-
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? (March 2016)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
- Status
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith: Or Carol, as one imagines it will be mainly known going forward, thanks to the film adaptation that I still haven't been able to see. This was a relatively mainstream lesbian romance novel published in 1952 that
, so it has considerable interest as an historical item. But thankfully, it's also quite good, even if in the early chapters the main character sometimes skirts Holden Caulfield levels of irritating discontentment.
has a fairly happy ending
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Finished The Zen Experience by Thomas Hoover. A decent history of the leading masters of Zen Buddhism.
Yeah it didn't take me a great deal longer to read than the movie to watch.
Yeah it didn't take me a great deal longer to read than the movie to watch.
Pretty much have golf on my brain, so I couldn't help but gravitate towards a golf book. Bought this a while ago with Christmas gift cards. Funny read so far.
An American Caddie in St. Andrews: Growing Up, Girls, and Looping on the Old Course by Oliver Horovitz
This was a really fun read, easy to recommend to the golfers here.
Started this last night, was in a bit of a funk not sure what to read, but settled on this. Debated reading his Summer 1927 book, but figured I'd go with this first since it's a bit more up my alley.
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
Lionheart1827
Member
Finally finished this:
I think this may be one of my favorite books ever. I dont know why it took me so long to read it, but good god it was a long and tense/creepy book. But it also harkened back to even my own childhood of playing with my friend during the summer and the fears of monsters and the unknown. Amazing book. One thing I didnt really get was towards the end of the book
Can someone explain that part to me?
I think this may be one of my favorite books ever. I dont know why it took me so long to read it, but good god it was a long and tense/creepy book. But it also harkened back to even my own childhood of playing with my friend during the summer and the fears of monsters and the unknown. Amazing book. One thing I didnt really get was towards the end of the book
When they're escaping the sewers as kids they lose their way and apparently the only way to find their way out is to gangbang Beverly?
Christoff Yurievich
Member
The Bryson book is hilarious, just don't sit and think once it's over that you should watch the movie. VERY bad idea. Ugh.This was a really fun read, easy to recommend to the golfers here.
Started this last night, was in a bit of a funk not sure what to read, but settled on this. Debated reading his Summer 1927 book, but figured I'd go with this first since it's a bit more up my alley.
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
I had no idea a movie was coming out until I saw the first trailer, and it was indeed then I figured I should get around to reading the book someday because I never intended to watch the movie and have it ruin the book. I may just browse through it on Netflix for any scenic shots.
I've been slowly progressing through The Count of Monte Cristo, up to the part where he's
. It's been enjoyable so far but Fire Emblem has been taking up whatever little free time I have so I'll probably be stuck with this book for a while.
in prison and just met with the other guy through the whole in the wall
Yay!
Yay!
Yay!
Excellent choices all around. <3
On the other hand, I've completely fallen off the wagon these since over the weekend, mostly because I've been ill and therefore unmotivated to read. On the bright side, I got through two seasons of House of Cards and Young Justice these past five days. So there's that.
Servbot #42
Unconfirmed Member
Somehow i got into the mood of reading this book because it was an inspiration for the Parasite Eve games, i'm halfway trough it and i think the game was a very loose adaption, no giant alligators to be found here. It's a slow book but it's also an easy read...except for the many technical terms that are peppered whenever there's a lab experiment or surgery procedure, not a big deal i just didn't expect that level of detail in the book. Speaking of the surgeries the descriptions kinda made my stomach churn a bit in spots so keep that in mind if you plan on reading this novel.
Finished Jurassic Park last night. Despite my slow reading speed I blew through it in 5 days. I was surprised to see just how much the movie and the book deviated from one and other and I really enjoyed some of the differences. Overall though, I would say the movie is better than the book. The movie has a far better pacing and flow and the ending was more satisfactory. Especially near the end the book seems to lose some pacing and focus.
. Still a great book though. Curious to hear if The Lost World (the book) is worth a read and if it also has significant deviations from the film.
Started Alice by Christina Henry this morning. Its slowly gaining my interest and Ive heard good things about it, so Im hopeful.
After all was said and done, Grant wanting to visit the raptor nest to count the hatched animals felt like such unlikely scenario. It felt totally purposeless.
Started Alice by Christina Henry this morning. Its slowly gaining my interest and Ive heard good things about it, so Im hopeful.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
It's pretty but they update too much to make it seem like it's set in 2015. Really dumb decision.
Spoiler, so don't read until after you'd read the book:
You mean the book that he wrote as a sequel because the movie did so well and then they (screenwriters) completely disregarded the entire thing? The book was actually pretty decent for a cash grab so I don't know why they did that.
Is there any way to subscribe to a list on GR? I wanted to pick up some shorter books but most of those I gravitate towards are much longer so I found this list which seems like it might have interesting options for me.
Would be great if I could sub for updates but I don't see an option on the page.
Would be great if I could sub for updates but I don't see an option on the page.
Jag
Member
Now on to this epic:
40 hours audiobook. Yay!
Great book. Has a sort of sequel too. Also a mini series!
Servbot #42
Unconfirmed Member
You can like that list and others and then go to "Lists I've Liked" to see which ones you have added. Not super intuitive but it works. I finished Parasite Eve guys, it was allright i guess but the ending kinda fell flat for me. I bought Alas, Babylon and Locke Lamora because there were on sale so i'm probably gonna read one of those next, probably babylon.
Thanks. Didn't even see the like button when I looked earlier, it's buried at the bottom of the page of the list which isn't easy to see when scrolling because there's virtually no gap to the comments section.
Easystride
Member
I'm trying to get into more public domain books, so I am currently reading Jane Eyre. Much to my delight, I have been enjoying it quite a lot despite it being sort of a girly book. In the past, I have struggled with some of the more archaic form of dialogue and words, but it really helps having a Kindle for definitions.
Hopefully I will be able to get into some more of the classic public domain books now.
Hopefully I will be able to get into some more of the classic public domain books now.
Currently reading this. It's definitely one of those books which has completely changed the way I view my world. What was perpetrated upon the first people to inhabit these lands was genocide, without a doubt. Yet most Americans today largely remain ignorant of just how deplorable the United States' and others' actions were. I'd recommend it to anybody who likes US history or is curious of what was at best glossed over in your history class.
Atraveller
Banned
LotR is really, really hard to read.
brianjones
Member
its not that bad once you get out of the shire and past tom bombadil
the beginning drags
and skip the songs lol.. I've never ever liked songs in books.. they always read awkwardly to me
Atraveller
Banned
The book kind of picks up after the hobbits got to Rivendell, then goes slow again after Moria. Don't think I would start Two Towers any time soon.
Maklershed
Member
Finished A Darkness More Than Night (Bosch 7) and on to What If? before I most likely go back to the next Bosch or the next in the Culture series.
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
I have about 15 pages left in Negroland and I have to say it's one of the worst books I've ever read. A few bright spots here and there but overall it's just terrible. The book feels very fragmented and it's difficult to get into. Reading it feels like a chore and I have to break my sessions into small chunks just to get through it. Sometimes I went days without reading because it's so bad lol.
I can't wait to be done with it, ugh.
I can't wait to be done with it, ugh.
It's a setup, and a book I enjoyed more reading it a second time (after knowing what follows). When I read it initially I remember being in awe of the prologue as well but the recent version I read had a changed companion article that didn't give it quite the same gravitas.
It was probably my naivety as a reader but the idea of this being in his head almost all of his adult life kind of blew me away.
I should have space out my Wheel of Time re-read more. In Towers of Midnight at the moment but it is getting a bit tiring. But i'm so close to the end overall i don't really want to keep a break at this point.
It is overall a good series (its flaws are usually exaggerated, even by fans) but one definitively should not try to read it super-fast. But perhaps that applies to all series?
I think i've read the series for... two months? Something like that.
Wonder what i'll read next...
It is overall a good series (its flaws are usually exaggerated, even by fans) but one definitively should not try to read it super-fast. But perhaps that applies to all series?
I think i've read the series for... two months? Something like that.
Wonder what i'll read next...
I think that The Lord of the Rings, moreso than a lot of other books, requires you to be a in a particular frame of mind when you read it; you have to be in the mood for the sort of discursions into history, geography, history, culture it presents, and think of it as closer to a national or religious myth than the modern fantasy genre it helped inspire. I think it does what it does very well, but if you aren't looking for what it's selling, it's especially tedious.
Atraveller
Banned
I usually enjoy reading posts and wiki entries of LotR lore, it's the very descriptive trek that gets me I think.
I said history twice.
In my defense, I am a bit addled at present. :x
And yes, I felt the same way. Well, I had actually convinced myself that I had liked it when I read it in high school - I think it was one of those "I'm supposed to like it!" so I convinced myself I liked it when I didn't really - and yet when people talked about events in the book and even quoted some of the more interesting passages, I realized a) I didn't remember how the scenes went in the book in majority of the examples, b) my actual feelings towards the books themselves were rather lukewarm. It wasn't until something ten or more years later that I reread them, because Edmond Dantés is magic and got me interested again (and this was after I'd gotten the itch for years; and then I loved it.)
So, maybe you'll like it better in ten years.
Read The Silmarillion!
RoyaleDuke
Banned
I didn't want to start it until I finished my science fiction novel but I am starting the final Avery Cates novel by Jeff Somers, called The Final Evolution.
I fucking love his titles, and the books are fucking awesome even though The Eternal Prison(Spoiler:
)wasn't what I was expecting and had in my mind, it's a fantastic book.
I need more good history books like The White City by Erick Larson. Any reccomendations? I am open to WWI, and WWII,Vietnam books as well and would love to read them.
Another great classic that is very different from either of its movie adaptations is I am Legend by Robert Matheson. It's fucking amazing, and it's criminal how much the movie gets wrong.
I fucking love his titles, and the books are fucking awesome even though The Eternal Prison(Spoiler:
You were locked away in a digital prison while your Replicant self was free running around in the world
I need more good history books like The White City by Erick Larson. Any reccomendations? I am open to WWI, and WWII,Vietnam books as well and would love to read them.
Another great classic that is very different from either of its movie adaptations is I am Legend by Robert Matheson. It's fucking amazing, and it's criminal how much the movie gets wrong.
Adaptations of classic Sci fi starring Will Smith don't have the best track record.
I'm pretty sure I own that. I should try digging it up.
Independence Day is great god damnit.
kobe(beast)
Member
I'm about to finish The foundation series (the original trilogy) by ‎Isaac Asimov. Definitely one of the best sci fi series I have ever read.
Atraveller
Banned
I love that series as well, sci-fi should be more than just fancy gadgets!
I haven't read very much on those subjects, but those four books are all excellent. That said, they aren't very much like The Devil in the White City. Larson tends to write what I think of as history that reads like fiction; it reads like he's telling you a pretty consistent, chronological story, even if it is split between two different major concerns (The White City / The Devil), and in the case of The Devil in the White City that sense of being told a story is particularly strong because that is precisely what he does in the sections where he imagines the last moments of various victims of H.H. Holmes.
I wouldn't say that there aren't stories in those books, of course (what else is history?), but they're decidedly less... breezy? Though actually now that I've written all this out, I just remembered something:
World War I and pre-World War II History by the same author; maybe that's a good place to start!
kobe(beast)
Member
I totally agree. The political twists and turns, along with great characters, are so page-turning. The closest thing to this would be dune, another great one.
RoyaleDuke
Banned
You will like my book then, it's an existential detective novel set in a noirish, bladerunner/1984 esque society governed by a huge Police order. It's about a detective trying to come to grips with his past as he tries to solve a case that will give him a future but how far does the rabbit hole go in this city of vice, megacorporations, lies, and musical violent gangs.
I haven't read very much on those subjects, but those four books are all excellent. That said, they aren't very much like The Devil in the White City. Larson tends to write what I think of as history that reads like fiction; it reads like he's telling you a pretty consistent, chronological story, even if it is split between two different major concerns (The White City / The Devil), and in the case of The Devil in the White City that sense of being told a story is particularly strong because that is precisely what he does in the sections where he imagines the last moments of various victims of H.H. Holmes.
I wouldn't say that there aren't stories in those books, of course (what else is history?), but they're decidedly less... breezy? Though actually now that I've written all this out, I just remembered something:
World War I and pre-World War II History by the same author; maybe that's a good place to start!
Neat, I knew about the Lusitania book he wrote(it's on the list of buys, I like physical books you see) but the other one sounds really interesting.
I'll also chuck those four war books you recommended, they sound very interesting.
- Status