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[TheFatOne]

You know there's only one left, right?

Yea I see no point in reading it. I am just not interested in most of the characters anymore. I just can't force myself to read another 500 pages of shit before the story finally starts to go somewhere.

 

[xxracerxx]

Musashi by Yoshikawa is a fun read. I feel as though I have to recommend it.

You could also read The Book of the Five Rings by Musashi, a worthwhile experience.

Just so you know, it has been ordered and should be here later this week. Thanks again for the suggestion.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Just so you know, it has been ordered and should be here later this week. Thanks again for the suggestion.

I hope you enjoy it! It's a fun adventure.

 

[Massive Nights]

Got the new Phillip Pullman last week, I'm about half way through it right now. Not going to spoil anything but there's some really clever parts in it where he casts some familiar situations in a different light.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Recently finished:
Camilla Läckberg - Stenhuggaren
John Ajvide Lindquist - Handteringen av Odöda
Neil Gaiman - Death: The High Cost of Living
Neil Gaiman - Death: The Time of your Life
Charles Baudelaire - The Flowers of Evil
Caroline Engvall - 14 År till Salu

Currently reading:
Michael Ende - The Neverending Story

Will read shortly:
Catherine Spooner - Contemporary Gothic
Dunja Brill - Goth Culture
Nancy Kilpatrick - The Goth Bible
Lauren M. E. Goodlad & Michael Bibby - Goth: Undead Subculture
Konstantinos - Nocturnicon
John Ajvide Lindquist - Lilla Stjärna

And then there's some more books I need to order..

 

[bathala]

(from other thread)

almost done.
then going to re-read Game of Thrones

Musashi by Yoshikawa is a fun read. I feel as though I have to recommend it.

You could also read The Book of the Five Rings by Musashi, a worthwhile experience.

great book. read in high school

 

[Kraftwerk]

I'm looking for a series to read.I read 3 of the foundation books by Asimov non-stop and i wanna take a break before i read the rest.
I want it to be sci-fi for sure ,don't mind a heavy read but not too bland and boring.
Suggest away gaf

 

[Salazar]

I'm looking for a series to read.I read 3 of the foundation books by Asimov non-stop and i wanna take a break before i read the rest.
I want it to be sci-fi for sure ,don't mind a heavy read but not too bland and boring.
Suggest away gaf

Night's Dawn trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton. Heavy. Good.

 

[eznark]

Been looking for some fiction to read, dove into a few books but nothing stuck. Started The Unincorporated Man today, man I am really liking it. About 50 pages in, very interesting world.

 

[tim1138]

 

[Foxix Von]

I finished reading the alchemy of stone this morning. Yet I still feel sad Really, I'm about ready to just shed one manly tear and be done. I don't handle sad things well GAF.

Will definitely read it again sometime.

Will start this as soon as I'm done mourning.

 

[UraMallas]

Just finished A Feast For Crows in the A Song of Fire and Ice Series by George R. R. Martin.

WARNING: LONG BORING READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE SERIES

Finished the fourth book of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. It was definitely my least favorite so far because most of my favorite characters were absent. After four books I've decided that I REALLY dig this series, though. Martin seems to have a firm grasp on his characters and he really knows what he's doing. It can be a dry read at times but the pay off is amazing.

What I like the most is that he will kill a PoV character without warning and without build up. It makes it so every time a character gets into a situation that is dangerous my pulse quickens. It makes for such an engaging read because I've invested so much time into a character and by the end of any one PoV chapter people can die. The gloves come off in the very first book and you can't stop reading because, Who knows? ya know? I love that a chapter can start out so mundane, describing courses of a meal and by the end two, three maybe four PoV characters have died. You'll sit there and think, What the fuck did I just read? Did that seriously just happen? And then you wonder where he could go from here but he always manages because he has such a huge, fleshed out cast of characters. He can draw on any of them at any time to tell you about the happenings across all of Westeros and across the Narrow Sea. Amazing.

The first book in the series has everybody neatly packaged at one place and there is a lot of character development and not much else until the amazing final chapters but it is by no means or boring book. Without giving too much away, Martin then breaks them up and spreads them across all of Westeros and beyond so that I know what is happening everywhere without it feeling contrived or forced. The fourth book does suffer a hiccup or two in this regard but otherwise it's executed flawlessly.

Order of books from favorite to least:
A Storm of Swords
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Feast For Crows

A Storm of Swords has a certain chapter in it that I read two or three times in a row. It is also quite famous in the GRRM community, getting it's own nickname. It was so good and it ramps up after that to be thoroughly entertaining. I couldn't put it down.

Favorite characters in order:
Tyrion Lannister
Arya Stark
Jaimie Lannister
Jon Snow
Brienne of Tarth

Jon Snow was closer to the top of the list after the first book but has fallen over the course of the series. Possibly because he wasn't featured and his future is somewhat murky with me. I'm not going to give anything away, though, so I'll say no more. Jaimie was at the bottom of my list but has risen considerably. He was in the "characters I love to hate" catergory but now that list is almost exclusively occupied by the brilliantly written Cersei Lannister.

Favorite houses:
House Lannister
House Targaryen
House Stark
House Martell
House Tyrell

House Lannister is nothing if not entertaining. So much intrigue. House Martell rose only in A Feast for Crows because I want to know more about them. House Stark was number one for most of the series but have fallen for many reasons. Arya is never dull but Jon his getting on my nerves.

Finally, The Knight of Flowers, or Loras Tyrell is my favorite character that needs a PoV position within the series. I want to know more about him. I hope to see something from him in the upcoming books.

I'm seriously thinking of re-reading these books right now. So much information to take in and it is written so very well.

With that, I'm done. And I didn't even mention Daenerys!

Can't wait to dance with dragons!

 

[Dresden]

I love House Lannister, too. And it becomes pretty clear in AFFC that

Spoiler

the House outside of Tywin's children are pretty decent people.

Can't wait to dance with dragons!

Good luck with the wait. :lol

 

[finowns]

Good luck with the wait. :lol

Winter is Coming?

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Duma Key and on to Brave New World

 

[zero margin]

Well, this is finished and basically have no desire to read the rest of the series. Not my thing I guess.

On to this..

 

[BluWacky]

Will start this as soon as I'm done mourning.

I just thought I'd warn you, I found The Affinity Bridge incredibly disappointing. It sounds much better than it is; the dialogue is flat and the whole thing is over-simplistic. I haven't read any of the sequels because I was so disappointed

The Alchemy of Stone sounds great, though! Never heard of that one before.

Personally, I'm not reading anything at the moment. Well, that's not true - I theoretically have these on the go:

(completely bonkers and too hard to read on the Tube)

(absolutely incredibly written historical fiction about the French Revolution, but again too dense to read when commuting)

Oh, and I read the first volume of Y The Last Man when I couldn't sleep on Sunday night, but that doesn't count because:

a) it's a comic
b) I don't really like comics that much (I bought it as a present for a friend and then didn't give it to her because I'd already given her too many comics)
c) it took me fifteen minutes, part of why I don't really like comics that much

Not bad, though!

 

[krypt0nian]

Just started

The iPad actually has me reading regularly again!

 

[Blackace]

Finished:

Enjoyed it, a lot. It was much better than The Warded Man, which I read right before this one.

got this and book four waiting to be read... book two was fairly meh for me... is this much better?

 

[lochnesssnowman]

Recently finished:
Dune by Frank Herbert
Dead Simple by Peter James
1984 by George Orwell (Audiobook)

Now:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (Audiobook)

Next:
The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

 

[SmoothCB]

Currently Reading:

and will follow that up with:

I'm currently into "somewhat near future" novels right now. I love the speculation! Also, if Kurzweil is correct, I'll be able to see how accurate some of these predictions are (probably not many! but hey, predicting is fun!)

 

[aidan]

got this and book four waiting to be read... book two was fairly meh for me... is this much better?

I've heard a few people say it's the best in the sequence. But then, I've not heard a lot of people brush off A Betrayal in Winter, so YMMV.

 

[stupei]

I've been reading a lot more since getting a nook, it feels like.

Rebel Angels was enjoyable, even better than the first book in the series. Fun and simple young adult genre story with interesting female characters and a fair share of homoerotic tension between Victorian school girls. I mean, just saying.

Spoiler

(Actually, it's my understanding that in the third book in the series the two girls who appear to be totally in love with each other actually turn out to be in a relationship? Awesome.)

Enjoyed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but the overall style of the prose is just dry enough that I didn't want to dive into the sequel right away. Will be picking it up soon, though.

Instead I read some Harris, who is pretty much my favorite guilty pleasure author. This one was much better than the last book in the series, which was a pretty big disappointment all in all, but it's still not as solid as the earlier books. The trouble now is she's started writing what are overall much more involved plotlines but still tries to wrap them up in the same few hundred pages. It always feels a bit too rushed at the end, with almost everything wrapped up neatly and resolved.

Now I'm reading Catching Fire, really loving it. It's not available in ebook form, but is good enough to be worth hauling around anyway. I think I might enjoy this series more than any other genre book I've read. For those who don't know about The Hunger Games, think Battle Royale meets The Lottery with a female protagonist.

 

[T1tan]

Loving the new Michael Lewis right now.

A look at who made money out of the subprime mortgage crisis debacle. A cynical view might be to say, "why would I want to read a book about a bunch of greedy fucks who profited off people's misfortunes?" The lesson here is how atrociously bad loans were passed off as a valuable asset class by inept rating agencies and market makers too greedy to make a fast profit to see that they were selling junk as gold. The book reads as a bit of a procedural with the short sellers trying to find exactly who was selling this crap, and why they were selling it for so long.

 

[eznark]

Loving the new Michael Lewis right now.

A look at who made money out of the subprime mortgage crisis debacle. A cynical view might be to say, "why would I want to read a book about a bunch of greedy fucks who profited off people's misfortunes?" The lesson here is how atrociously bad loans were passed off as a valuable asset class by inept rating agencies and market makers too greedy to make a fast profit to see that they were selling junk as gold. The book reads as a bit of a procedural with the short sellers trying to find exactly who was selling this crap, and why they were selling it for so long.

It's a Michael Lewis book, he could make anything profoundly interesting. I'm waiting for the ebook version, personally. Can't wait!

I mentioned it earlier but I'm about a third of the way through now and am absolutely loving The Unincorporated Man. I know the future is ultimately "dystopian" but I can't help but wish there was a way to self-incorporate. It's simply an extension of what gamblers (specifically professional poker players) have been doing forever. A few years back a minor leaguer attempted, unsuccessfully, to sell shares of his future earning. The argument for corporate currency is also compelling. I'm sure this will all eventually crumble horribly but the intro to this future has been fascinating. Their whole-sale embrace of the Kurzweil nanotech future is really well realized.

I know you guys are all sci-fi nerds, am I super late to this party? It was published in 2009, right?

 

[Magicked]

I'm enjoying it so far. The philosophical parts are thought provoking, and the others make me want a motorcycle. I think my wife was afraid of this when she saw me buy it.

I love Mieville. This book has been a lot of fun. The characters are well done, the setting is wild and imaginative, and the prose is perfect to describe the dirty, oily, harsh world of Bas Lag. I'm wondering how the ending will leave me feeling though. Will it be like Perdido Street Station or the City and the City? We'll see!

Awesome. I definitely have to take it in chunks though. :lol

 

[Peronthious]

Still pushing through

Amazing book. It literally covers everything on the history of Christianity. Right now I'm just past some of the major debates that occurred on the nature of Christ (whether he was fully human and fully god, fully god in a human body, fully human with god's blessing, or whatever) and into some of the more detailed stuff on the Eastern spread of Christianity. Some of the influences on Islam and the early, short lived spread into the far east are fascinating.

 

[paranoidfortean]

I am about to finish Misery. Great stuff.

 

[zero margin]

I am about to finish Misery. Great stuff.

Yes it was.

 

[BumRush]

Atlantis Found - Cussler

 

[Boogie9IGN]

2000+ pages of good old fashioned Chinese political intrigue and war!

It makes Dynasty Warriors a lot more interesting as well :lol

 

[eznark]

It's interesting, because it's something I'd thought about before (specifically in relation to celebs and sports figures), but never really thought through the consequences. The book does present the consequences in a rather unflattering light.


That was one of the things I found completely unconvincing. What, corporations have solved the agency problem in the future? Nobody cooks the books?

And zero inflation, just because corporations control everything and currencies compete? Sorry, that's sunshine-and-puppy-dogs libertarian bullshit. Money supply can't be controlled that tightly, and money supply isn't the sole determinant of inflation anyway.


I read it last month and excoriated it in the previous thread.

I'm finding the ideas sound (as to "cooking the books" the society has created the ultimate risk/reward situation without the death squad for dissenters angle most dystopia's take).

The main demand side cause of inflation (and really, the single main cause of hyper-inflation) is over saturation. Obviously it's in the various companies best interest to keep their currency valuable as there are dozens of other viable options and there is absolutely zero "stickiness" to any of the specific currencies. The advent of nano-technology has made the supply side essentially moot, as input price shocks (including labor) no longer exist. Like the elimination of taxes, the lack of input price shocks (combined with profit driven money supply control) effectively would eliminate price inflation throughout the economy.

That said, I'm now about 200 pages in and the prose is a little weak overall. I've seen reviews that say it really falls about about halfway through so we'll see.

As it is, I can find no real significant flaws with their societal construct or the economics it is based on. Perhaps it's my libertarian puppies and rainbows, but I contend your closed mind is a result of the leftist hatred and distrust of the Corporation boogeyman.

 

[belvedere]

Getting excited about getting my kit and trying this for myself.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

As it is, I can find no real significant flaws with their societal construct or the economics it is based on. Perhaps it's my libertarian puppies and rainbows, but I contend your closed mind is a result of the leftist hatred and distrust of the Corporation boogeyman.

:lol Yes, you are indeed correct: Your conclusions are the result of your simplistic worldview. And, no, the fact that you can't find any significant flaws does not give enough reason to assume that - well, you get the gist of things.

 

[oracrest]

I just finished reading Day of the Triffids. A good short read. Not to ruin the story, but I can see if being pretty influential with the current trend of zombies. Definitely an interesting unique take on a social apocalypse.

 

[Foxix Von]

I just thought I'd warn you, I found The Affinity Bridge incredibly disappointing. It sounds much better than it is; the dialogue is flat and the whole thing is over-simplistic. I haven't read any of the sequels because I was so disappointed

The Alchemy of Stone sounds great, though! Never heard of that one before.

Personally, I'm not reading anything at the moment. Well, that's not true - I theoretically have these on the go:

*snip*

Yeah, I looked at reviews on my phone before buying it and it seemed alright. About 50 pages in and it's not terrible by any means, but as you said the dialogue is very flat. Especially coming into it after reading The Alchemy of Stone which (which I wholeheartedly recommend), had absolutely wonderful characters and some really down right believable relationships this is a little hard to really dig into.

Still entertaining enough that I'll definitely keep plucking along till I complete it at least.

 

[doktorpeace]

Catch-22.

It's great. I can't wait to read it all, but I never want it to end.

 

[sparky2112]

About a quarter of the way through this, and it's brilliant:

The Stephen King blurb says: 'combines Mark Twian, Thomas Pynchon, and Little Miss Sunshine.' That's a pretty good summation. The 12-year-old narrator is hilarious...

 

[sharkmuncher]

Getting excited about getting my kit and trying this for myself.

This is a great book!

 

[belvedere]

This is a great book!

I was really surprised to find how well written and interesting it is to read.

I was really expecting a boring, safely worded guide on how to homebrew, but this is written with great emotion and technicality.

Very good so far!

 

[eznark]

:lol Yes, you are indeed correct: Your conclusions are the result of your simplistic worldview. And, no, the fact that you can't find any significant flaws does not give enough reason to assume that - well, you get the gist of things.

I never said there were no flaws generally, just that the economics of it (it in this case being the elimination of inflation, as that was the topic we were discussing) were sound.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Brave New World and on to Treasure Island

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I'm still reading Crescent by Phil Rossi, and it's made me want to read more space horror novels. Anyone got any other recommendations? I've asked the question a couple months back but I don't think I ever got a reply.

 

[Dresden]

I'm still reading Crescent by Phil Rossi, and it's made me want to read more space horror novels. Anyone got any other recommendations? I've asked the question a couple months back but I don't think I ever got a reply.

It was a good read. One of those few science fiction novels where what's supposedly alien does, indeed, feel alien. And a Dead Space fan ought to feel at home during some of the exploration parts.

 

[Maklershed]

^ Cool. I think I'll check that out too. I <3 Dead Space.

 

[ShallNoiseUpon]

and

and

Edit: Accelerando can be gotten as a free E-book here

 

[AstroLad]

lookin for a good easy readin pop culture book for my vacation. something between klosterman and dfw. any recs?

 

[sparky2112]

lookin for a good easy readin pop culture book for my vacation. something between klosterman and dfw. any recs?

Seriously, there's a lot of Wallace in here - with in-line footnotes/diagrams out the wazoo. Or if you've read The Curious Nighttime Incident of the Dog, it's close to that as well. Just smart, smart stuff...

 

[Flek]

Finished Brave New World

did you like it ? Im planning on picking it up too

 

[Maklershed]

Yeah, it was interesting and presented a scary (IMO) glimpse of a future where humans have given up their liberty and individuality for safety and "happiness".