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Two for the Show, by Jonathan Stone This book was a trip. I haven't read such a good mind-gently caress book since The Magus. Okay, there were maybe a couple of plot holes, but overall, great reading. Main character: an internet detective who works for a Las Vegas mentalist. Situations ensue. I also liked a previous one of his I read, Moving Day.
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Jun 5, 2016 07:57
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Just finished the Great Zoo of China by Reilly, it was like Jurassic Park with more explosions instead of diatribes on genetics. 10/10
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Jun 6, 2016 13:27
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Just finished The Three-Body Problem. Despite being "hard science fiction" it was a real page turner and I loved it. It's very much an ideas book though and I thought it lost steam as a story after the excellent first half. I'm satisfied with the conclusion and don't have any desire to continue with the sequels right now.
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Jun 7, 2016 15:10
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nachos posted:Just finished The Three-Body Problem. Despite being "hard science fiction" it was a real page turner and I loved it. It's very much an ideas book though and I thought it lost steam as a story after the excellent first half. I'm satisfied with the conclusion and don't have any desire to continue with the sequels right now. I feel you. I thought the best part of the book was the Ye Wenjie character stuff, and there's no way that's going to continue being as good as it is in the sequels.
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Jun 7, 2016 16:57
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Just finished The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by the late neurosurgeon Dr. Oliver Sacks. It's a collection of his interactions with some of his more remarkable patients. The good doctor narrates these in the most captivating manner, through anecdotes he explains his thought process when first confronted by each case and categorizes it within more general psychiatric/neurological faults (which are, conveniently, sections in the book: losses, excesses, transports, the simple). Very interesting for the curious mind. 9/10
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Jun 7, 2016 19:57
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Sacks popped up a few times on Radiolab and man, did he EVER sound like he would have been the most fascinating guy to end up sitting next to on a long train ride.
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Jun 7, 2016 22:16
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Infinite Jest, after the requisite 3 or 4 failed attempts. The lack of explicit closure kind of annoyed me but really the majority of the book was fascinating, compelling, and hilarious and/or tragic so I can't complain too much. The dialogue was kind of groan-inducing sometimes but the majority of it's mercifully paraphrased anyway.
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Jun 8, 2016 18:09
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soyopocono posted:Infinite Jest, after the requisite 3 or 4 failed attempts. The lack of explicit closure kind of annoyed me but really the majority of the book was fascinating, compelling, and hilarious and/or tragic so I can't complain too much. The dialogue was kind of groan-inducing sometimes but the majority of it's mercifully paraphrased anyway. Ive never enjoyed a book more and hated reading less.
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Jun 8, 2016 18:14
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HighwireAct posted:“The Last Bad Man,“ by Miranda July I read this at Christmas time and by the end I just didn't get what the point was.
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Jun 8, 2016 19:13
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Just finished The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North. It's about a girl who can't be remembered. It was real good.
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Jun 9, 2016 15:36
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Ben Nevis posted:Just finished The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North. It's about a girl who can't be remembered. It was real good. If the girl's name is Hope I am gonna throw a fit EDIT: ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH
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Jun 9, 2016 16:57
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Mel Mudkiper posted:If the girl's name is Hope I am gonna throw a fit Oh, it absolutely is.
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Jun 9, 2016 18:31
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The Crying Of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon (2/5) This book is like a Christmas Fruitcake; dense, busy, unwanted, and ultimately flavorless. It is so lost in its own satire and metaphor that it lacks humanity completely. This is the kind of book people who don't own TV's read smugly while chuckling as if they are in on some inside joke with Pynchon himself. There were a few powerful passages (namely the last few pages) but also many that made me want to roll my eyes and make a jerk-off motion. I am sure the book is just too complex for my plebeian brain to understand. Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien (5/5) I powered through all three pretty quick, which is a big deal for me because my attention tends to drift. I am also not a big fan of the movies, nor "fantasy" books in general. I, however, loved these books through and through... I could not put them down. It also made me dislike the movies even a little more because they seemed to lack the heart and soul that runs through every page of this epic. I don't often re-read books, but I plan to pick these up probably once a year from now on.
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Jun 9, 2016 19:26
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York_M_Chan posted:The Crying Of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon (2/5) I think you're the fruitcake in this instance
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Jun 10, 2016 02:16
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Where are all these people getting these bad fruitcakes?
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Jun 10, 2016 12:27
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Mr. Squishy posted:Where are all these people getting these bad fruitcakes? Mass produced fruitcakes are not the delicious treats their homecooked brethren are, Mr. Squishy.
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Jun 10, 2016 15:38
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CestMoi posted:Mass produced fruitcakes are not the delicious treats their homecooked brethren are, Mr. Squishy. Collin Street Bakery though.
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Jun 10, 2016 16:59
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Just finished A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson. It's a classic hardboiled tale as old as time. Boy meets Girl. Boy's wife leaves him. Boy decides to murder Girl's aunt and steal her money and leave town with Girl. Even such a simple plot is bound to have kinks, they weren't always what I expected though and there were some distinct surprises along the way. Short and quick and mean and sordid. Would recommend, if that's what you're in the mood for.
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Jun 10, 2016 22:22
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General Battuta posted:I'm gonna sound like an idiot but is this The First Bad Man or did she do a sequel? Whoops, yeah, you're right. Thanks for catching that typo!
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Jun 10, 2016 23:37
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Chinese Takeout by Arthur Nersesian This is pretty similar to his other book that I've read, The gently caress-Up. Aside from some stilted dialogue, my biggest complaint is that Nersesian really beats you over the head making sure you know when and where the story takes place (fall of 2000, NYC). It's like every time the main character leaves the house he has to list every street he walked down, and every time he talks to anyone they end up discussing the presidential election. Other than that, if you like stories about protagonists who are constantly getting themselves into hosed up situations that they brought upon themselves, this is good stuff.
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Jun 15, 2016 02:07
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Sex, Drugs, and Cartoon Violence: My Decade as a Video Game Journalist, by Russ Pitts. A tell-all autobiography from one of the integral members of The Escapist and Polygon. It's an interesting and candid insider look at the excesses, idiosyncracies and weird foibles of the games industry, and much of it is told in anecdotes about specific promotional events. It's pretty good, though I had some frustrations with it. Memoirs of a Spacewoman, by Naomi Mitchison. Early 60s sci-fi, this reads like a zoologist's field notes from different expeditions and studies of alien races. The protagonist is a gifted communcator (she can even talk to dogs, due to future understandings of animal psychology), and we get an intimate, if detached, look into the mindset and life impacts of both long-haul space travel and the relativistic passage of time. The book takes a while to get going - the "field notes" vibe means that the prose is often very dry, and it look longer than I anticipated to get through - even though it's quite episodic. But the later two arcs - the "grafts", and a wonderful alien caterpillar/butterfly species, were great. Lots of meaty allegory to read into them, I'm sure. Superpatriotism, by Michael Parenti. Written in 2004, this short and impassioned polemic rages against the rise in right-wing narratives of nationalism, strength and prosperity that had come to a head by the eve of Bush II's re-election. Parenti is in full choir-preaching mode, sure, but it's immensely satisfying to have a 160-page laundry list of "patriotic" crimes, failures, fallacies and hypocrisy. There are some frustrating parts - he fails to connect the dots between, say, the Christian narratives of American superiority and the burgeoning "prosperity gospel" of right-wing evagelism. But overall it's a short, fun and empowering book, written for an audience who at the time would have been in dire need of the catharsis. Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut. For a first novel, this is really well put together. Written back in 1952, it's a near-future dystopia about a fully-automated USA, where machines have replaced almost every human job and society is governed by scientists and engineers. Vonnegut paints a fun and troubling picture of this society, and the book has a lot of funny and poignant scenes. Some of the most interesting parts are the more nakedly political, such as a propaganda play and some ideological speeches peppered through the book. It's also pretty cool to read about the fears of industrialisation from a post-industrial perspective.
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Jun 15, 2016 12:15
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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier Nemo: Heart of Ice Nemo: The Roses of Berlin Alan Moore's stuff is always interesting, and I like the steampunk-literary-alternate history of the LXG world. I liked the Nemo stories better because they felt more old-fashioned, clever, and adventurous, in the spirit of the original LXG books. Black Dossier made me lose interest in it's last third where it goes kind of bonkers, but the world building and stylistic riffs were pretty great. The Drowned World - J.G. Ballard I liked the second half, where it became a post-apocalyptic riff on Heart of Darkness. The first half felt fairly boring in comparison. Potent imagery and weirdness all around, which was appreciated. My first Ballard! This Census-Taker - China Mieville Moody and atmospheric but meandering. Opened up a world of mysteries and never answered them. Still, it was interesting to read, and hopefully there's a follow up that gives some closure.
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Jun 16, 2016 01:58
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Low Town Trilogy - Daniel Polanksy Pretty great fantasy set in decaying slums (I had Dishonored vibe the entire time) with mystery/noir flair and conspiracy/plotting elements, and a protagonist who came across as a blend between Logan Ninefingers and Locke Lamora to me. Much like Abercrombie, despite it's dark tones it's also really loving funny at times. I plowed through all three of them over the course of a weekend and am pretty sad it's over. Really good reads for anyone who likes that sort of dark but semi-hopeful fantasy.
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Jun 16, 2016 02:15
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Essence of the Heart Sutra - The Dalai Lama This book is about the primary mantra of buddhism, the Heart Sutra. Surprisingly well written, broken into 3 parts and really only the middle part actually addresses the Heart Sutra, the First chapter is about religion and personal frame of mind in general, the second is the actual talk about the Heart sutra, and the final chapter is a lot of explanation about what you need to do to begin the path and subsequent promotions. Even if you are not interested in religion at all it's a good look at it from the inside.
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Jun 16, 2016 02:59
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Station Eleven I was a little unsure about this book until about half way through it. Once the connections between the characters and the time periods were clearer I became very engrossed. I think I would have liked it better with some more development of certain characters and periods. But overall I really recommend it. Post apocalyptic fiction which is more lit than sci-fi and not some hamfisted fable for the author's ideology is always welcome.
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Jun 17, 2016 03:26
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Pilgrim's Progress The classic 17th Christian allegory by John Bunyan. I found it too black-and-white, but Bunyan's confidence in his naive allegory is admirable. The various figures of sin are almost the real stars. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jun 18, 2016 |
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Jun 18, 2016 00:59
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Kafka On The Shore--Haruki Murakami I enjoyed the writing, but the protagonist just grated on my nerves. The magic realism also failed to sweep me away with its dream like imagery as well, making me instead roll my eyes. This was my second Murakami after Norwegian Wood--which I thought was okay, but not great. I'll try another one of his books sometime in the future. The distant future. The Two of Swords Part One--K.J. Parker This was my first K.J. Parker, and was much more along the lines of what I enjoy. It had the same tone as the soldier segments of Erikson's Malazan series, with a similar dark humour. And there was no talking cats, which was a plus.
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Jun 19, 2016 02:13
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Robot Wendigo posted:Kafka On The Shore--Haruki Murakami What would be a recommended first Murakami book? Been thinking about trying his stuff based on the descriptions people have given ITT.
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Jun 19, 2016 16:44
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Ayem posted:What would be a recommended first Murakami book? Been thinking about trying his stuff based on the descriptions people have given ITT. I really enjoyed Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World , but stalled out about 2/3 of the way through on The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle: It took me a little bit to get into this, but once I had I loved it. It kind of felt like what a lot of books about an outsider would be, if said outsider was actually sympathetic and likable. I do think I had an advantage in going for the audio version of this (which is read by the author), as it lent some feeling to parts that may have been a little dull in print. I would say I wanted more books like it, but I'm not entirely sure what I even mean by that. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes: Overall an enjoyable read. I liked the twist that time-travel gave to the usual crime novel story, and I thoroughly enjoyed Beukes' ability to write in a variety of different narrative voices. I really could have done without the cliched romantic subplot, though. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi: Surprisingly strong for a YA book I checked out because it was there. At first I figured it was going to be a mediocre knock-off of M.T. Anderson's cyberpunk dystopia Feed, but then it decided to be a cool adventure novel instead. It was refreshing to read a YA book that focused less on the dystopian elements and more on exploring a post-apocalyptic world, and the characters were reasonably complex and likable. Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier: I like dumb YA books, but yeesh. This reads like a Clueless/Romantic Comedy Anime crossover fanfic would, if that fanfic was set in England because Harry Potter is cool, was populated by way more cardboard-cutout characters than the story really called for, and had satanic rituals thrown in to make it edgy and rebellious. The best praise I can give it is that the narrator/protagonist's voice fits her character well. Unfortunately, she's a spoiled Mary-Sue who goes out of her way to be insufferably "witty", so even that isn't really a good thing. ArmadilloConspiracy fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Jun 20, 2016 |
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Jun 19, 2016 17:58
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I just finished The Last Unicorn, by Peter S Beagle. An old book that I am kinda ashamed to have not read already. While some of the asides and foreshadowing felt a little heavy handed, I liked the introduction where he talks about hating the book after finishing it. It has some really great lines in it, almost every page has at least one good one. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn't just written a paper on The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme and nonbinary distinctions (things aren't dead or alive but a mixture of both) and a follow up essay I found talking about the binary themes of immortality and death laced throughout the last unicorn. These spoilers are super light but since I'm the scrub reading this book in 2016 it'd be kinda stupid to not warn. If you've seen the movie then these are nothings. I only lay them out cause they kind of infected my desire to finally pick it up. Specifically, the fact everyone wants to claim immortality or gain it in someway, but these ways are corrupt and don't work. King Haggard doesn't even know if he enjoys the unicorns, but he thinks he feels joy. "When I first saw them I thought I was going to die" is a powerful statement from the ruler of a kingdom in perpetual decay. Mind, the people have killed themselves by not having children cause it could ruin them. They do it to themselves. Prince Lír says when he first sees lady Amalthea that he wanted to do battle with all the forces of evil and also sit very still and be unhappy. Most everyone in that world chooses the latter when faced with something they cannot have. As an aside, I originally thought Jeff bridges take on voicing the Prince sounded phoned in but after reading the book I think he does a pretty good job capturing the kids extreme naivety and relative self absorption in the face of a religious awakening when his entire life had been decay, darkness, and hate. I think Beagle does a decent job building characters that while aren't incredibly deep, carry some kind of flaw or insecurity that eats at them.
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Jun 22, 2016 22:33
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Just finished Nemesis Games by the screen name James S Corey. I can't recall the real author's names. It was a good book and a good series. It's pretty good space opera and sci-fi
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Jun 28, 2016 19:45
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This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture, by Whitney Phillips. An academic study of trolling and the trolls who troll, this makes a good companion piece to Gabriella Coleman's 'Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy', an ethnograhpic history of Anonymous. Like Coleman (whom she references often), Phillips embeds with and reaches out to a number of members of trolling groups, mainly from Facebook and 4chan. It's a little dry, and there are some things missing that I thought would be covered, but for the most part it's an informative and interesting look at an often exhaustingly bleak subject. The Vegetarian, by Han Kang. My first time actually reading the BotM here! A short and vividly upsetting novel about a woman whose sudden decision to give up eating meat precipitates a grim sequence of personal struggle, harm and atrophy. It's clearly an allegory about the role of women in Korea's patriarchal society and cycles of abuse and consumption. Told from the perspective of three relatives (her husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister), the detached nature of the prose helps cultivate an oppressive and isolating atmosphere. Without wanting to give too much away, there were several scenes that were beautiful, and several more that were shocking or difficult to get through. Definitely recommended, though for readers with a strong constitution. (I also realise that this is the only Korean novel I've read, so that's odd.) This Census Taker, by China Miéville. A novella about a young boy growing up on the outskirts of a small town in an indistinct time. It's a psychological mystery tale with family strife and hints at a grim and worrying outside world, but the hints were a little too vague for me. I never felt fully invested, even though Miéville's prose is gorgeous as always, and the trajectory of the story was satisfying enough. It felt like a pleasantly spooky side story to one of his more involved worlds, and while that isn't a bad thing by default, it left me wanting a little more.
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Jun 28, 2016 23:04
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Gertrude Perkins posted:The Vegetarian, by Han Kang. My first time actually reading the BotM here! A short and vividly upsetting novel about a woman whose sudden decision to give up eating meat precipitates a grim sequence of personal struggle, harm and atrophy. It's clearly an allegory about the role of women in Korea's patriarchal society and cycles of abuse and consumption. Told from the perspective of three relatives (her husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister), the detached nature of the prose helps cultivate an oppressive and isolating atmosphere. Without wanting to give too much away, there were several scenes that were beautiful, and several more that were shocking or difficult to get through. Definitely recommended, though for readers with a strong constitution. (I also realise that this is the only Korean novel I've read, so that's odd.) If you want a very good companion novel of contemporary Korean feminism try Please Look After Mom
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Jun 28, 2016 23:09
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Finished The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey. Very well-written, intriguing story, but I got to the last quarter and, at first, didn't feel that it ended well. Now, the more I think about it, the ending is quite clever. It veered off into a direction I wasn't expecting. This one has stuck with me for a couple of days. On a semi-related note, the movie trailer looks AWFUL.
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Jun 29, 2016 14:42
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So Big by Edna Ferber I loved this book. A really simple story about the growth of Chicago around 1900 centering around a woman who moves to a farming community to become a teacher. Ferber is able to seamlessly hop around in time with her prose without making it seem like flashbacks or flash-forwards and without giving away what is going to happen. Her word choices are so exact and precise, she never seems to let her words wander. I did not realize that Edna Ferber also wrote Giant and Cimarron. Giant is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I am pretty excited to read the book. Has anyone read either of these?
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Jun 29, 2016 16:19
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Worm, the web serial by wildbow, 4 days of non stop reading but totally worth it. Loved the story but drat is it long!
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Jun 29, 2016 16:27
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tonytheshoes posted:Finished The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey. Very well-written, intriguing story, but I got to the last quarter and, at first, didn't feel that it ended well. Now, the more I think about it, the ending is quite clever. It veered off into a direction I wasn't expecting. This one has stuck with me for a couple of days. I'm a big Mike Carey fan, but I felt the end of TGWATG was telegraphed hugely. How did you not catch on that Melanie was going to set everything loose but leave behind a bit of hope? She loves the Pandora story, thinks at one point that she should be called Pandora, and the title of the book equates her with Pandora.
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Jun 29, 2016 18:57
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Jedit posted:I'm a big Mike Carey fan, but I felt the end of TGWATG was telegraphed hugely. How did you not catch on that Melanie was going to set everything loose but leave behind a bit of hope? She loves the Pandora story, thinks at one point that she should be called Pandora, and the title of the book equates her with Pandora. I saw it coming, as well, but I didn't think it was as blindingly obvious as you. For content, I enjoyed Anthony O'Neill's The Dark Side, a classic noir in a very PKD-esque setting- a moon colony ruled/owned by a crazy criminal billionaire. I read an ARC a while back, but it just came out yesterday, so I recommend checking it out... now!
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Jun 29, 2016 23:58
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Mel Mudkiper posted:If you want a very good companion novel of contemporary Korean feminism try Please Look After Mom Cool, this looks interesting! Added to my to-read list.
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Jun 30, 2016 01:33
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Recently finished Game of Thrones. It's rare for me to have the patience for a novel that I've already experienced in another medium. Also uncommon for me to have any patience for fantasy and it's associated plethora of created place names and weird phonetics. It transcended all that. Highly recommended.
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Jun 30, 2016 09:31
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