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Hijinks Ensue posted:Re: John Dies At The End. I recently finished this and thought it was a lot of fun. If a mix of Lovecraftian "there are things man was not meant to know" horror, Evil Dead/early Peter Jackson movie gore, and Kevin Smith-esque dialogue and narration sound good, and if you're in touch with your inner 12-year-old for occasionally juvenile humor, you'll like this book. That's a better description than I came up with.  L.A. Confidential is my favorite out of Ellroy's LA Quartet, second only to The Big Nowhere. I may have to pull that out and give the movie and the book another go soon. Encryptic fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Oct 15, 2007 |
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Oct 15, 2007 18:33
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Cat's Cradle is actually my least favorite Vonnegut after Piano Player. Not that it's bad, but I thought Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, Mother Night, Sirens of Titan, Bluebeard, and even Galapagos were better. I really wanted to like it, but it didn't really affect me the way Vonnegut's stuff usually does :-\ I agree. To me Cat's Cradle combines a shallow understanding of religion with bad poetry, annoying characters, a boring plot, and a whole lot of smugness into one unpleasant whole.
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Oct 15, 2007 20:55
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I just finished One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and was very impressed with how insightful it was. The style of writing didn't particularly grab me, but all of the Kesey's underlying ideas were so solid and artfully expressed that I really loved it. Next up is either Sinclair's The Jungle or Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I've been having a terribly un-stimulating semester at school so I went out and picked up a bunch of books. poor and weird fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Oct 16, 2007 |
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Oct 15, 2007 22:46
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Iron Coffins A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II, Herbert A Werner A thorough account of the U-boat campaign of World War II. It gives the reader a great impression of what it was like to fight in the "iron coffins." The pendelum swings from the "happy days" of 1941 and 1942 to the dark days of 1943, with fast new destroyers, high-tech sonar and swarms of allied patrol craft hounding the wolf packs. The deadly and solitary war patrols are balanced by the equally destructive binges of alcohol and sex on shore. It has a lot of good information on the technical developments throughout the U-boat war. However, it is fairly repetitive and eventually becomes a litany of dead commanders and endless accounts of attacks by allied bombers. Twilight of the Gods A Swedish Waffen-Ss Volunteer's Experiences With the 11th Ss-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, Eastern Front 1944-45, Erik Wallin A short read and heavily laden with pro-German attitudes. Wallin is a serious cheerleader for his comrades in the SS and in partciluar Felix Steiner. It paints a good picture of the chaos and destruction in the closing days of battle in and around Berlin. However, it's only a snap shot, and doesn't go into any of his previous experiences in Finland or prior to 1944. I was expecting a lot more and unsatisified with what I got.
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Oct 16, 2007 00:35
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Forward the Foundation, Isaac Asimov Well, that's another series under my belt this year. I liked this installment more than Prelude, probably because it had a lot of the intrigue Edge and Earth did, plus it dealt with a lot of the mechanics of setting things up. I was a little surprised it slightly overlapped the event in the original novel. I kind of wish I'd read them in order, but hey that's life.
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Oct 17, 2007 12:40
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Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs by Lewis Page. A fascinating look at how the UK military pisses a shitload of money away on projects it doesn't need, and how BAe take almost all of it. Respectful of the job the rank-and-file soldiers try to do, Page (ex-Navy) is scathing about their superiors, and how national security is sold out for selfish reasons. Everyone in Britain should read this.
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Oct 17, 2007 17:20
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Saw the trailer for the Coen Bros. movie No Country For Old Men, and figured I'd better get off my rear end and finally read some of this "legendary" Cormac McCarthy fellow. It was pretty good. I definitely liked it, and the story takes a direction you wouldn't expect from a typical found money/manhunt plot. Not of the "twist ending" variety, mind you. It's just kinda cool. Worth the read. The Coens will probably turn it into a pretty good movie, too.
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Oct 17, 2007 18:59
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Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. I've always been interested in 19th century Europe, Russia in particular (I know Russia technically isn't part of Europe), so I really enjoyed this. It was about 200 pages too long, and the symbolism is almost too clear, but I'd recommend it to any Dostoyevsky fan.
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Oct 17, 2007 20:00
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Just finished The Stranger yesterday. I liked it, it was a nice short read but it still tells a good story and has plenty of depth, like Animal Farm. It's the first thing by Camus I've read, but I like his style. I'm gonna try to read more by him now. My copy of the book had notes in it by someone else, so those were pretty neat to read. I made some notes in it myself too since it was already written in. I also just finished The Amber Spyglass the day before that. That book was a disappointing finish to His Dark Materials. I just felt really disconnected from the story in it a lot more than I did for the other two. Whatever.
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Oct 17, 2007 21:58
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Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card Excellent read. Scientists of an unnamed future develop the ability to look at and watch the past. As the technology advances they find they are able to interact with the past. These events touch off a mission to stop what they perceive as the downfall of civilization: Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. A lot of thought went into the ideas of time travel and what was needed to reshape the world, but unfortunately there was quite a bit of unnecessary dialogue between Queen Isabella and her servants about whether or not she should allow Columbus' voyage. Yes, we know you're going to send him, no need fill a multitude of pages discussing it. It was also pretty heavy-handed with the use of Christianity but I have to consider the source. After finishing it I walked past my old Latin American history professor who (when I was in his class) expressed an interest in The Man in the High Castle when he saw me reading that in the halls. I told him about how the book discussed the reshaping of Central American culture and he seemed interested so I gave him the book. Hopefully he enjoys it, if not, at least he got it for free. Great alternative history/time travel read!
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Oct 18, 2007 04:20
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Just finished: The Bestiary by Nicholas Christopher. Some magical realism in it, which I dig, but a lot of it read like a thesis paper on bestiaries. Wouldn't recommend. Now reading: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I love this book at the halfway point. An unreliable narrator who goes off on tangents on Dominican history in his footnotes and language peppered with Spanish sayings and phrases I can't get my head around. The book takes a huge shift at some point, and I didn't welcome it at first, but I'm really loving what it did now. I'll report back when I'm done, I hope it keeps up. Next up: Savage Kingdom by Benjamin Woolley. I'm writing a term paper for my law & literature class on Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe and figure I need to know the real story first. edit: Mentioning magical realism reminded me of my favorite book of the past year or so. The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian. God gets pissed and unleashes a new flood, but this time he commissions an architect to make a floating children's hospital. Angels, miracles, love, and heartbreak. I don't think it's for everyone, but I was absolutely crushed that it ended, I really wanted it to keep going. YancyDCjew fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Oct 18, 2007 |
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Oct 18, 2007 18:41
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Double post - I'm an idiot. quote != edit
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Oct 18, 2007 19:10
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Fatal Revenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson. Absolutely fantastic, but the ending is a gigantic cliffhanger and I can't wait three years for the next installation. 
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Oct 18, 2007 21:13
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Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. loving spectacular. The guy just makes writing seem effortless, like its all completely off the cuff and spontaneous, but it layers and bends back upon itself masterfully. I've just been on a tear of Vonnegut lately, so excuse my excessive exuberance, I know he has better. This is really just a response to the last couple books of his I've read rolled up together. Currently: Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut, well, I think its good so far for what's its worth. Next up: Blindness by Saramago. Going to finish one of these days: Gravity's Rainbow: the densest drat book ever. Udenpah fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Oct 19, 2007 |
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Oct 19, 2007 01:56
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The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman I know he did what he had to to end the series the way he wanted, but I wish he had come up with something else. Don't get me wrong, its incredibly powerful, but I so desperately wanted things to work out 
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Oct 19, 2007 04:03
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Mr. Banana Grabber posted:The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It was a pretty good book but it felt a little sterile for a book about grief. She shows her weaknesses but you can never really relate to her. It's also the second book I've ever read where I didn't feel a great sense of closure, accomplishment or contentment at the end. It was just over and I didn't feel anything. I heard about the death of Quintana while I was finishing the book, so I felt pretty bad about the ending.
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Oct 19, 2007 04:31
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I second, as a good read Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. What an amazing character was the Will the Bard, so prolific and influential (in our everyday language) yet so little known about his personal life. Rating 7.5/10
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Oct 19, 2007 12:41
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The Book of Joby - a debut novel by Mark J. Ferrari. Pretty enjoyable read about a bet between God and Lucifer that draws on the Arthurian mythos and the Book of Job from the Bible. Lucifer bets God that he can turn God's champion (a kid named Joby) to the path of wickedness by the time Joby turns 40 - with the stipulation that God and the angels can't directly interfere, though Lucifer and his demons are free to use whatever means they like to accomplish their ends. It starts out well and ends well, though the middle portion dragged a little I thought. Not a bad read at all, though - Ferrari doesn't use the book to push a Christian agenda on the reader and Lucifer's portrayal makes him a pretty entertaining villain.
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Oct 19, 2007 23:12
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Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and Fabricate: The Illuminist Eye by John Wagner. The former was pretty good, I didn't really care for the bits with the kids, but you can't avoid them. The latter is an unpublished manuscript by one of my mum's friends. It's about a man who believes that his entire life was created by a secret "company" called The Illuminist Eye, and his trip to Las Vegas to get his real life back. It all takes place in one day, and it's pretty creepy in a sort of a mindfuck way. If it ever gets published, I suggest you pick up a copy.
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Oct 20, 2007 19:21
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Encryptic posted:The Book of Joby - a debut novel by Mark J. Ferrari. Pretty enjoyable read about a bet between God and Lucifer that draws on the Arthurian mythos and the Book of Job from the Bible. Lucifer bets God that he can turn God's champion (a kid named Joby) to the path of wickedness by the time Joby turns 40 - with the stipulation that God and the angels can't directly interfere, though Lucifer and his demons are free to use whatever means they like to accomplish their ends. That's a great premise. I think I'm going to go get that right now actually. I can take a break from A Song of Ice and Fire, which is great for Fantasy, but not good enough to ripen in twenty years and make it's way to the Literature section. It's just too pulpy. I also recently finished reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex, the two part biography of TR by Edmund Morris, and if you haven't read them, you owe it to yourself to get out there and grab that poo poo. I don't think I've ever been more in love with a historical figure. Bully!
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Oct 21, 2007 01:36
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Woodtopian posted:That's a great premise. I think I'm going to go get that right now actually. Cool, hope you'll enjoy it. The buzz on Amazon is pretty positive about it as well.
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Oct 21, 2007 06:19
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I just ate The Merchants' War by Charles Stross in a single sitting, now I need to go pick up Halt State tomorrow to quench a little more thirst. I thought the third book in the series lagged a little bit, but the hope I was holding onto for the next one was not misguided. Events are really starting to move along. Right now I'm unbelievably angry that this one ended with an even greater cliffhanger than the last, and according to Stross's website it'll be another year before we get it. Feh. The book meanders a little further into sci-fi territory this time around, but really just enough to whet the appetite. If anything the story feels a touch rushed, but if there was much more fine detail it might bog the whole thing down. As is, it keeps up a breakneck pace fairly well. For those unfamiliar with the series, it's about a modern day reporter who finds out that she's a long lost daughter of a family that somehow developed the ability to hop between its original world and ours. The original world is a Viking-settled medieval North America, and the family has gotten quite rich by running a lucrative pan-dimensional import / export business. A decent amount of political intrigue and Stross's usual style put an interesting spin on the concept, and takes it in some unexpected directions. I'm a fan of all his work, but as a whole I'm liking this series the most. NmareBfly fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Oct 21, 2007 |
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Oct 21, 2007 09:53
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Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris I walked into the office of one of my coworkers while she was in a meeting and found this book on her desk. I had seen this book several times in stores and knew absolutely nothing about it. I picked it up and started reading the chapter Nutcracker.com and found myself laughing almost immediately. I talked with her about it and she said the whole thing was funny and that she loved it. That night I went to a goon meet and there was a used book store nearby where I picked up a copy. I loved it. It is kind of embarrassing suddenly laughing out loud on a subway but this book really great. Great enough for me to pick up another of his books Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.
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Oct 21, 2007 18:59
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I just finished Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and The Most of P. G. Wodehouse Eyre Affair is set in an alternative 1985 England, where the Crimean war is still going strong, 150 years later, and a scientist develops technology that allows people to enter into works of literature. Really funny book. The Wodehouse book is rather large collection of his short stories, and one full novel. I picked this up for the Jeeves and Wooster stories and finished off the rest of the book once I was done with those. I much preferred the Jeeves stuff to everything else, but the book in general was pretty good. If anyone cares, Wodehouse's Jeeves character the the one off of which many contemporary butler (valet, technically) characters are based.
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Oct 21, 2007 19:30
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Pashazade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. encryptic just reviewed this and to add- excellent crime noir with leanings towards William Gibson and Stephenson without the latter's over verbosity(recently at least). Different from 9Tail the other novel I read by this great author yet just as hard to set down. A Shadow of All Night Falling by Glen Cook, this is the first book in the Dread Empire Trilogy. I really liked the beginning and end but was disinterested for most of the middle. I hope the rest of the series is better because something about the first book just left me indifferent. The characters were fine, no one stood, and the history was fine but it was filled with half or barely mentioned plot points that popped out of nowhere at the end and left me scratching my head. A solid Eh. Metamorphosis and Other Tales by Franz Kafka. I missed the boat on this wonderful writer and loved almost all of the stories. Finally, two biographies(one auto the other not so much), Houdini, the World's First Superhero and A lion's Tale, Around the World in Spandex. The first was just great. Houdini was a prick and the ultimate showman and the authors trying to sell, with little or no proof beyond the circumstantial that he was a spy as well made for a quick informative read. He is my new hero. The second was about a wrestler and was fast and funny and way better than I had expected. Sometimes you need a trashy read, do not loving judge me for it.
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Oct 22, 2007 02:25
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i finished 2 books this weekend, but only because the second was so short. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. The Gentlemen Bastard sequence comes up all over the place in TBB lately, and for good reason. I really enjoyed the first book, and this one was almost as good. I think the first was better simply because of the flashbacks and it just felt more fun, even though it was darker. Now I'm faced with having to wait for the next 5 books to be written and published. One thing I really liked about these books is that they are just plain fun. Sure there is a lot of depth in the world and characters, but they are just really good adventure books. At first them throwing f-bombs all over the place (tons of fucks, shits, and pisses) was annoying. But then I remembered how much hearing frak on Battlestar Galactica irritates me and I was content. Also, on that note, why was port replaced with larboard? I kind of always felt that port and starboard sound nothing alike for good reason, it's easy to tell them apart when someone yells them over the roars of the open sea. Today, I read The Stranger by Albert Camus, and I picked it up since I see it mentioned around here so often. I read part one right after I woke up today, in bed. I took about 20 pages to get into the style, and at first I wasn't sure about it. I thought maybe the odd style had a lot to do with the translation. I ended up finishing it at a coffee shop this evening and loved the book. I don't often jot down page numbers so I can go back and read them later, but there were a few quotes I loved in this book. I'm going to spoiler these even though they really give no plot away. "At the time, I often thought that if I had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowering overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it. I would have waited for birds to fly by or clouds to mingle, just as here I waited to see my lawyer's ties and just as, in another world, I used to wait patiently until Saturday to hold Marie's body in my arms." "I realized then that a man who had lived only one day could easily live for a hundred years in prison. He would have enough memories to keep him from being bored." I will be starting Baudolino by Umberto Eco next!
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Oct 22, 2007 02:41
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Soul Music, Terry Pratchett This one suffered a bit of the same Flintstones Syndrome as Moving Pictures did, but that didn't stop it from being pretty entertaining. I do wish the Band had figured more prominently. Ok, that's really what I was hoping for, a book solely about musicians on the discworld. But now that I think about it, I don't recall much fiction (other than the Spellsinger books) in which a musician was the main protagonist, so suggestions welcome.
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Oct 22, 2007 17:16
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Lessee. A few weeks ago, I finished Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. I haven't read his entire catalog yet (maybe 3/4 of it) but this one just took over as my new favorite. That same week, I also finished up Willard and His Bowling Trophies by Richard Brautigan. It was incredibly sad to me. Brautigan just has this simple writing style that draws you in and makes you feel so much. It baffles me. Right now, I'm about 200 pages in to The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky and I'm enthralled. I wish I had more time to just sink in somewhere and finish off the next 300 pages.
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Oct 23, 2007 01:15
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I just finished Patrick Suskind's Perfume today, and I really liked the last fifth or so of the book, it was an excellent way to end the novel. Grenouille is a really intriguing character that is truly conflicted with what he thinks of humans and what he wants out of life. The climax of the story is absurd and twisted in the best way imaginable. The novel is also the basis of the song Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana, for those unaware of either/or.
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Oct 23, 2007 05:55
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The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendahl and Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah. Not quite sure why the novel of Stendahl's is considered to be an immortal classic, since it's inferior to his Red and Black in almost every sense. The battle of Waterloo, disembowelment on the highway and prison escape aren't quite enough to rescue it from a repetitive, cyclical plot and melodrama that just keeps piling up. The ending is particularly baffling, introducing one of the most promising characters in the last stretch, only to stumble into an incredibly abrupt anticlimax. I can only assume he fell sick and rushed it out of fear of dying and leaving it unresolved. Proust meanwhile, between musings, screws around with the reader's previous impression of his antagonists by making them just that little bit more (or much, much less) sympathetic. Madame Verdurin, in particular, slides back into view transformed from ostentatious nobody into the Queen Bitch of French literature. Nicely over the top final moment too; enough to make the Days of our Lives writers' eyes water.
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Oct 23, 2007 06:22
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Return to the Whorl and with that, the final novel of The Book of the Short Sun and therefore the final novel of the Solar Cycle (for now). Wow, is all I can say. This series has so much depth and character that it's hard to really convey my appreciation for it. I'll limit myself to one brief statement instead: that at the conclusion I felt overwhelming pity for Horn. He was more violent, judgmental, and quick-to-anger than Silk could ever be, but those flaws made him so endearing to read of in On Blue's Waters, especially since his intellect was nearly a match for Silk's. It greatly saddened me to learn that his personality had been completely lost to Silk. His flaws made me empathise with him; Silk on the other hand is so terrifyingly pure and pristine that he's painful to read about. Saying that, I do like him as a character, and admire the character for his virtuous aspects. Silk surely is the better man, but having Horn completely dissipating into that perfection is a great tragedy, because Horn was on a basic level a likable character, even if he wasn't as admirable. Having said that, I highly recommend reading this. Now, onwards to The Knight. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Oct 23, 2007 |
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Oct 23, 2007 10:40
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The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. Really enjoyed this - wonderful evocation of atmosphere and pioneer culture, especially the portrayal of the wilderness which was so dangerous and yet so beautiful. To the point where someone only a few days travel on horseback loses a compass and you know they are utterly hosed. Loved the handling of the natives and the Company as this precursor to the exploitativeness to big business. The characters were all beautifully drawn, and while the machinations towards the end were a bit hazy, I still really enjoyed it and would read another by her. I haven't read the other Costa runners-up, but it seemed a worthy prize-winner to me.
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Oct 23, 2007 11:37
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The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley I think the bottom line with this book is that it is a socially/historically important book because it represents an early advocation of psychedelia by an established author, but at the same time it isn't really a mindblowing book because much of what it says has been said a lot in the time between now and since when it was published - no doubt in some small part thanks to the book's own contribution to the success of the psychedelic movement. Nonetheless, it is a fairly good book, its quality being pushed up by its eloquent desription of the mescaline experience and the meaning behind that experience and of the nature of the human mind, while being pulled down by Huxley's too frequent and unnecesarily pretentious namedropping of painters and writers as well as Huxley's somewhat narrow views on psychedelia. Having never tried any other psychedelic drug, Huxley assumes that the effects of mescaline are the only effects that can be achieved through drugs, and represent reality when the mind's filters have been removed, rather than realizing that the effects of mescaline are only one of many drug effects and perspectives on reality that exist to be used by humans.
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Oct 23, 2007 12:44
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While I am not done reading it yet Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine is really, really good. Currently reading it for my ethics class and it's the best homework I have ever had to do. If you are interested in ancient Greek culture definitely pick this up.
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Oct 24, 2007 01:15
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Just finished John Dies At The End. I am completely in love with the book, I haven't enjoyed a book that much in a long time; one of my favorites now, definitely.
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Oct 24, 2007 04:49
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I finished two Pratchetts, The Last Hero which was novella length with some great illustrations, and was great, and Night Watch which seemed to go back to his style of rambly and plotless with occasional insights or funny bits. The last few Watch books were great, and this one felt like a step down. It also was longer than most of his books, which didn't help. I've been reading all of the Discworld books over the last year or so, and with these last two have now finished 28 of 36. I feel like the end is finally in sight. As a break from all of that Pratchett, I decided to try a light and fluffy thriller, and read Four Blind Mice by James Patterson. In all honesty, this is one of the worst books I've read cover to cover. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but considering that he's had two of his books turned into movies, and another series turned into a TV show, I was hoping for a decent pulpy read. What I got was a pile of crap. The book was written as if for a grade school reading level (especially with the large print, big margins and 4-page chapters), and the characters were wooden, situations unbelievable, and the plot resolution ludicrous. Lastly, I read the Gene Wolfe issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine from earlier in the year, which featured a long novella from Wolfe, Memorare, a couple of essays about Wolfe, and a few other mostly forgettable stories from other authors. Memorare had an interesting premise - someone filming a documentary on tombs built on asteroids and filled with deathtraps - and delivered some of what you'd expect with Wolfe - elipitical storytelling, playing with perception and identity, and a touch of humour. Overall the story didn't grab me, though.
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Oct 24, 2007 15:09
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Finished In The Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss over the weekend - a collection of 16 short stories. It's a shame the collection was so short because I found it to be excellent throughout. I loved the dark fairy tale influences and the surreal imagery as well as the general style the stories followed - taking place in the "real world", but with a hint of fantasy on the edges. I'm about 100 pages through Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings, which I've started reading a couple of times before and just never got around to finishing, so hopefully I'll be able to finish it this time. It's an interesting read if a bit difficult to follow, set in ancient Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs and tells the story of the protagonist's four lives.
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Oct 24, 2007 16:42
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YancyDCjew posted:Now reading: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I love this book at the halfway point. An unreliable narrator who goes off on tangents on Dominican history in his footnotes and language peppered with Spanish sayings and phrases I can't get my head around. The book takes a huge shift at some point, and I didn't welcome it at first, but I'm really loving what it did now. I'll report back when I'm done, I hope it keeps up.
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Oct 24, 2007 17:57
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The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. It may be my favorite book. The writing is some of the most interesting (if difficult) I've ever seen, particularly the parts narrated by Quentin. Also finished Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, and loved this one, too. It's one of the most quotable books I can think of. Fair warning to anyone who reads it, though: it essentially has no plot, which isn't a bad thing, but I could see how it might turn someone off. Currently reading Factotum by Charles Bukowski and As I Lay Dying by Faulkner, both of which are turning out to be very good. I'll also be starting Macbeth by Shakespeare tomorrow.
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Oct 24, 2007 21:45
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Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick) I started reading it a long time ago but I don't think I ever finished it. So I finally found someone who had a copy, and started from the beginning again. I'm glad I finally read it through, it's a good book. Now, onto 1984 since I have a new copy and I can barely remember most of it.
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Oct 24, 2007 21:56
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