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On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner. The third book of his I've read (after The Art of Fiction and Grendel) and the second about writing. I don't know if I could say I enjoyed it more than The Art of Fiction because they cover different aspects of writing - one deals with craft, and the other deals largely with the psychological aspects of writing and publishing. Both fantastic reads, though - out of the books I've read about writing so far, Gardner's books have consistently outshone the rest both in helpfulness and enjoyment.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:26
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I'm trying to do the "52 books in a year" thing and my first book of 2014 was sadly lackluster -- The Monsters of Gramercy Park by Danny Leigh. It's about a famous but washed up crime writer who meets with a former gang leader in prison to write a book about him and get him better treatment and get her career a new start. I didn't really care for it; I guess I had been hoping for something more innovative, but it never rose above genre mystery fiction.
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Jan 5, 2014 05:17
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War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges. Been meaning to read it for years, and it was excellent. It's a little fragmented (though incredibly readable), it seemed more a series of observations than anything else, though that doesn't detract in any way from how powerful it is. The point he keeps coming back to, that most wars are manufactured, and carried out by gangsters whose power rises as civil society crumbles, the myth is universally a constructed one, is p obvious & is hammered home, but he illustrates it all beautifully - the Yugoslav examples are horrific. Good stuff
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Jan 5, 2014 14:46
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The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler. It was super cheap and looked like it might be worth burning a few hours on, it was at least not generic tolkienesque fantasy or urban fantasy that seems to be the only fare available these days. I was sadly mistaken. There's nothing wrong with the technical parts of this book. It's just the setting ruins any story that it attempts to tell. The magic rules of the universe run on belief, and literally act as fate. The protagonist at points randomly gets absurd powers for a short period of time as a deus ex simply because it is what the "Medium Wills." The author goes out of his way to rob any potential growth or victory the characters might have by making it explicit that's just the way the universe in general wanted things to go. It's a shame because the character interaction is pretty good and for the most part it's a pleasant read, but the more the author preaches about his worldbuilding the more it destroys the story. I looked up some reviews of the later books and apparently it plunges into full insanity so I'm actually glad I was annoyed enough at the first not to grab all three at once. Apparently it heavily integrates LDS stuff into it? I dunno, I just don't recommend it.
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Jan 6, 2014 02:19
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Had a day from hell as my plans burned to ashes around me and the entire thing exploded in my face first thing in the morning. Said, "gently caress everything", and powered through Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Now I have to read the rest of The Dresden Files series. It was just what I needed on a poo poo-tastic Sunday.
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Jan 6, 2014 02:47
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Just finished The Goldfinch after glowing recommendations from people in this thread. Holy moly that was a good book, it resonated with me quite loving profoundly. Thanks all of you who talked about it!
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Jan 6, 2014 15:50
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Their Life's Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Then and Now by Gary M. Pomerantz Got this as a gift for christmas. Overall it's pretty good telling of the story of the Rooneys and the Steelers and how the 1970s dynasty was created and where some of the more notable players are today. I wish it went into more of the Steelers vs. Oakland Raiders rivalry off the field, but just a paragraph or two about the slander case against Chuck Noll for calling Oakland players a "criminal element" and it washes over a bit of Noll's comments that Mel Blount would be categorized in that as well. Outside of that, the book is funny - filled with anecdotes about the locker room culture and also about the tragic stories of Joe Gilliam (drugs) and Mike Webster's post-NFL career which puts the NFL vs concussions in a very prominent light.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:30
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geeves posted:and Mike Webster's post-NFL career which puts the NFL vs concussions in a very prominent light. You should read League of Denial if you're interested in learning more about this, Webster's story is a pretty big chunk of the narrative. Even beyond that it's a great book.
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Jan 7, 2014 03:22
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Butch Cassidy posted:Had a day from hell as my plans burned to ashes around me and the entire thing exploded in my face first thing in the morning. Said, "gently caress everything", and powered through Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Worth it? I have had the book for a while and tried (and failed) reading it a couple of times. 
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Jan 7, 2014 04:21
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BobTheCow posted:You should read League of Denial if you're interested in learning more about this, Webster's story is a pretty big chunk of the narrative. Even beyond that it's a great book. Thanks for the recommendation! Bought it for my kindle.
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Jan 7, 2014 05:15
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art of spoonbending posted:Just finished The Goldfinch after glowing recommendations from people in this thread. Holy moly that was a good book, it resonated with me quite loving profoundly. Thanks all of you who talked about it! I just started Goldfinch, but I hope you have read her other book, The Secret History. It is great.
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Jan 7, 2014 14:35
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Chickenhawk by a Robert Mason, Entertaining read about a Huey pilot in the Vietnam war. Would recommend if you like your war books.
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Jan 7, 2014 16:03
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1554 posted:Worth it? I have had the book for a while and tried (and failed) reading it a couple of times. I just read it as schlocky pulp and it was good in that role. I've been using adventure pulp as my go-to escapist literature for a while and getting back to a noir-ish detective story was nice plus magical shenanigans to lighten the mood. It isn't the greatest book I have ever read, but it matched my mood on a rough night pretty well.
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Jan 7, 2014 17:27
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The general consensus on the Dresden Files - and I'll agree on this point - is that the early books are mediocre pulp, but it rapidly becomes awesome pulp.
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Jan 7, 2014 20:38
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ProfessorProf posted:The general consensus on the Dresden Files - and I'll agree on this point - is that the early books are mediocre pulp, but it rapidly becomes awesome pulp. If you're going to recommend The Dresden Files to anyone, recommend the Felix Castor novels by Mike Carey instead. Same general area, but they're better in every conceivable way (or will be once Mike gets round to writing the final book).
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Jan 8, 2014 00:56
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I just finished reading one of my favorite childhood books, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende to my niece (4 years old) and nephew (6 years old). It's been a wonderful experience and I can't recommend the experience of sharing your favorite stories with children enough. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, it is about a young boy named Bastian Baltazar Bux. He steals a magical book and as he reads the story about another young boy's adventure he is transported into this world where he has his own transformative adventure. It ends happily as all children's stories ought to. It may be a bit old for four year olds but my six year old loved it and I read it by myself in second grade which is probably the perfect age to read it. Though I might be biased.
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Jan 8, 2014 01:13
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^^^ Cool I just finished Mother Night. Are we the person we pretend to be? The person we hide from the world? Is the person we once were dead when life moves on and we force them away? Are bad deeds for noble causes crimes? If we do them selfishly? Selflessly? Crimes to humanity or to ourselves? To no one? And, does it even matter? It is Vonnegut at perhaps his most existential, so no. Maybe. It is a very good exercise in depressing existentialism and pretty different than a lot of Vonnegut's work. Well worth a read after you take in some of his other books to get a feel for his philosophies. A great piece of black comedy. Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 10:08 on Jan 8, 2014 |
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Jan 8, 2014 10:02
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E: Quote is not edit 
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Jan 8, 2014 10:06
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nate fisher posted:I just started Goldfinch, but I hope you have read her other book, The Secret History. It is great. I haven't, but definitely will!
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Jan 8, 2014 11:41
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The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. Having already loved The Haunting of Hill House, I figured that I ought to become familiar with what is probably her best-known work, and read some more along the way. I think Jackson really excels at writing unsettling stories like the title story and "The Daemon Lover," but the majority of the stories in here were completely mundane and didn't really feel worthwhile.
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Jan 9, 2014 00:41
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All Nines posted:The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. Having already loved The Haunting of Hill House, I figured that I ought to become familiar with what is probably her best-known work, and read some more along the way. I think Jackson really excels at writing unsettling stories like the title story and "The Daemon Lover," but the majority of the stories in here were completely mundane and didn't really feel worthwhile. Have you read We Have Always Lived In The Castle yet?
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Jan 9, 2014 01:08
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Not yet, but it's definitely one of the first books I plan to pick up at this point.
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Jan 9, 2014 03:05
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All Nines posted:The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. Having already loved The Haunting of Hill House, I figured that I ought to become familiar with what is probably her best-known work, and read some more along the way. I think Jackson really excels at writing unsettling stories like the title story and "The Daemon Lover," but the majority of the stories in here were completely mundane and didn't really feel worthwhile. It's a shame that you didn't like her 'normal' fiction. I love her stories (her novels not so much), and I think she is a fantastic writer. I do agree with you on your preference for the unsettling stories though, her dark twists are amazing. I loved the references to The Daemon Lover in her other stories, and I think The Witch and Like Mother Used to Make will stay with me forever.
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Jan 9, 2014 05:43
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I agree with you about "The Witch" and "Like Mother Used to Make" being some of the better ones, but I think the story that will probably stick with me the most, personally, is "The Renegade"; I'm pretty sensitive about animal abuse, so this story completely horrified me, both for that unsettling quality that marks her best work - in this case, as in some of the other stories, manifested in people who are so provincial and exclusionary that they cross over into sadism - as well as the power of the content itself. I was actually much more unsettled by this one than by "The Lottery."
All Nines fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 06:52
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Yes, The Renegade is great as well. I think the problem with The Lottery is that it's such a well-known story that most people already know the ending, so the effect is a bit lost, and without that it's just a story, nothing remarkable. By the way, there are more of her stories in the Library of America collection, but from what I remember the better ones are all included in the collection you read.
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Jan 9, 2014 08:29
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I considered getting the Library of America collection because it also has We Have Always Lived In This Castle and some of her essays/letters/etc., yeah. But I guess that would depend on the cost, since I'm not a huge fan of how thin LoA pages are. In other news, I've also just finished Anna Karenina. I wrote up a brief review on Goodreads, but I don't really want to get too much into my thoughts at this point because it became pretty clear to me at a certain point that I'm probably not going to fully appreciate this novel until I've lived more. I liked it a lot, though. Not as much as the other books I've read, since Tolstoy's writing style isn't exactly my favorite and it was harder for me to sympathize with certain characters than in, say, a Dostoevsky book, but it was definitely worth it, only I'm glad I took care of this one while on break from school because it never would have happened during a semester. All Nines fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 18:18
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elbow posted:Yes, The Renegade is great as well. I think the problem with The Lottery is that it's such a well-known story that most people already know the ending, so the effect is a bit lost, and without that it's just a story, nothing remarkable. It is if Lottery Day happens to be your birthday. I got bought the bloody book for my birthday, too. Yeesh.
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Jan 9, 2014 20:34
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The Fault in Our Stars and it went about as well as you'd imagine.
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Jan 10, 2014 04:11
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Nearly done with Dies The Fire. It's the first book in a post-apocalyptic series by S. M. Stirling. Some kind mysterious EMP hits and knocks out all electronics. Only this is no ordinary EMP. It also renders guns and combustion engines useless. There is no explanation of how this happened, but I assume it's covered in a future book. The story follows two groups as they try to rebuild a society in the Pacific Northwest. One is annoying group of Wiccans who are constantly doing goofy prayers and festivals. Nearly everyone was a Renaissance Fair dork pre-EMP, so of course they have blacksmith skills, archery skills, can make their own chain mail, etc. The other group is led by ex-military guy who gains a large following. None of the characters are very likable, food descriptions go on for pages, there are far too many convenient coincidences, and it's a long book that could easily be cut down without losing anything. There are far better books available in this genre. I'm not sure how it became popular enough to last as a series.
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Jan 10, 2014 05:17
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^burtle posted:The Fault in Our Stars and it went about as well as you'd imagine. Good? Bad?
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Jan 10, 2014 12:06
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Mr. Squishy posted:Good? Bad? Tears.
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Jan 10, 2014 12:25
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Joramun posted:Tears. Haha, yeah, I knew what you meant, bit of a punch in the gut, that. Have been slacking a bit on reading, but recently finished up A Lee Martinez's Helen and Troy's Epic Road Quest, which, if you know anything about the author, should not surprise you to know that it's a goofy take on your classic quest story set in a United States where magic and "enchanted Americans" are a part of everyday life. A quick, amusing read that stays just on the right side trying to hard with the wacky, random humor- think maybe A Hitchhiker's Guide to American Gods.
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Jan 10, 2014 13:46
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Just finished The Goldfinch. My god that was an amazing book. I teary eyed up a bit when I hit the last sentence. She is such a fantastic writer and I don't think I will ever look at art quite the same ever again.
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Jan 10, 2014 21:56
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Yesterday I started and shortly finished Flaubert's Parrot, as part of my campaign to empty my local second-hand shop of Julian Barnes novels. It reminds me a lot of Gass's The Tunnel and Markson's Wittgenstein's Mistress, both of which it predates by several years. Like those, we have a pettish academic venting spleen and probing at the holes in knowledge (both their personal store and also the limits of what can be known), airless books where one person goes on and on, occasionally throwing out hints of some muted tragedy in the background. The field of study this time is Flaubert with a little Nabokov on the fringes. The narrator is Geoffry Braithwaite, widower, distant father, ex-doctor and bore. He tootles around Normandy looking for the soul of Flaubert (or maybe the book takes place in the ferry back home as he tells some poor sap about his adventures). This quest is apparently lousy with choice metaphors that tease our epistemological theories, so often does he bark his shins against them. Take this eponymous parrot; Flaubert used one as a model for A Simple Heart. Each of the two museums visited has a bird of dubious provenance which claims to have once sat on the master's desk. Do you see how this relates to Braithwaite's demand for the truth? What if he kept going on about the impossibility to know the past, or the many ironies in Flaubert, the contrasting biographies people could draw up of the man? Barnes is so terrified that you might miss his point that you expect a knock on your door as the author does his rounds explaining himself. You can't actually fit literary criticism into a novella, people'll run for the hills, so Braithwaite's academic nature has been pruned to: citing a year after quoting as a sort of bibliography lite; collating lists of mentions of Bears, Railways, Parrots: and malicious sniping. The last of these is actually pretty fun, especially the chapters where he unloads on fellow critics or tells you which modern novels are poo poo (amusingly he censures modern novels for "doing one thing well". This book has 1 character). So if he's not actually criticizing Flaubert, what is he doing? Demonstrating the same consuming, pathetic, obsessive love that devoured the protagonist in Before I Met Her, the only other Barnes I've read. For Barnes, apparently, love is going through poo poo with a fine toothed comb. I actually enjoyed the first half of the book, though it felt old-hat after WM (this is unfair of me). It started to grate mid-way in a section that prefigures all those awful website Q&As.mHere the Questioner is the Answerer in a silly voice and armed with impertinent questions to annoy himself with. Maybe if I'd read more Flaubert, or had picked up the received knowledge this sets out to explode, I'd be engaged in a dialogue rather than witnessing an unfunny routine. The book gets even worse in the following chapter, written as Louise Colet, with no sign of Braithwaite peeking behind the mask (I assume, I wasn't reading it too closely by then). After wailing on the impossibility to truly know the past, Barnes blithely leaps back and into the mind of a woman. She too chides the reader for all these rotten assumptions we hold about Flaubert (lady, I've never met him). Now we're well into the home straight, and we're rewarded the hard facts on this corpse of a wife Braithwaite's been teasing us with throughout. Of course, this is spliced in with biographical details of Flaubert. Do you see how the frustrated love has been transferred? By this point, do you care? The climax had as much emotional weight as a disliked tutor crying in a lecture. Now all that's left is a literal exam paper (gently caress off) and a bow to put on this bloody parrot metaphor and you're done. Eventually, I'll find a copy of Sense of an Ending. Maybe It'll even be good!
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Jan 11, 2014 15:33
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Just finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Someone had listed it in a set of recommendations posted to another TBB thread, it sounded interesting, it had a reasonable price on Kindle so I checked it out. Thank you *very* much to that poster (although I have no idea who it was or what thread it was  ), because this is really an excellent read. An insane serial killer on the lose and the creation of the a criminal profile to identify and capture the killer...in 1896. It's a novel, but it reads like it's historical fact. A lot of attention to detail, interesting characters and a well-plotted story. I highly recommend this for anyone who likes a good procedural
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Jan 11, 2014 18:21
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Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I picked this one up hoping for the best from Stephen King's son, but overall it was disappointing. The main characters aren't very interesting or deep and some of their motivations don't make sense. For example two character are badly injured early in the story, but refuse to seek out medical attention despite acknowledging they have enough money to get a doctor to come to them. This kinda makes sense for Marybeth as her injured thumb was channeling Anna in the world, but Jude's badly cut up hand wasn't a supernatural injury and it was strange that he didn't bother to get it fixed. The ghost villain of Craddock started out interesting, especially the delivery method of Jude buying his burial suit. But Craddock quickly becomes an ineffective foe, and it doesn't make sense why he has so much trouble killing Jude and Marybeth. I understand that the dog spirits protect them from a direct attack, but Craddock seemed powerful enough that I wasn't sure why he couldn't possess a semi-truck driver and ram them off the road instead of wasting time taunting them on the radio. The ending was alright, but had a few too many overused cliches. The phones are out, because Craddock can do that. Marybeth dies, but recovers a few pages later. And a happy wedding sequence doesn't seem to fit. Overall I don't plan to seek out more Joe Hill in the future.
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Jan 11, 2014 18:29
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I thought both Joe Hill's short stories and Horns were great. His other 2 novels left something to be desire.
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Jan 11, 2014 18:54
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Zola posted:Just finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Someone had listed it in a set of recommendations posted to another TBB thread, it sounded interesting, it had a reasonable price on Kindle so I checked it out. Pretty sure it was me. You're welcome. There's a sequel to that one, although I haven't read it. You'll probably also enjoy The Yard by Alex Grecian, although that was one even more frenetic. Now, to avoid breaking the rules: Two Serpents Rise, the second book in the Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone. 5/5 A modern-ish secondary world urban fantasy that's built on the premise that finance and law literally magic. The first book was a great procedural urban fantasy about a lawyer-mage investigating the bankruptcy-death of a god. This one is set in a non-Aztec city that was conquered a few decades ago by a vengeful Lich who slaughtered all of their blood-thirsty gods and now runs the city via his corporation, Red King Consolidated and the protagonist is an officer in the corporation who tries to find the terrorists that contaminated the city's only water supply with demons while having a very complicated love life. It's loving great. So everything is a metaphor, right? So as best as I can tell in the book Craft stands for market capitalism and the Gods for the state and social services and so forth. The Red King overthrew a particularly brutal state and now his oligarchy discovers that while states can get pretty lovely, libertarianism doesn't quite work either and in the end, the protagonist proposes giving market socialism a try.
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Jan 11, 2014 19:27
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nate fisher posted:I thought both Joe Hill's short stories and Horns were great. His other 2 novels left something to be desire. I loved NOS4A2, I felt it was maybe better than a majority of his Dad's work.
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Jan 11, 2014 20:30
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Zola posted:Just finished The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Someone had listed it in a set of recommendations posted to another TBB thread, it sounded interesting, it had a reasonable price on Kindle so I checked it out. I tried to read the sequel and failed. No one felt like a period character, more like stereotypes with 21st century attitudes and thinking. But others may find it different. Anyways, re-read Po Bronson's Bombardiers. Basically, it's "Catch 22" but in the world of finance. It's as entertaining as that suggests. Unfortunately, Bronson has never quiet hit these heights again. Recommended.
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Jan 12, 2014 00:16
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