 

[DarkestLight]

Finished reading this:

Found it really interesting. I picked it up last year after i read the steve jobs bio, wanting to know more about what went down with eisner and the pixar merger


Im making my way through all the tom clancy books, currently halfway through this after reading The cardinal and the kremlin in a few days.

as a side note, does anyone know of any decent non fiction books about the dot-com bubble burst?

 

[bengraven]

Finished a lot since last checking in.

5 stars.

4.5.

Reading this now and not getting as into it as I did Lonesome Dove and Boone's Lick. I love his tough female protagonists, but I'm not sure about having one as the narrator. Larry writes certain character archetypes and reuses them quite a bit and I like the mystery and authority his strong female archetype gives off that shock and twist his classic male protagonists, so having that trope as narrator kind of turns that on the head. Worse, she's the only good character so far in the book, so she's playing in a sandbox of less interesting civilians than in previous McMurtry books. This isn't about gender issues: I think Mc writes fantastic characters, but his protagonists work best as neutral, fairly uninteresting voices narrating the OTHER characters' stories - my issue is that the strongest, most interesting character IS the main character this time and she outshines everyone else.

 

[nakedsushi]

For every reader here, do you prefer books in the 1st or 3rd person point of view?

It depends on the book, but I do find that 3rd person view is easier to get into. I always start out suspicious of 1st person view.

The last one I read was Augustine. Have you read it?

No. Haven't even heard of it. What is it about?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

 

[Mumei]

No. Haven't even heard of it. What is it about?

... Shit.

I am a moron.

In my defense, it was 5:00 AM when I posted that. I meant to say Augustus, by John Williams.

 

[Kuraudo]

For every reader here, do you prefer books in the 1st or 3rd person point of view?

Depends on the book and the author.

I think third person is generally easier to pull off, but in the hands of a good enough writer first is sublime.


Took nakedsushi's advice and dropped House of Leaves. Replaced it with Gravity's Rainbow.

Not particularly far in (just read the "you never did the kenosha kid" bit last night), but it's pretty great.

 

[Lamel]

Finished Reading


Starting

I have high expectations for both.

Do tell how World War Z is once you are finished, I am interested in reading that.

 

[Exhumed]

Can't put them down!

 

[eattomorro]

For every reader here, do you prefer books in the 1st or 3rd person point of view?

Sacred Games changes between the two, which is quite refreshing as it's such a long book. But usually I like 3rd best...

 

[RockAction]

Just finished Number One, next up is The Grand Design, the last in John Dos Passos' Districts of Columbia trilogy

If you like fitzgerald / vidal / hemingway, Dos Passos is very much worth a read, start with USA trilogy

 

[Manik]

It's slightly morbid, but can anyone recommend any good books (non-ficton) on the subject of air crashes and their subsequent investigations? I always loved watching Air Crash Investigations on National Geographic so something along similar lines would be ideal.

 

[Yen]

If you dug S-5 I highly recommend the Sirens of Titan

Yeah, I'll want to read more Vonnegut.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Blindness and started The Killer Angels

Hard copy

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I'm going to move onto American Gods by Neil Gaiman before reading the next Malazan book, Midnight Tides.

God, no. If you're gonna read Gaiman, I'd advice you to read pretty much any other of his novels or short story collections. Just skip American Gods. I generally dig Gaiman, but American Gods is just a great idea suffering from poor execution, as the book is, IMO, pretty damn boring.

Anyway, currently working my way through The Last of the Vikings by Johan Bojer.

 

[nicoga3000]

My fiancee told me to read The Hunger Games. So I've started it. It's actually a fun read so far...

 

[Cactus]

Just started reading: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym...

...and I'm loving it. Poe's distinctive style coupled with my irrational love for nautical tales despite knowing little about ships or sea travel in general = a lot of enjoyment.

 

[Quake1028]

&

Also bought the StoryBundle. Damn, my book backlog is huge .

 

[aidan]

The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams

I finished The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams, which I enjoyed quite a bit. A big departure for Williams, but full of his trademark knack for interesting characters and scenarios. Very good.

Now working on:


Sharps by K.J. Parker

 

[Lamel]

My fiancee told me to read The Hunger Games. So I've started it. It's actually a fun read so far...

This is something I want to do just to keep up with the movies. They are really fast reads.

I've heard that in this case movies are better.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Yukio Mishima's 'Confessions of a Mask'
I'm about halfway through this, very interesting reading and a very intimate insight into sexuality.

Earlier today I also read Yoko Ogawa's 'The Diving Pool', her writing always invokes feelings of a sweltering summer with foreboding darkness seeping through the landscapes, it's very consistent - I liked some of the humour in 'Pregnancy Diary' and I welcomed some of the more perverse elements that make up 'The Diving Pool', the main story itself, they're reminiscent of her other novel I read not long ago, 'Hotel Iris'.

I also read Taichi Yamada's 'Strangers' today, it was a very easy read but I felt like it didn't particularly excel at anything, aside from presenting a different approach to spirits and ghosts and whatnot.

I finished 'Confessions of a Mask' it was very compelling!

I'm now halfway through Murasaki Shikibu's 'The Tale of Genji'

It's the unabridged version, quite a large tome full of footnotes and whatnot, obviously timeless and surprisingly easy to read considering it's age (considered by some to be the oldest novel of it's kind) It's charming and very poetic!

 

[Fjordson]

Finishd Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It was great. Loved the characters and Kay's prose was a pleasure to read. Now starting:

Interesting since like the second paragraph. The premise is great. Set on post-apocalyptic Earth, but instead of people living in the usual crumbled buildings in the middle of a scorched desert or something, they've all settled in a pair of giant, rundown, and damp submarines ("citysubs" as they call them).

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Finishd Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It was great. Loved the characters and Kay's prose was a pleasure to read. Now starting:

Interesting since like the second paragraph. The premise is great. Set on post-apocalyptic Earth, but instead of people living in the usual crumbled buildings in the middle of a scorched desert or something, they've all settled in a pair of giant, rundown, and damp submarines ("citysubs" as they call them).

About halfway done with this, been enjoying it for the most part. Has some really cool scenes and I like the characters and their dialogue comes off natural. I'm just now getting into the meat of the main plot.

 

[Haly]

Do you like Urban Fantasy and its ilk?

Do you like Lovecraftian horrors Not Of This World?

Do you have $0.99?

If you answered "Yes" to all of the above then do I have the book for you (ignore the shitty cover art):

Child of Fire is about a man named Ray Lilly and his boss, Annalise Powliss. Annalise is a mage, and a high ranking member of the mysterious Twenty Palace Society. Ray, on the other hand, is a "wooden man", and his job is to act as a decoy while Annalise does her fire and brimstone thing. Together, they hunt down rogue mages who summon extradimensional horrors for their own selfish ends. Horrors which, if left unchecked, can easily devour all sentient life on earth.

Annalise also wants to kill Ray for something he once did, which does not make their job any easier.

Child of Fire is, even by urban fantasy standards, pretty dark. People die, they don't get better later on. It's about sacrifices, what people are willing to do for power and what the heroes have to do to stop them. And it's about trust, with all the various emotional trappings that come with that kind of plotline. This book is also niche, so niche that it doesn't even have a tropes page despite being 3 years old.

Alternatively, you can think of this as Harry Dresden in the Lakeside setting from American Gods. You can buy the ebook from Amazon for a measily $0.99, provided you have/are willing to use their Kindle for PC app.