Support NeoGAF

[Necrovex]

Started on a new non-fiction since I finished Desmond Tutu's 'No Future Without Forgiveness.'

A novel written by an Afrikaner that was written near the end of Apartheid. Most of my recently read South African non-fiction books has been written from a black point of view, so I thought it would be very interesting to read a non-fiction of Apartheid by a white writer. Plus the book has a ton of praises.

I'm starting to gain new-found interest on Africa, which might have been stirred due to the Newsroom. I'm going to try to narrow my non-fiction reading to the 'Dark Continent' (even though the knowledge is available, it still remains a source of ignorant for many non-Africans).

 

[Ashes]

I've read two utterly brilliant books.

Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman
Mieko and the Fifth Treasure – Eleanor Coerr

The first bends worlds to imagination's whim, whilst the second is simple & whose metaphors & similies are amongst the best to grace books I have read this year.

 

[skyz23]

Quiet - the power of introverts in a world that cant stop talking by Susan Cain

 

[Pau]

Finished The Queen's Thief series. It got me through a particularly shitty cold and helped relax me during finals.

A novel written by an Afrikaner that was written near the end of Apartheid. Most of my recently read South African non-fiction books has been written from a black point of view, so I thought it would be very interesting to read a non-fiction of Apartheid by a white writer. Plus the book has a ton of praises.

Any that you'd recommend in particular?

 

[thomaser]

I've read two utterly brilliant books.

Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman

I found that one in my mother's bookshelf 20 years ago, and loved it. Tried to find it again later, but couldn't, and I had forgotten the title. Spent years thinking about it before I finally found the title on the net somewhere. It's a great little book, recommended to people who enjoy Calvino and Borges.

 

[ShaneB]

I've been in a bit of a reading slump since finishing Stoner back in October, but Ordinary Grace has really gotten me out of that slump. I haven't been able to put my Kindle down. I love books from this time period (1960s). I'll have to check out more books by William Kent Krueger after I finish this. It looks like my library has a number of them available for the Kindle. Any particular suggestions from this author (or any other books set in the 60s for that matter)?

I'll reply in length later. Few books I've read this year were in that time period. I've posted early this year how much I loved Ordinary Grace.

 

[LProtag]

I just finished Rise of Endymion, so I'm done with the Hyperion Cantos now.

It was a little preachy. I knew what the major revelations were before they happened and I pretty much knew how it was going to end (though, with how it was written it Simmons kinda cleverly pointed out that I was supposed to know).

I still cried.

 

[Nakho]

Right now around the middle point in Shogun, and until now it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read.

The internal monologues where all those generals, courtesans, sailors, etc ponder what they will do in incredibly tight situations are incredible. Toranaga's are the best, as it constantly impresses me how cunning he is. They definitely feel like real, breathing, people, all of them having extremely different personalities from each other. It is very difficult for a writer to create a work with multiple points of view and manage to make each character find their own distinguishable voice. I commend Clavell for his technical prowess.

Regarding content, it impressed me how much gore and sex there is. It is quite a risqué book, which is surprising, since its famous TV version is apparently very tame. Also, I found the themes of tragic duty, cruelty in the exercise of power, cultural clash and alienation very universal and poignant.

The female protagonist is very unstereotypical in her relationship with the main character, which was surprising. I thought it would be a clone of Last Samurai's romantic interest, and boy, I couldn't be more wrong.

Also, it is a tale of badassery, and this is always a plus.

 

[LProtag]

I'm desperately trying to figure out what to read next and for some reason I've clung to the idea that maybe it's finally time for me to read Proust.

Anyone have any translation suggestions for me? I have no idea which to go with.

 

[Mumei]

I'm desperately trying to figure out what to read next and for some reason I've clung to the idea that maybe it's finally time for me to read Proust.

Anyone have any translation suggestions for me? I have no idea which to go with.

If you're talking about In Search of Lost Time, I don't think you have many options. You have the Moncrieff translation which is, as I understand it, still considered good. And you have various translations that are adjustments on that translation. And you have the Penguin Deluxe edition, which is about half-done (the rest comes out in 2018); each book is done by a different (highly esteemed) translator.

I haven't read it yet, so I can't point you in any particular direction.

But I did enjoy this, and it is a good choice if you also find yourself indecisive.

 

[LProtag]

If you're talking about In Search of Lost Time, I don't think you have many options. You have the Moncrieff translation which is, as I understand it, still considered good. And you have various translations that are adjustments on that translation. And you have the Penguin Deluxe edition, which is about half-done (the rest comes out in 2018); each book is done by a different (highly esteemed) translator.

I haven't read it yet, so I can't point you in any particular direction.

But I did enjoy this, and it is a good choice if you also find yourself indecisive.

Thanks! I mostly dismissed the Penguin editions because I want to read everything all at once... though I'm considering breaking it up with some short stories or smaller books.

It's mostly the confusion between all the edited translations that I'm trying to sift through to figure out what's the best. Then again, no translation is ever the "best", so maybe this is a fruitless endeavor and I should grab whatever's easiest to acquire and start reading already.

 

[Necrovex]

Any that you'd recommend in particular?

I have an array of South African works to get through, but I'll mark down the ones I felt were truly noteworthy:

Fiction: Cry, The Beloved Country, and Waiting for the Barbarians.

Non-Fiction: The Long Walk to Freedom (written by Nelson Mandela, arguably the most important person in 20th century South Africa), and No Future Without Forgiveness (Demond Tutu's telling of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee history, which played an essential role in healing South Africa post-Apartheid).

 

[Kahoona]

I'm going to finish World Without End within the next few days, and it's going to be tough to find another book afterwards due to how good this one is. It's amazing that Ken Follett could maintain the same amount of quality when The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End were released nearly 20 years apart.

 

[Piecake]

I am currently listening to this because there is a surprising lack of French Revolution books on audible. I am glad I did though because it is FANTASTIC. Keep in mind, I am only 5 hours in, but I am pretty confident that that the quality will not drop off.

I think this is how I am going to get my Non-American history fix, since I feel that that is also lacking on audible.

 

[m_shortpants]

I started "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown last night, finished moments ago.

Wow, what a dip in quality compared to The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

Is Inferno worth reading or does it follow the same formula? I wouldn't say The Lost Symbol was badly written or anything, but rather that the payoff at the end was a bit...superficial? Not sure how to describe it.

In any case next on my list is The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Despite owning a physical copy, somehow this one has eluded me.

 

[Madouu]

After finishing up Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, I was looking for some more scifi books to read, so I decided to finally start Dune!

I am 150 pages in and the story seems to slowly pick up, I like that.

I've also noted that some words like muadib, kull wahad and mahdi seem to be taken from Arabic, I find that pretty amusing. It's fun finding out what words the author chose to include and how some make sense while others really don't from the perspective of an Arabic native speaker. Gives the book a certain charm though.

 

[sparky2112]

If you're talking about In Search of Lost Time, I don't think you have many options. You have the Moncrieff translation which is, as I understand it, still considered good. And you have various translations that are adjustments on that translation. And you have the Penguin Deluxe edition, which is about half-done (the rest comes out in 2018); each book is done by a different (highly esteemed) translator.

I haven't read it yet, so I can't point you in any particular direction.

But I did enjoy this, and it is a good choice if you also find yourself indecisive.

There's a Kindle version of Moncrieff's original for cheap. The Kilmartin/Enright reworking of Moncrieff makes the prose a little less 'purple', but while I read only a little of the Moncrieff and all of the Kilmartin, I think I preferred the Moncrieff, because it seemed a little more Victorian in style. That's just my preference.

Read Proust with a reader's guide. I found the middle portion to be quite a slog, but the last two books were utterly brilliant. And Swann's Way is, imho, overrated, and that, unfortunately, is what most people who have 'read Proust' have actually read, and it alone does not do the overall work much justice.

 

[LProtag]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to look into it a little more and acquire some copies.

While I'm waiting I'm going to finally read the Iliad and Odessey in full, since I've never done that.

This is partially to prepare to read Ilium/Olympos, because I want to read more Simmons.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Picked these up at the library:

I saw the second one a few days ago and was thinking that I didn't want to read it and get pissed off. But then I read the blurb and maybe instead I'll get to laugh.

 

[ShaneB]

I've been in a bit of a reading slump since finishing Stoner back in October, but Ordinary Grace has really gotten me out of that slump. I haven't been able to put my Kindle down. I love books from this time period (1960s). I'll have to check out more books by William Kent Krueger after I finish this. It looks like my library has a number of them available for the Kindle. Any particular suggestions from this author (or any other books set in the 60s for that matter)?

As promised, meant to getting around to those suggestions.

First off will be the Coalwood trilogy of books (Rocket Boys is a must read for sure, and I really enjoyed the second and third books, The Coalwood Way, and Sky of Stone). Rocket Boys is probably my favourite book I've read this year, so by extension that includes the other 2 as well, highly recommend. Great fun coming of age sort of stories in that time frame.

A Prayer for Owen Meany was another book I really loved.

Stephen King's 11/22/63 certainly fits that time frame as well, it's right in the title (And why I decided to read it), and I guess you could kinda include Revival as well.

Just looking through what I've read for a couple more..

The Temple of Gold by William Goldman was a wonderful read too, I have another novel of his queued up to read, Boys and Girls Together, which seems like it could be something great.

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy these sort of historical fiction pieces set in the 50s and 60s as well, just something about it draws me to that time period.

A few others that skew a little darker you might check out are things like City of Thieves (Which is actually really funny), The Child Thief, Red Winter, etc, set in the 40s around wartime.

 

[Celegus]

I saw the second one a few days ago and was thinking that I didn't want to read it and get pissed off. But then I read the blurb and maybe instead I'll get to laugh.

That looks pretty entertaining. I love the Oh No Ross & Carrie podcast where they do undercover investigations of weird groups like that.

 

[Wafflecakes]

Reading Orson Scott Card's Mither Mage series and I am really enjoying it, but DAMN do the high school sidekicks get annoying. They serve no purpose in the books other than pandering to that demographic.

 

[LProtag]

So, I'm curious, what topics does everyone like reading about? I find that there's a few common elements to a lot of my favorite books and authors. Here's an example of some themes I enjoy and books I'd say incorporate them.

Memory, especially trauma during wartime:
Heller's Catch-22
Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (to a lesser extent)

Intertextuality, as in books that rely on references to other works of literature:
Eco's The Name of The Rose (the key reference is a book that has been lost to the ages however...)
Simmons' Hyperion Cantos

Metafiction:
Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller...
Auster's New York Trilogy
Borges' Collected Fictions (also lots of intertextuality)

Anyone have any suggestions for these categories? Or maybe post your own. I'm interested to find out if anyone else has identified any themes that run through their reading lists.

 

[Piecake]

So, I'm curious, what topics does everyone like reading about? I find that there's a few common elements to a lot of my favorite books and authors. Here's an example of some themes I enjoy and books I'd say incorporate them.

Memory, especially trauma during wartime:
Heller's Catch-22
Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (to a lesser extent)

Intertextuality, as in books that rely on references to other works of literature:
Eco's The Name of The Rose (the key reference is a book that has been lost to the ages however...)
Simmons' Hyperion Cantos

Metafiction:
Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller...
Auster's New York Trilogy
Borges' Collected Fictions (also lots of intertextuality)

Anyone have any suggestions for these categories? Or maybe post your own. I'm interested to find out if anyone else has identified any themes that run through their reading lists.

It has been a while, but I loved Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar

I just started reading this:

I've barely made any headway at all, but I already have a feeling that I am going to love it. Foner is a very good writer and, from what I've read, does a good job of balancing analysis and narration.

 

[theapg]

Anyone have any suggestions for these categories? Or maybe post your own. I'm interested to find out if anyone else has identified any themes that run through their reading lists.

Check out City of Thieves by David Benioff.

 

[Tragicomedy]

If Tragic states it's five stars, then that means it's leaping up to my top five of my reading backlog now. Here I come 50/50 challenge for 2015!

I started feeling a bit emotional just reading the synopsis. Nope nope nope nope

Spoiler

I'll have to add it to the backlog.

I liked it as well. It definitely skews young at time, but very emotional.

Yes, it's wonderful. Bear in mind it was written for a young audience and approach it accordingly. It's an emotionally difficult read.

 

[Necrovex]

Yes, it's wonderful. Bear in mind it was written for a young audience and approach it accordingly. It's an emotionally difficult read.

I've been reading a ton about Apartheid, and my next book will involve the Congo wars. My body can handle this!

 

[BOND CO STOOGE]

Right now around the middle point in Shogun, and until now it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read.

The internal monologues where all those generals, courtesans, sailors, etc ponder what they will do in incredibly tight situations are incredible. Toranaga's are the best, as it constantly impresses me how cunning he is. They definitely feel like real, breathing, people, all of them having extremely different personalities from each other. It is very difficult for a writer to create a work with multiple points of view and manage to make each character find their own distinguishable voice. I commend Clavell for his technical prowess.

Regarding content, it impressed me how much gore and sex there is. It is quite a risqué book, which is surprising, since its famous TV version is apparently very tame. Also, I found the themes of tragic duty, cruelty in the exercise of power, cultural clash and alienation very universal and poignant.

The female protagonist is very unstereotypical in her relationship with the main character, which was surprising. I thought it would be a clone of Last Samurai's romantic interest, and boy, I couldn't be more wrong.

Also, it is a tale of badassery, and this is always a plus.

Probably my favorite author. Shogun is awesome as are Taipan and Noble House. All three share the well developed characters, muliti-threaded plots, great internal monologues, and characters breaking the stereotypical molds. I'd be hard pressed to chose my favorite among the three books. The same author also wrote King Rat. If you read them in order of the timeline you will see references to characters from other books. Taipan and Noble House are set in the same location, and Noble House is a continuation of the story started in Taipan. If you are enjoying Shogun then I would definitely recommend the other books I listed. Clavell does have a couple of stinkers as well. I'd advise against reading Gaijin or Whirlwind. They are loosely related to the other stories, but they don't come together as well.

 

[m_shortpants]

Right now around the middle point in Shogun, and until now it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read.

The internal monologues where all those generals, courtesans, sailors, etc ponder what they will do in incredibly tight situations are incredible. Toranaga's are the best, as it constantly impresses me how cunning he is. They definitely feel like real, breathing, people, all of them having extremely different personalities from each other. It is very difficult for a writer to create a work with multiple points of view and manage to make each character find their own distinguishable voice. I commend Clavell for his technical prowess.

Regarding content, it impressed me how much gore and sex there is. It is quite a risqué book, which is surprising, since its famous TV version is apparently very tame. Also, I found the themes of tragic duty, cruelty in the exercise of power, cultural clash and alienation very universal and poignant.

The female protagonist is very unstereotypical in her relationship with the main character, which was surprising. I thought it would be a clone of Last Samurai's romantic interest, and boy, I couldn't be more wrong.

Also, it is a tale of badassery, and this is always a plus.

Thanks for this, going to add it to the list.

 

[eznark]

Also finished reading To Live. I haven't read any Chinese novels before and I saw this get recommended a lot and plus it was a pretty short. Deals with the life of a peasant farmer family in China before and after the revolution. Some pretty grim and depressing stuff, but I think it did suffer by the very simplified writing. I don't think it was an issue of a translation but rather a choice by the writer, but I felt the story lost a lot of emotional impact due to the simple writing. Still it was quite good.

The movie is fucking incredible.

 

[Nakho]

Probably my favorite author. Shogun is awesome as are Taipan and Noble House. All three share the well developed characters, muliti-threaded plots, great internal monologues, and characters breaking the stereotypical molds. I'd be hard pressed to chose my favorite among the three books. The same author also wrote King Rat. If you read them in order of the timeline you will see references to characters from other books. Taipan and Noble House are set in the same location, and Noble House is a continuation of the story started in Taipan. If you are enjoying Shogun then I would definitely recommend the other books I listed. Clavell does have a couple of stinkers as well. I'd advise against reading Gaijin or Whirlwind. They are loosely related to the other stories, but they don't come together as well.

Thanks for the recommendations, will definitely check out his other books.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Reading "The Painter" by Peter Heller. Good book so far. About a painter and spoiler

Spoiler

murder

. Its set in the American west but in modern times, also has as much fishing as Hemingway novel.
I recommend it.

 

[Pau]

I have an array of South African works to get through, but I'll mark down the ones I felt were truly noteworthy:

Fiction: Cry, The Beloved Country, and Waiting for the Barbarians.

Non-Fiction: The Long Walk to Freedom (written by Nelson Mandela, arguably the most important person in 20th century South Africa), and No Future Without Forgiveness (Demond Tutu's telling of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee history, which played an essential role in healing South Africa post-Apartheid).

Thank you! Will add to my ever-growing to-read list.

 

[Salazar]

Y'all historical fiction gaffers still gotta read David Stacton's People of the Book

It's a glorious thing. My boy Gustavus Adolphus has no equals.

 

[besada]

I must finished Master and Commander. I really enjoyed it. So much so that I stayed up way too late last night as Jack battled the Cacafuego(really?). I will likely read more of them. I really enjoy the characters and the interplay between them, the occasional bawdy humor, and the fantastic sailing action scenes.

At some point this year I'll be finishing up the Hugo List. I lack eight or nine novels, but have otherwise read all of the novels given Hugos. So those eight or nine will be front loaded this year.

 

[sparky2112]

I must finished Master and Commander. I really enjoyed it. So much so that I stayed up way too late last night as Jack battled the Cacafuego(really?). I will likely read more of them. I really enjoy the characters and the interplay between them, the occasional bawdy humor, and the fantastic sailing action scenes.

I think the second book, Post Captain, might be O'Brian's masterpiece. I've only read the first 13, but there's not been a bad one in the bunch. I want more movies, dammit!!!!!!!!

 

[Jag]

Y'all historical fiction gaffers still gotta read David Stacton's People of the Book

It's a glorious thing. My boy Gustavus Adolphus has no equals.

Interesting. Never heard of it. I'll definitely pick it up.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Cacafuego

Nobody expects the ole Poopfire to show up!

 

[Bazza]

Finished this over the weekend.

Geder

Spoiler

Not entirely sure how I feel about Geder, I kind of feel sorry for him so completely out of his depth and trustful of what Basrahip says, but one of the characters makes the point that he razed a city before the priests were even in the equation. Even then the blame is more on someone like Dawson putting someone who makes decisions on past history and I suppose statistical analysis without using any hard numbers.

In the first book cant remember if it was something he went over just in his mind or if he was speaking about the city always changing hands and basically being a drain on the kingdom, you can understand how he came to the decision that he did without any malice, you could probably argue he just bit of a psychopath, but the way he feels about Aster sort of contradicts that

Cithrin

Spoiler

Really like how character has developed over the series, seems a bit of a weird comparison but her arc in this book reminds me a little of Most von Lipwig in Making Money, I have read a few books where the switch from real currency to paper/promise form and this has probably been my favourite, (despite me also believing anything Diskworld is better than everything by default, until another series has my neighbours complaining about loud laughing coming from the garden waking them at 1-2am that will always be true) the way she brought Northcoast without anyone but the owner understanding the implications was brilliant, especially when the other kingdoms raced to follow suit.

I think from maybe the 2nd book I had Cithrin pinned as a world leader type character at the end after Geder's reading by the woman on his journey to the spider temple, wasn't sure what the 3rd incarnation of Cithrin would be Empress is looking quite appropriate

Marcus

Spoiler

The sword better bloody well end up being a game changer, such a troubled character you cant help cringing for him whenever its mentioned he is carrying the sword, It would be nice to be wrong not only because it seems quite predictable but in series like this there are certain character that deserve a quiet retirement (Burrich comes to mind) but I cant see Marcus being in the Epilogue unless its other mourning him.

The much larger than human character

Spoiler

Love the introduction of this character, mentioned in another post the "Murmus Stormcrow" part had me in stitches, also after reading Robin Hobb's Elderlings books among others seeing different authors takes on Dragons.

Anyway really looking forward to The Spider's War.

Now I'm on to this

First 5-6 chapters are interesting, I'm really liking the high fantasy/sci fi vibe I'm getting from it at the moment.

 

[Adam_Roman]

I just got Nick Offerman's book Paddle Your Own Canoe recently and just started it. It's pretty interesting. I'm probably gonna finally get around to reading Vena Cava by Mikey Neumann soon. I bought a few of his books a year ago and never got around to them.

 

[karasu]

 

[Shiv47]

Trying to get through my last 5-6 books for the 50-50 challenge, and finished The Martian a couple days ago. Enjoyable, and I imagine it will work pretty well as a film, as I found myself skimming the science-heavy explanation stuff as the book went on, because it meant little to me, and that stuff can be ignored onscreen.

 

[aidan]

Finished this over the weekend.

Anyway really looking forward to The Spider's War.

Now I'm on to this

First 5-6 chapters are interesting, I'm really liking the high fantasy/sci fi vibe I'm getting from it at the moment.

Abraham and Friedman? I like you.

 

[Haly]

Mumei: Reading Seiobo dredged up a pleasant childhood memory of one of my favorite scenes from the original Powerpuff Girls.

 

[ClayKavalier]

I'm not sure why I'm disappointed since his other book is the same way, but I just forced myself to finish Jim Gaffigan's Food: A Love Story.

I really like him but it's hard not to feel ripped off by his books, if you've seen his standup specials you've read almost all of the content in the books. I'd guess there's less than ten pages of original material.

He doesn't even present old material in a new way, which is crappy because a lot of his jokes rely on him chaining his voice or tone. If I wasn't hearing him speaking lines in his voice I'm not sure I'd find the book funny.

I got the last one on sale and I watched all of his specials on Netflix so I don't really regret getting them since it feels good to give him money for something. If you like him and are curious about the book though, just know you likely already know most of what's in it.

 

[Mumei]

Mumei: Reading Seiobo dredged up a pleasant childhood memory of one of my favorite scenes from the original Powerpuff Girls.

ahahahahaha

I would never have thought of that, but that's hysterical.

I picked up Christian Bök's Eunoia from the library. I read the first page and was very confused, but it seems interesting so I'm going to try to muddle my way through before reading about it.

 

[nakedsushi]

Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China by Val Wang

Not bad, but not good either.

 

[Haly]

Seems like there's a lot of Chinese lit popping up dealing with China's rapid urbanization and growing pains.

 

[Necrovex]

Seems like there's a lot of Chinese lit popping up dealing with China's rapid urbanization and growing pains.

We gotta impress our future overlords.

 

[Althane]

So, I went on an international trip. This being an international trip, and me being me, I got a lot of reading done.

So, here we go!

1. The Martian

Andy Weir's novel is a good mix of just hard enough science to be believable, just enough accidents to keep tension up, and plenty of humor to keep one cheerful. Overall, one of my new favorite books, highly recommend it to everyone. The ending is a little sooner than I would have liked, but I understand why it ended when it did. The post-reading sections were interesting, and I liked the questions he posed to the reader. A clear 10/10 in my book.

2. Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga)

I admit, the pacing seemed a little odd sometimes, but I read this one more interrupted than The Martian (I've been working on it the past couple of weeks). Overall, a great book, some good thoughts coming through, and I liked the characters. 8/10, will continue reading.

3. The First Book of Swords

So, THIS is interesting. Not sure if I'm supposed to take it as YA or not, but holy moley it was cool. I really like the idea of the swords, and get the feeling that they're going to be more and more prominent. The God of Beasts was also pretty awesome, loving his character. Overall, some questions which hopefully will be answered over the course of the series, but will continue reading. 7/10

4. Legion: Skin Deep

Does it make me a jerk if I say I saw the twist coming? Maybe it's just due to my background, but eh. I mean, I want more, but not necessarily in a good way. Not enough answers, I guess? I dunno where Sanderson is going with this character. I liked the short story more. 6/10

5. Lethal Code

I would compare it to Tom Clancy, but it didn't quite match his thrust. Being a cybersecurity professional, I did appreciate the occasional nods, but it did make me roll my eyes as well. Fun, I'll keep reading them just 'cause. 7/10

6. The Golem and the Jinni

Holy shit, I started this book and DEVOURED it. 10/10, no question. The characters are great, the dialog is smart, the overall book is intelligent and poses some good questions about nature and desire, how to treat others, and getting along despite differences. Plus, I think there was a romance in there, and I'm a sucker. Reminded me in a way of the Time Traveler's Wife, but not quite as out there (sort of).

7. Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Super Villain

Yeah, I loved this book too. So, cheating a little bit, because I actually read this a few months ago; I just didn't have time to post about it. Fantastically fun YA book about a gadgeteering hero-wanna be who... well, you can guess from the title. Recommended for anyone who liked the web serial Worm, and wants more like it. Heck, if you've read this, and liked it, go check out Worm (which is, to warn you, much darker, but very similar in the start). 8/10

8. Quite Contrary

Following up on that, I'm liking Richard Roberts. This book was... uh...

Yeah. This book is fucking dark. And it's a YA book. This is probably the 3rd piece of YA I've read in some time (Steelheart and PDTMPIASV). Jesus Christ Roberts, what the hell are you on? That's not to say I don't like it, but.... damn.

Okay, so, it's a take on the story of Red Riding Hood, with Mary, who's.. well, quite contrary (ha ha!). Mary is a very, very contrarian 12 year old, with plenty of reason to be. The book follows her as she attempts to get through the story of Red Riding Hood without getting eaten. 7/10 (I don't dig the Fairy Tale genre as much as budding Super Villain/Hero, especially with gadgeteering!)

9. Meta Game

I'm not really sure what I thought of this book. It didn't really end like I was thinking it would, the story jerked around a bit. Got an interesting look into a post-scarcity society, but all the same... things happened. It was a book, I read it. Ideas were cool, but... eh. 6/10

10. Mist/Ghost/HellWorld (Twilight of the Empire series)

Want a swashbuckling sci-fi story with ray guns, swords, psychics, and a hell of a lot of other stuff? I don't know how else to describe these except "Pulp Sci-fi", and not in a bad way! The characters are fun, the challenges are interesting, and the overall stories are well told. Sure, they won't last you more than a few hours if you're a fast reader, but it's a good way to pass time in Baltimore (assuming you don't have time to go see the city some. And even then.... Baltimore... =\) 8/10 for all of 'em.

So, I know that's kind of cheating, since I mentioned books that weren't necessarily in December, but man, I have some free time and it's fun to talk about htese books.

Also, did anyone get tired of Ready Player One after like... 4 chapters? MEH.


In the queue (or currently working through reading:

Ancillary Justice

1. Ancillary Justice
2. Fear The Sky
3. Fluency
4. Freeze Kill (still working on it)
5. Full Fathom Five (Still working on it)
6. Leviathan Wakes
7. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

There's more, but those are my main ones.