Flizzzipper
Member
Console Wars - Right up my alley so far.
I am going through and reading all the King books that I have managed to miss, in chronological order. I'm up to 1999, woo.
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What are you reading? (May 2014)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Console Wars - Right up my alley so far.
I am going through and reading all the King books that I have managed to miss, in chronological order. I'm up to 1999, woo.
Mackenzie 92
Member
I am going through and reading all the King books that I have managed to miss, in chronological order. I'm up to 1999, woo.
Missed that one too. Just picked it up.
Flintty
Member
Well here it is then but if there are any issues I'll happily remove it.
London Shadows is a book my wife has been writing for six years. It's her first book to be put on general sale primarily through Amazon worldwide, available in paperback and Kindle version. I read the first draft of this book about three years ago and whilst I though it was a great read, my wife wasn't happy and has re-written most of it. I haven't yet finished it in it's current form but I'm hoping it is as good as the first draft!
It has been interesting to see the development of her ideas over time and the amount of work she has put into it - so much so that I have a new found respect for authors. I never knew quite how hard these people work!
If it sounds like your thing and you do buy it, please leave any positive or negative feedback for her - she is forever striving for perfection in her writing!
@Flizzzipper That Console Wars looks right up my street! I was firmly placed in the Nintendo/Mario camp during the 90's and remember the arguments with my friends not only being about what system was better but who would win a fight between Mario and Sonic lol. I think I might have to make a purchase!
Finished with "Johnny Got His Gun", now reading this (follow up to "The Winds of War"):
Finished this today, appropriately on Memorial Day. All in all, an amazing and highly readable epic about the Second World War and the Holocaust.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Beautiful, dreamlike, terrifying - when they said a modern fairy tale, they meant it
Just finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I loved the beginning, and overall really enjoyed the book (gave it 5 stars on goodreads), but it did seem to drag when he was
. The ending was pretty different from what I was expecting, but I guess it worked for me.
in Texas for about 2/3 of the book
lastflowers
Banned
Finished
and
in the past week and half.
Read 500 pages of IJ this weekend, 250 today to finish it off. I couldn't put it down during those last 150 pages. Both novels are excellent, and thematically intertwine in many ways. I'm interested in pursuing more of DFW's works to see how I can further tie the two authors together along with Pynchon. I've heard interesting things about Gaddis as well, so I've got a couple of his novels on order to read in the upcoming months.
In light of the world cup, I'm working through both of these:
and
in the past week and half.
Read 500 pages of IJ this weekend, 250 today to finish it off. I couldn't put it down during those last 150 pages. Both novels are excellent, and thematically intertwine in many ways. I'm interested in pursuing more of DFW's works to see how I can further tie the two authors together along with Pynchon. I've heard interesting things about Gaddis as well, so I've got a couple of his novels on order to read in the upcoming months.
In light of the world cup, I'm working through both of these:
I thought the life in Texas portion of the book was the best part, but I like it when stories take pause to do a normal life section during a characters quest. For instance the part of American Gods that Shadow spends in Wisconsin was also my favorite.
RepairmanJack
Member
Finished Fool Moon over the weekend. I thought it was a little better than the first one. I liked the interactions between the characters more than the first, but I didn't really like the wolf case all that much.
Jumping right into Grave Peril.
Is Dresden being accused and arrested going to happen in every book? How many times can Murphy be stupid?
Jumping right into Grave Peril.
Winter John
Member
I have been making my way through The Dark Tower series. I read them as they were published originally, but with the new installment I thought it would be a good idea to read the whole series again. I've finally gotten to the last one after many months. I won't give away any details but there are certain parts in the last two books that are totally cringeworthy. The writing is atrocious and I'm surprised he hasn't rewritten those sections. Apart from that, I have enjoyed going on the journey with Roland again.
Finished 'Vacuum Diagrams' at the weekend, a collection of really good short story's that add quite a bit to the series.
Moved straight on to 'Coalescent' i'm just over half way through and am still waiting for the Scifi bit, Its not that its not been a good read so far its actually quite good but how it fits into the Zeelee sequence I don't know, I assume things will start changing towards the end but the book isn't quite what I was expecting.
Moved straight on to 'Coalescent' i'm just over half way through and am still waiting for the Scifi bit, Its not that its not been a good read so far its actually quite good but how it fits into the Zeelee sequence I don't know, I assume things will start changing towards the end but the book isn't quite what I was expecting.
Laketown was great! Loved reading through those segments.
Just read a chapter in Raising Cubby that I really loved and just wanted to share. It was John talking about his sons learning troubles while young, and focused on his lack of interest in reading, but loving being read to. Was going through all sorts of tests and whatnot to find out the issues, but then mentioned when Harry Potter came along it all changed. And it just reminded me how great it is that find a book (or book series in this case), where you just get so wrapped up, and it becomes something greater. And just how something like that can be such a massive influence on a young persons love for reading and the social aspect of wanting to keep up with friends. Just thought that was a very touching moment to connect with.
As much as Ive said long series tend to be daunting for me, I can understand the excitement of being along for the ride and getting caught up in the excitement of it all.
As much as Ive said long series tend to be daunting for me, I can understand the excitement of being along for the ride and getting caught up in the excitement of it all.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
Skin game by him butcher. It's going to be awesome but I'm already at 10% 
Finished up The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson yesterday. The first book was better. This book focused much more on character development, but somehow managed to make some characters feel more shallow than in the first. Some of the twists I managed to guess within the first 150 pages, which isn't great as I normally try to avoid guessing twists. I really didn't care for the ending at all, it seemed to deflate a lot of the conflicts earlier in the book
I'm a sucker for atmosphere though, and as a result I could look past most of the book's flaws. On top of this, there were some great "hell yeah" moments that helped balance out the slower portions of the book.
I wanna give it a 3.5. Rounded up to 4 stars on Goodreads.
Next up is:
I wanted a shorter book to give me a brief interlude before finishing up the Mistborn Trilogy. I've been hearing about Heart of Darkness for awhile now so figured it'd be a good time to get it out of the way.
just to get a "tricked ya!".
I'm a sucker for atmosphere though, and as a result I could look past most of the book's flaws. On top of this, there were some great "hell yeah" moments that helped balance out the slower portions of the book.
I wanna give it a 3.5. Rounded up to 4 stars on Goodreads.
Next up is:
I wanted a shorter book to give me a brief interlude before finishing up the Mistborn Trilogy. I've been hearing about Heart of Darkness for awhile now so figured it'd be a good time to get it out of the way.
WoA is odd. I've always had conflicted feelings about it. On one hand, it has some great (IMO, of course) scenes and characters (Zane), and pretty good atmosphere, on the other hand, it is about the kingdom's politics, making the book's name really non-indicative. The end is kind of detached from the rest of the book (Sanderson actually talks about this in his annotations for the book, if i recall correctly).
Ultimately i like the first book of the trilogy most.
Finished up The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson yesterday. The first book was better. This book focused much more on character development, but somehow managed to make some characters feel more shallow than in the first. Some of the twists I managed to guess within the first 150 pages, which isn't great as I normally try to avoid guessing twists. I really didn't care for the ending at all, it seemed to deflate a lot of the conflicts earlier in the bookjust to get a "tricked ya!".
I'm a sucker for atmosphere though, and as a result I could look past most of the book's flaws. On top of this, there were some great "hell yeah" moments that helped balance out the slower portions of the book.
I wanna give it a 3.5. Rounded up to 4 stars on Goodreads.
Next up is:
I wanted a shorter book to give me a brief interlude before finishing up the Mistborn Trilogy. I've been hearing about Heart of Darkness for awhile now so figured it'd be a good time to get it out of the way.
Thats like one of the longest shortest books ever
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
What a clever way to put that, very accurate.
I've been reading:
I don't think it's sticking. Mostly about adrift characters, wallowing, remembering, doing things and then wallowing some more. The prose doesn't strike me and the characters are unbelievable.
One of Stephenson's earlier works. He wrote most of it, with George's political/historical help. It's got Stephenson's wit and detail in it, but you can tell he's also learning how to balance multiple plot threads at once (something I'm not sure he mastered until Cryptonomicon). Still a riot.
On the to-read pile:
I just bought this one on Unglue.it which I think is a pretty rad way to sell and buy ebooks. It's a reworking on Sundman's 1999 novel Acts of the Apostles, which I've hard good things about. Bio-techno-thriller.
The horror, the horror
Just finished The Dresden Files : Cold Days which I enjoyed (I enjoy all the Dresden Files books). I'll read Skin Game within the next couple of months.
Up next is The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan. I LOVED A Promise of Blood, so I'm really looking forward to this book. It's probably going to take me a while to get through it because I've been working 50 hours a week, so it doesn't leave me much time to read.
Up next is The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan. I LOVED A Promise of Blood, so I'm really looking forward to this book. It's probably going to take me a while to get through it because I've been working 50 hours a week, so it doesn't leave me much time to read.
I am still listening to this, and I am not deeply impressed with the research. She tells a great tale, but it seems like she takes the sources at face value and doesn't really critique them. I am mostly basing this off of the Ida Tarbell portion of it because that is what I know most about thanks to the Rockefeller biography I read.
Goodwin seems to take Tarbell's whole account at face value when their are errors. She claims that Rockefeller just created a trust and monopolized the oil field for the hell of it, but it was in response to the oil glut that caused prices to sharply fall below even the point of profit. Moreover, one of the major reasons why he was able to build a strong base at first was that he was able to cut his costs significantly lower than his competitors and went all in on the oil fields, i.e. super aggressive. To become the gigantic monopoly the railroad rebates and special rates were pretty key, but that was not the difference between him and the other independent oil men.
The sad thing is, is that Rockefeller actually did more egregious things than Tarbell knew, but by Goodwin stating that what Tarbell said was complete truth, it makes me worry about all the rest of her book.
The worst sin is she perpetuates the Tarbell myth that these independent oil producers were some heroes of competitive capitalism, which is just bullshit. They were trying to cooperate (failed) and get lower rates for themselves. Rockefeller was simply better, more aggressive and more ruthless.
I am not sure if I want to read Team of Rivals now. Like I said, the narrative is quite good, but that lack of diligent research bugs the crap out of me. I shouldn't be able to find this obvious mistake when I've barely read any books on the robber barons, standard oil and the progressives.
nakedsushi
Member
Heh, it's like I wrote that review. I have a low threshold for adrift, wallowing, navel-gazing characters too.
abolisher6812
Member
I can't start a thread, so I thought this was an appropriate place for this. Reading Rainbow had a huge impact on my childhood as I am sure it had on a lot of people here, so take a look...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh
When you're done watch Crash Course's analysis. I think it's pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6g7S2W27Kc
Jag
Member
Promise of Blood has really got its hooks in me. Started out slow, but worth the wait.
DesertEater
Member
Started reading it few days ago. Never read a David Foster Wallace before and thought this might be a good place to start. Finished the first story. Very dense and convoluted, but I liked it a lot.
lastflowers
Banned
If you haven't heard him talk, there are some great videos on Youtube as well. He's very interesting to listen to.
This one in particular was really good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfjjSj9coA0
It can help you get into the mindset of DFW, which probably would help with reading his works (I've only just finished Infinite Jest myself).
DesertEater
Member
Will surely watch this. Actually, it was his commencement speech that got me interested in him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
Such a great speech.
Mackenzie 92
Member
One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name
Best sci-fi adventure I've read in a while.
Also finished this up.
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Pretty meh overall imo.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
There's a new humble ebook bundle, which jives nicely with my internet being out for the next week.
I started a thread for it here.
I started a thread for it here.
sindbadthesailor
Member
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch.
I have to admit I only got this book because of GRRM. I had no clue it was written in the 80s until I finished it. It was a wonderful ride with memorable and likable characters. What was strange about it is that the characters seemed to defy classic tropes in this genre, but the progression of the story remains nonetheless predictable. Make no mistake, though. The book is great and intense!
Picked this up on a whim as well. still reading. I'm 230-ish pages in so far. But I'm warming up to the book. The characters are all very unique, and the alludes to something big happening later on, what is it I don't know. It's a bout a guy named Richard who enrolls in Hampden university of liberal arts. He was fascinated with Greek (which he only studied by chance in his previous uni), but mainly enrolled to study english literature.
He wanted to continue his Greek studies, but the one professor, called Julian, who offers a greek course is very peculiar. He only accepts a very small number of people (only 5 in this term), and when he finally accepted Richard as the sixth student, he asked him to drop all courses but french, and only accepts courses which Julian is in charge of. Richard accepts these terms and joins the club. He begins to blend in with his colleagues rather well after an abrupt start. But then, things turn strange, very strange, as he gets to know them better.
I won't spoil the rest but yeah, it's quite a setting.
Also, just a question. E-readers or traditional books? Which one do you guys prefer?
nakedsushi
Member
I have to admit I only got this book because of GRRM. I had no clue it was written in the 80s until I finished it. It was a wonderful ride with memorable and likable characters. What was strange about it is that the characters seemed to defy classic tropes in this genre, but the progression of the story remains nonetheless predictable. Make no mistake, though. The book is great and intense!
...
Also, just a question. E-readers or traditional books? Which one do you guys prefer?
Yes, Fevre Dream is really great, not to mention unique. I didn't know what it was about before reading it, which made me like it even more. Vampires on a steamboat?!
Although I was a BIG proponent of tradition books before getting a Kindle, I've switched to the ereader side. It's just so convenient to have a bunch of books with me on the Kindle at one time. And most of the books I read, I'd only read once anyway, so it cuts down on how much physical space I have to set aside for books. Now, I mostly buy physical books if it has good pictures or if I'm going to gift it to a friend, or if I'm getting it signed.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Depends on how close I am to moving in the next six months.
Honestly I enjoy digital books because they're cheaper and it's easier to get my hands on a variety. I've been branching out into self-published territory and it's an untamed but intriguing landscape, as it should be. Can't beat a cheap paperback for traveling though - don't have to worry about it getting stolen.
The Culture Vulture
Member
Finished The Strain
I enjoyed the story though the writing itself had me rolling my eyes more than once. Curious how the FX show will turn out. They are using the bald headed guy from season one of House Of Cards as the doctor and Walder Frey as Setrakian
I enjoyed the story though the writing itself had me rolling my eyes more than once. Curious how the FX show will turn out. They are using the bald headed guy from season one of House Of Cards as the doctor and Walder Frey as Setrakian
cZarKastic
Member
Michio Kaku The Future of the Mind, This is one of the very best brain book I've read. It is tremendously thorough in each explanation and wide in the selection of topics. I'm not even halfway through, but really impressed so far.
JustAnotherMike
Member
I just finished book two of the Dark Tower series. I liked it a lot and enjoyed how it ended.
I just started reading the 2nd Dune book after reading the first a couple of years ago
Holy crap. I forgot how intricate the dialogue was. It starts off with this assassination plot scene that left my head spinning.
Also, after years of waiting and then ultimately forgetting about I'm going to pick up Scott Sigler's Pandemic.
Can't wait to see how this turns out. Infected is the only book that has mad me feel queasy.
I just started reading the 2nd Dune book after reading the first a couple of years ago
Holy crap. I forgot how intricate the dialogue was. It starts off with this assassination plot scene that left my head spinning.
Also, after years of waiting and then ultimately forgetting about I'm going to pick up Scott Sigler's Pandemic.
Can't wait to see how this turns out. Infected is the only book that has mad me feel queasy.
Maklershed
Member
E-reader all the way for me. Specifically, the Kindle Paperwhite. Can't recommend it enough. All my books in one place, light, compact, and I can read anywhere, anytime thanks to the backlit screen.
Winter John
Member
Kindle Fire for me. The Kindle is my favourite gadget of the last 10 years. Before I had one I thought they were frivolous, silly things. Then my wife bought me one and I absolutely love it.
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