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What are you reading? (August 2011)
- Thread starter Adam Blade
- Start date
Finished Gulliver's Travels.
I've started reading The Complete Fairy Tales, a collection of George McDonald's eleven shorter fairy tales and his essay The Fantastic Imagination.
I've only just read the introduction, the essay, and the beginning of The Light Princess. It's pretty great stuff so far.
I've started reading The Complete Fairy Tales, a collection of George McDonald's eleven shorter fairy tales and his essay The Fantastic Imagination.
I've only just read the introduction, the essay, and the beginning of The Light Princess. It's pretty great stuff so far.
amitaiwinehouse
Neo Member
Finished A Dance with Dragons earlier this month.
Then went on to complete The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Now I'm reading Gulliver's Travels. Not that it's obvious I've just got a Kindle.
Then went on to complete The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Now I'm reading Gulliver's Travels. Not that it's obvious I've just got a Kindle.
CUrrently reading
. It's quite an obscure work, only having been published in the 80s (it was written in 1959), but it's absolutely amazing. It's been descirbed as the 20th century's version of War and Peace and I can understand why. I'm only 200 pages in and I can already tell it's going to go down as one of my favourite books. There's one chapter which is just the most moving thing I think I've ever read.
It's pretty heavy going though, so I've been reading a few other things concurrently.
It's pretty heavy going though, so I've been reading a few other things concurrently.
Finished:
After the Mourning by Barbara Nadel, the last crime novel I picked up for the summer. It was very boring. Few things happened at all and the main character did nothing himself and wasn't an interesting bystander either. All the crime novels I got disappointed me but this was the worst by far.
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco was better and had a really interesting structure. The main character is an antiquarian which lost all his memories in an accident, he only remembers stuff he has read. He decides to return to his childhood home to search for his past. I didn't love it but it was a good read overall, especially the last parts where he draws a parallel between his life and Cyrano de Bergerac.
From the Earth to the Moon by Verne. Not as interesting or good as Journey to the Center of the Earth but enjoying. Now I feel like reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Below the Sea.
I don't know what I'll do now in the meantime. Reread Moby Dick?
After the Mourning by Barbara Nadel, the last crime novel I picked up for the summer. It was very boring. Few things happened at all and the main character did nothing himself and wasn't an interesting bystander either. All the crime novels I got disappointed me but this was the worst by far.
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco was better and had a really interesting structure. The main character is an antiquarian which lost all his memories in an accident, he only remembers stuff he has read. He decides to return to his childhood home to search for his past. I didn't love it but it was a good read overall, especially the last parts where he draws a parallel between his life and Cyrano de Bergerac.
From the Earth to the Moon by Verne. Not as interesting or good as Journey to the Center of the Earth but enjoying. Now I feel like reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Below the Sea.
I don't know what I'll do now in the meantime. Reread Moby Dick?
Maklershed
Member
Still working through Pandora's Star and just started Manhunt
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
Kind of in the mood for it after watching The Conspirator (which I highly recommend btw)
Unrelated: For Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner fans, unless it was just an amazing coincidence there's a great easter egg in Deus Ex ...
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
Kind of in the mood for it after watching The Conspirator (which I highly recommend btw)
Unrelated: For Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner fans, unless it was just an amazing coincidence there's a great easter egg in Deus Ex ...
after the first mission and after you go to the LIMB place for the first time you go to a police station. One of the terminals belongs to P.DICK and when you access it you can hear on the loud speaker Detective Deckard being paged.
Like it, a bit slow in the beginning but it definitely picked up towards the end.
Reading this next:
Cellphones and other forms of long distance communication have hurt my enjoyment a bit for classic style fantasy novels. I always get a bit frustrated when the disjointed knowledge becomes a bit plot point.
TestMonkey
Member
My epic journey continues. Just finished Midnight Tides which I really enjoyed and am moving onto Bonehunters. I thought Erikson did some great things in Midnight, fleshing out a lot of things but I missed the Bridgeburners. Also only read the first few pages of Bonehunters and Spite is mentioned. Excited!
BrokenFiction
Member
Aidan, that ain't fair, man...
Lear said:CUrrently reading. It's quite an obscure work, only having been published in the 80s (it was written in 1959), but it's absolutely amazing. It's been descirbed as the 20th century's version of War and Peace and I can understand why. I'm only 200 pages in and I can already tell it's going to go down as one of my favourite books. There's one chapter which is just the most moving thing I think I've ever read.
It's pretty heavy going though, so I've been reading a few other things concurrently.
Thanks for mentioning this, I have never heard about it before. Seems like a great read - goes right on my to-buy-list. Here's a nice quote I found: "...there is no higher happiness than to be able to crawl on one's stomach, out of the camp, blind, one's legs amputated, and to die in freedom, even if only ten yards from the cursed barbed wire."
Still reading Against the Day by Pynchon. Almost halfway through after a month and a week. Slow going, but it has been interesting all the way. Often very funny!
Adam Blade
WWKC
I curse aidan with the thousand imprecations of a scorned Robert Stanek.
...
...
Adam Blade said:I curse aidan with the thousand imprecations of a scorned Robert Stanek.
...
Funny enough, I've actually been accosted by a scorned Robert Stanek.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Just finished ADWD. Awesome book. Much better than Feast.
Considering Eon by Greg Bear or maybe the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Gonna read the latest Game Informer first and then I'll decide.
Considering Eon by Greg Bear or maybe the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Gonna read the latest Game Informer first and then I'll decide.
Adam Blade
WWKC
aidan said:
... rats, I've even been beaten by the man himself. I swear, you gotta hook a GAF brother up one of these days...
/wishful thinking
Maklershed
Member
Finished Pandora's Star and on to book 2 in the Commonwealth Saga - Judas Unchained
Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I should be finished in time for the 3rd and final book in the trilogy to drop! I definitely went into Leviathan thinking I wasn't gonna be into the series, but now I'm enthralled with the premise quite honestly.
nakedsushi
Member
Brettison said:
I should be finished in time for the 3rd and final book in the trilogy to drop! I definitely went into Leviathan thinking I wasn't gonna be into the series, but now I'm enthralled with the premise quite honestly.
Oooh, is the 3rd book coming out? Can't wait! This was one of my favorite series of last year.
Maklershed
Member
nakedsushi - is that you in the avatar?
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
nakedsushi said:
Amazon says Sept. 20th!
nakedsushi
Member
Maklershed said:
Yep, that's me. LOL, Cyan. That would be creepy if I had some other member in my avatar.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Maklershed said:Finished Pandora's Star and on to book 2 in the Commonwealth Saga - Judas Unchained
Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
How was/is it? This is on my short list of scifi.
Maklershed
Member
Don't know about Judas Unchained yet as I just started it but Pandora's Star was great. A lot like Foundation but way more fleshed out and tons of interesting concepts.AngmarsKing701 said:
nakedsushi
Member
Needed a break from Monte Cristo, so I started this last night and finished it a few minutes ago:
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman
I never read the comics or watched the show, so I can't tell if the novelization did any justice, but it was a fun, exciting, fast-paced zombie story. Nothing new or amazing, but I liked it ok.
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman
I never read the comics or watched the show, so I can't tell if the novelization did any justice, but it was a fun, exciting, fast-paced zombie story. Nothing new or amazing, but I liked it ok.
OrangeGrayBlue
Member
demon said:
I'm interested in this as well. Having done a little Amazon research, this seems to be one of the better reviewed options. Other books actually written by Tesla regarding his inventions rather than himself (Specifically "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy") also seem highly regarded.
I'd like the input of someone who's already a Tesla expert, though.
OrangeGrayBlue
Member
As for my own readings...
CiSTM said:
Stick with Gunslinger, trust me. The second Dark Tower book that King wrote was almost a decade later, and is much better. That's why the first and second book are quite different in how it is written. The whole series is really good, fuck anyone that says the last few books are bad. They were all good.
I haven't read past Wizard and Glass (book 4), but books 2 and 3 are some of the best stuff King has ever written.Kunohara said:
----
As for me, I finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman a couple weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to read some light fare (albeit with a dark, violent edge) after being absorbed in ASOIAF for the last 4-5 months.
Now reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams, really enjoying it. Although it doesn't get a ton of actual laughs-out-loud, it's always entertaining and amusing at the very least. I'll probably take a break from the series for a while before continuing on though.
After that, I'll likely move on to Fall of Hyperion or The Terror by Dan Simmons.
Pretty good month for me. I finished Gardens of the Moon on my kindle!
I have also had the pleasure of listening and finishing a Game of Thrones on audiobook during my daily commute to work. I am about halfway through A Clash of Kings atm. What will happen next?? My ride home awaits!!
I have also had the pleasure of listening and finishing a Game of Thrones on audiobook during my daily commute to work. I am about halfway through A Clash of Kings atm. What will happen next?? My ride home awaits!!
Reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson again while waiting for The Alloy of Law.
Good stuff though Well of Ascension is rather slow for my taste. Oh and of course i'm reading Sanderson's annotations, after reading a few chapters, i read the annotations of those chapters.
Oh and is there something wrong being very intrigued about Hemalurgy?
Also, trying to read Halo: Cryptum again but... first person narrative couple with rather sparse descriptions is not my thing.
Good stuff though Well of Ascension is rather slow for my taste. Oh and of course i'm reading Sanderson's annotations, after reading a few chapters, i read the annotations of those chapters.
Oh and is there something wrong being very intrigued about Hemalurgy?
Also, trying to read Halo: Cryptum again but... first person narrative couple with rather sparse descriptions is not my thing.
AngmarsKing701
Member
AngmarsKing701 said:
All right, going in a different direction completely. Starting Robert B. Parker's "Painted Ladies" today.
All of the books are extremely different in both quality and tone.demon said:
I re-read the first 3 books of the series multiple times in high school, and remember really enjoying books 2 and 3.
It's worth pushing through The Gunslinger to get to the rest of the series IMO, especially considering how short it is.
Maklershed
Member
I hated Gunslinger. Honestly not sure why I even bothered reading any more than that but I did and I can assure you book 2 is good. I really have to start that series up again.demon said:
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
_Isaac said:
it is an exponential leap over the first book, for my money. DRAWING OF THE THREE is one of the most exciting sci-fi/fantasy books i've ever read.
MegaKungFuRadio
Member
Still trudging through ASOIAF on my daily commute. Soon that thread will tempt me no longer! And by soon I mean in like three months T.T