Absolutely. I think it's the problem of being a collector of any kind. I've resolved to finish the 30 or so unread books on my shelf before going ahead and reading almost anything else.
What are you reading? (August 2015)
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Absolutely. I think it's the problem of being a collector of any kind. I've resolved to finish the 30 or so unread books on my shelf before going ahead and reading almost anything else.
Yes. I often find myself purchasing a book that I really want right then, shelve it with the intention of reading it when I finish the book I am currently reading, only to not feel that same inclination to read it once I have time for it.
D:
I'm only 16% of the way through Deathless so far but it seems really great so far. Lots of awesome Russian folklore and revolutionary themes throughout.
It's funny though, the three books I've been reading recently (Uprooted, Howl's and Deathless) all have a lot in common in terms of themes and inspirations. I chose to read them somewhat at random though so it's all just one big coincidence.
I am currently reading Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser
This was suggested by somebody in here in one of the OT threads (I can't remember which one).
Fascinating book about the history of the atomic bomb and how the ICBM missile solos were operated during the cold war.
This was suggested by somebody in here in one of the OT threads (I can't remember which one).
Fascinating book about the history of the atomic bomb and how the ICBM missile solos were operated during the cold war.
That's why I always buy one book at a time. The only exception to this principle is "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, gonna read that when I'm in the right mood.
And 50 books still unread? Heck, I would have to buy an extra shelf just for those.
RepairmanJack
Member
Wrong thread.
It is one of my favorites, yes.
I remember that review. It didn't just get the book wrong; it was a failure in a very basic exercise in real-world empathy. Bleh.
I just finished my first Discworld book, Guards! Guards! and it was hilarious and highly entertaining. I've been reading through io9's Guide to Discworld and I'm not sure if I'll stay with The City Watch series or jump around to Mort, Monstrous Regiment, or Going Postal.
Personally, I would always recommend jumping into the Death books as soon as possible. The last one, Thief of Time, is easily my favourite Pratchett book (and one of my favourite books in general.)
Incendiary
Banned
Started reading The Martian this week. So far it's pretty entertaining. The juxtaposition of the survival via science and the general humor makes it a fun read.
ManUtdRedDevils
Member
Started reading Winter of the World by Ken Follet. I can't tell if I like it or not. I liked the characters in the first book way more than their offspring so far.
I very much liked the idea of Deathless and I think it hits a sweet spot in Valente's prose, but I thought she kind of fumbled the execution. Still lots to like about it, though. A bunch of good stuff and I love her take on the dragon and his bed of bones.
I really loved those books. Went through the entire series just before Witcher 3 came out and it was amazing.
Learning China's history right after liberation has been depressing to say the least. It really is like watching something being built and then having it broken apart. The author covers a lot of areas in relation to the changes the new regime made. From the wars to land redistribution and all the brutality attached in doing so. Detailed practices of thought reform and death quotas were especially shocking. Overall a grim study with valuable insight into the time and space.
Watch To Live next! Amazing movie dealing with same subject matter.
AngmarsKing701
Member
You're doing it right.
- Buy books you won't read
- Buy Steam games you won't play
- Put movies and shows on your Netflix list you won't watch
dodosaurus
Member
i've been meaning to read more books lately because i used to like reading when i was a kid and the last book i read that wasn't for school was years age. so i bought a book to read on holiday and finished it an hour ago in my backyard with some nice tea.
beneath London by James P. Blaylock
although its not the most complicated book by any means it was still a nice read about adventure in a steampunk london and its underground caves. it was fun to read but i found out that i just don't have the attention span to just sit down and read a book, when i first started reading it i just couldn't read more than a few pages without wanting to do something else. but after putting on some music i read 30 to 40 pages in a day so that helped.
i think it helped me getting back into books because i'm already looking for another book so that's nice
beneath London by James P. Blaylock
although its not the most complicated book by any means it was still a nice read about adventure in a steampunk london and its underground caves. it was fun to read but i found out that i just don't have the attention span to just sit down and read a book, when i first started reading it i just couldn't read more than a few pages without wanting to do something else. but after putting on some music i read 30 to 40 pages in a day so that helped.
i think it helped me getting back into books because i'm already looking for another book so that's nice
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
I've managed to finish a couple of novels during the holidays. The one that made the most impression was this one:
Beautiful and brutal. The book tells the story about a family during the chaos of the early Chinese republic in north-eastern China (Gaomi in Shandong), with a dismantling feudal system turning into towns controlled by rivaling gangs and bandits, and then proceeding into the chaos and atrocities of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Mo Yan tells his story in a direct manner, with pretty straight forward prose, that both highlights the beautiful scenery and the gut wrenching brutality of the war and the horrors of the slaughtering of entire villages. Sometimes his prose is a bit too explicit for me, I felt physically ill during the most intense descriptions of violence.
Beautiful and brutal. The book tells the story about a family during the chaos of the early Chinese republic in north-eastern China (Gaomi in Shandong), with a dismantling feudal system turning into towns controlled by rivaling gangs and bandits, and then proceeding into the chaos and atrocities of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Mo Yan tells his story in a direct manner, with pretty straight forward prose, that both highlights the beautiful scenery and the gut wrenching brutality of the war and the horrors of the slaughtering of entire villages. Sometimes his prose is a bit too explicit for me, I felt physically ill during the most intense descriptions of violence.
Crabernacle
Member
I'm about 80 pages into The Black Company after seeing it recommended in another thread. I'm enjoying it so far, definitely a change of pace from my last book: Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals: A Documentary History of the West Virginia Mine Wars.
johnnyquicknives
Member
Took a bit of a break after book 2, but I'm finally back to reading this:
Pretty crazy ending so far. Liking it more than the 2nd book. Much easier to get through and that crazy sense of mystery and foreboding is mostly back like the 1st.
I gave up on Acceptance last night. I loved Annihilation and powered through Authority despite not really enjoying it then just hit a wall with Acceptance where I couldn't find any motivation at all to keep reading it. I probably should have taken a break after Authority.
I moved onto Joyland.
I'm only about a third in, the start is very much an adventureland style coming of age story and I'm liking it a lot so far.
Yeah, I took a big break after Authority and read Game of Thrones. Came back to it after I finished that and it was kind of easy to get swept up in it all again. It felt pretty refreshing after GoT.
johnnyquicknives
Member
I'll probably come back to it in a few months to see how it wraps up but for now I just wanted something different.
I finished Great Expectations on my lunch break. I liked it, but it didn't grab me the way that quite a few other nineteenth century novels have. Anyone have suggestions for which Dickens I should try next?
And next up: Finishing A Wild Sheep Chase! I'm about halfway through it, and have been for far too long. >_>
And next up: Finishing A Wild Sheep Chase! I'm about halfway through it, and have been for far too long. >_>
I think that's his best, so not the one to ask. He's written many good and flawed books and was my introduction to Victorian literature, but since then I've found other favorites I care more about. I do usually re-read a christmas carol in december, though. Have you read any George Eliot?
I have not read any George Eliot, no.
Just want to post one of my favourite book covers.
Should I just make this its own thread if it doesn't exist already?
You mean a favorite book covers thread, or what?
sparky2112
Member
Bleak House is often considered his masterpiece, but a lot of folks like The Pickwick Papers too. I've read the former, and not the latter. The recent-ish BBC adaption of Bleak House with Gillian Anderson was outstanding...
If you've never read any Anthony Trollope, you might give The Warden a go. It's short and does a great job of showing you where Trollope is coming from. Outstanding novel. The great thing about Trollope is that he basically did nothing other than work for Britain's postal service and write. That's it. Hence, 40+ novels. Dickens was of course prolific, but nowhere near Trollope prolific.
Dicktatorship
Junior Member
I just finished John Williams' Stoner. Pretty great book, so far it's accumulated more notes that I've written while reading than any other book I've read so far this year.
I decided to go back to reading the Baroque Cycle after being indecisive about what to start next. I'm not not really in the mood to read the entire 900 page (3 book) volume, so I will probably read King Solomon's Gold, and then take a break before going back to the last two books.
Out of curiosity: What kind of notes do you write? I'll occasionally mark passages on my kindle but overall I seldom go back to books to look stuff like that up.
sparky2112
Member
Dicktatorship
Junior Member
It's mainly just interpretations, expectations, and remarks about the quieter moments that don't usually rush to your mind years later like the highlights tend to do. And it's still pretty fun to go back and look over when you've finished reading a book to see that a character took an entirely different path than you guessed.
Finished up Saga Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology by Brandon Sanderson and friends.
I really enjoyed Saga and I'm eager for the next volume. I didn't like the direction of the vol 4 as much as the other volumes but it was still good.
Shadows Beneath I found to be just "okay". I think I just don't like short stories in general so I can't really say it's a flaw of any of the authors. I love the idea of the book though. Showing all the steps involved in writing the stories was interesting.
I do have to say I find it annoying when authors mark one of their short stories as part of their larger series to sell more books. I know it's a common practice (see: Stephen King's The Little Sisters of Eluria in Legends, GRR Martin's Dunk and Egg in various anthologies and Sanderson with his Sixth of Dusk in Shadows Beneath) but it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If its a decent story on its own or if it actually adds content to the larger series' plot I don't mind it as much. Sixth of Dusk, however, didn't tie in with the rest of the cosmere at all. Maybe it will be referenced in the future, but as of right now there is no reason it should be included.
At any rate, I'm on to The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I've heard good things so I'm looking forward to it!
I really enjoyed Saga and I'm eager for the next volume. I didn't like the direction of the vol 4 as much as the other volumes but it was still good.
Shadows Beneath I found to be just "okay". I think I just don't like short stories in general so I can't really say it's a flaw of any of the authors. I love the idea of the book though. Showing all the steps involved in writing the stories was interesting.
I do have to say I find it annoying when authors mark one of their short stories as part of their larger series to sell more books. I know it's a common practice (see: Stephen King's The Little Sisters of Eluria in Legends, GRR Martin's Dunk and Egg in various anthologies and Sanderson with his Sixth of Dusk in Shadows Beneath) but it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If its a decent story on its own or if it actually adds content to the larger series' plot I don't mind it as much. Sixth of Dusk, however, didn't tie in with the rest of the cosmere at all. Maybe it will be referenced in the future, but as of right now there is no reason it should be included.
At any rate, I'm on to The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I've heard good things so I'm looking forward to it!
At any rate, I'm on to The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I've heard good things so I'm looking forward to it!
Yes!
Thanks. I think icarus or Leona was talking to me about that adaptation recently, actually.
And Trollope was only vaguely on my radar, I think. Is The Warden your favorite, or just the most representative?
sparky2112
Member
The Warden is just considerably shorter than anything else he's done, I think, and gives you a quick idea of whether you want to continue with him. It's the first book in the 6-book Chronicles of Barset, but it's totally self-contained. It was also my first Trollope, so I have a soft spot for it. He's much more conventional than Dickens, but then who isn't from that era?
Yes, a "your favourite book covers" thread.
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, Bleak House is where you want to go next. Surprised nobody has mentioned David Copperfield!
I've always had a soft spot for Hard Times as well, which was the first Dickens novel I ever read (probably because it was the shortest lol)
I've always had a soft spot for Hard Times as well, which was the first Dickens novel I ever read (probably because it was the shortest lol)
I say yes!
Ah, cool. I think that's something I'd actually enjoy if I can bring myself to do it consistently. Or maybe even doing a little log or something where I collect my thoughts.
I don't like marking up books (I know, I know), but I do enjoy reading notes that other people wrote in used copies. It feels like you're getting a window into someone else's experience of a book; how they responded to it, argued against it, analyzed it, and so on.
sparky2112
Member
My knock on Copperfield is that there isn't a lot of depth to it. I may have to revisit it at some point down the road, but I remember it as an endless series of ways adults can screw over a little kid.
sparky2112
Member
I'd love to read through all of David Foster Wallace's marginalia, all of which is at the Harry Ransom Center in Texas, which I am nowhere near. I've seen pictures of some pages, and Wallace went to town marking up his reading. None of which has been digitized, I'm sure, due to copyright stuff, etc.
Just pmed you my account name. I would definitely recommend reading the early books as well. It should give you a very good understanding of the whole Mao period.
Piecake, are we friends on Goodreads? I can't recall who is who half the time. <_<
Favourite fiction book covers thread:
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1091055
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1091055
Frosty Droid
Member
I'll start with Mort then, thanks!
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