^ It was OK, pretty standard D&D dime novel fare. A bit of a throwback being in the Greyhawk setting. It became almost rote about halfway through the titular dungeon, and ended in a clumsy and predictable manner.
Hey gaf, I want to ask something, I got friend whose birthday is coming up and he's a fan of JK Rowling and I just found out that she got an alias as Robert Galbraith. I'm just wondering is The Cuckoo's Calling any good? Thanks
Hey gaf, I want to ask something, I got friend whose birthday is coming up and he's a fan of JK Rowling and I just found out that she got an alias as Robert Galbraith. I'm just wondering is The Cuckoo's Calling any good? Thanks
Hey gaf, I want to ask something, I got friend whose birthday is coming up and he's a fan of JK Rowling and I just found out that she got an alias as Robert Galbraith. I'm just wondering is The Cuckoo's Calling any good? Thanks
FYI - One of the best post-apocalypse books of all times imo (very much gives A Canticle for Leibowitz a run for its money) is $1.99 at the moment - World Made by Hand by Kunstler. If you get this book and enjoy it, I can't recommend enough continuing on with the saga as it gets better and better as you go.
Hey gaf, I want to ask something, I got friend whose birthday is coming up and he's a fan of JK Rowling and I just found out that she got an alias as Robert Galbraith. I'm just wondering is The Cuckoo's Calling any good? Thanks
Finished South of the Border, West of the Sun by Murakami today and I have to say I'm underwhelmed. It gave me the vibe I expect and enjoy from this work, but the whole thing didn't feel like it covered enough ground, feeling more like a stretched short story after all was said and done. Still love his work, but this one is on the lower tier for me.
Only five books left (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Sputnik Sweetheart, 1Q84, and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage) and I'll have read all of his translated novels. Not counting Killing Commendadore since that's not available in a language I know yet. I'll continue to give it a few months before I go back to one of his novels though, his work isn't very compatible with binging.
Yeah this will be my first time. I figure it'll be like when I recently watched Casablanca for the first time and suddenly understood where tons of pop culture references came from.
Yeah this will be my first time. I figure it'll be like when I recently watched Casablanca for the first time and suddenly understood where tons of pop culture references came from.
I've never had a proper economics class, so I'm finally filling that void. The intro and first chapter are a bit disconcerting at times. I'm as liberal as they come, and the author throws around a lot of "the market fixes everything" type ideas. I'm keeping an open mind, though.
Hitchhiker's is the book that made me start to appreciate writing and prose in literature, thanks to how utterly fucking HILARIOUS it was. It's formative, in a way.
I don't think I duly appreciated Hyperion on my first go (in my defense, I was fifteen), but there's something poignant and meaningful in it. I found the ending quite striking for some reason, IIRC. I think it's a worthwhile read but it's up to you if you'd be OK with two sci-fi epics in a row (admittedly, their tones and style are actually rather different).
Edit: FWIW, thought Dune was "meh" the first time around, then went back for a reread on a whim last year and it shot into my top 10 if not top 5 books of all time.
Still haven't had the time to reread Hyperion, sadly. I should buy the ebook.
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I just bought WOOL on Kindle (it apparently has animations and colorful illustrations), I'm somewhat interested but the author's prose just strikes me as really bland and predictable. Now, I admit that that could've been because I've read something like 150-200 pages of Crime and Punishment over the last couple of days, hahaha.
For C&P, I just got to Part VI. There are many things I don't get.
The dialogue, especially in extended scenes, feels like they have undertones and hidden meanings I just can't discern. What the fuck is even happenings between Sonya and Raskolnikov, was it his donation for Marmeladov's funeral or Pyotr getting outed by Raskolnikov in the banquet the reason Sonya is so compassionate towards Raskolnikov, or something else?
She went from being extremely shy to pledging to visit him in prison, and I don't get what he's doing.
I also don't know what who is the person that calls Raskolnikov the killer on the street (back in Part IV, I believe).
Oliver Ready's translation is great, the notes are really informative while being accessible and yet aren't condescending.
Just read this for almost two hours non-stop and the only reason I put it down for a second just now was to come here and write this post.
The book sucked me in insanely fast, just a couple of pages and I was hooked. Very excited to continue and I gotta say, I'm really glad I've still got a week of summer vacation left. Might even finish the whole trilogy before I have to go back to work if it remains this interesting.
Just read this for almost two hours non-stop and the only reason I put it down for a second just now was to come here and write this post.
The book sucked me in insanely fast, just a couple of pages and I was hooked. Very excited to continue and I gotta say, I'm really glad I've still got a week of summer vacation left. Might even finish the whole trilogy before I have to go back to work if it remains this interesting.
While I think the second book dipped in plot, and the rest of the series didn't retain the mystique the first book had, it's still an excellent series.
While I think the second book dipped in plot, and the rest of the series didn't retain the mystique the first book had, it's still an excellent series.
That's actually exactly what I expected, haha. Seems to happen often with these trilogies that start with a mysterious fantasy world.
Currently it's definitely the aura of mystery that's pulling me in, so we'll see if I actually end up reading them all. But so far it's so goddamn good.
Finished Crime And Punishment. As expected, I feel like I don't understand 99% of what was going on. I don't know if this was intentional, but I'm utterly lost on some of the central questions in the novel.
Anyone know a good and approachable Crime and Punishment analysis?
I've known of Sebald's reputation, but nothing more. Native German? Who knew? Apparently, he was a front-runner for the Nobel before he died unexpectedly at 57.
Anyway, this 'novel' is about him walking along towns on the Eastern coast of England, free-associating as he goes. No plot, only historical/cultural tangents that supplement his observations of a decaying rural England. Some of this is *achingly* beautiful, but that raises the question (as it always does) of translation vs. the native text. This won't be the last of him I read.
Finished. It's a pleasant read if you can live without plot, characters, or anything other than the narrator expounding on various interesting historical/biographical topics...
Been suffering from Insomnia lately, and apparently a thing that can help is to read before bed, so I finally started with Game of Thrones: A Clash of Kings. I read very slowly so it will probably take me the entire year to finish it.
I see Night Film is on sale today on Amazon for $1.99. I think I remember some people recommending it. From Marisha Pessl who did Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
Not usually into suspense/horror, but I'll get it if someone recommends it.
I see Night Film is on sale today on Amazon for $1.99. I think I remember some people recommending it. From Marisha Pessl who did Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
Not usually into suspense/horror, but I'll get it if someone recommends it.
I see Night Film is on sale today on Amazon for $1.99. I think I remember some people recommending it. From Marisha Pessl who did Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
Not usually into suspense/horror, but I'll get it if someone recommends it.
After coming off from finishing the expanse series, someone here recommended to me the Brandon Sanderson books. I just couldn't get into it.
And then a friend recommended Wraiths of the Broken Land and I absolutely loved it. Should I return to the Sanderson books or can anyone recommend something new?
After coming off from finishing the expanse series, someone here recommended to me the Brandon Sanderson books. I just couldn't get into it.
And then a friend recommended Wraiths of the Broken Land and I absolutely loved it. Should I return to the Sanderson books or can anyone recommend something new?
After coming off from finishing the expanse series, someone here recommended to me the Brandon Sanderson books. I just couldn't get into it.
And then a friend recommended Wraiths of the Broken Land and I absolutely loved it. Should I return to the Sanderson books or can anyone recommend something new?
I just finished Pillars of the Earth- that took about 3 weeks and roughly 40 pages a day which snowballed to 70-100 pages a day.. That was certainly one of the more epic novels I've ever read. Having it be a historical fiction gives the story a bit more weight. The pacing was a little frenetic at points, especially in the first half and was a bit more even in the second half. I like how vile William was and how the author got me to feel deep hatred for him.
All in all, I'd recommend it if you like political intrigue.
I finished Sapiens a few days back. Interesting book, but I think that it could have got the same information across while trimming about 20% of its length.
I also finally went back and read Barrayar in the Vorkosigan saga after skipping it when I started the series about 2 years ago. That one felt like it could have been longer. So many events flew by.
I am now down to the last two books and Ethan of Athos in the Vorkosigan saga.
In addition to finishing Barrayar, I am about half way through A Man Called Ove. I am mot sure why I picked it up, since it isn't my typical genre of fiction, but I like it so far.
I think at the end of the day I quite liked this. It feels more like a season of television to me in many ways than a traditional book, and I found I enjoyed it a lot more when I started of thinking of it visually like a script. But it was good. Not great necessarily. But good.
I think that's there's a lot to criticise in terms of, I don't know, it feeling very basic or kind of blunt in the way it introduced the way characters were thinking etc but at the end of the day off I liked it and it's fairly imaginative too
What they're trying to achieve is different. 1984 is a cautionary tale that's especially relevant in today's times, AF is an allegory about Russia (I think the overthrowing of a Tsar?) so has a smaller scope.
anyway i could do with some more rip-rollicking sci fi everybody-hangs-out-on-a-ship-and-it's-good-times adventures. ya know, bebop or firefly style stuff
I always find Animal Farm a bit on the nose. 1984 is clever and inventive in its critique of totalitarian governments whereas Animal Farm is just the Russian Revolution with farm animals. Lacks the subtlety to be a truly great allegory.
