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[EverythingShiny]

Yeesh, I missed a few months there. In that time, I read the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant and the first two Harry Bosch novels.

Most recently I finished The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and Faithful Place by Tana French. The Goldfinch was quite lengthy but I finished it rather quickly, as I had trouble putting it down. The book also made me terribly anxious; it was like watching someone you care about making increasingly poor decisions.

I decided to switch it up with some non-fiction and am now reading this:

Last night I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain. What a wonderful book as well, and gave it 5/5. Quick read as it was hard to put down at times. Very uplifting and emotional.

Oh excellent, this is one of the books I got for Christmas. I'll make this my next read.

 

[Osorio]

Almost done with a second reading of this. It continues to read like a breeze and I find myself in a different mindspace while reading it. A brash, neurotic mindstate but it's still an interesting feeling.

Looking forward to reading this next.

 

[dralla]

So far this month I've finished American Gods, Neverwhere, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. My library haul from this morning:

They don't have the third book in the Fairyland series for some reason. That sucks.

 

[Mumei]

So far this month I've finished American Gods, Neverwhere, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. My library haul from this morning:

They don't have the third book in the Fairyland series for some reason. That sucks.

Perhaps it is a sign that you should purchase the whole series!

 

[Mogwai]

I'm about 60-70 pages in and it seems like I found Remedy's secret recipe for Alan Wake.

 

[kaskade]

Just started reading Joyland. Liking it so far.

 

[Nezumi]

Given up on Red Country for now. I just didn't get into it because so far there hasn't been one character I care about.
Even Lamb is boring as hell

Spoiler

and I used to love Logen in the trilogy.

.

Instead I started:

After the last book I'm looking forward to see how the story will continue.

I'm also about halfway through:

This one is a lot better than Shards of Honor (which I already liked). The culture of Barrayar reminds me a bit of Japan in the middle and late 19th century (especially the conflict whether to keep traditions or adopt new ideas).

 

[dralla]

Perhaps it is a sign that you should purchase the whole series!

Believe me, I'd love to start collecting books, but I don't have the space. I do plan on buying a fancy version of The Hobbit I saw in Barnes and Noble the other week though, it was love at first site <3 This one - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544174224/?tag=neogaf0e-20 - It's really nice in person. It's my favorite version of the book I've seen yet.

I'm also not sure if I prefer hard or soft cover versions of books. I think hard cover is better for show but soft is better for the reading itself.

 

[LanceVance]

I just recently finished The Forever War and Marching Powder which were both excellent

Just started reading Flowers for Algernon

 

[Mumei]

Believe me, I'd love to start collecting books, but I don't have the space. I do plan on buying a fancy version of The Hobbit I saw in Barnes and Noble the other week though, it was love at first site <3 This one - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544174224/?tag=neogaf0e-20 - It's really nice in person. It's my favorite version of the book I've seen yet.

I'm also not sure if I prefer hard or soft cover versions of books. I think hard cover is better for show but soft is better for the reading itself.

I've been thinking about getting the Deluxe Edition myself!

And yes, space is a problem. My books don't fit on all of my bookshelves anymore.

 

[coldvein]

is the fairyland girl series really that good?

my girlfriend is obsessed. should i try? should i? i didnt like harry potter.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Quick fun read. Had me lol-ing at times. One part The Guild and one part Make Love, Not Warcraft.


Backward Compatible: A Geek Love Story by Sarah Daltry

 

[Mumei]

is the fairyland girl series really that good?

my girlfriend is obsessed. should i try? should i? i didnt like harry potter.

Yes, you should. September is the best.

 

[aidan]

is the fairyland girl series really that good?

my girlfriend is obsessed. should i try? should i? i didnt like harry potter.

Dooooooo it.

It's nothing like Harry Potter.

 

[coldvein]

alright alright. it is officially on my list.

 

[ShaneB]

Oh excellent, this is one of the books I got for Christmas. I'll make this my next read.

=) Hope you like it as well!

I'm finding myself much more inclined to read something with first person perspective, especially with a unique narrator. Perhaps it's just something engrained in me that it makes it feel more like I'm being told a story and I'm along for the ride. Just makes it feel a lot more personal.

Quick fun read. Had me lol-ing at times. One part The Guild and one part Make Love, Not Warcraft.


Backward Compatible: A Geek Love Story by Sarah Daltry

That does sound like a fun read. Have you looked at Off to be the Wizard? Looks like it would be a fun read too. Plus it's cheap on Amazon!

 

[BIGWORM]

Tokyo Vice, but in audiobook form because I couldn't find it anywhere locally. I had a hardback copy in my garage, but I think it was thrown away. =/

 

[Masenkame]

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville: China Mieville sure loves him some cities, and he sure loves his creation of the dirty, fantastical, industrial, police state of New Crobuzon. Perdido Street Station takes place in that city, and is as much a character as the creatures that inhabit it. Mieville describes seemingly every sprawling facet of the city, the fetid sewers and dumps, the crooked alleyways and hovels that line them, the above head train tracks and soaring government structures. This involves the people and creatures that live here as well, magic and technology, an environment of bug-headed (literally) humanoids and sentient frog-like and cactus-like folks as well. Plenty of others too, all with their own cultures and in-fighting and xenophobias.

A really interesting novel, the plot moving from intriguing slowness to breakneck in pace, with the prose ranging from decent to phenomenal, that had me pleasantly cursing Mieville the many times I went to consult a dictionary. The middle third of the novel is a whiplash, as the plots and characters start to converge from the many different strands.

The characters are absorbing, with a bunch of point of views taking part. I didn't really think I would empathize so much with someone like Lin, a member of the khepri race, the aforementioned human-like people with a whole insect as their head, as she reflected on her part in the different cultures of the city and interracial relationships. Some of the best prose in the novel, both meandering and curt, comes from following around Yagharek, an outsider, as he explores the city and its peoples, searching for something taken from him. And a bunch more characters, including multidimensional ascended creatures and gut-wrenching mind-rending beasts that terrify the city to its core.

The novel does lose steam in the last third, as there's an unfocusing on characters and pace at times. There's a lot of descriptive prose here, which can grate after a while. Still, the denouement of the novel is intriguing and bittersweet, and I'm happy to check out Mieville's other work.

---

I'm currently reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. About a third through it and it's been engaging.

 

[Daante]

Just finished the self biography book about the Swedish football coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

Very good and interesting book. I think the book even will appeal to readers who dont know a shit nor have played football themselves (even though it contains a lot of football details).
Some of the stuff around the football that he tells is so freaking wierd and fascinating at the same time. You REALLY get a in depth look behind the curtains what happend in his life.

 

[Mifune]

A really interesting novel, the plot moving from intriguing slowness to breakneck in pace, with the prose ranging from decent to phenomenal, that had me pleasantly cursing Mieville the many times I went to consult a dictionary. The middle third of the novel is a whiplash, as the plots and characters start to converge from the many different strands.

I love the point where China decides he wants to tell a story. Up until that point the book is meandering in the best way possible, leaving the reader to guess what form the plot will actually take. And that form is one of the great surprises of the novel; I know I wasn't expecting the whole thing to become

Spoiler

a midnight monster movie

but was thrilled when it did.

Love this novel but I agree that it sags a bit near the end. There was one interminable chapter about plugging in cables that needed an edit. But gosh what invention and world building overall.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

That does sound like a fun read. Have you looked at Off to be the Wizard? Looks like it would be a fun read too. Plus it's cheap on Amazon!

Sounds fun. Added to the backlog.

 

[Haly]

The Scar is even better but you can safely skip Iron Council.

 

[survivor]

Finished reading 2001: A Space Odyssey the other day. I'm a big fan of the movie so I wanted to see how the novel version went since I heard there quite a few differences. I appreciated how Clarke really took his time with the exposition for the earlier parts of the story. I know a lot of the stuff could have been interpreted from the movie which Kubrick didn't really explain, but it's nice to see some pages dedicated to the actual aliens and their views on things. However most of the second half was done much better in the movie starting with the Discovery ship till the end. HAL wasn't really as threatening as the movie and not convincing enough and the weird stuff that happened to Dave at the end looked way better in the movie. Anyway, great scifi book though I don't have any motivation to read any of the sequels.

I also finished reading these books a couple of weeks ago

The Stranger was quite alright. I don't have much to add since I only read it cause it was a short novel and dealt with existentialism. I did find the main character's attitude toward his crime a bit interesting and repulsive which made the second half a really good read.

The Gate on the other hand was excellent. Since I enjoyed Kokoro a lot, I wanted to check out other novels by Soseki and this one seemed similar in nature to the first book and I actually liked it a lot more. I was able to relate to Oyone and Sosuke and their loneliness and family crisis much more than Sensei's guilt. I really love Soseki's style of storytelling where nothing happens while following the daily lives of the main characters. On another note, Sosuke much like Sensei had money inheritance issues with his relatives. I wonder if it's a common theme in Soseki's novels and if he went through that personally.

 

[Mumei]

The Gate on the other hand was excellent. Since I enjoyed Kokoro a lot, I wanted to check out other novels by Soseki and this one seemed similar in nature to the first book and I actually liked it a lot more. I was able to relate to Oyone and Sosuke and their loneliness and family crisis much more than Sensei's guilt. I really love Soseki's style of storytelling where nothing happens while following the daily lives of the main characters. On another note, Sosuke much like Sensei had money inheritance issues with his relatives. I wonder if it's a common theme in Soseki's novels and if he went through that personally.

I picked up that edition of The Gate when I was last in Chicago. I read Kokoro in high school and I've always meant to explore his works more but haven't really gotten around it.

I'll definitely read it this year.

 

[Lafiel]

I haven't read The Gate in years.. but I put it as one of my favourite novels on Goodreads. Genuinely wonder how it would connect with me now along with Kokoro (which was also great).

 

[Maklershed]

I was half joking but I've also only read the first 3. For some reason I thought Silent was a guy...

Yeah, Silent is a dude. Other than that, spot on. I've convinced my wife to give them a read based on the strength of the characters.

I'm reading Dreams of Steel right now and Lady is so freaking cool.

Oops - I meant Darling. Not Silent.

I've never read anything by the author. How would you describe their work?

Mmm, I'm not really sure. All I can say is I like it. As I explained to ShaneB the other day, Cook creates characters that are not just fun and likable but you feel .. 'comfortable' .. reading about them. The best way I can describe it is like the same feeling I get when I watch Seinfeld or the Simpsons.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Ah, that's the book where my favorite character finally comes into his own.



You'll likely find that this pattern repeats with Warrior's Apprentice/Vor Game. Shards and Warrior's Apprentice were the first novels she wrote (alongside the eminently skippable Ethan of Athos).

Great series. Once you get a couple books in there's no turning back.

 

[Necroscope]

Just finish:

Half way through:

 

[Masenkame]

I love the point where China decides he wants to tell a story. Up until that point the book is meandering in the best way possible, leaving the reader to guess what form the plot will actually take. And that form is one of the great surprises of the novel; I know I wasn't expecting the whole thing to become

Spoiler

a midnight monster movie

but was thrilled when it did.

Love this novel but I agree that it sags a bit near the end. There was one interminable chapter about plugging in cables that needed an edit. But gosh what invention and world building overall.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the SMs. Mieville always found a new grotesque way to describe them and their actions. The Weaver was a lot of fun as well. As for the cables, it's Mieville dipping too heavily into his descriptive side yet again.

The Scar is even better but you can safely skip Iron Council.

Oh yeah? I've got both those novels sitting on my shelf, and planned to get into them sometime.

 

[Maklershed]

Half way through:

Great book. I could go for something like this right now. Maybe its time to crack into the Poisoner's Handbook soon.

 

[Woorloog]

As i noted, i'm re-reading the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb.
It is good but there's something that constantly bothers me: Its world is... well, unrealistic-feeling, by being somewhat... idyllic?
Rulers and nobility seem to be good in their jobs and are not that ruthless in general or if they're, it is for the nations and peoples, not for their own sake, ignoring few exceptions. People don't live too badly despite it being medieval world. Sure, there's a war going on but even then... It is like its a romanticized, whitewashed world.
Yes, it is rather common in fantasy but it feels pronounced in the Farseer trilogy.
It could be attributed to the first person narrator though, a biased view perhaps? But nowhere it is indicated Fitz does color his recounting of his adventures so i won't interpret the narrator being unreliable.

Very much like GRRM's dark vision of a medieval fantasy world.

 

[Drake]

My man! My favorite author.

His books are crazy addicting. I see the book he just came out with on Tuesday is prequel about the 2 deities in the Paladin series. That sounds awesome. I can't wait to read that.

 

[pa22word]

So because I bought some books for my kindle I can get another select book for $1. Problem is, I haven't even heard of any of the select books -_-

Anyone read any of these?

Repost because yeah =\

Also, while I'm at it, I'm also reposting my quandary on whether or not to get into Wheel of Time. Worth it gaf? Worth mentioning that I probably don't have the patience to deal with another Song of Ice and Fire style nosedive, so yeah...

 

[pa22word]

And while I love Wheel of Time personally, given your caveat I would say no, probably not worth it for you.

Yeah it seems like something I should read later in life when I settle down a bit, that way a couple 800 pg stinkers doesn't leave a burning fire of anger in me due to the fact that I wasted all that time on them when I could have been reading something worth the time.

Right now I have so little time to read and I love to read so much that I really don't want it to feel like I'm wasting my time on a 12,000 page undertaking that's only really enjoyable and engaging 60-75% of the time, because the time spent to read those 4800-3000 pages of slog could have been spent on over a dozen or so truly great books.

 

[Mifune]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the SMs. Mieville always found a new grotesque way to describe them and their actions. The Weaver was a lot of fun as well. As for the cables, it's Mieville dipping too heavily into his descriptive side yet again.

Whenever I was out walking at night during the month I was reading that book, I would check the skies with a wary eye.

Oh yeah? I've got both those novels sitting on my shelf, and planned to get into them sometime.

The City & the City is mighty fine, as well. Totally different writing style - terse and muted - same great world building.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

didn't like Perdido Street Station. Haven't given Mieville another shot.

 

[Ratrat]

didn't like Perdido Street Station. Haven't given Mieville another shot.

You should at least try reading The Scar before writing him off.

 

[Lumiere]

Shift was my least favorite of the Silo books, but still quite enjoyable. When I finished it, I fully understood why it was critical to the story Howey was telling, even if the first half let me down.

I'll give Sand a shot.

Hope you like it! And I completely see why Shift might be a bit of a let down, especially considering what the expectations were coming from Wool. I am not even sure why but I found it very engaging though - I had read it as each part came out and every time couldn't wait for the next.

You'll likely find that this pattern repeats with Warrior's Apprentice/Vor Game. Shards and Warrior's Apprentice were the first novels she wrote (alongside the eminently skippable Ethan of Athos).

I'm currently going through the Vorkosigan saga as well and felt the same - Barrayar and Vor Game are my favorites so far. Is Ethan of Athos really worth skipping? The synopsis doesn't sound very engaging :/

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I just finished reading The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. This is apparently considered to be one of the best Batman comics, so I was excited to finally read it. I didn't much like it. There really isn't much of a plot, and what little there is is hard to follow and on top of that there is just way too much text (did we really need a million TV news broadcaster panels?).

Despite loving the design of Carrie Kelley's Robin, I felt that she was just shoehorned into the plot. I have no idea how or why Batman recruited her and she barely did anything of note. She was just sort of there. Superman's addition also felt very random to me, as well as

Spoiler

Green Arrow.

To date, Batman: Year One is the only Batman comic that I've read that I've actually enjoyed every aspect of. But to be fair, I've only read a handful of them.

 

[Jintor]

The Long Halloween and Gotham Central are probably my fave bat-related books. Batgirl Year One is also a good choice, far better than Robin Year One (which is also enjoyable but not nearly as introspective, I feel)

 

[Shengar]

The novel does lose steam in the last third, as there's an unfocusing on characters and pace at times. There's a lot of descriptive prose here, which can grate after a while. Still, the denouement of the novel is intriguing and bittersweet, and I'm happy to check out Mieville's other work.

I recommend you to check The Scar, The City and The City, and Embassytown. Those works feels much superior to Perdido Street Station for me. Also his short stories collection worth a try. Its filled with mad and intriguing idea, though not his best.

 

[Salazar]

Finishing off Beloved. Reading some Lankhmar for pleasure.

 

[Easystride]

Finished Different Seasons. I loved The Body. It helped that Stand by Me is a favorite movie of mine. I could use some more good coming-of-age books. I was sort of disapointed with the Kindle edition, though. For example, a lot of times, instead of Vern (a character's name), the book said Vem. And it was the official version from the Kindle Store. I rented it from my local library.

I started up The Long Walk next. I'm not too far yet, but the premise seems interesting.

 

[jokebreath]

Just finished Boy by Takeshi Kitano. It's not a book that's going to stay with me, but I enjoyed that bittersweet nostalgia that seems to permeate Japanese storytelling.

I just started The Infatuations by Javier Marias. I'm really excited about this one. I read the first Your Face Tomorrow book and loved it, but then had too long of a wait before the second one came out in English. Some day I'd like to go back and read all three now that they're all out. There's something magical about an author who has such a firm command of the language he can easily write sentences that go on for what feels like an eternity yet not seem long-winded.

 

[Lumiere]

The main character is a one-off, and the only main series character that shows up is Ellie Quinn. The concept is another riff on the social implications of uterine replicator technology, in this case a planet of all men. The main character is kinda dull, and the few interesting things that happen in the story have yet to be revisited in any meaningful way.

So yeah, I'd call it skippable unless you're really curious. It's definitely the weakest of her first three books.

Thanks for the information! I might just continue on with the Miles novels for now, then

 

[Nymerio]

I'm still going through The Dragon Reborn and am thoroughly enjoying it. I didn't like Nynaeve at the beginning and liked Egwene more, but recently I've really started to dislike Egwene and came to like Nynaeve.

 

[X-Frame]

I just finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie this morning, and I feel like I need to talk about it ..

For anyone else who read this book, and considers themselves to have grasped a good majority of the plot, I'd love some further clarification on certain things. Probably best to spoiler tag just in case ..

PLOT SPOILERS:

Spoiler

So the (at least) 2 version of the Lord of the Radch manifested 1,000 years prior when that Garsedd race managed to sneak aboard Captain Seivarden's ship and kill everyone (except him I think).

1 version of the Lord wanted to maintain the current trajectory of the Radch expansion with ancillaries and annexations. And due to the same event, the "new" (and the "good" Lord of the Radch???) was born who wanted to mostly do the opposite; stop expansion and replace the ancillaries with human soldiers.

I'll refer to the one who wanted to maintain expansion as the "Evil" one, and the other as the "Good" one.

The "Evil" one was the one who planted the weapons cache in that lake, and the one who boarded the Justice of Toren and ordered the death of Lietenant Awn, and then destroyed the ship, AND was the one behind the Ime Station incident.

The "Good" one was the one who was the first to board the Justice of Toren and give itself special access and instructions to Justice of Toren, and was also the one at the very end of the book who was escorted by Breq and ended up being the child version of the Lord of the Radch, who gave Breq command of that Mercy ship at the end, to help combat the movements of the "Evil" version.

Am I correct? It was a bit hard to follow, and I feel at some point in the future I'll want to re-read this because I did enjoy it but want to understand the plot better, and any and all twists and discoveries that I may have missed -- and I feel like I missed a lot because I was trying to understand what was going on.

Overall, I really liked this book, especially because it was a difficult read and I enjoyed the challenge to comprehend everything, even though I obviously didn't do as well as maybe I hoped.

I really do LOVE Space Opera's, and plan to dive into the Expanse Series soon.

I also really want to restart Mass Effect 1 now, haha.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

The Long Halloween and Gotham Central are probably my fave bat-related books. Batgirl Year One is also a good choice, far better than Robin Year One (which is also enjoyable but not nearly as introspective, I feel)

I liked the art in The Long Halloween but I thought the story was too convoluted and silly. I've heard good things about Gotham Central but I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet. I had no idea there were "Year Ones" centering around other characters, so I'll have to check them out as well. Thanks.

 

[dralla]

Just finished the second Fairyland book. Initial impression is that I liked it better than the first. I think the best thing about the books is September herself, she's great. And apparently my library does have the third but it's on hold for someone else. But I must know how it all ends!

 

[fakefaker]

Finished up last night Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe. Overall it was a wonderful read, parts real life, parts fantasy, and some of it dealing with some truly mature problems. I didn't care for the main character at times as he gave up too easily, but it's a part of the story, so I forgave it.

Now my trip goes from Japan to Turkey as I start Orhan Pamuk's, The Black Book.