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frenchnewwave posted:I adore JK but I had the same problem with this book. I could appreciate how well it was written but it started bringing me down. I never finished. I'd heard anecdotally some comment she made about how she couldn't be friends with anyone who didn't cry at the end, so I was prepared for the worst. I assumed the junkie's daughter from the Fields would end up turning tricks to score dope like her mother. The actual ending is, hilariously, even worse than anticipated.
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Jun 2, 2014 17:38
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Skin Game by Jim Butcher. Read it in one sitting. Hardly any mention of nipples. I think Jim is maturing as a writer.
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Jun 2, 2014 21:51
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Griftopia by ex-Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi I now hate politicians and wall street billionaires more than I did before. I like how there's a chapter about Alan Greenspan titled The Biggest rear end in a top hat in the Universe. Now I'm reading Charlie LeDuff's book about Detroit. 
Mental Hospitality fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Jun 3, 2014 |
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Jun 3, 2014 00:56
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SouthLAnd posted:Now I'm reading Charlie LeDuff's book about Detroit. I loved that book, but god drat it's depressing.
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Jun 3, 2014 22:27
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I just finished Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. I really enjoyed this book, but when I think about it, there were a gently caress load of things that annoyed me about it. The plot is a bit bland and the pacing is all over the place (the plot doesnt really get going till about page 400), and the treatment of the female characters is a bit lovely. Especially Lin . Also the author tends to introduce characters with the sole intention of killing them a couple of chapters later. And the fact that in the climax of the book all the main characters are saved by Jack Half-a-Prayer, a character we know nothing about and was only mentioned in passing 700 pages ago annoyed the piss out of me. But the setting and the creatures are excellent. New Crobuzon is fantastic. The attention to detail of how the city is constructed – geographically, socially, and politically - is incredible. In a way I would not be surprised if New Crobuzon had been created first and the plot was an afterthought; just something to motivate the characters into running around its streets. I liked Perdido Street Station and think it’s a good book. But it does have some big flaws, and it’s not necessarily a book I would recommend to others. I think it appeals not necessarily for it plot, which has some good ideas but is a little under baked, but for its setting and construction.
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Jun 4, 2014 10:08
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Sadsack posted:I just finished Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. Now read The Scar. Same world, better plot, bigger adventure, crazier ideas.
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Jun 4, 2014 10:23
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Neonomicon has a lot more octopus rape than I expected.
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Jun 4, 2014 18:28
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Edit: wrong thread
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Jun 4, 2014 18:58
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Just finished The Guardian by David Hosp. A decent read, with a fairly basic conspiracy after a MacGuffin plot. The characters are pretty well drawn, though, with the co-protagonist being a female character who is NOT useless cardboard or a sexy lamp which is a rarity in the spy/espionage thriller genre (although there are perhaps too many mentions of how attractive she is from male points of view: some of these really don't work). The tone is pretty dark and gloomy, and it's pretty clear that Hosp has a thing for Boston. I actually wouldn't mind a Cianna Phelan series (although any other books would probably need to move away from South Boston). Mars4523 fucked around with this message at 12:53 on Jun 5, 2014 |
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Jun 5, 2014 10:18
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I finished reading To Honor You Call Us by H. Paul Honsinger about a day ago. Wasn't really expecting much to start out with, but it turned out to be an amazing read. Think hard sci-fi with submarines in space. Quite good character building, but the main character does seem to be flawless (if that bothers you). Lots of cool details about the inner workings of relatively low-tech space warfare which just makes sense. Before that I finished all of the Cassandra Kresnov books (5 books in the series to far) by Joel Shepherd, starting with Crossover over the course of a few weeks. Military sci-fi with good character building, and great world building. If you are up for some action its a nice series to read. The main character is quite likable, female and a bit too perfect, however as the series progresses I got much more attached to her then I was at first. Lots of cool little details fill up the universe it plays out in.
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Jun 5, 2014 19:10
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Cassandra Kreznov does touch a bit on Mary Sue at times, not necessarily in the way that she's a hypercompetent superhuman badass with vast amounts of brainpower but more in the way that she ALWAYS gets her way (and anyone who disagrees with her is unambiguously wrong and should be ignored. Plus the blurb on the latest book has me cringing big time. I'd say Joel Sheperd's Trial of Blood and Steel series is a little better in that regard. Sasha is pretty badass, but she doesn't always get her way and she's not always shown as right.
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Jun 6, 2014 03:31
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Mars4523 posted:Cassandra Kreznov does touch a bit on Mary Sue at times, not necessarily in the way that she's a hypercompetent superhuman badass with vast amounts of brainpower but more in the way that she ALWAYS gets her way (and anyone who disagrees with her is unambiguously wrong and should be ignored. Plus the blurb on the latest book has me cringing big time. I'd say Joel Sheperd's Trial of Blood and Steel series is a little better in that regard. Sasha is pretty badass, but she doesn't always get her way and she's not always shown as right. I think you gave a much better description of Cassandra then I did there, but considering her young age being an android, and limited human interaction before deserting and trying to join human society I do think the character flaws fit what you would expect from such a character. Also on the latest book I had a hard time dealing with her all of a sudden emerging maternal instincts, which really wouldn't fit with a synthetic being that according to herself can't be jelous/love anything I did quite enjoy reading the books though, they are well written and full of action, if that's what you are into, but don't expect literary masterpieces.
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Jun 6, 2014 05:18
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Finished Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre last night. It was okay, but as far as French existensialism goes, I thik I prefer Albert Camus. But I've yet to dive into Sartre's road to freedom trilogy, and I need to read a bit more by Camus as well before I can make any final verdict.
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Jun 6, 2014 08:25
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Recently finished The Iron Dream, by
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Jun 6, 2014 13:42
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ulvir posted:Finished Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre last night. It was okay, but as far as French existensialism goes, I thik I prefer Albert Camus. But I've yet to dive into Sartre's road to freedom trilogy, and I need to read a bit more by Camus as well before I can make any final verdict. One disappointment I had with the book was the complete lack of Frantz Fanon outside of a footnote since he and Camus were so far apart ideologically while fighting for similar things. And obviously read Camus's stuff, which I'm sure you know all of.
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Jun 6, 2014 15:09
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WAY TO GO WAMPA!! posted:If you are interested in Camus himself, check out A Life Worth Living by Robert Zaretsky. It goes over his philosophies and frames it against his life and work in French Algeria and is very interesting, engaging, and well written. It's less biographical and more analytical. I felt like it kind of played up a Camus vs. Sartre thing a bit more than it should have (and is obviously very pro-Camus) but was good nonetheless. Thanks for the tip. I've only read The Stranger and Nausea so far, so I'm only going by my first impressions in that post. I'm obviously gonna read more of their respective works, but I'll be sure to check out ALWL too.
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Jun 6, 2014 23:43
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ulvir posted:Thanks for the tip. I've only read The Stranger and Nausea so far, so I'm only going by my first impressions in that post. I'm obviously gonna read more of their respective works, but I'll be sure to check out ALWL too. The Plague and The Rebel by Camus are both awesome too. I haven't read The Myth of Sisyphus, but you are motivating me.
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Jun 7, 2014 01:51
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Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra I strayed from my usual urban decay books to this mafia book. I saw it sitting on a table in B&N and casually looked it over, flipped through it, read a page, and it came off as really interesting. It starts off sort of heavy handed, and the amount of "STONE COLD KILLER" is overused in the first 10 or so pages. So much so I was going to write it all off, but I think they just didn't know where to start and revised the beginning a few times. Once you get beyond that, you're taken through the 70s, 80s, and 90s by a guy who was taken into the mafia in his early teens by his stone cold killer uncle, and quickly moved into the inner trusted ring because of family blood. Phil Leonetti would eventually become underboss, and acting boss of the Philly side of La Cosa Nostra (The collective of mafia groups working together). You will run into literally every big name mafia person in the past thirty years, they all knew each other, they all worked with each other, and they all kill each other. At the time, Phil Leonetti was the highest ranking mafia member to flip to the FBI. He has been a part of dozens of murders, he describes many of them in great detail, he describes every detail about the mob, how they make money, how they rub each others backs, and how they stab them. I couldn't put the book down. What I particularly liked was the author worked side by side with Phil Leonetti, and much of the book is direct quotes from Phil's mouth to the pages of the book, italicized. You learn about his uncle who becomes acting boss, and how everything works through the New York commission of mafia bosses. How some guys thought just killing a boss of a certain area will entitle them to their area. Without New York's position/consent, you have no claim, and will be murdered. Quite a few people found this out the hard way. Again, all in brutal detail. It was a great read once I got past the early stumbles, and the current version tells how Phil Leonetti is still in hiding with the witness protection program as of early 2014. It's current. Philthy fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 8, 2014 17:56
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Foundation and Earth The more I read Asimov, the more I get into his futuristic world. He is able to weave interesting questions and great philosophical discussion into the story line of his work. I finished the Foundation Series, and am going for the Robot Series next. I noticed that Asimov's estate authorized three more novels by different authors set in the same universe in what is known as the Second Foundation Trilogy, which I'm curious about.
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Jun 9, 2014 21:42
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Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks. I hadn't read anything from Banks before, and wanted to try out his brand of sci-fi. I had never really read many space operas before, and the universe he created in this book is really quite massive, with an incredibly intricate backstory. The plot was good, and there were many philosophical themes to consider along the way, but overall, I found the book a little lacking in imagery. I usually have no trouble visualizing scenes in books I'm reading - that's how I can tell I'm getting absorbed into the story - but had a lot of difficulty with Banks' writing style. Banks really doesn't give the reader any help at all to understand the world - there's no introductions, no explanations, nothing to which one can easily relate; you're just presented with this deluge of information. Mainly because of this, I found the book very challenging to read, like I was doing a lot of manual labour to understand everything that was going on. I felt like this detracted from the overall reading experience.
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Jun 10, 2014 20:15
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Wolf of Winter by John Connolly I love this series and Wolf of Winter was another good book. It felt a bit like a "Monster of the Week" with only the mildest hints towards the grander story which came to the fore in book #5 (this is book #12 of the Charlie Parker series) but I devoured it in two sittings. It's been a while since I read book #11 so there were a few moments where mention of previous characters threw me a little and there's definitely a different tone from Connolly - it seems like he's cut down on the over the top explanations of all the various places and locations his characters go to. My hometown was also mentioned  My only criticism is that there wasn't enough of the grander story!
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Jun 11, 2014 22:32
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Ayem posted:Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks. I haven't gotten around to reading his other books yet, but everyone says they're much different/better. Might be worth giving another one of his a try.
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Jun 11, 2014 23:31
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The Middle Ages: Everyday Life in Medieval Europe by Jeffery L. Singman Interesting, if a bit academic, look at a period of history that's usually pretty steeped in myth and hyperbole. I especially appreciated how Singman covered daily life for the lower classes and peasantry to provide a more complete look at the Middle Ages, as marginalized groups can be overlooked or stereotyped in a lot of historical discussion. The book is intended as a bit of a beginner's text, and so it isn't particularly deep about any one facet of Medieval life, but it is certainly broad and makes a good entry point for more dedicated research into the time period. As someone who prefers more contemporary history it made for a fun introductory book and I will certainly pursue more historical texts relating to the Middle Ages. It's certainly very dry, but I'd recommend it if you're into that sort of thing.
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Jun 12, 2014 04:37
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I grabbed George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London at random from the library. It's a slim volume, 213 pages in my printing, about lots of hunger and trying to solve it through deep periods of unemployment. The narrator ends up with two dishwashing jobs in Paris and upon hearing of a decent opportunity back in England, he returns there only to be told he'll have to wait longer. Until then, he's still broke and takes up a tramp's life to survive. As an educated man, either type of life was pretty unfamiliar. Orwell does not overwhelm with details, but his descriptions are more than enough to paint a vivid picture of his journeys. Something felt familiar about the latter London part and 20 minutes later I think I have it figured out: London 1849: A Victorian Murder Story, which also had vivid descriptions of beggars. Even though London stuck with me more, Paris had a bit better touch. The characters were more varied - I loved the love/hate relationship with the female cook - and the constant attempts to pawn and re-pawn items. I know the book is a mixture of fact and fiction. Orwell voluntarily went on tramping missions in the late 1920s and did work, albeit later as a dishwasher in Paris. Casual racism was certainly more than fine in the era it was printed, but I was a bit surprised to see the homosexuality references, considering its illegality. And yes, I rather enjoyed filling in a whole slew of words to replace the censored blanks in the text. The real answer seems to be bugger. poo poo ("bull poo poo" [sic]) is left uncensored as well as several instances of bastard. Cow was considered the greatest insult to a woman, according to our narrator. There was also the beggars' dictionary, with a good many of the terms still being recognizable now.
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Jun 12, 2014 08:15
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RC and Moon Pie posted:As an educated man, either type of life was pretty unfamiliar. gently caress you (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jun 12, 2014 11:19
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Just finished Gun with Occasional Music. I really enjoyed it, I liked how Lethem worked in his creepy dysfunctional future while keeping the narrative straight gumshoe pulp. I don't remember who gave the rec, but thank you!
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Jun 13, 2014 01:02
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Zola posted:Just finished Gun with Occasional Music. I really enjoyed it, I liked how Lethem worked in his creepy dysfunctional future while keeping the narrative straight gumshoe pulp. I don't remember who gave the rec, but thank you! Probably me in another thread? I just finished it too!  I wrote some random thoughts on Goodreads: my thoughts posted:A lot to love about this book:
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Jun 13, 2014 01:28
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I finished "The Black Company" and "Shadows Linger" by Glenn Cook. I'm working on "The White Rose" by the same guy. Really great books written from the perspective an historian for a mercenary company. The first book being written entirely from the first person perspective was a great style that worked extremely well. The Croaker stuff in later books is still in first person but there are other chapters written from a standard narrator's perspective. I really wish he had kept the first person throughout the whole trilogy, but I can see why aspects of the story would be extremely difficult to convey to the reader that way. While I generally like rules based magic systems, this one has great characters for the wizards that makes them engaging to read. The hard edge to the protagonists is great too. They aren't nice people and they do terrible things, but Glenn Cook does a great job of making me care about happens to them anyway.
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Jun 13, 2014 13:52
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I just finished The Art Of Intrusion by Kevin Mitnick. I work in IT and a lot of the antics in the book described by Mitnick made me laugh my rear end off. Definitely a good read.
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Jun 13, 2014 19:07
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Seal Team 13 by Evan Currie. It's... eh it's pretty good. It has some minor nitpicky bullshit like "real guns don't work that way" but as an action/adventure/blow em up kinda novel it works. Think action movies where the dude singlehandedly fires off 8 rounds from a DE .50 and doesn't collapse to the floor screaming about how his wrist is now putty. That's the kinda minor nitpick bullshit I mean. The idea for the whole "no one knows about the supernatural" is actually a decent plot device as well.
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Jun 13, 2014 22:30
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Sid Vicious posted:I just finished reading Lolita by Vladmir Nabakov, and wow has anyone else ever read this? I can't really tell what the message the author was trying to get across was, it was pretty hosed up if you ask me. Why was it written from a characters point of view if the character was going to be such a creepy son of a bitch? I couldn't get through that book. Just walking in that character's shoes was so uncomfortable. Just finished The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro. I love the different things he changes about the genre, and some of the ideas about vampires that survived from his Blade 2 days. Time to get started on The Night Eternal
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Jun 13, 2014 23:25
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Zola posted:Just finished Gun with Occasional Music. I really enjoyed it, I liked how Lethem worked in his creepy dysfunctional future while keeping the narrative straight gumshoe pulp. I don't remember who gave the rec, but thank you! I absolutely loved this book. One of my favorite reads. I think I'm going to read it again, as soon as I finish Devil in the White City.
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Jun 14, 2014 05:52
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MentholsNBeer posted:I couldn't get through that book. Just walking in that character's shoes was so uncomfortable. Lolita is amazing and that's totally part if the appeal.
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Jun 14, 2014 05:58
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Ayem posted:Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks. Part of the draw of his writing style, in my opinion, is that he doesn't introduce everything easily. The books are much more enjoyable the second time through, but I prefer this style even on a first read rather than a giant 50 page infodump randomly in the book or an explanation of every little thing.
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Jun 14, 2014 08:47
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Xandu posted:I haven't gotten around to reading his other books yet, but everyone says they're much different/better. Might be worth giving another one of his a try. GreyPowerVan posted:Part of the draw of his writing style, in my opinion, is that he doesn't introduce everything easily. The books are much more enjoyable the second time through, but I prefer this style even on a first read rather than a giant 50 page infodump randomly in the book or an explanation of every little thing. Thanks for the tips. I might give the second one in the series a try.
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Jun 14, 2014 16:42
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Ayem posted:Thanks for the tips. I might give the second one in the series a try. For what it's worth, I really didn't care for Consider Phlebas at all. But, there was something in it that made me want to read another book in the series and since then I consider Mr. Banks one of my favorite authors and the Culture in general one of my all time favorite creations in fiction.
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Jun 14, 2014 18:22
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tuyop posted:Lolita is amazing and that's totally part if the appeal. You may want to rephrase that. It sounds like you're talking about the character.
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Jun 14, 2014 19:00
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Jedit posted:You may want to rephrase that. It sounds like you're talking about the character. How? I thought the fact that the book is so uncomfortable to read because it's told from the perspective of a pedophile is one of the coolest things about Lolita. He's talking about that exact thing.
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Jun 14, 2014 19:13
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tuyop posted:Lolita is amazing and that's totally part if the appeal. Yea I'm just saying if someone older spent a lot of time having sex with you when you were younger it makes it kind of hard to read. But i do like that police song where he Mentions nabakov.
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Jun 14, 2014 22:24
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Finally gave A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man a proper readthrough, as in I didn't just skim the good part out of teenaged frustration, and it was incredible. At least, it's really good from the third chapter onward, in my opinion; the first parts, being so close to the perspective of a child, don't compare in terms of linguistic beauty, and there's still something that feels really self-satisfied (though not necessarily pretentious or self-aggrandizing, because Joyce really is that important, at least at this point) about the whole book, but I realize now that there's much more to it than that.
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Jun 16, 2014 02:14
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