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What are you reading? (June 2011)

L

LocoMrPollock

Banned
XeroSauce said:
Would you reccommend the second and third book of the Hunger trilogy? I finishe the first but I didn't enjoy the ending at all. I fear that it moves away from the dystopia theme later.
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The first book is the best. If you didn't like the ending you probably wouldn't enjoy the second or especially the third book which gets pretty bad/ridiculous. And yeah, it becomes less dystopian and more and more about the love triangle.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Emonga said:
I just get a feeling like I'm wasting my time and would rather be (re)reading Malazan instead. There's just nothing else in this genre that lives up to it
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Read ASOIAF?

Edit: Beaten :p
 
K

-Kees-

Member
PLydU.jpg
 
J

Jay Sosa

Member
Since last posting finished these two:

51g3BxgljLL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU03_.jpg


Deborah Crombie - Where Memories Lie

Pretty good detective story..but I'm more of a Mike Hammer guy.

51z-8nYqiHL._SL160_AA160_.jpg


Brenner und der liebe Gott - Austrian detective series who already spawned 2 movies (third in the making). Excellent as always.

Now I'm reading this:

51XBZK967VL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


Just finished the story about the 47 ronins. Those are some loyal servants.

From amazon.com:

"Tales of Old Japan" is a book with an interesting pedigree. From 1866-1870, Author A. B. Mitford was an attaché with the British Legion at Edo (Modern day Tokyo), and one of the first foreign diplomats to Japan. He served as a translator for the young Meiji Emperor, and became intimately familiar with the country and its language.

Upon his return to Britain, he became discouraged and disappointed by Western media reports of the Japanese people, portraying them as an uncouth people lacking in morals or character, with vicious men and wanton women. Mitford set out to correct that error by writing "Tales of Old Japan," showing through Japanese legends and fairy tales the moral heart of the country, what they admired, what they aspired to, and what they feared.

Because of this, "Tales of Old Japan" is much more than a collection of stories. Published in 1871, it is the first English-language book of its kind, and many famous Japanese tales, such as "Okiku and the Nine Plates," and "The Forty-Seven Ronin," appear here for the first time. Each tale was selected not only for its own interest, but to teach Western audiences about the soul of the Japanese people through their native fairy tales. After each story, Mitford writes about how the story is seen in Japan, what people admired about the heroes and despise about the villains.
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Government-man

Government-man

Member
l_0395177111.jpg


The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. The 50th anniversary edition includes some really nice original illustrations by Tolkien. Nearly finished with that one, will continue with

American_Colonies_The_Settling_of_North_America_The_Penguin_History_of_the_United_States_Volume1_Hist_of_the_USA-119191854973471.jpg


American Colonies: The Settling of North America
 
J

Jenga

Banned
x3n05 said:
edit: oops posted the wrong book

Just finished:

51CXF0Y2Q4L.jpg


So I have just started:

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Amazing series thus far, hype redeemed :D.
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is this song of ice and fire or wheel of time
 
Z

Zalasta

Member
TestMonkey said:
I also picked up Return of the Crimson Guard since it got printed to mass market paperback. Any recommendations on when I should read the Esselmont stuff?
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Chronologically Night of Knives preceeds everything, but it was written to elaborate more on the world after you've became familiar with it, so there are details in plot and characters that you may not want to know yet. The consensus is to read that before The Bonehunters and Return of the Crimson Guard after Reaper's Gale.

fredrancour said:
Just finished Gardens of the moon (first of this series to anybody reading the thread who doesn't know) yesterday. I'm severely tempted to run out and get the next one, but I wanna go through some more of the books i have first. Game of thrones and the gunslinger are probably next. Maybe some shakespeare as make-up classwork from when I got sick during term-term (3 cheers for supportive administrators).
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I would say keep at Malazan while it's still fresh (especially if you're among the many that found it to be hard to follow) but that will take some commitment.
 
J

JAGII

Neo Member
Zekes! said:
Soon I'll be reading:
lolita.large.jpg
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First time reading it? That's one of my all-time favorites. If you're not opposed to listening to audio books, the version read by Jeffery Irons is excellent for a second reading. Although you lose some of Nabokov's textual tricks, you get a good sense of Humbert-as-manipulator when Irons as Humbert "performs" Lo's dialogue. Plus, he does an amazing job reading the scene at the end where Humbert listens to the children playing. Great stuff!

Also: be careful where you read that book. I made the not-very-smart decision to read the book while taking my daughter to ballet class. That was awkward.


relaxor said:
Zeitoun+cover.jpg


About halfway through this, really enjoying it so far. It was a smart decision on Eggers' part to place the reader behind somebody so confident and kind as Zeitoun, it makes the whole apocalypse more relatable and empathetic. It is a drama on people scale, difficult, horrible, but real. I am really impressed by it so far, I haven't read any Eggers since Heartbreaking Work which I know means I have missed all his apparently recent successes. I was really turned off by that book at the time but after this I'll probably go back and read at least What is the What.
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I read this last summer, while also reading a lot of Giorgio Agamben. I spent days huddled in the corner, convinced that the government was coming to kill us all.

I just finished Lay of the Land by Richard Ford (definitely the weakest of the Bascombe novels, and way too long).
41D27yA2goL.jpg


Now I'm reading a bunch of criticism on Ford and going through Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpra Luhuri:

interpreter-of-maladies.jpg
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Fonds said:
Ah the memories I have from that series. You're in for such a ride :) It's everything a good fantasy novel should be.
I'm jealous you're getting to read it for the first time!
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:)

That's how I feel when I see people say they're reading Game of Thrones.

And this book started off slow but its picking up speed and snowballing now ..
the little troll guy, Binabik, just revealed he was sent by Morgenes after Simon was attacked. (I'm assuming by Pyrates)
 
M

MacGurcules

Member
Fjordson said:
Ah, really? Damn. Might have to not give up so quick then. I don't know what it was about the first one that didn't click with me. Everything felt really...generic? For lack of a better term. Even though the premise is somewhat unique, the individual pieces just seemed very rote. Like I had seen all of the major story beats and characters in other genres and Butcher just rounded 'em all up and dropped them into modern day Chicago.
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Oh, they're definitely that. But I kind of like them despite it all. They aren't high art and they don't try to be. I guess I've got them all loaned to me so maybe not paying for it slants my opinion a bit. For predictable dumb fiction to fill in the gaps in the good stuff, they do pretty well.

XeroSauce said:
Would you reccommend the second and third book of the Hunger trilogy? I finishe the first but I didn't enjoy the ending at all. I fear that it moves away from the dystopia theme later.
Click to expand...
Yeah, just pass on the second and third book. It tries to take the story places it's not really equipped for. It gets all political and love-triangle-y and it just doesn't really work. The characters are all kind of plastic and that's fine when it's a survival adventure book, but it's not really believable enough to hold up anything with more weight.
 
D

Dead Prince

Banned
lulz zombies.

Deadline-Mira-Grant.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/dp/031608106X/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.
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M

Maklershed

Member
MacGurcules said:
Did you like Feed? I couldn't really get into it. I just didn't buy the premise. Also seemed like a huge waste that a story about bloggers in a zombie apocalypse wasn't structured as a series of blog posts.
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Yeah to each their own but it was one of the two books I disliked the most last year. The other being American Gods. At least I was able to finish Feed.
 
S

Sleepy

Member
nakedsushi said:
Giving another crack at Mieville after being too grossed out by Perdido Station. I figure I should read *one* of his books since we're hosting a Q&A with him later this month.


The City & The City by China Miéville
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This is my second favorite book ever, behind Gravity's Rainbow. I have read two others from him, Kraken and The Scar, each good in their own right, but The City & The City was fantastic. I need to read it again soon. :)
 
Y

ymmv

Banned
I bought 6 books by Robin Hobb years ago but I'd never read 'em. I've just got far too many books on my reading pile, there was always something else begging for my attention. Since the books keep cropping up on "My Favorite Fantasy books ever" lists, I think I should start with the first series.

512fyuyPesL._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
 
A

Attackthebase

Member
Started to read:

catcher-in-the-rye-cover.jpg


I don't get the love for it thus far, though I am only on the third chapter. I just needed a break from The Song of Ice and Fire series.
 
U

ultron87

Member
Still slowly making my way through Shadow's Edge

517dG9YqPpL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


Thankfully the main character has finally stopped being incredibly stupid and naive. Or at least I hope so.

Him selling his kick ass one of a kind magic sword to buy some obnoxiously expensive engagement ear ring things pissed me off to no end.
 
J

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Maklershed said:
Still working on The Dragonbone Chair


The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
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How are the first two books?

I randomly picked up To Green Angel Tower 1 & 2 years ago and read them.
Kind of lost, considering I never read the first few books, but I remember enjoying them.
I thought they were deeper, more mature, than I was used to reading at the time.

Anyway,

I just finished Deadhouse Gates and have LITTLE to NO interest in continuing the Malazan Series, but I need SOMETHING for the plane ride to E3 since Dance with Dragons doesn't come out till July. What's standalone I could read that I'll finish by then, but is fast paced and fulfilling?
 
N

nakedsushi

Member
edit: NM, someone got dibs on it!

This book is such a perfect NeoGAF book (maybe next bookclub entry?) that I'd like to share my ARC with someone. If you're in the US (including Alaska and Hawaii), and would like to read it, please PM me. I'll send the book to you postal mail free of charge (to you). The only stipulation is you have to post what you thought of it in one of these What Are You Reading threads =)

My review of it from last month's thread:



review from goodreads said:
You must read this book RIGHT NOW. I mean RIGHT NOW because Ready Player One is very much a book of this time. It's full of current pop culture references like cat videos, cute geek girls playing 80s covers on ukelele, ebay, etc. What it's also chocked full of is also tons and tons of 80s culture references. While I enjoyed the book, I would have enjoyed it more if I were born earlier and was old enough to remember the 80s. As an avid video game player, I appreciated all the references to the old games and even references to games so old that I had never even played.

At its heart, Ready Player One is a novel about adventure, friendship, and some epic boss battles. Halfway through the book, I kind of wish something like the OASIS did exist because it seems like it'd be the Greatest Game On Earth.

If I were born earlier and had more sentiments attached to the 80s, I would have given this book 5 stars. As it is, I can see nerdy people all over the world enjoying this.
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S

survivor

Banned
What are the general impressions of Glen Cook's The Black Company books? I was looking at the omnibus editions and they don't seem that expensive so I thought it would be worth it.
 
D

Dead Prince

Banned
Maklershed said:
Yeah to each their own but it was one of the two books I disliked the most last year. The other being American Gods. At least I was able to finish Feed.
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well i'm easily entertained. i haven't read that many books in my life so it was one of the ones i picked randomly on amazon lol. So i enjoyed what i read even though it was mainly because of the pacing of the book... even if the blogging aspect and the whole other thing really was ehhh. Maybe in this next book she changes it up a bit..... lol.
 
Stahsky

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
I picked up the first four Ice and Fire books and Blood of the Elves witcher book. Or well, ordered them. I am excite.
 
Guileless

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
8752885.jpg


I finished The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham. I enjoyed it and looking forward to next book in the series. I haven't read anything else by the author before this.

902306.jpg


I also blew through The Confessor by Daniel Silva, which is part of his Israeli hit man Gabriel Allon series. Not my favorite of the series but still a good page turner.

Now I'm thinking about digging through my fiction backlog or buying Robopocalypse or the new James Bond novel, which are both about to be published.
I also read a Kindle sample for a new thriller called Due Diligence which I liked but I can't quite justify buying it with such a huge backlog.
 
L

LocoMrPollock

Banned
survivor said:
What are the general impressions of Glen Cook's The Black Company books? I was looking at the omnibus editions and they don't seem that expensive so I thought it would be worth it.
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I love 'em. They are full of neat characters, both good and bad, the narrator is cool and doesn't get too wordy for my taste. Of the fantasy books I've read which aren't many, this one has the most magic in the world and is full of a lot of dark and ominous and foreboding places.

This is my rank:

ASOIFAF
Black Company
Joe Abercombie's World (First Law Trilogy, Best Served Cold, The Heroes)
Name of the Wind and Wiseman's Fear

That's really the only reference I have as I just got into fantasy a couple years back with Ice and Fire, so someone else might be able to give you a better idea of how it stacks up next to other series.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
This is my recent Amazon order:

51PZmHrmfuL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


Wanted this so badly and was sick of seeing it pop up so frequently in these threads without owning it myself. This collection of REH's has been an obsession of mine since I first picked up The Coming of Conan.

I'm also in the mood for stories about the "wild West".

51dgxHHUHNL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


51w1721jxfL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
 
F

Fonds

Member
John Harker said:
How are the first two books?

I randomly picked up To Green Angel Tower 1 & 2 years ago and read them.
Kind of lost, considering I never read the first few books, but I remember enjoying them.
I thought they were deeper, more mature, than I was used to reading at the time.
Click to expand...

The first two books are amazing. It's funny how you refer to them as the first two. The feel in them is a lot different from the last two.
The story is being set up in a quite ingenious way in the first two books. The last two books are like an epic climax that just won't stop.

The setting and characters in this series is just amazing, I could recommend it to anyone that enjoys ASOIAF or LotR. I feel it fits perfectly in between the two. At times I felt LotR could be a little too simple, whereas ASOIAF is quite complicated at times.
Memory Sorrow and Thorn (what the series is called) is just a perfect blend of the two. READ EM.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
survivor said:
What are the general impressions of Glen Cook's The Black Company books? I was looking at the omnibus editions and they don't seem that expensive so I thought it would be worth it.
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I've read the first Black Company omnibus (Chronicles of the Black Company) and I loved it. Really good stuff. Very unique, too. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's unlike most other fantasy I've read. The main antagonists in the book are really interesting.
bengraven said:
Let us know. I've been considering it forever.

That and Jack Vance
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Jack Vance is incredible. I love Tales of the Dying Earth. One hang up I've found that some people have is that some of his characters are total assholes. Even main characters. I find it really entertaining, but some people I've recommended it to didn't like that. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then I'd recommend it.

As for Book of the New Sun, I've been thinking about it for a while as well. Have had both books on my shelf for a month or two now. Going to probably read 'em this summer.
 
S

SolKane

Member
Attackthebase said:
I don't get the love for it thus far, though I am only on the third chapter. I just needed a break from The Song of Ice and Fire series.
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Well the book is 60 years old by now, so some of its effect will be lost in time. I think it's still very possible to identify with Caulfield though, given that it's a book about adolescent alienation, disappointment and frustration. I did read an interesting article a while back though that seemed to suggest the youth of today (the post-Prozac generation) have difficulty identifying with this book. One reader suggested that Caulfield needed to go on an anti-depressant. Personally I think it's a great book (and it has one of the most memorable opening lines of any fiction), though perhaps it's a book that someone could outgrow depending on when they were first exposed to it.
 
S

SolKane

Member
Response to May 2011 post:

Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
A good-natured ribbing of himself = the book is an "ego laxative?" You're way overreaching, man. You may not have liked the book, but it IS well-written, artistically speaking.

Edit: Whoops, didn't realize the new thread was up when I bumped it.
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I'm overreaching? I'm sorry, but have you even read this book? "I'm trying to clear my head of all the junk in there - the assholes, the flags, the underpants... I think I am trying to make my head as empty as it was when I was born onto this damaged planet fifty years ago." Vonnegut is guiding the idea which I suggested about the book, as a personal coping mechanism for whatever he was dealing with at the time. Not that you can't spin something like that into a book, but why should we give Vonnegut a pass for churning out this rambling, pretentious mess? I don't know anything about his editors or personal editing style, but BoC stinks to me of a first draft. Whatever good ideas he may have had for it were buried in kitschy prose and a very shallow, self-serving philosophy. And what do you mean by "it IS well-written, artistically speaking?" Do you have a checklist or something?
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
I'm about 110 pages into The girl with the dragoon tattoo and... i kind of hate it. Does it get any better or does it keep drawing everything out needlessly?
 
S

survivor

Banned
Nappuccino said:
I'm about 110 pages into The girl with the dragoon tattoo and... i kind of hate it. Does it get any better or does it keep drawing everything out needlessly?
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If you are into the investigation part then I guess you should keep reading. Though the only reason I kept reading was to find the answer to the mystery so I didn't pay much attention to pacing or anything else.
 
L

LaserBuddha

Member
LocoMrPollock said:
Settled on this. Hope it's as good as they say.
Shadow-and-Claw-The-First-Half-of-t12-med.jpg
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It's somewhat difficult material (being inside the head of an unreliable narrator and all) but it is absolutely excellent. Of course opinions will vary, but the quotes on the front and back cover didn't get there by accident.
 
J

Jenga

Banned
LaserBuddha said:
the quotes on the front and back cover didn't get there by accident.
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you sure


some dude could have just been drunk while he was designing the cover, you never know
 
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