knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I want to say it was one of his earlier works, and it is Palahniuk with all that entails, but it's been long enough I don't remember if there were any especially egregious parts.
Some gender stuff in the book.
From what I remember, the narrator is a cis woman who is/was very beautiful but her face was disfigured later in life.
She has a trans sister (I think they might be twins), and the book focuses mostly on their relationship and they go on a journey of some kind. It was also written in the late 1990s or early 2000s so there may be some problematic bits with regard to pronouns? I honestly cannot remember a lot of details.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
So I launched a book club-type thing with friends of mine to incentivize all of us to read more and to actually get through stuff in a timely manner
and now it has been turned against me because the first person up's selection is Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, to which I had to stifle an audible groan
How bad am I in for with that one
Chuck Palahniuk writing about women's issues with a female sounds like it could be...very not good
As somebody who went through a Palahniuk phase, i.e. was a male teenaged nerd in 2004, I'd say it's middle-tier. It has some evocative scenes and maybe one or two interesting ideas, but it gets very Palahniuk-y in places - Wikipedia-grade summaries of things abound. And to call the plot "shaggy dog" is to give it more credit than it probably deserves.
For frame of reference, I think the only good Palahniuk books are Survivor and Rant. Anything else runs from middling to awful.
So I launched a book club-type thing with friends of mine to incentivize all of us to read more and to actually get through stuff in a timely manner
and now it has been turned against me because the first person up's selection is Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, to which I had to stifle an audible groan
How bad am I in for with that one
Chuck Palahniuk writing about women's issues with a female sounds like it could be...very not good
As somebody who went through a Palahniuk phase, i.e. was a male teenaged nerd in 2004, I'd say it's middle-tier. It has some evocative scenes and maybe one or two interesting ideas, but it gets very Palahniuk-y in places - Wikipedia-grade summaries of things abound. And to call the plot "shaggy dog" is to give it more credit than it probably deserves.
For frame of reference, I think the only good Palahniuk books are Survivor and Rant. Anything else runs from middling to awful.
I remember liking Choke a lot, although in retrospect it has some gender issues, and Haunted has a few really striking moments (of which That One Story definitely is, but isn't the most, IMO)
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I feel similarly about Choke as I do about Fight Club - it's not as good as Survivor or Rant, but I still bear it a good deal of lingering fondness, occasionally for reasons that it does not fully deserve.
I finished reading The Braided Path yesterday. Still trying to work out my feelings on it. It was competent but I don't know if it was actually good in the way I wanted it to be? Definitely got better as it went along, though.
Still, you don't find many books where the primary character is a wizard who's also a woman, so that's cool
Need to figure out something else to read. Still in a pretty strong fantasy mood. Anyone know any good adventure-y fantasy novels with a woman as the main character?
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Just started listening to Waking Gods, the sequel to Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, and I'm not sure whether I'm going to bail out and read the print book instead.
The series is about finding and reassembling a giant alien robot, written in a highly realistic style, and consists of a series of interviews in the manner of World War Z. The main difference is that the interviewer in WWZ was a journalist who rarely chimed in with clarifying questions, while the interviewer in this series is a shadowy figure who is often giving the other characters advice, orders, or guidance, and may or may not be pulling the levers on everything everywhere.
The real problem I'm having with the audiobook is that it's slightly harder to follow the interview-style dialogue when it's spoken rather than formatted, and The Interviewer has a wonderful dry sense of humor that so far is proving funnier in my head than in the narrator's voice.
I've slowed it down from 1.25x to normal time, so I'll give it a couple more chapters while cooking dinner and see if it clicks.
I finished reading The Braided Path yesterday. Still trying to work out my feelings on it. It was competent but I don't know if it was actually good in the way I wanted it to be? Definitely got better as it went along, though.
Still, you don't find many books where the primary character is a wizard who's also a woman, so that's cool
Need to figure out something else to read. Still in a pretty strong fantasy mood. Anyone know any good adventure-y fantasy novels with a woman as the main character?
You might be interested in Kate Elliot's Crossroads series which includes Spirit Gate, Shadow Gate, Traitor's Gate. I think there might be an additional book or two in the world since I last read any. There are a number of female main characters, though the books do have multiple viewpoint characters. I found them somewhat refreshing when I first read them and worth going back to for an enjoyable read with a story that doesn't go where the genre tropes would necessarily lead the reader to expect.
I've found The Wertzone reviews helpful for things like this in the past, and here's one post you might find handy for your search:
This link lists a number of female epic fantasy/sci-fi authors and provides short synopses on why their works are enjoyable for the reviewer. Names covered include Robin Hobb, Kate Elliot, Elizabeth Bear, J.V. Jones, Kameron Hurley, N.K. Jemisin, Juliet E. McKenna, and J.K. Rowling.
Sleeping Giants broke my heart. It had exactly the kind of set-up that I like but the book's format was intolerable by about halfway through. It's strictly question-and-answer interviews, with no break for any kind of expository story or anything, and it just killed me.
I'm not saying don't read it but maybe temper your expectations.
I read The Last Policeman, which is a book about a detective solving murders. And also there is a giant meteorite that's going to wipe out all life in 6 months time. It's a neat idea. The author loves to point out their own clever or poetic phrases.
It'd make a pretty good tv show.
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
yeah I read that a few months ago, I thought it was pretty good
How is The Sharing Knife? I really, genuinely loved The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls but haven't read more Bujold since
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
edited June 2017
Okay, the audio version of Waking Gods has clicked. The Narrator's weird midatlantic accent was throwing me at first because I always read him as Tommy Lee Jones in my head, but he's had a couple of opportunities to be a mysterious dickhead and really sold it well.
I read The Last Policeman, which is a book about a detective solving murders. And also there is a giant meteorite that's going to wipe out all life in 6 months time. It's a neat idea. The author loves to point out their own clever or poetic phrases.
It'd make a pretty good tv show.
It's got two sequels, which are not as good but still pretty solid
Hiya book thread. Usually I buy books because they're a) by authors I already like, or b) i read an interesting review. Today I bought Kafka's Son, even though it has neither of these properties, because it's about everything my internal nerd gets excited about. Prague! Kafka! Danny Kaye! Golems!
Hiya book thread. Usually I buy books because they're a) by authors I already like, or b) i read an interesting review. Today I bought Kafka's Son, even though it has neither of these properties, because it's about everything my internal nerd gets excited about. Prague! Kafka! Danny Kaye! Golems!
i'll let you know how it goes.
Have you read The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker? It's about a golem whose creator dies on the ship from Prague to New York in 1899, and from there is a literary rom com with a jinni who is accidentally summoned by a coppersmith living in the Syrian neighborhood of Lower Manhattan during the same period.
I...suspect you may dig it.
Jedoc on
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
I read that on an airplane. It was a real good popcorn book.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Hiya book thread. Usually I buy books because they're a) by authors I already like, or b) i read an interesting review. Today I bought Kafka's Son, even though it has neither of these properties, because it's about everything my internal nerd gets excited about. Prague! Kafka! Danny Kaye! Golems!
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
how new
Gun Machine by Warren Ellis is a couple years old but it's real cool
same with The Last Policeman
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
edited June 2017
Not For Nothing by Stephen Graham Jones Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (she also did Broken Monsters and The Shining Girls, but I'd say this one is her best)
I'll second Gun Machine by Warren Ellis His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet is far from a traditional detective novel, but still a really cool mystery sort of thing
Posts
Some gender stuff in the book.
She has a trans sister (I think they might be twins), and the book focuses mostly on their relationship and they go on a journey of some kind. It was also written in the late 1990s or early 2000s so there may be some problematic bits with regard to pronouns? I honestly cannot remember a lot of details.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
As somebody who went through a Palahniuk phase, i.e. was a male teenaged nerd in 2004, I'd say it's middle-tier. It has some evocative scenes and maybe one or two interesting ideas, but it gets very Palahniuk-y in places - Wikipedia-grade summaries of things abound. And to call the plot "shaggy dog" is to give it more credit than it probably deserves.
For frame of reference, I think the only good Palahniuk books are Survivor and Rant. Anything else runs from middling to awful.
That is a book with multiple shocking twist moments of "this character is actually transgender" and the book only has like 5 characters
It is a deeply, deeply unpleasant book from beginning to end
no bookslut shaming pls
I'm comfortable with my bookharem
I remember liking Choke a lot, although in retrospect it has some gender issues, and Haunted has a few really striking moments (of which That One Story definitely is, but isn't the most, IMO)
Things Fall Apart
Mother night
The kite runner
100 years of solitude
And a goofy looking self help book that was called something you're a badass something
Still, you don't find many books where the primary character is a wizard who's also a woman, so that's cool
Need to figure out something else to read. Still in a pretty strong fantasy mood. Anyone know any good adventure-y fantasy novels with a woman as the main character?
The series is about finding and reassembling a giant alien robot, written in a highly realistic style, and consists of a series of interviews in the manner of World War Z. The main difference is that the interviewer in WWZ was a journalist who rarely chimed in with clarifying questions, while the interviewer in this series is a shadowy figure who is often giving the other characters advice, orders, or guidance, and may or may not be pulling the levers on everything everywhere.
The real problem I'm having with the audiobook is that it's slightly harder to follow the interview-style dialogue when it's spoken rather than formatted, and The Interviewer has a wonderful dry sense of humor that so far is proving funnier in my head than in the narrator's voice.
I've slowed it down from 1.25x to normal time, so I'll give it a couple more chapters while cooking dinner and see if it clicks.
You might be interested in Kate Elliot's Crossroads series which includes Spirit Gate, Shadow Gate, Traitor's Gate. I think there might be an additional book or two in the world since I last read any. There are a number of female main characters, though the books do have multiple viewpoint characters. I found them somewhat refreshing when I first read them and worth going back to for an enjoyable read with a story that doesn't go where the genre tropes would necessarily lead the reader to expect.
I've found The Wertzone reviews helpful for things like this in the past, and here's one post you might find handy for your search:
This link lists a number of female epic fantasy/sci-fi authors and provides short synopses on why their works are enjoyable for the reviewer. Names covered include Robin Hobb, Kate Elliot, Elizabeth Bear, J.V. Jones, Kameron Hurley, N.K. Jemisin, Juliet E. McKenna, and J.K. Rowling.
I'm not saying don't read it but maybe temper your expectations.
It'd make a pretty good tv show.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
It's got two sequels, which are not as good but still pretty solid
i'll let you know how it goes.
Have you read The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker? It's about a golem whose creator dies on the ship from Prague to New York in 1899, and from there is a literary rom com with a jinni who is accidentally summoned by a coppersmith living in the Syrian neighborhood of Lower Manhattan during the same period.
I...suspect you may dig it.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Golems, you say....?
Wow
Very good commentary on identity. I'm not sure if that's the best wording for my thoughts.
I think I'll read the kite runner next.
I need new and exciting detective novels
go
Gun Machine by Warren Ellis is a couple years old but it's real cool
same with The Last Policeman
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes (she also did Broken Monsters and The Shining Girls, but I'd say this one is her best)
I'll second Gun Machine by Warren Ellis
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet is far from a traditional detective novel, but still a really cool mystery sort of thing
How do you feel about private investigators who are also wizards?
been there done that
I loved it very much
I felt this once too.
I was wrong.
I dunno I have a feeling I might enjoy it.
I don't do nearly enough reading for how fast I can do it.
I have a huge backlog of books on my kindle though.
Into the Woods Tana French
Dead I Well May Be Adrian McKinty
The Watchman Robert Crais (Much more popcorn)
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN