I definitely think so. One of my favorites and totally worth the investment.
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What are you reading? (November 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
I definitely think so. One of my favorites and totally worth the investment.
hippobloated
Banned
The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer's Block
Tragicomedy
Member
Finished book 5 of The Black Company and on to book 6 (although Goodreads says this is book 4)
The Silver Spike by Glen Cook
It actually is book #4. It makes the most sense to read it directly after book #3, since the events transpire immediately after the first trilogy. I still don't know why they packaged it as book #6 in the second trilogy, but oh well.
It will feel like a big blast from the past when you read it, but honestly it's a bit of a throwaway story in terms on continuity. It focuses almost exclusively on more minor characters.
That cover is so fucking rad.
Arrived today
I liked it a lot. It's more like traditional fairy tale fantasy where you have characters going on a long journey/quest with unexplained magic. None of that multiple POVs or politics or huge battles.
obin_gam
Member
I gave up on Leviathan Wakes about 10 chapters in. It is an easy read, but oh dear was it completely uninteresting. I couldnt for the life of me make myself to care about anything that happened
I dont know what book I'm going to replace it with, thinking of Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies, but I kinda want some sci-fi instead...
I dont know what book I'm going to replace it with, thinking of Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies, but I kinda want some sci-fi instead...
Tragicomedy
Member
I gave up on Leviathan Wakes about 10 chapters in. It is an easy read, but oh dear was it completely uninteresting. I couldnt for the life of me make myself to care about anything that happened
I award you with today's "WTF Award." Opinions, and all...but WTF?!?
Then I found out you liked Nickelback:
Leviathan Wakes redeemed!!!
BossLackey
Gold Member
Ender's Shadow
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Comic Pull List
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Comic Pull List
finished seize the day. liked it a lot. my first bellow but i'll try to read some more now.
here's a passage that really struck me
“Was everybody crazy here? What sort of people did you see? Every other man spoke a language entirely his own, which he had figured out by private thinking. He had his own ideas and peculiar ways. If you wanted to talk about a glass of water, you had to start back with God creating the heavens and earth; the apple; Abraham; Moses and Jesus; Rome; the Middle Ages; gunpowder; the Revolution; back to Newton; up to Einstein; then war and Lenin and Hitler. After reviewing this and getting it all straight again you could proceed to talk about a glass of water. “I’m fainting, please get me a little water.” You were lucky even then to make yourself understood. And this happened over and over and over with everyone you met. You had to translate and translate, explain and explain, back and forth, and it was the punishment of hell itself not understand or be understood, not to know the crazy from the sane, the wise from the fools, the young from the old or the sick from the well. The fathers were no fathers and the sons no sons. You had to talk with yourself in the daytime and reason with yourself at night. Who else was there to talk to in a city like New York?”
anyway. local library had some gaf favs hidden away in the returned books shelf -
looking forward to reading them
here's a passage that really struck me
“Was everybody crazy here? What sort of people did you see? Every other man spoke a language entirely his own, which he had figured out by private thinking. He had his own ideas and peculiar ways. If you wanted to talk about a glass of water, you had to start back with God creating the heavens and earth; the apple; Abraham; Moses and Jesus; Rome; the Middle Ages; gunpowder; the Revolution; back to Newton; up to Einstein; then war and Lenin and Hitler. After reviewing this and getting it all straight again you could proceed to talk about a glass of water. “I’m fainting, please get me a little water.” You were lucky even then to make yourself understood. And this happened over and over and over with everyone you met. You had to translate and translate, explain and explain, back and forth, and it was the punishment of hell itself not understand or be understood, not to know the crazy from the sane, the wise from the fools, the young from the old or the sick from the well. The fathers were no fathers and the sons no sons. You had to talk with yourself in the daytime and reason with yourself at night. Who else was there to talk to in a city like New York?”
anyway. local library had some gaf favs hidden away in the returned books shelf -
looking forward to reading them
obin_gam
Member
then tell me why I should care about a cop and a space trucker? In ten chapters, I havent found one thing.
Finished reading The Last Unicorn. It has a lot of elements of fantasy that I missed reading about ever since I finished LOTR. An actual fantasy world with wonder and mysteries and real magic that isn't always rational instead of some complicated RPG battle system.
On a side note, I really hate all the covers for this book. All the depictions of the unicorn are far too ugly. I wish they did more covers similar to the one above.
I love that cover, and it's the one I bought. But if you're looking for pretty covers, you should also read the graphic novel adaptation. The art, and especially the coloring, is gorgeous.
And that picture really doesn't do justice to the soft glow. It's quite magical, really.
What kind of argument is that. Why care for any characters at all. Would a burly space marine be more to your taste?
Mackenzie 92
Member
I thought LW was boring as hell too. Characters were flat and uninteresting, plot mind numbing, dumb reveal near the end.
Different folks, different strokes.
Different folks, different strokes.
This, as much as I like when folks like a book I do, I take no offence to someone not liking a book I like. I certainly know I wouldn't like a bunch of the books that get mentioned here *shrug*. It's no worries either way.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Handsomejan
Member
Reading Christine from Stephen King. Liked the movie and love the book so far. Really well written if you ask me.
I dunno, if somone said some bad about The Long Ships, that might end up in fisticuffs!
Tragicomedy
Member
I probably should have included a smiley face of some sort at the end of my post, since I don't care whether other people enjoy books that I like. And the Nickelback quote was a friendly jab, no more. Having said that, this post of yours is more troubling in that you could break ANY book down to such an insignificant reduction and ask why it matters.
Why should I care about a wrongfully imprisoned man seeking revenge on his captors? The Count of Monte Cristo.
Why should I care about some journeying band of misfits and a stupid ring? Lord of the Rings.
Why should I care about a riff-raff bunch of bombers trying to get out of their suicide missions? Catch-22.
I could go on, but you can make any book sound pointless and stupid when you reduce it so far. Leviathan Wakes is not a book about a cop and a space trucker. I'll refrain from posting spoilers, but you've clearly confused two of the main protagonists with the plot vehicle that unites them together. A plot, I will note, which is pretty freaking riveting and chock full of awesomeness. But, once again, opinions and all...
The best image and cover from the graphic novel is a variant SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING. Seems hard to find though. I want to hang it on my wall.I love that cover, and it's the one I bought. But if you're looking for pretty covers, you should also read the graphic novel adaptation. The art, and especially the coloring, is gorgeous.
And that picture really doesn't do justice to the soft glow. It's quite magical, really.
I was afraid this was going to be a tough read and the first few chapters made it seem that way. But.. I'm around 30% through now and this book is really just quite fun and exciting to read. I have a feeling I will blast through this in the next few days. Also enjoying looking up all the obscure occult references and I have never been more thankful for the tap-for-defintion Kindle dictionary.
Just before this I read if on a winter's night a traveler which was fantastic. I noticed that they have the same translator, who just recently passed away. The translation of these books seem fantastic where I'm not constantly reminded that I'm reading a translation, which I often experience reading for example books translated from Japanese.
TheKaeptain
Banned
I love that cover, and it's the one I bought. But if you're looking for pretty covers, you should also read the graphic novel adaptation. The art, and especially the coloring, is gorgeous.
And that picture really doesn't do justice to the soft glow. It's quite magical, really.
I want a Unicorn. Best mythological animal.
Even though they are really real and just use magic to hide from us horrible humans.
Maklershed
Member
Yeah I was a little bummed when I started getting into because
while the Plain of Fear / Dominator arch was ok, I dont like it nearly as much as I'm loving Lady running the Company and Soulcatcher wreaking havoc.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
I read the whole thing a year or two ago and thought the same thing, although I was kinder to the concept of the book itself, since it was a reasonably fresh take on the genre when it came out a decade ago. Obviously not so much anymore.
I keep meaning to participate in here since I started reading pretty heavily again earlier this year. Finally read Blood Meridian this year, House of Leaves, among others.. but also trying to keep up with some newer releases. Most recent 2013 book I finished was:
This really stuck with me. Yes, you could uncharitably compare the experience to a couple dozen read-throughs of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, and it can feel (deliberately) exhausting in parts, but it's an extraordinarily constructed book. Extra points for mostly making you forget it is framed around an incredibly hoary time-travel cliché. Again, probably deliberately. I think. As weary and sad as the book becomes, I think Atkinson is having some meta-literary fun here too.
I was afraid this was going to be a tough read and the first few chapters made it seem that way. But.. I'm around 30% through now and this book is really just quite fun and exciting to read. I have a feeling I will blast through this in the next few days. Also enjoying looking up all the obscure occult references and I have never been more thankful for the tap-for-defintion Kindle dictionary.
Just before this I read if on a winter's night a traveler which was fantastic. I noticed that they have the same translator, who just recently passed away. The translation of these books seem fantastic where I'm not constantly reminded that I'm reading a translation, which I often experience reading for example books translated from Japanese.
I never got into that book. One issue was that it was dense as fuck, but I didnt find the characters/characterization interesting, so I lost interest in the plot and the densefuckitude
So. Since I was on vacation and generally don't pre-order (Words of Radiance being the first exeption ever). Today I finally got this:
I know people had problems with Snuff and even I have to admit that it had some flaws but in my book even a flawed Discworld novel is so much better than... well, a lot of things. Super hyper fangirl mode ON!!!!
I know people had problems with Snuff and even I have to admit that it had some flaws but in my book even a flawed Discworld novel is so much better than... well, a lot of things. Super hyper fangirl mode ON!!!!
obin_gam
Member
After my failed attempt with Leviathan Wakes I returned to Dan Simmons, which is proving to be quite the scribe for my taste. Since it's almost xmas, I thought that Drood would be fitting.
A fictional biography of Charles Dickens' last years. In the same mood and tone like that of The Terror (which, awesomly enough, is referenced in this one!). The setting is a wonderful Victiorian-Foggy-Horror-London and the characters, the narrator whose name I've forgotten and Dickens himself, and their adventure are thusfar very intruiging!
A fictional biography of Charles Dickens' last years. In the same mood and tone like that of The Terror (which, awesomly enough, is referenced in this one!). The setting is a wonderful Victiorian-Foggy-Horror-London and the characters, the narrator whose name I've forgotten and Dickens himself, and their adventure are thusfar very intruiging!
Haven't posted in some time. I've recently finished Empire in Black and Gold and Slaughterhouse Five. Empire was quite good despite a very slow beginning and I enjoyed it quite a bit but I'm not sure if I'll stick with the series. Slaughterhouse Five was pretty good as well, very quick read.
I've now started the Daylight War:
Been a fan since the first book and I'm really enjoying this as well.
I've now started the Daylight War:
Been a fan since the first book and I'm really enjoying this as well.
Just finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road
It started out great. I love the first 120 pages or so. Then it just went on, repeating itself, meandering. As a non-english speaker I enjoyed his use of old words, always like rummaging about in dictionaries.
Also finished Kim Thúy's Ru
This one was great through and through. Vignette's from the life of a Vietnamese immigrant in Canada. Pleasant read.
Now I've started reading one of the good old classics: Herman Melville's Moby Dick
So far I'm loving it. Ishmael is a great narrator, and the language, descriptions and writing is both beautiful and purposeful. And it's very funny.
edit: Also bought this gorgeous collection of Kurt Vonnegut's novels and short stories.
Read everything but Breakfast of Champions. I personally didn't enjoy Slaughterhouse Five too much. Liked Cat's Cradle and absolutely loved Mr. Rosewater. And I really like Vonnegut, he's a very sympathetic writer.
It started out great. I love the first 120 pages or so. Then it just went on, repeating itself, meandering. As a non-english speaker I enjoyed his use of old words, always like rummaging about in dictionaries.
Also finished Kim Thúy's Ru
This one was great through and through. Vignette's from the life of a Vietnamese immigrant in Canada. Pleasant read.
Now I've started reading one of the good old classics: Herman Melville's Moby Dick
So far I'm loving it. Ishmael is a great narrator, and the language, descriptions and writing is both beautiful and purposeful. And it's very funny.
edit: Also bought this gorgeous collection of Kurt Vonnegut's novels and short stories.
Read everything but Breakfast of Champions. I personally didn't enjoy Slaughterhouse Five too much. Liked Cat's Cradle and absolutely loved Mr. Rosewater. And I really like Vonnegut, he's a very sympathetic writer.
Killed off Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell the other night. It could have been awesome, but lost it's way and never felt dangerous.
And now onto some good vs. evil with Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon.
I remember loving Swan Song. It's been ages since I read it, but I always thought it was almost a match for Stephen King's The Stand. It's much darker than The Stand, much more a horror novel, and really disturbing in spots.
I probably need to read it again soon. I think it's been more than 10 years, and it was always one of my favorites back then.
I finished Slaughterhouse 5.
Hmmm. There were some parts (in the beginning) that I absolutely was completely bored by.
As time went on tho, it felt like each chapter enchanced the previous one. It's a book that is amazing as a whole.
Cats Cradle >> Slaughterhouse 5 >>> Breakfast of Champions.
Started reading The Hunger Games. Very fast paced so far. Although, if I hadn't seen the film already, I don't know what I would have thought of the authors descriptions...
Gonna read "The Sirens of Titan" after this.
Hmmm. There were some parts (in the beginning) that I absolutely was completely bored by.
As time went on tho, it felt like each chapter enchanced the previous one. It's a book that is amazing as a whole.
Cats Cradle >> Slaughterhouse 5 >>> Breakfast of Champions.
Started reading The Hunger Games. Very fast paced so far. Although, if I hadn't seen the film already, I don't know what I would have thought of the authors descriptions...
Gonna read "The Sirens of Titan" after this.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
Now I've started reading one of the good old classics: Herman Melville's Moby Dick
So far I'm loving it. Ishmael is a great narrator, and the language, descriptions and writing is both beautiful and purposeful. And it's very funny.
I never understood why Moby Dick was a go-to reference for "huge boring classic nobody wants to or actually reads". I've read it two or three times over the years. Maybe I'm just inherently interested in the finer points of 19th century whaling? I don't know. It's fascinating, devastating, ominous, funny (as you noticed), and so packed with symbolism that I really need to read a few books about Moby Dick one of these days.
Anyway, read a couple of Sherlock Holmes short stories last week as I gradually make my way through the collection, and also just started:
I would say yes. I takes a while to get going, but the characters are extremely well done, and it is an interesting look into that period of Russia/Europe. Tolstoy sort of makes a weird transition into pseudo-novel, pseudo-philosophical treatise about two thirds of the way through, and if philosophy doesn't interest you, you can probably skip the entire second epilogue. It's 40-45 pages of Tolstoy giving his opinion on free will and the driving forces of human history. The actual novel stuff ends in epilogue 1.
I'm going to finish up the Road tomorrow. Audiobook version is very well done for those who listen to books while driving.
Any suggestions for my next book? Preferably something that isn't 1000 pages.
phisheep
NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Definitely worth it. It took me a few years to get as for as page 64, but when I got into it I got in all the way.
The whole thing is a delight.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Finished.
A Darkling Sea by James Cambias
It was pretty good. Probably give it 3 stars.
Not sure what to read next.
A Darkling Sea by James Cambias
It was pretty good. Probably give it 3 stars.
Not sure what to read next.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend =)
I'm finding Ender's Game kinda boring =/. It was fun and a quick read to start, but now it just doesn't stick at all with me, and as soon as I finish reading a bit I tend to just forget it all.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Just finished up A Storm of Swords.
What else can I say besides, "Shit."
It is all I can do to not immediately begin Book 4. I need to give this universe some time to marinate before diving back in. It's just too much.
Knowing I have two books yet to read and two more on the way I can't even begin to imagine where this story is going. I love how everyone seems to be on his or her own personal mission, yet I know it'll all come together in some brilliant way.
What else can I say besides, "Shit."
It is all I can do to not immediately begin Book 4. I need to give this universe some time to marinate before diving back in. It's just too much.
Knowing I have two books yet to read and two more on the way I can't even begin to imagine where this story is going. I love how everyone seems to be on his or her own personal mission, yet I know it'll all come together in some brilliant way.
I picked up Pines randomly a couple of years ago. I think it was in my recommended Kindle section for 99cents. Great, lucky find. I like Crouch's style in the books I've read. They tend to be short and action-packed. I've been in catch up mode and I've just recently started Wayward as well.
I enjoyed this book of his quite a bit
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
Going to start tonight Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (illustrated by Harry Clarke). I really can't wait!
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
Tragicomedy
Member
I picked up Pines randomly a couple of years ago. I think it was in my recommended Kindle section for 99cents. Great, lucky find. I like Crouch's style in the books I've read. They tend to be short and action-packed. I've been in catch up mode and I've just recently started Wayward as well.
I enjoyed this book of his quite a bit
Thanks for the suggestion. My father-in-law really likes his books so I figured I'd give them a shot. Almost done with Wayward and it has been a fun ride.
Woah woah there fellas. What are you talking about? Explain that to me, cuz I never once picked up on that!
I haven't been reading a ton, but I finished Wool.
I liked it. I cant figure out whether some parts are foreshadowing or just unknowingly making things predictable, but there's definitely not much you don't see coming, for better or worse. I don't exactly need every story to have shock twists and whatnot, so this was fine, but its a story that would easily suit the Hollywood format, I think.
I'm putting off Infinite Jest again, and have moved onto the sequel of Wool, which is Shift.
After that, I'll probably put off Infinite Jest some more and read The Lies of Locke and Lamora.