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[BriareosGAF]

Almost done with The Sandman Omnibus Volume 2.

I have such vivid memories of reading all of these when I was younger. I think the first issue I picked up was the start of Brief Lives when it was in its original run. Reading Seasons of Mist collection on the drive back from campus to our hometown, that last page "happily ever after... in hell", trundling along in the back seat of my friend's Ford Escort, pregnant silence thinking about the work. Then Arby's. All fits together thematically, ha.

Will be interesting introducing them to my daughters.

 

[ShaneB]

Think I'm still in this weird funk where I'm never sure what I'm in the mood for. Not sure if I'm liking The Forever War a whole lot, as I keep thinking about what I'll just read next.

 

[Ratrat]

Began Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself and I'm sad to say that I don't think I'll continue reading it. It just kind of reads like mediocre fan-fiction. The writing style leaves a lot to be desired; it isn't immersive AT ALL to me. The author is really bad at descriptions (IMO, of course).

I agree. Incredibly mediocre and often juvenile author. I also don't think he improves much in future books. Best Served Cold was a such a waste.

 

[bennywhatever]

I'm still reading "Snow Crash."

I'm loving at how well Neal predicted so many cool things about technology, and then he goes and says something about "videotaping" things and about "tubes in TVs."

 

[TheSoed]

I'm going for it. Finally.

 

[sparky2112]

I agree. Incredibly mediocre and often juvenile author. I also don't think he improves much in future books. Best Served Cold was a such a waste.

And yet, he's huge in the genre. So, so much mediocrity in fantasy - at least among the authors that are widely read. Having said that, there are plenty of good ones too.

 

[Brerlappin]

Couple of hundred pages into this and loving it. The mix of real life and fantasy horror is great

 

[TheUsual]

Just finished reading No Country For Old Men and now reading The Road (both by Cormac McCarthy).

 

[Zona]

I'm still reading "Snow Crash."

I'm loving at how well Neal predicted so many cool things about technology, and then he goes and says something about "videotaping" things and about "tubes in TVs."

I had that feeling when I read Neuromancer. "Hmm he got that right, got that right, probably the reason THAT exists, ... Phone booths in a space station?!"

Read, amongst many other things,

I enjoyed the setting. I'm a bit of a sucker for all myths are true and belief makes them real cosmologies. The existence of one Devil for ever famous portrayal of him in story tickled me pink.

 

[Peru]

Wide Sargasso Sea
Reminds me more of Rebecca than Jane Eyre so far, which is a good thing considering I like the first but really dislike the latter.

Why do you dislike JE?

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Man Swan Song is dark as heck. Gave me nightmares.

Think I'm still in this weird funk where I'm never sure what I'm in the mood for. Not sure if I'm liking The Forever War a whole lot, as I keep thinking about what I'll just read next.

Yeah it was just OK for me.

 

[Rest]

Making my way through The Forever War.

Now that's a good book. What are your thoughts so far?

 

[ShaneB]

Man Swan Song is dark as heck. Gave me nightmares.

Yeah it was just OK for me.

Perhaps I'll add Swan Song to the list. Was really soured by how much I disliked 'A Boy's Life'

Now that's a good book. What are your thoughts so far?

Heh, see my comment above that Mackenzie quoted. My reading funk has kinda put me in an odd place of judging what to read. I'm liking it enough to push through, but I'm in this state where I'm just wondering what I really want to read.

 

[Haly]

Emphyrio (Jack Vance)

This was an interesting story but I'm not so sure about the quality actual narrative. There's something very unorthodox about the way Vance formats his stories, which I suspect has much to do with being a forerunner in a new subgenre of sorts. From what I had previously read in Dying Earth, I think it works better as short stories than a longer novella form.

In terms of the the scenario and setting, it's an intriguing tale about a world indoctrinated in a unique form of socialism, creating the environment needed for the production of crafts of the highest quality for export. There are elements of a great science fiction story here - a boy growing into a man, people questioning their place in society, the mystery behind a cultural myth, and so on. The main issue which made this an odd read is that the pacing of the story feels very inconsistent. It can spend a lot of time on certain events, while totally glossing over others, even though the latter feels more significant or important. It almost feels like Vance lost interest in writing the story with the same amount of detail at some point, and just wanted to get it over with and complete the story.

There are clear signs that Vance wanted the structure of the story to be somewhat dramatic - it opens in media res with the protagonist in a bad situation, the bulk of the story is a flashback leading up to the moments of the opening, and at the very end there is a big reveal moment where the central mystery of the story is solved and explained while referencing various clues throughout the book. The structure is certainly there, but the dramatic flair just fails to come together in an elegant way. That's probably the most disappointing aspect of the narrative. I like passive laid back writing, but when the material clearly wants to be dramatic but fails at it, it's just feels disconnected instead.

Overall though, I definitely enjoyed reading it. It's a pretty unique story and I just wish it was more polished. The editing on the edition I read was also abysmal. There were typos and errors all over the text. By the end of it, I still have no idea if the name of the trading guild in the book is supposed to be Biomarc or Boimarc. Both terms were used with frequency, sometimes even in the same paragraph. For something that's 50 years old, and considered a "classic" it's odd that it hasn't been cleaned up. :/

Duckroll is a fatass uneducated american who claps after every meal.

 

[divusrex]

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson.

The second installment of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

 

[dionysus]

Couple of hundred pages into this and loving it. The mix of real life and fantasy horror is great

Does it have any relationship to a historic piece of literature? If so which one?

 

[BrokenFiction]

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson.

The second installment of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

The start of a hell of a ride - enjoy!

 

[Jimothy]

Finished Issac Duetscher's three volume biography of Trotsky. Probably the best book(s) I've ever read. The prose is astoundingly good. Some passages are straight up lyrical, and are all the more remarkable considering English isn't even Duetscher's first language. If you have even a passing interest in 20th century history, this is an absolute must read.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

 

[Maklershed]

Think I'm still in this weird funk where I'm never sure what I'm in the mood for. Not sure if I'm liking The Forever War a whole lot, as I keep thinking about what I'll just read next.

Try Gone Girl. Its really entertaining. Quick, easy read.

 

[Reeks]

I feel like so much of this is common sense. Unfortunately, I didn't connect the dots until I started reading more about incarceration. I feel ashamed for not seeing beforehand what is so apparent now.

Currently reading these two:

Fucking love Zizek!

 

[aidan]

Think I'm still in this weird funk where I'm never sure what I'm in the mood for. Not sure if I'm liking The Forever War a whole lot, as I keep thinking about what I'll just read next.

Try The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. It's beautiful.

In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself.

But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel.

Grief struck and searching for clues to her grandfather’s final state of mind, she turns to the stories he told her when she was a child. On their weekly trips to the zoo he would read to her from a worn copy of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which he carried with him everywhere; later, he told her stories of his own encounters over many years with “the deathless man,” a vagabond who claimed to be immortal and appeared never to age. But the most extraordinary story of all is the one her grandfather never told her, the one Natalia must discover for herself. One winter during the Second World War, his childhood village was snowbound, cut off even from the encroaching German invaders but haunted by another, fierce presence: a tiger who comes ever closer under cover of darkness. “These stories,” Natalia comes to understand, “run like secret rivers through all the other stories” of her grandfather’s life. And it is ultimately within these rich, luminous narratives that she will find the answer she is looking for.

I wrote the following in my review a few years ago, and still feel like it's absolutely accurate about my feelings towards the novel: "There are novels on the knife’s edge of perfection, that are so joyous and heartrending that to speculate on them, no matter how effusively, would be to mar their beauty. Stardust by Neil Gaiman is one such novel for me. The Tiger’s Wife is another. There’s magic in this novel and I recommend it with every ounce of my passion for literature."

 

[bonesmccoy]

Oh, that's good to know. I'm a sucker for good prose, which is why I love McCarthy, for instance. As long as something is beautifully written then I'll read it; it can usually be about anything. Unfortunately, Abercrombie's prose isn't immersing me, and for me to enjoy a book I need to be able to envision every sentence or passage wholly and lusciously. If that makes any sense.

It does. I wouldn't say Abercrombie's post-trilogy books are going to satisfy that need though. They're pulpy, entertaining quick reads.

Started it this morning. I'll tell you in a few days.

Please do!

 

[BlueDogAnchorite]

I have such vivid memories of reading all of these when I was younger. I think the first issue I picked up was the start of Brief Lives when it was in its original run. Reading Seasons of Mist collection on the drive back from campus to our hometown, that last page "happily ever after... in hell", trundling along in the back seat of my friend's Ford Escort, pregnant silence thinking about the work. Then Arby's. All fits together thematically, ha.

Will be interesting introducing them to my daughters.

Yeah, I'm really loving this comic. I'm almost to the end. I love the characters and story. The mythology is very complex and well thought out.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

And yet, he's huge in the genre. So, so much mediocrity in fantasy - at least among the authors that are widely read. Having said that, there are plenty of good ones too.

What are the good ones, IYO?

I find George R.R. Martin highly enjoyable to read. Love his prose, especially in the first three books. He could really paint vivid imagery. Seemed to lose some of the poetry in the last two, however.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Think I'm still in this weird funk where I'm never sure what I'm in the mood for. Not sure if I'm liking The Forever War a whole lot, as I keep thinking about what I'll just read next.

<subliminal on>

Spoiler

Read Ahvarra, Shane!

<subliminal off>

 

[ShaneB]

Try Gone Girl. Its really entertaining. Quick, easy read.

Read it last year! Very excited for the movie, might see it this weekend.

Try The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. It's beautiful.

I wrote the following in my review a few years ago, and still feel like it's absolutely accurate about my feelings towards the novel: "There are novels on the knife’s edge of perfection, that are so joyous and heartrending that to speculate on them, no matter how effusively, would be to mar their beauty. Stardust by Neil Gaiman is one such novel for me. The Tiger’s Wife is another. There’s magic in this novel and I recommend it with every ounce of my passion for literature."

Sounds interesting!

<subliminal on>

Spoiler

Read Ahvarra, Shane!

<subliminal off>

=( Someday. I feel like avoiding a lot of sci-fi/fantasy it seems. What I might read next after Forever War is The Child Thief.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Hows your environment when you read GAF?

Lately (last three days) I've been waking up and sitting on my tiny porch with the sun shining on my legs, and my Kindle Paperwhite in my hands as I read The southern reach trilogy.
Sure the occasional fly is annoying, but I find the sound of the wind,trees, and birds to be calming. Plus, the inside of my house is always loud with either TV,music or halves of phone conversations.

Right now I'm actually excited for waking up tomorrow morning and finishing Annihilation. I plan on making myself a cup of tea and finishing the book, and then taking a nice shower.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Try The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. It's beautiful.



I wrote the following in my review a few years ago, and still feel like it's absolutely accurate about my feelings towards the novel: "There are novels on the knife’s edge of perfection, that are so joyous and heartrending that to speculate on them, no matter how effusively, would be to mar their beauty. Stardust by Neil Gaiman is one such novel for me. The Tiger’s Wife is another. There’s magic in this novel and I recommend it with every ounce of my passion for literature."

Awesome description, Aidan. Added to my wish list based on your writing skill.

 

[Murder. She Wrote]

The last book I finished was a dance of dragons years ago. Feels bad not reading when as a kid I always read. So I picked up a book that looked interesting called The Tiger's Wife and I enjoy the writing style and the story so far. Feels good after giving up on Gravity's Rainbow.

Edit- Hah! I didn't even see the post before me mentioning it.

 

[nakedsushi]

Finished:


Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley

It was only ok.

 

[Haly]

Worse than Scott Pilgrim? Or do you feel the same about Scott Pilrgrim?

 

[Osorio]

 

[Ratrat]

What are the good ones, IYO?

I find George R.R. Martin highly enjoyable to read. Love his prose, especially in the first three books. He could really paint vivid imagery. Seemed to lose some of the poetry in the last two, however.

As you know, he draws heavily from history so I don't think there are many fantasy authors with a similar feel. I found R. Scott Bakker to be the most similar in that regard but not nearly as populated with interesting characters.

 

[Ashes]

Blindness is heartbreaking.

Aye. Spell Binding book of extraordinary significance.

 

[Bazza]

Finished Hunters Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Daniel Abraham yesterday, it was quite an enjoyable book, The thing I liked most was

Spoiler

how I came to prefer the Ramon-clone over the original. When you first find out the story is told from the perspective of the clone, It almost felt like I was betraying the real Ramon by reading the closes story, that all changes though when the two of them get together and by that point its pretty clear original Ramon is bit of a dick.

Started on the Black Sun's Daughter series by Abram under the name M. L. N. Hanover, now, I'm getting a Dresdeny vibe from the first few chapters, gonna be interesting to see how things unfold.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

I'm going for it. Finally.

Great book. Also, that's a beautiful cover.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Yup just finished Annihilation.
Yup it was great.
Yup I will probably start reading part 2 today.



If anyone's a fan of Lost they should definitely read this book.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Yup just finished Annihilation.
Yup it was great.
Yup I will probably start reading part 2 today.

Yup.

 

[VistraNorrez]

Bloom: Or, the unwritten memoir of Tennyson Middlebrook by Martin Kee

I got it as part of a StoryBundle and, as I've purchased a lot of ebook bundles over the past year, I'm trying to read at least one book from each of them. I'm a quarter of the way through and really enjoying it.

 

[nakedsushi]

Worse than Scott Pilgrim? Or do you feel the same about Scott Pilgrim?

I feel the same about Scott Pilgrim, which is odd since I like video games. My then-boyfriend was the one who introduce them to me. He doesn't like video games at all but really liked Scott Pilgrim. I mean, some parts were funny in the SP volumes, but overall it just seemed like an average story except with tons of video game references.

I think I like Seconds a tad bit more than SP though, because the main character, while flawed, isn't a complete idiot like Scott is.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

How did I never hear about this?

Based on the book by Joe Hill.

Finished Hunters Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Daniel Abraham yesterday, it was quite an enjoyable book, The thing I liked most was

Spoiler

how I came to prefer the Ramon-clone over the original. When you first find out the story is told from the perspective of the clone, It almost felt like I was betraying the real Ramon by reading the closes story, that all changes though when the two of them get together and by that point its pretty clear original Ramon is bit of a dick.

Enjoyed that one too.

 

[Haly]

I feel the same about Scott Pilgrim, which is odd since I like video games. My then-boyfriend was the one who introduce them to me. He doesn't like video games at all but really liked Scott Pilgrim. I mean, some parts were funny in the SP volumes, but overall it just seemed like an average story except with tons of video game references.

I think I like Seconds a tad bit more than SP though, because the main character, while flawed, isn't a complete idiot like Scott is.

Oh that's good to hear. I liked Scott Pilgrim a lot, it appealed to the hipster deep inside me, but I know it's not for everyone.

 

[Nymerio]

Finished 'Under the Dome' yesterday. Liked it a lot. Out of the couple Stephen King books I've read I'd probably say it's the best.

Didn't know what I should start next so I skimmed this thread and saw that this Southern Reach trilogy seems to be a thing and the first book is pretty cheap on Amazon, so I'm just about to start this.

 

[themidnightsun156]

oliver twist

 

[aidan]

The last book I finished was a dance of dragons years ago. Feels bad not reading when as a kid I always read. So I picked up a book that looked interesting called The Tiger's Wife and I enjoy the writing style and the story so far. Feels good after giving up on Gravity's Rainbow.

Edit- Hah! I didn't even see the post before me mentioning it.

How random! Good choice, though.

 

[BlueDogAnchorite]

Just finished The Sandman Omnibus Volume II. This comic was great. I really loved the characters, and plot. There was so much I loved about these comics.

Reading Star Wars A New Dawn next.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished 'Under the Dome' yesterday. Liked it a lot. Out of the couple Stephen King books I've read I'd probably say it's the best.

I think it's my favorite too.

 

[Nymerio]

I think it's my favorite too.

Did you watch the tv series as well? I'm thinking of watching it but from what I've heard from a friend it's quite different from the book.

 

[Rambaldi47]

The TV series is completely different to the book. And it's also just plain awful. I really liked the book, it's also one of my favourite King books. The TV series fucked up, for me, when, in the very first episode, they turned Rusty into a fireman and left him outside of the dome. Dumb fucks!

I've just started the third book of the Millennium trilogy. Really good books these. But, last night, I was browsing my Kindle and realised I have absolutely nothing to read afterwards. I will be lost.