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I'm definitely in again this year. I made my goal of 42 books last year (I did 52 for two years in a row and then failed that goal two years ago when I got really busy so I reduced it last year). Let's try to get that number back up a little bit, hopefully with minimal padding: this year it's 45. And what the hell, I'll idly try to go for Stravinsky's challenge too. Somebody give me my wild card for after I finish my current book. So far: 1. The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch - this was a reread but I loved it just as much if not more than the first time through. Lynch creates great characters, writes snappy dialogue that doesn't seem like it's trying to hard to be quippy, and the world and story are fantastic. I also liked Red Seas Under Red Skies, but I don't think I'll reread it this year. Looking forward to getting to The Republic of Thieves, though! 2. Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces, Radley Balko - in progress. Here's my goodreads account! Feel free to add me. 
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Jan 6, 2015 09:59
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Stravinsky posted:There was someone asking about something about the color red category but I can not find you but its an intentionally vague and broad category kinda like the love/hate one. Anything that you can think or someone can think of that can go into that category. Like you can read a book on communism or that one grr martin book with the wedding. Or maybe something a bit more literal. It is meant to generate some book talk and suggestions. I will be kind of disappointed if everyone picks like where the red fern grows, the red badge of courage, or the scarlet letter though Communist Manifesto for philosophy and the color red in one book  e: gently caress I missed that you mentioned communism in your post. I promise I can actually read and haven't been faking my challenges.
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Jan 6, 2015 16:28
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That sounds awesome. e: just got it on Kindle for $1. It's up after Rise of the Warrior Cop! Mahlertov Cocktail fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Jan 7, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 00:33
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CestMoi posted:A lot of people seem to treat this as a rigidly adhered to competition against yourself and that's a weird approach imo. Please just use the reading challenge to expand the scope of your reading, no one cares if you didn't make 50 books because you got stuck on this one book for ages, 50 books is an arbitrary constraint you placed on yourself a year ago. If you ended up reading one thing that you enjoyed, and you might not have read if you hadn't posted in this thread then that's a good reading challenge. Well yeah but I'm also doing the challenge to keep the habit of reading for pleasure even when I get really busy with school or whatever. I certainly would have posted about what I read even if I hadn't met the numbered challenge, but it's also fun to try to meet a quantitative goal. Rise of the Warrior Cop is great but also infuriating. gently caress Richard Nixon.
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Jan 8, 2015 11:34
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Gotta say, I'm really coming to appreciate your custom challenge, Stravinsky. It's a great way of getting people to vary their reading as opposed to yelling that comic books shouldn't count. You are a benevolent booklord.
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Jan 9, 2015 14:14
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tookie posted:I actually just finished the second book and it's basically HBO's Rome goes to space. I don't mean that in a bad way-- lots of backstabbing (both literal and figurative) and political intrigue, along with some really brutal battle scenes. My heart was pounding during the last scene and books rarely give me such visceral reactions. I would recommend it if that sort of thing interests you. That sounds dope as gently caress and I'm gonna read it sometime.
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Jan 14, 2015 11:36
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If you want a book to make you mad every couple of pages, I can heartily recommend Rise of the Warrior Cop. It's obviously a really biased look at police militarization as a negative thing, but it's well-researched and about a pretty unambiguously lovely trend so it didn't bother me. I started Falstaff, my wild card book, last night. It's fun so far, which is good because I definitely didn't want to read heavy poo poo after getting mad about abuse of police power for a week straight. So far: 1. The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (reread) 2. Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces, Radley Balko 3. Falstaff, Robert Nye (in progress)
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Jan 15, 2015 08:32
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Falstaff feels like it should be way more entertaining than it is. The chapter where he molests a 12-year-old and is all jolly about it really disturbed me. Obviously it's not supposed to be an endorsement, but it sure put me off of reading the book for now. I'm gonna start reading The Dog Stars alongside.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:52
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Blind Sally posted:If it makes you feel any better (and without saying too much, because it gives away later reveals that I feel are important to the book and to understanding Falstaff): he's lying. Interesting. I wasn't gonna give up on it, it just put a damper on my momentum with the book.
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Jan 21, 2015 10:12
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GenericGirlName, I'm not gonna quote you because I'm not done with the book yet, but I already agree about The Dog Stars. Hig's love of life is simultaneously the book's most hopeful and heartbreaking aspect so far (I'm about 1/4 of the way through). I love it a lot up to now!
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Jan 23, 2015 10:41
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oliven posted:Could someone wildcard me, please? Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. It'll also give me motivation to read it (it's gonna be my "on my shelf for ages" book  )
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Feb 3, 2015 10:32
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You got any recommendations for a Shostakovich biography? Topical content: I listened to the audiobook of The Disaster Artist, which was fascinating when it was about the actual topic of the book and utterly uninteresting when it was Greg Sestero talking about his non-Room-related career. Also, Sestero is such a weak-rear end selfish yes-man that he comes off almost as bad as Wiseau in his own way. Now I'm gonna finish Falstaff, which I'm not enjoying terribly much. I'm still just a quarter of the way through though so it's got plenty of room to change my mind. Mahlertov Cocktail fucked around with this message at 12:15 on Feb 13, 2015 |
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Feb 13, 2015 12:12
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david crosby posted:Yeah, check out Shostakovich: A Life Remembered by Elizabeth Wilson. It's a biography based upon interviews done with ppl who were important in DSCH's life, like his wife, kids, etc. Elizabeth Wilson was a student of Mistislav Rostropovich, so she gets some interviews with the master cellist and a couple other famous Russian musicians, too. Thanks dude! I'll check em out
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Feb 17, 2015 15:10
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I'm not reading for poo poo right now because I'm really not enjoying Falstaff, but I do want to say that: 1) Siminu, you're a good poster. 2) The Martian is hella cool. I'm gonna post a real update when I'm done with this loving book.
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Mar 25, 2015 12:06
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Blind Sally posted:If you're not enjoying it, you should stop. Don't keep reading just because it was wildcarded--that's no reason to not have fun while reading. You should just get a new wildcard. Heck, I'll even suggest one: The Fifth Business. Eh I'm 70% through so I'll knock it out. Sunk cost fallacy all the way! I'll check out Fifth Business too though
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Mar 25, 2015 22:47
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Eh I'm 70% through so I'll knock it out. Sunk cost fallacy all the way! I'll check out Fifth Business too though Also, the book just got so much better with the addition of Scropes's entries. Apart from the reveal that Fastolf/Falstaff is the world's most unreliable narrator, it's awfully nice to have a different voice for once. It was always more enjoyable when dialogue showed up because it broke up the endless samey narration, and this takes it one step further.
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Mar 26, 2015 21:54
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I finished Falstaff and actually ended up enjoying it more overall than I had been for most of it. The first and last quarters of the book are vastly superior to the middle, which drags a lot. Still, thank you to Blind Sally for the wild card recommendation! It also reminded me that I should probably read some more Shakespeare since I've only ever read Romeo & Juliet and Julius Caesar for school.Blind Sally posted:I wondered if your opinion might change at that point. I had read the plays beforehand, so the reveal wasn't a surprise to me. A big difference, I suppose, is that in the plays, Shakespeare always had someone nearby to quickly call Falstaff on his nonsense. That said, yeah, those later entries are great. Yeah! Like I said above, I'm also gonna check out some Shakespeare this year. You got a favorite to recommend me? Stravinsky posted:1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year. - 8 so far! So far: 1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) 2. The Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko 3. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller 4. The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero - I posted about this and all the previous ones earlier in the thread. 5. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - this was a really cool weird book, and I am curious where the trilogy goes from there. Unfortunately, the friend who recommended Annihilation was harshly critical of the next two books so I'm gonna give myself time to let that negative expectation go away before getting my hand on them. 6. The Martian by Andy Weir - loved this. Every time you think that the pattern of "Mark encounters a problem and then comes up with a clever solution for it" is gonna get stale, Weir puts a new spin on it. Mark is also a really fun narrator without feeling forced. It reminded me a lot of the film Gravity in the best way (minus motherhood themes, obviously). 7. Falstaff by Robert Nye - see above! 8. A Boy and his Dog by Harlan Ellison - this was my first Ellison and I enjoyed the hell out of it. The writing was quite good and Vic and Blood were both really great characters in a cool post-apocalyptic world. You can totally see how people took all sorts of inspiration from Ellison. and currently reading: 9. Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst
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Mar 29, 2015 17:39
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Blind Sally posted:Perhaps not surprisingly, one of my favourite plays is actually King Henry IV, Part 1. It's one of Shakespeare's histories, but it's really more of a dramatized historical fiction. It has a nice mix of drama, political intrigue, and comedy, raunchy and otherwise--a lot of it generated by Falstaff. If anything it'd be a nice coda to Falstaff and would give you an opportunity to see what the fat man was like before he faded into obscurity. That said, Prince Hal is also an excellent character, and he and Falstaff both own the scenes they're in. It's also part of a quadrilogy, so if you really liked it, you could check out the "prequel" in The Tragedy of Richard II, the downfall of Falstaff in the sequel, King Henry IV, Part 2, Hal's crowning achievements in King Henry V. That aside, I KingHenry IV works great as a stand-alone play. Wait poo poo I've read King Lear too! And we saw a really good production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in high school too. It's been a while though, so honestly I could probably go into any Shakespeare and be more or less fresh. Comedy and tragedy are what I remember liking most in the Shakespeare we read/saw in high school. The description you gave of Henry IV makes it sound like it's right up my alley, so I'll check it out!
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Mar 29, 2015 18:14
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) So I'm ridiculously busy, but part of that being busy is about 3 hours of train commute per day, so I do still get some time to read. Fiction Ruined My Family was fun. I didn't know who Darst was going in (the book was a Christmas gift from forums poster Guava), so I didn't have any intrinsic investment in her story. That being said, she is a hell of a writer and I very much enjoyed the book. Her sense of humor is great and is present even in the darker events in her family's story, which never comes off as exploitative. It also struck a chord with me since I constantly think about how I should write more but as yet haven't just sat down and done it, and this, along with the more egregious talking about what you're going to write but never actually writing, was one of Darst's many issues. 12. Next up was One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak, which was a really loving funny collection of short stories. He, in a different way than Darst, also manages to be simultaneously touching and funny. 13. The Blind Owl was pretty drat cool/depressing/trippy. Sometimes it felt like it was repeating itself too much in a way that didn't contribute to the hellish, kinda nihilistic dreamlike vibe, but that issue a) might've been partly the translation and b) didn't affect my enjoyment (not sure if that's the right word) of the book. Totally unsurprised to learn from an Iranian professor I talked about the book with that Hedayat did opium IRL and also killed himself. 14. The last book I've finished so far (twenty minutes ago, no less) was Half the World by Joe Abercrombie. Great YA fantasy, and honestly just a great book period. I very much enjoyed Half a King, but this built on that foundation so effectively and surpassed the first book by a lot. Loved all the characters, old and new. The old ones developed so believably even off-screen between books, and the new ones (Thorn, Brand, the crew, etc.) were all at least as compelling. Abercrombie remains a master of world-building without shoving it down your throat, and it's cool to see a world with a similar vibe to the First Law one but with its own particularities. I also like how Abercrombie's grimdark is just a little toned down for the YA crowd - bad poo poo still happens and there's still tons of scheming and plans still go bad and people are still huge assholes, but just a little less so than in the First Law books. Not that it's bad that it's more intense in those, but it's refreshing to see Abercrombie stories where some things go right and stay right... more or less. About to start Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson. Promise I'll read some non-fantasy after this one! Also, I accidentally left off a couple books in my previous summary post, which I've edited in above: Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi was a cool little novella that made me want to check out the novel it's supposed to introduce. Cool concepts and the oral history format was well-executed. I think it works a lot better for shorter works like this than like World War Z, which I liked but the gimmick wore thin after a while. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss. This irritated me, which I wrote about in my goodreads review: "While Auri is an interesting character, having her scurrying around underground doing Feng Shui didn't really make a great novella. The prose is still good, although at times the whimsical phrasing seems shoehorned in, but it can't support the book on its own. Giving characterization to inanimate objects is charming, but when that cutesy characterization is half of what makes the book halfway intersting, there's a problem. Also, even though it's Auri's book, the driving motivation of what little plot there is still revolves around Kvothe. I can't say I appreciated the self-exculpatory endnote in which he acknowledges and rationalizes the book's structural problems." This post is already too fuckin' long, so I'll go ahead and post my booklord challenge since you're gonna skip it anyway. Stravinsky posted:1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year. - 14 so far!
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Apr 18, 2015 21:50
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Stravinsky posted:I actually read everything everyone posts itt. Blind Sally posted:same I do too, but I always feel like people are gonna skip when I post something that long glad to hear people read it after all!I misplaced my kindle yesterday  probably just in a friend's car, but I guess my reading will slow down for a couple days until I get it back.
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Apr 22, 2015 08:16
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If you didn't find the Major Major Major Major chapter even a little funny then I don't know what to tell you. I need to read that book again, it's been years.
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Apr 29, 2015 13:05
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Yeah if you don't think absurd illogical conclusions are funny then that book just might not be your speed.
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Apr 29, 2015 14:11
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I've been both remiss in reading until recently and remiss in updating the thread, so here we go. List as last updated in the thread:quote:1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) and since that last post I've read: 16. The Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France - this was a great read, both in that the story and characters were compelling and also in that was a perfect illustration as to how the revolutionary spirit can breed its own form of tyranny. 17. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi - entertaining but basically fluff. The prose was kind of rough throughout and the pacing a little wonky - you can tell this was a really early work, and Scalzi has improved quite a bit since. 18. The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster - incredible little novella. Well-written prose and incredibly insightful about globalization and industrialization considering it was written over a century ago. 19. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - this was pretty good, although I'm wondering if my expectations due to cultural osmosis colored my reaction. All of the stuff with the monster directly involved was great; he's a cool character, and especially his death scene at the very end is fascinating and layered. However, Frankenstein's constant waxing lyrical about Elizabeth gets tiresome as all hell. Also, the side plot about Muslims being lovely is out of left field and weirdly vehement. 20. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - McCarthy has always been one of my favorite authors, and it'd been a while since I read another one of his books. This one starts out with significantly lighter subject matter; it's basically a coming-of-age Western, with a romance and everything! It all collapses - of loving course, it was too good to last in a McCarthy novel - and the second half of the book is increasingly dark. The ending lightens things a bit, though without actually taking away the impact of what came before, which is tricky to pull off but McCarthy is a master so it works perfectly here. Obviously one of McCarthy's biggest draws is his downright jaw-droppingly gorgeous prose, and he doesn't disappoint. Here's one the passages that stuck out to me the most: quote:He thought of Alejandra and the sadness he'd first seen in the slope of her shoulders which he'd presumed to understand and of which he knew nothing and he felt a loneliness he'd not known since he was a child and he felt wholly alien to the world although he loved it still. He thought that in the beauty of the world were hid a secret. He thought the world's heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world's pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower. If I end up writing one single paragraph that good in my entire life, I'll be over the moon, and that's just McCarthy's usual writing style. Incredible. I've read half of McCarthy's books now and I'm gonna jump back into the rest once I go through a couple of books I've told people I'll read ASAP. Starting with... Currently reading: Inventing Human Rights: A History by Lynn Hunt. I read an excerpt from this for my human rights class this semester and I really liked it (unusual for me with regards to academic writing), and after discussing it with my professor I asked if I could borrow it so now I'm reading the whole thing. I'm about 1/3 through and it's very interesting; the development of human rights as a concept actually applied to our society isn't as straightforward as you'd think, and the book is thorough and well-structured. The one thing about academic writing that continues to bug me is the hammering home of the same point in very slightly differing ways throughout, but this book is short enough (a hair over 200 pages) that it's not too much of an issue. Also, I have an audiobook of Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris, so I think I'll start listening to that when I'm walking around. Next up after will be The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco since my girlfriend got me a lovely physical copy and it's been on my kindle shelf for a while anyway. So, the BOOKLORD CHALLENGE beckons. Lessee what I've done. quote:1. The vanilla read a set number of books (45) in a year - 20 so far! Mahlertov Cocktail fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Jun 30, 2015 |
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Jun 30, 2015 13:18
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Blind Sally posted:Cities Of the Plain is a decent read if you want to know what eventually happened to the main character of All The Pretty Horses. Warning: things get worse! But if you're gonna do the Border Trilogy, you should really just do it in order since The Crossing is next and I'd argue it's the best of the three. Plus, the main character of both The Crossing and All The Pretty Horses are the two protagonists of Cities Of The Plain. Thanks for the recommendations! I was planning to do the Border Trilogy in order, so The Crossing is indeed up next. I'm so glad to be getting back into McCarthy. I've been reading through the McCarthy thread here in TBB and I'll probably bump it soon since I'd love to have some discussion! Suttree is also high on my list - someone posted the watermelon fucker passage and I was dying laughing. I love when McCarthy decides to be funny.
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Jul 2, 2015 11:04
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Behind on updating as usual, but at least I shotgunned a bunch of sci-fi when I was on the beach in Italy this month!Mahlertov Cocktail posted:1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) Inventing Human Rights was really interesting, and for the most part a sensible walkthrough of how human rights got to the point where they are today. The connection between portraits and human rights seemed tenuous to me but Hunt's research seemed to back it up. Theodore Rex was a great book about TR's two terms as president. It's fascinating to get into more detail about presidents, particularly since you tend to get a fairly vague overview in high school history classes. The Meaning of It All was good, though it had the obvious flaw of being a slightly cleaned-up transcript of a lecture series. Feynman is certainly a great mind, and I appreciate his logical developments, but in the end a lot of it doesn't resonate with me emotionally even though it makes sense. I suppose I shouldn't have expected that, given it was a series of lectures on thinking scientifically. The Human Division was fabulous. I really like Scalzi's style, and I liked the focus on diplomatic relations rather than pure military action. He's really done a great job developing his universe and taking the stories and characters in cool new directions. Zoe's Tale was a nice little book, though the dramatic tension obviously suffered somewhat since I knew it was a companion book to The Last Colony. Still, Zoe's fresh perspective made me appreciate the basic story even more and it definitely fleshed out her character to a significant degree. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a spectacular book, and is deservedly a classic. Given the film adaptation is one of my favorite movies of all time, I loved finding out that it wasn't a one-to-one adaptation of the book, even with many similar scenes and themes. The end was nearly completely depressing but pulled up a bit at the very end. Currently reading: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Great so far. The theology is really interesting since that's not something I usually read about, plus it's unexpectedly funny sometimes. Also reading The Android's Dream by John Scalzi! So, the BOOKLORD CHALLENGE beckons. Lessee what I've done. quote:1. The vanilla read a set number of books (45) in a year - 26 so far!
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Aug 27, 2015 00:06
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Argali posted:14. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. One of those very rare perfect books. She uses the superflu armageddon trope to tell a connected story of a series of really interesting characters. Masterfully done. The tone of the book reminded me a bit of The Dog Stars------- Okay that's enough, I'm sold.
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Aug 29, 2015 13:27
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PREVIOUSLY ON MAHLERCOCK'S READING CHALLENGE:Mahlertov Cocktail posted:1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) TODAY ON THE SHOW: quote:27. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi The Android's Dream, like Agent to the Stars earlier this year (man I read a lot of Scalzi), was fun but fluffy, though it did have more of the ethical dilemmas that mark a lot of Scalzi's other work. Malcolm X was a hell of an interesting read for the historical perspective, and he is definitely super articulate and intelligent in many ways, but I was mostly shocked at his persistent anti-Semitism and misogyny. Also, the Nation of Islam is kiiinda insane, so it was a relief when he moved from it to "normal" Islam, though he stayed adamant about his stance on Jewish people. I wonder if that could have changed too, had he not been murdered. Guess we'll never know. The Name of the Rose was loving fantastic. It took me a little bit to get into because it's super dense and the style is pretty particular, but I loved all the digressions about philosophy, theology, and logic (which weren't really digressions since all of those are central, both to the themes and plot). William of Baskerville is one of the best characters I've encountered in a book recently. Finally, cross-posted from the "what did you just finish" thread: I loved The End of All Things. I really appreciate how far the series has moved since Old Man's War - neverending war, particularly under a fascist regime like the CU/CDF (I enjoyed Powell's call-out of the CD's fascism immensely, particularly since up until that point it had simply been an assumed background element of the setting that even the characters took for granted) is unsustainable, thus the ever-increasing emphasis on diplomacy and cooperation (however reluctant) with previous/traditional enemies. Also, that the various actors only act rationally to a certain extent makes the conflicts that much more believable. On one hand, humanity as a whole doesn't want to get wiped out and will do whatever it takes to avoid that conclusion. On the other, the CU has been disingenuous and bellicose for so long that it barely even knows how to navigate conflicts without resorting to military duplicity.[/spoiler] Similar faults are just as clear on the Conclave's part. In short, Scalzi is great at subtly getting into difficult problems of state, existence, and survival while still writing what boils down to a fast-paced space opera. A VERY SPECIAL BOOKLORD CHALLENGE: quote:1. The vanilla read a set number of books (45) in a year - 30 so far! Hella behind schedule but whatever! COMING UP NEXT: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (one of the best book titles I've ever seen and the book stands up to it as of the halfway mark) and Stelle di Cannella by Helga Schneider(Italian book set in a little German town shortly before WWII - my Italian is halfway-decent if I'm being generous, but since this is written for middle-school-ish age readers it's going pretty well anyway)!
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Oct 30, 2015 14:36
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oliven posted:39. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: Never got around to reading this until now, and after having read it I'm pretty impressed they managed to turn this into three full-length feature films. Impressed in a negative way, right?
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Nov 2, 2015 10:19
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Yeah, the amount of terrible filler in those movies is especially offensive since the book is so tight. It easily could've been a solid two-hour film rather than an interminable slog. Anyway books: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is great. Copeland holds a Marxist Christmas celebration and gives a passionate speech about societal equality, which makes me wish he were the black doctor running for president instead of Ben Carson. Mahlertov Cocktail fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Nov 2, 2015 |
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Nov 2, 2015 11:53
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Nice, you can join Guava and me in the Heart is a Lonely Hunter loving Rules Club.
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Nov 6, 2015 19:38
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Let's do a similar challenge but you could mix it up a bit and create some of your own categories. I'll post an actual update in here later today but long story short I'm behind as fuuuuuuuck.
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Nov 26, 2015 09:54
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Not that The Blind Owl doesn't warrant a reread, but I would personally prefer that, if there's another "read this specific book" part, it's a different book. Not big on rereading stuff like a year after I first read it most of the time.
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Nov 26, 2015 13:09
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Yeah the wildcard category was dope.
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Nov 27, 2015 11:42
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Stravinsky posted:The blind owl is long? Yeah that threw me a bit too. That was a short book, and even if its thematic density made it take longer that its length would indicate, it still didn't take long to read. EDIT: let's do an update here even though I probably haven't read that many books since the last one. PREVIOUSLY READ: 1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (reread) 2. The Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko 3. Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi 4. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller 5. The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero 6. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss 7. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer 8. The Martian by Andy Weir 9. Falstaff by Robert Nye 10. A Boy and his Dog by Harlan Ellison 11. Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst 12. One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak 13. The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat 14. Half the World by Joe Abercrombie 15. Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson 16. The Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France 17. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi 18. The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster 19. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 20. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy 21. Inventing Human Rights: A History by Lynn Hunt 22. Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris 23. The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist by Richard Feynman 24. The Human Division by John Scalzi 25. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi 26. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick 27. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi 28. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley 29. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco 30. The End of All Things by John Scalzi NEWLY COMPLETED: 31. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers Shamelessly copied from the Just Finished thread, with a minor addition: What a sad, gorgeous book. For real, though, it is crushingly sad - even when actively depressing events aren't happening, there's just such a pervasive sense of loneliness (duh, it's in the title) and not fitting in that weighs on all the characters. However, the characters we follow are all basically good people trying to live their lives, which alleviates it a bit. I loved how Singer, the character whom all the others look up to and project their own ideas onto, not only has his own inner life and problems, but also projects his own desires onto Antonapoulos, who, like Singer to the other characters, simply listens to Singer and gives vague responses. In a book about misfits trapped in their own lives, it's a compelling (and, again, loving sad) parallel. 32. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare Shakespeare, so obviously I'm not gonna say anything here that hasn't been said a trillion times and better, but this is just a really hilarious little play. Puck loving rules. 33. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Also from the Just Finished thread: The plot was fun and you can definitely see how many stories following this novel ripped it off wholesale. I loved the style; it reads like a parody of the genre to me because of how thoroughly it's been mined by this point, but the language is exceptionally good - it's not, like, hyper-eloquent like McCarthy or anything, but that wouldn't fit the tone of the book anyway so the evocative simplicity is enjoyable to read and supports the narrative. Honestly, the bits that put me off the most were the pervasive sexism and homophobia. Normally I guess I'd handwave it away with "those were the times," but it's hard to do that right after The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, an incredibly progressive novel that was published just a year after this one. Of course, it's also possible that the protagonist isn't supposed to be taken as a great moral authority (he covers up a murder to continue working his case and is pretty consistently described as unpleasant, both by other characters and in dialogue tags and such - "I grinned nastily," for example), but that's an iffy proposition when sexism and homophobia are prevalent even today and the 30's/40's certainly weren't better. Oh well, it was still quite enjoyable! But that definitely put a damper on it. 34. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey Nicely paced space opera with some tangential examination of the theme of information accessibility. The writing is alright - nothing really spectacular but it doesn't get in the way. My main complaint is that some of the early character development (mostly for Miller) is a little jumpy, but it smooths out as the book goes on. Definitely interested in seeing where the series goes from the end of this book. CURRENTLY READING: I'm still reading Stelle di Cannella, which I really just have to sit down and commit to. I look up words constantly because even though I understand the greater part of the meaning and could certainly follow the plot if I just plowed through, but I'd also like to learn more Italian vocabulary while reading. Unfortunately, this means that it's not really something that I can read on my commute, so next weekend I'm making it my mission to get really into it. Started Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells yesterday. About 15% done and very much enjoying it. BOOKLORD CHALLENGE: 1. The vanilla read a set number of books (45) in a year - 34 so far! 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. An essay 7. A collection of poetry 8. Something post-modern 9. Something absurdist 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Something banned or censored (IN PROGRESS: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) 21. 22. REQUEST: Could someone/several someones recommend me books for post-modern and absurdist categories? Preferably on the shorter side, considering how far behind on the quantitative challenge I am. Mahlertov Cocktail fucked around with this message at 13:31 on Nov 30, 2015 |
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Nov 30, 2015 12:30
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Tiggum posted:Marlowe definitely isn't supposed to be taken as a moral authority. In his world there really aren't any innocents, everyone is corrupted to some degree and the best you can do is to sometimes avoid compromising yourself or your values more than you can stand. True, but then categorizing gay people as "corrupted" is pretty lovely. Note: this is never stated directly, but Marlowe makes several nasty jokes/comments that make the position clear, and nobody contradicts him. Again, those were the times, whatever, but it didn't make those little jabs any less uncomfortable to read.
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Nov 30, 2015 18:12
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Radio! posted:For challenge suggestions, maybe reread a book you read for school as a kid? I know some people aren't into rereads but I always find it interesting to go back to books years later and see how my understanding and opinion of them has changed. I have not! Absurdist or postmodern? Guy A. Person posted:Post Modern: Crying of Lot 49, Agape Agape I read Crying of Lot 49 last year and it's fantastic, but I haven't read Agape Agape so I'll check it out. Read both of the absurdist recs in high school, but they could certainly do with revisiting. Thanks a lot to both of you!
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Dec 1, 2015 00:30
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Radio! posted:Postmodern. Also excellent. Sounds good. Added it to my list!
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Dec 1, 2015 00:46
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Hey y'all. I'm reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler for the postmodern challenge and I'm loving it. Any recommendations for a good little collection of poetry? I could always pick up a little book of German poetry I have, but I'd probably end up petering out since reading poetry in another language, even a language I'm very good in, is hella difficult.
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Dec 7, 2015 16:21
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Dienes posted:I read a Naruda poetry collection and would recommend you do the same. Thanks, I think I will! Always meant to read some Naruda anyway. And yeah, part of the reason I'm also so behind is that my Master's program and internship have been keeping me pretty steadily busy. Gonna try to make time a few more books before the end of the year but I doubt I'll make the challenge. Oh well, that's why it's a challenge!
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Dec 8, 2015 10:26
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Yeah I mean it's certainly dense in meaning but it's not totally inscrutable or anything.
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Dec 9, 2015 20:50
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