Just finished these 2 (soon to be released) beasts:
This is the type of Murakami novel that is grounded in reality as opposed to his more surreal, magic-realism type works. This novel is a quick read, very accessible and easily absorbed yet full of mystery with a moody, melancholic tone throughout
This mammoth novel takes place 1 day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and spans the following 3 weeks as L.A. succumbs to war fever and paranoia. This book kicks off the start of Ellroy's second 'L.A. Quartet' series (the first being the likes of 'Black Dahlia,' "L.A. Confidential' etc) and serves as a prequel to previously established characters (eg - Dudley Smith) and plot points. As always this book is full of violence, racial stereotyping and sexual deviance of all sorts.
This is a dense and grim read with Ellroy's trademarked stylized patter and construction. If you're new to the Ellroyverse start off with the first few books in the LA Quartet. If you're already familiar and a fan welcome back!
Currently reading the new Tom Rachman novel which so far (1/3 of the way through) is very, very good with beautifully constructed characters of all stripe:
Initially I held my judgement for the book. But after going through the first chapter, I could not deny the brilliance in the writing. It is so impeccable and carried in such beautiful tones that I was just left moved. Even more surprising was how simple the story was, humble but captivating at the same time. Stoner surely deserves its praise. An unforgettable read in the truest of senses and one I will hold as a priceless experience. Classically recommended.
I don't remember who was the first person who posted about the book in these What are you reading threads, but I'm very grateful to him/her. I loved the whole book. I was amazed at how awesome it is while being so simple. One of the best reads I have had this year.
This is the type of Murakami novel that is grounded in reality as opposed to his more surreal, magic-realism type works. This novel is a quick read, very accessible and easily absorbed yet full of mystery with a moody, melancholic tone throughout.
I apologize if additional discussion isn't allowed in this thread, but I'm curious how often the regulars in here read (how much per day/week on avg)? It seems like some of you really fly through a lot of books each month, which I think is pretty cool. I have a really hard time balancing all my leisure activities (gaming, tv/movies and reading) so I'm lucky if I average a book a month.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I had no idea that there's a film adaption coming out next year starring Robert Redford & Nick Nolte until the other day. Looking forward to that.
A perfect example of a book that really, really needs some diagrams.
I'm not sure I could expect anything else from something that tries to explain so many difficult concepts without assuming prior knowledge, but I'm left with a lot of buzz words and an impression of the importance of some scientific concepts/research areas. Even the areas I already have a good grasp on (e.g., computers) left me a little confused - I kept feeling like the author was battling with keeping everything simplistic versus actually explaining things.
Still, quite interesting, and I've got a lot of highlighted fun-facts.
yep, it's in the vein of 'south of the border' & 'norwegian wood' with a grounded realism and subtle erotic undercurrents throughout.
The key difference worth pointing out is that those earlier Murakami works have a darker, more emotionally pained tone while 'colorless' veers more toward the hopeful.
Just finished these 2 (soon to be released) beasts:
This is the type of Murakami novel that is grounded in reality as opposed to his more surreal, magic-realism type works. This novel is a quick read, very accessible and easily absorbed yet full of mystery with a moody, melancholic tone throughout
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Wow i didnt know this came out already. From what you re saying, it sounds like one of the better murakmi book. I, too, am not very into the in your face magic realism.
This is the type of Murakami novel that is grounded in reality as opposed to his more surreal, magic-realism type works. This novel is a quick read, very accessible and easily absorbed yet full of mystery with a moody, melancholic tone throughout
I apologize if additional discussion isn't allowed in this thread, but I'm curious how often the regulars in here read (how much per day/week on avg)? It seems like some of you really fly through a lot of books each month, which I think is pretty cool. I have a really hard time balancing all my leisure activities (gaming, tv/movies and reading) so I'm lucky if I average a book a month.
I think cyan and Maklershed read, like, 500 books a month, but work has really kicked my ass for the last year, so I am lucky to read a book every two months or so. Before then, though, two maybe three books a month. I cannot wait until 2015 when work balances out.
Really hard to get into, even more so since all japanese literature I've read beforehand was the Tales of Prince Genji. Unfortunately my japanese isn't good enough for the original.
As a big fan there's no way past this. I devoured volume 1 and will likely do the same here.
And of course I'm going further down the JoJo rabbit hole.
Just finished these 2 (soon to be released) beasts:
This is the type of Murakami novel that is grounded in reality as opposed to his more surreal, magic-realism type works. This novel is a quick read, very accessible and easily absorbed yet full of mystery with a moody, melancholic tone throughout
Anyone up to making OT for it? If I recall other Murakami books have had OTs as well. My copy won't arrive until next monday
While I'm excited, I'm also prepared to be disappointed. Going by some reviews, sounds like the book is again pretty standard Murakami, with his far too usual tropes.
Then again, I don't mind music and other pop-culture name drops, or the fact protagonist's questions probably will not be answered. I just hope the story is better then in 1Q84.
All the Murakami books I've read are melding together into one story in my head. I'm afraid another Murakami book would just add to the murkiness. There's something very unchanging about his books.
Things really started crawling in the Count of Monte Cristo but I'm glad I stuck with it because I think Dumas just set up the bomb!
The rescue from Luigi Vampa, thus incurring favor in the courts of France! Why might Dantes want favor in the French court? Eddy's coming home, methinks.
yep, it's in the vein of 'south of the border' & 'norwegian wood' with a grounded realism and subtle erotic undercurrents throughout.
The key difference worth pointing out is that those earlier Murakami works have a darker, more emotionally pained tone while 'colorless' veers more toward the hopeful.
Hmmmm... should be an interesting read when I get around to it. I really liked South of the Border, more so than Norwegian Wood. For some reason I'm not particularly hyped for a new Murakami novel this time round. Not sure why. Maybe 1Q84 was just too damn long. Lol. I liked it well enough though.
Finished up Annihilation pretty quickly. Really short book. That was a good read. Haly keeps talking about this "New Weird" movement, but I've heard of it before. The book reminded me a lot of Lovecraft, but in a much more modern and concise way. Very captivating setting, with just the right mix of dread and wonder. The scope was what surprised me the most, because it was a book which felt like a short story. The restrain on the narrative made the tone much stronger because like all good mysterious settings, it's what we don't know or understand which makes the horror more effective.
Looking forward to digging through the next book soon.
So I just found out that Max Gladstone (Craft Cycle) is considered "New Weird", and I'm interested in digging into this new (to me) genre. I've heard Mieville's name several times, what's best work to pick up?
So I just found out that Max Gladstone (Craft Cycle) is considered "New Weird", and I'm interested in digging into this new (to me) genre. I've heard Mieville's name several times, what's best work to pick up?
Perdido Street Station is a good start. You should read it in anticipation for The Scar, a novel which personally I found to be the best from Mieville, even though they aren't a direct sequel. After that, The City and The City and Embassytown should be the one you read. Both of those two have the strangest premise and weirdest concept I've found in Mieville work, but if you read his other work before, it should be fine and it'll be a very entertaining read.
The other works I've read is his short stories collection, Looking For Jake and Other Stories, and Railsea. While they have the weird concepts you usually found in Mieville, they are just addition if you want more of him.
My ranking: The Scar > Embassytown > Perdido Street Station
Iron Council can be skipped, I read it solely because I was craving more Bas-Lag. I couldn't get past a single chapter of The City & The City, it was just too full of it.
This is the type of Murakami novel that is grounded in reality as opposed to his more surreal, magic-realism type works. This novel is a quick read, very accessible and easily absorbed yet full of mystery with a moody, melancholic tone throughout
Perdido Street Station first half is excellent. It just
when the latter half of the story turned into monster hunt,
it feels like Mieville thrown all of the interesting concepts out of the window. The Scar meanwhile, keep its concepts throughout the whole book, makes it interwoven with the plot and that what makes it Mieville's masterpiece.
My ranking: The Scar > Embassytown > Perdido Street Station
Iron Council can be skipped, I read it solely because I was craving more Bas-Lag. I couldn't get past a single chapter of The City & The City, it was just too full of it.
Kraken is junk and Iron Council is mediocre. The Scar is still wonderful, Embassytown is wonderful.
The City & The City has a really fantastic setting framed through a plodding police procedural. Always felt like a waste of it, because it's so, dunno, Borges? I wanted him to squat in and occupy the reality he sets up but he merely glances through it. I hope he returns to it in the future, but even there I wonder if it'd be better off as a short story, or a collection of such.
It seems slavery focused. I just got finished with one slavery themed storyline and would like to read something that doesn't involve it or at least as a focus. Could you recommend me any others?
Perdido Street Station first half is excellent. It just
when the latter half of the story turned into monster hunt,
it feels like Mieville thrown all of the interesting concepts out of the window. The Scar meanwhile, keep its concepts throughout the whole book, makes it interwoven with the plot and that what makes it Mieville's masterpiece.
Funny, I just finished Perdido Street Station the other day(well, actually not so coincidental considering how much it's brought up here). It's my only experience with Mieville and while I like the book, it would take a drought of some sort in the "to read" list to return for the sequels. Minor spoilers follow.
The Good:
- He's a competent, meticulous writer. This shows up in world building more than anything else, there's a systematic approach that pays off. There was no gestalt in the end for me, Bas Lag does not stand out or inspire awe the way a number of top tier sci fi books do. A golden star for effort? That doesn't sound like much of a compliment, but he does a good job.
- He does a really good job of pacing. Unfurling the world in stages, changing the dynamics of the characters. It's not easy to keep things going smoothly for 800ish pages and I never felt flat out bored by it. Well, maybe some times when he would take like 10 pages to describe how every burrow of the city responded to a thing as if checking them off the list will further endear them to the reader.
The bad:
- Inconsistent story arches and themes. After the first couple of times this happened I started to feel that these characters and places only show up to flesh out the city/universe as a whole. Which is not a good reason in the end, it's counter intuitive. Following the mayor for a time held a lot of promise for me, until I realize he was there to introduce some seemingly random, fatuous stuff.
Hey, he's gonna talk to demons, because those exist! Now he's gonna recruit some weird hand parasite thing, cause those exist! Oh look, in their secret police they rule through fear and encourage man to spy on fellow man, that exists too!
All these things come and go without adding anything. It's not just tied to the mayor either, same goes for Motley and a host of other characters and events. And how about incongruent themes, the most glaring being the last chapter, which may as well exist in a vacuum separate from the rest of the books. Kinda weird.
- The
monster hunt
rules were more inconsistent and arbitrary than the first point. I know it seems like nitpicking, but when so much of the book revolves around that...
Hey, we got robots that spontaneously develop intelligence(that have LENSES) and a whole bunch of other tech, but when an existential threat shows up, all the knowledge in the world amounts to fitting some rear view mirrors on a hat. That is until the aforementioned AI tosses some special helmets at the main characters at a convenient time. Also, did Isaac's cool experimental science just turn into a cure all later in the book? That happened.
- Last but not least, someone mentioned that China is a very talented writer earlier in the thread. Well, if you're waiting for some genuine creativity to show up in Perdido Street Station, look elsewhere. These are familiar variables and concepts, with their own twist, but no breakthrough. Look at the Quantum Thief, to name another book I read recently, for some of that. There's nothing overtly vacuous in Perdido Street Station, but I didn't see an awe inspiring imaginative mind shining through anywhere either.
Well, that turned out a lot more negative than I thought it would. It's not so bad, really.
this got extremely interesting .. and it feels like this should be end of the book stuff. The protomolecule/Ring's makers are all dead? A virus that killed them all even after they sacrificed hundreds of stars and solar systems? A "dumb" station waiting for an all-clear system with the ability to wipe out any system it's connected to? Wtf .. crazy. And I still have 50% left ..
Funny, I just finished Perdido Street Station the other day(well, actually not so coincidental considering how much it's brought up here). It's my only experience with Mieville and while I like the book, it would take a drought of some sort in the "to read" list to return for the sequels. Minor spoilers follow.
The Good:
- He's a competent, meticulous writer. This shows up in world building more than anything else, there's a systematic approach that pays off. There was no gestalt in the end for me, Bas Lag does not stand out or inspire awe the way a number of top tier sci fi books do. A golden star for effort? That doesn't sound like much of a compliment, but he does a good job.
- He does a really good job of pacing. Unfurling the world in stages, changing the dynamics of the characters. It's not easy to keep things going smoothly for 800ish pages and I never felt flat out bored by it. Well, maybe some times when he would take like 10 pages to describe how every burrow of the city responded to a thing as if checking them off the list will further endear them to the reader.
The bad:
- Inconsistent story arches and themes. After the first couple of times this happened I started to feel that these characters and places only show up to flesh out the city/universe as a whole. Which is not a good reason in the end, it's counter intuitive. Following the mayor for a time held a lot of promise for me, until I realize he was there to introduce some seemingly random, fatuous stuff.
Hey, he's gonna talk to demons, because those exist! Now he's gonna recruit some weird hand parasite thing, cause those exist! Oh look, in their secret police they rule through fear and encourage man to spy on fellow man, that exists too!
All these things come and go without adding anything. It's not just tied to the mayor either, same goes for Motley and a host of other characters and events. And how about incongruent themes, the most glaring being the last chapter, which may as well exist in a vacuum separate from the rest of the books. Kinda weird.
- The
monster hunt
rules were more inconsistent and arbitrary than the first point. I know it seems like nitpicking, but when so much of the book revolves around that...
Hey, we got robots that spontaneously develop intelligence(that have LENSES) and a whole bunch of other tech, but when an existential threat shows up, all the knowledge in the world amounts to fitting some rear view mirrors on a hat. That is until the aforementioned AI tosses some special helmets at the main characters at a convenient time. Also, did Isaac's cool experimental science just turn into a cure all later in the book? That happened.
- Last but not least, someone mentioned that China is a very talented writer earlier in the thread. Well, if you're waiting for some genuine creativity to show up in Perdido Street Station, look elsewhere. These are familiar variables and concepts, with their own twist, but no breakthrough. Look at the Quantum Thief, to name another book I read recently, for some of that. There's nothing overtly vacuous in Perdido Street Station, but I didn't see an awe inspiring imaginative mind shining through anywhere either.
Well, that turned out a lot more negative than I thought it would. It's not so bad, really.
Well written review. I felt much the same after reading the book. This was a different kind of read do for me, so some of the concepts felt fresh. I enjoyed it enough to read The Scar, but that fell flat for me. I don't think I'll go any deeper in the series.
Your enthusiasm got me to start re-reading Annihilation (it was on my to-do list, albeit much lower). I was a bit disapointed first time through (it seemed to me that there was more telling than showing--a certain dryness to the writing that was not at all apparent in the Vandermeer works I'd read up to that point).
Finished Dust. I struggled through the first half of it, but the second half really picked up and brought the book, and the series, to a satisfying conclusion.
Finished Dust. I struggled through the first half of it, but the second half really picked up and brought the book, and the series, to a satisfying conclusion.
quite depressing. The cycle starts all over again. By the end, I really wished for a Year of the Flood style "solution" to the plague of humanity in that series.
I think my rating of the series would be:
Wool 4/5
Shift 4/5
Dust 3/5
I did like Shift a little more than Wool due to the weak last 1/4 of Wool.
I also have recently finished the following:
It's tense, enjoyable, and a fascinating enough read that I'd still happily give it 4 stars despite some of the worst dialog and lack of character development since Ready Player One. People have described it as Cast Away on Mars but this is MacGyver on Mars.
★★★★☆
Ted Chiang really does something incredible here. Each story is perfectly packaged, and utterly thought-provoking.
★★★★☆
Finished Fault in our Stars and I didn't really like it. It wasn't bad by any means, it was just sort of boring and too....perfect? Fifty year olds in the bodies of 17 year olds drinking champagne and reciting poetry while falling in love. Overall I thought it was just trying to be emotional at parts when I didn't really care because these people were too perfect to really believe or care about. I was more interested in the first half of the book than the second half except for the parts with Van Houten which I thought were great.
I'm just glad it didn't end in the obvious way that I expected it to end the entire time while reading it.
foomfoom415;124323302
I think my rating of the series would be:
Wool 4/5
Shift 4/5
Dust 3/5
I did like Shift a little more than Wool due to the weak last 1/4 of Wool.
I also have recently finished the following:
[URL="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian" said:
[/URL]
It's tense, enjoyable, and a fascinating enough read that I'd still happily give it 4 stars despite some of the worst dialog and lack of character development since Ready Player One. People have described it as Cast Away on Mars but this is MacGyver on Mars.
★★★★☆
Ted Chiang really does something incredible here. Each story is perfectly packaged, and utterly thought-provoking.
★★★★☆
I just finished Shift too, but rate it 2.5 stars. I should have just read the wikipedia article. The pace in this one was too plodding and a lot of the tension was from people not knowing stuff and making stupid decisions and furthering their not knowing stuff.
By the time the big reveal came, I was already skipping whole paragraphs so that I could get on with the series already.
My other great complaint is about the porter system. I'm having a hard tome believing the idea that people living in the silo's would just transport everything by hand using porters. Really? No one thinks a rig and pulley system would be more efficient?! I know it's some comment on the "everyone has a job to do" mentality, even if it's pointless menial labor, but come on, this just seems like the porters are there to provide an easy character who walks all over the Silo.
I thought Shift could have been edited down a lot more.
Also: Ted Chiang -- YES. Easily one of my favorite books of all time. Every time I go back and reread any story in that collection, I'm reminded of how much I like his ideas.
I started reading The Martian a few months back and while it wasn't bad, it didn't grip me the way it did everyone else. It read like a bunch of blog posts to me. Sometimes I'm in the mood for that but that time, I wasn't.
It's my 2nd Kindle Unlimited Audiobook. Liking the service so far and I meant to mention that you get 3 free months of audible when you sign up, (existing members get an extra credit each month.) So yeah, definitely a good deal if you enjoy audiobooks.
read norwegian wood a while back and love it. saw this in a charity shop i pop into whenever i'm nearby (1/2 euro a book is hard to resist). realised today there's a third part to it not included in the one i go so i think amazon will be receiving an order soon.
read norwegian wood a while back and love it. saw this in a charity shop i pop into whenever i'm nearby (1/2 euro a book is hard to resist). realised today there's a third part to it not included in the one i go so i think amazon will be receiving an order soon.
read norwegian wood a while back and love it. saw this in a charity shop i pop into whenever i'm nearby (1/2 euro a book is hard to resist). realised today there's a third part to it not included in the one i go so i think amazon will be receiving an order soon.
read norwegian wood a while back and love it. saw this in a charity shop i pop into whenever i'm nearby (1/2 euro a book is hard to resist). realised today there's a third part to it not included in the one i go so i think amazon will be receiving an order soon.
Each to their own. I think it is Murakami's weakest work. There is really no reason for it's lenght, just feel bloated. Not to mention I hated Fuka Eri with passion and her interactions with Tengo were idiotic,from Tengo's obsession of Eri's small breasts to "she asked without questionmark". It was interesting from time to time and when it got interesting I couldn't put the book down. Then it got slow again and I would put the book down for months.
