Tragicomedy
Member
Catch-22 is my favorite novel. Go with that one!
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What are you reading? (October 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
- Status
Catch-22 is my favorite novel. Go with that one!
AngmarsKing701
Member
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
OK I guess I'll download the story and read it before I start Caliban's War. I really wanted to keep reading the series after I finished Leviathan Wakes which was definitely one of if not the best book I have read this year (and I'm not even that big of a SciFi fan) but the books were so damn expensive here (10 for an e-book!) that I put it off. Glad to hear that the series apparently keeps its quality.
EverythingShiny
Member
I'm about 80% through NOS4A2. Still really enjoying it. There was recently a mention of the True Knot so that firmly cements my assumption that NOS4A2 and King's books take place in the same universe (earlier in the book, mention is made of Salem's Lot and Derry.) I didn't catch any references in Horns or Heart-Shaped Box, at least that I can remember. I think it's pretty cool.
Just ordered the following 3 books, they should arrive on Friday:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Khaneman
The Black Swan: Second Edition by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis
I'm a little intimidated by the math in The Black Swan but we'll see.
Just ordered the following 3 books, they should arrive on Friday:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Khaneman
The Black Swan: Second Edition by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis
I'm a little intimidated by the math in The Black Swan but we'll see.
God damn. Such a good book.
Tragicomedy
Member
Just finished:
The Passage book 2 - The Twelve by Justin Cronin
I think I liked The Passage a little better than this one. Both books are a mixed bag. This one was faster paced, but there are sacrifices. It feels like he tried to compensate for some of the weaknesses in the first book, and swerved a little too far in the other direction. Still, it was basically solid. I'll certainly pick up the last one when it comes out.
Lyonesse Book 2 - The Green Pearl by Jack Vance
This was even better than the first Lyonesse book.The story went in all sorts of surprising directions and I had no idea what was going to happen next. If you can handle the old-school omniscient narrative style, and the complexity of the winding storyline, this series is well worth reading. It requires patience but it is very rewarding for those who can stick it out. There's a lot of humor, and the books have moments (very occasional) where sexual situations and violence become quite graphic, temporarily shattering the fairy tale atmosphere. It makes for a very strage reading experience, almost like Discworld meets ASOIAF (I haven't read a lot of Discworld, but based on my limited experience, this is an accurate comparison). I'm excited to get started on the third book. If it lives up to the first two, this will go down as one of my favorite fantasy series ever.
The Passage book 2 - The Twelve by Justin Cronin
I think I liked The Passage a little better than this one. Both books are a mixed bag. This one was faster paced, but there are sacrifices. It feels like he tried to compensate for some of the weaknesses in the first book, and swerved a little too far in the other direction. Still, it was basically solid. I'll certainly pick up the last one when it comes out.
Lyonesse Book 2 - The Green Pearl by Jack Vance
This was even better than the first Lyonesse book.The story went in all sorts of surprising directions and I had no idea what was going to happen next. If you can handle the old-school omniscient narrative style, and the complexity of the winding storyline, this series is well worth reading. It requires patience but it is very rewarding for those who can stick it out. There's a lot of humor, and the books have moments (very occasional) where sexual situations and violence become quite graphic, temporarily shattering the fairy tale atmosphere. It makes for a very strage reading experience, almost like Discworld meets ASOIAF (I haven't read a lot of Discworld, but based on my limited experience, this is an accurate comparison). I'm excited to get started on the third book. If it lives up to the first two, this will go down as one of my favorite fantasy series ever.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Hollow Men and Hollow Land (I think that's the title) by Amanda Hocking? Maybe?
David Markson's Wittgenstein's Mistress ?
Good book.
Currently reading J.G. Farrell's Troubles. Uproarious. Lovely writer.
Gaf, make me smart.
No but seriously, I want to read something life changing, I don't know how to express my hunger for a book that'll be so good it'll scar / mark / inspire me for life any better.
It can be fiction (not Fiction the poster, she's not a book) or not, any genre really. I'm open to everything, I just want you to tell me it's the best thing you've ever read. Pretty please?
Just read The Count of Monte Cristo. I have never known anyone who disliked it, and it is one of the few 1500 page books you will wish was 5 times as long. Every time I see it on my shelf I just want to grab it and start reading it again.
Monte Cristo tries your attention span. For a non-reader it can be daunting.
My personal "life changing" books:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1984
Neverwhere
Other possible books:
Two Boys Kissing
Stories of your Life and Others
The Dispossessed
Bless Me, Ultima
One of the problems with your request is that it's easier to find a life changing experience in a book as a child than as an adult because you're kind of set in your ways then. The books I listed as personally life changing I read in high school, and more or less define who I am today. No book I have read since than can possibly have the same impact because I now have the blessing/curse of self awareness not to throw myself headfirst into the core of a book, which comes with being a longtime reader.
Of course, if you were never a heavy reader you can avoid the pitfalls of hindsight. Hence the second list, which are books that I feel, had I read them at the right time, would've changed how I looked at the world.
My personal "life changing" books:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
1984
Neverwhere
Other possible books:
Two Boys Kissing
Stories of your Life and Others
The Dispossessed
Bless Me, Ultima
One of the problems with your request is that it's easier to find a life changing experience in a book as a child than as an adult because you're kind of set in your ways then. The books I listed as personally life changing I read in high school, and more or less define who I am today. No book I have read since than can possibly have the same impact because I now have the blessing/curse of self awareness not to throw myself headfirst into the core of a book, which comes with being a longtime reader.
Of course, if you were never a heavy reader you can avoid the pitfalls of hindsight. Hence the second list, which are books that I feel, had I read them at the right time, would've changed how I looked at the world.
So, after finishing The Way of Kings and pledging to cleanse my palate with 200 page crime novels, I embarked on a crime wave!
The Getaway by Jim Thompson (1958) - What better way to kick things off than with a solid kick in the teeth? A team of criminals pulls off a violent robbery but, as you may have gathered from the title, things get a lot more complicated when it comes to the getaway. It's tough to identify with, let alone root for, criminals who are amoral at best and depraved at worst, but their struggles are compelling and, while staying as vague as possible, the ending was absolutely phenomenal. This is the only Thompson novel I've read so far, but I feel safe in recommending this one highly and in planning to read more of his work; I'll probably dig in to The Killer Inside Me in the near future.
Cop Hater by Ed McBain (1956) - Cop Hater is the first of Ed McBain's long running 87th Precinct series and the edition I picked up had a nice introduction that explained the development of the series. Inspired by the old Dragnet radio serials, McBain decided to write a realistic series of police mysteries that, rather than focusing on a single hero, used an entire department as the hero with each book in the series focusing one one character in particular. Thus we have the contemporary police procedural and, basically, every cop show from the past fifty years. Of course, the 87th Precinct novels wouldn't have been so popular had the first book not been a terrific kick off to the series: a cop is murdered and our heroes have to scramble to find the killer. It's a basic setup but the execution is top notch, particularly the insight into police procedure from almost sixty years in the past. I'd read at least one of the later novels in the series before, but I'm glad I went back to the beginning and I hope to read the rest of the series in order.
The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes (1959) - This is the second of Himes' crime novels featuring detectives Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones, two seriously badass sons of bitches who keep order in Harlem with iron fists and, as necessary, blazing guns. Himes' depiction of an utterly segregated slum is fascinating, grim, and very blackly humorous. In The Real Cool Killers, a white visitor to Harlem is chased out of a bar and gunned down in the street, at which point things get terribly complicated, with suspensions, teenage gangs, theoretical Muslims, and all manner of violent hijinx. It's all summed up nicely by a great quote on the back cover: "The greatest purveyor of mayhem yarns since Raymond Chandler." I'm ashamed to admit that I have yet to read Chandler, but I can certainly vouch for The Real Cool Killers as being a quality mayhem yarn.
The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald (1964) - Having read glowing recommendations for ages, I finally got around to reading the first of the Travis McGee mysteries. McGee isn't quite a detective and he certainly isn't a cop, but if someone has taken something from you and he agrees to take on your case, McGee will do his damnedest to get it back for half of anything recovered. (Plus expenses, naturally.) McGee lives on a houseboat in the Florida Keys and the setting is half the star here, with our hero in the thick of a restless community outside of normal society and a fair amount of boating detail. Also, McGee is an insightful, empathic character, who's inclined to brood about the foibles of those around him (with plenty of time for sardonic introspection) and a sharp understanding of the predators he's put up against. Here, a young woman in dire straits has been fleeced by a particularly nasty character who stands in sharp contrast to McGee's beach bum nobility. This was one hell of a read and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series in the near future.
The Seventh by Richard Stark (1966) - Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the utterly controlled, cooly detached Parker. Here, in his seventh outing, Parker is part of a seven man team that steals the cash from a big college football game. The problem comes right at the beginning when someone manages to steal the cash away from Parker's care, leaving the team of professionals to wonder if one of them is responsible. This particular Parker novel reminded me of the structure of the Golgo 13 manga, where you spend as much time seeing the viewpoint of secondary characters trying to cope with the impact of Parker's presence as you do Parker himself. The Seventh isn't the best of the Parker novels I've read so far, but it was still a damned entertaining, fast paced read.
Why Me by Donald Westlake (1983) - Finally, I decided to take a break from all the serious crime fiction and instead enjoy some lighthearted crime fiction with the fifth novel in Westlake's Dortmunder series. As ever, the long suffering John Dortmunder is a very competent crook with utterly abysmal luck. The owner of a jewelry store is involved in the theft of an incredibly valuable, highly politically charged ring that he locks away in his shop safe...just in time for Dortmunder to knock over the store and walk away with the ring with no idea whatsoever what he has on his hands. Then all hell breaks loose as the cops, rival foreign agents, and even his fellow crooks tear the city apart looking for the damn thing. As expected, this was a hoot and a half and largely served to make me wonder why I haven't already read the entire Dortmunder series.
At this point, law and order was briefly returned and my personal crime wave came to a stop, at least for the time being. After reading 1200 pages of doorstop fantasy it was great to tear through six novels in as many pages for a change of pace. I'm planning on another crime wave later in the year. In the meantime, I'm finally settling into a new release I've been eagerly anticipating:
Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman - This is the fourth novel in the Anno Dracula series, where the setup is that Dracula eluded Van Helsing's team, became Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, and proceeded to popularize vampirism in society. Later books in the series follow the cultural implications of vampires being more or less accepted, with The Bloody Red Baron (set during the Great War) and Dracula Cha Cha Cha (aka Anno Dracula 1959), with as many literary (and, later, film) references as Newman can squeeze into each novel making an appearance. (Alan Moore would later do something very similar with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics.) This latest novel will be covering 1976-1991 and so far Francis Ford Coppola is desperately trying to hold together his chaotic production of Dracula, set in Romania during the Ceauşescu regime. Newman is riffing on Hearts of Darkness with the action interspersed by script pages that are a mash up between Bram Stoker and Apocalypse Now. It's a great idea with some hysterical moments ("Never get off the coach!") and you can tell that things are going to get very ugly by the time Martin Sheens' Jonathan Harker makes it into the depths of Transylvania to film scenes with Brando as Count Dracula. There was also a prologue set during 1944 that appears to be using F. Paul Wilson's The Keep, which I'm looking forward to seeing come into play. I'm only fifty or so pages in but, so far, it looks like Newman has knocked another wonderful exercise in mirror universe popular culture out of the park.
FnordChan
The Getaway by Jim Thompson (1958) - What better way to kick things off than with a solid kick in the teeth? A team of criminals pulls off a violent robbery but, as you may have gathered from the title, things get a lot more complicated when it comes to the getaway. It's tough to identify with, let alone root for, criminals who are amoral at best and depraved at worst, but their struggles are compelling and, while staying as vague as possible, the ending was absolutely phenomenal. This is the only Thompson novel I've read so far, but I feel safe in recommending this one highly and in planning to read more of his work; I'll probably dig in to The Killer Inside Me in the near future.
Cop Hater by Ed McBain (1956) - Cop Hater is the first of Ed McBain's long running 87th Precinct series and the edition I picked up had a nice introduction that explained the development of the series. Inspired by the old Dragnet radio serials, McBain decided to write a realistic series of police mysteries that, rather than focusing on a single hero, used an entire department as the hero with each book in the series focusing one one character in particular. Thus we have the contemporary police procedural and, basically, every cop show from the past fifty years. Of course, the 87th Precinct novels wouldn't have been so popular had the first book not been a terrific kick off to the series: a cop is murdered and our heroes have to scramble to find the killer. It's a basic setup but the execution is top notch, particularly the insight into police procedure from almost sixty years in the past. I'd read at least one of the later novels in the series before, but I'm glad I went back to the beginning and I hope to read the rest of the series in order.
The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes (1959) - This is the second of Himes' crime novels featuring detectives Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones, two seriously badass sons of bitches who keep order in Harlem with iron fists and, as necessary, blazing guns. Himes' depiction of an utterly segregated slum is fascinating, grim, and very blackly humorous. In The Real Cool Killers, a white visitor to Harlem is chased out of a bar and gunned down in the street, at which point things get terribly complicated, with suspensions, teenage gangs, theoretical Muslims, and all manner of violent hijinx. It's all summed up nicely by a great quote on the back cover: "The greatest purveyor of mayhem yarns since Raymond Chandler." I'm ashamed to admit that I have yet to read Chandler, but I can certainly vouch for The Real Cool Killers as being a quality mayhem yarn.
The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald (1964) - Having read glowing recommendations for ages, I finally got around to reading the first of the Travis McGee mysteries. McGee isn't quite a detective and he certainly isn't a cop, but if someone has taken something from you and he agrees to take on your case, McGee will do his damnedest to get it back for half of anything recovered. (Plus expenses, naturally.) McGee lives on a houseboat in the Florida Keys and the setting is half the star here, with our hero in the thick of a restless community outside of normal society and a fair amount of boating detail. Also, McGee is an insightful, empathic character, who's inclined to brood about the foibles of those around him (with plenty of time for sardonic introspection) and a sharp understanding of the predators he's put up against. Here, a young woman in dire straits has been fleeced by a particularly nasty character who stands in sharp contrast to McGee's beach bum nobility. This was one hell of a read and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series in the near future.
The Seventh by Richard Stark (1966) - Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the utterly controlled, cooly detached Parker. Here, in his seventh outing, Parker is part of a seven man team that steals the cash from a big college football game. The problem comes right at the beginning when someone manages to steal the cash away from Parker's care, leaving the team of professionals to wonder if one of them is responsible. This particular Parker novel reminded me of the structure of the Golgo 13 manga, where you spend as much time seeing the viewpoint of secondary characters trying to cope with the impact of Parker's presence as you do Parker himself. The Seventh isn't the best of the Parker novels I've read so far, but it was still a damned entertaining, fast paced read.
Why Me by Donald Westlake (1983) - Finally, I decided to take a break from all the serious crime fiction and instead enjoy some lighthearted crime fiction with the fifth novel in Westlake's Dortmunder series. As ever, the long suffering John Dortmunder is a very competent crook with utterly abysmal luck. The owner of a jewelry store is involved in the theft of an incredibly valuable, highly politically charged ring that he locks away in his shop safe...just in time for Dortmunder to knock over the store and walk away with the ring with no idea whatsoever what he has on his hands. Then all hell breaks loose as the cops, rival foreign agents, and even his fellow crooks tear the city apart looking for the damn thing. As expected, this was a hoot and a half and largely served to make me wonder why I haven't already read the entire Dortmunder series.
At this point, law and order was briefly returned and my personal crime wave came to a stop, at least for the time being. After reading 1200 pages of doorstop fantasy it was great to tear through six novels in as many pages for a change of pace. I'm planning on another crime wave later in the year. In the meantime, I'm finally settling into a new release I've been eagerly anticipating:
Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman - This is the fourth novel in the Anno Dracula series, where the setup is that Dracula eluded Van Helsing's team, became Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, and proceeded to popularize vampirism in society. Later books in the series follow the cultural implications of vampires being more or less accepted, with The Bloody Red Baron (set during the Great War) and Dracula Cha Cha Cha (aka Anno Dracula 1959), with as many literary (and, later, film) references as Newman can squeeze into each novel making an appearance. (Alan Moore would later do something very similar with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics.) This latest novel will be covering 1976-1991 and so far Francis Ford Coppola is desperately trying to hold together his chaotic production of Dracula, set in Romania during the Ceauşescu regime. Newman is riffing on Hearts of Darkness with the action interspersed by script pages that are a mash up between Bram Stoker and Apocalypse Now. It's a great idea with some hysterical moments ("Never get off the coach!") and you can tell that things are going to get very ugly by the time Martin Sheens' Jonathan Harker makes it into the depths of Transylvania to film scenes with Brando as Count Dracula. There was also a prologue set during 1944 that appears to be using F. Paul Wilson's The Keep, which I'm looking forward to seeing come into play. I'm only fifty or so pages in but, so far, it looks like Newman has knocked another wonderful exercise in mirror universe popular culture out of the park.
FnordChan
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
Gaf, make me smart.
No but seriously, I want to read something life changing, I don't know how to express my hunger for a book that'll be so good it'll scar / mark / inspire me for life any better.
It can be fiction (not Fiction the poster, she's not a book) or not, any genre really. I'm open to everything, I just want you to tell me it's the best thing you've ever read. Pretty please?
Read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Her stories can take a sober tone but I never see them as cynical, harsh, or overbearing but rather compassionate and uplifting. Although I assumed the poster was talking about her writing style and not so much subject matter.
Ready Player One: Just finished and both loved and hated it. It's a fun, easy read with decent language, but despite it being the point of the book, I wasn't enamored with the non-stop barrage of references. Mainly because the author employs the weakest form of them - just flat-out telling you what he's referencing. In fact, the prologue has him making vague references and then there's an asterisk and a footnote saying "HAY GUYS IM REFERENCING THIS THING!" For example, towards the end, Cline describes the main character pretending to ride without a horse, with a servant behind him clapping two coconut shells together. That made me smile until I turned the page and the main character reflects on it and says where it's from AND one of the other characters exlaims "LOL, Monthy Python!" basically. Would've been so much more fun if Cline had just left it at the description. Still, though, a fun adventure and a cute little love story about misfits finding each other. Nothing groundbreaking but an amusing read.
Brave New World: Tried to get started on it, but god damn, this language is damn near unreadable. I got a few pages in until I hit a sentence that had so many interjections, my mind blew up. The damn sentence had literally 10-20 semicolons and dashes. Sentence structure Huxley pls
(I'll try again in the future but right now I'm too tired for this shit.)
Leviathan Wakes: So I picked this one up instead. So far so good! I'm only 20 pages in but it's a lot like Alien/s in book form thus far. Some shit is about to go down on a huge space freighter and the first chapter is the calm before the storm.
Brave New World: Tried to get started on it, but god damn, this language is damn near unreadable. I got a few pages in until I hit a sentence that had so many interjections, my mind blew up. The damn sentence had literally 10-20 semicolons and dashes. Sentence structure Huxley pls
(I'll try again in the future but right now I'm too tired for this shit.)
Leviathan Wakes: So I picked this one up instead. So far so good! I'm only 20 pages in but it's a lot like Alien/s in book form thus far. Some shit is about to go down on a huge space freighter and the first chapter is the calm before the storm.
Thank you, all noted!
Yeah I've been getting in HPMOR and even though I do find some instructive bits to it, I often cringe at the way they are layed out. At chapter 7, I am not yet done having an opinion on it though. Thanks for the other suggestions, Catch-22 is certainly getting a few votes.
Thank you.
Mmh, interesting. Thanks!
I loved 1984, and didn't quite get into Neverwhere (started it, didn't finish it yet). I had just been done reading American Godes (straight after Graveyard Book) and it might have been an overdose. I'm not a longtime reader, I'm a chronic one, but I've always been on the reflective side of things and tend to absorb books and their messages in the long run. Thank you for the list, I will look into them.
Thanks!
Professor Chaos
Member
You've sold me on these two, thanks.
So I finished Wool (the omnibus). It was good, but I thought the later novels didn't live up to the expectations set by the first two: all the suspense and mystery didn't have a particularly satisfying resolution in my opinion, plus there are some pacing problems to boot.
Decided to read Grendel after that. It's pretty short, so I'm like 30% in already. Delightful stuff, it's interesting to see from a different perspective. After that, I think I'll finally get into Nabokov — not sure what to read in particular, but perhaps it will be Lolita. Never read a Nabokov book before for some reason.
Also, Cyan, it's funny that you mention Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality — I actually learned about it just a little while ago, also planning to read it in the future.
EDIT: Incidentally, what's up with goodreads? It's been like this for several days now:
Decided to read Grendel after that. It's pretty short, so I'm like 30% in already. Delightful stuff, it's interesting to see from a different perspective. After that, I think I'll finally get into Nabokov — not sure what to read in particular, but perhaps it will be Lolita. Never read a Nabokov book before for some reason.
Also, Cyan, it's funny that you mention Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality — I actually learned about it just a little while ago, also planning to read it in the future.
EDIT: Incidentally, what's up with goodreads? It's been like this for several days now:
I just finished not too long ago:
I am currently in the process of reading (listening to) the Dagger and Coin Series, its quite good.
I would like to read Infinite jest. I've heard so much hype I figured I really should experience it for myself.
The book I am most looking forward to, however, is Raising Steam. I am a very big pratchett fan.
I am currently in the process of reading (listening to) the Dagger and Coin Series, its quite good.
I would like to read Infinite jest. I've heard so much hype I figured I really should experience it for myself.
The book I am most looking forward to, however, is Raising Steam. I am a very big pratchett fan.
Gaf, make me smart.
No but seriously, I want to read something life changing, I don't know how to express my hunger for a book that'll be so good it'll scar / mark / inspire me for life any better.
It can be fiction (not Fiction the poster, she's not a book) or not, any genre really. I'm open to everything, I just want you to tell me it's the best thing you've ever read. Pretty please?
Well, I worry that the books that I have found to be life changing are a bit shallow. But for me, the ones that come to mind immediately are "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett, "The Night Watch" again by Pratchett,"Don Quixote" by Miguel De Cervantes.
I wrote a review of The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, which I pretty much loved, despite it being a very different novel than I had expected.
You can read the whole review here, if you're interested: http://aidanmoher.com/blog/review/2013/10/review-of-the-republic-of-thieves-by-scott-lynch/
whatsinaname22
Neo Member
Going to start this tonight.
Read a lot of Stephen King those past months including "The Long Walk" and "Carrie"
I finally read this:
Loved it. It's also funny how much American Horror Story took from it.
I'm now heading onto The Shadow of the Wind. I'm nearly 20% in and I'm still not sure where this is heading.
I finally read this:
Loved it. It's also funny how much American Horror Story took from it.
I'm now heading onto The Shadow of the Wind. I'm nearly 20% in and I'm still not sure where this is heading.
JoeyJungle
Banned
It was just announced this won the Man Booker Prize, so I ordered it to my kindle. I'll probably start it tonight. I've never heard of this book before an hour or so ago, anyone know anything about it?
http://wpmedia.arts.nationalpost.com/2013/09/the-luminaries.jpg
edit: wtf why is this image so big? I removed the img link. The book is called The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
http://wpmedia.arts.nationalpost.com/2013/09/the-luminaries.jpg
edit: wtf why is this image so big? I removed the img link. The book is called The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
ThankeeSai
Member
Read a lot of Stephen King those past months including "The Long Walk" and "Carrie"
I finally read this:
Loved it. It's also funny how much American Horror Story took from it.
I'm now heading onto The Shadow of the Wind. I'm nearly 20% in and I'm still not sure where this is heading.
Ordered this myself a couple of days ago. Never read before it and want to read Doctor Sleep. So yeah, The Shining is what I'll be reading this month.
Jitterbug Perfume or Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig
Bluebeard or Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Catch-22 or God Knows by Joseph Heller
Norwegian Wood or Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
A Prayer for Owen Meany or Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Stranger by Albert Camus
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Song of Solomon or Beloved by Toni Morrison
Music for Torching or The Safety of Objects by A.M. Homes
Finished listening to this a couple of days ago:
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The synopsis is a little misleading... the author spends very little time actually in the Amazon and the majority of the book is just a biography of the missing Fawcett. Also, his "troubles" as a modern day "explorer" are laughable compared to what he described Fawcett as having to experience.
About 60% of the way through Night Film. Pessl's writing is pretty terrible. She has a constant need to describe things through comparisons and her use of italics is driving me crazy. She keeps emphasizing little things awkwardly in the middle of a sentence. The main character's POV is also filled with the most stereotypical views of different cultures and social classes.
The plot is still intriguing though and the pacing is still great so at least it doesn't feel like a chore to read. I also like how she added actual pictures of forms/photos/website etc.
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The synopsis is a little misleading... the author spends very little time actually in the Amazon and the majority of the book is just a biography of the missing Fawcett. Also, his "troubles" as a modern day "explorer" are laughable compared to what he described Fawcett as having to experience.
About 60% of the way through Night Film. Pessl's writing is pretty terrible. She has a constant need to describe things through comparisons and her use of italics is driving me crazy. She keeps emphasizing little things awkwardly in the middle of a sentence. The main character's POV is also filled with the most stereotypical views of different cultures and social classes.
The plot is still intriguing though and the pacing is still great so at least it doesn't feel like a chore to read. I also like how she added actual pictures of forms/photos/website etc.
Femmeworth
Banned
What are some good websites for book reviews? More specifically I'm looking for lesbian fiction.
obin_gam
Member
Finished Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynoldsbl today, and boy was it a slow read. The setting was great and so was all the ideas around the premise: The book takes place in 2160, in the early dawn of the mankind colonization of our system. The moon and Mars is inhabited, but our ways of transport is still only a fraction of the speed of light so the other planets are not yet reachable in a comfortable travel time. We follow the siblings Geoffrey and Sunday Akinya, grandchildren of the famous deep space explorer pioneer Eunice Akinya, who stumbles upon breadcrumbs from their recently deceased grandmother which will lead them to a secret too big for us young humans to comprehend yet.
The characters and the execution of the plot was sadly dreadfully slow bordering on boring. But not quite boring per se - as I read through the pages I felt myself one the one hand falling asleep and not caring, but at the same time stuck in the books world and enticed by what was going to happen next. Will definitely pick up the sequel On The Steel Breeze when it comes out on audiobook, as I said: the setting is fantastic: this series will chronicle mankinds first 10,000 years into space colonization and since Reynolds is a former scientist himself, everything he writes about has this "yep, this is real and not scifi-feel to it".
Tragicomedy
Member
Aren't we all?
But seriously, I'm zero help here...sorry. The best suggestion I can give you is to hit up Goodreads and use that as the keyword in your search. You're bound to find a fairly comprehensive list.What's it about? I might have to bump it up in my queue along with the two Edward books you recommended to me.
My new Kindle Paperwhite made it in last night and I'm already loving it approximately seventeen and a half times more than reading on my tablet. My eyes certainly love me.
I'm breezing through The Way of Kinds (inasmuch as anyone can breeze through a 1,000+ page book). This is definitely Sanderson's masterpiece. The concept of Shardplate and Shardblades, Kaladin's journey
from warrior to slave to (I'm assuming) warrior again
Femmeworth
Banned
I know where to find lesbian fiction, but I need a guide to avoid all the crap.Aren't we all?
You would love it I have no doubt. It certainly works on all emotional levels.
From goodreads "Budo is Max's imaginary friend. But though only Max can see him, he is real. He and the other imaginary friends watch over their children until the day comes that the child stops imagining them. And then they're gone. Budo has lasted a lot longer than most imaginary friends - four years - because Max needs him more. His parents argue about sending him to a special school. But Max is perfectly happy if everything is just kept the way it is, and nothing out of the ordinary happens. Unfortunately, something out of the ordinary is going to happen - and then he'll need Budo more than ever..."
I suggest checking out the Goodreads lists and seeing if there are lesbian fiction lists, I assume there would be. Here is one for example http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4541.Best_Lesbian_Fiction. There are a bunch of others as well.
The Book Smugglers is great. It's edited by two women who read and review more than anyone else I can think of. It's not lesbian-specific, but it's a LBGT-friendly site.
Have you read anything by Sarah Waters and/or Emma Donoghue? Both are known for their excellent (lesbian) historical novels. Sarah Waters is better known of course, a couple of her novels have been turned into tv seris. I think Fingersmith is Sarah Waters best work to date, a Victorian crime novel that's very Dickensian, very tightly plotted with many surprises. My favorite book by Donoghue is Lifemask, about a female artists in late 18th century Britain who has to battle society's disapproval of her friendships and art.
It's also owned by Amazon.
I did not know this and now that I know I'm glad I don't use it.
Honestly the only people you can trust with reviews are vitriolic bloggers.
As someone who is studying to be a school teacher and has strong philosophical views towards social justice and humanistic affairs. This is the book (and also my favorite) that I re-read every year simply because it puts everything I want to do in life in perspective, and as such can be really inspiring especially when I'm feeling down or directionless for some reason.
Dune is fantastic. A word of advice; I know alot of people swear up and down that they are bad, but the prequels written by his son, "House Harkonnen" "House Atreides" and "House Corrino" are alot of fun in my opinon. I had actually read those first, before Dune, and I felt it made my experience with Dune all the better. My next Dune step is to read Messiah. But I have been putting that off forever.
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