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[migulic]

Congo: a history. Had to read parts for school (we had a sort of literary competition and had to vote on books, this was one of the nominees), but it actually turned out really interesting so I kept on reading. Interesting history of a huge country in central Africa which basically was created out of nowhere in the 19th century. Of course, it's probably more interesting for people in Belgium like me than for others, as it was a Belgian colony for the best part of the 20th century.

 

[Clever Pun]

Now on to the 3rd of the Tales of the Otori

Finished this over the weekend, and I was supremely disappointed. Hearn appears to not understand what made the first book so good. I still recommend the first book (Across the Nightingale Floor), but the second and third book are just really boring.

Not sure what I'm going to read next. Maybe The Old Man and the Sea, Candide, Treasure Island or some Chiang...

 

[kruis]

I was at a nice bookstore in downtown LA yesterday and picked up the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXI2djKeerQ

 

[anonymous_abc]

I just cannot get into tom clancy, I'm 80 pages in and couldn't care less...

 

[tmarques]

Forgot to mention:
Book 3 of 4 for feb:

That's the original cover. I don't speak French, I'll be reading an English translation.

Hysterical, I keep recommending it to everyone I know.

But... what does it mean, "translated from German"? Wasn't it originally written in French?

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Hysterical, I keep recommending it to everyone I know.

But... what does it mean, "translated from German"? Wasn't it originally written in French?

It's volontary: the text is presented as found in the pocket of a german guy. ITtwas written in french.

 

[tmarques]

Loving it, although knowing how it ends (it's based on a true story and was made into the film A Place in the Sun) kind of detracts from it. The author tries to make you feel story for the main character almost as much as the people behind the film, but it doesn't quite work. Can't wait to finish it and dig into the actual criminal case.

 

[tmarques]

It's volontary: the text is presented as found in the pocket of a german guy. ITtwas written in french.

Really? I don't remember it. I read one of those Dover editions that look like they'll fall apart once you touch it, but I'm pretty sure it was the integral text. Now I want to read it again - which shouldn't take more than a couple of hours if I remember correctly.

 

[Karakand]

Spoiler

In unrelated news, the phrase "show, don't tell" is one of the worst ever coined. Telling is fine if the author is good at it; in fact, if the author is good at it, it becomes an invaluable tool.

It's good you tagged this, a lot of people won't read the Incorrect Thought contained therein.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Really? I don't remember it. I read one of those Dover editions that look like they'll fall apart once you touch it, but I'm pretty sure it was the integral text. Now I want to read it again - which shouldn't take more than a couple of hours if I remember correctly.

Multiple reasons, but this was often used to avoid censhorship and allowed many authors to take distance with their writings.

EDIT : I thinks it's in a preambule.

 

[Maklershed]

I saw on a tweet from Amazon that the 2012 Nebula Award nominees were announced ...

Among Others, Jo Walton

Embassytown, China Miéville

Firebird, Jack McDevitt

God’s War, Kameron Hurley

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine

The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin

 

[Fintan]

I'm still reading American Gods but over the weekend I read The Great Lenore by JM Tohline.

It's a short and easy read and as the title suggests it's basically a homage to The Great Gatsby. Some of the references are subtle others more overt. There are a lot of similar plot points too. The writing style is simple but elegant and I found it pretty involving and I basically read it in one sitting.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I'm still reading American Gods

When you're done, be sure to pick up Fragile Things to read The Monarch of the Glen. Personally I found American Gods to be a mediocre snorefest, and probably the least entertaining thing I've ever read by Gaiman, but Monarch of the Glen was great. Fragile Things also contains Gaiman's Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu Mythos crossover story, A Study in Emerald, which is also great.

 

[BanShunsaku]

Just finished:

Loved it, in particular

Spoiler

Egwene's rise to the Amyrlin seat, the return of Perrin, and the Battle of Dumai's Wells.

So epic.

Just started:

 

[Fintan]

When you're done, be sure to pick up Fragile Things to read The Monarch of the Glen. Personally I found American Gods to be a mediocre snorefest, and probably the least entertaining thing I've ever read by Gaiman, but Monarch of the Glen was great. Fragile Things also contains Gaiman's Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu Mythos crossover story, A Study in Emerald, which is also great.

Yeah I will be checking out more of his work. American Gods is the first of his novels that I've read, previously I'd only been familiar with his comics work.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Yeah I will be checking out more of his work. American Gods is the first of his novels that I've read, previously I'd only been familiar with his comics work.

Ah! I hope you've read the entire Sandman series + the two Death spinoffs? Be sure to read Stardust, Coraline, Smoke and Mirrors (a collection of short stories) and Good Omens too (the latter one is one of the funniest books I've ever read). Odd and the Frost Giants and The Graveyard Book are good too, but not 'must reads' unless you're already a Gaiman fan.

And read this too

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

It's good you tagged this, a lot of people won't read the Incorrect Thought contained therein.

It's not incorrect on any level. BAD telling sucks, but Kurt Vonnegut, for example, could tell entire books and make them great (think Galapagos). Neither showing nor telling is inherently better than the other, and both need to be available to an author. "Show, don't tell" creates the sort of overdescriptive, unmemorable bullshit that gets churned out of MFA programs. It's not a bad thought in that some authors aren't particularly good at telling, but anytime you take something and turn it into dogma, it invariably gets perverted and edges out authors who might *gasp* actually be good at it. So yeah, it's a stupid, stupid "rule," and the sooner that it goes away, the better.

 

[bloodydrake]

When you're done, be sure to pick up Fragile Things to read The Monarch of the Glen. Personally I found American Gods to be a mediocre snorefest, and probably the least entertaining thing I've ever read by Gaiman, but Monarch of the Glen was great. Fragile Things also contains Gaiman's Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu Mythos crossover story, A Study in Emerald, which is also great.

Funny you said that..Its the one book I've strongly disliked that I've read in the last year.. was really disappointed in it, and figured Gaiman isn't for me..will have to check out Fragile Things see If I like it better.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Funny you said that..Its the one book I've strongly disliked that I've read in the last year.. was really disappointed in it, and figured Gaiman isn't for me..will have to check out Fragile Things see If I like it better.

American Gods just dragged on for far too long without anything really happening IMO, and when the book finally picked up the pace, you were almost at the end anyway. Try Fragile Things or Smoke and Mirrors, as those are both collections of short stories, and Gaiman is usually very good at those. Check the link I posted above, you can read a funny short story about Cthulhu there, and A Study in Emerald can also be downloaded as a free .pdf file from Gaiman's website. Also, Good Omens, which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett (Discworld author). And Sandman, obviously.

 

[sparky2112]

I just cannot get into tom clancy, I'm 80 pages in and couldn't care less...

Well, read something before it became nothing but a money grab for him. The first four (?) books are great. It devolved into a shitfest quickly thereafter...

 

[Ashes]

It's not incorrect on any level. BAD telling sucks, but Kurt Vonnegut, for example, could tell entire books and make them great (think Galapagos). Neither showing nor telling is inherently better than the other, and both need to be available to an author. "Show, don't tell" creates the sort of overdescriptive, unmemorable bullshit that gets churned out of MFA programs. It's not a bad thought in that some authors aren't particularly good at telling, but anytime you take something and turn it into dogma, it invariably gets perverted and edges out authors who might *gasp* actually be good at it. So yeah, it's a stupid, stupid "rule," and the sooner that it goes away, the better.

And I agreed with you intially. SMH.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

And I agreed with you intially. SMH.

Which thing in there do you disagree with, the crack about MFA programs? Academia is a terrible place for creativity.

 

[hamchan]

Slow reading rate this month only finishing one book so far. That book is 11/22/63.

I really enjoyed the direction King took with it and it's probably one of his best books in years. I like how the whole time travel thing had a huge part but wasn't actually the main focus of the book, well, for me anyways. I kinda stopped caring about the whole JFK thing midway through the book. No, really it was a just about a man experiencing the 1950s and 60, and the relationships he forms over the years. I loved that and when I finally finished, the book got a pretty big emotional response from me because of it. Looking forward to the film adaptation now.


Now I should start reading the third book of the Wheel of Time series.

 

[8BitsAtATime]

I hope to start 120 Days of Sodom later this week.

 

[Mumei]

I finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road today. Best book I've read this year.

And I've started reading Anne Peckham's The Contemporary Singer.
Finished

 

[Jarlaxle]

Ah! I hope you've read the entire Sandman series + the two Death spinoffs? Be sure to read Stardust, Coraline, Smoke and Mirrors (a collection of short stories) and Good Omens too (the latter one is one of the funniest books I've ever read). Odd and the Frost Giants and The Graveyard Book are good too, but not 'must reads' unless you're already a Gaiman fan.

And read this too

Just finished A Feast for Crowes yesterday morning. I've been sitting on the Sandman graphic novels for awhile so I started them yesterday. I could tell with the first one that he was getting his legs under him but after reading the second one today I was much more impressed. Some really good stuff. I don't think I had realized what it would really be like, just that I had heard it was good so I bought them all without having read any before. Sometimes this works out for me like it's appearing to do with this series and sometimes it's an utter failure (Shannara....shudder). I'm looking forward to reading the next 8 that I have.

 

[T1tan]

I haven't posted in here a while but that's because I've been savouring Reamde by Neal Stephenson. I'm currently in the middle of the 250 page

Spoiler

firefight

and I love the attention to detail that Stephenson lavishes on his characters and the environments they inhabit. I'm also impressed by how well he develops characters using an economy of words (yes it's a 1000+page book) and then shifts the action from 1 set to another. I still haven't figured out who the main protagonists are yet, which is a departure from Cryptonomicon where there were 2 sets in 2 different timelines.

The whole experience has gotten me interested in coding again, and I am currently working my way through the problems at the end of Savitch's wonderfully heuristic Problem Solving with C++. This experience has been incredibly rewarding both personally and professionally and has rekindled my interest with Computer Science.

I honestly want to see how long I can keep this momentum going, so I think this year I will focus on reading more cyberpunk (from a fiction based perspective) and interspersing it with a bit of light reading on Computer Science. Your suggestions as always are appreciated. I've already read: Neuromancer and SnowCrash.

 

[Cr0wn0]

Just finished Ready player one! I decided to get the audiobook of this one and wil wheaton does a great job narrating. I wasn't blown away or anything but it was good. I am thinking about starting wheel of time next and reading them all before the final book. A co worker who is supposedly really into the series said I could pretty much skip certain books and just read the re-reads from tor, Any truth to that? I don't mind reading them in full but he acts like some books are just awful.

 

[bengraven]

WTF, dude. Go out and read Ender's Game.

Now.

I wouldn't worry about it. Ender's Game was written when he wasn't a total nut, iirc.

*about 6 others*

All right, I've to read Ender's Game when I'm done with my smaller backlog.

I am not one for novels that act as propaganda. It's something that is likely unavoidable, since 75% of the authors I've read have injected their own propaganda into the narrative. But then again, I'm not a racist after reading Lovecraft (maybe) and I'm not an asshole after reading Ayn Rand (debatable), so it's not like I'm going to become a homophobic Nazi after reading Ender (I'm lying, I probably will).

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Just finished A Feast for Crowes yesterday morning. I've been sitting on the Sandman graphic novels for awhile so I started them yesterday. I could tell with the first one that he was getting his legs under him but after reading the second one today I was much more impressed. Some really good stuff. I don't think I had realized what it would really be like, just that I had heard it was good so I bought them all without having read any before. Sometimes this works out for me like it's appearing to do with this series and sometimes it's an utter failure (Shannara....shudder). I'm looking forward to reading the next 8 that I have.

Sandman begins kinda slowly, with Morpheus being freed from that bottle or whatever it was he'd been kept in for decades, but it picks up the pace fairly quickly. Just wait until the Corinthian appears. Such a boss villain. Oh, and A Game of You (the fifth Sandman collection) is ah-mah-zing. Martin Tenbones <3

 

[Erico]

Finished David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Simon's writing style is amazing. I loved this book.

Starting up The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

[Mumei]

I am going back to that Norton Anthology of Children's Literature I was reading a month ago. ~800 pages to go!

Just finished A Feast for Crowes yesterday morning. I've been sitting on the Sandman graphic novels for awhile so I started them yesterday. I could tell with the first one that he was getting his legs under him but after reading the second one today I was much more impressed. Some really good stuff. I don't think I had realized what it would really be like, just that I had heard it was good so I bought them all without having read any before. Sometimes this works out for me like it's appearing to do with this series and sometimes it's an utter failure (Shannara....shudder). I'm looking forward to reading the next 8 that I have.

I love this review of The Sword of Shannara. And the Sandman series is excellent. It only gets better as more story arcs are added to the little tapestry.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I love this review of The Sword of Shannara. And the Sandman series is excellent. It only gets better as more story arcs are added to the little tapestry.

Yeah, that's a great review. When I bought 11 of the Shannarra books I didn't really have any idea what they were about. I'm pretty into fantasy though and had heard them mentioned a lot during the years. I was pretty surprised to see that it was pretty much a direct copy of the LOTR. The comparisons were out of this world. I kept thinking, man I wonder what's going to happen when I get to book 2, and then I realized it's the same damn thing with a new generation. He just kept retelling the same tale over and over again that he already stole from Tolkein. I finished the first "trilogy" and looked at looked at the reviews on Amazon for the next quartet. I slogged through them very slowly. They were marginally better and I really do mean marginally. I can't find it in me to finish the last four brand new books I have on my shelf for this series. I just want them to disappear. I would honestly be happy to just wake up and not see them there anymore but some compulsion in my won't let me just throw them in the garbage. One day I'll find somewhere I can sell them for .50 or just trade them in to the library or something. Horrible, horrible series and this is coming from someone who read the whole Sword of Truth set.

 

[Empty]

Starting up The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/KazuoIshiguro_TheRemainsOfTheDay.jpg[img][/QUOTE]

good choice. such a well written book and the lead character is masterfully constructed though so frustrating to follow.

i recently read his first novel a pale view of hills which i liked very much. subtle and absolutely haunting, it doesn't spell much out and is full of allusions between the frame narrative and the reminisces to pick through mentally after i finished. i was particularly struck by the disjointed feel of the book created by of how often people in the book talked at cross purposes or misunderstood eachother, which of course mirrors the relationship between the mother and daughter in the present. my main issue was that it was so slight, i finished it in one evening and wanted more.

i also read 23 things they don't tell you about capitalism which was a little disappointing, i didn't like the prose - it felt it was like what i'd do when i was running short on words in school essays where i'd just repeat my conclusions again and again - and the interesting stuff felt like it needed more depth, which wasn't helped by the author telling me i'd find out more if i read his other books. i did enjoy the comparison between the welfare state and bankruptcy laws though, and some of the arguments were clever.

then extremely loud and incredibly close which i wasn't expecting to like but ended up doing so a lot. i started out loathing the lead character but came round to him as the book has so much heart, maybe too much as it goes into over-sentimentality at times, but there is a nice amount of humanity to enjoy. the unbearable lightness of being esque parts about dresden were a joy too. the main problem was that i found the main plot of finding the key pretty silly - i also found it hard to believe that new yorkers would be so inviting - but the character work was good and oskar reminded me of the curious incident of the dog in the night time which i like very much.

 

[a secret-boss]

cuz of Kindle book sale

 

[Loxley]

Re-reading The Hobbit in full for the first time in around seven years.



In my mind this is the essential version of The Hobbit if you're a Tolkien fan. So much awesome backstory and random bits of information about where Tolkien got a lot of his inspiration and ideas from as well as bits about what he changed after LotR was published.

 

[mbmonk]

The best computer programming book I ever read, and still have, was by this man. Same book as pictured just a much earlier version (first edition I believe). I bought his book on Java as well. It's excellent.

EDIT: Here is the cover of the first edition of his C++ book

Anyways, I am digging into this now

Enjoying it so far.

 

[Heel]

Re-reading The Hobbit in full for the first time in around seven years.



In my mind this is the essential version of The Hobbit if you're a Tolkien fan. So much awesome backstory and random bits of information about where Tolkien got a lot of his inspiration and ideas from as well as bits about what he changed after LotR was published.

I've been meaning to reread this eventually, so I'll have to pick up this version. Thanks!

 

[Witchfinder General]

Finished reading my wife's novel, Debris. Really enjoyed it. Heavy anime and videogame influences in regards to imagery, pacing and themes which is pretty rare in novels. I think she'll be part of a new wave of genre writers who grew up with videogames and old-school anime being as strong as an influence on their writing as novels are.


Now, on to what I normally read; delicious Non-fiction.

Sideshow - Lindsay Tanner

Pretty good so far although not surprisingly the blame is attributed primarily on the media rather than sharing the burden more evenly with politicians. Reminds me of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death.

 

[Dresden]

Finished Michael Chabon's Maps and Legends tonight.

The cover really is amazing; pulled that off online because I don't have a pic handy, but shit is cool man.

It's a collection of essays where Chabon discusses things you'd expect him to discuss, as in, genre fiction, comics, myths, himself; looming somewhere behind them is the question of the role of writers in this age, as entertainers, lurking ever present like the golems he's so fond of bringing up. The first three are rather rote and are quite boring, but the last, wherein he discusses his writing, his history, and his Jewishness, is gripping stuff. He slowly slips from a (presumably) honest account of his days as a student in some MFA class writing his first novel to that of his childhood where a tale of golems, race riots, Nazis impersonating Holocaust survivors and a Yiddish dictionary spin out into a very interesting yarn. Was worth reading for that alone.

 

[nakedsushi]

Finished this a day ago, but wanted to let it stew in my brain before formulating an opinion on it.


The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

After a day, my opinion is still: I don't get the hype. Some of the sentences were beautiful and some of the philosophy was interesting, but it didn't blow my mind. I thought the Thing That Happened was predictable and even The Mystery Following It could be seen a mile away. I get that his whole point is that memory is fallible and there are different sides to a story and all, but I don't get what the big deal is with this book.

 

[Draconian]

Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman

Started it a couple of days ago. A really fascinating and readable account of Alexander's life and the Ancient Mediterranean world. I've never really read non-fiction much, but I hope it's the first of several I read by the end of this year. I've just gotten to where he's in charge now, so hopefully I'll breeze right through it.

 

[Bazza]

need to get into a good series, finished the last Game of Thrones book last week. managed all 5 in under a month iv not been that engrossed in a book/books for as long as i can remember.

Im a massive Scifi fan so i think im going to work through the Iain Banks culture books next, its a crime iv not read them already to be honest.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

Finished David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Simon's writing style is amazing. I loved this book.

Starting up The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

I read Remains of the Day and did a major essay on it in my AP English Class a few years ago. Good book.

As for myself, I got about 50 pages into Cryptonomicon, but it's so long (900+ pages) that I don't think I really have the time/patience to get through it right now.

Also got a bit into American Gods by Neil Gaiman, but I'm thinking that this is another book I don't want to read right now. It didn't grab be right away.

Those two books were the last on my slate from the library at least, so I've got to find what I want to read next. I do have Game of Thrones waiting for me, but it's kind of dense as well. Non-fiction I've been able to breeze through though, with the ones I've been reading averaging only 250-300 pages or so.

 

[Mumei]

Only read like 70 pages of the anthology yesterday.

Yeah, that's a great review. When I bought 11 of the Shannarra books I didn't really have any idea what they were about. I'm pretty into fantasy though and had heard them mentioned a lot during the years. I was pretty surprised to see that it was pretty much a direct copy of the LOTR. The comparisons were out of this world. I kept thinking, man I wonder what's going to happen when I get to book 2, and then I realized it's the same damn thing with a new generation. He just kept retelling the same tale over and over again that he already stole from Tolkein. I finished the first "trilogy" and looked at looked at the reviews on Amazon for the next quartet. I slogged through them very slowly. They were marginally better and I really do mean marginally. I can't find it in me to finish the last four brand new books I have on my shelf for this series. I just want them to disappear. I would honestly be happy to just wake up and not see them there anymore but some compulsion in my won't let me just throw them in the garbage. One day I'll find somewhere I can sell them for .50 or just trade them in to the library or something. Horrible, horrible series and this is coming from someone who read the whole Sword of Truth set.

Yeah, I just read the first book. A friend really liked the series, and recommended it to me. I think he's got nostalgia blinders on because he first read it when he was in early middle school and hadn't developed any taste for literature.

Re-reading The Hobbit in full for the first time in around seven years.



In my mind this is the essential version of The Hobbit if you're a Tolkien fan. So much awesome backstory and random bits of information about where Tolkien got a lot of his inspiration and ideas from as well as bits about what he changed after LotR was published.

Enjoying it so far.

These both look really interesting. I haven't read The Hobbit since around the time the first Lord of the Rings movie came out, and I enjoyed Adler's How To Read A Book.

 

[TestMonkey]

Finally on the final book of the series. Can't wait to see how it ends. 3,300,026 words total. Damn that's a lot. And of course once Esslemont finishes up his part I'll reread the whole thing over again.

 

[vareon]

Interesting reading so far.

 

[Fjordson]

Finally finished Empire State. Not sure why, but I've been really lazy with reading this month. Sort of a bummer since there is a handful of books I've been wanting to get to.

Empire State was good, though. Really unique book.

 

[AgentOtaku]

Finished this at the beginning of the month finally:

What can I say, it is a classic. Didn't mean I loved it, but it's got some great moments and some fantastic dialog

Just finished this today actually and returned to the library:

and currently trying to finish before the end of the month (trying to read one book a month)

Book is radical

 

[ShinobiFist]

Finally finished Empire State. Not sure why, but I've been really lazy with reading this month. Sort of a bummer since there is a handful of books I've been wanting to get to.

Empire State was good, though. Really unique book.

I'm the same way this month. was in the zone last month, but school slowed things down. Need to finish 11-22-63. Halfway through the book. Need to knock it out this weekend. Got some easy reads after that.