^_^
I'm currently reading Call My By Your Name by Andre Aciman and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Great Expectations is my first Dickens, and I'm not a fan of the prose. Editor, where art thou?
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What are you reading? (July 2015)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
^_^
I'm currently reading Call My By Your Name by Andre Aciman and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Great Expectations is my first Dickens, and I'm not a fan of the prose. Editor, where art thou?
I just don't handle long books well =(
I'm already flying (sorry) through Flight of Passage. It's awesome!
I'm less than 100 pages from the end of the almost 900 page volume 2, so I can give you (and whoever else is curious) some quick impressions/summaries now.
Stephenson's Baroque Cycle series is 8 books that were either collected in 3 volumes or published separately depending on what edition you are getting.
Volume 1 (Quicksilver) covers the first three novels: Quicksilver, King of the Vagabonds, and Odalisque.
Quicksilver was an interesting way to start a sprawling series in that it has no real coherent plot. It focuses on the (fictional) Daniel Waterhouse, who is a puritan English scholar in the second half of the 17th century. The book follows his life for a decade or so from his time as a student at Cambridge college (alongside some of the most notable English men of that era) to his early career as a member of the Royal Society of London. It also has a few flash fowards to Daniel as an old man about 50 years later in Boston. You don't get any sort of coherent story. What you do get is a ton of history and historical fiction regarding science, mathematics, alchemy, puritanism and post-reformation England. Isaac Newton, John Wilkins, and Robert Hooke are major characters in the book, and Daniel is sort of presented as a behind the scenes assistant in a lot of their major work.
If you find Quicksilver a little dry, I would suggest powering through it, because it provides needed framing for future books. Things also take a major narrative change starting in book 2.
Book 2, King of the Vagabonds, introduces Half-cocked Jack Shaftoe and Eliza, two major characters and narrative view points in the remainder of the series. Jack is an English Vagabond and sometimes soldier. Book 2 gives you his background and picks up with him in Austria, where he meets Eliza. The book follows their journeys together, and has a much more coherent plot than the first novel. The setting is also very different than the first book. To start with, it mainly takes place in continental Europe, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and France. Second, Jack is a low class peasant (where Daniel's family was well off), so you get to see a different side of life in the late 17th century. Jack's a classic rogue, so expect more humor and action in this book.
Book 3: Book 3 continues with Eliza and returns to Daniel. After two books of set up, I think this is where things get really interesting (not that the last book was dull). Tons of political intrigue, some hints on where the series is actually going in the long run, and quite a bit of info on mathematics, economic theory/history, and cryptography if those topics interest you.
Volume 2 consists of 2 books, Bonanza and the Confusion, that have concurrent chronologies. You will switch between books as the timeline dictates if you get them as one volume. The Confusion continues the plot points going on in England, France and the Netherlands. Bonanza is a round the world adventure story full of pirates and more exotic African and Asian locales.
If you want a high stakes page turner, you won't get one in the Baroque cycle. While there are some terrific action sequences (and the writing is almost always witty), Stephenson doesn't shy away from very lengthy digressions on a large variety of topics. I find most of these digressions really interesting, but I think your enjoyment would depend on how much you like like history, science, economics, etc. If you have read Snow Crash, and enjoyed the data theory and Sumerian linguistics stuff, you will probably enjoy the digressions in these books as well.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
I finished it last night. Those last few paragraphs...
Well, time to find another book. I have such a backlog...I think I'm going to read The Golem and the Jinni.
Well, don't let too much time go by!
I finished it last night. Those last few paragraphs...
Well, time to find another book. I have such a backlog...I think I'm going to read The Golem and the Jinni.
Excellent choice!
My favorite Dickens, although it's been too many years since I last read it. Pip is great.
old manatee
Banned
You should try Stephen King's Skeleton Crew. The first story is a short novel called The Mist that is very reminiscent of Silent Hill.
Was also my first exposure to King and I found it pretty juvenile outside of the final few pages where a bunch of promising revelations are made. But I haaaated the way King wrote women in that book, and it was obvious he wrote it when he was pretty young.
That said, I've since read The Running Man, which I enjoyed more, and I've heard great things about a lot of his work. He must be doing something right given his longevity and critical acclaim.
Thanks for this. I bought all three several years ago, but conked out about 200 pages into the first one. As that's the toughest section, I'm a bit less daunted about giving them another go now. Also I see the names of Waterhouse (forgot about that) and Shaftoe, which should be diverting since I've now read Cryptomomicon.
... At the moment I am reading The House of Mirth.
Polishin8r
Member
He sure does....when you read the series his writing only gets better and better. For me its just the perfect book right now where you care about characters, the story is great and the world it takes place in a crossover between western and steam punk its trully awesome.
Awesome, thank you! I'll pick up Shadow and Claw then and see how that goes.
sparky2112
Member
GE isn't my favorite. Still, if you don't care for the prose, just drop it and quit Dickens altogether. The man was a genius with the language, so you and I are on very different pages. Doubt you'd care for any of the Victorians, really. Having said that, I'm really glad I was never forced to read any when I was young and impressionable, or I might not treasure the experience like I do as an adult. Trollope is my latest love, and he really is getting his due after decades of relative neglect.
I'm not that young!
And I actually think my only other experience with an English Victorian novel is Jane Eyre, which I quite liked.
Maklershed
Member
Please don't hate me Mumei but I uhh .. I .. Stopped reading A Little Life. At least for now. I just need a change of pace. Started up John Dies at the End. Paragin is the best part of the Cracked podcast so I wanted to give it a try.
John Dies at the End by David Wong
John Dies at the End by David Wong
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Wow that's a terrible cover. Have you seen the movie? Because it takes one small part of the book and turns that into a movie. Not well, either, but then that's another one of those "book vs movies" debates.
Also, I'm laughing because I was debating reading that again and starting "This Book Is Full of Spiders", aka John Dies at the End #2.
Also, I'm laughing because I was debating reading that again and starting "This Book Is Full of Spiders", aka John Dies at the End #2.
Maklershed
Member
No, haven't seen it. And I have the kindle edition. The cover is just the default image on Goodreads "share this book" thing. I hope that's not what people see in stores. It's almost as bad as those Bujold covers posted earlier.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
This is the normal cover. Incidentally, love the book. I think it's pretty funny and has a lot of really incredible bits in it.
Of course not. I read it from March 18 to April 23, and during breaks I read: Vagabond (Volumes 4 - 30), Antique Bakery (Volumes 1 - 2), Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, Spider-Man: Spider-Island, Spider-Man: Big Time Ultimate Collection, When Boys Become Boys: Development, Relationships and Masculinity, The Deluge: The Great War, America, and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916 - 1931, and Satantango
Maklershed
Member
Loved that show. I wanna live in that town. It looked so quaint.
Finished:
Forge of Ashes by Josh Vogt. It's a really fun Sword & Sorcery novel with some surprisingly nuanced and subtle relationships between its two protagonists. Also love that it features a female dwarf. Of all the Pathfinder Tales books I've read, this one is second only to Tim Pratt's City of the Fallen Sky in terms of my enjoyment.
Now reading:
(God, these Bujold covers. Continued amazement.)
Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. After struggling a bit with The Warrior's Apprentice, I'm immediately smitten with SoH. Just more up my alley in terms of characterization, narrative, and plot. Good stuff.
Forge of Ashes by Josh Vogt. It's a really fun Sword & Sorcery novel with some surprisingly nuanced and subtle relationships between its two protagonists. Also love that it features a female dwarf. Of all the Pathfinder Tales books I've read, this one is second only to Tim Pratt's City of the Fallen Sky in terms of my enjoyment.
Now reading:
(God, these Bujold covers. Continued amazement.)
Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. After struggling a bit with The Warrior's Apprentice, I'm immediately smitten with SoH. Just more up my alley in terms of characterization, narrative, and plot. Good stuff.
It's interesting to read SoH after having read tWA. I feel like I understand Miles a bit better after having spent time with his parents. He's very much a mix of his father's doggedness and his mother's coy cleverness.
Yes. How far did you get into TWA before starting SoH? Did you actually finish it?
Yep. I finished it. I'm about 20% through SoH now. So, I pretty much know what's going to happen through SoH and Barrayar, but that's not really impeding my enjoyment. (Frankly, since I seriously began reviewing and covering books on my blog, I've had to set aside concerns about spoilers.)
Ah, yeah. Well, I even knew the gist of what was going to happen in those books because I knew why Miles had his physical issues. It's still interesting to see exactly how it happened, after all.
Hey guys, I've discovered I like buying books almost as much as actually reading them. I was wanting to start a nice little collection of books (aside from my general library of books I've already read). I've noticed vinyls are becoming much more popular now and as a result there are a lot of "special edition" vinyls made to be aesthetically pleasing. A good resource for finding these is mondotees.
Is there anything like this for books? I've heard of Abebooks but that's not exactly what I'm looking for. I don't care about first editions, or exceedingly rare signed copies etc. I just like nice looking covers or books made out of nice materials. For instance, I rebought the Mistborn trilogy in hardcover simply because I liked those covers better.
Any direction in this would be greatly appreciated!
Is there anything like this for books? I've heard of Abebooks but that's not exactly what I'm looking for. I don't care about first editions, or exceedingly rare signed copies etc. I just like nice looking covers or books made out of nice materials. For instance, I rebought the Mistborn trilogy in hardcover simply because I liked those covers better.
Any direction in this would be greatly appreciated!
alfredofroylan
Member
Started with Gone with the Wind yesterday. The cover says it's one of the greatest love stories ever .... I honestly doubt it.
Being a fantasy fan, you'll probably like the stuff that Subterranean Press produces: http://subterraneanpress.com/
Thank you! I'll check that out for sure.
I've been looking around and I've just discovered The Folio Society. Some really nice/almost affordable ones in there in case anyone else is interested.
Maklershed
Member
Nope, but if it's half as good I'm all in.
Well, I haven't read Stoner so I can't say. But I thought it was excellent, however it compares.
Yeah, the Baroque Cycle is a pseudo-prequel to the Cryptonomicon.
Minor spoilers that you encounter in the first chapter:
Enoch Root is in both books
I am debating between reading that or Warlock as my next non-fantasy fiction book. Though I am not quite sure when that will actually happen...
I've heard Butcher's Crossing (also by John Williams) is also quite good, though not as good as Stoner.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
In the last three days I finished reading "Without You the is no Us" by Suki Kim, "American Warlord" by Johnny Dwyer, and "Giving Up the Gun" by Noel Perrin.
Next I'm going to read "'Socialism is Great!'" by Lijia Zhang, "My Name is Number 4" by Ting-Xing Ye, and "Mao's Great Famine" by Frank Dikötter. There is a longer version of the second book, called "A Leaf in the Bitter Wind," but I can't find a copy of it.
Next I'm going to read "'Socialism is Great!'" by Lijia Zhang, "My Name is Number 4" by Ting-Xing Ye, and "Mao's Great Famine" by Frank Dikötter. There is a longer version of the second book, called "A Leaf in the Bitter Wind," but I can't find a copy of it.
It's been a cathartic experience watching a character like Jude unfold. I find fiction often struggles with conveying disability as it is in reality; what it means for the person who is disabled, what demands it makes of the people around them. Though my experience isn't even in the same universe as that of Jude's, I can nevertheless recognize all the well-worn paths his mind takes as he struggles with the trauma of his past: the self-loathing, the body-as-prison, the withdrawing from others even as they reach out, the denial, and, most significant of all, the incessant expectation of disappointment, because it is the one consistent truth of his life.
In my imagination, Hanya must be someone of almost limitless empathy. How else can she write a character of such chilling veracity as Jude? Jude's life is clearly not her life, but her ability to imagine the world as I actually see it borders the supernatural. And not just Jude, but also JB, Malcom, and even Willem (though this last one is more tenuous than the others). I can see myself in all of them, yet they all feel like distinct people I have and might have encountered over the course of my life. This stands in stark contrast to the usual kinds of side-characters I see in fiction, who are little more than a single sentence, maybe two or three, flattened out, stretched and molded into a person-shaped figure. Then there's Harold, Andy, and Ana, the last of who received only a scant few pages, but I loved and believed in her vitality nonetheless.
It's not just her depth, but her range as well. I cannot understate how impressed I was at Jude's dinner conversation with Harold and Lawrence where he espouses his love of abstract math. I know someone who is very much like Jude in how they gush over logical proofs and the beauty of calculus. It's so rare to see this specific and esoteric love represented properly in fiction. Most sci-fi authors, the ones you'd expect to be able to understand these emotions, are incapable of it, likely because they aren't mathematicians themselves. Many of them barely qualify as scientists.
As far as I know, however, neither is Hanya. Where they stumble or fail, Hanya rises to the challenge with an unnerving degree of authenticity. No segment of life seems to be beyond her pen, whether it's urbanite ennui or childhood abuse, collegial male bonding or the tragedy of disability, whether it's pure mathematics or art and artists. A Little Life is rapidly becoming the best writing I've ever read, and I'm only a third of the way through.
In my imagination, Hanya must be someone of almost limitless empathy. How else can she write a character of such chilling veracity as Jude? Jude's life is clearly not her life, but her ability to imagine the world as I actually see it borders the supernatural. And not just Jude, but also JB, Malcom, and even Willem (though this last one is more tenuous than the others). I can see myself in all of them, yet they all feel like distinct people I have and might have encountered over the course of my life. This stands in stark contrast to the usual kinds of side-characters I see in fiction, who are little more than a single sentence, maybe two or three, flattened out, stretched and molded into a person-shaped figure. Then there's Harold, Andy, and Ana, the last of who received only a scant few pages, but I loved and believed in her vitality nonetheless.
It's not just her depth, but her range as well. I cannot understate how impressed I was at Jude's dinner conversation with Harold and Lawrence where he espouses his love of abstract math. I know someone who is very much like Jude in how they gush over logical proofs and the beauty of calculus. It's so rare to see this specific and esoteric love represented properly in fiction. Most sci-fi authors, the ones you'd expect to be able to understand these emotions, are incapable of it, likely because they aren't mathematicians themselves. Many of them barely qualify as scientists.
As far as I know, however, neither is Hanya. Where they stumble or fail, Hanya rises to the challenge with an unnerving degree of authenticity. No segment of life seems to be beyond her pen, whether it's urbanite ennui or childhood abuse, collegial male bonding or the tragedy of disability, whether it's pure mathematics or art and artists. A Little Life is rapidly becoming the best writing I've ever read, and I'm only a third of the way through.
<3!
It's a funny thing; I was actually just rereading the section where Jude talks about abstract mathematics a couple nights ago. I also like that she's able to write smart characters who talk about things in a way that communicates intelligence without that being the central point of the scene in question. I find that oftentimes in fiction attempts to communicate intelligence in a character are bogged down by the author's falling down on tropes where they create improbable inventions or are always prepared for esoteric inevitabilities (staples of superhero comics), or rely on name-dropping or evidence that the character knows a lot of things. In Vorkosigan Saga, Bujold is often able to communicate Miles' intelligence by focusing on his ability to read people and the political ramifications, and she's good enough at it that she allows you to suspend disbelief and forget that, well, she's actually writing the scenario, so of course he's going to be right more often than not. But writing like where Jude is explaining his love of abstract mathematics - or where Harold sums up the law (constitutional, criminal, civil procedure, property, torts, and contracts) in a single concise paragraph - is something I very rarely see, where it's just the character talking about something in a cogent way. It's creates such a sense of verisimilitude, and it's just one aspect of the character. You see the same sort of thing when she's talking about how JB relates to art, for instance.
This segment stands out from one of the early JB POVs.
(As you can imagine, I despise the prevalence of selfie culture.)
I'm neither a photographer nor an artist like JB, but I know exactly how he feels. I have an aversion to photographs where the subject seems to be aware of the camera, which also applies, in a way, to film and painting. The fleeting, candid pictures, which can only be caught by chance and a fast hand, impress me the most. That, and landscapes, which is basically candidness in geologic time.
(As you can imagine, I despise the prevalence of selfie culture.)
Arkos
Nose how to spell and rede to
Hey guys! I don't normally come into the reading thread, reading being for nerds and all, but...
I just finished Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, book 3/4 (or is it 3/5?) in the Ender books. I'm wondering what to expect from the 4th one (Children of the Mind). I enjoy the story but I feel like 2 and 3 got progressively more bogged down in their own *stuff*, maybe a little self-indulgent? And I definitely felt like the writing was a little iffy at times in 3, with stilted and unnatural conversations and/or phrasing, even for these characters. I took a pretty long break in the middle of 3 and was contemplating not going on to the next book until
and I'm like I hate that fucker so now I'm going to continue. But still, 3 (and to a lesser extent 2) felt like they took way too long to do what they were trying to do. Anybody else who's read these feel the same?
I just finished Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, book 3/4 (or is it 3/5?) in the Ender books. I'm wondering what to expect from the 4th one (Children of the Mind). I enjoy the story but I feel like 2 and 3 got progressively more bogged down in their own *stuff*, maybe a little self-indulgent? And I definitely felt like the writing was a little iffy at times in 3, with stilted and unnatural conversations and/or phrasing, even for these characters. I took a pretty long break in the middle of 3 and was contemplating not going on to the next book until
Peter showed back up
arglebargle
Member
finished red notice. riveting story, but poorly written (as i said earlier in the thread).
started lush life. too early to judge, but i do like books with a ton of details about manhattan neighborhoods.
started lush life. too early to judge, but i do like books with a ton of details about manhattan neighborhoods.
Mm. The extended section where JB finds his way into figurative portraiture featuring his friends, which is where that first quote you posted is from, is also a great example of that. I'm not an art person in the sense that I can talk intelligibly about my opinions for why one thing works for me and another doesn't, and I felt like there was a strong visual sense communicated in the art. I think it's one of her strong points as a writer, and it comes through that she's a visually-oriented person in the rest of her professional life. This was actually the impetus for the Instagram page for the book; so much of the book was inspired by specific pieces of artwork or photography, and the Instagram is a sort of project whereby specific lines within the book are represented by a photograph. It's sometimes quite on the nose, and sometimes much more vaguely connected, but I enjoy the total effect. Don't go looking before you finish, though, as it's unclear before you look what page is being represented.
The only real debate for the Ender's Game line of books is whether Ender's Game or Speaker for the Dead is the high point (the latter was for me in high school, though I haven't read either since and probably couldn't give them a fair chance today). I second what Haley said.
You Know Nothing
Member
Currently reading The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There. Loving it as much as the first.
I also was not expecting that. I mean a gay character. I was totally expecting a turquoise talking kangaroo with severe memory problems.
I also was not expecting that. I mean a gay character. I was totally expecting a turquoise talking kangaroo with severe memory problems.
I am currently reading this, and while I am not very far in I have a feeling that I am really going to like it. It seems like exactly what I am looking for, a well-written and engaging account of the West Indies sugar plantation colonies
Here are a few snippets of a review of the book:
http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1243
A popular history that successfully succeeds in synthesizing current historical knowledge on the subject? Sign me up. That is usually one of my problems with popular history. Quite a few don't seem to do that.
While I think Know a fair amount about slavery in the United States, I do not know a whole lot about slavery in the West Indies. I do know that the trade between the West Indies and the US was very important, so reading a comprehensive yet global history of the West Indies slave colonies that focus on connections seems like it will definitely help me better understand what was going on.
Wow, I loved Stoner when I read it this year. Definitely marking this as to-read for later.
Finished Brothers in Arms yestderday evening, so I''m looking to start on the next Vorkosigan book, which should be Mirror Dance.
Guessing from the cover it looks like Mark is back?
soapypanda
Member
I'm sorry but Hanya's instagram looks basic as hell. /don't hurt me
Currently reading The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two) after finishing part one. Quiet enjoying it, I don't normally read long books like this so it's nice to give that a go. I think this part is double the size of part one too. Also I like the sound of being ready for part three when that is finished - I have never anticipated the release of a book before so that's exciting. I've recently started reading a lot more this year after buying my first Kindle in January.
Maklershed
Member
This looks really interesting. Adding to wishlist.