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Maklershed · Jun 1, 2017

Maklershed · Jun 1, 2017

Currently reading The Wettest County in the World ...

The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story by Matt Bondurant

aravuus · Jun 1, 2017

Still in the middle of Deadhouse Gates, Worm (https://parahumans.wordpress.com/), Men at Arms and Goblet of Fire. All very good, some absolutely fantastic at times, but I've been feeling the need for a bit more visual media in the past couple of weeks so I haven't been reading much.

Finally graduated, however, so maybe I'll have an easier time getting lost in books now.

Ravensmash · Jun 1, 2017

Woo new thread.

I'm still reading Run by Blake Crouch.

Fantastically entertaining - very very fast paced.

In the last thread I asked for stories set in weird/creepy small towns and got a fantastic recommendation - American Elsewhere.

Would the Wayward Pines trilogy (also by Blake Crouch) be good in that vein too?

Laieon · Jun 1, 2017

Just started reading American Gods yesterday.

Aurelius · Jun 1, 2017

Finished A Gentleman in Moscow. Wonderful book. Not sure what I'm going to read next yet.

Li Kao · Jun 1, 2017

I'm in the last third of The Willows by Algernon Blackwood.
Started it on a whim because it was one of Lovecraft's influence / one of the writers he admired, and because I saw some serious love of it here last month.

So I have reading OCD, and that maybe explains it a bit, but man, those first ten pages were boring me to death. I couldn't visualise the place to begin with, no dialogs, full on natural descriptions that, yeah can be evocative but also quite boring...
Nearly abandoned it, but yesterday I had some time before sleep and said what the hell, continue your reading, it's not that long !
Hmm, now I'm not sure I can exactly say I'm glad I did but... I'm glad I did !

I'm seriously shitting bricks left and right. Tension is rising as fuck.
The text itself is humbling too, it's well written, 19th century romanticism turned horror, no violence, just plain old mood and fear.

Ripenen · Jun 1, 2017

Finishing up It by Stephen King prior to the movie coming out. I went into it blind, knowing nothing about it other than it features an evil clown. The plot development is very slow, but the amount of character and world development he put into this story is pretty incredible and entertaining.

After this I'm planning to go back to some non-fiction and read Command & Control by Eric Schlosser after watching the great documentary on Netflix.

Fuu · Jun 1, 2017

Human Acts (2014), Han Kang
Occultic;Nine Vol. 2 (2015), Chiyomaru Shikura
Getúlio (1882-1930) (2012), Lira Neto
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (2015), Becky Albertalli

Suplexer · Jun 1, 2017

I'm slowly picking away at Spelunky by Derek Yu, and of course, it's fantastic.

I wish I was better at finding books to read, I read like one a year one but I am constantly wanting to read more.

I really want to read some more fun, faster paced books. I feel like that might get me more into reading. If anyone has suggestions I am game. I love Twin Peaks, Dark Souls, and The Elder Scrolls if that helps.

AngmarsKing701 · Jun 1, 2017

About halfway through The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet.

Enjoying it so far. Very "slice of life aboard a spaceship" kind of thing. Good characters with different personalities and appropriate "alien" identities.

Pau · Jun 1, 2017

It's depressing as fuck. I don't know what I could realistically do to help this kind of stuff.

Ramma2 · Jun 1, 2017

A few years back I read Ender's Game and really enjoyed it, immediately jumping into Speaker for the Dead. I bounced off that book so fast; it was so different I felt like I was reading the wrong book.

Is it worth trying to pick this up again? I'd hate to miss out on more good reading by walking away from the series.

ShadowSwordmaster · Jun 1, 2017

The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir
Choshu in the Meiji Restoration by Albert M. Craig
Japan's Imperial Army: Rise and Fall, 1855-1945 by Edward J. Drea

AngmarsKing701 · Jun 1, 2017

Just a little quick advertisement, since the GAF Reading thread has been one of my staunchest supporters:

The Knight's Journal I (a collection of the first three novellas written earlier this year as part of the GAF Writing Challenge) is on sale this week for just $1.99.

Additionally, the 4th novella, Knight Transcendent, is just $0.99.

So you can basically get the first four novellas (about 120K words total) for $3.

kswiston · Jun 1, 2017

I am about 2/3s of the way through Captain Vorpatril's Alliance in the Vorkosigan saga. This is a good entry if you like the LMB's humor, and don't mind that dreaded romance stuff. I like getting a more direct look at Ivan, who has grown on me as the series progressed.

AngmarsKing701 said:
Just a little quick advertisement, since the GAF Reading thread has been one of my staunchest supporters:

The Knight's Journal I (a collection of the first three novellas written earlier this year as part of the GAF Writing Challenge) is on sale this week for just $1.99.

Additionally, the 4th novella, Knight Transcendent, is just $0.99.

So you can basically get the first four novellas (about 120K words total) for $3.

I grabbed the round up collection for now. Hopefully the challenge nets you some new fans!

AngmarsKing701 · Jun 1, 2017

kswiston said:
I am about 2/3s of the way through Captain Vorpatril's Alliance in the Vorkosigan saga. This is a good entry if you like the LMB's humor, and don't mind that dreaded romance stuff. I like getting a more direct look at Ivan, who has grown on me as the series progressed.

I grabbed the round up collection for now. Hopefully the challenge nets you some new fans!

I agree on getting a good close up on Ivan. Really enjoyed that book, more than Cryoburn.

And thanks for the purchase! Hope you enjoy!

Mine01 · Jun 1, 2017

Just started explorign reading as a hobby, already finished The gunslinger from the dark tower and Im currently reading drawing of the three.

WolfeTone · Jun 1, 2017

Almost finished this brief read about Richard III of England and the Princes in the Tower. It's an interesting book, makes me want to read up on British history.

close to the edge · Jun 1, 2017

I've been listening to the audio book of Dune. I really like it, currently in chapter 6.

fakefaker · Jun 1, 2017

I'm around 130 pages into Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang and its been pretty amazing so far.

Flying Toaster · Jun 1, 2017

close to the edge said:
I've been listening to the audio book of Dune. I really like it, currently in chapter 6.

Dune series up to God Emperor is pure magic.

fredrancour · Jun 1, 2017

Ramma2 said:
A few years back I read Ender's Game and really enjoyed it, immediately jumping into Speaker for the Dead. I bounced off that book so fast; it was so different I felt like I was reading the wrong book.

Is it worth trying to pick this up again? I'd hate to miss out on more good reading by walking away from the series.

It's a great book, it's just almost entirely different.

Read Ender's shdaow, which occurs in parallel to game and is good, and then if you want more you can try the shadow sequels, which are closer to the battle school books in feel with their geopolitical thriller "the hell does humanity do now?" War story lines.

Wensih · Jun 2, 2017

Swamplandia!

I'm about halfway through. I'm pretty sure Russell is known for her magical realism, and I have this very sinking feeling that this a subversion of magical realism. It's gonna be fairly depressing if it goes where I think it goes; the language and story has been fairly ambiguous, leaving this shroud over whether or not their is something magical on the island, but it's also follows a credulous young girl and the setting is a rather harsh and impoverished reality where characters are skeptics which leads me to believe tropes will be subverted. Won't say more outside of spoilers. Plot summary as of now and where I think it's leading. I should have it done in the next couple days. Don't read spoiler if you don't want spoilers.

Main characters are a white family who live in the Everglades and put on Alligator Wrestling shows. The kids think they're from a tribe of Indians, inculcated by their parents. The mother dies. The big sister starts talking to ghosts. The brother runs away and the father goes to the mainland in search of him (although it's implied he's gone in the past for possibly sexual trysts). The big sister elopes with ghost boyfriend and little sister (main character and narrator) meets a "Bird man" who says he'll take her to the underworld to find her big sister. So as a skeptical reader who see a shady old guy telling a little girl he knows where her missing sister is and to not call the police because they won't believe that she eloped with a ghost, I'm like fuck this stranger is going to kidnap and rape or murder this 13 year old

close to the edge · Jun 2, 2017

Flying Toaster said:
Dune series up to God Emperor is pure magic.

Yeah, I was gonna ask if the sequels are also worth reading. I'm not very well-read (especially with sci-fi), so my standards are probably not as high. Right now my impression of Dune is Game of Thrones plus space minus torture porn. The characters are interesting and the world is well-realized and imaginative. It starts out really strong, too.

TheExhaustedWalrus · Jun 2, 2017

I am about halfway through The Devil in the White City, finding it kind of dry to be honest, and I usually love books like it. Thought it would be more about H. H. Holmes than the architecture of the World's Fair. I intend to finish it, but feel pretty indifferent about it thus far.

I also began Beneath A Scarlet Sky last night, and am still mulling along with Lincoln in the Bardo. Lots of historical stuff lately, but I don't mind.

Number45 · Jun 2, 2017

Finished up The Great Passage. Despite a rough start I found myself really enjoying it yet have been unable to determine what message it's trying to deliver. It's ultimately like a soap opera based around very small group of characters , set in a dictionary editorial department in Japan. It's really very touching in places though.

I'm trying to use Kindle First to pick up stuff that I wouldn't normally be interested in (outside of romantic fiction, obviously).

TheExhaustedWalrus said:
I also began Beneath A Scarlet Sky last night

Really enjoyed this. The fact that it's based on a true story is legitimately astonishing.

themaskedndi · Jun 2, 2017

I just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and was astonished by how bad it was. It's like The Da Vinci Code of sci-fi. There's no real science in the book, the prose is garbage, the dialogue is embarrassing, the characters have no real personality, and the super genius physicists come off as Watson-esque everymen.

At least it was a fast read. If it'd been pitched to me as a schlocky thriller rather than a smart sci-fi book I probably would have liked it more. Definitely going to be careful about what I read next!

DagsJT · Jun 2, 2017

themaskedndi said:
I just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and was astonished by how bad it was. It's like The Da Vinci Code of sci-fi. There's no real science in the book, the prose is garbage, the dialogue is embarrassing, the characters have no real personality, and the super genius physicists come off as Watson-esque everymen.

At least it was a fast read. If it'd been pitched to me as a schlocky thriller rather than a smart sci-fi book I probably would have liked it more. Definitely going to be careful about what I read next!

I really quite enjoyed it.

Quake1028 · Jun 2, 2017

Here are the books I finished in May:

Trackers 2 and Poisonfeather were amazing books. Second in their respective series but really, really well done.

The Shadow · Jun 3, 2017

Going to try to start it tonight anyway. In general, I'm always reluctant to start a long book series, but it's often recommended, and I loved 11/22/63, so we'll see how it goes.

I recently tried to re-read the Harry Potter books, but stopped mid-way through The Chamber of Secrets. I realized that they're simply not enjoyable the 2nd time around for me, which really sucks.

On a completely different note. Can anyone recommend books that are like Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones? I really enjoyed the middle-eastern main character and realized that a lot of the appeal I had for that book was that it was a unique theme to the IMHO tired European fantasy trope.

Donthizz# · Jun 4, 2017

to anyone with even a passing interest in fantasy give this book a read.

going to keep an eye on this author.

Maklershed · Jun 4, 2017

Finished The Wettest County in the World last night and started House of Suns.

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

bosseye · Jun 4, 2017

I have nothing to read. I want to read something bleak and post apocalyptic, but what!

I just finished Angela's Ashes which was pretty miserable.

Ludovico · Jun 4, 2017

bosseye said:
I have nothing to read. I want to read something bleak and post apocalyptic, but what!

I just finished Angela's Ashes which was pretty miserable.

Handmaid's Tale?
I'm about 65% through - it's a brisk read and pretty topical at the moment.

Joyful · Jun 4, 2017

I finished greg bear's Blood Music

the ending kinda reminded me of childhoods end a bit

now Im reading Vitals

besada · Jun 4, 2017

Joyful said:
I finished greg bear's Blood Music

the ending kinda reminded me of childhoods end a bit

now Im reading Vitals

Nice. I love when I hear of someone reading Bear.

I am currently reading the Wild Card novels. I am on #19, Busted Flush. They basically reset the cast in #18, bringing in young new Aces and Jokers and relegating most of the original players to background or off scene roles. The current one involves the newest creation, the Committee, a UN organized team of Aces and Jokers who combat genocide, and do god works in developing countries. Characters range from a guy who can turn into his bodyweight in wasps, an intersex teleporting assassin, a woman who converts kinetic energy to fat, then outputs it as explosive bubbles, to Fortunato's son, who has an ancient Egyptian amulet with another personality in it embedded in his forehead. Writing quality has picked up since the mid-teens, when shit just sort of fell apart.

isaacnukem · Jun 4, 2017

Ramma2 said:
A few years back I read Ender's Game and really enjoyed it, immediately jumping into Speaker for the Dead. I bounced off that book so fast; it was so different I felt like I was reading the wrong book.

Is it worth trying to pick this up again? I'd hate to miss out on more good reading by walking away from the series.

I agree with everything fredrancour said. Ender's Game was just actually something Card wrote so that he'll have a proper starting point for Speaker of the Dead. The remaining books from Speaker of the Dead onwards are more philosophical but are exciting and are interesting in their own right. I think I even prefer them now to the first book and Ender's Shadow.

Anyway, I've finished Morning Star by Pierce Brown and it's bad. Bland, predictable, and goes on a bit too long.

thomaser · Jun 4, 2017

Finished Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" (also known as "The Silver Locusts"). Wonderful, melancholy, thoughtful sci-fi with parts so beautiful they'll make you cry. And a few really, really funny parts as well. One of my favourite sci-fi books.

Now, starting a big reading project. One of the biggest there is. I've had the first four volumes of Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" in my bookshelf for at least ten years. About time to crack them open! Starting, of course, with "Swann's Way" in Lydia Davis' translation.

Dipper145 · Jun 4, 2017

Finished the rain wild chronicles late last month, and just started reading the tawny man trilogy by robin hobb.

Got into her series from my cousins wife who got me the liveship trilogy one christmas, then the farseer assassin one for my birthday early next year.

Really enjoy her series all written in the same universe.

Arenesus · Jun 4, 2017

Maklershed said:
Finished The Wettest County in the World last night and started House of Suns.

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

I read this book recently as well and really enjoyed it.

AR is one of my favorite Sci-Fi authors but, unfortunately, this books still suffers from one of AR's reoccurring faults which is

he never seems to be able to pull of a satisfying ending.

fakefaker · Jun 4, 2017

Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang was a pretty awesome read. Next up, the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

Ikon · Jun 4, 2017

I just finished The Hero of Ages today and have to say that I'm quite bummed about it. I wound up disliking all three books for their first acts and then ending up liking them somewhat by the third ones. Don't think I have it in me to continue with more Sanderson right now.

I feel like I could do with a book with more... substance - if that makes sense? A book that will stay with me for a long time/the rest of my life even. I've been reading far too much fluff the last couple of years. Any suggestions?

DemWalls · Jun 4, 2017

bosseye said:
I have nothing to read. I want to read something bleak and post apocalyptic, but what!

I just finished Angela's Ashes which was pretty miserable.

The Prince of Nothing trilogy by R. Scott Bakker. Not really "post apocalyptic" (though in a strictly literal sense it is), but boy is it bleak.

DemWalls · Jun 4, 2017

Ikon said:
I feel like I could do with a book with more... substance - if that makes sense? A book that will stay with me for a long time/the rest of my life even. I've been reading far too much fluff the last couple of years. Any suggestions?

It's quite an undertaking, but Les Misérables will definitely stay with me til I'm in the grave.

Ikon · Jun 4, 2017

DemWalls said:
It's quite an undertaking, but Les Misérables will definitely stay with me til I'm in the grave.

That's not a bad suggestion at all. My wife's a huge fan of it... but the only edition we've got right now is a quite nice hardcover one that I gave her a while back. Guess I've got to buy a cheap throwaway one.

StoveOven · Jun 4, 2017

Minishdriveby said:
Swamplandia!

I'm about halfway through. I'm pretty sure Russell is known for her magical realism, and I have this very sinking feeling that this a subversion of magical realism. It's gonna be fairly depressing if it goes where I think it goes; the language and story has been fairly ambiguous, leaving this shroud over whether or not their is something magical on the island, but it's also follows a credulous young girl and the setting is a rather harsh and impoverished reality where characters are skeptics which leads me to believe tropes will be subverted. Won't say more outside of spoilers. Plot summary as of now and where I think it's leading. I should have it done in the next couple days. Don't read spoiler if you don't want spoilers.

Main characters are a white family who live in the Everglades and put on Alligator Wrestling shows. The kids think they're from a tribe of Indians, inculcated by their parents. The mother dies. The big sister starts talking to ghosts. The brother runs away and the father goes to the mainland in search of him (although it's implied he's gone in the past for possibly sexual trysts). The big sister elopes with ghost boyfriend and little sister (main character and narrator) meets a "Bird man" who says he'll take her to the underworld to find her big sister. So as a skeptical reader who see a shady old guy telling a little girl he knows where her missing sister is and to not call the police because they won't believe that she eloped with a ghost, I'm like fuck this stranger is going to kidnap and rape or murder this 13 year old

It's been a couple of years since I've read this, but I believe that

your fears will come true

Saphirax · Jun 4, 2017

Ikon said:
That's not a bad suggestion at all. My wife's a huge fan of it... but the only edition we've got right now is a quite nice hardcover one that I gave her a while back. Guess I've got to buy a cheap throwaway one.

Just be careful so that you don't end up with an edition that has a subpar translation. Or an abridged version.

kinn · Jun 4, 2017

Maklershed said:
Finished The Wettest County in the World last night and started House of Suns.

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

Really enjoyed this. Great read.

Spectromixer · Jun 4, 2017

Reading The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson while on a 9 hour plane ride home today. About halfway through, been reading it while on vacation. I'm enjoying it for my first book by Sanderson.

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