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What are you reading? (February 2011)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Eric WK said:
Yeah, it's pretty wonderful stuff. Wallace was such a brilliant writer--on one page alone I can go from being awed by the man's Brainiac Five intelligence to bursting out with laughter. I'm ashamed it took me this long to come to his work.
As for Flashman, I didn't know Fraser also wrote Octopussy. That doesn't seem all that surprising, really. Enjoying the book so far, but man, what a douche that man is.
For uk gaf: Asda Direct pushes UKs cheapest e-book reader
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Ashes1396 said:
The same Asda behind the Asda Smart Price brand? I heard about their delightful foodstuffs on the Rum Doings podcast!
Anyway, that thing looks like a standard LCD. I don't really see the point if it is, regardless of the price.
nakedsushi
Member
Just finished:
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
I usually don't c/p my long review, but since someone asked for it and since it's such an awesome book, here it is below:
Wow! I was a fan of Nabokov's prose thanks to Lolita but that book has nothing on this one. Pale Fire is many-layered, many-framed and at times makes my head spin. I wanted to knock off a few points for some incomprensible passages, but I finally decided that's a fault of mine and not of Nabokov's.
Pale Fire starts with a long, long, poem that takes almost 1/3 of the entire book. From the advice of another reader, I skipped the poem and dived right into the meat of the actual story, which is commentary on the poem. Now, one can say that reading a commentary of a 1000-line poem sounds boring and I would even say that if I hadn't just read this book, but trust me, it's awesome.
Nabokov's prose is so lyrical, so wonderful, so funny sometimes that it makes me turn green with envy. For example, this part, where the narrator was complaining about being invited to a dinner party where his hosts knew in advance of his vegetarian eating habits but still tried to serve him meat:
"I revanched myself rather neatly. Of a dozen or so invitations that I extended, the Shades accepted just three. Every one of these meals was built around some vegetable that I subjected to as many exquisite metamorphoses as Parmentier had his pet tuber undergo."
How can one not fall in love with such a masterful command of language? Pale Fire is certainly a book that requires a dictionary or even an encyclopedia to fully enjoy. It's hard work to read through, but it is so, so worth it. And the double entendres overflow this book if you're into that sort of thing!
What Nabokov excels at most is his descriptions of people and their situations. Take this one for example:
"One finds it hard to decide what Gradus alias Grey wanted more at that minute: discharge his gun or rid himself of the inexhaustible lava in his bowels."
How can diarrhea sound so good? Because it comes out of Nabokov's pen.
Pale Fire blew my mind on several levels, but one of the biggest explosions in my mind came at the end when our narrator realizes that the poem he wanted so much to be about Zembla actually isn't. He ends up crestfallen that his beautiful country won't be immortalized on paper through this poem. But the mind-blowing part is that it actually ends up being immortalized on paper through his commentary on the poem. It blew my mind in the same way that I Love Lucy is a successful television show about a woman who tries unsuccessfully to break into show-biz. So meta!
A spoilered discussion of the plot follows. If you haven't read the book but are thinking about it, please, please don't read the spoiler. It will tarnish the experience of reading it for the first time.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
I usually don't c/p my long review, but since someone asked for it and since it's such an awesome book, here it is below:
Wow! I was a fan of Nabokov's prose thanks to Lolita but that book has nothing on this one. Pale Fire is many-layered, many-framed and at times makes my head spin. I wanted to knock off a few points for some incomprensible passages, but I finally decided that's a fault of mine and not of Nabokov's.
Pale Fire starts with a long, long, poem that takes almost 1/3 of the entire book. From the advice of another reader, I skipped the poem and dived right into the meat of the actual story, which is commentary on the poem. Now, one can say that reading a commentary of a 1000-line poem sounds boring and I would even say that if I hadn't just read this book, but trust me, it's awesome.
Nabokov's prose is so lyrical, so wonderful, so funny sometimes that it makes me turn green with envy. For example, this part, where the narrator was complaining about being invited to a dinner party where his hosts knew in advance of his vegetarian eating habits but still tried to serve him meat:
"I revanched myself rather neatly. Of a dozen or so invitations that I extended, the Shades accepted just three. Every one of these meals was built around some vegetable that I subjected to as many exquisite metamorphoses as Parmentier had his pet tuber undergo."
How can one not fall in love with such a masterful command of language? Pale Fire is certainly a book that requires a dictionary or even an encyclopedia to fully enjoy. It's hard work to read through, but it is so, so worth it. And the double entendres overflow this book if you're into that sort of thing!
What Nabokov excels at most is his descriptions of people and their situations. Take this one for example:
"One finds it hard to decide what Gradus alias Grey wanted more at that minute: discharge his gun or rid himself of the inexhaustible lava in his bowels."
How can diarrhea sound so good? Because it comes out of Nabokov's pen.
Pale Fire blew my mind on several levels, but one of the biggest explosions in my mind came at the end when our narrator realizes that the poem he wanted so much to be about Zembla actually isn't. He ends up crestfallen that his beautiful country won't be immortalized on paper through this poem. But the mind-blowing part is that it actually ends up being immortalized on paper through his commentary on the poem. It blew my mind in the same way that I Love Lucy is a successful television show about a woman who tries unsuccessfully to break into show-biz. So meta!
A spoilered discussion of the plot follows. If you haven't read the book but are thinking about it, please, please don't read the spoiler. It will tarnish the experience of reading it for the first time.
It becomes obvious early on that Charles Kinbote is the often-mentioned escaped ex-King of Zembla. Even before he starts hinting at it, an astute reader can easily figure it out. How else would someone know such fine details of the king's life? Although I had fairly solid suspicion this was the case early in, what really sealed the deal was Kinbote's comment about being a vegetarian himself.
Even before I suspected Kinbote as being the king, I suspected he was in love with Shade. I think this suspicion grew in parallel with my suspicion that he was gay, which probably led me to the suspicion of him being the King. It's too coincidental to have two flamboyantly gay characters in a Nabokov novel, no?
Even before I suspected Kinbote as being the king, I suspected he was in love with Shade. I think this suspicion grew in parallel with my suspicion that he was gay, which probably led me to the suspicion of him being the King. It's too coincidental to have two flamboyantly gay characters in a Nabokov novel, no?
^ Sounds awesome, thanks for posting the review (avoided the spoilers). Did you go back and read the poem afterwards? That's the first I heard of skipping it; I'm the type that will not want to skip it out of principle, but since it's 1/3rd of the book I could be tempted if it's highly recommended.
nakedsushi
Member
^ I definitely advise skipping it if that's what's putting you off from reading it. After reading the rest of the book, I didn't even feel like I needed to go to the beginning and read the poem. The rest of the book explains the poem fairly well and you don't need prior knowledge of it.
I skimmed the first two cantos of the poem after reading it and honestly, it's a pretty trite and boring poem. The commentary after it is what's great about Pale Fire.
Also, there are definitely some really dense parts in the book, but don't let that discourage you. It's one of those books that will only get better in re-reads, so you can save those dense parts for later.
I skimmed the first two cantos of the poem after reading it and honestly, it's a pretty trite and boring poem. The commentary after it is what's great about Pale Fire.
Also, there are definitely some really dense parts in the book, but don't let that discourage you. It's one of those books that will only get better in re-reads, so you can save those dense parts for later.
Finished Towers of Midnight and now working on the Deadhouse Gates. Kind of torn on ToM because while I appreciate the accelerated pacing, some plots seem to be tied up a bit too nicely without much details (or finesse). Overall it was a great read though not as awesome as Gathering Storm, IMO.
I know that's a common complaint for Gardens of the Moon but I didn't find it hard to follow at all (finished it two weeks ago in the span of 5 days). The only disconnect I felt was the shift in focus between the first and second set of characters. It is suppose to be epic in scope so there are a lot of different plot threads being juggled at once.
The Name of the Wind was a fine read, but I thought the whole story within a story within a story technique was quite overused. Not to mention since it was a retelling of the past, there wasn't much tension throughout. Good but somewhat overrated by its fans.
UraMallas said:
I know that's a common complaint for Gardens of the Moon but I didn't find it hard to follow at all (finished it two weeks ago in the span of 5 days). The only disconnect I felt was the shift in focus between the first and second set of characters. It is suppose to be epic in scope so there are a lot of different plot threads being juggled at once.
The Name of the Wind was a fine read, but I thought the whole story within a story within a story technique was quite overused. Not to mention since it was a retelling of the past, there wasn't much tension throughout. Good but somewhat overrated by its fans.
JumpJeff84
Member
Started reading 'Sex At Dawn'. A book about the prehistoric origins of sexuality. Supposedly it challenges a lot of our preconceived notions about sex and evolutionary biology. Only 40 pages in, but pretty interesting so far.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Probably won't see release until next year at this stage.
listen bro i read this book.... the myst of sissypus (maybe you've heard of it??) and it said i can do whatever silly & pointless thing i want as long as it gives my hollow/vacuous modern life some sense of purpose (even tho it has none) maybe you should do the same?????Yasser said:
also read this other book that said the only thing i had to lose was my chains but i stopped wearing my chain wallet in like 9th grade so idk
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Dresden said:
He stopped working on the book for a long time because of his depression (triggered by a family member dying and marital break-down), so it's understandable that the amount of time he needs to finish the book was under-estimated when he came forward about everything a year or two ago. FYI, the editors are still waiting on his final draft.
nakedsushi
Member
Cyan said:
Aaah sorry about that. The New Release email is my project. But it's hard getting good accurate data for new releases =(
nakedsushi said:
This is my favorite book of all time. A masterpiece.
Yes, you should actually skip the poem. It should be referred to as the narrator deconstructs it in the later prose.
Also, the footnotes are absolutely hilarious. They're not footnotes in a traditional sense, but part of the overall narrative. They should be read last.
As a result of all the page flipping, this book would be extremely hard to correctly read on a Kindle.
sparky2112
Member
MjFrancis said:
That's because it was one of his first three. Then he pretty much became a stunt writer.
nakedsushi
Member
FlyinJ said:
I actually read the Kindle version and I can attest to how annoying it gets to constantly skip back and forth from the narrative to the poem. I'm definitely going to pick up a physical copy for my library at home since it's one of those books I can see myself re-reading.
MjFrancis said:
Me too except it only took me 3 books. I read Fight Club first and thought it was pretty neat. Then Survivor, which I thought was crazy and creepy. Then this one and I was kinda, "Ehh...." Maybe his style is just not compatible with what I want to read, but I felt like all his books were a one-trick pony. I feel the same about Bret Easton Ellis too actually...
Almost done with this:
One Day by David Nicholls
I like it more than I thought I would.
nakedsushi
Member
Finished:
One Day by David Nicholls
The premise is that each chapter of the book is about one day each year (July 15th). It revolves around a pair of friends, Emma and Dexter who first through an almost-one-night-stand. The book goes from 1988 (their first meeting) all the way up to 2005 or something. Some of these July 15ths are just normal days in each of their lives, but I still found myself reading it with lots of curiosity even when nothing happens.
The "twist" was really abrupt. I was Xtreme Reading (power-walking and reading) and almost missed that part and had to go back and read it a few times to finally "get it". It's a really great book about friendship, relationships and growing up but I think it's especially poignant to people who graduated school in the late 80s (not me!).
One Day by David Nicholls
The premise is that each chapter of the book is about one day each year (July 15th). It revolves around a pair of friends, Emma and Dexter who first through an almost-one-night-stand. The book goes from 1988 (their first meeting) all the way up to 2005 or something. Some of these July 15ths are just normal days in each of their lives, but I still found myself reading it with lots of curiosity even when nothing happens.
The "twist" was really abrupt. I was Xtreme Reading (power-walking and reading) and almost missed that part and had to go back and read it a few times to finally "get it". It's a really great book about friendship, relationships and growing up but I think it's especially poignant to people who graduated school in the late 80s (not me!).
Finally finished reading this last night. It was fantastic, one of the best in the series by far. It had some of the funniest moments in the series to.:lol
Now I'm finally starting this. It sets up a very cool and interesting universe based on the first 30 pages. So I'm eager to read more.
ScrabbleDude
Member
Just picked this up from the library.
Pretty good so far.
Pretty good so far.
Large Professor
Member
ScrabbleDude said:
I read that some time ago. Some of his tips are pretty obvious but overall it's well worth the read.
I'm reading:
I enjoy it but it's quite simplistic SF so far.
enemyairship
Neo Member
Been reading this off and on for the past few months in between other books (mostly because I had lent it out and then had to procure my own copies either by reading it at the book store or whenever I got it back). I like the way H.W. Brands tells the story of Franklin, but I suppose what I like most is how interesting Franklin's life was and who he was.
Just got this as a gift the other day. I'll probably read it slowly as I go through other books. I have heard good things about Edmund Morris' Colonel Roosevelt. Hopefully this is also good (haven't read Colonel Roosevelt, which is his newest book, but I hope to).
Burger
Member
Moved onto this in the weekend after finishing the second book. Really enjoying the style of writing, the way the characters speak, the slightly too obvious flaws they all have. Extremely enjoyable.
My favorite character so far has to be Glotka. I think the way his internal monologue is interwoven between dialogue and scenes is extremely clever, and makes the character so entertaining.
Body found floating by the docks...
ClovingWestbrook
Banned
enemyairship said:
Been reading this off and on for the past few months in between other books (mostly because I had lent it out and then had to procure my own copies either by reading it at the book store or whenever I got it back). I like the way H.W. Brands tells the story of Franklin, but I suppose what I like most is how interesting Franklin's life was and who he was.
Just got this as a gift the other day. I'll probably read it slowly as I go through other books. I have heard good things about Edmund Morris' Colonel Roosevelt. Hopefully this is also good (haven't read Colonel Roosevelt, which is his newest book, but I hope to).
I'd recommend David McCullough Mornings on Hourseback if you're interested in Teddy Roosevelt. McCullough is a true master.
Blackace
if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Lafiel said:
Finally finished reading this last night. It was fantastic, one of the best in the series by far. It had some of the funniest moments in the series to.:lol
She is a great writer, I just wish I could find her cover artist and threaten their life..
trying to bust my way through the blade itself by joe abercrombie. around page 200. this book is boring me to tears. i feel nothing for the characters. the world is uninteresting so far..i dunno. i'm definitely going to finish it, if for no other reason than that's just what i do. maybe it'll open up a bit more and grow on me, i'm not fully giving up on it yet..
Burger said:
A friend had to rewrite the ending of her romance novel for the American edition. Things didn't work out in the UK version, but they did in the American. It was her first book with a much larger publisher, so she acceded (and thinks it's funny), but it was bewildering at first.
Blackace
if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Burger said:If these are important scenes then I'll give them a miss:
Seriously though, I need to start reading some Louis McMaster Bujold, everyone recommends her.
I am sure at some time Rand walked out of an anus in the air.. and some people were planning something in those books..
Burger
Member
Blackace said:
I agree with this man. While I'm not the worlds biggest fan of fantasy novels, these books struck a chord with me, probably due to the well written characters. I even enjoyed them more that GRRM's A Song of Fire and Ice series. Plus he actually finishes writing books, so that's always something to look forward to.
Blackace
if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Burger said:
I am trying my hand at writing and even before I read his works I have the same working idea as him..
Make a world, focus on characters, get an end game.. finish a short series..write new books in the same world.
Really smart, and I love it..