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[GDJustin]

STILL trying to make my way through American Gods. Not digging it as much as the rest of GAF. ~230 pages in and not sure I wanna spend another 350 with these characters.

 

[CiSTM]

Started and finished:

Next I'm going to read an old favorite of mine:

 

[finowns]

Just started this. Hope it is as good as everyone says it is. The cover is terrible

 

[Combichristoffersen]

STILL trying to make my way through American Gods. Not digging it as much as the rest of GAF. ~230 pages in and not sure I wanna spend another 350 with these characters.

It really isn't all it's hyped up to be IMO. Sure, it's not really bad, but by Gaiman standards it's a rather mediocre book. But to be fair, he can't write a Stardust, a Coraline, a Good Omens or a Sandman every time.

 

[Fireblend]

It really isn't all it's hyped up to be IMO. Sure, it's not really bad, but by Gaiman standards it's a rather mediocre book. But to be fair, he can't write a Stardust, a Coraline, a Good Omens or a Sandman every time.

I guess it's hit or miss with this book. I read it after reading Good Omens, and although I'll admit it wasn't as good, I really enjoyed it. To GDJustin, I say stick with it because I also thought the first half wasn't going in the direction I wanted it to go, but I ended up really getting into it and enjoying it to the end. And speaking about Gaiman, I'm about to start reading The Sandman. Can't wait, Volume 1 should be here soon and I think I can buy most of the other volumes locally (I'm in Costa Rica so they're difficult to track down)

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I guess it's hit or miss with this book. I read it after reading Good Omens, and although I'll admit it wasn't as good, I really enjoyed it. To GDJustin, I say stick with it because I also thought the first half wasn't going in the direction I wanted it to go, but I ended up really getting into it and enjoying it to the end. And speaking about Gaiman, I'm about to start reading The Sandman. Can't wait, Volume 1 should be here soon and I think I can buy most of the other volumes locally (I'm in Costa Rica so they're difficult to track down)

Enjoy Sandman! I wish I could go back, and read Sandman for the first time again, just to relive that awesome experience of discovering that the comics medium could be so much more than Donald Duck comics :lol And yeah, I agree that GDJustin should stick with the book. It definitely does pick up steam and get better during the latter half.

As for Gaiman, I finally got the books I ordered today. So I just finished The Last Temptation (seeing Alice Cooper as this demonic, supernatural entity is still as awesome as ever), and I'm just starting The Graveyard Book (while I'm currently also re-reading the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). And on my bookshelf Fragile Things, that new Hitchhiker book (...And Another Thing) and the slipcase edition of The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide are waiting

 

[lakesideflight]

still grinding through this, damn it's a long book!

 

[deadbeef]

Just started this tonight. Seems interesting; I'll try and remember to update when I finish it up.

 

[Salazar]

Peter Biskind's 'Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film'.

BEST journalistic-historical book about film I've read. God damn, it's interesting.

Incidentally, if I broke every bone in my hand punching Harvey Weinstein in the face, I'd consider it a sterling deal.

 

[sparky2112]

Just started this. Hope it is as good as everyone says it is. The cover is terrible

That cover is a flippin' MASTERPIECE compared to what came after it. The book itself? Meh.

 

[Mifune]

STILL trying to make my way through American Gods. Not digging it as much as the rest of GAF. ~230 pages in and not sure I wanna spend another 350 with these characters.

I kind of hated that book. To be honest, I think Gaiman is a genius when it comes to comics, but his novels have left me cold...except for Good Omens, which he had some help with.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

The Graveyard Book was pretty awesome........... young adults/kids book though so that might be something.

 

[MilesWebber]

Just finished reading The Lost Symbol....fucking awful terrible book.

About to start:

Freakin' 1,074 pages! Should keep me busy for a while :lol

 

[Mifune]

It hurts me to say this but the new Lethem is annoying the crap out of me. And I'm not even halfway through.

It's like he has completely forgotten his roots, abandoned his storytelling skills. The characters are all yuppie douche twats and the whole thing goes nowhere. It's hard to believe that the guy who gave us an amazing tale like Motherless Brooklyn is now spewing out this wannabe-DeLillo crap.

Maybe in the coming pages he'll give me a character, an event, anything to latch onto. His pretty prose can only go so far.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

It hurts me to say this but the new Lethem is annoying the crap out of me. And I'm not even halfway through.

It's like he has completely forgotten his roots, abandoned his storytelling skills. The characters are all yuppie douche twats and the whole thing goes nowhere. It's hard to believe that the guy who gave us an amazing tale like Motherless Brooklyn is now spewing out this wannabe-DeLillo crap.

Maybe in the coming pages he'll give me a character, an event, anything to latch onto. His pretty prose can only go so far.

I opened to the first page and found "Criterion Collection" right there. I love those guys but, whoa, RED FLAG.

(My fave Leth, BTW, is Motherless.)

 

[A Penguin]

Just finished reading The Lost Symbol....fucking awful terrible book.

About to start:

Freakin' 1,074 pages! Should keep me busy for a while :lol

I ordered this off Amazon since it was only nine bucks, knowing nothing about the book going in. When I received it, Jesus Christ, was I surprised. Thing is massive. I'll probably put it off until I have more time.

Also,

For class. I've been waiting all high school to read this. Orwell has created a world that is fascinating and scary as hell.

 

[Mifune]

I opened to the first page and found "Criterion Collection" right there. I love those guys but, whoa, RED FLAG.

(My fave Leth, BTW, is Motherless.)

Dude, it features an unreadable book called Obstinate Dust written by Ralph Warden Meeker.

He couldn't be ripping on the Greatest Book Ever Written, could he?

 

[Heidalloon]

For school:

For pleasure:

 

[suzu]

 

[Salazar]

'Stick it Up Your Punter ! The Rise and Fall of the Sun', by Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie.

The definitive critical history of the Digger's filthy rag. It is wonderful.

'About Town: The New Yorker and the World it Made', by Ben Yagoda.

A history/memoir - one of the few I am yet to read regarding the magazine. It's good.

 

[FnordChan]

Well, it took two months longer than I'd planned but I finally finished Infinite Jest this week. It did not change my life. However, I don't regret having devoted almost half a year's worth of novel reading time to it. Parts of the novel were literally jaw-dropping and helped make up for other sections where I was sort of tapping my foot impatiently and trying to fight my way through the damn thing. However, when it was on - particularly

Spoiler

the eschaton game, the fight outside Ennet House, and the brutal finale

- my god, was it ever on. I also grew very attached to many of the characters, especially Don Gately. I found the ending to be very satisfying emotionally but

Spoiler

would have liked more in the way of a plot resolution; upon finishing I spent a few minutes trying to absorb it all, then flipped back to the beginning and skimmed through the first chapter. That helped, but we're still left hanging in a lot of ways.

Still, twelve years after having purchased the first trade edition, I'm glad to finally be able to check off that portion of my to-read list. I plan on reading some of Wallace's other work - I hear good things about his essays in particular - at some point in the future, but probably not any time soon.

As I'd promised myself many times while reading Infinite Jest, I am recovering by reading more of Richard Stark's Parker series, minimal early 60s crime fiction that generally runs to 200 pages a pop. I started yesterday and am already almost a quarter-way through The Mourner. It's as good as I'd expected and makes a perfect change of pace: fast paced, hard boiled, minimalist serial fiction. God, I love it.

FnordChan

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Dude, it features an unreadable book called Obstinate Dust written by Ralph Warden Meeker.

He couldn't be ripping on the Greatest Book Ever Written, could he?

URGE TO KILL. RISING.

Well, it took two months longer than I'd planned but I finally finished Infinite Jest this week. It did not change my life. However, I don't regret having devoted almost half a year's worth of novel reading time to it. Parts of the novel were literally jaw-dropping and helped make up for other sections where I was sort of tapping my foot impatiently and trying to fight my way through the damn thing. However, when it was on - particularly

Spoiler

the eschaton game, the fight outside Ennet House, and the brutal finale

- my god, was it ever on. I also grew very attached to many of the characters, especially Don Gately. I found the ending to be very satisfying emotionally but

Spoiler

would have liked more in the way of a plot resolution; upon finishing I spent a few minutes trying to absorb it all, then flipped back to the beginning and skimmed through the first chapter. That helped, but we're still left hanging in a lot of ways.

Still, twelve years after having purchased the first trade edition, I'm glad to finally be able to check off that portion of my to-read list. I plan on reading some of Wallace's other work - I hear good things about his essays in particular - at some point in the future, but probably not any time soon.

It might take the slightest bit of googling, but there's one dude who figured out everything about the end of the book and what happens before the beginning.

Nice choice on the Stark, BTW.

In other news, I am really digging Under The Dome. King is adept at creating good guys who are easy to root for and bad guys who totally suck shit. He's also really good at just throwing the perfect people together into an untractable situation in a way that you pretty much can't stop reading. He gets a lot of hate these days but I still think he's as solid a storyteller as he ever was.

 

[FnordChan]

It might take the slightest bit of googling, but there's one dude who figured out everything about the end of the book and what happens before the beginning.

I found that explanation and it did help; I'd pieced some of that together myself, but there were some things that had eluded me completely. For anyone still reading Infinite Jest, you probably want to set aside the link for when you're finished.

Nice choice on the Stark, BTW.

I love Donald Westlake and am thrilled that the Parker novels are being reissued. I've got a stack of them in the other room waiting for me to finish The Mourner, though I dunno if I'll go straight into The Score or not.

In other news, I am really digging Under The Dome.

Glad to hear it! I recently re-arranged my Amazon order to make my copy ship; I'd had it tied up with a out of stock book and a pre-order and had decided that I didn't want to wait to read it. I'm guessing it'll arrive about the time I finish The Mourner (and perhaps another short book), at which point I'll be diving in. Here's hoping I can tear through Under The Dome before the final Codex Alera novel reaches me.

FnordChan

 

[eternaLightness]

 

[Kola]

 

[movie_club]

All for class...

 

[Blackace]

Just started this. Hope it is as good as everyone says it is. The cover is terrible

First book starts off reeeeeeaaaaaallllllyyyy slow.. and then you are finished with book 4 before you know it.

Still my favorite fantasy series of all time..

Good fantasy book and first of a trilogy. Comparable to A Song of Ice and Fire series (although I hesitate to compare it to the subtle genius of GRRM's storytelling) with characters not being wholly good nor evil, and a lot of political machinations.

There is bad ass swordsmen and sorcerers, mysterious sects, kings, religious zealots, etc.

Has anyone else read the trilogy? I have only read the first book and would like to hear your take on the rest of the books.

Read the first book only.. didn't really feel it. Had some good ideas but felt a bit empty to me.

 

[Space Cadet]

this wannabe-DeLillo crap.

Hey...DeLillo is amazing.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I kind of hated that book. To be honest, I think Gaiman is a genius when it comes to comics, but his novels have left me cold...except for Good Omens, which he had some help with.

"Had some help with"? Man, I think it's mentioned in the foreword that Pratchett wrote most of Good Omens :lol

That said, Gaiman definitely knows how to write good novels, but American Gods isn't one of his best efforts IMO. The pacing is lackluster and the plot isn't all that interesting, really.

Graveyard Book was very good though.

Have been reading three Gaiman books the last week; The Last Temptation (which is great), Graveyard Book (which is very good) and Fragile Things (which is.. uhm.. some of the stuff in it is very good, some of it is bland and a few bits and pieces are outright shit).

 

[big ander]

Also,

For class. I've been waiting all high school to read this. Orwell has created a world that is fascinating and scary as hell.

Hah, I'm guessing I just started a unit in class similar to yours, because I just started...

Only two chapters in, but it's very good.

 

[Star Power]

Slowly making my way through this:

Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics by Jose Esteban Munoz

It's really dense so I can't really read too much at a time but it's really, really interesting.

also just starting:

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

'cuz I'm excited for the movie.

 

[Mifune]

Hey...DeLillo is amazing.

I love DeLillo. It's this watered down DeLillo stuff via Jonathan Lethem that I'm not liking.

 

[thomaser]

Yes, finally finished my "reading project"! I started it on July 14th. It consisted of reading Jane Austen's complete novels intertwined with two trilogies; McCarthy's "Border" trilogy and Shea/Wilson's "Illuminatus!" trilogy. I finished the whole thing November 18th. So it took me exactly 128 days, or just over four months. The books have 3103 pages in total, so during this period I read an average of 24,24 pages a day (I was in Oslo a few days in August, without reading, so the real number should be 24,82, supposing that I read all other days in the period). Also, my favourite of the 13 books turned out to be the first Border-book, "All the Pretty Horses".

Yep.

Now, for something completely different:

"Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. Picked it up because it was heavily recommended by many in earlier whatareyoureading-threads. Can't wait to get into it!

 

[Mifune]

Yes, finally finished my "reading project"! I started it on July 14th. It consisted of reading Jane Austen's complete novels intertwined with two trilogies; McCarthy's "Border" trilogy and Shea/Wilson's "Illuminatus!" trilogy. I finished the whole thing November 18th. So it took me exactly 128 days, or just over four months. The books have 3103 pages in total, so during this period I read an average of 24,24 pages a day (I was in Oslo a few days in August, without reading, so the real number should be 24,82, supposing that I read all other days in the period). Also, my favourite of the 13 books turned out to be the first Border-book, "All the Pretty Horses".

Yep.

Holy shit. I really need to pick up the pace.

 

[Salazar]

This is a genuinely fine book. Fragmented, but the parts are hilarious.

 

[hoverX]

I'm very interested in your impressions on this book. I was a fan of Little Brother by the same author.

Maker culture doesn't interest me as much as the themes explored in Little Brother. But the book also deals with post-scarcity economics which interests me quite a bit, i'm not that far into the book though.

 

[movie_club]

This is a genuinely fine book. Fragmented, but the parts are hilarious.

the author teaches at my school (UMass), but its not for his class. Ill post impressions..probably in the December thread.

 

[finowns]

I am really digging The Wheel of Time series. I flew through the first two books.

Couple comments: Jordan is influenced (I use this as strongly as possible) by Lord of the Rings.

What is up with all the traveling? The Author creates a really cool world but most of the time they are just traveling somewhere for 200 pages. It is not really a gripe it just seems like there is constant movement. The story really benefits when he actually explores a setting for example the meeting with the queen in Andor.

Why do all the women hate the men? I think the author was traumatized at some point in his life.

Is there no sex? dont judge me.

The covers of the books are teeeerrrrrible.

Can anyone recommend some epic fantasy? I have read a lot of them Sword of Truth series (dont judge me), Eragon, SOIAF,

 

[Salazar]

Why do all the women hate the men?

Aes Sedai = inscrutable bitches.

There's a moderately productive fantasy recommendation thread near to the surface of GAF. Check there.

 

[desertmunky]

Just started this one a couple days ago. I'm getting really bummed out that I'm getting close to the end of the Dresden series. I can't wait until the new book comes out next year.

 

[Fleet of Foot]

About 450 pages in, Under the Dome is really good. Although there is one element starting to sneak in I'm not too crazy about, and I hope it doesn't become a major focus point of the story. But I fear it's going to.

Also, oddly enough, I can't find much tying this book to any of King's other books, which is unusual. Surely something will turn up, though.

Thinking back, Duma Key didn't have many references to the "King Universe" either, did it?

 

[eggandI]

Finished up

a while ago. Probably the worst of his works that I've read so far. Doubt there was any real point to the book. It just seemed like Murakami was brooding about stuff. And of all the things he brood about in the 607 pages of the book, the entire section about the horrors of war/the Japanese operation in Manchukuo I enjoyed the most. Also, his time and experiences in college were good too. He can certainly write some very surreal, psychedelic and downright weird prose but I felt it got very repetitive about halfway through. I definitely think he could have finished this up in a lot less than 600~ pages.

Next I'm debating whether to read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian or another Murakami book.

 

[sparky2112]

What is up with all the traveling? The Author creates a really cool world but most of the time they are just traveling somewhere for 200 pages.

Have you read much fantasy? Travelling is the mechanism by which fantasy works, for better or worse. You can thank Tolkein for that. Or maybe Homer, even. Sure, there's fantasy in a 'static' setting, but moving from point A to B to Q is what usually passes for plot. Still, I'm a fan...sigh.

 

[sparky2112]

Also, my favourite of the 13 books turned out to be the first Border-book, "All the Pretty Horses".

I sitll think this is where people should start with McCarthy. What a great, great novel. It's got only a little bit of his trademark brutality, but has his lush language and humor in spades. Loved it, need to dig it out and read it again...

 

[Ceebs]

I too am curious to hear what Ceebs thinks of it. I finished reading "The Terror" by Dan Simmons not too long ago. It took me a long time to finish it, but I enjoyed it. Perhaps I should try Simmons' "Carrion Comfort" which is being re-released in paperback in a couple of weeks? It was his 2nd published book and I haven't read it but it has gotten good reviews whereas "Drood: A Novel" seems to have pretty mixed reactions.

I finished it up a few days ago. It's a great page turner, but unless you are a huge Dickens fan it may be a bit long in the tooth.

Definitely reading something quick and dirty next.

 

[sparky2112]

I finished it up a few days ago. It's a great page turner, but unless you are a huge Dickens fan it may be a bit long in the tooth.

Or, more importantly, a Wilkie Collins fan. Or an opiates addict, or...

 

[finowns]

Have you read much fantasy? Travelling is the mechanism by which fantasy works, for better or worse. You can thank Tolkein for that. Or maybe Homer, even. Sure, there's fantasy in a 'static' setting, but moving from point A to B to Q is what usually passes for plot. Still, I'm a fan...sigh.

I have read tons of fantasy and I would say the traveling is especially thick in the first two books, like I said it is not really a problem just tedious you have a 700 page book and a lot of that is filler. I guess it is the journey not the destination that matters?

Just started this one a couple days ago. I'm getting really bummed out that I'm getting close to the end of the Dresden series. I can't wait until the new book comes out next year.

The Dresden Files is great have you checked out his Codex Alera series? pretty good can not wait for First Lord's Fury to come out.

 

[BorkBork]

Picked this up as an audiobook.

Just when I thought I've pretty much read all of the author's works, this comes along and blows me away. Occasionally hilarious, always thought provoking. If you're stuck at an airport or are planning to travel, pick this up. The narrator is excellent. Quick synopsis:

"The airport offers nothing to any human being except access to the interval between planes." In Le Guin's series of 16 vivid stories, an airport-bound woman with an inquiring mind visits assorted other planes of existence. With dispassion, wry humor, and a keen eye, and aided as well by research conducted in libraries of various kinds, she describes those excursions in hopes of inducing the reader to try interplanary travel. Each story features a different society and culture, and some of these settings allow telling commentary on the foibles of our world. Hegn, for example, is a small plane on which everyone belongs to the royal family, except for one, carefully nurtured family of commoners. In Asonu, adults rarely say even one word, though the children chatter until they hit their teens, when they start becoming more and more silent. As for Hennebet, do its people experience reincarnation, or are they living again? The narrator's expectations of identity and time become very confused trying to grasp the slippery concept upon which that plane is based. And then there is unusually tenuous Zuehe, which imparts the feeling of being in a landscape created by the artist Escher. Eric Beddows' black-and-white illustrations perfectly complement Le Guin's wildly inventive array of societies and cultures. Sure to delight fans of the unusual travelogue, this is just plain good airport reading.

 

[drakesfortune]

I'm reading For Whom the Bell Tolls right now. I have to say, at the end of the book, it's a pretty fucking boring book. I'm not sure why it's a classic. I can't help but dislike the main characters, and think their cause is conflicted, and ridiculous. I don't want them to win or lose which I guess means I don't care what happens. I want them to blow the bridge and live, but not all that much. I don't expect them to succeed. I guess I'll find out later this week if they do, but I just don't give that much of a shit. It's been a slow read, which in my mind is the sign of an average book.

 

[gofreak]

I just finished The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.

In the end I'm glad I read it, and rounded out the trilogy. The final third or so was better than the first two thirds. The ending I guess was a satisfactory one, a 'happy' one I suppose.

Good Lord though, this author was ultra ultra labourious in this outing with his detail and incidental detail. The whole

Spoiler

Berger/SMP/Stalking plot

seemed totally superfluous too. This book could have been cut down by at least a third and it wouldn't have made much difference. I also felt that for vast swathes there was just a distinct lack of danger. There weren't the eye-popping twists that were there in the previous books that heightened tension. Once the

Spoiler

court case started

all danger was pretty much sucked out of the scenario and it was a slow roll to the end.

Would recommend it to those who read the first two books for completion's sake if nothing else, and still would recommend the first two books. But this was sort of disappointing next to the first and second.