-
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? DECEMBER EDITION
- Thread starter Eric P
- Start date
Speschal K
Member
Recently finished:
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Both are sequels to Ender's Game; Shadow is a parallel novel, and Speaker is set some time later.
Currently reading:
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (in anticipation for the HBO TV series adaptation, "True Blood," from Six Feet Under and American Beauty writer/creator Alan Ball). It's about a psychic waitress in Louisiana who meets and falls in love with a vampire. It's in a time where vampires have come out of the closet and are a known and protected class of citizens. Got some romantic stuff, but it's mainly a murder mystery. The first season of the show should cover the first book, one episode per chapter.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein - Written in the 60's I think? It's about a human who was born on Mars from people who went there from Earth, but his parents and everyone else died so he was raised by Martians. A second crew goes there, takes him back to Earth and it turns into very much a classic caper in which he's on the run from the govt with a nurse who broke him out of the hospital. Haven't gotten too far into it but seems good so far.
Awaiting my eyes on the nightstand:
World War Z by Brooks
Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett
Foundation by Asimov
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Both are sequels to Ender's Game; Shadow is a parallel novel, and Speaker is set some time later.
Currently reading:
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (in anticipation for the HBO TV series adaptation, "True Blood," from Six Feet Under and American Beauty writer/creator Alan Ball). It's about a psychic waitress in Louisiana who meets and falls in love with a vampire. It's in a time where vampires have come out of the closet and are a known and protected class of citizens. Got some romantic stuff, but it's mainly a murder mystery. The first season of the show should cover the first book, one episode per chapter.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein - Written in the 60's I think? It's about a human who was born on Mars from people who went there from Earth, but his parents and everyone else died so he was raised by Martians. A second crew goes there, takes him back to Earth and it turns into very much a classic caper in which he's on the run from the govt with a nurse who broke him out of the hospital. Haven't gotten too far into it but seems good so far.
Awaiting my eyes on the nightstand:
World War Z by Brooks
Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett
Foundation by Asimov
CajoleJuice
Member
Just starting:
npm0925 said:
Funny is pretty rare in fantasy. Any of Gene Wolfe's stand alone novels would be excellent for what you're looking for in terms of great standalone.
I'm reading Blood Meridian right now. It's pretty good, but at this point it's just vulgar and brutal and sorta pointless. I've not seen enough of the judge and I know about how he is the best character ever.
SaggyMonkey
Member
roosters93
Member
BenjaminBirdie said:
My dad was telling me about this book.
I might just have to read it.
I've been reading this for a week now, started with the first novel of course (Day of the Dragon). Up to this point it's pretty much interesting fantasy novel, and a freaking awesome fanservice. Even though I'm new, super new to the Warcraft universe; I'm entertained with the book (and the games, of course). I don't know if I can recommend it to anyone, since you'll be kind of lost with some of the situations that demand a basic knowledge of Warcraft universe, but it's a solid book (4 novels) for about 10 bucks.
CajoleJuice
Member
I'm ashamed to say that I just gave up on Blood Meridian. More than halfway through and it still seemed pointless. The judge is definitely an amazing character, but I just didn't care about the story. I'm three chapters into The Man in the High Castle and already it's about five times more enjoyable.QVT said:
Anasui Kishibe
Banned
a-we-so-me
I just finished Erich Fromm's book To Have or To Be?
Fromm is a neglected Frankfurt school thinker these days (Adorno and Benjamin are more popular in academic circles, at least) but I find Fromm to be much more readable. He's interested in Marx, Freud, Christian and Buddhist theology, and certain non-theistic philosophers--he's really good at synthesizing all those disparate fields and finding common ideas in them, and presenting them to the reader clearly. This isn't necessarily where I would start with reading him (if I hadn't read anything by Fromm I'd go with Escape from Freedom, or The Sane Society, or The Art of Loving), but I recommend it anyway.
One note about The Art of Loving--unlike Fromm's other books which are categorized as sociology, it's marketed primarily as a self-help volume, but it can be a real kick in the teeth. I loaned it to a friend of mine who said to me, over a year later, "I wish I could find someone who could refute that book, because then I wouldn't have to believe that it's true."
Fromm is a neglected Frankfurt school thinker these days (Adorno and Benjamin are more popular in academic circles, at least) but I find Fromm to be much more readable. He's interested in Marx, Freud, Christian and Buddhist theology, and certain non-theistic philosophers--he's really good at synthesizing all those disparate fields and finding common ideas in them, and presenting them to the reader clearly. This isn't necessarily where I would start with reading him (if I hadn't read anything by Fromm I'd go with Escape from Freedom, or The Sane Society, or The Art of Loving), but I recommend it anyway.
One note about The Art of Loving--unlike Fromm's other books which are categorized as sociology, it's marketed primarily as a self-help volume, but it can be a real kick in the teeth. I loaned it to a friend of mine who said to me, over a year later, "I wish I could find someone who could refute that book, because then I wouldn't have to believe that it's true."
Alucard said:
I went through a phase in junior high school where I read about 30 Asimov books in a year. He eventually connected the Foundation novels and the Robot novels together, so that the total series is 14 books--it doesn't matter that you read The Caves of Steel first, since he wrote them out of order, and it's only the books he wrote near the end of his life that spoil the books he wrote earlier.
There are four Robot novels, by the way--it's not strictly a trilogy. The Caves of Steel; The Naked Sun; The Robots of Dawn; Robots and Empire (which is kind of a crossover book, IIRC).
Then the three middle books--The Stars Like Dust; The Currents of Space; Pebble in the Sky.
Then there are the seven Foundation novels, but they were written out of order, and you should read them in the order he wrote them--Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, Prelude to Foundation, and Forward the Foundation (which Asimov wrote as he was dying from AIDS, which he received from a blood transfusion--it is one of the saddest books you'll ever read).
Anasui Kishibe
Banned
the sequel of Cloud of Sparrows, another awesome book by Matsuoka. Buy it and read it, it's got everything: a Japan between tradition and modern age, full of romance, fights, treachery, passions.
I didn't even know it was coming out this year, so I was supremely surprised to see it while x-mas shopping
Bought it in Audio Book format since I was impressed with Phantom's audio book, both the same reader. Can't wait to see how the trilogy ends, on the 5th disc out of 20 and have been hooked on it since disc 1.lobsterjohnson84
Member
Mooreberg said:
And then I get to write an essay explaining how "Ghost Dog" is faithful to the ideas in the book. Ugh.
You wouldn't happen to go to a certain Orange, CA college that just finished its bloated overly needless fountain would you? Because I know a teacher at that school that does that exact same assignment for his history of the samurai class. Also...that is kind of an easy assignment so I don't really understand the "ugh"
Oh yeah.... I'm 100 pages in to blood meridian.... the things they hang on trees back in those days.... yeesh.
Adam Blade
WWKC
lobsterjohnson84 said:
What college is this?
lobsterjohnson84
Member
Well the one that I'm referring to would be Chapman University in Orange, Ca. In the realm of cool classes taught by Prof. Bay are The History of the Samurai, the Social History of Modern Japan (which is an awesome class), and Disease, Power, and Sex: Medicine in Eastern Asia (China, Japan, and a little bit of India).
Adam Blade
WWKC
lobsterjohnson84 said:
Near the Circle huh... >_>
lobsterjohnson84
Member
Adam Blade said:
A circle, a block, a land, a pond, and a stadium if your asking for silly named landmarks
Adam Blade
WWKC
lobsterjohnson84 said:A circle, a block, a land, a pond, and a stadium if your asking for silly named landmarks
I'll agree it's silly.
<- an OC man himself, of the Anteater variety.
Nice to meetcha.
lobsterjohnson84
Member
Adam Blade said:I'll agree it's silly.
<- an OC man himself, of the Anteater variety.
Nice to meetcha.
Right back atcha Anteater, may I commend you for having a theater that I go to wayyy too often. Who would have thought my school which has an awesome film school doesnt have a good near by independant cinema when your super science land has the best one in Orange county... oh well.
lobsterjohnson84
Member
But back to books..... Hey! Did you know Phillip K. Dick lived in Fullerton? So awesome.
Literary buffs: I'm on a bewildered search for science fiction I can enjoy, and in need of qualified suggestions. Let me point out a few things first: I'm not interested in action-driven stories, "Star Wars in book form" or the kind. Secondly, I haven't been totally convinced by some of the "deeper" sci-fi I've read, a lot of the social commentary seems ham-handed - the idea and ideology comes before the story. Thirdly, I read Arthur C Clarke and wasn't convinced. One main problem with a lot of the stuff I've browsed through is their language, and lack of subtlety. Is there any sci-fi which explores a character, or characters mindset, their motivations, the human psychology - in an interesting way?
lobsterjohnson84 said:
I also go to UCI. Is there a good independent theatre here I'm unaware of? I know there is one right next to the Trader Joes and my gym and that is fantastic, another would be even better.
Peru - You're looking for Gene Wolfe. Book of the New Sun.
Adam Blade
WWKC
lobsterjohnson84 said:
soawesome.jpg
Cosmic Bus
pristine morning snow
Peru said:
You might need some Stanislaw Lem in your life.
cicero
Member
A History of the Crusades Vol. 1 - The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by Steven Runciman
Counterpoints: Twenty-Five Years of the New Criterion on Culture and the Arts
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge
The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows (Best of Robert E Howard) by Robert E. Howard
Free Public Domain titles:
A Piece of Blue Sky - Scientology, Dianetics and L.Ron Hubbard Exposed by Jon Atack
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/order.htm
The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus by John F. Baddeley
http://books.google.com/books?id=xkYEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq
Counterpoints: Twenty-Five Years of the New Criterion on Culture and the Arts
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge
The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows (Best of Robert E Howard) by Robert E. Howard
Free Public Domain titles:
A Piece of Blue Sky - Scientology, Dianetics and L.Ron Hubbard Exposed by Jon Atack
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/order.htm
The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus by John F. Baddeley
http://books.google.com/books?id=xkYEAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq
lobsterjohnson84
Member
QVT said:
Nope the university theater near next to trader joe's is the one I was referring to. But if you want to know the best theaters within a 60 mile radius you need to visit The New Beverly Cinema in LA as well as The Nuart on Santa Monica, The Landmark, and of course the Arclight..... 4 best theaters in the state.
Peru said:
my major problem with sci-fi is that the audience is rarely subtle, much like horror.
i would like to suggest two books that i always suggest, they both have heavy religious themes which annoys some people.
The Sparrow by Mary Dora Russel
Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Michael Miller
I started reading the forever war last night and was rather surprised to find it such a quick read. i managed to tear into 150 pages in about an hour and a half without even meaning to do so.
to me, it reads as sort of a counterpoint to heinlen's starship troopers.
i don't think i can suggest this book enough. i'll probably finish it then go back to the Man who was Thursday
to me, it reads as sort of a counterpoint to heinlen's starship troopers.
i don't think i can suggest this book enough. i'll probably finish it then go back to the Man who was Thursday
Certainly seems like one who could nail it - I love Solaris the movie, so why not his books.Cosmic Bus said:
Eric P said:
Thanks a lot, I'll read up on those books and see if the bookstore/library have them. The synopsises seem interesting, particularly the latter. Religious content won't bother me unless, again, it's done in a ham-handed way.
Souldriver
Member
Sorry, no fiction.
==> Book about American History
==> Title says it all. More educational purposes, fairly dry written but still interesting.
==> Book about American History
==> Title says it all. More educational purposes, fairly dry written but still interesting.
Peru said:
He writes almost as well as Nabokov in terms of prose, and his characterization is fucking fantastic. His ideas are comparable to Borges if we're just talking about inventiveness and creativity. And plot, my god. It's difficult to talk about the best of something because there is nothing to compare it to, but you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't give him a chance. It's also a fucking miracle of narration as the narrator is a person who remembers everything, but remains an unreliable narrator.
So fantastic.
