What are you reading? (November 2015)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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bennywhatever
Member
Just finished reading Man in the High Castle after watching the first couple episodes of the series.
I liked it, but didn't love it. It painted a pretty cool picture of a world, but it didn't really have much of a plot to me. I liked Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep a lot better.
Right now, I'm reading this beautiful philosophy book:
On 33 right now, and I love it. I keep finding myself re-reading pages just to let it sink it. I'll probably read this one twice.
I liked it, but didn't love it. It painted a pretty cool picture of a world, but it didn't really have much of a plot to me. I liked Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep a lot better.
Right now, I'm reading this beautiful philosophy book:
On 33 right now, and I love it. I keep finding myself re-reading pages just to let it sink it. I'll probably read this one twice.
YoungOcelot
Member
I'm reading On The Road by Jack Kerouac, I love the idea of wandering and just travelling from place to place so it really speaks to me.
bodyofanamerican
Member
Just digging into this now. Some of the reviews were kind of middling, but I'm endlessly fascinated by this period in history.
Sun Bather
Member
Just finished The Overcoat by Gogol. Was quite enjoyable (and short), my first Gogol book.
I've recently started Last Song Before Night
Ooh, yes. I'm curious to hear what you think when you've finished.
After seeing the trailer for 'Room', I actually decided to start reading the book after having it on my to-read list for a while. It just seemed like an interesting premise, but was always worried how it would read. The trailer while seemingly spoiling plenty, did make it seem like an interesting read. After reading it for a little, and seeing that the movie actually opened this past weekend, it made more sense to go see the movie with my Mom since she is in town visiting. Enjoyed the movie at least!
I picked this up in the bargain section, and it's next for me. 11/22/63 and Revival I loved, and when it includes "coming-of-age" in the description on the back, I figured it made sense to read it too.
I picked this up in the bargain section, and it's next for me. 11/22/63 and Revival I loved, and when it includes "coming-of-age" in the description on the back, I figured it made sense to read it too.
Ah how I miss the summer when I had all the time to read. With classes and midterms the only thing I've had time to read are dry textbooks on fluid mechanics and thermodynamics :/ . I have a bit of a break before finals start, so I'm looking forward to finishing off The Brothers Karamazov. Just about to start part 3!
sparky2112
Member
Still this. About 65% through and really enjoying it. I'm already past being Goldfinched by this book, even if it ends like crap. I'm reading it on Kindle, but I flipped through the physical copy this weekend, and my god, this is a fat slab of book...
Finished. I liked it A LOT. It tramples the everloving **** out of other certain award-winning doorslabs, for sure. One of the big criticisms leveled at City On Fire (aside from its length, which is unquestionably substantial) is that its ending was weak, but I didn't find that to be the case. Not everything in life is wrapped up in a neat little bow, and the stories in this book aren't either. As first novels go, this is a huge one (page count, writing, and intellect).
I should also add that if you're the type who is annoyed by the coincidence and inter-related characters/narratives that are the staple of Victorian lit, don't bother with City On Fire; it's very much a product of that tradition, and doesn't pretend otherwise. I know some who have a low-to-zero tolerance for that kind of thing, but I am not one of them...
That's how I always do it. Because of that, you may not understand every piece of the book but on the other hand, you can get surprised and have no proper expections going into it.
"The Hit Original Series From HBO - Now You Can Read The Books"
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
Started reading this because I wanted a light kinda fun "things to know" read. It's very pop social sciences like the rest of his books but they're fun and they have some neat little scenarios.
It reads super quick, but you dont really feel like you get as many "oh that's neat" or "oh i never thought of it that way" as you do with his previous books. It's hilariously not very insightful in a few areas and it feels very poorly researched.
I recently finished a few books. Monster post incoming.
Continuing my tour through the annals of sci fi literature: Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. I previously complained about the two main characters, Geoffrey and Sunday, being one-dimensional. I was wrong to do so; I overlooked a second dimension: stupidity. I found myself liking the obnoxious cousins Hector and Lucas, as at least they got shit done. It seems weird to go on about the characters so much, but I do so simply because there was very little plot to speak of. It got a little bit interesting toward the end, and that's about it. It wasn't a bad book, though, and it had some neat ideas. The 'Surveilled World' is an interesting idea, but not very much was done with it. Possibly it will be in the next books. If I read them.
Next was Way Station by Clifford Simak. This was good fun, a waystation attended by an un-aging human, with lots of interesting aliens passing through, and the politics of the galactic community and interested earth parties investigating the attendant. It was quite moving in places, though rather sentimental. The trouble with this book is that although supposedly addresses themes of war and humanity and... stuff, this mostly just consisted of the main character musing on certain things, only very lightly reflected in the plot, and none of it particularly perceptive or illuminating, and well, I just enjoyed the fun aliens.
Next up was Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany. This was mostly excellent. The plot was probably the worst thing, it was a by-the-numbers Quest with a Chosen One, assembling the crew, mysteries on board, the Alien Threat. But this pedestrian format was obscured by all the other cool stuff. Active crew members who are dead - and need to be to perform their job. Body modification such as growing a rose out of one's shoulder, or taking on the partial form of a lion, or a dragon (I can speculate where the bestiality in his later books finds its way in!) Probably the thing this book is best known for is the ideas of how language and thought are connected. The disproved Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, where ideas can't exist without language. One of the characters has no concept of 'I', as it isn't in his language. As speculation, it's really great, the way language in the book changes thought. I very much enjoyed it.
I also finished Deep Secrets by Niobe Way. This was non-fiction, about how boys want and have close friendships up till early adolescence, in spite of cultures that tell them it's childish and unmasculine, and then how they lose those friendships as they get older, even though they still need them and become increasingly depressed and isolated without them. To begin with I wasn't too sure about all the ideas the author pulled in from all over the place, but I took a break from reading it, then came back to the section where she focuses on the transcripts of the boys who were interviewed, and it was really quite wrenching. The idea that men shouldn't be emotionally vulnerable with each other is cultural and has changed over time; being emotionally literate and invested in relationships is not a girl thing or a gay thing, but a vital part of being human. "By paying attention to the cultural context of boys' and girls' development, as well as the fields of neuroscience, anthropology, developmental psychology, sociology, and primatology, the gender bifurcation of basic human capacities is exposed as a fiction, and the importance of intimate friendships and of close relationships more generally - beliefs shared by our cousins from earlier centuries and by many of our non-American cousins - is remembered". Yeah, I thought this book was great.
Most recently I finished Cataract City by Craig Davidson. This was really good and had some very nice writing. It's primarily about the friendship between two boys as they grow up in Niagara Falls, one becoming a police officer, the other going to prison, how this happened and how things work out after. It sounds a bit cliched and I guess it was, a little, but it was pretty interesting (particularly reading it at the same time as Deep Secrets). About how places and people suck you in, how some things seem inevitable. Parts of it were really grim, and there was a dog-fighting scene that was nearly as bad as the badger-baiting in The Dig by Cynan Jones (which was awful). The form of it was pretty interesting, book-ended by two huge lost-in-the-woods sections, and it had a kind of mythic quality in some ways.
I am currently listening to Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I wasn't expecting it to be great, and it isn't
Continuing my tour through the annals of sci fi literature: Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. I previously complained about the two main characters, Geoffrey and Sunday, being one-dimensional. I was wrong to do so; I overlooked a second dimension: stupidity. I found myself liking the obnoxious cousins Hector and Lucas, as at least they got shit done. It seems weird to go on about the characters so much, but I do so simply because there was very little plot to speak of. It got a little bit interesting toward the end, and that's about it. It wasn't a bad book, though, and it had some neat ideas. The 'Surveilled World' is an interesting idea, but not very much was done with it. Possibly it will be in the next books. If I read them.
Next was Way Station by Clifford Simak. This was good fun, a waystation attended by an un-aging human, with lots of interesting aliens passing through, and the politics of the galactic community and interested earth parties investigating the attendant. It was quite moving in places, though rather sentimental. The trouble with this book is that although supposedly addresses themes of war and humanity and... stuff, this mostly just consisted of the main character musing on certain things, only very lightly reflected in the plot, and none of it particularly perceptive or illuminating, and well, I just enjoyed the fun aliens.
Next up was Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany. This was mostly excellent. The plot was probably the worst thing, it was a by-the-numbers Quest with a Chosen One, assembling the crew, mysteries on board, the Alien Threat. But this pedestrian format was obscured by all the other cool stuff. Active crew members who are dead - and need to be to perform their job. Body modification such as growing a rose out of one's shoulder, or taking on the partial form of a lion, or a dragon (I can speculate where the bestiality in his later books finds its way in!) Probably the thing this book is best known for is the ideas of how language and thought are connected. The disproved Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, where ideas can't exist without language. One of the characters has no concept of 'I', as it isn't in his language. As speculation, it's really great, the way language in the book changes thought. I very much enjoyed it.
I also finished Deep Secrets by Niobe Way. This was non-fiction, about how boys want and have close friendships up till early adolescence, in spite of cultures that tell them it's childish and unmasculine, and then how they lose those friendships as they get older, even though they still need them and become increasingly depressed and isolated without them. To begin with I wasn't too sure about all the ideas the author pulled in from all over the place, but I took a break from reading it, then came back to the section where she focuses on the transcripts of the boys who were interviewed, and it was really quite wrenching. The idea that men shouldn't be emotionally vulnerable with each other is cultural and has changed over time; being emotionally literate and invested in relationships is not a girl thing or a gay thing, but a vital part of being human. "By paying attention to the cultural context of boys' and girls' development, as well as the fields of neuroscience, anthropology, developmental psychology, sociology, and primatology, the gender bifurcation of basic human capacities is exposed as a fiction, and the importance of intimate friendships and of close relationships more generally - beliefs shared by our cousins from earlier centuries and by many of our non-American cousins - is remembered". Yeah, I thought this book was great.
Most recently I finished Cataract City by Craig Davidson. This was really good and had some very nice writing. It's primarily about the friendship between two boys as they grow up in Niagara Falls, one becoming a police officer, the other going to prison, how this happened and how things work out after. It sounds a bit cliched and I guess it was, a little, but it was pretty interesting (particularly reading it at the same time as Deep Secrets). About how places and people suck you in, how some things seem inevitable. Parts of it were really grim, and there was a dog-fighting scene that was nearly as bad as the badger-baiting in The Dig by Cynan Jones (which was awful). The form of it was pretty interesting, book-ended by two huge lost-in-the-woods sections, and it had a kind of mythic quality in some ways.
I am currently listening to Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I wasn't expecting it to be great, and it isn't
sparky2112
Member
Wow. That's disingenuous, to say the least. Not your comment - the marketing copy on the book itself.
Tragicomedy
Member
Just finished.
What a fantastic book. Thanks to GAF for recommending it which I am strongly doing as well.
It really is wonderful, isn't it? The sequel, City of Blades, comes out January 26th!
The Horror the horror
Banned
As a Man Thinketh
I finished On Desire by William B. Irvine the last few days of October but didn't see that month's thread.
Now I'm reading Waking Up by Sam Harris. I now understand (more) what meditation is trying to solve. A kind gaffer with an avatar of a human torso (I'm sorry I don't remember your name) told me about Mindfulness in plain English a long time but I didn't get it. I've been reading a lot about desire and that's been very helpful.
I started reading How to Design Programs Second Edition today. I took an online class on Coursera on this book last year (I think) but I never went through the book. Plus, Scheme is my favorite programming language.
I also finished The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder and I've read about a third of How I Conquered Your Planet by him. Swartzwelder wrote a lot of episodes of The Simpsons so if you like Homer you'll like Frank Burly. They're full of jokes one after the other.
Now I'm reading Waking Up by Sam Harris. I now understand (more) what meditation is trying to solve. A kind gaffer with an avatar of a human torso (I'm sorry I don't remember your name) told me about Mindfulness in plain English a long time but I didn't get it. I've been reading a lot about desire and that's been very helpful.
I started reading How to Design Programs Second Edition today. I took an online class on Coursera on this book last year (I think) but I never went through the book. Plus, Scheme is my favorite programming language.
I also finished The Time Machine Did It by John Swartzwelder and I've read about a third of How I Conquered Your Planet by him. Swartzwelder wrote a lot of episodes of The Simpsons so if you like Homer you'll like Frank Burly. They're full of jokes one after the other.
Funyarinpa
Member
Reading The Hobbit for the first time. I'm reading the 75th Anniversary Edition, which is perfect in terms of size, shape, feel, paper, font etc.
Didn't like LotR except the lore, but I'm enjoying The Hobbit.
Didn't like LotR except the lore, but I'm enjoying The Hobbit.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
I read his web comic all the time so I bought the books looking for something different yet similar, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked them. They are predictable at times but they are enjoyable. I really need to start the third one, I keep forgetting about it.
Dedication Through Light
Member
Will start reading Plutocracy in America: How Increasing Inequality Destroys the Middle Class and Exploits the Poor on my trip across country to Seattle tomorrow.
Also picked up two more nonfiction books.
Why the World Does Not Exist
The Future of Whiteness
Also picked up two more nonfiction books.
Why the World Does Not Exist
The Future of Whiteness
I think there are some incredibly good chapters and some incredibly bad ones. Not on the same level as Blink, The Tipping Point, or Outliers. I did enjoy What the Dog Saw, my girlfriend is actually reading it as well, but that was hit or miss too.
On that note, I think I might dip into Leviathan Wakes now that my Marko Kloos kick has finally ended (his next book isn't out yet). Off to be the Wizard just isn't grabbing me, I'll give it another 100 pages or so.
Been waiting on my library forever for When to Rob a Bank
Dandy Crocodile
Member
If you're into Monty Python-esque comedy, I highly recommend you check out The Pickle Index.
I read an advanced copy, but now that it's out it's available in two hardcover volumes that have artwork that connects between them as well as an app that releases the 10 days of the story over 10 real-time days.
It's a cool exploration of creative writing and at only about 200 pages it won't take too long to read at all.
I read an advanced copy, but now that it's out it's available in two hardcover volumes that have artwork that connects between them as well as an app that releases the 10 days of the story over 10 real-time days.
It's a cool exploration of creative writing and at only about 200 pages it won't take too long to read at all.
Still chugging along through this. Taking my sweet time with it (1) because it's so god damn intense and (2) because I want to really enjoy this one. I can tell it's probably going to become my new favorite and I'll re-read it a few times, but damn if it isn't the *worst* choice to read on my lunch break. Come this close to crying at work a handful of times, always return to work bummed out.
sparky2112
Member
You Know Nothing
Member
Still chugging along through this. Taking my sweet time with it (1) because it's so god damn intense and (2) because I want to really enjoy this one. I can tell it's probably going to become my new favorite and I'll re-read it a few times, but damn if it isn't the *worst* choice to read on my lunch break. Come this close to crying at work a handful of times, always return to work bummed out.
I was a blubbering mess by the end. I don't re-read for the most part, but this book will probably make it onto the short list of books I do. That's if I can stomach having my heart ripped out and trampled on again.
Oh the writing is on the wall that the ice is cracking and will collapse at any point. I have accepted my fate.
And I've only re-read a handful of books in my life. This is absolutely going to become one of them.
PassiveObserver
Member
Both me and my GF are reading this right now. She's on page 300 whereas I'm on 100 (sigh slow reader). Anyways, I'm not immediately feeling this one like I was Franzo's previous two. The first chapter goes on about how the main character wants to sleep with older men, and the next chapter is about this guy who loves sleeping with younger women. Kinda tedious so far. GF absolutely dreads the book halfway through.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's still pretty fun to read. Lightweight and hilarious, great at world building even if the world itself is pretty rules-less and doesn't always add up.
Plowing through Station Eleven and I really love it. A meditation on society's infatuation with entertainment, acting, creativity, using post-apoc as a canvas.
Plowing through Station Eleven and I really love it. A meditation on society's infatuation with entertainment, acting, creativity, using post-apoc as a canvas.
baudelinog
Member
Both me and my GF are reading this right now. She's on page 300 whereas I'm on 100 (sigh slow reader). Anyways, I'm not immediately feeling this one like I was Franzo's previous two. The first chapter goes on about how the main character wants to sleep with older men, and the next chapter is about this guy who loves sleeping with younger women. Kinda tedious so far. GF absolutely dreads the book halfway through.
Yeah, not as good as the previous two...
Imp the Dimp
Member
Guys help. Which book next:
- Snow Crash
- Replay
- The Girl on the Train (supposedly a cheesy page turner and short as hell)
- Snow Crash
- Replay
- The Girl on the Train (supposedly a cheesy page turner and short as hell)
bennywhatever
Member
Snow Crash is wonderful, and most GAFfers would probably say to pick that one.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Snow Crash is best experienced if you've read Cyberpunk before. If you haven't read, say, Gibson, consider holding back.
Dedication Through Light
Member
Of course I realize I left my book at home when Im at the airport, ugh.
Funyarinpa
Member
There was a local book fair, I went there today. I didn't have much of a haul (since I prefer reading in English to my native language, and there was practically no English bookseller) but the books that I did get are pretty alright. (All of these are in my native language)
I got a recent retranslation of The Little Prince because 1) The normal price is atrocious, 2) It was translated by a famous local author 3) The only copy we had at home was a very old one 4) I wanted my sister to read it too.
I also got a book by Angela Nanetti that since I can't find if there's an official English translation I'll be translating the title of myself- "The Man Who Sowed Comets".
I got some small book about funny/obnoxious shit celebrities did or said (such as conducting funeral for the death of a TV show character or claiming that the satellite dishes in a particular region being able to broadcast many porn channels being the reason for rampant rape in the area)
There was this one experimental pocket book format where the book is printed horizontally onto thin paper and they had some samples including 1984, The Trial and this one book José Mauro De Vasconcelos wrote about sweet/sugar oranges. I bought The Trial, the aforementioned orange novel, and a novel called Zorba by Nikos Kazancakis. Started Zorba, the narrative kinda jumps all over the place but I guess I can read it during the occasional commute. I'll continue reading The Hobbit at home though, it's too beautiful to take outside (I'll never take a beautiful hardcover outside ever again after getting a dent in my beautiful copy of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years Of Pilgimage (as well as a tiny tear in the dustjacket)).
I got a recent retranslation of The Little Prince because 1) The normal price is atrocious, 2) It was translated by a famous local author 3) The only copy we had at home was a very old one 4) I wanted my sister to read it too.
I also got a book by Angela Nanetti that since I can't find if there's an official English translation I'll be translating the title of myself- "The Man Who Sowed Comets".
I got some small book about funny/obnoxious shit celebrities did or said (such as conducting funeral for the death of a TV show character or claiming that the satellite dishes in a particular region being able to broadcast many porn channels being the reason for rampant rape in the area)
There was this one experimental pocket book format where the book is printed horizontally onto thin paper and they had some samples including 1984, The Trial and this one book José Mauro De Vasconcelos wrote about sweet/sugar oranges. I bought The Trial, the aforementioned orange novel, and a novel called Zorba by Nikos Kazancakis. Started Zorba, the narrative kinda jumps all over the place but I guess I can read it during the occasional commute. I'll continue reading The Hobbit at home though, it's too beautiful to take outside (I'll never take a beautiful hardcover outside ever again after getting a dent in my beautiful copy of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years Of Pilgimage (as well as a tiny tear in the dustjacket)).
koopathecat
Member
Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.
A Bi-annual traditon since the 90s. Stephen King first edition hardback bought on day of release and finished very very soon after
A Bi-annual traditon since the 90s. Stephen King first edition hardback bought on day of release and finished very very soon after
Jag
Member
I read Gibson a very long time ago, but I think Snowcrash would be a better first Cyberpunk book. Gibson may be one of first and best known, but I liked Snowcrash more.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Well, I finally finished off Mitchell Hogan's A Crucible of Souls. Took me 4 months, mostly because it just dragged and dragged.
Here's an excerpt from my 2/5 review on Goodreads:
Moved on to Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold and already almost 20% through it. I love Bujold's stuff so much.
Here's an excerpt from my 2/5 review on Goodreads:
Moved on to Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold and already almost 20% through it. I love Bujold's stuff so much.
I'm reading through A Little Life as well. I'm about 150 pages in, and loving it so far. I love Yanigahara's writing; it's not overly complex, but just flows. As for the plot, I just started to delve into Jude's time
at the monestary.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Is there a way to edit your Goodreads "currently reading" list to change the "date started" for what you're reading? I forgot to indicate that I'd started reading TWD Compendium 1 a couple weeks ago. So I just added it, but it annoys me that it says I started it on Nov 11.
Maklershed
Member
On the right, next to the date added column there's 'edit' and 'view'. Click edit. In the next box that pops up in the bottom left under 'date I finished this book' click more options. You'll see a place to enter a different start date there.
Did you read Worm already? If so how are you finding Pact to compare?
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