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I've been both remiss in reading until recently and remiss in updating the thread, so here we go. List as last updated in the thread:quote:1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) and since that last post I've read: 16. The Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France - this was a great read, both in that the story and characters were compelling and also in that was a perfect illustration as to how the revolutionary spirit can breed its own form of tyranny. 17. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi - entertaining but basically fluff. The prose was kind of rough throughout and the pacing a little wonky - you can tell this was a really early work, and Scalzi has improved quite a bit since. 18. The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster - incredible little novella. Well-written prose and incredibly insightful about globalization and industrialization considering it was written over a century ago. 19. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - this was pretty good, although I'm wondering if my expectations due to cultural osmosis colored my reaction. All of the stuff with the monster directly involved was great; he's a cool character, and especially his death scene at the very end is fascinating and layered. However, Frankenstein's constant waxing lyrical about Elizabeth gets tiresome as all hell. Also, the side plot about Muslims being lovely is out of left field and weirdly vehement. 20. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - McCarthy has always been one of my favorite authors, and it'd been a while since I read another one of his books. This one starts out with significantly lighter subject matter; it's basically a coming-of-age Western, with a romance and everything! It all collapses - of loving course, it was too good to last in a McCarthy novel - and the second half of the book is increasingly dark. The ending lightens things a bit, though without actually taking away the impact of what came before, which is tricky to pull off but McCarthy is a master so it works perfectly here. Obviously one of McCarthy's biggest draws is his downright jaw-droppingly gorgeous prose, and he doesn't disappoint. Here's one the passages that stuck out to me the most: quote:He thought of Alejandra and the sadness he'd first seen in the slope of her shoulders which he'd presumed to understand and of which he knew nothing and he felt a loneliness he'd not known since he was a child and he felt wholly alien to the world although he loved it still. He thought that in the beauty of the world were hid a secret. He thought the world's heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world's pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower. If I end up writing one single paragraph that good in my entire life, I'll be over the moon, and that's just McCarthy's usual writing style. Incredible. I've read half of McCarthy's books now and I'm gonna jump back into the rest once I go through a couple of books I've told people I'll read ASAP. Starting with... Currently reading: Inventing Human Rights: A History by Lynn Hunt. I read an excerpt from this for my human rights class this semester and I really liked it (unusual for me with regards to academic writing), and after discussing it with my professor I asked if I could borrow it so now I'm reading the whole thing. I'm about 1/3 through and it's very interesting; the development of human rights as a concept actually applied to our society isn't as straightforward as you'd think, and the book is thorough and well-structured. The one thing about academic writing that continues to bug me is the hammering home of the same point in very slightly differing ways throughout, but this book is short enough (a hair over 200 pages) that it's not too much of an issue. Also, I have an audiobook of Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris, so I think I'll start listening to that when I'm walking around. Next up after will be The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco since my girlfriend got me a lovely physical copy and it's been on my kindle shelf for a while anyway. So, the BOOKLORD CHALLENGE beckons. Lessee what I've done. quote:1. The vanilla read a set number of books (45) in a year - 20 so far! Mahlertov Cocktail fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Jun 30, 2015 |
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Jun 30, 2015 13:18
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Update through June. Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. New: 19. My Real Children by Jo Walton. The life story of an Englishwoman of the postwar era until the present day, where she's old and suffering from senile dementia and only remembers her life in bits and pieces. Except she remembers two completely different lives, hinging on her choice to accept or reject a marriage proposal in 1949. In two quite different postwar histories, no less (neither of them ours; one has a peaceful international colony on the moon, for instance, while the other has seen several limited nuclear wars by the end of the 20th century). Personal and emotional development along alternate paths echoes or counterpoints alternate routes in larger social developments; mostly told in a rather understated, introspective and low-key manner. I like Walton's writing a lot (have ever since she was not a published author but just one of the regulars on rec.arts.sf.written twenty years ago) and enjoyed this book although it's probably one of her minor works so far. 20. Forrådt ("Betrayed") by Amalie Skram. Originally published in 1892 and taking place maybe three decades before that, this is a proto-feminist novel by one of Norway's most significant female authors (also considered the most important female author of the Modern Breakthrough). Partly autobiographic, it is the story of a young girl who marries a much older ship-captain (as did Skram herself, in her youth) and the complete misery which results as her ignorant romantic expectations collide hard with his more... experienced view of the world. Strong, scathing indictment of the double (hell, triple) standards that applied in sexual and other mores of the times; although the language and imagery used is pretty tame by today's measurements the book was a very contentious and downright scandalous publication in its day. 21. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. #5 in the Expanse series, good poo poo as far as I'm concerned. Space opera with a nod to physics, some pretty cool characters (and some annoying ones as well), explosions and desperation, it's all good. 22. On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. #2 in a (probably) trilogy, significantly harder and mostly fairly optimistic SF. It's got a nightmarish future of peace and prosperity across the Solar System and beyond, elephants, lots of neat sightseeing, and some disasters and scary stuff. Liked it a lot. 23. Landfall by Stephen Baxter. Ebook collection of three novellas or whatever you'd call them that finishes off the story from his duology Flood and Ark, set on separate human colony worlds in the intermediate and far future. Baxter is either good or half-assed; he wasn't half-assing it this time. Am currently about 1/3 of the way through 24. The March North by Graydon Saunders; not going to finish it before the end of June as I have about an hour left of the month here, going to write it up nevertheless since I already love it: Egalitarian information-dense fantasy set in a fantasy hellworld full of horrors only some of which are describable. Everywhere is full of demons, mindcontrolling sorcerer-kings, the living dead, what have you; except for the nation of the Commonweal which has figured out some ways to survive as a (mostly) peaceful, humane civilization. This cannot be done without heavy artillery, ghosts of fallen infantrymen, ageless sorcerers and a five-ton war-sheep named Eustace. Saunders is another refugee from rec.arts.sf.written of old and his prose is easily recognizable (his posts were always recognizable as his without looking at the headers); this is his first published novel but he's already got another one out and that's probably going to be my #25 or so. So far: 23 and soon 24/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 6/10 Norwegian books 4/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 2 (Forrådt; technically met earlier but saved for a book where the gender of the author was the POINT rather than an accident) 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 11 (My Real Children) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene).
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Jun 30, 2015 22:16
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Chamberk posted:
The cool thing about absurdist literature is that they are all pretty funny. I read Ferdydurke this year and it is probably the funniest thing I have ever read. Another idea would be the old standby of Catch22 if you have not read that yet. If you want something darker there is always Kafka with which I love The Trial. If you want to go the poetry rout e.e. cummings is fun to read (in short burst, his style can get a little tiring.)
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Jun 30, 2015 23:13
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June. 30. Fight Club. Chuck Palahniuk. It was pretty good, even if I already saw the movie. 31. The Weird of the White Wolf. Michael Moorcock. Some short stories. From good to mediocre. 32. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Neil Gaiman. It felt a lot like a personal story, but in the end, more fantasy should be like this. 33. Fantastic Voyage. Isaac Asimov. Just ok, the movie was better 34. Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians. Brandon Sanderson. Fun but kind of mediocre. Sanderson was just finding his "thing". 35. Night Watch. Terry Pratchett. A great read that mix the best of what Discworld has to offer. 35/60
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Jul 2, 2015 03:33
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Cormac McCarthy Cities Of the Plain is a decent read if you want to know what eventually happened to the main character of All The Pretty Horses. Warning: things get worse! But if you're gonna do the Border Trilogy, you should really just do it in order since The Crossing is next and I'd argue it's the best of the three. Plus, the main character of both The Crossing and All The Pretty Horses are the two protagonists of Cities Of The Plain. The Crossing is also a coming-of-age novel, but it doesn't wait a while for things to get bleak and depressing. It's not quite as soul crushing as some of his earlier works, though. It's beautiful in its melancholy.
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Jul 2, 2015 04:30
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Burning Rain posted:22. Inga Ābele - Klūgu mūks. The winner of p. much all of last year's Latvian best book awards. A weighty historical novel with several (at times melodramatic plots ), good prose and all too clearly demarcated good and bad characters who often fall suspiciously well along ethnic and political lines. (most of these I read in languages other than English, but I translated the titles anyway) 27. Vladimir Voinovich - The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of the Private Ivan Chonkin. A foolish but fiercely loyal soldier gets sent off to a village to guard a crashed plane just before WW2 breaks out, which he does to the last moment (against Soviet soldiers, as it turns out). Surprisingly savage satire of Stalin's era, and it tells you why horses didn't become humans, so you should read it, too. Not as funny as Švejk, then again what is. 28. Paolo Bacigalupi - Pump Six and Other Stories. The first 20 pages of each story is worldbuilding, followed by The Most Dramatic Plot Twists he could think of before killing off the main character to show how terrible his fantasy world is. The worldbuilding is good though, but he likes his own prose too much. 29. Charles Freeman - The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason. Despite the premise, the book was actually very respectful to Christianity and serves as a good overview of its early centuries (focusing on 4th and 5th century AD). It seemed that the book forgot it's point halfway through, so there are like a hundred pages about the minute differences between different early Christian movements instead of the focus being on their battles for supremacy (although there is plenty of that, too). 30. Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky - Memories of the Future (and a bunch of other stories). I didn't think the stories were particularly well written, but they did have lots of interesting fantastical concepts and ideas thrown around, some of which stuck more than others. Fans of Calvino and Borges would appreciate them the most. 31. Māris Bērziņš - The Taste of Lead. Yet another Latvian novel about WW2, but surprisingly (and fortunately) lacking in pathos, focusing instead on the general shittiness of being caught between two superpowers. 32. Magda Szabó - The Masquerade. A disgustingly perfect teacher comes to a school and changes everybody's life around by being so wonderfully disciplined and uninhibited at the same time. Then one of her student does the same to her, and everybody becomes a happy and productive socialist citizen. The prose and the way the story was structured was much too good for such a lovely story, so I might check out some more of her work, hoping it shows a bit more subtlety in the character development, too.
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Jul 2, 2015 08:33
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Blind Sally posted:Cities Of the Plain is a decent read if you want to know what eventually happened to the main character of All The Pretty Horses. Warning: things get worse! But if you're gonna do the Border Trilogy, you should really just do it in order since The Crossing is next and I'd argue it's the best of the three. Plus, the main character of both The Crossing and All The Pretty Horses are the two protagonists of Cities Of The Plain. Thanks for the recommendations! I was planning to do the Border Trilogy in order, so The Crossing is indeed up next. I'm so glad to be getting back into McCarthy. I've been reading through the McCarthy thread here in TBB and I'll probably bump it soon since I'd love to have some discussion! Suttree is also high on my list - someone posted the watermelon fucker passage and I was dying laughing. I love when McCarthy decides to be funny.
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Jul 2, 2015 11:04
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I've decided to read A Confederacy of Dunces since I've never read it. Some places refer to it as absurdist, others don't. Booklord (or anyone), would this book qualify for the Absurdist challenge? I'm going through a lot of books that I've always meant to read as part of this challenge - I just started Fahrenheit 451 for the first time yesterday too.
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Jul 2, 2015 16:09
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Why not? Its pretty absurd.
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Jul 3, 2015 03:01
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Still making incredibly slow progress, though I tore through the last book in a couple days so maybe I just need to read some dumb brain-candy poo poo until I can get back in the mood for some real books. 1. Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran. I really liked Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter when I read it last year and this one's about Rani Lakshmibai, one of my favorite historical women, so buying this practically as soon as it hit the shelves was basically a no-brainer for me. It's a novel about a young village girl who trains to join Lakshmibai's elite all-female guard, and her perspective on the events culminating in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. I enjoyed it, though maybe not as much as I was expecting to (this isn't much of a complaint because I was expecting it to become one of my favorites). Sita made an interesting protagonist, at once intelligent and naive, capable and smart without being a Mary Sue. I didn't like the ending, especially as it pertains to Sita's sister, her whole motivation in joining the Durga Dal guard. I understand not every book has to have a happy ending and indeed a happy ending would be impossible in a novel about the Indian Mutiny, but what did happen seemed like tragedy for the sake of tragedy and left a bad taste in my mouth. Otherwise I enjoyed it, it was worth the read. 2. History of the Ancient World by Susan Rice Bauer. A reread, I actually finished this one back in January but didn't count it since I did most of the reading in 2014. Reread it last month in preparation of reading the next in the series, History of the Medieval World. I'd recommend this one, it does a really good job of explaining the history of the entire world (as much as possible at least) in a single volume. Starting from the earliest civilizations and ending with the splitting of the Roman Empire, it covers major civilizations in Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, India, and China. Kept me engaged throughout the whole thing. 3. Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines Book 1) by Marko Kloos. The aforementioned dumb brain candy I read through pretty quick. In the 22nd century, Andrew Grayson leaves his welfare slum to sign up with the North American Confederation military. Tracks the early stages of his career from boot camp to his time in the Earth-bound army to his transfer to the Navy and thus the extrasolar colonies. I liked this one too, good action scenes, likable protagonist, only like 5 bucks. Not normally a big sci-fi fan (with a few notable exceptions) but I'd recommend this one to anyone looking for a quick fun read. I've got an itch in my brain saying I'm forgetting one but I think I may just be thinking of one of the many books I started before deciding I wasn't in the mood for that particular one. Hopefully reading a few fluff novels will get me back in the swing of reading. I think I did something like 85 books a year the first time I participated in a challenge like this so it's pretty embarrassing that I'm still not on track for my goal of 20. 1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year. [6/20] 6. An essay 7. A collection of poetry 8. Something post-modern 9. Something absurdist 10. The Blind Owl (Free translation if your ok with reading on a screen or cant find a copy!) 11. Something on either hate or love 13. Something dealing with the unreal 14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read) 15. Something published this year or the past three months 16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time 17. A play 18. Biography 19. The color red 20. Something banned or censored 21. Short story(s) 22. A mystery
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Jul 3, 2015 04:11
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The Terror Of The Coast - Chris Arnett Heard this guy speak at a university a while back. Picked up his book and it's been sitting on my shelf for ages. Finally got around to reading it. Really good. Extraordinarily well documented. The depth of research put into the book is incredible, but I can understand why he has done it. British warfare in British Columbia is pretty much just not talked about and mostly ignored. This book covers one of the largest British naval operations in BC history. It's also, significantly, one of those few times in British history where their superior might and technology were beaten back by the indigenous inhabitants--so of course the government tried as hard as possible to make the whole event look like it was just the action of some unruly criminals rather than the justified defense of a First Nation's village. Also relevant if you're at all interested in how the Canadian government treated First Nations within its borders. (Not very well). The author was a pretty cool dude and, as it turns out, was/is also in what is arguably Vancouver's first punk rock band ever back in 1977, and is still doin' his thing. For a history book, it was highly readable. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading about North American history. The Back Of The Turtle - Thomas King I've read his non-fiction, I've listened to his Massey lectures, I've seen his interviews--but this is the first bit of fiction I've ever read by King. It's simultaneously hilarious and tragic. A man's work inadvertently creates an environmental disaster, destroying an entire town, wrecking the ecosystem, and killing several people. He goes to the town to commit suicide but finds himself drawn into the lives of the handful of people who remain, each increasingly eccentric, and one an old dog. The novel jumps back and forth through time as you learn about their histories. It's really, really good. Oh, and there are also chapters devoted to the psychopathic CEO searching for the suicidal scientist. His chapters are particularly engrossing. I dunno. Read it. I also recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good book. Sally fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Jul 3, 2015 06:13
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No updates for last month, I'm still working my way through Rockets and People. I'm almost done volume 3 and think I'm going to take a break before 4.quote:The Pride of Chanur was fun. I know there are others in the series, but even as a stand alone, it was a good story. Pride is great and is really meant to work as a standalone; the series consists of five books, but it's basically a prologue (Pride), a trilogy containing the "main" story (Venture, Revenge, and Homecoming), and an epilogue (Legacy). For some reason there was an omnibus edition in print for a while that contained the first three books (i.e. the prologue and the first two-thirds of the trilogy), but I'm pretty sure that's been fixed now. The Pride of Chanur carries a lot of responsibility for my love of SF in general and Cherryh in particular growing up (and to this day). quote:Monster Hunters International, I picked up for free. It was okay if you just skip the gun porn sections and don’t mind being blasted with anything and everything the author can come up with. Could have used some parts cut/leave some of the mystery about the Shacklefords in. I couldn't make it through MHI. I found the Grimnoir trilogy to be a lot of fun, though.
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Jul 6, 2015 16:38
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson I really enjoyed Gone Girl, and I was really impressed by how accurate the film's portrayal of the book (both in terms of absolute plot and in terms of tone) was. I had a great time with it, but it's tough to write about without MASSIVE SPOILERS so I'm not going to put down a lot more. E: Aaaaand I polished of Sharp Objects in under 48 hours. It was quite short, but really very good. I was pretty pissed with the blurb writer though, who more or less gave away the big whodunnit twist on the back goddamn cover. And I have to say, even without that, the ending was a touch predictable, and some of the things about it were really kind of obvious (most notably, the Muchausen Syndrome By Proxy murder committed by someone called Adora!) - but even so, I really found it difficult to put down. It was engagingly written, I could really identify with the main character, and it was a fascinating, disturbing examination of a deeply damaged individual's discovery of WHY she was that way, and how her history had affected her. So, I guess I wasn't bothered by the spoilers and obvious plots because it wasn't really a whodunnit at all, it was a character study framed by murders. Moving on to Dark Places by the same author. Turns out that Book People impulse buy was well worth it. I am now onto Sharp Objects by the same author which is pretty good so far. thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Jul 7, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 18:51
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thespaceinvader posted:Moving on to Dark Places by the same author. Turns out that Book People impulse buy was well worth it. Will be interesting to see what you think of Dark Places. I read the books in the same order as you, and really enjoyed all of them. I think Dark Places was the best one. Flynn is really good at creating engaging, believable, imperfect characters, to the point where you really, really want to find out what happens to them next. Dark Places is also pretty clever in the way it moves between the present plot and what happened 20+ years ago.
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Jul 7, 2015 09:35
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I am making an effort to read a lot of "Classics" and old important books. Partly because I want to pick some to teach to my class next year, and partly to read a bunch of stuff that I should have read as an English major, but ignored. 47 - Stephen King - Finders Keepers: An interesting follow up to Mr. Mercedes. I liked it, but it really didn't read much like King. It was a lot faster, more to the point. It was more of a small town mystery/thriller. The twist at the end was a little lovely, and makes me apprehensive about the third book schedule for these characters. 48. Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I loved reading this book as a kid in school, and I think I liked it even more now. There are a lot of interesting and entertaining little points, and I think there is enough here that not only would my students enjoy reading it, but they would also be able to connect with some of the stuff that happens, a lot more than you would otherwise expect. 49. Clive Barker - Everville: Reread this one because The Scarlet Gospels had me excited for Barker. Everville isn't his strongest book, but there is a whole heck of a lot that happens here. It makes for an interesting lead up to the third Book of the Art, which still doesn't exist. Doesn't hold a candle to "The Great and Secret Show," though. 50 Jack London - Call of the Wild: First time reading this. I think it was a neat little book. I am not passionate about this one, but if I needed a book to teach next year, I could totally do a few things with this. 51 Jack London - White Fang: Actually a superior book to Call of the Wild. There is just more that happens, and it digs a little deeper. It is interesting how it is pretty much the exact opposite of Call of the Wild. Ideally, you would want to teach book, but you are asking kids to spend a lot of time reading dog books at that point. 52. George Orwell - Animal Farm: The first time I read this. This book is amazing in how totally frustrating it gets you. It is absolutely infuriating to read. I loved it. This is another one I definitely want to bring into the classroom. I spent a lot of time while reading this, digging into Russian history. I don't think I would do that so much with my students. A book that would bring out a lot of passion and emotion. 53 Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms: I didn't know what to expect from this, as I haven't really read much Hemingway. I liked "For Whom the Bell Tolls" more, but there is just something about this one that really sticks with you. Hemingway was a way of really taking lovely stuff like war, and making life in the midst of war romantic and not so lovely. A huge bummer though. 54 Stephen Crane - The Red Badge of Courage. Of this latest run of books, this is probably the least interesting. It almost seems like a book confused in its message. It does a really good job discussing the negative aspects and terrible nature of war, but then by the end the protagonist becomes totally awesome at war and everything is okay. Weird. 55. John Steinbeck - The Pearl: Love this book. Another one I totally plan to teach. Short, sweet, straight to the point. It is another story in which you find yourself easily getting frustrated and passionate. Coyotito's shattered skull has haunted me for years, and I look forward to passing that trauma forward. 56. Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe: A little bland at times, but I really, really liked this book. Everybody knows that this book is about a guy who gets stuck on an island, but there is considerably more to it. That being said, everybody loves a good person stuck on an island story. Otherwise we wouldn't keep seeing them made. Meanwhile... I suppose I am ready for somebody to toss out a Wildcard book. You can pick what you want, it might take awhile to get to it. But, if I get any say, preferably something 50 years or older?
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Jul 8, 2015 04:25
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Roydrowsy posted:Meanwhile... I suppose I am ready for somebody to toss out a Wildcard book. You can pick what you want, it might take awhile to get to it. But, if I get any say, preferably something 50 years or older? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
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Jul 8, 2015 04:48
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Roydrowsy posted:56. Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe: A little bland at times, but I really, really liked this book. Everybody knows that this book is about a guy who gets stuck on an island, but there is considerably more to it. That being said, everybody loves a good person stuck on an island story. You left out the best thing about this book - the original title: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates.
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Jul 8, 2015 10:17
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Aphra Bane posted:Penguin's Poems for Life - edited by Laura Barber Whoops, it's been a while. House of Many Ways - Diana Wynne Jones. Fun, if rambling, and unexpectedly disturbing at times. Freedom Bound vol. 1 - Patricia Grimshaw. Transcriptions of Australian historical documents. Pretty dry. Religion, Culture and Society - Andrew Singleton. Pretty easy reading for a textbook, thanks to its shortness and subsequent shallowness. Not bad but not an instant recommendation either. To Learn a New Song - Susannah Kay Brindle. This was a transcribed lecture about environment politics, quakerism, and not being shitheads to Indigenous Australians. Not a quaker but I like their perspective. Turned out to be a pretty inspiring read. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Wise Child - Monica Furlong. Hyrule Historia - Patrick Thorpe Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett Current tally: 16/37 I hit a reading block for a while, but Guards! was a fun, easy read and managed to pull me out of it. I'm super pumped to start my current book, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Somehow Catherynne Valente has become one of my favourite authors without even having read any of her books. Hopefully it can live up to my expectations.
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Jul 8, 2015 16:45
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Stravinsky posted:
I should have realized there'd be a thread for this, but I've been doing my challenge through Goodreads for the past few months. I'm trying to read 52 books this year, and I just started the 28th: The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter, which is an adventure-thriller about an East India Company employee in the 1800s who's been assigned the task of finding a famous author that's disappeared. I've always wanted to learn about the EIC, so I thought this would be a fun way to start. So far my list is: 1. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer 2. Willful Child by Steven Erikson 3. Terra by Mitch Benn 4. The Midnight Mayor by Kate Griffin - female author 5. Genesis by Bernard Beckett 6. Katya's World by Jonathan L. Howard 7. Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson 8. The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris 9. The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Dealing with space 10. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black 11. The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss (co-creator of BBC's Sherlock and the actor that plays Mycroft) 12. As She Climbed across the Table by Jonathan Lethem - postmodern 13. A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk - absurdist 14. The Neon Court by Kate Griffin 15. The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis 16. Touch by Claire North 17. Dancing with Bears by Michael Swanwick 18. The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss 19. Unseemly Science by Rod Duncan 20. The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason 21. NASM Textbook 22. The Minority Council by Kate Griffin 23. Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz 24. Stray Souls by Kate Griffin 25. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - Something on Love 26. The Buried Giant by Kazoo Ishiguro 27. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz - A mystery Europe in Autumn and Touch have been my two favorite novels this year; both are thriller/mysteries set all over Europe, but the similarities end there. Europe in Autumn is very funny at times, and Touch is written by the author of my favorite book of all time, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Claire North is actually a pseudonym for Kate Griffin, who wrote the amazing Matthew Swift novels I also read this year. In my opinion the first three are the best and it's hard to decide which is better than the other two. The last one, The Minority Council, isn't as good but still strong, and Stray Souls and its sequel, which are spinoffs, are pretty terrible.
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Jul 9, 2015 00:01
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ulvir posted:June will hopefully be a much better month. Hahaha.  Between cramming through over 2000 pages for finals and a summer job that left me exhausted after every day, there hasn't really been all that much time left for proper reading. I'm gonna rectify that soon-ish, though. 1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year. - 26/40 3. The non-white author - The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie 4. Philosophy - Either Derrida or Spinoza 5. History 6. An essay - Where the Stress Falls. Essays. by Susan Sontag. 9. Something absurdist - Waiting for Godot 15. Something published this year or the past three months 16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time - Feast of the Goat by Vargas Llosa 17. A play - Waiting for Godot 18. Biography - Ingar Sletten Kolloen's Hamsun biographies 19. The color red 21. Short story(s) - The Lady with the Dog, and other stories by Anton Chekhov 1. Hear the Wind Sing, Haruki Murakami 2. Pinball 1974, Haruki Murakami 3. On The Beach, Neil Shute 4. Collected Poems by Per Sivle 5. History of the Siege of Lisbon, José Saramago 6. Wayfarers, Knut Hamsun 7. The Seed, Tarjei Vesaas 8. Morning and Evening, Jon Fosse 9. The Collected Poems of Alberto Caeiro, Fernando Pessoa 10. Doktor Faustus, Thomas Mann 11. Collection of poems, Gabriela Mistral 12. Doctor Glas, Hjalmar Söderberg 13. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez 14. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino 15. Inherent Vice, Thomas Pynchon 16. Road to the Worl'd End, Sigurd Hoel 17. The Cyberiad, Stanislaw Lem 18. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 19. The Clown, Heinrich Böll 20. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Lev Tolstoy [21. Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev 22. A Theatrical Novel, Mikhail Bulgakov 23. Sleepless, Jon Fosse 24. Woodcutters, Thomas Bernhard 25. Confusion of Feelings, Stefan Zweig 26. The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, Heinrich Böll 26/40 Confusion of Feelings: After Thomas Bernhard I went on to the next Big Name in Austrian literature, Zweig. At the surface it's all about a kid who is completely disinterested in academia and just spends his time in Berlin getting drunk and hitting on women. After a visit from his father, he's forced to move to a quiet town in Austria and enroll in an English literature programme, where he becomes drawn in and nearly obsessed with this strange and enigmatic professor, and he also ends up being a really close friend with him and his wife. It's main theme is right there in the title, though. The professor as it turns out, is a closeted homosexual, and the protagonist himself doesn't really know what to make of what he feels for and about this older man. Highly recommend it. The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum: An interesting mix of who-dunnit and the sometimes scandalous practices of tabloid media. It was a good read, but if anyone would ask "yo, can you recommend anything by Heinrich Böll?" I would probably still say "Go with Ansichten eines Clowns". Sorry I can't offer any better insights into what I've read this time around. Truth be told, I read both of them between a month and three and a half weeks ago. loving pathetic.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:08
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I read a bunch. I read Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh which was solid, I've been slowly advancing my personal challenge to read more lit from around the world and this was a pretty good choice since it covered the lives of a variety of people from different castes in 19th century India who all end up on a boat called the Ibis. Not sure if I want to read the 2 follow ups just yet, this one had a somewhat tidy ending but I would like to see where things go. I rounded out June with The Best American Short Stories 2013. A few that stood out included The Semplica Girl Diaries by George Saunders about a near future dystopia where suburbanites decorate their lawns with hanging (but kept alive and allegedly not in horrid pain) girls from impoverished countries, and Encounters with Unexpected Animals by Bret Anthony Johnston where a father confronts his teenaged son's older girlfriend. Then since I had 2 days until a vacation I read The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino. I think I like his novellas the best; Viscount and The Nonexistent Knight are both hilarious, and Mr. Palomar was pretty chill. I liked If on a Winter's Night and Invisible Cities; honestly I might need to revisit them since I read them a while ago, neither really made me fall in love with Calvino the way the previously mentioned stuff did. I have only read Cosmicomics of his short fiction, and that was so interconnected that they weren't really like a series of short stories. Then over my long weekend I read Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (for my "about space" challenge), Ficciones by Borges, and Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour. Packing for Mars was fascinating, it goes through the human factor of space travel and is divided into sections about all the various concerns: hygiene, diet, reaction to antigrav and small spaces and being six inches from a person for several weeks, etc. Roach seems like a pretty solid light non-fiction writer, similar to Bryson who I also love. Ficciones was good but I probably need to reread some of the stories; I thought chilling by the lake surrounded by nature and reading the stories and reflecting on them would be ideal, and it was for a few stories. But I was also constantly surrounded by people like my cousins who wanted to drink with me and their little kids who wanted me to play with them. I also was eager to read more stuff before the end of the trip so I didn't give some stories the breathing room they deserved and would read them back to back while I had the free time. I have a few weeks before it is due back at the library so I will probably revisit a few of these. Finally, Censoring an Iranian Love Story was brilliant. The author is telling two narratives, the actual love story and his own story of how difficult it is to write a story in a country with heavy censorship. Of course, poo poo gets postmodern and the stories start to run into each other in weird and funny ways.
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Jul 9, 2015 23:23
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson Dark Places concludes my Gillian Flynn-athon. I actually thought it was probably the weakest of the series; the characterisation didn't feel as strong to me as that in Sharp Objects, and the mystery wasn't as interesting as either SO or GG's. Plus, I found the cow-mutilating Satan-worshippers stretched my suspension of disbelief a little too much. And the ending felt like a bit of a shaggy dog story, with comparatively little foreshadowing compared to either of the other two. Sharp Objects was probably my favourite. But then, I read a LOT of it late last night in bed, so it's entirely plausible I may have missed some bits. Moving on to... some of whatever crap is on my kobo from old humble bundles and storybundles, or possibly Monster Hunter International which was free. I dunno, I need to pick up some decent books for the trip up to London tomorrow.
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Jul 9, 2015 23:24
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I have read At Swim-Two-Birds which is great, and I guess the Torah which is also great, even though IDGAF about the tabernacle. I think I read something else but I can't really remember? I've been reading little bits of lots of books, and can't really remember what books I have actually read off the top of my headf. So far I have read maybe 1 of the books I set out to read at the start of the year, and I probably won't read more from the list than that. Edit: I read Henry IV parts 1 & 2, and they were good but not as good as the really good tragedies ty Edit 2: I also watched the first episode of RIget which is a book because I had to read the subtitles except when the Danish words were just ENglish words said weird. CestMoi fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Jul 10, 2015 |
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Jul 10, 2015 19:28
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson  Hard Times in Dragon City was enjoyable, especially considering its provenance as a novel written in a month. Enjoyable enough that I'll see if I can get hold of the rest. It also happened to be an interesting antry in the hunt for magical police procedurals, which was a nice surprise. I found it a little hard to grok the characters though, and the whole thing could stand to be decompressed a bit; it leans pretty hard on D&D to supply the basic tropes on which it relies. Monster Hunter International... I knew what I was getting in for going into it - hardcore hard-right love guns gently caress government rhetoric - so I could correct for that as I was reading it. It didn't help that much, because even with that Our Designated Hero is pretty much Our Designated Hero right from the start and can do no wrong; he's literally a prophesied character by ancient magics or something. But even with all its flaws, which are many, it was what I was after for the trip - easy-to-read schlocky urban fantasy. It had almost no pretense at originality, but Correia does write combat well, and I can live with the rest. I'm drat sure glad it was free, though. I moved on to A Stranger to Command by Sherwood Smith which has so far proved interesting and well-written. I'll definitely try to follow up on the main series.
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Jul 12, 2015 16:35
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Progress: 11 of 25 books 1. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell. 5/5. 2. The Martian, Andy Weir. 2/5. Booklord Challenge 1 completed: Read a book about space. 3. The Blind Owl, Sadegh Hedayat. 0/5. Booklord Challenge 2 completed: Read this lovely book. 4. Atlas of Remote Islands - Fifty Islands I have Never Set Foot On and Never Will, Judith Schalansky. 5/5 Booklord Challenge 3 completed: Read a female author. 5 The Golem and The Djinni, Helene Wecker. 4/5 Booklord Challenge 4 completed: Read a book about the unreal. 6. The Magicians, Lev Grossman. 5/5 7. The Magician King, Lev Grossman. 5/5 8. The Magician's Land, Lev Grossman. 5/5 9. Wolf In White Van, John Darnielle. 5/5 10. The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi. 3.5/5 11. Anathem, Neal Stephenson. Finally popped my Stephenson cherry with Anathem. Overall I've left wondering, What the gently caress did I just read? A great number of things are left unexplained, but I still found myself enjoying the general immersion in the story. Definitely not for everyone though. A great deal of the book consisted of people arguing about math and philosophy while doing things like running away from lava flows. Somehow it all kind of makes sense but the reader definitely has to make the choice early on to just go with it. Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars. I read half of Roadside Picnic and put it down. Very boring and confusing narration. A part of me thinks much must be getting lost in translation (it was published in Russian in 1972), but as I kept reading I dismissed this idea: I think the underlying writing is just mediocre and clunky.
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Jul 13, 2015 12:12
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Someone hit me with a wildcard.
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Jul 14, 2015 18:40
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Lumius posted:Someone hit me with a wildcard. Alexandre Dumas, the black tulip
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Jul 14, 2015 19:57
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Female authors: 10/24 Non-fiction: 7/12 Goodreads. College in a Nutskull is a sequel to Non Campus Mentis, but includes a wider range of subjects and is generally less funny. Still good, but the best material clearly went into the first one. What a Croc! is just selected front pages from The NT News (the paper that had the famous "Why I Stuck a Cracker Up My Clacker" headline). Some of them are somewhat amusing, but mostly not. I won this book in a contest on their Facebook page, so at least I didn't pay anything for it. Diary of a Young Girl is pretty much what you'd expect from the diary of a teenager shut up with her family for an extended period, ie. self-absorbed, overly emotional, tedious. Pen Pal was by far the best book I read in June, and I'd definitely recommend it. Reminded me a bit of To Kill a Mockingbird.
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Jul 15, 2015 14:31
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson A Stranger to Command was excellent, I'd highly recommend it. A nice coming of age/fish out of water/high school drama type plot set in an interesting, subtly built world (though how much of the apparently subtle worldbuilding is down to it being a sequel and quite a late book in the writer's history I'm not sure) with believable characters and an entertaining style. I'm definitely going to pick up some more by this author. Next is a Charles Stross book I picked up in the library, Neptune's Children I think it's called.
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Jul 15, 2015 19:13
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Challenge update,  Just Finished: Why Evolution Is True by Jerry A. Coyne. - It was a wonderful read. Now Starting: The Martian by Andy Weir - The opening chapters have been great. Still Reading: The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt - About 50% complete through this book. It continues to be a fascinating read.
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Jul 16, 2015 09:03
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I'm two behind, but with about 3 or 4 books near completion. It's hard to get ahead when I keep picking up new things to read (and they're compelling, like Aurora).
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Jul 17, 2015 00:55
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I set my goal very high this year and I'm currently 3 behind. I think I can make it up, but we'll see. Also, someone give me a wildcard.
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Jul 19, 2015 00:15
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Namirsolo posted:I set my goal very high this year and I'm currently 3 behind. I think I can make it up, but we'll see. the post office girl by stefan zweig. Put my wildcard on hold from the library, excited to read another Dumas.
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Jul 19, 2015 20:19
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thehomemaster posted:
19. Something Coming Through by Paul J. McAuley DNF. Really can't recommend this. I mean, it's not bad per se just really boring. Twin narratives that I can see intertwining at some point, but it doesn't do the alternative world trope in an interesting way. Plus I really can't be bothered with SF/crime crossovers. I just don't care. Probably doesn't help that I watched Mad Max: Fury Road recently and the comparison makes this supremely dull. Counting as finished because goddamnit I'm not wasting time. 20. The Plane That Wasn't There: Why We Haven't Found Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 by Jeff Wise A thoroughly detailed account of what happened to MH 370. Conspiracy theory territory, but not particularly hard to believe, and is well-backed up by the author, an expert who had consulted for a year with other experts. Probably would have liked rebuttals to arguments against his theory. 21. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness So good. Story in a similar vein to John Green (I imagine?), typical teenage love turmoil and finding oneself, but mixed in with all the tropes of a paranormal romance dark fantasy in a unique way. Make sure you read it. 22. The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb At first you think this book will be about how tough women have it juggling work and home life. But the final conclusion actually rests the onus on men to change, and it is made clear that for all the hard work women and feminism have put in to changing themselves and society, men have languished and it is now up to them to evolve so that both sides of the equation are in harmony. Crabb is a great writer so it was an enjoyable read, and it seems well-researched, I think I've seen a fair few of the studies reproduced since. Overall very interesting historical look at modern day gender politics. Of course, one thing to note is that the wife drought refers to a lack of wives for women, and so this book doesn't really look at alternative families (polyamory, childless couples, and who knows what the future holds). 23. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield Really inspiring stuff. Became bit airy-fairy in the last segment, but overall gets you pumped up to achieve. Frames the difficulties of living in quite a unique and succinct manner, with plenty of quotes to use on a daily basis. 24. Convergence by David M. Henley READ THESE BOOKS IF YOU LIKE SCI FI! After having watched Mad Max, I think this series is quite similar, at least in style. Fast-paced action, multiple perspectives to drive the plot, and a very, VERY solid world that underpins it all. Content wise it's a very suitable climax. You have to appreciate how David has put this story together, if nothing else. The threads tie together and the pacing is solid. I suppose I would give it four stars because it didn't blow me away like, say, Blindsight did, but it is far above a lot of other books out there. Do yourself a favour and pick up the trilogy if you want a satisfying story that plays with fascinating ideas, with plenty of action and suspense to keep you hooked. 25. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Great writing. At first I felt it kept going off on weird tangents and I just wanted to know more about the apocalypse, but Mandel brings all the threads together in a very satisfying way. Also, very optimistic ending which I suppose you need sometimes. 26. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon Well, that's one way to end a book. The book is confusing, though I'm not sure what it was exactly that did this. The plot is straightforward enough, though scenes are entirely dreamlike. The characters are interesting, though their name are so strange and their entries and exits so quick it's like a whirlwind. I love conspiracy theories, so that was a great element running through the whole novel. The best and most enjoyable parts are the use of language and imagery, and the very quotable, tangible sections that made me stop and appreciate. 27. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson Halfway through the novel we end in disaster. Specifically we end this first part among the waves. Interestingly the book itself ends among the waves. Obviously the ocean plays a big part in our lives, and KSR mirrors this motif nicely. This is a generation ship story, but it's most than that. It's an oddly pessimistic view of escaping to the stars and leaving our cradle. It's a coming-of-age story, but not your conventional one, not by a longshot. It's a playful frolic, mooning KSR's critics. It's a fantastic exploration of science and human will and just how far we'll go to live. The characters are great, even if the pacing at the end falls away a little. Perhaps it could have done with a little extra editing. But in the end, it's a Must Read. Also, it would make a fantastic TV miniseries and I would pay good money for this to happen. 28. The Next Together (The Next Together #1) by Lauren James DNF. If I can't be bothered with a book I at least continue until halfway. So it is with this. I mean, I get it. It's good. It's for teen girls. It's actually decently written, and has a very fun, as well as unique, premise. I don't need to know how it ends, but I'd still recommend it for lovers of YA. 29. The Gervais Principle: The Complete Series, with a Bonus Essay on Office Space (Ribbonfarm Roughs) by Venkatesh G. Rao Another DNF. Got most of the way through it. A kind of convoluted look at how office politics plays out. Probably would have helped if I had watched The Office (American) to get a better grasp of the examples. Still, I took away a few fun little things, such as office hierarhcies and how the three groups interact (it's fun to spot these in your own office). Currently Reading: The River and The Book Summer in Algiers Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist Shogun (Asian Saga #3) 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore The Iliad thehomemaster fucked around with this message at 07:09 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 23, 2015 07:03
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thehomemaster posted:
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Jul 23, 2015 08:56
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson Neptune’s Brood is a fascinating exploration of financial systems and scams in a slower-than-light interstellar society. But don’t let that incredibly dry explanation fool you, it’s actually a pretty solid read. I enjoyed the world building and the technology a lot, the characters were interesting and believable, and Stross has clearly put a lot of thought into the mechanics of his financial instruments in interstellar space. But… it does feel like he’s Shown His Work a little too much. It almost reads more like a scholarly article on the possibilities of how money might work in a universe like the one he proposes, with, as an afterthought, the outcome of a long term con game tacked onto it to give him some characters to situate in that world. It’s been a fun, interesting read, but I can’t help but wonder what it might have been like without the diatribes I didn’t fully understand on slow money. Solid, but not exceptional. And I called the universal Jubilee happening by the end of the book pretty much as soon as it was mentioned, it was a bit too obvious as a Chekhov’s Gun. Next is The Emperor's Blades by Brian Stavely.
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Jul 23, 2015 18:52
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Tzen posted:Thanks for this review/suggestion. Just finished The Martian and I'll be making Aurora my next fiction read. Gonna start it this weekend! Nice!
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Jul 23, 2015 21:18
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson I enjoyed The Emperor's Blades a lot, though it's pretty self-evident that it's a trilogy book. And feels a bit obvious in places that it's a debut, too - some of the plots are just a little too predictable. So, the brutal and angry cadets trying to gently caress with the heir to the empire's brother during training yup, turn out to be part of a giant conspiracy to kill the emperor without much explanation as to how they got to be where they were. And it had a few too many made up words with apostrophes in them. But I liked the characters a lot, I'm interested by the world and its history and mythos, and the plot is interesting enough to get me coming back. Overall, I'll definitely pick up the next one whenever it comes out. thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Jul 27, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 20:48
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Progress: 12 of 25 books 1. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell. 5/5. 2. The Martian, Andy Weir. 2/5. Booklord Challenge 1 completed: Read a book about space. 3. The Blind Owl, Sadegh Hedayat. 0/5. Booklord Challenge 2 completed: Read this lovely book. 4. Atlas of Remote Islands - Fifty Islands I have Never Set Foot On and Never Will, Judith Schalansky. 5/5 Booklord Challenge 3 completed: Read a female author. 5 The Golem and The Djinni, Helene Wecker. 4/5 Booklord Challenge 4 completed: Read a book about the unreal. 6. The Magicians, Lev Grossman. 5/5 7. The Magician King, Lev Grossman. 5/5 8. The Magician's Land, Lev Grossman. 5/5 9. Wolf In White Van, John Darnielle. 5/5 10. The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi. 3.5/5 Booklord Challenge 5 completed: Read a book published in the last three months to a year. 11. Anathem, Neal Stephenson. 4/5 12. The Woman In the Dunes, Kobo Abe. A very strange book. This must have influenced Murakami in some way. It's a simple construction: An entomologist goes on a short vacation to the shore to find beetles, and discovers a village at the bottom of a huge hole of sand. He becomes trapped in the village with a strange woman. Surreal, somewhat disturbing. Kinda bothered by the end. A quick read. 4 out of 5 stars. Booklord Challenge 6 completed: Read a book by a non-white person. Argali fucked around with this message at 11:45 on Jul 27, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 22:53
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Roydrowsy posted:Alexandre Dumas, the black tulip It was good, real good.
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Jul 27, 2015 19:42
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