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appropriatemetaphor posted:Not quoting because I don't want to see that spoiler....Which translation did you get FrozenLederhosen? I read Swan's Way a while back and have been meaning to continue the series. I have the modern library 6-pack. Comments regarding the translation quality seem neutral or positive, although there's one nasty review on Amazon for the Modern Library Swann's Way single book, not sure how different it is. While I'm at it, I'll recommend "Paintings in Proust", which has nice page-sized photo of the paintings that Proust refers to with the relevant quote. A great book to have while reading the series.
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Feb 29, 2012 03:53
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Nexus: Ascension by Robert Boyczuk. 4 stars. My review from Goodreads:I posted:Bleak. Bleak, bleak, bleak. This book is like being repeatedly hit in the face with a giant hammer which has "bleak" stamped all over it. But although you may want to kill yourself once you've read it, it also happens to be a gripping dark sci-fi debut novel.
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Feb 29, 2012 04:24
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Hedrigall posted:Nexus: Ascension by Robert Boyczuk. 4 stars. My review from Goodreads: I actually posted my Goodreads profile into the dedicated thread a few days ago, but it's not like it's easy to recognize people from here there unless they have the same username. So you might've already added me. 
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Feb 29, 2012 10:01
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Rurik posted:Well, you just sold me that. Could you link your Goodreads profile? I'd like to compare the stars you've given to the books I've read with mine. Gladly  http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1871737-tom
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Feb 29, 2012 11:40
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Men Women & Children by Chad Kultgen. I really liked his first novel and was disappointed by his second, so I saw this one as a return to form. It's an account of the burgeoning sex lives of some eighth grade students as well as their parents', told over the course of the eighth graders' football season. It was pretty chilling in parts, making me glad both that I'm an adult and that I wasn't born in the age of the internet.
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Feb 29, 2012 17:03
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FrozenLederhosen posted:I have the modern library 6-pack. Comments regarding the translation quality seem neutral or positive, although there's one nasty review on Amazon for the Modern Library Swann's Way single book, not sure how different it is. I think that's the same translation I had for Swan. I've heard the penguin versions are better, but I guess they're all good enough because of how rad Proust is. I snagged Paintings from the library while reading Swan, it did help a lot. Help isnt quite the right word, it was fun to see all the paintings that I'm too uncultured to know off the top of my head.
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Feb 29, 2012 18:32
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Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West and the Taiping Civil War - Platt, 2012. A very good narrative history of the Taiping Rebellion (Platt insists it was a civil war, but has been called a rebellion because the Brits did not want to give the Taipings the same Belligerent status they gave the Confederates in the American Civil War which occurred at the same time). For a lay person with little knowledge of Chinese history, this is a very good account of the period, and puts it into the context of British action in the Opium War and how the American Civil War influenced the UK's Chinese policy. He also dissects the internal Qing dynasty and Taiping sides, drawing on a lot of personal communications between chinese officals and their families to give a great portrait of the people caught up in the war.
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Mar 1, 2012 04:10
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I bought Cormac McCarthy's The Road sometime last summer, picked it up last week, got a few pages in, and then finished it tonight. I was a little put off, at first, by the lack of quotation marks and apostrophes, but I realized it fit in with the desolate tone of the book and made it that more engaging. The ending left me craving more. Going to try and pick up China Mieville's Perdido Street Station to finish before my girlfriend takes it back in a few weeks.
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Mar 2, 2012 05:58
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I've recently finished reading The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson. The story is - similar to the prequels - predictable at times but overall I've enjoyed the book. Before that I've completed Snuff by Terry Pratchett: it's mostly a Sam Vimes solo adventure, with some characters of the City Watch appearing from time to time.
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Mar 2, 2012 13:48
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The last book I finished was Crime and Punishment, I am almost through American Gods now. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Mar 3, 2012 13:19
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Erasure, by Percival Everett. It's about a struggling author named Theolonious "Monk" Ellison who writes a parody of a bestseller, "We Lives in Da Ghetto" (which I think is a pointed criticism of Sapphire's Push), which ends up becoming a critical and commercial success, to Monk's chagrin. The reviews of Erasure paint it as a serious meditation on race, and while it is, a lot of people overlooked Monk's great character development, and the hilarious moments, though there are few. I'm going to look into more of Everett's work. I read the first chapter of The Ask, by Sam Lipsyte, though it may have been a false start. I'll either continue it, or read Richard Price's Clockers instead.
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Mar 3, 2012 14:42
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Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles by Gerald Vizenor. Read it for my Survey of American Literature class. A woman fucks dogs in it 
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Mar 4, 2012 02:14
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Numbered Account by Christopher Reich. A Wall Street thriller set in Sweden that isn't really that thrilling. It was ok but I probably won't be reading his other books.
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Mar 5, 2012 04:58
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The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling A series of short stories with the postmodern subtext of the reader's struggle against the Walt Disney characters in his head.
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Mar 5, 2012 08:15
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I've finished reading Mistborn: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson yesterday. The change in scenery compared to the previous Mistborn novels was something I did not expect. Overall it was enjoyable and interesting to find out what happend since the last book.
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Mar 5, 2012 13:24
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Horns by Joe Hill I really enjoyed this one a lot. It gets a little heavy-handed with the devil imagery and a lot of the flashbacks get tedious, but it probably has one of the most "love-to-hate" villains I've seen in a while. Also, I saw a brief "Heart-Shaped Box" cameo that makes me think Joe might take a page from his Dad's book and create a shared universe for his characters.
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Mar 5, 2012 19:10
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A chance remark in a Darwin biography I just finished, about Darwin attending medical school in Edinburgh during the time of the resurrectionists and anatomy murders, led me to buy Brian Bailey's Burke and Hare: The Year of the Ghouls, about two dudes in 1828 who killed a bunch of people in order to sell their still warm bodies to a surgeon who used them in his dissection classes. I'm not a true crime guy, but I'm fascinated by the era's struggle between superstition and medicine (similar to the one between religion and science two hundred years before), especially by the pre-modern views on human remains. The need for dissection in the study of human anatomy became widely known in the 18th century, but superstitions of the day made it difficult for anatomy schools to find bodies to use since no one wanted to risk giving up a glorious afterlife by having their remain cut apart. These two opposite forces created a lucrative market for "resurrectionists", ie grave diggers who would dig up recently buried bodies in the middle of the night and sell them to anatomy schools, who would buy them no questions asked. Burke and Hare found it easier to just kill people in their home rather than risk being found with a shovel in a graveyard. This book is their story, the last half taking place after they've been caught and put on trial. Full of interesting historical details.
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Mar 5, 2012 19:43
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The Final Solution by Michael Chabon Incredibly poignant and moving tribute to Sherlock Holmes as a character. I'm not a particularly emotional person, but I was tearing up hard by the end. There's something I'm curious about though that's mentioned on the Wikipedia page. Presumably the numbers are those of the trains going to the death camps, but is there some significance to the German "null" never being said by the parrot or the boy?
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Mar 6, 2012 08:17
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Polystom by Adam Roberts What I thought from the blurb to be a space opera of some sort, perhaps with steampunk tendancies (The title character flying his biplane to a moon set off alarm bells) ended up a bizarre and somewhat unsettling read. I was pleasantly surprised it did not fall into the trap of only reveling in the world that Roberts creates. There is no time given to whimsy and in-depth explanations of this fantastic universe are kept frustratingly out of reach. It is a fascinating book, and highly recommended. Kept me reading through the night, will definitely be reading his other books.
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Mar 6, 2012 08:32
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The Edwardians (Vita Sackville-West): This is a difficult one to attempt to review. The story is mainly Sebastian's (Duke of Chevron) relationships with two women: upper class Lady Roehampton and middle class Teresa Spedding, told from both perspectives. It's framed by Leonard Anquentil's prediction that Sebastian will ultimately conform to society. And whether he does or not ultimately is up in the air as Anquentil gets him to go off exploring with him to end the book. Actually, it's implied he is going to conform, but to what extent is unknown. The main reason for reading this book is the society in which it's set. Noblesse oblige and all the details of it. There's also a very brief whirl into the life of the Bohemians, but there aren't many pages dedicated to that. Recommended if you're fascinated by the Edwardian era and/or have watched the various period dramas set in that era. Not recommended otherwise, as it's probably painfully dry.
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Mar 6, 2012 08:57
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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline It didn't live up to my expectations of being a virtual world/1980's/dystopian mashup. It was a light breezy read, but don't expect much out of it. Especially the ending.
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Mar 6, 2012 09:01
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Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot - David McDuff's translation. It was a slog, but worth it. I'm ashamed to admit I teared up at the end, though - it was hard not to feel sorry for Prince Myshkin because he was possibly the only genuinely good person in the book, and everyone either pitied him or treated him like crap. And the poor guy ends up going mad and being sent back to Switzerland. I definitely want to check out more of Dostoevsky's stuff, although my local library only has his short stories.
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Mar 7, 2012 16:00
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I've finished reading Audrey Auden's Realms Unreel today. The beginning was a bit too slow for my liking but the rest of the book made up for it. Incorporating contemporary elements into the story - the Anonymous Collective, censorship of the internet and rise of new, decentralised networking technology - and foreshadowing things yet to come is what made it fun to read. I will definitely buy the next one!
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Mar 7, 2012 19:12
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I finished Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. God drat is this book awesome, right off the bat. The storyline develops nicely and the scene where the cripple girl in the wheelchair gets shot was fantastic. If you're into military tactics, action thrillers, etc. I'd recommend this. The video games series is good too.
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Mar 10, 2012 01:41
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Tailored Sauce posted:I finished Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. God drat is this book awesome, right off the bat. The storyline develops nicely and the scene where the cripple girl in the wheelchair gets shot was fantastic. If you're into military tactics, action thrillers, etc. I'd recommend this. The video games series is good too. I just finished a reread of Without Remorse, because I was reminded of it by some Korean movie on Netflix.
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Mar 10, 2012 05:51
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NobbytheSheep posted:Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot - David McDuff's translation. It was a slog, but worth it. I'm ashamed to admit I teared up at the end, though - it was hard not to feel sorry for Prince Myshkin because he was possibly the only genuinely good person in the book, and everyone either pitied him or treated him like crap. And the poor guy ends up going mad and being sent back to Switzerland. I definitely want to check out more of Dostoevsky's stuff, although my local library only has his short stories. Brothers Karamazov is still one of my all-time favorite novels. If I had to do a "ten books to take to a desert island," it would be one of them. Notes from the Underground is a really amazing headtrip too, though it's not as morally complex as Brothers K.
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Mar 11, 2012 01:08
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wheatpuppy posted:I just finished a reread of Without Remorse, because I was reminded of it by some Korean movie on Netflix. I remember loving the poo poo out of Without Remorse when I was about 14, I don't want to reread it for fear of shattering that notion.
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Mar 11, 2012 02:39
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I just finished Mort by Terry Pratchett, which was fun but I think I'll take a break from Discworld for a bit. The other day I finished The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. It's a tough book to get through because Rajaniemi throws lots of unexplained terms at you that you only get the gist of through context. On Goodreads I said: "Really rewarding if you put in the mental effort to decipher the prose. So many ideas and bizarre terms are thrown at the reader, and it's sink or swim. The glossary on Wikipedia should help, though." I summarised with "drat, what a fantastic book full of mindboggling ideas. It's like (Revelation Space*Greg Egan)^China Miéville"
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Mar 11, 2012 07:32
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This morning I finished reading Dracula, because I've thought for a while that I should actually bother to read some classic books. Turns out I didn't know the plot of Dracula at all, and was completely and pleasantly surprised. It can be a bit boring in places but by the end is a real page turner. I didn't know that Dracula was so... magical, you know? Slipping through tiny cracks, turning into weather, appearing as a twinkling mist, all that jazz was new to me. Before that I read How To Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young. Probably the least funny "comedy" book I've ever read. I found it quite depressing really. Toby Young is supposed to be this lovable underdog loser, but in reality he just came across as annoying, lazy and ignorant.
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Mar 11, 2012 12:13
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Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. Holy poo poo, what have I gotten myself into?
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Mar 12, 2012 04:05
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I just finished The Stand by Stephen King, soooo good! i thought the apocalypse thing was getting over done, but of course, Stephen King does not disappoint. No zombies or vampires, hooray! Next up is a book on picking college basketball brackets, cause it's that time. Andrew Clark wrote a cool book about it called Bracketeering, and I got this one free, so double yay! it's here is you're interested: http://www.thecopia.com/catalog/details.html?catId=9583981
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Mar 12, 2012 21:57
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The Guns of August (Barbara Tuchman): Make plan X in advance. See Y and Z happening around you on the battlefields. Stick to plan X. And there's Germany. Egotistical Germany. The Belgians won't fight back. The Russians wouldn't dare sending troops this early. The French are weak... The only issue I have with the book is that it's a bit dry in places, but that's my lack of concentration at times as it's filled to the brim with great information and insight.
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Mar 13, 2012 10:22
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Monolith. posted:Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. You mean you didn't start with Gardens of the Moon? I'm still working my way in on Gardens. Hopefully I'll finish it next week (i read so shitfully slow)
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Mar 13, 2012 21:09
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Monolith. posted:Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. One of the best series of all time, if not the best IMHO. That book is what sealed it for me, the chain of dogs, god drat.
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Mar 13, 2012 22:48
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Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. A great read overall; after ten years, it hardly feels dated and the corporate corruption and subjugation of federal regulations sounds all-too familiar. Is Cryptonomicon any good?
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Mar 14, 2012 01:05
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Tedronai66 posted:You mean you didn't start with Gardens of the Moon? Library didn't have it. I'll get to it eventually.
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Mar 14, 2012 02:35
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Lord Sandwich posted:Is Cryptonomicon any good? If you've never read any Stephenson before, he has a really discursive style where he'll often diverge from the main plot to talk about some related topic that he finds interesting, eg Van Eck phreaking. This is pretty divisive, so how much you like him is more or less related to how interesting you find what he's talking about. The actual plot of the story is pretty cool, as it jumps back and forth between modern times and WW2 to look at the history and impact of cryptography through the lens of two particular families.
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Mar 14, 2012 03:43
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Monolith. posted:Library didn't have it. I'll get to it eventually. I'd highly advise reading the first book before the third. The third basically continues the storyline from the first book. I suppose you could mostly suss out what's going on without reading the first but you'll probably miss a lot of smaller or possibly not so small details. taser rates posted:If you've never read any Stephenson before, he has a really discursive style where he'll often diverge from the main plot to talk about some related topic that he finds interesting, eg Van Eck phreaking. This is pretty divisive, so how much you like him is more or less related to how interesting you find what he's talking about. I dunno, I like reading about ancient Sumer but I thought Snow Crash was pretty awful.
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Mar 14, 2012 07:19
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Finished Hunger by Knut Hamsun last night. As someone who is basically living on the breadline as it is, it was kind of heartening in a perverse way to read an account of how a man (albeit a fictional one) can persevere through the extremes of starvation and homelessness. Pretty depressing overall but incredibly engrossing too.
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Mar 14, 2012 13:47
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Conduit for Sale! posted:I dunno, I like reading about ancient Sumer but I thought Snow Crash was pretty awful. Cryptonomicon isn't a goofy genre spoof like Snow Crash, so you still might enjoy it.
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Mar 14, 2012 23:17
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