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What are you reading? (April 2017)

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Smithy C

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Starting my foray into Lovecraft's Cthulhu world, based on Mumei's recommendation from the last thread (thanks Mumei!)
 

Ratrat

Member
I started the Lies of Locke Lamora but am really struggling through it. Does it pick up and should I continue it?
What don't you like? It does pick up and I think its worth reading. But its nothing amazing and the sequels are awful.
 

Seandor

Neo Member
Herman Melville, Volume I by Victor Lodato: 10/10 go read. This is one of my favorite short stories the New Yorker has put out in a long while. Its... really beautiful, really scary, really warming, its just a lot of really really really great stuff.

Requouting this from the previous thread. Thanks for the recommendation. Very creepy, evocative, excellent short story. If anyone wants to read it just google the title.
 

Fou-Lu

Member
Has anyone read Lovecraft Country? Just got a copy of it myself as a gift and I am wondering if it's good?
 

Kawl_USC

Member
Posting my Malazan Book of the Fallen question again:
Has anyone here read the Tor reread (http://www.tor.com/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen/) chapters of it while reading the books? As in, read Deadhouse Gates chapter 1 -> read the reread commentary on chp1 -> DG chp2 -> reread commentary chp2 etc?

I know the bit in the beginning says there are spoilers in the commentary, but if it's subtle stuff, reading the reread along the book could be fun. If it's blatant stuff like "this guy dies later and this war happens and everyone else also dies" then I'll skip.

I read along with that series as I was going through the books until I stopped right before....the 9th mainline book?

I found it was really helpful in keeping things straight and highlighting some things I would have missed otherwise. The spoilers are all pretty light, and if you ever find that they are getting a little wink wink nudge nudge-y for you you can always just read her notes and not his as its her first time through the series.

It's a really rewarding undertaking though in my experience. I need to get back and finish up reading the series....though at this point I need a bit of a recap of a recap to refresh myself...
 

aravuus

Member
I read along with that series as I was going through the books until I stopped right before....the 9th mainline book?

I found it was really helpful in keeping things straight and highlighting some things I would have missed otherwise. The spoilers are all pretty light, and if you ever find that they are getting a little wink wink nudge nudge-y for you you can always just read her notes and not his as its her first time through the series.

It's a really rewarding undertaking though in my experience. I need to get back and finish up reading the series....though at this point I need a bit of a recap of a recap to refresh myself...

Awesome, just the answer I was hoping to get! Doubt I'll start Deadhouse Gates very soon, but when I do, I'll definitely read the commentary too.
 

Dec

Member
I started the Lies of Locke Lamora but am really struggling through it. Does it pick up and should I continue it?

I could easily recommend both giving up and continuing. It totally depends at what point of the book you are at. I don't think it's great the entire way through, but the main plot doesn't even start until almost half way through or something. The main plot is far more interesting than the beginning part.

If you got to the grey king stuff and still don't want to finish the book, just don't bother.
 
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Just started it a couple nights ago in anticipation of The Irishman. It's too bad I read that Sheeran likely gave Iceman levels of BS regarding what he was really involved in. Still, relatively interesting read thus far.
 
Reading:

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RIPPED through the first 20% last night. Hawley is the guy who created/writes the TV version of Fargo, which, if you don't already know, is AWESOME (both seasons, with the 3rd starting this month) and I guess he's also behind Legion, which I've not yet seen, but looks cool, too.

Really good so far.
 

Epcott

Member
Finished Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks a day ago. Did not care for that ending at all.

Now I'm reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman since I love the show. I'm enjoying the sarcastic wit of the narrator so far.
 
Finished 1Q84, I ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. The love story in the book is one of my favorite romances in fiction

I'm now going to start IT. Huge Stephen King fan, but I never got the chance to read this book. I want to read it before the movies comes out.
 
Coming in, I've only read The Metamorphosis and a couple of the parables that appear in his novels beforehand. Now I'm reading the longer short stories and chasing with shorter ones in between, double bookmarking it. Once I finish this, I would've read all of his narrative work. I'll still most likely prefer his novels, but I've already been impressed by "In a Penal Colony" and a couple others here.

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Jooney

Member
Just finished reading Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods', as well as finished listening to George Saunder's first novel 'Lincoln in the Bardo'. (audiobook)



AG is the first Gaiman I have read, and picked it up ahead of the TV adaption starting later this month. To be frank, the book didn't do a whole lot for me. I found it enjoyable in parts, but the overall premise just not that engaging. Particularly around the
powers of the gods not being well-defined, and the descriptions of the supernatural elements (e.g. Shadow's descent into death / purgatory and his venture 'backstage') not particularly compelling.
.

LitB just didn't work as an audiobook. It has incredible production and narrators (including Nick Offerman, Susan Sarandon, and Bill Hader), but the format of the book - which contains chapters that consist solely of quotations of sources from the time of Lincoln's son's death - doesn't work in audiobook format. It's like listening to a bibliography being read aloud. A book can acknowledge sources neatly and discreetly, but an audiobook has to cite each source as the book progresses.

---
Started this week:


and (audiobook)


After reading Helen McDonald's 'H is for Hawk' earlier this year, which is part memoir, part biography of T.H. White, I thought it would be worthwhile picking up White's main fair, The Sword in the Stone, which I never read as a kid. Will pick up 'The Once and Future King' shortly after getting through this.

And also started listening to Indignation by Phillip Roth. Early days but enjoying (what appears to be) a coming of age story set against the backdrop of the Korean War.
 

Mumei

Member
After reading Helen McDonald's 'H is for Hawk' earlier this year, which is part memoir, part biography of T.H. White, I thought it would be worthwhile picking up White's main fair, The Sword in the Stone, which I never read as a kid. Will pick up 'The Once and Future King' shortly after getting through this.

The Sword in the Stone is actually the first book in The Once and Future King, which is a tetralogy of books. You'll be able to go right into The Queen of Air and Darkness!
 

Jooney

Member
The Sword in the Stone is actually the first book in The Once and Future King, which is a tetralogy of books. You'll be able to go right into The Queen of Air and Darkness!

The more you know!

Thanks Mumei. Got some more T.H. White ahead of me then.
 
Black Canary Kicking and Screaming. I like it. What's some other Black Canary comics I can read when I finish with this and I assume there's more than one volume for this comic, would I be right?
 

kswiston

Member
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Here goes nothin'

I only made it to Book IV as a kid.

Trying to read the entire series before the movie drops.

I stopped at book 4 as well in high school. Of course, the publications of Book 1-4 take me from Age 0 to 15. There were no other books to read until I was 21. Still not as bad as Game of Thrones!
 

dakini

Member
Finished Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. I loved The Tenant of Wildfell Hall so I was going in expecting to love this as well, but it was just ok. Not a lot happens and there isn't really a moral to the story from what I can tell, so it ended up just being about boring people falling in love. Only worth a read if you're a Brontë fan.

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Just started The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I'm not very far in, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Butler's prose is elegant, but direct.

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THGNSLNGRC2003.jpg


Here goes nothin'

I only made it to Book IV as a kid.

Trying to read the entire series before the movie drops.

Same but I was just starting college when I stopped at book 4. Not for any reason but life taking my reading time. Gonna rebuy the series on Kindle and plow through it. Thinking of not even seeing the movie till I close the latest book.

And speaking of King, I'm going through The Stand currently (& wishing I had this cover rather than the contemporary one):
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Just finished chapter 8 and feeling inspired as all hell. I want to write just as good as this.
King's following the spread of Captain Trips to so many distinct characters made for such a damn intense read
. This book ain't going to close till it's done. It's daunting but I'm looking so forward to it.
 
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

A good pickup and read book that I can read in short bursts when my 9 month old falls asleep on me. I'm about half-way through though, and I've skipped a few of the questions because some of them seem a little same-y.

I picked that up a month or so ago. It was pretty interesting and it was great for the short bursts. I typically read it when we put our 9 month old (7 month at the time) down for naps. You never know how long those will last...
 

x-Lundz-x

Member
Listening on Audible when at work:

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Reading on Kindle:

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I've been getting ready to get on a Stephen King kick soon, my plan is to start reading all his novels in order starting with Carrie. I've read most of his books but for most of them it's been 20 years or so since I've read his best work. My plan is to try and get through IT before the move comes out. Don't know if I'll be able to do it since The Stand would come before it but I'm going to try. If not I might have to jump ahead to IT so I can get that done before the film.
 

Peru

Member
Finished Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. I loved The Tenant of Wildfell Hall so I was going in expecting to love this as well, but it was just ok. Not a lot happens and there isn't really a moral to the story from what I can tell, so it ended up just being about boring people falling in love. Only worth a read if you're a Brontë fan.
]

There is a moral to the story and quite a bit of rage, I think, about the way governesses are treated, and by extension, the career paths available to women. The love story is as you say quite conventional and unexceptional. I like it and liked it more re-reading it, but definitely a marked step below other Brontë novels, and she obviously let herself loose on 'Tenant'.
 
Just started The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I'm not very far in, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Butler's prose is elegant, but direct.

cover-of-parable-of-the-sower.jpg

Yeah her writing style is one of the only two that click's with me, but for me Parable of the Sower is the only book I read of hers that I didn't like.
 
Question for all you fine reading folks - my niece is 5 years old and LOVES having The Chronicles of Narnia read to her .. what other books (that aren't too advanced and don't have anything scary in them) would you recommend for her?
 
Question for all you fine reading folks - my niece is 5 years old and LOVES having The Chronicles of Narnia read to her .. what other books (that aren't too advanced and don't have anything scary in them) would you recommend for her?

Diana Wynne Jones Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and the House of Many Ways. Great, great books.
 

fakefaker

Member
Question for all you fine reading folks - my niece is 5 years old and LOVES having The Chronicles of Narnia read to her .. what other books (that aren't too advanced and don't have anything scary in them) would you recommend for her?

Oh and check out Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series, it's old school like Narnia.

The Chronicles of Prydain, based on Welsh mythology, have become the standard of excellence in fantasy literature for children. Since The Book of Three was first published in 1964, young readers have been enthralled by the adventures of Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper and his quest to become a hero. Taran is joined by an engaging cast of characters that includes Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone bard; the ever-faithful Gurgi; and the curmudgeonly Doli—all of whom become involved in an epic struggle between good and evil that shapes the fate of the legendary land of Prydain.
 

Pazu

Member
Finished the Vorkosigan Saga with Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, after going back to reread Barrayar after I finished Cryoburn. My Goodreads review (I gave it 4/5, if I could rate the whole series it'd come in at OFF THE CHARTS GODDAMN AMAZING):

Bujold has always been concerned with the psychology of the large lives of her characters; the Vorkosigan Saga follows their growth and impact on a military society over a long period of time, as advances in reproductive and life extension technology reshape the universe around them.

A Civil Campaign was the true happy ending of the series, and since then Bujold has been giving each of her characters a good, long goodbye. Over a series of interesting and quietly significant novels, largely stripped of the war, adventure, and heroism of earlier books, she begins an extended meditation on life after Cordelia and Aral (and Miles and his generation) have remade Barrayar.

This book gutsily retcons the entire series before closing it out where it began, on Sergyar. It offers a dramatically new perspective on Cordelia and Aral's relationship (and explosions of flaming snot balloons, crystal canoes, and a sex scene between a 76 year old and a 50 year old). It's as if Bujold is apologizing to Cordelia with the reward of her own happy ending, the chance at a new life of her own choosing, and making, after 40 years of service to Barrayar and its bloody history. The themes of the series finally reveal themselves to be simple and obvious:

"O loves, take delight in one another. While you can, take delight."

or summed up in this conversation between Oliver and Miles, which feels like the reader speaking through the author:

"I've been watching you since you were twenty years old, in snapshots. You've made a long journey since then."
A jerk of Miles's hand, starting with denial but ending in concession.
"Cordelia and Aral between them raised a good man, which I find encouraging."
"I always imagined I was my own invention, you know. Although that's because I was young and stupid. In my defense, I've got better."
"Yes, it's been fascinating to see you grow into a father. If you can do it..."
"Anybody can?" Miles finished for him.
"I was going to say, maybe I can, too," said Jole.

I'm still holding out hope for one more -- "The Count's Heir" -- about the death of Miles, the Cetagandan bioweapons, and the next generation of Barrayaran defenders. Because while I deeply enjoyed the latter books in the series, nothing can touch the joy of The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Mirror Dance and Memory.

But if the Vorkosigan Saga truly ends here, bravo to the best series of books I have ever read. Dendarii Mercenaries for life.
 
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I'm about 3/4ths of the way through it so far. It's a hefty read, and it moves even slower than G.R.R. Martin a lot of the time, but I'm impressed with how well it portrays characters and it's able to accomplish a level of believable yet significant development for all the main characters at hand.

Sanderson also knows how to make a super interestingly unique fantasy world.
 
The Walking Dead Rise of the Governor.

I've owned it since it came out but only got somewhat of the way through before I stopped.

Since picking it back up there's things from the show that make more much sense to me now like the Chamblers family for instance
 

x-Lundz-x

Member
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I'm about 3/4ths of the way through it so far. It's a hefty read, and it moves even slower than G.R.R. Martin a lot of the time, but I'm impressed with how well it portrays characters and it's able to accomplish a level of believable yet significant development for all the main characters at hand.

Sanderson also knows how to make a super interestingly unique fantasy world.

Sanderson is amazing, the second book is even better :)
 
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I'm about 3/4ths of the way through it so far. It's a hefty read, and it moves even slower than G.R.R. Martin a lot of the time, but I'm impressed with how well it portrays characters and it's able to accomplish a level of believable yet significant development for all the main characters at hand.

Sanderson also knows how to make a super interestingly unique fantasy world.
I just went to his official website, apparently the third book, Oathbringer, is coming out on November 14th.
 
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