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I bought the Tibetan book of the dead today.
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Jul 9, 2014 19:52
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I've been disappointed with how little I've been reading recently so I went and picked up A Game of Thrones, American Psycho, and The Illiad. I only read one book at a time so I'm starting with A Game of Thrones, it's a series I've been wanting to read for some time now. I'm excited to get to American Psycho as I've heard it's supposed to be one of the scarier books out there. I've read a lot of Stevie King recently so I wanted to go for something a little different. The Illiad will probably take a while but it's one of those that I just need to be able to say I've read.
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Jul 9, 2014 20:40
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PantsBandit posted:I've been disappointed with how little I've been reading recently so I went and picked up A Game of Thrones, American Psycho, and The Illiad. One thing to bear in mind about A Game of Thrones and the other books in that series (A Song of Ice and Fire) is that the details really do matter. All sorts of plot points are nested in, the significance of which only becomes clear later, so you want to pay close attention to what is going on. Even small turn of phrase can turn out to be quite important. Enjoy! P.S.: The Illiad is great, you have some very good reading ahead.
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Jul 10, 2014 05:56
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The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. I'm cautious of the "magical negro" trope and hoping this book doesn't cross that line. I'm early in but already enjoying the writing.
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Jul 10, 2014 23:49
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Just started Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
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Jul 11, 2014 05:15
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Finally got around to start reading Moby Dick. I did not expect to read homoerotic undertones, but more power to Ishmael.
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Jul 11, 2014 11:46
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ulvir posted:Finally got around to start reading Moby Dick. I did not expect to read homoerotic undertones, but more power to Ishmael. Herman Mellville being a big old gay is like, the foremost critical opinion on him, if you exclude "he wrote long books that I refuse to read."
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Jul 11, 2014 13:35
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Gooble Gobble posted:Just started Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco Oh poo poo
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Jul 11, 2014 13:48
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The second my pay arrives in my bank account this afternoon, I'm ordering this: It'll take like 2-3 weeks to get to Australia though, so no idea what I'm going to do to be able to read the new book on day one (August 5th).
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Jul 15, 2014 06:15
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I just started reading Look Who's back by Timur Vermes, a German satirical novel about Adolf Hitler who suddenly wakes up in 2011. People believe he is an actor playing the Führer, making him explode into rants about life in the 21th century. Great read so far.
malder fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 15, 2014 10:17
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Hedrigall posted:The second my pay arrives in my bank account this afternoon, I'm ordering this: I wasn't able to score an advance reader, but a friend of mine did and says the new one is the best of the bunch a fitting finale to the series. I read the first chapter in a Buzz Books teaser compilation and I can hardly freaking wait
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Jul 15, 2014 11:01
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funkybottoms posted:I wasn't able to score an advance reader, but a friend of mine did and says the new one is the best of the bunch a fitting finale to the series. I read the first chapter in a Buzz Books teaser compilation and I can hardly freaking wait Awesome! I'm preparing by re-listening to book 1 and 2 as audiobooks — if you haven't heard these, track them down because the narrator is execellent — and reading the various short stories I can find set in the same universe (there are three).
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Jul 15, 2014 11:41
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Started reading The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough this weekend. Definitely written by someone with a background in video games, but it's a lot of fun. Mindless fun, but at least it's well-written. I tried reading a Reacher novel once, and i think my IQ dropped about 30 points. Lee Child sucks at writing, and he NEVER varies his sentence structure. Ever.
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Jul 21, 2014 14:57
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Started reading The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley which is a non-fiction novel about the supposed demonic possessions that took place in the town of Loudun, France in the seventeenth century. Mostly centers around the Roman Catholic priest Urbain Grandier who was tortured and burned alive because it was believed that he made a pact with Satan. So far it's been a really incredible read especially because Huxley in between the main thread of the plot discusses spirituality, psychology, laws, religious doctrine, original sin, original virtue, etc. A lot to take in but it's been really good.
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Jul 22, 2014 18:17
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Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger. it is really dry and i dont overly know why i picked it up, but i feel like if i read the whole book i will learn things so 
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Jul 22, 2014 18:26
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pixelbaron posted:Started reading The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley which is a non-fiction novel about the supposed demonic possessions that took place in the town of Loudun, France in the seventeenth century. Mostly centers around the Roman Catholic priest Urbain Grandier who was tortured and burned alive because it was believed that he made a pact with Satan. So far it's been a really incredible read especially because Huxley in between the main thread of the plot discusses spirituality, psychology, laws, religious doctrine, original sin, original virtue, etc. A lot to take in but it's been really good. Are you going to watch the Ken Russell film when you're done the book?
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Jul 22, 2014 21:21
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Most likely. Any suggestions on where to get it? I know there's like a million versions and bootlegs and poo poo.
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Jul 22, 2014 21:42
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To be honest you should watch the film for itself, I don't think my reading informed my enjoyment of the film at all.
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Jul 22, 2014 21:57
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Just picked up A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I love South Asian literature, especially historical fiction, and have heard great things about this book. Also I feel like reading a love story. I haven't started it yet so I will just post the Library Journal blurb: quote:Opening and closing with a wedding, this novel is ostensibly the story of a Hindu family trying to find a suitable husband for their younger daughter, Lata. Who will the suitable boy turn out to be? The dashing Kabir, with whom Lata falls in love? The ambitious businessman whom Lata's mother favors? Or the sophisticated poet her relatives choose? The interwoven stories of four families linked by marriage form the background for this marital quest. It proves slow-moving at first, but the patient reader will inevitably be caught up in the compelling rhythms of a richly complex tale. The setting--India in the 1950s--is vividly realized: the enormity of the subcontinent, its overpowering heat, lush gardens, colorful festivals, and exotic foods. Memorable characters abound; not since Dickens has there been such a lively and idiosyncratic cast crowded into one novel. Drama is provided by the simmering conflict between Hindu and Muslim, which breaks out unexpectedly throughout the novel. This is old-fashioned storytelling at its best; highly recommended.
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Jul 24, 2014 15:49
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I just started The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Somebody here had mentioned it's a really early example of a detective story, so I got it from Project Gutenberg. I have only one thing to say so far. ROBINSON CRUSOE.
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Aug 2, 2014 02:19
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Found a pretty neat older copy of I, Robot at a church book sale for $1. Probably a week or two before I get to it, as I have a couple things before it. Also found a copy of Simmons' Hyperion at the same place. I've read his horror, so I'm interested to check out his sci-fi.
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Aug 2, 2014 02:23
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Zola posted:I just started The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Somebody here had mentioned it's a really early example of a detective story, so I got it from Project Gutenberg. Betteredge and his Robinson Crusoe  I found The Moonstone started strong, but once the POV started shifting it got to be a bit of a slog. It suffered from a severe lack of Sergeant Cuff.
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Aug 2, 2014 04:02
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Library run: This Culture of Ours: Intellectual Transitions in T'ang and Sung China by Peter K. Bol "Selections from the Works of Su Tung-P'o", trans. by C.D. Le Gros Clark The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, with lovely coloured plates. The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition, by Thomas P. Slaughter A Tale of Eleventh-Century Japan, trans. by Thomas H. Rohlich
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Aug 3, 2014 00:36
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I quite enjoyed The Edwardians, even if some of the characters were a little two-dimensional. So thanks to whoever it was recommended me that. I've just started T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Seen the movie - twice, and have one aborted attempt to read the book years ago. It's a bit more gripping now than it was then. It's fascinating to read about the history and traditions of the Arabs. The narrative of the war and their bid for independence from the Ottomans is kind of secondary in my interest.
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Aug 3, 2014 02:55
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Pron on VHS posted:Just picked up A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I love South Asian literature, especially historical fiction, and have heard great things about this book. Also I feel like reading a love story. This book is amazing. It's a hell of a time commitment but I lived in it for about two months.
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Aug 3, 2014 03:40
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got Ready Player One as a gift, and I would like to shout it out for introducing me to a new Reading Emotion: embarrassment for the author. It's like that old post about making a MST3k reference in a crowded theater to mass applause was excavated and expanded to novel length. _jink fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Aug 4, 2014 |
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Aug 4, 2014 15:48
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Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
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Aug 4, 2014 18:00
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A co-worker has introduced me to Tom Holt recently, and he's really good. Very british humour, similar to Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. I just finished Paint Your Dragon and am now reading Open Sesame.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:51
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My copy of The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein showed up in my mailbox today. I loved his last book, Nixonland, so I'm really excited to read this one. Nixonland painted such a vivid picture of the 60s; hopefully this one is as successful at recreating the 70s.
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Aug 6, 2014 04:38
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I just started The Blue Nowhere by Jeffrey Deaver. I'm on a mystery book binge, and my husband recommended this one.
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Aug 9, 2014 00:16
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MaggieTheCat posted:I just started The Blue Nowhere by Jeffrey Deaver. I'm on a mystery book binge, and my husband recommended this one. I assume you've already worked in Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Goodbye)?
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Aug 9, 2014 02:07
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Sheikh Djibouti posted:I assume you've already worked in Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Goodbye)? I read The Big Sleep many years ago and really enjoyed it. I usually buy my books second hand and I can never find Raymond Chandler at a decent price/good condition. I may just bite the bullet and pick them up on my Kindle for now. Thanks for reminding me!
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Aug 9, 2014 03:09
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Speak, Memory. The adorableness of four-year-old Nabokov "rapidly thudding" through a little tunnel in his house caught me way off guard. This is going to be great.
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Aug 11, 2014 05:18
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Sitting on The Lies of Locke Lamora, and hearing bad things about the second and third books in the series from friends. Also: The Judging Eye is impossible for me to get through, and I've been battling with it for months. How this author could switch from the mastery that was The Thousandfold Thought to the muddled nightmare in TJE astounds me.
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Aug 11, 2014 10:15
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Oxybeles posted:Sitting on The Lies of Locke Lamora, and hearing bad things about the second and third books in the series from friends. The first book is amazing and doesn't end on a cliff-hanger and is well worth reading even if you have no intention of reading the rest of the series. I liked the second (not as much as the first though) but decided to wait until he finishes the series before continuing with them.
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Aug 11, 2014 15:52
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Oxybeles posted:Sitting on The Lies of Locke Lamora, and hearing bad things about the second and third books in the series from friends. Your friends are objectively wrong. Oxybeles posted:: The Judging Eye is impossible for me to get through, and I've been battling with it for months. How this author could switch from the mastery that was The Thousandfold Thought to the muddled nightmare in TJE astounds me. TBH, the first trilogy suffered from muddled plot, maxxx grimdark and serious Fantasy Name Syndrome. I haven't even bothered starting with the AE series.
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Aug 12, 2014 12:50
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Started The Brothers K by David James Duncan, about a family in Oregon whose father treats baseball as a religion. It's got some definite parallels to The Brothers Karamazov, but it's its own beast, and I like it so far.
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Aug 12, 2014 15:04
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Started in on (or am re-reading) a number of books, including (among others): - The History of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky - Capital in the Twenty First Century, Piketty - The Bhavagad Gita, Prabhavananda and Isherwood trans Enjoying the first two so far, though Trotsky's unique writing style can take getting used to. The third is a translation I picked up as an undergrad years ago. Not the best, I'm (quite) sure, but very readable and hence suitable for interludes between sessions with heavier / drier material. Actually, if anyone could recommend a strong translation of the Gita, I'd be grateful: it would be good to take a deeper dive at some point.
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Aug 16, 2014 03:57
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I just started reading `Station Perdido` from China Mieville. Ive allready read Armada which was amazing. The writing was great and the atmosphere created in that book was so gripping. I litterally backed away from my book when there was that knock on the door in the submarine . I hope this book is gonna be similar with gripping atmosphere and engaging writing.
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Aug 18, 2014 02:06
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Started reading The Magicians, and I'm completely unsure how I feel about.
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Aug 18, 2014 04:51
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