What book are you reading? [Archive] - Page 2 - The Rock, Paper, Shotgun Forums

Lambchops

16-09-2011, 11:26 PM

If you like Holt, Pretchett et al you should also try Robert Rankin.

Sound advice to anyone else who likes those authors and hasn't yet sampled the delights of Rankin's far fetched fiction.

Only reason I didn't mention him in that sentence was that I (wrongly) assumed people wouldn't be aware of him.

The Greatest Show Off Earth and Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse are probably my two particular favourites and he's one of the few authors of which I've bought almost all of their books. I really want to throw the phrase "transperambulation of pseudo cosmic antimatter" into a talk/paper/viva but I don't have the balls!

Oh and Dance of the Vodoo Handbag as well. Got to love Laz and his four locations.

ColOfNature

17-09-2011, 12:11 AM

I usually advise people to start with the Brentford trilogy. It's a tradition. Or an old charter.

Xercies

17-09-2011, 08:13 AM

I always thought that Ian M Banks should have just chucked away the whole on Sursamen plot and focused on the holographic Oct ship thing, that could have been an interesting mystery but they kind of forget it like most of the plots.

Kadayi

18-09-2011, 05:38 PM

Just finished off Zero History by William Gibson. The third (and one presumes final) chapter in his 'Blue Ant' Novels. The story picks up some time after the events of Spook Country and revolves around the further adventures of Hollis Henry Ex-member of a defunct cult band 'The Curfew' and now freelance journalist & Milgrim, a reformed drug addict with a keen eye for detail, whom both find themselves working (with some degree of never really qualified reluctance) for the whimsical and enigmatic Hubertus Bigend the CEO of Blue Ant.

Overall? Well it's an enjoyable enough romp (2.5/5). Though not quite as profoundly interesting as Spook Country was, given that there was some sense of menace to that story. My big criticism would be that everything is a little bit too easy breezy in a Oceans eleven kind of way. Hollis is tasked with discovering a big fashion secret, but barely seems to have to fall out of her fancy boutique hotel room and walk down the street before stumbling across clues that put her on a not particularly exciting (or taxing) Easter egg hunt to the truth of things. The central premise doesn't seem to justify the lavish wallet and trust thrown at the two protagonists by Hubertus Bigend, or why in Hollis' case she's so reluctant to work for him. 'work' consisting of being chauffeured around a lot, drinking endless coffees, using her iphone incessantly (everyone does) and talking to friends, and friends of friends. Albeit Bigend is painted like some larger than life Bond Villain style entrepreneur, his only seeming crime is that of having enough money to bankroll his own curiosity. Hardly white slave trading, or arms dealing at the end of the day. There's an antagonist thrown into the mix in the books latter half, but he's so non existent in many ways, that he seems little more than a device upon which Gibson is hanging a plot.

TL:DR? - Disappointing.

squirrel

02-10-2011, 05:55 AM

Currency Wars by Hongbing Song, a book series currently consisting 3 books, written in Chinese.

Mr. Song is a IT specialist who happened to work as senior IT consultant of a variety of some very powerful western financial institutes. Now he is back in China to work in a large China's financial institute.

Last time I posted in the thread "The 'Things you will NEVER understand' Thread" about inflation and money problem and you mates provided some exciting and useful insights. After that, I found this series too great that I must share with you. Unfortunately I still cannot found English translation of this series. I do happen to locate the offer by Amazon.com for Book 2, but also the original Chinese version from Taiwan:
http://www.amazon.com/Currency-Wars-Chinese-Hongbing-Song/dp/9573265214/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1317533030&sr=8-3

This series is a treatise on conspiracy theory of international bankers' control over currency systems of different Western powers, and how they extended their influence to the Third World and Eastern economies (Japan included), and the financial systems based on this currency system. I've read Book 1 and 3 and is to read Book 2.

Book 1, without subtitle, is a brief introduction on how bankers gained control of European economies, then extended their influence over USA through the "unconstitutional" right to issue USD through private Federal Reserve System. This is the book that predicted the fall of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two US financial institutes Mr. Song used to work for as senior IT consultant, but had left by the time he wrote the book.

Book 2, subtitle "World of Money Power", outlined the 18 influential banking powers, most originated from Western / Central (Germany to be exact) Europe, except 2 from the USA.

Book 3, subtitle "High Boundary of Finance", focused on China (my country) and Japan in the 19-20th centuries. How they reacted differently while the western banking powers came to the East, and therefore had completely different fates over the 2 centuries. To sum up, Japan, with its own financial powers established long before the coming of the West, successfully resisted the western banking power and therefore built up its own economic power until its total defeat in WWII. China had no financial institutes strong enough against the west, and economic power started to decline since the Opium War in 1839-40, which Mr. Song argued was intended by the British at that time primarily to destroy the silver standard of China.

I doubt those factual information presented in the series is anything new. You can easily find them in other publications without referring to Mr. Song's references. And not even the conspiracy theory is new. Bankers have been labeled "Banksters" for long, and usually took blame during economic downturns for the last few decades I've been living. But he's the one invented the term "Currency Wars".

P.S. Last chapter of Book 3 contain Mr. Song's opinion on personal investment on silver. It doesn't reflect my opinion on investment. I am just here to recommend a reading, that's all. As usual, for any investment decision, do you own homework and decide accordingly.

Serenegoose

02-10-2011, 10:22 AM

Just finished "I shall wear midnight" and enjoyed it quite a bit. Terminal World is next up.

Similar

02-10-2011, 10:37 AM

Rereading Agatha Christie novels. If you can have comfort food then Christie novels must be comfort books for me (Poirot and Marple, at least. The rest are generally too annoying to bother with).
So I'm reading books one ex left behind in order to take my mind off a current ex which makes me think of the first ex... This is also not going to end well.

Before that, I reread Wilfred G. Burchett's Vietnam - Inside Story of the Guerilla War. Burchett spent eight months with the Vietcong in 1963-64 as one of the very few Western people who did that. The book seems a little naive now. Everything is pretty much unicorns and rainbows between the Vietcong, the mountain tribes and the peasants, but then, maybe it was like that early on before the US officially entered the war. Certainly, psychological warfare would have had much greater effect on Vietnamese soldiers, most of whom had been forced to join an army that was mainly used against their own countrymen, than it would have later on US soldiers, so things could be done with less killing. The war was probably 'kinder' then than later. Still, it's a bit hard to believe how nice it all was when you've read other books about the Vietnam war and Burchett's book does seem a little like propaganda (though, it feels like he believed it).
Worth reading if you have an interest in the war.

Nalano

02-10-2011, 04:16 PM

Just got into Reamde by Neal Stephenson.

HP Craftwerk

02-10-2011, 06:42 PM

Juggling a few at the moment, but I gotta buckle down and finish them.. in this order hopefully: Ravenor Omnibus by Dan Abnett, Thank you for Arguing by Jay Heinricks, Already Dead by Dennis Johnson, and assorted chapters from the Configuring Windows Server 2008 AD (for work) Cert Program.

Just finished A Dance with Dragons, and I always have collections of HP Lovecraft on hand

mrpier

02-10-2011, 07:18 PM

I have 7 books in my queue, and I'm a bit unsure on what to start on next. The windup girl, dance of dragons, the name of the wind, a couple of norwegian books which you probably haven't heard of, the eisenhorn omnibus and before they are hanged. I just finished space marine so maybe some of 40k fluff would suit me.

Kadayi

02-10-2011, 08:53 PM

I've been reading the '4 hour body' by Tim Ferris (I need to lose a few pounds and tighten up a bit). It's pretty interesting tbh as Ferris's philosophy is very much in maximizing gains whilst minimizing effort (thus freeing you up to do other things, our time is precious after all). Sure one way to get yourself into shape is to punish yourself for hours at the gym every other day (I used to do that before I tore all the tendons in my right shoulder a couple of years back), but a far better approach is to look at using your bodies natural burn rate, coupled with a carb free diet and some short but effective exercises to promote muscle gain. He's heavily into tracking as well as means to gauge improvement and incentivise personal commitment, but also honest enough to acknowledge that strict adherence is not necessary or probable (he encourages controlled binging 1 day a week).

I've yet to get into it fully (I've ordered in some bathroom scales that read BMI etc, which have yet to turn up), but there's a lot of really interesting titbits in there. One thing he turned me onto was this site: - www.habitforge.com. Essentially the psychological rule is it takes 21 days to make a habit stick, so you set out a habit (in my case getting up at 7am every day) and then they email you every day to track your progress. If you don't follow through then the 21 day clock gets reset. It's gamification for sure, but a really interesting idea. Anyway I've been impressed with what I've read so far. The bigger challenge is going to be acting upon it, however I'd recommend it.

TailSwallower

03-10-2011, 01:46 AM

Been reading Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs. He's obviously not for everyone, but if you've been interested in his work, but have been put off by how hard Naked Lunch or the Cut-Up books are to get into then this is a great starting point because it's actually quite straightforward and has a fairly normal plot.
That said, as a huge fan of his work, even I'm starting to get tired of all the drug references. It also lacks the dense wall of ideas that seem to prop up his aforementioned book - I guess that's the price you have to pay for a Burroughs book that's easy to follow.

Althea

03-10-2011, 08:06 AM

Finish Scott Westerfeld's Goliath last night (Eh) and moving on to David Weber's A Beautiful Friendship when I get a chance.

Angel Dust

03-10-2011, 09:00 AM

Just finished David Foster Wallace's (DFW) non-fiction collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, which was mostly brilliant. The most well know pieces in the collection are the title piece, DFW goes on a 7-day Caribbean cruise, and Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All, DFW goes to the Illinois State Fair, and both are spectacular. There's also a fantastic piece on David Lynch, written for Premiere around the time of the shooting of Lost Highway, and a surprisingly compelling (it probably ended up being my favourite despite my not caring one iota about tennis) account of fringe tennis pros i.e. the guys just outside the big names. What makes his essays brilliant is he uses the commissioned brief as a spring board for various insightful and resonant ruminations on the modern human condition, all delivered via his unqiue blend of intellect, humour (even laugh-out-loud funny at times), post-modern hijinks and naked humanity. I'd probably rate his other non-fiction collection Consider The Lobster ever so slightly higher, but both are great starting points if you're looking to get into perhaps the greatest writer of the last 15 years. I've only got The Broom of the System and Girl with Curious Hair left and then I'm all out of 'fresh' DFW :(

Next up is the short story collection Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth.

Just got into Reamde by Neal Stephenson.
I've been looking to get into some Stephenson. Bearing in mind that great length doesn't bother me so much (I jumped right in with Infinite Jest for DFW), which of his novels woudl you recommend?

Nalano

03-10-2011, 12:02 PM

I've been looking to get into some Stephenson. Bearing in mind that great length doesn't bother me so much (I jumped right in with Infinite Jest for DFW), which of his novels woudl you recommend?

Honestly? I've read them all and love them all. Don't be worried about the doorstopper qualities of some of them: Having read them, I only wish they were longer.

But to start, I'd say Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle for their (ridiculously well-researched) stab at historical fiction and the fact that they tend to re-use the same characters.

Similar

03-10-2011, 12:14 PM

But to start, I'd say Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle for their (ridiculously well-researched) stab at historical fiction and the fact that they tend to re-use the same characters.
The first I read was Cryptonomicon and it completely hooked me. Really an excellent novel.

ColOfNature

03-10-2011, 01:23 PM

I'd start with the Baroque cycle, then Cryptonomicon as it's practically the fourth volume in the trilogy. Or try Diamond Age for some creamy post-cyberpunk goodness.

Lukasz

22-10-2011, 09:04 PM

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_Envy)
extremely depressing yet also very interesting. just got it today.

Rii

22-10-2011, 09:12 PM

My Two Years in Russia by Emma Goldman: "An American Anarchist's Disillusionment, and the Betrayal of the Russian Revolution by Lenin's Soviet Union".

Ark by Stephen Baxter, sequel to Flood.

westyfield

22-10-2011, 10:51 PM

I recently finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. It's great. Strange, but great. It's been recommended in this thread before, and for a good reason. I doubt it's to everyone's taste, but give it a try anyway - it's a slim book so if you don't like it, it won't last long.

Just started A Feast For Crows (ASoIaF book 4), by George R.R. Martin.

Serenegoose

23-10-2011, 12:25 AM

Started reading 'Snuff' last night. I do enjoy Samuel Vimes.

Lukasz

23-10-2011, 02:23 PM

My Two Years in Russia by Emma Goldman: "An American Anarchist's Disillusionment, and the Betrayal of the Russian Revolution by Lenin's Soviet Union".

sounds interesting...
is it good?

Nalano

23-10-2011, 05:01 PM

sounds interesting...
is it good?

Yes. It speaks to the nigh-unbridgeable difference between American liberalism and Soviet communism, which speaks to the weakness of the wobblies' hopes.

Ian

25-10-2011, 01:04 PM

mrpier

25-10-2011, 02:13 PM

I just finished Name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Redfoot?). Enjoyable read all the way through.

PPOY52

25-10-2011, 02:21 PM

I finished re-reading The Hobbit yesterday so i'm without a book atm.

mrchinchin25

27-10-2011, 08:37 AM

Currently reading Killing Rommel by Stephen Pressfield

Killing Rommel has been.. killed

Future projects - er too many at the moment but the shortlist -

- Malazan books, I'm up to Bonehunters (read once already but will need a re-read) and have got Reapers Gale ready to go on the shelf

Bonehunters hunted down and read. I'm now 53% through Reapers Gale. Jeez these are big books aren't they?? I will complete the full Malazon saga - I will.

Bought one of the new Kindle things recently, and find this is really helping me blitz through these.

Current reading list - http://www.shelfari.com/o1515107436/shelf

Splynter

27-10-2011, 06:47 PM

Just started reading Ready Player One. It's full of 'nerd culture' references from the 1980's and surrounding years, and takes place primarily in a massive online virtual reality MMO. It's not terribly well written, and it's quite silly, but it's still a fun read.

Bracket

01-11-2011, 10:11 PM

Ploughing through A Game of Thrones. About 545 pages into it and very much enjoying it, but ye gods there's one character who's so stupid* they make my teeth each.

Is it Joffery? I haven't hated a character so much since William Hamleigh in The Pillars of the Earth. I watched the TV series first then converted to the books. Can't believe I'd never considered the series sooner. Waiting for A Dance With Dragons to come out on paper back, actually it may be out already.

Right now I'm going through a "classical literature" phase, with Anna Karenina and to a lesser extent Don Quixote, both are surprisingly readable. I also like to dip into the Warhammer 40k Hourus Heresy series because stuff gets shot a lot.

Lukasz

01-11-2011, 11:11 PM

guards! Guards!

frigging hilarious. I actually enjoy it even tough I found couple of other TP books boring.

TailSwallower

01-11-2011, 11:38 PM

Also reading A Game of Thrones. I watched the show, but still wanted to read the book before moving onto the second. Pleasantly surprised by how close they were able to keep the adaptation, and the changes I have picked up on seem like better choices than what was done in the book.

westyfield

01-11-2011, 11:59 PM

Is it Joffery? I haven't hated a character so much since William Hamleigh in The Pillars of the Earth.

It's certain to be Eddard Stark. He's so stupid, "Stupid Ned Stark" is a meme. (Obviously don't look it up if you haven't finished A Game of Thrones, because it's spoileriffic.)

Cable

02-11-2011, 02:46 AM

I'm just starting A Dance with Dragons really enjoying the series, i've devoured the first 4 in the last 3 months or so, but i'm worried after so much rapid reading i'll be waiting like 6 years for the next one.

I'm also looking forward to the final book of the Eragon series, i know they're immature and for teenagers and everything but i really like them. (or at least i used to)

Bracket

02-11-2011, 07:06 AM

It's certain to be Eddard Stark. He's so stupid

Good point, wasn't aware of said meme, his heart's in the right place though.

I'm just starting A Dance with Dragons really enjoying the series, i've devoured the first 4 in the last 3 months or so, but i'm worried after so much rapid reading i'll be waiting like 6 years for the next one

I'm pretty glad I didn't start reading them back in 1996. Hopefully there won't be such a long period between five and six.

Cable

02-11-2011, 07:12 AM

Althea

02-11-2011, 07:16 AM

@Bracket yea we can hope but they do seem to be getting farther apart and it says in my copy of feast for crows that he planned to release dance with dragons the next year in 2006 since he'd pretty much written it all already then decided to divide it into two books (north and south) since it was too big. I suppose he was busy with the TV series and the games and stuff?
No, A Dance With Dragons ended up growing and growing and growing. I believe he wasn't involved much (If at all) with the games, but on the show he was involved in the casting, wrote an episode and a couple of other things. But that's not five years worth of work, even if you consider him editing quite a number of anthologies and contributing to them.

Edit: This is the book I'm reading -
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8631/enforcerq.jpg

Vexing Vision

02-11-2011, 09:19 AM

Finished Trudy Canavan's "Black Mage"-trilogy two days ago.

The first two books are well-written if a bit one-dimensional on the characters. The third book tries to give all characters depth, and fails horribly by making me question if this had been written by the same author. Ugh.

I would love to read Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness again - my very first fantasy book as a kid -, but I can't find it anywhere near. I just remember really awesome characters and dialogues!

Althea

02-11-2011, 09:30 AM

Finished Trudy Canavan's "Black Mage"-trilogy two days ago.

The first two books are well-written if a bit one-dimensional on the characters. The third book tries to give all characters depth, and fails horribly by making me question if this had been written by the same author. Ugh.
Yeah, the Black Magician trilogy starts off really well, gets even better, and then trips over and falls face-first into a pile of steaming shit. And then it crawls through that for another 400 pages.

Lukasz

02-11-2011, 10:11 AM

ah this. Yeah... read that book ages ago, borrowed it from local library. I also found those books pretty weak.
There is a prequel novel and a sequel trilogy. anyone read them?

Krans

02-11-2011, 10:13 AM

Nullkigan

02-11-2011, 10:16 AM

I just finished reading David Weber's 'Honorverse' series again. All 16 novels. You can get the first book in the series, On Basilisk Station (http://www.baen.com/library/067157793X/067157793X.htm), for free as part of the Baen Free Library.

I think Baen Books is a pretty cool guy. eh sells DRM-free ebooks and doesn't afraid of anything.

Baen even go a step more awesome, and will let you read the entire series for free: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/

(Avoid anything by John Ringo)

Althea

02-11-2011, 10:20 AM

Plus Honorverse is a bit bigger than just Weber's stuff about Honor Harrington. I've read the most recent one, A Beautiful Friendship.

Krans

02-11-2011, 10:23 AM

(Avoid anything by John Ringo)

I disagree with this advice. For example, his latest series (beginning with Live Free or Die (http://webscription.net/p-1108-live-free-or-die.aspx)) is pretty good clean fun, although it can sometimes be hilarious for reasons that he maybe didn't intend. In general, as long as you allow for the fact that he's at the hard right edge of Republican, his books can be quite enjoyable.

You must also detest Michael Z. Williamson's novels.

Nullkigan

02-11-2011, 10:37 AM

I disagree with this advice. For example, his latest series (beginning with Live Free or Die (http://webscription.net/p-1108-live-free-or-die.aspx)) is pretty good clean fun, although it can sometimes be hilarious for reasons that he maybe didn't intend. In general, as long as you allow for the fact that he's at the hard right edge of Republican, his books can be quite enjoyable.

You must also detest Michael Z. Williamson's novels.

Haven't read those, but I did suffer through close to the first half of Ghost, which is (or at least, was) the most prominently displayed amongst his series on the Fifth Imperium archives. "Oh John Ringo No!" became a meme because of that series. I can't say that all his books are like that, but I can warn people away from the ones I've encountered.

I'll admit: it was a bit disingenuous of me, especially considering I came out strongly against brand-based decisions in another thread.

Krans

02-11-2011, 10:39 AM

Plus Honorverse is a bit bigger than just Weber's stuff about Honor Harrington. I've read the most recent one, A Beautiful Friendship.

Yeah, I read the ARC when it came out.

Weber is a coauthor on all the "extended universe" books and checks them all rigorously for canonicality (is that a word?), so I guess they count! I read a few of the short stories from the collections as part of this run, but didn't have the patience for some of the less well-written ones.

Have you read Grand Central Arena (http://webscription.net/p-1172-grand-central-arena.aspx) by Ryk Spoor? It's an excellent novel from one of the Baen authors who I consider "one to watch".

Krans

02-11-2011, 10:42 AM

Haven't read those, but I did suffer through close to the first half of Ghost, which is (or at least, was) the most prominently displayed amongst his series on the Fifth Imperium archives.

You got further than me. The Ghost series is genuinely terrible.

Althea

02-11-2011, 10:46 AM

Have you read Grand Central Arena (http://webscription.net/p-1172-grand-central-arena.aspx) by Ryk Spoor? It's an excellent novel from one of the Baen authors who I consider "one to watch".
I haven't. I've got way too much to read as it is, so I'm not even going to look because temptation is a bitch.

Alex Bakke

02-11-2011, 11:03 AM

I finished reading Dune a couple of days ago, and I'm now reading A Game of Thrones.

Rii

02-11-2011, 12:19 PM

Bought one of the new Kindle things recently, and find this is really helping me blitz through these.

I'm waiting on the Kindle Touch, but annoyingly Amazon provides no indication as to when they're going to release it for shipping to Australia: 2 days after the US launch? 2 months? Never? Bah. I might just bite the bullet and order it via a service like PriceUSA.

Still, it's allowed me to STOP BUYING BOOKS for the moment and concentrate on getting through those I already have so that I'm ready for the electronic revolution when it arrives. Course there are exceptions, like Julian Go's just-released Patterns of Empire: The British and American Empires, 1688 to the Present which isn't available in e-book form.

As to what I'm actually reading just now: Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (ooo, err) and Mylene Farmer: The Single File. The latter is a graceless affair by an author writing in his second language, but the content is there and for readers like myself it holds the not-insignificant advantage over almost everything else that's been written on Mylene Farmer of being in English.

Serenegoose

03-11-2011, 01:09 AM

Got my copy of Alloy of Law, 8 days before it's released here.

Cable

03-11-2011, 01:42 AM

@Alex Bakke
yay for dune, did you enjoy it?

@Rii
how's Crime and Punishment? It's on my to read list, probably over this summer sometime

Ian

03-11-2011, 10:06 AM

After I finished A Game of Thrones (very much enjoyed) I gave myself a couple of days off by re-reading Kick-Ass. Now it's onto Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

amusingthebrood

03-11-2011, 11:37 AM

Now it's onto Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I hope you enjoy it; I've come across a fair amount of criticism of Le Carré's writing style (turgid is a common word), but I enjoy it myself and I always find George Smiley to be a very real character. I suppose I should watch the film.

Crime and Punishment;one of those books I have already appreciated but enjoy that much. In fact, I think that describes my reaction to most of the (limited amount of) Russian literature I have read; Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Lermontov's A Hero of our Time. The only one I can remember actually wanting to finish for pleasure was Doctor Zhivago and that is probably because I knew the story from the film version.

As for me I have just started rereading Robin Hobb's Tawny Man Trilogy.

mrchinchin25

05-11-2011, 12:59 PM

Serenegoose

05-11-2011, 03:01 PM

Just finished Snuff. Could have used a little more Vetinari. Good Vimes book, all things considered. I don't want to give the impression I didnt enjoy it, but I did feel that I was racing through it a little quicker than I wished just so that I could get to reading The Alloy of Law. Didn't make me laugh much but it felt very substantial. Can't help but get the impression that Discworld is getting a little bleaker. Not that it was without those moments before, but I Shall Wear Midnight and Snuff were just quite... cold, sometimes.

Xercies

05-11-2011, 08:19 PM

Its probably where Terry Pratchett's head is at to be honest thinking about death a lot and his altzeimers, its no wonder he's gotten a bit bleaker.

The JG Man

09-11-2011, 11:03 PM

Just finished reading Asimov's Foundation. What a bloody good read! This sci-fi literature module I'm doing is so satisfying. Getting me back into reading and, for the most part, reading good stuff.

Rii

10-11-2011, 08:07 AM

@Rii
how's Crime and Punishment? It's on my to read list, probably over this summer sometime

I'm reading David McDuff's translation. I'm only a hundred pages or so into it, but it is surprisingly readable even if it does suffer from a major lack of paragraphs. It's difficult to find convenient places to put it down actually. And 'Sonechka' may just be my favourite name ever.

Also, a new wish list entry: Russian Air Power (2011 ed.) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russian-Air-Power-new-Organisation/dp/1857803434/)

<3 coffee-table books.

Theblazeuk

10-11-2011, 11:09 AM

Ploughing through A Game of Thrones. About 545 pages into it and very much enjoying it, but ye gods there's one character who's so stupid* they make my teeth each.

* As in the actual character is stupid, not that they're unrealistic or out of place or anything.

Sansa or Caetlyn? Both are pretty dense in the first book, Cat mostly due to her ridiculously low opinion of Tyrion's wilyness

Drake Sigar

10-11-2011, 11:16 AM

He's probably talking about Ned.

Althea

10-11-2011, 11:42 AM

Stupid Ned Stark (http://winteriscomingbitch.tumblr.com/tagged/stupid_ned) (Obvious spoilers)

Herzog

13-11-2011, 12:21 PM

Finished Enders Game yesterday. Really enjoyed the book and especially liked the ending. Dont think I will read the other parts of the Ender books as I heard they are quiet boring.

Next up: The Moon is a harsh Mistress by Robert E. Heinlein

Lukasz

13-11-2011, 06:40 PM

Reading Witches abroad

I tried to read TP books before but while Mort was alright it never gripped me and made me love the book. Colour of magic is very good and interesting but guards! guards! did the trick. can't get enough of his books at the moment.

mrchinchin25

13-11-2011, 10:42 PM

Just completed Erikson's Reapers Gale, and am taking a break from Malazan for a couple of books so I'm ploughing through Player of Games (Iain M Banks). Quite happy to be back in the Culture again!

Reapers Gale was pretty good, especially Beak and anything involving Trull. Really enjoyed the Bugg/Tehol and friends conversations (and Hellian!) too - some of it was seriously 'laugh out loud' material.

Player of Games (Iain M Banks) completed - to be honest after reading Dance with Dragons and then 3 of the Malazan books, reading a 'puny' sized book like this meant it went down quickly.

Now reading Use of Weapons (Iain M Banks) to continue my Culture reading.

Any other suggestions on must-read Culture books? I've already done Look to Windward and Consider Phlebas (loved them both)

Megagun

13-11-2011, 11:52 PM

Finished Enders Game yesterday. Really enjoyed the book and especially liked the ending. Dont think I will read the other parts of the Ender books as I heard they are quiet boring.

Do give Ender's Shadow a try; it's almost exactly like Ender's Game (and almost as well-received, too!)

Serenegoose

14-11-2011, 12:46 AM

Player of Games (Iain M Banks) completed - to be honest after reading Dance with Dragons and then 3 of the Malazan books, reading a 'puny' sized book like this meant it went down quickly.

Now reading Use of Weapons (Iain M Banks) to continue my Culture reading.

Any other suggestions on must-read Culture books? I've already done Look to Windward and Consider Phlebas (loved them both)

I love Excession, Inversions, and (perhaps a little controversially) Matter and Surface Detail. Many people think he'd gone a bit off the boil with the more recent efforts but it's simply not an opinion I hold.

Xercies

14-11-2011, 07:27 AM

Matter is a bit boring, it just seems to be This woman is on another spaceship, this guy is on another spaceship, wait until they meet. Rubbish ending that doesn't really make much sense.

Krans

14-11-2011, 10:01 AM

Excession is an excellent novel -- one of Banks' best, in my opinion.

I quite enjoyed the rest of the original Ender series, but found the Ender's Shadow novels incredibly tedious. Different strokes for different folks?

I'm currently re-reading City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams.

Althea

14-11-2011, 10:09 AM

This discussion of OSC gives me a sad.

I'm semi-half-not-quite reading Night Watch by Sir Pratchett. It's doing absolutely nothing for me.

Lukasz

14-11-2011, 11:28 AM

This discussion of OSC gives me a sad.

I'm semi-half-not-quite reading Night Watch by Sir Pratchett. It's doing absolutely nothing for me.
just this one or any of TP books?

cause I heard Night Watch is actually pretty good (i'm yet to read it)

Althea

14-11-2011, 11:29 AM

just this one or any of TP books?

cause I heard Night Watch is actually pretty good (i'm yet to read it)
Just one. It's Discworld, but it's part of the City Watch sub-series.

Vexing Vision

14-11-2011, 12:40 PM

The only Discworld-book I really disliked was and still is Jingo.

Can't wait until Snuff is out on paperback, I have no place for a hardcover book.

Currently about to finish Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, who's guest-writing of Wheel Of Time I really enjoyed. Elantris, however, not so much - lots of pretend-depths characters, the good guys always win by being smarter than everyone else, and very, very predictable.

I seriously need some recommendation for really good fantasy books. I know all the big sellers and most of the smaller ones. Devoured each book by Robin Hobbs for example. Grew up with Feist and Holbein, I know the Mythos-Alphabet and while I never really liked it, I do know all the major characters around the mystical Dragon Lance. One new author I really, really love is Joe Abercrombie, who writes the perfect flawed heroic characters to identify with.

Recommend me something along the lines of Abercrombie/Hobbs/Martin, and I'll be grateful for a week until I'm done with the books. (Long public transport commute. ;))

Kelron

14-11-2011, 07:56 PM

Try reading something by KJ Parker. She writes low fantasy settings with interesting characters, the stories are generally tragic and feature anti-heroes. I'd recommend starting with The Company, she wrote 3 trilogies beforehand that are certainly memorable and offer something different to standard fantasy, but her writing is improving with every novel and The Company is a standalone story.

Althea

14-11-2011, 08:43 PM

Vexing Vision

14-11-2011, 10:43 PM

Kelron

15-11-2011, 02:27 PM

KJ Parker isn't known to be a she. Or a he. Or anything ;)

They are meant to be very good, though.

I've seen people refer to him/her/it as female, so that's what I'm going with. Doesn't really matter, does it?

Althea

15-11-2011, 02:33 PM

I've seen people refer to him/her/it as female, so that's what I'm going with. Doesn't really matter, does it?
Obviously it does to the author.

Kelron

15-11-2011, 02:39 PM

If it mattered to the author, wouldn't s/he correct people?

Rii

15-11-2011, 02:51 PM

I'm not familiar with the author but think it's a bit much to expect people to write or 'he or she' or 'his or her' each and every time those circumstances arise. If indeed she has yet to offer any guidance on the matter, I think he's pretty much stuck with whatever she's given.

Heister

15-11-2011, 11:24 PM

Anyone read Stephen King's 11.22.63 yet? I haven't bought it yet, though I am tempted.

ssj_jessy

16-11-2011, 08:59 PM

Dead Space: Martyr

It's a book that follows the scientist Altman. And prequels Deadspace 1.
It has some really juicy descriptions of the horrifying necromorphs.

Heister

17-11-2011, 12:42 AM

mrchinchin25

17-11-2011, 08:39 PM

Excession is an excellent novel -- one of Banks' best, in my opinion.

I've just read the synopsis of Excession, it's now on my to-do list! I will then look at the others and see what tickles the fancy.

Someone mentioned at work the other day about Tom Clancy, I might have to do a mammoth re-read of some of those now..

Krans

19-11-2011, 07:56 AM

I just finished reading an Advance Reader Copy of David Weber's latest book, A Rising Thunder. Also The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks.

R-F

24-11-2011, 08:54 AM

Any advice on what fantasy books to read, gents?

Althea

24-11-2011, 08:56 AM

Any advice on what fantasy books to read, gents?
Could you be a little bit more specific?

Jams O'Donnell

24-11-2011, 09:03 AM

Since pretty much every other person in the entire world seems to be reading them (based on my highly scientific survey in which I look at what people on my commute are reading and filter out everything that's different) I decided I might as well give the Song of Ice and Fire books a try.

Enjoying so far, but it's a little hard to judge since I already know the story from the TV adaptation.

Ian

24-11-2011, 09:09 AM

I've only read the first ASOIAF book but I very much enjoyed it. Will probably see if I can get somebody to get the second one for Christmas.

Still reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I'm enjoying it but at about a third of the way through it's been pretty slow going.

MD!

24-11-2011, 09:35 AM

Just had a thought. I don't get many!

Reading an ebook and a chapter mentions popular music playing in the background. Wouldn't it be a good idea if the music (real only?) mentioned in any ebook was played at a very low volume, almost out of earshot? Optional of course. I think the same method could be applied to other scene media? TV, Cinema, opera, traffic even(?) etc.

Maybe it's the Grants but I like this idea. I'm almost certain that someones gonna say "There's an app for that".

"Yeah, they call it film."

There's an app for that :) (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sherlock-holmes-w-booktrack/id455861970?mt=8)

Still reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I'm enjoying it but at about a third of the way through it's been pretty slow going.

Yeah, I enjoyed TTSS, but I'm a little confused by the praise it gets. It's a good book, but I don't think it has the depth to justify its pacing. Le Carre's other classic, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, is a lot snappier.

Right now I'm dividing my reading time between The Guermantes Way (http://www.amazon.com/Guermantes-Way-Marcel-Proust/dp/0670033170) and An Unwinnable War (http://www.amazon.com/Unwinnable-War-Australia-Afghanistan/dp/0522857663).

R-F

24-11-2011, 09:40 AM

Could you be a little bit more specific?

Not really. D:

Just take it as a given that if it's fairly mainstream, I've probably read it, and go from there.

Jams O'Donnell

24-11-2011, 09:55 AM

Not really. D:

Just take it as a given that if it's fairly mainstream, I've probably read it, and go from there.
Huh. Well.

Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates was fucking awesome. You might try that. If you're looking for something unusual you could try David Lindsay's The Haunted Woman.

Neither are especially fantastical, dealing more with weirdness in the real world than orcs and elves running amok, but The Anubis Gates is a fabulous romp.

DaftPunk

24-11-2011, 11:18 AM

Big fan of SC games,never read any splinter cell novel and i heard good things about them,so i downloaded all 5 of them for my mobile phone,already completed first one (2004).

Serenegoose

25-11-2011, 04:21 AM

Finished 'Alloy of Law', which was an absolutely excellent light adventure, with wonderfully snappy dialogue, enjoyably larger-than-life characters, and some great fight scenes.

Now onto 'The Wise Mans Fear', because I want a book that meanders and takes its time and this seems to fit the bill.

mrpier

25-11-2011, 08:07 AM

Neuromancer by William Gibson, slightly disappointed to be honest, but it's not bad by any means.

Heister

25-11-2011, 12:23 PM

There's an app for that :) (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sherlock-holmes-w-booktrack/id455861970?mt=8)

:) Nice find!! I think I'll have a look into that.

After finishing Stephen King's 11.22.63 (which I really enjoyed) I found The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century. So I'm passing the time away with that atm.

Drake Sigar

25-11-2011, 12:38 PM

I've decided to crack open Brett 'Hitman' Hart's wrestling biography again. It's tough watching user reviews attach their bias to what is clearly a very straight and honest book, filled with the magical and heart-wrenching moments which accompany such an interesting life.

Krans

25-11-2011, 12:49 PM

Any advice on what fantasy books to read, gents?

Of course! I recommend The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

Gerbick

25-11-2011, 09:00 PM

Earlier this week I finished The Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard. Has taken me since March. Brilliant though!

Now almost finished The Atrocity Exhibition.

Nalano

25-11-2011, 10:27 PM

Currently switching between Gore Vidal's Julian and Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt.

mrchinchin25

26-11-2011, 12:22 PM

Finished Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks - wow bit of a shocker ending (although I'd guessed the end twist, but not the chair-thing!)

Now reading Excession by the same author

Angel Dust

27-11-2011, 03:56 PM

Just finished The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow, which was excellent. That Mr. Bellow sure knows how to put a sentence together.

Up next: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell and Cryptonomicon.

An Anonymous Source

29-11-2011, 10:10 AM

The Stars My Destinations by Alfred Bester.

It's so good, I'm appalled I took so much time before picking up this book. I expected it to be enjoyable and somewhat thought-provoking, but I'm so used to gushing blurbs and afraid of hype aversion I didn't realise how much the praise it got was actually warranted.

It's absolutely fantastic so far. It's a complete punch to the gut, with a Cyberpunk-before-Cyberpunk setting, a wonderfully uncompromising depiction of its protagonist and his actions (and to think it was written in the fifties...), and more importantly, the feeling that anything can happen, with dozen of fascinating ideas introduced with economy and panache every damn chapters, without ever stopping the action with pages of turgid infodump. Packing so much plot, character development and ideas in such a slim novel is staggering. And it feels unfair to a lot of novels because it makes it look so easy.

I'm seriously, utterly impressed. I don't think there's going to be a science fiction book I'm going to enjoy as much before a long time.

westyfield

29-11-2011, 01:16 PM

The Stars My Destinations by Alfred Bester.

That one's been mentioned a few times in this thread, each time by people who loved it. I read it after it got the Rossignol Seal of Approval and was amazed - I read a lot of sci-fi and it's easily the best SF book I've ever read.

If anyone's out there who hasn't read The Stars My Destination, read it!

Jams O'Donnell

29-11-2011, 01:17 PM

If anyone's out there who hasn't read The Stars My Destination, read it!
I have often thought about reading it. You folks are making me want to finally get around to it.

Berzee

29-11-2011, 01:38 PM

Tales of the Long Bow (http://www.gkc.org.uk/gkc/books/longbow2.txt) by G.K. Chesterton. A pun-fueled account of improbable political activism and very-lengthily-described characters with a talent for falling in love almost instantaneously. Also contains a philosophical and aesthetic consideration of cabbages, among other topics.

Ravelle

29-11-2011, 02:22 PM

Star Wars The Old Republic :Revan.

Thought it was a prequel to the Knights of the old republic, found out later it takes place after KOTOR2, not sure if I should continue reading or play the first game first.

Pertusaria

29-11-2011, 07:29 PM

Any advice on what fantasy books to read, gents?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avram_Davidson

If you can't find any, try ABE. I've read and enjoyed "Adventures in Unhistory", which was published relatively recently. If you can get your hands on any of the Engelbert Eszterhazy stuff, I haven't read most of it but "The Odd Old Bird" is great.

EDIT: Sorry, should attempt a brief description. Fantasy / sci-fi / pick your genre author from way back when magazines were the dominant publishing method. Nice alternate history stories, along with some stuff that turns my brain upside down. Great, wacky sense of humour.

Pertusaria

29-11-2011, 07:40 PM

Of course! I recommend The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the original series - it's so close to the D&D model of character development, although I know it was done deliberately. I did enjoy The Legend of Gird, and I'm enjoying the follow-on series so far, although there were one or two gaps in the plot of the second book that I found jarring.

Do you like her sci-fi? I like how she's willing to look at the repercussions possible from a "fountain of youth" drug.

Pertusaria

29-11-2011, 07:50 PM

Yeah, I enjoyed TTSS, but I'm a little confused by the praise it gets. It's a good book, but I don't think it has the depth to justify its pacing. Le Carre's other classic, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, is a lot snappier.

I realised after watching the film that I barely remember the book, having replaced all my memories of it with scenes from the excellent BBC serial starring Alec Guinness. (I recommend this, certainly far quicker than I would the film.) Maybe a lot of people who praise the book have done the same?

I found The Spy Who Came In From the Cold too bleak, but I was probably about 13 last time I tried to read it, so it may be time to try again.

Pertusaria

29-11-2011, 08:04 PM

I'm semi-half-not-quite reading Night Watch by Sir Pratchett. It's doing absolutely nothing for me.

I'm sad for you - I liked Night Watch. Assuming you're not just starting on Discworld (in which case I'd suggest Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters), maybe you should try skipping ahead to Thud? It doesn't spoil anything in Night Watch aside from who survives, which you've probably figured out already.

Pertusaria

29-11-2011, 08:13 PM

I seriously need some recommendation for really good fantasy books.

Not exactly fantasy (sorry!) but try Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, starting with Quicksilver. It's as complicated as Robin Hobb, although not as many books. I really enjoyed them.

I'd cautiously recommend Naomi Novik, but I haven't read much of hers.

Pertusaria

29-11-2011, 08:28 PM

I would love to read Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness again - my very first fantasy book as a kid -, but I can't find it anywhere near. I just remember really awesome characters and dialogues!

I love that series! Still go back to it from time to time. I think her writing style got better later, but not her plots - the others aren't bad, but Alanna is the first and best. I like Protector of the Small, which is about another trainee female knight.

Try http://www.abebooks.de (if you're in Germany as your location suggests). Some of the results of a "Tamora Pierce" search appear to be English-language copies.

westyfield

29-11-2011, 10:17 PM

Hint: the 'multiquote' button is your friend. Just click the one next to the 'reply with quote' button (it looks like a speech bubble next to a plus sign) on every post you want to quote, except the last, for which you hit 'reply with quote' as normal. Then you just add what you want to say in the gaps and hit go like a normal post.

Hope this helps,
Westy.

Angel Dust

29-11-2011, 11:11 PM

(and to think it was written in the fifties...)
I'm a little puzzled by this statement. I hope you don't have the impression that the majority of literature in the 50's was all conservative, repressed, Happy Days shit or something when in actuality that is far from the case. I mean off the top of my head, you've got stuff like The Killer Inside Me, Lolita, The Recognitions, Wise Blood and even the last book I read, The Adventures of Augie March.

That said, the book sounds very interesting. I don't read much sci-fi at all but I'm adding this to my to-read list which means I should get to it sometime in 2018.

Actually it sounds so good I'm bumping it right up there.

Kelron

30-11-2011, 12:24 AM

I'm a little puzzled by this statement. I hope you don't have the impression that the majority of literature in the 50's was all conservative, repressed, Happy Days shit or something when in actuality that is far from the case.

I don't know what he was referring to with the 50s comment, but old sci-fi can age badly with silly ideas about "the future" that are now in our past. The Stars My Destination largely avoids this, aside from a couple of obvious points like the archaic computers you can barely tell it was written in the 50s.

It also heavily influenced cyberpunk, which didn't appear as a distinct genre until 30 years later, which perhaps makes the novel seem further ahead of its time when read today.

The Demolished Man by the same author is also an excellent read.

Right now I'm finishing up Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy. I started rereading the first book while I was waiting for an Amazon order to arrive and couldn't put it down. I don't often feel like reading a big thick fantasy novel nowadays, but it's definitely my favourite trilogy from one of the best modern fantasy writers.

Althea

30-11-2011, 07:36 AM

I'm sad for you - I liked Night Watch. Assuming you're not just starting on Discworld (in which case I'd suggest Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters), maybe you should try skipping ahead to Thud? It doesn't spoil anything in Night Watch aside from who survives, which you've probably figured out already.
I finished both Night Watch and Thud! - I was disappointed with both. I think I only really liked the early City Watch novels.

Similar

30-11-2011, 12:31 PM

I finished both Night Watch and Thud! - I was disappointed with both. I think I only really liked the early City Watch novels.
That's a shame. Night Watch was the first Discworld novel I read and still my favourite (I think I've read it about fifteen times since I got it in 2007).

I'm rereading Stephenson's "Anathem". Rather slowly because it's a bit too heavy to read in bed, but it is excellent.

Pertusaria

30-11-2011, 09:44 PM

Hope this helps,
Westy.

Thanks - apologies for all the posts, I was reading backwards through the recent history of the thread, and running across a greater number of interesting things than I'd probably expected.

Ian

12-12-2011, 11:16 AM

I'll persevere because I'm loathe to give up on any book, but Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is seriously slow going.

cjlr

13-12-2011, 04:24 AM

I should be reading John Courtenay Grimwood's 9Tail Fox and Jonathan Lethem's Gun, with Occasional Music, and re-reading Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon - I declared this year's holiday season, with no particular provocation, the season of the sci-fi noir - but UPS lost my order. Fucking holiday shipping season.

Vexing Vision

13-12-2011, 10:35 AM

Finally getting around to read Pratchett's "I Shall Wear Midnight". Not a big fan of the teen-approach (disliked Sourcery, too), but the writing is solid and entertaining enough.

Ian

13-12-2011, 11:47 AM

Sourcery wasn't one of the YA Discworld books, was it?

Vexing Vision

13-12-2011, 01:01 PM

No, Sourcery was a full Discworld book.

I just can't stand kid-protagonists anymore (with the sole exception of Alanna of Trebond, who is my eternal heroine).

Ian

13-12-2011, 01:27 PM

Oh I see. Either way, I liked Sourcery. I like Rincewind and I think I liked Nijel a lot too.

Can't remember what the last new (to me) book was I read with child character(s) being the bulk of the story. The His Dark Materials books, maybe?

Serenegoose

14-12-2011, 04:07 AM

Finally getting around to read Pratchett's "I Shall Wear Midnight". Not a big fan of the teen-approach (disliked Sourcery, too), but the writing is solid and entertaining enough.

I absolutely love "I shall Wear Midnight" because of the teen approach. Once again subjectivity thwarts my view of a perfect world where everyone sees things as correctly as I do.

Serenegoose

14-12-2011, 04:09 AM

Sourcery wasn't one of the YA Discworld books, was it?

I didn't know I Shall Wear Midnight was a young adult book until I looked it up. Beyond a lack of profanity he is remarkably unpatronising in his approach to younger readers.

Serenegoose

14-12-2011, 04:10 AM

No, Sourcery was a full Discworld book.

I just can't stand kid-protagonists anymore (with the sole exception of Alanna of Trebond, who is my eternal heroine).

Wednesday from Iron Sunrise and Vin from Mistborn are two of my favourites.

Ian

14-12-2011, 09:28 AM

MD!

14-12-2011, 09:40 AM

As much as it pains me to give up on a book, I have done so with Tinker Tailor. It's not that I don't think it's good and it's not even that I can't read slower books. Just something about it really isn't working for me, 200 or so pages in.

Did you make it far enough to meet Connie Sachs? I'm a bit of a Le Carre fan, but without wishing to descend into hyperbole, Connie Sachs is possibly the most ridiculous character in any book ever. Women have never been Le Carre's strong point...

The Mechanical Aggressor

14-12-2011, 10:32 AM

I just can't stand kid-protagonists anymore (with the sole exception of Alanna of Trebond, who is my eternal heroine).

I loved the "Song of the Lioness" books when I was younger. It brings back so many memories of those school holidays I spent reading books in Birmingham Central Library. Good times.

I'm reading the Earthsea Quartet at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. The style of writing is different from nearly anything I've ever read and is sometimes confusing, but I like the world and the story.

squirrel

14-12-2011, 10:42 AM

Hey, mates, can any one suggest some "City of London" financial / economic novels? I have been reading some of those from Hong Kong and Japan (translated of course), and become addicted to it. I wonder if this is also a popular generic within western novels.

tenseiga

14-12-2011, 11:17 AM

Just completed book 5 of song of ice and fire and while my mom now has the kindle reading sons and lovers, I am reading Icon on the paperback.

Ian

14-12-2011, 11:38 AM

Did you make it far enough to meet Connie Sachs? I'm a bit of a Le Carre fan, but without wishing to descend into hyperbole, Connie Sachs is possibly the most ridiculous character in any book ever. Women have never been Le Carre's strong point...

I did, yes. And she did seem pretty OTT based on the bit I read.

cjlr

14-12-2011, 06:08 PM

I'm reading the Earthsea Quartet at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. The style of writing is different from nearly anything I've ever read and is sometimes confusing, but I like the world and the story.

Brace yourself for the fourth one, then...

Rii

15-12-2011, 06:46 AM

I gave up on Earthsea Quartet halfway through (I think) the second book. Some interesting stuff there, just too much that wasn't. Kinda odd as I've enjoyed those other works of Le Guin's that I've read: The Lathe of Heaven, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. The latter was a significant formative work for me in fact.

I'm currently reading Frankenstein (gave up on Crime and Punishment, heathen that I am) and something Mary Shelley wrote in the preface struck a chord with me:

The event on which the interest of the story depends is exempt from the disadvantages of a mere tale of spectres or enchantment. It was recommended by the novelty of the situations which it develops; and, however impossible as a physical fact, affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield.

Reading this what immediately crossed my mind was: "Buffy".

Xercies

15-12-2011, 11:37 AM

Seems a bit of a long winded thing to say "I made shit up, deal with it"

Vague-rant

16-12-2011, 05:15 PM

Xercies

16-12-2011, 05:42 PM

Serenegoose

16-12-2011, 06:15 PM

Re-read "The Way of Kings". Really brilliant. Brandon Sanderson has come a long way since the Mistborn stuff (which to be honest was only average in my book). Such a shame the next book won't be out until late 2012- think he's finishing off the Wheel of Time series.

By the way, is it worth me trying to read the Wheel of Time? I've heard mixed reviews, but at 14 books thats some time investment... I'd hate through 6 books of slog before things got interesting.

Way of Kings is great - I just found it a pity that there were so few characters I found personally engaging. I spent the entire book hoping that Shallan would turn up some more. Fortunately Kaladin eventually ceased being such a bore and his exchanges with Sylphrena were rather enjoyable, so the book generally got better as it went. Couldn't get into other-main-character at all. I know 'being a stuffybutt' was the big thing about that character but it just did nothing for me.

Vague-rant

16-12-2011, 07:13 PM

Way of Kings is great - I just found it a pity that there were so few characters I found personally engaging. I spent the entire book hoping that Shallan would turn up some more. Fortunately Kaladin eventually ceased being such a bore and his exchanges with Sylphrena were rather enjoyable, so the book generally got better as it went. Couldn't get into other-main-character at all. I know 'being a stuffybutt' was the big thing about that character but it just did nothing for me.

Huh, I actually found Shallan the least engaging character. Preferred Kaladin by miles, but Lord Stuffybutt (I'm thinking Dallan/Dalin?) was tolerable and Shallan was the one that I occasionally skipped bits of on my first read.

Serenegoose

17-12-2011, 01:06 AM

Huh, I actually found Shallan the least engaging character. Preferred Kaladin by miles, but Lord Stuffybutt (I'm thinking Dallan/Dalin?) was tolerable and Shallan was the one that I occasionally skipped bits of on my first read.

Oh! Yes. Dalinar Kholin, I remember now. And some of my friends felt the same for Shallan but I liked her and the conflict that she was based around, I thought it added a nice tension to her scenes. Oh well. :D

gwathdring

19-12-2011, 05:54 AM

Hmm i wouldn't recommend it to be honest, the series has that aspect of "oh it seems good but I wish the writer wouldn't do this" Unfortunately this happens with every single book. I gave up on it when I realized the author hadn't finished it and I nearly caught up to the last one he wrote. I knew Brandon Sanderson was writing the new ones but to be honest I just never bothered and I just couldn't bring myself to re-read it since I kind of forgotten the story.

Just to give you a clue, I hated the 6th book where he was spending time on one character that did absolutely nothing and kept on complain all the time and then spent one chapter on the invasion of a key city. Also my god does he like to describe the world in lots and lots of detail.

As you can tell I wore off it very quickly.

I had a more dramatic version of that experience with the books. Something about them had me convinced they should have worked ... and I kept reading them in case the author would learn from his mistakes and allow whatever secret potential I was detecting to come into being. But I had much stronger negative feelings towards it. I think I made it to the ninth book, I loathed all of the characters and couldn't put up with them any longer. It was one of the series responsible for breaking my compulsion to finish any book/series I started no matter how much I liked it.

I didn't know I Shall Wear Midnight was a young adult book until I looked it up. Beyond a lack of profanity he is remarkably unpatronising in his approach to younger readers.

I love authors that can manage that. I feel like both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen are quite good at writing fiction for youngsters that is only really distinct in that it lacks graphic content, profanity, and some of the more obscure words. Of course, with Gaimen this makes it more conspicuous because there aren't sex scenes left lying around in the odd corners of the book. The man even managed to fit sex into the frame-narrative-prologue to a Noir murder mystery set in heaven before the creation of Earth.

I think Garth Nix was pretty good at this, too. Sabriel still holds up for me in re-readings, and Shade's Children is one of the most compelling science fiction stories I've ever read. The "adults disappear" thing is a bit gimmicky as is the name Goldeneye. But the writing was so well handled that I didn't mind. Then again, I haven't read his Keys to the Kingdom series which is even more directly aimed at young readers.

Zephro

19-12-2011, 03:35 PM

I'm currently reading "The Code of the Woosters" by PG Wodehouse amongst a number of comics and graphic novels. Tis very good.

corbain

22-12-2011, 11:15 AM

Just finished Storm of Swords (which went on and on but I really enjoyed, despite getting a little annoyed with GRRMs obsessions with menstruation, lists of food/knights and characters making very odd decisions)

Kidnapped by R.L.Stevenson - cracking boy's own style adventure, first half probably better then the second. Enjoyed reading the dialogue in particular with a real Scottish brogue in my imagination, the accent just leaps off the page

Now reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Wooly Wugga Wugga

22-12-2011, 03:10 PM

Cormack MacCarthy, Child of God.

Certainly a novel that shows what a master of his craft can achieve. One man's descent into utter depravity and madness. It's odd. The characters are unlikable and they do the most revolting things but somehow he writes with a style that suggests a certain respect and sensitivity towards them that I would not believe possible if I weren't reading it myself.

westyfield

23-12-2011, 04:53 PM

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. I'm about 2/3 of the way through. It's a ghost story set on the island of Spitsbergen (in the Svalbard archipelago) in 1937. A group of chaps go on an Arctic expedition but eventually, for various reasons, there's just one left at the camp, and because it's inside the Arctic Circle it's dark for several months at a time.
It's not the shitty "look this guy is a bit nasty and he likes killing people" horror, it's full-on 'mind turning in on itself, gradual descent into obsessive madness' horror. Perfect reading for long winter nights, it takes me back to when I was a wee nipper afraid of the dark.
Recommended.

Edit: Finished it this evening. An excellent novel throughout. It's quite a quick read though, it's a slim book with fairly large print. The photographs at the start of each chapter are lovely.

Rakysh

23-12-2011, 05:46 PM

Ray Bradbury- Fahrenheit 451.

A wonderful book that bizarrely fills me with optimism, given that it's set in a post-literature dystopia. Full of awesome quotes as well, my favourite being thus:

"There was a damn silly bird called a Phoenix back before Christ: every few hundred years he built a pyre and burned himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the Phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did. We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years, and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, some day we'll stop making the goddam funeral pyres and jumping into the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that remember every generation."

corbain

24-12-2011, 07:09 AM

westyfield

24-12-2011, 12:53 PM

I've just bought this, really liked the look of it and your review has whetted my appetite even further.

If you enjoyed that, you might also like The Solitude of Thomas Cave, the story of a 19th century sailor who takes a bet to spend a winter alone on Svalbard. It's an intensely cold book, with hints of the supernatural, incredibly atmospheric.

Ooh, thanks for the recommendation, I'll have to give this a look. Dark Matter has given me quite an appetite for the frozen north - I'm planning on reading The Call of the Wild at some point, but I'll add The Solitude of Thomas Cave to my list as well.

Rii

24-12-2011, 03:13 PM

Ray Bradbury- Fahrenheit 451.

A wonderful book that bizarrely fills me with optimism, given that it's set in a post-literature dystopia. Full of awesome quotes as well, my favourite being thus:

*snip*

Heh, for my part the following line always draws a wry smile, recognising in it my own susceptibilities I guess:

"The folly of mistaking a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself as an Oracle..."

Rakysh

24-12-2011, 04:27 PM

You'd describe yourself as a pessimist, presumably? I think of myself as quite an optimist personally, perhaps that's why it resonates differently. Like, I can see that hope sometimes is foolish, but I've still got my faith in humanity. That'll probably get beaten out of me at some stage, so I'm going to enjoy it while it's still extant.

Voon

25-12-2011, 04:06 PM

Haven't read much nowadays but I'm still going to finish Stephen Clarke's 1000 Years of Annoying The French just for laughs. And maybe some history lessons if whatever he wrote is true in that book.

Also, done reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk ages ago after I got it as an impluse buy. Surprisingly beautiful book, beautifully written.

Similar

28-12-2011, 04:13 PM

Been reading Christmas presents:

Terry Pratchett - Jingo
William Gibson - Pattern Recognition
Iain M. Banks - Use of Weapons
(I'd read the latter two before, but have never had paper copies of them until now).

Rather good books to spend a few days with.

I think I'll reread Heller's Catch-22 next; feels like it's time.

Xercies

28-12-2011, 07:58 PM

Finished The dervish House by Ian Mcdonald.

Definitely a lot more character driven then the idea driven River Of Gods(that was character led but it did have a lot of ideas). This was definitely still good since the mysteries and the characters were quite interesting. Set in the future Istanbul where nanotechnology has changed quite a bit. The nanotechnology thing is more background(though its quite important to the main plot) and it serves to let the characters do there thing. Definitely recommended

Althea

28-12-2011, 08:03 PM

Tonight, I'll be reading this:
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4594/2108833xboxcostco001lar.jpg

Lukasz

29-12-2011, 10:02 AM

that's barbara gordon right? meh. I prefer Cassandra. or Stephanie.
Edit: oh wait. that's older Batgirl, actually stephanie. Didn't read that :D

Althea

29-12-2011, 10:05 AM

No, that's Stephanie...

Vague-rant

31-12-2011, 07:00 AM

Just gave up on "Atlas Shrugged". It was almost painful to read.

Just started Small Gods though. As a big fan of Pratchett, its hooked me like I would've expected and I'm wondering why I haven't bought it before...

Also, I'm feeling slightly guilty over pirating books I already own hard copies of, for my kindle. Its a sad day when I realise getting my favourite books on my library would cost me over 100 quid, when the real ones are on my shelf.

Althea

31-12-2011, 07:48 AM

So don't get the pirate versions, 'cos you already have them then.

It's a problem of your own doing.

Kadayi

31-12-2011, 09:23 AM

Also, I'm feeling slightly guilty over pirating books I already own hard copies of, for my kindle. Its a sad day when I realise getting my favourite books on my library would cost me over 100 quid, when the real ones are on my shelf.

If you've bought them once then I don't see that as a problem tbh (the author got their money from you after all). When GoT came out I bought all the available books at the time from Waterstones and started ploughing through them. Then about a month later I was given a Kindle as a present. It didn't make much sense to soldier on through the paper copies and not use the Kindle, but I didn't see the point in effectively paying for the books again so shortly after I'd bought them (money is not a luxury). When DWD came out I eschewed getting the hardback (way too heavy) and bought it via the Kindle though. I'd say the split on my Kindle books is probably 40% pirated books I already own (nice to have them at my fingertips), 30% free books (lots of free classics both on and off amazon) & 30% bought books at present, however the bought books percentage is getting bigger as time goes on (the pricing on kindle titles is a lot more reasonable it seems and it's just so damn easy tbh).

Talking of which I've just bought (and started reading) Japanese Grammar & Vocabulary on the Kindle in between dipping in and out of the nature of narrative (good call Gooseking) another Kindle purchase. Really need to jailbreak my Kindle though because the screensaver pictures suck.

Vague-rant

31-12-2011, 10:03 AM

So don't get the pirate versions, 'cos you already have them then.

It's a problem of your own doing.

True. But, with me moving away from my book collection for about 3 months, there is a bit of convenience having it on my kindle.

Also, there are series where I've bought the newer one via the Kindle Store, but still have the first book/books in paper/hardback editions and I don't like having the series in seperate formats.

All points of convenience rather than anything else, but I am pretty much thinking along the lines of Kadayi. Besides, I'm looking at it as a one time thing as I've started buying more Kindle books, mainly because of better prices (which is why transfering my small collection has become an issue recently).

squirrel

31-12-2011, 12:48 PM

Just finished reading Currency Wars 4: Warring State Period by Mr. Song Hong Bing. Very good text.

From Chinese perspective, it reviewed the history of dominance by British pound, USD and the Soviet ruble (yeah, there used to be more than half of the world population lived under the communist rule during the Cold War if you would recall), and how the other three industrial powers: France, Germany and Japan, came to resist such pressure. In the 21st century, Mr. Song suggested that Asian countries form a new Asian currency to facilitate a fair financial relationship with the USA and the newly formed Euro economy. Unlike the first three books, this entry doesn't pay much attention to private financial powers. In stead, it stresses much on political decisions over financial system.

Even if you are a westerner, I strongly recommend this book. First of all, it illustrates financial concepts in very plain language. You dont need to be a CFA to understand the book. Its target audience is commoners like me who are not educated in Finance (and of course, Mr. Song encourage us to start acquiring knowledge in finance since it is critical to the fate of our nationS). Secondly, it advocates a fair relationship between the East and the West. One thing it pointed out: the USD system is based on the US national debt issuance, which is not sustainable. The things: firstly, of course, all accept USD have to pay for the US financial deficit. You dont need anyone to tell you how unfair and unjust it is. Secondly, it essentially means that the US government CANNOT eliminate financial deficit. USD is backed by US treasury bills. If the US government returns to budget surplus, the scale of US treasury bill issuance would be constrained. This in turn limits the issuance of USD, which would directly leads to the end of the USD dominance. See the irony? USD's purchasing power diminishes with issuance of US debt, yet US debt becomes the source of USD's power. If this goes on, the USA is on the path of self destruction. One thing Mr. Song admired: the Germany's zero tolerance of inflation which Germans consider to be thievery on private property. We are brain washed to believe that inflation is something so natural, and Mr. Song showed us the history that, as least under the gold standard this is outright lie.

And this book was written quite recently. It mentioned the "Occupy the Wall Street" movement for more than once in the last two chapters.

Danny252

31-12-2011, 01:02 PM

About halfway through Alan Dean Foster - Sentenced to Prism. The only other book of his that I've read is Bloodhype, which I found rather slow going - but this one is much more interesting, with some very colourful descriptions of silicon-based life.

westyfield

31-12-2011, 11:58 PM

Just finished A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin. It's ok, there's not much to say. If you liked the other books you'll probably like this one, if you didn't like the other books you probably won't like this one, if you haven't read the other books you shouldn't read this one.
Now reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

squirrel

01-01-2012, 06:20 AM

Just getting myself into another financial thriller from Japan (of course, I am reading the Chinese translation), Trauma: Collapse of the Banking System by Ms. Kohda Main. About the protagonist, a Japanese banker working in a US commercial bank's Japanese branch, met his best high school friend on a duty trip to New York. This friend worked as a principal trader in a power Japanese bank's New York branch, but committed suicide a day after the happy reunion. The protagonist later met this friend's lover in New York, a Japanese woman was a director of the most powerful security firm (fictional of course, but I think it was modeled after Goldman Sachs). The woman discovered the secret between her lover's death, and plotted with the protagonist to take revenge on the Japanese bank her lover used to work for. The background was around early to mid 1990s.

I was shocked by this novel's similarity with what China is facing in financial troubles. Corrupted banks backed by corrupted government. Commoners have to put deposit into the banking system with very low to even zero interest payment, and the banks can put those capital into some very risky speculations, and the corrupted officials turned a blind eye on such practices.

Edit: You can have more information on Ms. Kohda Main's works here (http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~maink). I cannot read Japanese myself though.

Track

01-01-2012, 03:14 PM

Currently about halfway through The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest. As with the previous two books in the series it's a good page turner, though the lack of character development is really starting to show at this point.

Ian

01-01-2012, 04:44 PM

Maskerade.

Goodness me, I don't half love a Discworld.

Firkragg

01-01-2012, 11:52 PM

Just finished the 7th Honor Harrington book, In Enemy Hands and well into the 8th, Echoes of Honor. Dig the space combat sections, more of this please!

Pseudo310

03-01-2012, 05:08 PM

I'm reading The Authoritarians which is a free ebook written by sociologist Bob Altemeyer. Recommended! It's an overview of studies he did religious fundamendalists and the people who lead them.

Lambchops

06-01-2012, 09:53 PM

Borrowed the Millenium trilogy off my folks when at home over Christmas, then polished of Homicide - A Year on tHe Killing Streets by David Simon whilst struggling to train it from Scotland to Englandshire during the storms earlier this week.

Bought The Corner as well but don't think I'm quite ready for more bleakness yet, so am either going to start on the first Game of Thrones book (nice and cheap purchase for my new Kindle) or some Sherlock Holmes.

Keep

06-01-2012, 11:55 PM

Just finished reading Currency Wars 4: Warring State Period by Mr. Song Hong Bing. Very good text.

This sounds inneresting, cheers!

I'm being a massive wanker and reading Proust. Slight redemption: I'm really not enjoying it. But I started, and I've got this annoying quirk of not wanting to condemn something before I've really given it the best chances, so here I am. Dammit.

westyfield

07-01-2012, 12:21 AM

don't think I'm quite ready for more bleakness yet, so am either going to start on the first Game of Thrones book

Yeah, have fun with that.

Rii

09-01-2012, 12:04 AM

New Amazon orders!

The Empire of Tea: The Remarkable History of the Plant that Took Over the World - Alan MacFarlane
Dispatches - Michael Herr
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein
The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire - Arundhati Roy

Oh and I finally finished Frankenstein. It's a wonderful novel, and far deeper and with a much greater sense of its time and place than the fragment that has survived in popular consciousness had led me to anticipate. I particularly liked how it inclines the reader's sympathies first one way and then the other. There's also something terribly appealing about Ms. Wollstonecroft's decidedly artificial yet unpretentious prose. I find it renders one contemplative and receptive to the perspectives being communicated.

Rakysh

09-01-2012, 06:24 AM

The Shock Doctrine is really good, but Klein comes a bit too close to saying "boo evil shadowy cabal" for my liking. Chomsky-esque, really.

Hanban

09-01-2012, 08:59 AM

Just finished reading 1984, which I fully realize I should have read a long time ago. It was a neat read all in all.

I was hoping someone could recommend some sci-fi to me. I haven't read any sci-fi with spaceships in it since I read Hyperion by Dan Simmons when I was a youngster and would like to get into the genre again. I'd like to read something relating to spaceships or mechs, preferably. I was hoping there were some books relating to these very gratuitous topics but still focused on the characters in these machines! If anyone has any good sci-fi reads in general I'd be much obliged!

Other than that I've just started reading Ingrid Betancourt's biography which so far has been a very interesting read.

Althea

09-01-2012, 09:08 AM

Not too great with spaceships, but I'd say read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. 1984 is just a copy.

FuriKuri!

09-01-2012, 09:32 AM

The Culture series of books by Iain M Banks is unique for its ships which essentially run themselves and have their own personalities. It's part of the background noise in a lot of the books but in Excession the political manoeuvring and attitudes of a number of these ships are essentially the focus of the story. It’s a very entertaining exploration of the issue of AI anthropomorphising entities you typically wouldn’t even consider in any such manner. It’s clever in its obviousness; currently and traditionally ships are already regarded as ‘she’ and ascribed personalities despite being hunks of wood or metal, and it’s easy to see AI being at that level of sentience by the time we’re capable of easily reaching the stars…

You can read around it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture) and see if the flavour is something you'd enjoy, don't delve too deep on there though as you'll probably end up in spoiler territory.

westyfield

09-01-2012, 09:37 AM

Not too great with spaceships, but I'd say read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. 1984 is just a copy.

Yeah, We is excellent. I much preferred it to 1984 or Brave New World.
I am great with spaceships, so I say read Blindsight by Peter Watts or Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.
Blindsight is a first contact story, but the aliens are actually plausible (Watts is a marine biologist). It's set on the human spaceship and the alien spaceship (the humans travel across the solar system to meet the aliens). I won't say too much because it'd ruin the surprise, but it's an excellent book.
Revelation Space is a great hard sci-fi story (Reynolds is an astrophysicist) all about MASSIVE SPACESHIPS FLYING THROUGH SPAAAAAAACE. Ahem. There's no FTL travel in the book so they get put in reefersleep for the duration of journeys, which gives rise to some interesting problems (if it takes 70 years to travel to this planet, by the time we get there the person we're looking for will be dead).
I, and I'm sure many here, would strongly recommend both of them.

squirrel

09-01-2012, 11:20 AM

亚玖梦博士の经济入门

By Tachibana Akira

I read its Chinese translated version from Taiwan, it's an economic thriller about an old and eccentric economist named Dr.亞玖夢 in Japan, with his beautiful yet mute assistant, 阿芳 and her younger genius yet super naive brother 阿林 (Chinese immigrants), providing weird kind of economic consultation. No, not financial consulting, but economic consulting, on your daily life. And solutions the doctor provided were so weird that people referred to as "Dark Economics". On leaflet, the doctor wrote, "If you see hell, please come visit Dr. 亞玖夢 and I shall lead you away from it."

And no, this is not a financial thriller, as only the last chapter has something to do, but not entirely, with Finance.

Hanban

09-01-2012, 12:20 PM

Thanks for the tips! I'll have a look into those Culture series books, and We as well if I can find it here.

Lukasz

09-01-2012, 04:25 PM

Finished today Good Omens.

and sadness stroke my heart as I will never be able to read anything greater.

Hanban

09-01-2012, 05:44 PM

Really? I found Good Omens to be rather dull. Admittedly I am a huge fan of Gaiman, but not so much of Pratchett. American Gods, however, now there's a book!

Similar

09-01-2012, 06:52 PM

Dispatches - Michael Herr
ah. good choice. I think I've read it thirty times or so.

Althea

09-01-2012, 07:09 PM

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6293/ciaphascaindefenderofth.jpg

FOR THE EMPEROR!

db1331

09-01-2012, 08:39 PM

I finally got around to reading Dune for the first time recently. It was every bit as great as everyone says. I just finished The Name of the Wind last week and fucking LOVED it. I can't find a copy of the next book (The Wise Man's Fear) anywhere around here. The paperback comes out in March. I guess I'll just wait for that and save a few bucks. In the meantime, I'm reading through Blood of Elves (The Witcher novel) a second time. I didn't like it as much as The Last Wish, but it's still a great read.

Althea

09-01-2012, 08:54 PM

It was every bit as great as everyone says. I just finished The Name of the Wind last week and fucking LOVED it. I can't find a copy of the next book (The Wise Man's Fear) anywhere around here. The paperback comes out in March. I guess I'll just wait for that and save a few bucks.
The Book Depository.

In the meantime, I'm reading through Blood of Elves (The Witcher novel) a second time. I didn't like it as much as The Last Wish, but it's still a great read.
Novel 2 (Times of Contempt) comes out this year, the legal issues have been sorted.

Lambchops

09-01-2012, 09:16 PM

Finished today Good Omens.

and sadness stroke my heart as I will never be able to read anything greater.

There are other books I've probably liked more or think are "better" books. However Good Omens remains the only book I've ever bought twice. Largely because I made the mistake of lending it to a friend. But still the only other book I can see myself doing that with is "The Greatest Show Off Earth" by "Robert Rankin." Again, this probably isn't even Rankin's best book but i've got an emotional attachment to it (particularly as it's a dog eared second hand copy I picked up in a market). Oh and the Hitchhiker's Guide, naturally. Anyway Good Omens was one of my favourite books when I was younger and I still read it again every once in a while.

Rakysh

09-01-2012, 09:24 PM

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6293/ciaphascaindefenderofth.jpg

FOR THE EMPEROR!
Best non-Abnett 40K novel, no question.

MD!

09-01-2012, 09:33 PM

I'm being a massive wanker and reading Proust. Slight redemption: I'm really not enjoying it. But I started, and I've got this annoying quirk of not wanting to condemn something before I've really given it the best chances, so here I am. Dammit.

Which translation did you go with? (Assuming you're not up to reading it in French; if you are, I'm very jealous.) I've been enjoying the new(ish) Penguin editions, and am nearing the end of the third volume.

I'd definitely recommend plugging away for at least a hundred pages or so, and preferably all of the first volume if any spark of interest remains. I gave up after about 50 pages on my first attempt, but it really does become compelling once you come to know the narrator, and develop a feel for Proust's style. If you really can't stand him, you probably won't change your mind; but if you're just a little bit bored (or even annoyed) and yet to be charmed, do keep going.

Althea

09-01-2012, 10:09 PM

Best non-Abnett 40K novel, no question.
Well, it's an omnibus ;) I'm on the fifth book (this omnibus has 4, 5 & 6), Duty Calls, and so far so good.

Keep

09-01-2012, 10:22 PM

Which translation did you go with? (Assuming you're not up to reading it in French; if you are, I'm very jealous.) I've been enjoying the new(ish) Penguin editions, and am nearing the end of the third volume.

I'd definitely recommend plugging away for at least a hundred pages or so, and preferably all of the first volume if any spark of interest remains. I gave up after about 50 pages on my first attempt, but it really does become compelling once you come to know the narrator, and develop a feel for Proust's style. If you really can't stand him, you probably won't change your mind; but if you're just a little bit bored (or even annoyed) and yet to be charmed, do keep going.

Cheers. I'm with the Penguin editions, half way through volume 2.

I really don't like the narrator. But that's ok, Holden Caulfield's an ass too. And some bits are just wonderful.

But it is sort of...I mean not tedious, because my attitude isn't one of "C'mon, impress me!" anymore. But it's indulgent and not on topics that are particularly capturing me. So. We'll see how it goes. If I reach volume 4 and it still hasn't managed to take me anywhere, then I might toss it. Til then, hey it is unique. I'm giving it as much space as it needs.

MD!

09-01-2012, 11:02 PM

Cheers. I'm with the Penguin editions, half way through volume 2.

I really don't like the narrator. But that's ok, Holden Caulfield's an ass too. And some bits are just wonderful.

But it is sort of...I mean not tedious, because my attitude isn't one of "C'mon, impress me!" anymore. But it's indulgent and not on topics that are particularly capturing me. So. We'll see how it goes. If I reach volume 4 and it still hasn't managed to take me anywhere, then I might toss it. Til then, hey it is unique. I'm giving it as much space as it needs.

Ah, sorry for the useless advice then, I had assumed you'd only just started.

I'd be interested to hear how you go with the rest of it -- I can certainly understand why you might dislike the narrator, but I'm surprised you've made it so far in that case. My enjoyment of the book depends very much on some sort of affinity with the narrator. (That probably makes me sound like a gigantic wanker, but while he's dramatically different from me in many ways, there's something about his cast of mind that gels well with mine.)

Ian

09-01-2012, 11:08 PM

Got another two Discworld books for Christmas so I'm now about to finish my third on the bounce. Interesting Times, Maskerade, Feet of Clay. I find myself properly laughing less often at them now but I still can't put them down.

Next up will be the second Song of Ice and Fire book.

db1331

10-01-2012, 12:15 PM

Novel 2 (Times of Contempt) comes out this year, the legal issues have been sorted.

GASP! That is the best news I've gotten all year. Thanks!

Oak

11-01-2012, 03:01 AM

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6293/ciaphascaindefenderofth.jpg

FOR THE EMPEROR!

All of that, and then SANDY MITCHELL.

Althea

11-01-2012, 09:16 AM

All of that, and then SANDY MITCHELL.
Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?

Oak

11-01-2012, 09:17 PM

Was a funny juxtapocallit is all.

Tams80

12-01-2012, 07:46 PM

The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson

The first book I've read in a few years. The last one, which I ashamedly still haven't finished is A Short History Of Nearly Everything.

gwathdring

12-01-2012, 08:46 PM

Just finished Mistborn, ran down to the book store, and despaired that the sequel was not in. The first book has some quirks but I'm absolutely in love with Allomancy and the characters are quite excellent. Sanderson's a bit too ... telling. Forshadowing a lot of his better secrets, giving character perspectives that prevent the reader from sharing the surprise with the character. But I still enjoyed the book enormously and look forward to the next one. His website says it is more "personal" and his annotations suggest that he would have liked to have fixed a good portion of the things I didn't like in the first book. Gah. I don't like waiting. What am I going to read obsessively THIS weekend? I almost bought Diamond Age but I think I'll order it instead. $15 is a little steep for a paperback of it's length. I'd rather not pay six dollars more for a larger book that fits into fewer bags and corners.

Ian

13-01-2012, 08:24 AM

The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson

The first book I've read in a few years. The last one, which I ashamedly still haven't finished is A Short History Of Nearly Everything.

I love Bryson, and while that book doesn't have the same laughs as when he's talked about his childhood/family in his older stuff I still really enjoyed it. It'd be nice if he did a travel book again but I've enjoyed the other stuff anyway. At Home was chock full of the sort of facts and information that I wish I could remember, but invariably leaves me going "Oh yeah....... yeah I read about that in At Home............. can't remember anything else about it."

Jams O'Donnell

13-01-2012, 08:54 AM

I just finished book two of ASOIAF, and I think I need a break from those characters. Not sure what to read next, but the shortlist is:

Some Lovecraft
Some Richard Matheson shorts (inspired by some recent Twilight Zone bingeing)
The latest Murakami
The latest David Mitchell

westyfield

13-01-2012, 08:59 AM

I thought Thunderbolt Kid was one of his funniest, actually. I probably should re-read his travel ones though, I read Down Under and A Walk in the Woods recently-ish, but the Europe, Britain and America books were a good six years ago. And I still haven't read A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Edit 'cause I just saw Jams's post:
(my emphasis)

I just finished book two of ASOIAF, and I think I need a break from those characters. Not sure what to read next, but the shortlist is:

Some Lovecraft
Some Richard Matheson shorts (inspired by some recent Twilight Zone bingeing)
The latest Murakami
The latest David Mitchell

If you mean 1Q84, go for it. I've nearly finished book one of three, and I'm really enjoying it. It took a while before I started to care about the two main characters - one of them seemed much less interesting than the other - but now their plots are starting to link up it's become harder to put down. My biggest criticism would be that it's got a milder version of the ASoIaF problem - the sex scenes tend to have slightly more detail than I really wanted or needed to read. It's nowhere near as bad as some moments in AGoT though.

MD!

14-01-2012, 06:01 AM

Taking a break from Proust while waiting for the fourth volume to come in the mail, I've just finished The Toaster Project (http://www.thetoasterproject.org/) by Thomas Thwaites. As the subtitle says, it chronicles A Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch. Good fun, and also raises some questions regarding environment and economy that most of us are probably aware of, but tend to ignore.

Also reading a few of Primo Levi's short stories, and dipping into The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russel.

Shane

14-01-2012, 03:34 PM

I am looking for some recommendations in the high fantasy and post-apocalyptic genres.

I've read Metro 2033 and Roadside Picnic both which fantastic, well, Metro 2033 seemed good but the atrocious translation deterred me from finishing it. I am looking for more post-apo novels like these two, those with an oppressive atmosphere that evokes feelings of desolation and futility. Edit: No zombies, please.

As for high fantasy, I have a strong dislike anything that has a good vs evil thing going on and prefer stuff like Martin's ASOIAF and Sapkowski's The Witcher books which have morally ambiguous characters just trying to be.

Finished with China Mieville's oeuvre a while back, that the baldy has potential, is obvious, it's just that he falls short every damn time. All his stories seem a bit too deliberate like how in Perdido Street Station he went out of his way to give a twist ending which felt cringe-worthy and nonsensical. Despite the fact that he devotes an obscene amount of space to world building, it ends up feeling artificial and pretentious because of the great lengths the baldy goes to make everything seem bizarre and surreal (and original, I guess) for the sake of it.

Also, is it just me, or does the obtuse verbosity of Perdid Street Station end abruptly after the fifty or so pages after which he resorts to using English that is actually comprehensible?

Anyway, I would still recommend his books to interested readers, they may not be as great as they could be but they sure as hell try. Amongst my favorites would be The Iron Council and The Kraken.

The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire - Arundhati Roy

You should read The God of Small Things.

mrpier

14-01-2012, 06:38 PM

Shane - Check out R. Scott Bakker and his Prince of Nothing series, to be honest it's not exactly not my cup of tea but the books were engaging enough that I read all three in the series. Otherwise malazan books of the fallen by Steven Erikson are a top tip, one of the best fantasy series I've read.

Gerbick

14-01-2012, 09:12 PM

Finished my JG Ballard binge (Complete Short Stories, Atrocity Exhibition, Empire of the Sun, Kindness of Women) and I now reading Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

Rii

14-01-2012, 09:38 PM

You should read The God of Small Things.

It's on the bookshelf. I'm currently reading the Bhagavad Gita, of all things.

Jockie

15-01-2012, 12:25 AM

Finished my JG Ballard binge (Complete Short Stories, Atrocity Exhibition, Empire of the Sun, Kindness of Women) and I now reading Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

Ballard is probably my favourite author. High Rise makes me think of reality tv in the way it's characterised, his later books like super cannes are like an upper class nightmare world.

squirrel

15-01-2012, 08:15 AM

Currently reading "Money Laundering" by Ms Tachibana Akira, a financial thriller from Japan (again, I read Chinese translated version) about the kinda financial activity as title suggested. I finished Chapter 1 out of 3 chapters. A Japanese freelance financial advisor in Hong Kong was doing business of helping Japaneses to, through Hong Kong, to set up financial arrangements to rearrange capital from Japan to evade tax. One day he was approached by a beautiful Japanese woman who want to transfer a sum of 500 million yen (Currently 1USD is to 77.1 Yen) to a legal entity in some tax evasion heaven. Months later he was approached by some Japanese gangsters, who warned him to trace back that 5 billion yen (yes, the woman tricked the protagonist) the woman had stolen. The protagonist therefore was back to Japan, the country he tried to abandon years ago, to find that woman, or his life would be in danger.

Ms Tachibana tried to illustrate some tax evasion techniques, which were usable in Japan. The story is about early 2000s, after the 911 attack. In her opinion, measures against money laundering wasn't becoming harsher after the incident, at least not against Japanese. Contrary to common belief, tax evasion is not universally viewed as criminal. Of course, money laundering for other criminal activities like terrorism and other usual gangster businesses would be another issue. Take note that the exchange between USD and JPY in book is 1USD to 120JPY, which was for the time when the book was written.

Edit: The author maintains this website about investment: http://www.alt-invest.com

Gerbick

15-01-2012, 01:36 PM

Ballard is probably my favourite author. High Rise makes me think of reality tv in the way it's characterised, his later books like super cannes are like an upper class nightmare world.

I'd say he was mine too. The Complete Story collection was fascinating as a whole. You could see the themes and ideas in a short story that he brought through and expanded on in his later novels.

MD!

16-01-2012, 11:45 AM

Read Kingsley Amis's Dear Illusion yesterday. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, but it was worth reading, and might prompt me to crack open Lucky Jim sooner rather than later. Next up is Henry James' The Beast in the Jungle. I'm loving Penguin's 'Mini Modern Classics' series -- I get the satisfaction of 'finishing a book' so much more frequently than usual! Good selection, too, and just the right price and length for impulse-buying while waiting for a class or a bus.

db1331

17-01-2012, 02:15 PM

I just started Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea yesterday. I'm loving it so far. I've been on sort of a classic kick lately.

Shane

17-01-2012, 02:18 PM

I remember that one, was alright. You should look up Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, 'tis my favorite of the lot.

db1331

17-01-2012, 03:20 PM

I remember that one, was alright. You should look up Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, 'tis my favorite of the lot.

I just might do that. I can probably get it for free on my Nook, as I did with 20K Leagues.

squareking

18-01-2012, 08:03 PM

I've read Metro 2033 and Roadside Picnic both which fantastic, well, Metro 2033 seemed good but the atrocious translation deterred me from finishing it. I am looking for more post-apo novels like these two, those with an oppressive atmosphere that evokes feelings of desolation and futility. Edit: No zombies, please.

A Canticle for Leibowitz comes to mind, if you haven't read it already. Or, keeping with the Russian theme, I enjoyed We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

SirKicksalot

18-01-2012, 08:57 PM

Smashbox

18-01-2012, 09:06 PM

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I picked it up because the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer are making a movie based on it. I enjoy the writing and the different tone of each narration. This movie's going to be really hard to pull off though. It'll either go down in flames or be spectacular, there's no middle option. I have faith, after all Tykwer made a movie based on Perfume!

I absolutely love that book. His newest The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is great, too.

As for me, I just devoured the whole ASOIAF series and I'm wishing there were more available now.

Cable

18-01-2012, 09:13 PM

I've just started Perdido Street Station on recommendations from you guys and i'm really enjoying it so far, just a fascinating world he's created.

Also since i seem incapable of not reading too many things at once i've started the Count of Monte Cristo.

Hanban

19-01-2012, 06:36 AM

Just started reading Consider Phlebas. Really enjoying it!

corbain

19-01-2012, 07:07 AM

Currently about halfway into Feast for Crows and am enjoying it despite its reputation. It is a real change of pace from the previous books, and the newer characters are difficult to care about as much. I think a lot of the criticism thrown at it is a result of the long gap in publishing it after SoS.

What is really beginning to grate though is a few of the repetitive phrases that GRRM uses ( "break his fast", "maiden flowered", "teats", "craven" etc) and Martin's constant list writing. I have found myself often reading pages and not really taking anything in.

Having said that, i think the book features some of his strongest writing- the long section about "broken men" who leave their villages looking for glory and end up fighting for some unknown lord, with empty bellies and bare feet is Martin at the top of his game.

I think i'll be taking a break before ADwD

Shane

19-01-2012, 07:33 AM

Yea, A Feast of Crows is good and has a lot of good writing in it. It's just that I, for one, found it to be more a filler without much happening. And Catelyn turning into a zombie just elicits a WTF.

A Dance with Dragons is shit though, I can't believe how Martin has fucked up the series after writing four stellar books.

corbain

19-01-2012, 07:51 AM

Just started reading Consider Phlebas. Really enjoying it!

If this is your first Culture novel, then you've got a lot of the best SciFi writing ahead of you. Consider Phlebas is one of my all time favorites, and its counterpoint Look to Windward is also fantastic, although not a direct sequel it deals with the aftermath of the war.

squirrel

19-01-2012, 12:02 PM

Cruel Bank by Mr. Egami Gou, I've read 1 out of 7 chapters of this Japanese Financial thriller.

The protagonist worked in a city bank's audit department as one of principal auditor. The department was responsible for ratifying issuance of loans. This placed protagonist's office in frequent tension with the bank's branches which were eager to improvement business performance by issuing more loans. In the first chapter, the bank was going to merger with another much more powerful city bank, and downsizing was pretty much unavoidable. His best friend, who was once considered an elite, didnt escape the fate and was transferred to a newly established department call "Human Talent Development Office", in true nature was a concentration camp for all who were not wanted anymore, any were therefore given two choices: either accept "early retirement" with compensation merely enough to support life till another job (yes, the truth is the bank doesnt care if you retire or not, they just want you to retire from their office), or rotten in this so called office. This poor friend could not accept this cruel fate and committed suicide by jumping rail. The protagonist started to plan for seeking justice for his friend.

City bank is a component of Japanese banking industry, the kind of bank capable of doing business in nation-wide. I dont know if this classification is unique in Japan. I think in the US there are also classification of banks as local community banks and nation-wide bank.

This is the sixth Japanese financial thriller I read. And Mr. Egami is the third writer I am coming across. It seems the Japanese banking industry is facing a very serious bad debt issue, left behind by the financial bubble in the 1980s, and two decades later there is no light the problem will go away. Almost all banks need capital injection by the government, effectively facing the whole banking industry under the strong government influence, and political corruption therefore became the direct result of the bad debt issuance.

Auspex

19-01-2012, 08:43 PM

My New Year's Resolution this year was to read more so I'm going to start posting here quite frequently (hopefully). So far I have read:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman: I loved the idea behind this - people discovering a fantasy world where the characters are aware, or even obsessed with, Harry Potter or CS Lewis type books. I found the main character utterly unlikeable though and I never got the feeling it knew where it was going - when I finished it I realised it didn't! It does have a great desciption of someone laughing at something "exactly as if it were funny" which I loved.

American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson: I don't usually read autobiographies but I quite like Craig Ferguson and as a fellow Protestant (well people who still care about such things would regard me as such anyway) who grew up just outside of Glasgow I could relate to a lot of what he said. The bits about his alcoholism were interesting and he's pretty honest about how awful he was at times. Could have done with a bit less name-dropping though and a much less awful cover. My favourite line was

“We’d been taught from an early age that sex was shameful and bad, that men wanted it all the time because they were slaves to their appetites, and that women were good, they didn’t like or want sex but would allow it in order to have babies, or because they were drunk, or English.”

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: I tried to read this when I was much younger but bounced off it having found Holden far too irritating. Probably had something to do with how irritating I was at the time come to think of it. Obviously excellent and I agree with Holden when he says “The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It’s more interesting and all.” Probably why I like Rum Doings so much.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham: for one year of my life when I was 11/12 I think I only read Wyndham books but I somehow missed this one. I really enjoyed it; I think the way that Wyndham builds up your understanding of the world is excellent.

Currently reading: I'm about half way through The Princess Bride, S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. I've seen the film but I'm only now realising what a good job Goldman did of the adaption - I bet he knows that book better than the author did!
I'm also reading Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain. I'm enjoying it but I'm slightly dubious of how true any of it is. It's very much a product of its time though with comments such as:

"I have caught a glimpse of the faces of several Moorish women (for they are only human, and will expose their faces for the admiration of a ChristianDog when no male Moor is by), and I am full of veneration for the wisdom that leads them to cover up such atrocious ugliness."

Looking forward to reading right through this thread and contributing more in the future.

Althea

19-01-2012, 08:45 PM

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/787/thegoblincorps.jpg

This book makes Bulletstorm seem as if it's adverse to swearing.

Nalano

20-01-2012, 06:01 PM

Gore Vidal's Creation.

DigitalSignalX

20-01-2012, 06:31 PM

Just started 11.22.63 and wow. Such a well written story so far. However, like a complete idiot, I went to the SK Wiki to check if some of the characters I was was reading about were cross-overs from other Stephen King books. I dutifully skip the synopsis to avoid spoilers, but right there in the "cross over characters" section is a huge fat spoiler I can't unread. Now I know something is going to happen and it will be completely unsurprising. Still, it will be worth the journey.

Similar

20-01-2012, 06:55 PM

Reread Michael Herr's Dispatches, for the nth time, partly because Rii's post some pages back reminded me of it and partly because I've reached the part of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 where things start to get really bleak.

Now I'm rereading G.H. Turley's The Easter Offensive, about the North Vietnamese offensive in March-April 1972. The background is the offensive and the author's role in it, but the book is also much about the last American advisors in Vietnam (of whom the author was one).
It's a pretty sober book, not too gung-ho, but you do need to have the stomach for tons of military acronyms on each page.

Shane

21-01-2012, 04:20 AM

About it finish reading The Lord of the Rings for the second time. I read it for the first time when I was around ten and a lot of the narrative had gone over my head. I can better appreciate it now. There are a lot of things that didn't really sit well with me such as the idealized characters as well as the people in general, or the good vs evil theme. The world-building is of course awesome though not as detailed as I thought it would be withing the book though the appendixes are two fucking hundred pages long.

Komila

21-01-2012, 05:41 AM

As usual i like to read each book and novel.... Many people have interest in reading books, so i also have a lot interest in it.Right now i am reading History of old buildings...Thanks.

squirrel

22-01-2012, 03:27 PM

The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilzation's Northern Future by Mr. Laurence C. Smith

I recently bought the Taiwan translated version, but it's originally written in English. As the title suggests, it predicts that northern nations would, due to climatic changes, do much better than southern nations, or strictly speaking nations close to northern pole would do better than nations close to the equator. I just started reading it, Mr. Smith seems to strongly believe in global warming. For whatever reason the debate on whether global warming or global cooling taking place become hotter and hotter. I am generally educated in formal education that global warming is prevailing, due to CO2 emission. Now more and more people start to yell out that global warming is the greatest lie in the 20th century. I dont know who is right and who's wrong.

Rakysh

22-01-2012, 03:56 PM

The way I see it, what do people who concur with most of the science gaining? Maybe a bit if they're solar panel producers or whatnot, but most aren't. What do those who disagree gain? Well, they can continue to make profit without having to curb their greenhouse gas emissions. It seems clear who has the most to gain from lying.

Edit: oshit yeah the thread. I'm reading Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson, a distinctly disturbing non fiction book about offshore tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions. Not good.

Nalano

22-01-2012, 04:03 PM

Now more and more people start to yell out that global warming is the greatest lie in the 20th century. I dont know who is right and who's wrong.

What people?

Always - always - consider the source.

Althea

22-01-2012, 04:17 PM

Climate change (and, by extension, global warming) is a natural phenomenon that would have happened regardless of our presence, as we are currently in the tail end of an ice age. The ice caps would melt, the sea level would rise, creatures would become extinct, low-lying land would be covered in water, flooding would increase and so on - we cannot stop it, and to do so would be an affront to nature and evolution.

However, our love of burning shit and felling trees has really not helped the situation and has contributed a lot to the acceleration and/or more severe effects, such as smog and pollutants in the air/soil/water.

Nalano

22-01-2012, 04:29 PM

Janet Chen's Guilty of Indigence and John Burdett's Vulture Peak.

westyfield

22-01-2012, 05:29 PM

Still reading Murakami's 1Q84, because a) it's huge, and b) I have no time for reading. Once exams are over I'm going home for the weekend, I plan to just sit and read as much as possible.

Bison

22-01-2012, 08:23 PM

Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome, by Steven Saylor.

Similar

24-01-2012, 01:54 PM

Now I'm rereading G.H. Turley's The Easter Offensive, about the North Vietnamese offensive in March-April 1972. The background is the offensive and the author's role in it, but the book is also much about the last American advisors in Vietnam (of whom the author was one).
It's a pretty sober book, not too gung-ho, but you do need to have the stomach for tons of military acronyms on each page.
Slight correction; the latter half does get a bit much 'ultimate sacrifice/highest price'-ish, but I think it's mainly because the author ran out of other ways to describe his admiration for the people he worked with.

Keeping to the theme (I got this book because it's mentioned in Michael Herr's Dispatches), I've started rereading Bernard Fall's Hell in a Very Small Place which is about Dien Bien Phu. It's based both on official French documents (as many as had been declassified at the time; the book was first published in 1966 and since the author died the year after, while working as a correspondent in Vietnam, he couldn't revise the book as more got declassified) and interviews with survivors from both sides and from many different countries (the French used soldiers of many different nationalities).
Very good book, and pleasantly objective too.

While reading it I sometimes look in Histoire des Parachutistes Français, Volume 1, which I dragged home from Paris some 20 years ago. I don't read much French, but the book has a lot of maps and photos showing places and battles described in Fall's book.