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[_Isaac]

I'm going to start this today.
Blankets by Craig Thompson

 

[zero margin]

JUST FINISHED!

YEEEEEES!!!!!

Got it on the shelf. Debating between that and Crime and Punishment. Just finished the Partner which was kind of crap but I liked the ending.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Just ordered:

Can't wait to start reading it.

Delicate readers be forewarned--Will Beall's gritty, gangland drama, L.A. Rex hits hard. The story pulls you down hard and fast into a dark ultraviolent world of corruption where hardcore gangbangers and dirty cops battle it out on the streets of South Central. The fact that Beall is currently a cop in South Central adds an interesting wrinkle--readers will find themselves wondering (and worrying about) how much is true. Beall was kind enough to take time out from tracking down witnesses to talk to us about the "authenticity" of popular crime novels and movies. See his favorites below. --Daphne Durham

Let us know how this is, sounds like it could be damn good.

 

[Vard]

Crime and Punishment

First time reading it and am enjoying it... Always wondered why this wasn't a book I had to read in high school.

 

[Cep]

Crime and Punishment

First time reading it and am enjoying it... Always wondered why this wasn't a book I had to read in high school.

I do not think it is a common read in most high schools?

Just finished The First Law trilogy, probably going to check this one out soon as well. His writing style does sort of stand out, read somewhere that he wrote a lot of scripts and his books do have that cinematic, action driven feel. Also uncharacteristically bleak, if not quite realistic, for the genre.

Yes, bleak is definitely a better word.

Even the likes of Erickson and Martin do not quite reach this.

 

[FnordChan]

It took me forever to finish reading H.M.S. Surprise (the third book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, but that was absolutely not the fault of the novel, which was excellent and left me eager to read the next book in the series. However, before I do so I figured I'd read at least a couple of other books first.

Having read the first three of John Scalzi's Old Man's War series a while ago, I decided to finally get around to the fourth, Zoe's Tale, and I wish I hadn't waited so long. Taking place concurrently alongside the previous book in the series, The Last Colony, Scalzi does a great job of fleshing out Zoe (duh) while filling in more of the story. Where I took my sweet time with H.M.S. Surprise, I absolutely tore through this in just a few days and loved every page of it. If this is the last book we get in the Old Man's War universe, it's a fine one to go out on.

I spent a while peering at my shelves this morning trying to figure out what to read next, and have tentatively gone with Private Wars by Greg Rucka, the second Queen and Country novel. I was a huge fan of the comic series and enjoyed the previous Tara Chase novel, and apparently a third Q&C book will be coming out later this year, so I suppose now's the time to catch up. In Private Wars our heroine will be heading off to Uzbekistan, where I'm quite sure all manner of unpleasant things will happen. I'm looking forward to digging in to it.

FnordChan

 

[Yeef]

Easy read. Pretty good so far. The authors name sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember from where. The I was looking through my bookshelf and realized it's the same guy that wrote The J Curve, which I also own.

 

[Stealth]

Fnordchan, how do the normal Q&C novels hold up when compared to the graphic novels by Rucka? I have read the first collection of Queen & Country and the second is on my desk, but I've always liked Rucka's work in comics and have wondered how his work stands on its own, without the graphical element. Worth diving into?

Also, having now finished Changes by Jim Butcher, WHAT THE HELL. Can't believe I have to wait for the short story collection this fall, and for Ghost Story next year, to see how this turns out. Gaaaah.

 

[shas'la]

Really enjoying it so far, though I am not a big fan of the prose.

It is both descriptive and curt, I find that sort of jarring.

What I do really appreciate is how brutally realistic it often is.

I think I may give his other books a try after I am done (or finish Timequake).

Where would you guys recommend to start reading his stuff? I was gonna start with "the blade itself", but thats purely based on amazon browsing, and putting it into my wish list?

 

[FnordChan]

Fnordchan, how do the normal Q&C novels hold up when compared to the graphic novels by Rucka? I have read the first collection of Queen & Country and the second is on my desk, but I've always liked Rucka's work in comics and have wondered how his work stands on its own, without the graphical element. Worth diving into?

It's been a while since I read A Gentleman's Game, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. That said, I remember enjoying it quite a bit, with Tara Chase continuing to engage in contemporary espionage and more than a bit of self-destructive behavior in an entertaining sort of way. Rucka was a novelist before he got into comics with Whiteout, so his work stands alone perfectly well without an artist along for the ride. If you're enjoying the Queen and Country collections, I'd definitely recommend checking out the novel as well once you're caught up with those.

Now that I think about it, I believe A Gentleman's Game may take place between later storyarcs of the comics, so if you're reading and you see the novel mentioned you may want to put the comic on hold until you're caught up. Alternately, I'm hallucinating and you can read them in whatever order you like.

Also, having now finished Changes by Jim Butcher, WHAT THE HELL. Can't believe I have to wait for the short story collection this fall, and for Ghost Story next year, to see how this turns out. Gaaaah.

My thoughts exactly. He'll be at DragonCon in Atlanta this year, so I'm hoping he'll be reading from the post-Changes novella that'll be in Side Jobs. If not, I may have to rush the stage and shake the man until he divulges what's going to happen. October is too far away!

FnordChan

 

[Tim the Wiz]

My thoughts exactly. He'll be at DragonCon in Atlanta this year, so I'm hoping he'll be reading from the post-Changes novella that'll be in Side Jobs. If not, I may have to rush the stage and shake the man until he divulges what's going to happen. October is too far away!

FnordChan

:lol America really is the land of opportunity.

 

[Cep]

Where would you guys recommend to start reading his stuff? I was gonna start with "the blade itself", but thats purely based on amazon browsing, and putting it into my wish list?

This is my first novel by him so I do not know.

I too wanted to start with the first law trilogy but my library did not have it.

 

[Vox-Pop]

I might read Norwegian Wood next.

 

[Monroeski]

Just finished -

Pretty freaking awesome IMO. This and Perdido Street Station were good enough to have me move on to this next -

Though it's pretty much universally considered inferior to the other two in the series and not necessarily worth reading.

 

[aidan]

Where would you guys recommend to start reading his stuff? I was gonna start with "the blade itself", but thats purely based on amazon browsing, and putting it into my wish list?

Start with The Blade Itself. His best novel, so far, is Last Argument of Kings, the concluding volume of that trilogy.

 

[foomfoom415]

Joining in on the China Mieville bandwagon I just started reading:

The City & the City

Halfway through it and I can't put it down.

 

[Kers]

Almost finished with:

 

[Wellington]

Finished Moneyball, excellent book. Started this:

Seems interesting but it's very slow to start. I'll probably be a third of the way in by later tonight, hope to finish by the end of the week.

 

[KingGondo]

FINALLY finished Duma Key by Stephen King. It was good for the first half while you're still trying to figure out the mystery, but underwhelming for the second when the "mystery" didn't turn out to be all that interesting (or scary).

Now reading:

Who doesn't love some Dawkins?

FUUUUUUUUUUCK is Blood Meridian awesome. Lives up to the hype so far. I need to read the Border Trilogy after this, for sure.

After these, I'll probably read either Stardust or The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman with my wife as a summer read.

 

[the_painted_bird]

^Nice. From the opening lines "See the child." I was so into it, as I am with most McCarthy.

Just finished

Now reading

On a Murakami kick, I fucking love the guy. His style in combination with all the unique facets of Japanese life is magnificent. I want to start a club surrounding his works.

 

[Falt]

On a bit of a Western kick (thank you Red Dead Redemption). Just picked this up today, it was recommended to me by a friend quite a while back and I never got around to it. Really looking forward to it.

 

[afternoon delight]

Murakami and McCarthy.... Those posts have too much win in them. :lol And in freaky coincidence land, I gave up on Conrad's Heart of Darkness for the third time and started re-reading.....

:lol

Everyone, READ CORMAC MCCARTHY!

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

I spent a while peering at my shelves this morning trying to figure out what to read next, and have tentatively gone with Private Wars by Greg Rucka, the second Queen and Country novel. I was a huge fan of the comic series and enjoyed the previous Tara Chase novel, and apparently a third Q&C book will be coming out later this year, so I suppose now's the time to catch up. In Private Wars our heroine will be heading off to Uzbekistan, where I'm quite sure all manner of unpleasant things will happen. I'm looking forward to digging in to it.

FnordChan

I read this a while back and really enjoyed it, perhaps even more so than the first novel. As you mention upthread, the way the novels are placed throughout the comic series is a bit confusing. A Gentleman's Game takes place before the last 4 (5?) issues of the series. If I remember rightly the timeline is thusly -

Spoiler

In Gentleman's Game, Tara meets up with Tom in the middle east and they fuck a lot (and kill some baddies). Tom dies at the end and when Tara comes back to England she's sent to the Farm for debriefing and punishment (in the comics). She then goes on a mission in Iraq(?) where she's taken hostage and kills her captors in the most brutal ways imaginable showing that she's somewhat destabilized by her ordeal from A Gentleman's Game still. She also finds at the end of the comics she's pregnant, Secret Wars picks up from there (and it's so good!)

I think Rucka made the series needlessly complexby having a completely in-canon and very important novel before the final arc of the series. I remember there was a massive wait for the last arc and as a reader who knew nothing of the novels I was just annoyed by it and put the gaps in the story down to the last issue having come out a year previously. If you read that last arc in between the two novels the story is incredible though, and even if you only read the books the second novel makes a lot of sense, it's just the comic as a standalone didn't.

I wonder how readers that hadn't read Q&C would take to the books though, especially the first one. I think it would make very little sense if you hadn't just spent the last few years reading about all these characters and the labyrinthine structure of the intelligence services that Rucka gives absolutely no concessions for.

 

[Jedeye Sniv]

Almost finished with:

The ending to this kicked me in the heart so hard. Manly tears.

 

[Dorrin]

I just finished 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy, I'm not sure if it is because my oldest son is 6 years old or what exactly but that book got to me on a level I didn't know was possible.

Next up is this book called 'Darkfever', suggested by my wife since she thinks all I read is stuffy books or books by Modesitt. It says from the author of 'Spell of the Highlander'. What has she done to me Gaf.. this is girl book porn isn't it?

 

[close to the edge]

A pretty huge book but I find it interesting so far (only about 30 pages in), covers 3 of my big interests (music, math, computers). Not sure what the "point" of the book is, though. I guess I'll find out a little further in.

 

[TestMonkey]

Only half way through and am still unsure what I think of the book. Gonna keep going and hopefully it all comes together in the end like all his other titles.

 

[Jay Sosa]

Breezed through the first Scott Pilgrim book and like it so much I already bought all the others.

Finally finished this

The Dreaming Void

Was o.k. but waaaaaaay too long and boring. The story unfolds so slowly and there isn't really anything interesting happening in over 500 pages. Don't known if I'll ever buy the second and third one.

I rather read my Takeshi Kovacs novels, sure some may say that they're like stupid action movies but atleast they don't put me to sleep.

Think I'm gonna read some Christopher Moore next, probably Coyote Blue

 

[lowrider007]

Again...

 

[Dresden]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345401956/?tag=neogaf0e-20

What a fascinating book. They spend more than half their time just debunking stuff, but the stuff they do uncover is pretty awesome. No, the aliens didn't build the Pyramids, but the "Amazons" did exist in Russia during Roman times. Good stuff.

 

[FnordChan]

I think Rucka made the series needlessly complexby having a completely in-canon and very important novel before the final arc of the series. I remember there was a massive wait for the last arc and as a reader who knew nothing of the novels I was just annoyed by it and put the gaps in the story down to the last issue having come out a year previously. If you read that last arc in between the two novels the story is incredible though, and even if you only read the books the second novel makes a lot of sense, it's just the comic as a standalone didn't.

I found that to be pretty inexplicable myself. My best guess is that Rucka wanted to try to get some of his comic audience to transition over to his novels. Alternately, perhaps something was holding up the pipeline on the comic book end and he decided to get a novel out there for the fans while that was happening. Either way, yeah, it's a bit odd.

I wonder how readers that hadn't read Q&C would take to the books though, especially the first one. I think it would make very little sense if you hadn't just spent the last few years reading about all these characters and the labyrinthine structure of the intelligence services that Rucka gives absolutely no concessions for.

I wonder about that myself, though I think that someone interested in espionage or contemporary thrillers would be able to follow along reasonably well, in that "picked up a book partway through a series" sort of way. Someone who had read enough LeCarre or who had seen The Sandbaggers would probably be okay with some of the depictions of the bureaucracy in the background if nothing else.

Meanwhile, I'm about 50 pages in to Private Wars and enjoying it very much. Woo!

FnordChan

 

[Cep]

Just finished -

A fantastic novel and so far the only thing by this man that I can stomach.

He is a great writer, but damn does he get on my nerves!

 

[backflip10019]

Has anyone in this thread read World Without End? I'm thinking of reading it in preparation for the July 23rd premiere of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth series and I want to know if this is a good idea.

 

[eznark]

FYI, The Dudes Guide to Pregnancy is every bit as awful as you would imagine. It's actually quite vulgar and disgusting.

 

[Maklershed]

The term "sympathy lactation" doesn't appear anywhere does it?

 

[Drewsky]

FYI, The Dudes Guide to Pregnancy is every bit as awful as you would imagine. It's actually quite vulgar and disgusting.

Examples?

 

[Lear]

Now I'll just say that I think all of the Shakespeare wasn't Shakespeare conspiracy theories are utter bullshit of the highest order based on conjecture, wishful thinking and good old fashioned stupidity. Besides that it really doesn't matter if someone else wrote Shakespeare's works. Sure we might be able to gleam some interesting new context but Othello is still Othello even if it turns out that Shakespeare actually was Christopher Marlowe who, having faked his death, secluded himself in the country for decades. (Sounds probable right?). Anyway, I digress. Shapiro says much the same in the first few pages of the Introduction, he doesn't subscribe to any of the theories. It's more of an exploration of the various theories (or the main ones at least, from what I gather there are hundreds of possible Shakespeare's which have been suggested) as to who Shakespeare was and interestingly why it is that people feel the need to claim that the actual William Shakespeare couldn't have written the plays. Now I'm only 50 pages in, so I might find that Shapiro reaches the conclusion that Shakespeare was actually the Earl of Oxford's spaniel or something ridiculous, so I'll come back and edit this post once I'm finished.

 

[John Dunbar]

I read the Little Prince for the first time today (was familiar with the story before). Lives up to the hype, beautiful and sad.

I started reading Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, and bought To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Catching up with the classics.

 

[eznark]

Examples?

I deleted it but the authors idea of humor is dropping "twat," "milf" and the like. I have no problem admitting id fall more into the dudebro category than most of gaf (after all, I like sports and clearly have intercourse) but this shit was too much for even me.

I wasn't looking for education but I tought it would be more Dave Berry than Andred Dice Clay.

 

[Maklershed]

"Here's what to do when that baby comes tumblin outta ya wife's c*** ... OHH!"

:lol

Entirely unrelated: I'm about halfway through A Clash of Kings now. Simply amazing. This is by far the best series I've ever read. I may be a fan of the fantasy genre now.

 

[Wellington]

Finished Moneyball, excellent book. Started this:

Seems interesting but it's very slow to start. I'll probably be a third of the way in by later tonight, hope to finish by the end of the week.

2/3s of the way in and I still don't know wtf to think of this. I've read and enjoyed Vonnegut before, but I just can't get into this one too much. Eh, I'll finish it tonight/tomorrow, it's 300 pages but with all the pictures in it the chapters fly by.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Quite Interesting so far.

 

[Dresden]

2/3s of the way in and I still don't know wtf to think of this. I've read and enjoyed Vonnegut before, but I just can't get into this one too much. Eh, I'll finish it tonight/tomorrow, it's 300 pages but with all the pictures in it the chapters fly by.

I read that in middle school, and I thought all the pictures of cunts was like the best thing in the world (if that's the book I'm thinking of).

 

[mjc]

I'm about 300ish pages in and things are starting to pick up now that all the character set up is out of the way. Fun read.

 

[megashock5]

How is this book?
I've been looking for something Pixar related to read after I finish my current book.

I'm not too far into yet, but so far it's quite good. I saw in when I was in WDW earlier this year and almost bought it for the cover price ($75) but then I called my dad to check Amazon and it was $47 so I ordered it when I got back.

 

[otake]

I quit reading the Lock Lamora book. Entertaining but implausible garbage all the same. Went to the library and picked up Dr. Strange and Mr. Morel. I decided to stop reading 20 pages in. It's just too hard to read, it's funny but the sentence structure, I dunno, just fucking hard and slightly boring.

Now I'm reading this horror book called Neverland. At least it's readable.

 

[Wellington]

I read that in middle school, and I thought all the pictures of cunts was like the best thing in the world (if that's the book I'm thinking of).

:lol Yeah.

He's got a whole section dedicated to beavers (both) and assholes (not the type of person, but an actual asshole).

I'm going to try and put it down tonight, but I'm at a loss as to what to read next. I have Catch-22, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and Metamorphasis. Prob going to go with Metamorphasis. :/

 

[zero margin]

Now reading this and holy shit it's good. The rest of the series as good? Thanks again GAF for the recommendation.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Pretty much.

 

[Salazar]

Keith Thomas' The Ends of Life: Routes to Fulfilment in Early Modern England.

Damned good. It originated in a set of lectures, and as he says in the preface, a following generation of enormously clever historians treated specifically things he surveyed generally.