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Maklershed · May 1, 2017

Funyarinpa · May 1, 2017

Exupery's "Wind, Sand and Stars" in my free time, and The Great Gatsby for school.

"Our Mathematical Universe" by Max Tegmark on the side.

Here's to another great WAYR thread!

combine42 · May 1, 2017

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. It's the only Cosmere book I haven't read yet. Really digging it so far.

Wensih · May 1, 2017

Last month had a round of pretty bad books:

The Forming Vol. 1 - a collection of a webcomic series that relied mainly on profanity as its source for humor.

The Hot Zone - a sensationalized New York Times best seller biography of Ebola outbreaks in the 1970s-1980s which was written for such a wide audience that it took too much liberty with its scientific terms and metaphors as well as side chair speculation about what could have happened. Seems weird to me if you're writing a history and have to keep making up scenarios on how something may have happened.

The Castle - Much better than the last two, but towards the end it somewhat rambled and ended abruptly, but this is to be expected from a posthumously published work.

Currently:

Making of the Atomic Bomb -- a good historical account. ~150 pages in to it.

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand -- a phenomenal sci-fi novel. ~30 pages into it.

Atraveller · May 1, 2017

I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's novellas to pad my reading challenge.

Quake1028 · May 1, 2017

Here's what I finished in April:

Necromancer Awakening, The Short Drop, and A Criminal Defense were all amazing books.

Servbot #42 · May 1, 2017

I finished velocity by Den Koontz, it was ok i guess but i was kinda indifferent to it, the ending kinda went too fast. However it did make want to read T.S. Eliot and Charles Dickens a lot more.

I'm now reading this:

Seems pretty good.

brawly · May 1, 2017

Started Flashman after really liking the ebook sample

Seems like a quick read too. And about halfway through The Fell Sword.

Jag · May 1, 2017

Finished

It was pretty good, but inevitable comparisons to the Powder Mage series which is at the top of my favorites. Started Book 2.The Shadow Throne.

SpaceWolf · May 1, 2017

I'd be really interesting to hear of people's experiences with it, if anyone happens to be have read it.

Tesser · May 1, 2017

For someone who can get frustrated by people not having correct grammar or speaking in coherent sentences, the characters here are frustrating...but a good kind of frustrating. Guess you could call it a fairly accurate prediction of today's young-gen attitudes and increased consumerism - minus the futuristic-dystopian setting obviously - given it came out 15 years ago.

Also I've been looking for novels/writers that break away from the tradition/convention of story-telling and find a way to weave in other methods of prose (i.e. the jumble/spam of adverts and slogans at points).

Falchion · May 1, 2017

Reading Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis which is the first, post-Fleming Bond book. It's pretty decent so far and I just wanted something fun and relatively shorty to read after finishing the second Witcher book.

MrOogieBoogie · May 1, 2017

Posting once more because I didn't realize the other thread was closing!

30 pages from finishing this.

So, I liked Gardens of the Moon enough to continue on to Deadhouse Gates. I thought Deadhouse Gates was a huge improvement and greatly enjoyed it for the most part. I think I've enjoyed Memories of Ice even more than Deadhouse Gates; however, strangely, I have zero desire to continue with the series after this (unless the end blows me away and I can't help but instantly download the next book).

Why is that when I seem to be enjoying them? The series is just exhausting. When Erikson just chills out and paints a scene and doesn't try to shove every historical context of the current moment down your throat, his prose shines and his ability as a writer is notable. I cannot for the life of me imagine sustaining such endless information for SEVEN MORE DOOR-STOPPING NOVELS. Holy shit. And there are people who not only read the series once but re-read it? Damn, that ain't for me.

Memories of Ice features some of the best action I've read in fantasy actually, with the two sieges written in such a captivating and exciting manner. I grew to care for characters I never thought I would. However, as the novel is wrapping up Erikson is doing that thing again where he just unleashes a hailstorm of endless philosophical monologues, convenient names and references that tie plot-lines and narrative threads neatly in a bundle while I'm like, "Why am I so confused after 3000 pages into this world?"

So yeah, three books to round out my experience with the Malazan Book of the Fallen and I think I'm good.

I HAVE to read some shorter books next. First this year was The Stand, then these two... I'm surprised none of these 1000-1400 pagers have taken me longer than a month to read with how slowly I take my time.

Well, I just finished it and holy crap did the ending completely furl my sails. If I wasn't already convinced to drop this series after book three I sure as shit would be after finishing it. There is absolutely zero momentum leading into book four. And the tidying up... goddamn it, I can't stand authors repeating a narrative to cover every plot hole possible in an avalanche of bookend information. Meh.

I don't regret my time with the series at all, though, it's just that it's easier to be critical after investing so much time into something.

Onto something way shorter, Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane. Can't wait!

QUICKSAVE · May 1, 2017

A bit of light reading for the kids.

AngmarsKing701 · May 1, 2017

Finished To Green Angel Tower (Part I) by Tad Williams, in my re-read of the Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series.

I will say the re-read of this trilogy is cooling me a bit on the series. When I read this originally (when it first came out 20+ years ago), it was the first fantasy series I had read besides LotR. I was blown away at the time.

Now ... errrrr, not so much. And mostly it's suffering, as I've reached the 800 page part 1 of a 1500+ page 3rd entry, in how much this needed a good editor. And what I mean by that is just needing to rip full scenes out of this. So much focus here on Miriamele could be removed. I know what he's doing; I know where he's going. But oof. The getting there is a slog.

So, having finished Part 1, I'm going to take a little break and read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. In fact, I've jumped in and it's quite enjoyable so far.

RangerX · May 1, 2017

I'm currently reading Robert Fisk's The Great War For Civilisation. It's an excellently detailed book on the catastrophes that were inflicted on the middle East.

IronRaven · May 1, 2017

Finally getting back into this book:

Fuu · May 1, 2017

Getúlio (1882-1930): Dos Anos de Formação à Conquista do Poder (2012), Lira Neto
The Chimp Paradox (2012), Steve Peters
The City & the City (2009), China Miéville
Mrs. Dalloway (1925), Virginia Woolf
Occultic;Nine Vol. 1 (2014), Chiyomaru Shikura

Not going to get through all of "Getúlio (1882-1930)" in a single month since it's pretty long, but I've been meaning to get into Netos trilogy for a while and it's about time I start.

Mr-Joker · May 1, 2017

Finished reading Shutter Island in March and just started reading Silk Worm, the second book in the Comoran Strike series.

More_Badass · May 1, 2017

Currently cycling between these two

Evo Shandor · May 1, 2017

SpaceWolf said:
I'd be really interesting to hear of people's experiences with it, if anyone happens to be have read it.

I have numerous times in school including translating parts of the original Latin.

With works like these it is important to remember the historical context for the work. Aeneas reads like a priggish ass who is constantly shown favor by the gods because of his destiny to have his ancestors found Rome. However, the majority of his actions are emblematic of Roman virtues such as piety and a form of Stoicism. Furthermore, the work was meant to lend authority to the claim of Caesar Augustus being the rightful ruler of the Empire.

As such, Aeneas is not necessarily the most interesting character in the work. Virgil focuses on a number of supporting characters such as the sympathetic Dido and Turnus, who may or may not be metaphorical representations of either 'Greek' virtue or of figures in what would have been then recent Roman history like Mark Antony.

Think of it as a mish-mash of the best scenes of Homer: the Odyssey for the first half of the book (Aeneas travelling from the razing of Troy to Italy); and the Iliad for the second half (Aeneas warring with Turnus).

x-Lundz-x · May 1, 2017

More_Badass said:
Currently cycling between these two

Both amazing books. I have been wanting to go through a Stephen King binge so I am starting over and going to read his Novels in order.

Finished Carrie last week. Currently reading 'Salems Lot and listening to ADwD on Audible:

TheExhaustedWalrus · May 1, 2017

I'm loving this, and I'm only about halfway through. It's incredibly bizarre to read how Wiseau works and thinks, but it's also got little moments of sadness and sweetness because Tommy is described so precisely.

Taruranto · May 1, 2017

Finished Cat's Cradle.

I always feel like I'm missing something by reading these 20th century post-cold war/WWII books, like there are social commentaries/criticisms that I'm completely missing by reading it in 2017.

Oh well, it was quite a good read. The ending was rather abrupt, but i suppose that was the point. I liked the author's style and there was some pretty excellent (dark) humor and some pretty good wording. (pretty much everything by Bokonon)

I dunno what to start now. I have the second half of War&Peace, but I want to save it for the summer. I can finally continue Dune (I got a Kindle), but I read the first book like 3 years ago. Though, I do seem to recall most stuff from it, oddly enough.

sparky2112 · May 1, 2017

The British have just abandoned Boston, but those bastards will be back...

Ledbetter · May 1, 2017

I've been picking up reading again for the 50 books challenge. I used to read a lot in my childhoold and early teenager years, but well, at least I have a lot of classics to catch up. My sister gave me a Kindle last year so, any good (and cheap) recommendations of books I can get to use it?

Meanwhile, the last week I've read:

A Clockwork Orange - Being a non native English speaker I was very confused at first by the words (or slovos heh) that are used in this book, but I'm glad I got to finish it.

El Laberinto de la Soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude) by Octavio Paz - A great essay about the idiosincrasy of Mexican people. The first part focuses on our traditions and the second part gives a brief explanation of our history and how the events of every important part of this history (prehispanic, Spanish conquest, Independence and so on) forged the contemporary Mexican. Prior to reading this I've heard a lot of people saying this was a very pretentious writing of Paz, but at no moment I thought that. Totally recommended.

brianjones · May 1, 2017

It's ok so far.. one of the review blurbs sells it as "if cormac McCarthy had a sense of humor" but the prose is not really in the same league

KraftyKrankins · May 1, 2017

I'll be reading about 2 chapters after every episode from now til the season ends. Should be a fun experiment.

scarface983 · May 1, 2017

A Criminal Defense was a great book.. just finished it today.

Kawl_USC · May 1, 2017

Repost from the other thread:

Finished up Curse of Chalion which I false started on the opening few pages a couple times in the past two years. It turned out to be a really wonderful book. Glad I finally got over the initial hump.

The thing that strikes me most here (and in Penric's Demon which I just read as well) is how pleasant and cheerable her protagonist are. They aren't by any means Mary stus or anything like that, but I find them kind of heart warming. They are usually just trying to do the right thing and be a good person. Really refreshing after reading stories with more of an antihero lead.

How does Paladin of Souls stack up compare to Curse of Chalion? I might go ahead and get the next Penric Novella for something quick since the first was so enjoyable.

Also reading The Disaster Artist which is just a bizarre story. Not sure I'm super crazy about the structure of the book alternating between the story of shooting the movie with Gregs experiences first meeting Tommy and moving to LA but it's a light interesting look into a real strange dude.

Picked up a couple of different books I'm trying to decide on what to read next:
Ship of Magic
Ship of Fools
Three Body Problem
A Closed and Common Orbit
Anasi Boys

Any thoughts on which to go for next?

Mumei said:
I think Paladin of Souls is one of her best single works. Even something I like a little better, like Memory, benefits enormously from the scaffolding built by the rest of the series. The Paladin of Souls comes so early in this series, and is much more independent of the previous work than something like Memory or A Civil Campaign or whatever are.

Nice, this will bump Paladin up quite a bit, you haven't lead me astray yet Mumei. Although a couple friends are hesitant to listen to my recommendations after how much of a heart breaker A Little Life was...

Daft Bird · May 1, 2017

I am finishing Death of Cool, should be finished by tomorrow. After that I'm thinking of either reading The Last of the Mohicans or reading Robison Crusoe.

Sean C · May 2, 2017

Anne Shirley as you always wanted to see her: seething with hatred for Germany and hoping her sons don't die in war (

(two out of three ain't bad

).

As may be discerned from the title, the focus of this book is Rilla Blythe, Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter, who is ever so convinced that the years between 15 and 19 will be the best and happiest years of her life. She says this in the summer of 1914, so you know where this is going. In short order the menfolk are being marched off to war, and Rilla finds herself working on the home front in a variety of capacities, from the Junior Red Cross to volunteering to raise a baby(!) whose mother has died while the father is away at the front.

As a bildungsroman, this is a fairly effective story, even if I think the constant shifting into and out of the epistolary format is a bit wearying. Montgomery's humorous observations about daily life are as enjoyable as ever, and the characters are well-drawn. However, for modern readers the greatest interest here is likely to be its snapshot of the domestic front of World War I, as written down by a novelist immediately after the war ended. This also manifests in the novel's politics, which are much more pro-war than this story would likely be if a similar story was written today (witness, for instance, the way the Blythes scorn the village's token pacifist minister, who toward the end suffers a paralytic stroke that housekeeper Susan calls a judgement from the Almighty).

This edition, which restores portions of the text that had been edited out of many later versions (primarily to tone down the Hun-bashing), comes with a glossary of terms to familiarize readers with many of the events mentioned in it, though I think this would have been more helpful had it been footnoted, or even just arranged sequentially by changed, rather than being alphabetized at the back.

fakefaker · May 2, 2017

I'm about half way through Men Walking on Water by Emily Schultz and it has a definitely TV mini-series feel to it. It was wordy at the start, but its found a well defined rhythm now which I'm enjoying.

TwntyOneTwlv · May 2, 2017

This book is too meta for me to give an adequate description of it, so I'll just copy and paste the description from Goodreads.

The Story of Bookland is a serious fantasy story set in a world where the inhabitants know themselves to be characters in that story and which is relayed by a narrator who has a knack for artfully and humorously interjecting himself where he does not belong. Well, on second thought, perhaps the story is not that serious, and perhaps the narrator is neither artful nor humorous. Everything else that was said, however, was completely true. Of course, there might have been a lie or two.

I'm over halfway through and I'm really enjoying it. It's meta as fuck though.

legend166 · May 2, 2017

Enjoying them both so far.

The Chef · May 2, 2017

Just finished this:

I enjoyed it. How does this first book compare to the rest of the series?
Not sure if I want to jump on the next one or not. I am really wanting some king of ass kicking Jason Borne kind thing. Any suggestions?

More_Badass · May 2, 2017

The Chef said:
Just finished this:

I enjoyed it. How does this first book compare to the rest of the series?
Not sure if I want to jump on the next one or not. I am really wanting some king of ass kicking Jason Borne kind thing. Any suggestions?

Oh man, the memories. Killing Floor was the first "adult" book I ever read. I think I was 14

Jack Reacher series is one of my favorites. It's pulpy thriller fun, when your hero is part massive brute, part expert tactician, part witty detective

Fuu · May 2, 2017

legend166 said:
Enjoying them both so far.

I read The Shadow of the Wind years ago and remember enjoying it too. This reminds me, I should get around to reading the prequel The Angel's Game.

The Chef · May 2, 2017

More_Badass said:
Oh man, the memories. Killing Floor was the first "adult" book I ever read. I think I was 14

Jack Reacher series is one of my favorites. It's pulpy thriller fun, when your hero is part massive brute, part expert tactician, part witty detective

Book 2 is Die Trying I think? So they are all consistently good? Does it matter what order I read them in? My friend told me One Shot is his favorite so I was debating jumping on that.

Mumei · May 2, 2017

Well, this is a first for me.

I am about 90 pages into Keats's Metaphors for the Poetic Imagination, and I have discovered that it does not exist on Goodreads. Looks like this one won't be showing up on my Goodreads profile!

Zelenogorsk · May 2, 2017

I'm reading Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell and The Dark Tower (VII) by Stephen King. Both are great.

More_Badass · May 2, 2017

The Chef said:
Book 2 is Die Trying I think? So they are all consistently good? Does it matter what order I read them in? My friend told me One Shot is his favorite so I was debating jumping on that.

Eh, didn't like One Shot as much

Bad Luck and Trouble is my favorite. Some nice backstory and a more personal motivation than usual on Reacher, get to see him working as a team which helps to highlight his strengths, has pretty great pacing

Some are less good, some are great, but I wouldn't say any are bad.

Most are relatively standalone, only later in the series do they start having some cliffhangers and plot stuff carrying over between books

Afrocious · May 2, 2017

It's pretty dope.

Palmer_v1 · May 2, 2017

So I read the first two books of the Broken Earth series.

and

Third one comes out in August.

I don't really like them and don't quite get the hype. I just feel like I'm missing something here.

I liked all the characters from the first book, but the major new point of view in the second book grated on me.

The story, which seemed pretty interesting in Book 1 also quickly entered WTF territory in Book 2.

The Chef · May 2, 2017

More_Badass said:
Eh, didn't like One Shot as much

Bad Luck and Trouble is my favorite. Some nice backstory and a more personal motivation than usual on Reacher, get to see him working as a team which helps to highlight his strengths, has pretty great pacing

Some are less good, some are great, but I wouldn't say any are bad.

Most are relatively standalone, only later in the series do they start having some cliffhangers and plot stuff carrying over between books

Great thanks dude. I think I'll just continue to book 2 then.

The Culture Vulture · May 2, 2017

Finished

The Beach - Alex Garland 3.5/5
The Girl With All The Gifts - M.R. Carey 3.5/5
The Bonfire Of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe 3/5

Reading

NOS4A2 - Joe Hill
Night Film - Marisha Pessl

Soon To Start

Watership Down - Richard Adams
Mongrels - Stephen Graham Jones

charlemagne · May 2, 2017

Mumei said:
Well, this is a first for me.

I am about 90 pages into Keats's Metaphors for the Poetic Imagination, and I have discovered that it does not exist on Goodreads. Looks like this one won't be showing up on my Goodreads profile!

You can add stuff to goodreads!

Atraveller · May 2, 2017

Reading City of Miricles, third book of Divine Cities.

Nymerio · May 2, 2017

Going to finish up the second Red Rising book Golden Son later today. Great great series. Both books took a bit to really go going but once they did there's no stopping. Loved every page so far.

Danielsan · May 2, 2017

Finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep yesterday. Loved it. My first Philip K. Dick book. Will definitely try out more of his works soon.

Started reading Ready Player One today. Seems okay so far. The hard on for the 80s may become a bit tiresome, but it's an easy read and seems fun so far.

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