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What are you reading? (February 2011)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
I am currently in the middle of Towers of Midnight and it is awesome. Right after that, I am gonna read the second Dune book. I just read the first one not too long ago, and I'm hoping that the other Dune books are just as good. I bought a set of all of them, so even if they are meh, I'm still gonna read them.
Maklershed
Member
Just a heads up for Kindle owners - I saw a bunch of William Faulkner and Isaac Asimov books went up on Amazon today.
nakedsushi
Member
charsace said:
Changeless by Gail Carriger
A great paronormal, steampnunk urban victorian series. Second in the series. Its like Jane Austen decided to write books similar to the Southern Vampire series.
Yeah! It's one of my favorite paranormal series books. The humor's pretty great and the adventures are always a lot of fun.
Incendiary
Banned
After I finish my latest Discworld venture, I'm probably going to jump back into and finish the Dark Tower series.
first Impression of Tinkers, by paul harding.
Spoilers I guess... first twenty pages +....
It's a dense book, which usually puts me off books, but on this occasion it's drawing me in.
Its about a dying man's last few days. He has his family around, and he describes his town for the most part in the beginning part.
The thing that drew me in was the focal point of the first part, focal point for me at least, which are the hallucinations he has.
Basically he has built the house he lives in himself. And he imagines the wall above him falling in on him. And all the little bits and pieces that go along with it.
Just was going through my mind now, so I thought I'd post it here...
edit: Correction: Tinkers.
Spoilers I guess... first twenty pages +....
It's a dense book, which usually puts me off books, but on this occasion it's drawing me in.
Its about a dying man's last few days. He has his family around, and he describes his town for the most part in the beginning part.
The thing that drew me in was the focal point of the first part, focal point for me at least, which are the hallucinations he has.
Basically he has built the house he lives in himself. And he imagines the wall above him falling in on him. And all the little bits and pieces that go along with it.
Just was going through my mind now, so I thought I'd post it here...
edit: Correction: Tinkers.
charsace said:
I've read all three, and while they're enjoyable I was going into them more for the steampunk than the paranormal and the romance. The most unfortunate thing about them is that the steampunk seems tacked on, and not really a necessary part of the plot. I was really disappointed because that seemed to be more of the market push. A lot of the people I know were disappointed when they read it, as they had no idea going in that it was going to be more paranormal romance than steampunk.
.JayZii said:
That one is my favorite by him. My second favorite is Kafka by the Shore.
.JayZii said:
His 'big three' are: Norwegian Wood (I think it's his best seller, and probably the easiest to get into), Kafka on the Shore (pretty long, quite good) and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (around 800 pages, considered his magnum opus).
The newest book he put out in Japan was called 1Q84 which should be coming out sometime this year (end of the year if I recall) in English. From what I've heard, it might be his best yet.
Though, I've read most of his stuff and love it all. I don't think there's any books you can really go wrong with. Look out if you get into Wild Sheep Chase or Dance, Dance, Dance, they're part of a larger 'saga'. The first two in it aren't that great, they're his first works, so you should be fine reading Wild Sheep Chase then Dance, Dance, Dance. The order is Hear the Wind Sing -> Pinball, 1973 -> Wild Sheep Chase -> Dance, Dance, Dance. They're all loosely connected and I think the only way to get the first two are to order the English language versions from Japan (they're marketed as books to help Japanese people learn English, with Japanese to English translations in the back, etc.)
Hope this helps!
Edit: 1Q84 is coming out October 25th of this year, with all 3 volumes of the book included it looks like.
Ashes1396 said:
Sounds vaguely similar in tone to this beautiful book.
http://www.amazon.com/Wittgensteins-Mistress-David-Markson/dp/1564782115
Salazar said:
That sounds. Awesome. cheers.
Having read the reviews of both though... I think the madness part is only temporary...
I'm at work, and I suddenly just thought of Tinkers, which is why I posted my thoughts... it's more the language which made that specific encounter a beautiful rendition.
edit: correction. Tinkers.
I'm worming my way through The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles right now. I'd have finished the book by now if it weren't for school kicking my ass right now. That and it's been quite a slow burn. I couldn't get into it for quite a bit, but now it's really starting to resonate with me.
enemyairship
Neo Member
awesomeapproved said:
This has been sitting on my shelf for some time now. Glad to hear that it was a good buy.
sparky2112
Member
Ashes1396 said:
Tinkers.
the_painted_bird
Member
If you haven't read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, that. Then Kafka On The Shore. Just read everything of his..JayZii said:
Edit: I just read Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, then I read Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño, and now I am charging through If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino. Next I think will be Einstein's Dreams, then I'm not sure what. Probably a big book.
charlemagne
Member
Best wikipedia page ever.
I started Sophie Masson's 'The Knight by the Pool'
I started Sophie Masson's 'The Knight by the Pool'
the_painted_bird
Member
Amazing.Karakand said:
Wellington
BAAAALLLINNN'
Good read. I'm surprised since I am not huge on allegory.
Gonna get more into Coelho.
Davedough said:
I've lately come to know quite a few people who didn't care for Snow Crash. To me, it's such a zippy, funny, wild ride that I can't fathom agreeing but opinions and all that. I guess you could call it juvenile, but that's kind of the point. It's Stephenson's kick-ass cyber-samurai anime-bubblegum blockbuster, and it's a blast. But you don't realize how great of a writer he is until you read his later stuff.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
happyscrappypup
Neo Member
I'm on the 7th book now. I LOVE this series almost as much as I loved Preacher.
Salvor.Hardin
Banned
Just finished this bad boy the other day. I'm particularly fond of the Beat era but regardless I think this book is fantastic. Some really memorable characters, interesting period colloquialisms and just a blast in general in how the story rises and dips and turns.
I reread this after a while this month and was instantly reminded why I love Hemingway - economical prose with his "Iceberg theory" narrative style but he leaves some space to really capture the beauty of Italy and gives an interesting personal account of the war; good (but typically 'lost generation') characters; an engrossing love story and just an amazing end.
nakedsushi
Member
Finished this on the plane:
Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead
It was decent, but too soap-opera-ish. The important world-shifting battles played second fiddle to the love triangle drama. Lots of hot steamy scenes. Enough where I felt embarrassed reading this on the BART if there was any chance of someone looking over my shoulder.
I guess I'll finish up Stories of Your Life and Others and maybe a few more stories from Machine of Death before starting this month's bookclub book.
Snow Crash was the first Stephenson I read and I *thought* I liked it. Then I read Diamond Age and I *really* liked it. I think if I had done it in the other order, I wouldn't have liked Snow Crash as much as I did. It's not a bad book at all, but the world-building and pacing of Diamond Age was a lot better. The characters also felt more human and easy to relate to. Even when things got CRAZY.
Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead
It was decent, but too soap-opera-ish. The important world-shifting battles played second fiddle to the love triangle drama. Lots of hot steamy scenes. Enough where I felt embarrassed reading this on the BART if there was any chance of someone looking over my shoulder.
I guess I'll finish up Stories of Your Life and Others and maybe a few more stories from Machine of Death before starting this month's bookclub book.
Mifune said:
Snow Crash was the first Stephenson I read and I *thought* I liked it. Then I read Diamond Age and I *really* liked it. I think if I had done it in the other order, I wouldn't have liked Snow Crash as much as I did. It's not a bad book at all, but the world-building and pacing of Diamond Age was a lot better. The characters also felt more human and easy to relate to. Even when things got CRAZY.
finally about done with the blade itself by joe abercrombie. maybe 50 pages left. what a slogging chore this book has been. if this dude refers to characters sucking on their teeth again i am GOING TO THROW A FIT. i mean that. also, i don't know if i've read a book that uses the word 'piss' as often. why is this guy so popular? this is the worst fantasy i've read.
example of a common sentence from this book: he stood and sucked his teeth, and then spat sour spit. it tasted like piss. he felt like piss. PISS!!!
garbage.
example of a common sentence from this book: he stood and sucked his teeth, and then spat sour spit. it tasted like piss. he felt like piss. PISS!!!
garbage.
coldvein said:
Finally someone else on this board with taste! I read through the series because they were simple reads and the action was pretty good. The writing was shit, the characterizations were wooden and the resolution at the end is probably the worst thing that has ever been written by anyone, ever.
That said, it's better than Peter Brett.
I was attempting to read all the classics I'd forgotten and kind of got bored.
Decided to take a break and read...comics. Sorry if it doesn't count.
So far I've read 5 editions of Invincible, Y The Last Man, & Pride of Bagdad
Invincible- Incredible and love the art style.
Pride- Loved it until the very end...and then I hated it.
Y The Last Man- Still not sure on this one. When I ponder on it too much, it's too depressing, but the writing itself stays light hearted. The problem is that makes it unbelievable. Yorick does way too many bone-headed things.
Decided to take a break and read...comics. Sorry if it doesn't count.
So far I've read 5 editions of Invincible, Y The Last Man, & Pride of Bagdad
Invincible- Incredible and love the art style.
Pride- Loved it until the very end...and then I hated it.
Y The Last Man- Still not sure on this one. When I ponder on it too much, it's too depressing, but the writing itself stays light hearted. The problem is that makes it unbelievable. Yorick does way too many bone-headed things.