Okay folks, let's get this party started.
What book(s) are you reading right now, and what do you think of it?
David Feintuch - Midshipman's Hope
The protagonist is an inflexible masochistic sadist, lashing out at everyone and constantly loathing himself.
Cheer up, emo kid.
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart.
It's difficult to classify, but I think it's wonderful. A rather fantastic adventure filled with colourful characters, great escapes, and plenty of humor. The novel almost dances its way through the story.
Be forewarned though, the humor is often ironic and irreverent. Hughart treats everything in a light-handed manner, even rape and murder; some may take offence.
i found that a good series is the wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan. it's about eleven books and growing. It is classified as fantacy and justly so. There are basically 3 main characters. Mat, Perrin and Rnad. Rand is the most important character though because he is suppose to destroy "The Dark One" at Tarmon Gai'don (the last battle). As the story progresses the reader finds out that these three guys are ta'verren. instead of going with the flow they inwittinly change the flow to suit their situation. There are several other keky character's who are all intersting to read about in their own respect but you'll have to read the series to find out who else there is.
Okay, maybe one hint. In Rand's land the raven is a bad omen as well as being a spy for the dark one, BUT!! in another kingdom across the ocean it is the imperial symbol!
Any chance of a mod deleting that? It's not like the thread is going to disappear any time soon.
ya, sorry bout that. i didn't know that it would do that.
if i had known it was going to do that i would have done it better.
who or what is Wakabamark?
>>108
Markup that allows you to do things like this, this, notthis, and other things too.
It usually works transparently, but sometimes kicks in unexpectedly for those that don't know about it. If you want to disable it, click on the "More Options..." next to the reply button.
James Patterson - "Mary, Mary"
Any other Alex Cross fans here?
the ring of five dragons by Eric Van Lustbader.
it is a very interesting read, but it would make you read it
tice in order to understand everything.
It is a kind of blend between fantasy and sci-fi in the way that
the two races work. The Kundallans (i think that's how to spell
it) are the natives of the planet and are a race that is spiritually
inclined while the Vorrn are very scientific,
the Vorrn are a planet invading race and through out the
three book series you come to find out more abou the two races.
David Sedaris, "I talk pretty some day"
Heh. I'm reading "Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim" by David Sedaris, too.
Susan Hill - The Woman In Black
Dan Brown- Da Vinci Code
>>112 wow! "Me Talk Prety Someday," i'm reading that now too =)
i really like his writing style so far from what i've read in that book and also pieces from "Naked."
Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Concept-wise, it was quite entertaining. Writing-wise, filled with clichés and eye-rolling awkwardness. The author seems to be overreaching his capabilities. But I suppose I will read the next book, if for nothing else then because of the cliffhanger ending.
And yes, I have been watching too much Haruhi.
The Fellowship of the Ring. For someone who's had this series for six years now and is just reading it, I feel terrible. Alas, alas~
The Remains of The Day Kazuo Ishiguro
I recently finished The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Hippies are funny. What amazed me is that they would get all goofed up on acid, speed, and god knows what else, jump into a car and drive up a mountain and not die. It was also one of those stranger-than-fiction moments to find out what kind of life was led by the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Just finished The Foundation Trilogy by Asimov. Very intellectual Sci-Fi. First time reading an Asimov novel instead of any of his short stories.
Just finished Fall of Hyperion. It was better, not because the writing was better but because the author was not overreaching any longer, and just writing straight computers-and-spaceships scifi. The eye-rolling moments were far fewer, although they did exist.
PS: >>120, speed makes you a better driver, generally.
>>122 Also a better student. You may refer to it by its proper name, "Study Aids."
Oh, yes. I just finished reading the third volume of WJF Jenner's translation of Journey to the West. Magnificent story, beautiful poetry. As nearly every chapter is an individual ordeal, it's easy to pick it up and drop the series, and not lose the thread.
Jumping between:
"Teach Yourself Neuro-Linguistic Programing"
"Stumbling on Happyness"
and
"Misquoting Jesus"
And I just realised that none of 'em are fiction.
Silence of the lambs
Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima
do you read like a book a day to be able to post so much bookworm?
130: Guess what happens if you leave the name
field empty.
Into the Wild
"Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett.
I am reading a few different books at once and switching between them.
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
From Here to Eternity (James Jones)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Ahh, james jones, he is the best!
Boogiepop and Others
David Gemmell, 'Quest for lost heroes'. Start the series with 'Legend'. Druss rocks.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
I just finished reading Dune(1965) by Frank Herbert and I loved it. It was much more political and much less religious than the 1982 movie by David Lynch. I'll soon be starting the second book, Children of Dune, as soon as I find a copy.
"The Messenger" and "The Usurper" by Angus Wells.
the plot and characters are not bad, the descriptiveness of sword play is very good.
School reading! I was just given Old School by Tobias Wolff to read, which is a wonderful, easy read, but as I never took a particularly comprehensive American literature class, I fail to understand some of the literary references within. Thus, I am closely chasing the novel with The Sun Also Rises.
And there's nothing like delving into Understanding Language Structure, Interaction, and Variation: And Introduction to Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics for Nonspecialists.
the zahir by paulo cohelo (highly recommend his books)
>>143
That sounds very pomo. Will you use the Postmodernism Generator to produce all your class papers?
ttp://www.elsewhere.org/pomo
sense and sensibility
I read Endymion some time ago and now I want to kill Dan Simmons so he doesn't write again.
I'm reading the fine fiction of E. Nesbit, currently The Story of the Amulet.
The Hacker Ethic.
Very interesting.
Markus Heitz - Schattenjäger
It's a collection of three shadowrun novels.
Naked Lunch.
I'll really have to finish it sometime..
>>149
I downloaded it maybe six months ago and read it all in like three days. I don't know why, but it's still the most entertaining comic I've read
>>155 I'm reading it too. Rather, I'm like one page into it and I'll probably just start from the beginning when I pick it up again since I don't read very often.
Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
The Gods Themselves, Asimov. Kinda getting boring . . . trying to finish.
Sue Tounsend 'Adrain Mole: cappuccino years' and a play of a british author (don't remember the name) based on biblical history. Rather interesting
The time traveler's wife by..Audrey..sumthing O_o
I needed a good cry n the title says it ALL
>>161
I've heard that novel is quite good. What's your opinion on it?
The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salmon Rushdie
The Dubliners - James Joyce
Koushin Takami - Battle Royale
That makes me cool, rite?
M. John Harrison - Light
Again. It was good the first time, and awesome the second. Recommended for anyone who wants more Literature in their sci-fi.
Ian McDonald - Terminal Cafe
King Dork - Dr. Frank
it's pretty rad, has a LOT of rock and roll, and nerdy references in it, and I can relate to it pretty easily.
2001: a space odyssey and a confederacy of dunces
both very, very slowly
Garth Nix - Sabriel
for the 2nd time. I loved this series.
-the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy-
Raymond Feist -- Magician (Actually just finished Apprentice again, but I don't have Master, the second half, and am in a hotel in oregon trying to head home, and away from this horrible runon sentance)
i love stephen kings!!!!
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
The synopsis didn't seem promising at all. It sounded downright cheesy, the kind found on the back of cheap romance novels. But the writing thus far is vibrant, the backdrop is lush, and the tale enjoyable. No whiffs of harlequin yet.
Kinski Uncut, the autobiography of Klaus Kinski.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. It's really interesting but was sort of a let-down for me. I usually root for the underdogs in literature (Morgan le Fey, Grendel, The Phantom of the Opera, etc) and I thought that I'd fall in love with the creature and be on his side the whole time. Sadly, he's not quite the hero that I had imagined but all hope is not lost; I haven't completely finished the book yet.
Grendel in Beowulf? What could possibly make you sympathize with it?
Little Green Men- Christopher Buckley
I just finished Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. It was a long read and a little dry in a few parts it is worth it.
I just started reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I have read it several times but I love it more every time. For anyone that hasn't read it, it is basically the Arturian legend told from the point of view of the women (including Arthur's mother, the lady of the lake and Morgaine LeFay and others). It's really a very different story when told from these viewpoints.
I'm more than halfway done with Anne Rice's Interview with The Vampire, and I hate it. Her style of writing bores me. I desperately want to read something else, something interesting.. but I already paid for the book, so I'm forcing myself to read it.
>>180
That never stopped me from saving myself from horrible writing.
Theif of Time, by Terry Pratchett. It's absoluetly fantastic. Read it or be missing a part of your soul forever.
Sorry, I get carried away when it comes to Pratchett. ^^;
My father does this all the time, even with books he gets from the library. He'll go on at length telling me how terrible the latest book he's reading is, and then end with "Luckily, I've only got a few hundred more pages to go." I don't get it.
VALIS by Philip K Dick
>>145
Nope, that sounds structural (or modernist, rather than postmodernist) to me. The pomo thugs tried to murder structuralist linguistics, replacing attempts at scientific (or scientistic, depending on your prejudices) methodology with narcissistic gobbledygook philosophy.
Thankfully, their influence in linguistics is at last beginning to wane... the other social sciences aren't so lucky.
Oh, and to be vaguely on-topic, I'm reading John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead. He's a great writer.
Earth: David Brin.
Fragile things: Neil Gaiman.
Neverwhere: Neil Gaiman.
Earth: David Brin.
Fragile things: Neil Gaiman.
Neverwhere: Neil Gaiman.
Pedestrian Wolves by James L. Grant.
in the middle of:
Generation of Swine by Hunter S. Thompson
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
and Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski
i'm such a fucking hipster.
Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
Totto-chan by Tetsoko Kuroyanagi
Just finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I enjoyed it, along with Starship Troopers. Might read more Heinlein in the future, but for now I'm moving on to A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bryson.
>>192
heinlein is the shit. if you are interested, I recommend Friday and have space suit- will travel.
the latter because it's so campy and 1950's pulp-y.
I've regressed and been reading the Artemis Fowl series. They're children's books, and filled with eye-rolling moments, but fun all the same.
What caught my interest was the synopsis of the first novel: kid criminal mastermind wants to take over the world, and does it by terrorizing a secret society of sci-fi fairies living underground.
ya rly
I borrowed one of my roomates' books which has H. G. Wells' "Time Machine" and "Invisible Man". I finished "Time Machine" at work and I'm working on "Invisible Man" right now.
yey.
>>195
You can get his works online, since they're all out of copyright. Time Machine is great, no film adaptation ever did it justice.
I'd recommend Land of the Blind
People magazine
Down To A Sunless Sea - David Graham
LaGrange Five - Mack Reynolds
Tristan, by Gottfried von Strassburg.
Maybe it's better in the original German, but I'm thinking of dropping it. Long, bad prose, wierd misinterprations of the story, etc.
i'm reading a translation of the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya novel. its great :)