Support NeoGAF

[Piecake]

I am currently reading this and am really enjoying it. So far, its a coming of age story, focusing on the characters and their interactions. Thankfully, the characters feel developed and real, and their interactions believable. I honestly am not quite sure what the over-arching plot is right now, but he has definitely created a good sense of mystery with little tidbits here and there.So yea, the main character doesnt really know whats going on, so you dont.

Its by no means amazing, but its entertaining and definitely worth a read if you enjoy fantasy

 

[The Artful Dodger]

i read this

i thought it was absolutely brilliant. it's a thriller of sorts about the relationship between two men - a cynical british war journalist and an idealistic american cia agent - in love with the same woman, set in the conflicts of 50s vietnam. for something written in the fifties it's frighteningly relevant to modern politics - when you hear people talking simplistically about intervention in syria it echoes much of what the book tackles.

greene's prose is wonderful - sort of combining a sparse style that i dug in le carre's 'the spy who came in from the cold' with a stunning eye for a description. i loved the 50s vietnam setting - smoking opium and hanging out in french cafes with hand grenade barriers is very different to the typical vietnam war stories, though when the story takes intimately you into the conflict between the french colonialists and the vietnamese communists it's as chilling as any war fiction i've seen.

I love Graham Greene. I'm definitely going to check this out. I've heard alot of great things about it.

 

[kinn]

I've started listening audiobooks of THE LOST FLEET. So far its good, I'm @ book 3. Very intricate descriptions of space battles, and great setting & main char.

This series is great. Glad your enjoying it!

 

[Row]

Just finished The Karamazov Brothers, terrific read. Now I'm going to start One Hundred Years of Solitude.

 

[bengraven]

Vorkosigan Saga!11eleventy!!fanboyravings

Okay, that sounds pretty awesome!

 

[coldvein]

i've been reading this Pandora's Star book by peter hamilton based on some gaf recs .. i guess i like it, but DAMN is it slow in some parts. 30 pages of straight dragged out boring shit. this is punishing.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

i've been reading this Pandora's Star book by peter hamilton based on some gaf recs .. i guess i like it, but DAMN is it slow in some parts. 30 pages of straight dragged out boring shit. this is punishing.

GAF is pretty split on that one. I read it but had to slog my way through it. I think it took me 8 months to finish. It was sloooooooooooooow.

Never going back to finish the 2nd one.

 

[Mastadon]

Working my way through

On his death, Austin Tappan Wright left the world a wholly unsuspected legacy. Among this distinguished legal scholar's papers were thousands of pages devoted to a staggering feat of literary creation - a detailed history of an imagined country complete with geography, genealogy, representations from its literature, language and culture. In a monumental labor of love Wright's wife and daughter culled from this material a thousand page novel, as detailed as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Islandia has similarly become a classic touchstone for those concerned with the creation of imaginary worlds.

Islandia occupies the southern portion of the Karain Continent, which lies in the Southern Hemisphere. Its civilization is an ancient one, protected from outside intervention by a natural fortress of towering mountains. To this isolated country - this alien, compelling and totally fascinating world - comes John Lang, the American consul. As the reader lives with Lang in Islandia, as he comes to know this magnetic land, its unique people, its strange customs, he may find himself experiencing a feeling of envy, a wish that he, like Lang, be permitted, at the book's end, to return once more and spend the rest of his days in Islandia.

This is an incredible book. I can't believe that I hadn't heard of it until recently, but it's one of the most insightful and impressive examples of world building on a grand scale that I've come across. It's so much more than that though, highly recommend checking it out.

 

[Jintor]

heh, I think his translation of just the Pentateuch is longer than your average Gideon Bible.

ANYWAYS, his translations highlight the literary aspects of the Old Testament, something that I perceive to be somewhat lost in a time of dry mass consumption translations focused exclusively on clarity and accuracy or nu-atheists providing laundry lists of all the abominable things it commands. People actually wrote these texts, people who were interested in aesthetics and word choice, and that's really what his translation is about (with some light apologia, IIRC).

The oft-used example from his translation is that the "stranger" and "strange" in Exodus 2:22 are words with different roots, the words themselves are even estranged from each other. I think some new translations have started using this too, though, so it's probably not the best example of what makes his translation unique anymore.

Sorry for the late reply, for the sake of my blood pressure and the happy flow of these threads I have to limit my exposure to places where people call Borges' Ficciones overrated (as if it's a fucking mascot platformer).

Interesting - I'll keep it in mind for the future.

I never gave a thought as to how differently translators must affect classic texts before I came to these threads...

 

[Mr.Swag]

Just read Vonneguts "Welcome to the Monkey House" short story, not the collection.
Wow, what a great thing to have been authored in 1968.
Recommend it to anyone. Real short too.

 

[Akahige]

finished The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

now reading:

 

[Tragicomedy]

James S.A. Corey - Caliban's War. ★★★★½ - Brilliant sequel that keeps the momentum of the previous book flowing perfectly. The original crew is as great as ever, but the new introductions (particularly Avasarala and Bobbie) really stole the show. The cliffhanger ending has me anxious to dive in to the next book in the series.

This series is top of the line.

 

[Ventilaator]

Finished this:

Loved it. It made a better case for religion than all the "Your house was built, right? Therefore god!" lunatics who knock on my door ever could.

 

[Bazza]

My reading of the Discworld books is going well, on the Last Continent now, the return of Rincewind always brings a smile to my face.

I am flying through these books at a scary speed, I really want to take my time reading them but as soon as I start on a book I cant put it down and its finished in a day or 2. I only picked up the 1st Discworld book about 5 weeks ago

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

Finished Ægypt (aka The Solitudes) by John Crowley.

Good stuff. I can always get behind a book whose climax

Spoiler

is a dude reading some stuff and saying "whoa, well then."

Of course Crowley's prose is delightful and resonating as ever; overarching themes are still echoing around inside me.

Next up: The Book Thief or Mona Lisa Overdrive. I'm stuck with paper books or library books for a bit. My Kindle is having a few issues and I'm afraid to take it to work or else it might get stolen. eBook readers should become commodity for my benefit.

 

[Johnlenham]

Anyone able to offer some suggestions for a book to pick up?
I go through these phases of reading where I can be glued to something and finish it in a week and then months of no interest to read again.
I dont even stick to genres or any real pattern which does not help.

The last bunch of stuff I read was this lot while I was traveling Se Asia a few months ago:
Life of Pi
Perks of being a wallflower
On the Road
Some stuff I really like would be Fear and Loathing and One Day.

Just Kids by Patti Smith was something suggested in another thread for book to do with the 70s and 80s New York which sounded interesting but other than that im not finding much that grabs me.

Edit: The 25th Hour could be worth a look aswell (working my way back through the thread)

 

[Maklershed]

How about Hell's Angels? I actually liked it more than Fear and Loathing.

It seems like you like fiction based on emotion and personal relationships perhaps?

 

[ЯAW]

Anyone able to offer some suggestions for a book to pick up?
I go through these phases of reading where I can be glued to something and finish it in a week and then months of no interest to read again.
I dont even stick to genres or any real pattern which does not help.

The last bunch of stuff I read was this lot while I was traveling Se Asia a few months ago:
Life of Pi
Perks of being a wallflower
On the Road
Some stuff I really like would be Fear and Loathing and One Day.

Just Kids by Patti Smith was something suggested in another thread for book to do with the 70s and 80s New York which sounded interesting but other than that im not finding much that grabs me.

If you liked Fear and Loathing then you should give Rum Diary a shot. It's less zany then Fear and Loathing but it's still very much a HST book. I have heard good things about The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, so you might want to chek it out too.

How about Hell's Angels? I actually liked it more than Fear and Loathing.

It seems like you like fiction based on emotion and personal relationships perhaps?

It's a great doorway into his Gonzo journalism, but personally, when it comes to his serious writing, I will always perfer Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.

I also like the book with collected articles, like the one where he meets Ralph Steadman for the first time and works with him on story about Kentucky Derby. Great stuff.

 

[Johnlenham]

How about Hell's Angels? I actually liked it more than Fear and Loathing.

It seems like you like fiction based on emotion and personal relationships perhaps?

Yeah I guess I do! on the first page is "The Fault in Our Stars" and that seems right up my street.

If you liked Fear and Loathing then you should give Rum Diary a shot. It's less zany then Fear and Loathing but it's still very much a HST book. I have heard good things about The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, so you might want to chek it out too.

Haha the zany is what I love about it it, Im never really sure where to go with HST stuff as my only experience with him is F/L
That book pops up in "others bought" on amazon so I will check that out aswell!

 

[Maklershed]

Yeah I guess I do! on the first page is "The Fault in Our Stars" and that seems right up my street.

I think you'd like one of our first book club books too. Its set in NYC and follows a group of young friends based in and around the punk scene. It was pretty good. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it though. A little help from the rest of the thread? Cyan? Nakedsushi?

 

[ShaneB]

Guess I'll recommend my favourite books I've read this year to you Johnlenham, "600 Hours of Edward", and the sequel "Edward Adrift"

 

[ЯAW]

Yeah I guess I do! on the first page is "The Fault in Our Stars" and that seems right up my street.


Haha the zany is what I love about it it, Im never really sure where to go with HST stuff as my only experience with him is F/L
That book pops up in "others bought" on amazon so I will check that out aswell!

Zany HST is the best but unfortunately he didn't write another book like F&L but Rum Diary has many of the same elements and I would say it's equally good as F&L. Then you have his Gonzo articles that are pretty crazy from time to time. You also have to watch the Fear and Loathing movie if you haven't already. It's absolutely great adaptation and it only enriches the original novel. Depp and Benicio forms the greatest acting duo in this movie, so much fun.

 

[Johnlenham]

Yeah watched the movie, its one of my favorites! one of the only books to movie adoptions that is equal to the book (ateast in my eyes)
Id love for a book like the film Human Traffic but I have no idea if such a thing exists.

 

[Nezumi]

I think you'd like one of our first book club books too. Its set in NYC and follows a group of young friends based in and around the punk scene. It was pretty good. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it though. A little help from the rest of the thread? Cyan? Nakedsushi?

"A visit from the Goon Squad"?

 

[FnordChan]

Just starting this. I have the complete Amber Chronicles 1-10 and will probably just plow through them all. They're each fairly short but should still take a little while. So far the first two chapters start off interesting. Anyone else read these?

I'm a huge fan of the Amber novels and would recommend reading all of 'em. That said, here's the deal with the Amber series: the first five novels are better than the second five and instead of plowing through all ten at once you should probably take a break between the two halves of the series. The original series was written between 1970 and 1978 and has a solid conclusion. If you're into it - and, I don't see why you wouldn't be - at some point you should read the second series, written between 1985 and 1991, with the understanding that they're rather different in tone and have more of a stopping point than an ending.

Meanwhile, I'm just about exactly halfway through The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I'm enjoying it very much but, man, after I'm through I'm going to read Parker novels for a while for a change of pace. I'm also glad that Sanderson is young and incredibly prolific if he's got another nine of these planned.

FnordChan, whose favorite HST book is Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

 

[Zona]

i've been reading this Pandora's Star book by peter hamilton based on some gaf recs .. i guess i like it, but DAMN is it slow in some parts. 30 pages of straight dragged out boring shit. this is punishing.

It's worth it, at least it was to me. It may help you to know that the second book is MUCH faster paced.

 

[Messofanego]

Thanks to Child of Light being a JRPG-style Ubisoft game with a poem writing structure, this poem was name-checked in an interview with the writer. Just read and listened to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner from wikipedia.

"The Devil knows how to row."

Pretty cool poem about a sailor's cursed journey at sea because he shot an albatross. My only problem was that the curse is lifted too easily. Oh just praise some water-snakes. Not much of a challenge. Uses the abcb style, which is what I prefer anyway.

Words like "een" (even) and "swound" (swoon) confused me. Looks like people of the time also found it archaic and difficult to read XD

 

[krishian]

Meanwhile, I'm just about exactly halfway through The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I'm enjoying it very much but, man, after I'm through I'm going to read Parker novels for a while for a change of pace. I'm also glad that Sanderson is young and incredibly prolific if he's got another nine of these planned.

Even if he continues at the pace he's been writing at so far, you still probably have a couple of decades (maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it will be a long ass time regardless) of waiting for him to finish Stormlight. Seems like he just keeps starting a new multi volume series every year.

Spoiler

Luckily I don't like Sanderson, so I'll only have to suffer waiting for GRRM and Lynch...

 

[FnordChan]

Even if he continues at the pace he's been writing at so far, you still probably have a couple of decades (maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it will be a long ass time regardless) of waiting for him to finish Stormlight. Seems like he just keeps starting a new multi volume series every year.

Well, compared to some of the waits I've enjoyed for The Dark Tower and A Song of Ice and Fire, I can't say I'm terribly concerned. Also, take a look at Sanderson's output since first being published in 2005: the man has released sixteen novels in that time, including four huge fantasy epics over the past four years. At this rate we may well see one Stormlight Archive novel a year over the course of the next decade, and that's even with the man juggling two or three other series on the side to change things up.

FnordChan

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Well, compared to some of the waits I've enjoyed for The Dark Tower and A Song of Ice and Fire, I can't say I'm terribly concerned. Also, take a look at Sanderson's output since first being published in 2005: the man has released sixteen novels in that time, including four huge fantasy epics over the past four years. At this rate we may well see one Stormlight Archive novel a year over the course of the next decade, and that's even with the man juggling two or three other series on the side to change things up.

FnordChan

He's very prolific. I started a thread about that earlier this year. 2nd book in Stormlight Archive comes out early next year. I still think he goes 2-3 years in between, which all told will be roughly 25 years between book 1 and book 10. Unless he abandons some of the other stuff he's writing and hammers this out.


And oh by the way, if GRRM doesn't pick up the pace, Sanderson may have to finish ASOIAF too.

 

[Maklershed]

"A visit from the Goon Squad"?

Yes! Thank you.

 

[krishian]

And oh by the way, if GRRM doesn't pick up the pace, Sanderson may have to finish ASOIAF too.

Sanderson finishing ASoIaF may very well be the worst thing to happen in the history of the universe. Should just toss it to Abraham (or better yet, James S. A. Corey)

And a quick search for what Sanderson has planned right now:
-Stormlight (10 books)
-Dragonsteel (7)
-Rithmathist series (?)
-2 Mistborn trilogies
-several other Mistborn titles
-sequels to Warbreaker, Elantris
-Steelheart trilogy
-other stuff

 

[fredrancour]

And oh by the way, if GRRM doesn't pick up the pace, Sanderson may have to finish ASOIAF too.

Well he'd have tons to go off of for book 6, no? I seem to remember hearing that a large number of chapters GRRM wrote for 5 got pushed back.

 

[Maklershed]

So at this point is Sanderson like Clive Cussler? He just has a team of writers pop stuff out and he puts his name on it?

 

[Verdre]

So at this point is Sanderson like Clive Cussler? He just has a team of writers pop stuff out and he puts his name on it?

No, it's all him.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

So at this point is Sanderson like Clive Cussler? He just has a team of writers pop stuff out and he puts his name on it?

Clones

 

[Pau]

So at this point is Sanderson like Clive Cussler? He just has a team of writers pop stuff out and he puts his name on it?

From what I've heard on his podcast, he treats writing like a 9 - 5 office job. That's a lot of writing.

 

[Maklershed]

That's some insane output he's anticipating.

Clones

Just like Multiplicity! While the real Sanderson types away, a slightly abnormal Sanderson wearing a collander on his head does the dishes. And a Sanderson wearing aviator goggles and a football helmet does laundry.

 

[FnordChan]

IIRC he plans to have one Stormlight Archives book out every year and a half going forward.

That's eminently reasonable and looks to be the same pace Jim Butcher is on with the Dresden Files. Butcher has stated that he plans on writing twenty or so Dresden novels and plans on wrapping things up with a big trilogy. He's roughly 14 books in so so, yeah, roughly nine more Dresden novels would coincide nicely with another nine Stormlight releases, with both authors due for a release for each series next year. God, I love prolific authors.

FnordChan

 

[ShaneB]

"America's Game" is going incredibly slow, and it's a frickin tome it's so long. I mean I wanted some football history, but I'm hoping it picks up and deals with some more personal stories instead of reading like a wiki entry.

 

[Necrovex]

Don't worry, there's no chance of that.

Yeah, we'll get an inferior ending from the HBO guys. :-D

I forgot how difficult it is to concentrate and read a bloody book on paper. Whenever I lie on my bed to read, I always get antsy while reading.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

That's eminently reasonable and looks to be the same pace Jim Butcher is on with the Dresden Files. Butcher has stated that he plans on writing twenty or so Dresden novels and plans on wrapping things up with a big trilogy. He's roughly 14 books in so so, yeah, roughly nine more Dresden novels would coincide nicely with another nine Stormlight releases, with both authors due for a release for each series next year. God, I love prolific authors.

FnordChan

The dresden books are like 300 pages long though. Sanderson is writing Chinese phone book sized novels.

 

[FnordChan]

I really need to get back on Butcher. I ground to a halt with the second Dresden Files book, but people have said the series starts picking up with the third or fourth book. So I think I'm going to just skip the second book and pick up the third.

Yeah, the deal with the Dresden Files is that the first four books or so are pretty decent but Butcher is both finding his way as an author and is setting up the various factions in the Dresden universe. After that, things really kick into gear and the series completely takes off. I'd recommend jumping ahead to Grave Peril and getting back to Fool Moon once you're well and truly hooked on the Dresden Files.

The dresden books are like 300 pages long though. Sanderson is writing Chinese phone book sized novels.

Oh, I wasn't trying to equate the two; while Butcher is quite prolific even he can't keep up with the human writing machine that is Brandon Sanderson, who apparently writes 8-12 hours a day. I just like that I have two major series books to look forward to every 12-18 months or so, not to mention the other novels both Butcher and Sanderson will be releasing.

FnordChan

 

[Mackenzie 92]

And oh by the way, if GRRM doesn't pick up the pace, Sanderson may have to finish ASOIAF too.

I think I'd prefer Abercrombie to Sanderson, or Abraham.

Either way, I'll wait, there's no way I'm watching the TV show version before the book.

"America's Game" is going incredibly slow, and it's a frickin tome it's so long. I mean I wanted some football history, but I'm hoping it picks up and deals with some more personal stories instead of reading like a wiki entry.

That one is pretty dry.

I liked these if you want some more personal stories


Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders by Peter Richmond


Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL by John Feinstein


Blood, Sweat & Chalk: How the Geniuses of Football Created America's Favorite Game by Tim Layden

 

[Blitzzz]

This just popped off my library queue so putting my other stuff on hold while I power through this short book.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Never read Neil Gaiman so I finally get to see what all the hype is about.

 

[Piecake]

I really need to get back on Butcher. I ground to a halt with the second Dresden Files book, but people have said the series starts picking up with the third or fourth book. So I think I'm going to just skip the second book and pick up the third.

It does get more interesting. The world building, scope, and plot definitely expands. First couple of books it just seems like a dude doing detective cases for no freakin reason cept its his job. Later books give reason and meaning

 

[ShaneB]

That one is pretty dry.

I liked these if you want some more personal stories

Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders by Peter Richmond

Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL by John Feinstein

Blood, Sweat & Chalk: How the Geniuses of Football Created America's Favorite Game by Tim Layden

Thanks for the recs as always! I'll try and get through the beginning of America's Game, since the writing is really great, and I want to get to the heart of the book really.

 

[Ashes]

White Fang, by Jack London.

Nearly finished this, but I just wanted to drop in and say that this is beloved classic is as you might imagine really good. ;-)

 

[Verdre]

I really need to get back on Butcher. I ground to a halt with the second Dresden Files book, but people have said the series starts picking up with the third or fourth book. So I think I'm going to just skip the second book and pick up the third.

I'm gonna disagree with everyone here. Unless being increasingly over the top means better. Maybe Butcher's writing improves marginally as the series goes along, but the actual stories don't. On the whole, I thought Butcher managed to keep the quality of the books pretty even, which is impressive enough for such a large series.

 

[Meteorain]

I really need to get back on Butcher. I ground to a halt with the second Dresden Files book, but people have said the series starts picking up with the third or fourth book. So I think I'm going to just skip the second book and pick up the third.

I would not recommended skipping a book. It's the continuity and knowledge of the little details and character progression that make the series great. Plus the books are short enough to just power through.