Unknown Fighter Type II
Member
Just started Eye of the World (Wheel of Time).
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What are you reading? (January 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
fierrotlepou
Member
I know it's cliché but maybe Catcher in the Rye? Definitely changed my perspective on things.
Devil Theory
Member
Kyleripman
Member
Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow has a lot of profound insight (at least it was to me) wrapped up in a wild story. It's also about a man who doesn't know what he wants from life, so that might be interesting to you.
Anyone have recommendations to ease me back into reading? I used to really enjoy it and fell out of it for a long time. Now I'm depressed and in a slump and want to take up reading again to help get out of the slump. I just finished Looking For Alaska and really, really liked it. It was an easy, quick read so it kept my attention.
Other books I have loved from the past:
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The World According to Garp
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Road
I think I might re-read The World According to Garp since it is, this far, my favorite book and it's been so long since I read it. In elementary/middle school I read a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz and generally enjoyed them. I've read a lot of Palahniuk's stuff and liked it as well. I also liked Eggers' You Shall Know Our Velocity! but wouldn't put it in my "loved" list.
I plan to go through the links in the OP but figured if I spelled out some stuff I liked before and explained that I was looking for some simple, quickish reads that it might be a better start for getting recommendations to get back into reading.
Other books I have loved from the past:
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The World According to Garp
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Road
I think I might re-read The World According to Garp since it is, this far, my favorite book and it's been so long since I read it. In elementary/middle school I read a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz and generally enjoyed them. I've read a lot of Palahniuk's stuff and liked it as well. I also liked Eggers' You Shall Know Our Velocity! but wouldn't put it in my "loved" list.
I plan to go through the links in the OP but figured if I spelled out some stuff I liked before and explained that I was looking for some simple, quickish reads that it might be a better start for getting recommendations to get back into reading.
Sounds good.
Im quite liking it so far and I definitely think that its one of the better fantasy novels out there. The plot reads more like a mystery/suspense novel than a hero quest, and so far does a very good job at it
My only real issue is that the dialogue, while good, feels too 'casual'. I have a hard time buying that tone when the society is supposed to be strongly hierarchical. Though that might change in later books due to the society/clan he is living in currently (outcast bums) and the other people he has associated so far with (not going to spoil it).
OttomanScribe
Member
Nice! Move immediately to 'Best Served Cold', that is his best in my books, though I actually really loved 'Red Country'.
Nappuccino
Member
Finished:
This Book is Full of Spiders It's a bit more cohesive than the first book, but I think it suffers because so much time is spent away from David's perspective. John is funny when he is relayed by David, but not so much when you're seeing things from what appears to be his actual perspective and not so embellished. I get that, at first, it is supposed to draw out some tension, but I wish the narrative device was dropped midway through the book.
Overall, a better told story (though there is much more exposition and I found myself thinking "I get it" more often than JDatE) but I really missed the humor of the first book.
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo.
My first inspector Harry Hole novel (I picked it up solely because I couldn't get past his name. Seriously? Inspect Her Hairy Hole, jesus man, someone should have caught that long before the book was picked up. That said, I quite enjoyed the hard boiled plot. There were more left turns than my body had room for, but nearly every one made sense (albiet, I did call the final twist long in advance). I wish I had known that this was the 4th book in the series as I would have preferred to start at the beginning... but I was never too lost because of that. I really liked the psychological aspect of the novel. There was a lot going on in each of the characters minds and I thought it was all pretty deftly held together.
Not sure what I'm going to start next.
The main detractor was the translation. Some elements are far too literal and I couldn't grasp what they were trying to get across. There were other typos and strange elements all over which was kind of surprising seeing as this translation had been in print multiple times before (I was reading the trade paper back). I couldn't help but wonder if these two elements were linked.
Overall, if you're going to pick up a dark detective series, this seems to be one to go for.
This Book is Full of Spiders It's a bit more cohesive than the first book, but I think it suffers because so much time is spent away from David's perspective. John is funny when he is relayed by David, but not so much when you're seeing things from what appears to be his actual perspective and not so embellished. I get that, at first, it is supposed to draw out some tension, but I wish the narrative device was dropped midway through the book.
Overall, a better told story (though there is much more exposition and I found myself thinking "I get it" more often than JDatE) but I really missed the humor of the first book.
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo.
My first inspector Harry Hole novel (I picked it up solely because I couldn't get past his name. Seriously? Inspect Her Hairy Hole, jesus man, someone should have caught that long before the book was picked up. That said, I quite enjoyed the hard boiled plot. There were more left turns than my body had room for, but nearly every one made sense (albiet, I did call the final twist long in advance). I wish I had known that this was the 4th book in the series as I would have preferred to start at the beginning... but I was never too lost because of that. I really liked the psychological aspect of the novel. There was a lot going on in each of the characters minds and I thought it was all pretty deftly held together.
Not sure what I'm going to start next.
The main detractor was the translation. Some elements are far too literal and I couldn't grasp what they were trying to get across. There were other typos and strange elements all over which was kind of surprising seeing as this translation had been in print multiple times before (I was reading the trade paper back). I couldn't help but wonder if these two elements were linked.
Overall, if you're going to pick up a dark detective series, this seems to be one to go for.
Horseticuffs
Full werewolf off the buckle
Hey man, I'm in a very similar predicament. I hadn't read anything but websites for years and I, too, loved King in my youth.
May I suggest something by Joe Hill, King's son? My first novel in many years has been his "Heart-shaped Box" and it's incredible so far. A real page-turner.
OttomanScribe
Member
Collete
Member
My favourite of his
Nice!
Haven't had a true favorite yet, only completed one novel of his (Thief of Time which was a very good book to get back into reading again!). Started Mort because it was apparently beginning of the "Death" series.
lawlohwhat
Banned
first delillo novel. really enjoying it.
Hypertrooper
Member
I was forced to read "Falling Man" in English class and like every book you have to read in class, it was complete boring. I will give it another spin in a year... :/
first delillo novel. really enjoying it.
At the moment I am reading "Momo" by Michael Ende. As a child, I haven't read a lot of books. So I am reading them now.
I started reading Ready Player One last night. Just the introduction, but I am already hooked, can tell I'm really going to love it. I joined the GAF goodreads group as well, is there any consistency to say a monthly book club or reviews or anything? I updated my goal to read 12 books this year. I figure one book a month is a pretty fair average for how slow I can read sometimes.
Also, I am quickly learning about the annoyances of eBook drm. Feels like I've installed 10 different programs to deal with everything getting things from all over on my kobo touch.
Also, I am quickly learning about the annoyances of eBook drm. Feels like I've installed 10 different programs to deal with everything getting things from all over on my kobo touch.
Unknown Fighter Type II
Member
Im quite liking it so far and I definitely think that its one of the better fantasy novels out there. The plot reads more like a mystery/suspense novel than a hero quest, and so far does a very good job at it
My only real issue is that the dialogue, while good, feels too 'casual'. I have a hard time buying that tone when the society is supposed to be strongly hierarchical. Though that might change in later books due to the society/clan he is living in currently (outcast bums) and the other people he has associated so far with (not going to spoil it).
I'm a pretty big fan of Brust's work. The Vlad books are more cloak & dagger with moderate amounts of sorcery interspersed. I agree, the dialogue is more casual, almost too modern.
I'd also liken the organization he's part of to more of a guild. Each guild having their own characteristics.
For the readers convenience, the first 7-8 books were re-released in omnibus sets. The Book of Jhereg has the first 3 books, etc.
If you continue reading through them, stop after finishing Issola, and check out The Khaavren Romances. It takes place 1000 yrs before the Vlad books. Its nothing like them either. Lotts of world play and prose style diaolgue.
CF_Fighter
Member
Started "Gates of Fire" the other day.
I've had the book for a few years and tried diving into it when I got it and it just didn't stick. Hoping that as a few years have now passed I'll enjoy it more, which I am.
I've had the book for a few years and tried diving into it when I got it and it just didn't stick. Hoping that as a few years have now passed I'll enjoy it more, which I am.
MaizeRage25
Member
HamPster PamPster
Member
I'm jumping into the 50 books / 50 movies challenge on GAF so hopefully I'll be reading a lot more this year. Also I'm going to try to read "better" books. Maybe a little less fantasy... but I do love my generic fantasy fluff
Anyway I finished Seraphina up last week
There was too much angsty teenage love for my taste. Our heroine has the realization midway through the book that she "loves" the prince and then proceeds to
Predictably the prince confesses at the end
The part that irritates me the most though is (ending spoiler)
Really?
Outside of that, the main story about Seraphina trying to stop an assignation attempt while deal with her own secrets was very good and I really liked the relationship between people and dragons. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
I hope my post isn't too spoiler-y for the reading thread. It seems like people usually avoid spoilers but I wanted to vent a bit.
Anyway I finished Seraphina up last week
There was too much angsty teenage love for my taste. Our heroine has the realization midway through the book that she "loves" the prince and then proceeds to
cut herself because the love hurts too much.
not only does he love her but he has always loved her from the moment he saw her.
the prince is already engaged and the book ends with them agreeing to keep their relationship secret because it wouldn't be fair to end the engagement now.
Outside of that, the main story about Seraphina trying to stop an assignation attempt while deal with her own secrets was very good and I really liked the relationship between people and dragons. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
I hope my post isn't too spoiler-y for the reading thread. It seems like people usually avoid spoilers but I wanted to vent a bit.
OttomanScribe
Member
I read it and then listened to the eBook on a road trip with nerd friends. Felt like I missed that 80s party. I liked it a lot regardless. Nice mix of that nostalgia, post apocalyptic stuff and classic quest based storyline.
Why have I never read Borges before, or even heard much about him?
It's all his fiction collected in one book. I started with Ficciones and read the first part, The Garden of Forking Paths. I love it.
I think my favorite story was The Library of Babel or Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote. This stuff is like a lit major's wet dream.
Setre
Member
I would but I want to finish the First Law Trilogy first. Plus I'm trying to space my self with Abercrombie's books as I really like them. He's becoming one of my favorite authors.
I got sad today because it's highly likely I won't be able to teach any of these stories as a high school teacher, but I probably would have been able to if I followed my dreams of becoming a professor (but I probably wouldn't have gotten a job because there's barely any positions open).
Anyway, let's hang out.
velvet_nitemare
Member
DOBERMAN INC
Member
Plan to start this after work.
foomfoom415
Member
I finished the Wool Omnibus and John Dies at the End. I absolutely loved both, especially the later. I was initially worried that I would dislike JDatE for a lot of the same reasons I absolutely despised Ready Player One, but David Wong is a much more competent writer telling a far more interesting and satisfying story.
Wool was also enjoyable, and moved at a lightning pace, almost to it's detriment at times.
I picked up the next book in the Wool series and This Book is Full of Spiders though probably won't read either for a few weeks. Now I'm at a loss of what to read next.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Kinda just left me saying wtf?
Blindsight by Peter Watts
liked it quite a bit
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
bit disappointing
The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
pretty awesome
The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire
Blindsight by Peter Watts
liked it quite a bit
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
bit disappointing
The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
pretty awesome
The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire
I actually think it was one of your posts that put me on to Brust. Quite glad i decided to give it a shot because the first book was great and the second book is looking good so far as well. Though it being a prequel threw me for a loop for a bit
As for the dialogue, I dont need it to be fancier, Id just like it to not sound like everyone is shooting the shit with their best buds, even when they have very different social positions. It just sounds weird/wrong to me. Maybe that's his Trotskyist believes seeping through (found that kinda funny)
Ficciones would be a pretty hard read for undergrads as well, so yea, making high school kids read it would be a bad idea.
I remember reading One Hundred Years of Solitude in high school though. And while that is not as nearly as complex or dense as Ficciones, I still loved it. You could always had out a recommended reading list - meaning if you like Solitude, you might like these
I think i would have appreciated something like that because I remember i found Ficciones hopscotch and others by spending some time on amazon and wikipedia
lawlohwhat
Banned
White noise is definitely not a boring book if you think you'd like reading a ridiculous and cynical commentary on modern american society. I can see how delillo's subtle sarcasm could turn someone off, though. So far he is mostly reminding me of how much I like vonnegut.
Setre
Member
Finished
Reading
When I stopped reading that meant no more Repairman Jack and now I'm going to correct that. For those of you who've never read anything by F. Paul Wilson I HIGHLY recommend the Repairman Jack series, The Adversary Cycle, and The Barrens and Others (short story collection).
Reading
When I stopped reading that meant no more Repairman Jack and now I'm going to correct that. For those of you who've never read anything by F. Paul Wilson I HIGHLY recommend the Repairman Jack series, The Adversary Cycle, and The Barrens and Others (short story collection).
So good. Lost so many hours of sleep to this trilogy.
The Culture Vulture
Member
+1 Repairman Jack is the shit.
Setre
Member
Start with The Tomb. The Adversary Cycle takes place in the same universe as the Repairman Jack series, in fact the final book in the Adversary Cycle is the final book featuring Repairman Jack in the timeline. I'd recommend reading the Adversary Cycle if you like Repairman Jack. In fact a lot of F. Paul Wilson's book link back to the Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack Universe. Here's the timeline if you're interested:
The Keep (AC)
Reborn (AC)
The Tomb (RJ)
Legacies (RJ)
Conspiracies (RJ) (My favorite)
All the Rage (RJ)
Hosts (RJ)
The Haunted Air (RJ) (Least favorite)
Gateways (RJ)
Crisscross (RJ)
Infernal (RJ)
Harbingers (RJ)
Bloodlines (RJ)
By the Sword (RJ)
Ground Zero (RJ)
The Touch (AC)
Fatal Error (RJ)
Reprisal (AC)
The Dark at the End (RJ) Final book in the RJ series
Nightworld (AC) Final book featuring RJ
There are other books, and short stories, in there that you could read but those are the main ones. There's a couple of young adult novels featuring RJ when he was younger. Wilson's newest RJ novel, Cold City, is set in between the young adult books and The Tomb.
If you don't want to read the AC series you don't have to just remember, if you like the books that is, to read Nightworld at the very end.
I also want to add that you should get the newest editions of all the books. Wilson has updated them to fit in with the 21st centuries current technology because after Reborn they all take place just years/months apart from one another. And I personally didn't like The Keep so if you decide to start from the very beginning don't let that book turn you off. It gets a lot better.
Glad I'm not alone!
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Really liked it although I think I prefer the movie's resolution. Going into it aware of the big twist let me appreciate it in one go rather than needing a second reading at least.
The Daybreakers by Louis L'Amour
This was unexpectedly great. Snagged it forever ago on a whim during a Kindle sale although I wasn't familiar with L'Amour's work past knowing he wrote a bunch of Western novels. I just wanted something to scratch that Western itch I'd had and this delivered and then some. It felt a bit tropey at times as it seemed to have every thing but a train robbery but the characters were well developed and the action had a wonderful sense of tension to it.
Gordon0Freeman
Member
Enjoy it. I loved it!Plan to start this after work.
I started Elantris a while back, but after threee weeks or so I was still at 5% so I put it down for now. I don't know, I love Sanderson, but this one does not grip me at all.
So instead now I'm reading:
Appears to be just as good as the first one. Great and interesting characters. And the poet/andat magic system is one of the most innovative I've read since Mistborn. So glad there are still two more books after this one. Anyone know if the dagger and coin series by the same autor holds up to this one?
Also reading:
A wild sheep chase by Murakami Haruki, to keep my Japanese from vanishing. Read the book years ago in German and loved it.
And I guess in a few hours I can finally start reading my husband's NaNoWriMo-Novel. He hasn't told me anything about it so far, so I'm really exited
So instead now I'm reading:
Appears to be just as good as the first one. Great and interesting characters. And the poet/andat magic system is one of the most innovative I've read since Mistborn. So glad there are still two more books after this one. Anyone know if the dagger and coin series by the same autor holds up to this one?
Also reading:
A wild sheep chase by Murakami Haruki, to keep my Japanese from vanishing. Read the book years ago in German and loved it.
And I guess in a few hours I can finally start reading my husband's NaNoWriMo-Novel. He hasn't told me anything about it so far, so I'm really exited
