Yeah, mine was six volumes but Goodreads treated it as a single book and page counts were continuous across each volume. I checked out from the library after they had some special book exchange thing with a Chinese library.
Still the same as my last post in the previous thread:
Murakami, Haruki: 1Q84, Book 3.
Gross, Richard: Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour
1Q84 is great, but the pacing in the third book is glacial. Things happen so slowly that it's almost torture, since I want to know the results! It's intential, though, without doubt.
The psychology textbook is one of the most interesting textbooks I have ever read, regardless of topic. Very readable and attractive. As far as I can see, it gives a broad but still fairly detailed overview over the myriad directions within psychology.
I listened to Dan Carlin's five-part podcast series about Genghis Khan's Mongolian empire, and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I guess I talked about it a lot, and while she was at a thrift store my girlfriend saw this book and bought it for me.
It's an enjoyable read - a stark improvement over the Da Vinci code, which I found terrible. Some fairly good plot twists too - there were a couple that caught me by surprise. Almost to the end, and then my next book will be:
I made it through about half of House of Leaves a few years ago. The book oozes atmosphere and has a great premise but it is WAYYYY too bloated. I never got the feeling it was going anywhere.
I've always wanted to give it another shot though.
I was finally going to start on World War Z and then transition to a Buddhism book that was suggested to me in the last thread, but I am quite curious about reading the Russian classic, Lolita. I always told myself that I would join the Gaf's book club when I had more free time. Well, I'm done with school now, and I only have a part-time job. I have no more excuses. :-(
1Q84 is great, but the pacing in the third book is glacial. Things happen so slowly that it's almost torture, since I want to know the results! It's intential, though, without doubt.
i liked book 1&2but found them a bit long then i read that book 3 is just a waste of time an doesnt add to the story so i skipped it. What do you think?
i cant decide if i should read the road or lolita next but i have to finnish the fault in our stars first anyway
Gonna tackle the Ender's Game books this month, I need to read it before I watch the movie and can't unsee those actors as the characters. Especially whoever Harrison Ford is supposed to be, I can tell from the trailers he's going to be phoning this one in.
I was finally going to start on World War Z and then transition to a Buddhism book that was suggested to me in the last thread, but I am quite curious about reading the Russian classic, Lolita. I always told myself that I would join the Gaf's book club when I had more free time. Well, I'm done with school now, and I only have a part-time job. I have no more excuses. :-(
I listened to Dan Carlin's five-part podcast series about Genghis Khan's Mongolian empire, and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I guess I talked about it a lot, and while she was at a thrift store my girlfriend saw this book and bought it for me.
I did that with the Roman Republic series. Wouldn't shut up about consuls and tribunes and shit. Pretty sure I annoyed the crap out of some family members.
@messofanego - Is that Naked Lunch cover done by Ralph Steadman?
Unrelate: Any recommendations for non-fiction set in the 20s or early 30s in the United States? Maybe something about the Lindbergh kidnapping / prohibition / rise of gangsters? I just rewatched J. Edgar and I'm in the mood for something in that setting.
It's actually a rather fast read cause I can skim/skip all the parts not related to Death.
Towards the end of the book is some of the best prose I have ever read. It's something I come back to time and time again and it never loses its punch. Even though the book, overall, is not as good as Night's Watch (being diluted by the secondary story), the final scenes are easily the best in all of Discworld. The only things that even come close are the ending of Thud! and some select scenes from Thief of Time.
It's all the more tragic that Pratchett is no longer able to continue his stories, and I have no hope for his daughter whatsoever. Regardless, Pratchett will remain one of the greatest authors of all time in my mind.
I was finally going to start on World War Z and then transition to a Buddhism book that was suggested to me in the last thread, but I am quite curious about reading the Russian classic, Lolita. (
Lolita is an American classic. After Vladimir Nabokov moved to the US he wrote and published in English only. Lolita was published in 1955. Nabokov translated Lolita into Russian ten years later.
Lolita is an American classic. After Vladimir Nabokov moved to the US he wrote and published in English only. Lolita was published in 1955. Nabokov translated Lolita into Russian ten years later.
This Hardcore History podcast is great! I just know I'm going to have to find a book on the fall of the Roman Empire after finishing this series of episodes on that.
So far, it is Michael Morpurgo writing in his characteristic sparse simple style that doesn't seem to do very much apart from telling a very engaging story. There is an over-abundance of clichés, but I get that Morpurgo understands how this reduces the distance between the story and the targeted audience - children, by inducing empathy and relating the familiar.
The story is about a little boy who goes on a grand adventure when his parents decide to spend the rest of their savings to go sailing around the world. I shall spoil the story no more.
It is a short novel, and for large parts, written as a log. As such, you will find topic sentences at the start of every paragraph, and often consecutive paragraphs are consecutive events in the story. That's not to say paragraphs are long, but that the story moves at a great pace.
It's a children's book, but I'm now re-reading it as an adult cause I found it on my shelf. It still retains a wonderful sense of the adventurous, bolted down every so often with real life, bad luck and hardship.
About to carry on reading and get to the meat of the book. In closing, I'll say that Kensuki's Kingdom is a great book, and a must read for those how may have missed it the first time round.
About a sixth through. An absolutely magical writer. I am not actually as interested in the cosmic stuff, so I think I will probably enjoy a Demon Haunted World more, but even the story of Kepler and then Newton was absolutely fascinating.
It's a collection of 12 short stories by Calvino (so not very long), each starting a with a short scientific fact that then lead into fantastical stories about the universe and its evolution. The first story, The Distance of the Moon, is probably my favourite so far. The imagery is really great:
Orbit? Oh, elliptical, of course: for a while it would huddle against us and then it would take flight for a while. The tides, when the Moon swung closer, rose so high nobody could hold them back. There were nights when the Moon was full and very, very low, and the tide was so high that the Moon missed a ducking in the sea by a hair's-breadth; well, let's say a few yards anyway. Climb up on the Moon? Of course we did. All you had to do was row out to it in a boat and, when you were underneath, prop a ladder against her and scramble up.
Oh man, thanks for these. I've always had a thing for "let's read" blogs, especially when the focus is on books that have obvious flaws that many readers ignore. I very much enjoyed reading The Name of the Wind (one of my favourite reads from last year in fact), but I'm also fully aware of all the flaws in the series. It seems he's done similar posts on other books, but I haven't read any of them yet.
For anyone who likes these, Dan Bergstein from SparkNotes did a similar thing with the Twilight books, and the posts are enjoyable regardless of your knowledge of the books, even if they do sometimes seem to be wacky just for the sake of it:
This has been recommended here a number of times, and it was mainly Salazar's "really fucking good" comment that in the end made me pick up Promise of Blood. I don't think I've been this excited about a new series since The Lies of Locke Lamora. Highly recommended.
Started on:
I'm about half-way through this book and it took me a bit longer to warm up to it. Glokta and especially Bayaz are handled really well, though.
It's a collection of 12 short stories by Calvino (so not very long), each starting a with a short scientific fact that then lead into fantastical stories about the universe and its evolution. The first story, The Distance of the Moon, is probably my favourite so far. The imagery is really great:
I've been reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L Shirer. If you ever want a comprehensive account of how the Nazis came to power, this 1300 page monster is it. I feel like if I don't pay attention for one sentence I miss a vital detail to the story. It's truly fascinating and horrifying at the same time.
I'm currently working my way through the World At War documentary series, so was looking for a book to read alongside it. Ideally something that's not *too* dense, or too dry, as I think my tiny brain would probably end up overloaded and / or lose interest.
I realise the above book is a huge one, but would it be worth looking into? Or does anyone have any recommendations for something covering WW2 that's at least fairly readable, without being daunting?
I'm currently working my way through the World At War documentary series, so was looking for a book to read alongside it. Ideally something that's not *too* dense, or too dry, as I think my tiny brain would probably end up overloaded and / or lose interest.
I realise the above book is a huge one, but would it be worth looking into? Or does anyone have any recommendations for something covering WW2 that's at least fairly readable, without being daunting?
The Rise and Fall is broken up into smaller books, which I think makes it less daunting:
Book One: The Rise of Adolf Hitler
Book Two: Triumph and Consolidation
Book Three: The Road to War
Book Four: War: Early Victories and The Turning Point
Book Five: Beginning of the End
Book Six: The Fall of the Third Reich
Each one is ~100 - 300 pages, for a total of ~1150 before you get to sources and indices and whatnot.
I just finished up The Black Company after buying a copy of Chronicles of The Black Company that featured the first three books. Really enjoyed it especially the last stretch. I have not read much fantasy except A Song of Ice and Fire which I just finished reading all five in the last six months and this was a nice change of pace. From the first person perspective and a little more to the point... no lengthy descriptions of meals for instance! Anyway once I got a handle on what was happening and who was who, I really enjoyed it. Particularly liked Croaker and Raven a lot. Croaker is really quite funny. Hearing some of his thoughts had me chuckling. Oh and *Big Spoiler*
I probably should have figured out that Darling was The White Rose earlier... haha. I probably did about 10-15 pages before Croaker has the dream about it or whatever. Oh well still thought it was really cool!
Looking forward to checking out the next two books (are these good too?), but am going to take a break and read 1984 before jumping into Shadows Linger. Never read 1984, so should be fun. Read the first chapter and it seems really neat so far.
This has been recommended here a number of times, and it was mainly Salazar's "really fucking good" comment that in the end made me pick up Promise of Blood. I don't think I've been this excited about a new series since The Lies of Locke Lamora. Highly recommended
just finished up The Black Company after buying a copy of Chronicles of The Black Company that featured the first three books. Really enjoyed it especially the last stretch. I have not read much fantasy except A Song of Ice and Fire which I just finished reading all five in the last six months and this was a nice change of pace. From the first person perspective and a little more to the point... no lengthy descriptions of meals for instance! Anyway once I got a handle on what was happening and who was who, I really enjoyed it. Particularly liked Croaker and Raven a lot. Croaker is really quite funny. Hearing some of his thoughts had me chuckling. Oh and *Big Spoiler*
I probably should have figured out that Darling was The White Rose earlier... haha. I probably did about 10-15 pages before Croaker has the dream about it or whatever. Oh well still thought it was really cool!
Looking forward to checking out the next two books (are these good too?), but am going to take a break and read 1984 before jumping into Shadows Linger. Never read 1984, so should be fun. Read the first chapter and it seems really neat so far.
Glad you enjoyed it. I love the Black Company. I think Cook could have done a bit better with the world building at times (during some stretches of the books I could never quite get a good grasp of the surroundings) but it's a great series overall.
I've read the first two omnibus releases. That first one you posted and books 4, 5 and 6 which are part of "The Books of the South". It's pretty good. Basically picks up right where book 3 ends. I need to get to the third omnibus sometime, have it sitting on my shelf.
It's a collection of 12 short stories by Calvino (so not very long), each starting a with a short scientific fact that then lead into fantastical stories about the universe and its evolution.:
I'm reading The Prophet and the Astronomer by Marcelo Gleiser, beautiful book so far on the history of astronomy and how it's theories related to the fear of God and the universe.
About a sixth through. An absolutely magical writer. I am not actually as interested in the cosmic stuff, so I think I will probably enjoy a Demon Haunted World more, but even the story of Kepler and then Newton was absolutely fascinating.
I love Sagan's writing. I read Contact a couple of months ago and thought it was great, although it did feel like he had trouble leaving his non-fiction roots behind throughout the first half, and the main character was a bit too idealized for my tastes. Still, pretty good, and the ending is damn satisfying.
It's been over a decade since I read it but I really loved The Poet by Michael Connelly. There was a sequel where he merged it with his main police procedural series starring Harry Bosch but I didn't care for that one nearly as much.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr is another one of my favorites. That one was particularity interesting since it takes place at the dawn of the 20th Century so investigative techniques, profiling, etc were radically different.
It's been over a decade since I read it but I really loved The Poet by Michael Connelly. There was a sequel where he merged it with his main police procedural series starring Harry Bosch but I didn't care for that one nearly as much.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr is another one of my favorites. That one was particularity interesting since it takes place at the dawn of the 20th Century so investigative techniques, profiling, etc were radically different.
I've actually listened to a couple of the Harry Bosch novels and I wasn't really a fan. I had heard about The Poet a couple times but sort of gave up on Connelly at that point.
The Rise and Fall is broken up into smaller books, which I think makes it less daunting:
Book One: The Rise of Adolf Hitler
Book Two: Triumph and Consolidation
Book Three: The Road to War
Book Four: War: Early Victories and The Turning Point
Book Five: Beginning of the End
Book Six: The Fall of the Third Reich
Each one is ~100 - 300 pages, for a total of ~1150 before you get to sources and indices and whatnot.
Oh, neat, that's pretty handy. In which case I might pick that up and tackle it a section at a time, with a break in between.
Thanks very much for pointing that out!
I'd start with Kafka on the Shore, then continue with either Norwegian Wood or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and then move to the rest.
The Wind-Up Bird was my first Murakami book, but I think it's very hit or miss, specially since it takes a long time to take off (took me about 3 months to get past the first half of the book because I sincerely thought it was boring), but if you already know his style it's much easier to bear with it and it's still an excellent book.
On the other hand, I read Kafka in the Shore a couple of years ago, having read most of his other books (I'm still missing a couple though) and I thought it was a perfect encapsulation of what Murakami books are. If you like anything about Kafka on the Shore, it's guaranteed there's at least another book of his you'll like. Do you like the fantastical aspects? Go with Hardboiled Wonderland. The magical realism? The Wind-Up Bird. Dislike all of the above? Go with Norwegian Wood.
