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What are you reading? (January 2010)
- Thread starter thomaser
- Start date
speculawyer
Member
HiroProtagonist said:To hold me over until then I picked up Altered Carbon and Perdido Street Station, both recommendations from these threads.
That was free on the Kindle store a while ago, and since I heard really good things about The City and the City from him, I made sure to download it.
Man, after finishing it, really wanted all that time back I put into it. IMO, the ending felt like such a massive fuck you to the reader that it really soured my perception of the whole book and the author.
Maybe you'll be into that type of ending, and you'll like it. I know lots and lots of people who love the book though, so maybe it's just not for me.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Chorazin said:
Could you elaborate on that?
Personally, I found the ending to be more realistically bittersweet than over-wrought in tragedy, as some like to paint it. And it would be an incorrect assumption to think that all his endings are identical in such fashion. For instance, I cannot stop marveling at the ending of The Scar - an ingeniously constructed "anticlimax".
Tim the Wiz said:
I never assumed his endings are the same or even remotely similar, I just assumed I'm not going to like his other books, because I didn't like this one. If I didn't like a free book, I'm not gonna pay for another by the same author.
If I must elaborate on the entire book, I thought every single time anything with
Motley's statue being created
Also, the ending.
It irked me that Yag was abandoned so easily. Yes, what he did was terrible, but how many cops did they kill on that rooftop? How many people died due to the groups actions? It just seemed so hypocritical that it pissed me off and felt like the author was saying "MY BOOK ENDS IN A WAY YOU DON'T LIKE JUST BECAUSE I FELT LIKE IT! FUCK YOU!!"
I know lots of people like it, and they most likely love the ending, but again, it's just not for me.
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Finished this last month and I keep posting it again and again so that no one misses out on it that might like it.
Such a phenomenal book.
My wife has been begging me to read this for a year so I finally caved in:
Really really enjoyed it. At first I was apprehensive because of the 30 pt font but the characters are
engrossing and the story is well thought out. Kind of like Running Man mixed with Equilibrium mixed with
Robin Hood. I finished in like 3 days and immediately started the second one which so far as proved to be
just as riveting.
Lionheart1827
Member
"Lifting Shadows" Official Authorized biography of Dream Theater.
Only found out recently that Gibson wrote more than one book in the Sprawl universe, so I decided to check out the two after Neuromancer (which is the only book I consistently re-read every couple years).
Close to halfway through, and I'm enjoying it, but for about the first quarter I was having trouble following. Part of that is probably because I was just reading in small 10 minutes spurts when that's not the optimal way to take everything in when the author is interchanging three different storylines. Taking off for me pretty quickly now that I know what is going on, though.
Monroeski said:
Only found out recently that Gibson wrote more than one book in the Sprawl universe, so I decided to check out the two after Neuromancer (which is the only book I consistently re-read every couple years).
Close to halfway through, and I'm enjoying it, but for about the first quarter I was having trouble following. Part of that is probably because I was just reading in small 10 minutes spurts when that's not the optimal way to take everything in when the author is interchanging three different storylines. Taking off for me pretty quickly now that I know what is going on, though.
I'm pretty sure all of his books other than Spook Country and Pattern Recognition are set in the same universe.
And those might be set in the past of that universe, I don't think he's said either way.
In that case I'm fortunate that in addition to Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, I also bought Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties.Chorazin said:
I've already read most of the short stories + Burning Chrome that I know are in the same universe. From what I understand, though, while the Bridge Trilogy could be set in the same universe as the Sprawl trilogy, it's not completely clear whether it actually is or not. I haven't read them yet, of course, and I tend to try to avoid information on books before I read them so I haven't done too much research on it.
PflargBlarg
Member
I spent 100 bucks at Chapters using a gift card from Christmas and I picked up The Hobbit and The Silmarillion (as well as ASOIAF and the original 3 Dragonlance books), so I'm rereading these as well.
Ninja Scooter said:
That looks fantastic and I've added it to my wish list. Let us know you like it!
Meanwhile, I just started this during my lunch break:
Wolves Eat Dogs (2004) is the fifth novel in Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series, which has followed the career of a Moscow detective from the late Cold War soviet era up through the modern day. Renko's dry wit (steeped in black humor and Soviet-era fatalism) and disregard for office politics or job security make him a terrific character and I've enjoyed the hell out of the previous four novels in the series. Here Renko is investigating the apparent suicide of a successful (read: extremely wealthy and probably corrupt) New Russian businessman; the back cover promises that this investigation will lead Renko to Chernobyl. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing how Renko gets there and to reading Smith's descriptions of the Zone of Exclusion.
FnordChan
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Chorazin said:
Fair enough.
Chorazin said:
We're going to have to disagree on that front. The statue was at the center of an important plot thread from what I can remember. I also quite liked the tension that surrounded those sections with Motley.
Chorazin said:
Well, I thought the author was presenting a flawed character, who, emotionally traumatized and wrecked, couldn't find empathy for what he didn't understand. He simply saw it as rape, whereas in their society it was actually a greater and more perverse crime. It's a good extrapolation of the human condition: We, as humans, will always be troubled by our incomprehension of the Other, whether that be another race/nationality/etc. or, as is capable in a world of fantasy, another sentient species.
Moreover, he never stopped to think - seriously think - beforehand what sort of action could cause such maiming by creatures of flight on another of their kind. In this way, Isaac was displayed as naive and slightly self-absorbed throughout. Really, his reaction was not that much of a shock, and the ending was quite fitting from where I stood. Indeed, I had no sense of Mieville warping the characterization on the last stretch just to be edgy or some other nonsense.
Moreover, he never stopped to think - seriously think - beforehand what sort of action could cause such maiming by creatures of flight on another of their kind. In this way, Isaac was displayed as naive and slightly self-absorbed throughout. Really, his reaction was not that much of a shock, and the ending was quite fitting from where I stood. Indeed, I had no sense of Mieville warping the characterization on the last stretch just to be edgy or some other nonsense.
Chorazin said:
Again, fair enough; I just find it a touch odd, is all. You're the first person I've encountered to gather such a large element of fault with not only the book (personally, I felt the plot was a bit stifled by
the narrow gaze of the monster hunt
icarus-daedelus said:
I gave my own mom the first Renko novel as a Christmas gift a few years back, so I definitely approve of your idea. She should start with Gorky Park, which is top notch and works just fine as a stand alone novel if she never reads another book in the series.
FnordChan
Tim the Wiz said:
"The quality of his prose" doesn't matter for shit to me, really. If an author writes a book with a story I just don't enjoy, I'm not going to read another of his books.
I'm not a member of DeepThinkingAboutBooksAGE, that's for sure.
EDIT: Added Tokyo Vice to my Wishlist, gonna pick that up soon for my Kindle.
crowphoenix
Banned
That sounds like an interesting series. I'll look into picking up a copy the next time I'm wandering around a book story.FnordChan said:
MrFortyFive
Member
Just finished:
Just starting:
Duma Key was excellent. It had me completely hooked. I'm just hoping Under the Dome can do the same since it's so long.
Just starting:
Duma Key was excellent. It had me completely hooked. I'm just hoping Under the Dome can do the same since it's so long.
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Mr.FortyFive said:Just finished:
I really liked Duma Key but I found the end to be a little all over the place and it lost some of its momentum for me. Mad props to King for
killing his daughter
Tim the Wiz said:
The ending was somewhat of a surprise to me because regardless of everything that happened before it, I still expected it to wrap up in a typical feel-good fantasy ending. I still enjoyed it though for the questions it posed, and it fit the world Mieville created as a whole. I think you summed it up nicely above.
I also read the book late at night in the dead of winter with snow on the ground outside my window. It was the perfect setting. When I read the last page and closed the book, I was disappointed only because I didn't want it to end.
You're supposed to read it in Arabic because if you read a translation the word of god has been filtered through a human even though it was filtered through a human in the first place.Cyan said:
Basically no but don't try and cite an English translation in a theological throw down.
Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
Is that real?
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
bengraven
Member
Reading two novels right now:
A little slow to start, and while I put up the Kindle pic I'm reading the print book. It's printed in sepia, which I guess looks all steampunky and whatnot, it's kind of distracting that it's not simple black on white. It has promise, so I'm hoping it picks up the pace soon.
Basically, a highly advanced, multinational navel fleet (including the USS Hillary Clinton, named "for the most uncompromising war-time president in US history") led by the US is sucked through a time warp from 2021 to 1942, and end of smack dab in the middle of the US fleet headed to Midway. The distasterous confrontation between the fleets is waaaaay to drawn out, the entire time you know that they will stop fighting, meet, and work out the situation and get on with the cool, alternate history, stranger in a strange land stuff. I FINALLY got past all that (seriously, it's like 8 chapters) and it's getting pretty awesome now. I am reading this one on Kindle, it was free a few months back.
A little slow to start, and while I put up the Kindle pic I'm reading the print book. It's printed in sepia, which I guess looks all steampunky and whatnot, it's kind of distracting that it's not simple black on white. It has promise, so I'm hoping it picks up the pace soon.
Basically, a highly advanced, multinational navel fleet (including the USS Hillary Clinton, named "for the most uncompromising war-time president in US history") led by the US is sucked through a time warp from 2021 to 1942, and end of smack dab in the middle of the US fleet headed to Midway. The distasterous confrontation between the fleets is waaaaay to drawn out, the entire time you know that they will stop fighting, meet, and work out the situation and get on with the cool, alternate history, stranger in a strange land stuff. I FINALLY got past all that (seriously, it's like 8 chapters) and it's getting pretty awesome now. I am reading this one on Kindle, it was free a few months back.
I just finished this as well over 3 days. I really enjoyed it! I like these quick read teen aimed books. They just get straight to the point, no BS. Very much Battle Royale, but I felt for the characters. Good stuff. Ordered the sequel as soon as I finished this one.
Just started this and I am about 60 pages in. I really enjoyed the first book and can't wait to see the film. Book 2 is turning out to be pretty good thus far...
I tried reading this and I failed miserably. It just didn't hook me. I suppose I should have tried to read the Bourne books (of course knowing they are very different from the films) but I figured there would be some threads that kept them linked, but there really isn't and I find the novelized version of Bourne to be inferior to the film version.
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Ryu said:
I just finished this as well over 3 days. I really enjoyed it! I like these quick read teen aimed books. They just get straight to the point, no BS. Very much Battle Royale, but I felt for the characters. Good stuff. Ordered the sequel as soon as I finished this one.
I am about halfway through the second one. Let me know what you think of it once you start.
afternoon delight said:
I just read this as well, and that's a perfect description of it. I will be revisiting it soon.
Right now, I'm reading The Savage Detectives, which is so far one of the most beautiful books I've read in a long time -- okay, since Infinite Jest, but considering how much I loved that one, this is very high praise.
I find that reading this guy really inspires me to write, too. So extra points for the kick-in-the-pants factor.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
BenjaminBirdie said:This exact copy of Stephen King's IT.
It's the one I bought in like 1989. Not only is it one of my favorite books, but from a strict design/color/everything perspective, it is probably my definition of the perfect book cover. Better than the hardcover version because I prefer the author typeface on this one.
I picked it up from storage over the holiday break and it's just pretty fantastic to have it around again. It's like perfectly worn but not falling apart. It's totally awesome.
I read that exact printing. It was a library book, also perfectly worn but not falling apart. I read it in the late summer of 1992, most of it on a camping trip. The cover always drew questions from anyone who saw it.
VistraNorrez
Member
Mr.FortyFive said:
About 150 pages left of Dome and it certainly has kept me hooked. I had to take breaks on both The Stand and IT to finish them, but Dome is so well paced that I'm incredibly tempted to skip ahead just to find out how things turn. For the record I prefer IT to The Stand, and I'm probably going to like Dome more than The Stand as well, but not as much as IT.
On my Kindle I'm currently reading A Princess of Mars.
MilesWebber
Member
Just finished Under The Dome. An amazing book until the last 100 pages. I was so pissed off by the end that I wondered why I bothered to plow through the 1,000+ pages for a rushed ending that had no context.
I was not satisfied.
END OF BOOK SPOILERS!
AND ALL OF IT HAPPENS IN THE LAST 50 PAGES!
I was not satisfied.
END OF BOOK SPOILERS!
What a cop out to have the dome be generated by some alien kids. Then, when Julia actually teleports(!) to where the kids are she just asks and they lift the dome. Retarded.
AND ALL OF IT HAPPENS IN THE LAST 50 PAGES!
so dumb.
DarkGiygas
Member
I feel the same way...TheWiicast said:
But the rest of it was sooooo good!
Jill Sandwich
the turds of Optimus Prime
Finished reading Carmilla, and now I want panting young ladies in corsets to suck my neck again.
MilesWebber
Member
DarkGiygas said:I feel the same way...
But the rest of it was sooooo good!
I know! that's what pissed me off! grrrrr. C'mon King, you're almost back to form! Maybe he needs a new editor.
