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[GallonOMilk]

I just finished a several-month-long reading of the Complete Works of Charles Dickens. Reading through those books has made me a better, faster reader and a better writer. They truly are amazing works and all memorable stories in their own right. My favorites would have to be Nicholas Nickleby and Old Curiosity Shop.

I just recently started my fourth re-read of Gravity's Rainbow:

By far the best book I have ever read. There is just so much in this book. Hundreds of characters, some of which are introduced with 30 pages of fanfare and then forgotten about forever, while others are mentioned in passing and end up becoming the most important characters in the story. It jumps around everywhere and talks about so many different things, leaves you confused, lost, and almost always enjoying yourself. It's a book that you can read 20 times over and still not fully understand, yet you enjoy each new reading because you get something completely different out of it. A good part of this book was written while the author was under the influence of hallucinogenic substances, and that just makes it all the better. It contains everything - mystery, history, romance, perversion, insanity, conspiracy, engineering, math, and fantasy. You can analyze this book forever and find a different meaning in each passage, each time you look at it.

It's definitely a very polarizing book. People either think it's the best book of all time or hate it with a passion. I fall into the former camp and will keep rereading it every few months until I die.

If you do plan to pick it up, keep in mind that it's a book best read slowly, methodically, and persistently. If the first readthrough doesn't take you 3 months, then you probably did it wrong. It's best to read it while reading another book and only pick it up every other day or so. You'll get more out of it that way.

Edit: Oh, and if you aren't interested enough already, the overarching story is about a guy who lives in London during WWII and gets erections in various locations that are, in the next few hours, hit by a German V2 Rocket.

 

[sparky2112]

I just recently started my fourth re-read of Gravity's Rainbow:

By far the best book I have ever read.

And supposedly a book that had a big influence on Infinite Jest, although I couldn't get past the opening two or three pages, so I question the influence - to say the least. Maybe I'll try it with a reader's guide one of these days. I mean, otherwise, it's just inscruitable to me. Like Ulysses.

 

[nakedsushi]

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice this weekend and while it did get better in the middle, by the time I got 3/4 of the way through, I wished it was over. The ending was predictable, but then, the book was written so long ago that I've probably read several modern iterations of this.

My main problem with the book were the characters. Yes, the writing was great, and Jane Austen's wit made me chuckle, but the characters just didn't speak to me. Elizabeth may be forward-thinking in her time, but I just found her too stubborn and proud. It seemed like she didn't actually start liking Darcy until he did something very grand for her. The rest of the girls, eh, too silly to be worth any salt.

Then there's Darcy's feelings for Elizabeth, which I don't understand at all. I guess it's just hard for me to think of any of the characters as having any emotion when everyone's so obsessed about courtesies.

 

[Mifune]

I just recently started my fourth re-read of Gravity's Rainbow:

By far the best book I have ever read. There is just so much in this book. Hundreds of characters, some of which are introduced with 30 pages of fanfare and then forgotten about forever, while others are mentioned in passing and end up becoming the most important characters in the story. It jumps around everywhere and talks about so many different things, leaves you confused, lost, and almost always enjoying yourself. It's a book that you can read 20 times over and still not fully understand, yet you enjoy each new reading because you get something completely different out of it. A good part of this book was written while the author was under the influence of hallucinogenic substances, and that just makes it all the better. It contains everything - mystery, history, romance, perversion, insanity, conspiracy, engineering, math, and fantasy. You can analyze this book forever and find a different meaning in each passage, each time you look at it.

Great post.

I liked Gravity's Rainbow. Didn't love it, but then I don't think it's possible to truly love GR after one reading. So much of it went over my head.

I definitely look forward to a re-read one of these days.

 

[Run_64bit]

Just finished "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. Thought it was really good overall. Predictably, the book seemed to drag in the middle (it was ~1000 pages, I believe), but the beginning and ending were both really well done. Some of the characters seemed poorly developed, but I guess that is to be expected from a book that is supposed to be the start of a ten book series. LOTS of build up. Maybe not quite on the level of a few other recent fantasy novels, but it was much better than most.

I would strongly recommend it to fans of the epic fantasy genre. Just prepare yourself for lots of character/world introductions, backstory, and names to remember. 4.5/5

 

[bathala]

Re-reading a game of thrones. Getting ready for the hbo series

 

[eznark]

Great post.

I liked Gravity's Rainbow. Didn't love it, but then I don't think it's possible to truly love GR after one reading. So much of it went over my head.

I definitely look forward to a re-read one of these days.

The second time I read Gravity's Rainbow I did so with Weisenburger's Companion. It really added a hell of a lot and made the re-read more enjoyable than most.

 

[Salazar]

Mort, by Terry Pratchett.
The Best American Comics Criticism, edited by Ben Schwartz.
The Pregnant Widow, by Martin Amis.

 

[FnordChan]

I haven't posted in the reading threads for a couple of months, so I've got a lot to catch up on. Here's what I've been reading over the summer:

First off, I went on a huge Liaden universe kick, cheerfully tearing through the three latest books in succession. This is a fairly long running series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller that's about a space opera universe and a series of cross-cultural romances between two variations of humanity - your average redneck Terrans and the hoity-toity Liaden - all of which ties into a trading family with a long history, extensive wealth, cool spaceships, a great many enemies, psychic powers, and close ties to some extremely badass space turtles. The first books in this series put our heroes on the lam from said enemies and, over the course of a dozen books or so, alternate between following the main on-the-run storyline while also filling in large swaths of their series' past continuity.

Fledgling and Saltation does the science fiction bildungsroman thing about a young woman growing up. She lives in a hyper-academic society where (surprise, surprise) she doesn't quite fit in, as she's really destined to be a pilot. That's basically the entire plot of these two books, but if we aren't getting anything deeply complicated here they're just fine for what they are and they make for a nice jumping on point for the Liaden unvierse. Meanwhile, Mouse and Dragon is an immediate prequel to Fledgling and Saltation (as well as a direct sequel to an earlier book, Scout's Progress), and it's a fans only sort of affair that assumes you've already read everything else in the series. I enjoyed it, but I'm ready for Lee and Miller to get back to the action. Fortunately, the last page of Saltation puts us right where things left off at the end of their last on-the-run novel and it looks like their next new release will continue forward in continuity for the first time in almost a decade. I am incredibly stoked.

If any of this sounded at all interesting, Baen has brought the series back into print with The Dragon Variation, an omnibus edition of the three main early-continuity Liaden novels. They'll be following up with the on-the-run material proper with their next omnibus, The Agent Gambit, to be released in January. Check 'em out!

Right, I have to go watch Rock 'N Roll High School on the big screen. I'll follow up with more catch-up rambling later.

FnordChan

 

[Alucard]

Something light to try and get me back into the groove. I've had no time to read anything substantial, so I thought a young adult novel would suit me better.

 

[Magni]

Much bigger than I was expecting it to be, but I'm enjoying it so far.
Just wish it had a glossary at the front or something, all these fictional terms can get a bit confusing.

If you have the edition with that cover, it has a glossary, but at the end. Read it a month ago, great read I just finished Consider Phlebas last night, loved it, though I want to kill Aviger for messing up, twice! fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Gonna start The State of the Art next.

 

[TheUsual]

Just started reading:

A Game Of Thrones - George R.R Martin

Liking it so far!

Same here. Just read over 100 pages today...so far!

 

[Jill Sandwich]

Werewolves, fucking, eviscerations, love, rage, and plans to take over L.A.

It's written in mostly un-rhyming verse, which was a struggle at first to get to grips with, e.g.,

So get this straight
it's not the full moon.
That's as ancient and ignorant as any myth.
The blood just quickens with a thought
a discipline develops
so that one can self-ignite
reshaping form, becoming something rather more canine
still conscious, a little hungrier.
It's a raw muscular power,
a rich sexual energy
and the food tastes a whole lot better.

It soon started to flow and now I'm halfway though and hooked. These aren't your Twilight werewolves, or True Blood werewolves (they're more like were-dogs anyway.) I agree with one Amazon reviewer in that it's like the Sopranos with the packs fighting each other for control, and it has a more realistic view of life than other were-stories. Check it out.

 

[grumble]

If you have the edition with that cover, it has a glossary, but at the end. Read it a month ago, great read I just finished Consider Phlebas last night, loved it, though I want to kill Aviger for messing up, twice! fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

http://www.iain-banks.net/lib/ConsiderPhlebas.jpg[/ IMG]

Gonna start [I]The State of the Art[/I] next.[/QUOTE]

I'm a big fan of Iain Banks' Culture books. I can't decide if my favourite is Player of Games or Use of Weapons, though; both are fantastic.

 

[Vanillalite]

 

[Numpt3]

Arrived this morning, think I'l start it later.

 

[wrowa]

Anticipating the release of 1Q84, the newest novel of Murakami

October 5th. Not even a month away... Would prefer to read it in English, but due to some reason the English version is not supposed to come out until a year from now and I'm not patient enough to wait that long with the German version in front of my eyes :lol

 

[Muffdraul]

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

My dad told me about the movie many times over the years, he saw it in a theater when he was about 10 and apparently it freaked the living shit out of him. I finally saw it a few years ago, I'm normally not into old movies (it's from the 1940s) but I enjoyed it a lot. Somehow I ended up at the wikipedia page for the original book a few weeks ago, ordered it from Amazon, now I'm finally getting around to reading it. I think this is my first time actually reading Wilde. (If I read any in school, I forgot it completely.) I like it, it's good; notably different from the film. There doesn't seem to be any supernatural/black magic aspect.

 

[Timber]

There doesn't seem to be any supernatural/black magic aspect.

it kinda depends on what you mean by supernatural, but you'd probably do well to keep reading.

edit: also i had no idea a movie adaptation existed so i just looked it up and i had no idea that angela lansbury was, at one point in her life, young.

 

[Dan]

Anyone pick up William Gibson's Zero History yet? I have to wait until next week but I'm really excited to dig into it. Gibson is probably my favorite novelist.

Til then, I'm halfway through this quick interview-in-book-form:

 

[Relix]

Very nice book. Any suggestions similar to it IF anyone has read it?

 

[the_painted_bird]

Anticipating the release of 1Q84, the newest novel of Murakami

October 5th. Not even a month away... Would prefer to read it in English, but due to some reason the English version is not supposed to come out until a year from now and I'm not patient enough to wait that long with the German version in front of my eyes :lol

Ugh I want now

 

[Manik]

Still reading through The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

As I stated elsewhere, this is one of the craziest, most twisted books I've ever read. It's like a sick Grimms fairy tale mixed with The Odyssey. Unless something changes near the end to suddenly make me change my mind, I'd highly recommend it. Especially if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.

Excellent! That's next on my to-be-read pile, so will look forward to it

Until then, I'm currently reading -

Which I'm really enjoying thus far, despite my initial misgivings!

 

[Dresden]

Very nice book. Any suggestions similar to it IF anyone has read it?

Check out Ice Limit by the same author.

 

[Tears For Fears]

and various books on quantum physics and loss of reality. Einstein was a weird dude.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I finished reading Pride and Prejudice this weekend and while it did get better in the middle, by the time I got 3/4 of the way through, I wished it was over. The ending was predictable, but then, the book was written so long ago that I've probably read several modern iterations of this.

My main problem with the book were the characters. Yes, the writing was great, and Jane Austen's wit made me chuckle, but the characters just didn't speak to me. Elizabeth may be forward-thinking in her time, but I just found her too stubborn and proud. It seemed like she didn't actually start liking Darcy until he did something very grand for her. The rest of the girls, eh, too silly to be worth any salt.

Then there's Darcy's feelings for Elizabeth, which I don't understand at all. I guess it's just hard for me to think of any of the characters as having any emotion when everyone's so obsessed about courtesies.

The name of the book is Pride and Prejuidce, right? The point is that the characters have these shortcomings as most of us do and that they realize this and try to become better people. Sorry you didn't enjoy the book but I love it. I really have to get around to reading some more Jane Austen sometime.

 

[Easystride]

I've been trying to get back into reading, so I picked up these two books from my local library. Finished The Spy Who Came in From the Cold a few days ago. I recently started The Name of the Wind, and I am loving it so far, 200 pages in. After I finish it, I hope to find a good Hitchcock-like mystery/thriller to read, if possible. There is so many books to choose from that I am overwhelmed!

 

[GallonOMilk]

And supposedly a book that had a big influence on Infinite Jest, although I couldn't get past the opening two or three pages, so I question the influence - to say the least. Maybe I'll try it with a reader's guide one of these days. I mean, otherwise, it's just inscruitable to me. Like Ulysses.

I understand what you mean - the first time I read through it, I had a lot of trouble, especially for the first 100 or so pages. The trick is to accept that you won't understand a good chunk of the book, especially not in the first readthrough. There will be events and references that you just completely miss. If you can accept that and read through it, I think you will have an enjoyable experience. Actually understanding everything in the book is saved for readthroughs 2-10, with a guide in hand.


Also: I finally caved in and got A Game of Thrones - it seems popular enough on here to warrant a look. I've enjoyed it so far (about 100 pages in) and it's keeping my interest well enough. I'll be reading it in parallel with Gravity's Rainbow, so I hope it's a little less "dense" than that book, to balance everything out.

 

[souvlakispacestation]

I really have to get around to reading some more Jane Austen sometime.

I've read nearly all of her works. My favorite was definitely Mansfield Park. I wish that book got as much attention as her other ones.

 

[OneEightZero]

I know I'm way behind on this, but I just acquired/started reading. It has me pretty gripped so far. ^_^

 

[Coldsnap]

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to finish girl with the dragon tattoo, I'm about forty percent through the book and absolutely nothing has happened besides

Spoiler

an award face rape scene.

 

[KidDork]

Picked it up to refresh my memory before heading into Zero History, and will now probably re-read it in its entirety.

Nice to be reminded how much I love this book.

 

[Burger]

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to finish girl with the dragon tattoo, I'm about forty percent through the book and absolutely nothing has happened besides

Spoiler

an award face rape scene.

If you keep reading, you have a lot more of nothing happening to look forward to.

The whole series I found to be terribly average.

 

[VistraNorrez]

Getting near the end of Black is the New White by Paul Mooney.

It's good because of Mooney. It sounds like he's reading it to me, but I feel like it's light on detail at times. He'll bring up many things and I wish he'd devote more pages to them. All the Pryor stuff is fantastic and Mooney's perspective is probably the best way to know Pryor. Mooney's led an interesting life, glad to see he's still going strong.

 

[boredofcanada]

just got this today

it's pretty damn funny so far

 

[speculawyer]

Hope the image worked (Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir).

Reading this right now. I didn't think I'd like it as I have always though Mustaine was a dick, but I'm really getting into it. I see he's a dick for a reason and find it hilarious at times how awesome he thinks he is.

Will probably read Dracula next. It came free with my Nook and, from what I've read, is easier to read than I expected. I always avoided it thinking it was in some older English I wouldn't understand. lol

 

[sparky2112]

The whole series I found to be terribly average.

Especially given how HUGE the whole thing became. But then, Dan Brown has sold a bazillion books, so...

 

[MadraptorMan]

Almost finished with The Terror by Dan Simmons; awesome book...as he written anything else with supernatural/monstery stuff in it?

 

[CaptainMintMan]

 

[Coldsnap]

If you keep reading, you have a lot more of nothing happening to look forward to.

The whole series I found to be terribly average.

This will probably be one of the few books I do not finish then.

Especially given how HUGE the whole thing became. But then, Dan Brown has sold a bazillion books, so...

Yea seriously

 

[Dresden]

Almost finished with The Terror by Dan Simmons; awesome book...as he written anything else with supernatural/monstery stuff in it?

Song of Kali

He also did Drood, but that was bad.

 

[Dan]

Picked it up to refresh my memory before heading into Zero History, and will now probably re-read it in its entirety.

Nice to be reminded how much I love this book.

If you're rereading stuff, probably makes more sense to do Spook Country since Hollis Henry and Milgrim are the stars of Zero History.

 

[Calantus]

Same here. Just read over 100 pages today...so far!

i really wanna get started, hopefully school and work calm down soon

 

[devildog820]

Into book eight of the Wheel of Time. Never read these before, but now I'm hooked. I prefer minimalist fantasy stories. Meaning that magic is really just a macguffin and not the main focus. I really hate stories where magic is everything, it takes away from the characters. For this reason, I prefer Tolkien and Eddings.

I'm going to check out Game of Thrones soon. That trailer looked cool enough.

 

[nakedsushi]

The name of the book is Pride and Prejuidce, right? The point is that the characters have these shortcomings as most of us do and that they realize this and try to become better people. Sorry you didn't enjoy the book but I love it. I really have to get around to reading some more Jane Austen sometime.

But that's the thing. It didn't seem like they became better people at all. Darcy still had his pride, and in the end, Lizzie seemed the same, other than feeling guilty about what she owed Darcy and deciding that he wasn't so bad after all. I didn't feel like any of the characters had any internal growth.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

I'm just about done with 'the passage' by justin cronin a post apocalypse deal, it's really good.

I really want to read another book about one of the following

zombies
vampires
some kind of poker game (like the movie rounders, but a book)
a heist

any recommendations? No idea why i'm wanting those 4, I just really like them. I've read pretty much anything with a zombie in it that I can think of and has been posted in this thread so far, not so much on the vampire side though. It can't be shit like twilight though!

 

[BentMyWookiee]

I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through this:

 

[Drewsky]

I really want to read another book about one of the following

zombies
vampires

If you've never read I Am Legend, it's a good one.

 

[Melhisedek]

I'm currently about 1/3 of the way through this:

How is it?

 

[Granger Danger]

I'm just about done with 'the passage' by justin cronin a post apocalypse deal, it's really good.

I really want to read another book about one of the following

zombies
vampires
some kind of poker game (like the movie rounders, but a book)
a heist

any recommendations? No idea why i'm wanting those 4, I just really like them. I've read pretty much anything with a zombie in it that I can think of and has been posted in this thread so far, not so much on the vampire side though. It can't be shit like twilight though!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743225708/?tag=neogaf0e-20