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ToxicFrog posted:
Hard Magic has one of my favorite ever lines. "I just got angry and squished the fucker."
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Mar 4, 2014 08:34
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4. Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly is a shortish prequel that, while a fun read, didn't grip me as much as the rest of the trilogy. 5. Fire Watch by Connie Willis 6. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis 7. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis 8. Blackout by Connie Willis 9. All Clear by Connie Willis I have a strong admiration for Connie Willis, but very mixed feelings about these books that make up her Oxford Time Travel series. Fire Watch, a collection of short stories, was unsurprisingly hit and miss. The time travel story in it was not my favorite part of the collection. The Doomsday book, I thought, was a mildly interesting story about a bland pandemic mashed into a fantastic story about the black death. To Say Nothing of the Dog was a fun, but mostly frivolous Poirot time-travel mystery in an English manor. Blackout and All Clear focused on the Blitz, and need to be read together. The first book is mostly setup for the faster paced finale. At their best, they're heartwrenching tales of struggle through disaster. At their worst, they're mildly interesting stories propped up by a frankly astonishing level of detail and research. Also, Connie Willis has an enormous hardon for old cathedrals and churches. 10. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie was a simple sci-fi story elevated into an excellent novel via an interesting main character with an unconventional narrative point of view. Anne also explores some interesting ground with gender pronouns, though not particularily deeply. I found, with Connie Willis, that I can easily point to parts of each of her books that were bland, boring, or plodding. Despite that, I still devoured them at a breakneck pace, and ultimately couldn't put them down. Hence the mixed feelings.
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Mar 4, 2014 23:46
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February - 2: 6. The Drowned World (JG Ballard) 7. The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty (G.J. Meyer) Not quite as good of a month as January. I'm still well on course to hit goal easily though; I think I'll probably end up averaging about 10/quarter which I think I'll aim for as a stretch goal. Exam period is coming up though so who knows where I'll be by June. A big part of the reason I didn't get as much read in February as I would have liked was The Drowned World and I don't really know why. It's short (175 pages I think), I liked the concept and the themes and it's easy to read. I got maybe 75 pages in and then just didn't really pick it up for more than maybe 2-3 pages until I finished it one day by chugging through the back 90 or so in an evening. On the other hand The Tudors was amazing and I blasted through it. I think it's maybe 3 times as long as The Drowned World but I finished it in just under a week and I think I pushed through about 200 pages on the last day. Meyer has a really clear, readable style and I'm keen to read more of his work. I don't think it would stack up as a hard academic work but it was an exciting and fun way to get a good overview of the whole dynasty and its place in English history. It also led nicely into my current read, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I got this for about £2 in a charity shop a while ago and it seemed like a good way to link my reading a little. Plus, Booker prize winning female author, which fits nicely with my goals of "more women" and "less trash." I'm about halfway through and so far I love it, best £2 I've spent in a long while. Year so far: 1. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Robert Tressell) 2. Always Managing: My Autobiography (Harry Redknapp) 3. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) 4. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened (Allie Brosh) 5. Dracula (Bram Stoker) 6. The Drowned World (JG Ballard) 7. The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty (G.J. Meyer) Total: 7/26, 1/2 women, 1/2 non-Europeans, 2/13 non-fiction
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Mar 4, 2014 23:48
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I'm trying to work more time for reading back into my life, so I'm going for a more modest goal: 18 books by the end of the year. I've already got a pretty good pace going since January, as I've finished 4. January: 1. In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - I fell in love with Solzhenitsyn since reading Ivan Denisovich, and this had been sitting on my shelf for years. For those unfamiliar, this is a restoration of The First Circle, which had been heavily censored at the time of its first publication. The foreword goes into great detail about the differences between the two versions, and the novel's journey to get to its current state, which was an interesting read in its own right. The novel itself was wonderful, though people who don't like lengthy of philosophical discussions probably won't enjoy it as much as I did. 2. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - I'd read a bunch of McCarthy previously, and remembered hearing that this was his best work, and although it lags occasionally, particularly toward the middle of the novel, it doesn't disappoint. For a book about violence and savagery, there sure are so goddamn many beautiful scenes and sentences. February: 3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I started this the day after I finished Blood Meridian, and it felt like the polar opposite of McCarthy. The language was floral, vibrant, and fairy tale-like where McCarthy was spare and stark. This isn't a knock on either one, though; I just enjoyed the contrast between the two. 4. Drown by Junot Diaz - My fiancee loves short stories, and she recommended this collection to me. It's a series of connected stories following a man growing up in the Dominican Republic and moving to New Jersey, and most of them are pretty drat depressing. There's some Spanish sprinkled throughout, though I've got a very basic knowledge of the language and was able to parse it easily enough. Good if you like explorations of family, class, or race. 4/18
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Mar 5, 2014 02:14
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Siminu posted:4. Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly is a shortish prequel that, while a fun read, didn't grip me as much as the rest of the trilogy. This kinda caught me as well, and it took me a while to realize what was bugging me about it. The prequel is WAY more informative and exposition filled, and more actiony/adventurey than the trilogy. It's sort of like... it has more hope in it than the other books. It's written more in a, not really a happier tone but more upbeat feeling. The other books are basically grimdark urban noir fantasy where this one is sort of more in line with a somewhat more violent Dresden Files. Still wish he'd continue the series though.
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Mar 5, 2014 02:25
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February. 9. Meditations. Marcus Aurelius. Stoic. 10. Ready Player One. Ernest Cline. Many references, little story. Kind of straightforward fun. 11. Royal assassin. Robin Hobb. Starts good but the end is pretty bad. 12. The Mote in God's Eye. Larry Niven. Too long. Nice descriptions of things, but some characterization was just forgotten. 13. The Iron King. Maurice Druon. Too short, some characters needed more time in the spotlight. There wasn't a clear protagonist but as a retell of an historical event, it works. 14. The Crow Road. Iain M. Banks. Too personal of a book. Some vignettes of the family's life were interesting but not so much the ramblings.
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Mar 5, 2014 04:51
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quote:01. The Stranger - Albert Camus 10. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak Heartbreaking. Story of a young girl living in Germany during WW2 as narrated by Death. I liked the characters' sporadic German use. 11. The Philip K. Dick Reader - Philip K. Dick Collection of PKD short stories. I wish I had this on Kindle because I could find out how many goddamn times PKD brought up breasts or used the phrase "ripples". There were only a few that didn't have either one. Almost all the good stories are in the back half of the book. Top picks: Upon the Dull Earth (unsettling, probably my favorite), Second Variety (basis for the movie Screamers), War Veteran, and We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (less action than Total Recall, still enjoyed it though). 12. The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch A fun read. It was nice to have just a plain ole fantasy story. DannyTanner fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jul 25, 2014 |
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Mar 5, 2014 18:25
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27. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson. You can totally feel it's age, but that isn't a bad thing for this book. It's still strange and odd, but not very scary by today's standards. 28. A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle - I never read this one as a kid. I didn't care much for it as an adult. I can see why people like it, it has a lot of new and exciting things to offer young readers, but when you've been around the block a few times, 200 pages just isn't enough to do the job it set out to do. 29. Hounded - Kevin Hearne - people have been tossing around "The Iron Druid" chronicles as an option for impatient Harry Dresden fans. They're not as good, but they're still a whole heck of a lot of fun. It hits the right notes, while still managing to feel fresh. In the middle of book 2 now. 30. Stiff - Mary Roach - this is the fourth book of hers I read, and still not my favorite. It is really interesting and fun to read, i appreciate how she imparts real information, but it never feels like you're being lectured too. With the first 30, 36% are non-fiction. I'm going to try to keep it around a third, but I have a feeling the ratio will slip later in the year as I run out of choice titles. 23% written or edited by women. At the very least I want to maintain 20%
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Mar 6, 2014 02:46
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Dead Man Saloon posted:Managed to squeeze in five more in February, although I read one of them three times... Actually had to read both Duddy Kravitz and The Double Hook for a Canadian Lit class this semester. I thought Duddy was sort of hurt by how filmic it was. I hated the Double Hook at first and then re-read it, and it just blew me away the second time. It's audacious beyond belief.
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Mar 6, 2014 02:51
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One Tall Fellow posted:2. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - I'd read a bunch of McCarthy previously, and remembered hearing that this was his best work, and although it lags occasionally, particularly toward the middle of the novel, it doesn't disappoint. For a book about violence and savagery, there sure are so goddamn many beautiful scenes and sentences. I love this book. I had the opportunity to study it further in a university course, so I used that as an excuse to spend time reading up on various interpretations on themes of the novel. There's a lot of really good literature out there on the book, if you're interested. There's one article entitled "A Bloody Dark Pastryman" which offers a pretty great analysis of the story where the Glanton gang first meets the Judge, spending a lot of time on the veracity on whether or not the Judge would have been able to make gunpowder under those circumstances. According to the research, the ingredients used by the Judge could have worked--an excellent example of McCarthy's attention to detail.
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Mar 6, 2014 03:07
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OK, if I have to say things about the books as well as listing them, I'll do that, but only for the ones I actually have comments about. #25: The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt: I'd been meaning to read this since last year, but its size made me leave it until summer. I've also read The Secret History, and while I liked that book a lot, I think this book is even better. I think someone somewhere in the Book Barn said something negative about the ending, and I think that person had a point, in that the ending is a bit inconclusive. Didn't stop me from giving it five points on Goodreads. IDK if that counts as a spoiler, but better safe than sorry. #26 & #27: Deadline and Blackout - Mira Grant: The second and third books in the Newsflesh series. Not quite as good as the first book, Feed, but I enjoyed them a fair bit. The third book had the return of the first book's protagonist, but at least Mira Grant set up said return well in advance, so it didn't feel like a cop-out. #28: A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent - Marie Brennan: This book is a fictional account of the first part of the aforementioned protagonist's life (so the title may be a little bit misleading). The book is focused more on the science of dragons rather than battles or whatever, so people expecting pulse-pounding action may be disappointed. #29: The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer. #30: Boot Camp - Todd Strasser: The story of some kid who gets sent to a Tranquility Bay-style correction camp for wayward teens. Didn't really learn anything new, but the book itself was OK. #31: The People In The Trees - Hanya Yanagihara: A book about a scientist travelling to a remote Pacific Island country and finding a society of people whose habit of eating meat from a specific species of indigenous turtle makes them long-lived but eventually senile. (OK, that's a rather potted description, but it's the best I can do). If you have trouble with child rape, there is that in the book. It only happens twice and it isn't overly graphic, but it's there. I still gave the book a good score on Goodreads due to the good writing, but I can see why they didn't advertise its existence. #32: Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism's Silent Prison - Ido Kedar: The book was written by a non-verbal autistic boy about getting people to stop assuming that he was stupid as well as unable to speak and his life in general. It got a bit repetitive at times, but it was interesting to read a book from the perspective of a non-verbal autistic kid. Currently reading: Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie. (Kindle) Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your rear end - Meg Medina. (Print)
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Mar 6, 2014 04:12
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Jeep posted:Actually had to read both Duddy Kravitz and The Double Hook for a Canadian Lit class this semester. I thought Duddy was sort of hurt by how filmic it was. I hated the Double Hook at first and then re-read it, and it just blew me away the second time. It's audacious beyond belief. Haha what school do you go to (if you don't mind saying)? I read them for class, too, at Memorial University. Definitely took me more than one reading to fall for DH, I didn't fully understand it all after the first. But when I fell I fell hard.
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Mar 6, 2014 13:40
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glowing-fish posted:Fight Club, the book, was written 18 years ago, and the movie was released 15 years ago. I think I read it in 2001 or so. Even at the time, it didn't seem that innovative to me. As both a work of literature and a sociopolitical tract, the idea that we should all just reclaim our individuality against a conformist world seems a bit trite. I didn't think it was bad, it is just that the idea of "rebel against the system" isn't exactly that original. Well, having read interviews with Palahniuk, it seems like "rebel against the system" isn't the main idea behind the novel. If anything it's refuting the romanticism of an anarcho-Christ figure like Tyler as an adolescent fantasy. Not that Palahniuk's writing allows him much room for subtlety, mind you.
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Mar 7, 2014 03:16
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Declan MacManus posted:Well, having read interviews with Palahniuk, it seems like "rebel against the system" isn't the main idea behind the novel. If anything it's refuting the romanticism of an anarcho-Christ figure like Tyler as an adolescent fantasy. Not that Palahniuk's writing allows him much room for subtlety, mind you. Yeah, I've always interpreted it as a satire mocking those people.
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Mar 7, 2014 15:41
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From the New Year 1. Big Sur by Jack Kerouac : Decently written self indulgent immature crap was my first reaction. I hate so many characters in the book and I assume its heavily based off of real people / events which probably fuels my dislike eve more. 2. A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov : A collection of short stories of a country doctor (surprise) in rural Russia. Strong first few stories and ending two , middle stories tend to become muddled together a bit but they are still enjoyable. The Doctor deals with ignorant illiterate peasants but the frustration shows for him , but the book doesn't mock them but "humanizes" them well. 3. The Sword and Sorcerer by Norman Winski : This is some 80s fantasy movie I havent seen , it shows. Its a fun read with the cheesy action movie in mind. 4. A Schoolboy's Diary and Other Stories by Robert Walser: As the title suggests its a collection of short stories usually in a rural setting. A lot of the writing is more about the journey than the ending. Walser does a great job romanticizing nature and the (presumably) swiss countryside. As the introduction to the short stories says , colour plays a big part in the book. 5. East of Eden by John Steinbeck : Uh this amazing , I was skeptical that I would enjoy it when it begins with different families seemingly disconnected. 6. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield : A little too self helpy , the stories are cool though. Really Short Read. 7. Anchorboy by Jay Onrait : It was better than I expected. A collection of stories about his time in broadcasting. I love Jay (and Dan) on sportscentre , this book has a similar sense of humour. 8. Art History Volume I by Marilyn Stokstad : Probably a textbook for a survey course / introductory art history course. Read it because I know gently caress all about art history and want to fix that. 9. Tomorrow's Eve by Villiers de L'Isle-Adam : Very early sci-fi, about the creation of an android by Edison for a noble. Really more of a platform for the (conservative aristocratic Catholic) to spew hate about women. Its honestly impressive how much he seems to dislike women and a lot of other things. It "tells" too much and doesn't "show" eough. When the novel is "showing" its very good , too bad. 10. Polish Music since Szymanowski by Adrian Thomas. A look at polish classical / art music of the 20th century. Fairly in depth look at the stylistic markings of the big composers (Bacewiz , Lutoslawski, Pendercki and more), the musical trends during the tenure of the different composers, also the future of polish art music. Probably something about realism in the 50's too. 11. Lives of Girls and Women By Alice Monroe : A collection of short stories semi-related through the narrator. Follows the life of a young girl as she progresses into adulthood. Does a good job of painting mid 20th century small town Ontario. 12. Shadows in the Field : New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusiciology by various : A collection of 14 essays or so talking about various aspects of field work. 13. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens : I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would , although that began to taper off near the end of the book. If only Dickens wasn't trying to stretch out the word count sometimes it would be that much better. 14. The Sheep Look up by John Brunner : I picked this up on recommendation from that Apocalypse genre thread. I was blown away by how good this book is, it isn't nuclear war or some fantasy creature / space alien that does humanity (as we know it) in but just ourselves. The book takes shots at lovely government hypocrisy , naive idealistic groups like the ELF , lovely aid groups and their attitudes towards the people they are helping , class and race divisions. This book really has it all , it doesn't feel overly preachy because I'm not sure there is a message we are supposed to take beside "shits hosed". Well that's not entirely true , there are a few definite re-occurring causes for the larger events in the book. Lumius fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Mar 7, 2014 |
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Mar 7, 2014 18:00
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Lumius posted:2. A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov : A collection of short stories of a country doctor (surprise) in rural Russia. Strong first few stories and ending two , middle stories tend to become muddled together a bit but they are still enjoyable. The Doctor deals with ignorant illiterate peasants but the frustration shows for him , but the book doesn't mock them but "humanizes" them well. I haven't yet read this (though it's on my bookshelf) so I don't know how the book compares, but there is an excellent TV adaptation of this with Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe.
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Mar 8, 2014 01:26
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thespaceinvader posted:19: Happy Hour In Hell by Tad Williams. The first Bobby Dollar book I very much enjoyed last year, so I'm looking forward to the second. 19: Happy Hour In Hell by Tad Williams. I'm... kind of conflicted about this one. Tad Williams can write, and when he hits the emotional heartstrings properly, his work is really quite interesting and well-written, and I get the sense that there's a bigger underlying story here than traditional 'God-versus-devil' stuff. His Hell is an intriguing conception of Hell, and his demons and devils are again, interesting, varied, and in most cases well-conceived. But then he throws in poo poo like extended jellyfish-vagina rape, in detail just as lovingly-described as the voluntary sex scenes and it makes me almost stop reading in disgust. I guess to some extent that's its purpose (it's difficult to inspire true disgust in a reader, and Hell should do that), but nonetheless, it seemed unnecessary. And yeah, Bobby's a colossal loving dumbass at the end. He was so careful to ensure Eligor promised he would release Caz by name in exchange for the feather whilst he was in Hell, but he forgets to do so at the exchange - presumably if he's done so, byt the letter of the law established, Eligor might actually have handed her over? I'm not really sure. But anyhow, given it's got me talking this long, it must have been decent. Not sure what's next. I want to read Hard Magic but I can't find it, hard copy or ebook.
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Mar 9, 2014 11:02
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Finished another: 8. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Comfort rereading, more or less; this might be my favourite of the whole Vorkosigan series and it is basically a romantic comedy of manners. Manages to combine being downright hilarious and genuinely romantic, sometimes edging very close to my personal cringe-limit as far as socially awkward situations go. Started on The Martian by one Andy Weir because a bunch of goons were saying it was good. Only a few pages in but I like the author's/narrator's voice already.
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Mar 11, 2014 14:06
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10) The Dream Of Rome - Boris Johnson. The noted classical scholar on how Rome united Europe into an empire and why the European Union has failed to do the same. I can't say I agree with his assessment, though. I think he's underestimated the significance of the fact that Rome owned the greatest existing machine for loving up everybody's poo poo. Goodreads review here. 11) The Girl Who Was On Fire: Your Favourite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy - many. Title's fairly self-explanatory. False advertising, though, Terry Pratchett's not in here. Goodreads review here. 12) I Am Malala - Malala Yousafzai. You've definitely heard of her, she's the girl who got shot by the Taliban a couple of years ago. Good book. Goodreads review here. 13) Eleanor of Aquitaine - Alison Weir. Biography of the medieval heiress who was queen of France and then England in rapid succession. It's weakened by a long period when Eleanor's discreetly imprisoned by her husband and therefore not being written about, but I've always liked Weir's style. Goodreads review here. 14) Operation Fortitude - Joshua Levine. A pop history book about deception operations in WW2. It covers most of the shenanigans running out of the UK, really, not just Fortitude, which was the plan to convince the Germans the D-Day landings would be in a totally different place. Amazingly, with the aid of a giant fake army, they managed to keep that running even after the real armies landed in Normandy. Goodreads review here.
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Mar 11, 2014 21:20
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No More Days posted:1. One Million Tiny Plays about Britain, Craig Taylor 4. Mr. China, Tim Clissold - Read it about a month ago and can't really remember much that stood out about it. Oh well. 5. Devil-Devil, Graeme Kent - it was an okay dip into a genre I don't really like much. 6. The Loyal Servant, Eva Hudson - I'm not really into thriller/detective stuff but it was free on Kindle so what the hell. I liked Angela but it ended rather abruptly. Also could have done without the 'everyone stood up and clapped' scene. 7. Morgue Drawer Four, Jutta Profijt - liked it a lot and I'll pick up the next book in the series at some point. I can see how the main character would turn people off, but it didn't feel like the author was celebrating his behaviour or presenting it as the right thing to do. 8. Letters from Mallorca, Kevin Woodrow - very, VERY '50 year old white dude opinions'. Probably would have been fine to drop halfway through, it's all more of the same. 9. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern - really disliked it, more of a personal taste thing I think. The whole 'isn't this so wonderful and magical' atmosphere the author was going for was really grating since it didn't feel like anything had any weight behind it. I basically only finished it in the hope that the whole thing would burn down in the end. Really pretty cover art though. 10. Economyths, David Orrell - I think he only talked about the actual economy for about half of the book. The rest of the time it was about cloud systems, cancer, and probability lessons. 11. Freakonomics, Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner - When you're reading it, it's fine, but when I finished I went 'huh. Is that it?' Kind of disappointing. I'm eyeing Malcolm Gladwell's books and might try some of them instead. War and Peace progress: 930/1359. I really like how much the characters change their opinions/outlooks on life over the course of the book. Also feeling pretty good about where I'm at even though there's still like 400 pages to go. Halfway through The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, the switch in perspectives was a fun surprise. I like to have 3 books going at once but am honestly not sure what to go for next.
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Mar 16, 2014 15:15
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Late February update: 10. Broken Homes- Ben Aaronovitch 11. Feed- Mira Grant 12. The Female Man- Joanna Russ 13. The Dirty Streets of Heaven- Tad Williams 14. Zoo City- Lauren Beukes This was kind of a mess. It seemed like Beukes couldn't really decide what story she wanted to tell, so most of the book is the main character just kind of wandering around and then starting out to do something only to completely change and start something else almost immediately. 15. Parable of the Sower- Octavia E. Butler 16. Master and Commander- Patrick O'Brian 17. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers- Mary Roach 18. Redwall- Brian Jacques 19. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Ken Kesey 20. Ishmael- Daniel Quinn Hated this. If you want to read ~200 pages of "hey we should stop loving up the earth" in the most pretentious and least interesting way possible, this is the book for you. Also what is even the point of framing the novel as a dialogue if practically every line out of the narrator's mouth is either "I don't understand" or "yes of course". No More Days posted:War and Peace progress: 930/1359. I really like how much the characters change their opinions/outlooks on life over the course of the book. Also feeling pretty good about where I'm at even though there's still like 400 pages to go.  War and Peace bro. I think I'm a little ahead of where you are (we must have different versions because my page count is different). The changing outlooks is my favorite part as well- I don't think I've ever related to a character as much as Prince Andrei and his endless cycles of "super passionate" and "totally indifferent".
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Mar 17, 2014 15:07
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I've made a slight change to my list, 740 Park was too tedious to continue reading so I've replaced it with Bagombo Snuff Box
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Mar 17, 2014 18:32
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9. The Martian, by Andy Weir. Pretty cool little techno-optimistic story about an astronaut accidentally left behind on Mars and his struggle for survival. 10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Extremely entertaining historical fiction with a main character/narrator who's close to the Platonic ideal of an antihero (and also a near-total rear end in a top hat, and a coward whenever he can get away with it). Widely regarded as a classic, and first of a lengthy series wherein the eponymous narrator lies and cheats and fornicates his way through most of the historically important events of the Victorian era. I actually already read this one in Norwegian translation many years ago, but the rest of the series was never translated and I thought to start at the beginning. Groke fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Mar 17, 2014 |
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Mar 17, 2014 21:13
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Time for a terrible book update! 26) Ship of the Line (ST: TNG) by Diane Carey In the TNG episode "Cause and Effect" the Enterprise barely avoids a catastrophic impact with the USS Bozeman, commanded by Captain Bateson (as played by Kelsey Grammer.) In "Ship of the Line" Diane Carey follows up on that brief cameo with a novel length Down Periscope/Next-Gen crossover staring Captain Bateson (as played by Lt. Cmdr. Thomas 'Tom' Dodge (as played by Kelsey Grammer.)) Only it's not nearly as fun as that description implies. He's a captain who drinks rum on the bridge, argues with people, and would probably smoke cigars if the author thought she could get sneak it in among all the love for the coast guard she's worked into the story. The dialogue feels, at its best, off, and at its worst the characterizations feel completely weird. There's a part where Picard is feeling mopey because of the loss of the Ent-D and Riker gets him to man up for his *big secret mission* by watching a couple of episodes of the Original Series on the holodeck. This does the trick and he's ready to face the b-plot of revisiting the TNG episode where he was tortured. I would call it inconsequential but the A-plot is no better, with an ancient Klingon out for revenge against Bateson. Even on the scale of Star Trek tie-in fiction this is a piece of crap. 27) Storm Front (The Dresden Files #1) by Jim Butcher The action scenes were fun, it was decently paced, and there was enough detail there to show the author cared about how the setting worked without bogging you down in minutia. I have a few complaints, but nothing serious, and really nothing I wouldn't expect from a detective story anyway. I'm told (by pretty much everyone) that these get better as they go along. 28) Runes of Autumn by Larry Elmore, Robert Elmore Generic 80's fantasy, mixed with a boring writing style, and sprinkled with just enough AD&D that you don't forget that TSR published it. Larry Elmore is a fine artist (the only real highlight of the book are his illustrations) but is at best a mediocre and forgettable writer. 29) American Werechaun in Dublin by Andy Click, Sue London It's a quick read with some good characters, a humorous premise, a bit of action, and a fun story! The story keeps up a brisk flow, and the first person perspective did a lot to get me into the novel's setting. It's a light, humorous take on urban fantasy and I enjoyed it. 30) Polarity by Susan Meraki I got this one for free from a goodreads giveaway. The story has an interesting premise, a secret war between two nearly omniscient forces, with a main character caught in the middle, and the execution is, for the most part, enjoyable. I do have a few issues with the book. The writing gets expository a bit too often, the main character is incredibly saccharine, and the dialogue is awkward. It's the author's first book, and it feels like it. That brings my running total to 29.5/120. 8one6 fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 04:15
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elbow posted:I haven't yet read this (though it's on my bookshelf) so I don't know how the book compares, but there is an excellent TV adaptation of this with Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe. I'll have to check it out thanks for the heads up. Also sorry for the slow reply, figured I'd wait until I read a few books. 15. Selected Stories by Robert Walser : Some really good ones (The Littler Berliner, Frau Wilke) but I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous one I read for whatever reason. 16. Berlin Stories by Robert Walser: Yes more Walser, library's overdrive system had it available right away so I figured why not. I'm really glad I dove into it quickly, This so far is easily my favourite Walser collection. Its not really all short stories , some are newspaper articles (apparently) and other really short vignettes. Walser really captures what it feels like to live in a city, his descriptions and observations just ring home. Again he loves his use of colour. Maybe 2 or 3 repeated stories from the "Selected Stories" anthology , but they were the better ones so I didn't mind the reread. "Fire" is really a stand out piece but I loved the entire thing.
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Mar 18, 2014 04:22
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8one6 posted:Time for a terrible book update!
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Mar 18, 2014 05:28
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8one6 posted:Time for a terrible book update! And you did so well last time to balance out your genre fiction with stuff like 1984 and The Count. I hope you return to doing that.
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Mar 18, 2014 12:58
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Hey, I'm doing this, although this is a bit late, but my goal every year is to read fifty books. I'm well behind the curve this year. And I'm going to have to do it reading Asoiaf #'s 4 and 5 (just finished 5 up). In years past I wrote book reviews that were due every Monday, which was a great way to keep myself reading at a steady clip. But here's what I've got so far: 1) The Psychopath Test 2) World War Z 3) Zen in the Art of Writing 4) System (college football) 5) Watchers (Dean Koontz, don't judge I was at a vacation house and was out of books) 6) 1491 7) Asoiaf #4 8) The Basque History of the World 9) Write Publish Repeat 10) Asoiaf #5 So right now we're on week 12 of the year I think. Currently on 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' which basically kicks 'Blink' in the balls.
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Mar 19, 2014 15:58
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bollig posted:
Good luck on your reading challenge! Just in case you missed the new (well, old, but newly enforced) rule about stating some opinion about the books in your challenge and not just posting a list of titles, though, I'm quoting this block of text to demonstrate the absolute minimum I'm going to let slide under the rule. Technically, "kicks 'blink' in the balls" is an opinion about a book, so you're good, but without that sentence that post would've been a probation.
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Mar 19, 2014 20:47
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Good luck on your reading challenge! Whew. Okay, I didn't quite get that from the OP. Is that a Book Barn rule? Or just a thread rule. Thanks.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:35
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bollig posted:Whew. Okay, I didn't quite get that from the OP. Is that a Book Barn rule? Or just a thread rule. Thanks. I dunno why you'd want to post in this forum just to say "I read this thing" and nothing else, but that's just me 
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Mar 19, 2014 23:12
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bollig posted:Whew. Okay, I didn't quite get that from the OP. Is that a Book Barn rule? Or just a thread rule. Thanks. It's a book barn rule that's actually been in place since forever, but for some reason everyone in this thread had fallen out of following it, hence all the reminders. Basically, the idea is that you need to post *something* about at least one book, so other people can discuss with you and get something from reading your posts, not just post empty titles.
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Mar 20, 2014 00:07
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thespaceinvader posted:Not sure what's next. I want to read Hard Magic but I can't find it, hard copy or ebook. Herp derp, it was: 20: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. What a ride, as usual. I enjoyed finding out more about Roshar (though, I have to say, frustratingly little, still, he really is milking the system on this one), but I couldn't give it full marks simply because it just didn't feel quite so... original as Mistborn, which was my first and still the best Sanderson. In particular, Kaladin and Szeth's final fight echoed mistborn pushpull combat so closely that without reading which magic was being used, it almost could have been either, especially at the end when Vin was powered by Preservation. Not to mention Lift, who basically WAS Vin. Young girl thief using powers gained from eating food to do somewhat outrageous thievery, and calling her powers odd and incorrect names. Yup, Vin. I know, this is at least partly because Cosmere and all, but it bugs me a little. It was super-cool, but it still bothered me, and I still can't help but feel BranSan wants to write a cartoon in places. Also, I'm really waiting for the ball to drop, again per Mistborn, in part three that there are actually 16 Surges, rather than 10, and the ones people have been missing are outrageously useful. So, all in all, Words of Radiance was good and interesting, but I don't quite think it was Sanderson at his best. 21: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. I mostly know the author from Writing Excuses, but I've read and been impressed by some of her free short fiction, so hopefully she'll be as good in novel-length.
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Mar 20, 2014 00:54
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Stravinsky posted:And you did so well last time to balance out your genre fiction with stuff like 1984 and The Count. I hope you return to doing that. I am, I just ended up with a free book from a goodreads giveaway and it's my fault (sort of) that were-leprechaun book even exsists so I read that as soon as it came out. I've got a Tale of Two Cities in the bag I bring to work and I picked up copies of Moby Dick and Dorian Grey the other day. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading genre trash, but you've honestly gotten me to make an effort to class it up just a bit.
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Mar 20, 2014 00:54
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8one6 posted:I am, I just ended up with a free book from a goodreads giveaway and it's my fault (sort of) that were-leprechaun book even exsists so I read that as soon as it came out. I've got a Tale of Two Cities in the bag I bring to work and I picked up copies of Moby Dick and Dorian Grey the other day. Glad to hear :  :
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Mar 20, 2014 01:56
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31 - Street Gang - Michael Davis The highly detailed story of "Sesame Street". It seems a bit uneven at times. There is a high ammount of focus on the people who created the show, and the first year, while later elements of the show tend to be glossed over. It's a fantastic and fascinating book on the subject, but you have to be interested in MORE than muppets to really enjoy it. Btw - audiobook is read by Big Bird! 32 - Hexed - Kevin Hearne Second of the Iron Druid series. Again, fantastic, fast-action fun. It's really an extension of the first book. If you like urban fantasy, you wil like this. 33 - Communion - Whitley Strieber When the book starts, Whitley sounds like a skeptic who attempts to explain and describe this terrifying and horriffic experience he had. As you go forward, you start to see that Strieber is pretty much a crazy person. If you want creepy visitor stuff, read the first 75% of the book and stop, as the kookiness takes over at the end. 34 - The Cellar - Richard Laymon I might read more Laymon, but "The Cellar" and I can only assume the sequels are about flesh ripping, rape-monsters who live in a house. It's horrible and uncomfortable and unplesant. In the end, the main character and her daughter are revealed to have wound up the sex slaves/brood mares for the rape-monsters. Just leaves you feeling dirty. 35 - Assassin -Ted Bell A rag-tag squad of Mary-Sue Macho-Men take on a bunch of terrorists and hold nothing back. It's a litle over the top and silly. And at 600 pages, just way too long. A sequel might make for a decent audiobook if I can't find anything else, but overall it's pretty meh. 36 - The Store - Bentley Little A really fun, creepy book that plays around with the idea of stores like Wal-Mart being 'evil.' The end is a little bit hokey, and the characters seem to just accept and move past some really horrible stuff really easily.
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Mar 22, 2014 19:25
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thespaceinvader posted:21: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. I mostly know the author from Writing Excuses, but I've read and been impressed by some of her free short fiction, so hopefully she'll be as good in novel-length. 21: Shades of Milk and Honey was really pretty great actually. I wouldn't normally expect to enjoy a Jane Austen-era romance novel, but it was engaging, interesting, and made me care about the minutia of the characters - the magic helped, but wasn't obtrusive (other than giving lots of excuses for swooning and fainting) - realistically, it was a romance novel with magic, rather than an alternate history fantasy with romance. I'm looking forward to continuing with the series. 22: Glamour in Glass, again by Mary Robinette Kowal.
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Mar 22, 2014 20:39
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6. Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman. It's trashy pop-non fiction about kings and their mistresses that drops bits of interesting information mixed with gossip and a breezy, easy to read writing style. It's not exactly historically accurate in parts and you can definitely tell which mistress the author likes most but it's a good plane book and I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. It's like a costume melodrama in book format. 7. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh. Do you want to be depressed and have nightmares about trains filled with butchered bodies? Read this book. It's good and based in a village near the India-Pakistan border during partition and it's all about how so many people used Partition to commit horrible acts of violence along with mundane corruption and greed. The main scene that I always remember is when the Sikh villagers find the train filled with the mutilated corpses of Sikh coming in from Pakistan and then they retaliate against their Muslim village members by butchering them. 8. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. Life on the reservation written by someone who grew up on the reservation. It's slice of life short stories that follow the same three main characters, (Victor, Thomas and Joseph) as they grow up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Read "Distances" and "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona". Distances is all about what would happen if white people were wiped out and it always reads like a surreal fever dream. " This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" is basically a road trip story with Victor and Thomas, who don't get along, going to get Victor's dead dad's belongings. It's pretty much what I expect to happen when my dad dies. I'm currently working my through London's Sinful Secret: The Bawdy History and Very Public Passions of London's Georgian Age by Dan Cruikshank. Basically it's about whores in London.
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Mar 23, 2014 00:19
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Tulalip Tulips posted:8. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. Brilliant collection, and one of my favourite works by Alexie. If you've never seen it, some of the stories (particularly Victor and Thomas going to get Victor's dead dad's belongings) were adapted into a film, "Smoke Signals", which is worth checking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bctCV38FfU
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Mar 23, 2014 19:46
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It's been a while since my last update but I have progress to report. I just finished Cities of the Plain and while it wasn't as good as The Crossing I still enjoyed it quite a lot. I liked the way that the main characters from the first two books where bought together although the final ending left me very underwhelmed and I'm not entirely sure it fit the rest of the book. I also finished The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth. It nowhere near as good as the other novels of his that I've read but it was still alright. There was far too much superfluous story that didn't add anything to the story at all. The ending was almost the best part of the novel.
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Mar 24, 2014 10:34
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