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LARGE THE HEAD posted:A lot of what I got out of Where Men Win Glory is that the military is an utterly ineffective institution that eats its members alive. Tillman also has his moment of reckoning when he beats the poo poo out of that kid at Round Table Pizza and, rightly, is sent to juvie for it. Once the book gets on the ground, however, it's great. The depth of Krakauer's research really shines through. Right on all counts. I guess I'm biased because I assaulted a guy(punched him in the face) who was trying to pick a fight with me in high school, I was adjudicated and stuff was expunged from my record shortly after. Both books combined though, left me really depressed. The 'War' in Afghanistan seems pointless, even as pointless as the Iraq war. I used to think we needed to be in Afghanistan but we should have just trusted in guys like Ali Soufan and his bros at the FBI to deal with al-Qaeda. But there are probably more infuriating reasons, even more than were in the book it self, why that wasn't the case for so many years. Which is glad I also just finished Tina Fey BOSSY PANTS. Very funny stuff. I think this book had a synergy having watched 30 Rock on CC and vis versa. It's probably more about Tina Fey than a lot of people want to know but it was worth having insomnia to be able to stay up and read about this funny lady, her life and career. What else was I supposed to do with that time?
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Mar 22, 2012 18:39
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LARGE THE HEAD posted:Actual contribution: I believe the last book I finished was Raymond Chandler's The Simple Art of Murder, a collection of non-Marlowe short stories and an essay on detective fiction. The essay was an excellent read, giving you a lot of insight into why detective fiction works and how it ought to work. A lot of his short stories had good ideas, but they were never meant to be longer novels and it's probably for the best. The non-Marlowes are initially charming but difficult to remember. Following along with some of the short stories can be a trip, but why expect anything less from the author who never gave Rusty Regan a send-off. It's like reading through a book of practice runs, or having a music book devoted entirely to scales. Worth the time for the couple of short stories that really shine. I had the same feelings when I read it. Trouble is my business, the other collection of his short fiction, is worth checking out: I think Red Wind might be my favorite Marlowe story, even counting the novels.
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Mar 22, 2012 23:50
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The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II (Edvard Radinzky). After finishing The Guns of August, I had asked for a recommendation on Nicholas after a tidbit in that book said that Alexander III had planned on teaching his heir military skills once Nicholas reached the age of 30. Well, Alexander died before that happened. This, though, isn't in The Last Tsar. It's not a book about how Nicholas was formed, but the consequences of his formation. Alix, Little K, Alexei, assassinations, Rasputin. Nothing went right and Nicholas wasn't the type of man who could have fixed anything, even if he known fully what was happening. The section on the buildup to the murders itself is riveting, especially when it hits you that Nicholas was attempting to sacrifice himself to save his family. He knew there was no other way and that no one was coming to save them. The only drawback is in the last 20-30 pages, when Radzinky speculates about the burials. That can easily be forgiven as some corpses had just been found and it being the USSR, there was a ton of secrecy and lies that had to be worked through and it hadn't even been confirmed that the grave was that of the Romanovs. The other burial site, the last two bodies - Alexei and believed to be Marie - have only been found in the past five years.
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Mar 23, 2012 20:44
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funkybottoms posted:The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson. I just finished this today myself. I liked it way more than I was expecting to, since I'm not usually into the dysfunctional family type stories I thought it would be. Annie especially was one of the better woman protagonists I've read in a while.
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Mar 23, 2012 21:59
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barkingclam posted:I had the same feelings when I read it. Trouble is my business, the other collection of his short fiction, is worth checking out: I think Red Wind might be my favorite Marlowe story, even counting the novels. I have read Trouble Is My Business and it is indeed worth checking out. Red Wind is very good, and I liked Goldfish even though Chandler doesn't seem to do well taking Marlowe out of his element. The eponymous story was the weakest IMO. Last book I finished was The Tomb of Hercules by Andy McDermott aka Payndz. If you've ever stumbled into the Airport Fiction thread that pops up now and again you have a baseline idea of what you're in for. I love the way the story's paced and how the plot twists are executed, even if you can see them coming. Eddie and Nina's escape from Botswana was hilarious and riveting stuff, and the way Lady Sophia WOULD NOT DIE was pretty great. Also a big fan of Eddie's pregnant ladyfriends and the fact that the book has just enough :iamafag: without being overly self-referential.
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Mar 25, 2012 18:57
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Just finished The Hunger Games and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. Its a very quick read and well paced, not a masterpiece but a good page-turner.
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Mar 25, 2012 20:12
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I just finished The Dame By R.A. Salvatore (author of the Drizzt series.). This is book two of the Highwayman trilogy. Very good story and fun all the way through. I found myself cheering the protagonist on in a lot of spots. A few cons with this entry: Where the first book could be a stand alone book that leaves you wanting more, this one forces you to read the next entry. I would have read the third book regardless because the story is fantastic. I am about to read 1984 by George Orwell. As soon as I can smuggle it into my workplace.
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Mar 26, 2012 03:49
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Ten Little Indians (Agatha Christie): I wanted something quick to read and I had this on my shelf. You can tell what a tremendous influence this book was. The plot of an unknown murderer picking off a group of people one by one. How many times has this been repeated? Christie even tells you that there is a red herring right in the middle of it, but it's not what you suspect. Pure classic literature, compressed into 160 pages.
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Mar 26, 2012 06:33
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Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Really good astrophysics vulgarization book, easy to read and really funny at times. It's only default is it could be repetitive, because it's foremost a compilation or articles published in review before. Anyways, a good read when you have some curiosity for the subject.
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Mar 26, 2012 11:23
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Just finished The Mists of Everness. This would have been a fantastic fantasy romp, with some amusing concepts and fun action, if not for John C Wright's inability to practice authorial restraint. He's a libertarian, and he's not sorry about it and will shove as many generalised and overbroad arguments at you as he wants. The character of Pendrake was so ham-fisted and odious that it really soured the latter parts of this book (which is part of a duology) for me. Aside from that, Wendy was kind of annoying but tolerable. Ugh, I just feel pissed off having read that, which is a pity because as I said it was a lot of fun in the earlier parts. I say this as someone who really enjoyed the Golden Age, too, which is nowhere near as crude. And on top of that I lean towards the right, and even I found it all a bit much to stomach. Having said the foregoing, I'll probably read Count to a Trillion when it becomes available for the Kindle because I am a glutton for punishment.
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Mar 26, 2012 19:03
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Ten Little Indians (Agatha Christie): I wanted something quick to read and I had this on my shelf. You can tell what a tremendous influence this book was. The plot of an unknown murderer picking off a group of people one by one. How many times has this been repeated? Christie even tells you that there is a red herring right in the middle of it, but it's not what you suspect. Pure classic literature, compressed into 160 pages. Keep meaning to pick this up but my library doesn't have it in at the moment. I already know The Twist, anyway, which is a shame. Actually, I just finished another Agatha Christie book, A Murder Is Announced. Never read a Miss Marple book before (most of the Christie I've read has been Poirot), and she's a pretty fun character. I did not guess the mystery solution right, of course. I love Christie's twists, though, just because it's fun to see which assumption she exploits that you never realised you were making about detective fiction.
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Mar 26, 2012 23:31
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Wisp posted:Keep meaning to pick this up but my library doesn't have it in at the moment. I already know The Twist, anyway, which is a shame. It wasn't until I looked up more information about the book that I found out I had a copy using the lesser-known title of it. It's much more frequently called And Then There Were None. Seems that the US didn't use Christie's original title for it.
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Mar 27, 2012 00:18
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Finished Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding earlier today. It's a great novel about baseball, relationships and growing up, centering around a young and highly talented shortstop at Westish College. It's great: a fun, moving and often funny novel (and littered with Melville and Aurelius references, which didn't hurt). I haven't enjoyed reading a novel this much in a while. Recommended.
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Mar 27, 2012 01:28
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Ten Little Indians (Agatha Christie): I wanted something quick to read and I had this on my shelf. You can tell what a tremendous influence this book was. The plot of an unknown murderer picking off a group of people one by one. How many times has this been repeated? Christie even tells you that there is a red herring right in the middle of it, but it's not what you suspect. Pure classic literature, compressed into 160 pages. In the 7th, I read this book with the rest of my "home room" class. On the very first day of reading it, the girl who sat next to me opened it up to the last couple pages, read it, and then told me the ending without asking whether I wanted to hear it. Even then it was a pretty major bummer.
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Mar 27, 2012 11:06
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Kekekela posted:Just finished The Hunger Games and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. Its a very quick read and well paced, not a masterpiece but a good page-turner. I just finished this trilogy as well, and I agree that it was pretty entertaining. There are a few instances where characters are just too drat stupid for their own good, mainly as a device to force the plot along. Then again they are intended for a YA audience so yeah, don't expect a masterpiece. But overall a rather entertaining and engaging series.
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Mar 27, 2012 11:49
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Deadeye Dick posted:I just finished this trilogy as well, and I agree that it was pretty entertaining. I just read it as well, in the span of about ten hours. I'm not really sure why I read three novels that lack subtext, subtlety, and symbolism. For the most part, the writing doesn't even include subjective clauses. They were entertaining, but the characters are defined by one or two traits and are hardly memorable. I only remember the name of Katniss's fellow victor because in my head, his name is pronounced just as Lois pronounces Peter's name in Family Guy. I still don't get why adults are totally apeshit for these books. It's the equivalent of getting starry eyed over the goddamn Animorphs.
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Mar 27, 2012 16:48
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Aggro posted:I just read it as well, in the span of about ten hours. I'm not really sure why I read three novels that lack subtext, subtlety, and symbolism. For the most part, the writing doesn't even include subjective clauses. They were entertaining, but the characters are defined by one or two traits and are hardly memorable. I only remember the name of Katniss's fellow victor because in my head, his name is pronounced just as Lois pronounces Peter's name in Family Guy. I still don't get why adults are totally apeshit for these books. It's the equivalent of getting starry eyed over the goddamn Animorphs. I think you have to judge YA fiction on its own terms. It isn't Faulkner and it's not trying to be. Though I'm not sure where you're getting that there's a lack of symbolism, the reason stuff is often explained in completely unsubtle ways ("this is my simile about being trapped, like a cat") is because it's for kids who may not have read much and could use a helping hand. That said, the reason I liked it as an adult is that it actually had moral themes (poverty, the plight of those who live in real hunger vs. the sheltered lives of the privileged, oppression, media obsession) that are worthwhile things for modern kids, especially modern American kids, to think about. I also liked that rather than just being OMG WHICH BOY, it had a female lead character with some depth and priorities in her life beyond OMG BOY, and that the story structure rang a relatively new set of changes on the old Theseus myths.
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Mar 27, 2012 17:09
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I also recently finished the Hunger Games trilogy. I read the first book straight through in a single sitting, I really really liked it. The plot hook was great (Battle Royale!), there were some great scenes (like the whole wasp sequence) and some really enjoyable characters (Foxface, Rue, Cinna). The "Oh my loving god Katniss The Chosen One is awesome at everything, this is totally not me showing up those bitches in high school 20 years later" factor was cranked up a few notches too high for my tastes and the writing was a little too simple at times, but those are really the only negatives. The second and third books are loving terrible. There are really no other words for how quickly Collins ran a good thing straight into the ground. I guess when you're a sixteen year old girl the whole Peeta/Galen OH MY GOD IM SO CONFUSED ABOUT EVERYTHING angle must be really enticing, but it made me want to retro-actively abort myself. What's more, there aren't even any Hunger Games in the third book (one of the few redeeming features of the second book, along with (again) some pretty interesting characters), it's just a boring dystopian victory lap where people act for completely unrealistic reasons and can be manipulated in increasingly unrealistic ways only because the author is stupid (either intentionally or unintentionally). Mockingjay is like a debate where everyone's a straw man. That takes some loving skill, but it doesn't make for good reading.
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Mar 27, 2012 19:36
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I finished His Dark Materials yesterday, oh god why did the ending have to be so sad! Every time I think about it I feel terrible. I think this is the worst a book has ever made me feel.
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Mar 28, 2012 10:55
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ArcticZombie posted:I finished His Dark Materials yesterday, oh god why did the ending have to be so sad! Every time I think about it I feel terrible. I think this is the worst a book has ever made me feel. The series is all about growing up, and a large part of growing up is learning how to deal with all the awful poo poo that happens to people. It "helps" that Pullman- regardless of how you feel about the third book- writes emotions particularly well. reflir, I agree with almost everything you just posted, but I feel that going back to Games so quickly was a bad thing and indicative of how few ideas Collins really had. Mostly, though, I just hated Katniss for being so loving stupid.
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Mar 28, 2012 11:30
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Just got through Mishima's Forbidden Colors which was a fun romp. It was full of his characteristic philosophy on death, beauty and hatred of old age and tons of misogyny and cruelty by most of the men in the book. Probably one of my favorites.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:39
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Read Maus I and II in the last couple of days. Great book. The relationship between the father and son is bittersweet and tortuous at times, but man does this book shed some light onto the relationships between Holocaust survivors and their children.
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Mar 29, 2012 03:25
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You Are What You Speak by Robert Lane Greene, a fun, light-ish, introduction into the intersection of linguists and laypeople who talk about language. Thematically oriented around the question, "why do people spazz out about other peoples' language/vocabulary/punctuation so much, all out of proportion to its actual importance?" Gives several answers, most interesting (and to me, persuasive) the claim that language-related bitching is mostly a stand-in for nationalistic impulses. Seems pretty obvious now, but I never really thought about it as a general phenomenon, as opposed to a more local "why don't these immigrants learn to speak american?" phenomenon. I now see the Lynne Trusses of the world in a much darker light.
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Mar 29, 2012 04:53
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I finished Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke yesterday. Once it started becoming apparent that it wasn't so much about self-determination as it seemed to be starting out, though, it kind of lost its magic. It was still pretty good, but I'm disappointed since I think it could have been a lot better without the overmind cop-out.
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Mar 30, 2012 15:34
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The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway. Reading the book was like eating celery: you know it's good for you, but it's just so dry  I can appreciate Hemingway, especially his minimalist style, but for me minimalism works best when there's something going on like in The Long Goodbye. Sun was a lot of dialogue and bar scenes. There wasn't a whole lot to engage me. cyberpunksurvivor fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 16:57
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Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh). Waugh's prose is beautiful. Religious themes are very heavy, but they're well done and fit with everyone in the book as they - save for perhaps Lady Marchmain and Ned Ryder - are trying to find inner peace and escape their ghosts (particularly the living one of Sebastian Flyte). It's similar in some ways to Knowles' A Separate Peace, especially the first section.
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Mar 30, 2012 20:31
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Edward Shorter's A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac. The author is a serious historian, and is up front about his biases (towards biological causes of mental illnesses) and who he regards as villains (the psychoanalysts who arose in Freud's wake and derailed psychiatry from its primary function of treating people with severe mental illness), but he manages to cover it all, from the early, therapeutic "caring doctor" model of mental asylums, through their miserable "lunatic warehousing" period, past the "anti-psychiatry" period, to the current pharmacological period of treatment characterized by lowered thresholds of what qualifies as mental illness. This is the second book I've read about the history of psychiatry, and I'm still amazed at how backwards the field is in comparison with the rest of medicine, probably because the study of mental illness is so difficult.
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Mar 30, 2012 22:15
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dokmo posted:Edward Shorter's A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac. The author is a serious historian, and is up front about his biases (towards biological causes of mental illnesses) and who he regards as villains (the psychoanalysts who arose in Freud's wake and derailed psychiatry from its primary function of treating people with severe mental illness), but he manages to cover it all, from the early, therapeutic "caring doctor" model of mental asylums, through their miserable "lunatic warehousing" period, past the "anti-psychiatry" period, to the current pharmacological period of treatment characterized by lowered thresholds of what qualifies as mental illness. This is the second book I've read about the history of psychiatry, and I'm still amazed at how backwards the field is in comparison with the rest of medicine, probably because the study of mental illness is so difficult. Have you by any chance read Foucault's Madness and Civilization? If yes, I'd be interested to hear your thought's about Foucault's piece in the context of the other works you've reviewed.
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Apr 1, 2012 01:41
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The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. This is going to be my knee-jerk recommendation for anyone that asks for good modern fiction for awhile. Straight-forward writing that never gets in the way, but still has some flourishes. All the main characters are fleshed out and have satisfying arcs, and the story structure is solid without showing the woodwork. As for the story itself, the quick summary is: The ups and downs of a Div. III baseball team from a small Liberal Arts college in Wisconsin. But of course it's about much more than that. The nature of relationships, sexuality, talent, desire; all centering around a rising star shortstop. It's one of those books with sports in it that's not really about sports, but still kinda is. I'm gonna reread this one soon to get a better understanding from a theory/critical standpoint, but it stands up as A Good Story without all that anyway. I also burned through Coral Glynn by Peter Cameron right after Fielding and I think my opinion of it suffered because of the timing. Coral Glynn is terse and tightly written, and I got a huge Henry Green vibe from the book(and I loves me some Henry Green!), but there's something keeping me from liking it. It takes place in early 1950's England and follows the title character as she moves from being a shy pushover to slightly less shy. There's a murder subplot that has a lovely payoff, and a whole lot of unspoken feelings, and "oh my!" social awkwardness and so on. I dunno, after Harbach's book it just felt very small and pointless. Gonna go back to it with a cleaner palate, but for now I can't really recommend it. I'm also kinda bummed I paid $12 for an ebook that's only 142 pages. Usually I don't mind, support the author and all that, but I admit it did add to my disappointment with the book. EDIT-Fixed author's name Static Rook fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Apr 1, 2012 |
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Apr 1, 2012 02:25
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Folderol posted:Have you by any chance read Foucault's Madness and Civilization? If yes, I'd be interested to hear your thought's about Foucault's piece in the context of the other works you've reviewed. I actually ordered that book after reading Shorter's history, since he mentions it in relation to the "anti-psychiatry" movement. He doesn't have a lot of good things to say, but his summary of the books main thesis (that madness was socially constructed, a way for society to put down nonconformists) seemed like a caricature, so I guess I'll read it myself to see.
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Apr 1, 2012 02:30
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I just finished The Elegant Universe and wanted to recommend it; it's a very interesting overview of the development of superstring theory. Accessible science writing at its best.zacpol posted:I finished Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke yesterday. Once it started becoming apparent that it wasn't so much about self-determination as it seemed to be starting out, though, it kind of lost its magic. It was still pretty good, but I'm disappointed since I think it could have been a lot better without the overmind cop-out. Static Rook posted:The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbaugh. This is going to be my knee-jerk recommendation for anyone that asks for good modern fiction for awhile. Straight-forward writing that never gets in the way, but still has some flourishes. All the main characters are fleshed out and have satisfying arcs, and the story structure is solid without showing the woodwork.
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Apr 1, 2012 03:43
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moana posted:I didn't really care much for the writing in this book even though the plot was well-paced. Everybody sounded pretentiously literary without actually having anything interesting to say. Surprising? Not really, when all your characters are college students. The female characters are underdeveloped or caricatures. The academic setting felt trite, but I might be biased there since I hate novels set in academia (Crossing to Safety is a rare exception which avoids the affected tone that I found in The Art of Fielding). But I hear a lot of people liked it, so maybe it's just me? It does have that "MFA in Creative Writing" tinge to it, but I didn't think it was as bad as, say, something from the McSweeney's stable. For the most part I thought the writing stayed out of the way. These were students at a private Liberal Arts college, I think it coulda been way worse. No argument about the female characters. I don't know what to make of Pella, but when your main female character's big question is "Who will she end up with?" and it's not a teen romance, then you've got a problem. Also, a male and female character can have a meaningful(in-story and subtext-wise) relationship without sex, dammit!  I guess part of the reason I like the book so much is because it feels like the first real contender for Great American Novel from a writer of my generation (mid 30s). That I've read anyway. Stuff like "Super Sad True Love Story" and others still manage to feel, I dunno, juvenile. Art of Fielding has its tropes (Coming of Age! The Big Game! Love Triangle!), but IMO it uses them in interesting ways. It's a book set in modern times, dealing with modern issues, in a modern writing style. I feel like I've been waiting for this type of book for awhile, so it may explain my gushing. Still gotta concede the point about Pella though.
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Apr 1, 2012 05:38
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I liked The Art of Fielding a lot (and yeah, it has that MFA feel to it, I wouldn't be too surprised if it turned out to be adapted from his thesis). The impression I got from Pella wasn't who she'd end up with, but what she'd end up doing: if she'd take flight again from her problems or actually settle down and stick with something, in this case Westish College and becoming a chef. Maybe it's just me, but I don't care that it used plot devices like The Big Game and a Love Triangle and etc. When people criticize books (or movies or whatever) for using them, I almost want to ask what they're looking for instead. Maybe a love parallelogram?
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Apr 1, 2012 21:12
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Last night at about 3am, I finished the 5th book in the Malazan series By Steven Erikson, Midnight Tides. It was decent, but I don't think it was one of the best in the series as it is commonly regarded. I enjoyed the third book, Memories of Ice much more.
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Apr 1, 2012 21:26
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Two books, one serious and the other less so: Lolita by Nabokov. Wonderful book that took many directions that I thought it wouldn't. His language can sometimes be dense (not to mention the copious amounts of French which, if you're reading the Kindle edition, doesn't have any translations!), but the narrative itself is clear. I loved how Lolita barely escapes being in kiddie porn, but ending up in such could have just as easily fit into the book. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Fun! If you read closely, there are a lot of clues as to who the killer is even before the whole red herring thing is introduced. Lord Sandwich fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Apr 2, 2012 |
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Apr 2, 2012 14:58
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Lord Sandwich posted:Two books, one serious and the other less so: Lolita is an annual read for me, and it's one of a few books that is just a real joy to read. The prose is so well done, elegant but still crystal clear, and the story itself is both dark and hilarious. It's probably one of my favorite books of all time.
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Apr 2, 2012 20:30
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Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson Vanished by Kat Richardson Memories of Ice and House of Chains by Erik Richardson Mistborn was amazing and I can't wait to snag the second book once it comes in. Vanished was alright but I didn't actually finish it despite liking the Greywalker series. I think I was too excited for House of Chains, to be honest. This Malazan Book of the Fallen series is so great.
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Apr 2, 2012 22:22
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The Postmortal by Drew Magary. (You may know him as Big Daddy Drew from Kissing Suzy Kolber or his Deadspin columns and mailbags. He's pretty prolific of late.) Spectacular. This may never be considered an important piece of literature but I was floored by how good it was. Certainly a departure from the Internet work that has kept him alive in our hearts. A scientist discovers the cure for aging (one can still die but cannot physically age); a man takes what's called "the cure" and maintains a blog about its life. It's unnerving and harrowing and horrific and gripping and witty and original and even sexy. Very hard to put this book down, but since it's broken up like a blog is it's manageable. It's not long, which could appeal to some readers. A bit more glamorous science fiction than what some members of this thread are used to but an incredible story that asks big questions of its readers.
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Apr 3, 2012 10:27
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LARGE THE HEAD posted:The Postmortal by Drew Magary. Yes, this is a terrific novel. The idea of extended/indefinite lifespan is not new to science fiction, but Magary paints a realistic version of what would happen to our current world if this "cure" were discovered and asks a lot of interesting questions in the process (Would baseball statistics lose their meaning? What about marriage? Etc.).
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Apr 3, 2012 11:54
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I read through The Old Man and the Sea yesterday and loved the hell out of it. Short, easy to get in to and I feel like it's going to stick with me for a long time. I'm way late to the party with Hemingway, but I'm amazed at his ability to lay down a story so minimal at times and still come out with something so rich and full.
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Apr 3, 2012 18:38
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