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What are you reading? (October 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Maklershed
Member
Ship of Fools? Its not supernatural but involves aliens. Very Dead Space like.
Grenouille
Member
https://www.idlethumbs.net/idlebookclub/episodes
(not many episodes, sorry)
http://www.writingexcuses.com/
(This is about writing, but they recommend one book at least every episode.)
I'm thinking more real world stuff.
I guess psychological horror? Mind games and all that
Silence of the Lambs maybe?
And yeah, Writing Excuses is a really good podcast but I too would be interested in some more geared towards book reviews. Specifically non-fiction books if anyone knows of a podcast that falls into that.
As for me, I'm reading through The New Jim Crow. Really crazy stuff. The prison and justice system in the USA is completely fucked up.
Finn of Ooo
Member
Read the first two Kingkiller chronicles books this month and I really enjoyed them. The main character is a bit of a Mary sue at times and it's sort of a male power fantasy, but I really liked them all the same. Looking forward to the next one when it comes out.
Can anyone recommend me something similar, I've been told the first law series is good.
Can anyone recommend me something similar, I've been told the first law series is good.
AngmarsKing701
Member
The First Law series is great. And it's the opposite of Kingkiller. Everyone is out for their own ends, there are shades of gray everywhere, and when Abercrombie gets into a battle it's a bloodbath and you feel like you're right in the middle of it.
Maklershed
Member
The First Law trilogy is fantastic. The stand alones after the series get a little weaker with each book but they're still pretty good.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check those out. I think the Idle Thumbs book club is defunct, or at least on hold. Their videogame podcast is the only gaming related one I still listen to, although sporadically anyway.
Back on topic, I just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and read Fight Club before that. So, I had a good idea of what both were going to be like from the movies and they were amazing. Not flawless by any means, PKD managed to throw me out of the experience a couple of times and the way Fight Club accelerates through about the last third can be a little disconcerting, but it doesn't ruin the overall effect in either book. It's rewarding to read stuff that has strong themes built in, leaves room for your mind to work things through, extrapolate on the ideas and answer some of the questions posed. Especially after two books from the Culture series which is all action/adventure plot.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Not really like 14 at all, but I read this earlier this year and loved it.
Dead Sea by Tim Curran
As has been said First Law is great, but a little slow to start and lengthy. I recommend this trilogy if you want something fast paced with a lot of action and quite a bit darker than King Killer Chronicles. Jorg is kinda like an anti-Kvothe and one of my favorite characters in fiction.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Tragicomedy
Member
Just finished The Way of Kings. ★★★★★ Two words: freaking masterpiece! I was consistently blown away by the setting, characters, and pacing of the story. It's the "shortest" 1,000+ page book I've ever read in the sense that it didn't feel overdrawn and never rambled.
I'll keep this spoiler free and just say that Kaladin and Dalinar are the two best characters I've read in a book in a very long time. They are very different men, but in many ways they are two sides of the same coin.
Finished this today. It's a pretty odd book. I'm not entirely sure why Wolfe decided to revisit Latro after almost 20 years, but it feels like a sequel no one really asked for. While it's interesting to see the same format applied to a different geographical location and mythology, it almost feels like an afterthought of a book. It started off interesting enough, and there is a certain unique flavor to the way Latro's perspective is presented in general so it was nice to read something like it again - but by the end I just feel like Wolfe got bored of the sequel and just wrapped it up without much effort. While it would not be thematically unsound for a story in this series to feel disjointed and unfinished, there was an elegance in the way it was handled in the original two books which I feel is absent here. I'm also unsure if it is due to it being a shoddy effort, or due to inexperience on the subject on Wolfe's part, but the interactions and use of the Egyptian deities in the story seem to lack the depth and flavor the original books had when they drew on Greek mythology and history.
Just finished the first few stories in The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Can't believe this is only $1.99 at Amazon right now, buy it guys.
Laird Barron writes like a boss. Here's a part I loved...
Now I'm reading The Swarm, just got past halfway and loving it. Very much in the same style of science adventure that Crichton does but with a bit more attention to characters and the culture of their locales. Sea creatures wreak havoc on the world. Read it if you like Crichton, O'Reilly, Brown etc.
Laird Barron writes like a boss. Here's a part I loved...
Now I'm reading The Swarm, just got past halfway and loving it. Very much in the same style of science adventure that Crichton does but with a bit more attention to characters and the culture of their locales. Sea creatures wreak havoc on the world. Read it if you like Crichton, O'Reilly, Brown etc.
Burger
Member
RepairmanJack
Member
I'll have to throw this on my to read list. Reading Carrion Comfort now and liking it a lot.
This is some pretty high praise, among all the other praise it has gotten here. Perhaps this will be my marathon book after I meet my goal of 50. Still undecided what to read next after I finished Unexpectedly Milo a few days ago.
Burger
Member
Do it. The Terror is both fascinating from a historical perspective (it will teach you a lot about the lost Franklin expedition to find the North Passage) and its a great page turning horror novel.
AngmarsKing701
Member
I'll go other end of the spectrum on this. While the history aspect of it is indeed interesting, there are times (quite a few actually) where it reads like a history book and gets interminably booooooooring. Had trouble finishing it. It's extremely long and the horror aspect of it was just not gripping or tense enough to keep me engaged.
In fact, the last two Simmons books I read, this one and Ilium, were plodding tales that left me disappointed.
He wrote them originally as a bunch of smaller books then combined them all into 3 books. If you read Wool: omnibus, Shift: omnibus and Dust: omnibus you will have read all of the series.
RepairmanJack
Member
The Terror is one of my favourite books ever, so super excited to be reading this.
Random note: Dan Simmons and The Abominable are the interview/topic of this weeks Geek's Guide to the Galaxy.
sparky2112
Member
Never really had a reading experience where I enjoyed a book so much while reading it was actually a slog. Then again, I could just be busy. Still, really, really good historical fiction ala James Mitchner - focused on the city itself and the breadth of English history. You English are a bunch of mutts too, huh?
Mackenzie 92
Member
The Terror is one of my favourite books ever, so super excited to be reading this.
Oh hadn't heard about that. Also loved the Terror, so will definitely check it out.
Burger
Member
Different strokes I guess. I loved, LOVED that book.
RepairmanJack
Member
Listening to the interview with Dan Simmons and I'm completely shocked that bodies are not removed from Mount Everest and that some routes are littered with corpses. That seems insane.
Kadayi
Banned
Flipping between paperbacks of Peter Ackroyd's ' The History of England (Part 1) Foundation', Nassim Nicoholas Taleb's 'The Black Swan' and listening to Hilary Mantels 'Bring up the Bodies' (the follow up to Wolf Hall') through Audible. Only got into audio books recently (I generally work listening to pod casts), but I must admit I like it where they bring characterization to things.
Yeah I've heard about this. The problem is it really is just too remote and inaccessible a place. At the end of the day they're dead. Sure it's gruesome, but it's not worth the risk to others to try and get them down. No one who does up Everest isn't well aware that they're likely to end up being a permanent feature.
Yeah I've heard about this. The problem is it really is just too remote and inaccessible a place. At the end of the day they're dead. Sure it's gruesome, but it's not worth the risk to others to try and get them down. No one who does up Everest isn't well aware that they're likely to end up being a permanent feature.
obin_gam
Member
True, I figured that out quite quickly hehe
Am one third through the novel at this moment and it keeps on giving awesome settings and great characters. I can also pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with the book (which is rare for me to be able to). It is when
Locke is dining for the first time with Chains and his gang, and he reflects on his company as "strangely pleasant crazy people".
There, that line. Magnificent.
Also - why isn't this a television show yet?
Tragicomedy
Member
There's no way to do it, at least not without risking other people's lives. Having said that, yes it does sound incredibly morbid.
There are a staggering number of bodies up there.
The worst part was that story from a few years ago about a group that passed a dying man on the side of the path and left them there so they could continue their climb up. That's criminal, IMO.
More people have died coming down from Everest than going up, so yeah, leaving the bodies is really the only option, it's far too dangerous to do anything sadly.
Going to read this next, nice and short to get me back in pace and closer to my goal of 50 books. I thought Unexpectedly Milo was ok, first half was fairly boring, second half I liked.
Now reading..
The Temple Of Gold
Going to read this next, nice and short to get me back in pace and closer to my goal of 50 books. I thought Unexpectedly Milo was ok, first half was fairly boring, second half I liked.
Now reading..
The Temple Of Gold
Going to download the sample for this on my Kindle and check it out, sounds great. Haven't read a book in like two months so hopefully I like it.Hey kids, its that time of year for me to do my annual recommendation of this book. If you're looking for a fun, quick, dark read in the spirit of the Halloween season, I recommend ...
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington
nakedsushi
Member
I quit reading this and just watched the DVD from the library instead:
The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp
The writing was too annoying and it was getting repetitive. I rarely recommend movies for book versions, but in this case, the 30 minute DVD was way better.
Got started reading the Saints book of this:
Boxers & Saints Boxed Set by Gene Luen Yang
The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp
The writing was too annoying and it was getting repetitive. I rarely recommend movies for book versions, but in this case, the 30 minute DVD was way better.
Got started reading the Saints book of this:
Boxers & Saints Boxed Set by Gene Luen Yang
moojito
Member
I'm reading Anthony Ryan's Blood song at the moment, and finding it pretty damn similar to the name of the wind. Loving it!
This is the only book I've ever thrown into a bin once I finished reading it.
fierrotlepou
Member
Frank Schätzing's The Swarm might be something for you. It has some lengths though, because of Schätzing not wanting all the research he did go to waste.
It's not really horror is it though? I just got past halfway and it feels like more of a thriller/natural disaster story to me. Don't spoil it for me if it turns out to be water ghosts!
I hated it. Maybe it had been overhyped to me before I read it so my expectations were too high but I just thought it was a boring story with wanky writing.
I hated it. Maybe it had been overhyped to me before I read it so my expectations were too high but I just thought it was a boring story with wanky writing.
Well yeah it is more of a thriller that is right. But I remember being pretty scared when I read it and since he didn't want supernatural stuff, it was the first thing I could think of.
Maklershed
Member
This looks interesting. $6.99. Hmm, tempting.
Cool, hope you like it. And I know I've commented on it before but you win the award for best avatar on GAF. Rachaellllllll *drool*
rudieboy77
Member
I was reading "Inferno" Dan Brown but stopped half way thru. Then I started rereading "The Stand" by some guy named King... Stopped when Larry made it to Colorado and talked to Mother Abagail (sorry spoilers) I got a couple KOTOR books I might start reading.
ServBotPhil
Member
Started The Circle. Getting through Eggers's grammar has been difficult and I am only 10 pages in.
I've been bamboozled by Kindle's "try a sample" feature. I've only owned the ereader for a couple of months, so maybe this is a relatively common occurrence, but it's a new experience in my case.
So, I read the first chapter of The Gone-Away World via sample feature and it's a substantial sample at that, some thirty pages probably. And it's witty and well written and it's got an interesting premise(the "livable zone" in the world is limited to wherever this pipe that aerosolizes some chemical that makes everything normal can reach. Outside this are some oblique forces at work) and the cast are these truckers that you immediately like. I finish that, buy the book, and immediately I'm reading something that resembles a memoir. Starting at chapter two, the time is rolled back to childhood of the main character and what follows is a tedious recollection through adolescence and all the way back to "current" time, presumably somewhere towards the end of the whole thing(I've only made it to college and that took some sixty pages).
Anyone else have a promising novel fall apart like that? I can't remember another one off the top of my head. Maybe Moby-Dick, that also slowed to a crawl just as I was ready to go for an adventure, but in a different way obviously.
So, I read the first chapter of The Gone-Away World via sample feature and it's a substantial sample at that, some thirty pages probably. And it's witty and well written and it's got an interesting premise(the "livable zone" in the world is limited to wherever this pipe that aerosolizes some chemical that makes everything normal can reach. Outside this are some oblique forces at work) and the cast are these truckers that you immediately like. I finish that, buy the book, and immediately I'm reading something that resembles a memoir. Starting at chapter two, the time is rolled back to childhood of the main character and what follows is a tedious recollection through adolescence and all the way back to "current" time, presumably somewhere towards the end of the whole thing(I've only made it to college and that took some sixty pages).
Anyone else have a promising novel fall apart like that? I can't remember another one off the top of my head. Maybe Moby-Dick, that also slowed to a crawl just as I was ready to go for an adventure, but in a different way obviously.
sparky2112
Member
tauroxd
Member
Make sure to read This Book is full of spiders, is a sequel. I loved those books.
It can be difficult to read it because it can make you fell ill and create in you a huge desire to punch each and everyone of the characters, but that's I think it's a good book. It make you feel something very intense and it was the point from the beggining, to not like anything in there because is a shitty way to live.
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