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Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I'm about 50 pages in and... it's strange. I'll be honest, I had no idea what to expect when I started it, but it definitely was not this.
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Jul 25, 2009 07:40
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Coconut Pete posted:Currently I'm halfway into Egil's Saga by Anonymous Egil is so badass he boarders on psychopathic.
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Jul 25, 2009 08:46
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I'm currently up to Chapter 50 of Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut, enjoying it so far. I read his books twice as fast than my usual pace, so I should finish it later tonight. I bought that earlier in the week along with: - Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler - American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. Problem is, I have at least 4 more books that I bought and still haven't read. At least my shelf will look good. 
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Jul 25, 2009 08:53
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I'm about to start [b]The Informant[b] by Kurt Eichenwald, which is about the FBI investigation into price fixing by Archer Daniels Midlands.
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Jul 25, 2009 17:54
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Just bought 4 books, and started another. Just started Gardens of the Moon. Bought: Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett American Gods by neil gaiman Dead Cat Bounce by sarah graves Amber and Iron by Margaret Weiss.
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Jul 26, 2009 05:52
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I'm up to about page 360 in Les Miserables. Good GOD, people were not kidding about the tangents. I am loving the story, when it happens, but what the hell is this Waterloo crap? I really don't want to skip parts but I feel like I'm going to have to in order to get through this with any love left for the book 
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Jul 26, 2009 10:05
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In a push to read most of the authors in a certain publishing group, I've just picked up The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick, who proudly upholds the tradition of epic fantasies written by dudes with two middle initials. On the cover, it's about a city-sized ship that is used to transport a tarboy who can speak any language, a girl who is meant to be a treaty bride to the empire's rivals, her valet and some weird wizard who, so far, seems only to be able to turn into a mink and come out of a clock. Also, sea pixies and talking rats for those of you who can't get enough of Brian Jacques. It's good, so far, and the setting is fairly original, but I'm not sure what's special about it.
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Jul 27, 2009 01:13
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Just hit up the used bookstore and got A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers You Will Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre Irvine Welsh Omnibus (Trainspotting, The Acid House, Marabou Stork Nightmares) by Irvine Welsh.
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Jul 27, 2009 01:14
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I just started All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I am about 70 pages of the way in. As someone who resides Knoxville, TN I am embarrassed to say that this is my first novel by McCarthy. I went to the book store to buy Blood Meridian (which I will pick up next) but for some strange reason I came home with this book.
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Jul 27, 2009 01:27
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I just started reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay nad so far it is very good. A similar book that I just finished was The Book Theif but I didn't really care for that one.
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Jul 27, 2009 04:24
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I picked up The Alchemist by Michael Scott, and though it's not the best writing I've ever read (I'm really tired of the twins relationship), I'm reading through the series. I'm presently on The Magician and I have the next book waiting on my kindle. Edit: The whole series seems somewhere between adult and young adult to me - the twins (main characters) are fifteen and both annoying and overly intelligent for their age - they swing between "oh, no, things are hard, should we trust these people" to "oh, hey, I can blow things up with magic and swing a sword now." I think what's got me interested in the series is the back story. I will admit that I'm a fan of Urban Fantasy/Horror (yes, this started from the Anita Blake series before she became a big slut). The story revolves around "historical figures" that have become immortal through potions/magic books/race of higher beings. I suppose I like the fact that the story is rooted in myth. The writing might not be the best, but I'm enjoying seeing what random mythological character shows up next. mmmjstone fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jul 29, 2009 |
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Jul 28, 2009 23:59
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Beichan posted:I'm up to about page 360 in Les Miserables. Good GOD, people were not kidding about the tangents. I am loving the story, when it happens, but what the hell is this Waterloo crap? I really don't want to skip parts but I feel like I'm going to have to in order to get through this with any love left for the book Absolutely do not skip the Waterloo stuff or a couple of the other so-called tangents; it will confuse the hell out of you later on if you do.
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Jul 29, 2009 04:51
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Started To The Lighthouse earlier this week. Haven't found the time to really bite into it yet (only on page 35 or so), but I'm loving the characters so far. Hoping it remains interesting, I've heard some good things!
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Jul 29, 2009 05:04
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nate fisher posted:I just started All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I am about 70 pages of the way in. As someone who resides Knoxville, TN I am embarrassed to say that this is my first novel by McCarthy. I went to the book store to buy Blood Meridian (which I will pick up next) but for some strange reason I came home with this book. You can't go wrong with McCarthy, although the Border trilogy isn't my favorite. Blood Meridian is fantastic, as are Suttree and Child of God. Hell, just read all of them. McCarthy is one of those writers whose work I look at and say, "I'll never be as good a writer as he is, and I'm at peace with that".
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Jul 29, 2009 16:51
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fuzzknot posted:Absolutely do not skip the Waterloo stuff or a couple of the other so-called tangents; it will confuse the hell out of you later on if you do. Really? Because all the advice I keep getting is 'oh skip it, it doesn't matter'. I haven't been skipping any yet.
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Jul 30, 2009 09:15
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I can't explain without giving it away. I thought it was important, though, for later on in the book.
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Jul 30, 2009 13:09
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I finished All the Pretty Horses and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Fast read (I only have time to read before going to sleep), and I real enjoyed McCarthy's style. My favorite line from the book is "Sweeter for the larceny of time and flesh, sweeter for the betrayal." I forgot to mention that I read the week before The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos. I haven't read Pelecanos in quite awhile but it nice coming back to him. I just started reading, what I hope is a fun book, The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro. I also have waiting on me Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival . It is a true story about a 11 year old boy who is the only survivor of a small-plane crash. In a Slumdog Millionaire type account he tells of life lessons that his father taught him that he used to keep alive. Sounds like a very interesting read. BSAKat posted:You can't go wrong with McCarthy, although the Border trilogy isn't my favorite. Blood Meridian is fantastic, as are Suttree and Child of God. Hell, just read all of them. McCarthy is one of those writers whose work I look at and say, "I'll never be as good a writer as he is, and I'm at peace with that". I am debating between Suttree or Blood Meridian next. Suttree interest me greatly because of the Knoxville connection.
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Jul 30, 2009 13:30
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nate fisher posted:I am debating between Suttree or Blood Meridian next. Suttree interest me greatly because of the Knoxville connection. Well, they're both good but in completely different ways. Suttree is actually very funny, but in a wry and very sad kind of way. Blood Meridian is deeper, more biblical and very, very violent. Very. Not gratuitously so, but it's extremely bloody. It also has Judge Holden, who is one of best characters written in the 20th century. They're both long reads, though. Hell, Blood Meridian's half in Spanish. If you want a quick McCarthy read, try No Country for Old Men or The Road. The Road is beautiful.
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Jul 30, 2009 13:53
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Chef Bromden posted:Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. Is it your first Pynchon? It's definitely a 'minor' work, but if you've never read Pynchon before I think it's a pretty good primer for his particular brand of fiction. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on it when you're finished since it doesn't get talked about around here nearly as much as GR.
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Jul 30, 2009 16:17
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Buck Lodestar posted:Is it your first Pynchon? It's definitely a 'minor' work, but if you've never read Pynchon before I think it's a pretty good primer for his particular brand of fiction. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on it when you're finished since it doesn't get talked about around here nearly as much as GR. This is interesting. I just finished Show Crash which one critic quoted on the cover described as a cross between Vineland and Neuromancer. I could see Neuromancer, of course, but have never read Pynchon. I guess that's another one for the to-read list. Just started The Killing Joke (no, not that one) described as a "comedy thriller" by Anthony Horowitz. Horowitz writes a lot for UK TV, especially mysteries, and created one of my favorite shows, Foyle's War. When I found out he also writes books, I was keen to read one. About 100 pages in and liking what I'm reading. I find his tone very reminiscent of Douglas Adams. The plot is maybe a bit Carl Hiaasen meets Tom Holt (not as zany as Hiassen yet, but no supernatural stuff as in Holt either). Our hero, a struggling actor just turned 30, finds himself between jobs and uses the time to engage in a spergy quest to find the origin of a joke he overheard (and was offended by) in a pub. So far so good.
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Jul 30, 2009 17:20
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King Plum the Nth posted:This is interesting. I just finished Show Crash which one critic quoted on the cover described as a cross between Vineland and Neuromancer. I could see Neuromancer, of course, but have never read Pynchon. I guess that's another one for the to-read list. I haven't read Snow Crash so I can't comment specifically on that comparison; as for the Pynchon primer comment, Vineland is relatively short and yet very much Pynchon. It's got all the zaniness, the large cast of characters who come and go, the tons of little story threads that are dangling around all over the place, etc. If one gets through Vineland and enjoyed the ride and the tone, then I'd wholeheartedly recommend hitting GR. If one doesn't enjoy Vineland stylistically, then I suspect GR is not going to work out as well. Just my two cents since a lot of folks seem to try GR without quite knowing what they're in for and end up getting bogged down by the sheer size and scope of the novel. Not saying that it should be read first (I read it well after I'd been through GR a few times), just that it gives a good flavor.
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Jul 30, 2009 17:38
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Started The Lost City of Z by David Grann yesterday and I'm about halfway through.  You've probably heard about the English explorer Percy Fawcett (wiki) who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925, in search of the city of Z (basically, El Dorado). In the years that have gone by since then all sorts of theories have sprung up about what happened to the guy, the most interesting (and least likely) being that dude really did find Z and just liked it so much he never came back. This book not only retells Fawcett's life story, but also talks about different expeditions to find out what happened to him and eventually the author's own Amazonian quest. The Fawcett story is lightly fictionalised (Grann doesn't make any stuff up, as far as I know, but makes statements about the people's thoughts and feelings at the time) which makes some of Fawcett's succesful expedtions read like thrillers. I nearly jumped out of my chair at one point, when Fawcett approached a huge anaconda they'd killed to collect a skin sample and the fucker moved. I haven't straight out enjoyed a book like this in a long while, and I've never read a nonfiction work that was this much like a goddamn rollercoaster.
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Jul 31, 2009 12:41
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I finally got around to starting in on my copy of Blood Meridian. I'm only 60 pages in, but man, this book does a good job of making me feel stupid. I don't know half the words on any given page. What's a cárcel? A ramada? A weskit? A vernier sight? I just found these examples by skimming over two random pages, mind you. I've been making guesses based on context about words I don't know, and was way off on the first two. None of these words are important to plot, but it slows down my reading when I have to go back to double-check that I didn't mis-read the word, do a quick mental scan of my vocabulary to make sure I don't know the word, then read the text around the word to make a context-based guess. I don't remember The Road being this taxing on my vocabulary. Am I remembering incorrectly? Note: I'm not knocking the book, I love the style of writing and the story so far is really engaging. I just wish my vocabulary was larger.
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Jul 31, 2009 16:37
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I just finished The Eye of Night, which I enjoyed much more than I should have. The fantasy world seemed very well-structured, though, and the women were well-developed characters. That alone was enough to put it ahead of most of the genre, sadly enough. It wasn't too massively creative, but it was an enjoyable read.
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Aug 1, 2009 05:57
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I loaded up this past couple of weeks and now I have some prioritizing to do. BOUGHT The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larson. The second in his published-posthumanously trilogy after Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I wasn't overwhelmed with the first book, but I liked it enough to pick this one up. Camus: A Romance by Elizabeth Hawes. I heard her interviewed on The Diane Rehm Show and ordered the book immediately. It's part biography of Albert Camus and part memoir of this woman following in his footsteps to try and learn more about him. Considering [u]The Stranger[/b] is one of my favorite books, I'm looking forward to this one. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes. I wanted to go to the source of all the current "deficit spending" debate. I don't know how much I'll actually understand, but I'll look like a smarty-pants while reading it. Preferably with a pipe. At the used store I got The Great Upheaval about America from 1788-1800, Reading the Man about Robert E. Lee's letters, and How to Read the Bible which is a guide to reading ancient scripture now but supposedly negates alot of it, so much so that Christopher Hitchens even recommended it. STARTED Don Quixote by Cervantes. I bought a book about going through all the "classics" and this was the first one on the list of novels. I thought it would be overwhelming, but I'm actually having a blast with it. I stick to 70 pages a day and take brief notes at the end of each chapter (like: CH 27 Don Quixote attacks priests) and at this rate I'll be done with the book by next weekend.
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Aug 1, 2009 21:25
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Imperial, the new William T. Vollmann behemoth. Every time he publishes one of these giant things, I tell myself I'm not going to read it, but the prose always winds up hooking me in the bookstore. In two days it will be Inherent Vice, so I'm just biding time until then.
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Aug 3, 2009 02:00
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mdemone posted:Imperial, the new William T. Vollmann behemoth. Every time he publishes one of these giant things, I tell myself I'm not going to read it, but the prose always winds up hooking me in the bookstore. I read the NY Times review of that book, and, despite the fact that the review wasn't glowing, I became intrigued. Is there a good starting place for his work? Everything he wrote seems so epic and intimidating. TheChimney fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Aug 3, 2009 |
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Aug 3, 2009 04:11
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TheChimney posted:I read the NY Times review of that book, and, despite the fact that the review wasn't glowing, I became intrigued. Is there a good starting place for his work? Everything he wrote seems so epic and intimidating. I'd suggest start off with The Crying of Lot 39, really. Then you can work your way up to something like V.
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Aug 3, 2009 04:38
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Astroturf Neckbeard posted:I finally got around to starting in on my copy of Blood Meridian. I'm only 60 pages in, but man, this book does a good job of making me feel stupid. I don't know half the words on any given page. What's a cárcel? A ramada? A weskit? A vernier sight? I just found these examples by skimming over two random pages, mind you. I've been making guesses based on context about words I don't know, and was way off on the first two. None of these words are important to plot, but it slows down my reading when I have to go back to double-check that I didn't mis-read the word, do a quick mental scan of my vocabulary to make sure I don't know the word, then read the text around the word to make a context-based guess. Just started this one too. I'm on page 200. I remember The Road had some uncommon words, but Blood Meridian is just a lot denser (and based in a real historical setting). Still, I've been breezing through it (after slowly digesting Infinite Jest for months, it feels so good to finish a book in just a couple days). I'm definitely going to reread it so I'm not worried about picking up every little detail. With McCarthy I find its more important to get the overall impression he's trying to create with all his beautiful and vexing imagery. I'm really looking forward to Inherent Vice, and some reviews suggest its his most accessible work, so it could very well be a good starting point for Pynchon.
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Aug 3, 2009 07:50
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I'm about 100 pages into Contact. It's pretty good so far, lots of nerd stuff about radio astronomy which is pretty cool. I don't really remember the movie very well, aside from that it wasn't that great. I've found it pretty funny that the main character is basically the female version of Carl Sagan. Her internal thoughts sound like something out of a Cosmos episode. Nothing bad about that of course.
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Aug 3, 2009 23:22
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In addition to 10 Days that Shook the World, which I mentioned earlier, I've been listening to the audiobook version of Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. It's a memoir of the author's childhood in Ireland (mostly in Limerick thus far) full of hardship, loss and the wonder, joy and sadness of life, all told in the author's lyrical and powerful way. I'm enjoying it immensely. Also, the audiobook version, read by the author, has much to offer: his wonderful brogue and gentle, sad humor really take the edge off of what might otherwise be a somewhat bitter narrative, but in no way diminish it.
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Aug 4, 2009 16:40
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thegloaming posted:I'm really looking forward to Inherent Vice, and some reviews suggest its his most accessible work, so it could very well be a good starting point for Pynchon. Is this true? I tried to read Gravity's Rainbow back in the 90's. I remember enjoying maybe the first 1/3 of the book, but I got lost somewhere in the middle and put it down. I am not sure if it was the book or what was going on in my life at that time. If Inherent Vice is more accessible I may pick it up. I heard it was a noir type book (?), but when I hear noir I think of the fun James Ellroy or Jim Thompson which I guess are more hardboiled writers.
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Aug 4, 2009 16:54
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Static Rook posted:Camus: A Romance by Elizabeth Hawes. I heard her interviewed on The Diane Rehm Show and ordered the book immediately. It's part biography of Albert Camus and part memoir of this woman following in his footsteps to try and learn more about him. Considering [u]The Stranger[/b] is one of my favorite books, I'm looking forward to this one. I'd love to read something like this, let us know what you thought of it in the Finished thread.
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Aug 4, 2009 23:44
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Without Pants posted:I'd love to read something like this, let us know what you thought of it in the Finished thread. I'm repeating myself on this forum but The Silent Woman is incredible, though its value doesn't lie in its being an ideal biography by any means. Instead it's a brilliant study of the bitter struggle the Plath biographers had in trying to get round the walls the Plath estate threw up, written from her own experiences with both camps, and framed by the events of Plath's life. It is fantastic. I don't even care about Plath and I'm still half-convinced people should be herded into camps and forced to read it.
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Aug 5, 2009 02:09
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them by Joyce Carol Oates. It's a multigenerational story largely dealing with race relations in Detroit in the 1960s. According to Oates's preface, it's a fictionalized retelling of the life story of one of her students. It's also one of Oates's earlier works which is slightly apparent to readers familiar with her later works; her own personal style is not yet developed; the prose is more detached. That said, it's tremendously engaging and Oates's ability to capture a character and present it to a reader as a living, breathing entity is unsurpassed.
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Aug 5, 2009 04:47
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Escape from Hell. Sequel to a book I loved. I'm warning you, though: don't read this one. loving terrible. Spends the first half of the book rehashing the last book, then forgets where the last book was chronologically.
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Aug 5, 2009 05:14
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Just started Pygmy, Snow Crash is next. I read the first few pages of either and the former's writing style was funny, so I decided to go with it, only thing I know about the latter is that it's considered to have launched a genre.
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Aug 5, 2009 06:33
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I'm about half way through The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy and holy gently caress does he cram a lot of details into his plots. I can't keep up with all the characters. I just ordered Inherent Vice and it looks like it should be a good read. Sounds like if Fear and Loathing was written by Ellroy.
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Aug 5, 2009 09:26
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Dioscuri posted:Just started Pygmy, Snow Crash is next. I read the first few pages of either and the former's writing style was funny, so I decided to go with it, only thing I know about the latter is that it's considered to have launched a genre. Pygmy Is a great book. I hope you enjoy it. I just bought: Your Next-Door Neighbor is a Dragon by Zack Parsons The Social Contract and Discourse on the Origin of Inequality By Jean-Jacques Rousseau Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
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Aug 5, 2009 22:26
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Just bought: The Waves by Virginia Woolf
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