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[Tim the Wiz]

Reading a few books.

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. Conceptually, aesthetically staggering. A revelation.

Taking a break from War & Peace to read A Confession and The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Tolstoy. Some enjoyable discussion on life's meaning and the significance of underlying morality, touching on the threads of power's influence on societal pressures, as well as the flaws of religious interpretation. Might move onto the rest of his non-fiction works soon.

Trying to get back into Jim Butcher's Dresden Files from where I left off with Summer Knight. Also, starting out on Nabokov's The Luzhin Defence, and Total War, the first novel in the Survivalist series - just one of those FnordChan recommendations that stuck with me from an earlier thread.

Okay, so I just realized that the version of the book I borrowed from the library is missing some 30 pages or so compared to the extended edition. I just got to the third part of the novel: The Oracle and the Mountains. Should I stop, get off my lazy ass, and pick up the revised edition, or should I continue reading anyways. Crisis, GAF! CRISIS! Fix it for me. :'( Will I be missing anything?

Reading the revised edition could aid the impact of certain things later on - but not majorly so. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much if you're that far into it, but you might want to re-read it with the revised edition later on. Anyway, I don't know what that other guy was saying, but Gunslinger is a great novel. True, it's not the best in the series and the next three elevate the quality. However, it's a unique experience that I wouldn't change for anything.

It's so beautiful that I'm scared of it. I'm starting to think that it's that kind of book that everyone should read once in their life.

No doubt. Sadly, too many pass over it thinking it's merely a simplistic adventure novel. Might be the effect of the D'Artagan Romances being dragged through the mud too often in recent years.

So, in fantasy news... Scott Lynch's Republic of Thieves is delayed until, at best, Spring 2010. Probably later. Argh.

Fixed. Yeah, so has Robin Hobb and Peter V Brette. And if Mickey Reichert actually returns, Paul Kearney retains a publisher and the usual suspects (Martin, Rothfuss, etc.) finally deliver, 2010 should be epic for fantasy.

And I'm sure everyone who cares has heard already, but the "final" Wheel of Time book is now three final Wheel of Time books. Here's the press release. And Sanderson's explanation.

I feel sorry for Sanderson, having to go to such lengths to explain the obvious. I'll pick up the three volumes in 2011.

 

[Kola]

Need some help here. Months ago someone mentioned a book which featured stories of people who claimed to have seen/felt something unnatural but had no benefit from telling them. So it was some kinda ghost story collection. Anyone remember the title?

 

[bengraven]

Story of A Game of Thrones kind of stalled a bit, so I'm putting it off a few weeks to read:

Also have the following coming from Amazon (Prime is kind of rad, IMO):

 

[aerts1js]

I only read the revised edition of the Gunslinger but I have to say that I truly loved it.

 

[Myzer]

Currently reading...

 

[elektrikluv]

Love it.


Will start this after the Murakami book.

Probably my favourite book by him, although its a tough choice between that and Dance Dance Dance!

 

[jibblypop]

A very special thanks to whoever made the peanuts thread. I never realized how good this comic actually was. The image and products based on this series led me to believe that it was a shallow comic. How wrong I was.

I should have learned my lessons from the Flintstones. Although the last 2 seasons of the Flintstones do swerve towards Saturday morning cartoon territory, anything before that was very sharp and interesting. Sometimes the easy marketing money can distract from how awesome a series can be.

 

[donkeymonkey]

I've read (for the third time) "The Drowned World" by JG Ballard. Very short and very highly recommended.
And I've just started "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. No opinion on it yet.

 

[Scrow]

Added another one to the mix though...

you will not regret starting that series. the first 3 books are the best. the later books seem to cop a lot of flak, but I still found them to be sufficiently enjoyable.

soooooooo good

yes, great fantasy.

It's so beautiful that I'm scared of it. I'm starting to think that it's that kind of book that everyone should read once in their life.

yeah, i've heard people rave about that book. i intend to read it in the near future.

as for what i'm reading

 

[aerts1js]

How is the Stand? I have always meant to get around to it.. same with Count of Monte Cristo

 

[Alucard]

I finally finished reading The War of the Worlds. Thankfully, the second half was a lot more interesting than the overly-detailed first half. Really liked the afterword in the version I had, that gave a couple of different "readings" of the book, and how it can be allegorical for numerous human conflicts. Very fascinating stuff.

Now, I've finally decided to pick up The Fall of Hyperion again, after neglecting it for a good 5 months or so. I just wasn't doing the book justice before, and needed to put it down. I've picked it up again and once again feel that Dan Simmons is an extremely talented motherfucker, and a master wordsmith.

 

[Scrow]

How is the Stand? I have always meant to get around to it.. same with Count of Monte Cristo

uhm... it's actually a bit slow.

i've stuck with it because i respect a lot of king's other work so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and want to at least persist with it till i finish the Captain Trips portion of the story. if it hasn't fully captivated me by that point i may just drop it altogether. that's not likely to happen though, as it's starting to pickup now.

it probably doesn't help that i've got the "complete and uncut edition"

i'm not going to give it my full endorsement yet, but i'll still give it a tentative recommendation if you like king's other books.

 

[Saya]

Probably my favourite book by him, although its a tough choice between that and Dance Dance Dance!

Cool, Dance Dance Dance was my first Murakami book I read and so far it's also still my favorite one. Have you read all his work?

 

[nitewulf]

Now, I've finally decided to pick up The Fall of Hyperion again, after neglecting it for a good 5 months or so. I just wasn't doing the book justice before, and needed to put it down. I've picked it up again and once again feel that Dan Simmons is an extremely talented motherfucker, and a master wordsmith.

i'm struggling though it now as well. i finished Hyperion too long ago and barely remember what happened at the end. but he is a great writer, no doubt.

 

[Carlisle]

 

[Tim the Wiz]

uhm... it's actually a bit slow.

i've stuck with it because i respect a lot of king's other work so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and want to at least persist with it till i finish the Captain Trips portion of the story. if it hasn't fully captivated me by that point i may just drop it altogether. that's not likely to happen though, as it's starting to pickup now.

it probably doesn't help that i've got the "complete and uncut edition"

i'm not going to give it my full endorsement yet, but i'll still give it a tentative recommendation if you like king's other books.

I found the first half to be the strongest portion, so yeah, if you're not liking it in a couple hundred pages then...

And personally, I love the relationship that King's books share in their conception of evil (although the ending of DT sort of undermines that), similar to Moorcock's Eternal Champion construct.

 

[Alucard]

i'm struggling though it now as well. i finished Hyperion too long ago and barely remember what happened at the end. but he is a great writer, no doubt.

Yep, after the overwhelming amount of information in Hyperion, I found it really difficult to continue the journey in Fall of Hyperion right away. Plus, the form of the two books is so different, with Fall having quick and breezy chapters, while the first book had 50-70 page chapters.

Anyway, I've really gotten back into it now, and despite not remembering everything I read in Hyperion and the beginning of Fall of Hyperion, I recall enough to be enjoying the story immensely right now. About 250 pages in now.

 

[thomaser]

Finished Knut Hamsun's "Growth of the Soil" today. Such a great, beautiful book, simply loved it. Steinbeck's "East of Eden" has many similarities to it, and is probably heavily influenced by it.

I'm not sure what to read next. Perhaps Hamsun's "Wayfarers" (I have a volume with three of his books, the third being "On Overgrown Paths". Or maybe Shakespeare's sonnets, which I have had laying about for a long while and never gotten around to.

 

[Vyer]

Man, I keep starting Cryptonomicon but can't get 'into it'. I've stopped and started several times. I know if I just sit down and really devote some time into it I'll get hooked, but I can't seem to get started.

And big kudos to whoever put The Book Of Lost Things in these threads. I just finished it yesterday; very entertaining. The last chapter is quite moving.

 

[Poolman]

And also The Road.

It's so beautiful that I'm scared of it. I'm starting to think that it's that kind of book that everyone should read once in their life.

Ever heard of "The Stars My Destination?"
It's almost a Sci-Fi adaptation of Monte Cristo, and equally amazing.

 

[iifu]

One of my favorites, I usually read it once a year.

 

[Ginko]

 

[cooljeanius]

My reading backlog is bigger than my gaming backlog. Right now, I'm reading 3 books at once:
• The Social Contract and Discourse on the Origins of Inequality by Rousseau
• First Impressions: What you Don't Know About How Others See You by Ann Demarais and Valerie White
• Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy by William Barrett

And then my stack of books I have yet to read that I keep on my bedside table consists of:
• Dangerous Liasons by Laclos
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Katahdin: An Historic Journey by John W. Neff
• Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama
• The Occasional Exploding Toaster: Collaborative 2008, which was a project that a girl from my school set up where we had a notebook that we would pass around and take turns writing in for a year, and then once that was done she compiled it into a somewhat more booklike book. I haven't completely read this year's yet, but from what I remember of what I read during my turns writing my parts, I'm thinking the one we did in 2007 was better.

 

[undrtakr900]

 

[FnordChan]

Total War, the first novel in the Survivalist series - just one of those FnordChan recommendations that stuck with me from an earlier thread.

Good lord, I can't believe I talked someone into trying out Jerry Ahern's opus. I'm curious to hear what you think of Total War, as my roommate and I enjoy the series and it would be nice to know that it's not just us. Admittedly, our appreciation is mostly ironic and I can't bring myself to describe the series as objectively good, but, hell, they're fun reads. Either way, hurrah for hyper-manly, incredibly over the top, oh-so-80s men's adventure fiction.

Scrow, I'm also of the opinion that the first half of The Stand is stronger than the second half, so you may want to drop off if you aren't really into it before too long. That isn't to say that I think the second half is particularly bad, mind you, just not quite up there with the first.

On the other end of the spectrum: Vyer, it took me a couple of hundred pages to really get into Cryptonomicon, but once it grabbed me I positively tore through the rest of the novel. I'd encourage you to stick with it. It has an ending and everything!

I'd like to join in the general praise for The Stars My Destination, as well as Bester's other early novel, The Demolished Man. They're both completely awesome.

Finally, I finished reading Westlake's 361 (which was excellent) and I'm roughly halfway through Butcher's latest Dresden Files novel, which is chugging along nicely in the typical "Man, our boy Dresden is in really deep shit this time, ain't he?" sort of way. I could ramble on about the plot in a bit of detail, but considering this is the eleventh book in the series it doesn't really seem to be necessary: if you're a fan you'll want to read it and if you haven't read the books yet this isn't the place to start. Tim, I thought the series really took off after Summer Knight, so I'd be curious to hear what you thought of that as well.

FnordChan

 

[Keikoku]

Actually not that bad.

(A feast for crows last part)

Lamartine, awesome poet is awesome.

 

[shuri]

I feel incredibly dorky for reading this, but this has been entertaining as hell! :lol. I swear i'll go back to legit stuff after this one! I SWEAR

 

[GriffD17]

Thanks to the recommendations in here I've picked up American Gods and House of Leaves, along with another pick of my own. They arrived today. House of Leaves definitely looks to be quite interesting. Pretty hefty book and it says "Remastered Full Color Edition". Flipped through the pages to see what everyone was talking about and wow, should be quite the endeavor.

 

[BlueTsunami]

as for what i'm reading

I finished The Stand a couple of months ago, love some of the characters in that book. There's also genuinely creepy moments that freaked me out.

 

[Dan]

Pretty awesome thus far, although I'm somewhat daunted by the whole trilogy being some 2000 pages. I don't like being focused on one thing for so long.

 

[Lo-Volt]

I gave a quick read of Watchmen and enjoyed it, but I was so tired when I blew through the book that it will need more time from me over the weekend. Also enjoyed The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury (I had already read Fahrenheit 451 ages ago, but my library branch never seemed to have Chronicles, so I bought it out of frustration).

I was trying to get into a collection of essays by Eric Hobsbawm, but I always have a hard time focusing on his writing, so I put that down. Still on my list to read, next to The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Reading The Blade Itself. After finishing the Song of Ice and Fire series I tried a couple of fantasy novels and just got bored and moved on to Sci-Fi for a while due to not really finding anything that interesting or well written. Jumped into the library just to put a hold on some books and browse a bit. I didn't want to walk out with absolutely nothing so I saw an interesting cover and just quick read the back to see what was up and picked it up for the hell of it. I'm surprised as hell at the quality of this. So far its my most engaging read since the Song series and even though I'm really early in the book I'm already anticipating the rest of the series.

 

[Bowflex]

Just finished The Woman in the Dunes...wonderful book.

Currently reading:

"First published in France in 1973, Good Sex Illustrated gleefully deciphers the subtext of a popular sex education manual for children produced during that period. In so doing, Duvert mounts a scabrous and scathing critique of how deftly the "sex-positive" ethos was harnessed to promote the ideal of the nuclear family. Like Michel Houllebecq, Duvert is highly attuned to all the hypocrisies of late twentieth century western "sexual liberation" mass movements. As Bruce Benderson notes in his introduction, Good Sex Illustrated shows that, "in our sexual order, orgasm follows the patterns of any other kind of capital ... 'good sex' is a voracious profit machine." But unlike Houllebecq, Duvert writes from a passionate belief in the integrity of unpoliced sex and of pleasure. Even more controversially now than when the book was first published, Duvert asserts the child's right to his or her own playful, unproductive sexuality. Bruce Benderson's translation will belatedly introduce English-speaking audiences to the most infamous gay French writer since Jean Gênet."

 

[nitewulf]

Reading The Blade Itself. After finishing the Song of Ice and Fire series I tried a couple of fantasy novels and just got bored and moved on to Sci-Fi for a while due to not really finding anything that interesting or well written. Jumped into the library just to put a hold on some books and browse a bit. I didn't want to walk out with absolutely nothing so I saw an interesting cover and just quick read the back to see what was up and picked it up for the hell of it. I'm surprised as hell at the quality of this. So far its my most engaging read since the Song series and even though I'm really early in the book I'm already anticipating the rest of the series.

you're in for a treat, this trilogy is absolutely fantastic. tight, no BS storyline, excellent characters and a very strong ending.

 

[Mifune]

Russian defector/double agent ends up dead and Smiley investigates. This is the last part of the fabled Karla Trilogy, and oh how I wish there were about ten more books in the series. The dialogue is razor sharp. The atmosphere is suffocating. Already halfway through and I don't want it to end.

Le Carré is the fucking man.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167175767l/18999.jpg

Russian defector/double agent ends up dead and Smiley investigates. This is the last part of the fabled Karla Trilogy, and oh how I wish there were about ten more books in the series. The dialogue is razor sharp. The atmosphere is suffocating. Already halfway through and I don't want it to end.

I'm foremost partial to The Honourable Schoolboy myself. Exceptional trilogy, and the atmosphere, as you say, is unique.

Le Carré is the fucking man.

Reading Le Carre is like being in a fever dream - going through dozens of pages without realizing it - and it feels as real and complex and random as real life. Much love.

 

[mr stroke]

Goddamn Advance copy tho...

whats the consensus on this book?

I was looking for a video game book to read but there isn't that many compelling choices.




got about half way through this and stopped, inspiring story about what one man can do, but I felt bored and read the Wiki page instead and got the same story with out the extra pages

just started-

 

[sazabirules]

After watching the series, I picked this up and I love it so far. I also picked up Before They Are Hanged which I'll read next.

 

[Witchfinder General]

Finished The Stand. Good, but not great with some rather bad parts. It reads like a Richard Matheson novel with a few King elements. Since he wrote it early in his career it's not surprising that Matheson's influence shows but because of this King's usual strong characterisation is instead riddled with stereotypes.

Just started:

The movie piqued my interest. Pretty good so far.

I also started reading Lord Foul's Bane, the first novel in the Thomas Covenant series but stopped as it was simply awful.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Started Ken Follet's World Without End a week ago.

So much better than the original. It came out more than a decade after its predecessor and I have to say that Ken Follet got much better at writing consistent characters in that time. I think though, that it tries too hard to tie itself to the orginal (set 200 years previously) when it's really not necessary to do so and in some cases the attempt hurts the story.

 

[npm0925]

The Best of Gene Wolfe.

 

[FnordChan]

Le Carré is the fucking man.

Yes, yes he is. Also, if you haven't seen 'em, the BBC adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy and Smiley's People are both astonishingly good. Alec Guinness is brilliant as Smiley. Also, if you haven't read it already, be sure to pick up A Perfect Spy the next time you're in the mood for some exceptionally depressing Le Carre.

Meanwhile, I recently finished Turn Coat, the eleventh Dresden Files novel. Without going into detail I can say that lots of major plot oriented stuff happens and it's a big transitional book for the series, all backed by Jim Butcher's usual fast pacing and wit. I liked it overall, though there is a wonky bit with one of the characters that I'm pretty dubious about.

I'm currently a bit over halfway through Killy by Donald Westlake. It's one of his earlier novels, written in the early 60s, and it's a thriller about a college student who starts off a half-year job assignment with a major labor union by going with a mentor to a factory town to try to organize the workers and winding up embroiled in murder and intrigue. So far it's pretty damn good, as expected.

FnordChan

 

[Alucard]

Don't laugh.

It's for a small books-made-into-movies club that me, my girlfriend, and a few of her friends have just started. I didn't pick the book either. The sad part is that all of them have already read it in the past. I'm going to feel like a jackass probably being the only one talking down about it, but meh, whatever. The ideas and little bits of history are very interesting, but the writing is nothing short of cliche, and the storyline is a bit ridiculous. I can hear the "DUN DUN DUNNN!" music in the back of my mind any time a revelation is made. Overall, it is a page turner, as Brown writes very briskly, but I doubt I'll remember it in a few weeks. 150 pages in right now.

 

[tyguy20204]

Is it just me or is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Le Carre's best book, by far? Perhaps I've read the wrong ones.

I loved TSWCIFTC, by the way.

MASSIVE SPOILER FOR THE NOVEL DON'T HIGHLIGHT UNLESS YOU'VE ALREADY READ THE NOVEL

Spoiler

.“There's only one law in this game," Leamas retorted. "Mundt is their man; he gives them what they need. That's easy enough to understand, isn't it? Leninism--the expediency of temporary alliances. What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. Do you think they sit like monks in London, balancing the rights and wrongs? I'd have killed Mundt if I could, I hate his guts; but not now. It so happens that they need him. They need him so that the great moronic mass you admire can sleep soundly in their beds at night. They need him for the safety of ordinary, crummy people like you and me."

What an amazing, taut book.

 

[Mifune]

Is it just me or is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Le Carre's best book, by far? Perhaps I've read the wrong ones.

I loved TSWCIFTC, by the way.

What an amazing, taut book.

It's an incredibly good book, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy might be its equal. Very different though.

By the way, check out the movie of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Very very faithful and good.

FnordChan - I can't wait to check out the BBC's Smiley's People. The adaptation of TTSS was astounding.

 

[Druz]

 

[thetechkid]

 

[Blackace]

you're in for a treat, this trilogy is absolutely fantastic. tight, no BS storyline, excellent characters and a very strong ending.

I loved the series but it had some flaws...

Spoiler

like going to the edge of the earth for no fucking reason, the travel took up a whole book of a trilogy

 

[Night_Trekker]

Seconded on the Demolished Man. Good in its own right, if not quite on the same level as Stars.

I've been looking for a copy of that for a while. B&N didn't have it.

I guess I could order it online...

 

[bengraven]

Reading The Graveyard Book now and you can add the following to my reading list:

and