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Adrift, by Steven Callahan. He's the guy who survived for 76 days in the Atlantic adrift in a rubber raft. I'd heard of him, but had no idea he'd written a book about his experience. It's a quick, captivating read -- some of the stuff he went through is just unbelievable. If you dig survival stories, definitely check it out.
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Jan 19, 2008 05:30
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I just finished Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, after plugging away at it for multiple months. It was amazing - better than Gravity's Rainbow, I think. A lot of the same themes (and the same paranoia) are present, but the plot is much more focused. GR may be the more impressive book just for its sheer complexity, but Mason & Dixon packs much more emotional punch. The friendship between the two is incredibly well-written... It drat near made me cry in the last couple of chapters, which is definitely not what I expected from Pynchon.
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Jan 19, 2008 23:54
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Took a quick read of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep today. It was a fun, easy read and I enjoyed the elements of the prose that weren't in Blade Runner (Mercerism especially, how interesting). While most people here have probably read it already, if you haven't, definitely do so. It's such an easy read that the entertainment value versus the effort to read the book is a huge net win!
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Jan 19, 2008 23:55
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I started Ender's Game late last night and almost couldn't put it down. 7/8 of the way through the book, fatigue was too much and I went to sleep. I finished it this morning. I have never read a book with such absolutely amazing pacing before! It's clear why so many science fiction fans refer to Ender's Game as their favorite book: a book this well written is difficulty not to enjoy. I just didn't want to put it down. The entire text was gripping from cover to cover. The end even sneaked two great surprises on me. Despite the fact that I should have noticed that I was nearing the end of the book, and that there wasn't any way there would be time for the "real" war to occur after the training had concluded, I didn't see it coming. I recognized the planetary attack as an attack on the home world, but I still saw it as a simulation preparing him for his final battle. I didn't, even for a moment, foresee the peaceful reconciliation he had with the bugs. In hindsight, I was cognizant that the "enemy" was never really given any depth, but when faced with a book so exceptionally paced I didn't second guess the author's construction. However, a justification of Ender's empathy was the sweetest icing to the cake. I'm certainly starting Ender's Shadow immediately, although I hope that I can keep a more reasonable reading schedule rather than abandoning life for hours on end. tbradshaw fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Jan 21, 2008 |
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Jan 20, 2008 19:05
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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Pretty good stuff. Much easier to get through after seeing the movie, as it was a pretty faithful translation. Couldn't get Malcolm McDowell's voice out of my head the whole time. And, contrary to popular belief, the nadsat is not at all hard to get through, if you just pay attention to the context.
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Jan 21, 2008 04:38
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Finished The Road yesterday - loved it. McCarthy has yet to disappoint. Also whipped through Fatherland by Robert Harris. Picked this up after a few mentions on here. I liked the alternate history approach, though the central mystery was a bit predictable. Good read nonetheless. Trying to get into Richard K. Morgan's latest - Thirteen at the moment. Encryptic fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Jan 21, 2008 |
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Jan 21, 2008 05:09
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I just finished The Stranger by Albert Camus, which I loved, and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, which was also pretty good. The former can be read in one sitting, but the latter is pretty dense. I'd recommend both, though.
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Jan 21, 2008 05:15
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Encryptic posted:Fatherland by Robert Harris. Good read nonetheless. Glad you liked it. Predictable, though I agree.
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Jan 21, 2008 05:48
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The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen. Vulgar and brutally cynical, but it kept me laughing through the few hours it took for me to breeze through it. I'm going to start reading Freakonomics on Tuesday.
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Jan 21, 2008 09:43
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Freakonomics is an awesome read! Finished Ender's Shadow, not knowing what to expect from a novel that tells the same story from another perspective. A pretty awesome experience, if only as an experiment in perspective. I understand now, why they chose an interesting but ancillary character for the retelling. If it would have been a "major" character, then the book really would have been "just" the same story over again. It was exciting to "fill in the gaps". Of course, after these two books (Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow), the path to take through the Ender's Game Saga is up for debate. I think I'm going to try the "chronological" order and follow the Bean Quartet to completion, before revisiting the Ender Quartet.
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Jan 21, 2008 10:18
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B B posted:I just finished The Stranger by Albert Camus, which I loved, and [/b]The Name of the Rose[/b] by Umberto Eco, which was also pretty good. The former can be read in one sitting, but the latter is pretty dense. I'd recommend both, though. I just finished The Stranger as well and I thought it was great. Also last night I finished rereading Fateless by Imre Kertész which is one of my favorite books and I try to read it at least once every year. Fodder Cannon fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jan 21, 2008 |
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Jan 21, 2008 17:15
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LooseChanj posted:The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien Yeah, I read it and the same thing happened to me. Still though, I enjoyed it. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen http://www.amazon.com/Water-Elephants-Novel-Sara-Gruen/dp/1565124995 I have some mild complaints about it with some characters being flatter than flat, and assumed important relationships tenuous at best, still though, I was quite happy with the resolution of the story and was indeed pleasantly surprised. I would recommend you getting it from the library. You know, I think it would make a good movie in a Shawshank Redemption kind of way and would work better on screen than on paper. Capn_Marrrrk fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jan 21, 2008 |
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Jan 21, 2008 22:54
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The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut Wow, I think this was even better than Cat's Cradle. One of the hallmarks of a great story, in my opinion, is that the author can tell you pretty much what's going to happen and it doesn't spoil the story. That's illustrated in this novel. Excellent.
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Jan 22, 2008 15:30
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LooseChanj posted:The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut It is a stellar book chock full of real human emotion. chronosynclastic infundibulum
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Jan 22, 2008 17:48
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LooseChanj posted:One of the hallmarks of a great story, in my opinion, is that the author can tell you pretty much what's going to happen and it doesn't spoil the story. Have you read Breakfast of Champions yet?
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Jan 22, 2008 17:50
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perceptual_set posted:Have you read Breakfast of Champions yet? Yeah, but this one and Cat's Cradle are better. BoC might be my third favorite though.
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Jan 22, 2008 18:26
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LooseChanj posted:Yeah, but this one and Cat's Cradle are better. BoC might be my third favorite though. I haven't read tSoT yet but absolutely adore C'sC. Slapstick was also very good. That one also had a predetermined ending. BoC is my third fav so far too, Timequake is in my "to be read" pile.
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Jan 22, 2008 18:42
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Finished Shadow of the Hegemon, the second book of the "Bean Quartet" in the Ender Saga. I really enjoyed it, killing it off in two sessions, but it was definitely different from the previous Ender's Saga books I've read. While Ender's Game and (although slightly less so) Ender's Shadow had an almost Harry Potter progression-through-school feeling, enclosed in a consistent setting, Shadow of the Hegemon had a world wide scope and a myriad of settings. It almost felt like a completely different style of book, only with familiar faces from Ender's story. I gobbled it up. It was something quite new and at the same time comfortable. It also ended my little box set I picked up from Amazon, and I've went ahead and ordered the other five books in the Ender Saga. I noted that the author has two suggested reading orders that are both equal in his eyes: publication order and chronological order. I've decided to take the chronological path, hoping that the linear unfolding of the story will be more powerful than any non-progressive variance in story telling. Of course, if any goons have a strong opinion for reading it in a different order, I'm all ears. I'm just guessing. 
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Jan 22, 2008 19:16
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Solaris - Stanislaw Lem Hmm... I saw the Clooney version of this a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. I own a copy and even have the Cliff Martinez soundtrack which is amazing. However, the book, I wasn't much of a fan of. I don't think Lem was very good at expressing the mental and emotional anxiety that Kelvin would be going through at seeing his lost love again. To Lem's credit, I was really impressed with his ability to change his character's personality between this book and His Master's Voice it was like a whole new person was writing it (I do realize there is a difference in translators).
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Jan 24, 2008 00:48
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Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin. I absolutely loved it; the premise is ridiculous (the Prince of Wales and his wife--thinly disguised versions of Charles and Diana--parachute naked into New Jersey to reconquer America), but it's both hilarious at times and insightful as well. Some reviewers complained that it needed serious editing, but there was only one part that seemed ill-fitted and dragged on for me. Overall, I would highly recommend it if you don't mind some slapstick silliness mixed in with the more serious and heartwarming pieces. The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three by King. I seemed to recognize bits and pieces so maybe I started reading these a long time ago and forgot. drat, they were good though. I'm waiting for my local library to get the third one in now. Gather that the last books aren't quite that good, but I'll most likely make my way through the whole series soon. Also read Icebound by Koontz, which kind of sucked. Hey, I was bored and it was sitting there so I picked it up and blew through it in an evening. Used to love Koontz when I was a teen and read Watchers and Phantoms; I wonder if they'd still be as good were I to go back and re-read them. Picked up and put down Catch-22 after a few chapters. I just can't get into it; it's probably the third time I try. Ended up re-reading 1984 instead.
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Jan 24, 2008 03:10
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas I was actually underwhelmed with it. For all the praise it gets when I got done with it I just thought it was decent. Not a bad book but not something I would've picked up if it hadn't been recommended to me. The beginning and the ending I really liked, but for a good chunk in the middle I was basically bored. I dunno, maybe I just didn't "get" it. Or maybe I've never been so drugged out that I panic about every little thing and imagine that everyone is out to get me. I did a little bit of research on Hunter S. Thompson too and he seems like an absolute awesome guy and I thought I'd really enjoy it. 
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Jan 24, 2008 06:37
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I think Fear & Loathing in LV is only highly praised because it's the popular culture choice; I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of people that have read HST have actually only read Fear & Loathing in LV and nothing else. The movie most likely plays a big part in the book's popularity. I enjoyed The Rum Diary more than LV as far as his semi-non-fictional novels go. The Great Shark Hunt is easily one of his best essay and article compilations and I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to experience a true dose of HST's style.
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Jan 24, 2008 18:44
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Stardust Great book, unfortunately I can't unsee the movie.
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Jan 24, 2008 19:44
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Soma Soma Soma posted:I think Fear & Loathing in LV is only highly praised because it's the popular culture choice; I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of people that have read HST have actually only read Fear & Loathing in LV and nothing else. The movie most likely plays a big part in the book's popularity. Yeah I read it to kinda see what everybody was going on about. I've never seen the movie for what it's worth, I dunno if that would be a good or bad thing. I'm not gonna write him off as an author I wouldn't enjoy just yet. I'm gonna read some quick, fun, not-deep read next. I'm not sure what yet. Then probably check out The Great Shark Hunt since it's one of the few other books of his my schools library has.
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Jan 24, 2008 19:49
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I finally finished the unabridged edition of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Wow, that feels like an episode of my life, I was slogging through it for so long. Not to say it's not a great novel. It is rather amazing in its scope, from its retelling of the events of Waterloo to riots long after, and the trials and tribulations of Jean Valjean, Fantine, and Cosette. I enjoyed Jean's tale the most, and that of young Marius the least. Gavroche the gamin was somewhat interesting, and there are long asides on the nature of religious orders and that of argot. I took the book to Paris with me and managed to crack the first 350 pages on flights, but the remaining 1100 pages were a long slog. Hugo writes like you are sitting across from him at a cafe, and he is mostly an easy read. His characters are often in broad strokes but they are very much alive. This is a classic worth reading, and Valjean is a character I will not soon forget. His redemption is one of the great stories of literature, and if you're a faster reader than me (I began this in October!) you might not consider it the leviathan I did. I don't normally read so slowly, but I've been watching a lot of movies and mostly read this on trains. And I don't take trains as often since my girlfriend moved uptown.
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Jan 24, 2008 19:58
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I just finished Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis for the second time and I am just starting to be able to pick it apart. The story tells about a middle-aged business man living in the Mid-West in the early 20th century who is slowly but surely rebelling against the life he has built. He wonders about his dreams and how right his conservative existence is. He is anchored in his stodgey life solely by his college friend but Babbit's world is shattered after his friend goes to prison for trying to kill his wife. Babbit slowly but surely spins out of control, first by cheating on his wife and then by getting involved in anti-American elements like communists, drunkards and homosexuals. He rebels against his Rotarian friends by sticking up for Unions and the evil socialist agitator Senaca Doane. Lewis' writing style has an excellent rhythm that I enjoy and he is perfectly framed as someone who puts everything he has worked 40 years to build up in jeopardy by his mini rebellion. A really fun writing technique Sinclair Lewis uses is frequently contrasting Babbitt's attempts to climb the social ladder through his community work and contacts with others' attempts to reach Babbitt's social position. The humor of the book is often subtle. Two instances that stick out that illustrate Lewis' sense of humor are: -at a booster's convention, one of the delegates announces a visiting delegate from Harpers Ferry with, "Well, my guest to-day is from such a place, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in the beautiful Southland, with memories of good old General Robert E. Lee and of that brave soul, John Brown who, like every good Booster, goes marching on--"" -at one point, George Babbitt builds up this super romantic life where he runs off to the hills and becomes a REAL MAN living off the land. He goes back to visit the guides at a camping area he annually frequents to try to recapture some of that romanticism. His guide, who he has idealized as a REAL MAN, is reticent about hiking the trail instead of boating and responds when asked what he would do with a large amount of cash with, "I've often thought of that! If I had the money, I'd go down to Tinker's Falls and open a swell shoe store."" All in all, a great book. Lewis also wrote the excellent Main Street, which keeps in the theme of middle class rebellion in the Mid West. I highly recommend both. Mack the Knife posted:Words I think regardless of your reading ability that it is a leviathan to tackle. The scene at Waterloo is a perfect example- it tends to be meandering and you wonder what it has to do with anything but then WHAM, in half a page at the end it sets up one of the most important parts of the book. A secondary aspect of the descriptions of Waterloo is that you are given insight into the recent history that has been a part of the students' education. Their own rebellion is fueled by listening to the memories of grognards by the fire recounting the glories of battles past against terrifying odds. Personally, I have always been entertained by how two dimensional Cosette is. She wakes up one day and realizes she's pretty. That's about it as far as her personality development is concerned.
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Jan 24, 2008 21:50
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Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company, pretty decent not exactly"One of the greatest fantasy epics of our time!" like the book boasts. And before that I burned through GRRM's a song of Ice and Fire. Now those were epic.
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Jan 24, 2008 21:50
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Soaking up some of the books picked up over the break. Overindulged really; shame'll keep me out of stores for at least a month. Anyway... The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos, which I'd heard endless references to, but never really got an idea of the book itself. I have to admit my tolerance for drifter-style narratives is on the low side, and Mac didn't immediately grab me, though the rest of the book was surprisingly involving. I guess I was half expecting a harsh slog through bleak socialist guilt, only to have the rest of the cast really open it up. Very stiff in the joints though, especially compared to Faulkner (Sound & the Fury came out at the same time). Also another Janet Malcolm, The Silent Woman. Very much on theme, wallowing in the hate and recrimination surrounding literary estates, this time Sylvia Plath's. Title comes from Plath's apparent mastery of passive aggression (not to mention the suicide mystique). This one in particular really settles on the nature of biography through the Hughes' love-hate, coy to viciously aggressive relationship with Plath biographers, incuding Malcolm herself. Though I wasn't as in love with it as I was her other work (maybe since I don't really care about Plath), I'd still highly recommend this to biography fans, especially anyone toying with writing one. Rolling on, Thomas Bernhard's The Loser turned out to be one of his best. Gutwrenchingly, fist-pumpingly, demoralisingly good writing. A young Glenn Gould dazzles two of his conservatory friends to the point that they abandon the instrument for good, though they retain a fatal attraction for Gould which stretches out into a brutal lifelong friendship. The blackest kind of humour and tortured, crippled ambition abound. Finally a couple by Louis-Ferdinand Celine: Conversations with Professor Y and Castle to Castle. Both post-war and ferociously bitter about his treatment by the French public. The very short Conversations frames Celine's opinions on his own writing in a disastrous sham-interview which rapidly disintegrates into something like a drunk, surly Zazie on the Metro. Castle to Castle on the other hand is the first book in a roving autobiographical trilogy which paints his flight from liberated France and shelter in a Vichy-occupied German castle town as a claustrophobic, festering hell. Like the Inferno without a protagonist; streams of poo poo trickling down hotel stairs, mass dementia, equal parts mindless and premeditated killing, etc. Both of these are entrenched in Celine's ellipses period, so if you get hung up on his pulverising his own grammar probably best to give them a miss. inktvis fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Jan 25, 2008 |
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Jan 25, 2008 07:18
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Candide by Voltaire and surprisingly it was really good. So much is packed into such a short story. The book even had me laughing at some points which I rarely find myself doing while reading. I also couldn't believe how violent the book was. Great novel to start off the year with I think.
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Jan 25, 2008 07:23
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I just finished reading Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. I'm actually not quite sure how I feel about the book on a whole. I've heard the other two books set in New Crobuzon are better(The Scar and Iron Council), so that's a plus. It takes a while for an actual plot to rear its head and I'm not quite sure about the ending. On the up hand, the world it takes place in is neat, it's sort a fantasy novel but there are no elves or dwarves to be seen, and (minor spoiler): The Weaver is pretty awesome. For some reason though, I feel vaguely unsatisfied with it when I put it down.
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Jan 25, 2008 07:42
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I had to know what all of the hype was about, so I read an abridged version of Edward Gibbon's magnum opus on Rome entitled Christianity and the Decline of Rome. It was put together by scholars after his death, and covers the period from Diocletian to Jovian. I should mention that this book is as old as the United States of America. Nonetheless, Gibbon is a product of the enlightenment who sought to explain the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire without reverting to miracles as a justifiable explanation. His main focuses were the political and intellectual developments during the early fourth century. Gibbon gets some of the facts wrong, but its a great example of Enlightenment thinking. I wouldn't recommend it to someone interested in learning about Rome, because there are more accurate works.
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Jan 25, 2008 16:06
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LooseChanj posted:Yeah, but this one and Cat's Cradle are better. BoC might be my third favorite though. The Siren's of Titan is probably my favorite Vonnegut, but very close to that is Player Piano. The fact that I am an engineer in Pittsburgh makes it a little more relative to me, but I thought it was awesome none the less.
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Jan 26, 2008 01:32
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Jackel003 posted:Candide by Voltaire and surprisingly it was really good. So much is packed into such a short story. The book even had me laughing at some points which I rarely find myself doing while reading. I also couldn't believe how violent the book was. This is a good example to show to the "media is destroying our values" crowd. Violent and sexual humor have always been popular. And that's not at all a shot at Voltaire, I think everyone (myself included) is surprised by what they find when they first read Candide. Friday Night Lights is one of those great American books about life in small towns. Friday Night Lights pulls a trick. From the cover of the book, you would expect a good sports book, which it is. But more than that, it's a snapshot of Odessa Texas. The author works the town's habitual employment problems (rising and falling with the oil booms and busts) and racial issues (only really de-segrated six years before when the book takes place) towards de-mystifying the cult-like aura that surrounds the Permian High School football team, and following them (and the town) through the 88'-89' high school football season. I don't know what else to say about it, but I really enjoyed it. Randallteal fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Jan 26, 2008 |
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Jan 26, 2008 04:10
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Just finished A Confederacy of Dunces and its now one of my favorite books ever. Looking forward to listening to the audiobook version, this is probably the first book where I actually couldn't wait to hear the characters' voices because they were all so insane.
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Jan 26, 2008 21:48
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I am Legend. Richard Matheson. It was short. But better than the movie.
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Jan 27, 2008 03:34
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The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. Pretty good.
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Jan 27, 2008 19:09
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Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. When I started reading it, I thought it would be boring, but it was a pretty good, fast paced novel.
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Jan 27, 2008 19:51
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Previously, my only exposure to the Brontes had been Jane Eyre, which I absolutely hated. Fortunately, I really liked Wuthering Heights, but I don't quite know why. I can't say I really sympathized with any of the characters--in fact, I hated almost all of them--but, for some reason, it completely blew my expectations away. I'm also currently in the middle of Herman Melville's Typee, and it kicks huge amounts of rear end. For some reason, Melville has a bad reputation, but everything of his that I've read has been awesome, especially when it's about being at sea. More people need to read Melville.
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Jan 28, 2008 06:19
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I thought it was immensely slow for the first half, but the second have didn't have me bored a bit. Also, I could see why the first chapters seemed long and drawn out... The author was bringing in a lot of unusual details that would be used later. Now I'm going to read The World Without Us for a change of pace.
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Jan 28, 2008 07:03
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I just finished the graphic novel From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. Pretty much blew my mind, and the scene where Gull has a vision of a modern day office was pretty intense. Also, wrapped up American Gods the other day. It was entertaining enough, and Shadow is an interesting character.
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Jan 28, 2008 08:31
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