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What are you reading? (January 2010)

Furcas

Banned
I'm nearly done with

n5398.jpg


It's pretty fucking brilliant.



Next I'll read

PermutationCity(1stEd).jpg
 

_Isaac

Member
Musashi Wins! said:
The Corrections is marvelous and it will feel like you read another of the big books of the last 10 years. Martin shouldn't even be on your list, you're way beyond him. And not because he's a genre author.

I think I'll go with The Corrections then. By the way, what's wrong with Martin?
 

Alucard

Banned
Just wondering, do any of the Book GAF crew write themselves, or are claims of "amateur writing" in regards to the books they read just armchair criticisms? :) 'Cause I'm totally an armchair critic when it comes to books.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
Alucard said:
Just wondering, do any of the Book GAF crew write themselves, or are claims of "amateur writing" in regards to the books they read just armchair criticisms? :) 'Cause I'm totally an armchair critic when it comes to books.

I recently finished writing a novel. Though I suppose my reviews are still armchair criticisms, despite the exposure they get within my corner of the industry. If it matters, I've had my a review of mine quoted and printed within a novel from a major publisher.
 

Salazar

Member
Alucard said:
Just wondering, do any of the Book GAF crew write themselves, or are claims of "amateur writing" in regards to the books they read just armchair criticisms? :) 'Cause I'm totally an armchair critic when it comes to books.

Yes, I do, but literary criticism dies inside when it loses or denies the social, conversational turn—with the first, at least the first, reference to instinct—in armchair criticism. I don't write fiction and haven't tried with any seriousness, but I'm confident to tell bad writing from good.

I tend to suppress mention and memory of the bad books I read, so I probably won't be calling anybody an amateur in these threads. That Terry Goodkind and his like are talentless cretins goes largely without saying, but I am unlikely to tire of saying it.
 

_Isaac

Member
Salazar said:
Yes, I do, but literary criticism dies inside when it loses or denies the social, conversational turn—with the first, at least the first, reference to instinct—in armchair criticism. I don't write fiction and haven't tried with any seriousness, but I'm confident to tell bad writing from good.

I tend to suppress mention and memory of the bad books I read, so I probably won't be calling anybody an amateur in these threads. That Terry Goodkind and his like are talentless cretins goes largely without saying, but I am unlikely to tire of saying it.

You sound like a rapper.
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
In reference to a post on the last page, I actually thought the evil chicken scene was actually really really good. Fucking bizarre and hilarious. But the criticism of the series is probably valid: the author goes a hellava long way towards torturing his characters as long as possible without actually solving anything, ever.

Spoilers from one of the books but I can't exactly which one:
The scene where the girl was forced to cheat on the guy but it actually turned out to be the guy but it was still cheating because he knew she thought she was cheating
...fucking lame and a series-ender for me. I kept reading and it never got better after that. I stopped at Naked Empire but I couldn't tell you anything that happened after this horrific scene.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
PantherLotus said:
I stopped at Naked Empire but I couldn't tell you anything that happened after this horrific scene.

I was a fan of the series until Naked Empire, which is the worst book I've ever finished reading.
 

Salazar

Member
Well, I read Goodkind up to the end. The series closes with one of the most ludicrous cop-outs I have encountered in fantasy, and his fascination with rape/torture builds to a genuinely nasty and mean-spirited—rather than merely silly and off-putting—pitch.

I did borrow rather than buy the books after the fourth one. No sense, or at least no pleasure, in handing money to a man willing to dissolve morality in obtuse, Randian pursuit of it.

Edmund Gosse's 'Father and Son', by the way, is the most sweetly written and acute book on religion I've come across. I'd read James Wood's essay on it (in his wonderful first collection, 'The Broken Estate'), but had little purchase on a book I'd not then read. There's intellectual, social, and emotional modesty all through it, in the form of very gentle self-mockery. The modesty is significant in view of his disavowing the grim and total religious commitment of his father - having the courage to say, as the son of a man who knows the mind of God, 'I don't and will never know'. It's a free e-book (Gutenberg, Manybooks.net) for anyone with a Kindle or another device. Much recommended.
 

Chorazin

Member
Cyan said:
Read a few books on vacation, all sci-fi/fantasy.

200px-Painted_man_cover_small.png

Peter Brett's The Warded Man.

Standard good vs evil fantasy (humans vs demons), but an interesting setting. In a post-apocalyptic future, demons arise from the earth every night and kill any humans they find. The only defense is to hide behind wards, magical symbols painted onto houses and city walls. It's a war of attrition and the humans are slowly dieing out, as a single mistake in your wards means near-certain death. Naturally, our hero decides he's sick of hiding, and sets out in search of a way to fight back.

Found out this is called The Warded Man in the US, as I was searching for it on Amazon today after seeing your post. I was searching based on the cover and couldn't find it, even though you mentioned it in your post. (Early morning reading comprehension fail!) :)

Oh, and stick with the Codex Alera books, the first book is the weakest of the bunch, and they ramp up quickly from there. Soon, the big stories open up about the Canin and the Vord, and they are awesome. It just recently wrapped up with book six, and Butcher isn't writing any more in this series, or so he says.
 

Blackace

if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Chorazin said:
Found out this is called The Warded Man in the US, as I was searching for it on Amazon today after seeing your post. I was searching based on the cover and couldn't find it, even though you mentioned it in your post. :)

Oh, and stick with the Codex Alera books, the first book is the weakest of the bunch, and they ramp up quickly from there. Soon, the big stories open up about the Canin and the Vord, and they are awesome. It just recently wrapped up with book six, and Butcher isn't writing any more in this series, or so he says.
just finishing up book 2. I am enjoying it... there is something I don't fully enjoy about his stroytelling but I am indeed interested. I will pick up the other 4 books shortly..

going to be starting A shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham in the meantime..
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
Blackace said:
going to be starting A shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham in the meantime..

Just finished reading this a few days ago. Brilliant book.
 

Chorazin

Member
Blackace said:
just finishing up book 2. I am enjoying it... there is something I don't fully enjoy about his stroytelling but I am indeed interested. I will pick up the other 4 books shortly..

going to be starting A shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham in the meantime..

Yeah, the Alera series really takes off at the end of Book 2. It seems like until that point he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do or how he wanted to tell the story, and it shows in the writing. Stick with it, I think it's worth it.

If you haven't read his Dresden Files series, they are also highly recommended. :)
 

Cuu

Member
Just finished (I know I'm LTTP)
2s0fo6q.jpg

I read this book yesterday - fascinating story. Couldn't put it down. Tons of emotion, detail, and just kind of a really messed up story.

Now starting:
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I really like the writing style of this book. I'm only on chapter 3,
but the way the main character acts and analyzes things, is kinda like me (except quite a bit more detached from reality so far).
 
Got a lot of new books over the holidays.

I got the first book in both The Wheel of Time series and in A Song of Fire and Ice . Also got three more Martinez books (In the Company of Ogres, Monster, and Too Many Curses) , and The Lies of Locke Lamora.

That's a good little haul, but I'm worried that I'm leaning a little heavily on fantasy right now. Anyone got any suggestion on some good fiction? I'd prefer it to be readable with great characters and not quite black as tar in its tone, but if it's great, I'll probably look into it anyway.

Currently reading Ogres, since I left Gil's All Fright Diner at the folks.
 

KingGondo

Banned
Got a Kindle for Christmas, and it's really increased my reading... Maybe it's just the novelty of the device, but I definitely find it genuinely comfortable to read on.

Read:
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (A bit thin and not much of a deep argument, but still persuasive. Definitely made me more sure of myself and confident in my atheism.)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Liked it, but I can tell I'll enjoy it even more on a second read-through. British humor takes some getting used to.)

Currently reading:
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (Depressing as fuck, not even that funny. I still think I like it, though. I think.)
The Short Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (love love love it so far... how did I not read Lovecraft before? I've only read "The Alchemist" and "The Beast in the Cave" so far.)
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I'm getting caught up on Stephen Hunter (Night of Thunder and now I, Sniper). Kinda disappointed with NoT as the tactical details he usually does so well are lacking and Bob Swagger is fast becoming a parody of himself. I, Sniper is starting off well, but I hope Hunter branches off into new terrain (he seems to be hinting at a Western themed Swagger ancestor novel, which might be cool).

Finished Stephen King's "Under the Dome" right after New Year, so I guess it counts. Liked it, though I feel like the ending was rushed and dammit, why can't this guy get a decent gun guy to do a read through? He goes into insane detail about the dome, followed by some amature "carried a Beretta Taurus automatic" nonsense.

Congrats on the Kindle. Your first order of business is to regularly peruse amazon looking for free kindle books. Every month they put some recent titles out for free, grab them even if you have no interest (well, only a little interest, I skip all the vampire romance/christian thriller titles they push) and save them for a rainy day. Can also knock out a TON of classics for free as well, though until they give the Kindle some sort of organizational system, it is probably easier to just drop a few $$$ on a nicely edited Mobi collection of your fav pre-1930s author rather than have all their stuff scattered on your Kindle. $3 for EVERYTHING Shakespeare/Melville/Burroughs/Doyle/etc ever wrote, all nicely indexed? Worth it in my book.
 

theJwac

Member
I'm on a Haruki Murakami binge. Last month I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, this month I am going to read either

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OR

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Any suggestion between the two?
 

Particle Physicist

between a quark and a baryon
i liked kafka on the shore better.



i just finished reading:

City of Thieves by David Benioff

city-of-thieves_l1.jpg


Excellent book! The character were so well written, they felt very real. Great book, easy read.. not too long.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Fleet of Foot said:
Has anyone read The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton? I noticed it while browsing at Borders yesterday and decided to buy it on my Kindle. The whole trilogy is $7.99.

This looks loooooong. There are about 71,000 "locations" in the Kindle version, versus about 18,000 locations in A Clash of Kings, for instance. So yeah it will take a while. After reading it for several hours today, Kindle tells me I'm 3% done! But it's starting off really good.

I don't know how I've never heard of it.

I have the same e-book, but have not read it, as I polished of the Night's Dawn trilogy a while back. At some point towards the end of the first "book" (not sure how the e-book is sectioned off) Hamilton will make a rather wild 90 degree jump in the story. If you read it, shake your head, and go "WTF!" then just stop reading. But if you go "Holy shit! AWESOME!" then carry on for the next 1600 pages :)

I think Hamilton has improved as a writer, but he really laid out a wild world in the ND series that he has yet to top. He must have some angst about death though, almost all of his work involves tech that defeats it to some degree. That and super-powered cyborg combat. And sex, yes, lots of sex, with big boobed women!
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Finishing Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton.

How did you feel about it? I liked it, though it CLEARLY was unfinished, or rather barely more than a terse outline by the end. I wish he had the time to really polish it up though, I loved the detail he started off with. Should make for a decent movie. Pirate fiction is so scarse these days....
 

Jin

Member
Cuu said:
Just finished (I know I'm LTTP)
2s0fo6q.jpg

I read this book yesterday - fascinating story. Couldn't put it down. Tons of emotion, detail, and just kind of a really messed up story.

If you enjoy Kite Runner you need to read A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Currently reading: Stephen King's Under The Dome. This thing is over 1000 pages. What have I got myself into...
 
Furcas said:
I'm nearly done with

n5398.jpg


It's pretty fucking brilliant.



Next I'll read

PermutationCity(1stEd).jpg
I sort of passed on Vernor Vinge after reading Rainbows End because the story sucked (although his concepts were astounding) is the plot good here?
 

Chorazin

Member
I never should have started reading and contributing to this thread, because I swear I'm adding at least one new book each page to my "Books to Buy" list. :lol
 

CiSTM

Banned
ElectricBlue187 said:
I sort of passed on Vernor Vinge after reading Rainbows End because the story sucked (although his concepts were astounding) is the plot good here?

A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are both essentials of sci-fi. You really should pick at least A Fire Upon the Deep and give old Vinge a new chance.

currently reading:
eagt2s.jpg


It was listed in TIME's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 and I decided to check it out. 50 pages down and it really hasn't caught my interest yet.
 

Musashi Wins!

FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
_Isaac said:
I think I'll go with The Corrections then. By the way, what's wrong with Martin?

Nothing, but he's not in the same league as the other two if those are your choices. His popularity outsizes his imagination. I like some fantasy, but he's pretty dull. In my little opinion, of course.
 

Ceebs

Member
CiSTM said:
It was listed in TIME's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 and I decided to check it out. 50 pages down and it really hasn't caught my interest yet.

I read maybe 100 pages and put it down. I keep meaning to go back to it, but it never grabbed me at all.
 

Verdre

Unconfirmed Member
Finally got my own copy of Peter S Beagle's first novel, A Fine and Private Place

A slow, rather sad tale of a man living in a cemetery who welcomes ghosts as they rise from their graves and then slowly fade away as they forget what it was to be alive.

One of my favorites.

That kind don't kill themselves. They live in hope, waiting for a phone call, or a telegram, or a letter, or a knock on the door, or running into someone on the street who will see how beautiful they really are. They think about killing themselves, but then they might not be able to answer the phone.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
American gods by Neil Gaiman

I think the book was written by a god, specifically for me. Something about it makes me love it.

I like it better so far than any of the SOIAF series and I couldn't put those down. I'm going to buy more of his stuff I think, any recommendations?
 

ItAintEasyBeinCheesy

it's 4th of July in my asshole
aidan said:
I just got a copy of the sequel, The Desert Spear, today. I'll be jumping into it as soon as I'm done with my current read. It's a fair bit longer than The Painted Man/The Warded Man.

Where from?

Heres an excerpt from The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett for anyone who wants a read, follow up to The Warded/Painted Man.

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2010/01/exclusive-excerpt-from-peter-v-bretts.html

Looks like its following the desert people? so maybe chapter jumping :/
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
catfish said:
American gods by Neil Gaiman

I think the book was written by a god, specifically for me. Something about it makes me love it.

I like it better so far than any of the SOIAF series and I couldn't put those down. I'm going to buy more of his stuff I think, any recommendations?

If you like American Gods, read his other novels. AG is probably my least favourite of the Gaiman novels I've read (although the sequel, Monarch of the Glen, was kinda enjoyable).
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
ItAintEasyBeinCheesy said:
Where from?

Heres an excerpt from The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett for anyone who wants a read, follow up to The Warded/Painted Man.

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2010/01/exclusive-excerpt-from-peter-v-bretts.html

Looks like its following the desert people? so maybe chapter jumping :/

Through my blog, I get early review copies of a lot of books. I talked Brett into making sure I got a copy of The Desert Spear. As for the desert people, the sequel is 40% longer than The Warded Man and features 8 (I think) perspectives, as opposed to the original's 3. Jardir, one of the desert guys, is one of the new ones, the original three characters are back as well.
 

ItAintEasyBeinCheesy

it's 4th of July in my asshole
aidan said:
Through my blog, I get early review copies of a lot of books. I talked Brett into making sure I got a copy of The Desert Spear. As for the desert people, the sequel is 40% longer than The Warded Man and features 8 (I think) perspectives, as opposed to the original's 3. Jardir, one of the desert guys, is one of the new ones, the original three characters are back as well.

Cool, Jardir and Abban are both in the first book, looks like hes going back in time a bit, hopefully it doesn't go all over the place. Got a link to your blog?

Edit: Checked your profile :)
 

Jenga

Banned
Cuu said:
Just finished (I know I'm LTTP)
2s0fo6q.jpg

I read this book yesterday - fascinating story. Couldn't put it down. Tons of emotion, detail, and just kind of a really messed up story.
I really have a love-hate relationship with the book. Overall, its a decent book, but goddamn did it start becoming overtly-contrived and predictable halfway through. It just got silly near the end imo

WHAT A TWEEST
was basically my reaction to most of the plot twists.

The book was golden in the beginning but it eventually just sorta fell apart as it continued
 

Chorazin

Member
Davedough said:

The lack of a color text option on the forum restricts the number of awesome responses I intented to reply with.

That book is crazy good, and a real mind-bender to read.

Fun fact: the author's sister is the musician Poe, who had a bunch of songs about the book on her album Haunted. Titles include 5 and a Half Minute Hallway, Dear Johnny, House of Leaves, and Exploration B. Good companion piece!
 

Alucrid

Banned
Chorazin said:
The lack of a color text option on the forum restricts the number of awesome responses I intented to reply with.

That book is crazy good, and a real mind-bender to read.

Fun fact: the author's sister is the musician Poe, who had a bunch of songs about the book on her album Haunted. Titles include 5 and a Half Minute Hallway, Dear Johnny, House of Leaves, and Exploration B. Good companion piece!

Fun Fact: Circa Survive's debut album, Juturna, also has a song called House of Leaves (as well as Meet Me in Montauk from ESOTSM) as does The Fall of Troy's album Doppelganger with its songs You Got a Death Wish, Johnny Truant? and The Hol[ ]y Tape...
 
So I just finished Stranger in a Strange Land

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At first I thought it was a little childish and not particularly well written, but then it started getting to me. Still not that well written, but I have to say that as a mirror the book is fantastic. It is almost as if Robert Heinlein and Aldous Huxley got together and said that their books would contain certain elements and then they both wrote books with those elements being polar opposite on where they fall on their respective moral scales. This book is seriously like the twin separated at birth from Brave New World. It greatly enhanced my reading of the book.

I have since moved on to another Bukowski book.

51%2B9S1%2BsaML._SS500_.jpg


What can I say I like me some Chinaski. His life is poetic.
 

Mardil

Member
bcl_crichton_prey.jpg


Would super recommend if you are into computers and programming... if you're not... then its an just a good read.
 
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