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What are you reading (April 2011)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
choodi said:
bought this because of all the recommendations on GAF.
Finding it really hard to get into, it just seems so dry.
Am I doing it wrong?
no, the book is garbage. i was convinced by the gaf-love to give it a shot, too. what a chore. in expressing my dislike for it, i found that there were actually a couple people who agreed with me.. will never understand the popularity of this book/author/series.
nakedsushi
Member
Oops, forgot it was a new month.
Finished two books today:
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Really liked it. It reads like a children's book with some dark elements to it. Even though I watched the movie first, I don't remember much of the movie at all. I connected more with the characters in this book than I ever did with the movie. Very sweet.
Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
Finished this in one sitting. I guess you could call it a thriller, but (plot spoiler)
The book is like a longer story built around a ghost story.
Finished two books today:
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Really liked it. It reads like a children's book with some dark elements to it. Even though I watched the movie first, I don't remember much of the movie at all. I connected more with the characters in this book than I ever did with the movie. Very sweet.
Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
Finished this in one sitting. I guess you could call it a thriller, but (plot spoiler)
the whole spirits/ghost of abused and beaten boys seeking their revenge by luring teenagers to bury themselves and die was too far-fetched.
currently not reading anything, but i finished Dune recently.
I'm thinking of getting the sequel to The Name of the Wind or delving into Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red, Green, Blue). I've read Red before, but I think I will just re-read it and continue with the second and third book. Are they worth it?
I'm thinking of getting the sequel to The Name of the Wind or delving into Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red, Green, Blue). I've read Red before, but I think I will just re-read it and continue with the second and third book. Are they worth it?
Book club read finished
Initial thoughts - a decent enough read, not quite as good as Gates of Fire but still interesting enough to be a page turner.
Next up was
First Michael Connolly book I have read and really enjoyed it. Could see the twist coming a mile off, and yet this didn't detract from the overall read. Enjoyed it so much I have moved onto
Only a few pages into this one but it promises to be as good as the Lincoln Lawyer
Good thing about these books are that they are short reads, needed a break before starting the Crippled God next
Initial thoughts - a decent enough read, not quite as good as Gates of Fire but still interesting enough to be a page turner.
Next up was
First Michael Connolly book I have read and really enjoyed it. Could see the twist coming a mile off, and yet this didn't detract from the overall read. Enjoyed it so much I have moved onto
Only a few pages into this one but it promises to be as good as the Lincoln Lawyer
Good thing about these books are that they are short reads, needed a break before starting the Crippled God next
finally had enough free time to finish money by martin amis, which was a treat and recommend to everyone, especially if you enjoyed american psycho as a satire of the time period.
also got through the murders in the rue morgue by edgar allan poe. enjoyable, though i needed to re-read sentences/passages a few times and the actual scenarios for the mysteries weren't very interesting.
now reading then we came to the end by joshua ferris. at 130 pages in, it just feels like a dull version of the imperfectionists by tom rachman. hope it picks up soon because i'm not sure i'll stick with it as is for another 300 or so pages
sparky2112
Member
Yasser said:
You're killin' me over here. One of my favorites ever AND I love The Imperfectionists. Other than the fact that they both feature dying companies, I don't see them as stylistically similar at all. shrug.
so far i just feel the imperfectionists dealt with the theme in a much more interesting manner, with the perspective changing every chapter, the segments from the past, and better developed characters. that said, i do like some things so far in then we came to the end having worked in an office and i like how it's written from a generic "hivemind" point of viewsparky2112 said:
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
coldvein said:
wat, it is amazing.
It's like the only "fantasy" stuff I can bear to read, although I plan on giving Game Of Thrones a shot.
BenjaminBirdie said:
wat!? your dfw avatar had led me to believe that you had impeccable taste in books. oh well. opinions etc. it's among the worst fantasy i've ever read. i liked almost nothing about the book. writing style, setting, characters, story, nothing. it was such a battle for me to get through that thing. Game of Thrones is going to absolutely blow your mind, it's 10,000x the book that the blade itself is. not exaggerating that number.
bistromathics
facing a bright new dawn
er dont know if this will get lost among the photos, so:
Has anybody read any biographies on Aldous Huxley? I'd love a good recommendation, beyond the ones used for the Wikipedia article or the handful of reader reviews on Amazon.
edit: Well, it was hard to track down, but I asked my aunt (lives in UK) for this copy of his "autobiography". Found no other reference to it on the internet, so I don't know what it actually is.
Has anybody read any biographies on Aldous Huxley? I'd love a good recommendation, beyond the ones used for the Wikipedia article or the handful of reader reviews on Amazon.
edit: Well, it was hard to track down, but I asked my aunt (lives in UK) for this copy of his "autobiography". Found no other reference to it on the internet, so I don't know what it actually is.
Maklershed
Member
Started reading Under the Dome
Under the Dome by Stephen King
(on my Kindle of course because I'm not strong enough to pick up the hardcover)
Under the Dome by Stephen King
(on my Kindle of course because I'm not strong enough to pick up the hardcover)
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
coldvein said:
Just flipping through it seems to have none of the noir swagger in the prose that I love so much about Abercrombie. Just dull, straight ahead, Here Are 20,000 Characters, Have Fun, fantasy stuff. I'm still going to read it (bovs) but it seems like Abercrombie is really an aberration; a creative prose stylist who writes fantasy.
Just finished:
Didn't enjoy it as much as Cloud Atlas, but I still liked it quite a bit and I will continue working my way through Mitchell's library in the future. Definitely seems to be the most similar in scope, themes, and structure to Cloud Atlas of the rest of the Mitchell's novels. Looking forward to trying out his more "traditional" fare in 1,000 Autumns and Black Swan Green.
Still reading:
Both of which are good; I just don't drive through nonfiction like I do fiction- especially when I happen to be reading fiction at the same time.
Also reading:
Freedom just about lost me in that prologue, which I found pretty boring and hard to differentiate from soap operas, to be frank, but the autobiography section that follows it has been much, much better. This book is just packed with meat, for lack of a better term. Every word fleshes out the characterizations and relationships to the point where I've really become quite aware of how much environmental detail is added in other novels. Franzen gets right to the point and skips the scene setting almost entirely.
The Name of the Wind is entertaining enough, but I'm finding it much less engaging than ASoIaF and much more of the sort of writing and story I expected all those years I'd shied away from fantasy. I'll finish it, but if it doesn't improve, I won't be picking up A Wise Man's Fear.
Didn't enjoy it as much as Cloud Atlas, but I still liked it quite a bit and I will continue working my way through Mitchell's library in the future. Definitely seems to be the most similar in scope, themes, and structure to Cloud Atlas of the rest of the Mitchell's novels. Looking forward to trying out his more "traditional" fare in 1,000 Autumns and Black Swan Green.
Still reading:
Both of which are good; I just don't drive through nonfiction like I do fiction- especially when I happen to be reading fiction at the same time.
Also reading:
Freedom just about lost me in that prologue, which I found pretty boring and hard to differentiate from soap operas, to be frank, but the autobiography section that follows it has been much, much better. This book is just packed with meat, for lack of a better term. Every word fleshes out the characterizations and relationships to the point where I've really become quite aware of how much environmental detail is added in other novels. Franzen gets right to the point and skips the scene setting almost entirely.
The Name of the Wind is entertaining enough, but I'm finding it much less engaging than ASoIaF and much more of the sort of writing and story I expected all those years I'd shied away from fantasy. I'll finish it, but if it doesn't improve, I won't be picking up A Wise Man's Fear.
Burger
Member
Fascinating stuff.
Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous and inaccessible places on earth, almost died countless times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of pounds for charity and been awarded a polar medal and an OBE. He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a bestselling author and nearly replaced George Lazenby as James Bond. In his autobiography he describes how he led expeditions all over the world and became the first person to travel to both poles on land. He tells of how he discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman and attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the South Pole -- the expedition that cost him several fingers, and very nearly his life. His most recent challenge was scaling the north face of the Eiger, one of the most awesome mountaineering challenges in the world. Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes OBE, 3rd Baronet, looks back on a life lived at the very limits of human endeavour.
Adam Blade
WWKC
coldvein said:
grumble said:
I'll echo these sentiments. Abercrombie is a terrible writer.
My favorite part of his radio show is when he invites the right winger on and they just yell at each other for 9 minutes or however long it is on ghetto "progressive" talk radio before they have to go to commercial. The dude from the right wing ACLU (lol) with the squeaky voice is the best repeat offender he just jumps straight to the shouting sometimes and it always sounds funny.demon said:Just finished Siddhartha, and just started this:
His show on RT is pretty cool too when you contextualize it as being a part of a network that seemingly exists just to troll America, but there's a lot of regurgitation from the radio product so I can't watch it v. much.
I just write byline reviews and don't give a number value rating, that way no one can tell what's actually good that I've read. (PSYKE nothing I read is good.) Hack the planet. Subscribe to Adbusters today.Mumei said:
Bloodbeard
Member
Been reading through my favorites in this lately.
This arrived today, haven't opened it yet though.
I was recommended this by one of my philosophy professors, she said I would love it. 20 pages in, and I do.
Ollie Pooch
In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
In the middle of this series at the moment, couldn't put it down. Really cool Blade Runner/Ghost in the Shell style sci fi.ultron87 said:Settled on Altered Carbon as my next read.
Only a few chapters in so I haven't even gotten to the meat of the story yet, but it is really good so far.
Hausmeister
Neo Member
While being on my way to work and around the city I read (again):
At home:
At home:
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
Oh, I'm also reading MY book which is FINALLY OUT today. I'm not just hyping it here. I am actually reading it. Because it is just that funny and well-illustrated.
We wrote an actual book, and didn't just paste together a bunch of our Twitter posts.
nakedsushi
Member
BenjaminBirdie said:
Oh, I'm also reading MY book which is FINALLY OUT today. I'm not just hyping it here. I am actually reading it. Because it is just that funny and well-illustrated.
We wrote an actual book, and didn't just paste together a bunch of our Twitter posts.
Congrats!
edit:
Finished
Never Knew Another by J.M. McDermott
I got the ebook for free when they were offering it up for 24 hours only. Best free ebook I ever read! I even would have paid for it. I liked it a lot more than Name of the Wind.
review from goodreads said:
After finishing The Liveship Traders (Excellent! Some slow parts here and there, but fantastic characters and a satisfyingly ending) I've moved straight on to the next trilogy in Robin Hobb's Elderling Saga: The Tawny Man Trilogy
I'm reading it for the second time, but it's been a while and I only remember some main plotlines. I also remember liking this one the least out of the three trilogies, but it's still great to read about Fitz and the Fool again.
I'm reading it for the second time, but it's been a while and I only remember some main plotlines. I also remember liking this one the least out of the three trilogies, but it's still great to read about Fitz and the Fool again.
Granger Danger
Member
Why did you even spoiler that, it doesn't spoil anythingMumei said:
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
just finished Joe Abercrombies latest 'the heroes'
It's really good. Perspectives from characters that were in the trilogy and characters that had perspectives in previous novels return but not as perspectives. Was really nice. Was only really disappointed that
EDIT:
Just ~20% into the first Patrick Rothfuss book. It's no wonder he gets mentioned in the same sentence as Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch so often. Love all these guys books, tough time picking a favourite. I think it would go like this
Abercrombie
Rothfuss (but I'm only 20% of the first book, may go up. really loving it so far)
Lynch
It's really good. Perspectives from characters that were in the trilogy and characters that had perspectives in previous novels return but not as perspectives. Was really nice. Was only really disappointed that
the hints of the bloody nine returning didn't come to pass. Bayaz is still a badass though
EDIT:
Just ~20% into the first Patrick Rothfuss book. It's no wonder he gets mentioned in the same sentence as Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch so often. Love all these guys books, tough time picking a favourite. I think it would go like this
Abercrombie
Rothfuss (but I'm only 20% of the first book, may go up. really loving it so far)
Lynch
Maklershed
Member
Don't forget to check the op as well. There's a collection of links of threads created on GAF where recommendations are given.legend166 said:
sparky2112
Member
Hey - if you've not yet read The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, which guys like Stephen King couldn't praise highly enough, let it be known that the book is now an iPad app, and it looks absolutely kickass.
I LOVED this book, btw.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-selected-works-t-s-spivet/id427023005?mt=8
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/features/ts-spivet/index.html
I LOVED this book, btw.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-selected-works-t-s-spivet/id427023005?mt=8
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/features/ts-spivet/index.html
LocoMrPollock
Banned
coldvein said:
It's the weakest book he's written and also more of an introduction to the world. Each of his subsequent books are much better.
Ratrat said:
This was pretty good. Not really sure where I got it, but it was a pretty quick read and I enjoyed it. It is pretty heavy on the military lingo and such, but it didn't bother me.
Smithy C said:
Just finished reading this. It was pretty good, but I'm still a little confused about most of it. About to start reading Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut next, exciting times ahead.
I'm currently reading this one, it has one of the best introductions I've read so far in any book, the first 10 pages completely convinces you to keep reading, I love the existentialist observations of Kafka and his conversations with the guy from the library
nakedsushi
Member
Bloodbeard said:
I was recommended this by one of my philosophy professors, she said I would love it. 20 pages in, and I do.
I started reading this yesterday based on your recommendation. It *is* very good. I like that it's very straight-forward and not at all touchy-feely.
