-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
What are you reading? (September)
- Thread starter saelz8
- Start date
afternoon delight
Member
What an awesome novel. I just finished that a while ago - quick read with damn interesting content.
One of the best books I've ever received, in fact an old friend gave it to me a few years ago. What do you think of it so far?
ElectricBlue187
Member
About halfway, I like it a lot.
Borges is quite awesome, I'm reading his stories off and on. I find his stories somewhat similar in style to that of Marquez's, in that they seem to have that magical realism flair. Although Borges is a lot tougher to understand due to the symbolic nature. Some of the stories I find too dry and detailed.afternoon delight said:
iced lightning
Member
To the OP: That book sounds really cool and I'll have to check it out, thanks. I'm currently reading this and loving it so far:
Gamer @ Heart
Member
Dragons of Dwarven Depths.
After that, im going retro and reading The Giver. Somehow i missed that going through middle school.
After that, im going retro and reading The Giver. Somehow i missed that going through middle school.
One giant-ass book. I'm loving the story, finally seeing Erikson going back to the first story elements (Darujhistan, Rake, the BB's who left etc) and at least getting a sense that the end is coming.
One slightly off element is the actual prose, it seems to me that Erikson is actively trying a somewhat different voice and many smaller sections have an almost lyrical feel to them. They aren't bad, but they also aren't what I'm used to. Some of them - 2 page intros to new sections where the setting/characters are described in a very tangential almost opaque manner - are a welcome change and some fall a bit flat and feel like a bit of stylistic weirdness for weirdnesses sake. Or an author getting tired of starting half his chapters "____ walked into a tavern and yelled for an ale".
Erikson also demonstrates a failing he has in common with so many authors of epic martial fantasy: he's just not that funny when trying to write dialogue or action for bumbling support characters who are clearly supposed to be amusing and endearing. I've always found Erikson to be at his weakest trying to write "quirky" secondary or group characters like the fuck up soldiers or criminals who populate the edges of the main narrative. He just can never seem to write convincing, or at least funny, banter and you realize that if he wasn't so adept at crafting very deep very compelling characters through backstory you would find the entire chapters rather lame. At least a few of these sections have been better than normal (I actually chuckled at a couple of "screw ups trying to get a job" passages which is more funny than I normally get out of his attempts to be funny) so maybe he's getting better at this small element of his storytelling.
But the soaring, truly epic stuff is better than ever and that is why you're reading a Malazan book, so that's good.
Ford Prefect
GAAAAAAAAY
As I Lay Dying, aka book with the best chapter of all time:
My mother is a fish
I finished Mother Night earlier this year, which is really good. So are Siren's of Titan and Welcome to the Monkey House (short story collection). Including S5 and CC, I think those are all of his I've read. Breakfast of Champions is next.Bliany said:
Night_Trekker
Member
Ford Prefect said:
Hell yes.
slidewinder
Banned
Just picked it up from the library. Previous book was fantastic, best presidential bio I've read since the first part of Caro's work on LBJ.
PhlegmMaster
Banned
It's taken me months, but I've finally found a book about quantum mechanics that actually tries to make the reader understand quantum mechanics. There's math in it, and I've had to read the second chapter four times to really get it, but it's all very well explained without making assumptions about the reader's mathematical background.
This book is to quantum mechanics what The Blind Watchmaker is to evolution.
Nostrildamus
Member
Lonesome Dove was a book? I never knew. That will for sure be included in my next batch from amazon, awesome!
I just started on the last book in the Destiny's Children series (Stephen Baxter). Epic saga about the human evolution starting from the fall of the Roman empire and ending 500.000 years in the future.
I just started on the last book in the Destiny's Children series (Stephen Baxter). Epic saga about the human evolution starting from the fall of the Roman empire and ending 500.000 years in the future.
stephendedalus
Member
At the moment I am reading "The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath" by H.P. Lovecraft. However, there exists no pictures of said book, or at least none that google can find. It is real though, I promise.
On my bike rides I am listening to "the Gunslinger" by Stephen King. I've read the whole series, but since it is hard to read while riding a bicycle I decided it would be nice to revisit the tower in a new way. Ka is a wheel and all.
EDIT: Here it is!
On my bike rides I am listening to "the Gunslinger" by Stephen King. I've read the whole series, but since it is hard to read while riding a bicycle I decided it would be nice to revisit the tower in a new way. Ka is a wheel and all.
EDIT: Here it is!
Last night I finished Tim Powers' Declare and it was just plain terrific. As mentioned in last month's thread, Declare reads like a LeCarre novel with supernatural elements, telling a secret history (apparently a Powers staple) about the Cold War. The action alternates between WWII, where our protagonist is introduced to espionage and is indoctrinated into a world even more secret than what most spies deal with, and the early 1960s, where an attempt is made to finally complete a long delayed operation. This is all intertwined with the life of Kim Philby, the infamous British traitor. Declare is superior reading (as expected for a World Fantasy Award winner) and comes very highly recommended.
Apparently I came to the conclusion that I read something that was too good and had to follow it up with something suitably trashy to even things out again. Having recently found a huge used stash of Jerry Ahern's Survivalist series, I started reading these staples of 80's men's adventure novels out of a combination nostalgia (having read some of these when I was a kid), ironic humor, and a weakness for pulp fiction. The series plot is that the Soviets invade America and our hero, John Thomas Rourke, must travel cross country, find his wife and children, and get them all to his survival bunker, all with the aid of his trusty Detonics Combat Master .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol. The last bit there is key, as Ahern generally lavishes more time on weapon detail than characterization, but the series is still a hoot, as Rourke does battle with the Soviets, biker gangs, and, late in the series, mutants.
I'm currently reading the fourth installment, The Doomsayer, wherein Rourke rescues a beautiful seismologist who informs him that Florida is about to sink into the ocean by a massive earthquake, at which point he must venture into the state to rescue a friend and perhaps try to save the lives of some of the surviving citizens of the Cuban occupied Sunshine State. Yes, it's ludicrous and is essentially Regan era survivalist porn, but it's a fun, quick read. For all you fans of Red Dawn, here's the series for you.
FnordChan
Apparently I came to the conclusion that I read something that was too good and had to follow it up with something suitably trashy to even things out again. Having recently found a huge used stash of Jerry Ahern's Survivalist series, I started reading these staples of 80's men's adventure novels out of a combination nostalgia (having read some of these when I was a kid), ironic humor, and a weakness for pulp fiction. The series plot is that the Soviets invade America and our hero, John Thomas Rourke, must travel cross country, find his wife and children, and get them all to his survival bunker, all with the aid of his trusty Detonics Combat Master .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol. The last bit there is key, as Ahern generally lavishes more time on weapon detail than characterization, but the series is still a hoot, as Rourke does battle with the Soviets, biker gangs, and, late in the series, mutants.
I'm currently reading the fourth installment, The Doomsayer, wherein Rourke rescues a beautiful seismologist who informs him that Florida is about to sink into the ocean by a massive earthquake, at which point he must venture into the state to rescue a friend and perhaps try to save the lives of some of the surviving citizens of the Cuban occupied Sunshine State. Yes, it's ludicrous and is essentially Regan era survivalist porn, but it's a fun, quick read. For all you fans of Red Dawn, here's the series for you.
FnordChan
Right now I'm near the end of Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson, The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison and Ring by Stephen Baxter. For the rest of the month, I'll probably start on Making Money by Terry Pratchett, The Ships of Air by Martha Wells, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. If I have more time, I'll possibly also read The Lies of Locke Lamore by whatshisname, Summer of Night by Simmons, First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde and Young Stalin by Montefiore.
Oh yeah, I also started on The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson a few weeks back, but it was kind of impenetrable. Maybe later.
Yeah, it's great. Powers is at his best when having to fit his supernatural plot around actual historic events, like The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides.
It's out?
Oh yeah, I also started on The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson a few weeks back, but it was kind of impenetrable. Maybe later.
FnordChan said:
Yeah, it's great. Powers is at his best when having to fit his supernatural plot around actual historic events, like The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides.
iapetus said:Is this a trick fucking question?
It's out?
Ford Prefect
GAAAAAAAAY
Childhood's End is great.Yonn said:Just wanted to echo that this is a great book, although the cover on mine isn't nearly as cool.
I've also read 2001. Could someone list Clarke's essentials for those who are too lazy to search old threads?
Great choice, I just finished a collection of his recently.nitewulf said:
Sounds like good stuff. *Adds to library / Amazon queue.*PhlegmMaster said:
It's taken me months, but I've finally found a book about quantum mechanics that actually tries to make the reader understand quantum mechanics. There's math in it, and I've had to read the second chapter four times to really get it, but it's all very well explained without making assumptions about the reader's mathematical background.
This book is to quantum mechanics what The Blind Watchmaker is to evolution.
----------------------------
As for me:
afternoon delight
Member
Sirens of Titan. For seriously. Then "Man Without a Country".
x 1000000000000000000.
For school:
A Social History of the Media by Burke and Briggs
An unusually enjoyable textbook, but one of the writers is much better than the other... I don't remember who.
For pleasure:
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
An overview over 20th century classical music, from Richard Strauss, Mahler, Sibelius etc. up to the present day. I've only read the foreword, and can't say much about the book itself yet. But most people seem to like it a lot.
A Social History of the Media by Burke and Briggs
An unusually enjoyable textbook, but one of the writers is much better than the other... I don't remember who.
For pleasure:
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
An overview over 20th century classical music, from Richard Strauss, Mahler, Sibelius etc. up to the present day. I've only read the foreword, and can't say much about the book itself yet. But most people seem to like it a lot.
Tornado Condor
Member
Prime crotch
Banned
Don't know the english title for it.
Savage_Otters
Member
This book is excellent so far.
crowphoenix
Banned
iapetus said:Is this a trick fucking question?
Can't come out in the states soon enough. I just marathoned the last, hell I don't even know how many books in the Discworld series, and now I don't know what to read next. I'll probably continue rereading Night Watch until I figure out what's next.
FINALFANTASYDOG
Member
At the rate at which I'm going it'll be another few months of what I'm reading! My lord, I have trouble enough getting the metaphors and smilies he uses in English.
Put this stuff in Japanese and you just think you are having horrible misinterpretations as he starts talking about comparing things to elephants that certainly have no business being compared to elephants.
