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[way more]

This was a pretty sweet book. In addition to being smart, driven, and sassy Dr. Holland is humble and self-aware so her autobiography doesn't read as shameless self promotion. Like say a Richard Feynman book.

The book provides a intimate view of life in psychiatric E.R. A place not built to actually treat the mentally ill but instead "tag and release" all but the most dangerous of the afflicted. Dr. Holland talks about her stellar rise in medicine with a twinge of embarrassment when recalling the crass, boastful and downright flirtatious behavior that marked her early medical career. Her bio becomes more relevant when she realizes her provocative attitude is dangerous in the ER and we get to observe her own therapy sessions.

Therapy sessions are boring even if you are are the one doing all the talking but the psycho-analytical interactions of a asylum shrink and a Manhattan shrink is unique and entertaining. At the same time we see the physical dangers in her line of work. An assault by a patient she correctly identifies as "faking it" for a place to sleep, a jealous former colleague sending sexually violent messages, and the daily risks of working with and angering the worlds sickest minds.

 

[My Name Is Luke]

Finishing up my final assignments for Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, and after tomorrow I'll start with Bram Stoker's Dracula.

 

[Salazar]

'Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession', by Dade Hayes and Jonathan Bing.

It's good. Poorly written in parts (they use the word 'gotten'), but interesting in description and assertion. Focuses on Terminator 3, Sinbad, and Legally Blonde 2, showing the progress of each towards their opening weekend. Katzenberg emerges as an extremely stupid man.

'The Journals of Ayn Rand'.

Borrowed from the library, very much on the 'know your enemy' principle. Mad as a fucking hatter.

 

[aidan]

Spellwright by Blake Charlton – a debut Fantasy novel being released early next year. Quite good, so far.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

Finished exams this week, and so I rushed out to tear through First Lord's Fury. I don't know if I enjoyed it more than the last two fantasy novels I read, which were both from the Malazan series - Dust of Dreams (the sometimes thrilling, sometimes grim and sometimes tedious first half of a long-awaited closing chapter) and Night of Knives (a comparatively simpler, yet effective tale of dastardly intrigue and subtle revelations). The action was great, the interaction as murky and rife for betrayal as usual, and the interest the series' wonderfully imaginative world continues to garner was certainly present.

Spoiler

The Alerans being a lost tribe of Romans stuck on the planet Videssos-style, as with all the other civilizations there, wasn't something completely unexpected, but a nice revelation, in any case.

Still, I thought Butcher's last three books - the two most recent Dresdens, and the previous Codex Alera novel - were better. Nevertheless, the prose remains engaging and addictive, and I find myself glad that he left the door open for potential anticipation-worthy sequels with a quite satisfying ending. The man couldn't write a bad book if he tried.

I'll probably gorge myself on more fantasy next (Brust's Jhegaala, Esslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard, Morgan's Black Man, a re-reading of Kay's The Sarantine Mosaic, perhaps Bakker's Judging Eye and several others) before going through some Agatha Christie and Elmore Leonard, and then moving towards historical fiction with Graves, Dunnett and Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles.

On a side note, merely thinking about fantasy next year is mouth-watering, so many great upcoming releases... The only real pity is that Stover and Kearney have been forced to write tie-in novels. Ugh.

'The Journals of Ayn Rand'.

Borrowed from the library, very much on the 'know your enemy' principle. Mad as a fucking hatter.

Thanks to a shameless acolyte of a high school Eng Lit teacher (do you want to see the scars?): I find that can't be said often enough.

 

[itsinmyveins]

Still reading The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, but also started reading the oh so much shorter The Road by Cormack McCarthy. Other than that, I'm also working my way through a comic, Joe Sacco's Palestine.

 

[Blackace]

.

How is the Codex Alera series as a whole? 6 books seems pretty Epic..

 

[Tim the Wiz]

How is the Codex Alera series as a whole? 6 books seems pretty Epic..

I would call the series the John Scalzi-equivalent treatment of fantasy. There's nothing incredibly special or new about the series, but it's epic fantasy done right with a uniquely conventional protagonist, a suitably complex array of characters, and, its greatest feature, a brilliantly crafted world. Butcher's prose flows well and is wickedly engaging throughout, as per the norm. As much I enjoyed it, though, I think his Dresden series is superior.

 

[Blackace]

I would call the series the John Scalzi-equivalent treatment of fantasy. There's nothing incredibly special or new about the series, but it's epic fantasy done right with a uniquely conventional protagonist, a suitably complex array of characters, and, its greatest feature, a brilliantly crafted world. Butcher's prose flows well and is wickedly engaging throughout, as per the norm. As much I enjoyed it, though, I think his Dresden series is superior.

I actually have never read any thing from Butcher, and rereadind ASoIaF right I'll be done soon, so wouldn't mind having an Epic to play with

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

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.

Ah that's a shame. I just read the first book, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo recently and really enjoyed it, I hope the quality doesn't deteriorate too much. The first one was, not a struggle but by the end of the bok I was very much ready for it to end, sounds like Larsson has a problem with endings across the board though.

I just finished up reading Halo: First Strike, which was prett good as video-game books go. I don't think much of Nylund as an author but the plot was fairly fun and it had a nice brisk pace. Kinda gutted to find out that it follows into Ghosts of Onyx, the further the Halo mythos drift from Master Chef the less interested I get. But I wanna know what happened to the Spartans and Halsey, so I guess I need to read it...

Just about to start Nova Swing by M John Harrison. I loved his book Light which i read a few years ago, I thought it was a startlingly original sf novel, I hope this one was as good. My favourite thing about Light was the sex stuff, he wrote it so strangely and matter-of-factly, it was a very odd read but in the best way.

 

[Cheshire]

Sookie Stackhouse series :lol :lol :lol

I also bought Frankenstein today. Haven't read it since year 10 literature. Finally trying to read 1984 though to completion. Not that I don't enjoy it, things just interrupt my reading of it.

My last exam tomorrow so I should have a lot of time to read over summer.

 

[bengraven]

Picked up from Amazon:

And my wife has been looking at me funny for picking up Lolita.

and

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Ah that's a shame. I just read the first book, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo recently and really enjoyed it, I hope the quality doesn't deteriorate too much. The first one was, not a struggle but by the end of the bok I was very much ready for it to end, sounds like Larsson has a problem with endings across the board though.

It's obviously not completely awful, but compared to the first two books, the third one sadly is rather boring, and not really that good.

And still working my way through Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. Also reading the Ghostgirl books, finished the first one yesterday, and read the first chapter of the sequel. They are rather evidently written with a female audience in mind, but I still found it to be quite enjoyable, especially the references to bands/music and people (Usher, Shelley and Ranolph Hearst).

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

Sookie Stackhouse series :lol :lol :lol

I also bought Frankenstein today. Haven't read it since year 10 literature. Finally trying to read 1984 though to completion. Not that I don't enjoy it, things just interrupt my reading of it.

My last exam tomorrow so I should have a lot of time to read over summer.

Are you reading this or just mocking someone else who is? I ask because my gf loves True Blood - are the books any good? From your lolling faces I guess not? Are they better than Twilight at least?? If she starts reading that crap I'm gonna have to put my foot down :lol

It's obviously not completely awful, but compared to the first two books, the third one sadly is rather boring, and not really that good.

And still working my way through Ultima Hitchhiker's Guide. Also reading the Ghostgirl books, finished the first one yesterday, and read the first chapter of the sequel. They are rather evidently written with a female audience in mind, but I still found it to be quite enjoyable, especially the references to bands/music and people (Usher, Shelley and Ranolph Hearst).

Is this all 5 of them? I loved book 4, whatever it was called. Fenchurch is written amazingly well, no matter what type of woman you like, she will be that type of woman. Kinda made me fall in love with her, just a little.

 

[Magni]

Just started reading A Game of Thrones, can't believe it took me so long to jump in and buy these books after all the GAF hype, but now that I finally have, I've been enjoying every second of it It's great to be out of this world again. Reminds me of the Six Duchies in a good way

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Is this all 5 of them? I loved book 4, whatever it was called. Fenchurch is written amazingly well, no matter what type of woman you like, she will be that type of woman. Kinda made me fall in love with her, just a little.

Yeah, it's the one with all five books (plus the short story about young Zaphod). It's been so long since I last read it that I honestly can't remember Fenchurch :lol

 

[Cheshire]

Are you reading this or just mocking someone else who is? I ask because my gf loves True Blood - are the books any good? From your lolling faces I guess not? Are they better than Twilight at least?? If she starts reading that crap I'm gonna have to put my foot down :lol

No I was loling at myself for being such a TB fangirl. They're ok. Not works of literary genius but if she likes true blood she'd probably like them. The author writes how the characters speak in the show though. They're much better than twilight because there is some actual plot development and the books aren't focused on the relationships. TBH though most women orientated vampire books are pretty ordinary.

 

[Scythian Empire]

Almost finished Wuthering Heights. Started reading Heart of Darkness and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen over the past week or so.

 

[CiSTM]

 

[Yasser]

please tell me there's more to that book than just dogs in stupid poses

 

[CiSTM]

please tell me there's more to that book than just dogs in stupid poses

It's all about Labs... With abs.

Don't worry I didn't actually buy the book I got PDF file from my co-worker and I just flipped it through in 3 minutes.

 

[Ra\/en]

About 1/3 in. I'm really enjoying the pace. Raskilonikov's inner thoughts and motivations are very captivating.

 

[jon bones]

Finally finished this.... it was ok but grrm is probably the only fantasy series I'm gonna like. Ill try gene wolfe later, though.

Now I'm back on my realness:

 

[gofreak]

Ah that's a shame. I just read the first book, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo recently and really enjoyed it, I hope the quality doesn't deteriorate too much. The first one was, not a struggle but by the end of the bok I was very much ready for it to end, sounds like Larsson has a problem with endings across the board though.

Don't wanna prejudice you. The second is very enjoyable. And the third is ultimately satisfying from a 'good to know what happens to them' point-of-view. You should go into them with an open mind.

And hey, some people love that labourious incidental detail and sub-plots. I guess it does make for a more realistic world, even if at the expense of some tightness in the plot.

On a whim I picked up 'The Strain' on audiobook, by Guillermo del Toro. Not great so far. Reads more like a film draft than a book...there is a difference. I'll see how it goes.

Also reading 'Made to Stick' by Chip and Dan Heath. Good stuff so far, has jogged my mind on a number of things I'm working on.

 

[Salazar]

'The Dark is Rising' sequence, by Susan Cooper.

Terrific Arthurian children's fantasy. Crammed with menace.

'The Master and Margarita', by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Just started. A book with the following synopsis, though it may turn out not to be great, cannot fail to be interesting.

'One hot spring the devil arrives in Moscow accompanied by two demons, a beautiful naked witch and a huge black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. When the visitors leave, the asylums are full and the forces of law and order in disarray. Only the Master, a man devoted to truth, and Margarita, the woman he loves, remain undiminished'.

 

[BMX Bandit]

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Second time through and I'm liking it just as much as the first. I love the sense of humor that seems to come out of no where at times.

 

[movie_club]

just out of curiosity is the host any good?

 

[bumbillbee]

'The Master and Margarita', by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Just started. A book with the following synopsis, though it may turn out not to be great, cannot fail to be interesting.

'One hot spring the devil arrives in Moscow accompanied by two demons, a beautiful naked witch and a huge black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. When the visitors leave, the asylums are full and the forces of law and order in disarray. Only the Master, a man devoted to truth, and Margarita, the woman he loves, remain undiminished'.

Oh, don't worry. It is great. And interesting.

 

[Koshiba]

Finally picked this up.

Can't wait to start reading it! :] Finished A Game of Thrones a while back, really good series as well.

 

[thomaser]

'The Master and Margarita', by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Just started. A book with the following synopsis, though it may turn out not to be great, cannot fail to be interesting.

May not turn out to be great? I bet chances are much higher that it may turn out to be the greatest book you've ever read ;-)

 

[entremet]

The Life of Pi

 

[randomlyrossy]

It's a collection of his columns in The Guardian with the occasional minor edit or addendum.

Really enjoying it, randomly pick it up and read a few, I haven't read his columns before so it's all new to me. His humour is brilliantly horrible and he's fairly insightful too. Will probably pick up his other books once I'm done with this.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

Just started reading A Game of Thrones, can't believe it took me so long to jump in and buy these books after all the GAF hype, but now that I finally have, I've been enjoying every second of it It's great to be out of this world again. Reminds me of the Six Duchies in a good way

Just started it last night myself. It's my first fantasy novel, I'm usually a sci-fi guy.

Anyway, the prologue was awesome, but then I fell asleep, gonna read some more tonight.

 

[Salazar]

May not turn out to be great? I bet chances are much higher that it may turn out to be the greatest book you've ever read ;-)

That honour is solidly booked, I'm afraid.

For one thing, the Mortdecai trilogy by Kyril Bonfiglioli has no equal.

 

[evilpigking]

No I was loling at myself for being such a TB fangirl. They're ok. Not works of literary genius but if she likes true blood she'd probably like them. The author writes how the characters speak in the show though. They're much better than twilight because there is some actual plot development and the books aren't focused on the relationships. TBH though most women orientated vampire books are pretty ordinary.

Unfortunately the quality of the books decreases with each progressive title shifting away from a mystery/romance that TB was to much more on the romance and much less on the world advancement. Similar to what happened to the Anita Blake novels from what I understood when I looked em up on wiki.

 

[Weetrick]

Just went to Barnes & Noble today and picked up:

 

[Monroeski]

Just finished -

Just started -

 

[FnordChan]

I would call the series the John Scalzi-equivalent treatment of fantasy. There's nothing incredibly special or new about the series, but it's epic fantasy done right with a uniquely conventional protagonist, a suitably complex array of characters, and, its greatest feature, a brilliantly crafted world. Butcher's prose flows well and is wickedly engaging throughout, as per the norm. As much I enjoyed it, though, I think his Dresden series is superior.

I'll second this. I've enjoyed the hell out of the Codex Alera series - I plan on finishing up the Parker novel I'm working on now and will be jumping into First Lord's Fury as soon as I'm done - but think it's not quite up there with the Dresden Files. You're also not going to be blown away by the originality of the concept. That said, Butcher's strengths - fast paced action and engaging characters - more than outweigh any problems the series has. They're great fun and well worth checking out.

randomlyrossy, thanks for the heads up that Charlie Brooker's latest was out. I'm a great fan of his TV work and really dug Screen Burn and Dawn of the Dumb, so I went to Amazon the moment I realized The Hell of it All was out. Not only will I be enjoying it, but I'd been trying to work out what book to give a friend as a gift and this provided the perfect answer. Thanks!

FnordChan

 

[sparky2112]

I picked up House of Leaves on the cheap and am about 60 pages into it. I like the 'narrative within a narrative' and the house's 'talent'. At times, Danielewski can pull off some breataking writing, too. It'll be interesting to see how the whole thing hangs together as it falls apart, if you will.

Wanna bet Danielewski has read Infinite Jest?

 

[Staccat0]

Currently reading

Berofe bed: Fast Food Nation
Casually: just reread the Sandman series and I'm about to do the "post sandman" comics by gaiman.
At work: When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House

Batting box: Here, There and Everywhere: My life recording the music of the beatles (I'm dreading this, but a friend made me borrow it)

 

[Angst]

Not sure if I'll make it through though. Just started it. Quite all right so far, but the prose is a bit archaic...

 

[Mifune]

So I finished Lethem's Chronic City, and to my surprise, I really liked it in the end. It's a bit messy but all the distance he puts between you and the characters serves as something of a misdirect. And once it becomes clear (or so it seems at the time) where the whole thing is headed, the pages just fly by. I was frankly blindsided by this book's emotional wallop.

But yeah, it's a strange one, by far his strangest. And it takes a bit of work to get invested in these characters. But like me, you may be surprised to find that you actually give two shits by the conclusion.

Wish I could say more, but it's impossible to talk about this book without spoiling everything. So I remain frustratingly vague.

 

[Agnostic]

I finished this book a couple weeks ago.

Currently around halfway through.

 

[bengraven]

Of the books I posted above, I'm reading Mole People now and it's great. If you are interested in the underground, crypto-sciences, or even if you just live in NYC, you should read it.

I'm also LISTENING to this and it's a great book so far (got it for my free book download for joining Audible):

 

[Tim the Wiz]

A politico-fantasy thriller of mythic proportions. No writer this young has any right to be able to capture such complexity, emotion, and extraordinary vision. The imagery invoked by Mieville has left me, once more, astonished into inarticulacy. And while this isn't as character-driven as his last Bas-Lag novel, due to the open-to-interpretation nature of the narrative and the corresponding character dynamic sought, it's just as emotionally affecting. With each Mieville novel that I read, the more convinced I am that he is the greatest fantasy writer of his generation.

 

[Burger]

A politico-fantasy thriller of mythic proportions. No writer this young has any right to be able to capture such complexity, emotion, and extraordinary vision. The imagery invoked by Mieville has left me, once more, astonished into inarticulacy. And while this isn't as character-driven as his last Bas-Lag novel, due to the open-to-interpretation nature of the narrative and the corresponding character dynamic sought, it's just as emotionally affecting. With each Mieville novel that I read, the more convinced I am that he is the greatest fantasy writer of his generation.

I enjoyed the Scar, not as much as Perdido St Station though, which I thought was fantastic. Have you read Un Lun Dun ? Heard it's more of a young adult book. Or The City ?

 

[deadbeef]

Thought about re-starting Storm of Swords, but I've been away from the ASOIAF books for so long, that I just started with Game of Thrones again. Hopefully it will be as rewarding on the second read-through as it was the first. I think I read rather quickly through the second half of Game of Thrones the first time through, just because I wanted to find out what happened so badly. I'll be more leisurely this time.

 

[Blackace]

Finished the third First Law book. Good stuff. Can't quite decide how I feel about the ending, but the whole thing was pretty well done. You could definitely see Abercrombie's improvement as a writer from the first to the third book.

Now reading some Borges shorts. Damn, this guy is crazy awesome.

Spoiler

the whole going to the end of world plotline that had very little meaning felt like a first time writer's mistake...

But I have read all 4 of his books and think he is going to be a great great writer for years to come.. He is very dark, and has made a nice world. I hope to see him keep fleshing it out in furture series..

 

[Mifune]

So far it's beautiful, with a bit of philosophical genius on every page.

Also makes me appreciate Phillip Kaufman's movie all the more. They really nailed the overall feel of the novel.

 

[sparky2112]

I'm gonna be reading House of Leaves for quite a while, I fear. I'm pretty sure I like it, but I'm also finding it a bit tedious 100 pages in.

Also up to the title essay (which is last and which I've read before) in David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing.... It's the rest of the book I'd not read before now. I've always taken Wallace's non-fiction in small doeses, but I really charged through this book - it's that good. Having never seen a David Lynch movie (aside from Dune), I even loved THAT. Loved the Michael Joyce tennis piece too. Even though I've read most of the stuff in Consider the Lobster already, I'll probably charge on into that after we get off the cruise ship. Or Wallace gets off the cruise ship, rather.

2010 will see me doing a re-read of IJ, since we're deprised of The Pale King until 2011 for some stupid reason...grumble...