It sort of was, but you won't understand until later.
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What are you reading? (October 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Makes sense. The demographics most likely to be readers are also the least likely to be buying ebooks.
Infernostew
Member
I've read 3 of the short stories so far and really digging them. Hopefully they keep staying consistent.
Read the 1st 4 books of The Black Suns Daughter series, While I found I could guess the general direction the books were taking I was still surprised a few times. I think each book slightly improved on the previous which left me really looking forward to book 5 but for whatever ridiculous reason the last book isn't available on Kindle in the UK.
While I decide whether to order a physical book or find a download of book 5 (which i wouldn't even consider if the kindle version was available) I will be reading Ancillary Sword which was released yesterday.
While I decide whether to order a physical book or find a download of book 5 (which i wouldn't even consider if the kindle version was available) I will be reading Ancillary Sword which was released yesterday.
DesertEater
Member
Hmm 23% of all sales is a big number and very close to hard-cover's 25%. I don't think print books will disappear anytime soon and still think it is a good medium for some books (text books, or book with heavy illustrations, etc.).
I wonder what will happen if Apple released some eBook reader. I bet that will change the numbers significantly.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Reading Walden.
Good stuff. I didn't care for the bits of Thoreau in high school, but it's clear that in book form his ideas build on each other and make him sound less pompous. I'm reading it in paper, which is a rarity for me this year.
I got Jane Eyre from the library; I doubt I'll get far but I'd like to have a frame of reference to at least one of the Brontes.
Good stuff. I didn't care for the bits of Thoreau in high school, but it's clear that in book form his ideas build on each other and make him sound less pompous. I'm reading it in paper, which is a rarity for me this year.
I got Jane Eyre from the library; I doubt I'll get far but I'd like to have a frame of reference to at least one of the Brontes.
Wait a second... That's why I had the book in the first place!
See, I do read stuff from the book thread!!! Let it not be said that I do not partake!
...eventually.
<3
Well, you also have to pay attention to the revenue numbers:
And remember, e-book sales growth has been slowing:
That article was written in 2013, so in 2012 the growth of e-books went from triple digit to forty-four percent; in 2013 e-book sales were up only 20%. I expect e-books will remain a niche for a long time to come.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
I had a lot of question about the methodology of the Nielsen survey, most of which I couldn't track down. Are they tracking indie books? I know they aren't tracking used books anymore, which makes direct comparison difficult, but did book sales OVERALL go up or down? And what makes Waterstones CEO think a decline in ebook growth could lead to an actual decline in eBooks? There's so much more research to be done on top of that - sales on the eReaders themselves, what books sell best in which format, and if poor ebook quality affects sales.
Too bad everyone wants to call the death of the ebook or paper book so quickly that nobody's willing to actually wonder why consumers act the way they do. The reporting on this topic annoys me.
The revenue numbers really emphasize that ebooks are selling for, on average, about half the cost of paper books. Could this be a rise of indie ebooks? Smaller, cheaper media that's easier to digitally produce and distribute? It doesn't strike me so much of a niche as a market slowly maturing and embracing its advantages. The real question is if the expansion of the types of books that the ebook market can give us will expand the book industry overall. It should, and that would be a good thing! A plateau is bad business.
Dance Inferno
Unconfirmed Member
My girlfriend and I are doing long distance and have decided to start reading books together (i.e., we both start reading the same book and we discuss it as we go). For our first book we chose The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I discovered through a suggestion on this thread. I ordered it on Amazon and it's arriving tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that!
Ah thank you, forgot about this. Placing my order right now.
Amazon sells an eReader for $79. Diversifying your product offering is a healthy business practice.
Ancillary Sword is really great. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Ancillary Justice (which was one of my favourite novels last year.)
Dance Inferno
Unconfirmed Member
I've always been pro-book anti-eReader but yesterday I was reading Clash of Kings for around an hour and by the end my hands were getting tired from carrying that massive tome. I'm still not sold on an eReader, but I'm definitely considering it.
Nappuccino
Member
I've had bad luck with e-books. I seem to catch way more typos in them than standard print and it's really annoying.
Finally finished the Book of the New Sun, I think Gene got a little too clever for me at the end there, maybe if I re-read it in a decade I'll pick up more of the clues.
I was going to read some Cherryh before Morgans "The Dark Defiles" comes out next week, but the Kindle selection is all over the place and I realised I'd accidentally bought The Urth of the New Sun, so I guess I'll be perplexed a little bit longer.
Does anyone know what happened to the re-release of the Chung Kuo series? It got up to book 8 and then seems to have halted (the original schedule released in 2010 had them planning to have all 19 books out by May this year). I never managed to track down a copy of the 8th novel in the original release, and while it's far from the best written series, I was wanting to see it through to the end this time.
I was going to read some Cherryh before Morgans "The Dark Defiles" comes out next week, but the Kindle selection is all over the place and I realised I'd accidentally bought The Urth of the New Sun, so I guess I'll be perplexed a little bit longer.
Does anyone know what happened to the re-release of the Chung Kuo series? It got up to book 8 and then seems to have halted (the original schedule released in 2010 had them planning to have all 19 books out by May this year). I never managed to track down a copy of the 8th novel in the original release, and while it's far from the best written series, I was wanting to see it through to the end this time.
Incandenza
Banned
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
I've been reading this for like a month and a half now and I'm only halfway through. I like it quite a bit though. Probably gonna check out Kay's other stuff afterwards.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Amazing book. One of my all time favorites. Check out A Song for Arbonne.
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
I've been reading this for like a month and a half now and I'm only halfway through. I like it quite a bit though. Probably gonna check out Kay's other stuff afterwards.
I'm currently a little over halfway through Wizard's First Rule
Plan on finishing it around the first week of November and I'll be moving Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind, which has been on my list since it came out.
I was doing well with the reading challenge and then I started on that book. I wont make my goal now. :-(
Tragicomedy
Member
Kindle Paperwhite is a game changer. I went fully digital when the original Kindle released and will never go back. A more comfortable reading experience, and entire library at my finger tips, and a built in night light.
If you enjoyed it the tetralogy, you should read The Urth of the New Sun. It is a coda to the rest of the series, and explains a lot of stuff (though not everything).
I'll start on it tonight, considering I bought it when I meant to buy book one of the New Sun!
And I'll chime in as another person who rates Tigana highly. Great fantasy novel.
Herpes Reasons
Banned
The above books I'm reading in large part due to my profession. I've only delved into the first but it's already been extremely enlightening. While the ideas are quite obvious and common sense, especially for those in sales, it's put together in a way that is memorable and impactful.
I haven't started the second yet but have heard great things, including from folks in this very thread.
Great book but some of the worst writing I've ever experienced not to mention the nausiating over-done patriotism. The concept is extremely interesting and concerning at the same time. I couldn't put it down.
Can't wait to jump into this. Mormonism is one of the most fascinating religions IMO. I expect this to just make it that much more interesting.
.
I'm in a real rut lately. Slowly made my way through The Golden Compass, which I thought was just okay, then gave up about 1/3 way through World War Z, then gave up about 1/2 way through Game of Thrones, then forced myself to finish Gone Girl (so I wouldn't go three incompletes in a row), and I just finished Catching Fire, which, again, I thought was just okay.
The only two books on my to-read list that are currently available as e-books from my library are Harry Potter 6 and Why We Get Fat. I don't think I'm up for tackling the former quite yet, so I'm going to do some non-fiction.
But, the idea of reading a really great piece of fiction is so enticing. People have been mentioning Stephen King books here and there in this thread, so I'm thinking that could be a good direction. I read The Green Mile years ago, but I think that's it of his. I don't know that I necessarily want something scary so, what would you guys recommend?
The only two books on my to-read list that are currently available as e-books from my library are Harry Potter 6 and Why We Get Fat. I don't think I'm up for tackling the former quite yet, so I'm going to do some non-fiction.
But, the idea of reading a really great piece of fiction is so enticing. People have been mentioning Stephen King books here and there in this thread, so I'm thinking that could be a good direction. I read The Green Mile years ago, but I think that's it of his. I don't know that I necessarily want something scary so, what would you guys recommend?
Tragicomedy
Member
You are falling behind the challenge for Terry Goodkind. I'll let that sink in...
I have an obligation to finish the first book and warn people how generic and bad it is!
sparky2112
Member
Before the announcement, I'm sure the money was one someone not American and SHOCK it wasn't an American.
I'm midway through a book but I'm really hankering for some more oral histories in the vein of Studs Turkel (though I've already read almost all of Studs Turkel, so none of his stuff, thanks). Recommendations? Preferably available on Kindle.
/edit Also, Max Brooks can't possibly be the only person to have made fiction in the form of oral history, can he? I found another one but which is self-described by the author as "World War Z with Dragons" so it seems a bit... derivative.
/edit Also, Max Brooks can't possibly be the only person to have made fiction in the form of oral history, can he? I found another one but which is self-described by the author as "World War Z with Dragons" so it seems a bit... derivative.
I made a terrible mistake. In my enthusiasm to get Mumei to read Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (National Book Award nominee and all around great novel), I offered a swap: I would read one book of his choosing, in return for him moving Wolf in White Van up his reading list.
Honestly, I thought he'd sling some non-fiction about gender relations at me. Nope. Instead he dropped The Story of the Stone on me. A five-volume, 120 chapter Chinese novel of manners.
And it is killing me. So much that I am here and now, very publicly, defaulting. I'm trying to make my 50/50, and it caused my reading pace to drag to a crawl. It's not bad, it's just not my kind of thing, and it's hard to keep my enthusiasm up.
I'll still read it, but not until I break my 50, which is already going to be tricky since I'll be doing Nanowrimo and I'm also doing several musical collaborations with the second GAF Tape.
Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.
So, instead, I switched to Nancy Kress's Probability Series (Thanks Aidan!) which is much more likely to allow me to make my fifty.
I'm a bad man, Mumei. I know this.
Not on ebook as far as I know, but if you love Studs Terkel you should try and track down Nam, by Mark Baker. Absolutely wonderful oral history of American soldiers in Vietnam.
Honestly, I thought he'd sling some non-fiction about gender relations at me. Nope. Instead he dropped The Story of the Stone on me. A five-volume, 120 chapter Chinese novel of manners.
And it is killing me. So much that I am here and now, very publicly, defaulting. I'm trying to make my 50/50, and it caused my reading pace to drag to a crawl. It's not bad, it's just not my kind of thing, and it's hard to keep my enthusiasm up.
I'll still read it, but not until I break my 50, which is already going to be tricky since I'll be doing Nanowrimo and I'm also doing several musical collaborations with the second GAF Tape.
Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.
So, instead, I switched to Nancy Kress's Probability Series (Thanks Aidan!) which is much more likely to allow me to make my fifty.
I'm a bad man, Mumei. I know this.
Not on ebook as far as I know, but if you love Studs Terkel you should try and track down Nam, by Mark Baker. Absolutely wonderful oral history of American soldiers in Vietnam.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Most typos are from the early text-recognition software. Nowadays they're trying to us the actual digital file instead of scanning when possible.
I'll certainly recommend 11/22/63 if you're looking for a Stephen King read. I loved it, and many folks here have enjoyed it as well.
Interesting read, and certainly something I was curious about as well.
I think I'll start this next. Maybe not right away, as I might let The Child Thief sink in a little since I enjoyed it so much.
The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale
Tsk, tsk!
I'm not really sure whether I'm surprised you aren't a fan (yet), since I realize now that I can't think of you talking about having read or enjoyed old classics. Or maybe it's just this one.
It's fantastic, though. I wouldn't worry too much about liking it or not initially. I still wasn't sure I had a grasp of the names until it shifted to the houses of the family, and I started having major characters (Daiyu, Grandmother Jia, Baoyu, Baochai, Wang Xi-Feng, etc.) who served as anchors for me to remember other characters by their relationships to those characters.
If anyone else is interesting reading it after besada's ringing endorsement, I'd suggest reading this article by John Minford, one of the translators of the English edition, "China's Story of the Stone: the best book you’ve never heard of"
In its native land, The Story of the Stone, as the book is also known – Stone for short – enjoys a unique status, comparable to the plays of Shakespeare. Apart from its literary merits, Chinese readers recommend it as the best starting point for any understanding of Chinese psychology, culture and society.
[...]
What is so special about this work? Why does it continue to cast its spell on today’s Chinese readers? One has to try to imagine a book that combines the qualities of Jane Austen – brilliantly observed accounts of Chinese psychology and personality, meticulous depiction of an aristocratic Chinese/Manchu household – with the grand sweep of a novel such as Vanity Fair or the works of Balzac. Its mood is allegorical, lyrical and philosophical. It leaves the reader with a visionary experience of the human condition, comparable to that of Proust. It’s a blend of Zen Buddhism and Taoism with the underlying theme of “seeing through the Red Dust” beyond the illusion of earthly “reality”.
The Stone narrates the journey of a sensitive soul towards enlightenment. That “soul” is Jia Baoyu, the incarnation of the “stone” of the title, a delicate teenager, a dreamer, a pampered aesthete “in love with love”. In the fifth chapter he retires from a family afternoon gathering to take a nap in the boudoir of his cousin Jia Rong’s beautiful young wife. His visit, in a dream, to the Land of Illusion is described, where a fairy named Disenchantment reveals the predestined futures of many of his girl-cousins and maids, at the same time gently berating him for being such a lustful creature (in his case it is Lust of the Mind). She initiates him into the art of love with a beautiful girl, Two-in-One, so called because she combines the charms of his two favourite girl-cousins. After the dream, his maid, Aroma, proceeds to practice with him some of the “lessons” taught him by the Fairy in his “initiatory dream”. This intertwining of desire and enlightenment, of passion and disenchantment, lies at the heart of the novel.
And yet, despite its philosophical and allegorical dimension, Stone is no Pilgrim’s Progress. It is full of fun and games, describing the illusion of daily “reality” in loving detail. Its pages make up a veritable encyclopedia of Chinese life, from the making of tea with last year’s melted snow, to the eating of crabs, the performing of lyrical opera and the writing of classical verse in every possible metre. To offset the large cast of upper-class characters, there is also a wonderful assortment of low-life personalities, old village dames, garrulous matrons, drunken retainers, martial artists, sing-song girls and theatrical performers. It convincingly describes the corruption and other social ills that beset China’s society in the late traditional period (and in many ways still do).
Its rich social tapestry, and its pervading philosophical theme, take this novel far beyond the scope of the sentimental Chinese novel so popular in the 18th century. Written just before the onset of China’s 19th-century decline, Stone captures brilliantly the “glory that was China”, and the knife edge on which that glory balanced. This is what makes it such essential reading today.
The Stone narrates the journey of a sensitive soul towards enlightenment. That “soul” is Jia Baoyu, the incarnation of the “stone” of the title, a delicate teenager, a dreamer, a pampered aesthete “in love with love”. In the fifth chapter he retires from a family afternoon gathering to take a nap in the boudoir of his cousin Jia Rong’s beautiful young wife. His visit, in a dream, to the Land of Illusion is described, where a fairy named Disenchantment reveals the predestined futures of many of his girl-cousins and maids, at the same time gently berating him for being such a lustful creature (in his case it is Lust of the Mind). She initiates him into the art of love with a beautiful girl, Two-in-One, so called because she combines the charms of his two favourite girl-cousins. After the dream, his maid, Aroma, proceeds to practice with him some of the “lessons” taught him by the Fairy in his “initiatory dream”. This intertwining of desire and enlightenment, of passion and disenchantment, lies at the heart of the novel.
And yet, despite its philosophical and allegorical dimension, Stone is no Pilgrim’s Progress. It is full of fun and games, describing the illusion of daily “reality” in loving detail. Its pages make up a veritable encyclopedia of Chinese life, from the making of tea with last year’s melted snow, to the eating of crabs, the performing of lyrical opera and the writing of classical verse in every possible metre. To offset the large cast of upper-class characters, there is also a wonderful assortment of low-life personalities, old village dames, garrulous matrons, drunken retainers, martial artists, sing-song girls and theatrical performers. It convincingly describes the corruption and other social ills that beset China’s society in the late traditional period (and in many ways still do).
Its rich social tapestry, and its pervading philosophical theme, take this novel far beyond the scope of the sentimental Chinese novel so popular in the 18th century. Written just before the onset of China’s 19th-century decline, Stone captures brilliantly the “glory that was China”, and the knife edge on which that glory balanced. This is what makes it such essential reading today.
I didn't read that until long after I'd read it myself; Piecake sold me on it first. But it does describe how I feel about it quite well.
Hey, now. I amended the deal; he actually gets to name three books since I went for something so disproportionately long, and I don't even know what the other two are yet!
nakedsushi
Member
^-- Yes, I've been trying to read more Chinese classics, but I admit that the biggest hurdle is from the names. It's so hard to keep the tabs on who is who in the beginning because of the unfamiliar names. This coming from a Chinese person.
AngmarsKing701
Member
ShamelessOpportunist
Banned
I'm reading The Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. It's extremely entertaining, especially if you take a shot of alcohol every time Shallan blushes.
In my experience, every single author has some odd quirks in their writing. Either they use one or more odd/rare words often, or a character always does something specific (braid-tugging for WoT fans...).
There's always something... and yes, they make drinking games very possible. And in some cases very, very dangerous.
Pretty sure TV tropes had some drinking game ideas...
Haaha yesss. After three or four pages you may be drunk enough to actually find her funny as well!
I'd do a book swap with Mumei if it meant he would read Oyasumi PunPun!
Don't be hating on my Shallan!
You know, I like many classics. But if you'd compared it to Jane Austen, I would have known it wasn't for me. And as I was reading, all I could think of was, this is like Jane Austen in Chinese.
I'll still finish it once I reach my fifty, though.