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Just started The Stranger by Albert Camus last night, it's pretty interesting so far, mostly due to the short, punctual nature of the first few chapters.
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Jun 12, 2012 15:29
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oTHi posted:Just sent Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny to my Kindle. I hope it's as good as everyone keeps saying it is It is every bit as good as people say it is. I started The Master and Margarita last week, and I think the first chapter was perhaps the best first chapter I've ever read in any book. So I'm hoping the rest of the book holds up to the first chapter.
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Jun 13, 2012 15:13
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Just started Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson. quote:In the reign of President Deklan Comstock, a reborn United States is struggling back to prosperity. Over a century after the Efflorescence of Oil, after the Fall of the Cities, after the Plague of Infertility, after the False Tribulation, after the days of the Pious Presidents, the sixty stars and thirteen stripes wave from the plains of Athabaska to the national capital in New York City. In Colorado Springs, the Dominion sees to the nation’s spiritual needs. In Labrador, the Army wages war on the Dutch. America, unified, is rising once again. I've enjoyed Wilson's work since I read A Bridge of Years.
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Jun 13, 2012 22:46
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Mister Kingdom posted:Just started Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson. Do you plan on posting your thoughts in What Did You Just Finish? This sounds interesting, but it also sounds like the kind of thing that will be really good or really bad depending on the author's skills, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish.
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Jun 13, 2012 23:28
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WeaponGradeSadness posted:Do you plan on posting your thoughts in What Did You Just Finish? This sounds interesting, but it also sounds like the kind of thing that will be really good or really bad depending on the author's skills, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish. Probably not. I suck at reviewing books, movies, etc. I will say this about Wilson: he usually doesn't go into much detail about the science-y thing that drives his novels. It's like, "Hey, this thing happened, just go with it."
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Jun 13, 2012 23:32
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Just started K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain based on recommends from the Everest disaster thread, setting aside Brandon Sanderson's Elantris which I've concluded is horrible after slogging through roughly 1/3 of it.
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Jun 14, 2012 03:29
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Hoping to start 11/22/63 by King tomorrow. I'd start now but husband has the nook. 
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Jun 15, 2012 05:33
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I just ordered John Scalzi's Redshirts. I did read his Old Man's War, but this sounds like something completely different in tone.quote:Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory. So sounds like a self aware Star Trek episode.
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Jun 15, 2012 13:50
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nate fisher posted:I just ordered John Scalzi's Redshirts. I did read his Old Man's War, but this sounds like something completely different in tone. I'm nearly finished. It's a fun, funny, light read but don't expect any amazing deconstruction of the genre. It actually has a very specific premise that two British comedy TV shows have done in the last 5 years. Not very original.
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Jun 15, 2012 13:59
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About to start The Life of Samuel Johnson. I've never read a full biography before so I figure I'd start with one of the older and more esteemed ones.
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Jun 17, 2012 01:39
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I started Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. I really wish there were more narrative histories on Rome, because I just don't have the concentration for a lot of the ancient historians, even with the more modern translations The author Tom Holland also has a book about Persia which I might take a look at next time I'm on a history kick.
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Jun 17, 2012 02:25
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Myrmidongs posted:I started Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. I really wish there were more narrative histories on Rome, because I just don't have the concentration for a lot of the ancient historians, even with the more modern translations Let me know how you like this, I've been meaning to give it a shot. Also, I'm a big fan of the Robert Graves translation of Suetonius, have you tried that? It's pretty digestible as 12 small biographies and nowhere near as dense a read as Tacitus or Livy.
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Jun 17, 2012 03:27
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I'm reading Jules Verne's Michel Strogoff. The book itself is fairly entertaining, but why did this edition have to spoil most of the plot on the back cover, including the fact that Strogoff is blinded by the Tartars in the middle of the story? The fact that it's a historical classic doesn't mean you have to spoil everything beforehand.
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Jun 17, 2012 09:56
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I recently picked up the Dresden Files: Storm Front by Jim Butcher partially because of a friends recommendation and partially because it feels like an "adult" Harry Potter. The series definitely has a good reputation so I hope to enjoy it as much as other people have!
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Jun 18, 2012 07:04
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The Kai Lung Omnibus by Ernest Bramah.
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Jun 20, 2012 02:28
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Just started We by Yevgeny Zamyatin this morning. I've had it on my shelf for years but never got around to reading it, definitely looking forward to seeing how it influenced 1984 (emphasis added as I plan to hold off on any opinions until I've actually read the thing).
Johnbo fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Jun 20, 2012 |
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Jun 20, 2012 14:01
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Just started The Power That Preserves, which is the third book in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant last night, right after finishing The Illearth War. (Posted a whole wall on text about that in the 'What have you just finished?' thread, if anyone wanted to see my thoughts and questions on it) Certainly good so far; just reached the point where Covenant finds the girl being terrified by a snake. Why oh why hasn't he sought medical attention? I'd be surprised if he isn't in a serious condition after this book
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Jun 21, 2012 01:48
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Had a crap week, so I'm trying to compensate with about a thousand books. Six books made their way into my collection in the last two days: Jonathan L Howard's Johannes Cabal the Detective, and Johannes Cabal the Fear Institute, Sergei Lukyanenko's The Night Watch- which I've started about three times at a friend's house and then forgotten to finish, Ben Aaronovitch's Whispers Under Ground, George Mann's The Immorality Engine, the second Amulet comic, by Kazu Kibuishi. Now I just have to get through the rest of the work day so I can go home and read forever.
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Jun 21, 2012 13:58
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Picked up Ready Player One last week, and promptly finished it in two days. Was fast paced and very fun, in my opinion. If you were an 80s kid, it has pretty great appeal. Tryin' to work through a few classics this summer also, and just picked up and began Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. I'm about 1/3 of the way through so far, and feel like I am beginning to grok it. Its very psychedelic in nature, I think that anybody who's spent time exploring their inner space a bit will find it quite thought provoking and relatable. Some reflection time after a reading session is both fitting to the theme, and seems helpful for really appreciating the ideas he's presenting.
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Jun 22, 2012 16:45
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nate fisher posted:I just ordered John Scalzi's Redshirts. I did read his Old Man's War, but this sounds like something completely different in tone. 
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Jun 23, 2012 02:32
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I just bought Leviathon Wakes after reading a bit about it online. That and I saw the second book comes out on Tuesday. I have to finish Where Eagles Dare to start it though. I'm stoked for it though, heard nothing but good things. Anyone here read it?
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Jun 24, 2012 01:17
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My copy of Videogame Zinesters arrived today. I read a good amount of it, and so far it's a great look at the insular videogame industry, what needs to be done in order to make games more accessible, and a call to arms for anyone who wants to start making games. Games games games.
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Jun 27, 2012 02:37
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Just bought The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian and Cakes and Ale and Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. Still have to finish up The Fortune of War before I get stuck into the first book, but I'm looking forward to reading the Maugham novels.
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Jun 27, 2012 09:12
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Just started Tolsty's Anna Karenina. It's interesting but a little slow going. Also picked up (for $0.99 on Kindle) the complete Father Brown mystery series. Fun little reads, been reading it in spurts with Anna Karenina.
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Jun 27, 2012 21:56
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Thanks for reminding me of Father Brown. I mean to read Chesterton when I'm done with O'Brian, Maugham and possibly E.M. Forster...
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Jun 28, 2012 00:26
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I just picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the used bookstore. I was a little hesitant at first as I generally do not like to read books that "everyone" loves...typically they suck. However, after a few chapters in it's pretty interesting. I see myself picking up the sequel after I finish this one.
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Jun 28, 2012 18:41
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I just started on The Ode Less Travelled, a non-academic book about poetry, by Stephen Fry. He is knowledgeable, has strong opinions and witty - and the first chapter has just made me excited to learn more about the art form.
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Jul 2, 2012 12:49
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blackknight5k posted:I just picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the used bookstore. I was a little hesitant at first as I generally do not like to read books that "everyone" loves...typically they suck. However, after a few chapters in it's pretty interesting. I see myself picking up the sequel after I finish this one. In my opinion, the second and third books are by far the better of the trilogy. Anyway, I just started rereading Dune. It's been nearly two decades and dammit that's just too long to go without reading it.
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Jul 2, 2012 18:59
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My neighbors are moving so they had a yard sale. I managed to get a copy of Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men. Haven't read anything by him before, and I've seen the movie. But his prose makes that opening scene with Chigurh under arrest far more horrifying than anything the film does (as great as it is).
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Jul 2, 2012 21:48
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I am reading 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (about a third of the way in now), and every page is blowing me away. The hard science, the imaginative future megastructures, the prose (dialogue and descriptions both shine), the characterisation, the incorporation of classical music into the story, everything is utterly amazing. I feel like the entire input of science fiction I read over the last few years was just a primer for this book. It's probably going to be my favourite book of the year, and perhaps in my top 5 of all time. I also started The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross and it's very enjoyable so far. It's good to read some sci-fi/humour done right, to wash the bad taste out of my mouth left by Scalzi's Redshirts.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:56
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I am reading 50 Shades of Grey - always want to read something before I criticise it. It is shockingly bad. There are probably tens of thousands of authors more deserving of critical success. There are fapbooks for middle aged women that are better, I mean 50 shades is basically a fapbook for our generation but euuugh. It honestly makes Twilight look like a healthy relationship parable.
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Jul 3, 2012 11:26
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Paragon8 posted:I am reading 50 Shades of Grey - always want to read something before I criticise it. I have read sections of the book and the prose is just awful. It makes Twilight seem well written. My wife did read all 3 books, because a)she wanted to see what all the fuss was about and b) she loves a good fapbook. Overall she found the fap-ness of the series lacking and the writing pretty lame. She did enjoy the story in the later books, but she almost never made it pass the first book because of how bad it was. That said I have nothing against the series. Like you I do get pissed because I know there are other authors that deserve this popularity more. Still why should I poo poo on somebody's pleasure (I learn this the hard way in relation to music taste). Yes it is poo poo, but if that woman can get people to buy her product and they enjoy it more power to them. Edit: Just to add I am reading Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreey. I heard about the book because it is being made into a TV show on Netflix by Eli Roth. Girls are being murdered in a small weird town. Oh I forgot the main characters are a werewolf and a upir. I think Roth described it as Twin Peaks meets Twilight in a adult way. So far not so bad, but not so good. Sometimes the books feels like it is firing on all cylinders while other times I see nothing but flaws. Still I am enjoying more than not. nate fisher fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 13:07
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I just acquired the entire "Sword of Truth" series from the clearance rack at my local discount bookstore. They aren't stupendous reads, but they are entertaining and will occupy a good chunk of my time, since the entire series comes in at about 15,000+ pages in paperback form.
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Jul 3, 2012 15:21
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nate fisher posted:I have read sections of the book and the prose is just awful. It makes Twilight seem well written. My wife did read all 3 books, because a)she wanted to see what all the fuss was about and b) she loves a good fapbook. Overall she found the fap-ness of the series lacking and the writing pretty lame. She did enjoy the story in the later books, but she almost never made it pass the first book because of how bad it was. Yeah, I tend to err on the complaining about a thing gets more annoying than the thing perspective. Twilight haters got a lot more annoying than Twilight lovers. The fap scenes were super cringeworthy. Not even for the S&M aspect, but just that he kept calling the girl "baby" AmericanGeeksta posted:I just acquired the entire "Sword of Truth" series from the clearance rack at my local discount bookstore. They aren't stupendous reads, but they are entertaining and will occupy a good chunk of my time, since the entire series comes in at about 15,000+ pages in paperback form. You are in for a wild ride. I still quite enjoy the first book before it went completely off the rails.
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Jul 3, 2012 20:15
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"The Redemption Of Althalus" by David & Leigh Eddings and I'm about 1/3 in. I've read everything David Eddings wrote before this one, but I've always heard bad things about the work he did with his wife. Turns out I was wrong, so far this book is consistently great!
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Jul 4, 2012 08:28
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I just picked up Leviathan Wakes at the recommendation of several goons. I'm only a few pages in so far but I'm liking it.
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Jul 4, 2012 08:32
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Just started the New Cambridge Medieval History. A huge series which I might not complete but I'll see how Volume 1 reads and go from there.
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Jul 4, 2012 18:46
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I've just started reading Roadside Picnic. The style of writing is interesting, due to the Soviet era authors. So far, I've been able to visualize some of the bizarre dangers in the world they're describing and it's pretty intense. "Burning fuzz" and the "hair" on the abandoned town's antennaes are generally awful.
Talmonis fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Jul 5, 2012 |
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Jul 5, 2012 14:48
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I bought The Worthing Saga on impulse and started it this week. Not what I was expecting at all, but so far I'm enjoying it. I'm not sure how I feel about the main character, but I like Card's writing style so far. I never thought that I could sift through the thoughts of so many characters at once and have it make this much sense.
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Jul 7, 2012 06:16
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Re-read Chernow's biography on Washington and am going to his bio on Hamilton next. Also picked up Black's biographies on Nixon and FDR.
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Jul 7, 2012 07:41
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