What Are You Reading?

[Skykid]

Just finished The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters.

It's unbelievably dark & shocking, but incredibly interesting, especially as it explores the guy's psyche so deeply.

[Frenetic]

"The Name of the Wind" and "The Wise Man's Fear" by Patrick Rothfuss

I dropped out of reading fantasy for a while and then picked up The Name of the Wind--Hoo boy! What a book. Epic on the scale of Dune and intelligent as well. Rothfuss' writing is so spot on, plus the new and different way he has a take on the fantasy hero...it's a slow burn at first but when it gets going, it gets going. "The Wise Man's Fear" is the sequel and it's just as good as the first. I basically just blocked out large times for solely reading these two books. I cozied up with a drink and a snacky snack on the couch and just read away...I'm just sad I have to wait years for the next book.

--F

[CMoon]

Halfway through the first Earthsea book.

[Acid King]

I just finished the Anatomy of Disgust by William Ian Miller. It's essentially a meditation on the emotion of disgust, how it has changed and how it affects behavior and social norms. There are a lot interesting ideas and stories here, particularly the stuff about St. Catherine of Siena drinking pus (Why can't we bring this kind of Christianity back?) and Icelandic heroic culture, but he has a tendency to ramble, as authors of these type of books are apt to. He has some interesting stuff on the democratization of contempt and Orwell's take on the political implications disgust as well, he just never takes the time to tie everything together. He just kinda moves from one topic to the next and the book just ends. The execution was lacking but it was an interesting read.

[CMoon]

Read the first quarter of Lem's Futurological Congress yesterday. Amazing stuff.

[RNGmaster]

Finnished (typo is intentional) a book called In The Land Of Invented Languages. It's about conlang, and actually much better than I would have guessed by looking at the subject matter. Now starting through my H.P Lovecraft collection again.

[Siren2011]

Not really reading it, per se, but having it read to me by Samuel L. Jackson. It's the new children's book titled "Go the Fuck to Sleep." Absolutely hysterical. You can hear it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGDm45ni ... re=related

[CMoon]

Just finished Futurological Congress (Lem). Science Fiction at its finest; shades of Brave New World and Vonnegut, very funny but also complex and almost absurdly ahead of its time. The ending was slightly predictable, but there isn't much of a way to end a story like this. I will definitely be reading more of Lem.

[CMoon]

Read the second Earthsea book. These are more novellas than novels (both so far have been under 200 pages). This one (The Tombs of Atuan) was refreshing in that it was so much about atmosphere, setting and character building. There is virtually no action, and what does happen is rather inevitable from the start, but it is a beautiful book for being so. Still don't know if I'm in love with Le Guin or not...in some ways these books are too simple and I don't know if I'm taking much away from them.

[moozooh]

The Tombs of Atuan is my favorite book of the Earthsea. Which, admittedly, doesn't tell much as I found the rest just outright boring. If you aren't into Taoism and related philosophy there's probably not much benefit to reading the entire saga.

[CMoon]

I'm interspersing the EarthSea books with other things. I admit being a bit of the fence about them. Started reading 'The Stars, My Destination' today.

[Obiwanshinobi]

My favourite Earthsea book was Tehanu. "Was" because I find Le Guin books to be very hit and miss and maybe I'll be better off cherishing my memories of Tehanu rather than revisiting it (although I fancy reading it in English for the first time as I only read one awful translation before).
On the contrary, I'm never afraid of revisiting Tove Jansson worlds. Her most actionless and contemplative books just don't wear thin (even as a child I liked those best). As stated in the manga & anime recommendations thread recently, Haibane Renmei reminded me of my favourite Le Guin and Tove Jansson books in a good way.
Come to think of it, Le Guin is pretty good at telling stories of ageing women who meet ageing men and have it off.

[CMoon]

I'm never afraid of revisiting Tove Jansson worlds.

Moomin papa at sea ftw!

[Obiwanshinobi]

I have that small island engraved upon my soul with terrific details and colours, even though I've personally never been on any of those Baltic skerries.
Funnily, I was just reading about a balloon flight of three Russian officers from Saint Petersburg to Norway in August 1910 right over that part of the world.

[greg]

It's interesting that the Earthsea novels were mentioned. I read the first book, Wizard of Earthsea, back in October. It took me a while to read it. I'd just read PK Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and my brain didn't want to switch gears.

I'm trying to finish the Heir to the Empire Star Wars books, and I've just started the third book in the series. I read the first book in high school, then I never got around to reading the rest of them. I'm trying to catch up on Star Wars books. But, I'm ready to take a quick break.

Last night I just started Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey. This guy's son becomes a manga fanatic and becomes interested in Japanese culture... actually, only pop culture, unfortunately. But anyhow, he agrees to take his son to Japan to see all the weird and interesting stuff, and apparently he arranges to do an interview with Tomino, the creator of Gundam. I've only read the first chapter so far, but it's an interesting read.

[sjewkestheloon]

I'm still working my way through Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon. It's bloody brilliant and has so many moments where you feel like the floor has just opened up underneath you but I have benefited from taking a break now and then to slot in a YA book or some drama.

I also read the script for Samuel Beckett's All That Fall which just helped to establish him as one of my heroes even further.

Popped Tristram Shandy on the Kindle too which works nicely as a chapter dip in book while commuting and at work. Very funny stuff that is 99% digression/distraction and 1% plot. Not bad find of a post modern novel written in the late 1700s.

[sjewkestheloon]

Just finished Gravity's Rainbow. Phew.

[emphatic]

Just picked up Lehane's latest Kenzie and Gennero offering, just need to start reading it.

[Minoira]

Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Well, more specifically, rereading it.

[RNGmaster]

The Great Mortality, which is a book about the Black Plague. Ought to put my hypochondria in perspective.

[Acid King]

I finished the Iliad and started the Aeneid. I also picked up Sword of the Lictor and Citadel of the Autarch to start before I forget everything that happened in the last two books.

[maxlords]

Currently on:

Halting State by Charles Stross
Still reading (had set it aside) Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith
Rex Mundi - Gate of God by Avrid Nelson
Pressure Man by Zach Hughes

[CMoon]

Just finished 'The Stars my Destination'. I've been on a roll with great sci-fi lately.

[Klatrymadon]

I take it you liked it, mate? I'm currently enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo, on which TSMD is quite heavily based. Dumas' style is a bit stuffy and precious (at least in translation), as is to be expected, but it's a fun yarn.

Also slogging away at A Portrait of the Artist as a Tiresome Cunt. I really need to stop reading Joyce. I think I keep coming back to him just because his works are part of the canon, but I've never derived any pleasure or great insight from them.

Finished Bertell Ollman's Alienation yesterday, too. Definitely one of the best books on Marx's theories I've read.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Taiho-Jutsu. Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai by Don Cunningham. Since I finished Lone Wolf and Cub recently, it makes for a neat supplementation of those Edo period epics.

[CMoon]

I take it you liked it, mate? I'm currently enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo, on which TSMD is quite heavily based. Dumas' style is a bit stuffy and precious (at least in translation), as is to be expected, but it's a fun yarn.

You know, I've done everything except read The Count of Monte Cristo. I've seen two adaptations of it, and certainly Stars My Destination is not the first book I've read inspired by Monte Cristo. I might have started reading it at some point, but that would have been a LONG time ago.

Also slogging away at A Portrait of the Artist as a Tiresome Cunt. I really need to stop reading Joyce. I think I keep coming back to him just because his works are part of the canon, but I've never derived any pleasure or great insight from them.

I've never read Joyce. Most people who like Joyce don't like 'Portrait'. *shrugs*

Debating between Dhalgren, Memoirs found in a bathtub, or Left hand of darkness next.

[greg]

Last night I just started Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey. This guy's son becomes a manga fanatic and becomes interested in Japanese culture... actually, only pop culture, unfortunately. But anyhow, he agrees to take his son to Japan to see all the weird and interesting stuff, and apparently he arranges to do an interview with Tomino, the creator of Gundam. I've only read the first chapter so far, but it's an interesting read.

I put this book down after the first chapter or so and forgot about it, but yesterday I started reading this again and finished it this morning on the train ride to work. It was a real fast read. Here's my review.

OK, so Peter Carey is a novel author, but I've never heard of him. I suppose he's well-known for Oscar and Lucinda, but I really don't know him. Anyhow, so his son Charley is a real weaboo kid. The annoying kind who wants to live in Japan because he loves anime and manga, but doesn't give a crap about Japanese culture or history. He was 12 years old on this trip to Japan, and the book was released in 2001. I hope he's done a lot of growing up since then. Anyhow, since Peter Carey is an established writer who has visited Japan on several occasions and has had his novels translated into Japanese, he had plenty of strings to pull in order to give his son the otaku vacation no other kid could ever hope to have. Then the little dork complains because his dad takes him to a kabuki play!

Peter Carey takes his son to meet Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Blood: The Last Vampire), Yoshiyuki Tomino (MS Gundam series), several staff and manga authors working for Kodansha, and even the elusive Hayao Miyazaki. Holy crap, that little dork is so lucky. Yet somehow the 12 year old had made friends with an otaku kid named Takashi who has sullen Japanese-style temper-tantrums because he wasn't invited to come along to the interview with Tomino, and gets butthurt because he thinks that Charley is betraying Tomino by visiting Miyazaki. The kid is a real pain, but then again, the author and his son are annoying, too. The son can't be bothered to learn anything by visiting a kabuki play or a museum, and the father is annoying because he says stuff like, "We didn't fly all the way over here just to play video games at an arcade," and I felt like shouting, "Dude! You just don't get it! The game centers are awesome!" There were times when he could have allowed his son to enjoy his time with his friend more, but he was inflexible and stuck to the vacation itinerary at the expense of fun. It's like that episode of Full House when the family goes on vacation, and Danny forces everyone to stick to his strict schedule. Well, up yours, Bob Saget! Why can't you be more like Uncle Jessie?

The book could have been a bit longer. It's only 158 pages with a large font and plenty of full-page pictures. The author seems to be a bit of a pretentious liberal who has preconceived notions about Japan and fancies himself to be so terribly intellectually-insightful. At least he admits in the book that he was wrong about so many preconcepts, thus the title of the book. He learns a lot, and even though Mr. Tomino cleary believes that he had removed any traces of Japanese culture from Gundam, the author discovers that the whole concept of a boy piloting a robot was heavily influenced by boys who survived the firebombings of Japan during World War II and their sense of helplessness to defend their families, and that the nature of the relationship between a boy piloting a mecha is very similar to a mother's womb protecting her child. He meets with a man who is a friend of the man who wrote the novel Grave of the Fireflies on which the Ghibli movie is based, and the man describes in detail what it is like to survive the firebombings of Tokyo. He also sits down to watch My Neighbor Totoro and gains much insight into Japanese culture's influence on the movie. I found this part to be particularly interesting, as his friend points out small details in the movie that convey very sublte messages that are practically invisible to non-Japanese viewers.

In the end, that little 12-year-old turd got to meet some of the biggest names in the anime/manga industry, and unfortunately he did not share his father's fascination with the influence of Japanese culture on these mediums. He's an uncultured nincompoop who is satisfied to just take these at face value and not really care about the context of culture, yet he readily spouts out how he will someday live in Japan. facepalm.org

[xris]

^ good write up on a boring sounding book.
I've been reading a ton lately.. A little too much of the bizarro genre, really starting to feel burned out on that. Some pretty good sci-fi lately, The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway was a stand out weird-post-apox kung-fu genre mash up. Very challenging to read at first due to an unorthodox writing style, but a very rewarding one in the end. Grey by Jon Armstrong was a great sci-fi fashionpunk novel. Unfortunately it was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but the world setting, fashion, and creatively crass dialog was fantastic. Going to read his other book in this world/style, Yarn, very soon.
I'm very passionate about reading, and have been trying to push my way into any kind of a job dealing with it. Not really making progress yet, no credentials and what, but I have been able to get a couple of ARC with the purpose of giving feedback to the authors. The one I'm reading now has a long, horrendous title, but is very well written at least. Just odd, as far as I know it's a story about a guy and his pet flesh worm thingy. The first chapter is all I've read so far, and it was lacking in any kind of relevancy. I read strange stuff anyway, so this isn't too far of a stretch. But, it's nice to be able to give back and help shape one of my favorite hobbies. Now just pay me to do it!

[greg]

^ good write up on a boring sounding book.

Well, it wasn't boring. The author was annoying and his son was a turd, but it was rather interesting, especially the interviews and a glimpse into the personalities of anime legends like Tomino and Miyazaki.

[ryu]

when you briefly introduced the book i thought it was about a person in their later teens or early twenties, but a 12 year old?

i'd imagine a write-up about letting some manchild narutard know how much of an idiot he is could be fun or have some sort of purpose, but kids are kids. you don't take them serious like that.