What are you reading? (January 2016)

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Why does the science fiction I'm interested in have to be depressing? :(
 
Nothing good ever comes out of happy sci-fi.
 
Jintor said:
sitting here waiting for my new kindle paperwhite to be delievered
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What were you upgrading from?
Necrovex said:
Started to read the Goblin Emperor after seeing all the praises for it. I am loving the political intrigues. I just wish I could better follow all these names. I am hoping to complete it before City of Blades is officially out.
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I gave up on pronouncing the name very early on, but they are not that hard to keep track of, the number of characters are manageable.
 
I finished Columbine by Dave Gullen today. It's a favorite of this book podcast I listen to sometimes, so what the hell. It's a competent, detailed chronicle of the event. That scope probably does not feel limiting to those who were swept up and invested when it was all happening, but I did find myself wishing for some broader context. On to other stuff.
 
Atraveller said:
What were you upgrading from?
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the one just after the kindle keyboard.

was just getting more and more frustrated with the file structure stuff etc. The kindle itself was fine, this was purely an extravagant gift to myself

of course now this one has ads and i hate them D:
 
A bit more than halfway through Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land. Not really feeling it so far, but I am resolved to finish it.

After that, I'll read Jose Mauro de Vasconcelos' "My Sweet Orange Tree" and Battle Royale Remastered. BR is my favorite novel of all time, so I'm looking forward to BR:R. (I know it is a retranslation but it's been years since I read it in English).

Very recently learned that Le Guin's The Dispossessed is part of a series called the Hanish Cycle, so I'll try to find The Left Hand Of Darkness somewhere. The Dispossessed was my BOTY 2015, it was amazing.
 
Jintor said:
yeah i believe you

this screen though! god damn. it's so nice! the refresh rate is actually approaching okay, too
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If ads bother you, you can always pay to have them removed. They probably wouldn't bother me since we use covered cases for our 3 Paperwhites, but I always get the non-ad version.
 
The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai

Beautiful and depressing novel about a woman from the Japanese aristocracy who becomes impoverished in early post-WWII Japan. It's short (not even 200) so you can finish it in an afternoon.
 
Now reading:

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It's been at least a year since I last read a classic 19th century novel (Balzac - Cousin Bette). I'm halfway through and I like it quite a bit so far. It's the typical tale of an innocent woman in the clutches of a wicked husband but that's why it's also enjoyable if you're in the mood for such a thing. What's fun is that the story is told through different viewpoints using letters and diaries. It's supposedly one of the earliest detective novels too, but I've seen little evidence at the halfway point.
 
kruis said:
Now reading:

woman-in-white-620x942.jpg


It's been at least a year since I last read a classic 19th century novel (Balzac - Cousin Bette). I'm halfway through and I like it quite a bit so far. It's the typical tale of an innocent woman in the clutches of a wicked husband but that's why it's also enjoyable if you're in the mood for such a thing. What's fun is that the story is told through different viewpoints using letters and diaries. It's supposedly one of the earliest detective novels too, but I've seen little evidence at the halfway point.
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I read it some months ago and quite enjoyed it. And to be fair, it's a "detective novel".
 
I want to continue reading The People in the Trees this evening, but my wife literally BEGGED me to catch up on this War & Peace BBC mini series while she's out Roller Derbying D:

There's a lot Nabokovian elements in it (not so much word plays and such, but the way the story is being build up and framed, and of course thematically), I can see why you love Yanagihara so much Mumei.
 
Roboleon said:
I want to continue reading The People in the Trees this evening, but my wife literally BEGGED me to catch up on this War & Peace BBC mini series while she's out Roller Derbying D:

There's a lot Nabokovian elements in it (not so much word plays and such, but the way the story is being build up and framed, and of course thematically), I can see why you love Yanagihara so much Mumei.
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^_^

Yes, it's lovely. My condolences on your being pulled away for the evening, though!
 
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A little ways in, seems pretty interesting so far.

Minishdriveby said:
1430946193837


Such a good freaking book. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it now. Good way to start of 2016.
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I have had this book for a few years and I just cannot get into it. I think I need to restart it, was probably about 100 pages in and I forget a lot of what is going on.
 
COMMIES.

IN.

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.

The rest of the Hainish Cycle is also good but The Dispossessed is the best.
 
One of my friends and I started a mini book club. We decided to read the Witcher series since we were talking about video games and she was interested in the stories so we decided that we would read the series together.

So I just finished up The Last Wish.

Also have been reading The Brothers Karamazov again
 
Haly said:
COMMIES.

IN.

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.

The rest of the Hainish Cycle is also good but The Dispossessed is the best.
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Not sure if I'll keep reading the series. Glad to hear I picked up the best one.

Jintor said:
I kinda want a cover for the paperwhite but here in japan it's like half the cost of the goddamn paperwhite for a cover, even the ones that are only $15 on the US store
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Do what I do: Make an ugly-ass sleeve out of a packing envelope and duct tape. It's part social engineering too - nobody steals it because it doesn't look expensive.
 
hardcastlemccormick said:
Not sure if I'll keep reading the series. Glad to hear I picked up the best one.



Do what I do: Make an ugly-ass sleeve out of a packing envelope and duct tape. It's part social engineering too - nobody steals it because it doesn't look expensive.
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At the very least read The Left Hand of Darkness and pick up her short story collections. Really good stuff there. (Although not all of it takes place in the same universe.)
 
Question for Book-GAF: Are there any good novels like American Psycho but without the murders and weird shit? Like the fancy lifestyle of Wall Street, I loved those parts in the book. Something like the movie Wolf of Wall Street would be right up my alley, coke, money, girls, etc. Doesn't really have to be in New York.
 
Jintor said:
I kinda want a cover for the paperwhite but here in japan it's like half the cost of the goddamn paperwhite for a cover, even the ones that are only $15 on the US store
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That's too bad because I'd definitely recommend the official Amazon case. Its not only good protection but it has a magnetic cover that auto wakes/sleeps the device when you open/close it. Really handy.

Max Armstrong said:
Question for Book-GAF: Are there any good novels like American Psycho but without the murders and weird shit? Like the fancy lifestyle of Wall Street, I loved those parts in the book. Something like the movie Wolf of Wall Street would be right up my alley, coke, money, girls, etc. Doesn't really have to be in New York.
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Hmm I think I could go for this as well. BTW - have you seen Wall Street and/or Boiler Room? They're exactly what you describe (and much better than Wolf of Wall Street imo). I'm not sure if they're based on books or not though. Wall Street is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. I was obsessed with it even as a kid which I'm sure might have been troubling to my parents.
 
Max Armstrong said:
Question for Book-GAF: Are there any good novels like American Psycho but without the murders and weird shit? Like the fancy lifestyle of Wall Street, I loved those parts in the book. Something like the movie Wolf of Wall Street would be right up my alley, coke, money, girls, etc. Doesn't really have to be in New York.
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I bet Bonfire of the Vanities still holds up. Especially given all the race issues in our country lately.
 
hardcastlemccormick said:
Just finished The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin.

That was a damn good book. I'm a sucker for utopian/social sci-fi, and LeGuin brings it.
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Haly said:
COMMIES.

IN.

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.

The rest of the Hainish Cycle is also good but The Dispossessed is the best.
Click to expand...

I love that book, though I don't think I fully grasp it. It really got my mind reeling about all sorts of things for months after I finished it. BOTY 2015.

edit:

What else is in the Hanish Cycle? Borrowed The Left Hand of Darkness from the library but IDK what to get next.
 
I need to start dropping damn podcasts so I can listen to more books. It's getting to the point where I'm only listening to like 3 hours of a book during a work week because of so many damn podcasts. But I don't know what to cut. :/
 
Going to try either Malazan (again) or The Dagger and the Coin based upon GAF's recommendations. Also what's good and free on the Amazon Kindle, assuming one has Prime?

I'm in the midst of reading S by J.J. Abrahms. I find the fictitious book Ship of Theseus to be tremendously boring and whatever momentum I gain in reading it is quickly disrupted by the need to read all of the assorted marginalia. Is there a payoff to this experience? Do I have to have a knowledge of codes or cryptography to achieve it? It's very slow going and I am afraid my time may be better invested elsewhere.
 
Maklershed said:
Hmm I think I could go for this as well. BTW - have you seen Wall Street and/or Boiler Room? They're exactly what you describe (and much better than Wolf of Wall Street imo). I'm not sure if they're based on books or not though. Wall Street is easily one of my favorite books of all time. I was obsessed with it even as a kid which I'm sure might have been troubling to my parents.
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I haven't seen either movies, will look into it. The book you're talking about is the one written by Doug Henwood?

sparky2112 said:
I bet Bonfire of the Vanities still holds up. Especially given all the race issues in our country lately.
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Oh nice, just looked it up, might be my next one. Thanks.
 
Battle Royale Remastered has some cheesy dialogue at times (70-80 pages in). The most obnoxious sentence so far is "Right it down".

Like what in the shit?
 
Finished up Saving Capitalism, really liked it. The first two parts were kind of depressing because he was just listing everything that was wrong and how it got that way. Third part was still that, but there was a lot more hope involved. I plan on reading more from Robert Reich, but I need to read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Hadt first.
Also reading The Sword of Shannara, the size is a bit intimidating since my to read list is so long, but I'm really liking the TV show and wanted to read the source material.
 
Finished reading It last night. Enjoyed it. The parts in 1958 reminded of my childhood friends which was nice. Didn't realize the book was so long.

Started listening to Casino Royale at work and plan to start reading Blood Meridian tonight when I get home.
 
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