May as well get 'em all while they're on sale - if you're anything like me, once you read one, you'll devour the rest directly after.
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What are you reading? (December 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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May as well get 'em all while they're on sale - if you're anything like me, once you read one, you'll devour the rest directly after.
sparky2112
Member
You cheap bitches be my favorite cheap bitches....
AND WHY DO I KEEP BUYING YA-AUTHOR SANDERSON'S STUFF?????
AND WHY DO I KEEP BUYING YA-AUTHOR SANDERSON'S STUFF?????
Maklershed
Member
was thinking about starting this trilogy. how is it?
Cosmere really only seems to be making an impact in the Stormlight Archive books, and it's mostly nods to other books. It'll help you understand one of the characters more, but even with reading them he's a bit of a mystic prick, so... not like reading the others will help you understand him.
Yep. Cosmere may end up being more important later on (Sanderson has hinted at a possible cross-over book,but that is still far, far out). It is more like... an easter egg.
Rhomega Beta
Member
Picked The Hobbit back up because Five Armies came into theaters. On Chapter VIII, haven't seen Desolation of Smaug yet. Also re-reading A Christmas Carol.
Finished reading The Sense of an Ending, it was one my backlog for quite some time after seeing some hype about it few years ago. And it completely delivered, just a fantastic book dealing with regret, and memories of an old man recounting his past. Sort of an open ended conclusion but some of the theories I read online and the particular one that I agree with made the entire story even better. I should look for more novels by Julian Barnes, surprised to also see them very accessible writing wise.
Also read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I was already a big fan of hers after I read The Lowland earlier this year. This collection is just as great as the other book. Still dealing with stories of Indian culture and immigrants adjusting with American society. I found it interesting how pretty much every character she wrote that lives in America is either a grad student or works at a library for a university.
Also picked up and read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I was already familiar with the gist of the story from older animations and other references to the work, but I never properly read it. This version had very nice illustrations by Alison Jay. You can see most of them here. I honestly wouldn't have read this if it weren't for the illustrations.
I am almost finished with this, and it is simply fantastic. This is probably the best biography I have read and Ron Chernow is easily my favorite biographer. Hamilton is such an interesting, misunderstood, important, and controversial figure and Ron Chernow does a fantastic job of telling his story.
From other books on the Revolutionary period, I started to acquire a fairly low opinion of Thomas Jefferson. Well, this book absolutely destroys him as a self-deluded, hypocritcal intriguer who worked from the shadows by employing proxies to do his dirty work. He justified all of this because he saw the world as a monumental struggle between democracy and liberty versus monarchy and tyranny. Everyone who disagreed with him was an evil monarchist who would then be assumed to have the most base motives by Jefferson and who believed most of the gossip surrounding them.
His thinking was rather humorous when he tried to apply it to Washington. He could not call or think of him as a monarchist and tyrant due to his reputation, but he could not reconcile him as a proponent of democracy and liberty because he agreed with Hamilton far more than he agreed with Jefferson. Therefore, Jefferson thought Washington was a senile old-man whose mind was being twisted and influenced by the evil Hamilton.
It really is quite amazing how Jefferson got such an exalted reputation. I guess that tells you the importance of living a long life and giving voice to American ideals, even though Jefferson failed to live it up them.
I realize it is a bit odd that Ive talked so much about Jefferson when discussing a Hamilton biography, but that is the one thing that has really struck and surprised me in my readings of American Revolution history. That being is that I think Jefferson kinda sucks as a human being.
One aspect I do find interesting is that Gordon Wood (a Jefferson lover) states that Hamilton did not predict America's future economy, manufacturing, since his On Manufacturing proposal was about getting tax money to fund the government, not promote manufacturing.
Chernow takes the opposite view and says that Hamilton did indeed try to promote manufacturing and saw that as America's path to preeminence. I am not sure who to believe, but without looking at the sources, I would probably take Chernow's side (might be bias speaking) since while Wood likely has a better command of Revolutionary sources, Chernow likely has a better understanding of economics and Hamilton. Also, Chernow mentions how he established a manufacturing city in New Jersey and read deeply on what made Britain successful. Clearly he concluded that it was manufacturing and credit. Therefore, I have a hard time imagining that Hamilton did not see manufacturing as America's path to success. I am tempted to posit that Wood's conclusion was influenced by his love of Jefferson (though again, that might be my bias)
StrongArmSteady
Member
Starts off strong, didn't like the second book, the third was almost as good as the first, definitely worth a read
WascallyWabbit
Member
Thanks to this thread I've actually dipped my toe back into fiction after mainly reading essays and memoirs
Station Eleven was solid, I'm not usually a fan of plots that tie all parties in the book in together and that seems to be the whole point, a la movies like Crash, but this one had a very interesting post-apocalyptic hook to it and the characters were very likeable even despite their flaws
The Martian was also a very good thriller, hard not to compare to Gravity because I can see it being developed into a Hollywood film soon. Kept me engaged the whole time and the main character is very relatable. The science facts also really appealed to my geek side, though I can see it getting boring for some people
The Intern's Handbook this one I really enjoyed, it's kind of like what I wished the movie Wanted had been. Basically a thriller about a hired assassin, and while some of the framing devices are kind of strange the main character and plot were strong enough that I overlooked it.
Now onto Mistborn and working on finishing Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore!
Station Eleven was solid, I'm not usually a fan of plots that tie all parties in the book in together and that seems to be the whole point, a la movies like Crash, but this one had a very interesting post-apocalyptic hook to it and the characters were very likeable even despite their flaws
The Martian was also a very good thriller, hard not to compare to Gravity because I can see it being developed into a Hollywood film soon. Kept me engaged the whole time and the main character is very relatable. The science facts also really appealed to my geek side, though I can see it getting boring for some people
The Intern's Handbook this one I really enjoyed, it's kind of like what I wished the movie Wanted had been. Basically a thriller about a hired assassin, and while some of the framing devices are kind of strange the main character and plot were strong enough that I overlooked it.
Now onto Mistborn and working on finishing Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore!
| Praxis |
Banned
I'm reading Let Me In at the minute, great book. Let the Right One In is one of my favourite films and I left reading the book far too long.
Already underway with Ridley Scott and Matt Damon.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Ender's Game is $2
Intheflorsh
Banned
I finished Altered Carbon. I enjoyed it but I do wish the noir and investigation elements were more pronounced. I hear the sequels abandon the noir influences completely so I think I'll skip them.
sparky2112
Member
There's an interview with the author in the back of the Kindle version where he says he got is book and movie deals in the same week. That's a pretty good week, if you ask me.
I preferred Book 2 to Book 1, but liked Book 3 the least.
Have you started Seiobo There Below
I prefer the stuff exploring Area X to the stuff not exploring it. That's my main reason. Book 2 was probably more cohesive than Book 3 though I'll admit.
Have you started Seiobo There Below
No! I bought it though. And I read almost everything I buy, or rather, I never buy anything I don't plan to read.
I'm the same way, but that hasn't stopped me from purchasing dozens of books I haven't gotten around to yet.
nakedsushi
Member
I'm 13% through with this
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
At first, it seemed cool, exciting, and new, but now it feels like a bit of a slog. Does it get better? I'm interested in
.
Also reading through
Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China by Val Wang
Which isn't great, but is just _that_ kind of memoir that's easy to read through and I can relate to.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
At first, it seemed cool, exciting, and new, but now it feels like a bit of a slog. Does it get better? I'm interested in
the parts where she rescued that person in the snow and is trying to find some other person who has some artifact, but the other parts like the one on the planet that just went through annexation is boring
Also reading through
Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China by Val Wang
Which isn't great, but is just _that_ kind of memoir that's easy to read through and I can relate to.
I'm 13% through with this
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
At first, it seemed cool, exciting, and new, but now it feels like a bit of a slog. Does it get better? I'm interested in.the parts where she rescued that person in the snow and is trying to find some other person who has some artifact, but the other parts like the one on the planet that just went through annexation is boring
It clicked for me at about the 40% mark. I read the second half in a quarter of the time it took me to read the first half.
Maklershed
Member
Annihilation was amazing and I absolutely loved it. Authority was .. good .. not nearly as good as Annhilation but it kept me intrigued. So far Acceptance is good too but I'm not 100% sure I understand what is happening. Overall so far though I'd recommend reading it.
I've been burning through Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series on H.Pro's recommendation. The author makes some weird choices, but otherwise it's been exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump. About to finish The King of Attolia and start on the last book.
Also gonna need to make my Christmas break reading list. I'll be out of school for a month so I hope to get a lot of reading done!
FUBAR McDangles
Member
Bought the Mistborn trilogy on Kindle from the link posted above. Thanks - I've heard good things about it.
So anyway, do any of you guys read the Jack Reacher books? What are your thoughts on the series? Favorite/least favorite book?
I have read nine of them thus far and thought that Persuader was by far the best.
So anyway, do any of you guys read the Jack Reacher books? What are your thoughts on the series? Favorite/least favorite book?
I have read nine of them thus far and thought that Persuader was by far the best.
Haha. Yeah, I had the same reaction; I have this internal rhythm when I read, where there's a mental beat as I reach the end of a sentence; if I have a particularly long sentence then I start to feel unmoored, as if I were trying to swim the length of a swimming pool without taking a breath, so reading Seiobo forced me to change how I was reading; instead I had to focus on different aspects of the punctuation to find my pauses, which I suppose if we're following the swimming metaphor would be finding places to take breaths in the middle of a lap in an impossibly long pool; this is something I found frustrating at first, but somehow clicked with me as I continued to reading it, at which point I was caught up in its rhythms.
:3
sparky2112
Member
If you can find it, Barbara Tuchman's 'Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945', maybe? Won the Pulitzer back in the day, I think. Tuchman is/was one of the great American historians/writers...
I've owned this since Borders went out of business, and it certainly looks like it would be good:
It's supposed to cover ~16th century through late-20th century.
grandwizard
Member
Anyone know a place I can buy foreign language (Brazilian Portuguese especially) ebooks? Amazon's selection is just a giant list of mostly old stuff that has no sorting, and most places I've found online are just for physical books or are region restricted. I'd like to find a place that sells foreign language versions of the more popular stuff like ASOIAF.
StrongArmSteady
Member
Jerk!
6-7 sentences...? I only read a bit. Not really far at all.
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