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~Half November. 71. Robots and Empire. Isaac Asimov. Not bad, kind of tedious sometimes but pretty good. 72. El Llano en Llamas. Juan Rulfo. Some of the short stories are kind of weird but good overall. 73. The Magician King. Lev Grossman. Good, but the story lasted a while to get started and a lot of the characters were just annoying. And also that thing almost at the end... well, no, just no. 74. The Cyberiad. Stanislav Lem. Awesome stories. 75. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain. Good story, but kind of hard to read. 75/75, goal done 
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Nov 21, 2014 01:59
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thespaceinvader posted:76: Foxglove Summer 77, 78: The March to the Stars and We Few by David Weber and John Ringo. Very enjoyable schlocky space opera. Both Ringo and Weber can write what they know, very well, and what they know is schlocky military SF, and by hell this is pocking good military SF. The characters are well-built and go through hell to get there, the situations are rollicking and whilst the action gets a bit too Harrington in places (yes the ships we didn't remotely care about for the entire series have a lot of missiles, yay for them) overall I'd heartily recommend it. And I have to add, the geeky in-jokes were just lovely, from Helmuth, Dark lord of the Sixth (and referred to at least once as Dark Helmuth), to any number of references to star wars, star trek (it's amazing how many things 'Doc' Dobrescu isn't) and Hannibal, they got me giggling every time they came up, and I didn't find them out of place because the whole thing is written in kind of a knowing way. It knows it's schlocky military SF and it revels in it very enjoyably. Well worth reading. The Kobo store had some free John Ringo books on offer so I'm going to kick off with them now. Probably the Posleen series.
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Nov 26, 2014 23:38
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November! 132. Shadowheart (Shadowmarch #4) - Tad Williams 133. Westmark (Westmark #1) - Lloyd Alexander 134. The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann 135. The Kestrel (Westmark #2) - Lloyd Alexander 136. The Beggar Queen(Westmark #3) - Lloyd Alexander 137. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith 138. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott 139. The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Leguin 140. Manhood for Amateurs - Michael Chabon 141. State of Wonder - Ann Patchett 142. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel 143. Coraline - Neil Gaiman A good month! First, I enjoyed a reread of Lloyd Alexander's Westmark trilogy (Westmark, The Kestral, and The Beggar Queen) are not quite as famous as his Prydain Chronicles - no Disney movie for this one - but they're simple and well-written stories about a fantasy kingdom that's along the lines of Western Europe in 1700-1800 or so. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Little Women were both good, as well, though Little Women was a little heavy on the "little lessons" of life. Ursula K. LeGuin continues to amaze me with The Lathe of Heaven, and Station Eleven was one of the best post-apocalyptic novels I've read in years.
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Nov 30, 2014 05:54
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thespaceinvader posted:77, 78: The March to the Stars and We Few by David Weber and John Ringo. Very enjoyable schlocky space opera. Both Ringo and Weber can write what they know, very well, and what they know is schlocky military SF, and by hell this is pocking good military SF. The characters are well-built and go through hell to get there, the situations are rollicking and whilst the action gets a bit too Harrington in places (yes the ships we didn't remotely care about for the entire series have a lot of missiles, yay for them) overall I'd heartily recommend it. And I have to add, the geeky in-jokes were just lovely, from Helmuth, Dark lord of the Sixth (and referred to at least once as Dark Helmuth), to any number of references to star wars, star trek (it's amazing how many things 'Doc' Dobrescu isn't) and Hannibal, they got me giggling every time they came up, and I didn't find them out of place because the whole thing is written in kind of a knowing way. It knows it's schlocky military SF and it revels in it very enjoyably. Well worth reading. 79: A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo. Pretty reasonable, although it's bothering me how painfully obviously the villains the Darhel are. A couple of people realised it and got assassinated early on so I assume we're meant to know, but the characters missing it is... making me feel like they're stupid when they're not. The book as a whole was good - Ringo can write military SF well - but started bothering me when we started getting Posleen viewpoints - firstly, all of the oold;'sob'nnnnllltyiasto type fake words are just REALLY hard to read and focus through especially when they're unexplained (wait was that a name, a rank, a work for company or battalion, the flying saucer thing, what?) and also because... I realised it's never actually explained how they cam to be called the Posleen by everyone else, when the name is almost exactly what they call themselves. Good military SF but needs a little more thought to the alien cultures. 80: Gust Front, again by Ringo. What can I say, it was free.
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Nov 30, 2014 11:48
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Female authors: 23/24 Non-fiction: 11/12 Goodreads. The Editor's Companion was a textbook and I wouldn't have read it otherwise. There is some valuable information in it, but it's mixed in with a lot of stuff that seems dubious or wildly speculative, and it's written in a fairly irritating manner. The author's outrageous claims about the many virtues of editors comes across as bizarre and (given that she is an editor herself) narcissistic. The language use and tone also seem very arrogant and condescending, as though she believes that she knows everything and her readers know nothing. And she continually writes "pix" instead of pictures, which I personally find incredibly irritating for some reason. Delusions of Gender is basically a lot of words to say "gender essentialism is bullshit and the brain is way more complex than most people think". Largely preaching to the choir, but it is well-written and easy to read and presents a lot of interesting information. The Fey series was what I most enjoyed reading though. Made me remember why I used to read so much fantasy and reminded me of Magician by Raymond E Feist. The first couple of books had some slightly annoying plot holes (for example, neither side seemed to take advantage of some very important information they received; the Islanders discovering the Shadowlands entrance and the Fey finding out that only two people knew how to make the holy water), but other than that it was good, and so far each book is relatively self-contained rather than just feeling like it's setting up the next one. I really like the way each character has their own understandable motives and goals and the events that play out are driven by the characters, as compared with some books where it feels like characters do things more because the plot requires them to. It definitely helps that there's not good guys and bad guys, just people on different sides of various conflicts, and we get to see things from a wide variety of perspectives. It also seems that any character can die, which raises the stakes. You can never tell how anything is going to play out. Unless it suddenly goes downhill I'll probably finish the series by the end of January.
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Nov 30, 2014 13:26
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ltr posted:1. The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time, #5) by Robert Jordan November update 51. The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker 52. Earth Strike (Star Carrier, #1) by Ian Douglas EDIT: 53. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett 52/52 So I reached my goal! In the process I read 38 different authors, 26 of which were ones I had never read before. I could have read more female authors since I only read 5, but I'll work on that next year. I did poorly on my subgoal of 12 non-fiction books with only completing 7. But overall it was a great year that definitely expanded on the types of books I read. Of this month's books, The Golem and the Jinni was very good, not what I normally read but I enjoyed it quite a bit. As for Earth Strike, I'm guessing it was some free kindle book because I don't remember buying it but it had sat on my kindle for a while. it was just okay mil sci-fi. And Finally, City of Stairs was just great. Probably in my top three favorite books of the year. ltr fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Nov 30, 2014 |
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Nov 30, 2014 18:37
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screenwritersblues posted:55) Bambi vs. Godzilla by David Mamet November 56) Into the Wild by John Krakauer: While I really liked the film version of this, but the book was a lot more enjoyable. It gave a lot more back story than the film ever did. 57) The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman: I really wanted to like this book, but it was a pretty lackluster finish. While it was cool to read a story set in NYC when it was still NYC, it just didn't feel right. 58) Creepers by David Morrell: I heard about this one and was interested in mainly because of the fact that it was set in Asbury Park right before the start of the revival of the city started. It was super creepy and I didn't see the major plot twist coming. 59) Badass: Ultimate Death Match by Ben Thompson: I loved Thompson's first two books, but this one I found somewhat boring. It lacked something that the others did, but I can't figure out what. 60) Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler: I might have enjoyed this book if I knew what the hell was going on. There was just too many characters used to tell the story. 61) Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakeable Love for New York Edited by Sari Botton: While I now have a better understanding of the first collection (in order to be successful, you might have to leave New York City), but this one talks about being influenced by NYC and not leaving it. It was very enjoyable. Currently Reading: I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp by Richard Hell: I'm into it so far. Goal: 30/30 Year: 61/30
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Nov 30, 2014 19:25
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Stravinsky posted:Do you happen to know where he got most of his sources from by chance? It does say at the end although there's no complete list of attributions as you'd normally expect, for which she (they, really, it was co-written by Chang and her husband) give the reason that some are still on the Mainland and would be put at risk. Not entirely spurious, but also a great excuse for them to make some pretty big claims and then provide no sources. From memory there's a lot of Nationalists and Taiwanese, some ex-Communists, a fair amount of primary material (diaries, etc.) written by both Mao and other top CCP officials. The last is of course subject to the usual "this is what the PRC is happy to release" caveat. November - 8: 48. The Dark Room (Rachel Seiffert) 49. Language, Society and Power (Linda Thomas & Shan Wareing) 50. The Player of Games (Iain M. Banks) 51. D-Day to Berlin (Andrew Williams) 52. The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt) 53. War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells) 54. Narcopolis (Jeet Thayil) 55. Dune (Frank Herbert) November was a really good month. I had a week off which included flying to Athens to run my first marathon. Originally we were supposed to go a few days earlier but my friend had to rearrange so we only ended up going Friday to Monday, so I kept the time off work and just read for a week. With the flights and travel as well I got through like, 6 books in the space of about 9 days. I had like 20 pages to go on a collection of Kafka short stories but that'll have to wait. Once that's done I've only got 4 to go to goal! I already talked about The Dark Room and Language, Society and Power upthread so I'll just have a quick run through of the rest. The Player of Games was a fun sci-fi adventure. It's Banks, it's good. I liked the whole weird set-up of the game and the way it stood in for the normal military or space-fighting stuff which carries sci-fi plots. I thought Consider Phlebas was better, but I enjoyed this. Day-Day to Berlin was excellent. I've had it for a while and for some reason I expected it to be quite dry, but it's actually a really good narrative account of the period from, as the title suggests, D-Day to Berlin. It's a serious work (for pop-history) which refuses to romanticise the Allied war effort and is quite open about the personality conflicts and failures of the various generals, but that helps rather than hinders with keeping the narrative rattling along. It uses a bunch of different sources including Wehrmacht and SS soldiers. In fact if it has one fault it's a bit too keen, early on, on the qualities of the latter, but I think this is meant to counter the usual sense of inevitability of Allied victory that can be a factor in how people discuss the war. It's also very much on the side of "Hitler was an idiot who hosed the German chances royally." The Goldfinch was the other book I read on the flight out. At 864 pages I thought it'd be a struggle but it actually flew by - I started it on the outbound flight on Friday afternoon and finished it on the coach back from London on Monday evening. That's not to say it isn't flawed and overlong - there is a lot of time spent lovingly describing a couple of teenagers getting really hosed up, though the pointlessness is sort of the point, and cutting the "Theo in a hotel room in Amsterdam" section in half would probably lose nothing much, but despite that it's a really beautiful book. I picked War of the Worlds after The Goldfinch largely on the basis that it was short and straightforward and would be a bit of a breather. I doubt I have anything to say about it that hasn't been said for a hundred years - foundation of its genre, Victorian writing style, weird and disappointing ending (although I do appreciate it not being "and then the humans learned how to fight better, problem solved!"). I really enjoyed the bit where the narrator is listening to the artilleryman's grand plan and slowly realises the guy has no intention of following through with it. It's deliciously cynical. Narcopolis continued the theme of books about people getting really hosed up, as the title suggests. It's about post-independence Bombay and the development of its drug trade alongside the development of India's economy. It's a stew of racial and religious tension, sexual exploitation and identity (particularly of hijras) and the effects of drug abuse. A very weird and dreamlike book that sort of flows from narrative to narrative without any real regard for structure. Dune. What a piece of poo poo. The worst thing I've read this year. gently caress this book. Year so far: 01. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Robert Tressell) 02. Always Managing: My Autobiography (Harry Redknapp) 03. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) 04. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened (Allie Brosh) 05. Dracula (Bram Stoker) 06. The Drowned World (JG Ballard) 07. The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty (G.J. Meyer) 08. Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel) 09. The Politics (Aristotle) 10. The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli) 11. Twelve Years a Slave (Solomon Northup) 12. The Fault in Our Stars (John Green) 13. If on a winter's night a traveller (Italo Calvino) 14. The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels) 15. The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 (Eric Hobsbawm) 16. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea (Yukio Mishima) 17. The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 (Alistair Horne) 18. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) 19. Homage to Catalonia (George Orwell) 20. Half Blood Blues (Esi Edugyan) 21. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600 (Halil Inalcik) 22. The Outsider (Albert Camus) 23. The Ottoman Empire: The Structure of Power 1300-1650 (Colin Imber) 24. Suleiman the Magnificent (André Clot) 25. Forbidden Colours (Yukio Mishima) 26. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) 27. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquéz) 28. On the Road (Jack Kerouac) 29. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 (Michael Azerrad) 30. Life and Death are Wearing Me Out (Mo Yan) 31. The Sound of Things Falling (Juan Gabriel Vásquez) 32. Dance Dance Dance (Haruki Murakami) 33. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) 34. What is Property? (P.J. Proudhon) 35. Oryx & Crake (Margaret Atwood) 36. When the Lights Went Out: What Really Happened in Britain in the Seventies (Andy Beckett) 37. No Logo (Naomi Klein) 38. The Quarry (Iain Banks) 39. Star of the Sea (Joseph O'Connor) 40. Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) 41. Riotous Assembly (Tom Sharpe) 42. Vintage Stuff (Tom Sharpe) 43. Mao: The Unknown Story (Jung Chang & John Halliday) 44. Arrow of God (Chinua Achebe) 45. No Longer at Ease (Chinua Achebe) 46. This Changes Everything (Naomi Klein) 47. A History of the English Language (Albert C. Baugh & Thomas Cable) 48. The Dark Room (Rachel Seiffert) 49. Language, Society and Power (Linda Thomas & Shan Wareing) 50. The Player of Games (Iain M. Banks) 51. D-Day to Berlin (Andrew Williams) 52. The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt) 53. War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells) 54. Narcopolis (Jeet Thayil) 55. Dune (Frank Herbert) Total: 55/60 8+3/8 women, 8+4/8 non-white people, 21/20 non-fiction Living Image fucked around with this message at 10:21 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 10:17
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elbow posted:September - 67/70 October and November - 75/70 68. The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. The first half of this story was entertaining enough to ignore the cliches and lazy writing, but I found the second half less interesting. Hope the TV show does better. 3/5 69. Acceptance, by Jeff VanderMeer. Contrary to popular opinion, I thought this was the least enjoyable in the trilogy, despite the return of Area X as a setting. I did enjoy reading Saul and Gloria's stories, but on the whole it was a bit too dense, vague and philosophical for my liking. 3/5 70. Smoke and Mirrors, by Neil Gaiman. I love Gaiman's novels and think he's a fantastic writer, but this collection was just a bit too much of his schtick for me. There were a few real gems in there though, including Snow, Glass, Apples. 3/5 71. Rat Queens, vol 1, by Kurtis J Wiebe. I've only recently started getting into comics and I fell head over heels for this one. 5/5 72. The Farm, by Tom Rob Smith. A pretty good suspense novel, though I knew too much about it and the author before I started reading it. 3/5 73. Yes Please, by Amy Poehler. Really enjoyable and funny - it's great to read something so positive. 4/5 74. The Walking Dead, vol 22, by Robert Kirkman. Good to see the story move forward in time a bit, I think the new developments and setting will give us some good new stories. 5/5 75. The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. It wasn't as earth-shattering as everyone made it out to be, but I was amazed that a book about architecture/landscaping/etc. could entertain me so much. I honestly figured I'd be skipping most of the Burnham chapters in favor of Holmes, but I was disappointed when the World's Fair thread ended. 4/5
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Dec 1, 2014 12:03
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Prolonged Shame posted:1) Winters Heart - Robert Jordan November: 93) The Alienist - Caleb Carr: A murder mystery taking place in New York in 1896. A journalist, a pioneering policewoman, and an alienist (an early psychiatrist) amongst others form a team reporting to police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt as they hunt a serial killer. The mystery plot and characters are run of the mill, but the historical details are meticulous and amazing. 94) The Dirt: Confessions of the Worlds Most Notorious Rock Band - Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss :This one sounded a lot more interesting than it actually was. In a nutshell: the members of Mötley Crüe were selfish assholes in the 80's and are still selfish assholes today. 95) The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith: An enjoyable murder mystery. I'm liking how Rowling is slowly developing her characters over the course of this series. 96) Dust (Silo #3) - Hugh Howey: I was a little disappointed by this one. The ending to the series was satisfying, but it could have been SO MUCH better with very little effort. 97) The Vicar of Wakefield - Oliver Goldsmith: Short, funny, predictable, and satisfying. 98) The Two Noble Kinsmen - William Shakespeare: Definitely one of his b-sides. 99) A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving: Loved this. Beautiful. Overall:99/100 Sub-goals: Presidential biographies: 10/12 Books over 600 pages: 15/15 - done! Non-fiction books (not counting prez bios): 20/20 - done!
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Dec 1, 2014 15:11
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Mr. Squishy posted:1 The Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky as translated by David Magarshack. I've stopped keeping track so let's see 96 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. 97 Journey's End by R.C. Sherrif. It's Journey's End. Good play, perhaps a bit conservative in form. 98 Northern Star by Stewart Parker. In which a marginalized war-hero of... one of the early Irish wars for independence narrates his way through several pastiches of Irish authors, time collapsing as he poses perilously with his neck in a noose. 99 Oh What A Lovely War by the Theatre Workshop. I can't stand farce. I hate it a lot. This, Accidental Death of an Italian Anarchist... others. Just can't stand it. 100 Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme. Yet more stuff about the difficult question of Irish nationhood. You can't really get a sense of if you like a play when you're just reading it. Wonder if I like this one. 101 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I guess it's clever enough but is it really top-drawer? Well, there are some elements about it that are good. 102 A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell. Seemed kind of aimless. ♀ 16/20 Σ 102/60 I'm reading pretty much exclusively for my uni course and playing an awful lot of X-Com in a panicked funk. I might have reread some Conrad, and quite a few chapters from critical books. Will I read four more women-authored books by year's end? Who can say, I don't care. Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Dec 15, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 19:40
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There is a near-zero chance that I will make my goal, because it took me four months, to the day, to struggle through Styron's Lie Down In Darkness. I finally finished it today. 17. Felix Gilman - The Revolutions - Good story, flawed pacing. Imaginative ideas, drags too much, disappointing ending. 18. William Styron - Lie Down In Darkness - 1951 debut novel by the author of Sophie's Choice. Not... bad, exactly, but I hated virtually everyone in it and apparently that's common. The best part is the penultimate section, and by best I mean crushingly depressing. 18/30. Good and hosed on this goal.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:24
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Rest of November. 76. The Princess Bride. William Goldman. Awesome and funny. 77. The Ringworld Engineers. Larry Niven. Kind of long... and well, not a lot happened but it was ok. 78. The Last Continent. Terry Pratchett. Pretty funny but the story lacked some coherence. 78/75
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Dec 3, 2014 01:43
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Hocus Pocus posted:1. Fame: A Novel in Nine Episodes by Daniel Kehlmann This year turned into a loving mess, and in the midst of it I haven't updated in the last few months. Haven't read all too much, will have to be more disciplined next year. 43. The Woman In The Dunes by Kobo Abe Strange, at times poignant. Moved well, and made me want to read more Kobo Abe. 44. Letters by Kurt Vonnegut edited by Dan Wakefield It was interesting to get more insight to Vonnegut the man, who I think I was happy to know was all but exactly as how he comes through in his books. Darker though - the last decade of his life was especially tragic. 44. Tietam Brown by Mick Foley The story of 'Andy' Brown, a 17-year old who has spent the first 16 years of his life in a combination of foster care, state homes, and prison. He has bounced from one traumatizing situation to another, but things look to improve with the reemergence of his father, Tietam Brown. So the first, maybe half, of the book is pretty good. You have the formerly absent father with a mysterious past and eccentric behavior, who seems to have some genuine love for his son. Andy is clumsily making his way through his first romantic relationship, and is getting to know his father. Yes, its violent, and yes Tietam has a dark streak -- but nothing seems so bad that he is irredeemable (at least for the first half or so). But then the mystery and eccentricities are explained and revealed in a really disappointing way. The final act of the book is unsatisfying. It doesn't earn its tragic turn. And I think the epilogue is garbage. It doesn't heighten anything, it doesn't explain anything. All it does is add insult to injury and depict more suffering for no real reason. There is some loose implication of the cycle of trauma, but that wasn't really explored throughout the rest of the book, so it seems hamfisted to put it in the epilogue. Hated this book by the end. 45. The Captain and the Enemy by Graham Greene Enjoyed it, real slow starter though. 46. Goya by Rose-Marie & Rainer Hagen Not a great deal of information about the painter's later Black Paintings, which were the main reason I bought the book. However, reading about his career and the changing political climate gave some context and understanding as to where he might have been emotionally. 47. The Third Man by Graham Greene 48. Our Man In Havana by Graham Greene A vaccuum cleaner salesman in Havana is recruited to become a spy and start finding his own sources. Well, that's all a touch too difficult, so he just starts writing made up reports, that the brass seem to love. This was the most fun I've seen Greene be. A fun book. 49. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck Worth it just for the introduction. The Moon is Down was written as a propaganda piece for the US during WWII, however they were largely unimpressed by it. The book centers around an occupied town, and the occupiers are depicted with a degree of complexity. While the US thought this was a mistake, it resonated with people in Europe who had encountered the Nazis and knew that as individuals they were not caricatures. Some enormous amount of copies were distributed in Europe (especially Norway), and many were translated and distributed by resistance groups. It is very tense, and feels true to the nature of people. Good book. 50. The Last Showman by Fred Brophy In Australia our regional communities are incredibly isolated, and a big part of the entertainment calendar used to be travelling agricultural shows, and boxing tents. This is an autobiography of Fred Brophy, from a family of showmen, the book is the story of his early struggles and rise to personal and professional success. A boxing tent is where a showman has some house boxers, and the audience can volunteer to fight them, getting money for each round they make it through, and an additional pot if they win. Observations made about the character of the outback is what I most enjoyed, what I didn't enjoy so much was the constant harping on about "true blue" this and "real Aussie" that - at a certain point it felt really contrived. Oh, and I don't need to know about every time you got into a fist fight because someone called you a "poofter" in a pub - its less of a story than you think it is. 51. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan How this Tasmanian born in the 60's was about to publish the great Australian war novel in 2013 is beyond me. As I read it there were moments that shone and were special, but it was on completion that it suddenly came together and felt larger than the sum of its parts. It almost makes up for his involvement in Baz Luhrmann's 2008 war crime "Australia". 52. The 35mm Photographer's Handbook by Julian Calder and John Garrett Dated, but still had useful explanations of exposure, and usecases for different focal lengths etc. 53. Propaganda by Edward Bernays Written in 1928, Bernays makes a case for how important propaganda is in guiding popular opinion. This is pretty much a big ad for public relations, and his main defense for the negative use of propaganda seems to be "poo poo happens". As someone whose country's political dialogue is essentially ruled by mining interests and the conservative Murdoch press, I was a little frustrated by the 1928 perspective. 54. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien I really need to read this again, if only to carry forward the spirit of the book's ending. The made up philosopher, de Selby, was hit and miss, and I could have lived without the footnotes. 54/72 I don't think I'll make it, but it beats the 26 I originally marked as my goal.
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Dec 7, 2014 08:58
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Started a new job in July which entirely eliminated my commute. That cut down on the number of books I've been able to read, since my 2+ hours on the train was when I did the majority of my reading. I also felt like I wandered into a bunch of stinkers this year which slowed down my progress. 1. NOS4A2, by Joe Hill 2. MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood 3. Galveston, by Nic Pizzolatto 4. The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, by George Packer. 5. The Story of the Stone, by Barry Hughart 6. Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery, by Robert Kolker. 7. Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer 8. Authority, by Jeff VanderMeer 9. Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer. 10. A Stranger In Olondria, Sofia Samatar. 11. A Memory of Water, Emmi Itaranta 12. The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band, Motley Crue and Neil Strauss 13. Acceptance, by Jeff VanderMeer. 14. Sweet Tooth Vol. 1 - Out of the Woods, by Jeff Lemire I can't recommend A Stranger In Olondria enough. After I read it I remarked to my wife that Samatar reads like a female Gene Wolfe at the height of his game, and lo and behold, she beat out Wolfe this year to win the World Fantasy Award. It's a beautiful and moving book about a clash of cultures and a love/ghost story. 5/5 A Memory of Water was crap. I'd really like to see a better writer place something in Itaranta's setting - a Chinese-dominated near-future where the world has been wrecked by global warming and water contamination. The book doesn't even have a real ending, just lamely peters out. 1/5 The Dirt was an entertaining read, but it's hard to take a lot of it seriously. If half the poo poo in the book was true than the band would have died of a collective black jungle rot STD by now. It's also written before Vince Neil embarks on his bizarro reality TV career. 4/5 All in all VanderMeer's The Southern Reach Trilogy was drat good. I'll probably go back and reread the whole thing, because the last book puts everything in such a different perspective. Highly recommended. 5/5 Sweet Tooth is interesting, if not a tad skeletal in terms of plot in the beginning. Some kind of plague has wiped out mankind. The only things that have survived are human-animal hybrids. Cool premise, but the first volume is very Walking Dead-esque. I'll need to check out further volumes before passing judgement.
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Dec 7, 2014 15:20
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thespaceinvader posted:80: Gust Front, again by Ringo. What can I say, it was free. 80: Gust Front was good enough that I'm picking up the rest of the series. Ringo can tug the right emotional strings when he wants to. Good but not amazing; the Baen trick of offering the first book or two of a series free works here. 81: When the Devil Dances by John Ringo.
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Dec 7, 2014 21:53
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So I am likely going to fall just short of my overall goal and varying degrees of short on all of my other goals. I had some good momentum but I only read a book on the War of the Roses (called the War of the Roses) and a retelling of the King Arthur story called Arthur Rex in November, and then I started and am currently reading A Brief History of Seven Killings. Once the cold weather hit it affected my ability to read outside on my breaks or while waiting for the bus which was almost 50% of my daily reading time, and I had a bunch of other stuff between holidays and family weddings etc which slowed me down. I am still pretty pleased with my progress, setting a bunch of secondary goals to diversify my reading habits helped a great deal, and setting them higher than I initially wanted to did spur me to amass a backlog of cool looking books. I will still be reading a few books before the end of the year, including trying to read Gravity's Rainbow when I have several days of break with nothing to do, so I will post an end of year update. I am not sure if I will track my progress in the thread next year and might instead just opt to read cool books as they strike my fancy, but I am glad to have used this thread to help push me.
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Dec 8, 2014 22:45
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I've got three books left towards my goal and I think I'll make it. I misplaced my Kindle this past week so I've been stuck at halfway through Inherent Vice (I read a bit with Kindle app on my phone but it sucks to read on a phone screen), but school isn't as busy as usual right now and I have an 8-hour plane ride home and then Christmas break coming up, so I don't think it'll be too much of a problem!
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Dec 9, 2014 12:12
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:173: The Skin Game - William Miekle 188: Space Captain Smith - Toby Frost 189: Yuletide Immortal - Gene Doucette 190: Immortal at the Edge of the World - Gene Doucette 191: The Blasted Lands - James A. Moore 192: Seven Forges - James A. Moore 193: Reign of Evil - Weston Osche 194: Winter's Reach - Craig Schaefer 194.5: The Kabul Incident - Mat Nastos 195: Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski 196: The 6th Extinction - James Rollins 197: Yesterday's Hero - Jonathan Wood 198: The Curse Merchant - J.P. Sloan 199: All You Need Is Kill - Hirosi Sakurazaka 200: The Prophecy Con - Patrick Weekes 201: Extinction Game - Gary Gibson 202: Die and Stay Dead - Nicholas Kaufmann 203: Dying is My Business - Nicholas Kaufmann 204: Dead Clown BBQ - Jeff Strand Sort of a slow month, but some good reads. Just finished up Space Captain Smith and I'm working on the 2nd book in the series. Very british, but a fun read. The Immortal Series is great, but I kinda both love and hate the new book because it solves a long ongoing mystery in the series and I don't know if I like how it was handled or if I'd have preferred it going on for a few more books. 7 Forges/Blasted Lands is a pretty good fantasy series by James A. Moore. It's... it's hard to explain. It's not written particularly well, but something about the story just makes you want to keep reading. After I finished the first one I immediately bought the sequel, and holy gently caress the second one ends on such a blue balls worthy cliffhanger it ain't even funny. Reign of Evil is the latest Seal Team 666 novel and it involves a racist King Arthur coming back and killing off everyone who isn't white in Britain. It's, well it's hosed up. Fun read though for military gung ho HOOAH poo poo though. Winter's Reach is by the same dude who did the Daniel Faust series, except instead of a vaguely alcoholic necromancer it's a fantasy book set in Not Medieval England and Not Medieval Italy, and holy gently caress it is bleak. Great book, but god drat it was such a jarring tonal shift from the first series that it surprised me. Not as overly grimdark-ish as some fantasy can be, but there's pretty much no one in the book except a dead guy who even vaguely counts as being happy, so be warned. Worth a read though! Kabul Incident is a short story from the guy who did the Weir series, and it's basically a setup for the original book. Book prequel for the series. Not bad, not great, just ... there if you require more background on your superhero novel series. Severance Package was sort of good. Interesting premise (Boss calls everyone in for a weekend day, locks down the floor and arms sarin bombs, says you can either drink a poison or get shot, but you gotta die), but holy gently caress the author needs to work on an ending. This one is almost as bad David Wellington. It just loving, ends. Good read though, so worth a shot if you think the premise sounds cool. 6th extinction is the latest Sigma series book, and is pretty good. Considering the worst one in the series was about mormon nanotechnology gone amok, a weird little alien disease that kills everything is not entirely retarded. Yesterday's Hero is good. Just, go buy it. Go buy No Hero as well, cause that's the first book in the series. Curse Merchant was actually surprisingly good. I was so incredibly pissed off at the "friendzone" idiot protag in the book that I was seriously considering dropping the book, but I kept going and holy gently caress the payoff was amazing. Great urban fantasy. Not quite up to Dresden Files levels of good, but a hell of a first book. AYNIK was weird. Interesting, but weird. Read it because of the movie. Prophecy Con! Awesome! I love this series  . It's well worth the read if you liked the first book, The Palace Job.Extinction Game kinda sucked. Interesting premise, but just felt kinda like it was going all over the place with how the book was supposed to make you feel. It went from OH poo poo DANGER to OH poo poo INTRIGUE to OH poo poo wait what the gently caress? to OH.. drat I kinda don't care anymore. Get it if you have a hard on for apocalyptic themed sci fi. DASD/DIMB are both pretty good. I really enjoyed the first book, but the second book was better. Gonna keep an eye on the series. Dead Clown BBQ (and the expansion pack) are both amazing works by Jeff Strand and contain horrible stories of horrible things happening to horrible people. Great read for just weird horror.
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Dec 11, 2014 02:06
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thespaceinvader posted:81: When the Devil Dances by John Ringo. 81/82: When the Devil Dances and Hell's Faire by John Ringo. OK scifi invasion books, if a little  about it all (basically the intro to one of them is 'everyone died except the USA because the USA RAWKS GUYS. He knows his audience I guess. And a lot of armoured combat suits and a massive loving mobile gun being cool. And Sluggy Freelance, which would mean more to me if I read that webcomic. Overall, with the first two books free I felt like the series was a worthwhile read, but having come of the back of the Prince Roger series, it's pretty clear that Weber is the better author.83: There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo. Again, free.
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Dec 13, 2014 01:29
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Achieved my original goal of 20 books in July, I then amended it to 30. Got to 24 in mid August and then the screen cracked on my Kobo reader. It was one of the original models so it had a good run, but I haven't got around to buying a replacement one yet. Of course, I can't read paper books in the mean time because
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Dec 14, 2014 01:07
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Hey guys, I know I haven't updated my reading list in a long time. I have been reading books, I just haven't been talking about them here. I'll list them all, and then put relevant comments at the bottom. #46: The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker. #47: Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century - Paul Kildea. #48: Shapely Ankle Preferr’d: A History of the Lonely Hearts Ad 1695-2010 – Francesca Beauman #49: Tooth and Claw - Jo Walton. #50: The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family – Josh Hanagarne #51: How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain’s Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate – Wendy Moore At this point, I reached my original goal of 52 books, and decided to continue to 90. #52: The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach. #53: My Lunches with Orson - Henry Jaglom. #54: Stoner - John Williams. #55: The Undertaking - Audrey Magee. #56: Fingersmith - Sarah Waters. #57: Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir - Beth Ditto. #58: The Bees - Laline Paull. #59: The Winner's Curse - Marie Rutkoski. #60: Red Rising - Pierce Brown. #61: Orfeo - Richard Powers. #62: Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America - John Waters. #63: Four Sisters - Helen Rappaport. #64: Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 - Edwin G. Burrows. #65: Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible - Alan Rusbridger. #66: First Light - Linda Nagata. #67: Orderly and Humane: The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War - R.M. Douglas. #68: Byzantium: The Early Centuries - John Julius Norwich. #69: Watching The English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour - Kate Fox. #70: Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy. #71: Tankborn - Karen Sandler. #72: 1913: The Year Before the Storm - Florian Illies. #73: The Postman - David Brin. #74: The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters. #75: Burial Rites - Hannah Kent. #76: Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb. #77: Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer. #78: The Magician's Land - Lev Grossman. #79: Quiet Flows The Don - Mikhail Sholokhov. #80: Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina - Misty Copeland. #81: Hild - Nicola Griffith. #82: Cyteen - C.J. Cherryh, #83: Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel. #84: James Joyce - Richard Ellmann. #85: The Mystery of Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter - Lucinda Hawksley. #86: Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb. Comments: The Golem and the Djinni should have won the Nebula over Ancillary Justice - it was that much better. Tooth and Claw: Anthony Trollope + dragons? Turns out I like that kind of book. Will read actual AT books in the future. Both Sarah Waters books were great - Fingersmith slightly more so. Had a similar opinion of both Ancillary Justice and Red Rising: OK books, but mediocre. Could have read the one-book version of Norwich's histories of Byzantium, but I want all the details. The Postman was much better than the movie it's based on. (OK, so I haven't seen the movie. IDK if I should). The Magician's Land was probably the best book in the series. It's certainly the one where Quentin was the least whiny. Hild was another Nebula nominee that was better than Ancillary Justice. I haven't read A Stranger in Olondria yet, but I wouldn't bet against that being better than AJ. Cyteen was a great book. It's such a pity that it's published by Hachette, because that means that I couldn't get it on Amazon (due to both companies being butthurt against each other). I was in Melbourne for the Penny Arcade expo, and I got it at Minotaur (which is awesome). Still have four more books to read by the end of the year, but I've got two on the go currently, one of which is the third book in the Farseer trilogy. One guy on the forums a long time ago said that he stopped reading those books because bad things kept happening to the protagonist. I'm actually interested to see how he copes with said bad things.
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Dec 15, 2014 03:53
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Several of those are on my to-read list, so the comments are very welcome. What did you think of Station Eleven?
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Dec 15, 2014 22:28
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It seemed like things were pretty clear in the op, and I really want to be a part of this, even if it is late in the year. I just post a goal for the month of December and that's cool? Or should I just wait for next year?
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Dec 16, 2014 23:58
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I mean, if you want to?
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Dec 17, 2014 00:03
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Yeah, fair enough. I knew it was a bit silly. Alright then, well I guess I'll set my goal for the month at 6 books and I'm currently one book through it. #1: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells It was my introduction to H.G. Wells and while that narrative was fairly solid in the beginning, things just sort of unravel towards the end. There's a couple of obvious themes strewn throughout the book, but the one that was particularly interesting to figure out was that of the primitive nature of man. Pendrick (the protagonist), despite the guilt and sympathy he feels when it comes to Dr. Moreau's experiments, does some pretty questionable things that seemed to contradict those feelings through a good chunk of the story. You're given a strong sense that what separates men from the "beasts" is morality. Through the perspective of the novel it would seem, that in some ways, Pendrick is absolved of his actions, but then Moreau is not, and Montgomery commits no crime at all when it comes to the "animals." It's a bit confusing and somewhat inconsistent, but it is punctuated by the fact that animals are shown not to be moral creatures (at least from what I read). Next up Embassytown by China Mieville.
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Dec 17, 2014 00:36
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guppy posted:Several of those are on my to-read list, so the comments are very welcome. What did you think of Station Eleven? WRT Station Eleven, I thought it was surprisingly good. Not all the widely-praised books I've read have been great (a certain recent Hugo winner comes to mind), but I thought SE genuinely deserved the praise, and I thought it connected all the characters and stories together in a satisfactory manner. I don't have many other thoughts about it, but if you want to read it, go for it.
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Dec 17, 2014 05:11
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Goddamn, forgot to update this thread for the longest time. Previously: 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. 4. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 5. The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson. 8. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. 9. The Martian, by Andy Weir. 10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. 11. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. 12. Equations of Life by Simon Morden. 13. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. 14. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. 15. Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. 16. Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey. 17. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. 18. Space Viking by H. Beam Piper. 19. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. 20. Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson. 21. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 22. Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. 23. The Scarpetta Factor by same. 24. The Bone Bed by same. 25. The Greatship by Robert Reed. 26. Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin. 27. SS-GB by Len Deighton. 28. The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett (nominally) and Stephen Baxter (mostly). 29. Dominion by CJ Sansom. 30. Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan. 31. The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross. 32. World of Trouble by Ben Winters. 33. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carré. Update for August through half-December: Reading pace has been significantly slowed due to family and work demands, but I've gotten through some more books anyway. 34. The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi. End of the trilogy starting with The Quantum Thief. Neat although skirting the border of being too drat nerdy even for me (Minecraft references, wtf?) 35. Germline by T.C. McCarthy. Dystopian future war novel written as the memoirs of a perpetually drugged-out reporter. Liked it quite a bit, understand it's got sequels, will check those out. 36. The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson. Competent space opera with some neat gimmicks. 37. Echopraxia by Peter Watts. Haha, gently caress you homo sapiens. No really, gently caress you. 38. The Armies of Memory by John Barnes. End of a series I've been following since the first book came out over twenty years ago and I was a fresh-faced young college student. The main character has been growing older and more jaded as I have, and the books themselves less optimistic, so this speaks to me in many ways. Good book. 39. The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Man, I hadn't read any Kay in far too long. For those unaware, his usual schtick is fantasy reimagining of interesting historical periods, usually with so few fantasy elements that the main reason for not doing straight historical books is that he can have things turn out differently without carrying the "alternate history" taint. This is his take on Viking-era Britain and it was pretty drat awesome. 40. Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Reynolds' brand of pretty-hard SF and while some folks have criticized this for weak characterization and slow plot I had no problems with it. 41. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie. Abercrombie goes "young adult" which basically just means no on-stage sex (not that he usually has gratuitous amounts of that anyway) and a bit less gory violence and language. And a somewhat lower page count and a young-ish protagonist. Otherwise it's got plenty of grittiness and rear end in a top hat characters and was great good fun. 42. Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey. #4 in the ever-expanding "Expanse" series. Still being a sucker for exploration-themed semi-hard SF so this was cool. 43. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. Kudos for managing a single-volume fantasy story in a pretty interesting world. Interesting plot. Will read more by this guy. 44. Jhereg by Steven Brust. Revisiting another old favourite, a series which has been under publication for about as long as I've been reading nerd genre crap, and I've read the early books before but fell off some time in the late 1990s, and there have been several more since then. Starting over with #1. Quick-moving and densely plotted with a clever narrative voice, these books follow the career of what's basically a human assassin/crime boss (although his status and character become more complicated later on) living in a society which is basically a 1980s D&D world with the serial numbers filed off and names changed where amoral elves rule most things and humans are a despised minority; the protagonist makes up for his relative lack of status and racial bonuses by being smart and having a bit of luck. Still fun to read thirty years later. 45. Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. A younger author I thought I'd check out because goons and other nerds have been singing her praises; and they were not wrong. Russian folklore meets Soviet-era history; she had me pretty well hooked already during the beginning with the collectivized house gnomes running their own little Soviet council, and poo poo like that. Alternately poetic and grim as hell but how could it be otherwise when the Eastern Front and the Siege of Leningrad are central elements. 46. - 48. Frihetens Øyeblikk, Kruttårnet and Stillheten by Jens Bjørneboe - thought I'd round out the year by reading something with some real substance to it. Bjørneboe (1920-1976) was one of the most significant Norwegian authors of... I guess my grandparents' generation. In some ways a cultural conservative, yet increasingly anarcho-nihilistic, and a very sharp and eloquent critic of society and civilization. This thematic trilogy, collectively referred to as "The History of Bestiality" (as in Man's cruelty to Man), was written over the course of 25 years and the effort was probably central in the developments that eventually led the author to take his own life. They are anti-novels, starring a narrator/observer obviously based on the author himself (he mentions very many more or less fictionalized autobiographical details, but also much that is quite different from Bjørneboe's actual history), and while there are events that happen there can barely be said to be a plot. The meat of the text deals with the Problem of Evil, attacking it from a variety of angles, going at great length to detail the ways in which we humans have brutalized, killed, tortured and hated each other throughout history, and always posing the question of why in the name of God or Satan does it have to be that way? I can only imagine the reaction these must have received in still rather conservative Norway when they were first published during the late 1960s through early 1970s. Short, and the prose flows as smoothly as any master of stringing words and sentences together might possibly make it, but by no means easy to read. I know these do exist in English translation and although I cannot vouch for the quality of said translation I would recommend they be checked out. 49. Yendi by Steven Brust. #2 in the series beginning with Jhereg, just as much fun. Needed something lighter after #46-48. Almost two weeks left of the year and I just started on #50, which is to be Haiene ("The Sharks") by Jens Bjørneboe. It's only a couple of hundred pages and a more traditional narrative than #46-48 above so should easily be done in time. I've read it before but that was when I was in high school ~25 years ago; on the surface it's a story of a perilous sea voyage around the last turn of the century, but it goes a lot deeper (haha) and the whole thing is basically a metaphor for humanity's uncertain fate.
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Dec 18, 2014 12:34
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Groke posted:Goddamn, forgot to update this thread for the longest time.  I beat my challenge 52. Dragon by Steven Brust I've been deliberately avoiding him this year so I don't just read a bunch of short things to beat the challenge. This was great though; a really fuckin' good look at what fantasy war would probably be like for the soldiers. longer goodreads review 53. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb Too great; it made me really mad that people don't put her higher than GRRM or Rothfuss on their favorite authors list. longer goodreads review 54. Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb This fuckin' lady. This book loving cemented what the theme of this trilogy is: goddamn consequence. Everything you do can, and probably will, come back to you. longer goodreads review 55. Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb Kick in the teeth ending to a fantastic trilogy, but not in the way I wanted. This was a pretty flawed end to an otherwise incredible trilogy. longer goodreads review 56. The Missing by Sarah Langan Part two in a series apparently, but it stands amazing on its own. This book was some hosed up horror, and Sarah Langan can write mental illness like a motherfucker. longer goodreads review 57. The Imago Sequence by Laird Barron Kinda wish I'd just read The Croning again, to be honest. Most of these stories were forgettable and the same thing over and over: person finds something weird, something weird tries to eat them. Sometimes, the story's about the thing what wants to eat. longer goodreads review 58. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters lovely fuckin' "period" yawnfest about "what if ghosts were the really obvious metaphor people use them as all the time forever" longer goodreads review 59. The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan I counted the whole trilogy as one book, because I've read the story of "poor person becomes dope wizard" a lot before. Just, y'know, not from a really well written outsider's perspective, and not in such an interestingly female way. longer goodreads review 60. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood This was an insanely good book that has actually left me afraid to read the sequel, because I either don't want it to disappoint me, or I don't want every other book after it to disappoint me in comparison. longer goodreads review 61. Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan You know those books that are recommended too many times and you just have a kind of gut reaction to want to avoid them? If this book is on that list for you shut up and read it now. longer goodreads review I really hosed up during September/October; I planned on reading a bunch of horror, but wound up giving up on something like six books in a row because they were just godawful. I also slipped back into reading mostly fantasy/scifi, but hell, I know what I like, and I've tried to be a little more discerning than I used to. I know there's still a couple weeks to go, but I'm preemptively giving my Book Of The Year to either Silence, Once Begun by Jesse Ball, or The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Both stuck with me like crazy and I could talk for days about either. Runner's up go to An Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, Stories Of Your Life And Others by Ted Chiang, and Fledgling by Octavia Butler. All three were fantastic too, and two of the three brought me to tears (Fledgling just made me feel super gross) but didn't quite stick in my head as much. This year, I tried to read a lot more female authors; out of the 43 authors I have read so far, 22 were female. I could have done better, and next year I'm not doing a big fuckin' planned reread of the Dresden Files, so it should be a lot easier. I think next year, my challenge will be to mostly read books that were released in late 2014/2015... or at least, in the last five years. A lot of stuff I read this year was older, and between Alif the Unseen, Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha series, Angelmaker, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and Redeye, I'm realizing that I need to read more modern things. There's some really good poo poo getting published lately. Anyone know of any decent awards I should follow? I picked up Ancillary Justice earlier in the year because I heard it won a Hugo and a Nebula, and it just kinda really sucked buns.
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Dec 19, 2014 17:18
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Oh, I know Brust is great - one of my favourite authors since I discovered him whenever it was in the early 1990s. Just somehow haven't gotten around to reading anything he's published since... (Checks) ...2004, I guess. This is the kind of stuff that happens as you get older, turn around and a decade has somehow passed. So, seemed like a good time for a series reread.
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Dec 19, 2014 21:23
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December - 5: 56. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Franz Kafka) 57. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) 58. A Passage to India (E.M. Forster) 59. The Last Dance and Other Stories (Victoria Hislop) 60. The Case of the General's Thumb (Andrey Kurkov) Finished with two weeks to spare. Happy days. First, here's what I read in December (so far, anyway - maybe there'll be more but I'm going to chill out on reading a little for the next week or so). The Metamorphosis and Other Stories was a short collection containing the title short, In the Penal Colony, The Judgment, and Letter to My Father as well as some random shorts at the end. I found this in a bookshop one night and I'd finished it by the next morning, which isn't really surprising given that it's only about 150ish pages. You know what you're getting with Kafka, I enjoyed it. A friend whose judgment I usually trust told me she didn't like The Grapes of Wrath much. I can see where she's coming from - it's long, it's miserable, the characters are pretty paper-thin, and it doesn't really go anywhere. That isn't the point though and I loved it and found it genuinely stirring. A Passage to India was great. A properly miserable novel where no-one likes each other which expertly draws on the racial and religious tensions of British India. Given it was written in 1924 its attitude to race is pretty progressive and it was very clear-sighted about how India would regain its independence, too. The Last Dance and Other Stories was pleasant but forgettable. I liked it after recently spending some time in Greece and Hislop's love for the country shines through but it didn't pack much of a punch. Last book for the year was The Case of the General's Thumb. I'll be honest, I don't think I got it. It was fine, but it just seemed to trundle along and then it ended. Maybe it's better in Russian. So that's 2014. I'm very pleased with how this went. Stretching to 60 could have been overambitious and I was lucky that the plan to go to Thessaloniki before Athens fell through and I got to spend like a week solidly reading in early November which caught me right up to where I should have been. In terms of meta-goals I hit them all and exceeded two of three - I read 9 new women (and 12 books by women altogether), 8 new non-white people (12 altogether, again, and also expanded my white people reading outside of just the Anglosphere), and 21 non-fiction books. I got a ton more variety and read a lot more proper books. Highlights would have to be The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Catch-22. Non-fiction wise probably This Changes Everything. Next year I have a new job and a new girlfriend to contend with so I'm probably not shooting for the moon again. I think a nice 40 might be in order (although that's what I said this year...) Year so far: 01. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Robert Tressell) 02. Always Managing: My Autobiography (Harry Redknapp) 03. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) 04. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened (Allie Brosh) 05. Dracula (Bram Stoker) 06. The Drowned World (JG Ballard) 07. The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty (G.J. Meyer) 08. Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel) 09. The Politics (Aristotle) 10. The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli) 11. Twelve Years a Slave (Solomon Northup) 12. The Fault in Our Stars (John Green) 13. If on a winter's night a traveller (Italo Calvino) 14. The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels) 15. The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 (Eric Hobsbawm) 16. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea (Yukio Mishima) 17. The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 (Alistair Horne) 18. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) 19. Homage to Catalonia (George Orwell) 20. Half Blood Blues (Esi Edugyan) 21. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600 (Halil Inalcik) 22. The Outsider (Albert Camus) 23. The Ottoman Empire: The Structure of Power 1300-1650 (Colin Imber) 24. Suleiman the Magnificent (André Clot) 25. Forbidden Colours (Yukio Mishima) 26. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) 27. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquéz) 28. On the Road (Jack Kerouac) 29. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 (Michael Azerrad) 30. Life and Death are Wearing Me Out (Mo Yan) 31. The Sound of Things Falling (Juan Gabriel Vásquez) 32. Dance Dance Dance (Haruki Murakami) 33. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) 34. What is Property? (P.J. Proudhon) 35. Oryx & Crake (Margaret Atwood) 36. When the Lights Went Out: What Really Happened in Britain in the Seventies (Andy Beckett) 37. No Logo (Naomi Klein) 38. The Quarry (Iain Banks) 39. Star of the Sea (Joseph O'Connor) 40. Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) 41. Riotous Assembly (Tom Sharpe) 42. Vintage Stuff (Tom Sharpe) 43. Mao: The Unknown Story (Jung Chang & John Halliday) 44. Arrow of God (Chinua Achebe) 45. No Longer at Ease (Chinua Achebe) 46. This Changes Everything (Naomi Klein) 47. A History of the English Language (Albert C. Baugh & Thomas Cable) 48. The Dark Room (Rachel Seiffert) 49. Language, Society and Power (Linda Thomas & Shan Wareing) 50. The Player of Games (Iain M. Banks) 51. D-Day to Berlin (Andrew Williams) 52. The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt) 53. War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells) 54. Narcopolis (Jeet Thayil) 55. Dune (Frank Herbert) 56. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Franz Kafka) 57. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) 58. A Passage to India (E.M. Forster) 59. The Last Dance and Other Stories (Victoria Hislop) 60. The Case of the General's Thumb (Andrey Kurkov) Total: 60/60 read, 9+3/8 women, 8+4/8 non-white people, 21/20 non-fiction
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Dec 20, 2014 00:09
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Finished Inherent Vice on the plane yesterday, wooo! It was a great ride. Pynchon is so readable and I love his twisty conspiracy plots. Two more books and I've done my goal! First of those two is gonna be a reread of The Lies of Locke Lamora because I reread the very beginning and then couldn't stop. This book is so drat fun.
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Dec 20, 2014 19:14
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thespaceinvader posted:83: There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo. Again, free. 83: There Will Be Dragons was... well... I don't really know where to go with it. To start off with I thought it was feeling a bit lame, then all the power failed which made it a bit more interesting, then the main character (up to that point) got raped for drama and turned into a side character, and apparently even 2000 years in the future when they've fixed all of humanity's problems with nanotech, men still wind up stronger and more capable than women when it all goes away and... then it turns into a passable fantasy novel I don't know. I enjoyed it enough to read the next one (also free) but not sure whether I'll carry on from there. 84: The Emerald Sea by John Ringo.
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Dec 21, 2014 23:17
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86. A Shadow of All Night Falling by Glen Cook 87. October's Baby by Glen Cook 88. All Darkness Met by Glen Cook These are some of Cook's earlier works, and it shows. They don't read as well as The Black Company, and it's harder to get a handle on the plot or the characters. Close attention is absolutely required, as plot-critical characters, places, and events will be mentioned in passing and then not referred to again until half a book later, and time will skip forward or backwards years, decades, or centuries at a time with the only warning of this being the date in the chapter heading. They also feel very detached, for lack of a better word; the best way I can describe it is that it feels like it wants to be a history more than a story. This doesn't help. 89. Berserker Base by Fred Saberhagen Meh. I like the Berserkers setting, but IMO, Saberhagen isn't that good a writer -- he's an ideaman, like Niven or PKD. And like those two he's at his best writing short stories. This is a collection of four novellas loosely stitched together with a frame story; I greatly preferred the short story collection I read earlier this year. I've also come to the conclusion that I like Laumer's Bolos more, I think. Groke posted:Oh, I know Brust is great - one of my favourite authors since I discovered him whenever it was in the early 1990s. Just somehow haven't gotten around to reading anything he's published since... (Checks) ...2004, I guess. This is the kind of stuff that happens as you get older, turn around and a decade has somehow passed. So, seemed like a good time for a series reread. Brust owns but I haven't been reading his stuff since, IIRC, Orca because I want him to finish the series first. Maybe I should reread the Khaavren Romances to take the edge off. That sounds like a good idea. Thanks, reading challenge thread.
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Dec 22, 2014 20:38
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Trek Junkie posted:End of August update! 28. Redshirts by John Scalzi - While I loved the premise, the actual plot was less than interesting. I couldn't find myself caring for any of the main characters, the fourth wall broke much too soon to make it intriguing, and the loose tie-up at the end was not amusing. 29. The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman - This is a great read. I'm coming at it from the other side, since I've been following the television series for years. It's exciting to read a different (original) version of events unfolding. 30. Walking by Henry David Thoreau - While the subject of walking might dull your senses, it does not affect the author in the same way. his vision of what walking is and can mean to the world is rather refreshing. 31. Batwoman, #1: Future's End by Marc Andreyko - The exposition in this one-off issue is sharp and precise, leaving most of the comic for new events to unfold without leaving the reader behind. I don't care much for the variation, but the execution is excellent. 32. Roche Limit, Vol. 1 by Michael Moreci - This is a fairly interesting piece about a crew working in space. The plot hasn't quite picked up for me, but we'll see how the next issue turns out. 33. Superboy, #30: The New 52 by Aaron Kuder - Although I haven't been keeping up with the series, this was a fairly comprehensive beginning, middle, and end. It's rare for me to find single issues that achieve this and keep me entertained. 34. Princess Ugg, Vol. 1 by Ted Naifeh - This is a fun start to a story about an off-beat princess in a land full of stereotypical princesses. I'm not sure if I'm displeased that all other women are stereotypes, save for the heroine... I'll keep reading and find out. 35. Deadman, Vol. 1 by Paul Jenkins -This was just fine, I didn't find the story all that remarkable. The character, Deadman, has a dilemma of having to live the lives of as many people as it takes before he achieves enlightenment. The story, as you can tell, has a lot of potential. However, the story falls flat when it attempts to emotionally manipulate me. I won't be reading further. 36. The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us by Robert Kirkman - This continues to fascinate me. Some of the characters I love in the TV show are completely missing from the original works (so far?). I've been intentionally avoiding articles that might reveal any differences between the two; I'd rather find out for myself. 37. Sleeper: Season One by Ed Brubaker - The artwork was lacking, but perhaps that was the point. Gritty crime comics are not my usual read, so the art direction was much different than what I'm used to ala Superboy, Batwoman, etc. The story is intriguing and I would crack open the next issue if I had it on-hand. Though, I'm not quite sure where it's headed. Again, maybe that's the point. 38. Transmetropolitan, #54 by Warren Ellis - Hilarious. This comic is incredibly fast-paced and the third installment of the story is over too quickly. 39. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov - I am no stranger to Chekov plays, but was delightfully surprised to find the dreary irony that haunts me from the pages of The Cherry Orchard reaches out to me throughout Uncle Vanya. If I had to compare Chekov's works to a candy, it would be the Warhead. While it is bitter-sweet and nearly painful to experience, there is something about the great struggle between the sugary coating and tart core of the piece that keeps me stumbling onward, hoping for my exultant ending to the madness. 40. Deadpool, Vol. 5: The Wedding of Deadpool by Gerry Duggan - This is a highly entertaining story and my very first exposure to Deadpool. I read this while traveling and found myself unable to contain my laughter in public places. Needless to say, I have many new friends. 41. The Walking Dead, Vol. 3: Behind Bars by Robert Kirkman - This is so far the most gripping installment of the story. The comic version of Lori (as opposed to the show) is more difficult to like when she does about anything. I have one week and I'm 24 books behind my goal, according to Goodreads. There are a number of comics that don't exist on Goodreads, since they're from the '80s, and can't count toward my goal on their site. However, I count them in my heart and I'm actually closer to 50. I'm still losing either way, but that's besides the point.
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Dec 23, 2014 21:12
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I'm calling it for the year, not gonna start anything new til 2015. Here's what I ended up reading, with a few thoughts. 1. Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson - I didn't write a review for this one and it's been a year almost since I read it. I remember feeling kind of cheated by the cliffhanger ending, since most of the other books in the series had a conclusion of sorts. 2. Vulcan's Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz - A continued look into the Star Trek novel universe. It was paced well and felt very focused. 3. Harbinger by David Mack - I think I may end up regretting starting this series. You'll see why in my comments about the other books in the series. But this first book was pretty solid. The original characters are interesting, and the TOS era of Trek is my favorite. Seemed like a natural fit, something I'd like. 4. The Crippled God by Steven Erikson - Thus ends the Malazan Book of the Fallen. A hard series to write an ending for, but I think Erikson did a fantastic job the whole way through. Kind of wary of starting a new fantasy series as big as this one. 5. Consider Phlebus by Iain M. Banks - Oh boy, my first foray into Banks's works. Decided I'd read the Culture stuff before his non-M. stuff since it seemed more up my alley. It was a ton of fun, pop-corn sci-fi type stuff. Would make an excellent movie. 6. Masters of Doom by David Kushner - One of only two non-fiction books I read. Easily the better of the two. Kushner did a great job of keeping the narrative of id games interesting. Highly recommended, even if you've never played Doom or Quake. 7. Summon the Thunder by Dayton Ward - I don't really remember much about this. The writing was slightly worse than the first book, cause of different authors. Pushed the plot forward a smidgen, but not enough to be super engaging. 8. Blood and Bone by Ian Cameron Esslemont - Probably Esslemont's best entry in the Malazan universe. Or at least my favorite. Jacuruku was a really interesting place, even if the Crimson Guard weren't that interesting. 9. Player of Games by Iain M. Banks - Holy crap this book rules. Reveals more about the Culture proper than Consider Phlebas and really shows what Banks is trying to say with his series. 10. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - The first fantasy book I'd read outside of the Malazan universe in quite some time. It was definitely the right book to read. Tons of fun. Still not sure if I want to read the others in the series. 11. Reap the Whirlwind by David Mack - I was hating this book until the last couple of chapters. It pulls itself out of a funk and ended up creating an interesting plot that I felt more engrossed with than I had in the first two books. 12. Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks - Easily the best SF book I read this year. The kind of book that you immediately want to re-read after finishing. It covers a lot of ground, but never feels slow. And the twist, my god, the twist. 13. Every Love Story is a Ghost Story by D. T. Max - Highly disappointing. Got this as a gift cause I'm a big fan of DFW. It was well researched, but felt kind of plain. Just a utilitarian telling of a man's life and death. Did make me want to read more of DFW's work, as I've only read Infinite Jest. 14. Open Secrets by Dayton Ward - Hah, I finished this book and nearly gave up on the series as a whole. It goes completely off the reservation and just creates a mess. Halfway through the series. I didn't know how the next book could pick up the pieces. 15. If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino - Still not really sure how I feel about this one. It's a wholly weird book that I definitely enjoyed. There were large swathes of it that I didn't totally follow, though. 16. Blindsight by Peter Watts - Okay maybe I was wrong about Use of Weapons, this book may have been better. Watts has a really interesting style and vision of the future. Vampires? In space? Sounds dumb, but it worked really really well. 17. The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks - Only really read this for the title story, which made up a bulk of the book anyways. It was... okay. I had high expectations coming off of Use of Weapons. Pretty good premise, but it didn't really do a whole lot with it. 18. Echopraxia by Peter Watts - A very good book that had no chance of living up to Blindsight. Watts still has tons of great ideas, but I didn't think he executed them quite as well as in Blindsight. That said, I still really liked it. I hope he keeps writing. 19. Assail by Ian Cameron Esslemont - A huge disappointment. Assail is a place in the Malazan universe that had been built up over the previous 15 books or whatever in the series. And Esslemont just completely fumbles it. Oh well. 20. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - Hey, a new (old) fantasy series! I'd never read anything by Le Guin before, and a friend loaned me a collection of the first four Earthsea books so I figured why not. Not an awful book, and not super amazing either. It moves at a frenzied pace and has lots of nice setpieces, but I didn't come away super impressed. Le Guin's prose kicks rear end though, definitely the high point of the book for me. 21. Star Trek Vanguard: Precipice by David Mack - Holy poo poo, I didn't know how Mack would continue this after the disaster of the previous book, but he actually picked up the pieces in a pretty interesting manner. Still, not without its problems, but much better than Open Secrets. 22. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin - I liked this one a lot more than the first one. Arha/Tenar was a little bit more interesting than Ged was in the first book, and the setting away from magic was kind of refreshing. Not as much happens as in the prior book, but it felt a little less hurried. 23. The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin - Great followup to Tombs of Atuan. More in line with the first book, but has a lot more to say, I think. Deals a ton with the idea of death, which makes it very engaging and kind of sorrowful. 24. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - A bunch of really cool, thought provoking stories. Not a single story in here I regret reading. The title story was probably my favorite, with the one about angels and heaven and hell being real a strong second place. 25. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett - Whoa, another one-off kind of fantasy book. Enjoyed this just as much as Lies, though they aren't really all that similar. The world Bennett created for this is super interesting, and even though this book had a satisfactory ending, I'd love to see more books in this setting. 26. Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin - A whole different kind of book than the previous ones. Focuses on some of the characters from the first three books, but later in their lives. It was kind of slow and brooding, but then had a frenetic climax and conclusion. 27. Excession by Iain M. Banks - Not gonna lie this book was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't like the Mind shenanigans as much I as I was hoping I would. The Excession itself didn't seem particularly interesting to me, so most of the plot was over my head a bit. 28. Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - Short stories set in Earthsea. One of them is pretty important for the following book, and was probably my favorite. Death is again a big theme, along with confronting fears. 29. The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin - Here we go, I feel like I read the other 5 books in the series specifically for the payoff The Other Wind provided. Really slammed home the theme of death in a fantastic way. Great conclusion to the Earthsea series. 30. Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified by David Mack - Ending the year on a bit of a wet fart. 4 short stories, and all but the final one are prequels to stuff I've already read in the series. So I already know the outcome or the implications of most of the stories. Nevertheless, the second story was pretty engaging and told in a different style than the others in the series, so it held my interest. The first and third stories were bland and I've already forgotten them. The final story was penned by David Mack, and was pretty good up until the ending. I won't go into it due to spoilers, but it trots out one of my least favorite tropes regarding women. Only a few more books in this series. I guess that's a bright side. I ended up reading 13 more books than my goal of 17. I feel pretty good about that, but I'd feel better if they weren't mostly science fiction and fantasy. Next year I hope to read more non-fiction and more books by female authors. See you all next year! apophenium fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Dec 23, 2014 |
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Dec 23, 2014 22:46
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thespaceinvader posted:84: The Emerald Sea by John Ringo. 84: Emerald Sea by John Ringo. Let me get this out of the way to begin with. This series has too much rape in it. It's a little disturbing. Especially the (fortunately-cut-short) orca-on-merwoman scene. Ew. And the appendix in the seraglio. Also a bit ew. But when those things are not happening, this is an interesting premise and a well-told scifi/fantasy story. Just... I wish he'd stop with the rape. Knowing human nature, it's kind of inevitable given the setting and what happened, but... it doesn't need to be mentioned quite as much as it is. I don't know. Anyway. Even given al of that, I'm willing to shell out for the ebooks of the rest of the series thus far, in order to see what happens. 85: Against the Tide by John Ringo.
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Dec 24, 2014 10:45
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Hahahhahahahahhahahaahahaha
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Dec 24, 2014 14:08
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I don't see how human nature has anything to do with an Orca assaulting a merwoman.
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Dec 24, 2014 15:45
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They're both at least humans who've been changed into those things. Should have mentioned that.
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Dec 24, 2014 17:47
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