It's one of my all-time favorite novels. A magical ride from start to finish. You can do much worse than than breaking in your Kindle with Gaiman's best.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
What are you reading? (August 2012)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
It's one of my all-time favorite novels. A magical ride from start to finish. You can do much worse than than breaking in your Kindle with Gaiman's best.
Beautiful! This is exactly what I wanted to hear
Adventure stories are my absolute favorites.
Very fun read and one of Gaiman's best novels. I've always been in love with the premise, and Gaiman executes it very well.
ElectricBlue187
Member
They cut out the whole empathy theme from the movie, which I think makes the book stronger than the movie.
I'm reading
and besides the fuckawesome cover art the story is really competent space opera. In fact it was one of my favorite books I've read this year up until
space zombies
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
Yea I loved it also
It's his best standalone long-form story I think.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
It's great, arguably his best novel (although Coraline and Anansi Boys are pretty good too). Generally you can't go wrong whatever Gaiman you read, as long as you stay away from the snorefest that is American Gods.
choodi
Banned
That's how I am doing it too. Easier to keep track that way
Discworld is probably my favourite long-running anything ever. Starting from the beginning, you really get to see PTerry's style change and evolve, alongside Ankh-Morpork itself, especially once he starts getting seriously into world-building and world-changing.
Anyway, I finished this doozy.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
What's next for me, guys: The Time Traveller's Wife or The City & The City?
Anyway, I finished this doozy.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
What's next for me, guys: The Time Traveller's Wife or The City & The City?
I personally couldn't get through The Time Traveller's Wife, but i was put off by the premise and the writing wasn't good enough to keep me going. I've never read anything by China Miéville... maybe I should get on that.
After putting down The Lacuna, Blood Meridian, and Winter's Tale - all at least in part because I didn't feel anything for the protagonists - I'm picking up Year of the Flood. I enjoyed Oryx and Crake and it was the only apocalyptic novel that genuinely made me feel angry and hopeless, so I'm interested in seeing how Atwood pulls off a sequel.
I would say keep in mind that Time Traveler's Wife is primarily a romance with a scifi element to mix things up a bit. It doesn't do anything particularly interesting with the concept, I think. I'd recommend it if you just want a quick ready and some romance.
Can't comment on The City & The City as I haven't read it.
nakedsushi
Member
They cut out the whole empathy theme from the movie, which I think makes the book stronger than the movie.
I'm reading
and besides the fuckawesome cover art the story is really competent space opera. In fact it was one of my favorite books I've read this year up untilmade an appearance. Still loving it though and I highly recommend it!space zombies
Yeah. I just re-watched Blade Runner (Final Cut) again after reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which was probably a mistake because before, I thought the movie was great, but now it's only so-so. I usually hate re-makes, but I hope someone remakes Do Androids... and leaves in the empathy and robo-animals. I'd bet Wong Kar Wai could make a good version.
I thought the same thing about Leviathan Wakes. It was totally awesome space-opera noir and then BAM
Dead Space zombie game
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
The
vomit zombies
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
It doesn't dominate the book at all. I just finished the book yesterday and I have no idea what you're talking about. Unless you simply didn't like the direction the book took with the
proto molecule, the infected space station, etc
space zombies running around
considering how the latter half of the novel deals with the
how they're going to deal with the zombie shit
zombie shit
a bunch of soldiers getting killed by a space zombie monster
proto molecules is the in-universe equivalent of the t-virus or whatever infection vector that zombie plots use.
There aren't any actual zombies in the book. All you have are a few short sections with infected humans who are called "vomit zombies" because they're falling apart. But even in that part of the book, the protagonists are fighting goons from Protogen when they're trying to escape from the infection on Eros. They're not killing deadly alien zombies.
The book is not a take on Dead Space, its not about zombies, it's about a space station where the population has been killed for a huge experiment with an alien proto-molecule that was supposed to have landed on Earth two billion years ago and has now been found. It functions as a deadly alien virus that gobbles up people and transforms them into something unknown. But there are no fucking zombies. Even when Miller gets back onto Eros, he's just wandering through a transformed space station but he's not fighting zombies on every corner.
The book is not a take on Dead Space, its not about zombies, it's about a space station where the population has been killed for a huge experiment with an alien proto-molecule that was supposed to have landed on Earth two billion years ago and has now been found. It functions as a deadly alien virus that gobbles up people and transforms them into something unknown. But there are no fucking zombies. Even when Miller gets back onto Eros, he's just wandering through a transformed space station but he's not fighting zombies on every corner.
I definitely recommend trying it. I mean, there are so many characters and so much going on (What do you mean I should know who this character is? Wait, I know that name. Oh, it's the family name of some character from 60 years ago who I am fairly sure hasn't shown up in a thousand pages! etc.) and so many references to places where I don't really have the firmest grasp of where they are in relation to one another that I'm really only getting about a tenth of what I could be getting... and it is still great.
I finished up the fourth volume, which means that I am now on Volume V and on page 2457, though remember half the pages are in Chinese, so that's really more like 1229.
In less world literature-ish news, I also started reading the Hikaru no Go manga. I have seen the anime twice before, but never read the manga. Through 12 volumes now.
Finished it last night and really enjoyed the read, although the ending could have been longer in my opinion.
What annoyed me though was the kindle edition since the embedded font is a catastrophe(my default setting is the minimal font size, but the embedded one itself is halve that, so no cross reading without changing it every time) and overall the formatting is non existent(no chapter marks).
Are there any other novels with a similar setting other than Bioshock and Sphere?
You might like Starfish by Peter Watts
Taking my e-reader with me on holiday was a good idea, did some fun reading:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
I liked, maybe even loved, every single one of them.
Not sure what to read next, I think I will continue with the Ender's Saga since I very much enjoyed it.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
I liked, maybe even loved, every single one of them.
Not sure what to read next, I think I will continue with the Ender's Saga since I very much enjoyed it.
Maklershed
Member
If you want more Hunter S. Thompson I highly recommend Hell's Angels.
ElectricBlue187
Member
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges
A book appropriate for our times. Really good and unsettling read.
O.M.G. Never been sold so well from just a blurb. Thanks for the post.
Easily my favorite book. Its been a while since ive read it. Kinda tempted now to re-read it again... Oh, An easy way to solve your issue is to read more Dostoevsky!
Personally, my second favorite is Demons, followed by C&P and then The Idiot. Notes from Underground is probably between CP and the Idiot, but well, thats a novella
I also got a pretty similar Dostoevskian vibe off of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain due to his characcters being archetypes for philosophies while still feeling real, believable and dynamic. Naphta is quite the interesting characcter
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Man I love this thread. Those two last posts look like fantastic books.
I just picked up:
"Days of Destruction" and
"The Brothers Karamazov"
I just picked up:
"Days of Destruction" and
"The Brothers Karamazov"
Maklershed
Member
Oh dear. I loved Crime and Punishment when I read it way back in 2007 or 2008. I have been meaning to read The Brothers Karamazov for yeeeaaars but for some reason I've never gotten myself to do it. All these posts about it are really making it move way up on my priorities list.
I read a bit of an excerpt of the novel in The Grand Inquisitor: With Related Chapters from the Brothers Karamazov, but the translated chapters were the Constance Garnett translation, which I know isn't nearly as good as the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation.
Mackenzie 92
Member
I would be down, but I think you should just make it free form, no milestones or anything like that.
Id definitely be down, though GW2 does come out soon...
Still, it would be awesome to discuss TBK with a few people and I will probably end up writing a huge bit talking about some of the novels themes if the book is chosen. I just wont be able to help myself
My brother has my copy of TBK though... It is the McDuff translation, so i guess i could always buy a new one for the P&V translation
I'd so be up for that. As Kurt Vonnegut wrote in slaughterhouse five:
There is one other book, that can teach you everything you need to know about life...it's The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, but that's not enough anymore.
So i assume neogaf + karamazov should be enough to know all about life, right?
Emerson
May contain jokes =>
Totally on board with that. I want to read it but need some motivation.
bengraven
Member
I know we've already had a lot of people chiming in, but I have to add mine.
Stardust was my first novel by Gaiman and in fact my first fantasy novel since childhood - I read it on a whim after finding it in an airport book store in 2000.
It was instantly one of my favorite books of all time and I started reading very slowly to make sure the story last longer. I had it finished in less than a day still, because I was carrying it while on the bus, while lying in bed, while eating breakfast, while walking to the bustop, and between airplanes (was working as a baggage handler).
Read it three more times, then bought the illustrated version but haven't read it since because it's SO good that I want to save it for a period when it's needed most...like Gandalf showing up at the end of the battle of Helm's Deep.
I would be up for this. It's currently on my books to buy list, I just couldn't decide on a translation, but I guess as everyone will likely be reading the P&V translation I would too.
There is no deciding on translators when reading Russian translated into English. It is always Pevear & Volokhonsky.
And your avatar keeps tempting me to catch up on Berserk, even though I am fairly sure there have only been about 5 or 6 chapters since I last looked.
Eh, I actually prefer this translation of The Master and Margarita
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0679760806/?tag=neogaf0e-20
to P&V
But yea, if youre wondering about Dostoevsky translations, just read about 5 pages of each translation and see what you like best. Personally, its P&V for me
Crap, I just bought the P&V translation of Master and Margarita.
From what I've read of the different TBK translations, non-P&V can read a little more clearly but loses some of the flavor of the text. I notice that the dialogue is more straightforward in say the Garnett version, but P&V's conversations feel more, uh, conversational. Maybe for a re-read I'll try a different version.
From what I've read of the different TBK translations, non-P&V can read a little more clearly but loses some of the flavor of the text. I notice that the dialogue is more straightforward in say the Garnett version, but P&V's conversations feel more, uh, conversational. Maybe for a re-read I'll try a different version.
Hmm. The reason I didn't join the Master and Margarita book club (even though I said I would) was because I just couldn't like the P&V, but couldn't commit to the Glenny either, when people said the P&V was superior.
However. I'm not going to do that again.
As for Berserk, I haven't checked in about six months, I like to wait so that some actual plot developments have time to accumulate.
edit: LOL @ Master and Margarita
haha, lot of Master and Margarita translation discussion. But yea, just read the first few paragraphs of the Burgin translation and compare it to the P&V. Personally, I much prefer the Burgin translation
footnotes are far superior