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I just finished World War Z by Max Brooks. Quite enjoyable. I also have the Survival Guide which I found to be quite humorous, as opposed to the book, which was at times frightening and quite tragic. Still a great read. I just picked up A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both by Ben Greenman, and the first two stories were excellent. Think 9 Stories stylistically, with modern settings, and about love. I also got Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.
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Aug 30, 2007 07:35
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Uninteresting posted:I also got Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Oh, you are in for a treat  I was just skimming through mine for quotes last night, ended up rereading it for a few hours. I think it's probably the best book I've ever read. Don't try and get through it in a week, mind. It deserves at least a couple of weeks if not a month or two.
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Aug 30, 2007 09:12
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I just finished Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor and I have to say, it's a pile of poo poo. The first book in the series, The Looking Glass Wars had problems with pacing and important details during the majority of the story being glossed over while the ending was described in unnecessary detail, however the theme of the book was interesting enough that I bought the sequel in hopes that the interesting ideas behind the text would be brought out more. I was dead wrong. Seeing Redd reads like a book I accidentally took off the shelf in a Young Adult's section. The sentences are simple, and the idea that the characters are from another world connected to ours sometimes goes out the window when the author wants to take the easy way out and use metaphors that only make sense if the character was actually from our world. But, simplistic writing can be forgiven if the plot is good and unfortunately, Mr. Beddor fails once again. His crime this time isn't skipping over important or interesting events, but instead foreshadows the important events blatantly, continues to have most characters act in a very two-dimensional manner, and tells us how we're supposed to feel about said characters, rather than letting the reader make a decision based on the characters' actions. Finally, once again the ending again relies on a Deus Ex Machina that isn't really explained to the reader at all, perhaps as a bid for the reader to buy the next book. At least the first book I can recommend based on it being an interesting take on the Alice in Wonderland mythology, but Seeing Redd provides nothing new in those terms. Not Recommended
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Aug 30, 2007 10:34
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Finally finished Ernest Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls. It was terrific. Easily the best "war story" I've ever read. It still can't take the place of The Sun Also Rises, but it was really good.
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Aug 30, 2007 15:28
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Finished Eco's Baudolino last night. Very enjoyable book that centers around the theme of "If enough people believe in something, it becomes true", leading to everything from the Holy Grail to Prester John becoming real in the minds of the people of 12th century Europe, thanks to Baudolino's fabrications. Going to start Marquez's Collected Stories today.
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Aug 30, 2007 18:41
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I just finished The Long Walk. It was pretty entertaining and I liked the premise of it. It reminded me of Battle Royale with less guns, less explosions, less shooting, less awesome Japanese names, and less Kevlar, but a lot more walking. The book was pretty good but I thought it could have been a 50 pages shorter. It also had some pacing issues and it left me feeling like the ending was really rushed as if King got tired of writing about walking and blisters on the character's feet so he just wrapped it up suddenly. Overall it was a pretty good read.
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Aug 30, 2007 19:23
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Tai-Pan by James Clavel. I picked it up at my guesthouse because it was one of 2-3 decent books out of a few hundred. I read Shogun earlier this year and liked it, so figured it'd be worth a shot. Once again, he did a really good job of showing the differences between the way the two cultures think and act. As with Shogun, a very detailed plot with lots of things going on. What's really cool is when you read Noble House or Gai-jin and you see people talk about the legend of Dirk Struan and the different ideas people had, especially regarding the relationsship between Tess, Culum, and Dirk. And how the legend changes over time.
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Aug 30, 2007 19:50
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V-Men posted:What's really cool is when you read Noble House or Gai-jin and you see people talk about the legend of Dirk Struan and the different ideas people had, especially regarding the relationsship between Tess, Culum, and Dirk. And how the legend changes over time. Yes! I loved the introduction of characters who supposedly had an ancestor who was an 'English navigator that became one of the Shogun's most trusted friends'.
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Aug 30, 2007 21:44
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Just finished The Shadow of the Wind, by Carl Ruiz Zafon. Beautiful writing style, but I found the book a bit drab and uninspired. Certainly has very classical ideas, but falls down due to a poor and predictable plot. Still, it is on best seller lists or something, so make of that what you will. Personally, I only finished it because I've only just arrived in London and I had nothing else to read.
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Sep 1, 2007 02:07
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Just finished World War Z, it was awesome. I love zombie stuff, but it's always a bunch of lone survivors in a survival-horror scenario, whereas I think the more interesting thing would be the initial outbreak and then worldwide pandemic of the zombie virus. World War Z was just what I expected it to be, a gripping war narrative that talked about the universal experience of the zombie apocalypse, not one frame of reference. Totally sweet. Now starting to read There Are No Children Here, I hope to have it finished before I go back to school (which happens to be right by where the book takes place, the (now-demolished) Robert Taylor homes on the south side of Chicago)
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Sep 1, 2007 06:51
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I just finished Tortilla Flat and The Pearl by Steinbeck. While, I loved Tortilla Flat, I didn't care for The Pearl. I appreciate the literary value that it bears, but the story was just not that appealing to me. Now, I'm half way through Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning and so far I love it!
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Sep 1, 2007 07:33
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Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the book on which the TV series was based. Hugely different than the show, in a lot of ways. The events are very different, and Dexter is characterized differently, as are most of the other characters. Still, pretty good. Up next: Allende's The Infinite Plan.
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Sep 1, 2007 17:37
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russia is HERE posted:Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the book on which the TV series was based. Hugely different than the show, in a lot of ways. The events are very different, and Dexter is characterized differently, as are most of the other characters. Still, pretty good. Up next: Allende's The Infinite Plan. I read that book over the summer and absolutely hated it. He's such a stupid character and has no value whatsoever. Not a fan. I just finished The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. I had read the book my Sophomore year of high school and pretty much hated it, since reading books for school pretty much destroys the value. But having just read it again for fun, I can say that I certainly loved this book. Every character is amazingly thought out and so well written for. The book is humorous, eloquent, and superbly well written. Having read the notes on it at the end, I want to find an older copy that is more similar to the original work. I also just finished The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. This, too, was an amazing book. He did a great job of writing out his points and backing them up. There were abundant examples and statistics where there needed to be statistics. I loved the book and have been recommending it to everybody around me. Now I just need to read Blink.
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Sep 2, 2007 10:48
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Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch last night and loved every page of it. It's the first of a series of seven novels. It deals with the title character Locke Lamora and his group of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards, one of many groups of thieves which operate in the city of Camorr. It wasn't a deep book by any means, but it was total fun throughout. Best book I've read this summer, recommending this to anyone who enjoys fantasy books. Now I must get my hands on the sequel Red Seas Under Red Skies as soon as possible.
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Sep 2, 2007 17:33
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uggy posted:I read that book over the summer and absolutely hated it. He's such a stupid character and has no value whatsoever. Not a fan. I liked it. It wasn't quite American Psycho, but I thought it was an interesting examination of a sociopath.
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Sep 2, 2007 18:11
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russia is HERE posted:I liked it. It wasn't quite American Psycho, but I thought it was an interesting examination of a sociopath. But he was such a terrible person and not one bit realistic.
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Sep 2, 2007 19:49
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Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh What with all the phonetically spelled scottish and constantly shifting first person narratives, this was quite a challenging read. Nowhere near as heroin saturated as I was led to believe by the movie and a junkie friend of mine. You gotta love scottish accents and just plain general mayhem though.
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Sep 2, 2007 19:52
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uggy posted:But he was such a terrible person and not one bit realistic. Who, Dexter? He's a sociopath, and a relatively realistic portrayal of one. He's got a complete and total disconnect from regular human emotions. You've never heard of sociopaths? I'm confused.
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Sep 2, 2007 20:24
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russia is HERE posted:Who, Dexter? He's a sociopath, and a relatively realistic portrayal of one. He's got a complete and total disconnect from regular human emotions. You've never heard of sociopaths? I'm confused. He's a sociopath who is also the best serial killer ever, as well as being funny, sarcastic, a trickster, and perfect in every sense of the word. I didn't like reading about his character as it was a foregone conclusion that he did everything superbly well and had no issues doing anything. He was the man.
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Sep 3, 2007 00:14
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I just finished Only Revolutions by Mark Danielewski, the author of House of Leaves. At first it seemed unnecessarily obtuse and a deliberate attempt to up the ante for people who read HoL, and the historical tidbits in the borders just felt tedious, but once i got a little over halfway through the book, i started picking up on the rythms of the text (it does have kind of a hip-hop feel at times). The ending in particular pretty much blew my mind. I think i still preferred House of Leaves, but i can't deny that this one had a lot more emotional resonance. I've now started Dune. (i haven't read it since i was 12, its pretty fun so far)
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Sep 3, 2007 01:34
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uggy posted:He's a sociopath who is also the best serial killer ever, as well as being funny, sarcastic, a trickster, and perfect in every sense of the word. I didn't like reading about his character as it was a foregone conclusion that he did everything superbly well and had no issues doing anything. He was the man. He's not the best serial killer ever, he's good at sneaking up on people and not getting caught. He's also not perfect, as shown when he kills the child rapist. He's lucky sometimes. I think what might be confusing you is that he tends to remain relatively calm in situations that would bother most people.
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Sep 3, 2007 02:25
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russia is HERE posted:He's not the best serial killer ever, he's good at sneaking up on people and not getting caught. He's also not perfect, as shown when he kills the child rapist. He's lucky sometimes. I think what might be confusing you is that he tends to remain relatively calm in situations that would bother most people. Just me I guess.
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Sep 3, 2007 02:47
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I just finished Parrot Culture, by Bruce Boehrer. He's an acquaintance of mine, and his Fury of Mens' Gullets is a fantastic piece of Jonson criticism. Obviously a history of the parrot is a long way from 17th century British drama, but the book is oddly fascinating -- mostly, I think, because of the combination of narrow topic and historical breadth. (Also, the first reviewer of Amazon is on crack. Jean de Bethencourt was French.)
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Sep 3, 2007 03:51
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Storm of Steel, by Ernst Junger It's decent for what it is, but in terms of scope and meaning I don't think it matches it's second world war cousin The Forgotten Soldier. There's nothing wrong with that, though, and there are plenty of very authentic feeling and interesting anecdotes about the life of a German grunt (and later celebrated officer) in the trenches. Now reading the Book Barn favorite Shogun.
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Sep 3, 2007 04:42
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First Nights: Five Musical Premieres by Thomas Kelly, which delves into the angst behind premieres from Monteverdi, Handel, Beethoven, Berlioz and Stravinsky. No surprise that the Rite of Spring wipes the floor with everything else in terms of raw dramatic dysfunction, but Berlioz of all people puts in the best individual effort with an attempt to escape Rome in drag and armed to the teeth to kill his former fiancee and her new husband, years of lying to his father about his imminent success, and an epic love which immediately implodes into bitterness and acrimony upon marriage. I should probably say it's actually more music history than a catalogue of scandals, and does a great job of assembling it all from disparate scraps. Most interesting are the intensely high-strung Berlioz and Stravinksy and the speculative history of Monteverdi's chamber piece. Handel's a bit of a bore though. Strange obsession with seating plans too.
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Sep 3, 2007 08:03
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Collected Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Didn't enjoy it quite as much as his novel-length fiction that I've read so far, but it's a good collection and Marquez is becoming one of my favorites. Reading another Umberto Eco book at the moment - The Island of the Day Before. I really enjoyed Baudolino recently and this feels very akin to it in terms of the historical setting/flashbacks to the protagonist's past interspersed with the present.
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Sep 4, 2007 05:51
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The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley I bought it solely because of the incredible blurb on its cover: "John Varley is the best writer in America" - Tom Clancy. I laughed out loud and because it was so cheap I bought it. There were parts that were entertaining but weighed as a whole - it sucked. The best writer in America, Mr. Varley is not.
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Sep 4, 2007 15:34
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I read a few books on my trip to Ireland. It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis is a terrific what-if about fascism coming to America in the 30's, in the guise of a folksy "common sense" politician. I was lead to believe it was a theocracy, and it's nothing of the sort. He uses religion has a weapon, just like other fascists did. Anyway, it was a delightful read- surprisingly funny in places, and unflinching in portraying the brutality. It cracks me up when people say "we didn't know what was going on" in Germany and Italy when this book speculated so well in '35. It's an excellent read, and doesn't cop out- the resolution is utterly believable. I'm going to read The Plot Against America soon, and I know it's supposed to be inferior. The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle is also excellent. It's a short, quick character study, but he manages to make it very gripping. It's Joycean in some ways, recursive and almost entirely an internal monologue, creating a heroine out of an unfortunately everyday character. It's gut-wrenching in places, and brings a deep sympathy to its protagonist. I was a bit worried when J.K. Rowling had the big blurb on it, but don't let that scare you away. While it's obvious with a little thought regarding the title, it's about an abused wife who stays with her husband for many years, and why. Brendan Behan's Island: An Irish Sketchbook by Brendan Behan, with illustrations by Paul Hogarth is a fascinating little picture of the country circa 1960 by one of its more famous writer-poets, with lively sketches. Behan repeats some stories from elsewhere, and it's toned down from his ribald work in Borstal Boy and Confessions of an Irish Rebel. It's a nice read for a tourist, and I'm glad I found an old copy. He meanders around the four corners of the country describing the soul of the locals. I'm reading Confessions of an Irish Rebel now. I wanted to bring Finnegan's Wake and Campbell's annotations, but I couldn't read that on a plane.
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Sep 4, 2007 22:30
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Mack the Knife posted:It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis The only thing in that book that was unbelievable was the "reconfiguring" of all the states into districts or some such nonsense. Everything else was stuff I can imagine CNN reporting about.
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Sep 4, 2007 23:05
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russia is HERE posted:Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the book on which the TV series was based. Hugely different than the show, in a lot of ways. The events are very different, and Dexter is characterized differently, as are most of the other characters. Still, pretty good. Up next: Allende's The Infinite Plan. I just finished the second one in this series, Dearly Devoted Dexter. I liked it more than the first one. The bad guy's horrifying mo and Dexter's attitude were really enjoyable and I'm going to read the next one as soon as it's available.
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Sep 4, 2007 23:10
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Mack the Knife posted:It Can't Happen Here An awesome book, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I would like to warn you away from Plot Against America though. I thought it was a heaping mass of dog poo poo and continually stole from Lewis. I think I ranted about it in this thread.
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Sep 5, 2007 02:16
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DeathOfRats posted:I just finished the second one in this series, Dearly Devoted Dexter. I liked it more than the first one. The bad guy's horrifying mo and Dexter's attitude were really enjoyable and I'm going to read the next one as soon as it's available. I felt the second book was a vast improvement over the first. The main baddy was just fantastic and his handiwork got better and better throughout. To contribute- The Wheel of Darkness by Preston and Child. Yet another Penderghast novel, a series that has gotten better as it has gone on finally sort of hit a wall. This book was more Agatha Christie than the norm and really had me enthralled but I didn't quite care for the ending. It felt sort of flat after a strong two/thirds or so. The very end was the sort of cliche crud I had hoped they would avoid altogether but no book can be perfect (excluding The Scar, The Illuminatis! trilogy, War and Peace, and Snow Crash).
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Sep 5, 2007 03:42
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Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz Incredible. Koontz at his best. 
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Sep 5, 2007 07:23
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Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut This was my first Vonnegut book. I always saw this (along with Slaughterhouse V and Breakfast of Champions) as his most famous work so decided to give it a try based on the BB Hall of Fame. It did not disappoint. The frequent chapter cuts made it really easy to digest and the writing was easy to follow. I thought Bokonon was hilarious and enjoyed his cynical sense of humor thoroughly. I will definitely read some more of his works very soon. Next is Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
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Sep 6, 2007 03:26
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Just finished Metal Swarm by Kevin J Anderson - This book is number 6 and the story still hasn't finished i hope it doesn't keep on dragging out, its just getting stupid now, i noticed chapters that served no point at all and just seemed like filler so he could meet some word requirement.
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Sep 6, 2007 04:26
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imnotinsane posted:Just finished Metal Swarm by Kevin J Anderson - This book is number 6 and the story still hasn't finished I finished Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant, more City Watch fun. The Watch stories seemed to be the most tightly plotted of the Discworld books and read more like a novel rather than a series of jokes. I'm also about 2/3 of the way through Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, which is an interesting take on Yet Another Mammoth Fantasy Trilogy, of which this is the first book. The premise spins the traditional story arc of the epic fantasy, (i.e. boy is the Chosen One, goes off to save the world, defeats Dark Lord, everyone lives happily after) by posing the question what if the Chosen One fucks up and becomes corrupted by the Dark Lord? The story is based 1000 years after those events and the world is dreary, ash falling from the sky, plant life barely surviving and the horribly named 'skaa' are enslaved. The Lord Ruler rules the world with an iron fist, whose minions include Inquisitors who are blinded by spikes in their eyes but can still see somehow. There's a nobility who live a separate life, having ballroom dances and think nothing of treating the skaa as chattel. The main character is Vin, a half-breed street urchin and thief who has been using a variety of magic to help the gang she's a part of, and gets pulled into larger events as her powers are discovered. She gets tasked with infiltrating the nobility, which is the part I have the most problem with in the book. I just can't buy this aspect of the story - they pull a My Fair Lady in a few months and get the urchin who's spent her life on the streets and turn her into someone who can pass as a noblewoman. Overall, I think the book is good, if not great. There's an interesting magic system, and the premise of the book makes me want to know what happened to make the world the way it is. There's some good action sequences, and a couple of parts that gave me a chuckle. On the flip side there's the shades of Pygmalion which fell flat, the characters aren't all that deep, and sometimes it all feels a little too pat. Even with the caveats, I'll probably wind up getting the rest of the series once it makes it way to paperback.
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Sep 6, 2007 18:32
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Joshtafari posted:I'm also about 2/3 of the way through Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Just read it a couple months back and have to agree with your assessment. Sanderson's a pretty decent author who tries to put a spin on the usual "save the world from the dark lord" cliche (as evinced by this and his debut Elantris but he's not the best writer out there. I found it readable and the magic system is certainly interesting, though I'll likely wait until the trilogy is finished before I pick up the rest of the books.
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Sep 6, 2007 18:39
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Just finished Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. It was a pretty good read. I’ve started waiting tables as a second job (because being a magazine writer/editor pays jack poo poo) and instantly was fascinated by the food business. In my quest to learn more, I picked up Bourdain’s book. It’s definitely worth a read. He’s lived a pretty interesting life. His Travel Channel show is pretty cool too.
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Sep 6, 2007 18:39
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I just finished A Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis. Im a huge fan of Ellis' comic writing (Transmetro et al), and for an initial offering I certainly wasn't bad. Some of the jokes and themes were re-cycled though, and he came off as a bit of a one-trick pony, but his writing style (Bit of Vonnegut, Bit of Welsh, bit of Palanuik, and of course H.S. Thompson) is always an entertaining read.
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Sep 6, 2007 20:19
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Zero Karizma posted:Just finished Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. A coworker of mine who is a former chef is always quoting from that book. He loved it and says it is largely very true.
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Sep 6, 2007 20:58
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