What are you reading? (January 2016)

Hanzou said:
Next up:

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Do you listen to the podcast. I ever had and started reading this a few days ago. Made it about 40 pages in and have stopped, not sure if I will continue up reading. E erythromycin g seems to be weird/crazy for not apparent reason other than to be weird. I a curious if I don't like it simply because I have no reference for things in the book. The podcast sounds need and I have downloaded the first few episodes to listen too.
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I listened to about 20-30 episode of the podcast but eventually had to stop because it put me to sleep. Not because of the content but because the narrator was so soothing and monotone. The idea is pretty much everything is weird for weird sake but in a funny way. The formula on the podcast can kind of get old once you realize the joke is basically everyone knows but nobody talks about it. I'm interested to see if the book can just present the town in a different way.
 
I'm setting aside The Sword of Shannara for now, it's a library book and I don't have the time right now to finish it in three weeks. In the first seventy pages was kind of drowned by the Lord of the Rings similarities. I'm really liking the TV show, though. I'll come back to it one day, probably buy it at a used bookstore so I don't have to worry about the library.
 
I completed the Goblin Emperor. An excellently written novel, but it didn't meet the hype so many gave it. But I will say Maia is an amazing character. Now I am debating if Coetzee's Foe should be my next literary choice. I am mostly waiting for Overdrive to give me my held books at this point.
 
Soulfire said:
I'm setting aside The Sword of Shannara for now, it's a library book and I don't have the time right now to finish it in three weeks. In the first seventy pages was kind of drowned by the Lord of the Rings similarities. I'm really liking the TV show, though. I'll come back to it one day, probably buy it at a used bookstore so I don't have to worry about the library.
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Read The Elfstones of Shannara instead. It's a much, much better novel. (It's also the source material for the MTV show.)
 
LordAmused said:
I bought one book and rented two others today.

The one I bought is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Was able to get my hands on a beautiful (translated in French (I'm from Quebec)) edition. Pretty hyped up because I love Pynchon novels and I've heard it was similar in some aspects, as an encyclopedia novel.

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Since you're from Quebec, I feel obligated to ask if you're a wheelchair-bound terrorist. This will be hilarious in about 400 pages.
 
So I finished Samuel Beckett's 'More Pricks Than Kicks'

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Quick synopsis: It revolves around this bloke Belecqua and his various adventures, usually revolving around women. Each chapter is treated like a short story and each in a different style. This is a novel mostly about how love is kind of dumb, and people in love do some tremendously dumb and silly things.
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I didn't like it, which makes me a little worried about my plans to finally read Molloy later in the year. Though it was a weird book, and I appreciate a lot of the weird aspects of it, I just found a lot of parts to be kinda boring and difficult to read. Which is a huge shame, because the parts I did like were amazing and will stick with me for awhile. Specifically,
Love and Lethe where Belecqua tries to convince some woman to commit suicide with him in the name of love. And when they're in the picnic, starts to wonder "shit, is she gonna back out?' I think it's an ultimate example of love and devotion

Gonna move on to something lighter, probably "The One Eyed Man" by Modesitt Jr.

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So I just started this for the first time. Took a Victorian Lit class for me to read it. Not sure why I haven't read this before.

I am loving it so far. (I am also a sucker for Victorian Literature hence why I am taking the class :lol)
 
Just started on this. It's fun and easy reading at the moment, though I hope the author doesn't go on too much about whales.

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Just kidding, guys. I'm still reading House of Leaves. That book is fucking dense.
 
Finished The Stranger by Albert Camus. If you dont know its about our main character, a guy who acts ... strangely to others to be entirely reductive :)

Its About a three hour audiobook listen. More directly philosophical than I thought it would be. Interesting stuff. Best to finish it in one go I say.
 
Necrovex said:
I completed the Goblin Emperor. An excellently written novel, but it didn't meet the hype so many gave it.
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You bast-

But I will say Maia is an amazing character. Now I am debating if Coetzee's Foe should be my next literary choice. I am mostly waiting for Overdrive to give me my held books at this point.
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I forgive you. <3
 
Woorloog said:
I'm glad i read Hunters and Sandworms of Dune again. Not because they're anyway good, but because they're so bad they're amusing. Prose, characters, plot, pacing... everything.

Anyway, now i need something better. I'm making an order for Thing Explainer and Mistborn: Bands of Mourning but i figure i might as well order a couple of books more while at it. But what?
In mood for some fantasy, i think.

I know many recommend Gene Wolfe and... was it Book of the New Sun or what?

And what else? I'd prefer something that starts a series or a at least a trilogy rather than a stand-alone book.
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Thing Explainer is awesome, so good cal.

As for kickoffs:

  • The Thousand Names by Django Wexler
  • Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
  • The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
  • Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines
  • Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
  • The Warded (/Painted) Man by Peter V. Brett

All fantasy, great series. Although you've probably heard of most of them.
 
Althane said:
Thing Explainer is awesome, so good cal.

As for kickoffs:

  • The Thousand Names by Django Wexler
  • Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
  • The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
  • Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines
  • Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
  • The Warded (/Painted) Man by Peter V. Brett

All fantasy, great series. Although you've probably heard of most of them.
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Haven't heard of any of those.
Guess i'll have to read about those.
EDIT No, wait, that Powder Mage series i've seen often enough here.
EDIT Libriomancer is urban fantasy? I reckon i'm unlikely to find it interesting then, that is one genre i don't particularly care for. That said, i won't dismiss it out of hand.
EDIT Forgot: thanks for recommendations.

I ended up making my order without anything but Bands of Mourning and Thing Explainer, not even that The Book of the New Sun because the seller's website was kind of awful. Like, the book was listed many times with multiple prices but i couldn't figure which one was which part (since the series is a 4-part series IIRC).
Internet shopping ain't as easy, sigh.
 
Woorloog said:
Haven't heard of any of those.
Guess i'll have to read about those.
EDIT No, wait, that Powder Mage series i've seen often enough here.
EDIT Libriomancer is urban fantasy? I reckon i'm unlikely to find it interesting then, that is one genre i don't particularly care for. That said, i won't dismiss it out of hand.
EDIT Forgot: thanks for recommendations.

I ended up making my order without anything but Bands of Mourning and Thing Explainer, not even that The Book of the New Sun because the seller's website was kind of awful. Like, the book was listed many times with multiple prices but i couldn't figure which one was which part (since the series is a 4-part series IIRC).
Internet shopping ain't as easy, sigh.
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Eh, if you're not a fan of urban fantasy, I wouldn't suggest Libriomancer. I just like books, and some of the magic concepts in there appeal to me. Better urban fantasy would be The Dresden Files.
 
Mumei said:
Sputnik Sweetheart is a great place to start; for awhile it was probably my favorite. I had trouble for a few years deciding between that, Norwegian Wood, and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World; a few years later I added The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to that list. Of course, it's been something like eight or so years since I read those books so I'm not sure how I would respond to them today, and I've suspected for awhile that I read Kafka on the Shore in a less than engaged way and would like it much better if I read it again.
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Read this over the past two days despite my previous attempts at Murakami(your opinion carries that much weight). Actually, I thought it was strong until the whole
"magical realism"
bit. He was doing a very good job exploring his themes in the first two thirds of the book when the narrative was grounded(the narrator's relationship with Sumire particularly). The story was interesting, good characters(all three of them), conveying the mood well despite the translation. I just don't know why he took the turn he did. It's presumptuous, but I can't help but think there were a number of ways to write a better last third or so without going off that precipice. It doesn't ruin the book, but there it is. 8 years is a long time, so I don't expect you to mount an in depth opinion on it.

So, yea, Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart: kind of great until it's not, still very much worth an evening.


sparky2112 said:
Since you're from Quebec, I feel obligated to ask if you're a wheelchair-bound terrorist. This will be hilarious in about 400 pages.
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Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents! You know, I've had The Pale King on my Kindle ever since that sale.
 
Finished Slocum and the long ride. Was mediocre throughout. Terrible in the end. Extremely unsatisfying finish.

Now to focus on Station Eleven.
 
MultiJhonny said:
So I just started this for the first time. Took a Victorian Lit class for me to read it. Not sure why I haven't read this before.

I am loving it so far. (I am also a sucker for Victorian Literature hence why I am taking the class :lol)
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Good to see more Vic Lit fans. Read a lot of Eliot? Daniel Deronda is a great book of _staggering_ intellectual ambition, but also one of her heavier reads. Certainly heavier than Middlemarch. But yeah it's amazing.
 
So far this month I've read:

The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry
Trevayne by Robert Ludlum
Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Currently Reading:

1776 by David McCullough
 
Peru said:
Good to see more Vic Lit fans. Read a lot of Eliot? Daniel Deronda is a great book of _staggering_ intellectual ambition, but also one of her heavier reads. Certainly heavier than Middlemarch. But yeah it's amazing.
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Yeah! Well I pretty much am a fan of most of what came out during the 19th century! Some really great story telling from that period!

But I haven't read any Eliot other than Middlemarch, which was great, but I am finding myself enjoying Daniel Deronda more.
 
Random question: anyone have recommendations of any worthwhile Japanese light novels worth reading? And that have good translations? Reading All You Need Is Kill right now, so looking for anything else.
 
orthodoxy1095 said:
Random question: anyone have recommendations of any worthwhile Japanese light novels worth reading? And that have good translations? Reading All You Need Is Kill right now, so looking for anything else.
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I am a huge fan of Durarara (both anime and light novels) so that. The first 2 are translated with 2 more coming this year.

Quality translations.
 
My sister just gave me her Kindle after buying Voyage. So is this the thread where I can ask for reconsiderations?

I sued to read a lot when I was a student by borrowing loads of books from the library and, since I have a kindle I want to get back to the reading habits.
 
faridmon said:
My sister just gave me her Kindle after buying Voyage. So is this the thread where I can ask for reconsiderations?

I sued to read a lot when I was a student by borrowing loads of books from the library and, since I have a kindle I want to get back to the reading habits.
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Check the OP for recommendations, or ask away!
 
I am currently reading Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, he has some of the best non-fiction prose I have ever read. It's a very interesting read.
 
AngmarsKing701 said:
Check the OP for recommendations, or ask away!
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Yeah, I have read it, some interesting books to go through.

But I was mainly after Young Adults ones or easy fiction to start with, since I want to start .... easy. So if there is any recommendation any guys have, throw it away.

Preferably ones that doesn't involve cheesy romantic sub-plots, or have that in the background.

Speaking of which, I just bought the Chaos Walking trilogy to re-read it again. So good!
 
Check out Red Rising, the final book is out next month, so good time to jump in.
 
It is in Cover view, The cover of those two books appears to have a generic cover simply with the title of the book.
Let me download The Knife of the never Letting go and see if it has the same problem.

EDIT: Yep, the same generic cover for all 3 Chaos Walking books. Strange.
 
faridmon said:
Yeah, I have read it, some interesting books to go through.

But I was mainly after Young Adults ones or easy fiction to start with, since I want to start .... easy. So if there is any recommendation any guys have, throw it away.

Preferably ones that doesn't involve cheesy romantic sub-plots, or have that in the background.

Speaking of which, I just bought the Chaos Walking trilogy to re-read it again. So good!
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Read Chaos Walking last year and really enjoyed it!

As for my top YA recommendations:
Sabriel by Garth Nix
The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
 
Pau said:
Read Chaos Walking last year and really enjoyed it!

As for my top YA recommendations:
Sabriel by Garth Nix
The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
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I am going to be looked strangely by saying this, but I could not get into the Terry Prachet style of writing, tried to read couple of his books, never clicked it for me.

Oh, and I just enjoy high fantasy styled books. Hate them infact. I'll try reading Howl's Moving Castle since I like The Ghibli film.

:(

EDIT: Actually now that I checked back, the 3 Chaos Walking book's cover art just loaded in and is fully displayed,the 2 Red Ring books still have their cover art missing. This is gonna bother me so much. I am OCD about these kind of stuff :/
 
I cannot find anything good in the science section of Kindle's Lending Library. It's all sensationalist crap and a lot of reference/student/DIY project books. Why is that in the science section?

Thing Explainer though, that's an excellent book, but I'd suggest getting a physical copy or using a large tablet for that one. Lovely diagrams. I hope Randall does more books in the future.
 
Completed My Promised Land.

When I first picked it up I didn't realize it was contemporary account on the history of Israel. The author used first person interviews to piece together the story of the country. Anyways, if you're interested in the Jewish and Palestinian struggle in Israel I highly recommend it.

In two weeks I plan on starting Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I never watch the movies or read the books. I hope its good.
 
The digital version of the first Discworld book The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (RIP) is on sale at Amazon now for a dollar.

EDIT:

On topic, I last read a few stories by Franz Kafka. In particular, In the Penal Colony and A Hunger Artist. The former was especially good, featuring a character with a grotesque obsession with a complex torture device. Very memorable: a graphic commentary on the atrocities of colonialism and abuse of power.
 
I'm nearing the end of Catch-22. I just read the Mrs. Daneeka chapter, which was really funny in a "that's actually pretty fucked up" kind of way.

That might describe the whole book, really.
 
flintstryker said:
I read Sword a long time ago and while it's really similar to LOTR I still think it was a decent read
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I rad it 's few years ago and found it such a fantasy stereotype it was hard to get through. The book is 40 years old so at the time it was Still kind of fresh bit now it's pretty trope filled.
 
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