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What are you reading? (October 2010)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
I'm currently in the process of reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which is absolutely fantastic.
Also, I'll post this here, since it seems to be the place for it: my English teacher this semester is friends with the person who does the editing for the Twilight books, and apparently, the drafts that Stephanie Meyer hands in to them are just about the worst things that you've ever seen. Literally every line required editing and/or copy-editing just to turn it into the piece of crap that we got.
Also, I'll post this here, since it seems to be the place for it: my English teacher this semester is friends with the person who does the editing for the Twilight books, and apparently, the drafts that Stephanie Meyer hands in to them are just about the worst things that you've ever seen. Literally every line required editing and/or copy-editing just to turn it into the piece of crap that we got.
Maklershed said:Still working through Crescent by Phil Rossi and The Stand by Stephen King
I went out specifically to purchase this today after finishing The Dark Tower series not long ago (it's my only stephen King experience). Surprisingly they didn't have any in stock and from the next shelf I could see this poking out:
So I thought....why not? We'll see how I go, I have absolutely no idea what I'm in for and I like it that way.
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
Yes, editing can be an enormously dispiriting profession. I've mostly practised scholarly editing, which means that I tend to encounter both folks who can write splendid, lucid, well-organised prose and folks who can't write at all but believe, down to their toes, that they were sent to Earth by a god to put words next to each other. I imagine literary editors get a similar deal.
Natsume Soseki's I am a Cat is a glorious, humorous, stylish book. Cat-GAF should get on it.
I'm still reading through The Long Ships. Last month I read Fantastic Mr. Fox and really enjoyed it. Dahl is just consistently great. Probably won't happen this month but I hope to read Matilda soon (one of the Dahl classics I never read), and look into picking something up by Jonathan Carroll.
Do you guys have any suggestions on an accessible book on US history and society? I'm doing an American Lit course at the moment and finding myself wanting some more context to the stuff we're reading. I'll ask my professor next week as well, but I thought GAF might know some gems. I'm from Finland, now studying in the UK if that matters, btw.
Another month, another Wheel of Time book...
Only 2 more books till I heard it starts getting better. Please let all the women go away, all of them. I have found a good strategy though for the wheel of time books 6-10. Buy the books and the audio books. Then you can listen to the 80% boring fluff on audio and stop and read when it gets good. I only wish someone had recommended this earlier for me. I'll only get to enjoy this method for 2 books.
Only 2 more books till I heard it starts getting better. Please let all the women go away, all of them. I have found a good strategy though for the wheel of time books 6-10. Buy the books and the audio books. Then you can listen to the 80% boring fluff on audio and stop and read when it gets good. I only wish someone had recommended this earlier for me. I'll only get to enjoy this method for 2 books.
CharminUltra
Member
Just got done reading "In the Walls of Eryx" one of Lovecraft's short stories. Next I'm reading this:
Got this last week and read it in one sitting, which is a testament to how short it is, not how good. It's nicely written and an interesting if very straight forward and anti-climatic tale, but there's no escaping the fact that it's a £1 novelette repackaged as a full price novel. Enjoyable enough but not really worth the price.
Now reading:
This is a tough book to read if you're tired and I've been stuck on late shift this past week (with another week to look forward to!), so my progress has been pretty slow. Enjoying what little I've read.
Also reading:
Only a couple of hundred pages left to go. Really enjoying it. Stephenson manages to be really facetious without coming across as flippant toward his own subject matter. It makes for an entertaining read and I love the world he's built here.
Little burnt out on SF and fantasy though, so hoping to clear this up quickly so I can move onto other things.
^unbelievably bad
unrelated: :lol http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/10/smaller-than-life/8212/2/
unrelated: :lol http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/10/smaller-than-life/8212/2/
TestMonkey
Member
Some light reading before the big titles come out.
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
Maklershed said:
OH MY GOD THANKS FOR THIS FUCKING LINK!
ARgh...found a ton of books there that I could've gotten a LOT cheaper...why didn't you tell me sooner!? :'(
sparky2112
Member
T1tan said:
Fixed that.
ElectricBlue187
Member
When is it coming out? Other places say 2011luxarific said:I will be reading this!
The end of the month is so far away. ;_;
crowphoenix
Banned
Reading:
And
Fool Moon of the Dresden Files. So far, I'm having as much trouble getting into the Hound of the Baskervilles as I did in high school, which is annoying. I love Holmes in every media but writing, it would seem. I'll push on in the hopes that this time it clicks.
Fool Moon is awesome so far. Only a few chapters in though.
And
Fool Moon of the Dresden Files. So far, I'm having as much trouble getting into the Hound of the Baskervilles as I did in high school, which is annoying. I love Holmes in every media but writing, it would seem. I'll push on in the hopes that this time it clicks.
Fool Moon is awesome so far. Only a few chapters in though.
haadim said:
It's a general class on the beginnings to the start of the 20th century. The authors we're studying are Melville, Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson, Irving, Whitman, Dickinson, Crane, James, Chopin, Douglass, Jacobs and a few other mentioned briefly, so it's fairly comprehensive.Guileless said:
I'm really interested in the US in general, so as close to a complete history from its discovery till present day would really interest me. I will also be doing the follow-up course next year that deals with the 20th century and some contemporary stuff, so a complete history would come in handy then too. I've heard good things about A People's History of The United States what about that one?
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
I don't recommend it. It's polemic, not history. (Not that polemic doesn't have its uses.) I think there's a GAF thread devoted to it. It is extremely popular.
Now that I think about it, I've never actually read a one-volume history of the US. The Penguin History of the USA is well-regarded and, interestingly, is written by someone from the UK.
When you get to the 20th century, you should check out two books about politics and American society that I really like:
Means of Ascent and Nixonland.
Now that I think about it, I've never actually read a one-volume history of the US. The Penguin History of the USA is well-regarded and, interestingly, is written by someone from the UK.
When you get to the 20th century, you should check out two books about politics and American society that I really like:
Means of Ascent and Nixonland.
Thanks for the advice, man; I had a look at the link. Seems like I should spend my time with some other book. The penguin book seems a bit dry, but hopefully my interest will get me through it. I'll keep the other books you mentioned in mind for next year. Thanks again!Guileless said:
BuckRobotron
Member
on Kindle and HC respectively:
Maklershed
Member
If you find out, please let me know.Stat Flow said:
I just finished reading this, it was fucking AWESOME. Seriously. What are some other books like it? I need to know.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Jebus said:
Throw it away and buy a Gaiman book that's actually good
Like Coraline, Stardust, Good Omens or the Sandman series. American Gods is arguably his worst novel to date, at least out of the ones I've read.Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
KingGondo said:
I can't really remember what the last 100 pages were like, but the first half of the book was seriously boring as shit. Then it got slightly better, and the last half of the book was just merely boring. I liked the sequel, Monarch of the Glen, much more.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Re: The Shadow of the Wind--I've never read it, but browsing on Amazon I came across this blurb for a book that comes out tomorrow called Voltaire's Calligrapher:
I have read The Interpretation of Murder and can't recommend it. The Voltaire book sounds interesting though.
I have read The Interpretation of Murder and can't recommend it. The Voltaire book sounds interesting though.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
KingGondo said:
Indeed. Good concept, poor execution. Gaiman can do better than American Gods.
Edit: IIRC I once saw a GAFfer refer to American Gods as the worst book that's ever been published :lol
sparky2112
Member
threenote said:coming tomorrow...I can't wait
Yup yup. Chernow apparently had access to a lot of papers, etc. that guys like Flexnor, etc. didn't have. I imagine that this will be be the definitive one-volume Washington for the next, like, forever...
turnbuckle
Member
Just about done with Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and getting ready to start the sequel. Started Let The Right One In, but probably will wait til I'm done with The Steigg trilogy before committing to it. Loved the movie and heard good things about the American remake, so I figure it's time I read the book.
After getting my Kindle I'm gonna need to go through these threads and check the back ones more often. Read more in the past month than I did in the last year. :lol
After getting my Kindle I'm gonna need to go through these threads and check the back ones more often. Read more in the past month than I did in the last year. :lol
ElectricBlue187 said:
Amazon says:
Publisher: Orbit (October 28, 2010)
Sample chapter up at Orbit's site: http://www.orbitbooks.net/surfacedetail/
Preview at IO9: http://io9.com/5510972/iain-m-banks-has-finished-his-new-culture-novel-surface-detail
Apparently he'll be writing more books since he got a pay cut last year. I feel bad for him, but on the plus side, more Culture for us, whoot!