What Are You Reading?

[sjewkestheloon]

I read Radio Free Albemuth a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it but mainly as an expansion of Valis which is a far superior work in my opinion. If you haven't read it and are interested in this period of autobiographical-fantasy-sf PKD then I urge you to jump at the chance!

[Acid King]

I didn't realize it was an extension of another book. Maybe I'll give it a look when I get through the rest of my backlog.

[CMoon]

I was part way through valis but got distracted for some reason. I need to get back to it.

[Danza]

Valis is a complete mindfuck.

I am rereading Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon. Its a pretty tough book to crack.

[borislaw]

[quote="sjewkestheloon"]I'm reading Crime and Punishment, it's excellent.[/quote]
great book. Dostoevsky is the shit. If you haven't already, make sure you also read Brothers Karamazov . Actually, pretty much all his later novels are amazing...perhaps not for everyone, but perfect for people with an overactive mind.

[quote="dunpeal2064"]Also, still awaiting the next Song of Ice and Fire book from George R.R. Martin. He is taking soooo long :([/quote]
Also waiting. Loved the first three books, haven't read the fourth. I might just wait until the series is finished to read the rest. Not sure if it ever will be finished. If Martin dies and the saga is not finished, it would definitely suck, but it would still be worth reading whatever is finished. Television series is coming out soon as well. It looks pretty good, but its hard to tell. Lord of the Rings movies ruined Tolkien's books, don't want the same to happen for Martin.

Currently reading Richard Even's Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China. Pretty good book, heavy focus on history, which suites my tastes.

Fiction: reading through a book of short stories by Nikolai Gogol. Some of the stories recall the brilliance of Dead Souls; many however, seem mediocre or even completely disappointing.

[CMoon]

Guys, give up on those adult books, that's sooooo 20th century.

Started reading Hunger Games, and it's a lot better than I'd thought it would be (teen fiction version of Running man/Battle Royale???) Can't speak for what lies beyond the first 100 pages, but I'm more and more impressed with Suzanne Collins. Collins is eventually going to start winning some major awards for what she's doing in teen/children's literature. It hasn't happened yet, but she's got a lot more talent than most of the other current players (well as far as I know, I can't really keep up with all of it.)

[xris]

^agreed, this new trend of YA dystopian fiction has been awesome!
I really enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy, that was a surprise hit for me. The death game genre is really one of my favorites, and she did such a fine job with this one. I'm waiting for the Maze Runners trilogy to finish up this year. Why are these people writing trilogies anyway?
On the YA front, I also really enjoyed Feed by M T Anderson.

[sjewkestheloon]

My job as a school librarian plants me in the middle of mountains of teen lit that I've been reading through in my breaks. I've heard good things abouth the Hunger Games books but my favourite so far is Chris Wooding's Malice. Great fun.

[dunpeal2064]

I'm reading Crime and Punishment, it's excellent.

great book. Dostoevsky is the shit. If you haven't already, make sure you also read Brothers Karamazov . Actually, pretty much all his later novels are amazing...perhaps not for everyone, but perfect for people with an overactive mind.

Also, still awaiting the next Song of Ice and Fire book from George R.R. Martin. He is taking soooo long

Also waiting. Loved the first three books, haven't read the fourth. I might just wait until the series is finished to read the rest. Not sure if it ever will be finished. If Martin dies and the saga is not finished, it would definitely suck, but it would still be worth reading whatever is finished. Television series is coming out soon as well. It looks pretty good, but its hard to tell. Lord of the Rings movies ruined Tolkien's books, don't want the same to happen for Martin..

My friends and I have heated arguements over whether the 4th book is good or not. I loved it, just for its ability to make me feel such anger at fictional scenarios. The third book was awesome as well. The tv series looks ok, but I would much rather get a book, then have people act out the books I've already read.

[xris]

My job as a school librarian plants me in the middle of mountains of teen lit that I've been reading through in my breaks. I've heard good things about the Hunger Games books but my favourite so far is Chris Wooding's Malice. Great fun.

I'm Looking for the name of a book that I don't know much about, yeah, helpful I know.. It's about a group of kids that get stuck in an M C Escher type realm, where they wander through the stairs trying to find a way out.
Going to put Malice on the to be considered list, way backlogged though..
Just signed up on Goodreads, what an awesome site. It's great to have a running list of what I've read for easy reference. It's going to take a little while to fill out everything I've read though..
Edit: Almost done with Welcome to the NHK. Just watch the anime, it's more entertaining.

[junkeR]

From Russia With Love - by Ian Fleming. I've been reading some other novels by Fleming and Arthur C Clarke as of late. They've all been great!

[Nico87]

Recently finished four books;

'With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa"
'Dispatches' by Michael Kerr
'Quartered Safe Out Here' George MacDonald Fraser
'A Rumor of War' by Philip Caputo

Best books ever.

[emphatic]

I'm trying to enjoy Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk (my favorite writer) but it's yet to draw me in.

[sjewkestheloon]

My job as a school librarian plants me in the middle of mountains of teen lit that I've been reading through in my breaks. I've heard good things about the Hunger Games books but my favourite so far is Chris Wooding's Malice. Great fun.

I'm Looking for the name of a book that I don't know much about, yeah, helpful I know.. It's about a group of kids that get stuck in an M C Escher type realm, where they wander through the stairs trying to find a way out.
Going to put Malice on the to be considered list, way backlogged though..
Just signed up on Goodreads, what an awesome site. It's great to have a running list of what I've read for easy reference. It's going to take a little while to fill out everything I've read though..
Edit: Almost done with Welcome to the NHK. Just watch the anime, it's more entertaining.

Hmm sounds like Malice! Otherwise not too sure. Leave it with me and I'll ask some of the kiddywinks.

[GateofThunderforceIII]

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus vol. 1. I love the New Gods characters and Kirby WAS and IS the king of comics!

[burgerkingdiamond]

I bought the Necronomicon, a collection of H.P Lovecraft stories. Read probably the first 5 so far. I'm about 3/4 of the way through Christopher Hitchens' "God is Not Great". I already have my mind made up about religion. So I agree with most of what he has to say but It's interesting nonetheless. Also picked up Darwin's "The Origin of Species". It's pretty dry, although I guess I expected that. I'll try to keep going with it though.

[CMoon]

Also picked up Darwin's "The Origin of Species". It's pretty dry, although I guess I expected that. I'll try to keep going with it though.

Yeah, good to read something a bit more modern. 'The Making of the Fittest' by Sean Carroll would make a pretty good entry point, or perhaps 'Almost like a whale' which is a modernized version of Origin.

[CMoon]

xris, sjewkestheloon: Either of you (or anyone else) read 'House of the Scorpian' by Nancy Farmer? I've not even glanced at a single book by her, but the description sounds bonkers.

(yeah, more super-grim young adult sci fi please!)

[sjewkestheloon]

I'm not familiar with Nancy Farmer at all I'm afraid. I'll have a look about and see what I can see.

Still reading Moby Dick here. STILL.

[Acid King]

I just finished Radio Free Albemuth and enjoyed it quite a bit. Some of it was kind of silly (the endless theorizing on what the voice was was a bit much at times) but overall it was good.

I also finished In Defense of Food which was a quick and informative read. It's kind of eerie how the bits of food science and nutritionism mirror the pharmaceutical industry's reductionist approach to medicine. It's more a reflection on the scientific approach than anything, but it's particularly absurd when applied to foods.

Still reading Moby Dick here. STILL.

My condolences.

[CMoon]

Still reading Moby Dick here. STILL.

My condolences.

Time for Acid King and CMoon to get in another epic brawl (just like that one in They Live )

You have to approach Moby Dick like a road movie. It definitely isn't about getting to the end. Read a chapter a night or something like that. I'm sure Melville originally intended it as a linear novel, but after beefing it up to it's absurd length, the vast majority of it ends up having nothing to do with the whale and everything about Ishmael on a boat forever ruminating about deeper matters. The 'plot' becomes only bookends for this larger, weirder thing that probably is one of the greatest American novels, if it is a novel at all.

But definitely don't worry about getting to the end, that's absolutely the wrong way to read it.

[xris]

Either of you (or anyone else) read 'House of the Scorpion' by Nancy Farmer?

I haven't read this, but it seems to come up on suggested reading lists lately. I think some of these YA books have been sitting well with me because they don't try and go overboard with descriptions of the world, or how thing are. Sometimes keeping everything simple and vague is a good ideal.
Did you finish Hunger Games yet? You would be in a good position to just blow through the series. I read it as it came out, it sucks waiting a full year for the conclusion. Doing that now with The Maze Runners.
Started reading Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's a collection of short stories, I wanted to read this before I decided to read one of his novels. Wow, this guy is a really good author, I don't really read too much foreign stuff, but this has an exotic feel to it. The first story in the book was one of the best cyberpunk stories I have ever read. The guy just gets it. But, of course to counter my statement about keeping things simple, this guy is a little over descriptive, and uses lots of foreign language mixed in, sometimes with translation, or you just guess using context. Actually excited to read the rest of the stories!

[CMoon]

I'm gonna finish hunger games this weekend. I do plan on just blowing through the series if I can. Also read the first book of Collins' Underworld series, and will also continue with those. I don't think they are as good, but everything that makes Collins a good author is still there.

Personally I wonder if what makes the YA sci-fi/fantasy genre work is because they tend to be more character driven, and the authors often strive to make the characters ones that young people might actually relate with. Character sympathy is important. A friend of mine got me to read the first redwall book, and although it is OK and I'm a huge fan of talking animal fantasy, the characters simply never earned anything like empathy from me. I just couldn't find myself caring too much about what happened to any of them. Everything I've read by Collins though has roused my concern for the wellbeing of her characters, even while she sets up scenarios where one or perhaps even all of them must die.

[oli_lar]

Steadily getting through Ben Goldacre's 'Bad science'. Very eye opening, I didn't know the extent of all these alternative treatments as I tend to ignore them. Very worrying about the extent to which the people behind them get away with making absurd stuff up, how the media seems to lap up all of these products and how some of these people are even teaching in universities (even if they are the crap ones).

Part way through Iain M. Bank's 'Matter', don't think it is as good as the earlier Culture novels. Still, I'll finish it so I can get onto finishing the series.

[njiska]

Still trying to work on House of Leaves. I haven't had much time to read lately and the Echos discussion at the start of the 5th chapter just goes on forever. There's a pay off at the end of it, but it's not nearly powerful enough to make up for something like 15 pages of randomness. Broke my flow.

[sjewkestheloon]

Still reading Moby Dick here. STILL.

My condolences.

Time for Acid King and CMoon to get in another epic brawl (just like that one in They Live )

You have to approach Moby Dick like a road movie. It definitely isn't about getting to the end. Read a chapter a night or something like that. I'm sure Melville originally intended it as a linear novel, but after beefing it up to it's absurd length, the vast majority of it ends up having nothing to do with the whale and everything about Ishmael on a boat forever ruminating about deeper matters. The 'plot' becomes only bookends for this larger, weirder thing that probably is one of the greatest American novels, if it is a novel at all.

But definitely don't worry about getting to the end, that's absolutely the wrong way to read it.

I am actually enjoying the novel and like the cetology and minutae more than the 'story' sections. I just can't quite comprehend how it is taking me so long to make any progress. I've actually taken a little break to read Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader which is almost finished and has taken me about an hour. Very dry and entertaining account of the Queen discovering Proust, Beckett, et al.

[Acid King]

Time for Acid King and CMoon to get in another epic brawl (just like that one in They Live )

You have to approach Moby Dick like a road movie. It definitely isn't about getting to the end. Read a chapter a night or something like that. I'm sure Melville originally intended it as a linear novel, but after beefing it up to it's absurd length, the vast majority of it ends up having nothing to do with the whale and everything about Ishmael on a boat forever ruminating about deeper matters. The 'plot' becomes only bookends for this larger, weirder thing that probably is one of the greatest American novels, if it is a novel at all.

But definitely don't worry about getting to the end, that's absolutely the wrong way to read it.

Maybe I'll give that a try if I get an e reader. I read it over the course of 2-3 weeks in college and just hated it. It read like Melville went completely off the rails and his lack of restraint damaged the stuff he did well. A lot of great writers go through a developmental period where they refine their style and that's something Melville never got a chance to do. Moby Dick struck me as a great artistic catastrophe, something amazing but also deeply flawed. It's too bad it killed his writing career because it would have been interesting to see where he could go with his style. I thought he did a shitload of interesting stuff but I think it would have been more successful had he reigned himself in a little and exercised some restraint. That's why I'm more interested to read Billy Budd than revisit Moby Dick.

[CMoon]

Strangely I'm the exactly the opposite regarding Melville; Moby Dick delt with such huge themes that I am afraid to read any of his other writings. He did write a book after Moby Dick called Pierre that Melville apparently considered his best work. I haven't read it, though it is apparently a very strange, psychological novel. The question is, do you want the earlier, almost pulp-ish pre-moby dick stuff, or do you want the multi-layered pre-Joyceian Moby Dick stuff.

I actually feel bad that you and countless other Americans have been subjected to Moby Dick in a class where you are forced to read it. Maybe just looking at the first couple chapters for style? The idea of being forced to plow through those chapters on a particular time schedule just doesn't fit what the book is about. If you can stomach it, I'd go back to it again on your own terms. A chapter here or there on a lazy sunday morning works best.

Anyway, I finished Hunger Games (the first book), and while I loved it and will read more shortly, I was rather expecting some sort of twist at the end that didn't happen. I'd guess books 1 & 2 must have been written together because the end feels completely arbitrary as though the editors simply picked a place in the larger story to place the end cover. I'll undoubtedly start reading the others shortly, though I do have a really impressive pile of other books to read and might check out something else first. Ah, the beauty of having a rather quiet, uneventful life is you can read lots and lots of books.

[PainAmplifier]

I've been backsliding lately. Instead of regular books, I've been reading a lot of fanfiction lately. And thinking of the Sturgeon's Law (90% of everything is crap) it doesn't quite apply to fanfiction properly...if there was a law for fanfiction it would be that "99.99999~%" of fanfiction is crap. (And 90% of that will outright rape your mind and make you question other peoples sanity.)

I've been reading mostly Naruto/Harry Potter with a smattering of things like Anita Blake, Buffy and Dresden Files mixed in. More often when they are crossovers than straight up fics. I really don't like Rowling's writing style, but some of the fanfiction writers out there can at least take the HP setting and beat it up enough to produce something that's a guilty pleasure to read or at least something that's at least readable.

Probably the biggest letdown is when you get a good story/writer and they just 'fizzle', leaving a story unfinished or they stop writing altogether. Sometimes you find a story gets updated *years* later, and then you have to reread the entire thing...and sometimes your tastes have changed and you no longer like the story or the story/direction just isn't as 'good' as it used to be. Although come to think of it, thats not just a fanfiction issue. Long running series like Jordan's Wheel of Time seems to suffer from this as well. Some of that is I think the writer just doesn't *end* the story when it needs to be and it gets dragged on for too long.

[RNGmaster]

I've been backsliding lately. Instead of regular books, I've been reading a lot of fanfiction lately. And thinking of the Sturgeon's Law (90% of everything is crap) it doesn't quite apply to fanfiction properly...if there was a law for fanfiction it would be that "99.99999~%" of fanfiction is crap. (And 90% of that will outright rape your mind and make you question other peoples sanity.)

I've been reading mostly Naruto/Harry Potter with a smattering of things like Anita Blake, Buffy and Dresden Files mixed in. More often when they are crossovers than straight up fics. I really don't like Rowling's writing style, but some of the fanfiction writers out there can at least take the HP setting and beat it up enough to produce something that's a guilty pleasure to read or at least something that's at least readable.

Probably the biggest letdown is when you get a good story/writer and they just 'fizzle', leaving a story unfinished or they stop writing altogether. Sometimes you find a story gets updated *years* later, and then you have to reread the entire thing...and sometimes your tastes have changed and you no longer like the story or the story/direction just isn't as 'good' as it used to be. Although come to think of it, thats not just a fanfiction issue. Long running series like Jordan's Wheel of Time seems to suffer from this as well. Some of that is I think the writer just doesn't *end* the story when it needs to be and it gets dragged on for too long.

Man, I loved My Immortal. Best badfic ever.