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What are you reading? (March 2011)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Apple Sauce
Member
A little extra-curricular reading after having read Plath's poetry for University.
I was put off, at first, by the legions of insufferable young people for whom this is their bible. It read like a female-centric The Catcher in the Rye, its angst felt almost clichéd, until I remembered it was one of the original 'teen angst novels' and set the formula for what was to come.
I found it quite interesting as a look at gender politics of the time and especially as an insight into how society perceived mental illness (I don't think a lot has changed here).
I finished this Bradbury short story collection:
Very romanticized view of America in many of these stories, with Bradbury's trademark optimism and charm. Really enjoyable overall.
I'm currently 2/3rds of the way through this:
This is a documentary account of the life of coal miners in 1930s England. It is pretty depressing to start, but Orwell allows you to breathe a little in the second half, as he focuses on class structure and people's prejudices based on their position in society. Very powerful, and sometimes comedic-in-retrospect when reading Orwell talk about women. This is a very man-centred book, but it is nonetheless highly recommended.
Very romanticized view of America in many of these stories, with Bradbury's trademark optimism and charm. Really enjoyable overall.
I'm currently 2/3rds of the way through this:
This is a documentary account of the life of coal miners in 1930s England. It is pretty depressing to start, but Orwell allows you to breathe a little in the second half, as he focuses on class structure and people's prejudices based on their position in society. Very powerful, and sometimes comedic-in-retrospect when reading Orwell talk about women. This is a very man-centred book, but it is nonetheless highly recommended.
sparky2112
Member
His first, Then We Came to the End is a top-five all-time read for me, and the fact that this is so radically different just makes me admire him all that much more. Basically, Ferris is the real deal - no sophomore slump here.
Apple Sauce
Member
nvm
enemyairship
Neo Member
Brainboy said:
I started reading that in a Borders after hearing good things about it from friends. I picked it up, started reading, and before I knew it the store was closing.
I started reading mid-afternoon, by the way.
I have to pick that book up again.
Maklershed
Member
Finished A Feast for Crows and now reading this months book club book Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
The Brecht chapter in Paul Johnson's Intellectuals is damn fine reading.
I'm reading Wise Man's Fear along with everyone else and the Denna chapters really annoy me.
I had the flu while I was reading it so I may be wrong.
I'm reading Wise Man's Fear along with everyone else and the Denna chapters really annoy me.
Am I nuts or didn't she and Kvothe get it on in the first book during the whole dragon interlude?
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Ha wrong thread.
BanShunsaku
Member
Fxp said:
This was pretty much the same reaction I had when reading it late last year. I have Fool Moon sitting on my kindle and I'll read it one day, but if it doesn't grab me I don't think I'll bother reading any further in the series.
Maklershed said:Finished A Feast for Crows and now reading this months book club book Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
If I weren't trying to catch up on my own backlog of books, I would be all over this month's GAF pick. I've wanted to read Stranger in a Strange Land for a long time. I have at least 16 books to go before I can think about picking up something new, though.
Cyan said:Do it! We need more participation.
Anyway, what better time than now to jump in? You'll be motivated to read and you'll have people to talk about it with. You can always keep reading your backlog in parallel. That's what I'm doing with the bookclub books. Just follow the milestone schedule; it should leave you with plenty of time for other reading unless you really have no free time.
How do you end up with such a large backlog, anyway? Kindle impulse buys?
http://backlogbooksblog.blogspot.com/
This is my blog. I initially started it in September 2009, and challenged myself to read 40 books in one year, all of which were books that I had purchased or that came into my possession over a period of years. Basically, I was a used book store rat, and would pick up whatever looked interesting, with the intention of "reading it later." It got the point where my shelves were overflowing with things I had never touched, so I resolved to not touch anything new until I got through this backlog first. I didn't complete my personal challenge, but have recently gotten back into it, and am trying to catch up by writing reviews for the books I've read but haven't written about.
This was the original pile that I challenged myself to get through:
I have read 24/40 of these so far, and have 16 to go. I have also been a little remiss and ended up adding four more books on top of these that I have already read. (2 wrestler biographies, Dragonwings by Laurence Yep, and The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle) While I wasn't successful in my original challenge of finishing all these within a year, I have jumped back on the wagon and am determined to get through them before I get married this October.
I'm sure it is, dude had a pretty disgusting personal life.Guileless said:
Not that a nominal Catholic that promotes / supports Thatcherism is any better.
But hey that's why we have people like Paul Johnson naming names and shining the light of truth on the theoreticians or our age, to protect us from such hypocrites.
way more
Member
Awesome. Great insider stories and it's inspirational in a non-cloying way.
I'm just into the creation of the show which is kinda boring but it makes Lorne Micheals sound like a genius. I can't wait to get into the parts about Chevy Chase fistfights.
This women has a way of composing a story that is just chill inducing.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
I don't remember anything about Brecht's personal life specifically. But I do remember that although he worked for the East German government (and was an apologist for the government's use of Soviet tanks to crush the Uprising of 1953) he kept Austrian nationality so he could get around the draconian East German restrictions on travel and currency exchange.
And he insisted on keeping the copyrights on his plays in a western (non-communist) country so he could get receive royalties from production in Western countries where the bourgeoisie paid good money to see them. Now that is having your cake and eating it too.
And he insisted on keeping the copyrights on his plays in a western (non-communist) country so he could get receive royalties from production in Western countries where the bourgeoisie paid good money to see them. Now that is having your cake and eating it too.
RepairmanJack
Member
Reading Under The Dome right now. I'm about 150 pages in and some of the writing is already driving me crazy. The rambling is sort of at an all time high in it. The first 5 sections seem to have to end with
or something of the like. Also
Also it seems like he is trying to force the characters dialogue, he somehow thinks that anyone that is in the police or are around them often abreviate everything they are common with. Do all cops really say FD instead of Fire Department? I doubt it. It's also apparently common speak to call a generator a gennie?
I'm honestly liking the story and it's very interesting, it's just small things like this that are just hard to read. I understand wanting to flesh out the world and add life to it, but the rambling gets annoying as it's just obvious King really isn't in touch with kids, or the times it seems.
'It was the last time he saw her alive'
if a character is going to die do I really need to hear about how she had a conversation with a little girl, that's not a character, about Bratz?
I'm honestly liking the story and it's very interesting, it's just small things like this that are just hard to read. I understand wanting to flesh out the world and add life to it, but the rambling gets annoying as it's just obvious King really isn't in touch with kids, or the times it seems.
Apple Sauce
Member
+
Some literary criticism on the text for an essay.
I've read the book before, I enjoy the concept of the novel but the prose is a bit too flowery for me to really get into it.
Edmond Dantès
Dantès the White
I'll be reading the following three books, in the next three weeks.
Edmond Dantès
Dantès the White
They're certainly in for a treat then. I just hope they're reading the unabridged version.Cyan said:
New to gaf, I figured the finer gentlemen will hang out here. Been reading a lot this month. Just got through this:
Poe really is a masterful short story creator. His writing can get cumbersome every now and then though. Really detested 'The Mystery of Marie Roguet'. Some of my favourites in the collection are 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The telltale heart" and 'Decent into the Maelstrom' from top of my head.
I'm about half way through
Really disappointed. There is some funny stuff here, but I was expecting a bit more razor sharp satire you get on the show. It's filled with silly humour however, so I'm taking a break from it. Been mostly reading it on the toilet for which it is perfect.
Finally I'm on page 103 of
This is my first Dawkins book. I really like his style of writing though he tends to go off on a tangent all too often. He also never seems to be able not to criticize religious people. I get it, you're an atheist. So am I, but it makes you look insecure if you throw jabs at them.
Poe really is a masterful short story creator. His writing can get cumbersome every now and then though. Really detested 'The Mystery of Marie Roguet'. Some of my favourites in the collection are 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The telltale heart" and 'Decent into the Maelstrom' from top of my head.
I'm about half way through
Really disappointed. There is some funny stuff here, but I was expecting a bit more razor sharp satire you get on the show. It's filled with silly humour however, so I'm taking a break from it. Been mostly reading it on the toilet for which it is perfect.
Finally I'm on page 103 of
This is my first Dawkins book. I really like his style of writing though he tends to go off on a tangent all too often. He also never seems to be able not to criticize religious people. I get it, you're an atheist. So am I, but it makes you look insecure if you throw jabs at them.
Eaten By A Grue
Member
Finally finished after on and off reading for two months:
Can someone explain something to me about the ending of the Terror?
ENDING SPOILERS
Now I am joining the GAF collective and am starting:
Can someone explain something to me about the ending of the Terror?
ENDING SPOILERS
At the end, was it Hickey that was in The Terror? He somehow made it back to the ship then sailed for 200 miles, sealed himself in, and then died?
Now I am joining the GAF collective and am starting:
Has anyone read this book?:
I read it a few months ago and posted it and didn't really get any feedback. I read it mostly because Broks guests on Radiolab all the time and I always found him really interesting. To anyone who has read it, are there any other books similar to this? I tried reading The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks but I just didn't like Sacks' writing style nearly as well as Broks. Sacks was much more clinical, while Broks got almost philosophical with his book.
Anyway, if no one has read it, I highly recommend it if you're into neuroscience type stuff at all, not at all a difficult read either, so don't let that it's about neuroscience turn you off.
I read it a few months ago and posted it and didn't really get any feedback. I read it mostly because Broks guests on Radiolab all the time and I always found him really interesting. To anyone who has read it, are there any other books similar to this? I tried reading The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks but I just didn't like Sacks' writing style nearly as well as Broks. Sacks was much more clinical, while Broks got almost philosophical with his book.
Anyway, if no one has read it, I highly recommend it if you're into neuroscience type stuff at all, not at all a difficult read either, so don't let that it's about neuroscience turn you off.
recently finished:
William Gibson - Neuromancer
Guillermo del Toro - The Strain
Robert J. Sawyer - Calculating God
I enjoyed Neuromancer quite a bit, The Strain, though, wasn't anything special. Not bad, by any means, but, yeah. Calculating God was interesting. Not much happens, mostly conversation, but interesting all the same. I also started House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski a couple days ago.
William Gibson - Neuromancer
Guillermo del Toro - The Strain
Robert J. Sawyer - Calculating God
I enjoyed Neuromancer quite a bit, The Strain, though, wasn't anything special. Not bad, by any means, but, yeah. Calculating God was interesting. Not much happens, mostly conversation, but interesting all the same. I also started House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski a couple days ago.
ncsuDuncan
Member
Had to read that in college. Not bad for required material.Norwegian Wood said:
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
So I started to read The Hangman's Daughter but I ended up getting sidetracked by L.A. Confidential.
I started to read the Ellroy's L.A. Quartet books back in High School after seeing L.A. Confidential, the film. I got through the first two books (Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere) with the intent to read this afterward but I never got around to it. Flash forward, to this past weekend I decided to pick it up again after getting hyped up for L.A. Noire. I'm almost halfway through and I cannot put it down. I think I may have had Ellroy fatigue in High School and that's the reason why I didn't bother to read it then but I wish I had.
While reading through this book it makes me appreciate just how good the film version was. The book is the definition of unfilmable. There is just too much to information to convey to the viewer in a reasonable amount of time. The film version did leave a ton out but it was still a compelling and full movie.
I might move on to White Jazz afterwards just to finish up the Quartet.
I started to read the Ellroy's L.A. Quartet books back in High School after seeing L.A. Confidential, the film. I got through the first two books (Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere) with the intent to read this afterward but I never got around to it. Flash forward, to this past weekend I decided to pick it up again after getting hyped up for L.A. Noire. I'm almost halfway through and I cannot put it down. I think I may have had Ellroy fatigue in High School and that's the reason why I didn't bother to read it then but I wish I had.
While reading through this book it makes me appreciate just how good the film version was. The book is the definition of unfilmable. There is just too much to information to convey to the viewer in a reasonable amount of time. The film version did leave a ton out but it was still a compelling and full movie.
I might move on to White Jazz afterwards just to finish up the Quartet.
Like the first, I enjoyed the novel well enough, but I was not impressed by it very much. While it is nice to see Rothfuss actually expand upon Kvothe's character, I am disappointed with how heavy-handed he is.
Almost finished with this. Meh.
I may appreciate it more on a second read when I am not rushing through all the authors existential ponderings, but I am under-whelmed overall.
mentalfloss
Banned
Really entertaining book that matches with logically sound arguments. Breaks down all sects of science and comments on contentious current issues as well.
In GAF-speak, this is like a book written by Mordin, but with pronouns.
sparky2112
Member
Hopefully this isn't a vicious rumor, but rumblings were that Rothfuss is going to debut at No. 1 on the NYT bestseller list. You KNOW Martin will, but for a fantasy authors SECOND book?!? Nutty...
Good for him. I'm not going to buy the book, but oh well. It was doing well on Amazon rankings, the last I checked.sparky2112 said:
I took a break from all the manga and the depressing WWII book about Russian people dying like pigs and started this last night:
It's... competent. One bonus was that, despite the hefty page-count, the typeset is large and the prose swims along well enough that it was a speedy read. It took me about three hours total to finish. (Candalbra's shift from protector to lover was dumb and I skimmed all the lovey-dovey scenes between her and Hermogenes later on, which helped.)
It was nice reading something with a happy ending for once, however.