Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
Posts
Maddie: "I am not!"
Riley: "You're a marsupial!"
Maddie: "I am a placental mammal!"
I am also working on "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Author Conan Doyle
so far...not really digging it as much as some of the earlier works in the Holmes series. I liked the Air Gun Assassin at the beginning but, I still always found that excuse that I couldn't tell you (the most trusted and important person in my life) because I don't trust you and your so incompetent you would clearly give something away.
I'm switching between Clockwork and a massive Ray Bradbury collection. Both are filling me with happiness.
Seriously. I'm not all that well versed in contemporary American fiction, but it is my favorite thing I've read in that category.
Currently I'm re-reading The Adventures of Augie March which is maybe my favorite American novel, if not my favorite novel.
Saul Bellow's writing is the kind of writing that makes me pause every fifteen minutes or so just to marvel at the incredible feat of communication he just pulled off.
I mean, holy shit.
The way he can oscillate effortlessly between uplift and optimism to incredible poignancy is also unmatched.
- Footfall by Larry Niven, which is light but thoroughly-reasoned alien invasion fiction
- I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter, which is a sort-of-sequel to Godel Escher Bach. His ideas about the mind are pretty wonderful.
- Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative by Will Eisner and , which is, sadly, not as good as the first book in the series. Or maybe I just need to do more writing and drawing to really understand the problems he's cutting through. Certainly Darick Robertson seems to think so, and he would probably know.
- The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. Not very far into it, not much to say about it yet.
@oldmanhero tumblr
I just finished City of Thieves by David Beinoff, and I thought that was amazing!
3DS friend code: 1993-7605-1096
I'm also reading 1Q84. I sort of had the opposite experience... loved the first half, then at about that point something sort of squicked me/seemed out of character but I'm continuing, because, hell, I'm already halfway through this massive book and I trust it will redeem itself in my eyes. I think after this I'm going to read The City & The City by Miéville.
Also just reread Wizard of Earthsea for the billionth time. So good.
I'm not sure if this is a problem with 'Japanese literature' or just Murakami using his trademark alternate-reality mysticism as a hammer.
There were definitely some squicky moments but I think that was the intent. Only other book I read of Murakami's was Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, so I wouldn't know, but I take it that his work is pretty formulaic? The problems that I said that I had with Japanese literature in general was mostly about the prose, which the quote Baron Dirigible made illustrates pretty well. It's just so... dry. It's still the single biggest complaint I have against the 1Q84 right now really. The plot is great so it doesn't matter that much, but it's still somewhat grating.
I'm also starting on Brian Jaques "Triss" I love the Redwall series, I've been reading and re-reading it all my life. After this I suspect I'll be browsing through some more e-books to find something good.
I think I'm going to try reading the first Malazan book for the THIRD time. Last time I got I think 3/4ths of the way through before giving up. Every time I read it I have the same issue with it, but every time I stop reading it I hear people say that's the issue EVERYONE has with it and that it pays off in the end. So, I guess this time I'm either going to finish it or give it away to someone else so I stop hitting my head against the wall.
Also: Welcome to TWB, @Allanteer !
Yesterday I discovered "After the Golden Age" by Carrie Vaughn - and I tore through it in one day. It has become pretty rare for me to do this. The book is great - anybody read that?
WiiU NNID: BigDookie
I wasn't a big fan of the Baroque trilogy until the final book. It's too meandering and spread over three giant books. Although it has a lot of people who tie into Cryptonomicon.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{My Rambling Blog}
Venting done. Moving on! I finally picked up Her Fearful Symmetry, which I've heard mixed reviews about, but I'm hoping for the best.
@oldmanhero tumblr
I got 78% through 1Q84, and I don't think you could pay me to finish it. The premise of a down-the-rabbit-hole story set in 1984 Tokyo was too much to pass up, but I just don't think Murakami is a good writer. I mean, he repeats major plot points three times, often going as far as italicizing them the third time around. I don't see how you can throw up a neon sign at every plot twist and still be touted as literary.
And if I hear about how Ushikawa is ugly and doesn't really fit in one more time, I'm going to flip a table. I get it, Murakami. The guy looks weird.
I just feel like the narrator doesn't trust me to observe or remember anything.
Did you read Duma Key? If so, I guess I'd be curious as to your opinion on it. I thought it was one of his best books in a while, but haven't convinced myself to grab 11/22/63 just yet.
It's by far the weakest book in the series, I think. For the amount of time the thing was being written, I was surprised there was still so much I felt could be edited in that book. There's a LOT of repetition in the phrasing and a lot of chapters that feel like either nothing is happening or it's the same things that happened in the chapter before.
I still enjoyed it overall, but it was definitely a struggle to get through at some points.
I actually prefer Duma Key to 11/22/63, but only by a slim margin. That said, 11/22/63 is amazing. I think even non King fans would love it, though there are a few King callbacks scattered throughout.
Steam - Talon Valdez : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk
The Wizard of Quippley - http://www.talesofmaora.com
WiiU NNID: BigDookie
Not that I can see. I powered through that and the second one. You can probably skip to the third book in the series. I don't remember the name, but it's good.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{My Rambling Blog}
Just finished Swell by Corwin Erickson(sp?). The first half was enjoyable but it spun out of control a bit in the latter half and after you've lost the narrative, his already affected prose and ambivalent main character (which works really well initially) become more annoying than interesting. Still, I'd say it's worth a read.
If you're looking for a traditional narrative in the Baroque Cycle though, the second and third books definitely have their own standalone plot progressions that fit into the greater scheme of things. The Confusion is basically the swashbuckling adventures of Jack and Eliza, and The System of the World is a political/economic thriller pitting Waterhouse and Newton against Jack.
The Baroque Cycle was the most boring piece of shit in the history of uninteresting turds. I don't blame you for giving up.
There are creatures out there who want your soul, creatures that are willing to rip away your husk of a body in order to obtain it. They hunger in darkness and hunt in blood. Will you be lost...saved...or damned? Your choice.
Read some of it in High School, but now I think it's time that I gave it a fair chance.
They're a fast read. Characters are quite a bit like Fafhrd and Gray Mouser from Leiber, though the author claims to have never read any of those stories. Overall, I'd say they're B+ or A- grade fantasy books.