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What are you reading? (June 2015)

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Shelved Threads
What are you reading? (March 2015)
What are you reading? (February 2015)
What are you reading? (January 2015)
What are you reading? (December 2014)
What are you reading? (November 2014)
What are you reading? (October 2014)
What are you reading? (September 2014)
What are you reading? (August 2014)
What are you reading? (July 2014)
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What are you reding? (May 2014)
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What are you reading? (March 2014)
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What are you reading? (January 2014)
What are you reading? (December 2013)
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What are you reading? (August 2013)
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What are you reading? (June 2013)
What are you reading? (May 2013)
What are you reading? (April 2013)
What are you reading? (March 2013)
What are you reading? (February 2013)
What are you reading? (January 2013)
What are you reading? (December 2012)
What are you reading? (November 2012)
What are you reading? (October 2012)
What are you reading? (September 2012)
What are you reading? (August 2012)
What are you reading? (July 2012)
What are you reading? (June 2012)
What are you reading? (May 2012)
What are you reading? (April 2012)
What are you reading? (March 2012)
What are you reading? (February 2012)
What are you reading? (January 2012)
What are you reading? (December 2011)
What are you reading? (November 2011)
What are you reading? (October 2011)
What are you reading? (September 2011)
What are you reading? (August 2011)
What are you reading? (July 2011)
What are you reading? (June 2011)
What are you reading? (May 2011)
What are you reading? (April 2011)
What are you reading (March 2011)
What are you reading (February 2011)
What are you reading (January 2011)
 

Ratrat

Member
Reading:

The Mote in Gods Eye
Okay, the way female characters are portrayed here are kind of pissing me off. It was written in 1974 I know, but The Forever War released the same year and isn't nearly as insulting. Ugh. This better be good.
 

Matty77

Member
Still reading clash of kings, haven't had time to really sit with it. After I am done I don't want to jump right in the next one, need a palate cleanser.

Can anyone recommend me thriller/mysteries similar to Harlen Coben. More his standalones not like the myron books I am not looking to start another series/franchise.

I have also read all of Lehane, similar would be great.

For those who have never read either but may be familiar with mystery I guess the best way to put what I am looking for is something you cannot figure out completely until they drop the last stinger, and it changes how you have viewed the whole novel, but in hindsight it still all makes sense and your like "oooh, that makes sense."

Edit: also I am limited to my library system right now so not looking for anything digital only.
 

Necrovex

Member
I decided to add House of Leaves into my reading mix. I am really confused at what's happening in that book but I'm digging its weirdness. It's a nice different pace from Mandela's book.
 
I decided to add House of Leaves into my reading mix. I am really confused at what's happening in that book but I'm digging its weirdness. It's a nice different pace from Mandela's book.

First half is great, but then it loses its focus and starts meandering aimlessly.
 

ShaneB

Member
Finished up Wayward Pines on the weekend, gave all 3 books 3/5, and they're decent enough reads. Think I might actually start checking out the show to see how it translates.
Actually realized while reading the third book I really don't deal well with that much gore and gruesomeness and all that stuff. Kinda skimmed through things, and there was still some pointless nonsense, and the soap opera stuff was terrible
but all in all just quick page turners.

Will be starting this asap tomorrow, like a few other folks I presume. Really wish I could get a nice recap so far..

Nemesis Games (Expanse #5) by James S.A. Corey
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obin_gam

Member
I have nothing to read :/

Yet.

Tomorrow is the release date for the audiobook of Stephen Kings Finders Keepers :D
 
Finished The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker. It may not have been the same book Clive had been talking about for a decade plus, but it was satisfying never the less. Apparently it had been an Imagica sized story, but Clive scaled it back considerably. The more focused approach worked, resulting in a novel that was short, slicked in blood and fast paced. The opening is probably one of the best horror sequences Clive has ever written. His interpretation of hell was interesting and unexpected. Pinhead is regal, horrific and definitely felt like Clive reclaiming the character. While it was a nice ending for the character, I hope this isn't the end for Clive and horror. I know he still has the Abarat series to finish off, but I'd like to see him do more short, punchy horror novels.

Up next:

2558126.jpg


Patrick Lestewka is a pen name for Canadian author Craig Davidson. I've previously read The Troop, a novel wrote under the Nick Cutter pen name, and absolutely loved it. I hope his work as Patrick Lestweka is just as good.
 

Nymerio

Member
I'll probably finish the Jean Le Flambeur series with the third book Causal Angel tonight. After that I think I'll read Cibola Burn because I just saw that price of the kindle edition seems to have dropped from when I last checked.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
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Finished Updraft by Fran Wilde. It full of wonderful, understated worldbuilding, and a plot that just whips along at breakneck speed (sometimes too fast, really). Character behave with all sorts of labyrinthine motivations that create a sense of the long-rooted politics that exist in societies that operate under extreme circumstances. Though it's ostensibly a fantasy novel, it pulls in some themes and plot constructs from post-apocalyptic fiction.

Very good.

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Now reading City of the Fallen Sky by Tim Pratt. Lots of fun, great rapport between the three main characters, and Pratt writes with a sly sense of humour that made me care for the protagonist almost immediately. Great stuff.
 

ChouGoku

Member
1374812_10154062415370341_5651634322370928755_n.jpg

Only a few chapters in but a good look on whats happening right now with the economy and automation, how fast its now happenning, and economic changes we need to make. Has a lot of research done with by 2 MIT professors so its not just some guy talking talking out of his ass.
 

Uzzy

Member
Just finished Fahrenheit 451. What a classic. It was a pleasure to read.

Next up.

I read Blackout/All Clear from Connie Willis early last month, and quite enjoyed it, but felt it dragged on a bit in parts. Still, it was good enough that when I saw this at the library, I simply had to grab it.
 

Cryxo93

Banned
I've been binging on comics I've missed out on the past few years so I'm currently going through Batman Hush

Batman_-_Hush_TPB.jpg


Need to read through these in the next couple of weeks. Really looking forward to them.

51oEjGD%2BjuL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

51ckO88t1QL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 

KingGondo

Banned
Finished The Goblin Emperor last week. Good little book. Maia is a very sympathetic character and the story is nice and simple. Every once in a while it's refreshing to read something that reads like an old-fashioned fantasy: very little violence, virtually no sex, and everything turns out OK in the end.

Currently reading Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower. Phenomenal. I'm learning a ton about Islamic extremism, al Qaeda, and the Middle East in general.

If anyone here can recommend books in the same vein (particularly about European imperialism in the region and the roots of the modern Middle East) I'd appreciate it.
 
Finished listening to Words of Radiance on audiobook. Amazing.

I just started the Wheel of Time series on audiobook. So far so good!
 
I so want to continue with The Expanse Series but I am living overseas at the moment and don't see the need to buy it twice.
 
Like seemingly everyone else, I just finished Words of Radiance. That and its predecessor are the only non-WoT Sanderson I've read. The story is becoming more and more interesting. I would say the series is entertaining but not amongst my favorites.

Started The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly. Another book with only average prose, it also has some troubling attitudes toward an entire country. He goes to great lengths to "show" that everything in China is dependent on international designers, contractors, etc. - which would be fine if it were a criticism of the zoo only. But, at least so far, Reilly seems to feel that way about the whole country, which just comes across as dismissive and superior. But then I'm only 25% of the way in, so we'll see where it goes. I'm probably overthinking it.
 
D

Deleted member 125677

Unconfirmed Member
Wilhelm Meister and his friends just got rekt on punch and trashed the place

#bildungsroman
 

Isak_Borg

Member
Just finished Wolf in White Van.

Started no the Dark Tower series and finished the first two books in a week and in the middle of book 3 right now.
 

sikkinixx

Member
157409.jpg


I quite like it so far. His writing style (even though it is probably changed a bunch from the translation) really works for me.
 

kmax

Member
Andrzej_Sapkowski_-_The_Last_Wish.jpg


Currently reading The Last Wish. Planning on reading the whole series.

Can't get enough of The Witcher goodness.
 

DagsJT

Member
Halfway through "The Girl With All The Gifts" and I'm enjoying it. I absolutely loved the beginning but it's tailed off a little as it went on. I'm hopeful it'll finish well though.

After that will be Station Eleven.
 

Jag

Member
I say that about a lot of King shows.

I didn't watch Under the Dome, though - was it any good? Does it reflect well on the book?

No and NO!

Seriously, I liked the book and was willing to give the show a huge pass, but it is bad. Like laughable bad. The actor that plays Big Jim was great (the brother in law from Breaking Bad), but everyone else was painful to watch.

If you are a fan of making fun of TV shows, then watch, but otherwise, I would probably stay away.

Here is a quote from S2OT (the one so bad we didn't make a subtitle for it)
This show just gets worse. I hoped the suffering would end. I kept watching because of the 'so bad it is good' factor... but now it just seems to be bad.
 

Pro

Member
angels.jpg


And if you haven't read The Shadow of the Wind, stop what you're doing and check it out now.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
angels.jpg


And if you haven't read The Shadow of the Wind, stop what you're doing and check it out now.

Yes.

I had a lot of trouble with The Angel's Game (Shadow of the Wind being my favourite novel), but I found that reading the third book in the trilogy, The Prisoner of Heaven, made me understand and appreciate TAG on a whole new level. Riveting stuff.
 

Pro

Member
Yes.

I had a lot of trouble with The Angel's Game (Shadow of the Wind being my favourite novel), but I found that reading the third book in the trilogy, The Prisoner of Heaven, made me understand and appreciate TAG on a whole new level. Riveting stuff.

Shadow of the Wind is also my favorite novel. I was not aware of these other two until recently so I'm very much enjoying Angel's Game right now. Zafon was on record saying they're not all direct prequels/sequels to each other, just all set in the same location with the occasional overlapping characters/places.
Example Sempere and Sons bookshop in TAG. The son is Daniel from SotW
 
Probably not something most Gaffers would be interested in, but current I'm working through The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis.

I actually really like CS Lewis. We don't see eye to eye on everything, but he's a great writer and has awesome ideas. Let us know how you like it when you're done.
 

Piecake

Member
Finished The Goblin Emperor last week. Good little book. Maia is a very sympathetic character and the story is nice and simple. Every once in a while it's refreshing to read something that reads like an old-fashioned fantasy: very little violence, virtually no sex, and everything turns out OK in the end.

Currently reading Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower. Phenomenal. I'm learning a ton about Islamic extremism, al Qaeda, and the Middle East in general.

If anyone here can recommend books in the same vein (particularly about European imperialism in the region and the roots of the modern Middle East) I'd appreciate it.

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East

This is a very very good book and fits your criteria quite well.
 
Finished Blindsight. It was decent but I had purchased it since it was number one on the space horror list on Goodreads. There was no horror to be found so I'm left craving something to scratch that itch. For now though I'm gonna read Eaters of the Dead real quick.


Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
ddUzkBxl.jpg


Finished Updraft by Fran Wilde. It full of wonderful, understated worldbuilding, and a plot that just whips along at breakneck speed (sometimes too fast, really). Character behave with all sorts of labyrinthine motivations that create a sense of the long-rooted politics that exist in societies that operate under extreme circumstances. Though it's ostensibly a fantasy novel, it pulls in some themes and plot constructs from post-apocalyptic fiction.

Very good.

Gah! Curse you aidan!!! Your description had me stoked to give this a try so I went to Amazon to buy and I see its not available until September. :(
 

Salsa

Member
im reading hear the wind sing and im surprised at how Murakami-as-shit it is knowing it's his first book
 
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