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What are you reading? (November 2012)

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N

nakedsushi

Member
Ashes1396 said:
the official tie-in edition. lol.

They had to call tell you that. I mean you can see a still from the movie on the front cover I guess. And its not like anybody else can use a movie still without infringing copyright. But just in case, you didn't know, we're gonna put that little bit of information on the cover.

tbh, that's a decent cover underneath the golden banners etc.
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What I really dislike about the cover is the (spoiler for last quarter of the book)
including of the train, which kinda spoils the later part of the book. As soon as I read about her taking a train to Vronsky's, I was all, "Nooooooooo!" Well, not really, because by that time I was sick of her indecisiveness. Ugh, why not just get a divorce in the first place?
 
A

Ashes

Banned
I see.

On the divorce part, I think you could divorce, but then you'd be stigmatised as the divorcee. Her husband doesn't grant her divorce in any case.

I guess, you can reject an author's argument - what she or he is trying to say - and still like it. Though I've never conclusively decided what the book is trying to say. I think it's trying to show the hypocrisy of Russian society's views and treatment as regards to the treatment of men and women, and their roles in sex, marriage and relationships. Other than that I don't know.

I do like the way he weaves in out of people's thoughts.

It's said that Tolstoy changed his mind about Anna Karenin half way through the novel. Don't know how much of that is actually true.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
nakedsushi said:
No need to wait a few months. It looks like the movie-tie-in edition has already been released:


Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Ugh, I hate movie-tie-in covers. They're always so tacky. Especially ones with the fake "stickers" that you can't remove.
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Ha why am I not surprised. Although I will say all in all its not bad for a movie tie-in cover. The only thing that bothers me other than the big banner at the top is the line "Now a major motion picture". It was a pretty big movie back in 1935 already, starring Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, and Maureen O'Sullivan.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Salazar said:
Yo Ashes, read Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time of Gifts.
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I was about to say, I can't for a few weeks, cause I'm doing the fifty books/fifty films thingamajig. And I'm a few books behind, so only short novels please.

But, I've got this book already. This feels like Déjà vu. Did you already recommend it? I don't really read travel lit, but I have it so.. somebody must have recommended it.

I gotta admit, I'm drawn to shedding my reading list for the rest of the year, and add this in. And its not too long so it should be cool. yeah, fuck it, why not?
 
M

Meteorain

Member
Just finished The Night Angel Trilogy

c25937.jpg


A surprisingly well written series. The characters were well written and the plot had a great flow to it.

Due to it, I'm now in the midst of looking for a fantasy series that doesn't ignore the gritty side of things, but also caters to might high fantasy/sword and sorcery needs!
 
M

Monroeski

Unconfirmed Member
foomfoom415 said:


I finished Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear.

I spent the majority of the book struggling to form a mental image of the places and events he was describing. I found myself having to re-read passages to try and get an understanding of what was actually supposed to be happening.

Still, I enjoyed the book overall for the mystery and felt it had a satisfying conclusion.
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Every time I see Greg Bear's name in this thread I have to pronounce it in the same way as Ted Bear.
 
G

gdt

Member
Finished Prince of Thorns

us_prince.jpg


Liked it a lot. You kinda soften up to the main character...who is still very much pretty fucking evil the whole way. But, well, I like the guy.

Started

heroofages.jpg


Lets finish this thing!
 
M

Mackenzie 92

Member
Maklershed said:
Finished Hull Zero Three. As indicated a few posts up I wasn't too wild about it. Back to the Abercrombie world - Best Served Cold
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Ah, sorry you didn't like it, man. I think I enjoyed it because it felt fresh and different, and I'm just a big fan of Bear.

Best Served Cold is excellent.

gdt said:
Finished Prince of Thorns

us_prince.jpg


Liked it a lot. You kinda soften up to the main character...who is still very much pretty fucking evil the whole way. But, well, I like the guy.
Click to expand...

Think I might give that a go sometime.
 
A

aLaxLuthor

Member
Jimothy said:
carthage.jpg
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HHow far through it are you?

What do you think of it so far?

I love the story of Carthage and think it'd be great to read more about the Punic wars.

Anyway, I'm reading this: Well written, but also kind of inconsistant narratively. Some in third person, some in first. I assume it was intentional, but the chapters where they aren't using are longer and, Ill say boring, but they're not really, just slower, more introspective.

trainspotting.jpg
 
A

Atruvius

Member
resize


Right now I'm reading Lord of the Rings (4th or 5th re-read), just like I was a year ago. I think I'm gonna make this an annual thing for me.

Right now I'm at the Two Towers where Gandalf has revealed himself to Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. This book is such a joy to read, full of little details and history. Though, I must admit I skip all most all the songs. And I don't mind Bombadil at all, I'm actually a bit bummed he was included in the movies at all but his chapters are the most boring ones in the book.

Great book, better than the movies in my opinion, though the movies are pretty darn awesome as well. The movies have scenes that are a bit too humorous to me and I don't really like how Gimli was reduced to be a wacky sidekick to Legolas.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Mackenzie 92 said:
Ah, sorry you didn't like it, man. I think I enjoyed it because it felt fresh and different, and I'm just a big fan of Bear.
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Not a problem. To each their own. I just had a very tough time imagining the locations and the 'monsters'. It was .. odd .. to me. Looking back I sort of had the same problem with Eon. Things got very confusing when
they started traveling through the wormhole thing to the city in the future.
I guess Bear's style just doesn't jive with me.

And btw I'm only about 5% in to Best Served Cold and its great already.
 
N

Nymerio

Member
Finished Pirate Cinema yesterday. Overall I liked it but towards the end it got a bit boring. Don't know what to start next, I'm thinking of something else from the Humble ebook bundle. Can anyone recommend something from the bundle?
 
P

Prez

Member
Maklershed said:
Ha why am I not surprised. Although I will say all in all its not bad for a movie tie-in cover. The only thing that bothers me other than the big banner at the top is the line "Now a major motion picture". It was a pretty big movie back in 1935 already, starring Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan and a few others I can't think of right now.
Click to expand...

Fixed because your post reminded me of it somehow.
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
foomfoom415 said:


I finished Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear.

I spent the majority of the book struggling to form a mental image of the places and events he was describing. I found myself having to re-read passages to try and get an understanding of what was actually supposed to be happening.

Still, I enjoyed the book overall for the mystery and felt it had a satisfying conclusion.
Click to expand...

After reading his Halo stuff (didn't like it) and Eon (great), I think this is just a part of Bear's style. He is really bad at describing places. It doesn't help that the places he describes are unreal anyway, but he both under and over describes things and it leaves me very hazy as to what's going on.

Currently reading Cloud Atlas ahead of the movie coming out in England and it's stunning, absolutely brilliant and surprising at every turn. I'm just over halfway through (on Sloosha's Crossing...) and I love it. It's a very thoughtful book that also manages to be a page-turner. There have been multiple lines that have made me stop and think about them heavily, but it's also a great collection of these little adventures as well. This is another case of me seeing a book years ago and knowing I really should have read it at the time.

My boss also lent me a book called 1421 which is about the Chinese circumnavigating the globe a hundred years before Magellan. Sounds great, I love some history.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
latest harry dresden novel is out. 10% through. it's great as usual.
 
B

Bossun

Member
77-Shadow-Street.jpg


Because I'm in Thailand and there not much to read. Anyway I tried this book. Still not finished but so far I am not overwhelmed even if it's a good book.

Might have to do with the fact that I don't have time to read much and so my reading cycle is very fragmented and I have a hard time getting into the book.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Jedeye Sniv said:
My boss also lent me a book called 1421 which is about the Chinese circumnavigating the globe a hundred years before Magellan. Sounds great, I love some history.
Click to expand...

There's a very good two hour documentary on the History Channel that gets aired quite a bit called America Before Columbus. They say that the Chinese were one of the first non-indigenous humans to visit America - well before vikings even. There are what they believe to be thousand+ year old Chinese anchors off the California coast.
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
Maklershed said:
There's a very good two hour documentary on the History Channel that gets aired quite a bit called America Before Columbus. They say that the Chinese were one of the first non-indigenous humans to visit America - well before vikings even. There are what they believe to be thousand+ year old Chinese anchors off the California coast.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's fascinating. This book has evidence that the Chinese launched a massive fleet in 1421 that essentially mapped the whole world - Columbus et al were actually using Chinese maps and knew they were following in their footsteps. But by the time the fleet returned home there was a new, xenophobic emperor who surpressed and destroyed the progress made and essentially closed China off for hundreds of years.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Maklershed said:
There's a very good two hour documentary on the History Channel that gets aired quite a bit called America Before Columbus. They say that the Chinese were one of the first non-indigenous humans to visit America - well before vikings even. There are what they believe to be thousand+ year old Chinese anchors off the California coast.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's based on that ridiculous book "1421" which is roundly lambasted by scholars. Typical History Channel shit.

Read this for a true scholarly analysis of the pre-Columbian New World. He also debunks the whole Nazca Lines alien "landing pad" BS:

cktwm.jpg
 
M

Maklershed

Member
teruterubozu said:
Yeah that's based on that ridiculous book "1421" which is roundly lambasted by scholars. Typical History Channel shit.

Read this for a true scholarly analysis of the pre-Columbian New World. He also debunks the whole Nazca Lines alien "landing pad" BS:

cktwm.jpg
Click to expand...

Interesting. Added to my wishlisht.
 
D

Dresden

Member
Cyan said:
I've tried two or three times to get through the second one and I just can't do it. I'm assuming it gets a lot better from there?

I don't know why, but that book just feels like a slog.
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Off start, peaks in the middle of the series, turns into garbage later.

BertramCooper said:
Just picked this up an hour ago.



Only had time to finish the first chapter on my lunch break. Helprin's prose is beautiful.
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Hey, I remember this.

Soldier of the Great War is the better Helprin though.
 
A

Ainaurdur

Member
Just started re-reading:
200px-The_Ill_Made_Mute.jpg


Has been at least 8 years since the last time I picked it up. Not sure if I will finish it any time soon. Too much going on in this busy holiday season.
 
P

Phillip E.

Neo Member
I just started two more novels. I decided to stop reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (again), however, due to a lack of interest. I am sure I will pick it back up in the future when I am in a different state of mind.

afterdark.jpg

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

endofalice.jpg

The End of Alice by A. M. Homes
 
Guileless

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
The Guardian's best sf books of the year. I have not read any of these.

...three of the year's best SF novels were brilliant variations on familiar genre models: Kim Stanley Robinson's capacious and marvellous future-history 2312 (Harper Voyager), Paul McAuley's scientifically rigorous, beautifully written spacewar novel In the Mouth of the Whale (Gollancz), and Alastair Reynolds's solar-system-spanning Blue Remembered Earth (Gollancz)...

my nomination for best SF novel of the year (indeed, for best novel of the year) was published as a hardback by one of the genre's oldest publishers, Gollancz: M John Harrison's extraordinary Empty Space.
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I finally finished Fall of Giants. Long, epic, and enjoyable blend of fiction and real-life people and events. If you like WW1 fiction, Masterpiece Theater, and the idea of fictionalized dinner parties that Lloyd George attends, it's definitely worth your money.
 
E

EVOL 100%

Member
Trent Strong said:
Catch-22. One of the worst books I've ever read. I can't remember the last time I've been this bored by a book.
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whaaaattttttt wut wat whattttt



Bought a copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and it turned out to be an abridged version.

uduK2.jpg


How the hell are you supposed to tell when there's no indication on the goddamn cover? Waste of money :/
 
L

lightus

Member
Finished up A Clash of Kings last week so on to my mid-series break book (I get burnt out reading a series one book after the other) :

77566.jpg


Like (almost) all books I read, I knew nothing about Hyperion before I started. Upon discovering that it was comprised of short stories, I was initially nervous. I normally don't care very much for short stories. Two hundred pages in, and I love it.

The stories themselves are well written and the changes in writing style help keep it "fresh". The pilgrimage is a nice bridge to relate the stories and characters, thus avoiding the dreaded disconnect I normally feel when reading shorter shorties.

There are times were Dan's descriptions could use a bit of help (Tree ship? huh?). At some points I feel like he assumes we know what he is talking about, so he just neglects to describe anything about it at all. It's nothing too major, just occasionally distracting.

I wish this semester would hurry up and end already so that I actually have time to sit down and read!
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
Guileless said:
The Guardian's best sf books of the year. I have not read any of these.



I finally finished Fall of Giants. Long, epic, and enjoyable blend of fiction and real-life people and events. If you like WW1 fiction, Masterpiece Theater, and the idea of fictionalized dinner parties that Lloyd George attends, it's definitely worth your money.
Click to expand...

Oooh, there's a new M John Harrison out? That guy is amazing, he does not get half the props he deserves.
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
lightus said:
Finished up A Clash of Kings last week so on to my mid-series break book (I get burnt out reading a series one book after the other) :

77566.jpg


Like (almost) all books I read, I knew nothing about Hyperion before I started. Upon discovering that it was comprised of short stories, I was initially nervous. I normally don't care very much for short stories. Two hundred pages in, and I love it.

The stories themselves are well written and the changes in writing style help keep it "fresh". The pilgrimage is a nice bridge to relate the stories and characters, thus avoiding the dreaded disconnect I normally feel when reading shorter shorties.

There are times were Dan's descriptions could use a bit of help (Tree ship? huh?). At some points I feel like he assumes we know what he is talking about, so he just neglects to describe anything about it at all. It's nothing too major, just occasionally distracting.

I wish this semester would hurry up and end already so that I actually have time to sit down and read!
Click to expand...

Yes! Dude yes!! I've just come off having read Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion (beware, Hyperion ends on a cliffhanger!) and it's honestly one of the best things I've ever read.

Much like you, I was initially not sure about the conceit. At the start of every story I would be nervous and would eventually love it. He touches on everything - the book is exciting, scary, funny, sweet, heartbreaking, mind blowing. What impressed me the most was the originality and the scope of the ideas Simmons presents. And yes, he writes about them as if he assumes you know what he means, something that is at first bewildering but soon becomes easy as you get a feel for the universe and the technology.

I think his descriptions are badass though, I love how he always describes the Shrike differently, and it's always overwrought and baroque. And the Tree Ship! Come on man, Templars flying a Yggdrasil? So cool. Just you wait, you've seen nothing yet.

So much fun. I'm having a break before getting into the Endymion books but I'm sure they'll rock too.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
lightus, I'm not quite sure what your mention of the tree ship meant. But if it was a "what the hell was that exactly?" type of comment, then I'm with you. There were definitely a few things in the book that I couldn't really visualize at all, didn't really understand what Simmons was trying to communicate.

But overall, Hyperion is one of my favourite sci-fi books. I still need to read the sequel.
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
Fjordson said:
lightus, I'm not quite sure what your mention of the tree ship meant. But if it was a "what the hell was that exactly?" type of comment, then I'm with you. There were definitely a few things in the book that I couldn't really visualize at all, didn't really understand what Simmons was trying to communicate.

But overall, Hyperion is one of my favourite sci-fi books. I still need to read the sequel.
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It's a big fuckin tree. In space. Made of awesome. What else do you need??

And yeah, you totally need to read book two. I couldn't not read it, I had to know what happened next after that ending of Hyperion 1. All that work - then what? Read on...

Book two is way more space battles and BIG sci-fi even than the first.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
I really need to read the sequel but I'm afraid its been so long since I read Hyperion I'll forget who everyone is and what they're about now.
 
Jedeye Sniv

Jedeye Sniv

Banned
Maklershed said:
I really need to read the sequel but I'm afraid its been so long since I read Hyperion I'll forget who everyone is and what they're about now.
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It's actually pretty good about recapping, to the point where I was thinking "Yeah, I KNOW" as I was reading it a few times. Or just read the original again. It's good enough
:D
 
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