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I just started Twilight, okay? Sue me. I just want to see what the hype is all about. I'm 15% done so far and nothing has really happened. In fact, it reads more like a Harlequin Romance novel.
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Jan 9, 2012 19:45
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dnbrwn posted:I just started Twilight, okay? Sue me. I just want to see what the hype is all about. I'm 15% done so far and nothing has really happened. In fact, it reads more like a Harlequin Romance novel. I think that's pretty much the appeal.
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Jan 9, 2012 19:58
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Harlequin romances are a bit more fun, or at least have more sex in them. And I have just started reading the 1Q84 book that I got for christmas, it seems interesting but I am a bit wary of it, what is everyone elses opinion?
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Jan 10, 2012 02:05
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I'm about halfway into Mother Night by Vonnegut. All his novels are such quick and captivating reads, and his introduction about being in Dresden during the Allied bombings was a remarkable read. I hope he wrote more about his personal experiences in WWII. Once I'm done with that I'll be starting The Salem Witch Trials Reader a 500-page sociological, political, and historical breakdown of the Salem Witch Trials. I recently re-read "The Dreams in the Witch-House" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft and those stories really piqued my interest on the Witch Trials since Lovecraft peppers both stories with actual facts about the trials.
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Jan 10, 2012 02:18
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I'm halfway through 2001: A Space Odyssey and I'm really enjoying it. The first part of the book really makes you think about mankind as a whole more than I remember the movie doing. It's pretty amazing that it was written before people flew to the moon.
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Jan 10, 2012 13:35
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Just started The Night Eternal, this is the last book of the Strain Trilogy. I finished the book two about a year ago, and in this time I finished several other books, so I am still picking up the story. The funny thing is that I am starting to think that I already read this one before, weird feeling. For that I really prefer to only start to read trilogies after the last book is on print, so I can read them all. Just finished The Hunger Games Triology btw.
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Jan 10, 2012 17:02
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MeatwadIsGod posted:I'm about halfway into Mother Night by Vonnegut. All his novels are such quick and captivating reads, and his introduction about being in Dresden during the Allied bombings was a remarkable read. I hope he wrote more about his personal experiences in WWII. Most of his work has some tie to his experience in the war. Check out some of his essays and interviews for a clearer, more or less linear version of it. I'm working on A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole as part of my project to read every Pulitzer winner. Very enjoyable.
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Jan 10, 2012 19:38
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I just started The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Next up on deck after that is It by Stephen King, followed by A Dance With Dragons by GRRM.
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Jan 10, 2012 20:01
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drat it, I read a lot of books at once. I finish a couple of books within a few days, and suddenly I want to pick up a whole bunch of others. I'm currently around 10-25% through each of the following: • The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (this will probably take a few months - I don't plan to read them all this year, but I'd like to get through the first 3 or 4) • Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley (pretty fun space opera which I'm enjoying so far; but drat, I need to learn to finish some sci-fi trilogies before starting yet another) • Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett (I want to read at least 5 or 6 Discworld books this year, and I'll focus mainly on the City Watch and maybe the Death subseries) • Alien Contact ed. by Marty Halpern (an awesome, thus far, collection of sci-fi short stories; I'll be able to dip into it whenever, that's the beauty of short story collections) • How to Teach Quantum Physics to your Dog by Chad Orzel (a cutesy quick read, I don't expect it to be anything amazing) I also got 18% into I was an Alien Cat Toy by Ann Somerville (don't ask) but I pretty much gave up on it because it's terrible as gently caress. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Jan 12, 2012 |
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Jan 12, 2012 14:23
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I just recently picked up a copy of Flowers for Algernon for my kindle, after someone mentioned I should re-read it. I read this way back in 7th grade, but apparently had a censored copy of it. I had no idea there was a censored and uncensored copy, but I remember really liking it when I read it back in school, so I'll give this full version a whirl.
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Jan 13, 2012 11:12
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I just started reading Dune for the first time. I'm really digging it so far, I like how the details of who everyone is and what's going on come out gradually - it really helps in retaining it all. I also like the politic/business combo that's going on so far. 50 pages in.
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Jan 13, 2012 22:47
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Just recently bought and have been blazing through Alexandros Papadiamantis's "The Murderess". Papadiamantis has been called Greece's Dostoevsky, but his method of bringing out the grotesque nature of eccentric people within rural Greek society strikes me more as something a Greek Flannery O'Connor would write. Still Peter Levi's translation at least manages to allow for a good read (I don't speak modern Greek, so I have no idea how accurate it is), and so far the book has been hard to put down.
ProperGanderPusher fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Jan 14, 2012 |
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Jan 14, 2012 03:00
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Just started reading 22... Eh, I don't know. That new book by Stephen King. It's good so far. I liked the references to Derry and the events of It. Here's hoping it has a good ending.
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Jan 14, 2012 11:31
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The used bookstore in town I like had a small flood and needed to make some cash, so they had a half off everything sale. Picked up, Dubliners, Don DeLillo's Ratner's Star, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and Julian Barnes' History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. Really looking forward to the DeLillo, but all are books I've had on my radar for a while so it'll be nice to read them.
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Jan 15, 2012 02:39
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I'm currently reading King's 11/22/63, but when I hit the thrift stores today, I picked up Desperation at one place and The Regulators at the other. Both hardcovers and in excellent condition. I figured at a buck a piece, why not?
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Jan 15, 2012 02:51
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Octy posted:I hated Anna Karenina but loved War and Peace. You're weird. I think I personally preferred War And Peace as well, especially once you start figuring out who the truly central character is. I just finished Jules Verne's De la Terre à la Lune. On one hand, it's amazing how much they already knew about astronomy, physics and science in general back in 1865. On the other hand, their plan literally consists of encasing themselves in a giant cannonball and then shooting the cannonball at the moon. Without protective suits of any kind and without any way to return. Are you sure you've thought this through, protagonists?
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Jan 15, 2012 04:27
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Pulled the trigger on the Kindle edition of Negri and Hardt's Empire so help me God. I've recently been getting more interested in theories of the city and state and state formation. Between this and Thousand Plateaus (which I haven't had the time or courage to read except for Nomadology) I think I have my work cut out for me.
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Jan 15, 2012 19:35
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I'm about 170 pages into Way of Kings, and so far it's pretty dull. Kaladin and his story are pretty generic and uninteresting (except for Syl, who is the best part of his chapters), and while I do like Shallan as a character, I was annoyed by the resolution of her chapters in part 1. Characters getting a job they're underqualified for just because they have a modicum of determination and tenacity are so clichéd and unrealistic that it makes me want to barf. Why couldn't she have gotten her apprenticeship by being qualified and tenacious? Do people think intelligence and determination are mutually exclusive qualities? Hint: they're not. Sanderson's world-building so far has been a mixed bag, but since I'm only 170 pages in I'll give it a pass for now. I'm of the opinion that the best way to give a world depth is to give it a detailed history (which is part of why I'm such a fan of the Malazan books, and GRRM used history to great effect as well), but I'm guessing Sanderson would disagree.
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Jan 16, 2012 20:22
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I'm currently reading A Night to Remember by Walter Lord, and The Empire Strikes Back by Donald Glut.
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Jan 17, 2012 00:42
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Started House of Chains by Steven Erikson this afternoon. This is the fourth book in the Malazan series, and I'm looking forward to this epic saga. Little confused as to what happened in the prologue and the first few pages of the opening chapter, however.
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Jan 18, 2012 02:25
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Today I bought 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen's Persuasion and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray I just started reading Phillipa Gregory's The Other Boelyn Girl which I got last week at a second-hand book shop alongside The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I also got Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species from the UK Book Depository website. magic pantaloons fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Jan 19, 2012 |
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Jan 19, 2012 11:41
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Already read Night Watch, Day Watch and Twilight Watch so started on the 4th book of The Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, The Last Watch. Enjoyed the books so far they're always good for a surprise.
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Jan 19, 2012 14:46
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Just started on the Steve Jobs bio by Walter Isaacson and Count Zero by William Gibson. I'm actually really excited to read both of these, even though I'm not the biggest reader of biographies.
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Jan 19, 2012 23:34
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I just got a really great condition used copy of Memories of Ice from Amazon for only $6. I was kinda wary about a Like New condition used hardcover for $6, but I'm pretty pleased. The same seller has a new hardcover of The Bonerhunters for $8 but I don't have the money.  e: ugh that's loving half the price of the trade paperback. For some reason all the Malazan TPBs have been going up in price to drat near their sticker price. Or maybe it's everything on Amazon. Conduit for Sale! fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Jan 19, 2012 |
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Jan 19, 2012 23:52
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Conduit for Sale! posted:The Bonerhunters I admit I stopped at book 3, but I wonder what directions the series went later on...
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Jan 20, 2012 06:18
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Chamberk posted:I admit I stopped at book 3, but I wonder what directions the series went later on... Halfway through the series Erikson just decided he was tired of epic fantasy and switched to Leisure Suit Larry style comedy porn.
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Jan 20, 2012 06:28
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I just started reading A Soldier First, the autobiography of General Rick Hillier, former Chief of Defense Staff in Canada and highest ranking Newfie in history. It's amusing so far, though the dude totally glossed over his childhood in Newfoundland other than playing copy as a kid and almost dying. This book seems less likely to completely shatter my heart than did Shake Hands with the Devil, thankfully. Christ, that book...  I'll probably also start reading something else soon, as this immense hardcover tome absolutely will not fit in my lunchkit and I need something to read on break. I got Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and Flashman for Christmas, so I guess I'll be back into the neverending historical fiction genre!
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Jan 20, 2012 22:14
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I just started Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan. I heard it's not that great but I'm a sucker for some Amy Tan. I'm also reading the Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, which is suppose to be amazing, even though it's a historical fiction.
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Jan 20, 2012 23:25
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11% into The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan, and while the book hasn't even got up to when the first Terminator was made, it's already pretty interesting. However the book is really light: only about 250 pages, which covers from Cameron's early days working as a model-builder for Roger Corman, up to post-Avatar. That you can spend so few pages talking about such a fascinating director, who has an amazing collection of movies, documentaries and film-making inventions under his belt, is disappointing. I wish this book was far more detailed. It could easily be double the length. NB: For a really awesome and incredibly detailed film-maker biography I recommend Brian Sibley's biography of Peter Jackson, which is almost 600 pages long and totally crammed with fascinating info.
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Jan 24, 2012 13:53
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Hedrigall posted:11% into The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan,
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Jan 25, 2012 07:15
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You guys talked me into picking up The Landmark Thucydides. I'm curious how the translation will compare to my penguin copy, but I'm happy this one's full of notes and maps.
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Jan 25, 2012 20:13
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gently caress, my Kindle is sucking up all my money! I just bought 2 or 3 more Discworld books, as well as Nexus: Ascension by Robert Boyczuk, a cool-sounding sci-fi/horror novel I can't believe I'd never heard of before. Reviews are good, but the blurb alone sold me:blurb posted:After returning from a thirty-year trade mission, the crew of the Ea wake from cryonic suspension to find that their home world, Bh'Haret, is dead. 'Screamer' satellites have been strung around their planet warning of a plague. A scan of the surface of Bh'Haret reveals no trace of human life -- only crumbling cities. Their fuel and other supplies nearly exhausted, the crew has little choice but to make planet fall on Bh'Haret, infected with a virulent and deadly disease. In a desperate scramble to save themselves, the crew members of the Ea must each, in his or her own way, come to terms with the death of their world - and try to rekindle a belief in the possibility of life.
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Jan 26, 2012 09:17
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Just picked up Foucault's Pendulum, about 70 pages in and really liking the style. Thought I wouldn't care too much for the plot after learning more about it, but actually looking forward to the part where it's bound to pick up. Also got The Sound and The Fury, don't really know why. I don't know much of anything about Faulkner except that I haven't read anything from him, so I thought I'd start here. So far it's tough to keep up with the first section's narrator, a pain in the rear end actually. Although if it turns out to be good I'm sure a reread will make the first bit a lot easier to read and more interesting.
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Jan 27, 2012 13:09
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Just bought Child of Fire by Harry Connolly. I keep hearing good things about the 20 Palaces series, and it was only 99 cents for the ebook.
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Jan 27, 2012 14:16
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Just started the Eragon audiobook. The narrator is good but the story is very pedestrian fantasy and I'm not sure why people are so crazy for it. Hoping it will pick up as the book goes on.
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Jan 27, 2012 18:56
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Are people really crazy about it? I'm not really the target audience so maybe I just missed some hype, but all I've ever heard was disdain along the lines of, "This is what happens when you let a spoiled 13-year-old think they are an artist."
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Jan 28, 2012 07:22
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Amazon told me I would like The Rook, so I got it on my kindle. I'm liking it so far, though I tend to like pretty much any book I read.
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Jan 28, 2012 07:25
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The Nerdist Way Chris Hardwick. I had no idea that it was a self help book for nerds. I thought it would be filled with stories from the podcast or his tour but nope, its a self help book. I am going to read it anyways. The Man in the Rockefeller Suit Mark Seal. Pretty interesting so far. A man from Germany assumes the identity of a Rockefeller and gets away with it for a very long time.
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Jan 29, 2012 04:33
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Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook The Wheel of Time, Boxed Set I, Books 1-3: The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan House of Chains by Steven Erikson Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge I really shouldn't have spent so much money on books, but at least I have plenty to read for a while! I've been looking forward to starting the Wheel of Time series - after ASoIaF and Malazan I really want a more traditional epic fantasy series. I have the LotR boxset that I got when I was a kid and still haven't read, but considering I was bored by the movies, I think the books might not be my cup of tea. Then again, maybe they'd work better for me as books, especially since I just generally don't really like movies.
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Jan 29, 2012 05:00
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I'm about 90 pages into "A Storm of Swords" which I'm anxious to find more time to sit down and read, but I imagine it will take me a couple of weeks to get through, with work and all. In the meantime I'm a little short of halfway through Kathy Reich's "Grave Secrets" on audiobook. I grabbed it awhile back from the library on a whim. It's intersting, but I don't know if I'd pick up another one right away. I'm waiting for the first "Wheel of Time" audiobook to come in at the library. It will be my next listen. At the bookstore I just snagged Jim Butcher's "Proven Guilty" and I shamefully admit "Lunatic Cafe" by Laurel K. Hamilton which have been added to my pile of books to read. (I don't know why I've been on such a fantasy/sci-fi kick lately) Also, I've slowly working my way though "Essential X-Men Vol 5" (while Clairmont hasn't done anything worth talking about with the x-men for years, his 1980's stuff is quite outstanding. I'm also slowly working on the "Teen Titans Omnibus: Volume #1".
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Jan 29, 2012 05:13
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