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What are you reading? (June 2015)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Dedication Through Light
Member
Reading Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship, didnt know finding pirate ships from the golden age was that rare (seems only two have been found?)
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Sadly library books are taking up all of my reading time lately. They have expiration dates so they're always at the forefront.
It also didn't help that the Kindle lost all of my bookmarks in all of the books I was reading, The Explorer being the one I was furthest in. And trying to find my page by pressing the button over and over and over and over is just daunting. Ugh.
Wiktor
Member
Finished Skin Game
Started reading The Autumn Republic:
It started slow, which is something pretty much universal for heist novels, but it was still fun there, but from halfpoint it was pedal to the metal and the insanity just kept increasing. I cried, I lauged and I fistbumped in the air while reading this. Plus everything came together in the end so damn well. Great great entry in the franchise. And Goodman Grey is just
so boss. Hope he will return.
Started reading The Autumn Republic:
Enjoyed the hell out of first two novels, so I'm pretty hyped to see how the trilogy ends.
0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55
Banned
Reading two at the moment
&
&
bennywhatever
Member
I'm about 2/3 through Under the Dome.
This is so fantastic. I haven't read a King book this good in a long time. It's not a horror in the supernatural/alien sense like most of his books; it's a horror in the human sense. It's like a modern, adult version of Lord of the Flies.
This is so fantastic. I haven't read a King book this good in a long time. It's not a horror in the supernatural/alien sense like most of his books; it's a horror in the human sense. It's like a modern, adult version of Lord of the Flies.
sparky2112
Member
I work on a computer all day, so reading from an LCD has never bothered me, and I have both a smartphone and a Nexus tablet. Still, my family got me a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday so I could read outside. LOVE IT. I've been reading a bunch of stuff that's not 100% satisfying, and I've had this on my list for a long time and it seems to be a thread favorite:
Finding it amusing/charming, but I'm not sure how much satisfaction I'll derive when all is said and done. The author certainly doesn't lack for imagination...
Finding it amusing/charming, but I'm not sure how much satisfaction I'll derive when all is said and done. The author certainly doesn't lack for imagination...
Great choice!
Just finished Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. Excellent read, I ended up really quite invested in the fate of Kivrin. Quite a bit better than the other 'Oxford Time Travel' story I read recently, Blackout/All Clear, if only because this one doesn't spend several hundred pages doing very little. Guess I'll find a copy of To Say Nothing of the Dog soon.
However, in a continued bid to vary up my reading habits, I'll be reading this next, another Man Booker Prize winner.
However, in a continued bid to vary up my reading habits, I'll be reading this next, another Man Booker Prize winner.
Have you read the sequels?
I have not. I believe I own the two follow-ups, but they've been buried under Mount Toberead.
Finally finished Moby Dick. Might go back to reread Wood's essay on Melville now that I know what he's is talking about but, overall, I did not enjoy it as much as other classics.
I'll take Austen's England over Melville's ocean any day.
I'll take Austen's England over Melville's ocean any day.
Maybe it's because I'm a giant ninny on the inside, but I couldn't empathize with the marine masculinity of Moby Dick at all.
One step closer to Vorkosigan Saga~
Have you read her brief essay for the second book on Scalzi's blog to inspire you to read further?
Have you read her brief essay for the second book on Scalzi's blog to inspire you to read further?
So what did The Martian fans think about the trailer? I thought it was pretty cool, a clear difference seems to be the movie making "epic" and spectacular a priority whereas the book consciously went the other way. But, that could be the trailer or it could just be the movie industry and it could very well work. I'll wait for it on HBO or something since it takes something of a Mad Maxian or Interstellian effort to get me to the theaters anymore.
I see A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock is in the Amazon Kindle Daily Deals today and I can recommend it. Read it a little while ago and really enjoyed it. A quick read, but a great sci-fi title.
Edit: not an ad - I'm not Anne Charnock
Btw I'm currently reading History of the Rain by Niall Williams. A meandering but interesting narrative, packed with literary references that is inspiring me to read more widely after this.
Edit: not an ad - I'm not Anne Charnock
Btw I'm currently reading History of the Rain by Niall Williams. A meandering but interesting narrative, packed with literary references that is inspiring me to read more widely after this.
Call Me A Hero
Member
I've been reading Alan Wake by Rick Burroughs since yesterday
Maklershed
Member
I had no idea this is a book. Does it capture the vibe of the game well?I've been reading Alan Wake by Rick Burroughs since yesterday
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
I love all those great pre-civil war American authors, Melville, Whitman, the Transcendentalists etc. Moby Dick is a very allegorical novel, so I don't think it's necessary a big problem to feel a bit estranged from the actual setting. I understand what you mean though, all these authors have a sort of "brutality" to them. That early American roughness.
Once I complete part two of the Brothers Karamazov, I plan to take a three book break from it. I forgot about the long winded nature of classic literature. Going to aim to finish my autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Slaughterhouse Five, and possibly Redeployment. Then I'll return to tackle the remaining parts of Karamazov.
Just finished The Sculptor by Scott McCloud. Quite a good graphic novel, with some great drawings and interesting themes, but in the end it didn't grab me as much as the good reactions on it made me believe. I don't know, I guess the main character was just too big a dick at times, and the story was maybe to linear (by witch I mean it just goes straight to where you expect it to go, without any reversals)
I grabbed a cheap e-reader copy of The Martian yesterday, as I was quite suprised by the trailer. Seems like a fast read, so I'll do this first before I dig in to something bigger. Potential candidates are the new Ducth translation of Young Lions which I recently bought, and the fourth Song of ice and fire novel I really need to read before I watch the latest GoT season (I like to read the novels first if I can)
I grabbed a cheap e-reader copy of The Martian yesterday, as I was quite suprised by the trailer. Seems like a fast read, so I'll do this first before I dig in to something bigger. Potential candidates are the new Ducth translation of Young Lions which I recently bought, and the fourth Song of ice and fire novel I really need to read before I watch the latest GoT season (I like to read the novels first if I can)
Christoff Yurievich
Member
I've been reading Alan Wake by Rick Burroughs since yesterday
I read that last summer. I enjoyed it, though there were some parts where I wasn't sure if it was the story, the writer, or the medium (game vs. book) that made it lack a certain je ne sais quoi. It was a good read and made me want to play the game. Hell, I even watched the Twin Peaks-ish prequel TV show they filmed for it, Bright Falls.
Funny you should mention him because I always preferred Emily Dickinson when we were studying American poetry in high school.
Ugh ... The Martian. I've read the first 30 pages and it's just terrible. The writing ... my god ... Does it get any better later on ?
I thought I'd go for an easy read as I'm not a native speaker and I have been reading classics for the last few months (luckily Kindle makes it easy to look for definitions/traductions) but this book is just not my cup of tea. I think I'm going to toss it in the virtual bin and read The Magicians or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell instead (bought both for 3$ and 6$ respectively on Kindle Canada a few days ago - great deals).
I thought I'd go for an easy read as I'm not a native speaker and I have been reading classics for the last few months (luckily Kindle makes it easy to look for definitions/traductions) but this book is just not my cup of tea. I think I'm going to toss it in the virtual bin and read The Magicians or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell instead (bought both for 3$ and 6$ respectively on Kindle Canada a few days ago - great deals).
Recently finished Cibola Burn from the Expanse series and The Last Colony from the Old Man's War series. I liked both well enough, though Cibola Burn was probably the weakest book of the Expanse so far. Last Colony was pretty good as well and I really enjoyed the ending. Next up is The Martian and after that I think I'll go for a second book in the Vorkosigan Saga. Barrayar if I got the reading order right (already read Shards of Honor and Aftermaths).
sparky2112
Member
What are you smoking? Pass it over, whatever it is.
D
Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
Haly, please. Do you even chop your own wood?
You know which of your compatriot authors you really need to read though? ( if you haven't already)
Henry Miller. Sexus, Plexus, Nexus. Top, top, top of the shelf books.
Ooh. You should read The Gorgeous Nothings, a collection of her envelope poems. The title comes from one of her poems:
And it provides full-size images of the original envelopes on which the poems were written, with facing pages with the typed text (organized in the same manner as the poem is on the envelope), because frankly sometimes her writing is hard to make out at first. But it really changes the experience of reading her poetry, just in seeing her handwriting and seeing how she arranged the words.
Plasticine
Member
Finished The Preserve by Patrick Lestewka.
Former members of a Viet Nam special OPs team are hired to track down and kill three escaped convicts in the Canadian wilderness. It seems like easy money until they discover they've been lured into a preserve for supernatural creatures. Vampires, zombies and werewolves roam the woods and are hungry for fresh prey.
It doesn't matter if he's writing as Patrick Lestewka or Nick Cutter, Craig Davidson can deliver a mighty fine horror novel. Loaded with action, gore and great characters, The Preserve is a fast and fun read. Set in the mid 80's, the story contains Viet Nam flashbacks that dole out the back story piece by piece. Lestewka also implements a couple of perspective changes, switching over to first person narrative during select chapters, to really put you in the mindset of the main characters.
None of the characters are good guys. Irreparably damaged by their time in 'Nam, the men have went down some dark paths, and are pretty darn irredeemable. They've become assassins, mob enforcers, bank robbers, gamblers and porn producers. But if you don't mind nasty leads, and are in the mood for an action filled horror book, this one is an easy recommend.
Up next:
Former members of a Viet Nam special OPs team are hired to track down and kill three escaped convicts in the Canadian wilderness. It seems like easy money until they discover they've been lured into a preserve for supernatural creatures. Vampires, zombies and werewolves roam the woods and are hungry for fresh prey.
It doesn't matter if he's writing as Patrick Lestewka or Nick Cutter, Craig Davidson can deliver a mighty fine horror novel. Loaded with action, gore and great characters, The Preserve is a fast and fun read. Set in the mid 80's, the story contains Viet Nam flashbacks that dole out the back story piece by piece. Lestewka also implements a couple of perspective changes, switching over to first person narrative during select chapters, to really put you in the mindset of the main characters.
None of the characters are good guys. Irreparably damaged by their time in 'Nam, the men have went down some dark paths, and are pretty darn irredeemable. They've become assassins, mob enforcers, bank robbers, gamblers and porn producers. But if you don't mind nasty leads, and are in the mood for an action filled horror book, this one is an easy recommend.
Up next:
Ooh. You should read The Gorgeous Nothings, a collection of her envelope poems. The title comes from one of her poems:
Not on Kindle D:
... Well, it's a ~12 x 10" art book. You can't reproduce that on a Kindle. If you just want to read her poetry, there's always this.
Grenouille
Member
Finished Madame Bovary
Monsieur Homais is hilarious.
I feel like checking some of Flaubert's other books just to see how his style changes.
Reminded me of Game of Thrones in a way
I feel like checking some of Flaubert's other books just to see how his style changes.
Axelstream
Member
The Remains of the Day was excellent. I've never seen a character unraveled the way Stevens was. There were many shortcuts Ishiguro could have taken with Stevens' no-nonsense personality, but they would have made Stevens a much more one-dimensional character. Instead, the constant self-scrutiny led to a rather moving, thoughtful novel on the nature of duty, dignity, and regret. I think I'm going to read more Ishiguro -- The Buried Giant was the first novel I read from him, and those themes of memory and duty really clicked with me there as well. Ran down to the library to pick up Never Let Me Go, so that's the next read. Anyone have more recommendations for Ishiguro, or thoughts on him?
Also ordered T.H. White's The Once and Future King and Stephen King's 11/22/63. I usually fatigue with longer novels and want to move on to the next thing, so hopefully they're both able to maintain my interest!
Also ordered T.H. White's The Once and Future King and Stephen King's 11/22/63. I usually fatigue with longer novels and want to move on to the next thing, so hopefully they're both able to maintain my interest!
For long novels, I always feel reading a book in between the halfway point is an excellent way to break up that fatigue. That's what I did with A Little Life, with The Long Walk to Freedom, and now The Brothers Karamazov.
My library sent me an email informing they finally have Bad Feminist on Overdrive, so that's my current read. I've been waiting on it for the past month, so seeing that email made me ecstatic.
Edit: Looks like Amazon doesn't want to give me my library book. My hopes and dreams have been dashed.
My library sent me an email informing they finally have Bad Feminist on Overdrive, so that's my current read. I've been waiting on it for the past month, so seeing that email made me ecstatic.
Edit: Looks like Amazon doesn't want to give me my library book. My hopes and dreams have been dashed.
Some premium old skool scifi - The Eyes of Heisenberg by Frank Herbert. It's about a genetically controlled dystopia ruled by godlike Optimen, and the resistance movement that tries to overthrow them.
I'm about a quarter of the way through, it's a very short novel, but I'm really liking it. I'd love to see a good film made of it.
This is the cover of my edition:
No idea what that has to do with the story. This is probably a better one:
I'm about a quarter of the way through, it's a very short novel, but I'm really liking it. I'd love to see a good film made of it.
This is the cover of my edition:
No idea what that has to do with the story. This is probably a better one:
This was of my favourite reads from last year. Anyone know if the movie adaptation was worth watching?
Not sure about this. I'm 60 pages into The Martian now and I needed some time adjusting. First few chapters are a bot bloated with science research exposition, which is expected from the diary style prose I guess. I didn't hate it, but it didn't grab me too (allthough it reads fast, and it ends on cliffs so you just keep reading anyway).
But then the story shifts
to the NASA viewpoint
Finished Middlesex yesterday, the narrative tone and prose remained very enjoyable, but it is weirdly disjointed and uneven, at times seemingly a mismatch of two completely different books.
The actual protagonist takes the backseat to the enviroment and the Greek culture they grew up in, whereas the topics of identity, gender- and overall remain superficial and unexplored in comparison. This is even reflected in the tone and the author's ingenuity that is vivid, vibrant and colorful, yet as soon as Cal(lie) is the sole focus the language becomes dull and trivial. Smae goes for the characters themselves, the family is infintely more interesting than the protagonist.
Overall, it's a good read, but it doesn't go deep enough into any of the subjects it touches upon. It seems overly ambitous and directionless.
The actual protagonist takes the backseat to the enviroment and the Greek culture they grew up in, whereas the topics of identity, gender- and overall remain superficial and unexplored in comparison. This is even reflected in the tone and the author's ingenuity that is vivid, vibrant and colorful, yet as soon as Cal(lie) is the sole focus the language becomes dull and trivial. Smae goes for the characters themselves, the family is infintely more interesting than the protagonist.
Overall, it's a good read, but it doesn't go deep enough into any of the subjects it touches upon. It seems overly ambitous and directionless.
The Last Wizard
Member
So I was taking a look at my reading lineup for the next few months and it looking really good. I've got:
-Let the right one in
-Ender's Game
-Heart of Darkness
-The Alchemist
I don't know why I stopped reading so long:/
Also started on Brave New World and those first few chapters were such a drag to get through, so much jargon. I'm hoping that Bernard won't be the way I'm expecting him to be the whole story as his attitude when first met gets old quick.
-Let the right one in
-Ender's Game
-Heart of Darkness
-The Alchemist
I don't know why I stopped reading so long:/
Also started on Brave New World and those first few chapters were such a drag to get through, so much jargon. I'm hoping that Bernard won't be the way I'm expecting him to be the whole story as his attitude when first met gets old quick.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
Moby-Dick is, by and large, a comical, political, poetical, and philosophical work. How one gets from that to it being some kind of masculine fantasy is beyond me
I just finished The Martian the other day (absolutely loved it!) and am now almost done this amazing work:
I didn't realize until recently that it was a trilogy, and only the first is currently available translated from the original Chinese. It looks like the second will be releasing in August though, so at least I won't have to wait too long for it. It is absolutely stellar, and just so unique.
I didn't realize until recently that it was a trilogy, and only the first is currently available translated from the original Chinese. It looks like the second will be releasing in August though, so at least I won't have to wait too long for it. It is absolutely stellar, and just so unique.
Read them all, because they're all great (his first two books are even better than Remains of the Day imo), though maybe space them out because they do tread over a lot of the same themes and territory. But especially The Unconsoled, which takes all of usual Ishiguro themes and presents them in this very strange, dislocating fashion. Very polarizing, but I love it.
Did you finish it? I felt it was a fun book but I also felt like it was total filler, without much overall plot advancement and honestly very few big threads resolved. Still great but easily my least favorite Expanse book.
Now I'm on to a new saga and finally starting The Gunslinger.
RepairmanJack
Member
Am I missing a lot of nods and hints to IT in 11/22/63? There's times where it talks about children murders and stuff about dark presances and things in sewers that makes me think I'm missing stuff from the little I know about It.
I just wondered if they're very obvious nods or if they have more to do with the actual story in 11/22/63 and I'm just blowing them off as tying it to It.
I just wondered if they're very obvious nods or if they have more to do with the actual story in 11/22/63 and I'm just blowing them off as tying it to It.
Stephen King's books quite often reference each other and most are assumed to have happened in the same world. I can't remember those exact references in 11/22/63 (it was a huge book), but those ones sound like references to IT to me.
Nah, nowhere near finished. Only a measly 20% read so far.