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[Piecake]

Its nice to see talk about The Story of the Stone. It truly is a fantastic book and well worth the time if you are willing to put in the effort. I wouldnt describe it as similar to a Jane Austin book. I think it is much more than that since the best way to get a grasp of traditional Chinese culture, beliefs, and norms is reading The Story of the Stone.

I finished up reading

and

Both were fantastic and will now start Battle Cry of Freedom. I'm excited. I am not all that excited about the gap between that book and the next oxford US history book though.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Damn it i love me some Hemingway. Reading Farewell to Arms, and im just completely in love with his writing style.

 

[duckroll]

Shriek: An Afterword

This was much more enjoyable than City of Saints and Madmen on a whole. It basically takes the best part of the good stories there, and builds on that same tone in a much larger and more ambitious narrative. It's pretty breathtaking to see the history, people, and places of Ambergris come alive in this biography of sorts. Dream-like. Intense. Mesmerizing. Unforgettable. I feel it really takes a lot of confidence in a completely fictional world to write a story like this. A stark contrast to the slight lack of confidence I felt was displayed in the previous book with all the meta hooks and self-referencing, seemingly desperate for the reader to "get" what was being said.

Following up a collection of short stories with a much more detailed study of what makes the city tick through the life stories of two characters in the center of it all has made Ambergris feel much richer and that much more real. Instead of just being "more", it also goes deeper and provides more context to what has come before, which makes it a very satisfying read.

 

[Jintor]

Is that a good book for someone unfamiliar with his orbits with, or do you really rally need to read the stuff prior to get the full impact?

Interested in books about fictional cities atm.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Shriek: An Afterword

This was much more enjoyable than City of Saints and Madmen on a whole. It basically takes the best part of the good stories there, and builds on that same tone in a much larger and more ambitious narrative. It's pretty breathtaking to see the history, people, and places of Ambergris come alive in this biography of sorts. Dream-like. Intense. Mesmerizing. Unforgettable. I feel it really takes a lot of confidence in a completely fictional world to write a story like this. A stark contrast to the slight lack of confidence I felt was displayed in the previous book with all the meta hooks and self-referencing, seemingly desperate for the reader to "get" what was being said.

Following up a collection of short stories with a much more detailed study of what makes the city tick through the life stories of two characters in the center of it all has made Ambergris feel much richer and that much more real. Instead of just being "more", it also goes deeper and provides more context to what has come before, which makes it a very satisfying read.

I loved Shriek. Finch (follow-up) is great too, but I loved Shriek just a smidge more.

 

[duckroll]

Is that a good book for someone unfamiliar with his orbits with, or do you really rally need to read the stuff prior to get the full impact?

Interested in books about fictional cities atm.

I think by and large it's fine to read it on it's own. There's more familiarity for those who already know what the city is like after reading the stories in City of Saints and Madmen, but it's not required.

 

[DarkChronic]

From my perspective, it's definitely worth it, but I'm an admitted Abercrombie fanboy.

Pretty much every character arc has a major payoff in Last Argument of Kings. Things start to pick up in the next book when things kick into gear in the North.

Also, Jezal becomes a little more bearable as the trilogy progresses.

Cool. Think I'll keep it moving, then. And I actually liked Jezal in the first book. It's nice to have a "hero" that's a bit different. I'm coming off of Brandon Sanderson's WoK/WoR and the heroes are just too...perfect. Really dry and uninteresting. Logen/Glokta/Jezal are all pretty unique, which I like.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Slow Getting Up - not the most well written book but very interesting getting a peak behind the scenes of the NFL. Started up Yellow Crocus.


Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim

 

[Empty]

there but for the by ali smith

it's a sort of post-modern novel about a man who decides to lock himself a room during a dinner party and then looks at the lives of four different people with some connection to the event. the structure feels like maybe a cutsey, overly clever way of linking together a bunch of short stories and creating a novel and there's a fair amount of structural gimmickry here. but i feel like it ties together well and they echo nicely and when you work out what the opening vignette is about it's a powerful moment. describing a lot of that stuff belies the experience of reading it though, the book has real kindness for its characters and has lots of beautiful passages, and it's written in a breezy, very accessible, clear manner that belies the structural cleverness. a particular note is maybe the only precocious child in a book that doesn't grate on me. this is the first book i've read by this author but finishing it i took out two more of hers from the library.

carry on jeeves by p.g wodehouse

collection of jeeves and wooster stories. i like it but was less enamoured by it than the book length story wodehouse i've read. the sheer pleasure of wodehouse's comic prose makes it a delightful read, living in a world of corking days and rummy affairs and frightful bores, and there's some fun curiosities here like the first meeting between wooster and jeeves and a story written from jeeves' perspective. yet overall it feels too much like binge watching a procedural tv show, where the repetition in the simple structure of the stories grates and the stories are too short to really layer elements on to mix things up or create a grand farce.

 

[Steto96]

Reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
I'm halfway through and ... it's ... ok, I guess.
I mean, it's a book for children and the trilogy was on my (digital) bookshelf for a long time, I don't even remember why I started it. It goes on pretty fast, even if the story itself is full of plotholes, useless parts and "infodumps". Also, I began to hate children's POV a long time ago.

Now I feel stupid for posting this

 

[Fxp]

So, Sharp Objects or Dark Places?

 

[Necrovex]

I'm about a quarter through Wizard's First Rule. I decided it was time to start plowing through it, and holy shit, this novel is pretty generic, dreadful with its ham-handed philosophy, and dullful characters. I must continue on though if I must lecture people why this novel is awful. The things I do to help people make better literary choices.

 

[Ashes]

Who knew The Hounds of Baskerville was an actual novel? I supposed it was a short story or something slightly longer. I'm sure I'd read a version of it when I as a child - it must have been a picture book! And watched countless adaptions in passing. But chanced upon reading the original, it is toward the middle where I find it has at last sparked into life.
#literaryblindspots.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Who knew The Hounds of Baskerville was an actual novel? I supposed it was a short story or something slightly longer. I'm sure I'd read a version of it when I as a child - it must have been a picture book! And watched countless adaptions in passing. But chanced upon reading the original, it is toward the middle where I find it has at last sparked into life.
#literaryblindspots.

Pretty sure everyone knows this.

 

[Ashes]

Pretty sure everyone knows this.

How do you know? HAVE YOU ASKED EVERYONE? Well have you?

It's a really good book. Plus point being I can count it toward the reading challenge. woot√!

 

[Tragicomedy]

The Hounds of Baskerville is the one Sherlock novel I've read, and it's the one I always assume everyone knows. I've never even considered reading another one, though I probably should.

 

[21st century cowboy]

I don't read often but I've decided to buy a few wrestling books and I've just started reading have a nice day by mic foley. I've heard good things.

 

[Rest]

Karatedo: My Way of Life by Gichin Funakoshi. Pretty interesting little book, it's less about karate and philosophy than it is just kind of an abbreviated memoir of sorts. It does have some history and a bit of philosophy though, and I'm enjoying reading it.

I don't read often but I've decided to buy a few wrestling books and I've just started reading have a nice day by mic foley. I've heard good things.

The guy who writes Wrestlecrap has a couple books out if you want a wrestling related laugh.

Who knew The Hounds of Baskerville was an actual novel? I supposed it was a short story or something slightly longer. I'm sure I'd read a version of it when I as a child - it must have been a picture book! And watched countless adaptions in passing. But chanced upon reading the original, it is toward the middle where I find it has at last sparked into life.
#literaryblindspots.

I've got the Complete Sherlock Holmes in one volume. I really liked the novels, but the short stories felt really rushed and not fleshed out, with lots of descriptions of how things look but not much character. Keeping in mind that they were written for serialized magazine publication never really helped me enjoy them, either.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

Want to vomit reading some of the chapters in Blindness. The depravity is overwhelming at times.

 

[Ashes]

Want to vomit reading some of the chapters in Blindness. The depravity is overwhelming at times.

We tend to forget our own depravity as a species.

 

[Sch1sm]

 

[nakedsushi]

Finished:


Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

(4.5 stars)

The premise of the book is a far fetched one : a traveling symphony and Shakespeare theater group, going through the desolate north east in the decades following an epidemic that wipes out almost all of mankind. It took me a few chapters to really get into it, but once I did, the book became a page-turner.

I recommend it if you're in the mood for some post-apocalyptic literature.

 

[DiscoShark]

In addition to all the other great books already said by others gaffers, I can't recommend enough End of Eternity, by Asimov. Such a sweet, short, self-contained book, with some of the best plot twists I've ever seen.

Oh, huh. I knew that name rung a bell. It's literally the only Asimov book on my shelf that I haven't gone through. Just wrapped up A Fire Upon the Deep a few minutes ago (and it does not disappoint!) so I guess I'll add End of Eternity to my list of the things to check out. Gonna be hard to resist the urge to start ...

this though.

 

[jesu]

The first Dark Tower book, The Gunslinger.
My friend gave me the whole series!
My plan is to alternate between them and the Shardlake series.

 

[Protome]

Read a bit more of Clariel, liking it so far. That said, Clariel herself kinda falls into all the generic "strong female character" tropes. Its a bit of a shame, Nix has done the same thing significantly more originally with Lirael and Sabriel.

Clariel is basically Merida from Brave.

 

[Ashes]

O Pioneers. By Willa Cather.


Sibert likes her long paragraphs. Or her definitions of a topic are very broad!

 

[TTG]

I finished the second book in The Dark Tower series. The concept is still incredibly cool: combine The Lord of The Rings with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and toss in a couple of modern day characters. I mean, denim and handmade revolvers, sorcerers and remnants of an ancient world, heroin addiction... throw it all into a pot, how good is that going to turn out?

The execution isn't spectacular, but that's not to discredit King, he's just not as good as some. The book had a great start, somewhat dragged out middle and an exciting finish. I know I'll be coming back for the third at some point, maybe I'll dive right into it.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Ringworld, Larry Niven
Footfall, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Lucifer's Hammer, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Dune, Frank Herbert
Whipping Star, Frank Herbert
2001: A space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr.
A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
Dhalgren, Samuel Delany
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
The Man in the High Castle, Phillip K Dick
Behold the Man, Michael Moorcock
More than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Phillip Jose Farmer
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Camp concentration, Thomas Disch
Rossum's Universal Robots, Karel Capek
Titan, John Varley
The Best of C.M. Kornbluth, Cyril M. Kornbluth
Doomsday Book, Connie willis
Death World, Harry Harrison
The Iron Dream, Norman Spinrad

Challenge accepted. I've read quite a few of these before, including Ringworld, so starting with Footfall yesterday. The opening 50 pages... oof. It's like watching the authors assemble legos so the archetypes are all in place to run the war game. But I'll soldier on.

 

[postcyberpunk]

Almost done with Colorless Tsukuru. I both like and dislike it. I hope the ending explains some shit, but I doubt it.

Next up: Either Neuromancer or When Gravity Fails.

 

[Blargonaut]

Currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora

Where has this book been all my life, it's written in a grounded fantasy style and type of setting that I love and base my own writing off of :'o

 

[postcyberpunk]

there but for the by ali smith
it's a sort of post-modern novel

Would you describe it as metamodern then?

 

[sparky2112]

Final verdict: No. Nonsensical. Sorry - I know some of you hold it dear...

 

[Empty]

Would you describe it as metamodern then?

i'm not really familiar with the term, so i might be bungling this, but from what i can parse from the wikipedia entry on it. i'd say yes, that would be a more accurate description than post modern.

 

[KingGondo]

Final verdict: No. Nonsensical. Sorry - I know some of you hold it dear...

It's fine if you didn't like it, but calling it "nonsensical" leads me to believe you just didn't understand it. Sorry.

 

[besada]

Challenge accepted. I've read quite a few of these before, including Ringworld, so starting with Footfall yesterday. The opening 50 pages... oof. It's like watching the authors assemble legos so the archetypes are all in place to run the war game. But I'll soldier on.

In many of those listed the payoff is less the sophistication of the writing than the big sweep of ideas. Footfall, in particular, spends its efforts more on detailing with the aliens in a way that hadn't been done much before it, rather than in interesting characters or sophisticated prose. I find Niven by himself does a better job producing actual people than when he works with Pournelle.

 

[Steto96]

Currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora

Where has this book been all my life, it's written in a grounded fantasy style and type of setting that I love and base my own writing off of :'o

That Book was such a surprise for me, hope you enjoy it all

 

[Necrovex]

I'm not sure why people are all of sudden reading Blindness, but I can get behind this trend. It's pretty cool.

Blindness is an amazing novel. I'm glad it was a book club selection. But it was one hell of a difficult read!

It's One Q Eight Four since in Japan, 9 is pronounced "cue". It's a good title.

I'm 89% done with that book and I am basically just forcing myself to read. Book 1's start was really good, book 2 got worse, book 3 is better but I just want it to end. So fucking long.

I loved the first part of 1Q84. However I'm with you that book two really dropped the ball, and I still need to complete book three. I'm not sure if I want to start on that once I complete Wizard's First Rule. There are only so many bad novels I can read in a row.

Final verdict: No. Nonsensical. Sorry - I know some of you hold it dear...

I need to read through Watchmen again. My philosophy on life is a complete 180 from when I initially read this masterpiece

Spoiler

, which was during my time as an Objectivist, ew, I know. Don't ban me!

.

 

[Cade]

Blindness is an amazing novel. I'm glad it was a book club selection. But it was one hell of a difficult read!



I loved the first part of 1Q84. However I'm with you that book two really dropped the ball, and I still need to complete book three. I'm not sure if I want to start on that once I complete Wizard's First Rule. There are only so many bad novels I can read in a row.

I've got roughly 5 percent left. I will finish it today. I will break down the walls.

 

[Mr.Swag]

I read watchmen before the movie came out because of the hype, and I found myself slipping all the pirate parts. Didn't really care for it

Movie was great tho.

 

[TheCrazyGuru]

Finished this about a week ago, which was amazing. I'll have to read some more Stephen King as only read 3 of his books so far:

Currently close to finishing the following, which I didn't realize was coming out as a movie until a few days ago:

It definitely lost a lot of steam halfway through as some other posters mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[sparky2112]

It's fine if you didn't like it, but calling it "nonsensical" leads me to believe you just didn't understand it. Sorry.

I get where you're coming from. But I stand by my general impression: maybe 'nonsensical' is wrong/borderline insulting, when what I really mean is 'far too ambitious for the medium'. If the claims of 'graphic novels can be just as potent storytelling-wise as novels' are too hold water, then they actually have to do so. This didn't come anywhere close to meeting that standard for me.

 

[Easystride]

Finished this about a week ago, which was amazing. I'll have to read some more Stephen King as only read 3 of his books so far:

Currently close to finishing the following, which I didn't realize was coming out as a movie until a few days ago:


It definitely lost a lot of steam halfway through as some other posters mentioned earlier in this thread.

Might I suggest The Long Walk? I was like you a short while ago, but I've demolished a lot of Stephen King in the last 8 months or so, and The Long Walk was my favorite after 11/22/63, followed by Needful Things and The Shining.

 

[sparky2112]

I read watchmen before the movie came out because of the hype, and I found myself slipping all the pirate parts. Didn't really care for it

Movie was great tho.

Funny you should mention. I am, despite my 'meh' at the source material, very curious to see how the movie translated it. Plus, I'm like one of three people who dig Snyder's work, and I know that Watchmen fanboys generally don't like the movie, so...hope?

Plus,

Spoiler

I don't know Moore's politics...someone up above mentioned Objectivism, and Rorschach is arguably the most 'right-wing' character in the book. But at the end of the day, he gets turned into a pool of goo by Dr. Manhattan with the mere wave of a hand (Objectivists don't believe in God, but Dr. Manhattan pretty much is?), and the ultra right-wing newspaper ends up with nothing to write about (the kid dripping ketsup on his smiley button being symbolic of...?) Like I said before: VERY big themes, not well-served by the form.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Funny you should mention. I am, despite my 'meh' at the source material, very curious to see how the movie translated it. Plus, I'm like one of three people who dig Snyder's work, and I know that Watchmen fanboys generally don't like the movie, so...hope?

I've only seen the directors cut, and I love it.
Disclaimer: I also like Snyder

 

[SolKane]

I purchased this along with a few other paperbacks on Friday. My first reading of Maugham; so far quite enjoyable, he has a very readable way of building character out of philosophical insights.

 

[Rest]

Final verdict: No. Nonsensical. Sorry - I know some of you hold it dear...

How was it nonsensical? I didn't find it to be as good as all the comic book fans seem to think it is, but it certainly made sense to me.

 

[fakefaker]

Gave up on Ghost Story and going on to The Legend of Jig Dragonslayer by Jim C. Hines.

 

[Tragicomedy]

I get where you're coming from. But I stand by my general impression: maybe 'nonsensical' is wrong/borderline insulting, when what I really mean is 'far too ambitious for the medium'. If the claims of 'graphic novels can be just as potent storytelling-wise as novels' are too hold water, then they actually have to do so. This didn't come anywhere close to meeting that standard for me.

I've read plenty of novels this very year that are significantly worse at storytelling than The Watchmen.

 

[postcyberpunk]

i'm not really familiar with the term, so i might be bungling this, but from what i can parse from the wikipedia entry on it. i'd say yes, that would be a more accurate description than post modern.

Neat. I'll check that book out. The summary you gave makes it sound excellent.

I finished Colorless Tsukuru. Besides some incredibly interesting passages-- the end section on trains and stations was incredibly-- it did not float my boat. The "mystery" never really grabbed me. Once he started tracking down his friends it lost me a bit.

 

[Nuke Soda]

Took a break from reading the behemoth The Way of Kings to read something a little smaller. Started reading Horns by Joe Hill and honestly at 200 some odd pages in I am not enjoying it. The first few chapters where people start behaving strangely around Ignatius are fun, but then the main story starts to get going and honestly it just isn't that interesting. It is not terribly written or anything, it just isn't grabbing me. I will read it to the end and hope it picks up steam.