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What are you reading (May 2011)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Cosmic Bus
pristine morning snow
Kawl_USC said:
My favorite traditional series are Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels. They're never particularly deep, but always have a good amount of twists, snappy dialog, and Archer's roughed-up gumshoe narrative plays out nicely in your head.
For something modern with more of an action bent, those aforementioned Rain novels by Barry Eisler are plenty entertaining, as are the Atticus Kodiack books by Greg Rucka.
If you want to go all crazy postmodern noir (think along the lines of Crank in book form), Duane Swieczynski is king, and it's a wonder none of his work has been adapted yet since it often reads like a Hollywood script. The Wheelman, the Blonde, and Severance Package are completely bonkers, wildly over-the-top and tremendously fun, quick reads.
Wow, thanks man. Actually would love to read the paper, too. The cyberpunk books I've read have been great (Neuromancer and Altered Carbon are some of my all-time favourites) so I've been dying to check out more of the genre. That Alfred Bester book gets mentioned a lot, but his stuff seems to be out of print. You wouldn't happen to remember anyone in your class talking about Bester's work and how to get a hold of it would you?Help Me! said:
Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby
I picked this up on a whim since I had not read anything by Hornby since A Long Way Down (Which I 100% hated btw) It was actually a very enjoyable read. It's not his best, but I would not hesitate to recommend it.
Nation - Terry Pratchett
This is like the 4th or 5th time I have read this one, but I love it even more every time. I still think it's by far Pratchett's best novel and I have read pretty much everything he has written.
Now to scour this thread looking for something new to read.
Maklershed
Member
Don't forget to check the GAF Recommends section of the OPCeebs said:
GAF Recommends!
History Books
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
Post-apocalpytic Books
Books of 2010
Forgotten Sci-Fi Novels
Lengthy Books
Space Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Fantasy Books
Summer Reading
Dresden's Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Sci-Fi Novel Series
Modern Fantasy and Hidden Gems
Just finished:
The Pale King- David Foster Wallace
Beautiful, awe-inspiring, tragic (under the circumstances), but also tedious and mindnumbingly boring, which was the point. For fans only.
Continuing:
Inverting the Pyramind- Jonathan Wilson
I'm learning quite a bit about the history of tactics, but not so much on the analysis of tactics. Still, it's fascinating stuff.
Starting:
Players- Don DeLillo
I've read quite of few of his later, and more popular works, so this is one off the beaten path. Expecting good stuff, though.
The Pale King- David Foster Wallace
Beautiful, awe-inspiring, tragic (under the circumstances), but also tedious and mindnumbingly boring, which was the point. For fans only.
Continuing:
Inverting the Pyramind- Jonathan Wilson
I'm learning quite a bit about the history of tactics, but not so much on the analysis of tactics. Still, it's fascinating stuff.
Starting:
Players- Don DeLillo
I've read quite of few of his later, and more popular works, so this is one off the beaten path. Expecting good stuff, though.
Catching up on some eBooks now that I finally have my Kindle instead of trying to use the iPad.
Just finished. Good read, but I wish it were more about what goes into the food outside of
.
Started reading. So far I'm surprised that I actually like the DA book. Only about halfway through, and just started GCBC today.
Just finished. Good read, but I wish it were more about what goes into the food outside of
shit
Started reading. So far I'm surprised that I actually like the DA book. Only about halfway through, and just started GCBC today.
Thanks for all the replies guys, I think I'll have enough detective books to pick from to scratch that itch for quite a while!
Also, I learned that if you simply change your country of residence for you Kindle on Amazon (all you need is a semivalid address for whichever country you wish to "live in") that you can get around location restrictions. Which means I am now reading Flashman and Pyrates by Fraser. I just started Pyrates and I have to say that it is already hilarious. So thank you for this recommendation!
Salazar said:
Also, I learned that if you simply change your country of residence for you Kindle on Amazon (all you need is a semivalid address for whichever country you wish to "live in") that you can get around location restrictions. Which means I am now reading Flashman and Pyrates by Fraser. I just started Pyrates and I have to say that it is already hilarious. So thank you for this recommendation!
UnlovedJew
Member
Currently taking a break from Wise Man's Fear and started on Shadow's Edge ( Book 2 of the Night Angel Trilogy). Really good series.
LocoMrPollock
Banned
UnlovedJew said:
Just finished that up. Took me about a month to get through it, but the second half went a lot faster once things started happening. All in all, it was a good read and I'll be ready for the conclusion whenever it comes out.
Anyway, debating on starting The Hunger Games Saga, going for a reread of ASOIAF before Dance comes out in a couple months (Holy shit, it's really happening) or going for some fresh scifi.
Also for my non-fiction - I finished up Methland. Amazing and disturbing.
Fjordson said:
You're welcome. I bought that book from amazon used, I think. Yep, here it is: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1857988140/?tag=neogaf0e-20 $15 used. And as the course was an independent study, it was just me and the professor. Oh, I checked and the paper is 35 pages. PM me your email if you want it.
movie_club
Junior Member
I just finished:
Definitely nowhere near the genius of Slaughterhouse and Cats Cradle, the only other two by Vonnegut I have read, but it was still full of more genius that most books. Draged a bit in some sots but overall I would recommend it; but not as a Vonnegut starting point.
I just started:
My first Hemingway!
Definitely nowhere near the genius of Slaughterhouse and Cats Cradle, the only other two by Vonnegut I have read, but it was still full of more genius that most books. Draged a bit in some sots but overall I would recommend it; but not as a Vonnegut starting point.
I just started:
My first Hemingway!
UnlovedJew
Member
Yeah, I would finish Wise Man's Fear up but the Ademre stuff is got fairly slow after a few chapters. And The Hunger Games Trilogy is really great if you like survival with love thrown in. Be warned though, the final book moves extremely fast towards the second half and becomes almost hard to digest.LocoMrPollock said:
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
I just finished Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. So damn good. After putting it down, I called my mom and told her I love her. The book really reminds you to appreciate your family while they're still around.
JoshuaJSlone
Member
Looking for something fun, I got What I'd Say to the Martians: and other veiled threats by Jack Handey.
Very silly; I am enjoying it very much. I'll just share a few random bits I saved...
Very silly; I am enjoying it very much. I'll just share a few random bits I saved...
LocoMrPollock
Banned
Garryk said:
Jealous.
Anyway, decided on Hunger Games since they are all pretty short reads, shouldn't take me too long to get through the whole series. Went through nearly half of the first book last night and it is pretty good. Already like Katniss a lot.
BrokenFiction
Member
I'm just starting this:
It's the third "official" book of the tales of James Enge's (a pseudonym for Professor James M. Pfundstein - an even better name if you ask me) character Morlock Ambrosius, a notorious swordsman, hunchback, drunk, and Maker. The first book, Blood of Ambrose was (for me) all over the place, from merely ok in spots to great in others. But it was good enough to where I also read his second offering This Crooked Way, which was a reworked and ordered collection of short stories that had been previously published. It was really good. You could tell that the short format is where Enge shines.
So I had heard good things about The Wolf Age, but was a little nervous going in seeing as it's a full length novel again. Fifty pages in and my fears are completely groundless. This book is passing them both by leaps and bounds. Enge is a professor of classics and he's so grounded in myth and legend that he brings an amazing new breath of fresh air to the sword and sorcery genre.
It's the third "official" book of the tales of James Enge's (a pseudonym for Professor James M. Pfundstein - an even better name if you ask me) character Morlock Ambrosius, a notorious swordsman, hunchback, drunk, and Maker. The first book, Blood of Ambrose was (for me) all over the place, from merely ok in spots to great in others. But it was good enough to where I also read his second offering This Crooked Way, which was a reworked and ordered collection of short stories that had been previously published. It was really good. You could tell that the short format is where Enge shines.
So I had heard good things about The Wolf Age, but was a little nervous going in seeing as it's a full length novel again. Fifty pages in and my fears are completely groundless. This book is passing them both by leaps and bounds. Enge is a professor of classics and he's so grounded in myth and legend that he brings an amazing new breath of fresh air to the sword and sorcery genre.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
Karakand said:
What's brilliant about that story is that it's not boring to read at all; it's proof that you can write about boredom without writing boringly.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Props to the guy who finished The Pale King, but it can't be more tedious than the 600 pages of A Perfect Spy by John le Carre. I finished it last night. I don't know why, other than I developed a kind of adversarial relationship with it, and I didn't want it to beat me. And I'm not just being contrarian, because I also just finished the much-lauded A Visit from the Goon Squad and really liked it.
Avoid at all costs.
Just finished:
While I definitely respect the amount of work that went into this trilogy and the incredible amount of depth in the world builing (100 pages of Appendix), I was left disappointed with this series.
spoilers:
I know there are two other books out in this series right now but I might take a break from this series for a little bit or at least until the third book is out in the next series.
Starting:
While I definitely respect the amount of work that went into this trilogy and the incredible amount of depth in the world builing (100 pages of Appendix), I was left disappointed with this series.
spoilers:
I didn't care for the main character, Kellhus, at all. He was an unrelatable protagonist and I'm not exactly sure if that is what Bakker is going for with this series. I get the feeling that he will wind up being the antagonist and siding with the no-God when it's all said and done. I hated what they did with the Esmenet character and found the whole "whore of gold" trope to be predictable and unbelievalbe. While I enjoyed some of the philosophy sections, it wore out the welcome near the end. I like how Achamian finally renounced Esmenet and Kellhus and his school. Other than Cnauir, he was the only character I enjoyed and rooted for. I'm not entirely clear on the ending and I may need some time to let it sink in but is Kellhus actually mad as Moenghus suggests or can he just see further than his father? The person that was asking Kellhus all of those questions was actually the no-God, right? What happened to Cnauir?
I know there are two other books out in this series right now but I might take a break from this series for a little bit or at least until the third book is out in the next series.
Starting:
Apple Sauce
Member
Recently finished:
and
My backlog of books is getting insane. I need to stop buying more.
Currently reading:
and
My backlog of books is getting insane. I need to stop buying more.
Currently reading:
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Finished:
Loved this book so much. I ran in High School and since then have struggled with the love to run and the payment of injury's to do it. I started running in 5-fingers almost 2 years ago and all those problems vanished. Really inspiring book and critical for anyone that wants to increase the health and joy of running.
Truly the shittiest looking book cover I have ever had to look at in order to enjoy a great book. I enjoyed the whole tale. I think Lynch has a compelling way of writing and aside from some parts that drag on the book was definitely a nice way to gear up for summer.
Reading:
Only about 200 pages in so far but damn I love this series. Such truly fantastic writing. Makes almost every fantasy I have read seem so clunky in comparison.
Loved this book so much. I ran in High School and since then have struggled with the love to run and the payment of injury's to do it. I started running in 5-fingers almost 2 years ago and all those problems vanished. Really inspiring book and critical for anyone that wants to increase the health and joy of running.
Truly the shittiest looking book cover I have ever had to look at in order to enjoy a great book. I enjoyed the whole tale. I think Lynch has a compelling way of writing and aside from some parts that drag on the book was definitely a nice way to gear up for summer.
Reading:
Only about 200 pages in so far but damn I love this series. Such truly fantastic writing. Makes almost every fantasy I have read seem so clunky in comparison.
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
I'm about halfway through, most of which was read on a train ride home from college, but I can't say I'm particularly pressed to pick it up again. Not to say I haven'y enjoyed it.
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles
I have only rented this from the library for some research. Stiles included a bibliographical essay and I've been using that, as well as some contacts and librarians, to help me get some background knowledge on the 19th century American economy for my thesis course in a year. I intend to buy this book at some point, but for now I just need the research assistance. I'm considering reading Goodheart's 1861 as well to get more background info, but I'm not sure I'll need to.
These three are all for an independent study. I'm hoping to get really deep into the readings soon, but for now I'm just putting it off as it's quite the task to complete.
Maklershed
Member
Look three posts up from yours.Proc said:
The Albatross
Member
Reading:
And
Whoever posted Neil Gaiman's American Gods... one of my favorite contemporary fantasy books and one of the few books that I've read three times. Loved it.
And
Whoever posted Neil Gaiman's American Gods... one of my favorite contemporary fantasy books and one of the few books that I've read three times. Loved it.
nakedsushi
Member
I got scared away from Mieville thanks to his Perdido Street Station. People with giant bug heads, no thanks. I don't like reading stories that are gross for the sake of being gross.
Instead, I finally finished
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
I'm glad I finally decided to read such a seminal book. Some of the stories in there were disturbing. I don't think I'd want to be one of the first to settle Mars after that.
Instead, I finally finished
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
I'm glad I finally decided to read such a seminal book. Some of the stories in there were disturbing. I don't think I'd want to be one of the first to settle Mars after that.
LocoMrPollock
Banned
Careful with possible spoilers there Ceebs.
LocoMrPollock
Banned
Cyan said:
Yeah, because everybody has heard of Prisoner of Zenda and knows the plot? I sure as hell don't.
Liquid Helium
Member
Just finished this, probably my favorite book I have read. Absolutely fantastic.Tralfamadore64 said:
LocoMrPollock said:
Foreknowledge of the plot doesn't markedly diminish the book.
There is a film, I understand - with Britt Ekland and Malcolm McDowell as Flashy. I don't believe it is terribly good, not least, I suppose, because so much of the pleasure and sense of the books is in what is rattling around inside Flashy's panicking mind.