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[obin_gam]

Finished Promise of Blood. It was relatively enjoyable.

I have no idea what to read now though, here's my "read book shelf" from goodreads to help you see my taste: (from latest to first)

I'm now waiting for Gentlemen Bastard 4 and Stephen Kings Mr Mercedes sequel, but what to read in the mean time?
Any suggestions?

 

[Haly]

You can always read Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen (and the sequels).

 

[Anon67]

I've had some time to finally read some book since school is over, though I never really found the right time to read daily. Late nights seem to be the best.

I just finished this recently. I enjoyed it. I'd recommend reading it if you want to some background information on the world of the Witcher.

I had a friend recommend me this book during the school year, though I only read a bit of it due to excessive school work and other stuff. Going to give it a go again!

 

[fakefaker]

Finished up The Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi by Mark Hodder tonight. Wasn't as good as I hoped and decided to give up on the rest of the series. Gonna jump back into Steampunk but with a weird west twist with Vermilion by Molly Tanzer.

 

[j0hnny_385]

Well that was a great start. O_O

My first Stephenson book, btw.

 

[BronzeWolf]

Words of Radiance
64%

When THAT ONE duel is about to start

Adolin

Me

Spoiler

How useless is Renarin? Facepalm for Kaladin, Jesus this guy doesn't get it.

 

[Woorloog]

He is crazy brave.

 

[TestMonkey]

Any suggestions?

John Dies at the End by David Wong and the sequel. Combines horror and comedy extremely well without neglecting either. Some parts of the book are the most disturbing things I've ever read in fiction because how plausible they are.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Promise of Blood. It was relatively enjoyable.

I have no idea what to read now though, here's my "read book shelf" from goodreads to help you see my taste: (from latest to first)


I'm now waiting for Gentlemen Bastard 4 and Stephen Kings Mr Mercedes sequel, but what to read in the mean time?
Any suggestions?

Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood Drood

(Did I mention Drood?)

 

[Nymerio]

Drood is a great book and probably my favourite of the Simmons books I've read.

 

[Uzzy]

Drood is a great book and probably my favourite of the Simmons books I've read.

Better than Hyperion? If you've read that, that is.

Anyway, I'm currently reading some real classic SF, and it's pretty good so far.

Also, has anyone here read The Narrow Road to the Deep North? I see that it won the Man Brooker prize last year, so it should have something going for it at least.

 

[RepairmanJack]

I'm about a third of the way through Leviathon Wakes right now and I'm really enjoying it. At first I was hooked and it was almost hard to stop reading but as it's gone on it's seems like it's almost become more plodding. There's still been some great parts, but it mostly seems like there's a lot of filler thrown in to fill out the story. With what has happened most recently in the book (

Spoiler

the stuff with the riot gear and gangs missing from Miller's station

) I kind of have faith that a lot of it will end up meaning more later on. Right now it's slow going, mostly because I'm a slow reader, but I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Maklershed]

Better than Hyperion? If you've read that, that is.

I've read Hyperion, The Terror, and The Fifth Heart and like Drood more than all of them.

 

[Mumei]

I've read Hyperion, The Terror, and The Fifth Heart and like Drood more than all of them.

Well, looks like I am getting one of the hardcover copies next time one pops up in the used bookstore.

 

[Peru]

I'm again questioning why Edith Wharton isn't at least as esteemed as Jane Austen. She certainly created more believable, complex characters.

I love Wharton, just re-read two of her novels, but Austen is a bit of a weird comparison, different period, different styles. Better to question why she isn't as famous as Henry James or something. Although maybe she is.. all in all she's pretty well esteemed and read so let's just say she rocks.

And I don't care for that snipe at Austen - she wrote wonderfully complex characters, except when she did pure comedy and deliberately traded in stereotypes (Northanger Abbey), and was in many ways an even sharper satirist. Nevermind her formal inventions.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

Midway into Phase the Fifth in Tess of the D'Urbervilles now. Really, really gripping stuff.

Until this point, I've sort of thought it ok, but vastly preferred the the more complex class/love tales of Brontë, Lawrence and James etc, but now I'm vaguely beginning to understand why this is such a classic.

 

[Cade]

Finished The Regulators. I think I liked it both more and less than Desperation: More because I thought the story was tighter and somewhat more interesting, less because the setting was much duller. All in all, I don't think reading one without the other makes much sense and I'm glad I read them both back to back.

I'm reading On Stranger Tides now and damn if it hasn't hooked me from the first few pages.

 

[Mumei]

I love Wharton, just re-read two of her novels, but Austen is a bit of a weird comparison, different period, different styles. Better to question why she isn't as famous as Henry James or something. Although maybe she is.. all in all she's pretty well esteemed and read so let's just say she rocks.

And I don't care for that snipe at Austen - she wrote wonderfully complex characters, except when she did pure comedy and deliberately traded in stereotypes (Northanger Abbey), and was in many ways an even sharper satirist. Nevermind her formal inventions.

What is your favorite of Austen's books? I've read Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

I think Austen is just a bit tainted by the 1.000.000 BBC costume dramas inspired by her works, she was indeed a marvelous writer

 

[Switch Back 9]

I'm like 2/3rds of the way through The Martian and I'm kinda over it. It's getting harder and harder to pick it up each time and keep going. I want to know what happens, but while the MacGyver engineer side of things is fun I'm getting bored with the

Spoiler

things are good! Something breaks. Things are good! Something breaks

etc...

Maybe I'll just wait for the movie.

I've read Hyperion, The Terror, and The Fifth Heart and like Drood more than all of them.

The Terror is my favourite Simmons book. Loved it. Hyperion was neat but I think the hype tainted it a bit for me.

 

[Haly]

Speaking of BBC costume dramas, the adaptation of Jonathan Strange etc. is quite good.

It maintains the ambiance of the books without being bogged down by academic minutiae which, while suited to a novel, would likely be lost on TV audiences.

 

[Supercollider]

I recently came across The People In The Trees, by Hanya Yanagihara, and I was immediately struck by the provided description. Fascinating. I should have stopped there because I inadvertently found out a bit too much about the plot after perusing a review. This isn't to say that I'm not still interested in reading the novel, but coming across specifics about its conclusion does take the wind out of my sails a bit. I'm hoping that some of these details will get hazier as time goes on. Ideally, I want to be able to pick this book up sometime in the future and dive in without having too clear a sense of its conclusion.

Can anyone here recommend a book in a similar vein? I'm looking for something comparable to the strangeness of the ideas she's working with here, and something that matches certain bits of praise that the book has received (i.e., "disquieting yet thrilling," "hauntingly strange and utterly convincing," etc.).

It is 1950 when Norton Perina, a young doctor, embarks on an expedition to a remote Micronesian island in search of a rumored lost tribe. There he encounters a strange group of forest dwellers who appear to have attained a form of immortality that preserves the body but not the mind. Perina uncovers their secret and returns with it to America, where he soon finds great success. But his discovery has come at a terrible cost, not only for the islanders, but for Perina himself. Disquieting yet thrilling, The People in the Trees is an anthropological adventure story with a profound and tragic vision of what happens when cultures collide. It marks the debut of a remarkable new voice in American fiction.

Here are some of the review blurbs that accompany its page on Amazon:

“Hauntingly strange and utterly convincing. . . . A novel you will finish and immediately want to read again; a complex, elegant and wonderfully troubling debut.”
—Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet

“Haunting. . . . A standout novel . . . thrilling.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Feels like a National Geographic story by way of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. . . . The world Yanagihara conjures up, full of ‘dark pockets of mystery,’ is magical.”
—The Times (London)

“A Nabokovian phantasmagoria. . . . Hanya Yanagihara is a writer to watch.”
—Madison Smartt Bell, author of The Color of Night and All Souls’ Rising

 

[Switch Back 9]

Speaking of BBC costume dramas, the adaptation of Jonathan Strange etc. is quite good.

It maintains the ambiance of the books without being bogged down by academic minutiae which, while suited to a novel, would likely be lost on TV audiences.

having just finished the book I'm quite diggin the show, which is rare for me
(still won't watch GoT) although it can be a tad expository at times, that's to be expected given the historian style approach Clarke took when writing it.

 

[Mumei]

I recently came across The People In The Trees, by Hanya Yanagihara, and I was immediately struck by the provided description. Fascinating. I should have stopped there because I inadvertently found out a bit too much about the plot after perusing a review. This isn't to say that I'm not still interested in reading the novel, but coming across specifics about its conclusion does take the wind out of my sails a bit. I'm hoping that some of these details will get hazier as time goes on. Ideally, I want to be able to pick this book up sometime in the future and dive in without having too clear a sense of its conclusion.

Can anyone anyone here recommend a book in a similar vein? I'm looking for something comparable to the strangeness of the ideas she's working with here, and something that matches certain bits of praise that the book has received (i.e., "disquieting yet thrilling," "hauntingly strange and utterly convincing," etc.).

Here are some of the review blurbs that accompany its page on Amazon:

“Hauntingly strange and utterly convincing. . . . A novel you will finish and immediately want to read again; a complex, elegant and wonderfully troubling debut.”
—Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet

“Haunting. . . . A standout novel . . . thrilling.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Feels like a National Geographic story by way of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. . . . The world Yanagihara conjures up, full of ‘dark pockets of mystery,’ is magical.”
—The Times (London)

“A Nabokovian phantasmagoria. . . . Hanya Yanagihara is a writer to watch.”
—Madison Smartt Bell, author of The Color of Night and All Souls’ Rising

There's a handful of us who have read and loved it, yes. And before you worry that you've inadvertently spoiled the book for yourself, I would suggest checking out the first two pages of the book in Google Books.

 

[Supercollider]

before you worry that you've inadvertently spoiled the book for yourself

To be be clear, here is the revealing bit in question (from Carmela Ciuraru's NYTimes review):

Spoiler

Perina’s cruel act will lead, predictably, to his ruin and to the tragic devastation of Ivu’ivu. The novel examines issues of moral relativism, Western hubris, colonization and ecological disruption in the name of science as it charts the disappearance of the wondrous flora and fauna and the grievous harm done to the indigenous people. Pharmaceutical companies pillage the island, creating turtle breeding farms in their quest to bottle the secret to longevity. But Perina is unrepentant about his role. “I did what any scientist would have done,” he insists.

Skimming this late last night, I was dismayed to learn anything about what ultimately happens to the Ivu’ivuan tribe, and it was also kind of dispiriting to learn about the main character's fate. However, I'm assuming, based on your comments, that these conclusions --

Spoiler

Perina's "ruin," which is vague, and the "tragic devastation of Ivu'ivu"

-- are telegraphed in the first few pages? If foreknowledge of these events is part of the tragic trajectory of the novel

Spoiler

(i.e., you know it ends badly in these specific ways from the beginning)

, then perhaps this isn't a major spoiler. I was initially disappointed when I came across those specifics (

Spoiler

the pharmaceutical companies and their actions, etc.

, which seems like an important development near the end of the novel).

 

[Necrovex]

Knowing those spoilers doesn't hurt one's enjoyment of People in the Trees. It works brilliantly as an anthropological work that when certain spoilers happen to the people, I just kept on powering on to figure out more about the protagonist and just the overall culture. Like if I was spoiled about those plot points, I wouldn't feel cheated after reading the novel.

Of course, you could read A Little Life first and then return to her first book, People in the Trees.

 

[Mumei]

To be be clear, here is the revealing bit in question (from Carmela Ciuraru's NYTimes review):

Reading this late last night, I was dismayed to learn anything about what ultimately happens to the Ivu’ivuan tribe, and it was also kind of dispiriting to learn about the main character's fate. However, I'm assuming, based on your comments, that these conclusions --

Spoiler

Perina's "ruin," and the "tragic devastation of Ivu'ivu"

-- are telegraphed in the first few pages? If foreknowledge of these events is part of the tragic trajectory of the novel

Spoiler

(i.e., you know it ends badly from the beginning)

, then perhaps this isn't a major spoiler. Still, I was disappointed when I came across those specifics (

Spoiler

the pharmaceutical companies and their actions, etc.

, which seems like an important development near the end of the novel).

It's important, certainly, but it's also eminently predictable; unless you are particularly naive you will have predicted the consequences of his actions long before they are shown on the page.

And it's also a work of enough complexity (both thematically and structurally) that knowing a plot point like that shouldn't impact your experience of the novel. I would also point out that, as with most good books, knowing one of the places you get to doesn't mean you know how you're going to get there. If you know that paradise is lost, does that mean you shouldn't read Paradise Lost?

 

[Supercollider]

Knowing those spoilers doesn't hurt one's enjoyment of People in the Trees. It works brilliantly as an anthropological work that when certain spoilers happen to the people, I just kept on powering on to figure out more about the protagonist and just the overall culture. Like if I was spoiled about those plot points, I wouldn't feel cheated after reading the novel.

Of course, you could read A Little Life first and then return to her first book, People in the Trees.

Cool. Thanks for letting me know. I'm very intrigued. That quote from The Times is especially tantalizing: "Feels like a National Geographic story by way of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. . . . The world Yanagihara conjures up, full of ‘dark pockets of mystery,’ is magical.”

Also, yeah, I've heard that A Little Life is spectacular.

At any rate, I already have a list of several books on hand that I want to prioritize right now. Still, when I finish with those and I'm looking for something else, I'm glad that I can pick this up without fretting too much about the spoilers. Besides, the value and intrigue of something often exceeds the specifics of its conclusion. I just prefer getting as close to something as possible without too much foreknowledge.

 

[Supercollider]

If you know that paradise is lost, does that mean you shouldn't read Paradise Lost?

Right; I was conscious of this while I was writing my post. I even addressed this in my previous reply. I definitely agree. I'm just annoyingly fastidious about this sort of thing (i.e., avoiding foreknowledge of plot details), even though I would never let spoilers dissuade me from checking out a great book (like I said in my first post, I was still planning on reading this one, but perhaps a bit later on, when my memories became a little more vague).

For example, I'm pretty sure I came across a specific detail from the end of Moby Dick recently, but there's no way something like that will stop me from reading that book (or any other intriguing novel, movie, etc.).

Thanks for the reply, by the way.

 

[Peru]

I think Austen is just a bit tainted by the 1.000.000 BBC costume dramas inspired by her works, she was indeed a marvelous writer

I maintain that she's one of the hardest authors to adapt for the screen. Some of the adaptations have been highly enjoyable pieces of film, sure, but they don't represent the books well. So much of their appeal lies in the narrator's tone of voice, her observations, the highly precise arrow-like sentences Austen writes. She uses the English language like a scalpel. There's a reason she 'invented' free indirect speech - she's in the business of reading her characters in a million ways at once.

What is your favorite of Austen's books? I've read Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice.

I think it's Mansfield Park, which is hated on a lot more than her other novels. People think Fanny Price is weak and meek and conservative but I think she's one of her most complex creations. The book has the sexiest Austen 'antagonists' in brother and sister Crawford, and there's a lot of sex in general between the lines of this book. The intertextual qualities of the book (in particular the play) can get you re-reading it again and again.

Persuasion is great, though. For pure laughs you can't beat Northanger Abbey. If you have any interest at all in gothic literature you'll laugh your head off, and even if you don't, its parody of literary tropes is hysterical.

 

[Necrovex]

Completed Citizen: An American Lyric. It wasn't my cup of tea. The book wasn't bad by any means, it was actually solid. I have a tendency to dislike flowery proses and prefer simpler, more straightforward ones. I considered Yangihara as a terrific balance of accessibility and complexity for my proses. So for someone who adore complex proses and the content of race in America, this is their book.

Back to A Long Walk to Freedom!

 

[The Mule]

This month I read.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, this is my second time through it. When I first tried it, I stopped halfway. Everything post-Nadia's chapters kinda lost me. Got too political. This time I actually enjoyed those chapters. Will definitely continue the series with Green Mars to see what happens. Frank Chalmers is a dick, but I kinda liked him in his own way.

I fucking loved the first two thirds of this book. Egan has a style of writing that sucks me in, and the concepts he was talking about shattered perceptions of reality. It started to lose me in the last third of the book though. It felt messy and loose compared to the tight and sharp storytelling in the beginning. Overall still loved this to bits.

This is another book I started reading ages ago and then stopped. Picked up where I left off and blitz through the rest of it.

Spoiler

Loved the progression from religious to economic doctrines and an open ending of what might come next

. Again, another beginning to a series I'm looking forward to continuing.

Haven't read a book faster than this. Loved it. It dragged on a bit with the constant challenges he had to face. I feel like some of it could've been trimmed, but otherwise this was smart and a real page turner.

For June I'm thinking some of these.

Loved Permutation City, and I've heard Diaspora is one of Egan's best.

I love me some biopunk, so this caught my attention.

Love me some space opera too and this has positive coverage.

I've wanted to get into the Culture series and I heard this is one of the best works from Banks, so I figured it was a good place to start.

I'll probably allow a longer break from Robinson's world of Mars, especially since I read another Mars book soon after Red mars. Don't want to burn myself out on too much Mars fiction, so I'll probably tackle this in July.

I want to see where Asimov's world continue after

Spoiler

economic doctrine.

 

[Incandenza]

Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson

Erikson needs to stop writing "I hate everything" characters. In the past there's usually been one or two per book, but now there are like five of them and it's insufferable. He has a weird tendency to make his characters deal with trauma by turning them into snippy, sarcastic assholes for hundreds of pages. It's really souring me on a lot of the characters I liked from Midnight Tides. Hopefully it gets better.

 

[ATF487]

So annoyed that I lost the library's copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls, it was new too. Going to go there today and pay for it

Right now I'm reading Dune. My brother gave me a copy of it years ago, and I read probably 1/3 of it before putting it down. It never made much of an impression on me, but I started it again and it's amazing. There are so many great passages too, just got through this one:

Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never persistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

Finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I can't believe I've managed to go through all these years withouth spoiling myself to the ending. I liked it a great lot, absolutely on par with Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and other comparable classics to me!

And since I'm still in a classics mood, I just jumped on Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre

 

[Seanspeed]

Oh God Nemesis Games is on the 2nd? I thought it was middle of June, like Barkham Knight. Shit. Gotta scrounge up some Kindle funds asap.

Was looking at my recent Amazon order page to check something and saw Nemesis Games there saying it's coming out in a couple days, already pre-ordered. I don't remember doing that, and I completely forgot the book was coming out, so that was a nice surprise!

I've recently just picked back up on Catch 22. Milo's adventures are a hoot.

 

[Haly]

Book of the year is almost here:

Armada: A Novel Hardcover – July 14, 2015
by

Spoiler

Ernest Cline

(Author)

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

Dia uno.

 

[Cade]

Book of the year is almost here:

Armada: A Novel Hardcover – July 14, 2015
by

Spoiler

Ernest Cline

(Author)



Dia uno.

Are you pulling a fast one and just linking the synopsis of ready player one

 

[Haly]

hohohoho

 

[Cade]

hohohoho

Us gamers, huh? Us gamers

 

[Narag]

hohohoho

surely it can't be as bad as RPO...

one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.

help

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

I had no idea J.L. Bourne was writing another book. His first that isn't Day By Day Armageddon. I loved those books. Or, af least the first two.

Anyone going to pick up his new one?

 

[TestMonkey]

surely it can't be as bad as RPO...



help

Read the teaser. It can be. I'm expecting a M. Night Shyamalan twist somewhere in there but mostly a rehash of RPO.

 

[Haly]

I think he tapped out the 80s so we're probably in for a lot of AOL and Bop-its.

Some Britney Spears thrown in as well.

 

[Kawl_USC]

Chiming in to say that A Little Life was a book that was simultaneously difficult to read and something that I couldn't put down. Thanks for the recs here and, seconding the recommendation of Books on the Nightstand to discover new books, especially ones that might be outside of your usual comfort zone.

For Mumei, or any one else who has read Worm, do the arcs get longer as the story goes on or is comparing the arc I'm in versus the total number of arcs a good indicator of how far into the overall story I am?

 

[Son1x]

Just finished Asimov's Nemesis. Started it yesterday and just blazed through. This was my third Asimov work and I loved it. Planned on reading Foundation and Empire, but it hasn't arrived before I went on my vacation. I have a lot of free time here so I picked up Nemesis and Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, which I'm about to start today.

 

[linkboy]

I just finished A Wizard of Earthsea and staying Hyperion.

Read Ready Player One last month and it was amazing.

 

[Mumei]

Chiming in to say that A Little Life was a book that was simultaneously difficult to read and something that I couldn't put down. Thanks for the recs here and, seconding the recommendation of Books on the Nightstand to discover new books, especially ones that might be outside of your usual comfort zone.

If you're interested in some of the more interesting articles online, send me a PM. And I haven't read Worm; you were actually thinking of Cyan.

 

[Kawl_USC]

The early arcs are shorter than the later ones. So if you've read, say, the first five and are thinking you're 1/6th of the way through the story, well, you're not that far yet.

That's exactly the info I was looking for, thanks! Also, this really is quite good. I suppose after this I'll have to get over the fan fiction thing and give HPMOR a shot given that I've seen you recommending both in the same post.

If you're interested in some of the more interesting articles online, send me a PM. And I haven't read Worm; you were actually thinking of Cyan.

You are quite right. It's hard to keep track which highly active member of this thread recommended the latest hotness sometimes. My bad!