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Last year I made it to 52/40 "books" by cheating and adding comic books at the last second to pad out my list. This year I'll make my target 60 books, but with certain sub-goals to achieve. 60 total books -35 in English -10 in French -5 military history Comic book rules: Individual arcs of comic books series no longer count. However, the entire run of a substantial series (ex: Akira, Nausicaa, Y: The Last Man) can count as a book. Stand-alone graphic novels (ex: From Hell, Footnotes In Gaza, Jimmy Corrigan) count as a book. Let's do this, guys. Here's my good reads: https://www.goodreads.com/BigLemons
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Jan 4, 2014 17:21
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1/3 of year update: 1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I read this book in 2 or 3 days, a heroic feat considering my reading habits. Murakami is the king of fusing the mundane with just the right amount of weirdness. 2. Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. LeGuin. This is a book of short stories set in a fictional eastern-European country named Orsinia. LeGuin acquaints us with its citizens as they live through the turbulent events of the 20th century (there are a few stories set in earlier times). Some of the stories are loosely connected, but all of them can stand on their own. I enjoyed this one a lot. There is a humane streak that runs throughout the whole. 3. The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks is a collection of sci-fi short stories bundled with a novella. Although the titular novella is the most substantive part of this collection, I would advise you to give the accompanying short stories a chance. The shorter stories are shot through with dark humor (to the point that some come off as pranks). It is technically a part of the “Culture” series of books, although not all the material is set in that universe. 4. Inversions by Iain M. Banks. A “Culture” book, without the Culture! Inversions is pretty damned great. Set in a medieval world that is recovering from a major natural disaster, the story follows two characters (a physician, a bodyguard) that are attempting to create political and social change by influencing the regents that they serve. I you’re “in the know” (IE: have read another book in the series), the mysterious origins and motives of the protagonists are obvious. 5. Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger. This is an incredible memoir about frontline action in the First World War. The sheer insanity, confusion and frenzy of combat are vividly conveyed. It is refreshingly apolitical in its approach. If you have any interest in military history or portrayals of combat, you must read this. 6. The First World War by John Keegan. I’ve always been interested in this conflict, and as the hundredth anniversary approaches I’ve been reading more and more about it. This is a pretty great introduction from the grand-strategy point of view (expect to look up maps and things online if you want to orient yourself at all). I also really enjoyed the write-up of the diplomatic gently caress-ups leading up to the war. If you’re looking into the more nitty-gritty aspects of the war, maybe Storm of Steel or another memoir would be more the thing for you. 7. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. Man, I’m not even going to try to explain this one, or even enumerate the genres it’s riffing on. Probably not the best place to start with Murakami. It was good! 8. L’Étranger by Albert Camus (in the original French). A great, short character study of a complete sociopath. 9. Excession by Iain M. Banks. Sci-fi on full blast. If you like weird aliens, advanced galactic civilizations, eccentric artificial intelligences, and convoluted conspiracy plots, THIS IS THE ONE FOR YOU! I cannot get enough of this series. 10. The Business by Iain Banks. “The Business” is my first taste of non-sci-fi Banks(without the “M.”). Through the eyes of an up-and-coming executive, we learn about the inner workings of a mega-corporation. The corporation itself is the book’s most interesting character, with its diverse holdings, democratic promotions system and ambitions of statehood. It wasn’t outright boring, but the protagonist is a fairly transparent (gender-swapped) stand-in for Banks and the ending was a little abrupt. A bit of a let down. Recommend me some good “not sci-fi” Banks! 11. Neuromancer by William Gibson. Yup, I can totally see how this basically created the cyberpunk genre. Even though a lot of it is so dated now, I eventually settled comfortably into the world. Gibson has fun with language, especially the occasionally synesthetic prose that describes the goings-on in cyberspace. So far, so good. My goal was stupidly ambitious so let's forget about that. I also read a bunch of comics but I guess this is a book-book thread. If you scanned my list and think you could recommend me something, I’m open to suggestions! Mahler fucked around with this message at 00:23 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 3, 2014 23:06
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Xik posted:I guess you like Banks, Mahler? Each culture book has its own distinct feel. One of the great things about the series is that it never seems to repeat itself. I started with Consider Phlebas as well, but after having read most of the series, I'd say the better starting point would probably be The Player of Games, Use of Weapons (actually, if you hate perspective changes and not knowing what the hell is going on, stay away from that one) or even State of the Art. Phlebas is by far the weakest and most boring of the one's I've read so far, even though it has some really cool parts A Game of Damage in it. Spadoink posted:This was the first Murakami I read, and it was absolutely magical - I had no idea what his writing was like, and believe I had read somewhere that he was "the Japanese Hemingway" or something like that (I do love Hemingway, but I can't see where the comparison comes in). This is a much better first book than, say, IQ84. A friend of mine picked up IQ84 and now won't go anywhere else near his other writing, she is so mad at that book I had a soft start with Murakami, cuz the first of his I read was Norwegian Wood, which is just a solid coming-of-age type story. Then I read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and poo poo went off the rails. Mahler fucked around with this message at 06:49 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 4, 2014 02:16
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