Mackenzie 92
Member
Oh, my mistake. Been on my to-read list for awhile and it's frequently grouped in with dystopian works.
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What are you reading? (February 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Oh, my mistake. Been on my to-read list for awhile and it's frequently grouped in with dystopian works.
Thanks for the heads up! I usually check the daily deal but completely missed the extra sales.
Picked up Anathem, Childhood's End and I am Legend (had the last two on mass market paperback but they're worth double dipping at that price). Ended up also getting almost all of the other Clarke novels on sale.
Buckethead
Banned
RumblingRosco
Member
Really interesting book so far. I am in this field of research for my PhD, so it's nice to see what the "little guys" are up to in their garages/wherever.
Sniper McBlaze
Member
I've heard that Wolfe requires a certain taste in prose, but I've read about 40-50 pages of this and I think it's beautifully written and not too hard to follow as a non native english speaking person. I hope the book turns out good!
Finished Poor Man's Fight. It was really great. One of my favourite sci-fi books in recent memory (and an indie book to boot). Thoroughly impressive military sci-fi.
Finished
The ending was like classic vonnegut all-the-way. Definitely didn't find it to be as preachy as some people have found. (then again I'm a liberal that agrees with most of vonneguts opinions so i might be biased there). There's a good deal of subtlety found within the humorous tone of the novel, not to mention how damn entertaining it was to read, all the way through. I somehow managed to finish it in two sittings during my two-way train trip last weekend!
Now Reading
Not so sure If I'm going finish reading this.. it's not bad so far, just not exactly light-reading; although I heard the author relaxes on the vocabulary a bit after the first few chapters, so I'll probably give it a chance beyond then, and if I drop it, I'll definitely pick it up again when I'm in the right frame of mind to read something with such flowery language.;p
The ending was like classic vonnegut all-the-way. Definitely didn't find it to be as preachy as some people have found. (then again I'm a liberal that agrees with most of vonneguts opinions so i might be biased there). There's a good deal of subtlety found within the humorous tone of the novel, not to mention how damn entertaining it was to read, all the way through. I somehow managed to finish it in two sittings during my two-way train trip last weekend!
Now Reading
Not so sure If I'm going finish reading this.. it's not bad so far, just not exactly light-reading; although I heard the author relaxes on the vocabulary a bit after the first few chapters, so I'll probably give it a chance beyond then, and if I drop it, I'll definitely pick it up again when I'm in the right frame of mind to read something with such flowery language.;p
Finished:
Definitely King on his 'A' game, a lot of fun. Today I'm doing my yearly read-through of Slaughterhouse-Five and tomorrow I start:
Love DFW's essays, and I read through The Pale King as soon as I got my Kindle. I have no idea why I haven't read through Jest yet, but I shall remedy that next week.
Definitely King on his 'A' game, a lot of fun. Today I'm doing my yearly read-through of Slaughterhouse-Five and tomorrow I start:
Love DFW's essays, and I read through The Pale King as soon as I got my Kindle. I have no idea why I haven't read through Jest yet, but I shall remedy that next week.
Kiever Sher
Member
Just finished:
Very interesting insight into what he tries to achive in the shows he covers, Milder Comedian is covered in another book, a lot of cool little bits of information on where certain bits came from, how comedy changed in the nineties etc. Most of all, though, it's hilarious.
Will start this:
or this:
tomorrow. Barely Imagined Beings is one of the prettiest books I've seen. The content seems to be pretty interesting too from the minor skim I've had.
Very interesting insight into what he tries to achive in the shows he covers, Milder Comedian is covered in another book, a lot of cool little bits of information on where certain bits came from, how comedy changed in the nineties etc. Most of all, though, it's hilarious.
Will start this:
or this:
tomorrow. Barely Imagined Beings is one of the prettiest books I've seen. The content seems to be pretty interesting too from the minor skim I've had.
I found it got a lot better towards the end of the book. Once all the plotlines start to converge.
Of course, your millage may vary. The series certainly is not very suspenseful, but I'm enjoying it.
foomfoom415
Member
Anathem is fantastic and I'd absolutely recommend it. That said, the part you mentioned that turned you off to the book is something that I really like in a book. China Mieville does this often and some people seem to be personally offended by it, so your distaste is not uncommon.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Read this today.. was just so so for me. I genuinely liked 2 stories out of the whole collection, the rest got old and tiresome and boring very quickly.
Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders
Scored some Thomas Harlan books at a yard sale today, thinking about jumping in to one of those. Guess he likes to meld alternate history with futuristic sci-fi, sounds kinda interesting.
Wasteland of Flint by Thomas Harlan
Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders
Scored some Thomas Harlan books at a yard sale today, thinking about jumping in to one of those. Guess he likes to meld alternate history with futuristic sci-fi, sounds kinda interesting.
Wasteland of Flint by Thomas Harlan
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Maklershed
Member
Finished Foundation and Earth and started Make Room! Make Room!
Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
super-famicom
Member
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
I'm a big fan of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age and I'm liking this as well. Really math heavy in some parts, but entertaining nonetheless. Stephenson gets a bit too wordy at times (a couple pages are devoted to a character character eating cereal); maybe it's just me.
Dance Dance Dance is my favorite Murakami novel and also the first one I read. Be sure to read A Wild Sheep Chase if you haven't already. Dance Dance Dance is a loose sequel to it.
I'm a big fan of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age and I'm liking this as well. Really math heavy in some parts, but entertaining nonetheless. Stephenson gets a bit too wordy at times (a couple pages are devoted to a character character eating cereal); maybe it's just me.
Dance Dance Dance is my favorite Murakami novel and also the first one I read. Be sure to read A Wild Sheep Chase if you haven't already. Dance Dance Dance is a loose sequel to it.
So I just finished reading:
and
I thoroughly enjoyed wallflower and Mockingjay had me screaming at the pages.
So anyways, Wallflower was surprisingly grim and dark. I was looking for recommendations for really good books that are really dark but not necessarily high school focused like Wallflower.
and
I thoroughly enjoyed wallflower and Mockingjay had me screaming at the pages.
So anyways, Wallflower was surprisingly grim and dark. I was looking for recommendations for really good books that are really dark but not necessarily high school focused like Wallflower.
nakedsushi
Member
Read this today.. was just so so for me. I genuinely liked 2 stories out of the whole collection, the rest got old and tiresome and boring very quickly.
Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders
Yeah, I felt the same too. I think the overarching theme of the stories (
isolation and alienation
cloudwalking
300chf ain't shit to me
Just wanted to thank everyone for the recommendations. I'm looking at the Kindle store now and getting ready to load up the Kindle with awesome books! 
ElectricBlue187
Member
No, in fact every time they tried to call him Emperor he insisted on not being called that which is probably one of the reasons he had such a long rein.
wikipedia said:
It wasn't until after the rein of Tiberius that the accession of imperator became a normal thing and emperors would take Augustus name and their heir would take the name Caesar.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
I found the cereal section hilarious. You can tell Stephenson goes off the rails now and again because he can and thinks it's funny.
Just wanted to thank everyone for the recommendations. I'm looking at the Kindle store now and getting ready to load up the Kindle with awesome books!
Make sure to come back and tell us if we're full of crap.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Close to finishing this, will try to get it done tonight or tomorrow night. I'm really enjoying it, even though it's relentlessly bleak.
Are the sequels worth it? The Amazon reviews aren't too kind.
Forever Peace is good.
Finished Sara Paretsky's Tunnel Vision. A typical modern detective novel where the detective has to solve all kinds of problems in addition to the murder case. Corruption? Check. Abusive families? Check. Illegal immigration? Check. Poverty? Check. Gender/race/class issues? Check on all three. And on and on. Poor V. I. Warshawski has more to deal with than any other detective I've read about. It's good, though - everything comes together nicely, and even makes sense. At least it appears to make sense. It's so complicated that I can't be sure.
Next will probably be the last book on my American Detective Novel course:
M is for Malice by Sue Grafton. Looks kinda menacing.
Next will probably be the last book on my American Detective Novel course:
M is for Malice by Sue Grafton. Looks kinda menacing.
foomfoom415
Member
I'm currently halfway through:
And there are definite shades of Cryptonomicon (which I loved). I don't love this quite as much, but so far it's been a really entertaining read that I have trouble putting down.
Finished over the past weeks:
Collection of Robert E. Howard stories seemingly set in the Lovecraft universe, Howard also has little tidbits and artifacts like a certain Black Stone recurring throughout the stories. Heavily recommended, and while written in the early '30s, dont feel very dated at all. Some of the writer perspectives, and twists are still novel to this day like in "The Valley of the Worm" were the narrator
Awesome.
While all stories are worthwhile, ultimate favorite story was "Worms of the Earth", which could make the basis for a badass movie. Great, timeless stuff.
Because of all the talk on Neogaf about this series:
[
and
Both very intriguing, and despite some not liking the way so much of the world and the overall story remains an unexplained mystery, I found it made the world that much more intriguing. The way every little breadcrumb of information you gain through context can be both be very satisfying and leads to even more questions at the same time, so well written. There are many things that mystify me however, the main one being how that weird and very Lynch-like theatre play script will have any meaning later on? Concerning the whole untrustworthy narrator thing, for the moment it seems to me Severian is more clueless and naive about events happening then really purposely trying to deceive the reader. Can't wait to delve into the other books and find out more.
Collection of Robert E. Howard stories seemingly set in the Lovecraft universe, Howard also has little tidbits and artifacts like a certain Black Stone recurring throughout the stories. Heavily recommended, and while written in the early '30s, dont feel very dated at all. Some of the writer perspectives, and twists are still novel to this day like in "The Valley of the Worm" were the narrator
in his dying moments can suddenly look back at all his previous lives and tells his most haunting tale experienced aeons back.
While all stories are worthwhile, ultimate favorite story was "Worms of the Earth", which could make the basis for a badass movie. Great, timeless stuff.
Because of all the talk on Neogaf about this series:
and
Both very intriguing, and despite some not liking the way so much of the world and the overall story remains an unexplained mystery, I found it made the world that much more intriguing. The way every little breadcrumb of information you gain through context can be both be very satisfying and leads to even more questions at the same time, so well written. There are many things that mystify me however, the main one being how that weird and very Lynch-like theatre play script will have any meaning later on? Concerning the whole untrustworthy narrator thing, for the moment it seems to me Severian is more clueless and naive about events happening then really purposely trying to deceive the reader. Can't wait to delve into the other books and find out more.
Finished Day Watch and Twilight Watch from Sergei Lukyanenko's Watch series.
Day Watch was a step down from Night Watch, as it told the story in a different way that I didn't really care for, but Twilight Watch was just as good as the first book. Really glad they didn't try to Americanize the books during translation, as it's fun trying to understand Russian references by context or looking them up.
The Light/Dark thing in the books sounds like utter generic fantasy crap which would usually turn me completely off from reading a book, but I thought Lukyanenko played it very well.
Day Watch was a step down from Night Watch, as it told the story in a different way that I didn't really care for, but Twilight Watch was just as good as the first book. Really glad they didn't try to Americanize the books during translation, as it's fun trying to understand Russian references by context or looking them up.
The Light/Dark thing in the books sounds like utter generic fantasy crap which would usually turn me completely off from reading a book, but I thought Lukyanenko played it very well.
Finished:
Definitely King on his 'A' game, a lot of fun.
Recently finished this myself.
Ending spoilers:
Good lord this depressed me. For days afterward. I really bought into Jake and Sadie's relationship, and was rooting for things to work out. I understand how this was the best literary ending, but I can't remember the last time I wished for a happy ending this much.
Makes me with we had DLC alternate endings for books.
Makes me with we had DLC alternate endings for books.
Mackenzie 92
Member
New StoryBundle is up if anyone cares. Genre is fantasy and they all look pretty bad.
Taking a class on Japanese literature. So far we've read Confessions of a Mask, Woman in the Dunes, and now Norwegian Wood. I wasn't really into the first two, but Norwegian Wood was truly enjoyable. Not just because of the provocative scenes, but it was funny and intelligent; I find myself thinking about it still. This book apparently sent Murakami into stardom and 'everyone' in Japan has read it. I can easily see why. Recommended to everyone.
nakedsushi
Member
Still making my way through
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Wow, I didn't know the court of King Arthur was so racy!
I also didn't know that Gwenhwyfar was such an uptight B. Someone needs to knock her off her high horse.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Wow, I didn't know the court of King Arthur was so racy!
Arthur sleeping with his sister and them having a son, Arthur and Lancelet's love for each other, Arthur and Lancelet's 3-way with Gwenhwyfar, etc.
eattomorro
Neo Member
Finished off Garan the Eternal by Andre Norton last night. It was alright.
Got started on I, Robot by Isaac Asimov this afternoon, and wow it's pretty good for the first 14 pages. Garan? Garan who?
Got started on I, Robot by Isaac Asimov this afternoon, and wow it's pretty good for the first 14 pages. Garan? Garan who?
Finished The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Only one more book to go, but it hasn't been released in english yet. Series has been pretty consistent quality wise.
Finished book seven of the Dresden Files yesterday.
Gonna start Book eight this evening.
Warden Dresden keeps on getting more powerful every book. I think it'll be interesting when/if Micheal finds out about Lasciel though. He's walking a narrow path either way, on one side is Micheal and on the other side is the White Council. I kinda have this feeling that he'll somehow become the next Blackstaff.
Gonna start Book eight this evening.
finished last night
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
GF just read this and was going on about it, so I gave it a shot and.... hoooooly shit.. equal parts terrifying and fascinating.Amy Dunne literally scares the shit out of me.
Finished this last night, and another terrific recommendation for you, so thanks again. This was a terrific modern day Whodunnit, that turned into an absolutely terrifying 2nd half. The best stories will always have well written characters that you care about, and yeah, Gone Girl is full of them.
Amy is TERRIFYING. As she is revealing the truth about her ways and who she really is, my god. The ending had caused me to delay my sleep for a while, damn that bitch Amy, I really wanted Nick to get her, and it's definitely not a happy ending, Amy getting the last word
Salvor.Hardin
Banned
Have about a third left in this and absolutely loving it right now:
And just started this:
Ah I really need to get to this someday. Love I Claudius.
And just started this:
Picked this one up today from Amazon but haven't started it yet. I really liked I Claudius so I figure it should be about as good.
Ah I really need to get to this someday. Love I Claudius.
I made it about halfway through the audiobook version of 11/22/63 and couldn't go on. Part (most, perhaps) of the reason was the overwhelmingly melancholy narration, which, combined with the dark nature of the story, was not very enjoyable. Ended up just reading the summary for the rest on Wikipedia. No regrets.Finished:
Definitely King on his 'A' game, a lot of fun.
Anyway...
Picked up a couple random audiobooks online from the local library's service. I finished Infected by Scott Sigler, and am listening to The Confession by John Grisham. Neither are particularly outstanding, but it makes the time pass a bit more quickly at work.
Just finished Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre. He's normally a crime writer but has written something with more of a Sci-Fi bent to it, with the premise of a man waking in a videogame (and eventually other videogame worlds based on actual games such as Fable 3). It's a bit clumsy in parts but mostly engaging and fairly witty. Although this might be due to his Scottish background that I share.
Anyway:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356502139/
And it does riff on similar ideas to Ready Player One, just in case anyone notices similarities but is less arcade focused.
Anyway:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356502139/
And it does riff on similar ideas to Ready Player One, just in case anyone notices similarities but is less arcade focused.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Finished this last night, and another terrific recommendation for you, so thanks again. This was a terrific modern day Whodunnit, that turned into an absolutely terrifying 2nd half. The best stories will always have well written characters that you care about, and yeah, Gone Girl is full of them.Great book, and a reminder why I think I stick to sci-fi and fantasy so much, this sort of stuff is more terrifying than any of that because it is so based in reality. lolAmy is TERRIFYING. As she is revealing the truth about her ways and who she really is, my god. The ending had caused me to delay my sleep for a while, damn that bitch Amy, I really wanted Nick to get her, and it's definitely not a happy ending, Amy getting the last word
haha yeah Amy is like a evil genius, I kinda liked her for part of the story, but by the end she just scared the hell out of me lol. Gillian Flynn did a great job writing her and Nick as well. He very relatable most of the time. Definitely will be keeping an eye on what she does next and of course for the inevitable hollywood take on it.