Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
If Moby-Dick "falls apart", no other novel has ever cohered.
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What are you reading? (October 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
232/1005
I find myself in the curious position of absolutely loving the way this book is being told but being absolutely bored to death by everything that is happening.
That describes my feelings about the book absolutely perfect.
I'll stick with it for another day, hope it picks up. I was not expecting boyhood adventures and first kiss stuff after that intro and it just drags on and on.
More like "slowed to a crawl", but I understand that mine is not the popular opinion.
Maklershed
Member
Finished book 3 of The Black Company, The White Rose. Really good. Just purchased Black Company Chronicles 4-6 but I'm gonna take a quick breather with this first ...
Crash and Burn by Artie Lange
Crash and Burn by Artie Lange
The language and dialogue are wonderful but it's just a... completely random series of 'things that are happening to norrel', 'things that are happening to stephen black', with a touch of 'oh and here's this guy strange maybe?' so far. Obviously it's got something to do with english magic but who knows, or indeed cares right now?
I've never wanted to just drop a book I've enjoyed reading so far, but I'm sorely tempted, if only because this goes for like another 800 pages.
Calm Killer
In all media, only true fans who consume every book, film, game, or pog collection deserve to know what's going on.
Neogaf. Nothing else needed.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
That the book is more reflective and driven by character is the root of its greatness. What you wanted, while it might have been superficially more exciting, would have gutted it of exactly what gives it such a timelessness. There are many adventures, but there is only one "Moby-Dick".
That shit rots your brain man!
I don't know how much reflection was going on during the meticulous descriptions of seamanship and cetology. I don't mean to imply that Moby-Dick is devoid of it, just that I had a hard time slogging through the other parts. When I think of character driven, I think of The Brothers Karamazov. In summation, random internet guy finds a particular classic to be dull.
Being bored out of your mind has never been such an exquisite experience.
OfWhiteSkinOnRedLeather
Member
Finished The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham a few weeks ago. Started off a little iffy, but by the middle of the first book I loved it and read all four books back to back.
Started Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. I'm 10 or so chapters into it and it's really, really not grabbing me at all. Nothing is happening. Not a single thing but this dude walking around thinking bullshit to himself. The few instances where something does happen, I'm definitely into it. I'm kind of slogging through it at a snails pace and I keep falling asleep while reading, but once I stop I'm wide awake. Might give it a couple more chapters and possibly call it quits.
Started Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. I'm 10 or so chapters into it and it's really, really not grabbing me at all. Nothing is happening. Not a single thing but this dude walking around thinking bullshit to himself. The few instances where something does happen, I'm definitely into it. I'm kind of slogging through it at a snails pace and I keep falling asleep while reading, but once I stop I'm wide awake. Might give it a couple more chapters and possibly call it quits.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Ones I had I already bought ebook versions of in the past. felt bad
Finn of Ooo
Member
Read it a couple weeks ago, it doesn't get much more exciting honestly. There's definitely more magic later on but it's a slow build to a somewhat boring ending. I liked it overall but not the most fast paced book.
Grenouille
Member
I liked Jonathan Strange very much. great characters, creative use of magic and footnote anecdotes were enough to make it not boring for me.
SpaceShark
Member
Krondor: The Betrayal by Raymond E. Feist
I'm about half way through this at the moment. I've read the 12 or so Riftwar Cycle books before this one fairly recently, so I'm quite surprised that this is the first one I've found to be... not very good.
It's not bad, but it's the first time I've found the writing to be clunky, the descriptions mundane, and the dialogue cliched.
The story is also full of very convenient coincidences just to suit the plot, and it really jars me out of the tale.
Has anyone else read this one, as well as other Riftwar books? I'd love to get some other opinions on it (especially in relation to books to follow), because I don't understand why this one feels so much lesser than its predecessors. This was the book that was based on the plot from the "Betrayal at Krondor" RPG, so maybe that's got something to do with it.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
The characters in Moby-Dick are much richer and more human than those in TBK, which is bogged down in a very dated understanding of human motivations and actions (compare the characters there to those in Chekhov short stories, and the difference is immediately apparent). That's not to say it's bad, but it makes its artistic "strings" alot more apparent. MD, by contrast, is a pretty timeless tale of obsession, of nature's power to transfix and destroy, of the extent of America's obsession with commerce, of the destructive forces that glide through our own inner depths, etc. The descriptions of whaling are filled with wit and philosophy, but they are also important as they set the novel in a context that is no longer immediately apparent nor relatable. Art is very much a time capsule, a way of capturing what a time and place is, in ways factual, philosophical, personal, etc. Not to mention what they end up revealing of Ishmael, who is the narrator and backbone.
In short - you're free to find the book dull, but it is great, nevertheless, and a basic pillar of quality literature in the modern West.
Jag
Member
I honestly lost track of how far I got in the Riftwar series. I started it when I was younger when they first came out, so it has a special place for me and ranks with some of my favorite series. Think I got just past the Darkwar saga when I lost interest.
Here is the entire Riftwar Cycle.
Krondor: The Betrayal by Raymond E. Feist
I'm about half way through this at the moment. I've read the 12 or so Riftwar Cycle books before this one fairly recently, so I'm quite surprised that this is the first one I've found to be... not very good.
It's not bad, but it's the first time I've found the writing to be clunky, the descriptions mundane, and the dialogue cliched.
The story is also full of very convenient coincidences just to suit the plot, and it really jars me out of the tale.
Has anyone else read this one, as well as other Riftwar books? I'd love to get some other opinions on it (especially in relation to books to follow), because I don't understand why this one feels so much lesser than its predecessors. This was the book that was based on the plot from the "Betrayal at Krondor" RPG, so maybe that's got something to do with it.
All the Krondor: books are meh.
For my money, the best Riftwar books are Magician and the ones he co-wrote with other authors - Honoured Enemy, Jimmy the Hand, Murder in LaMut, and the Empire Trilogy.
sparky2112
Member
Mackenzie 92
Member
Good to know. Will have to get around to it soon.
Awesome, one of my favorites
Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor
Hollister House: Legend of the Banyan Tree by Joani Lacy
On a related note:
I've been looking for a good book to buy none of my friends read anything that interests.
I like scifi but I will try a few other genres. I don't read: romance, classics, historical, mystery, or thrillers also no medieval fantasy.
500 or less pages
no more than 5 books in a series (something about long series makes me stop caring)
Hollister House: Legend of the Banyan Tree by Joani Lacy
On a related note:
I've been looking for a good book to buy none of my friends read anything that interests.
I like scifi but I will try a few other genres. I don't read: romance, classics, historical, mystery, or thrillers also no medieval fantasy.
500 or less pages
no more than 5 books in a series (something about long series makes me stop caring)
As with any coming of age story I'm expecting a roller coaster of emotions, but the first 35/40% has been hilarious.
Maybe try Good Omens.
To be fair the story does get more interesting as the book progresses. It just takes a while...
Slowly getting back into this whole book thing. What I've been reading this month:
Johnny Got His Gun and Blood Meridian are two of the best books I've ever read. The Stand is pretty bad. Devil in the Grove is engrossing as fuck so far. Socialism Betrayed is a little academic but still illuminating.
Lionheart1827
Member
Just finished:
Dear god, so many great moments. I've been reading straight through the Song of Ice and Fire books for the first time and I'm loving them.
Moving right into:
Dear god, so many great moments. I've been reading straight through the Song of Ice and Fire books for the first time and I'm loving them.
Moving right into:
Kyleripman
Member
Reading Mardi by Herman Melville. About halfway through "volume two." A big step up from Typee and Omoo, full of philosophical digressions and humor.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Abercrombie's First Law trilogy.
Guy Gavriel Kay's stand alone stuff: Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, Lions of Al-Rassan are all awesome.
Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy is good.
Finn of Ooo
Member
Well I finished The Blade Itself: the first law trilogy book 1. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series but holy fuck did it take forever to get started. I hate jezal so very much, but I'm excited to start the second now that the merry band of adventurers is finally together.
Tragicomedy
Member
Next in the "Tragicomedy reads junk so you don't have to" category comes: ALLEGIANT!!! Woohoo, awwww yeah, the stunning conclusion to the Divergent series! Can't wait, let's do this, Bob's Your Uncle!
Ahem.
Keeping this 99% spoiler free, this book was terribly disappointing. I mean straight up bad. Having read all three books this year, I witnessed firsthand a story that started up fairly strong in the first book, sputtered out some in the second book, and took a complete nosedive in book numero tres.
The quality drops so much, in fact, that I cannot recommend in good conscience that anyone waste their time with the series.
Veronica Roth attempted to cash-in on the "let's tell different chapters from a different character's perspective" rage that GRRM and James S.A. Corey have perfected. She clearly does not have the writing chops to pull it off, even though she focused solely on two characters. It's a fairly large shock considering the previous two books were told from the main protagonist's view. Roth failed miserably here, and the perspectives come off as clumsy and result in wildly uneven chapters.
The first 300 pages of the book go nowhere. The last 200+ beat you over the head with poorly reasoned discussion about pre-determined behaviors based on genetic makeup and what it means to be "pure." Roth is no geneticist, nor does she appear to have a basic grasp on the field. She needed a consultant. The "beliefs" of some of the characters on the subject are absurd, which makes for some laughable plot tension. Nobody would fall for the stupidity that several characters freely accept in this story, and nobody likes rooting for an idiot.
The teenage romance angle in the previous two novels was supplementary, annoying, yet easily avoidable. I imagine it's not easy to keep a straight face when writing about teenage puppy love (which is why the Twilight books are an easy "Nope"), but Roth is particularly bad at it. I don't know if Roth is trying to live vicariously through the sappy love story of her characters, but the whole ordeal sucks. In the first two books, it was an added nuisance to an otherwise interesting story. Here's it's front and center. Essentially, Roth has chosen to highlight the worst part of her writing.
The ending sucks. I'll refrain from spoiling the goods other than to say it's emotionally manipulative beyond belief. Did Roth have everything plotted out leading up to this specific ending? I hope not, because as a non-writer I was able to brainstorm three better endings in approximately 30 seconds. The author needed to take a five minute coffee break and scribble something on a napkin...I assure you it would be more thematically fitting to the series.
I award this book ★★, and may God have mercy on our souls.
Read this one today -
Creepy.
I'm trying to brush up my French with plays - which are more manageable than novels. Any suggestions outside of Sartre, Molière and Ionesco? How hard a read is Racine?
Good idea, I might try this after I finish the second book in the Horus Heresy.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Finished Divergent last night. Wasn't too crazy about it. Ending was really rushed and sloppy. Doubt if I bother with the sequels.
Only read the first book but totally agree with this. I was literally shaking my head in awe at the stupidity of it. And I usually don't mind the romance stuff all that much in YA, but it was just bad in this one.
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Started this on a whim and liking it so far.
8-Bit Christmas by Kevin Jakubowski
Only read the first book but totally agree with this. I was literally shaking my head in awe at the stupidity of it. And I usually don't mind the romance stuff all that much in YA, but it was just bad in this one.
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Started this on a whim and liking it so far.
8-Bit Christmas by Kevin Jakubowski
The second book is far and away better than the first in my opinion. Joe Abercrombie magnified all the stuff I liked about the first one and cut out all the stuff I didn't. Books two and three are just pure fun.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Just bought it. I've been wanting to read some of Sanderson's work.
Just a PSA that Steve Erickson's The Sea Came In at Midnight is $1.99 on Kindle for today only.
The Sea Came in at Midnight by Steve Erickson
Steve Erickson is maybe the most underrated writer out there today. He writes these strange, dreamlike, sometimes scary novels which I suppose could be classified as science fiction but really don't resemble anything from that genre. He's obsessed with identity and dream and cinema, and they all play a part in his novels. He's an absolutely amazing writer. I urge you to give him a shot.
The Sea Came in at Midnight by Steve Erickson
Steve Erickson is maybe the most underrated writer out there today. He writes these strange, dreamlike, sometimes scary novels which I suppose could be classified as science fiction but really don't resemble anything from that genre. He's obsessed with identity and dream and cinema, and they all play a part in his novels. He's an absolutely amazing writer. I urge you to give him a shot.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Tragicomedy
Member
Buy and read, guys, buy and read!
I just started this about an hour ago. First time I've ever read it. Gonna check out Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions next.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
One of the finest 20th Century prose works I've read.
Maklershed
Member
NEW THREAD HAS BEEN POSTED: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=707411
Amazon has Kindle Countdown deals now? They're not gonna stop until they have all my money are they?
Amazon has Kindle Countdown deals now? They're not gonna stop until they have all my money are they?
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