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What are we reading?

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Posts

  • MaticoreMaticore Registered User
    Nappuccino wrote: »
    That said, I just can't get over how awkward some of the lines read.
    Spoiler:

    Aye, Cormac McCarthy is really out of his element in there. Read some of his other stuff - the prose is really elaborate and ornamented. In the road it's utilitarian and vernacular - which drags him down a bit.

  • CarterFort21CarterFort21 Registered User
    The Complete and Unabridged Works of HP Lovecraft. It was on sale at Borders for like 10 bucks. HUGE tome. Could kill a man with it.

    I'm only halfway through it right now. Lots of short stories, plus the classics.

    It's weighty (the material, I mean. But the book is heavy too) but very enjoyable.

    Life is more interesting, just beneath the surface.
    The Crooked Gremlins
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger Registered User regular
    Only ready Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe at the moment. The story is a bit slow, but his writing is pretty dense; he has an excellent way with language where I find myself going back and rereading sentences. He seems to use a lot of the "SF/Fantasy cliche adjectives" that irked me at first, but then I realized that this was written in the early 80s, before Robert Jordan, GRRM, etc.

    I think after this I'm going to challenge myself and take up one of the Russians. Maybe Resurrection or Brothers Karamazov.

    I just bought Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw yesterday afternoon. I have been meaning to get it for a long time, but was hesitant because of the genre. Pretty much the only fantasy I have read is Lord of the Rings. I am plodding through The Dark Tower (song of susannah currently), which is an American Western modern fantasy I guess, so I guess I have some other fantasy.

    I have only read one chapter of it so far and am really interested. Tons of archaic words or maybe some of them are neologisms?

    I'm also currently reading Catch-22. A really great, funny book that is hard to put down.

    I play games on ps3. My PSN is DouglasDanger.
  • IronSunriseIronSunrise Registered User regular
    The Complete and Unabridged Works of HP Lovecraft. It was on sale at Borders for like 10 bucks. HUGE tome. Could kill a man with it.

    I'm only halfway through it right now. Lots of short stories, plus the classics.

    It's weighty (the material, I mean. But the book is heavy too) but very enjoyable.

    Speaking of short stories, I'm still picking my way through the two excellent anthologies: the Space Opera Renaissance and the Hard SF Renaissance. Both very very good. Also good introductions to new authors to try.

    Georg Dreyman, I have no sympathy for you.
  • thorpethorpe Registered User
    Only ready Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe at the moment. The story is a bit slow, but his writing is pretty dense; he has an excellent way with language where I find myself going back and rereading sentences. He seems to use a lot of the "SF/Fantasy cliche adjectives" that irked me at first, but then I realized that this was written in the early 80s, before Robert Jordan, GRRM, etc.

    I think after this I'm going to challenge myself and take up one of the Russians. Maybe Resurrection or Brothers Karamazov.

    I have only read one chapter of it so far and am really interested. Tons of archaic words or maybe some of them are neologisms?

    Wolfe uses a lot of forgotten and archaic words, but I'm pretty certain that none of them are actually made up. If you know or look them up, they do tend to add a bit of interesting flavor.

    Reading The Portrait of Dorian Grey right now, and really enjoying it. After this I'll probably move on to A Canticle for Liebowitz, probably the most talked about sci-fi novel that I haven't actually read. Looking forward to it!

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • noir_bloodnoir_blood Registered User regular
    Since Good Omens is one of my favorite books, I thought I would give Pratchett a try. My GF had Soul Music laying around, so I'm reading that.

    I'm not really digging it now though. I'm a bit past the half way point, and the first part I really liked, but now it just seems a bit too meandering and without conflict, and the jokes and puns just start to grate.

    So umm, are all his books like that?

    Spoiler:
  • NappuccinoNappuccino Registered User regular
    Maticore wrote: »
    Nappuccino wrote: »
    That said, I just can't get over how awkward some of the lines read.
    Spoiler:

    Aye, Cormac McCarthy is really out of his element in there. Read some of his other stuff - the prose is really elaborate and ornamented. In the road it's utilitarian and vernacular - which drags him down a bit.

    I keep hearing good things about Blood Meridian so I might check that out next.

    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    There's also the possibility you just can't really grow a bear like other guys.
    Spoiler:
  • Just_Bri_ThanksJust_Bri_Thanks This meeting's about politics. Facts won't help. The HoleRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    I need to visit a book store soon. Storm From the Shadows is calling me.

    Lisa : "Which one's Ed and which one's Larry?"
    Ed & Larry : "Doesn't matter."

    I recently was gifted a thing in Steam. If it was from you, thank you very much!
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger Registered User regular
    I finished The Handmaid's Tale yesterday. As dystopian fiction, it easily stands with works like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. It completely reversed the opinion I had of Atwood after reading The Edible Woman.

    Moving on to Ringworld now.

    I was supposed to read this for a class I had senior (college) year, but I didn't. I kind of wish I had. I didn't read a lot of the books in that prof's classes, especially when other classes had me swamped. Her lectures were really, really thorough. She was really nice and I feel kind of guilty about taking advantage of her teaching style and coasting to B-level in her classes with very little work aside from the course papers.

    I play games on ps3. My PSN is DouglasDanger.
  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    Currently reading The Perilous Crown, by Munro Price. Before that it was Judith Herrin's Byzantium, and before that The Ancient World at War. After all these historical works I'm hankering for some fiction, but nothing is appealing at the moment :(

    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
  • learntoflylearntofly Registered User
    I'm half-way through the first story of The Scorpion God, then on to either For Whom The Bell Tolls or The Thirty-Nine Steps tomorrow.

    Also, I've just finished Asimov's Foundation and Foundation And Empire--oh, God. <3

  • BEAST!BEAST! Adventurer Adventure!!!!!Registered User regular
    The Way Through Doors - Jesse Ball

    I'm 765 out of 1905 into it (i seriously have no idea what this weird scheme is, there are no page numbers and there are just some random numbers in the margin, +5 each time), and so far it's just some amazing writing...stories within stories, very off the wall stuff, i can't speak highly enough about it so far

  • Just_Bri_ThanksJust_Bri_Thanks This meeting's about politics. Facts won't help. The HoleRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    learntofly wrote: »
    I'm half-way through the first story of The Scorpion God, then on to either For Whom The Bell Tolls or The Thirty-Nine Steps tomorrow.

    Also, I've just finished Asimov's Foundation and Foundation And Empire--oh, God. <3

    Asimov was a mountain of a man.

    Lisa : "Which one's Ed and which one's Larry?"
    Ed & Larry : "Doesn't matter."

    I recently was gifted a thing in Steam. If it was from you, thank you very much!
  • DirtyDirtyVagrantDirtyDirtyVagrant Registered User regular
    Kushiel's Dart (Jacqueline Carrey)

    I can't say that I love books written in first person, but this is a pretty fucking good book.

  • DarkHawkeDarkHawke Registered User
    I'm reading an old 1977 edition of Michael Moorcock's Count Brass. Fun, and also utterly barmy, far-future-as-fantasy stuff. The best thing is the blurb, which includes the word 'awesome' and the following sentence:
    With this, his first Chronicle of Castle Brass and sequel to the High History of the Runestaff, he assumes undisputed eminence over the cosmology-weavers of the universe

    Cosmology-weavers. Not authors, or even writers, but weavers. Of Cosmologies.

  • takyristakyris Registered User
    Kushiel's Dart (Jacqueline Carrey)

    I can't say that I love books written in first person, but this is a pretty fucking good book.

    We read it for book club. It was a very very active book club. Apparently everyone expected me to hate the book, and I gave it the second-highest score.

    The Phaedra problem-solving flowchart would be fun to make, though:

    CAN I SOLVE THIS PROBLEM THROUGH FUCKING? (Y/N)

    Y: DONE!

    N: SACRIFICE AN OLD FRIEND. SOLVED NOW? (Y/N)

    Y: CRY, THEN DONE!

    N: CRAP. RESORT TO POLITICAL INTRIGUE, THEN.

    Dox the PI wrote:
    takyris, Greek God of blowing shit up.
  • bsjezzbsjezz Registered User regular
    i'm reading birdsong by sebastian faulks. i find the only way i have patience to get through the pages is if i burn through sentences without thinking about them, and that's kind of annoying. but at the same time, i don't seem to be losing much

    i like the romantic intrigue, kind of chekhovian, but i'm not sure i'll make it through a great deal more. i've struggled to get to, what? page 45?

    i'm a terrible reader

    nebraskasig_zps4555b5d6.png
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger Registered User regular
    I'm loving Shadow and Claw a little more with every chapter.

    I play games on ps3. My PSN is DouglasDanger.
  • SAW776SAW776 Registered User
    Has anyone here read the King Raven Trilogy (Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck)? The concept sounds really interesting to me, but I don't really want to pick up a trilogy of shitty books, you know? :P

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    PSN: SAW776
  • G 2G 2 Registered User
    learntofly wrote: »
    Also, I've just finished Asimov's Foundation and Foundation And Empire--oh, God. <3

    I just finished those myself. They were pretty good, I dunno why I didn't pick up any of Asimov's novels before now.

    Ike for President!
  • AryaLeingoldAryaLeingold Registered User
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    "A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things." ~ Herman Melville
  • D4v3D4v3 Registered User
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    I wish I had this when I tried to read that.

    waffles shut the fuck up you god damn moron, jesus fucking christ you're a fucking retard.
  • BEAST!BEAST! Adventurer Adventure!!!!!Registered User regular
    D4v3 wrote: »
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    I wish I had this when I tried to read that.
    haha...yes it can be a VERY confusing book because of all the characters and similar names and all that....great, great stuff though

  • AryaLeingoldAryaLeingold Registered User
    D4v3 wrote: »
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    I wish I had this when I tried to read that.

    Lol, I guess I've been spoiled by so many fantasy novels which print family trees in the index for us. :) Thanks Dave.

    "A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things." ~ Herman Melville
  • AsheAshe Registered User regular
    Currently re-reading Hunter S Thompsons' The Rum Diary and wondering what to read next! I'm thinking I fancy something fantasy-ish, as I haven't read anything of that nature since Eriksons' Toll the Hounds.

    steam_sig.png
  • AryaLeingoldAryaLeingold Registered User
    Almost finished with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Fun read. Not the greatest writing (but I am no fan of Austen) and my greatest regret is having already read the original. Since I hate the old Elizabeth Bennett, it's hard for me to really like the new one. :/

    "A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things." ~ Herman Melville
  • MunacraMunacra Registered User
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    Hello. It is I. the resident magical realist fanatic.

  • MunacraMunacra Registered User
    Here's my reading list so far this year.

    Grapes of Wrath : John Steinbeck
    House of Sand and Fog : Andrew Dubus III
    Middlesex : Jeffrey Eugenides
    Therapy for the Sane : Lou Marinoff, PH.D
    El Clitoris de Camille : Diego Medrano
    Fables : All trades till now
    League of Extraordinary Gentlemen : Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neil.
    Watchmen : Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon
    Blood Meridian : Cormac McCarthy
    The Gunslinger Vol.1 : Stephen King
    Lonesome Dove : Larry McMurtry
    All the Pretty Horses : Cormack McCarthy
    Y The last Man : Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    Persepolis : Marjane Satrapi
    This Blessed House (Short story) : Jhumpa Lahiri
    The Third and Final Continent (short story) : Jhumpa Lahiri
    Unnacustomed Earth (short story) : Jhumpa Lahiri
    Winterscape (short story ): Anita Desai
    American Brat : Bapsi Sidhwa
    The Heart is a lonely Hunter : Carson McCullers
    Meatless Days: Sara Suleri
    Masks : Fumiko Enchi
    Kartography : Kamila Shamsie

  • nosnibornosnibor Registered User
    SAW776 wrote: »
    Has anyone here read the King Raven Trilogy (Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck)? The concept sounds really interesting to me, but I don't really want to pick up a trilogy of shitty books, you know? :P

    I've read the first two, and while somewhat interesting, they're nothing to write home about. I picked up the third book, Tuck, and I'm having trouble getting into it.

    I've been re-reading ASOIAF instead. Just started AFFC, and I think it's better the second time around.

    Then there are the books where I read a chapter every once in a while: Team of Rivals and The Skeptical Environmentalist.

    I keep meaning to start The Judging Eye, but I've got a little too much on my plate right now.

    When you're a spy, it's a good idea to give away your trade secrets in a voiceover on a TV show.
  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    Munacra wrote: »
    Here's my reading list so far this year.

    Grapes of Wrath : John Steinbeck
    House of Sand and Fog : Andrew Dubus III
    Middlesex : Jeffrey Eugenides
    Therapy for the Sane : Lou Marinoff, PH.D
    El Clitoris de Camille : Diego Medrano
    Fables : All trades till now
    League of Extraordinary Gentlemen : Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neil.
    Watchmen : Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon
    Blood Meridian : Cormac McCarthy
    The Gunslinger Vol.1 : Stephen King
    Lonesome Dove : Larry McMurtry
    All the Pretty Horses : Cormack McCarthy
    Y The last Man : Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    Persepolis : Marjane Satrapi
    This Blessed House (Short story) : Jhumpa Lahiri
    The Third and Final Continent (short story) : Jhumpa Lahiri
    Unnacustomed Earth (short story) : Jhumpa Lahiri
    Winterscape (short story ): Anita Desai
    American Brat : Bapsi Sidhwa
    The Heart is a lonely Hunter : Carson McCullers
    Meatless Days: Sara Suleri
    Masks : Fumiko Enchi
    Kartography : Kamila Shamsie

    It's pretty sad that the first thing that popped out to me on that list was the word 'clitoris'. *sobs*

    How is Y The last Man? Amazon.com seems to think I'd really like it.

    "a good leader can make an okay group great..."
  • bsjezzbsjezz Registered User regular
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    it's superb

    nebraskasig_zps4555b5d6.png
  • MunacraMunacra Registered User
    Just finished King's Ransom: An 87th Precinct Mystery by Ed McBain.

  • RazielRaziel Registered User
    bsjezz wrote: »
    Just ordered 100 Years of Solitude. Anyone know if it's good? I've only ever read GGM's short stories.

    it's superb

    Oh, hey, I've read that. Understood most of it too. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

    Read the mad blog-rantings of a manic hack writer here.

    Thank you, Rubacava!
  • MunacraMunacra Registered User
    I'm a bit uncomfortable with addressing Gabo by his initials. It puts him much too close to that guy who writes the fire and water novels everyone likes.

  • RazielRaziel Registered User
    There's a fight I'd like to see.

    Read the mad blog-rantings of a manic hack writer here.

    Thank you, Rubacava!
  • AryaLeingoldAryaLeingold Registered User
    lol... I just shortened his name for the sake of my screwed up wrist yesterday. Senor Marquez called. He said it was cool. :*

    "A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things." ~ Herman Melville
  • DarkHawkeDarkHawke Registered User
    If GRRM gets the jump on Gabo he could crush the guy fairly easily. But in the context of a more gentlemanly duel, I can see Gabo winning - he looks more of a dirty fighter, so he'd probably stick his nobel prize in a boxing glove. BAM.

  • RazielRaziel Registered User
    Be serious.

    Ten thousand butterflies would burst from Encarnacion's grave at the moment of Senor Ortiz' death, as a symbol of love's triumph over time.

    Read the mad blog-rantings of a manic hack writer here.

    Thank you, Rubacava!
  • SunxineSunxine Registered User
    Currently reading City of Thieves by David Benioff. If anyone else has, or is reading this. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
    I like it very much. It's like a buddy book with the most depressing backdrop imaginable. You have the wacky care-free buddy, and the sulky introspective narrator. It's like Sideways for the WWII era.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger Registered User regular
    I'm going to say it again. The more I read of Shadow and Claw, the more I like it. Still on the Shadow part (first book of the "two pack" that is Shadow and Claw) and I really, really like it a lot.

    I play games on ps3. My PSN is DouglasDanger.
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