RealisticPillow
Banned
Well it's only the second book of his that I read, the first one was The Idiot, but if all of his "big" work is at this level I might soon call him the greatest ever too!
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What are you reading? (August 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Well it's only the second book of his that I read, the first one was The Idiot, but if all of his "big" work is at this level I might soon call him the greatest ever too!
Just read The Brothers K- and remove all doubt.
And chase it with Notes from Underground. Yep.
Maklershed
Member
Nearing the end of The Terror. I'll be glad to be finished. Its not that I dont like it - its ok - but it just feels like I've been reading this forever. Ready for a change of pace.
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
Well, what can I say.. It's pretty amazing, one of the best books I've ever read..
Can you tell us a little bit about why it's so good? This is obviously one of those legendary books I've heard a lot about, but I don't know anything about it. What's good about it?
Maklershed
Member
FYI - I Am Legend is on sale today as a Kindle daily deal for $1.99. Excellent book. Don't let the movie scare you off. They're very different. The book is better in every way.
teruterubozu
Member
I Am Legend is really short too - you could finish it in an afternoon.
RealisticPillow
Banned
Sure !
Well other than the fact that the writing is godlike, I think that the greatest aspect of the book is that it makes your brain work way more than most books without you even realizing it. I mean, when you look at it, the story is very simple : a student, named Raskolnikov, commits murder and then feels guilty (hence the title of the book). That is how the book is usually summed up and it's pretty accurate story-wise.
But the story, even if very interesting, is almost a "pretext" for Dostoyevsky, to describe his whole world and expose his idea. The story is essentially about what causes crimes to happen (is it poverty ? Is it just human nature ?), and the concepts of remorse and redemption (should we feel guilty if we kill someone ? After all, many great men in history are responsible for millions of death..). Throughout the book you'll constantly be asking yourself questions, and will probably be rooting for Raskolnikov (meaning not wanting him to get caught or turn himself to the police), which is quite disturbing because well, he's just a killer, there's nothing great or remarkable about him..
So yeah, to answer your question, I think that the reason it's so great is that it remains interesting to read (in the sense "damn I wonder what happens in the next chapter ?!") while being one of these few books that really make people "smarter" and make us realize that there is a lot to consider when talking about crimes and the way our societies should investigate/punish it.
Plus, the edition I read was divided in parts of 150/200 pages and it was a very good way to read it, by reading one part a day you'll have finished it in les than a week so I can only encourage you to read it !
P.S : Do not hesitate to tell me if something in my message is unclear, English not being my native language I'm not exactly sure of how clear I am..
Marcovaldo
Member
pale fire, the opening still makes me laugh
Mackenzie 92
Member
It is lengthy. Sorry you're not digging it more, man.
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Starting this today.
Kingmaker by Christian Cantrell
Currently working through book one of Thomas Covenant.
Eh. I'm about 200 pages in and finding it really boring. I just picked up Way of Kings yesterday and really want to start that, but I gotta finish this first. I hope it gets better...
I think this has aged really poorly. Everyone that holds it in high regard seems to have read it 20-30 years ago.
Just finished Emperor of Thrones (kind of a let-down IMO, loved book 1 and 2) and blasted through The Warded Man.
Reading book two now:
AngmarsKing701
Member
Yep that sounds like The Terror.
Plasticine
Member
I finished Edward Lee's Coven earlier today. What a wild book. While the cover, title and description makes it seem like a satanic or witchcraft themed affair, it most assuredly is not. It's actually a science fiction, alien story. Of course, since it's an Edward Lee alien story, there's bodies chopped in half, philosophical zombies, chronically masturbating women and penis eating clones. Filled with black humor and ridiculous moments, it's a heap of fun. That said, it isn't a perfect book. The characters are pretty hard to like. They're either rich and pretentious jerks, bitchy women or Lee's patented brand of redneck. At points the story gets so out of control, you can feel Lee losing the narrative, almost like he started tossing in crazy shit just because. Fortunately, he always managed to get the train back on the tracks just in time.
Since I'm really digging Lee, I thought I'd move on to his next book.
Lee describes this as his personal favorite.A blend of Silence of the Lambs and the Exorcist.
Since I'm really digging Lee, I thought I'd move on to his next book.
Lee describes this as his personal favorite.A blend of Silence of the Lambs and the Exorcist.
Great recommendation. Do you like Calvino? Your name reminds me of one of his novels.
charlemagne
Member
Starting Watership Down today. It's been on the list for a while.
Just finished:
Just started:
I'd already read Blood of Elves when the Orbit version came out, but since Time of Contempt was published by Gollancz for the UK back in July, I decided to order it off Book Depository along with the Gollancz version of Blood of Elves so my bookshelf didn't look ridiculous. No way I was gonna wait until the end of this month for Orbit to get their copy out (which is the same damned translation). Gotta say, despite having the same translation by the same person, the Orbit version of BoE is cleaner than Gollancz's version, which I found contained a few spelling and format errors not present in the Orbit copy. Oh well, at least Gollancz has the superior cover. (Ordered the Gollancz version of The Last Wish yesterday to complete my trinity. Haven't decided on what I'll do with my Orbit copies of The Last Wish and Blood of Elves.)
The change of translators between the two books is a bit annoying. The new translator, David French, has a somewhat drier writing style than Danusia Stok, and it seems like he translated word-for-word at certain points (never mind that he changed Dandilion to Dandelion). It's pretty off-putting, but I love The Witcher, so I'll deal with it.
Just started:
I'd already read Blood of Elves when the Orbit version came out, but since Time of Contempt was published by Gollancz for the UK back in July, I decided to order it off Book Depository along with the Gollancz version of Blood of Elves so my bookshelf didn't look ridiculous. No way I was gonna wait until the end of this month for Orbit to get their copy out (which is the same damned translation). Gotta say, despite having the same translation by the same person, the Orbit version of BoE is cleaner than Gollancz's version, which I found contained a few spelling and format errors not present in the Orbit copy. Oh well, at least Gollancz has the superior cover. (Ordered the Gollancz version of The Last Wish yesterday to complete my trinity. Haven't decided on what I'll do with my Orbit copies of The Last Wish and Blood of Elves.)
The change of translators between the two books is a bit annoying. The new translator, David French, has a somewhat drier writing style than Danusia Stok, and it seems like he translated word-for-word at certain points (never mind that he changed Dandilion to Dandelion). It's pretty off-putting, but I love The Witcher, so I'll deal with it.
Man I don't like those covers at all. I can't wait a decade so I ended up reading the fan translations of the ones that aren't in English, but I'll buy all the official translations as they come out in hopes that they get the remaining ones out a little faster.
Marcovaldo
Member
yes, those short stories are where i got the name from. it's the only calvino i've read and keep meaning to go back to him but my backlog is massive and i've been too busy to get much reading done in the last few months
Is out today.
Please be excited.
Man, this reminded me I need to pick up Crucible of Gold like, yesterday.
I just finished reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I really loved it and would definitely recommend it in a heartbeat. Started up The Master and The Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov while also reading A Game of Thrones, which I started a while ago but put down since I'd already seen the first season. Martin's use of similes makes me laugh, since most of them boil down to something like, "It was hot, like fire", and sentences don't really go in the order that they make sense with. Not that a translated Russian novel reads much easier, but it's odd that I have to go back and read a sentence over a couple times in order to figure out who was doing what action because the order didn't make it clear.
I'm also considering reading something by Murakami in the future. What's something good for someone who's never encountered his work before?
I'm also considering reading something by Murakami in the future. What's something good for someone who's never encountered his work before?
I know what you mean, I adore Pratchett.
I've just started reading "Feet of clay", after having finished "Interesting times" and "Maskerade" last week.
I've also finished reading Neil Gaiman's "The ocean at the end of the lane", what a great book.
Is out today.
Please be excited.
Is it worth it to continue reading this series?
Only read the first installment years ago and never brought myself to read further.
I have to say, it's intriguing that Novik is using different continents and cultures in each novel. And I do have the first 4 books in my bookshelf!
Is out today.
Please be excited.
Still need to read this series, got the 1st 3 books downloaded just not started on them yet, perhaps i will look into these when i have finished the Discworld books.
sprucebringsteen
Banned
Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel.
i'm only 50 pages into this behemoth of a book and am finding it difficult to press on.
Completed Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. It is a sort of a Book of the New Sun / Black Company / Kingkiller hybrid (an immoral badass in the far future that resembles the distant past). There are some hiccups in the quality of the writing, a lot of inconsistency when it comes to anachronistic speech, and it seems as if the author frequently chooses expediency over reality with one razor thin escape after another. Despite those qaulms, I love the first person perspective and was compelled to finish the book in 3 days. It was refreshing to read a comparatively simple piece of fantasy after GRRM's complex works.
TestMonkey
Member
Just finished Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. I was really enjoying the book and then the ending happened. The ending was just so cookie cutter... Takes everything that they were building towards and just chucks it out the window at the same time using one of my most hated tropes to kill one of the villains.
Maklershed
Member
No need to apologize. I do like it and its an interesting story. Its just way too long for my tastes. I think a good 100+ pages could have been taken out of the
man hauling / ice hike
bengraven
Member
Is out today.
Please be excited.
Oooooooo.
And it's the second to last one, isn't it?
There better be some
resolution to Lawrence and his plot threads in England
Spot on assessment, I'd have to agree. Not just age though. I smashed through all of them as they came out and they were still firmly in the "eh" category.
Vintage_Creep
Banned
Books of Blood, Volume 1 through 3.
I want to read everything Barker has ever done.
I want to read everything Barker has ever done.
Oooooooo.
And it's the second to last one, isn't it?.resolution to Lawrence and his plot threads in England
I haven't read it yet but if my friend's reactions are any indication lolololol.
(They're in Japan this time, home of the water dragons.)
It's very sweet and romantic though. There's nothing quite so pure as human/dragon love.
Yes. It flips flops between excitement and travelogues but Naomi goes above and beyond to make each society different and to challenge the main characters' preconceptions about human-dragon relations.
That will be a long time but no rush!
Crucible of Gold was pretty good, if a bit travelogue-y. Dragon-centric South America was very interesting though.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Finished Kingmaker already. Kinda short but was a fun read, enjoyed it.
Picked this up on a whim and hooked me from the first page.
The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
Yeah agree with that.
Hmm, sounds kinda interesting. Let me know if you power through and if it gets any better.
Picked this up on a whim and hooked me from the first page.
The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
Yeah agree with that.
Hmm, sounds kinda interesting. Let me know if you power through and if it gets any better.
That synopsis sounds awesome. I need to check this out as well
I enjoyed that book but am getting a little fuzzy on the ending.
Wasn't the villain sent back to "Caine's" world at the end. I don't remember him dying. Unless you meant the actor that betrayed them.
It's nearly impossible to find a copy of the second book unless you want a used one or you're into digital downloads. I still like a good book in my hands and would really love for them to do a reprint. Oh well, I'll keep waiting.
Maklershed
Member
Finished Kingmaker already. Kinda short but was a fun read, enjoyed it.
Picked this up on a whim and hooked me from the first page.
The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
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Very good little time travel store. Possiby my favorite of the genre. (NOTE: I havent read Replay yet)
sparky2112
Member
Replay is very good. I'm still a BIG fan of The Time Traveler's Wife.
I read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant back in the Eighties and loved them. With the second trilogy I couldn't get past the first book. I'd come to Donaldson after reading Tolkien and then the first Shannara book, so there was a bit of a shock with Lord Foul's Bane. Having said that, I've never liked anything else Donaldson has done, so maybe this was his KISS ALIVE album for me.
CorduroyBear
Member
I've been trying to get through Harlan Coben's "Deal Breaker" for the past couple of months, but I always find myself doing something other than reading a book, lol.
Oh the last of these I read was the one that took place in Australia I think. They seemed to be getting more boring with each new installment. Has it picked back up? I loved the first three.
Is out today.
Please be excited.
I've been going through Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Shit's so incredibly fucked up and we just glossed through it in the several U.S. History courses I've taken throughout the years.
Electric_ Cthulhu
Member
I'm reading Winter is Coming: Symbols and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones on my Kindle and furthermore this:
I really like it so far (50 pages in).
Can someone recommend me a good (crime) novel that mindfucks the shit out of me? Something in the vein of Shutter Island or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?
I really like it so far (50 pages in).
Can someone recommend me a good (crime) novel that mindfucks the shit out of me? Something in the vein of Shutter Island or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?
just started this:
wish i had the money to buy the 25th Anniversary edition with art by Richard A. Kirk, so pretty.
Plasticine
Member
My God. That's absolutely gorgeous. I would totally buy that if I weren't a filthy poor.
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