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[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Join www.goodreads.com and join the NeoGAF Group.

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Blogs

Sci-Fi & Fantasy
http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/
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http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/

Free Audio Books

http://podcastle.org/ Free Fantasy audio books.
http://www.archive.org/details/audio All sorts of stuff.

Shelved Threads

What are you reading?(May 2010)
What are you reading? (April 2010)
What are you reading? (March 2010)
What are you reading? (February 2010)
What are you reading? (January 2010)
What are you reading? (December 09)
What Are You Reading (November '09)
What are you reading? (October 09)
What are you reading? (September 09)
What are you reading? (August 09)
What are you reading? (July 09)
What are you reading? (June 09)
What are you reading? (May 09)

If you have some good links post them and i will put them in.


!!BOOK CLUB!!

So for the Book Club we have chosen "The Big Short"

"The Big Short" tells a story of spectacular, epic folly. It has taken the world's greatest financial meltdown to bring Michael Lewis back to the subject that made him famous. His international bestseller "Liar's Poker" exposed the greed and carnage of the City and Wall Street in the 1980s; he wrote it as a cautionary tale, but people seem to have read it as a how-to guide. Now, he wants to settle accounts. In this visceral tour to the heart of the financial system, Michael Lewis takes us around the globe and back decades to trace the origins of the current crisis. He meets the people who saw it coming, the people who were asleep at the wheel and the people who were actively driving us all of cliff. How could we have all been so deluded for quite so long? Where did it all start? Was it systemic? Was it avoidable? And who the hell can we blame? Michael Lewis has the answers. No one is better qualified to get to the heart of this labyrinthine story. And no one can make it such an enjoyable ride along the way.

The Big Short US$20.12, GBP £13.67, Euro €16.47, AUD$24.14, all with free shipping world wide. That's the cheapest i have found.

Will be starting NEXT MONTH, so plenty of time if you wanna join in.

NEWS
Any Terry Pratchett fans?

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal is a two-part television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by The Mob, to be first broadcast on Sky1, and in high definition on Sky1 HD, at the end of May 2010.

It will be the third in a series of adaptations, following Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic. It was announced as part of an investment of at least £10 million into high definition adaptations of novels, including Chris Ryan's Strike Back and Skellig by David Almond. Filming began in May 2009 in Budapest.

Show is online if you know where to look *hint hint nudge nudge*, called Going Postal. From what i seen it looks pretty good.

 

[Peronthious]

Still working on:

Should have it done within the next week or so. Still fascinating.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Still reading this, spent most of last month watching The Shield . Have to admit though the pace has picked up a bit so im interested in seeing where it goes.

 

[Salazar]

Mouse Guard: Belly of the Beast. Vol. 1.

Amazing.

Also terrific. Impenetrable in places, and with considerably more in the way of scholarly apparatus and elucidation than actual poetry, but superb. The more so to have been written alongside a majestic body of criticism.

In the way of links:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/
The London Review of Books. Two issues every month. Urbane book reviews and essays, left-leaning, academic but not stultifyingly so. Literature, poetry, philosophy, science, history: all kinds of stuff. Decent frequency of entertainingly nasty reviews. The archive is splendid: some of it requires subscription, but a great deal does not.

http://thesecondpass.com/
The Second Pass. Book blog, frequently but not rapidly updated. Good source of links to interesting reviews, and they typically flag noteworthy upcoming books.

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/
Fantasy Book Critic is fuck-awesome. The reviews are dithering, but it is just a mine of information.

 

[Vox-Pop]

I hate the author's way of writing.

 

[MustacheBandit_]

Just started Steig Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and I'm re-reading Brave New World.

 

[emomoonbase]

Futureproof by N. Frank Daniels. It tries a little too hard at times to be edgy, but still an interesting read.

 

[Burger]

Top OP!

I'm reading this, it's very light, very quick, and entertaining. Sort of formulaic though.

Then to the autobiography of one of the toughest men alive.

 

[gburgess10]

Finished in May:
Song of Ice and Fire (complete series, start to finish + both prequels)
Pretty good series.

Fourth book: Kind of felt like the

Spoiler

Brienne

storyline was too padded.

Spoiler

Cersei's story

was kind of my favorite because I had a lot of fun seeing the crazy come out, but started getting a bit repetitive.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell- Awesome, awesome read. I think I might throw in a lot of Jane Austen into my reading now.


Currently:

Planned:
Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Dark Moon by David Gemmell
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Liege-Killer by Christopher Hinz

 

[carpediemdp]

Recomended by my gf, and liking it so far.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Still cracking on Master and Margarita

by Mikhail Bulgakov

It's getting Really weird. It's about some mysterious black magic dude that shows up in russia and starts basically ruining everyones lives that he even looks at as far as I can tell.

Also, I asked this in the may thread near the end.

I would like to read a novel about either of the 2 below

a heist
Poker

Any recommendations?

eznark recommended 'positively fifth street' but it's not in any digital format, I want to read something on kindle, anyone go any other suggestions?

EDIT: How are those Stieg Larsson books? Interested.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Another great book by Stephenson, like Snow Crash, this one really draws you in at the beginning. It quickly explains the world of future nano-tech through the eyes of 3 different people in wildly different classes and circumstances. Within a few pages you've already got a good feel of how this world is laid out. Awesome so far

 

[Salazar]

I want to read something on kindle, anyone go any other suggestions?

http://www.amazon.com/Trawler-Journey-Through-North-Atlantic/dp/1400042755

A classic, witty, terrifying travel book. Barely paralleled in the genre.

 

[bumbillbee]

Still cracking on Master and Margarita

by Mikhail Bulgakov

It's getting Really weird. It's about some mysterious black magic dude that shows up in russia and starts basically ruining everyones lives that he even looks at as far as I can tell.
.

Getting? It's really weird from the start, but such an amazing book. Brilliant satire, and Woland is just too awesome. It's been years; I really should reread it.

I'm still working my way through War and Peace. 700 pages in!

 

[Deleted member 1235]

http://www.amazon.com/Trawler-Journey-Through-North-Atlantic/dp/1400042755

A classic, witty, terrifying travel book. Barely paralleled in the genre.

Sorry what I meant was I want to read a book on kindle relating to either poker or a heist of some kind. (I don't know why, I just have a hankering for either)

I'll check that out, but I just got done with 'the terror' by Dan simmons and I'm a bit burned out on boats and ice currently.

Getting? It's really weird from the start, but such an amazing book. Brilliant satire, and Woland is just too awesome. It's been years; I really should reread it.

:lol yeah it's pretty strange. But it's progressing to much weirder shit (I'm 30% or so done) at first it just seems like he's a weird magician type. It's getting a bit darker than the very start where the guy seems to be in quite good spirits. Loving it. The writing style is weird, it's like you can sort of tell the guy is russian and it's been translated or something. It's well written but I hear a russian man with a strong accent when I read the words.

 

[Maklershed]

Well I decided to continue with the series so this morning I started A Clash of Kings

 

[valeo]

For the 2nd time. Great book. Recommend it to anyone who is at least slightly interested in feeling smart (even though you aren't really).

 

[Yasser]

really really enjoying this, though it took about 60-70 pages before it really "clicked" with me

 

[Zenith]

We had some old Sherlock Holmes books lying around here so I started reading them. Started Baskervilles first and so far it's all been Watson Watson Watson. It's supposed to be his best known book but Homes isn't even in it for the majority.

 

[zero margin]

 

[Lach]

enjoying it quite a bit, even though I've been a bit spoiled since I've had read up about Bonapartes Prussia Campaign some time ago.

 

[Corum]

The Great Gatsby

The Alchemist

 

[afternoon delight]

Beowulf, Heaney's Translation: I've actually never read it, and heard great things about this version. It's completely amazing so far, except I wish it were longer.

Finished World War Z by Max Brooks last week - really enjoyed it, great summer reading.

 

[jon bones]

Another great book by Stephenson, like Snow Crash, this one really draws you in at the beginning. It quickly explains the world of future nano-tech through the eyes of 3 different people in wildly different classes and circumstances. Within a few pages you've already got a good feel of how this world is laid out. Awesome so far

reading this - agreed! Stephenson's world-building is so good. Only about 50 pages in but I'm as hooked as I was with SC.

 

[StriKeVillain]

Enjoying it a lot so far.

 

[Alucard]

Recomended by my gf, and liking it so far.

Easily his most well written book, from a stylistic point of view. The structure is also really interesting, and the way he builds the alien race is just incredible.

 

[jon bones]

The Godfather

Enjoying it a lot so far.

Puzo is one of my favorites... be sure to check out Omerta and Fool's Die if you want to read more of his work.

 

[Wellington]

Was blazing through it then the weekend hit. Amazing read, I'll likely wrap it up in the next day or two.

 

[JohnsonUT]

For the 2nd time. Great book. Recommend it to anyone who is at least slightly interested in feeling smart (even though you aren't really).

Finished Red Mars yesterday. I looked this up and am going to give it a read.

 

[megashock5]

 

[MidnightRider]

TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo.jpg

 

[xBigDanx]

I'm reading through both:

and

 

[Monroeski]

Started up -

after being very impressed by Perdido Street Station.

 

[Almyn]

Only just picked it up this morning.

 

[ngower]

Started this last night...

...and just picked up...

I've got about twelve books which I'm maybe fifty pages deep. It's my goal to finish a book sometime soon haha, I do this all the time.

 

[Ruuppa]

Finally got around to reading this one, and it's proven to be as entertaining as expected.

Had to stop reading the Illuminatus! trilogy. Too much mindfuckery.

Happened to me too, for the same reason. Then I forgot it on my shelf somewhere. I'll have to pick it up again after I've finished my current one.

 

[Angst]

I'm almost finished with:

I really like it so far. Are the Endymion books as good?


Also got me some .cbr, so I'm reading this on my PC:

Ordered a Kindle yesterday and will start by reading:

 

[Eklesp]

 

[The Elite]

 

[backflip10019]

I love it. Craig is so awesome. His 'Late Late Show' persona and comedy style strongly shine through. This book is a pleasure.

 

[KingGondo]

Still trudging through Duma Key by Stephen King. It's good, but not exactly a page-turner. Only have <100 pages left, so I'm looking forward to finishing it.

After that, I'm debating between delving back into some non-fiction, or trying a new fiction author... thankfully I've got plenty of good recommendations from this thread and the Goodreads group.

 

[shuyin_]

Anyone read "The Windup Girl" - Paolo Bacigalupi? I'm interested in it, after it won a few SF awards.

 

[thomaser]

A hundred pages into Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath". It's absolutely stunning so far. Steinbeck is one heck of a writer.

 

[Ominym]

 

[shas'la]

 

[finowns]

enjoying it quite a bit, even though I've been a bit spoiled since I've had read up about Bonapartes Prussia Campaign some time ago.

first book in the series is free for kindle users:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GCFBQA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Burger]

Anyone read "The Windup Girl" - Paolo Bacigalupi? I'm interested in it, after it won a few SF awards.

Yeah I listened to the Audiobook. It was awesome.

 

[deadbeef]

Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One

Just started it today.

 

[Tigel]

How is this book?
I've been looking for something Pixar related to read after I finish my current book.

 

[Stealth]

Heya, Book-GAF!

I'm about 80 pages from finishing this little gem:

Boy, it certainly has been living up to the title. I always love how willing Butcher is to put Harry through the ringer, but he really stepped it up this time. Can't wait to see how it ends.

Since I didn't post in the thread last month, here's what I read.

Read it because I wanted to see the movie. I usually only read Harris's Roman novels, but it was a fun, quick read with a nice little shock ending. Nothing stellar, but it was perfect for a lawn chair.

I read Child 44 at the end of last summer because it was dirt cheap and I had remembered it getting a lot of hype when it came out. I found the first one to be fairly middling but the premise felt like it had some room to grow. And, like Butcher, Smith really likes to beat up his main character, an MGB agent named Leo. The second book, Secret Speech, is almost a direct continuation of the first, and also mostly middling. The third is coming out soon but... I think I'll be picking up this instead:

Tana French's hardcore police procedurals are fun because each takes a secondary character from the last book and turns them into the main character in the next book. They also change the type of police work, crime, etc. I liked the highly detailed, well-defined characters of the first two books, so I'll be interested to see if Ms. French can keep it up for a third go-round. If thrillers are your thing and you enjoyed the Larsson books but might want something a bit meatier, this is for you.

Speaking of, I'll also be reading the Girl Who Played With Fire/Kicked the Hornet's Nest this month, as my copy of the latter finally showed up last week. Looks like another busy month of reading for me!