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Panzram: A Journal of Murder is a very insightful autobiography of a serial rapist and murderer of the early 20th century. Includes a lot of useful notes as well, though they date to the 70s and are in some cases outdated (such as claiming that sodomy is illegal). Panzram targeted men and claimed to have raped over 1,000, though who knows what the number really was. What's more interesting was his absolutely horrifically brutal treatment while in prison. It's almost unbelievable, except it's corroborated. He's also surprisingly funny. He has some very interesting views on the prison system and how it functions, including many truths which hold today. What's most amazing is how easy it was to provoke him into being... nice. He reciprocated the treatment he received to an almost pathetic extent, very sentimental. He was treated abhorrently almost all of his life, however, so much of his autobiography is recounting a life of almost theatrical crime. Couldn't put it down, it's fascinating. He's not a good guy--not a chance--but he doesn't think he is, either.
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Jul 16, 2013 01:54
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My neighbour handed me The Dogs of Riga over the fence and insisted I read it. I think I've only seen one of the Branagh Wallander TV movies, and really liked it. But drat, Wallander is one depressed guy. Not the perfect escapist read for a summer vacation, but his moroseness is kinda comforting.
Robot Wendigo fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jul 17, 2013 |
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Jul 17, 2013 00:58
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20matar posted:Do you recommend it to someone who is not a big sci-fi fan? I have a copy at home, got it for almost nothing, but haven't felt like picking it up and reading it. I think so. The book does a good job of being science fiction but not being overtly science fiction. Aspects of the genre do come up, of course, but I felt like it was all taken at face value. It feels like a fictional book in our distant future and the technology is just taken at face value. Kind of like if you were reading a book and wouldn't really think twice about how people got around or used cell phones to talk. All of the tension and drama of the book comes through in human interaction. I feel like I may or may not be doing the book justice. Just give it a try. If the book doesn't grab you early on, I don't think it ever will.
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Jul 17, 2013 03:36
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Today I'm reading Tirant lo Blanc, or at least an abridged modern English translation thereof, a chivalric romance published in 1490. No less esteemed a figure than Miguel de Cervantes once called it the best book of its kind. The first chapter alone has faked deaths, matching rings, hitting a baby to make it cry, Moors invading England, mysterious hermits, prophetic dreams, dudes kissing dudes on the mouth, improvised explosives, duels to the death, solemn oaths with church-related exceptions, a baptism in blood, and all the time people talking about how awesome chivalry is. And this is just a prologue to the real story. It's totally bananas! Needless to say I'm having a grand old time. While not a historian or anything like that, I'm not completely clueless about the culture it came from, but I'm still separated from the author by five centuries and many layers of indirection. That sensation of foreignness, amplified by the medieval quasi-chauvinism of the whole piece, is one of several reasons why reading it feels a lot like Journey to the West. A prose translation from Valencian Catalan is going to feel much more natural than one from classical Chinese, of course, but what I mean is that it's a fantastic adventure composed of extremely dense dramas and populated by very clearly-rendered characters. I've chosen the Robert S. Rudder translation from 1982, partly because it's the one available on Project Gutenberg, and partly because the translator omits many digressions into philosophy, debate, prayer, and other narrative-pausing interludes without which one 1918 scholar estimates it "quite probably ... would now be considered a masterpiece of narration and dialogue."
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Jul 18, 2013 12:16
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Just started (and drat near finished) Ursula K. Le Guin's The Wizard of Earthsea. Really enjoying the story telling style of it with less dialog; it feels like sitting next to a campfire while someone tells you a story.
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Jul 19, 2013 19:28
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"Read" half of first Mistborn audiobook. Once I finish that book, I have the other two in my Audible account.
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Jul 20, 2013 00:15
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^ ^ ^ Those were pretty good, though I preferred the pulp-style of his... sequel? spinoff? Alloy of Law. The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia: Inhabitants, Lore, Spells, and Ancient Crypt Warnings of the Land of Ooo Circa 19.56 B.G.E. - 501 A.G.E. By Hardcover, and full colour; though being written from the perspective of the Lord of the Nightosphere is starting to grate on my nerves.
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Jul 26, 2013 03:39
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I just started reading Titus Groan and I'm pretty sure that Mervyn Peake is one of the worst writers I have ever read. It didn't help that the introduction, written by Anthony Burgess, literally spoiled the entire plot. I think I'll use that as an excuse to give up this stupidly dense, verbose, boring, detail-obsessed, slow, obnoxious piece of crap, even though I feel obligated to read it because it's sometimes said to be a seminal piece of 20th century fantasy. 
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Jul 28, 2013 21:39
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Owned by a book... just savage. I'd say don't persevere, even though it owns. It doesn't drastically change styles 50 pages in and neither will your tastes.
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Jul 28, 2013 22:20
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Started reading Ulysses a few days ago. It acually turned into quite a page-turner once I got myself through the first chapter, though I'm not going to pretend to get every single reference or nuance in this book.
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Jul 29, 2013 17:42
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Very excited to start reading Gunslinger by Stephen King. Surprised at how short the first book is, but hoping it will be enough of a good read that I can get into the entire Dark Tower series. Since A Song of Ice and Fire, I've tried getting into more larger series such as Malazan, Wheel of Time, and the Kingkiller Chronicles. Unfortunately I couldn't even finish the first book in each of the series; hopefully Dark Tower will be captivating enough.
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Jul 30, 2013 22:44
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Lost Everything, by Brian Francis Slattery. I don't even remember when I bought it or why - possibly in the post-apocalyptic kick I went through - but the synopsis and goodreads reviews make it sound interesting. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12139883-lost-everything
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Jul 31, 2013 02:00
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Tailored Sauce posted:but hoping it will be enough of a good read that I can get into the entire Dark Tower series. The Dark Tower does not work that way.
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Jul 31, 2013 05:43
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This is How you Die, the sequel to Machine of Death, came out today (in my territory at least, I think it might have been out for a week or two already in the US?) So I'm going to start it tonight on Kindle (it takes me forever to finish anthologies though). The first collection was mostly great, and the selection of stories this time around seems even more out there. If you have no idea what this is, the first book is a free PDF on the website (although really you should buy it). It's a bunch of short stories set in a world (or worlds) where a machine can predict the method of your death but not when it'll occur. It's infallible, so no matter what you do you can't change your fate.
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Aug 1, 2013 08:25
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Probably worth getting for LAZARUS REACTOR FISSION SEQUENCE alone.
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Aug 1, 2013 10:37
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The Toy Collector, by James Gunn. So far I'm really enjoying it, the James Gunn (name of the main character as well) character seems so real. I'm hooked on every little direction his actions take his life. I wouldn't even know how to describe this book, but can anyone recommend a similar one? I suppose a book that feels modern, has the main character(s) doing everyday things, basically just living their life?
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Aug 1, 2013 23:26
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"The House of Silk." A Holmes novel authorized by the Doyle estate. I loves me some Sherlock Holmes.
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Aug 2, 2013 00:03
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Just started The Power Broker by Robert Caro. I'm mostly ignorant about the topics the book covers but at the least it will be a great history of modern urban planning in NY.
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Aug 9, 2013 22:59
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Finished "The House of Silk" 2 days ago. Really enjoyed it. Gonna try out "A History of the American Revolution" by Alden next.
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Aug 9, 2013 23:07
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I just finished Wool (the omnibus edition) by Hugh Howey and then went straight into the prequel series Shift which I'm about a third of the way through the first book. It's an interesting take on the whole "post apocalyptic we hosed everything up and now we have to pay for it" genre. Bonus is that it's from an author I was completely unfamiliar with.
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Aug 12, 2013 19:27
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Pellethead posted:I just finished Wool (the omnibus edition) by Hugh Howey and then went straight into the prequel series Shift which I'm about a third of the way through the first book. It's an interesting take on the whole "post apocalyptic we hosed everything up and now we have to pay for it" genre. Bonus is that it's from an author I was completely unfamiliar with. http://www.starshipsofa.com/2013/04/09/starshipsofa-no-284-hugh-howey/ Listen to that.
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Aug 14, 2013 06:37
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The Golden Man, by Victor W. Von Hagen. About the myths, fables and history behind one of the most crazed searches in history, the quest for El Dorado. Looks pretty good, picked it up for $10 and the book is over 40 years old.
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Aug 14, 2013 17:45
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Just bought Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin off Abebooks. It was listed as a LEC edition for only $11 shipped, so I took the chance expecting either a beat to crap version, or just a paperback version. It came as a pristine unread Heritage Press edition with it's perfect dust jacket. It might not be signed by Eichenberg, but it still has his lithographs throughout. Score. I'm not sure if I'll be able to read it or not, it is all in verses. Hopefully I can get used to that. Philthy fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 06:51
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VideoTapir posted:http://www.starshipsofa.com/2013/04/09/starshipsofa-no-284-hugh-howey/ That's awesome, thanks for the link! I had no idea about the backstory behind this, it just showed up on my amazon radar screen and I was in the market for some new science fiction and took the plunge. I'm about 2/3 of the way through Shift now and enjoying it as well.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:23
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I just finished a marathon session of A Song of Ice and Fire, and started looking for something to fill the void in this forum. So I found The Quantum Thief and started it. I've always loved sci fi and cyber punk type things, so hopefully this is really good and takes my mind off of Game of Thrones. So far its pretty good.
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Aug 16, 2013 21:29
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I have just picked up The Stand by Stephen King because everything else I have read by the man has been exceptional (Under the Dome, 1408, Misery, Blaze and a few others) and lots of people seem to think The Stand is the best thing he has written so I'm quite excited to start reading this one.
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Aug 16, 2013 22:58
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I recently began reading James Romm's Ghost on the Throne. It may be "just" a popular history, but considering that Romm is a true expert on both the machinations & myths of the post-Alexander era, his work as a whole avoids most of the criticisms which accompany said genre (plus, he's an unusually vivid writer as far as historians are concerned).
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Aug 19, 2013 00:28
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Just started Dust, the third book in the Silo saga by Hugh Howey. I love science fiction, especially utopian/dystopian and post apocalyptic, which this combines all three. Not to mention it comes in at a very cheap price point on kindle (which I must say is what initially attracted me, that + good reviews) The first two, I thought, were excellent. On the surface, the characters seem to lack some depth, but they all develop nicely. Wool and Shift follow separate yet coinciding story lines. I have high hopes for this.
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Aug 19, 2013 03:16
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Found a Heritage Press edition of The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman. Just started into it. It appears they found more of his notes and incorporated them into this edition. (Maybe the LEC version as well?)
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Aug 19, 2013 15:04
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Just bought The Passage but after reading some online reviews I'm starting to get buyer's remorse.
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Aug 20, 2013 20:44
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Robot Wendigo posted:Just bought The Passage but after reading some online reviews I'm starting to get buyer's remorse. Read it for yourself and make your own judgment.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:01
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I think The Passage is great, and gently caress the haters. Also, what Bob A Feet said.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:32
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It's not very original, but I'm actually on the third book of Game of Thrones. I expect to finish it quickly to start the next one which should cover the 4th season of the tv show.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:41
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Luminaz posted:It's not very original, but I'm actually on the third book of Game of Thrones. I expect to finish it quickly to start the next one which should cover the 4th season of the tv show. The fourth season of the show will covers the second half of the third book, not the fourth book. (Unless you're reading an edition (European?) that splits up A Storm of Swords into two shorter books.)
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Aug 21, 2013 00:14
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A A 2 3 5 8 K posted:The fourth season of the show will covers the second half of the third book, not the fourth book. (Unless you're reading an edition (European?) that splits up A Storm of Swords into two shorter books.) Yes it's an european version, I'm at the beginning of the third book (american version) but this one is splitted in two parts here.
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Aug 21, 2013 06:23
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Fahrenheit 451. I've had it sitting around for a while after I got a whole bunch of books from a Borders closing down sale. Some how I never read this during my teenage years where I read 1984 a couple of times as a Brave New World. It's more "sci-fi" than I thought it would be, with robot dogs and what not. I'm enjoying it, some of the prose bothers me. It's hard to say, but reading some of the descriptions of the appearance of people or settings makes me almost roll my eyes.
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Aug 24, 2013 01:02
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Luminaz posted:Yes it's an european version, I'm at the beginning of the third book (american version) but this one is splitted in two parts here. That one will end slightly before the third season does, just so you're aware.
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Aug 24, 2013 15:07
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This week has been The Week of Big Spooky Houses for me. I plowed through Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House then played a video game called Gone Home and just started reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which is, of course, also by Jackson. I really, really like We Have Always Lived in the Castle so far; (I'm about halfway through already) Merricat is a fantastic narrator and is adding so much to the tone of the thing and it was only the fact that I was exhausted after a week of 10+ hour days that I didn't just plow through the whole thing in one sitting. I love it so much that I might buy a physical copy of the drat thing once I'm done reading it on kindle, especially if I can find a version with this picture on it:  Since that's the first edition cover I figure "good loving luck" on that front, but maybe, just maybe a reprint used it too.
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Aug 24, 2013 17:29
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Just started In Search of the Miraculous, by Ouspensky, and I think I'm almost as quickly going to put it down. I have an interest in contemplative traditions, and from time to time have run across references to Gurdjieff and "fourth way" schools, so I was curious to see what they were all about, and that book seemed like a good place to start. I retrospect, however, I should have started with Wikipedia; Ouspesnky is very lucid and readable, but the subject matter is just too far out, even for a genre that's intrinsically full of a lot of very weird material. I've also started The Gardens of the Moon. I'm a little nervous about that one, since some people say it's the weakest book in the series, but it is the first, so I'm going to try starting there and see how it goes. I've also begun the Bryant translation / edition of the Yoga Sutras. It seems to have a more scholarly flavor than some of the other translations, and appears very good so far. Finally, I recently picked up a copy of Cryptonomicon. I've just barely scratched the surface of that one, and probably it will be a while before I really get going on it, especially since I'm probably going to squeeze in Moby Dick before I begin Cryptocomicon in earnest.
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Aug 25, 2013 18:30
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I walked past a second hand book stall and walked away with Robert Bloch's Psycho because I've seen it cited in a couple of essays. This is the ending of the third chapter:quote:Mary started to scream, and then the curtains parted further and a hand appeared, holding a butcher's knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream. So the book owns.
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Aug 25, 2013 20:00
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