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Maklershed · Aug 1, 2012

Maklershed · Aug 1, 2012

Kindle

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Hard copy

The Glory Game by Hunter Davies

Gabroni · Aug 1, 2012

Makers by Cory Doctorow
Extra Virginity by Tom Mueler (it's about the history and production of olive oil)
Tomatoland by Barry Eastabrook
My Korean Deli by Ben Hoew
Locke and Key (graphic novel)
Chew (graphic novel)
The Art of the Storyboard (got a nod from Pixar and they want to see my work in 6 mo. after they said my storyboards need more polishing up and I have to get familiar with the lexicon of the film/animation world)

teruterubozu · Aug 1, 2012

I'm doing a paper on Philip K. Dick. In the past few weeks, I've read:

VALIS
The Divine Invasion
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Ubik

Still have about 6 more books to go. Transmigration was amazing.

berg ark · Aug 1, 2012

Jared Diamond - Guns, germs, and steel

Gabroni · Aug 1, 2012

teruterubozu said:
I'm doing a paper on Philip K. Dick. In the past few weeks, I've read:

VALIS
The Divine Invasion
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Ubik

Still have about 6 more books to go. Transmigration was amazing.

.
Assumes you got to Electric Sheep but Scanner Darkly and The Minority Report are really good. Can you imagine if he wrote a sci-fi script for Batman or a Sir Ridley Scott movie. It would be too awesome for our minds.

Labombadog · Aug 1, 2012

The Whisperer in Darkness by Lovecraft. This short story is so weird and creepy. Should be done with it by tonight. Debating if I should keep reading his collection of short stories or jump into Leviathan Wakes by James Corey. So many books so little time.

Hobbun · Aug 1, 2012

The Shadow Rising

I'm doing a complete re-read of the entire series before A Memory of Light is released.

And I actually haven't read all the books, anything past book 9 is new for me.

Loxley · Aug 1, 2012

I am literally six pages in and I already love it.

Gabroni · Aug 1, 2012

The movie does it justice in the first three min. ^^

Has anyone read the other Douglas Coupland books (aside from Jpod and Microserfs) or can recommend a bleak, dark humour commentary on society novel like American Pyscho?

ICYICYMCSHAKE · Aug 1, 2012

Always meant to start this book, however with the hype of the new trailer I am finally getting around to it

brianjones · Aug 1, 2012

id love to see a david milch adaptation

Gabroni · Aug 1, 2012

ICYICYMCSHAKE said:
Always meant to start this book, however with the hype of the new trailer I am finally getting around to it

Does it involve pi(e) or is it a damn metaphor for something?

ultron87 · Aug 1, 2012

Re-reading Hyperion right now. Love it, of course.

A few of my friends have read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and enjoyed it a lot. So I might give that a try next. It would also be a nice break from my usual Sci Fi and Fantasy fare. Either that or I'll read Wool based on GAF recommendations.

slightconfuse · Aug 1, 2012

Red Shirts by John Scalzi

Vanillalite · Aug 1, 2012

Wickwire · Aug 1, 2012

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

Salvor.Hardin · Aug 1, 2012

Finishing up this

So far so good. It offers great commentary on gender roles, and the literature transcends your average scifi.

Jumping into this over the weekend:

Dariee · Aug 1, 2012

the%2Bamber%2Bspyglass%2Bby%2Bphilip%2Bpullman.jpg

Should have read this year ago. Such an awesome trilogy.

sparky2112 · Aug 1, 2012

Turns out, I don't dislike this as much as I did way back when I first read it. I am a shameless Wallace fanboy, but his short fiction is very hit and miss with me. Some of the 'stories' here are, well, crap, but the good far outweighs the bad and things like The Depressed Person and Octet are brilliant. As such, I will henceforth no longer be bagging on Brief Interviews. I'm sure you're all relieved.

Life and Fate by Grossman. 900-page fictional portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad (although much of time time Stalingrad doesn't figure into it much). Took a bit to get into, but it really does deserve its reputation as possibly the best Russian novel of the 20th century.

PalaceBrother · Aug 1, 2012

Salvor.Hardin said:

I read this after finishing the Sisters Brothers earlier this year and hated it. You may have a completely different experience but I didn't find a lot of redeeming qualities.

I decided to do some light reading this month and went with this:

I'm about half way through and decided to put it down yesterday. The constant "winks" to the reader about events from episode IV-VI are are really pandering.

I've switched over to this, in anticipation of its well-regarded sequel:

So far so good, but I've heard it drags quite a bit.

thomaser · Aug 1, 2012

Sindbad and Other Stories from the Arabian Nights, edited and translated by Husain Haddawy.

Contains the three most popular stories that were not originally part of the Arabian Nights, but added later: Sindbad the Sailor, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, and Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves. Also includes Quamar al-Zaman (part of the original A.N., but not included in Haddawy's translation of it for boring reasons). Haddawy's translations are widely regarded as the best in English.

Finished DeLillo's Underworld yesterday. Great book, liked it much more than White Noise.

BrokenFiction · Aug 1, 2012

Just started the Culture series by Iain M Banks

ICYICYMCSHAKE · Aug 1, 2012

therapistfinder said:
Does it involve pi(e) or is it a damn metaphor for something?

lol originally I thought it was a maths story, however 'Pi' is the main characters name.

Though a story about Pi(e) would be ace!

Bazza · Aug 1, 2012

BrokenFiction said:
Just started the Culture series by Iain M Banks

gonna be staring those soon myself, im reading one of his standalone books 'Against a dark background' as a warmup first.

sparky2112 · Aug 1, 2012

PalaceBrother said:
I'm about half way through and decided to put it down yesterday. The constant "winks" to the reader about events from episode IV-VI are are really pandering.

THIS. A million times this. I got maybe all of five pages into this 'back in the day' and almost threw it across the room. Complete crap.

PalaceBrother said:
So far so good, but I've heard it drags quite a bit.

It doesn't drag, per se; it's just that Mantel has a very unique style of delivery, and I think that can be a little disorienting at times. It's good, though, and the follow-up is supposed to be as good, if not better.

BrokenFiction · Aug 1, 2012

Bazza said:
gonna be staring those soon myself, im reading one of his standalone books 'Against a dark background' as a warmup first.

I've only read one other of his - The Algebraist. But everyone said READ THESE, so I succumbed to peer pressure...

PalaceBrother · Aug 1, 2012

sparky2112 said:
THIS. A million times this. I got maybe all of five pages into this 'back in the day' and almost threw it across the room. Complete crap.

Glad I'm not alone then! People really rave about it so I thought I was nuts.

sparky2112 said:
It doesn't drag, per se; it's just that Mantel has a very unique style of delivery, and I think that can be a little disorienting at times. It's good, though, and the follow-up is supposed to be as good, if not better.

This is really good to hear. I just finished last year's Booker short list, and am hoping to tackle the full long list for 2012. I wanted to get Wolf Hall out of the way so I can have some context for Bringing Up The Bodies.

Fxp · Aug 1, 2012

6a00e553914e5c88330168e93b0c24970c-500wi

Our son is asking for fairy tales based on Cars, Mario, Luigi Mansion and hopefully this book will help me and my wife to come up with better stories

This will be the second parenting book I've ever read (yet). With second son being born in August (any day now) this will give us some insight on what we've been doing right and wrong.

Willectro · Aug 1, 2012

Illusions by Richard Bach

Really enjoying this book. It's very short, but something that I intend to reread.

Enduin · Aug 1, 2012

Almost finished with this, I do like it a good deal, characters are interesting and well rounded, but it tends to drag a lot. Too much in depth hard science details like every other page which can last for a page. He relies too much on telling you every location on Mars by name and in stark detail, its a bit annoying, we get it you know a lot about areography.

Im also attempting to read Ulysses, not so bad so far.

coldvein · Aug 1, 2012

sparky2112 said:
Life and Fate by Grossman. 900-page fictional portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad (although much of time time Stalingrad doesn't figure into it much). Took a bit to get into, but it really does deserve it's reputation as possibly the best Russian novel of the 20th century.

dang, i should check that out. bonus cuz nyrb stuff is so sexy.

POWERSPHERE · Aug 1, 2012

Can you put ePub and DRM free books on kindles?

Jintor · Aug 1, 2012

I'm waiting on a book shipment before I start proper reading again. Still slogging chapter-by-chapter through Emma. Damn you Austen, I won't lose to you!

sparky2112 said:
THIS. A million times this. I got maybe all of five pages into this 'back in the day' and almost threw it across the room. Complete crap.

The Thrawn trilogy is arguably the best of the Expanded Universe, so if you don't like Zahn don't even bother trudging into the quagmire of crap that is the rest of the EU. I also heard somewhere the Thrawn trilogy was originally intended to be the 'written sequels' to the movies, before Lucas went crazy.

nemesun · Aug 1, 2012

It's bleeding 900 pages and I'm only 400 pages in. Decent book so far, more gripping than Snow Crash.

teruterubozu · Aug 1, 2012

Salvor.Hardin said:
Finishing up this

So far so good. It offers great commentary on gender roles, and the literature transcends your average scifi.

Finished this a few weeks ago. I thought it was pretty amazing. The story-telling is dazzling.

therapistfinder said:
.
Assumes you got to Electric Sheep but Scanner Darkly and The Minority Report are really good. Can you imagine if he wrote a sci-fi script for Batman or a Sir Ridley Scott movie. It would be too awesome for our minds.

Yeah, I read those three stories years ago. I plan on re-reading A Scanner Darkly, but I never liked Androids Dream of Sheep - I always thought it was one of PKD's weakest books, but Blade Runner has immortalized it.

Sleepy · Aug 1, 2012

nemesun said:
It's bleeding 900 pages and I'm only 400 pages in. Decent book so far, more gripping than Snow Crash.

Great book. It took me a few tries to get into it, but once I did, wow...

Reading:

Fun to read the reviews of this in the Modern Library edition. So many backhanded compliments.

Mumei · Aug 1, 2012

I finished reading China: 3,000 Years of Art and Literature. It is a collection of poetry, excerpts from important Chinese works of literature, treatises on various subjects, philosophy, religious thought and spirituality, as well as famous paintings and carvings from throughout China's history.

For me, at least, learning a little bit about Chinese literary and artistic history is interesting because I never learned about it growing up (aside from hearing about Journey to the West and Three Kingdoms); one could almost get the impression that the Chinese don't have a literary history from my experience. And yet of course they do; it's just that I am still largely ignorant of it and haven't been made as aware of that history as I was of Western literary history. Books like the aforementioned are almost like stepping into a whole new world for me.

Anyway, enough rambling. On the subject of China, I might get around to continuing Three Kingdoms.

aidan · Aug 1, 2012

POWERSPHERE said:
Can you put ePub and DRM free books on kindles?

Yes, use Calibre to convert them to .mobi.

sgossard · Aug 1, 2012

therapistfinder said:
Has anyone read the other Douglas Coupland books (aside from Jpod and Microserfs) or can recommend a bleak, dark humour commentary on society novel like American Pyscho?

If you liked Gen X I'm sure you'll enjoy Planet shampoo. Girlfriend in a coma and Generation A are also pretty good in my opinion.

Currently reading this one, pretty good so far.

Gordon0Freeman · Aug 1, 2012

Just finished The Forever War. Made me appreciate the genre of sci fi much more than I already had! Would Love to see a movie of it. Want to read another sci fi book next but have no clue what to read.

1. Has anyone read "Existence" by David BrIn? Saw it at the local Barnes, sounded pretty cool.

2. And if someone could recommend me a sci fi book that involves MIND BOGGLING concepts/crazy shit, huge ships, spectacular technology, very atmospheric worlds etc. that would be really great.

Arment · Aug 1, 2012

Finished the first trilogy sunday night before I moved. On the 12 hour trip down to Florida I read about half of The Silver Spike and I've been so busy these past few days I haven't reach much more of it.

Definitely going to finish the series out. I hope there is more military fantasy fiction out there, besides this and Malazan.

Taborcarn · Aug 2, 2012

slightconfuse said:
Red Shirts by John Scalzi

Listening to the audio of this now, narrated by Wil Wheaton.

Also reading Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem.

Secret Fawful · Aug 2, 2012

I-Robot by Isaac Asimov

Animal Farm by George Orwell

A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin (thank GAF for this)

Masamune · Aug 2, 2012

Love Vonnegut. Kind of interesting to read his earlier work after reading some of his latter books. His language actually feels more complex in this one.

Lamel · Aug 2, 2012

Just finished 1984 by George Orwell

Liked it quite a bit. There were like 1 or 2 really "holy shit" moments in there. Very creepy and dark. All hail big brother.

Going to start this soon.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Secret Fawful said:
I-Robot by Isaac Asimov

Animal Farm by George Orwell

A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin (thank GAF for this)

Awesome.

Emerson · Aug 2, 2012

Just a little update for the new thread:

Finished WOOL 2 which wasn't particularly great. Will keep going though.

And continuing on with A Clockwork Orange which I'm indecisive about.

After that I'll either move on to Simmons' The Terror or The Fall of Hyperion.

Dan · Aug 2, 2012

The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country

The times this came up in history class didn't properly illustrate how incredibly corrupt these assholes were. It's staggering how widespread their influence was.

Enduin said:
Almost finished with this, I do like it a good deal, characters are interesting and well rounded, but it tends to drag a lot. Too much in depth hard science details like every other page which can last for a page. He relies too much on telling you every location on Mars by name and in stark detail, its a bit annoying, we get it you know a lot about areography.

Yeah, those looooooong passages can be hard to read, but the rest of the books are great. I still have to get to Blue Mars, hopefully sometime soon.

Salazar · Aug 2, 2012

I have to, ahem, teach it, which is peculiar. I don't think it's terribly good.

Subterranean · Aug 2, 2012

793 pages in and I am floored by how amazing it is. Reading A Song of Ice and Fire series made me fall back in love with reading.

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What are you reading? (August 2012)

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