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I just finished A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick. This is the first book by Dick that I've read, and I loved it. It's way better than the movie, which I saw after finishing the book. Next paycheck I'm going to go out and pick up some more stuff by Philip K. Dick.
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Feb 2, 2007 00:53
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Xankrys posted:Just finished The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway for class, and I loved it. Not on my favourites list, but definitly an amazing book. Got a little annoying with the description of the bullfighting, but other than that, I loved it. You go to Hopewell?
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Feb 2, 2007 01:51
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Crazylegs1138 posted:I just finished A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick. This is the first book by Dick that I've read, and I loved it. It's way better than the movie, which I saw after finishing the book. My next venture will be my first Dick (haha punny), which will be The Man in the High Castle
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Feb 2, 2007 03:03
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pill for your ills posted:Now, I've started Slaughterhouse Five. This is gonna be good. That was a quick read. Deadpan gold throughout. Really got me to thinking about my outlook right now. I'm of the opinion that the Tralfamadorians have a pretty solid philosophy. And now on to Cat's Cradle.
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Feb 2, 2007 06:03
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Lao Tsu posted:My next venture will be my first Dick (haha punny), which will be The Man in the High Castle Let me know how it is, old man  . I haven't really begun any completely new reading. I've just been reviewing a lot of ancient eastern and western philosophy, but I've got an enormous reading list ahead of me:Metamorphoses by Ovid The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Siddhartha by Herman Heese Gilgamesh Catch-22 by Joseph Heller At The Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft A collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson Walden by Henry David Thoreau I'd also like to read more Kerouac (Mexico City Blues, The Dharma Bums, etc.)
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Feb 2, 2007 06:22
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I just finished reading Don Quixote. The ending was really quite sad, but Cervantes still managed to keep a lighthearted nature to the whole affair. A really great book. I'm going to start on The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, now.
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Feb 2, 2007 08:45
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I just finished Charles Stross' The Atrocity Archives and its sequel The Jennifer Morgue. I liked TAA quite a bit. In the acknowledgements, Stross spells out what you are in for - HP Lovecraftian horror mixed with Neal Stephenson geekiness in a Len Deighton spy thriller. Overall the tone was light, and once the story started moving (it took a while), there was some good action and enjoyable sequences. My main problem with the books is Stross bogs you down with reams of incomprehensible technobabble. If you can get past that, there is an interesting story there. TJM was a bit more of the same, and the one thing that was glaring about it was the freaky demon sex, which there was none of in the first book - it was distracting and frankly, weird. TJM is also written more in a pure parody style, of James Bond novels in particular. The first book, while humorous, seemed to take its world more seriously. Chronic Reagan fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Feb 9, 2007 |
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Feb 2, 2007 14:45
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appropriatemetaphor posted:I just finished up Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. It was pretty pulpy historical fiction; it was a fun read but not amazing in any way. The battle and training scenes gave a good sense of hoplite tactics. My main complaint is that the main character didn't seem "real", he was just a vehicle to show what everyone else was doing without much of a mind of his own. So not very deep, but a quick fun read if you like Greek stuff. I just finished this one last week. I'm going to agree with everything you said about it. I wish it was a little deeper into the characters. I mean, if you're going to go and flesh out something like this, why not take it a step further? It felt a little incomplete. The battle scenes were tremendous, however. It's amazing what went down at between the Greeks and Persians during the battle of Thermopylae. It shows just how strong a person's will can be when confronted with losing his home. I had always meant to read up on Sparta and how it differed from all of the other Greek societies. This gave me some motivation to take it a step further. I've always enjoyed Greek mythology and the like and this book was right up my alley. It also helped get me even more excited about 300 coming to theaters if that was even possible.
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Feb 2, 2007 21:12
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I just finished A Universal History of Iniquity by Borges. Now on to The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russel
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Feb 3, 2007 21:10
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I just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and I must say, it was an amazing read. I'm gonna start either Catch 22 or Stranger in a Strange Land sometime later tonight.
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Feb 4, 2007 22:47
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The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. Learn how to survive any Zombie Situation. I've read it about 17 times.
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Feb 5, 2007 06:30
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I just finished reading Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet and it is a bursting, glorious wreck. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Ulysses, Burroughs or modernist fiction.
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Feb 5, 2007 10:26
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Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway. I enjoy Hemingway, so even this indulgent and posthumously edited novel was entertaining for me. A thinly veiled autobiographical protagonist is a painter who lives on a small island off Cuba who is visited by his sons by 2 former wives. You got marlin fishing, then you get intrigue as he hunts German u-boats when the war begins. Good action and as always, gripping dialogue. Hemingway is a master at drawing you in by using dialogue between two people who know each other, and therefore leave so much unsaid. This book is no exception, and we learn several big reveals this way. A good read, if not his best work.
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Feb 5, 2007 13:52
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I finally got around to reading The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, and I found it to be delightful. The characters and the setting were absolutely wonderful, and I loved the witty dialogue between Rincewind and Twoflower. I'm glad I went ahead and picked up The Light Fantastic since the ending left me craving more. I can't believe it took me this long to get around to reading any of the Discworld series, especially since I really enjoyed Good Omens.
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Feb 5, 2007 18:03
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I just finished Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard. I had never heard of the movie before reading the book, I just grabbed it randomly off the library shelf. It turned out to be an enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading more of Leonard's books.
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Feb 6, 2007 06:50
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Naked Lunch. Still mentally sorting through it. Found it amusing, confusing, nauseating at moments (I've a pussy of a stomach), and highly intriguing. Not quite sure what to make of it yet, although I can definitely see how it would be considered offensive by certain uptights (or was it 'the Shits', as Borroughs referred to them). Couldn't help but picture a later Brando as Benway, just seems fitting.
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Feb 6, 2007 07:33
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I just finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Such an interesting read. I can't believe I didn't read it earlier.
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Feb 6, 2007 09:00
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I just read Search the Sky by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth. I picked it up because I'm a massive fan of Golden Age sci-fi by Asimov, Wyndham, etc, and although this had some nice ideas it was disappointing. I was also kind of offended by the fact that in part of the book a whole world has gone to poo poo because the women have taken power, due to something about the gene for natural male dominance being lost because of a small population.quote:How could any female - no single member of which class had ever painted a great picture, written a great book, composed a great sonata, or discovered a great scientific truth - appreciate the ultimate importance of the F-T-L drive? It was like entrusting a first folio Shakespeare to a broody hen; the shredded scraps would be made into a nest. For the egg came first. Motherhood was all. (this is a quote by a character, but it's pretty obvious the authors share that view)
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Feb 6, 2007 20:23
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Finished A Clash of Kings. Starting A Storm of Swords. I really need to catch up on these books so I can participate in those huge threads. (Haven't read book 4 yet, so I'm rereading the other 3 to catch myself up)
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Feb 7, 2007 00:10
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Twelfth Nightstalker posted:Finished A Clash of Kings. Starting A Storm of Swords. I really need to catch up on these books so I can participate in those huge threads. (Haven't read book 4 yet, so I'm rereading the other 3 to catch myself up) I am like a quarter of a book ahead of you. PM me if you want to talk about the book but don't want to wade through the "we're too good for spoiler tags, deal with it  " thread
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Feb 7, 2007 00:26
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I just finished Heinlein's Starship Troopers about a week and a half ago. It was really engrossing, and it made up for me losing interest about half-way through Stranger in a Strange Land. Just last night I finished Evening in the Palace of Reason by James R Gaines, which is a pretty interesting book about when J.S. Bach and Frederick II of Prussia met and Fritz played the Royal Theme that became Bach's Musikalische Opfer. I don't know if it'd have much appeal to anyone besides A. History Nerds, or B. Music Nerds, but I enjoyed it.
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Feb 7, 2007 01:54
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Away Message posted:
I certainly agree with you there. Although I read Shogun over a longer period of time and thought it was quite epic, I found Tai-Pan to be much more exciting. Clavell did a really good job of making Dirk Struan into the legendary character that the later books refer to and I loved the fact that a lot of it is based on actual history. There don't seem to be many goon fans of the James Clavell books but I for one love them and their ability to make me further research the history and culture of their settings.
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Feb 7, 2007 10:35
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Finished The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne for class. I probably enjoyed it the most out of anybody in my class, but that's not saying very much. It was an okay 200 page character study...
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Feb 7, 2007 17:41
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Just finished the first book of the Dresden Files. It was a fun piece of pulp, sorta like Harry Potter as an all grown up Private Eye. It's worth a perusal if you don't have anything better to read. The TV show is wildly different from the book though.
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Feb 7, 2007 18:20
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Laughter in the Dark, Nabokov Great book. The main female character irked me, but I'm a sucker for Nabokov's description.
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Feb 8, 2007 07:04
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In the past week I finished Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chesnutt. I really liked both.
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Feb 8, 2007 09:31
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The Mercenary, by Jerry Pournelle. Kinda forgettable, and laughably sci-fi. I mean, 50 or so years from now there are colonies all over the galaxy? Man, not even Star Trek was quite that optimistic. Kinda like Foundation, I suppose the plot would look really drat silly if you didn't set it in space, only less so with this book.
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Feb 8, 2007 11:25
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Re-read H.B. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin for a class and was again reminded how much I absolutely despise that book (and, generally, any academic discussion surrounding it). Also Madame de Lafayette's Princesse de Cleves which was a little dull... and John Lyly's Euphues, which was also a trial to get through. I need to start reading books that I enjoy again. 
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Feb 8, 2007 15:47
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Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. I've been tempted to read one of his books for years, and I picked this up on a whim over the weekend. It was a fast read but still well written and didn't feel dumbed down. On the back cover, he's compared to Douglas Adams, which I think is fair, and I'd also compare his style a bit to Tom Robbins and Mark Leyner* (although he's not nearly as obtuse as Robbins or as lexiconically vast as Leyner). It is a genuinely funny book, but it also follows the vampire mythos quite well. If I could criticize much about it, the end felt rushed. It was paced much quicker than the rest of the book, so it took me all by surprise. There was also a pretty big question to my mind (maybe I missed something): If Jody knew to turn into mist to escape being bronzed, why didn't Elijah just do the same thing? I see that there's a new book that must be the sequel to this, and I think I'll pick it up. I'm sure other people here have read Moore, and I'm curious -- judging by the synopses at the end of BSF, it looks like he has a pretty standard formula: whacky mythical creature or supernatural powers are considered from the humble standpoint of a regular joe. Am I correct in this assumption? He's got BSF where a person discovers they are a vampire. He's got a book where a person discovers he's the grim reaper. He's got a book where a guy is best friends with Christ. He's got a book where a guy befriends a demon. Hmmm. * - When is Leyner going to deliver a new novel? His science question and answer books are alright, but I want another "I Smell Esther Williams". InfiniteZero fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Feb 8, 2007 |
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Feb 8, 2007 21:24
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InfiniteZero posted:I see that there's a new book that must be the sequel to this, and I think I'll pick it up. I'm sure other people here have read Moore, and I'm curious -- judging by the synopses at the end of BSF, it looks like he has a pretty standard formula: whacky mythical creature or supernatural powers are considered from the humble standpoint of a regular joe. Am I correct in this assumption? He's got BSF where a person discovers they are a vampire. He's got a book where a person discovers he's the grim reaper. He's got a book where a guy is best friends with Christ. He's got a book where a guy befriends a demon. Hmmm. It's not so much that Moore's subject matter is narrow - though it is - what irritates me is that his range of characters is narrow, too. When I reviewed Moore's Fluke, I put my beef like this: PresterJohn posted:I think of the Moore Character Creation System like a series of binary toggles covering a narrow range of traits. Smart and sympathetic versus dumb and lovable. Sensitive and lonely versus shallow and promiscuous. Charmingly inept versus fearfully efficient. Late forties versus mid-twenties. Moderately debauched versus unspoiled (but eager to learn). The sequence ends with more universal characteristics that tie into the plot – good guy versus bad guy and ignorant doof versus knowing conspirator. These two are linked. The good guys always start the book ignorant and discover the secret surprise twists over the course of the story. The bad guys are almost always the ones who know the tricks ahead of time. It's not necessarily bad that Moore works to a formula. The results are usually quite enjoyable. While I feel Fluke is the weakest of his books, (that I've read) I remain a fan and I have the fresh-from-the-bookshop copy of You Suck (his latest) here to prove it. And regarding your spoilertag question, I seem to remember they poked holes in Jody's coat of bronze. The badguy was completely encased, so even if he turned to mist he couldn't escape. That's IIRC, though.
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Feb 8, 2007 22:00
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The Reich's Last Gamble, George Forty A good overview of the Battle of the Bulge. At under 300 pages, it doesn't get very in depth, instead painting a broad overview of the battle, with a look at division and kampfgruppe level-actions. It has a lot of good maps, tables and diagrams to illustrate the accounts. If you're not very familiar with the history of Watch on the Rhein, it will be very informative. It has some insightful conclusions, but it's not revoluntionary. Sea of Thunder An interesting examination of four commanders: 2 Japanese Admirals, Bull Halsey and an American Destroyer commander who all fought in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It looks at a variety of cultural and social factors that try to explain how and why things played out, but it doesn't present much research or facts to back it up. It's a good read, and gives a pretty good account of the battle. All the Way to Berlin A very spotty account from the 82nd Airborne from Italy, through D-Day, Market Garden and into Berlin. The author tries to portary how he saw the battle "from the sights of his gun." As a platoon commander, he can only give you a really narrow picture of the battle. He tends to focus on one single action. Pretty much the entire account of Italy is limited to the engagment on hill 950. D-Day hardly gets more than a paragraph! Ok overall, because it includes a lot of discussion of life on the main line of resistance. His descriptions of combat patrols in Holland is a pretty good read.
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Feb 8, 2007 22:09
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If you want a Christopher Moore that's a little different, try Isle of the Sequined Love Nun. It involves cargo cults and seaplane shenanigans, and was a lot of fun. I like Coyote Blue a lot, I have a signed first from when I met him, but it's the same formula- but one of his best, not as airy as BSF. Is You Suck a sequel? I assumed it was BSF retitled, since BSF is a dumb title.
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Feb 9, 2007 01:32
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Snake Agent, Liz Williams. Chinese cop in near future with high tech and also Chinese gods and demons and Hell and the tao. Basic plot: the infernal Ministry of Epidemics is making a power move and the protagonist and a demon cop/functionary assigned to the Ministry of Wealth have to find and stop them. There's also a demon refugee married to the human cop and ghost prostitutes and various crap like that. The idea's good but the execution was sort of lame. There's a sequel out but I'm not going to bother.
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Feb 9, 2007 01:55
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"Mistral's Kiss", by Laurell K. Hamilton. I started the series and I'm determined to finish it. This last book.. something has to be done about Hamilton's writing. I've noticed a trend in the Gentry and Blake series that her protaganists (think, strong heroine type), are just becoming ruled more and more by their libidos. It's disappointing. Both series have started this downward spiral exchanging developing characters and plotlines for whole pages devoted to multiple sex orgies. If one must read this to stay involved in the series, I implore you to visit your local library.
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Feb 9, 2007 08:41
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Mack the Knife posted:Is You Suck a sequel? I assumed it was BSF retitled, since BSF is a dumb title. You Suck is a sequel. It picks up at pretty much the instant BSF ends. It is outstanding so far. The early highlight is Tommy panicking when he becomes physically perfect when he turns into a vampire. Naturally, for a guy who was circumcised as an infant, the foreskin comes as a surprise. PresterJohn posted:And regarding your spoilertag question, I seem to remember they poked holes in Jody's coat of bronze. The badguy was completely encased, so even if he turned to mist he couldn't escape. That's IIRC, though. Quoting myself. Whoo. Anyway, my spoilertag recollection is A) correct and B) very much a part of the sequel.
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Feb 9, 2007 16:07
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F. Paul Wilson's The Keep - A somewhat pulpy horror novel set in the middle of WWII in Romania. That probably gives you enough to go on to figure out what the book is about - Nazis and Vampires. Pleasantly enough, there's a bit of a twist and the book keeps you guessing somewhat until the end. Overall, a fun bit of fluff.
Chronic Reagan fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Feb 9, 2007 |
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Feb 9, 2007 18:14
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I've just finished Last Post, it's a collection of stories from guys who served in the First World War. All of the guys in it were more than 100 when the book was written and they've almost all died now .
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Feb 9, 2007 22:49
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I just finished The Song of The Dodo: Island Biogeography in An Age of Extinctions by David Quammen. Apparently this book was written over eight years of research and field work, and it is indeed a journey. In it he recounts how islands have shaped the ideas of biologists from inception, influencing thinkers from Darwin and Wallace to present day illuminaries like E.O. Wilson and Robert McArthur, tales he recounts in telling the developement of a prevailing paradigm in evolutionary biology. In narrative style, Quammen presents a vivid picture of how insularity shapes species in interesting and predictable ways and also pushes them closer to extinction. Throughout, Quammen also adds tales of his own trips to islands to interview field biologists, experts doing research and other various trips just to see wildlife created in the island setting, such as the komodo dragon and the bird of paradise. I'd been reading through this one slowly, intermentently pausing to read other books, so while reading many similar themes were popping up in my other schoolwork, both in the history of science and in evolutionary biology. It was a nice bonus as I finished the book Wednesday night, and then found that the same topics were all we were talking about in class Thursday morning, which will make the exam Tuesday easier to study for I hope. 650 pages, fantastic writing I thought, also very sad and sobering. It puts human ecological impact in perspective, and highlights how certain trends in extinction are on the rise and woefully predictable.
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Feb 9, 2007 23:18
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I finished The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. I have to say it's my favorite book of his. Very sweet in some places...probably the most upbeat book he wrote.
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Feb 10, 2007 06:29
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Veniss Underground, Jeff Vandermeer. Mm, tasty dystopian fantasy. Good writing, not as overwrought as China Mieville, but certainly no less imaginative. I'm plowing through Secret Life right now. If anyone else has further recommendations similar to Vandermeer's and Mieville's style, they are certainly welcome my way.
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Feb 10, 2007 08:10
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