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I just finished Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, some psychology professor at Harvard. The book is about our views on happiness and the psychology that surrounds it. In reality, he focuses a lot more on predicting our happiness or predicting the future. That's the main topic he talks about, and while it relates to happiness, the book is not just about what makes us happy and how the brain works. It was fairly good, but I didn't like it as much as some other books I've read that are similar in topic. I really enjoyed Blink and Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and he wrote a glowing review of this book, but I found them to be much better than Stumbling on Happiness. He seems to very caught up in himself and thinks he is funny, which detracted me from the book a tad bit. In the Gladwell books, he uses real world examples to explain everything, but Gilbert did not do this as much as I would have liked. He talks and talks and talks but there is no direction in his words. It's similar to a person extending a paper by writing and rewriting the same sentence over and over again for the sake of adding length. I feel the book could have been 100 pages smaller, and it was only 250 pages. This made it annoying to constantly reread the exact same sentence or read about the exact same theme. It was good and was certainly and interesting read that relates well to the psychology class I'm taking. If the subject interests you at all, check it out.
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Feb 25, 2008 06:32
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Finally ploughed through Proust's The Prisoner and The Fugitive, which took longer than it should have thanks to shifting house and general busyness, only to be scolded for bothering by Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. The general landscape of In Search of Lost Time is pretty much entirely changed by end of The Fugitive, to the point where, given his usual pace, I can only assume Time Regained consists entirely of Marcel blowing a raspberry, shrugging his shoulders and giving in. Not much else needs be said since if anyone has much of an interest the book, they're probably already intending to finish the whole cycle for themselves. I picked up the much-hyped Bayard to whip a good therapeutic rage, but it turns out, however hard he tries to play the devil's advocate, his literary theory extolling the virtues of non-reading far and above those of reading, for however eloquent he made it, just wasn't entirely credible from a guy that furnished it with so many perfect examples from minor books. Rather than rage, I actually found it really entertaining, because of (and at the same time despite) its heavily ironic pseudo-crank delivery. Plus I got a kick out of the guy at the bookshop being tactful enough to turn it face down and discreetly slip it into a bag when I bought it.
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Feb 25, 2008 07:54
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Motherfucking Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell. It's the fourth in the Saxon Tales series and continues the story of Uhtred, the evil-yet-awesome English warlord raised by the invading Danes. There's an awesome insult on every page, there's much talk of ale and whoring, there are rivers of blood, there are about a million hilariously insane characters, and Uhtred still manages to go all  -y over his kids and hot wife.Oh, and Mutants by Armand Leroi. A very interesting analysis of the genetic diversity of humans, with some interesting case studies and a lot of medieval woodcuts.
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Feb 25, 2008 19:37
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QVT posted:I know I've brought it up in this thread before but as long as you're not opposed to comic books, Preacher really is the answer to the modern western that doesn't feature gay people question. Preacher kicked rear end. If you like that series, you might like Hellblazer. Incidentally, a Gunslinger comic came out not too long ago, not sure if it's a retelling or a new tangent though.
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Feb 25, 2008 20:06
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reactor9 posted:Preacher kicked rear end. If you like that series, you might like Hellblazer. The Dark Tower comic is a retelling of what happened in Book 4 (Susan Delgado and such). I've heard there is a new comic coming out soon that will have a new story. I just finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. I really enjoyed it. It is about a group of former prisoners on the Moon that are basically forced to send all of the wheat they grow up there back to Earth for very low prices. They decide to revolt, oh and a super computer that has become self aware decides to help them. Pretty interesting stuff. I especially like the pro-economic freedom and TANSTAAFL!
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Feb 26, 2008 02:39
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QVT posted:It's... it's not the same. Gunslinger may be tinted positive for me because of the crap that came after but the crap that came after was really bad. You wont notice it during those first 4 books, but when you get to 5 On another note, I just finished The Serial Killers Club by Jeff Povey. The first few chapters were great and the story moved at a lightning fast pace. Some of the characters are really unique and fun while others just turned me off completely (who belches and farts before everything they say?). Despite a few obvious flaws, I enjoyed the general light tone of the book, making it an easy read. There is a little repetition in the middle but I think the ending made up for what was lacking. Overall it wasn't a bad book but just above average. If anyone liked Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, you might enjoy this.
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Feb 27, 2008 00:25
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Killfast37 posted:Almost everyone I've talked to says the series ruins itself after the fourth book. My friend read 1-5 in a few weeks and he quit after 5. Is it really that awful? Should I just forget about the series and move on, or does the second and third novel make up for the lovely end novels? Preacher looks amazing, thanks for that recommendation. I'm not a big fan of comic books but it looks like a lot of fun and I'm willing to check it out. It may be trite but you can always just make up your own ending after four. It'll be better than King managed. Those last books aren't bad, they're just much more typical Stephen King fare and not nearly as good as Gunslinger. I mean, they're not unlikeable but drat 5 and 6 especially are bad. And the ending, whether you like it or not, is presented in such an unlikeable and  way that it's almost not worth it. I actually kinda like the fourth novel because it's a pretty awesome look at how Roland got the way he is, but I know a lot of people aren't interested in the history of the characters like I tend to be. You will enjoy Preacher, you can get the first volume of it for only 10 bucks on amazon, and that'll give you an idea.
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Feb 27, 2008 00:57
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I just finished the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Great stuff all around. Good well developed characters. The story was interesting and deep. Hobb is one of those fantasy authors that proves you can have a great story without some hero hacking away at the bad guys.
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Feb 27, 2008 01:42
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Gun, Germs & Steel Jared Diamond What an interesting book! It really provided an insight into the world humanity created and why it is the way it is. I've heard detractors of the book cite valid criticisms of the book before so I was very aware of what I was reading while doing so. My only complaint is that it was so long winded and repetitive. I can only read about farming and crop domestication for so long and only so many times. Regardless how interesting the theories and ideas were the first time, I don't need to be continually reminded. This book however is great for learning about the spread of technology and varying abilities of societies to advance in their environment.
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Feb 27, 2008 02:25
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I just finished reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larson for a history class...and I was not expecting it to be so good. It centers around two characters around the time of the World's Fair in Chicago. The author did tons of research, so its, as wiki puts it, a non-fiction book presented in a fictional style. The two characters are Burnham, the architect in charge of building the World's Fair, and H H Holmes, a serial killer who killed a bunch of people before, and during the fair. It was especially cool because it gives a historical look at the city I live in, and how certain parts developed, and how Burnham and his partner Root really shaped the city.
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Feb 27, 2008 03:14
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Finished Grimwood's 9Tail Fox earlier today - interesting detective thriller that puts the protagonist in the position of solving his own murder (after being brought back to life in the body of another person). It's pretty typical Grimwood style - plenty of action, intrigue and smart writing. Thanks to -S- in the "Overlooked/Underrated Books" thread - I'm currently into Michael Cisco's The San Veneficio Canon, which is excellent so far.
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Feb 27, 2008 05:57
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Just finished my second read-through of The Stranger by Camus. I thought Camus did an awesome job in the book of allowing not only the content, but the prose as well to speak about the character of Mersault. The words just seemed to perfectly match the character and I enjoyed reading it again. I guess when I first read it(in high school), the theme of existentialism must have been brand new to me because after finishing it this time, I just wasn't as blow away with the whole thing. Not bad though. I'm gonna start on A Happy Death next, so hopefully that'll be a better read.
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Feb 27, 2008 06:13
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I read The Stranger, by Camus as required reading for an English class last year. It was assigned so we could talk about existentialism, but I just finished Grendel, by Gardner, and I think it's a far better primer. The trouble is, Grendel is all over the map, and there are at least a dozen different philosophies in it. Still, I felt it was written better and significantly more entertaining. It had me laughing out loud in a lot of parts, particularly his thoughts on Beowulf.
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Feb 27, 2008 07:26
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After years of not really liking Sci-Fi, I've been on a kick lately. I recently read and enjoyed Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and just the other day finished Niven's Lucifer's Hammer. Lucifer's Hammer took too long to get to the good stuff and every black character (except Rick the Astronaut) was a ridiculous stereotype that bordered on offensive, but overall it was a pretty enjoyable end of the world story. Next up is Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon.
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Feb 27, 2008 08:00
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Finished House of Leaves tonight, at least the actual body of it. Might linger in the appendices until Friday, so I can say I finished it on Leap Year Day. Seems appropriate, don't you think? Interesting to think that a book about a movie could be unfilmable, but there you have it.
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Feb 27, 2008 08:22
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I'm on an Orwell bender - I've just finished 'Down and Out in Paris and London' which was fantastic. It's pretty much what it sounds like, with some devastating musing on wealth and value of wealth. Just now half way through 'Coming Up for Air'. I really recommend not just reading '1984' Orwell's a genius.
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Feb 27, 2008 10:07
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I just finished Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It was a great read. Excusing historical accuracy (which this fails at), it is a really well written epic tale spanning decades, centered around the destruction and subsequent rebuilding of a cathedral in 12th century England. Sure some of the dialogue and ideas are a bit wonky and "too-modern", but the plot was top-notch. I am sure most of you have already read it however, as it's a pretty popular book and I am not telling anyone anything new here. It was the first book I have read in quite a while that I really had trouble putting down. Next up: Some Cormac McCarthy stuff. I can't decide between The Road or No Country For Old Men. They are both pretty short though, so I guess it doesn't make a huge difference. 33rd Degree Idiot fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Feb 28, 2008 |
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Feb 27, 2008 19:53
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I had spring break last week, so I whipped out the Bradbury and read Farenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. I love Brabury, those were both excellent books that I haven't read since my high school days.
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Feb 28, 2008 04:56
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I just read through Cormac McCarthy's The Road like almost everybody else here has. I really enjoyed it and found the way he is able to paint a picture in your mind is perfect. I really, really want to see the movie they're gonna make out of this. I'll admit I didn't connect to the characters too much, but from what I've read on the forums, if I ever have a little diaper-shitter of my own the book becomes much better. I picked up Stephen King and Peter Straub's Black House and I'm about 80 pages into it. If it doesn't pick up soon I'm gonna drop it and read McCarthy's Child of God instead.
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Feb 28, 2008 06:00
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On The Road Keuroac... pretty good I guess. Kinda dull in a way, I mean I understand the impact and the appeal but.. eeh. Didn't do much for me really, though not a bad read in any way. I guess it felt akin to listening to someone ramble about their trip.. but for like 4 hrs straight (and the jazz flowing narrative didn't help this... thou that's probably the point). I appreciate it for what it is and accomplishes, just didn't really hold my attention. It did make me kinda want to hitchhike/bum my way to a far city though, The Alchemist I adored this lovely fable. Probably 'cause I'm in the midst of finding out where I'm about to take my life and direction, so it was relevant as I read it. I enjoyed it. Simple, charming and fairly inspiring. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Now this was a fun read.. and really touching and moving. Your narrator is a special needs kid who's out to solve the murder of a dog but it becomes so much more in terms of emotion. A really honest, stark look at the struggles of dealing with a child of this nature. You really feel for the narrator.
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Feb 28, 2008 06:23
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Just finished No Country for Old Men by McCarthy. Saw the movie recently and thought it was great so I figured I'd read the book, which also was great. Not much to say about it that hasn't already been said, think he had his own thread recently. The narrative structure seemed to make more sense to me in the context of the book, probably because of the bigger focus on Sheriff Bell. Also the scenes with Moss and the hitchhiking girl were really great and I was kind of surprised they got cut out of the movie. I've got a big stack of books in front of me, but I want to get The Road eventually. Probably gonna work on this collection of J.G. Ballard stories next. I read a couple out of them the other night. One was good ("The Concentration City," I think Dark City borrowed a lot from it), the other one not as much. The ideas in them seem interesting enough.
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Feb 28, 2008 09:49
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Roybot posted:Just finished No Country for Old Men by McCarthy. Saw the movie recently and thought it was great so I figured I'd read the book, which also was great. Not much to say about it that hasn't already been said, think he had his own thread recently. The narrative structure seemed to make more sense to me in the context of the book, probably because of the bigger focus on Sheriff Bell. Also the scenes with Moss and the hitchhiking girl were really great and I was kind of surprised they got cut out of the movie. I actually just finished The Road tonight. I loved it. It's very gripping and hard to put down. I really loved it though.
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Feb 28, 2008 11:29
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Just finished Notes from Underground after my third attempt in a year. The first section is just so dry that if you don't plow directly through it in one sitting, odds are good you might not be interested enough to pick it up again after you put it down. It was interesting trying to connect the narrator's thoughts in the first section to his actions in the second, and the scene where the prostitute shows the narrator her love letter might have been one of the most powerful I've ever read. The way the narrator continually acts against his own self-interest supposedly to realize his own humanity is kind of depressing though, considering the extension of that seems to be that the only way to experience humanity is to be miserable.
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Feb 28, 2008 14:51
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Rant Chuck Palahniuk I thought it was awesome! I was cautious going in because I'd read a few bad reviews in this thread but found myself disagreeing with them. This story is one of Chuck's most complex that I've read yet. I loved the science fiction style Chuck put into this. When I read Haunted and read one of the stories that involved Venus, I knew I wanted to read more of Chuck's science fiction. I did have to skip a couple of dry parts like the chapter on liminal space or some long rants by Green Taylor Simms, but other than this I was hooked. I really liked the fact that I couldn't guess the ending or main plot points until they were actually given. I had several theories all of which turned out to only be half true. Now I'm reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama.
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Feb 28, 2008 16:01
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I recently finished The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by none other than Douglas Adams. A great book. Everything started very slowly in the same sort of fashion but then gradually escalated until the point that you couldn't put it down within the last 50 pages. Overall, an even more outrageous comedy than the first in the series. I'm currently halfway though Life, the Universe, and Everything and I noticed that this one seems to struggle to be funny at times. It seems like Adams was trying to put a funny spin on a rather grim (that is grim for Adams which is not grim by any means of the word) with just a nonsensical statement. If someone has read the rest of the series, how would you rate the individual books as they go on? Because if Adams pulled a Stephen King ala Dark Tower (sorry, I was just reading that thread) on me here I don't know if I want to see this bitter demise.
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Feb 29, 2008 09:23
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The Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. This one was comparable to Kafka on the Shore, but I thought that Kafka was better at tying things together. I'm still trying to piece everything together, but it was just as engaging as every other Murakami book that I've read.
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Feb 29, 2008 15:46
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Michael Cisco's The San Veneficio Canon - great read with some fantastic loving prose and imagery - though I'm definitely going to have to re-read it to fully grasp everything that was going on it. If you're into Jeff VanderMeer, M. John Harrison, etc. - this would likely be something you'd dig. Started The Long Firm by Jake Arnott yesterday - interesting British crime novel set in 1960s London that's pretty good so far.
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Feb 29, 2008 18:53
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snevets posted:If someone has read the rest of the series, how would you rate the individual books as they go on? Because if Adams pulled a Stephen King ala Dark Tower (sorry, I was just reading that thread) on me here I don't know if I want to see this bitter demise. I haven't re-read this series in a while but I remember So long, and thanks for all the fish being kinda boring.. it's mainly a love story, though there are some funny bits (as usual). The last book, Mostly harmless, I think redeems it with a fitting ending to the series. Though you can literally feel Douglas getting more annoyoed and bitter as the novels go on (he didn't want it to go past three books, if I remember correctly). Again thou it's been so long since I've read them, my memory might be a bit hazy. I do think they're worth reading anyway. It's not like they're tough books to get through...
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Feb 29, 2008 19:50
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quote:It's not like they're tough books to get through... Yeah... that's a good point. I just wouldn't want to finish the series if it goes down hill. That way it's easier to remember it as good than good but bad at the end, see what I'm saying? I had the same problem with 1984 where the last 30 pages or so entirely killed the novel for me. I'm going to press on with the rest though. Thank you for your suggestion.
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Mar 1, 2008 09:32
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I just finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It is now probably my favorite book ever. I got the movie and turned it off after about 5 minutes. I'm sure it's good, but it just doesn't fit with how I saw the book in my mind.
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Mar 1, 2008 09:33
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Finished The Long Firm - very enjoyable read. It's set in the 1960s London underworld and is split into 5 separate stories, each involving a different character (a freelance enforcer, a struggling actress, etc.) who get involved with the central character Harry Starks (a notorious London underworld figure). Arnott's been compared to James Ellroy and I did get a bit of that feeling while reading The Long Firm - they both have that same gritty realism. I liked this one enough that I picked up Arnott's two other books (He Kills Coppers and Truecrime) to give them a try as well (just starting He Kills Coppers now).
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Mar 3, 2008 23:50
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Some short Hemingways: The Snows of Kilimanjaro -- zzzzzzzz. God drat it was dull. The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Great, great story. Some interesting characters and a good read. Old Man and the Sea. Everybody kept telling me how dull it was and an agonizing read, but I found it completely captivating. Especially loved how the old man related to the fish, not as some inferior being/object, but as a brother in nature. Beautiful writing. Now working on an Amitav Ghosh novel that's damned good so far.
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Mar 4, 2008 03:40
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A Study In Scarlet- First Sherlock Holmes novel. Good, but I felt it was weak on actual Sherlock Holmes. It felt like Doyle wanted to write Western and not a detective novel. Soloman Kane- First of lots of badass Robert E. Howard serials. For some reason I really love reading about 'savages' and 'unknown horrors'. The Thing on the Doorstep This story actually creeped me out and kept me awake. I don't normally go into Lovecraft, but this was really good. Tom Sawyer, Detective I saw this in an eBook library and coulnd't help but read it. It was great and a perfect satire of A Study in Scarlet and other detective novels. Currently working on The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu.
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Mar 4, 2008 20:49
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Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut Vonnegut's dystopian novel of a world so automated the only people with jobs are the Ph.D's. It's not the usual Vonnegut. This is his first novel, and the tone is distinctly unlike him, as if he still gave a rat's rear end about literary conventions.
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Mar 4, 2008 22:41
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Ham on Rye, Charles Bukowski - Good, but awfully depressing. It gave me a better understand of his motivations in his other novels.
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Mar 5, 2008 01:03
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perceptual_set posted:Gun, Germs & Steel Jared Diamond For the people who have read, or are reading, this - I highly recommend The Victory of Reason by Rodney Stark as an interesting counterpoint to Diamond's materialistic determinism. Clayton Bigsby posted:Old Man and the Sea. Everybody kept telling me how dull it was and an agonizing read, but I found it completely captivating. Especially loved how the old man related to the fish, not as some inferior being/object, but as a brother in nature. Beautiful writing. Also, hells yes. Also try "A Clean Well-Lighted Place." I just finished rereading The Sun Also Rises. I loves me some Hemingway. Wobegon fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Mar 5, 2008 |
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Mar 5, 2008 06:16
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pleasantlyplump posted:The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Now this was a fun read.. and really touching and moving. Your narrator is a special needs kid who's out to solve the murder of a dog but it becomes so much more in terms of emotion. A really honest, stark look at the struggles of dealing with a child of this nature. You really feel for the narrator. I just finished this in two days. The narrator is autistic fyi. The author had worked with people with autism in some capacity, so his narrator's voice feels very realistic.
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Mar 5, 2008 15:47
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Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan. This was the first musician's autobiography that I managed to enjoy from start to finish, although I haven't read more than a handful.
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Mar 5, 2008 16:26
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Prep, by Curtis Sittenfeld. I don't know how I felt about this book. On the one hand, it's well written, and the narrator's personality was convincing, but plotwise it felt weak. I know it described an entire four years of high school, and it might be difficult to construct a plot around something like that, but the events felt too disconnected. The ending also felt anti-climactic unfortunately.
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Mar 5, 2008 16:33
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Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami. Kind of by-the-numbers Murakami, but entertaining nonetheless. I just like his writing style, it could be dry but it's got a little bit of wit and it just reads so well. He could write a book about preparing breakfast and it'd be readable. Now I probably should scrounge up a copy of Wild Sheep Chase to see how the two tie together...
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