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A friend told me about new books from Kim Stanley Robinson so I started reading Icehenge last night, really liking the story so far. I wonder how much will be based on the Mars books.
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May 26, 2014 08:16
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I had picked up Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself and Red Country from the library last week - I read through The Blade Itself yesterday, enjoyed it a lot, and had to request the other two books in the series through Interlibrary Loan. So I started Red Country today in the meantime, and too late realized that this was set in the same universe as The First Law series and features one of the same main characters in his later years. Now I've been sort of spoiled as to the fate of this character for the rest of the series....but I like the guy so I'm glad he made it out alive. Red Country is a cross between a fantasy and a western, and it works really well. I've been plowing through it today and hope to finish it at work tomorrow if it's a slow day. Anyone know if the other two one-off books Abercrombie's written -- Best Served Cold and The Heroes -- are set in this same universe, and should I wait until I've finished The First Law series to read them?
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May 27, 2014 03:22
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Rabbit Hill posted:I had picked up Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself and Red Country from the library last week - I read through The Blade Itself yesterday, enjoyed it a lot, and had to request the other two books in the series through Interlibrary Loan. So I started Red Country today in the meantime, and too late realized that this was set in the same universe as The First Law series and features one of the same main characters in his later years. Now I've been sort of spoiled as to the fate of this character for the rest of the series....but I like the guy so I'm glad he made it out alive. They're set in the same universe and you should probably wait - both have many side characters from the main trilogy as main characters, and I don't think it'd be as enjoyable without having read the trilogy first. But make sure you read those two in order, Best Served Cold first then The Heroes. Red Country's characters are almost wholly new except for that one you know already, a couple others are pretty minor. EDIT: Might as well mention I just started book 11 of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, The Reverse of the Medal. I try to read stuff inbetween books of this series so I don't burnout, but starting a new one always makes me smile like seeing an old friend 
PlushCow fucked around with this message at 04:08 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 03:59
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Started a collection of Alvaro Mutis' Maqroll novellas today. I'm enjoying it so far: the first one is a river journey into the jungle, with narration that kind of reminds me of Werner Herzog's monologues in Burden of Dreams.
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May 28, 2014 15:35
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Just picked up these 2 books at the library. I had about 3 minutes and grabbed the first things that looked interesting. 
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Jun 1, 2014 22:26
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I'm a hundred pages into Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem and I'm enjoying the gently caress out of it. It's a hardboiled detective story in a future dystopian Bay Area, California which has become a police state. The printed word is outlawed so newspapers are all photographs; and you have to have a special license to even use questions in your day-to-day speech. There aren't any children: babies are accelerated into adults soon after birth. There's also a secondary class of uplifted animals who work all the menial jobs. One of the antagonists is an anthropomorphic kangaroo, and it gives me a real Tank Girl vibe. It's such a fascinating world and the plot is really intriguing so far, with multiple murders and the whiff of a conspiracy. edit: I'm just sad my copy has this boring cover:  Instead of this awesome cover: 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Jun 5, 2014 |
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Jun 5, 2014 15:07
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Hedrigall posted:I'm a hundred pages into Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem and I'm enjoying the gently caress out of it. That seems real crazy and intriguing and I'm adding it to my list. Is the writing decent?
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Jun 5, 2014 23:32
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Nova Wars by Gary Gibson. It's a follow up to Stealing Light. Really enjoying the series so far. Very Asherian/Banksian and has all my favourite things - good female protagonist, weird tech, grubby populations on hollowed-out asteroids and alien mysteries. The only downside to the female protagonist is she literally fucks her ship. Bit weird.
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Jun 5, 2014 23:52
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frenchnewwave posted:That seems real crazy and intriguing and I'm adding it to my list. Is the writing decent? It's noir-pastiche but I'm really enjoying the use of language and the dialogue is pretty great. WastedJoker posted:The only downside to the female protagonist is she literally fucks her ship. Bit weird. That sounds awesome.
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Jun 6, 2014 00:28
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Started Anathem by Neal Stephenson and I like it alright. People say it's ho-hum until some reveal at some point in the book, so I am hoping it arrives sooner rather than later.
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Jun 7, 2014 07:57
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They collected The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion into one volume: http://www.amazon.com/Snopes-A-Trilogy-Modern-Library/dp/0679600922/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402333845&sr=8-1&keywords=snopes Got through about 100 pages yesterday and it's just wonderful.
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Jun 9, 2014 18:13
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Just Started: Lost and Found Stories from New York Edited by Thomas Beller. I won this from the weekly Mr. Beller's Neighborhood back when it was first coming out back in 2009 and never really got around to reading it. I guess that you could say better late than never. Just brought:  Going Clear  The Bobby Gold Stories  The Rules of Attraction  What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding
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Jun 22, 2014 18:23
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screenwritersblues posted:
Is the author as insufferable as you'd assume she is?
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Jun 22, 2014 19:38
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Phlegmish posted:Is the author as insufferable as you'd assume she is? I hope not. It's a travel memoir that isn't eat pray love, so it should be good. I grabbed it on a whim, so I am going in blind with this one. Also why would you assume that she is insufferable?
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Jun 22, 2014 19:59
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The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. Not too far in, but I'm liking what I'm reading. It kind of feels like what inspired No Yan's LADAWMO, but I could be way off here. ulvir fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jun 27, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 21:52
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screenwritersblues posted:I hope not. It's a travel memoir that isn't eat pray love, so it should be good. I grabbed it on a whim, so I am going in blind with this one. Also why would you assume that she is insufferable? The title is a little judgmental.
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Jun 27, 2014 04:19
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Gardens of The Moon, by Steven Erikson, first in the Malazan series. People are on and on about how utterly confusing it is... I don't really feel the same way. Having just finished The First Law trilogy, Erikson's characters do feel a bit roughed out in comparison to Abercrombie's, but it is a nice solid book. It also took a little adjusting to the high fantasy setting, seems like there's magic and wizards and 'bolts of energy' everywhere, but I'm determined to invest time in all ten books. Lord knows it'll take a while. Sailing To Sarantium, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Picked it up on account of its byzantine-inspired setting. So far so good.
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Jun 27, 2014 08:22
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Chamberk posted:The title is a little judgmental. And your point is? It's a travel memoir. Some people want to start families while they're approaching 30, while others get wanderlust.
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Jun 27, 2014 19:50
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It seems the title is dismissive of people who wasted their time "breeding"
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Jun 27, 2014 19:56
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"Heh, loving breeders wasting their time with crotchspawns not being childfree like me  "
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Jun 27, 2014 21:04
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Just got After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation from the library. Some of it will definitely go over my head, since I barely know anything about translation theory. It's also pretty dense. As for fiction, I downloaded a few French books the other day: Le Rivage des Syrtes (Gracq), Germinal (Zola), and Les Misérables (Hugo). I'm probably going to start with Germinal.
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Jun 28, 2014 21:17
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Mr Underhill posted:Gardens of The Moon, by Steven Erikson, first in the Malazan series. People are on and on about how utterly confusing it is... I don't really feel the same way. Having just finished The First Law trilogy, Erikson's characters do feel a bit roughed out in comparison to Abercrombie's, but it is a nice solid book. It also took a little adjusting to the high fantasy setting, seems like there's magic and wizards and 'bolts of energy' everywhere, but I'm determined to invest time in all ten books. Lord knows it'll take a while. Just picked this up in paperback to read on the beach. Good to know it's not awful. Also picked up Gravity's Rainbow to read once I wrap up the last 100 pages of Infinite Jest. I feel like I've been training for this book for years (read IJ and all of ASoIaF to get back in the habit of big nasty books), and I'm excited to sink my teeth into it. Infinite Jest might be my all-time favorite book, by the way. I'm going to miss it when it's over.
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Jun 28, 2014 23:06
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TinTin in the Congo by Herge It was surprisingly difficult to track down but I really do enjoy the writing in TinTin and have for ages; this makes me come closer to completing the series! 
Eye of Widesauron fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 00:06
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I can't imagine why, it's a classic. All of the pre-WWII Tintins are really entertaining, for various reasons.
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Jun 29, 2014 00:11
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Phlegmish posted:I can't imagine why, it's a classic. 
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Jun 29, 2014 00:27
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Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human. I'm about 20% in and I'm not into it. Feels very try-hard in places and the protagonist is slippery. I'm kind of reading a lot of his internal dialogue in the voice of Fred Savage which is weird when he's talking about MILF bestiality anal.
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Jun 29, 2014 09:31
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Four Fish by Paul Greenberg It's about wild fisheries, farmed fish, their abuse and overuse, etc. It's a topic I'm interested in, but I am not overly enthusiastic a couple chapters in (the chapters about wild and farmed salmon, if you've read it). So far it seems to value character and narrative over rigorous analysis. There's nothing wrong with that, but it makes me skeptical of policy / ecology conclusions. But I am willing to keep going for some stories of people and fish, with confidence that they are more or leas non fiction.
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Jul 1, 2014 00:50
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Carl Sagan - Cosmos Always a good science classic James Clavell - Shogun Feudal Japanese and a white guy, oh yeah lots of death
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Jul 1, 2014 03:32
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The Birth of Tragedy. If this is the writing that Nietzsche was embarrassed by later in life, I can't wait to read the books that he apparently considered more mature. Sure, maybe the density of lyricism and imagery is a bit much, but these moments are at least individually fantastic, in my opinion. Though admittedly this book's started to become hard to follow now that he's introduced the aesthetical objective vs. subjective debate as it relates to his concepts of the Apollonian and Dionysian, i.e. the Apollonian prefers objectivity, yet it's the artistic state that deals in craft and illusions? Definitely something I'll need to come back to and on which I'll need to see more educated opinions. Or maybe I just need to reread that section at some point.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:34
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I've always been a moderate to severe Gaiman fan and I've heard good things about this book in particular. I like it so far, and it's nice to read some fantasy again.
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Jul 1, 2014 17:22
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Oh hey, that same book just arrived on my doorstep. I forgot that I'd entered the Goodreads giveaway (and Goodreads apparently hasn't posted the winners just yet), but I guess I'll have to put this one high-ish on my priority list.
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Jul 1, 2014 19:38
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Just got Infinite Jest. A little bit afraid, a little bit excited.
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Jul 2, 2014 10:44
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Started reading The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen by Lawrence Sterne a couple of weeks ago and it really is something different. I'm a big dumb idiot and initially it was hard to follow, the language is quite complex for me, but now that I've gotten used to it I'm really starting to enjoy Sterne's humour. I'd recommend it just because of how unique it is, but beware you'll either love or hate it. Kim Jong ill fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jul 2, 2014 |
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Jul 2, 2014 17:39
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Just began The Man in the High Castle and really enjoying it so far. Read a few of P K Dick's books and this is supposed to be one of the best, I can believe it so far.
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Jul 2, 2014 20:32
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Since The Ocean at the End of the Lane ended up being pretty bad after about sixty pages, I've begun a reread of Watership Down. It definitely isn't as good as I thought it was when I was 16, but I know it gets better.
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Jul 2, 2014 20:34
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clarion ravenwood posted:Just got Infinite Jest. A little bit afraid, a little bit excited. It's fantastic. I found that having http://infinitesummer.org/ to turn to as a phony book club every few dozen pages made it a lot easier to get through.
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Jul 2, 2014 20:45
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mustermark posted:It's fantastic. I found that having http://infinitesummer.org/ to turn to as a phony book club every few dozen pages made it a lot easier to get through. I had no idea that existed, thank you!
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Jul 3, 2014 09:52
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Just started La Peste by Albert Camus. The subject matter makes me queasy as ever.
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Jul 6, 2014 21:54
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Just started Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace. It's witty, engaging, erudite, readable and slightly spergy all at the same time. A wonderful collection of essays, and probably (in light of the above) the perfect menu item for any goon who happens to enjoy that genre.
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Jul 6, 2014 22:08
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Just started reading The Three by Sarah Lotz. Four airplanes crash in different parts of the world at the same time, and strangeness ensues. It's written in a World War Z style--various accounts, oral and otherwise, from a number of different characters. I'd seen quite a few blog posts recommending it. So far I have the exact same problem with this one as I did with WWZ. Essentially, all of the characters and accounts are written in the exact same voice. It gets monotonous. The story has been just interesting enough to pull me along, but I dunno--the author doesn't seem to be a good enough writer to pull this off. Also, this is a small pet peeve, but when writing from an American's perspective, it's probably wise to stay away from British terminology for things. It really sticks out.
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Jul 9, 2014 19:03
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