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Jonatham Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude. Had mixed thoughts about my first Lethem read (Motherless Brooklyn) but so far "Fortress" is starting out well.
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Aug 23, 2009 04:35
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Just started reading Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. I've only read the first chapter for each story, but they both seem interesting, particularly Hard-Boiled Wonderland and I'm liking the books alternating layout. I'm considering buying Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, as I enjoyed the movie. Is it worth my money?
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Aug 23, 2009 05:12
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Just about finished Calvino's "Invisible Cities", and so help me, I apologize for lumping him in with Coelho, Gibran, and other such pseudo-spiritual literature. Quite enjoying it. Also in the midst of Buck O'Neil's memoir of his years spent in the negro leagues, "I Was Right on Time". Having heard some of his radio interviews, I knew already that he was quite the interesting fellow, but his memory is uncanny, and his anecdotes immensely interesting.
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Aug 23, 2009 08:48
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Ghost Boner posted:I'm considering buying Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, as I enjoyed the movie. Is it worth my money? Its quite a bit different in that it goes into deeper background to things like the school kids and the society of the setting. Some of the characters are different as well. Just don't go into it expecting it to be exactly the same and you'll probably like it.
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Aug 23, 2009 20:02
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Dacap posted:Just bought a 16-book Vonnegut lot off ebay. Pretty much all of the Dell Publishers versions with the big "V" on front. I was looking to get the ones I wanted from that publisher as it looks like they are all being replaced by new editions with Vonnegut drawings on the cover over garishly bright colored backgrounds. I don't really like the look of the new ones and I think the older versions are pretty classy. I've only read Slaughterhouse 5 and Breakfast of Champions but I'm looking forward to going through the rest. Yeah, the covers with big Vs are quite godawful. I've recently read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or, Pearls Before Swine and Slapstick, or, Lonesome No More! I found the former way better in terms of writing style, humour and the subject at hand. Slapstick just didn't feel like a coherent piece - more like it was all over the place half the time. His social commentary didn't seem to work as often as did with Rosewater either. Maybe that's just me. Currently I'm reading his autobiographical Palm Sunday. It's been an enjoyable read too and I strongly recommend it if you want to learn more about the man behind the books. I've also borrowed Hocus Pocus and I'll probably try to hunt down a copy of Slaughterhouse 5 after that. I just can't stop reading him.
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Aug 23, 2009 20:43
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i just read Air, by Geoff Ryman, and Glasshouse by Charles Stross. both of them were found in a used bookstore in Scotland for like one pound each. Air was thoroughly enjoyable, and Glasshouse was sometimes good I guess
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Aug 23, 2009 23:00
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I just bought The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster Ubik by Phillip K. Dick Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Problem is that I won't start reading these until 2010. The follies of buying a million new books when you haven't finished the old ones.
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Aug 25, 2009 13:22
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Just started Ishmael by Daniel Quinn last night, and despite being incredibly tired, tore through the first 65 pages. It's not at all what I expected, and I'm really liking it so far. edit: read a little more; this book is bad rear end. _aaron fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Aug 28, 2009 |
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Aug 26, 2009 18:49
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I just picked up Motherless Brooklyn, based of buzz in Book Barn after not having read a detective story for a decade. I also picked up Nabokov's Ada because of a conversation I was having in which I lamented nobody has read anything except Lolita, myself included.
Marketing New Brain fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Aug 26, 2009 |
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Aug 26, 2009 19:09
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I read the first chapter of Stephenson's Cryptonomicon last night, and jesus christ, I have not seen such pure mathematical wankery in a long, long time. Is the rest of the book like that?
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Aug 26, 2009 21:14
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sexual rickshaw posted:I read the first chapter of Stephenson's Cryptonomicon last night, and jesus christ, I have not seen such pure mathematical wankery in a long, long time. Is the rest of the book like that? There is definitely more of that in the book, but that's not all the book is about. There's lots of WWII stuff, some generally bad assery, and just a whole lot of other stuff. It's packed full of a whole lot of everything.
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Aug 28, 2009 17:58
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I just picked up The Sheriff of Yrnameer. I'll admit, I was lured in almost entirely by the cover. I mean, look at it: It's a comic sci-fi story about a small-time space-crook who steals a spaceship from a Han Solo type and gets strongarmed into sheparding some space-orphans to Yrnameer, the last "Your Name Here," or planet that doesn't have corporate sponsorship. I'm about a quarter of the way in, and it's interesting because I think I'm enjoying it more because I don't read sci-fi. It's sort of like how people who were fans of Indie movies hated Little Miss Sunshine because it was every Indie movie trope all rolled up into a cute little package, while people who don't watch Indie movies loved it because... it introduced them to every major Indie trope in a cute little package. I imagine some people wouldn't be able to enjoy this book as much as I am because it travels over ground well-trod by the likes of The Hitchhiker's Guide and probably a bunch of other books I haven't heard of. But for me I can read it and just be like "That robot behaves in an unrobotlike fashion! Hahaha!" Anyway it's pretty funny and I'm enjoying it immensely. Also, when you flip the book over the cyclops is smiling! I assume that means there's a happy ending.
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Aug 28, 2009 18:23
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I'm about to finish Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson, a third in a series starting with 'bible' of cyberpunk: The Neuromancer.
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Aug 30, 2009 01:06
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Digitronboy posted:I'm about to finish Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson, a third in a series starting with 'bible' of cyberpunk: The Neuromancer. How is that? I enjoyed Neuromancer, but more for the fact that it's such a major work in the genre, rather than anything inside the work itself.
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Aug 30, 2009 01:26
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Just picked up My Work is Not Done by Thomas Ligotti. We'll see how this goes but its just nice to see him getting wider releases of stuff.
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Aug 30, 2009 03:41
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I am about done with the first part of Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert. I am really enjoying this, although my level of identification with Frederic is quite worrisome.
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Aug 30, 2009 08:08
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Halfway through The Cardboard Universe: A Guide to the World of Phoebus K. Dank, an encyclopedia about a fictional science fiction writer (modeled on Philip K. Dick). The authors? A failed writer/fawning academic (his biggest fan) and a failed poet (his only friend) (actually he hated him and probably killed him). Though I'm no big fan of science-fiction, I must say that I'm rather enjoying it.
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Aug 30, 2009 23:22
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Just started on Cat's cradle. So far it's not as good as Slaughterhouse 5 but it might get better as the story progresses.
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Aug 30, 2009 23:34
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I am 3/4 of the way through 'Drood' by Dan Simmons. This is the same guy who wrote the great SF book 'Hyperion', which is how I first found out about him. I picked this up after reading 'The Terror', which was a fictional account of an expedition launched by ship in the mid 1800's from Europe to try to find a northern passage above Canada to the pacific. The two ships that left on the voyage were never heard from again, and the story he writes is masterful. 'Drood' is in the same vein insofar as it is historical fiction, but it revolves around the last years of Charles Dickens life, and a possible murder / murders that he may or may not be involved in. This and 'The Terror' are both long and involved, but I have to say that Dan Simmons is a remarkable writer and really keeps up the pace and suspense in both novels (and if you are a fan of good sci fi you'll love 'Hyperion'). edit - sorry I am too stupid to make bold html work so sorry about the quotes.
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Aug 31, 2009 21:30
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Im about a 3rd way through The Child Thief by Brom. (Just Brom apperently) Its basicaly a darker version of Peter Pan. I know it sounds like somthing a fan fiction writer in middle school would do but it is so far much better than it sounds.
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Sep 1, 2009 14:21
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Just bought The Big Sleep by Chandler. I'm still working on Bad Samaritans, by Chang (an excellent, but somewhat biased look at trade policy and development economics), but am very much looking forward to Chandler's work, which I understand epitomizes (or was seminal to) the noir detective genre. Just thinking about it evokes the Bogart film, and hopefully the writing will live up to the hype.
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Sep 1, 2009 19:00
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I'm a few chapters into The Glass Bead Game by Hesse. It's the mock history and biography of a philosophical game and one of the leaders involved in it. I'm really enjoying it so far.
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Sep 1, 2009 20:35
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M/F by Anthony Burgess. I picked it up because I'm preparing a lecture on A Clockwork Orange and felt not as well read in Burg as I'd like to be. So far, very impressed. Utterly innovative in terms of language, again, but in a completely different way to C.O...will post more thoughts when I finish it in the recommendation thread because unless the second half is somehow a trainwreck (which I doubt) I'm going to start spruiking this one.
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Sep 2, 2009 01:28
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Just impulse purchased the Thomas Covenant trilogy in a single tome, on the recommendations I've absorbed around this place. The best part? The shop I bought it from is called the Book Barn.
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Sep 2, 2009 13:47
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Just started Barbarians by Terry Jones & Alan Ereira. It's pretty good so far, basically Roman history from the perspective of the various peoples along their borders. So a decidedly anti-Roman book.
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Sep 2, 2009 20:40
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The Essays of E.B White by (HOLY poo poo!) E.B White. My favorite writer of all time. His prose inspires me to terrible analogies like: his prose is as clear as a lake in Maine on a sunny morning in August.
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Sep 3, 2009 23:17
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One chapter into Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. There isn't much I can say beyond the fact that he's very descriptive, really; the first chapter is only 12 pages long. He is certainly very specific though, which I suppose is nice because it leads to more precise visualisations in my mind. That's all I got so far. 
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Sep 4, 2009 06:12
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Empress by Karen Miller. I wanted somthing High Fantasy and decided to give this a try. Very graphic so far and I get the feeling this may get worse. But for now im sticking with it. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I started reading this again after I finished The Child Thief. But it was raining outside today when I ran to get to the bus and it got wet, I may need to buy a new copy. 
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Sep 16, 2009 23:29
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The Queen of Puerto Rico and Other Stories by Joe Frank. He used to have a radio show on Southern California public radio where he would read monologues or play recorded phone conversations and generally be cerebral. Bought it as library book (there was only one print run in 1993), and it has a fair amount of water damage. It's probably the first book I feel I've "collected," rather than just own.
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Sep 17, 2009 02:08
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The lord of the rings, by JRR Tolkien. Infinitely superior to the movie trilogy in every conceivable way. The book has an epic storyline that the movie at best only provides a preview to.
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Sep 17, 2009 09:59
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Hell's Gate from RZM. It's probably the definitive book about the Battle of Cherkassy/the Korsun Pocket and it's finally back in print after having been OOP for a few years. Doesn't hurt that it's a really nice large format hardcover edition either. feraltennisprodigy fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Sep 17, 2009 |
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Sep 17, 2009 12:31
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If you're into nonfiction... Reading Evan Wright's Generation Kill. It's pretty good so far, really informative. Kind of disturbing. Just finished Dave Cullen's Columbine. Really excellent, reads like a novel.
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Sep 17, 2009 20:04
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Bought/ordered: After re-seeing Bubba Ho-Tep and appreciating it much more than the first time I saw it. I was reminded that the works of Joe R. Lansdale might be something that I could appreciate. And since I read a lot of crime fiction I decided to order some the following: Savage Season Mucho Mojo The Bottoms Let's hope it doesn't turn out as my Harlan Coben experiment  Ellroys Blood a Rover, and can't wait (to get the time to read it...) Dan Simmons Children of the Night. I recently re-read Summer of Night and Carrion Comfort and was as equally entertained as 15 years ago. So why not give it a go with Children of the Night. Began: Richard Matheson's: Journal of the Gun Years. Hasn't really read enough to get a opinion on it.
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Sep 19, 2009 00:19
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Lately I've been thinking about how to fill the huge gaps in my knowledge of poetry, so I decided I'd start with the biggest modern poet I could think of and bought T.S. Eliot's Collected Poems, 1909-1962. I also started El Dorado by Dorothy Porter, for classwork. It's a crime novel in verse and although I've only read a few pages I know I'm going to like it a lot. Apparently Porter was one of Australia's best poets and her verse novels were surprisingly popular. One day I'd like to get around to The Golden Gate Bridge and Fredy Neptune.
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Sep 19, 2009 13:18
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I finally started the Dexter series and I'm flying through. I'm about halfway through the second book and I've absolutely loved it so far.
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Sep 19, 2009 16:10
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I've got a couple of weeks till my next class, so I'll see about going through George Pelecanos's Drama City. edit: Just started Eon by Greg Bear and I'm loving the poo poo out of it after only 50 pages. V-Men fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Sep 26, 2009 |
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Sep 19, 2009 20:56
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Just bought Richard Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. In this book, Dawkins explains the evidence supporting the idea that life evolves. The first chapter has an interesting idea: to do away with the endless "Evolution is just a theory" misunderstandings, Dawkins coins a new word, theorum, pronounced like decorum. Like a theorem in mathematics, a theorum is an idea that is supported by so much evidence that it's just stupid to deny it, like the idea that the Earth goes around the Sun. I'm liking this so far. The book has some beautiful illustrations, like a full-color photo of the Darwinius masillae fossil that hit the news a few months ago.
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Sep 27, 2009 20:58
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I just started reading The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos, who was a writer for "The Wire." The story is engaging, but I like this type of story/writing much more in a TV/movie setting. On the page, for some reason, it's much less engaging than it is when good actors get a hold of it. It was kind of interesting to make connections between this story and the writer. You see a lot of the same dialogue and names and there's basically an exact replica of Bubbles from The Wire: A junkie named Fishhead who is an informant, who lives in his sister's basement, which she locks from the outside when he's in there. Anyway, seems like an interesting little mystery and I'm curious to see how it turns out.
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Sep 28, 2009 02:47
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Just started reading: Perec, Life: A User's Manual, which was on my shelf for a while. ~100 pages in, not bad so far. Still adapting to skim a little through sections of nothing but furniture and knick-knack description. As much 'writing exercise' as novel, it's hard to gauge along traditional criteria, but the story peeking through the cracks is pretty fascinating. Currently listening (long commute): When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes, Lawrence Block. Gritty detective stuff, fun and gripping. The audio format (with appropriate reader) lends itself well. Just bought: Gaddis, The Recognitions. I've wanted to pick it up for a while, but the penguin classics edition (all I've seen around here) is on far shittier paper than I'm willing to deal with for 950 pages. I finally looked around, and for less than a buck more, got the (gorgeous) Atlantic edition flown in from across the pond at bookdepository.
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Sep 28, 2009 17:13
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High Society by Ben Elton. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for at least a year at this point, and having read the first 50 pages so far, I find I cannot put the bloody thing down--which says a lot, because I've been either giving up after a chapter, resolving to finish later and then on to the next book for a few pages for quite a while now. "Books are prostitutions for the mind. Great for the quickies they can provide, and difficult to stay with one because the desire for variety is almost insatiable."
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Sep 29, 2009 05:18
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