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I finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson last night and while the book felt a little slow at times it wrapped things up rather neatly by the end. I'm looking forward to starting Words of Radiance, the next book in the Stormlight Archive series.
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Mar 31, 2014 23:03
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funkybottoms posted:Also, the book is absolutely dense with references, many of which have to do with the new-fangled mathematical theories being bandied about at Oxford (aka Wonderland).
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Mar 31, 2014 23:23
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The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch - Not much I can add that hasn't already been covered in the m-m-megathread. It really is every bit as excellent as people continually claim. Fast, fun, well written and probably the first time I have actually cared about a character dying since Whirrun of Bligh  Prince of Thieves, Chuck Hogan - One of those cases where the movie (The Town) is better than the book. Spends far too much time repeatedly laboring the point that the protagonist feels trapped by his upbringing and responsible for everyone else. Tries too hard to push the love triangle angle. Also, taking the meth route for Jem was probably a bit of a copout, which the movie didn't do. The original ending really doesn't work as well (even if it is arguably more realistic). The actual job sections, and to a lesser extent the characterization of Charlestown, were outstanding and really made the whole thing worth reading.
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Apr 1, 2014 01:20
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Sand: Omnibus by Hugh Howey I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it; especially if you have an Amazon Prime membership where you can borrow it for free through the lending library. It's a science fiction story featuring sand divers scavenging for our garbage scraps after some never explained world-ending disaster where Colorado turns into Arrakis minus giant sand worms. Anyways the search for Danvar leads to terrorist bombs and searching analysis of class structure and the nature of privilege. It was a fun story and didn't feel done to death even if the sociology was a little ham-fisted.
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Apr 1, 2014 21:07
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Meaty Ore posted:
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Apr 1, 2014 22:33
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American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. As someone who was born in 1993 and thus didn't get to experience the "yuppie" era, this was a fascinating snapshot of that time. Beautifully written, too. The plot itself gets somewhat repetitive, but in a way that's the point; the characters are trapped in a cycle of self-indulgent consumerism that seems both mindless and weirdly compelling. Of course, there are the violent scenes, which are incredibly graphic, though they're far from pulpy schlock. Without the themes of economics and power they might have been, but as is they're both shocking and thought-provoking.
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Apr 2, 2014 14:40
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Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. A lighthearted romp detailing the good times a man of the lower classes has when he tries to bootstrap himself into NotOxford. Also has one of the best pig killing scenes in all literature.
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Apr 2, 2014 18:31
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The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison is a joy to read. I finished it a few hours ago and I am still giddy with pleasure. Go buy this immediately. The book is about the unwanted, exiled half-goblin fourth son of an elven emperor who, after his father and first three sons die in a not-Hindenburg airship crash, becomes the emperor and has to deal with court politics, angry relatives, attempts on his life and exhausting fashion. This probably already sounds fun to you, but what's so special about this book, what elevates it above most of the other books I've recently read is how fundamentally positive and full of hope it is. Maia, the protagonist, is at his core a thoughtful, decent human (well, half-elf/half-goblin) being and although he went through a lot of indignity and suffering before the book starts, he responds to every problem with a sense of compassion that I found deeply satisfying and none of it was in the least preachy or cloying. I am so sick of the grimdark trend and this book was like stumbling upon a water truck in the middle of a desert. There are no mis-steps, no false notes. Everything works. It all comes together gorgeously. With this book Katherine Addison has hit a storytelling hole in one and she is wizard and I would fear her terrible powers if I didn't know she will use them responsibly. The only other suggestion I have is to read the section in the end of the book on how the elven names work before you start the story proper. I didn't and I figured everything out on my own, but I think it would be easier if I read the appendix first. Megazver fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 01:50
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A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. It occurred to me that nearly all the books I've read in the last year are written by and star a white male character, so I thought I should mix it up a bit. This book intertwines the diary of Nao, a sixteen year old Japanese girl and a narrative about Ruth, an older Japanese Canadian in British Columbia who finds her journal washed up ashore some time after the tsunami. It touches upon Buddhism, Western Philosophy, Japanese culture, aging and memory loss, World War II (from the perspective of a Kamikaze pilot), fulfillment in life, the struggles of writing, the military industrial complex and more. It's definitely a bold attempt at being a lot of different things and...it doesn't land it quite perfectly. Nao's story remains pretty interesting all throughout, mixing comedy and drama perfectly. There are parts where I felt like I was punched in the gut. Ruth's story is mainly a drag all throughout, and I often found myself trudging through it to get back to the next Nao chapter. A lot of Ruth's plot involves recapping what you just read in the preceding Nao chapter and discussing it with others, which is more annoying than anything. The ending of the book also seems to wrap things up a lot more neatly than I expected in a short period of time. Overall I'm glad I read it but I don't see myself reading anything else from this author in the future. If you don't feel like reading it, the author actually narrated the audiobook herself and she did an excellent job of it from the parts I heard. bowser fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 04:15
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zhuangcg posted:Sand: Omnibus by Hugh Howey Did you read the Wool omnibus by the same author? The second book of the Sand series has some serious explaining to do. At least in Wool, the first book of that series, there was some marginal explaining telling you what was going on. Sand is just full of sailing ships cutting through sand and sand diving and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand. On top of that is the cliche characters. Thats what threw me off because Wool's characters were outstanding.
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Apr 3, 2014 04:19
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Bob A Feet posted:Did you read the Wool omnibus by the same author? The second book of the Sand series has some serious explaining to do. At least in Wool, the first book of that series, there was some marginal explaining telling you what was going on. Sand is just full of sailing ships cutting through sand and sand diving and a bunch of other stuff I don't understand. On top of that is the cliche characters. Thats what threw me off because Wool's characters were outstanding. This was my first exposure to the author. If Wool was free to read I would have read it first and I do plan to buy a copy at some point but other books keep sounding more interesting. The sand diving part made it feel fresh for me and more than anything else that really helped the book for me. I found the characters interesting but not particularly memorable. Overall, I was pleased that it didn't end up being Waterworld in the Desert, Mad Max on a Catamaran, Fallout New Vegas: Diving Edition or My First Dune Homage. I mean the bad story possibilities were just amazing and he didn't fall into any of them.
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Apr 3, 2014 05:43
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Just finished a run-through of Robert Graves' most famous historical novels. I, Claudius then Claudius the God then Count Belisarius. The latter is pretty awesome and hilarious: quote:Belisarius, who had succeeded in getting together an army of 25,000 men (of whom, however, he could not count on more than 3,000 to show hardihood, either in attack or defence) soon heard that a well-trained army of 40,000 men under the command of the Persian generalissimo Firouz was marching against him. Then came a Persian messenger with an arrogant message for Belisarius: 'Firouz of the Golden Fillet spends tomorrow night in the City of Daras. Let a bath be prepared for him.'
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Apr 3, 2014 23:04
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Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman I've been trying to break away from literary fiction for a little white for a change of pace. I really don't know how to gauge mass-market paperback fiction, but this was a pretty fun and engrossing read. The plot is a little flawed in that there's just too drat much going on and sub-plots that either lead nowhere or sputter out. For example, I really didn't get why the bookends about the buried infant were even there, as that plot seemed to run completely separate from the mystery at large and eventually be wrapped up loosely in the last few pages. This was made worse due to the fact that a good half of the book is setting up that storyline before it diverges into the (albeit more interesting) celebrity psycho couple and never looks back. That being said, I did enjoy the book and will definitely be picking up another one of his books for a quick read in the future.
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Apr 4, 2014 04:52
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TheFallenEvincar posted:Just finished a run-through of Robert Graves' most famous historical novels. I, Claudius then Claudius the God then Count Belisarius. Is Belisarius still in print? I've been trying to find a hard copy for a while, it looks like it's a Kindle-only read right now.
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Apr 4, 2014 14:52
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Raise the Bar by Jon Taffer (host of Spike TV's 'Bar Rescue'). First book I've finished in a long rear end time and it gave me the hunger for more. I've got a stack of 5 or 6 half-read sitting next to me, next up will either be Terry Pratchett's Thud, Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver or I might even go back and re-read a couple of favourites. For anyone who's never heard of Taffer/Bar Rescue, it's an absolute gem for those of us in the industry. I highly recommend the book and the show to get a good insight on the bar business, how not to run a business and how to get people to listen to you.
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Apr 4, 2014 15:17
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Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson Words proved to be an excellent followup to The Way of Kings though Kaladin's terrible handling of Moash's involvement in the assassination plot grated on me. Unfortunately completing Words means I'm out of Stormlight Archive books to read for the near future though Sanderson being Sanderson probably means that the next book will be finished sooner rather than later.
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Apr 5, 2014 00:16
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1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham Not having spent much deep study time on the First World War, this essay was a fascinating read about the driving forces that led to combat. The schoolbook explanation of the entangled alliances set off by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand seem (refreshingly) simple in the face of the political and economic realities of the time. Ham looks at railroad construction, the final stages of European colonization efforts in Asia and Africa and the development of a scientific outlook on war in an easy-to-read, but clearly well-researched, way. The last few lines of the essay sums it up perfectly: quote:"The simple truth is: men in power planned , chose - or weakly acquiesced in the choice - to go to war; only they could have avoided or stopped it. And there were many opportunities to do so. They were all, more or less, responsible. They were not somnambulant pawns under the spell of some malign Zeus." It inspired me to pick up John Keegan's The First World War, which I'm reading through now. Also... George Washingtons Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade I'm glad I know the story, but the writing... Certainly not looking around for other books by the author, even less so after I discovered his "credentials". Don't confuse this with academic fare.
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Apr 5, 2014 06:43
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Do audiobooks count? I am in the car for hours a day. I just finished Wizard by Marc Seifer on the life of Nikola Tesla. An incredibly intelligent man with zero business sense... Not the hero he is always made out to be, but the man had no luck! While I typically read scifi and post-apocalyptic fiction, I have been into biographies/historical accounts... they generally prove to be equally horrifying. I am currently reading The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America by James Wilson. A bit depressing, but very enlightening - certainly info you would not have picked up in school. Next up: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I like longer books because they last me a while in the car. I have heard good things about this one 
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Apr 6, 2014 16:49
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Just finished The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin. I liked it a lot, though it was extremely short. It is honestly one of the most disturbing books I've read in a long time, simply because of Toibin's mastery over tone. It rather reminded me of El Greco's paintings, with the murky colors and distended figures. A very cruel book, but very powerful as well. Not sure if I like it better than The Master, though.
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Apr 6, 2014 19:52
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Just finished Lines of Departure by Marko Kloos. I recently posted in this thread about finishing the first book, Terms of Enlistment, and it was decent enough that when I saw the sequel on sale for Kindle, I grabbed it. I was not disappointed. This series reminds me most of the Honor Harrington series with its focus on the space military, but without the Mary Sue-ism that increasingly turned subsequent Harrington books into a train wreck (I think I got to the fifth or sixth title before I lost interest.) This is solid military sci-fi. I liked how a lot of the description of battles and tactics and equipment was handled--enough explanation that a layperson like me can follow what's happening, but not so much it feels like infodump. I don't want to go into too much depth because I don't want to inadvertently spoil anything, but in this story, unlike the first book which focused mainly on Andrew Grayson's training, the pace picks up considerably. I think the second book is better than the first, but do be warned--the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger.
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Apr 7, 2014 12:28
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Just finished The Wise Man's Fear, the second book in The Kingkiller Chronicle series by Patrick Rothfuss. This series has been really great so far. The stories within stories structure is really enthralling, and the writing style is wonderfully artistic and emotional. Large parts of this book are much slower than the first installment (The Name of the Wind), but it really moves the story along. Can't wait to read the third one once it's released. Highly recommend this series for any fantasy reader. Up next, The Republic of Thieves, the third in Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series about Locke Lamora. Love these books, the wit and sarcasm is just brilliant. As mentioned higher on this page by BrosephofArimathea, it really does hold up to the hype.
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Apr 8, 2014 17:58
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I just finished Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, about Meriwether Lewis. I didn't like it as much as D-Day or Band of Brothers, but it was still quite good. I didn't know a lot about Lewis and Clarke, nor the expedition other than it happened, so it was pretty interesting.
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Apr 8, 2014 19:26
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Queen of Nowhere: An average read, nothing stands out as terrible but the plot seemed a bit weak. I feel that with the main character being a data hacker extraordinaire the book didn't really focus to much on it, I was expecting the planet's vastly different layout of it to provide a challenge but all it did was slow the plot down till the protagonist offpage was more familiar with it. The Quantum Thief: Entertaining and I'll probably look at getting the next book in the series. Really liked the whole time based society on Mars. Off to be the Wizard: Light and easy reading but shallow in characterisation with most focus on humour which wasn't amazing but wasn't completely terrible. The plot seemed to focus more on the protagonist learning not much about 'magic' and so anything to do with the villain felt like an afterthought. Saturn's children: Even ignoring the memory/flashback bits the plot seemed disjointed and didn't really interest me that much.
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Apr 8, 2014 21:29
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Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. First book in the Southern Reach trilogy. Gave it 4 stars on Goodreads:My review posted:Enigmatic. A little too enigmatic. Would like a few more answers in the next book please, Mr. VanderMeer.
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Apr 9, 2014 12:27
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Point Omega by Don Delillo. A little better than some of his recent output, but it's kind of sad that he's turned into the human embodiment of a university creative writing program.
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Apr 9, 2014 17:53
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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Hauki Murakami. It really was an interesting book. Overall, though, I think it suffered from both a lack of cohesion an an excess in length. Essentially it was a hodge-podge of brilliant, fascinating ideas strung together by... ??? I dunno. Still, the ideas are indeed very interesting. I especially though the bits about the war were both interesting and well-written. If you had like... Taken those out and published them as their own book or short story collection, they would've been great.
Ezzum fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 23:06
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Ezzum posted:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Ha, that pretty much sums up Murakami, and magical realism in general. I always enjoy his stuff but, like you, wonder if some of the ideas wouldn't work as well/better on their own.
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Apr 10, 2014 14:08
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Ezzum posted:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Hauki Murakami. It really was an interesting book. Overall, though, I think it suffered from both a lack of cohesion an an excess in length. Essentially it was a hodge-podge of brilliant, fascinating ideas strung together by... ??? I dunno. Still, the ideas are indeed very interesting. I especially though the bits about the war were both interesting and well-written. If you had like... Taken those out and published them as their own book or short story collection, they would've been great. I'm of the opinion that Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is his best novel. I really loved his short stories too - check those out if you can. On the other hand, I really didn't care for 1Q84 or A Wild Sheep Chase - the only other novel of his I'd really recommend is Hard Boiled Egg and the End of the World.
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Apr 10, 2014 20:23
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White Noise by Don Delillo. It's amazing when you read the work of someone you've never read and the prose just hooks you in. Having said that, I mostly enjoyed the father and son dialogues. Just a dark, twisted, fun book that made me laugh multiple times which I can't recall any other book have ever done.
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Apr 10, 2014 20:36
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Enter sadman
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The Essays of George Eliot. I particularly recommend "Evangelical Teaching" to anyone who is interested in psychology of religious discourse. The insightfulness is drat impressive, though it's depressing how nothing whatsoever seems to have changed since her time.
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Apr 11, 2014 01:35
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saihttam posted:White Noise by Don Delillo. It's amazing when you read the work of someone you've never read and the prose just hooks you in. Having said that, I mostly enjoyed the father and son dialogues. Just a dark, twisted, fun book that made me laugh multiple times which I can't recall any other book have ever done. Sounds interesting. What's it about?
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Apr 11, 2014 05:32
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Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instruments Series (5 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls This is an urban fantasy YA romance series that was surprisingly enjoyable. It's a progressive modern series with mixed race and same gender romances complementing a more traditional straight romance. The first three novels form a single story arc and the fourth struggled a bit finding itself when the original arc was resolved at the end of the third novel. The fifth book was quite enjoyable and the new arc is definitely not resolved with the six one set to be released on May 27th. The whole series is well worth a read if you like this sort of thing.
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Apr 12, 2014 01:30
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American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I have had this book for many years, but just got around to reading it and finished a few days ago. I agree with the popularity of this book as it was well written and a great story. In particular I really enjoyed the first half. Lots of mystery, the plot jumping around and characters with varying motivations really built a unique setting and I was hooked. I did feel that the book started to decline slowly after the halfway mark. As the plot lines were wound together, characters fleshed out more (sometime to much) and the resolving of the general mystery of what was happening I started to get a bit bored. Overall I really enjoyed it. Reflecting on the book I am curious to how much the recent popularity of The Thor Marvel movies changed my opinion on the end of the book and may affect other people. As most all of my Norse mythology information has come from those movies, if I had read the book before I think I would have enjoyed the ending much more and would have been more surprised by some of the plot twists.
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Apr 12, 2014 04:46
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The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher. 3 stars. This summarises my experience reading it: quote:Hmm, this is creepy. Whoa, it's kinda scary in places! The tension and the dread is really amping up. This is cool! The backstory's really interesting too. Oh my god this is amazing! Somebody finally did space horror right! This book is gr— FFFFFFAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRT
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Apr 12, 2014 08:06
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A few days ago I finished Conrad's Nostromo. One of the more difficult books I've read lately, and also the most Conradian. He really wants to convey as much as he can of the Island of Sulaco: the political situation; the weather; the distant history; the recent; the domestic lives of all the characters and their illusions. The first part spends 30 pages describing the geography, before serving up a composite of 3 distinct eras. Daring rescues of besieged families are interrupted by long descriptions of their life in peacetime. We are let in on the plots that have hatched and dispatched the last 3 tyrants before being introduced to the current leader, who we glimpsed being rescued by the titular Nostromo several chapters earlier. All of this chopping and changing actually insists that you read the book, because otherwise you will soon overlook a drastic change of time or place and end up completely lost. Of the plentitude of characters, none of them are particularly nuanced. At most he gives them two notes (the frenchified cynical dandy who discovers a love of country; the crippled, ironical doctor cherishing a forbidden love), but with them spread so far and wide you would find it hard to notice anything more subtle. The strength of the story is in plunging these just-short-of-crude stubs into a fog of indecision and illusion. He also manages to suggest some depth to the caricatures with his empathic descriptions of the scenery. His verbal Turner paintings of a sun on the water will tell you more than the dialogue. The writing is stiffly stereotyped. Nostromo is invaluable, forever and always. I'm not sure of the publication history but I would not be surprised if this was written for serialization, though like I say I really don't know. Conrad is freer with his racial generalizations that normal (most of them flattering to his English readership, a withdrawn race sustained by illusions) and never fails to note that the angry mob consists of Negroes. In fact, I was strongly reminded of Atlas Shrugged, as the industry of the peninsula rests entirely on the proud, unbending back of one (English) man, despite the stupid, murderous, comic government, ceaselessly intriguing and extorting. He also lets fly with a few opinions on the proper way for a woman to be. However the text, with its watchwords of irony and illusions eases the excuses one might be tempted to make, and he soon leaves the side of the English and into the confusing world of local politics, and is much the better for it. A final note is that Conrad is always strongest when it comes to endings. For some reason I always find them genuinely affecting He caps this 450 page encyclopedia off with a microscopic love story where two side-characters suddenly bud into womanhood for the purposes of tormenting Nostromo.
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Apr 12, 2014 14:25
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Pfirti86 posted:the only other novel of his I'd really recommend is Hard Boiled Egg and the End of the World. See I had read that one before. Didn't really see the same issues as with The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. It felt more cohesive as a novel. My main criticism of it is that it is rather esoteric in its scope.
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Apr 12, 2014 16:02
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In the company of ogres by A. Lee Martinez (recommended by Goodreads to me). I've seen it compared to Douglas Adams, but for me it's closer to Terry Pratchett for its climactic conflicts, although it's more chaotic, as in butterfly-effect, while Pratchett's novels (at least in the mature stage) seem to be set on a certain course. It's well written, except the protagonist is kind of poorly characterized, but I decided early on that it was a deliberate choice by the author, and I stand by this opinion now that I'm done reading. Unknownmass posted:Reflecting on the book I am curious to how much the recent popularity of The Thor Marvel movies changed my opinion on the end of the book and may affect other people. As most all of my Norse mythology information has come from those movies, if I had read the book before I think I would have enjoyed the ending much more and would have been more surprised by some of the plot twists. Whaaa? I used to read Norse mythology for entertainment in middle school and I know of the second Thor film's content only from the Cinema Sins take on it, but I watched the first film before I read American Gods and there was no conflict or, basically, mental link in my head. I guess I consider books more serious entertainment than movies, because a bit later I read another book involving Norse mythology, where gods were characterized quite differently, and that clashed quite a bit... I don't know what plot twists you're talking about, but as I said, I used to be quite knowledgeable about the Norse mythos, and that didn't in any way spoil my appreciacion of American Gods.
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Apr 12, 2014 19:11
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A few days ago I finished Robert Caro's Master of the Senate, the third volume of his biography of LBJ. It's a huge book, the longest of the series, but it's also the best. It opens with a history of the senate, showing it at it's best (and worst), before going into Johnson's years there: first as the new guy trying to make a name for himself, then quickly rising to become majority leader. It's equally fascinating and frustrating to read about these years: fascinating because Johnson was outwitting some clever people to get ahead but frustrating for the things he does: blocking civil rights legislation (and rubbing it in defeated senators faces) or destroying Leland Olds in a stacked hearing, for example. And when he does work to get a civil rights bill passed, it has him outmaneuvering nearly everyone in his path, including Vice President Nixon (who'll show up again in the next volumes, I'm sure). I think it's a little more even handed than Caro's earlier books, too: people like Richard Russell don't get the same heroic treatment that Coke Stevenson got in Means of Ascent. Yes, Russell played an important role in the senate, but his overt racism is never marginalized, either. And for a book packed with political committees, senate hearing, etc., I didn't find it dull: I barely put the thing down for about two weeks. At times Caro's prose goes a little overboard - he can get a little bombastic sometimes, not that I really mind - but it's a great read. Recommended!
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Apr 14, 2014 01:35
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Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch. The general consensus seems to be 'pretty good, but not as good as the first', and while that's generally true, it's also selling this book well short. Like the first one, it's fun and engaging, and he still writes the best dialogue in the whole genre. The characters have a little more depth now, and putting them in such an unfamiliar situation makes for some hilarious passages. The supporting cast are all well-realised and interesting, and you really grow to love them like the original gang. Del  I was kind of dreading the piracy parts based on what people were saying, but I ended up really enjoying them. The only part that could have moved a bit quicker was the 'here is how to drive a boat, landlubbers'... and even that made for some excellent passages. The fake painting twist was great, too, and really fit with the tone of the book. If the first is a solid five stars, this is at least 4 - 4.5 Plus an extra half star for this: http://www.mhpbooks.com/an-engraved-invitation-to-go-piss-up-a-hill/ BrosephofArimathea fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Apr 15, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 00:49
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supermikhail posted:Whaaa? I used to read Norse mythology for entertainment in middle school and I know of the second Thor film's content only from the Cinema Sins take on it, but I watched the first film before I read American Gods and there was no conflict or, basically, mental link in my head. I guess I consider books more serious entertainment than movies, because a bit later I read another book involving Norse mythology, where gods were characterized quite differently, and that clashed quite a bit... I don't know what plot twists you're talking about, but as I said, I used to be quite knowledgeable about the Norse mythos, and that didn't in any way spoil my appreciacion of American Gods. The reveal of the character of Loki about 2/3rd into the book spoiled the rest of the story as the Thor movies have Loki's trickery and constant lying as a center point. At one point Loki said he had no relation to Wednesday and that was a big red flag for me. I do hope that I am an outlier and that this book is not getting spoiled for new readers by the Thor movies.
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Apr 15, 2014 00:56
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