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[QVT]

You just reminded me I have to finish part I so:

Awesome! If by Part one you mean the first two books, you're in luck. They're awesome. I'm about 30 pages from done so i'll be advancing to that soon. This book is killing every other fantasy book for me though

 

[thomaser]

Thanks anyway. Hopefully White Man will be able to help me if he enters this topic.

I can recommend other experimental novels, though! Try Milorad Pavic. I've read two of his books, "The Dictionary of the Khazars" and "Landscape Painted With Tea". They are not as sexy as Hopscotch, and deal much more with history, religion and myth, but they do feel kinda similar to Hopscotch anyway in that you don't read them the usual way from the first page to the last. Pavic uses a very strange symbolism that can be pretty "alien" and difficult, so they are not easy reads by any means.

 

[J2 Cool]

Finished:

Current:

Next I'm looking to Nausicaa Vol 2 or A Wizard of the Earthsea.

 

[Pazuzu]

Awesome! If by Part one you mean the first two books, you're in luck. They're awesome. I'm about 30 pages from done so i'll be advancing to that soon. This book is killing every other fantasy book for me though

Yeah it's been a while since I've been so intrigued by a world or character (Severian), especially since I don't know when he's telling the truth or not. Good stuff. I feel guilty I didn't know about this series until recently.

 

[QVT]

Yeah it's been a while since I've been so intrigued by a world or character (Severian), especially since I don't know when he's telling the truth or not. Good stuff. I feel guilty I didn't know about this series until recently.

I just finished book 2 and felt the need to make sure I had every book Wolfe has ever written on my amazon wishlist. The fucking end. What a cliffhangar. I'm still going to read a book in the middle(it wont be DQ, too big must have more Wolfe) but holy crap, I cannot imagine having to wait a year to see how that ends. Then another year after that.

I read book 1 over a year ago but I stopped reading it when I went back to school. I re-read it and now I'm going through the whole series. I agree - Severian is probably the greatest character in genre lit.

 

[iapetus]

Wish it was a Takeshi Kovacs novel, but it sounds like pretty much the same thing just without everyone's favourite uber-bitter, cynical former Envoy. Looking forward to it.

I actually enjoyed it more that the Takeshi Kovacs novels in a lot of ways.

Oh and I finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch and freaking LOVED it. So much so that I reread The Lies of Locke Lamora immediately after. Such a great start to a new series.

Agreed, although at times it's painfully predictable. One of the most significant events late in the book was telegraphed from pretty much as soon as the character involved turned up.

Spoiler

Might as well have given her a red Starfleet uniform and have done with it...

As well as those two, I've just finished Renegade's Magic, the last in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy. Found it much more satisfying than the first two, though everything ties up a little too neatly for my liking at the end.

 

[Desperado]

Just finished up

Incredible story.

 

[Yixian]

SO Bioshock's literary references make more sense, right? Don't worry, I'm doing the same, but with an audiobook

As for me:

 

[Wraith]

Finally got around to reading Malazan. Loved book 1. Opened up book 2 and realized all of the characters had changed, but whatever. If 2 is as good as 1, I'll have finished the series by next weekend. :lol

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

Dan, I usually don't go to the library because most of my reading decisions take place late at night before going to bed. So I don't think about what I want to read until that time. I will probably have to go there eventually.

I bought and read that about 8 years ago. Have you read Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday?

Yeah, I own it.

It was the book I read before this one in my current rotation.

 

[djtiesto]

 

[Cosmic Bus]

At home...

And on my lunch break at work...

 

[Alucard]

It's been a few days and I really need to focus on academic material right now, but once I'm finished everything by early September (fingers crossed), I will be getting back to this:

Very imaginative so far.

 

[beelzebozo]

 

[VistraNorrez]

It by Stephen King. I started reading it last summer, but because I was a Lit major and read 20 books a semester, I decided to put it on the back burner, then I took a trip to Europe and decided to read other books instead, then Potter came out, and so finally I'm up to page 800 in this book (previously I stopped at 500).

I'll probably read The Mist next. Then some PKD, probably Flow My Tears the Policeman Said.

 

[beelzebozo]

it's amazing how much anti-stephen king sentiment runs through university english departments. people need to let it go--the guy is genuinely talented.

 

[Witchfinder General]

Just finished Shogun.

 

[Diablos]

 

[Agent Dormer]

About halfway through and really enjoying it. Basic plot rundown: female PR spin doctor by day, political blogger by night gets fed up with the government increasing the taxes on the young to pay for welfare programs she'll never see. She suggests the idea of "voluntary transitioning," where the government would pay people to commit suicide at the age of 70. Definitely gets you more pissed off at taxes, that's for sure.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Reading =

Just finished this summer=

 

[AstroLad]

Oh also this:

Nice quickie hardcover and certainly more readable than Posner's latest few that I read prior (and I'm a big fan of Posner's writing).

It's nice that GAF has such a wide range of reading tastes, apart from a few specific genres and authors, but it certainly doesn't make for much discussion. I've read about twenty books the past few months and not even a single one by any of the authors posted (many of who are great authors, of course).

 

[Eric P]

About halfway through and really enjoying it. Basic plot rundown: female PR spin doctor by day, political blogger by night gets fed up with the government increasing the taxes on the young to pay for welfare programs she'll never see. She suggests the idea of "voluntary transitioning," where the government would pay people to commit suicide at the age of 70. Definitely gets you more pissed off at taxes, that's for sure.

i really liked this book, but buckley still hasn't figured out how to end a story.

 

[VistraNorrez]

it's amazing how much anti-stephen king sentiment runs through university english departments. people need to let it go--the guy is genuinely talented.

I love his work, he deserves all the popularity he has. My school never seemed to care for King one way or another though, but atleast they never were snobby towards him. I hope one day they have a King course.

 

[Tauntaun]

I finally broke down and have been reading the Harry Potter books with reckless abandon and after that I'm going to read Battle Royal because my sister just got it for me for my birthday.

 

[Guileless]

I'm trying to decide whether reading the Mass Effect novel would put me in some 9th circle of nerdom from which I could never escape.

 

[lil smoke]

hmm.. picked this up 2 years ago, started it and got stuck 15% of the way. Altered Carbon is a slow starter, but I promise myself to finish it one year

 

[ElectricBlue187]

hmm.. picked this up 2 years ago, started it and got stuck 15% of the way. Altered Carbon is a slow starter, but I promise myself to finish it one year

It's a great book, definitely Cyberpunk. The main character is a criminal and is not very likable, I wish he would've done more with the ending, however.

The importance of the 'stack' seems to wave between completeness of the self and nothing more than a record of memories, he's not very consistent in it's importance I think.

 

[calder]

alteredcarbon.jpg[/IMG]
hmm.. picked this up 2 years ago, started it and got stuck 15% of the way. Altered Carbon is a slow starter, but I promise myself to finish it one year

You'll be glad you did. I found the first quarter interesting but it's not until I started fully understanding the world (really getting the resleeving concepts and what it meant in context of what is in essence a murder mystery) that it took off.

I actually enjoyed it more that the Takeshi Kovacs novels in a lot of ways.

That's good to hear.

Agreed, although at times it's painfully predictable. One of the most significant events late in the book was telegraphed from pretty much as soon as the character involved turned up.

The plot element you spoiler tagged actually worked on me, I think mainly because I had started thinking [spoilers for both Gentleman Bastard novels ahoy! It's a great series go read it if you haven't already]

Spoiler

about the deaths of some of the Bastards in the first book, and I imagined that this new character could continue as Jean's love interest (god knows he needed something emotionally fulfilling other than babysitting Locke) while joining the gang. I always had this notion that they would be recruiting more full partners into their elaborate crimes, but it makes more sense that they didn't really. I did like the cliff hanger ending, although Lynch has painted himself into a corner a bit and pretty much already stated that a Bondsmage will have to be involved in the resolution, which will likely kick ass. The building up of the Bondsmagi throughout both books was great in my view, very excited to see that conflict ratchet up again.

As well as those two, I've just finished Renegade's Magic, the last in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy. Found it much more satisfying than the first two, though everything ties up a little too neatly for my liking at the end.

Excellent, I also truly love Hobb and the different slant her fantasy takes from the majority of the stuff I read. And I am actually happy about a potentially unconvincing neatly tied up ending, it's one of those books where I sympathize with the protaganist so much that after all the shit he's gone through I would be perfectly content with a deus ex machina "ta-da you live happily ever after!" ending.

 

[Flynn]

it's amazing how much anti-stephen king sentiment runs through university english departments. people need to let it go--the guy is genuinely talented.

The guy is the ultimate commercial writer. I'd be more shocked and surprised if the community didn't rail against him. I was lucky enough to have a prof in grad school who made his career hacking TV scripts for The Incredible Hulk and The Love Boat -- you can bet he didn't have anything nasty to say about King. He understood that a writer makes money where he/she can.

 

[Chairman Yang]

Extremely broad in scope, but also packed with small-scale details. Very readable as well.

 

[Piecake]

I can recommend other experimental novels, though! Try Milorad Pavic. I've read two of his books, "The Dictionary of the Khazars" and "Landscape Painted With Tea". They are not as sexy as Hopscotch, and deal much more with history, religion and myth, but they do feel kinda similar to Hopscotch anyway in that you don't read them the usual way from the first page to the last. Pavic uses a very strange symbolism that can be pretty "alien" and difficult, so they are not easy reads by any means.

I was a history major in college so those books definitely sound interesting. Thanks, I will put them on my book list.

 

[Wes]

Great to see so much Richard Morgan love in this thread! I thought Black Man was really quite good. The beginning had me floundering somewhat, but I soon got into it and the build up to the end was cracking.

Turned to a much easier read now:

Quite liked Mister Monday so I have high hopes for this.

 

[beelzebozo]

The guy is the ultimate commercial writer. I'd be more shocked and surprised if the community didn't rail against him. I was lucky enough to have a prof in grad school who made his career hacking TV scripts for The Incredible Hulk and The Love Boat -- you can bet he didn't have anything nasty to say about King. He understood that a writer makes money where he/she can.

where'd you go to grad school, flynn?

 

[Flynn]

where'd you go to grad school, flynn?

I went to USC's Master of Professional Writing program. Started off at community college and a state school.

 

[beelzebozo]

how tough was it to get in? i'm applying for grad school in january, so, just curious

 

[distantmantra]

 

[Flynn]

how tough was it to get in? i'm applying for grad school in january, so, just curious

My sister was alumni, so that may have helped. Make sure your letter and portfolio are strong and you should be in good shape. Where are you thinking about applying?

 

[beelzebozo]

i've got six schools picked out right now (in order of decreasing preference): columbia, colorado u at boulder, portland state, penn state, maryland u, and memphis.

the first is my hail-mary-dream choice, the last is my safety choice (their recommended credentials are pretty well below what i'm packing). i've thought about foregoing the columbia application all together, thinking i may just be wasting the $100 application fee, but i figure stranger things have happened. my favorite author, amy hempel, went there.

 

[QVT]

I went to USC's Master of Professional Writing program. Started off at community college and a state school.

USC is awesome. UCI has a better French Lit department so I chose here instead.

I'll probably go east to get my PhD if I do decide to get one. I just don't know what there is that I could write about. I don't think "Nabokov - And why he is better than your favourite writer" is a legitimate dissertation topic.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Nice book; has a nice spread of plants from everywhere, plus vaulable tips for gardeners and landscapers on how to avoid rare plants stolen from the wild, a large list of invasive plants to be watchful of, and how to keep up notoriously resistant to captivity species.

 

[Ryck]

Im loving it so far about 3 chapters in.

 

[Flynn]

i've got six schools picked out right now (in order of decreasing preference): columbia, colorado u at boulder, portland state, penn state, maryland u, and memphis.

the first is my hail-mary-dream choice, the last is my safety choice (their recommended credentials are pretty well below what i'm packing). i've thought about foregoing the columbia application all together, thinking i may just be wasting the $100 application fee, but i figure stranger things have happened. my favorite author, amy hempel, went there.

That's a pretty good mix of schools. You should be fine. When I was going to SC we had Hubert Selby Jr. and T.C. Boyle on staff. That was pretty sweet.

 

[Jill Sandwich]

A bit silly and rude.

 

[Eric P]

A bit silly and rude.

i read that

absolutely hysterical

 

[nitewulf]

Oh and I finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch and freaking LOVED it. So much so that I reread The Lies of Locke Lamora immediately after. Such a great start to a new series.

i liked "lies of locke lamora" well enough (could have been more), but the reviews for the sequel seems disappointing.

and you cant go wrong with reynolds, his revelation space novels are some of the best sci-fi i have ever read.

 

[Flynn]

USC is awesome. UCI has a better French Lit department so I chose here instead.

I'll probably go east to get my PhD if I do decide to get one. I just don't know what there is that I could write about. I don't think "Nabokov - And why he is better than your favourite writer" is a legitimate dissertation topic.

I'd imagine the East coast is still better for those kinds of PHDs. I had a friend who really dug USCD's writing program. Have lots of friends who use the UCLA's writing course as post-grad workshops, etc.

I was always intrigued by Iowa -- not the state, mind you, but the reputation of its writing school.

Are you thinking about academia, QVT?

 

[Ford Prefect]

and switching between:

I've actually been reading many of these books for quite some time, it's just that I like to switch between many books at once and thus take a while to finish them.

Oh yeah, this too:

 

[NumberTwo]

Just got back from Barnes & Noble with "The Bourne Identity". I just read the cover of the book, and it's pretty good so far.



I plan to start on it Friday.

 

[Holtz]

Just finished, Cornwell continues to rock the medieval epic. The story just keeps getting better and better, can't wait for the next one in september.

 

[mambadragon]

"The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright. Finally came out in paperback.