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[eznark]

this is a what are you *reading* thread hence my issue with posting audio books that you are *listening* to

Knowing you, I figured you were just taking exception to the impure medium.

 

[VistraNorrez]

this is a what are you *reading* thread hence my issue with posting audio books that you are *listening* to

That is silly. The thread is really about books, not the actual act of reading. Because if that were the case one could argue against comic books, or for subtitled films (they both require the same amount of reading). Or you could include websites, or magazines.

 

[Blackface]

Anyone ever read "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms?"

If so, any good?

 

[Dresden]

Finished:

Enjoyed it, a lot. It was much better than The Warded Man, which I read right before this one.

Don't know what to read now. I think I'll hit up Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, since I enjoyed his Soldier of the Great War a few years back.

 

[suzu]

Reading The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb.

Anyone ever read "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms?"

If so, any good?

The world & culture building is interesting. The characters are all right... latter half of the book is when everything goes crappy. It starts sounding like mary-sue fanfiction. The writing is easy to read. Felt like the whole thing could have been a lot better. Overall, I guess it was okay.

 

[aidan]

Anyone ever read "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms?"

If so, any good?

My review. It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed it.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

The Habit of Being: The Collected Letters of Flannery O'Connor along with her Collected Stories. I honestly enjoy her letters more than her fiction. I remember having to read a couple shorts in high school, and I went back to some that she is working on during certain periods, along with reading Wise Blood. I feel as though her fiction doesn't represent the wonderful character that comes through the letters. I don't believe that was her goal as a writer (she states as much) but I still was disappointed.

Also, in a Southern writer vein, I picked up a couple books by William Gay.

I also read Saving God: Religion after Idolatry by Mark Johnston which is a fascinating defense of panentheism. I don't know why I'm fascinated by understanding the language of religious faith, since I seem to lack the inner component of belief. I can't feel a raging contempt that is popular on the 'net despite thinking there is also something profoundly incomplete and desperate with religion.

On a lighter note I also just started Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. This is the sort of book I often avoid like the plague (big, thick genre book dedicated over several volumes), but I have to admit it's extremely readable. It's futuristic in an intriguing way, filled with little subplots and details, and somehow avoids characters that are complete cardboard cut outs. I'm only about 50 pages in, though.

Can anyone recommend a modern spy/thriller book that is written above the level of say..a Tom Clancy? Light, action packed fare is fine.

 

[Lo-Volt]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, the story of a Catholic monastic order as it tries to protect human knowledge in the long aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse.

The story of an American air corpsman as he struggles to survive his experience in the Philippines and Japan as a prisoner of war, along with snapshots of his life before joining the military.

 

[Maklershed]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, the story of a Catholic monastic order as it tries to protect human knowledge in the long aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse.

Fantastic book. I loved it. I'm on the fence about the sequel though as it seems to have been partially written by someone else.

 

[Costanza]

 

[Gilgamesh]

A Game of Thrones and lots of comic books.

 

[demon]

Now that I've finished A Confederacy of Dunces (awesome book), I pulled this off the unread section of my shelf and am about to start it:

anyone here read this?

 

[elwes]

Just bought this. Gonna start it soon.

 

[Nymerio]

Awesome cover. Is the book any good?

 

[norinrad]

Currently trying to finish the picture of Dorian Grey

 

[HiroProtagonist]

Reading:

I completely forgot that was coming out. How is it?

I'm reading:

 

[Mael]

Deaf sentence by Lodge
and then I'll go on Rabbit is rich by updike

 

[averroes]

Ah, new thread.

I've recently rekindled my interest in learning more about the Illuminati...is it worth checking out?

 

[Costanza]

Awesome cover. Is the book any good?

yup, i'm really liking it so far. very fresh take on zombies.

 

[Beowulf28]

I kind of like it but the extreme right wing slant is really hampering my enjoyment.

 

[Foxix Von]

Would currently be finishing this up.

However my mom thought it was good and decided to snag it from me till she's done with it :lol

So I'm currently reading this instead.

In all honesty I'm a slow reader and yet I'm absolutely tearing through this book. Really fun read in a melancholy sort of way. Was sort of taken aback at the "multitude" of uses her key hole exhibits but I'm loving this thing.

 

[xxracerxx]

Can anyone recommend me some great Samurai fiction books, or non-fiction if there are any you really recommend.

Thanks so much

 

[ElectricBlue187]

it's really good so far

 

[MaizeRage25]

Finished The Girl Who Played with Fire while on Jury Duty.

Now almost done with How I Became a Famous Novelist.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Can anyone recommend me some great Samurai fiction books, or non-fiction if there are any you really recommend.

Thanks so much

Musashi by Yoshikawa is a fun read. I feel as though I have to recommend it.

You could also read The Book of the Five Rings by Musashi, a worthwhile experience.

 

[xxracerxx]

I have seen (own and love) all the films so I must read the book if you recommend it.

Please keep them coming.

 

[Dresden]

After trying to read it for an hour, I'm dropping Winter's Tale:

I really like his other novel, Soldier of the Great War, but this one doesn't interest me at all. Maybe I'll come back to it a year from now.

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

Would currently be finishing this up.

However my mom thought it was good and decided to snag it from me till she's done with it :lol

So I'm currently reading this instead.

In all honesty I'm a slow reader and yet I'm absolutely tearing through this book. Really fun read in a melancholy sort of way. Was sort of taken aback at the "multitude" of uses her key hole exhibits but I'm loving this thing.

I have been thinking about picking up Tokyo vice how is it?

 

[Salazar]

Toll The Hounds, by Steven Erikson.

Quite liking it. The previous book, Reaper's Gale, was awfully long but it did finish with an almighty bang and whoosh, which has given me a bit of enthusiasm in beginning this one.

City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London, by Vic Gatrell.

Gorgeous scholarly history of lewd prints, codified politeness, and so on. Wonderfully dirty pics.

The Portable Dorothy Parker, by D. Parker.

Haven't started it yet. I have most of what is in it already, but it is a beautiful edition - with Chris Ware-ish cartoons on the cover.

 

[Foxix Von]

I have been thinking about picking up Tokyo vice how is it?

Definitely good, a lot funnier than I was expecting. Not a challenging read by any means just a lot of fun with some nifty cultural tidbits. Highly recommended. Wish I could just finish the darn thing :lol

 

[Captain Howdy]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, the story of a Catholic monastic order as it tries to protect human knowledge in the long aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse.

One of my history professors credits this as being the first post-apocalyptic story, or at least kicking off the genre and paving the way for things like A Boy and His Dog, Road Warrior, and Book of Eli, etc.
Makes me want to check it out.

The story of an American air corpsman as he struggles to survive his experience in the Philippines and Japan as a prisoner of war, along with snapshots of his life before joining the military.

How are you liking this? It seems really interesting, I'll probably look into this one also.

 

[Drewsky]

Just bought this. Gonna start it soon.

I'd be interested in knowing what you thought about it. I read the God Delusion but have been looking to read one of his other books. Thought about picking up this one but never pulled the trigger.

I'm reading A Game of Thrones on GAF's recommendation. About a third of the way through, liking it so far. It's also the first book I'm reading on my new Kindle so I might as well tell you I'm 35% done.

 

[Wellington]

Been reading:

zzzZZZzzz

Unless you're really into the 48 Laws of Power and 50 Cent, skip it. A lot of the writing is actually pretty bad. You can tell the audience that they are catering to.

 

[Wellington]

Fantastic so far and not what I expected.

This actually looks pretty amazing. I will make sure to pick it up once I kill my current backlog.

 

[shuyin_]

Currently reading 'A Fire Upon the Deep' by Vernor Vinge. I'm halfway through and i kind of lost my interest in it.

 

[GameplayWhore]

One of my history professors credits [A Canticle for Leibowitz] as being the first post-apocalyptic story, or at least kicking off the genre and paving the way for things like A Boy and His Dog, Road Warrior, and Book of Eli, etc.
Makes me want to check it out.

It's a bit different, lacking some of the more modern post-apocalyptic tropes, but I'd recommend Earth Abides, which predates it by about a decade. I absolutely loved it.

As for this month, I (disclaimer: audiobooks) started with the Nantucket trilogy, by S.M. Stirling, which I started late last month and finished early this month. It's a great fictional exploration into ancient history, circa 1250BC, bogged down a bit by a focus on war stories. It would have been a lot more interesting had it focused much more on the culture shock aspect of the story, but I think I'll remember it as one of the better alternate history stories, up there with Turtledove at least.

Then I breezed through Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. It paled in comparison to earlier fare in the docu-horror (or whatever it is) genre, like The Zombie Survival Guide", but it felt respectful to the source material, and often I couldn't tell which parts came from history and which came from the story (well, except until the fictional parts started talking about vampires), as the journal styles between Lincoln in his own pen and Lincoln as written by the author's pen seemed damned similar. But I got a bit eyerolly at the incredible amount of coincidence regarding

Spoiler

the relatively rare and isolated vampires constantly popping up in his face -- seriously, one killed his grandfather, another killed his mother, his best friend's father was killed by one, his girlfriend's fiancé randomly turned out to be one, he randomly saw them hopping across rivers in public view, he randomly bumps into a fellow on the street who's good friends with one.... Honestly, it seems like vampires are more common than the common cold, except the book says they'e not.

It makes a lot more sense when he goes into politics (and the story gets better as it goes on, I should say)

Spoiler

, where the vampires are actively influencing everything and it's natural to encounter them, but it was all a bit to swallow early on, when there were no connections between any of the vampires who affected him.

Right now, I'm hearing The Accidental Sorceror, by Karen Miller. It's very British so far.

 

[Finn]

I love Michael J. Fox. He can do no wrong in my eyes. Just finished this:

I don't usually read "funny" books, but this one was absolutely terrific. I loved each and every character and, at the end, I felt as though they were a part of me. So good:

 

[S. L.]

it's really good so far

Spin is absolutely amazing, one of my favorite Sci-Fi. unlike the absolutely skippable sequel

 

[Musashi Wins!]

It's a bit different, lacking some of the more modern post-apocalyptic tropes, but I'd recommend Earth Abides, which predates it by about a decade. I absolutely loved it.

Yea, I was thinking Earth Abides must be first. I loved that book too. Canticle is arguably more speculative and influential to more literary genre books. I'd read both!

 

[DesertEater]

Check out another book by Murakami, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". It's a great look into the his mindset and a quasi-autobiography. As a runner myself I enjoyed his anecdotes about training for marathons and triathlons. Murakami's views on the different places he seems to spend his time (Japan, Hawaii, Boston) are interesting as well.

Im not really into running, though.
would you recommend any of his other books ?

 

[Lafiel]

Finished - Burning for revenge. (tomorrow series, book 5) by John marsden - Fantastic, really eager to read the next two in the series. But it's going haft to be put on hold for.

Now Reading - Proven guilty (Dresden files, book 8) by Jim Butcher - 200 pages read so far, as usual with every dresden book, incredibly entertaining.

Im not really into running, though.
would you recommend any of his other books ?

Yep, you can't go wrong with murakami, check out some of his more surreal and weird stuff like hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world. (my favorite murakami) the wind up bird chronicle, kafka on the shore. Or his short story collections like the elephant vanishs and blind willow, sleeping woman.

 

[thomaser]

Finished Kehlmann's Measuring the World, which was excellent! Really enjoyed it. After that, read Ghosts, a play by Ibsen. Also good, but I prefer his earlier, out-there plays like Peer Gynt.

Now, I've just started A Raw Youth (or The Adolescent, depending on the English translation) by Dostoyevsky.

 

[terrdactycalsrock]

Definitely good, a lot funnier than I was expecting. Not a challenging read by any means just a lot of fun with some nifty cultural tidbits. Highly recommended. Wish I could just finish the darn thing :lol

lol sounds good because i just finished a really serous read ( the road ) and was looking for a fun read

 

[m3k]

Finishing tonight:

I am taking a Children's Lit course over the summer which focuses on Harry Potter, so I have to read all seven books and the short novel in six weeks. Getting a start on them now. I forgot how good Rowling is at crafting a story, even if her writing in this one is a bit flawed in certain parts. Such a fun, whimsical story, though. Next up: Book 2.

i read them ages ago and had to skim through them in my uni childrens lit course... interesting subject childrens lit although some of it i find a tad academically stupid, still have fun though i thought the first few were better... but the last two were good even though the editor should have been shot past book 3

im reading this

its a princess who wrote about her father, the emperor of western rome circa 1100... largely because it is a different perspective on crusaders and popes, goths, gauls, turks... it may also be the first history written by a woman that survives today as well as one of the only histories of the middle ages, let alone by a woman

andddddd im also reading this

i liked franks use of perspective and obviously black and white imagery from the first book

 

[TheFatOne]

Just finished Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson. His last couple of books were incredibly boring, and this one is the worst of them. 800 pages with only about 200 pages worth reading. I think I am just done with this series.

 

[sparky2112]

1/3 of the way through this, and I'm absolutely loving it:

 

[aidan]

Just finished Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson. His last couple of books were incredible boring, and this one is the worst of them. 800 pages with only about 200 pages worth reading. I think I am just done with this series.

You know there's only one left, right?

 

[Atramental]

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

I decided to give this book a try after seeing it posted in another thread here on Gaf. I'm enjoying it a bunch.

 

[Coeliacus]

Song of Fire and Ice... starting reading it because of the gaf thread that was active a few weeks back.

I've never read fantasy before. I hate how dorky fantasy book cover art is and I think it put me off until now.

 

[Shanoa]

Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Powers. It's a great book.