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What are you reading? (January 2014)

M

michaeltraps

Member
Finished The Hobbit during my snow vacation and could not have fallen more in love with a fantasy universe. It's crazy that it's taken me this long to dive into Tolkien's world, but better late than never. I'll definitely be starting the Fellowship of the Ring soon.

Reserved this at my local library and started this morning on my commute:
16160797.jpg


Will be a nice break from the fantasy settings for a few weeks.
 
S

ShaneB

Member
roosters93 said:
9781250031853_p0_v3_s260x420.JPG


Finished it earlier today. I was quite moved by the end. 10/10 imaginary friends
Thanks to whoever happened to be talking it about in the last monthly thread (or maybe another one) otherwise I may not have gotten on to it.
Click to expand...

=) Glad you liked it too! I'm glad everyone that has read it likes it!

I finished Rocket Boys last night and gave it 5/5. Really loved it, I feel a little guilty when I throw around 5/5's like candy, but I just loved this book as well, and connected a lot to what was going on as I wrote in my goodreads review. Now I have a strong urge to play Kerbal Space Program and return to my youth days of loving science and space and all that. =(

Now to decide what's next, might stick with something similar. Edit: hmmm see there are a few more memoirs in the series Which I originally thought was the same book with different names, might continue on with those.
 
R

roosters93

Member
ShaneB said:
=) Glad you liked it too! I'm glad everyone that has read it likes it!
Click to expand...

Thanks!
Were you the first to really introduce it to GAF? It's a great feeling when a recommendation goes over so well isn't it?

Have you or anyone else read Matthew Dicks's other novels?

I ordered Something Missing yesterday. After reading the synopsis my expectation is that it won't be quite as good as memoirs but hopefully still enjoyable.
 
T

Transhuman

Unconfirmed Member
Currently a few chapters into Sabriel by Garth Nix, then after that it'll be The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud. I think Sabriel is the only book I've ever read where I've forgotten every major plot point since the last time I read it. What a difference a decade makes.
 
S

ShaneB

Member
roosters93 said:
Thanks!
Were you the first to really introduce it to GAF? It's a great feeling when a recommendation goes over so well isn't it?

Have you or anyone else read Matthew Dicks's other novels?

I ordered Something Missing yesterday. After reading the synopsis my expectation is that it won't be quite as good as memoirs but hopefully still enjoyable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think I was the first one to read it on here and certainly have promoted plenty. I do love that feeling of discovering new books (or at least things I don't see mentioned here much) and sharing, so it's something I always strive to do.

Of his other books, I've read 'Unexpectedly, Milo'. I thought it was good, but it was a slow burn, I didn't like the first half, but the second half was good. I mainly was letdown in hopes it was going to be as good as Memoirs, but ah well. Something Missing in on my list to read someday, so let me know what you think!
 
F

fakefaker

Member
I was looking at top readers on Goodreads, and someone has a reading challenge goal of....800 books. I know some people have a lot of time, and read really quickly, but 800 books in one year?? And they're already up to 186...

Wowsers!
 
C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
I finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn yesterday and now I am working on Divergent. It's good so far, but the whole way they test for faction placement is fucking stupid.
 
N

Nymerio

Member
fakefaker said:
I was looking at top readers on Goodreads, and someone has a reading challenge goal of....800 books. I know some people have a lot of time, and read really quickly, but 800 books in one year?? And they're already up to 186...

Wowsers!
Click to expand...

How is that possible, that's over two books a day oO
 
G

GasProblem

Member
Just got:

way-of-kings_h1pyipx.jpg


:D

I'm still reading Shift, and doing Dust after that.

I don't know what to do when I finish Dust. I've never read A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, so I wanted to start a re-read of AsoIaF. But Winds of Winter is ways of anyway. So I could start The Way of Kings and if I like it Words of Radiance after that. Then when I'm done with that start AsoIaF and maaaybe then there will be a release date for Winds of Winter. Hmm.
 
tauroxd

tauroxd

Member
ShaneB said:
Yeah, I think I was the first one to read it on here and certainly have promoted plenty. I do love that feeling of discovering new books (or at least things I don't see mentioned here much) and sharing, so it's something I always strive to do.

Of his other books, I've read 'Unexpectedly, Milo'. I thought it was good, but it was a slow burn, I didn't like the first half, but the second half was good. I mainly was letdown in hopes it was going to be as good as Memoirs, but ah well. Something Missing in on my list to read someday, so let me know what you think!
Click to expand...

Thanks for introducing the book, I'm at 85% of the book at the moment, but I liked what I've read. Gonna finish it today.

GasProblem said:
Just got:

way-of-kings_h1pyipx.jpg


:D

I'm still reading Shift, and doing Dust after that.

I don't know what to do when I finish Dust. I've never read A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, so I wanted to start a re-read of AsoIaF. But Winds of Winter is ways of anyway. So I could start The Way of Kings and if I like it Words of Radiance after that. Then when I'm done with that start AsoIaF and maaaybe then there will be a release date for Winds of Winter. Hmm.
Click to expand...

Sure, sure...

Enjoy TWOK, it's a really awesome book and I'm relly desperate to read Words os Radiance.
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
fakefaker said:
I was looking at top readers on Goodreads, and someone has a reading challenge goal of....800 books. I know some people have a lot of time, and read really quickly, but 800 books in one year?? And they're already up to 186...
Click to expand...

186 in 24 days. Right, because they are reading almost eight books a day.

I'm calling firm bullshit on that.
 
O

Osorio

Member
043052-fc222.jpg


Reading this on my commute to and from work. Some of the best exposition I've read since Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.
 
T

Trouble

Banned
Started reading Insurgent, because I hate myself. Realized quickly that I have literally forgotten everything that happened in the first book and had to go read the synopsis on Wikipedia to get myself caught up.
 
M

Mumei

Member
fakefaker said:
I was looking at top readers on Goodreads, and someone has a reading challenge goal of....800 books. I know some people have a lot of time, and read really quickly, but 800 books in one year?? And they're already up to 186...

Wowsers!
Click to expand...

It's nonsense. This is quite impressive, though. Of course, she is a book critic so even her "work" would involve a great deal of reading. I think any of us would get significantly more reading done if we didn't have to set aside 8 - 10 hours a day for work / commutes.

During 2011 when I was unemployed, I read ~81 books that I would have counted for this challenge between August 23 and the end of the year, and another 37 that were books or comics that I wouldn't have counted. If I'd done that for a whole year, even then I wouldn't have come close to 450+.
 
D

DagsJT

Member
FINALLY finished "The Way Of Kings" ... I'd give it 3.5 stars. Just way too long unfortunately. A decent story (especially Kaladin's) but it felt like a slog at times. With the second book focusing on
Shallan
, I'm not convinced I'll carry on reading the series.
 
D

disappeared

Banned
Just finished The Fixer. Definitely an all right read. Reading more into the source material Malamud used for the book was a depressing affair.

Currently The Bell Jar. Five chapters in and it's pretty good.
 
S

ShaneB

Member
tauroxd said:
Thanks for introducing the book, I'm at 85% of the book at the moment, but I liked what I've read. Gonna finish it today.
Click to expand...
Do share your thoughts when you finish!

And yeah, that many books, gotta be some voodoo going on there. Just seems insane.
 
I

iiicon

Member
Mumei said:
It's nonsense. This is quite impressive, though. Of course, she is a book critic so even her "work" would involve a great deal of reading. I think any of us would get significantly more reading done if we didn't have to set aside 8 - 10 hours a day for work / commutes.
Click to expand...
Similarly, Larry Nolan at OF Blog reads about ~400 books a year despite holding a job that's not related to reviewing books. He's posted about his approach to reading in the past, but all I can find after a quick search is this tongue-in-cheek post.

Oh, and I'm going to pick up this book at the library later today after you talked about it. Not sure if I'll get a chance to read it this weekend as I'm pretty busy, but it'll sit on my table regardless:

151272.jpg
Click to expand...
 
D

dralla

Member
Finished Stardust. Of the Gaiman books I've read so far, it's the weakest one. It was kind of boring really. I still enjoyed his writing but the story itself did nothing for me. That's 6 books for me this month, that's the most I've ever read so quickly. I think I could get through a few more if I wanted. Gonna head to the library tomorrow
 
S

survivor

Banned
ymmv said:
Weird. Very weird. The last two titles I read were The Emperor's Soul followed by Goblin Market with the Arthur Rackham illustrations. (Not the collection, just the famous poem). I became interested in Christina Rossetti after reading Tim Power's Hide Me Behind the Graves in which she's one of the protagonists. I'd read a few of her other poems before, they're rather bleak and focused on death. Quite different from Goblin Market.

Don't tell me you're now reading The Golem and the Jinni?
Click to expand...

lol funny coincidence, but no I'm currently reading Lives of Girls and Women.
2OaDmlT.jpg


I had this book on my to read list after she won the Nobel prize and this was the one people recommended. Plus she is Canadian so I gotta support my country's writers. I'm about halfway done and it has a really interesting format where it's just a collection of short stories following the life of one character as she grows up living in some Canadian town.

iiicon said:
Similarly, Larry Nolan at OF Blog reads about ~400 books a year despite holding a job that's not related to reviewing books. He's posted about his approach to reading in the past, but all I can find after a quick search is this tongue-in-cheek post.
Click to expand...
Wow, this guy is able to read books in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbian and German? Very impressive.
 
E

Empty

Member
read a couple melville short stories

the first was bartlelby the scrivenger which i thought was totally amazing. it's about a lawyer who hires a mysterious man to work for him who refuses any requests with 'i would prefer not to', which spirals out of control. a nice mix of funny absurdism, especially with the popmous narrator intellectually justifying his bemused actions towards bartleby and the amusing descriptions of the other employees, and a wide range of interesting allegorical meanings to ponder.

the second was benito cereno which i wasn't sure what to make of. i liked that these two stories were linked in the brief collection i borrowed from the library, as it was also about a pompous boss in the form of a ship's captain trying and failing to understand a mysterious other ship in need of supplies. the interior monologue of the captain trying to piece together what's going on on the ship but stumbling over his own biases and sense of social obligation is really interesting and well done but i couldn't tell if this story is really racist in its depiction of the savage black slaves or anti-racist in showing the naive, clueless colonialist responses to them.
 
C

cdkee

Banned
Currently reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

Useful information I suppose, even if most of it is fairly obvious. Then again I guess I do meet a lot of unpleasant people who could stand to benefit from reading the book.
 
M

Mumei

Member
iiicon said:
Similarly, Larry Nolan at OF Blog reads about ~400 books a year despite holding a job that's not related to reviewing books. He's posted about his approach to reading in the past, but all I can find after a quick search is this tongue-in-cheek post.
Click to expand...

300 - 400 pages an hour? I can't even imagine. If I am reading an author with relatively straightforward prose, I'd guess maybe 100 - 150 / hour - I was getting through around 90 - 100-pages during my lunch break while reading The Eye of the World, for instance, and that's about 45 minutes of reading. Probably faster if I'm trying to speed read, but not much before my comprehension goes to pieces. But I can hardly read someone like Dostoevsky like that. I've never really tried to figure it out exactly because I'm inconsistent.

Oh, and I'm going to pick up this book at the library later today after you talked about it. Not sure if I'll get a chance to read it this weekend as I'm pretty busy, but it'll sit on my table regardless:
Click to expand...

Excellent. You'll have to forgive some questionable early (pre)history, but it's a great overview of the history of feminism(s).
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
If you can read 100 pages an hour (that's my absolute max), you're absolutely cooking. 400 pages an hour is only possible if you're Johnny Five, have an instant photographic memory, or just skimming everything (and therefore not reading it).
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
I think i've managed over a 100 pages an hour at my best. Though this was while reading pocket book-sized book*, with clear simple writing. I have a feeling i missed a lot of nuance and/or details even then though. (I also read between 1.5-2+ books that day, both some 300 pages long)
I don't recommend doing that though.

*How much does the page count vary between a pocket book and a hardcover and a paperback?
 
M

Mumei

Member
Woorloog said:
*How much does the page count vary between a pocket book and a hardcover and a paperback?
Click to expand...

It depends on the editions and the size of the text, really.

You might expect the mass market paperback version to have more pages, but that isn't necessarily the case. For instance, the MMP edition of The Once and Future King is listed at 656 pages; the regular size edition is listed at 639 pages. Or in the case of The Eye of the World, which I just read: Both the hardcover and the regular size paperback have 670 pages; the mass market paperback has 832. But the new edition of the regular size paperback has 750 pages - simply because of bigger font and (therefore) fewer words per page.

Word count > Page count for talking about book length
 
P

Piecake

Member
I'd be surprised if I read more than 30-50 pages an hour. Can't say I really care to read faster either since I like to take my time to understand and reflect on what I read.
 
S

Saphirax

Member
Just finished

2986865.jpg


I've enjoyed it quite a bit and can't wait to start the second one.
That said, anyone have any recommendations for good novels involving dragons?
 
obin_gam

obin_gam

Member
Finished The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch on audiobook yesterday
nfJmJki.jpg

It started out really good and interesting, both with the present story and the flashback story. The relationship with Sabetha was great throughout the book, and the heists were interesting. Then in the last quarter it fell somewhat apart, dont know why but it felt like it lacked something. Some sort of higher climax maybe.
What I didnt like was
the background with Locke being a reincarnated super mage.
Felt really cheap and stupid. Didnt fit the world at all either imo.

I know now why Red seas wasnt my cup of tea - it lacked a flashback story. I love "The Adventures of Little Locke Lamora and his bastard friends" and would read an entire book with only them!

Now on to wintery horror with Dan Simmons' The Abominable!
 
N

Nymerio

Member
I'm about halfway through The Shadow Rising and the less of Egwene there is the more I'm enjoying the book. Seriously I can't stand her anymore, she's so full of herself. Mat went from idiot to boss pretty quickly though.
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
Halfway through:
the-fortress-of-solitude.jpg
Click to expand...

It's an...interesting novel. It definitely has a solid grasp of youth. The novel's sense of place is fantastic, and very intriguiging as someone who did not grow up in NYC.

Halfway through:
bloom-harold-the-shadow-of-a-great-rock-shadow-of-a-great-rock-a-literary-appreciation-of-the-king-james-bible-a-literary-appreciation-of-the-king-james-bible.jpg
Click to expand...

it's preparing me for my read of the big one, and is doing its job admirably.
 
J

Jintor

Member
Finished a tree grows in Brooklyn on the plane. Tore through the last two hundred pages, was great. . Read a study in scarlet. Was also amusing, though as you know Sherlock is a huge jackass detective with basically incredible deus ex deductive powers. Started Moby Fuck, also good. Read a bunch of kindle samples I had on my thing. mostly terrible.
 
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