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[Christoff Yurievich]

The Strain by Chuck Hogan & Guillermo Del Toro

It's...... Not very good.

I thought 1 was just short of OK and was hoping that 2 would redeem the series. Nope, it got worse. So then I read 3 because I wasn't going to put myself through all that and not at least see how the series ended. It wasn't horrible, but that's probably the best I can say about it.

 

[Akahige]

The Strain was really interesting to me for a good part of the book, it was like Contagion for vampires, then it turned into a vampire hunting b-movie action bore. So the tv show as only interesting to me for about half an episode.

 

[Incandenza]

So Mark Z. Danielewski of House of Leaves fame has a new book out today:

Reviews are polarized, to say the least. The Guardian called it unreadable. Still, I'm intrigued. Anyone here gonna give it a shot?

 

[macfoshizzle]

I'm pretty impartial to eBook/physical book these days. I'll read whatever's easiest/cheapest to get my hands on. Because I get so many books from publishers for review, I've become reliant on eBooks to ensure that my book collection doesn't get so massive that my family becomes buried under paper and bad cover art.

How do you feel about cover art? Do you have any control on how the cover art look? Michael Sullivan once told me he has no control. The two main characters of his book is on the cover and he said they are not what he imagined to be.

 

[taybul]

Currently on "Flowers for Algernon". Keep hearing the same thing about it too.

 

[sparky2112]

So Mark Z. Danielewski of House of Leaves fame has a new book out today:



Reviews are polarized, to say the least. The Guardian called it unreadable. Still, I'm intrigued. Anyone here gonna give it a shot?

Mine shows up tomorrow. Given that Danielewski wants this to go 27 volumes, the first had better be more than crap. It's 800+ pages, so he'd better have a coherent plan, or he and his publisher are toast. Either that, or the first volume is a scam and they'll laugh all the way to the bank. Deets to follow...

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

So Mark Z. Danielewski of House of Leaves fame has a new book out today:



Reviews are polarized, to say the least. The Guardian called it unreadable. Still, I'm intrigued. Anyone here gonna give it a shot?

Mine shows up tomorrow. Given that Danielewski wants this to go 27 volumes, the first had better be more than crap. It's 800+ pages, so he'd better have a coherent plan, or he and his publisher are toast. Either that, or the first volume is a scam and they'll laugh all the way to the bank. Deets to follow...

I liked House of Leaves. The Fifty Year Sword was interesting. Only Revolutions had reviews that made me think he was taking this experimental writing thing too seriously. And now he has 27 volumes coming out about "a 12-year-old girl who finds a kitten"? Hmm.

 

[Plasticine]

I liked House of Leaves. The Fifty Year Sword was interesting. Only Revolutions had reviews that made me think he was taking this experimental writing thing too seriously. And now he has 27 volumes coming out about "a 12-year-old girl who finds a kitten"? Hmm.

Wait... what?

I.... he's not going to make each of the 27 volumes 800+ pages, is he?

Then again, most of the 800 pages contain unreadable jumbles of text and single words.

 

[Meteorain]

Just finished the 3rd book in the Malazan series. I'm really getting into it now.

Spoiler

How could you kill Whiskeyjack?

However in a bid to diversify and read outsie of my typical fantasy/sci-fi I've commited myself to trying to read classics and "intellectual" books in between. I picked up a book by Nietzsche!

Here's to hoping I come out a smarter man after reading this!

 

[sparky2112]

I liked House of Leaves. The Fifty Year Sword was interesting. Only Revolutions had reviews that made me think he was taking this experimental writing thing too seriously. And now he has 27 volumes coming out about "a 12-year-old girl who finds a kitten"? Hmm.

To be fair, it sounds as though there is a lot of globe-hopping going on, with just one strand being about the 12-year-old girl. Having said that and not having my copy yet, I'm not sure why the hell I bought it, other than the conceit of 27 800-page 'episodes' had its own sort of gravitational attraction.

 

[Jag]

Next up on my to read list, is a little hardcore military fantasy with Promise of Blood.

Yes, yes, yes. Enjoy. He just finished the trilogy.

 

[Maklershed]

Make Room! Make Room! One of my favorite (post-apocalypse .. Sorta) books, is on sale for 1.99 today.

Edit: there is no kindle edition of House of Leaves? Hmm

 

[Donos]

Next up on my to read list, is a little hardcore military fantasy with Promise of Blood.

Yes, yes, yes. Enjoy. He just finished the trilogy.

-_- ... and my goodreads list is growing. I should really avoid this thread.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Make Room! Make Room! One of my favorite (post-apocalypse .. Sorta) books, is on sale for 1.99 today.

Edit: there is no kindle edition of House of Leaves? Hmm

Considering how the book makes you read it upside-down, at a 45-degree angle, and with three (or four?) different font colors, that would be difficult to do. Not to mention the sheer number of footnotes, and even the footnotes footnotes. All in all it's better as a book than a digital file.

 

[Jag]

-_- ... and my goodreads list is growing. I should really avoid this thread.

I've posted my impressions earlier in this thread, but if you like Sanderson's worldbuilding (think Mistborn) with Cook's military fantasy (Black Company) then you will not be disappointed.

 

[sparky2112]

Considering how the book makes you read it upside-down, at a 45-degree angle, and with three (or four?) different font colors, that would be difficult to do. Not to mention the sheer number of footnotes, and even the footnotes footnotes. All in all it's better as a book than a digital file.

Which is exactly what the Amazon reviews say about the Kindle edition of the new book. Basically: don't.

27 800+ page books though is gonna chew through at least one shelf, though.

 

[Matty77]

Considering how the book makes you read it upside-down, at a 45-degree angle, and with three (or four?) different font colors, that would be difficult to do. Not to mention the sheer number of footnotes, and even the footnotes footnotes. All in all it's better as a book than a digital file.

Don't forget the trailing sentences from page to page, the spiral/labyrinth sequences, and beyond the format the fact that House of Leaves is an experimental work that is more of an art experience instead of a narrative.

 

[kerotan_eater]

Just finished reading 1984 for the first time. Enjoyed it quite a bit, decent chapter lengths and never really felt dull in any places. I also wasn't expecting so much ... depth shall we say. It's definitely a very matured and I would say legitimately scary (I mean it) look at a real dystopian setting. Obviously it is still very relevant today possibly more so (that's a cliche right?) ... so yes I do recommend it for the zero people on this thread who have not read it. Two thumbs up.

I also watched the 1984 (year) adaptation a day after and ... eh. I like to not compare the novel and the film as they should be two different things, I feel like a good adaptation should be as much a remake so to really to make it work as a two hour film, rather than simply be a text for scene kind of deal and plus it's something new for the readers who've already read it. Anyway the novel and the film are identical, with the film simply not being explicit enough and therefore likely quite confusing to those who haven't read it Also they should have had more focus also on

Spoiler

the relationship

as it felt rushed.

Also I read a short story original which became the sci-fi drama novel Flowers For Algernon. About a man who is mentally disabled and is given a chance to become smart. I liked it a lot, had I known it became an actual novel, I would have definitely read it. I think this short story won a Hugo award or something, along with the novel too.

 

[PassiveObserver]

It's kinda funny but eye-rolly at the same time.

R. Crumb is an American treasure. So good.

 

[aidan]

How do you feel about cover art? Do you have any control on how the cover art look? Michael Sullivan once told me he has no control. The two main characters of his book is on the cover and he said they are not what he imagined to be.

I'm... fiery when it comes to SFF cover art, and, through my blog, have been a long time critic of the lazy tropes and trends that we continue to see on SFF covers.

I think things are turning around, however, with a lot of great covers coming from publishers like Tor Books (Irene Gallo, their Art Director, is brilliant), Hodder & Stoughton, and Angry Robot Books. However, there's still a long way to go.

You're right that most authors have little-to-no (emphasis on the "no") say in what appears on their covers. However, there are always exceptions to every rule. Janny Wurts illustrated her own covers, for instance. In my case, I self-published my book, so I had complete control over everything--I chose the art, I did the design/typography myself.

 

[sparky2112]

Delivered today. It's a softcover, but I'll give credit to Pantheon, it's beautiful. Even my wife (not the rabid reader) commented on it without prodding. I've just scanned it, but the first thing that struck me (besides the Danielewski text trickery) is there's A LOT of text. Formatting stunts aside, this guy ain't mailing it in...

 

[macfoshizzle]

I'm... fiery when it comes to SFF cover art, and, through my blog, have been a long time critic of the lazy tropes and trends that we continue to see on SFF covers.

I think things are turning around, however, with a lot of great covers coming from publishers like Tor Books (Irene Gallo, their Art Director, is brilliant), Hodder & Stoughton, and Angry Robot Books. However, there's still a long way to go.

You're right that most authors have little-to-no (emphasis on the "no") say in what appears on their covers. However, there are always exceptions to every rule. Janny Wurts illustrated her own covers, for instance. In my case, I self-published my book, so I had complete control over everything--I chose the art, I did the design/typography myself.

Interesting.

I don't know about other people but for me, a lot of my enjoyment of the book comes from the cover art. The cover art whether it is the character on the cover or a depiction of the world, or even abstract, it is the source of the formation of my imagination when I read.

 

[Matty77]

Just finished A game of thrones, moving on to A clash of kings. And I know it deviates a lot later and 98% of the time books are better than any adapted media, however in this case I do not get the superior judgement because the first season is pretty much scene for scene the first book, and most of what did not make it in was inner thought, internal detail noticing / slash motivation and all the normal things that you can not translate between mediums without voiceovers or intrusive and forced exposition dumps.

 

[Piecake]

I have been reading Worm per Cyan's recommendation, and while it is good I would have to agree with him that it really needs to be read in small chunks. I think there are good qualities about many of the characters, but the situation they are in and the actions that they take are all just really crappy. It is just a very bleak and rather depressing story with very few moments of happiness or hope (if any) that I started to feel sad and depressed.

The shocking horror aspects didnt bother nearly as much as the constant atmosphere and tone of the story. I need a break from it just to recuperate. Is there a sliver of happiness later on in the story, Cyan? I am not quite sure I could handle this long a story where the happiness seems to be the crap between the mortar and the pestle, constantly being grounded into smaller and smaller bits.

 

[spootime]

Will be done with Blood Meridian tomorrow I think. The prose has been good and bad at the same time. It's starting do drag a bit and feel really repetitive now so I hope something huge is going to happen as a climax.

Next up on my to read list, is a little hardcore military fantasy with Promise of Blood.

What are peoples thoughts on the Promise of blood trilogy? I thought it was pretty terrible, had to stop reading after the second book

 

[Lumiere]

What are peoples thoughts on the Promise of blood trilogy? I thought it was pretty terrible, had to stop reading after the second book

I read the first one only and got the impression that the author was trying very hard to do the edgier version of a Sanderson story, with particular emphasis on the edgy part. The overall effect was not great for me, and I am not sure that I will actually try reading the second book.

I should have probably guessed that it wasn't for me based on the fact that the cover quote for the first book, "The Age of Kings is dead . . . and I have killed it.", is probably intended to be super cool but completely puts me off instead

 

[ryseing]

Just finished Never Let Me Go. Unique take on the "do clones have a soul" trope. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now reading The Beach.

 

[Epcott]

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

It's ok. I'm finding its theme much more relatable than Atlas, but her characters still come across as ideals wearing bags of flesh than rational people.

 

[Piecake]

Bad news, Piecake. I've been assured that the bleakness never really lets up.

Ah well. I think I will drastically cut down on my time reading it then. I powered through to about chapter 15 or so, and while I really liked it, it did not put me in a good mood. I think I will just read it at work while I am on break.

 

[aidan]

I read the first one only and got the impression that the author was trying very hard to do the edgier version of a Sanderson story, with particular emphasis on the edgy part. The overall effect was not great for me, and I am not sure that I will actually try reading the second book.

I should have probably guessed that it wasn't for me based on the fact that the cover quote for the first book, "The Age of Kings is dead . . . and I have killed it.", is probably intended to be super cool but completely puts me off instead

It's worth noting that McClellan was a student of Sanderson's.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Its alright. Kinda common sense though...

 

[Akahige]

Finished The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, this is the kind of book I was expecting to read with The Colour of Magic. It has an actual story, it's funny and the world is fully thought out and not a aimless ramble of crazy words and stories.

 

[Zona]

Finished The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, this is the kind of book I was expecting to read with The Colour of Magic. It has an actual story, it's funny and the world is fully thought out and not a aimless ramble of crazy words and stories.

You just got through what are possibly the worst two Discworld books. Just continue in publishing order and I promise you're in for a treat.

I've been reading The Dreamers series by David Eddings. It's... workman like I suppose. Nothings bad about it it's just that nothings really especially good either. It's filling in the time well I wait for my library to receive the other books I ordered. Also I think that if everyone in life was as sarcastic and snarky as they appear to be in Eddings work civilization would have never got off the ground for all the murders.

 

[Akahige]

I'll continue reading them , I actually did like The Light Fantastic a lot, The Colour of Magic was very rough in comparison.

I'll move on to the next one soon, I have a few books on my list I want to read first.

 

[Jintor]

You just got through what are possibly the worst two Discworld books. Just continue in publishing order and I promise you're in for a treat.

I've been reading The Dreamers series by David Eddings. It's... workman like I suppose. Nothings bad about it it's just that nothings really especially good either. It's filling in the time well I wait for my library to receive the other books I ordered. Also I think that if everyone in life was as sarcastic and snarky as they appear to be in Eddings work civilization would have never got off the ground for all the murders.

Eddings is the ultimate workman author. He's got a set of checklists he's got to hit, a bunch of stereotypes of characters with some but not too much depth and he goes about filling the bits in between with snark. (He literally says something like this in the Riven Codex, I think)

It's not terrible and god knows he puts out a decent amount content but eventually the snide self-mockery and snark can get to you. I still like his characters- Ce'Nedra and that Cat-Goddess in Althalus especially - and it's nice how usually by his fifth book in a series Team Good is usually curb-stomping the shit out of Team Evil, but 'workman-like' is probably the most accurate description I can think of for him.

I hear he's oddly popular in Japan, weirdly.

By the way, I need recs: a) Fantasy, female protagonist, not too grimdark. b) Something like Homicide by David Simon that isn't also by David Simon

 

[obin_gam]

So a mini review of Blood Meridian: The hell? I was all game until the ending, which just...

Spoiler

sort of "was".

I feel I need to go to wikipedia and read a summary of everything because I cannot say I know what happened.

The prose was fantastic throughout I must say in hindsight, the complete opposite of Melville's Moby Dick which I hold as the best book in the world. So writing a book that could be compared to that one, and be on the other side of the spectrum, is quite a feat

 

[GSR]

Just finished Never Let Me Go. Unique take on the "do clones have a soul" trope. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I actually just finished this as well. What a fantastic novel; the main trio were achingly familiar in some ways. Glad I had the chance to meet Mr. Ishiguro a few months ago.

 

[Mumei]

Eddings is the ultimate workman author. He's got a set of checklists he's got to hit, a bunch of stereotypes of characters with some but not too much depth and he goes about filling the bits in between with snark. (He literally says something like this in the Riven Codex, I think)

It's not terrible and god knows he puts out a decent amount content but eventually the snide self-mockery and snark can get to you. I still like his characters- Ce'Nedra and that Cat-Goddess in Althalus especially - and it's nice how usually by his fifth book in a series Team Good is usually curb-stomping the shit out of Team Evil, but 'workman-like' is probably the most accurate description I can think of for him.

I hear he's oddly popular in Japan, weirdly.

By the way, I need recs: a) Fantasy, female protagonist, not too grimdark. b) Something like Homicide by David Simon that isn't also by David Simon

That is a rather specific request that I don't think I can help with. What inspired it?

 

[Ratrat]

Not as good as Inherit the Stars but an interesting read.

 

[Jag]

Even though I've already played Witcher 1 & 2, I decided to read the books before W3.

Just finished the Last Wish short stories that had some good and some just ok stories.

Here is my read order for the series that I got from the Reddit FAQ:

In what order should I read the books?

The Last Wish (short story collection)

Sword of Destiny (short story collection)

Blood of Elves

Time of Contempt

Baptism of Fire

The Swallow's Tower

Lady of the Lake

 

[macfoshizzle]

Even though I've already played Witcher 1 & 2, I decided to read the books before W3.

Just finished the Last Wish short stories that had some good and some just ok stories.

Here is my read order for the series that I got from the Reddit FAQ:

so it's worth reading these then?

 

[ShaneB]

Finished up Bullpen Gospels on the weekend, and it gets a recommendation from me for anyone looking for a baseball book to read.

Seeing the ad for this at Amazon was a reminder about the tv show and liking the trailer, made me realize I should actually just read this next.

Pines (Wayward Pines #1) by Blake Crouch

Figure if I get hooked on the first one reading through the trilogy will be a nice distraction.

 

[Haly]

That is a rather specific request that I don't think I can help with. What inspired it?

I think they're two separate requests.

 

[Jag]

so it's worth reading these then?

From what I've read, some of the short stories are relevant, but they all take place before the games.

 

[Akahige]

It took me about 4 or 5 hours but I plowed through The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman in a night, fantastic book, lived up to my exceptions after how much I enjoyed the October in the Chair story from Fragile Things.

My paperback copy sadly didn't seem to due justice to art by Dave McKean.

 

[Piecake]

I am currently listening to Economics by Timothy Taylor and I have to say that I am VERY impressed. I loathed economics when I took it in college. Taylor is a fantastic lecturer and makes the course really quite fascinating because he only talks about important ideas and concepts in economics and then relates that to relevant and important issues today. I would definitely recommend it to anyone if they are interesting in learning some basic economics. I definitely plan on checking out the professors other courses as well. And the best part? No fucking math! Thank god.

 

[Pau]

By the way, I need recs: a) Fantasy, female protagonist, not too grimdark.

I lose track of who here has read what, so I'm sorry if these aren't anything new to you.

Sabriel by Garth Nix (Start of a series.)
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin (Second in a series but can be read as stand-alone.)
The Spellcoats by Diana Wynne Jones (Third in a series but can be read as stand-alone.)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (Second in a series but can be read as stand-alone.)
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Most of the female fantasy series I know would be considered YA nowadays, and while I loved them growing up, I don't know if they're what you're looking for.

 

[VanWinkle]

By the way, I need recs: a) Fantasy, female protagonist, not too grimdark. b) Something like Homicide by David Simon that isn't also by David Simon

Mistborn.

 

[Necrovex]

Finally finished A Little Life. Quite possibly the bleakest, emotional and depressing novel I have ever read. So I suggest everyone should read it! Hanya Yanagihara is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I will continue to keep an eye out for new future works. Two for two thus far!

 

[Jintor]

Mistborn.

tried it, parted ways amicably. Wasn't into it.

I think they're two separate requests.

ya