3.5 years flies by when you have read 125-150 books since then.
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What are you reading? (April 2017)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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3.5 years flies by when you have read 125-150 books since then.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Finished up:
And now a little over 1/4 through:
While I enjoyed Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates is so much better in nearly every single way that it feels like it's written by a completely different author. Erikson's writing improved so much between the two books it's crazy. I loved Deadhouse Gates, and moved directly onto Memories of Ice once I finished.
Memories of Ice is great so far, and somehow it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. That's not a joke--amidst all the chaos and doom, there is some hilarious and sarcastic dialogue. Erikson is great at humor.
I will say, the Malazan series is so fucking crazy, the concepts and ideas so bizarre and chaotic, that even now--especially now, I'd say--I often find myself going, "What the fuck?" Memories of Ice is just "wut" after "wut," and some of the convenient revelations that drive the plot forward can become too much to handle. That's my major gripe with the series so far, so to enjoy it on the macro level I need to sort of chill and let the torrent take me wherever.
This fucking guy Erikson... I don't understand how he comes up with some of this shit.
And now a little over 1/4 through:
While I enjoyed Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates is so much better in nearly every single way that it feels like it's written by a completely different author. Erikson's writing improved so much between the two books it's crazy. I loved Deadhouse Gates, and moved directly onto Memories of Ice once I finished.
Memories of Ice is great so far, and somehow it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. That's not a joke--amidst all the chaos and doom, there is some hilarious and sarcastic dialogue. Erikson is great at humor.
I will say, the Malazan series is so fucking crazy, the concepts and ideas so bizarre and chaotic, that even now--especially now, I'd say--I often find myself going, "What the fuck?" Memories of Ice is just "wut" after "wut," and some of the convenient revelations that drive the plot forward can become too much to handle. That's my major gripe with the series so far, so to enjoy it on the macro level I need to sort of chill and let the torrent take me wherever.
This fucking guy Erikson... I don't understand how he comes up with some of this shit.
Custom DnD campaigns.
EDIT: It was GURPS! Him and Ian Cameron Esslemont created the universe while nerding out 35 years ago. Now they both write their fantasy books in that universe.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Oh yeah, that's what I like to hear. Gardens of the Moon was solid, but not like mind-blowing or anything, so I'm very excited to hear more and more people share this opinion. Real deep into P5 so I won't start right now, but I think I'll pick up DG in a couple of weeks.
GotM had a lot of crazy shit in it already, can't wait to see the insanity that supposedly goes down in the later books.
Shai-Tan
Banned
Cass Sunstein #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media
Julian Baggini The Edge of Reason
Julian Baggini The Edge of Reason
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
To put into perspective, I got a feel for the personality and visual identity of characters like Kalam and Fiddler in ONE page of dialogue in DH than I did in the entirety of GotM. That's not an exaggeration.
Beyond characterization, DH and MoI are so much better paced and far more adherent to a cohesive, traditional storytelling structure.
sparky2112
Member
Really liked Deadhouse Gates, but that's as far as I got through the series. Thank TOR for the detailed read/reread so that you don't have to necessarily backtrack, even though it's been 3-4 years since I read DG....
TwntyOneTwlv
Member
I finished listening to It Can't Happen Here. It was alright I suppose. The comparisons to President Dumbass are striking, at least at first. I don't think Trump is anywhere near smart enough to pull off what Buzz does here. Once the country goes full Nazi, I found myself getting bored and just waiting for the book to end. I didn't care much for any of the characters, and the plot felt more like a sequence of events rather than a cohesive whole. And then the ending just kinda happens.
Finished Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames tonight and it's honestly the best fantasy book I've read in a long while. Full of balls to the wall action, great characters, humor, awesome rock n' roll/pop references and just a hella good epic time. The sequel cannot come soon enough.
With that, it's time to crack open a beer and start reading Adventures of the Mad Monk Ji Gong: The Drunken Wisdom of China's Famous Chan Buddhist Monk by Guo Xiaoting.
With that, it's time to crack open a beer and start reading Adventures of the Mad Monk Ji Gong: The Drunken Wisdom of China's Famous Chan Buddhist Monk by Guo Xiaoting.
I've read two novels in the last six months that called to mind Wes Anderson's film The Grand Budapest Hotel, albeit in different ways; if Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow was the elegiac aspects of Anderson's depiction of Old World gentlemanliness in the midst of the churn of the 20th century, Undermajordomo Minor is Anderson's screwball, deadpan, sometimes perverse sense of humour writ throughout its pages. It is consistently funny throughout, and at times rather moving in its depictions of its characters, though the escalating oddities in the book's final third are perhaps somewhat less interesting than what came before. All the same, I highly enjoyed reading it, and the short chapters make it a very easy book to work one's way through.
Finished up BJ Novak's "One More Thing" (I won't post the cover image since it's just white with black text), and I have to say, definitely impressed. I wasn't sure what to expect since I just knew him as the writer from The Office, but I'm glad I got to see another side of him. I have a great admiration for comedy writers, maybe naively since I've only read about what their lives are like, but I do know that it has to be extremely taxing to come up with bits that will make people laugh consistently. BJ's book seemed effortless - and not just because most of the stories were short - and had the feel of someone who had a lot of interesting views on everyday life and couldn't wait to jot them down. And since the stories are short (and all funny, btw), I ended up reading "just one more" so often that I finished the book in three days.
Pro tip: For all you Goodreads folks who set a yearly goal of books to read but find yourself a little behind, I highly recommend this one. Even if you're not in the mood for a "funny book", I can't imagine stopping this read once you start. I'm back on goal now - 8 books so far this year (woo hoo!)
Pro tip: For all you Goodreads folks who set a yearly goal of books to read but find yourself a little behind, I highly recommend this one. Even if you're not in the mood for a "funny book", I can't imagine stopping this read once you start. I'm back on goal now - 8 books so far this year (woo hoo!)
Finished Kameron Hurley's The Stars are Legion last night. I enjoyed it. Very much space opera at its most operatic. Planet-sized ships, strange abilities, a society composed entirely of women, cephalopod guns, living shuttles, and all sorts of other craziness. I hope she does more with the series, as I enjoyed it much more than the Worldbreaker books I read.
Oh, before that it was 2140 New York by Kim Stanley Robinson. I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of his Mars books, in the sense that it centers on a small group of friends and acquaintances, and it's mostly about trying to rebuild a New York whose streets are fifty feet under water. It is also very much a political book with a strong political viewpoint that Globalism has driven the climate crisis and will continue to drive it and income inequality. It is not a book fond of traditional capitalism, although one of the major players is a financial specialist.
Oh, before that it was 2140 New York by Kim Stanley Robinson. I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of his Mars books, in the sense that it centers on a small group of friends and acquaintances, and it's mostly about trying to rebuild a New York whose streets are fifty feet under water. It is also very much a political book with a strong political viewpoint that Globalism has driven the climate crisis and will continue to drive it and income inequality. It is not a book fond of traditional capitalism, although one of the major players is a financial specialist.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Reading that now. Not very far into it, but liking it so far.
Funyarinpa
Member
1Q84 is incredible holy shit. Top tier Murakami
I've been trying for months to read Before The Fall. For some reason it clicked today and I read the entire book in one setting.
Noah Hawley is a genius. He manages to leave just enough doubt in the reader's mind about who was responsible for the plane crash, even extending to the protagonist. Great mystery novel.
Noah Hawley is a genius. He manages to leave just enough doubt in the reader's mind about who was responsible for the plane crash, even extending to the protagonist. Great mystery novel.
Maklershed
Member
Alastair Reynold's new book is $2.99 today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXW2IUQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
I'm only a couple of chapters into Deadhouse Gates, but I'm definitely enjoying the absolute hell out of this so far. There are some insanely hard to parse phrases here and there for a non-native speaker such as myself, but otherwise it has been fairly easy to follow. Taking it slow, reading maybe a chapter or two a day.
I don't really remember much about GotM - I should probably read a summary or something - but I gotta say I love all the ridiculously epic names for everything. Hood, Lord of Death, The Year of the Cull, Judgement's Round, Avenue of Souls, Season of Rot, Queen of Dreams, Dryjhna The Apocalyptic, High Fist... There's SO MUCH of this sort of stuff and I love it.
I wonder if all of his books are as.. Well, dry, as Revelation Space is. I really wanted to like it, but I guess it was a bit too hard sci-fi for me, cause I didn't really want to read info dumps upon info dumps about the technology and such.
I don't really remember much about GotM - I should probably read a summary or something - but I gotta say I love all the ridiculously epic names for everything. Hood, Lord of Death, The Year of the Cull, Judgement's Round, Avenue of Souls, Season of Rot, Queen of Dreams, Dryjhna The Apocalyptic, High Fist... There's SO MUCH of this sort of stuff and I love it.
Alastair Reynold's new book is $2.99 today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXW2IUQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
I wonder if all of his books are as.. Well, dry, as Revelation Space is. I really wanted to like it, but I guess it was a bit too hard sci-fi for me, cause I didn't really want to read info dumps upon info dumps about the technology and such.
Funyarinpa
Member
Alastair Reynold's new book is $2.99 today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXW2IUQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
Hm... Would like a couple impressions on this book and the author overall. Could bite.
I finished this today,
It was pretty good, I'd give it 8/10.
It's a story you've probably heard many times before, about a shy, uncool girl at high school befriends another outsider, together they both plan to get revenge on the head bitch etc etc
It took some pretty dark turns at times, especially towards the end. I guess it was kind of predictable in a way, but still enjoyable. A definite grim representation of what it means to be a teenage girl struggling to find their place in the world.
It was pretty good, I'd give it 8/10.
It's a story you've probably heard many times before, about a shy, uncool girl at high school befriends another outsider, together they both plan to get revenge on the head bitch etc etc
It took some pretty dark turns at times, especially towards the end. I guess it was kind of predictable in a way, but still enjoyable. A definite grim representation of what it means to be a teenage girl struggling to find their place in the world.
I don't think the problem was it being hard sci-fi alone, it was the characters also being as you put it dry. Totally put me off reading any of the follow up books (though I've read that the follow ups remedy that some).
But I mean, minor spoilers
the story spans decades
(Khouri),
Frankenstrat
Member
The Color of Magic. It's pretty great.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
Rug Monkey
Member
I liked Revenger a lot, I didn't like Revelation Space much and didn't finish it. Revenger is like a Steampunk Sci fi coming of age whodunnit with Pirate-y, Jules Verne-y undertones, and I founf it had character, even the Robot. So if that gives you timber then go for it
Ravensmash
Member
Entered the final quarter of Game of Thrones.
... If there wasn't enough names to remember (Karstark... Really??) , now we're entering geography territory.
I really really love it though, and I'm beginning to get into the habit of not overthinking it.
Opinions though... Should I go straight on to Clash of Kings or would I be okay to take a break?
I'm fancying some light reading.
... If there wasn't enough names to remember (Karstark... Really??) , now we're entering geography territory.
I really really love it though, and I'm beginning to get into the habit of not overthinking it.
Opinions though... Should I go straight on to Clash of Kings or would I be okay to take a break?
I'm fancying some light reading.
Been reading two fascinating books the last week:
China's Hidden Children overturns a lot of received myths I've read or heard over the years about the provenance of Chinese girls adopted in the U.S. (standard story: one child policy, cultural preference for boys, no one wants these girls) with stories about the heroic efforts Chinese parents went to in order to keep girls or adopt girls or find Chinese parents for the girls they were unable to think, and the inhumane lengths that local officials often went to in abrogating parental rights. After having read it, it makes perfect sense that this is what happens.
Shakespeare and the Poets' War places Shakespeare in the theatrical context of his times, and particularly within the War of Theaters or Poetomachia in 15991601, which featured a contest of ideas of Jonson against Marston, Dekker, and Shakespeare, with featuredrival dramatists featured in various ways, such as by a character directly quoting a rival's words in an insulting way (one of Jonson's characters feeds emetic pills to another, which causes him to vomit forth words of Marstons), or oblique insulting references to a rival's personal foibles (e.g. as when Shakespeare portrays Ajax in Troilus and Cressida assaulting Thersites, where both characters are made to represent Jonson (Ajax) and Marston (Thersites) through a series of allusions and, in Marstons' case, the way Thersites' dialogue is written) and a connection then to Jonson's own physical assault of Marston, which he commemorated in, of course, poetry). It's fascinating stuff, especially seeing the way they influenced one another, quoted one another. It's really interesting seeing the first cycle of Jonson's initial volley, then Marston's first response, then Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (the title makes more sense to me now than it did before), then Jonson's update of his first volley (with new scenes added), and then Marston clearly borrowing from what Shakespeare did in As You Like It (setting, structure, language, etc.).
I'm just now getting to Twelfth Night, or What You Will in the second phase, and I'm looking forward to more. I love the explication of the arguments being presented through drama.
China's Hidden Children overturns a lot of received myths I've read or heard over the years about the provenance of Chinese girls adopted in the U.S. (standard story: one child policy, cultural preference for boys, no one wants these girls) with stories about the heroic efforts Chinese parents went to in order to keep girls or adopt girls or find Chinese parents for the girls they were unable to think, and the inhumane lengths that local officials often went to in abrogating parental rights. After having read it, it makes perfect sense that this is what happens.
Shakespeare and the Poets' War places Shakespeare in the theatrical context of his times, and particularly within the War of Theaters or Poetomachia in 15991601, which featured a contest of ideas of Jonson against Marston, Dekker, and Shakespeare, with featuredrival dramatists featured in various ways, such as by a character directly quoting a rival's words in an insulting way (one of Jonson's characters feeds emetic pills to another, which causes him to vomit forth words of Marstons), or oblique insulting references to a rival's personal foibles (e.g. as when Shakespeare portrays Ajax in Troilus and Cressida assaulting Thersites, where both characters are made to represent Jonson (Ajax) and Marston (Thersites) through a series of allusions and, in Marstons' case, the way Thersites' dialogue is written) and a connection then to Jonson's own physical assault of Marston, which he commemorated in, of course, poetry). It's fascinating stuff, especially seeing the way they influenced one another, quoted one another. It's really interesting seeing the first cycle of Jonson's initial volley, then Marston's first response, then Shakespeare's "As You Like It" (the title makes more sense to me now than it did before), then Jonson's update of his first volley (with new scenes added), and then Marston clearly borrowing from what Shakespeare did in As You Like It (setting, structure, language, etc.).
I'm just now getting to Twelfth Night, or What You Will in the second phase, and I'm looking forward to more. I love the explication of the arguments being presented through drama.
Phenomena by Annie Jacobsen. It's about the government's experiments with esp and other psychic abilities. About a third of the way tgrough it. Some really things I learned include the propaganda newspapers the British planted in Germany to trick one Nazi officer who was deep into the occult and horoscopes. And that lots of people are willing to donate a ton of money so that ESP experiments can be conducted. And that magic mushrooms don't make you psychic.
I finished An Unattractive Vampire a few days ago. It's about an ancient and evil vampire who wakes up in modern times where vampires are basically what you see on Twilight and various MTV/CW shows. The book is funny, but nothing groundbreaking. I gave it a 3 on Goodreads.
I am about 25% of the way through Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. It took awhile to grab me. I came close to dropping it in those first 30 pages as I wasn't feeling it at the time, but it progressively became more interesting.
I am about 25% of the way through Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. It took awhile to grab me. I came close to dropping it in those first 30 pages as I wasn't feeling it at the time, but it progressively became more interesting.
Dandy Lyin
Member
I finally dove back into the Wax and Wayne books last week -- finished Shadows of Self on Saturday morning, and Bands of Mourning last night. Overall, I really enjoyed them... especially when compared to Alloy of Law, which I found a bit forgettable. Some of the characters are a bit ridiculous(Wayne, Steris), but it works for the most part.
I'm probably going to plow through Mistborn: Secret History next, and then I'll have to figure out what to read after that. I've been wanting to read The Way of Kings for a while now, but wanted to finish all of the Mistborn books first. Now I may need a Sanderson break before I start it.
I'm probably going to plow through Mistborn: Secret History next, and then I'll have to figure out what to read after that. I've been wanting to read The Way of Kings for a while now, but wanted to finish all of the Mistborn books first. Now I may need a Sanderson break before I start it.
I finished Lovecraft Country earlier in the month and really liked it. If I hadn't been given a hint as to what it was like before reading it I might have been disappointed with the low amount of Lovecraftian moments, but since I was I just enjoyed the ride.
Just finished Kings of the Wyld and loved it. It was everything I expected and more out of jamming together metal bands and Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy. I am a bit disappointed that future books in the series will feature different bands, but I will definitely give them a try.
Debating betweens reading Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan, Red Sister by Mark Lawrence, or something completely different next.
Best part of the book was definitely the planetary travel.
Just finished Kings of the Wyld and loved it. It was everything I expected and more out of jamming together metal bands and Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy. I am a bit disappointed that future books in the series will feature different bands, but I will definitely give them a try.
Debating betweens reading Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan, Red Sister by Mark Lawrence, or something completely different next.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
I need to reread this series. It is so highly regarded I feel like I missed something. I thought it was the very definition of "okay."
Take a break if you want to. It's not all that hard to remember where you left off when Clash starts.
SlaughterX
Banned
GAF
how is it? stimulating?
I could send you an essay about it that I liked, if you're interested! It increased my appreciation of the book, though I was already taken with it.
Can you post a link here? I own the series, but I've always been hesitant to start reading it for fear of 'not getting it.'
Funyarinpa
Member
Finished Book Two of 1Q84. Amazing book so far, Murakami amplified his style to the max. Heard some say that Book Three is where the novel/trilogy shits the bed, though.
I started Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series with the first Omnibus. The basic idea is that parallel universes exist and a very small number of people can world-walk, all of them related. Enter our protagonist, an adopted girl found in the dead arms of her mother, now grown up into a journalist, who comes into possession of her mother's locket, which contains a sigil that causes her to world-walk for the first time. She stumbles into the middle of a thirty year fight, and turns the entire thing on its head.
Fun stuff.
Fun stuff.
I expect the number of people in the world who have read Johannes V. Jensen before anything by Stephen King is fairly low, but here I am. This collection of four novellas has famously spawned three film adaptations, two of them considered all-time classics (I haven't seen Apt Pupil, but its reception was not remotely in that league). Story-by-story comments:
1. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" - this is a good story, but in reading it my main takeaway was enhanced appreciation for what an amazing scripting job Frank Darabont did with the film, because he took a good story and made it genuinely great via expansion. It's remarkable to see how he repurposed small bits of King's writing here and made them into subplots or enhanced the themes and character arcs, and how many of the most iconic moments were invented out of whole-cloth.
2. "Apt Pupil" - this is subtitled "Summer of Corruption" (in keeping with the really tenuous seasonal theme), but I'm not sure that really works since both of the main characters seem to have been entirely corrupt to start with (I guess Todd gets worse over the course of the events, but he already comes across as a budding sociopath in the beginning). Unlike the other filmed versions, as I said, I hadn't seen the film, so of the longer stories this was the most involving for that reason. In the times of alt-right resurgence, it's interesting to revisit King's depiction of the lure of fascist ideology to certain subsets of the population.
3. "The Body" - whereas The Shawshank Redemption made a lot of additions to its source material, Stand By Me turns out to be a pretty literal translation of "The Body", so there's less to be surprised about here. It's very good. I will say, I think the film's decision to
have only Chris die instead of all three companions was a good one. It feels more moderate and realistic.
4. "The Breathing Method" - saddled with a lengthy framing device that doesn't add much, but the story-within-a-story is pretty solid, and the closest the collection comes to King's normal genre.
Sorry, but no.
It's not that I'm unwilling to share it with anyone who is interested; the problem is that it comes from a book; it isn't posted online somewhere]. I typed up the essay from the book from a friend and since it is 10,500 words it's just a bit too long to dump into a random topic. :|
I also don't think it's the kind of thing you want to read before reading the book. If you're worried about "not getting it," you should check out Lexicon Urthus. It has a fairly indepth lexicon of terms in the book, which are all real, but often archaic, words. And it also has a synopsis of the narrative that very clearly explains the blow-by-blow of the plot if you feel like you've lost the thread. You should also read The Urth of the New Sun after, which was written as a coda and explicitly reveals a lot that was sub rosa in the tetralogy.
The breadth of the world Martin created is whats so addictive about it. You can spend hours thinking about backstories for minor characters and how they affect each other. I would keep reading till book 3 and then take a break.
Finished Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands. My favorite so far, especially the last act.
Now onto something new. Have a whole lot to choose from. Tried the kindle sample of The Girl Who Circumnavigate​d Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but it was too similar to The Moving Castle. I really don't enjoy these endless descriptions. I'm more of a dialogue kinda guy. Read the A Darker Shade of Magic sample and it's quite interesting. I'm kinda craving fantasy though, so might go with The Fell Sword instead.
Now onto something new. Have a whole lot to choose from. Tried the kindle sample of The Girl Who Circumnavigate​d Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but it was too similar to The Moving Castle. I really don't enjoy these endless descriptions. I'm more of a dialogue kinda guy. Read the A Darker Shade of Magic sample and it's quite interesting. I'm kinda craving fantasy though, so might go with The Fell Sword instead.
Ravensmash
Member
That's reassuring haha. Thanks.
My fault is that I'm fairly obsessive about remembering small details, and in a book like this it seems almost impossible. Names will be dropped left right and centre, random excerpts of history dropped too.
I'm also struggling to visualise a lot of the minor characters as they all fall into a very similar category.
I'll likely take a break and read something nice and simple before ploughing through the others.
I just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and I don't know exactly how I feel about it. I suppose, it was interesting enough to finish but the story just really drags with pretty weak and anti-climactic ending. Shadow's, er, blandness is somewhat refreshing but it kind of makes his later choices just pretty contrived and implausible. I can see Gaiman going for a meta-structure of American Gods being a modern Hero/Saviour myth, so the actions that happen just happen 'cause that's what happens in Hero myths. So only the bare minimum in-universe justification is needed.
However, Gaiman also over-explains somethings that are pretty much expected (and is pretty vague about more interesting events) so it also comes across as if the reader is supposed to be surprised. Then again, maybe the whole thing is supposed to feel anti-climatic, i dunno.
it's got enough interesting aspects to recommend, but I'm not sure I really get all the critical acclaim and regard for it.
However, Gaiman also over-explains somethings that are pretty much expected (and is pretty vague about more interesting events) so it also comes across as if the reader is supposed to be surprised. Then again, maybe the whole thing is supposed to feel anti-climatic, i dunno.
it's got enough interesting aspects to recommend, but I'm not sure I really get all the critical acclaim and regard for it.
Continuing my theme of being unfocused, I started another book today:
I've only read the introduction and a bit more, so not much to say. It's fairly interesting, but nothing I wasn't vaguely aware of yet.
I thought it was utter tedium, and it was especially disappointing since I'd liked what I'd read previously by him quite a bit.
I've only read the introduction and a bit more, so not much to say. It's fairly interesting, but nothing I wasn't vaguely aware of yet.
I thought it was utter tedium, and it was especially disappointing since I'd liked what I'd read previously by him quite a bit.
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