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What are you reading? (July 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
lastflowers
Banned
Right now
.
Me too! 200 pages in and hoping to finish by mid week.
I'll probably start:
afterwards, though.
I've never read Neal Stephenson. What is the ReadGAF-experts opinion on which book to try first?
Hell yes.
I hate that book with a passion. I had to read it for highschool and I just couldn't stand it for some reason. The setting, the characters, the magical realism... for some reason it was really uncomfortable to read. It only compares to La Voragine in my ranking of books I hated to read (maybe I just hate jungle settings), and since then lots of people have agreed with me. I have no idea why someone would read it willingly. At least it's somewhat short.
Enjoy!
lastflowers
Banned
I've only read a couple of his books, but Snow Crash is probably the most popular (?). AFAIK, it's the reason for J. Allard's HiroProtagonist gamertag
I'm enjoying it so far but that's what I said with Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and that ended up disastrously.
I'm Cuban so I try to read as much Cuban literature as possibly so...I want to enjoy it!
We'll see soon enough.
Maybe I just wasn't prepared for it when I read it. Still, I wouldn't want to give it a second chance, it traumatized me that much. I'm Costa Rican so I've read plenty of Latinamerican literature and now for some reason I'm really turned off by the majority of it, except for some notable exceptions. I do love me some Garcia Marquez and Borges.
Jag
Member
I would also suggest Cryptonomicon. Zooms back and forth between the present and WWII and includes spies, tech, ciphers and Nazis!
Dr Frasier Crane
Member
And it's box office.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
lastflowers
Banned
James Joyce's Ulysses.
I'm a couple chapters in and so far it has been pretty neat. Sometimes there's a bit too much of the intellectual wankery, but when Joyce's stream of conciousness writing clicks with you it's pretty damn awesome.
Don't do it., man. /s
I started to read it a couple of years ago. After an hour and a half of reading, I closed the book and put it on the shelf. Maybe after I read another 100 or so canonical literary works will I be able to pick it up again and read. Also, the bible.
Shaundakahl
Member
Mistborn Trilogy - Book 2: Well of Ascension
First book was loaned to me by a considerate co-worker and now I'm hooked. Love the magic and creatures of the world, but the characters are so-so. Lookin' forward to more.
First book was loaned to me by a considerate co-worker and now I'm hooked. Love the magic and creatures of the world, but the characters are so-so. Lookin' forward to more.
For those interested here is a second half of 2013 book preview from The Millions, one of the best bookish sites on the net. New books from Pynchon and Franzen, to name a few notable authors.
sparky2112
Member
Twice a year The Millions destroys/reorders my to-be-read pile. Today was one of those 2 days. And holy shit at 2013 being 'the year of the postmodern masters'. Gass, McElroy, Coover, Pynchon.
I've only read a couple of his books, but Snow Crash is probably the most popular (?). AFAIK, it's the reason for J. Allard's HiroProtagonist gamertag
It's shorter than his other books so it might be a good place to start. I'm not sure how it compares to the writing in the other ones but I gave up about 30% in. He seems to have a love it or hate it style.
Night Film isn't out yet so might as well read her first one in the meantime
davidcotton
Member
Reading this, book one of Belgariad: Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings.
It is the standard fantasy, with fairly standard medieval European fantasy world, with heavily stereotyped races (all humans apparently), Hero's Journey.
I read it and i'm like "I wonder if this or the Wheel of Time was written first (this actually, though of course the underlying story is much older), i swear they're almost 100% identical..."
Not sure what to think. On one hand, i've seen some praise for it, commended for having good characters/dialogue/or some such despite being very standard so i want to read it to see if that is true. On the other hand, Garion manages to be very annoying at times, as do some others (Pol), and it is very standard, to the fault even; also it is only part one, it seems the story ramps up later on, not too keen on these things.
One problem i have is that i criticize it (in my mind) for having such standard world... yet when i look at my own (mostly RPG but work as well for writing, in theory) worldbuilding notes, my world are not that different (merely adjusting some things to suit my own preferences more, hybridizing some popular fantasy worlds), so i'm not sure i can really criticize something for doing the exactly same thing. Besides, it isn't really a flaw in itself...
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Kind of have given up on scifi literature, outside some books that (may) match my... requirements, that i really want to read but can't find anywhere (online for reasonable price (like, under 20 per paperback... apparently something that got only one print run), or any bookstores here).
I want heavy dose of realistic scifi world, space combat and space ships in general, combined with space operaic world and some other stuff. Some things are close, but not quite (like Alastair Reynolds works, which are way too depressing and dystopic), and that means "not close enough".
So i figure i have to write my own. Someday.
Fantasy on the other hand... well, i picked up Belgariad.
But i need more, any recommendations? EDIT Specifics? Mature (not sure how to define this really though), interesting, absolutely no mary sues (perhaps meaning "no "unrealistic" or too "perfect" characters), otherwise pretty much anything can go.
Favorites include: A Song of Ice and Fire, nearly everything by Brandon Sanderson (except those i haven't read, and Elantris which i just don't really like), and EDIT the Wheel of Time, of course.
Others i've read:
-Name of the Wind (kind of meh, mary sueish protagonist is really off-putting though the magic system is golden)
-Harry Potters (all right but no more things like it, unless much more mature (and internally consistent))
-The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Silmarillion (classics, not saying more)
-The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (or some such, really meh)
-Various Dragonlance books (RPG campaigns don't necessarily make great books, meh)
-Death Gate series (pretty good)
-Earthsea trilogy (kind of unique but didn't really like it overall)
-The First Law trilogy (good and not good, hard to say what's wrong specifically but i doubt i'll be reading the sequels).
-Warcraft novels (range from pretty bad to decent).
-The Dark Elf trilogy (was pretty interesting when i read it, definitely will get a re-read at some point)
-Tried to read the Black Company series but never got past 200 or so pages.
-Conan the Barbarian series sits on my shelf but haven't managed to read it.
-Farseer trilogy (pretty good? Wasn't one that would make me read the sequel series, but perhaps i will later on)
Might be something else as well but can't think of what.
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Well that ended up being a long post.
According to Wiki Belgariad came out 1982(ouch) and Wheel of Time 1990.
Other suggestions to try are :-
Raymond E Feist Magician (if you want to carry on after that fine, but diminishing laws kick in hard for me)
Malazan Book of the Fallen (Gardens of The Moon Book one) but I just gave up on that.
Suppose you've read Game of Thrones? Couldn't get into it myself for whatever reason.
Terry Brooks Shannara series (though start with Elfstones, book 2 go to 3 and THEN read book one)
Should keep you going
CrichtonKicks
Member
I just want to take the day off from work and make my way through this:
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Super page-turner and I like the screenshots from various news outlets, text messages, articles, etc. And very creepy. This feels like an unpretentious House of Leaves.
Given all of the screenshots do you think it would be difficult to read in e-book form? I see that there is a Kindle edition coming but it sounds like a book that would be a challenge to read on e-ink.
Dammit Mak, stop making me buy books.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
I personally can't stand 'digital reading'. I have tried on several occasions, but outside of academic articles, I just can't seem to do "relaxing reading" with a digital device for some reason.
nakedsushi
Member
I was wondering that myself since most of the books I read are on the kindle. There are screenshots pretty early on (before the 10% cutoff) in the book, so you can probably just send a sample to your kindle and see if it's readable to you. If they scale the screenshots, I think some of the text will be difficult to read on a smaller-screen kindle. But if they don't scale it, and you have to scroll around on the screenshot, that would make it pretty excruciating to read.
While the book isn't entirely made up of screenshots, I do think the ones interweaved in there do add to the story, so it's not like you can just skip them.
SniperHunter
Banned
went to Chapters for the first time with a friend yesterday, what a cool store! So many awesome books! Felt just like a library
Just finished reading The Dragon Reborn and started The Shadow Rising. 3 done, 11 more to go. Love it so far.
That's a lot better cover than those hideous old ones. Its still not great by any means, but at least your eyeballs arent running away in terror of its extreme ugliness anymore
When you mention digital, do you mean e-ink as well? Asking cause I hate reading on computers/tablets/phones, but e-ink is the most comfortable reading there is IMHO. :]
TheKaeptain
Banned
You should just try "Reading Reading."
i have a digital copy, so no cover of any kind for me :/
Maklershed
Member
Nope! Not gonna happen! I can't even stop myself. It makes me feel better to know people are buying what I'm buying. :b
Ditto. And at this point I have a hard time reading physical books unless its of a very manageable dimension and the text is appropriately sized.
OK, cool. I'll get to it. I know someone who loves detective stories/mystery stuff, so hopefully I like it and then recommend it to her. I haven't read anything resembling this genre probably since the first book in the Millennium trilogy(The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).
Interesting. I'm about 50 pages in so far, need to find the underlying current. It's a bit of a rocky start.
James Joyce's Ulysses.
I'm a couple chapters in and so far it has been pretty neat. Sometimes there's a bit too much of the intellectual wankery, but when Joyce's stream of conciousness writing clicks with you it's pretty damn awesome.
Ulysses scares me.
One day!
charlemagne
Member
The mostly black covers aren't too offensive.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
Zero Recall - The Legend of Zero
Some highly-rated (self-published?) sci-fi on the Kindle store that I got for $5 bucks. I'm starting to question the quality about 1/3 of the way in. Actually I started to question it almost immediately.
Some highly-rated (self-published?) sci-fi on the Kindle store that I got for $5 bucks. I'm starting to question the quality about 1/3 of the way in. Actually I started to question it almost immediately.
QuantumBro
Banned
Thanks for posting this, been interested in reading it for a while.
I can't read on a computer/tablet/phone because I'll get distracted since GAF is only a click away, but that doesn't stop me from reading on a kindle since it's a pure reading device.
CrichtonKicks
Member
Thanks. It will probably work really nicely with the Kindle app on iPad or the PC but, yeah, it's probably a nightmare on e-ink (which is what I mainly read). I will probably just buy the hard copy. I
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Monocle
Member
The Book of the New Sun (four books, in two parts) and its unmissable sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. Think of it as a five-book series. One of the best you'll ever read.
Don't spoil yourself, whatever you do.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
McCarthy's prose certainly takes some getting used to. I enjoyed the book much more the second time I read it, once you know what you're in for you can take your time and soak it in. It helps to know there really isn't a big over arching plot to suss out, just sit back and roll with it.
It's been hit or miss. I won't lie, I find parts of it borderline incomprehensible. Others are so abstract I can't get a good impression of them. Sometimes it clicks together, leaving a hell of an image.
Quoting any more than that would just clutter up the thread, one that's not meant for in depth discussion of any one book, if I understand it correctly.
BurakkuEmparaa
Neo Member
I am still struggling to finish Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, I´m about 900 pages in, it´s sometimes really good and at other times just absolutely confusing with it´s plethora of characters, especially when Pynchon suddenly refers to something obscure that happened like 500 pages ago with a minor character who is now the protagonist of the chapter. This book is just WTF in it´s purest form. It´s a good read, but a difficult one. Also, it´s my first Pynchon, because someone told me it would be the best one to start with, being the most accessible. I was probably trolled.
Getting an eReader for christmas pretty much reinvigorated my love of reading. Searching online for books, getting recommendations, buying books within seconds, having a full library wherever I go, etc. I think it's great. I can still understand when people say they love the feel of a book in their hands, but I've moved beyond it.
I'm liking Flowers for Algernon a lot so far.
Is there any opinion of The Cowboy and the Cossack? It's a daily deal, and I know for most westerns the recommendation would be Lonesome Dove, which I want to read eventually, but I figure this might be interesting too.Reviews seem solid.
I'm liking Flowers for Algernon a lot so far.
Is there any opinion of The Cowboy and the Cossack? It's a daily deal, and I know for most westerns the recommendation would be Lonesome Dove, which I want to read eventually, but I figure this might be interesting too.Reviews seem solid.
Mackenzie 92
Member
I was thinking about that one to, Shane, but the sample turned me off. Cool premise though, cowboys driving a herd through Siberia.
----
Anyway, taking a break from Parasite, was starting to bore me and started this up last night.
1632 by Eric Flint
An entire town in Virgina circa 2000 is transported through time and space to 1632 Germany during the 30 years war. It's just fun and kinda goofy, but I'm enjoying it. It's a little Stephen King, mixed with some Harry Turtledove for unintentional comedic relief and absurdity.
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Anyway, taking a break from Parasite, was starting to bore me and started this up last night.
1632 by Eric Flint
An entire town in Virgina circa 2000 is transported through time and space to 1632 Germany during the 30 years war. It's just fun and kinda goofy, but I'm enjoying it. It's a little Stephen King, mixed with some Harry Turtledove for unintentional comedic relief and absurdity.
BriareosGAF
Member
Just finished re-reading the signed early edition printing of Snow Crash my wife gave me for my birthday this year. Hasn't aged as well as I'd hoped--Diamond Age is far better.
Pivoted back to non-fiction, currently reading:
after hearing him on the Commonwealth Club. I must admit I'm a little disappointed, the first hundred pages or so have been very loose (even if he's just setting up the premise) but more so filled with a lot of knives-out take-downs of the social anthropology of the 60s and 70s (primitive man as unspoiled, etc.). A bit distasteful.
Also reading:
Bit of George Marshall hagiography in the beginning and it feels like it's skimming over WW2 more than I'd like, we'll see how it goes. My father-in-law served under some of the folks in the Korean and Vietnam theatres so should be interesting to discuss down the road. Also fun seeing guys like Westmoreland show up in WW2 as junior officers.
Pivoted back to non-fiction, currently reading:
after hearing him on the Commonwealth Club. I must admit I'm a little disappointed, the first hundred pages or so have been very loose (even if he's just setting up the premise) but more so filled with a lot of knives-out take-downs of the social anthropology of the 60s and 70s (primitive man as unspoiled, etc.). A bit distasteful.
Also reading:
Bit of George Marshall hagiography in the beginning and it feels like it's skimming over WW2 more than I'd like, we'll see how it goes. My father-in-law served under some of the folks in the Korean and Vietnam theatres so should be interesting to discuss down the road. Also fun seeing guys like Westmoreland show up in WW2 as junior officers.