Hobbit is good. There's always the Flashman novels after that for pure entertainment.
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What are you reading? (February 2012)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Hobbit is good. There's always the Flashman novels after that for pure entertainment.
Clever Pun
Member
I'd also recommend The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud for some more modern fantasy, or the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan for some light-hearted action adventure. Percy Jackson skews a little younger, but if you know that going into them they can be fun.
The Hobbit is definitely better than both of these series, but if you are just looking for something easy an fun to read they should fit the bill.
Finished The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung. Pretty good, but I think I would've been fine just reading the preface. I love the concept, but the actual book left me kinda cold.
Started:
About the assassinations in 1992 of Iranian dissidents in Berlin. Good stuff, but what makes it so readable also hampers it somewhat. All the people she writes about are reduced to cartoon heroes or villains--it reads like a novel, but there's something that feels less than authentic about the whole thing.
Started:
About the assassinations in 1992 of Iranian dissidents in Berlin. Good stuff, but what makes it so readable also hampers it somewhat. All the people she writes about are reduced to cartoon heroes or villains--it reads like a novel, but there's something that feels less than authentic about the whole thing.
bengraven
Member
Just won these on eBay for literally 1/4 of the cost. It's only half the entire set, but the set goes for $350-400 on Amazon.
The Old West Time-Life series. Literally the best, most informative and entertaining historical series I've ever read. Every page is perfection. I completely forgot they existed until I found four of them at the local library a few months ago. I remember my dad having a few of them and I didn't care about them as a kid, but then again I hated the Old West, too. Things have changed recently.
The Old West Time-Life series. Literally the best, most informative and entertaining historical series I've ever read. Every page is perfection. I completely forgot they existed until I found four of them at the local library a few months ago. I remember my dad having a few of them and I didn't care about them as a kid, but then again I hated the Old West, too. Things have changed recently.
bengraven
Member
Found this at my library on sale for 80 cents. Yeah paper books!
Anyway, it's pretty good so far and I'm so glad that Hunger Games and it have nothing to do with each other storywise (So far). Why do people make fake comparisons?
I would really love to read these; I listened to about 2 hours of one of the Ender books on NPR one weekend a few years ago and liked his writing a lot. I just worry about the propoganda that you hear so much about.
I'm not getting the propaganda too much right now. The most disturbing thing for me is that these are kids. It's the same thing that bugged me about Hunger Games (Not in a bad way), but these guys are much younger. So I'm curious to see just how bad it gets for them.
Looks like I have a new series to read at this point.
Maklershed
Member
Finished "Three Hearts and Three Lions" yesterday. A very enjoyable quick and easy read.
Next:
Depressing one there
I wouldn't worry about it. Ender's Game was written when he wasn't a total nut, iirc.
not to pile on, but dude....
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Lol. . If you have a mind you should be able to discern and digest content as opposed to fearing or worrying of exposure to it.
As a second, I love audio books. Audio books can be great.
The first four books in the Ender series are great books, and the propaganda isn't entirely there in the beginning, really. The ideals are about absent from Ender's Game, rear their head a tiny bit in Speaker, a bit more in Xenocide, and even more by Children, lol. "A War of Gifts," which came much later, is nuts though, just nuts. I finished it not too long ago, and couldn't even tell how the book was related within the endless stream of church-speak.
nakedsushi
Member
Finished this, which I really enjoyed.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I was always put off by people saying this is the female Catcher In The Rye because I didn't like that book and thought it was too forced. But I'm glad I finally read The Bell Jar. It's brutally honest without being overly cynical.
Now I'm reading:
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I was always put off by people saying this is the female Catcher In The Rye because I didn't like that book and thought it was too forced. But I'm glad I finally read The Bell Jar. It's brutally honest without being overly cynical.
Now I'm reading:
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
I finished The (not so) Complete Short Stories of Marcel Proust and I read a short book (~116 pages) about Gene Wolfe's early books through The Book of the New Sun by Joan Gordon. It was pretty interesting, though unfortunately Goodreads had no picture. 
And I am starting Cormac McCarthy's The Road today.
Currently Reading
Don't worry about that.
And I am starting Cormac McCarthy's The Road today.
Currently Reading
Don't worry about that.
Quote
Member
I gave up on Pandora's Star. There are so many books i'm looking forward to reading and this book makes me feel like i'm wasting my time with so much filler.
Now i'm 120~ pages into Hyperion and happy with it. I had little idea about the story and i'm still not sure where it's going. I couldn't put the book down half way through the first "tale."
Now i'm 120~ pages into Hyperion and happy with it. I had little idea about the story and i'm still not sure where it's going. I couldn't put the book down half way through the first "tale."
FUBAR McDangles
Member
Sorry about using such a large picture, I couldn't really find any decent ones that were much smaller.
Playing with Fire by Theo Fleury
As a guy who really only knows the NHL personally from about 2007 onwards, this is really giving me an insight into what the league was like in the late 80s/early 90s, and the differences are just crazy.
It is pretty well written, in a way that it almost seems like I went somewhere to meet Theo for some Pizza and a brew or two and he's just sitting down telling me his life story. I'm about 2/3s of the way through so far and it has just been a blast to read.
Next on the agenda is:
Attackthebase
Member
Avoid this like the plague. The first book was simply a rehash, nothing *truly* insulting to the eyes. But holy shit, the second book was complete garbage. I remembered not being able to finish that filth.
Salvor.Hardin
Banned
Decided to pick up some quick reads for this week.
Two of my favourite books ever. Hope you enjoy them.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
I could never finish the second book either, as it bored me out of my mind, but a friend of mine keeps raving about how great those books are. I thought the first one was mediocre and the second one was forgettable at best, but ymmv.
I had a friend who raved about The Sword of Shannara. Sometimes there's no accounting...
RockAction
Member
I was reading, but put down for the above, The Once & Future King by T.H. White and Adventures of a Young Man by John Dos Passos
Would recommend any of them, Cioran is especially funny - you have to laugh at some of the pessimism, but there are some great lines, i keep noticing lines stolen by David Johansen and used in New York Dolls songs; "we die in proportion to the words that we fling around" / "music; the madness of silence" / "it requires a thousand eyes for hidden tears"
Brodsky is brilliant, always liked his poetry but the essays are fantastic, introduced me to other poets and history i hadn't known, its like reading Borges except the subjects are real
and as for t h white and dos passos, both excellent books, Dos Passos in particular, its the first part of his second trilogy; The Districts of Colombia
Forgot to mention:
Book 3 of 4 for feb:
That's the original cover. I don't speak French, I'll be reading an English translation.
That's a great story. I read it for one of the two Western History intro courses (the second, naturally) in college.
windowlurker
Banned
Finished the Mockingjay.
Not sure of Collins' intentions, but she did a fabulous job of making Katniss an unlikable character.
Just some random thoughts;
When Peeta came back to 13 and was, what I say, woken the fuck up from his little world - found it hilarious when he called Katniss out - end of ch. 16. or when he was doing the "real or not real?" questions. in the cellar when Gale & Peeta have a convo about Katniss. They knew the condition of the relationships. Peeta and Kat, together at the end. Hated Gale for some reason. Peeta made me hate him.
Oh and when the squad was advancing through the streets, on to Snow's mansion, that all reminded me of Killzone 2 - going after Visari.
Snow = Visari
Donald Sutherland is too jolly looking to play Snow. Jennifer Lawrence looks and sounds like Kristen Hager, wtf.
windowlurker
Banned
Jeff Bridges.
Wait, what? Jeff Bridges as Katniss?
The mental images in your head while you were reading that book must've been awesome, hahaha.
Just finished The Old Man and the Sea. I thought it was great. The internal monologue and lonely conversations Santiago had with himself were so human.
what did you think about the prose?
I liked how it was succinct and straightforward. It kept a simple situation as it should be. An old man on his boat left to his thoughts.
Is that the typical Hemingway style? My first time reading him. New reader here!
Pretty much. It is the book that went on to win him a Nobel prize, although people say the sun also rises, is his best work. It's restrained objective writing at its best I suppose. If you have time, you should spend a lazy afternoon reading about the man. He is known as much for his prose, his style of writing, as much as his works.
I tended to feel sorry for her because she was always the one that was clueless which made her distrust nearly everyone. She couldn't even trust herself. She reminded me of a cranky teenager. I think Collins did a nice job of explaining how much her life sucked and how it would have been worse if not for her skills.
Finished the Mockingjay.
Not sure of Collins' intentions, but she did a fabulous job of making Katniss an unlikable character.
Just some random thoughts;
When Peeta came back to 13 and was, what I say, woken the fuck up from his little world - found it hilarious when he called Katniss out - end of ch. 16. or when he was doing the "real or not real?" questions. in the cellar when Gale & Peeta have a convo about Katniss. They knew the condition of the relationships. Peeta and Kat, together at the end. Hated Gale for some reason. Peeta made me hate him.
Oh and when the squad was advancing through the streets, on to Snow's mansion, that all reminded me of Killzone 2 - going after Visari.
Snow = Visari
Donald Sutherland is too jolly looking to play Snow. Jennifer Lawrence looks and sounds like Kristen Hager, wtf.
In contrast to most, Mockingjay was my second favorite of the trilogy.
As an aside, I finishing up Ender's Games & unlike Hunger Games, I'm having a hard time not aging the characters. The book remains good and it reminds me quite a bit of my Organizational Management class in college.
windowlurker
Banned
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
Pretty much. It is the book that went on to win him a Nobel prize, although people say the sun also rises, is his best work. It's restrained objective writing at its best I suppose. If you have time, you should spend a lazy afternoon reading about the man. He is known as much for his prose, his style of writing, as much as his works.
The Old Man and the Sea is waaaaaaaay better than The Sun Also Rises. Like, it's not even close, really.
Hemingway's style really worked for him sometimes, but the more of his work you read, the more obvious the limitations in his style become, in my opinion.
In unrelated news, the phrase "show, don't tell" is one of the worst ever coined. Telling is fine if the author is good at it; in fact, if the author is good at it, it becomes an invaluable tool.
Just finished "The Brothers Karamasov" the other day and still feel a little sad and empty inside. I read Dostoevskiy's five biggest books chronologically and this was the last one. The book does have some long boring stretches (which I might enjoy on a second run, after knowing what happens later on) but what is good about this book is extremely good and quite powerful; something that you won't find in other books in this form. Thinking about (among others) "The Grand Inquisitor", the last words of the "Starez" and the final speech of the defence at the trial.
Now I'll resort to other stuff among them especially Graham Greene and Carl Sagan, the latter one who seems to be held in high regard here on GAF. Really looking forward to that one. Thanks GAF.
Now on to:
Now I'll resort to other stuff among them especially Graham Greene and Carl Sagan, the latter one who seems to be held in high regard here on GAF. Really looking forward to that one. Thanks GAF.
Now on to:
Trent Strong
Banned
Finally started reading 1Q84, because I was waiting to see if they would ever allow you to read it on more than one Kindle, but it turns out it's been available on multiple Kindle app'ed devices at the same time for a long time. Oh well. I also didn't realize this book was a thousand goddamned pages. That's the one problem with getting books on the Kindle, God only knows how long the book is. Oh well, hope it's good.
OrangeGrayBlue
Member
I was at a nice bookstore in downtown LA yesterday and picked up the following:
Well I suppose most of it was supposed to be beneath the surface, iceberg theory etc, but I didn't get blown away by it, just impressed by the man's ability to write.
Fair enough. And that last bit is so true. Though arguably, one of the rules of writing, is to break the rules of writing, or at least forget them, where writing advice is concerned.