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[N0VAM0D]

I know I don't post in these threads too often, but I really love looking through them. Last time I was posting I had begun to read Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Ended up liking it for the most part, with some things that bothered me here and there. I moved straight on to the next book, and stopped at around 40 pages, and haven't picked it up since, unfortunately. I've been so much more busy lately, and when I can finally stop and catch a breath, I feel so guilty if I just sit down and pick up a book. I wish I didn't. The strange part is how I'm so okay with sitting on my arse doing nothing on my laptop instead. Has anyone been through anything similar?

 

[Trey]

I finished this last night and slept on my thoughts. It took me a little longer than usual for me to finish a novel as short as this - mostly due to having to acclimate to the flowery prose and reconciling what the book was with what I thought it was going to be. After I squared those particular hurdles, things went smoothly.

After reading through it all, I took to some exploratory research. I found out that this particular book started life as a novella titled "Baby Is Three", which is still in More than Human whole as the second part of three. My first bit of praise would be that the additional parts are not lacking with respect to the original novella. Indeed, my favorite part is actually the first, though all three parts complement each other well to produce a fine story in sum. Which is a fun coincidence considering the topic of the book.

It's a book full of exceptional people trying to find themselves, and subsequently, their purpose. it's all tied up a bit too neatly by the final page. But it builds up a few themes and sticks to them through the end, despite constant trips into melancholy. It's sort of a challenge to get a grip on whose perspective the book has switched to and when, but you get a knack for it by the middle of the book. Eventually names and pronouns will be said to help you along, but you might need to reread a passage or three to get your wits about it all.

I took on this read due to its recommendation based on my enjoyment of Flowers for Algernon. It's a different beast entirely, despite sharing a few things. I liked both.

 

[BOND CO STOOGE]

I know I don't post in these threads too often, but I really love looking through them. Last time I was posting I had begun to read Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Ended up liking it for the most part, with some things that bothered me here and there. I moved straight on to the next book, and stopped at around 40 pages, and haven't picked it up since, unfortunately. I've been so much more busy lately, and when I can finally stop and catch a breath, I feel so guilty if I just sit down and pick up a book. I wish I didn't. The strange part is how I'm so okay with sitting on my arse doing nothing on my laptop instead. Has anyone been through anything similar?

I'm in a similar boat. I powered through "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained." Then I picked up another book by the same author, and I haven't gotten very far over the past month or so. I've been so busy with work and at home that I just can't find the time to do any dedicated reading. When I do have downtime I tend to spend it reading GAF, facebook, or news sites.

 

[N0VAM0D]

I'm in a similar boat. I powered through "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained." Then I picked up another book by the same author, and I haven't gotten very far over the past month or so. I've been so busy with work and at home that I just can't find the time to do any dedicated reading. When I do have downtime I tend to spend it reading GAF, facebook, or news sites.

We live with a curse :<

 

[BOND CO STOOGE]

We live with a curse :<

I guess so. I have a habit of marathoning media. I'll watch several seasons of tv shows back to back, listen to several weeks of podcasts, and read a book series to completion over a short period of time. After finishing anything I'm then burned out for a while. I just can't seem to pace myself. I don't know if that's your situation as well.

I'm trying to mix it up a little. I've been working through the Discworld books since my daughter was born last year. I read the first seven or eight books in a couple of weeks, as I was up all night with the newborn. Since then, I'll add the next book into my rotation between starting new series. I don't seem to be reading many stand alone titles these days.

 

[ShaneB]

Finished 'The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving" on the weekend, and that it was decent. Liked it enough to really speed through it, but feels fairly forgettable. No hidden gem there in my opinion, also committed a pet peeve of mine, giving teenagers terrible teenager dialogue.

Couldn't decide what to read next or what I was in the mood for, but was at Chapters yesterday browsing, and this was in the bargain section, so I decided this will be next...

The Son by Philipp Meyer

 

[sparky2112]

Couldn't decide what to read next or what I was in the mood for, but was at Chapters yesterday browsing, and this was in the bargain section, so I decided this will be next...

The Son by Philipp Meyer

It's supposedly very good, so that's a sound choice. It's in my ridiculously large Kindle library...

 

[Bazza]

Literally just finished this, Have to say the US government in this series are complete dicks

Spoiler

Heather Kerkonen better return in a later book and not evil either, really liked the character and was looking forward to her joining up with MHI.

It was a little bit weird at first as I was fully expecting the story to pick up where the last book left off and not a book just for Earl.

Looking forward to the next.

 

[ShaneB]

It's supposedly very good, so that's a sound choice. It's in my ridiculously large Kindle library...

Just a couple chapters in and certainly seems like something I will really like.

 

[obin_gam]

Finished Authority now.
It was boring and uninteresting from start to finish.
What the hell happened?

 

[StrongArmSteady]

Finished Authority now.
It was boring and uninteresting from start to finish.
What the hell happened?

Might aswell finish off the trilogy now...

 

[Haly]

Finished Authority now.
It was boring and uninteresting from start to finish.
What the hell happened?

It's very much a YMMV thing. Some (probably most) people wanted more Biologist. Others appreciated seeing things from the "other side" through Control. Also lets him sidestep the second-in-a-trilogy curse of not being to finish the plot thread started in the first book, while leaving enough stuff for the third book.

 

[Meteorain]

I put Endymion on hold after Hyperion and Hyperion falls and got onto these 2 books:

and

Man. I am hooked. Read them both in 2 days, was so hooked I was even reading at work (a lot of downtime!). I need the third book so bad right now, but it's not out till Jan 2016

I really despise waiting....

 

[Incandenza]

Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson

I really like the new setting and the new characters seem pretty great. I've heard a lot of hype about Tehol and Bugg and I can see why. I will say that Erikson really cranked the anthropological philosophizing up to eleven on this one. Some of it's really good, but sometimes it's borderline inscrutable. I'm gonna post a big passage here but I think it gives a good picture of what it's like to read this series sometimes:

Shadows crept out from the forest. The moon had risen, prison world to Menandore's true father, who was trapped within it. Father Shadow's ancient battles had made this world, shaped it in so many ways. Scabandari Bloodeye, stalwart defender against the fanatic servants of implacable certitude, whether that certitude blazed blinding white, or was the all-swallowing black. The defeats he had delivered – the burying of Brother Dark and the imprisonment of Brother Light there in that distant, latticed world in the sky – were both gifts, and not just to the Edur but to all who were born and lived only to one day die.

The gifts of freedom, a will unchained unless one affixed upon oneself such chains – the crowding host's uncountable, ever-rattling offers, each whispering promises of salvation against confusion – and wore them like armour.

Trull Sengar saw chains upon the Letherii. He saw the impenetrable net which bound them, the links of reasoning woven together into a chaotic mass where no beginning and no end could be found. He understood why they worshipped an empty throne. And he knew the manner in which they would justify all that they did. Progress was necessity, growth was gain. Reciprocity belonged to fools and debt was the binding force of all nature, of every people and every civilization. Debt was its own language, within which were used words like negotiation, compensation and justification, and legality was a skein of duplicity that blinded the eyes of justice.

An empty throne. Atop a mountain of gold coins.

Father Shadow had sought a world wherein uncertainty could work its insidious poison against those who chose intransigence as their weapon – with which they held wisdom at bay. Where every fortress eventually crumbled from within, from the very weight of those chains that exerted so inflexible an embrace.

In his mind he argued with that ghost – the Betrayer. The one who sought to murder Scabandari Bloodeye all those thousands of years ago. He argued that every certainty is an empty throne. That those who knew but one path would come to worship it, even as it led to a cliff's edge. He argued, and in the silence of that ghost's indifference to his words he came to realize that he himself spoke – fierce with heat – from the foot of an empty throne. Scabandari Bloodye has never made that world. He had vanished in this one, lost on a path no-one else could follow.

Pages and pages of this stuff. I've grown to like it. It's incredibly dense, but that fact alone separates it from the vast majority of other fantasy out there. Not just in the prose but in the bottomless lore. And this is only the halfway point.

 

[Cade]

I wonder how many people out there didn't like Authority and thus didn't read Acceptance? Probably a fair few. I weep for them, Acceptance is much closer to Annihilation. ;_;

 

[bengraven]

I love Pratchett quite a bit, but I don't remember laughing so hard OUT LOUD as I have during this:

Apparently there are a ton of covers, but I got the second worst cover that exists. (this is the first, on the right)

Edit: actually, after a Google search, half the covers are pure shit, the other half are pretty decent.

 

[Cade]

(this is the first, on the right)

Cormac McCarthy's Guards, Guards!

 

[hythloday]

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

This took me a month to get through, because I took a break from reading for a bit. It was kind of rough, though. The pacing was kind of slow, and I wasn't really enjoying it until about 60% in when actual things began to happen.

Spoiler

And man will Fitz ever get a break? Every time I see him have something good happen, I think "Well that's going to die/get taken away/get ruined soon."

 

[Atraveller]

^I quit the series after the first book.

Finished Do Android Dream of Elegric Sheep?, I like Philip's writing style, but I prefer the film adaption. Now on to the second Mistborn novel.

 

[Mumei]

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

This took me a month to get through, because I took a break from reading for a bit. It was kind of rough, though. The pacing was kind of slow, and I wasn't really enjoying it until about 60% in when actual things began to happen.

Spoiler

And man will Fitz ever get a break? Every time I see him have something good happen, I think "Well that's going to die/get taken away/get ruined soon."

No. No, he won't.

 

[Piecake]

Two other courses I listened to, How We Learn and Your Best Brain, mentioned the tremendous benefits of mindfulness, so I just had to check it out. It is really quite interesting so far and the scientific evidence to back up the numerous benefits seem very compelling. I think I will start doing the exercises this weekend (super busy right now).

While it sounds like everyone can benefit from this, going by that recent self-concept thread it seems like there are quite a few on GAF who might benefit greatly from looking into this.

 

[obin_gam]

Might aswell finish off the trilogy now...

I have the audio book from audible that collects all three in one file (3 books for the cost of one, basically)

It's very much a YMMV thing. Some (probably most) people wanted more Biologist. Others appreciated seeing things from the "other side" through Control. Also lets him sidestep the second-in-a-trilogy curse of not being to finish the plot thread started in the first book, while leaving enough stuff for the third book.

Yeah I get what he wanted to do, and I appreciate the effort. The concept is fine, the writing is what ruins it. The first one had a pace and urgency that kept you going, this one grinds to a halt immediately and never recovers the pace. I have heard the third one takes place once again in Area X so I hope that with that, the pace will be picked up.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Is Child of God by Mccarthy worth reading?

Only read The Road from him and I'm saving Blood Meridian for another time, but Child of God has an interesting title.

Also, what about the rest of his books? I guess what I'm really asking is if anyone who's read a lot of his work could rank them please. Gracias

 

[Nappuccino]

Is Child of God by Mccarthy worth reading?

Only read The Road from him and I'm saving Blood Meridian for another time, but Child of God has an interesting title.

Also, what about the rest of his books? I guess what I'm really asking is if anyone who's read a lot of his work could rank them please. Gracias

I had this to say in an older thread.

Reading McCarthy's Child of God. His voice is slowly growing on me, but when every other chapter is an overt metaphor for his protagonist/protagonist's future, I feel like he doesn't trust me as a reader to pick up what he's putting on the page. It's a little disappointing, but I guess this was one of his early works.

***

So i finished it and . . . I feel a lot of nothing. I don't feel like I was particularly disturbed by Ballard or was I sympathetic. I know part of the novel's theme was that lots of ppl are terrible people, but it also didn't seem like McCarthy had anything to say beyond that. I also had a hard time visualizing the novel. McCarthy's word choice was spot on and grimy, but as far as actual descriptions go, I was left wanting.

It's interesting seeing the Franco adaptation being criticized for not having anything to say on the topic when that's exactly how I feel about the original. Oh well, the 38 pages I've read of Blood Meridian are already so much better that it's pretty clear this was more of a stop-gap for McCarthy

 

[Cade]

Read No Country for Old Men instead Swag. Cannot go wrong.

 

[Nappuccino]

Read No Country for Old Men instead Swag. Cannot go wrong.

I would agree with that.

 

[Jintor]

Just finished A Slip Of The Keyboard, PTerry's assorted non-fiction writing. It's very good. I highly recommend it.

Nothing interesting on Amazon daily/monthly kindle deals this month, sigh. Might have to look for actual recommendations

 

[H.Protagonist]

I love Pratchett quite a bit, but I don't remember laughing so hard OUT LOUD as I have during this:



Apparently there are a ton of covers, but I got the second worst cover that exists. (this is the first, on the right)

Edit: actually, after a Google search, half the covers are pure shit, the other half are pretty decent.

Have you read Thud! yet? I love all the stuff revolving around Vimes.

No. No, he won't.

Can't believe you rated #3 so high. -_-

 

[Nymerio]

Finished the Riyria Revelations books. For something that is that straight forward I ended up enjoying them immensely.

 

[O.DOGG]

I finished Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning collection. I enjoyed some short stories more than others, as can be expected with a few of them being superb. I'm especially excited about

Spoiler

the prospect of a new book in the American Gods universe

, which was implied in the Introduction to Black Dog.

Thinking of moving on to James Clavell's King Rat. People tell me it's a classic, maybe I should finally see for myself.

 

[Mumei]

Can't believe you rated #3 so high. -_-

I quite enjoyed it.

 

[H.Protagonist]

I quite enjoyed it.

 

[Mumei]

I just noticed that you haven't rated it.

 

[Krowley]

Is Child of God by Mccarthy worth reading?

Only read The Road from him and I'm saving Blood Meridian for another time, but Child of God has an interesting title.

Also, what about the rest of his books? I guess what I'm really asking is if anyone who's read a lot of his work could rank them please. Gracias

I thought Child of God was great. Certainly a lot better than No Country for Old Men.

As for ranking his works, I haven't read them all, but so far:

1. The Road
2. Child of God
3. Blood Meridian
4. No Country for Old Men

I enjoyed all four, but No Country was by far the weakest. I could see Blood Meridian growing on me and rising a notch with future rereads.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Finished Fire & Ice: Soot, Solidarity and Survival on the roof of the world. Didnt know it was the #1 in Environmental Studies on AMZN.

Fire and Ice is a great story/nonfiction book following a select group of people in the Zanskari region as they adapt to the swiftly changing conditions with their only source of water over the decades of increasing temperature. The book is a mix of a biographical narrative of the people living in Kumik over several years as they adapt to increased drought conditions and the movement of their village to a better location. Over the 400 or so pages, I came to become heavily invested in the individuals lives as they adapted to this conditions. Many characters definitely grow on the reader over the course of the book. I enjoyed the bits of comedy placed in it too. I always cracked up when they teased the writer about if he cooks like they do or can work like they do, or even their own ironic comments like "kha kumik, chu shila" (the snow falls above kumik, but the water goes to shila"). This comment stood out even more when he did go to Shila and they had a waterfall, and even could wash clothes and such in their rivers. Unbelievable. the deep insight included in the book as well was intriguing. Specifically seeing over the course of the narrative portion, the community working together to move the village or even wanting to go to a more harnessing the sun type of mindset, or ultimately, wanting to do things that arent so smoky. It seems many of the villagers came to grow to enjoy the writers presence and even confided some secrets in him to explain at least some of the villagers concerns over one another or even just the state of things.

Beyond the story of Kumik we even got to see several explanations for why their glacier was decreasing. The story of climate change in the world has always focused on the issue of Carbon Dioxide but it seems this Black Carbon issue that is detailed here, is a more pressing concern. We were able to see how cooking methods of people in rural India and China affects their local climate and even climate issues as far as the Western American soil and the Artic. Several moments were spent on showing how things could change for the better if people invested in methods to get these people away from cooking with very dirty stoves, or even decreasing burning of crops at the end of the season, both huge contributors of black carbon. And for people worldwide there was even great detail spent on suggesting that everywhere could benefit from moving to cleaner forms of diesel or using a filter for it.

I could go on and on about all the various aspects to things that need to change but the book does a great detail of covering this. It is a very fascinating topic and covered in great and enjoyable detail. Many of the interviews gathered from startups interested in making a change in rural countries from either using cleaner stoves for the people, moving away from heating homes with dung, or even moving towards getting them connected to the grip for electricity, makes it a book that is very relevant for the times.

 

[sparky2112]

I thought Child of God was great. Certainly a lot better than No Country for Old Men.

As for ranking his works, I haven't read them all, but so far:

1. The Road
2. Child of God
3. Blood Meridian
4. No Country for Old Men

I enjoyed all four, but No Country was by far the weakest. I could see Blood Meridian growing on me and rising a notch with future rereads.

Three of those four are talked about all the time in these threads. I don't get why All the Pretty Horses doesn't get more love...

 

[hEist]

Read the Maze Runner Series. Some times good, some times bit boring.
Also read The Science of Interstellar. Really interesting.

Right now i'm starting to read book 4 of the Sebastian Bergman series by Hjorth&Rosenfeldt . Enjoyed the first 3 books.

 

[sparky2112]

Also read The Science of Interstellar. Really interesting.

I so need to order this. I've picked it up a few times and flipped through it at the bookstore, and it looks really good - lots of illustrations, etc.

 

[bengraven]

Have you read Thud! yet? I love all the stuff revolving around Vimes.

Can't believe you rated #3 so high. -_-

I haven't read any of the Guards books yet! I thought this was the first, but I guess they're stand alone enough that it won't matter. I read the Witches books years ago and most of the Rincewind and Death books, so I wanted to start another of the "mini-series".

No. No, he won't.

If life is a washing machine, Fitz is a priceless vase put in there by an emotionally disturbed man.


As for #3, I loved it, but not as much as the first book. I think with Hobb I end up loving the first and last books - but in fairness that's usually with every trilogy, starting with LOTR.

I fell in love with her writing and characters so deeply that I can't not 5 everything up to Fool's Assassin, which was my first 4.

 

[A Fish Aficionado]

Two other courses I listened to, How We Learn and Your Best Brain, mentioned the tremendous benefits of mindfulness, so I just had to check it out. It is really quite interesting so far and the scientific evidence to back up the numerous benefits seem very compelling. I think I will start doing the exercises this weekend (super busy right now).

While it sounds like everyone can benefit from this, going by that recent self-concept thread it seems like there are quite a few on GAF who might benefit greatly from looking into this.

This is of interest to me. Will check out.

I had this to say in an older thread.

Yup. To me it reads just like a chapter out of Suttree. Without any overlying concept, it just feels empty. Like, when I was finished I went, "well, there's that."

 

[Mr.Swag]

I love the film for No Country, hmmm, I might just have to read it as well.

 

[Atraveller]

Read the Maze Runner Series. Some times good, some times bit boring.
Also read The Science of Interstellar. Really interesting.

Right now i'm starting to read book 4 of the Sebastian Bergman series by Hjorth&Rosenfeldt . Enjoyed the first 3 books.

I was lost when I got to the chapter about the tesseract and its visual representation, too much for my brain to comprehend.

 

[The Shadow]

Me and my wife were slogging through Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norvell. We both decided to shelve it for now and read:

She's already read it but it's fresh for me. I'm only 1.5 chapters in but it seems promising.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Read "Fade to Black" awhile ago. No fond/bad memories, but then I saw there were two other books so I read it again. It's about pain mages, or people who can only use magic if pain is involved. The good guys hurt themselves, the bad guys hurt anyone. Kind of predictable.

I started the second book last night and made it halfway through the book in only two hours. Is it just that good? Not really. It's just an easy read (apparently the entire trilogy was released in one year, which doesn't bode well for quality) and sometimes it's just a lot of repeated themes. "Oh, I love her but she doesn't like me. Let me expound on that for two or three paragraphs every time I see her." "I love women but I always have bad relationships, let me tell you the ways I've sabotaged myself every time I see any female." Ugh.

Oh, and do you hate organized religion? You'd better because all it gets in this series is hate. If you're even a little bit faithful the main character thinks you're weak.

I'm reading because I'm finishing the trilogy; I hope it gets better.

 

[nemesun]

It's been a while since the last time I posted in one of these threads.

I finished reading:

It's utterly hilarious and downright eerie how similar the stories and settings were to my own HS days in Ipswich. Great book. 4 macaronis out of 5.

Next stop:

 

[SniperHunter]

is kindle unlimited worth it? I just got a kindle paperwhite this week.

Let the reading begin!

 

[Mr.Swag]

is kindle unlimited worth it? I just got a kindle paperwhite this week.

Let the reading begin!

Just do the free 30 days, should be enough time to read the good books on there.

 

[Mumei]

Next stop:

Ooh. That's a treat.

 

[nemesun]

Ooh. That's a treat.

50 pages in, liking it very much. Reckon, I will finish it by the week's end.

 

[Necrovex]

Decided my next book will be Flash Boy. I loved The Big Short, so I expect to adore Lewis's newer book on Wall Street.