|
Dr Scoofles posted:I just finished The Collector by John Fowles. It's about an obsessive introvert who wins the pools and so kidnaps an art student he had been following for years. I read it in two sittings, the main narrator is a simple soul and so the writing is not at all heavy. The sheer oddness of his behaviour compelled me to carry on reading. I just finished Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. Third Dan Simmons book that I've read, and I really enjoyed it. Definitely an epic horror novel, and very entertaining. I love the "vampires" who have varying mindraping abilities. Yes, there is mindrape.
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 05:33
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 15:33 |
|
|
I just finished Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson. This was a departure from his usual time-travel-with-a-twist stories and I liked it. Basically over the next 200 years oil runs out, there are fertility problems, agriculture collapses, and the presidency of the United States (60 of them now) is hereditary. Oh and the Mormons control one of three branches of government (the one tied up with religion). It was pretty funny and very accessible. I am going very Book Barn now as the next two on my reading list are Mr. Shivers by BB's own Spiny Norman and then book of the month Gravity's Rainbow.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 06:04
|
|
|
Rafael Yglesias's A Happy Marriage. I checked it out on a whim because I've been reading his son's blog for years, and it got very good reviews. It's an intensely personal and semi-autobiographical depiction of Yglesias's care for his terminally ill wife and the story of how they met. The novel alternates between chapters describing the last few weeks of his wife's life and their first few dates. The transitions are shocking for most of the story, until the end, when the parallel stories share a chapter and start blending together in a very interesting way. Overall, a very touching and well-crafted novel.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 07:03
|
|
|
Russell Banks' Rule of the Bone. The story of a young guy who has a very hosed up adolescence. I think if you liked catcher in the rye you'd like this. Hard book to describe.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 13:24
|
|
|
Just finished Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte, about a former war hero-turned mercenary swordsman in 17th-century Spain who runs afoul of the Inquisition. Enjoyable, but the ending left a lot to be desired. I know that it was part of a series (the first book in said series), but a little more closure would have been nice. Seemed to end rather abruptly and lazily. Not sure if I'll try the next in the series.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 16:20
|
|
|
I just finished A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, and having read about Maclean's life, and the time and context in which the story was written, it was no surprise how wonderfully written each page was. Each sentence read like narration over some silent film or a slideshow of photographs illustrating small town Montana through the author’s aging memory of youth. Often times, each passage was deserving of a second reading, as both a literal and existential meaning was at play. I’ve had Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods for some time now, and I think I’ll read that next.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 17:42
|
|
|
vinnykoda posted:I’ve had Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods for some time now, and I think I’ll read that next. Thanks for that. I'm going to go out and find it right now.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 18:59
|
|
|
Just finished Foundation by Asimov. As it turns out, religion and politics are just as boring and annoying in space as they are on Earth! 2.5/5
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2010 23:02
|
|
|
Finished The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie. Read them over the course of the last couple of weeks and found them very enjoyable, but not great. The characters he wrote were really interesting, much more so than the overall plot which seemed rather generic for this type of fantasy. Try it out if you like GRRM's books.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 06:18
|
|
|
Just finished East of Eden. I'm not really sure how to express the way this book made me feel. All i can say is that its a great book.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 06:49
|
|
|
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell. I read this in what felt like no time at all, in two sittings. It's like Palahniuk, but without the tired angsty teenage bullshit. It was entertaining enough brain candy to recommend to friends who want a quick read. I really read it, though, to take a break from Heretics of Dune. Not that it was bad by any means, but after plowing through four Dune books in February, it's hard to get excited about two more that are really more of the same. Which I don't think was exactly to its detriment. For me, Dune has been less about the cast of characters and more about the imperatives that drive them. Saving the universe is always a plot device that's easy to get invested in, but after four Dune books, readers have basically followed the history of a planet for several millenia and should be fairly well hooked. I felt attached to Dune, and it helped me stay interested in finding out what happens to it after another book. Herbert does a great job with manipulating the details of what appears to be a fairly standard "battle between good and evil" story in the first book and turning it into a complex struggle between powers and philosophies that eventually transcend moralistic judgments. It's so good that I'm afraid that after finishing Chapterhouse: Dune I will want to read the Brian Herbert sequels and inevitably be terribly disappointed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 12:30
|
|
|
urbancontra posted:It's so good that I'm afraid that after finishing Chapterhouse: Dune I will want to read the Brian Herbert sequels and inevitably be terribly disappointed. That's what I did. I think they get more venom than they deserve. The major problem is that it seems like KJA and Brian Herbert took Frank's notes and crammed everything into their two novels. (I'm only talking about Hunters and Sandworms here.) The ending makes sense, but it's so horribly botched that it feels like fanfiction. Unlicensed Star Wars fanfiction. My two latest: Grampa in Oz, Ruth Plumly Thompson Eighteenth of the Oz books. Some funny puns. I think I might be getting burnt out on these. Not Flesh Nor Feathers, Cherie Priest Priest does ghost stories that aren't lame, and this one has flaming zombies. Weakest of the "Eden" trilogy, it's still pretty drat good. Flaming loving zombies. You just can't go wrong.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 13:43
|
|
|
Mr. Shivers, late yesterday afternoon. While I felt something was missing from the story (I've been trying to put my finger on it since I put the book down but it still escapes me), I will say that it was a fun and incredibly easy read. I even had a few laughs there were more than inappropriate (the axe to the gir's face was just so... unexpected... I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that it actually happened). Kudos' to a goon getting published, this book deserves every penny it gets in revenue.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 16:50
|
|
|
Islands in the Stream By Hemingway. Easily in my top 3 books ever. It starts off great in Bimini. It seems to get a little stale in the middle and the end is dark but excellent. You can tell Hemingway was mentally going downhill during the book.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 19:01
|
|
|
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter I always came across this in libraries and bookstores and honestly avoided it because of the giant "Oprah's Book Club" sticker on the cover. Then I thought that's a dumb reason not to read a book, considering that some of Faulkner's work is recommended by Oprah as well. Not incredible, but still very, very good considering her age when she wrote it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2010 22:35
|
|
|
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith Under A Banner of Heaven follows the real life murders perpetrated by the Lafferty brothers. Krakauer does a masterful job of presenting the creation of Mormonism as well as the persecution they endured throughout history and connecting it with the views of modern day Mormon fundamentalists. It reads part like an adventure part western and at some points down right freighting but never like a history book. If you have any passing interest in how a modern day religion is formed or like true crime stories about brothers who received a hit list from god, read this book. Tainen fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Mar 19, 2010 |
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 05:47
|
|
|
Just finished earlier tonight Forge of God by Greg Bear. Good book, the author unfolds the story rather well I think. I didn't feel there was any special attention on specific character development, it seemed like the author was developing the story and atmosphere primarily. It isn't a unique story, but it's told in a somber, thought provoking way. Will definitely be reading the sequel, but not before Infinite Jest, which is amazing already at only page 35. I think I know how my weekend is going to unfold.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 06:40
|
|
|
I just finished re-reading Catch-22. Despite having read it twice now, I still do not understand how Milo can buy fresh eggs in Sicily for one cent, sell them to Malta for four and a half cents, buy them back for seven cents, and sell them to the mess halls for five cents, and still make a profit. At least I get a share.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 09:36
|
|
|
GruntyThrst posted:I just finished re-reading Catch-22. Despite having read it twice now, I still do not understand how Milo can buy fresh eggs in Sicily for one cent, sell them to Malta for four and a half cents, buy them back for seven cents, and sell them to the mess halls for five cents, and still make a profit. At least I get a share. If you bought 100 eggs at a penny each, you'd be at -$1. Sold at $.045 each, you would then be at $3.50 Bought at $.07, you'd be at -$3.50 Sold at $.05, you'd be at $1.50 So, that's a 150% profit overall. Yeah, it bothered me too. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 10:55
|
|
|
Just finished the first two Jack Reacher novels, Die Trying and Killing Floor, which I enjoyed both of. I hear Reacher himself is pretty much written to a formula which the author knew sold well in existing thrillers, but it works really well. He ends up being basically a far more sympathetic Jack Bauer for me, and Die Trying especially is something I could see being a season of 24 if they'd gone down a different path with things. And like good 24, I kept not being able to stop at the end of a chapter. I'm starting Tripwire now, and it was a pretty sharp reminder that the first books were written in the 90s when Reacher is just able to give a fake name and get a flight to New York.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 11:36
|
|
|
I just finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's for my English elective course but I absolutely loved the book, could not put it down. I loved all of the sci-fi and fantasy references that were made, as well as all of the footnotes (even if they took up like half the page, I thought they were fun to read). I wish I understood Spanish though, there are a lot of terms and phrases that were used that went right over my head. I think if I reread the book, I'll try and look up the translation for each Spanish word as I come across it. But yeah, great book and I was really glad to have read it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 20:51
|
|
|
homewrecker posted:I just finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's for my English elective course but I absolutely loved the book, could not put it down. I loved all of the sci-fi and fantasy references that were made, as well as all of the footnotes (even if they took up like half the page, I thought they were fun to read). I wish I understood Spanish though, there are a lot of terms and phrases that were used that went right over my head. I think if I reread the book, I'll try and look up the translation for each Spanish word as I come across it. http://www.annotated-oscar-wao.com/ I'm fluent in Spanish and didn't need the site, but I know it is useful. I don't think I could have enjoyed the book as much if I didn't understand all the Spanish terms.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2010 22:22
|
|
|
Skellen posted:Just finished earlier tonight Forge of God by Greg Bear. Good book, the author unfolds the story rather well I think. I didn't feel there was any special attention on specific character development, it seemed like the author was developing the story and atmosphere primarily. It isn't a unique story, but it's told in a somber, thought provoking way.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2010 00:10
|
|
|
Just finished Goethe's Faust. I'm really glad I read the Homeric epics and Ovid's Metamorphosis beforehand. Really excellent book, and very enjoyable to read. I had a prose translation though, so I feel like I sort of cheated. I'm not sure what's more accurate to the actual German.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2010 02:57
|
|
|
I just finished Pandora in the Congo, I hadn't heard anything on it but I thought it cover looked interesting; so I ordered it. It was a fun read, I felt it drug on a little more than it needed in the middle but for the most part I didn't want to put it down.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2010 17:45
|
|
|
Marsbound by Joe Haldeman. gently caress. That. Book. In fact, I'm still debating actually starting a thread about it. I have never met anything in my life that was so self important while at the same time being so empty and boring.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2010 04:34
|
|
|
The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson. It's long. Like, 2700 pages long. Some of the barqoue literary conceits (extended epistolary sections, etc) can get a little aggravating. The astonishingly long list of multiply-titled characters can be hard to keep straight. But good lord is it a great book. You really couldn't ask for a finer fictionalized yarn of the creation of the modern world.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2010 05:57
|
|
|
I just read A Study in Scarlet. I had never read any Sherlock Holmes before, but I saw someone up a bit in the thread talking about how he liked it. All I can say is I feel like this is a book I should have read all ready! I'm burning through The Sign of Four now and I just can't get enough. The first book was enough to have me get the complete collection. All I can say is I'm really diggin' this right now. edit: Finished Sign of the Four just now, not as good as A Study in Scarlet, though it was still very enjoyable. grvm fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Mar 22, 2010 |
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2010 08:06
|
|
|
Finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss last week and really didn't like it. The main character was too "good-at-everything insertion-fantasy" for me. I did enjoy going back to the realm of epic fantasy, but I would have liked to read more about the "evil" guys and what they were all about than the main character's 'college(?)' education. Also recently read The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw, which completely sucked me in. Couldn't put it down, read it cover-to-cover. The ending completely broke my heart, I was honestly expecting them to find a cure.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 06:38
|
|
|
Sherbet posted:Finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss last week and really didn't like it. The main character was too "good-at-everything insertion-fantasy" for me. I did enjoy going back to the realm of epic fantasy, but I would have liked to read more about the "evil" guys and what they were all about than the main character's 'college(?)' education. I actually really liked that about the guy from NotW. Yes, he's brilliant. Believably so. However all this is tempered by the fact ultimately all that genius is going to collapse in on him at some point. He's also likable, unlike many other mary sue-esque protagonists I won't mention (Bella). Your right about the villains. I'd of liked to have seen more of them myself. However, I was actually more annoyed at where he stopped at the end of the book than anything else. Nothing really got resolved at all. He just sort of... ended in the middle of the story and now I'm stuck sitting on my hands while I wait for part 2. Him and George RR Martin I swear...
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 08:21
|
|
|
Sherbet posted:Finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss last week and really didn't like it. The main character was too "good-at-everything insertion-fantasy" for me. I did enjoy going back to the realm of epic fantasy, but I would have liked to read more about the "evil" guys and what they were all about than the main character's 'college(?)' education. Since the author is taking so drat long to get the next one out I re read this book recently and found myself (again) hugely irritated by the narators reactions to women. They are not women at all, but devine creatures of beauty that exist on pedistals so high that the reader is completely alienated from liking them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 08:23
|
|
|
Dr Scoofles posted:Since the author is taking so drat long to get the next one out I re read this book recently and found myself (again) hugely irritated by the narators reactions to women. They are not women at all, but devine creatures of beauty that exist on pedistals so high that the reader is completely alienated from liking them. The Name of the Wind really creeped me out, for pretty much the same reasons people have already mentioned. The way the guy approached magic seemed novel and interesting, but the characters and prose were just too bland to really sell any kind of world.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 16:01
|
|
|
Finished up three books in the last week: Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick was pretty dry and boring and filled with tips that seemed like common knowledge to me. Not recommended. I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max was immature and 100% completely unbelievable and self-serving and yet still completely hilarious. What's even better is that girls think it is funny even though the whole book is an insult to them as a gender group. I thought the book was funny but I'm glad his movie completely bombed. The guy is a loving douchebag. The Bartender's Journals by Something Awful's own Dave Lawrence (forum name James Woods) was kind of like Tucker Max's book but not as funny. It was however 100% more believable than Mr. Max's stories. This one was just over 100 pages but very aggressively typeset. The printing was small and the pages had very little in the way of margins. I hate it when books are printed that way because it makes it hard to hold/read the book one-handed. I started reading Mr. Shivers by SA user Spiny Norman this morning. I am a little over 100 pages in. It reads really fast. I wonder if this is because the author and I see so much of the same vocabulary and sentence structure from both reading the same internet forum? I checked this book out from the library and apparently it is pretty popular because I can't renew it because there are several people on the waiting list. Good job Spiny!
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2010 21:56
|
|
|
Regarding The Name of the Wind, keep in mind that while Kvothe is narrating his experience as an adult, at the same time he is informing Chronicler of the emotions and motivations he had as a child. I didn't get the same feeling that he was so-good-at-everything considering that almost every major event in the book is him either loving up big time, overlooking something, or expecting some cliche storybook resolution only to deal with the cold stark reality of the situation and being slammed with the opposite. Rothfuss is doing a signing, reading, and question session here on Wednesday and I can't wait to meet him.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 05:11
|
|
|
I just finished The Rum Diary, and I really loved every second of it. I wanted to read it before the movie came out so now I am interested to see what they do with the movie.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 07:55
|
|
|
In the past few days, Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan. My first Sagan book, and definitely not my last. A very nice insight into a variety of topics. Secondly, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. The first fiction book I've read in a while, and, as always, Fforde delivers the wonderful, ridiculous but entirely logical madness. Fantastic stuff, even if the ending made me thirst for more.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 08:35
|
|
|
Soft Money 1M posted:Rothfuss is doing a signing, reading, and question session here on Wednesday and I can't wait to meet him. If you are feeling up for it, would you ask him about how the second book is coming along? For all my big words I did enjoy it a lot and am giving up on there ever being a second.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 08:55
|
|
|
Dr Scoofles posted:If you are feeling up for it, would you ask him about how the second book is coming along? For all my big words I did enjoy it a lot and am giving up on there ever being a second. Dude, I want to know too but I'd hate to piss the dude off. It says that's the one thing he doesn't want people asking all over his facebook and website.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 16:09
|
|
|
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - it was a fun, quick read, and was predictably good and in the same vein as American Gods. I enjoyed it a bit more, though; I think the characters, particularly the protagonist, felt a little more well-rounded. I also picked up The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy on a bit of a whim. It's written in dramatic form - it's more a play than a novel - and is a really sparse, quick read. The premise is very simple: two characters only named White and Black; Black is an ex-con who found God, White is a well-off atheist professor, and Black saves White from killing himself and they proceed to have a discussion over each other's beliefs and pasts. However, it was well-done and very typical McCarthy. I enjoyed it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2010 23:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 15:33 |
|
|
Haven't read a book since I put down Red Seas Under Red Skies halfway through due to boredom. I may pick up Game of Thrones again. The series deserves a re-read now that I have it in e-book form (Kindle) and I won't have to lug around those thick paperbacks with their pages falling out due to improper binding. Then again, I may also pick up the Prince of Nothing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2010 03:33
|
|