Okay folks, let's get this party started.
What book(s) are you reading right now, and what do you think of it?
Instant Review: Kafka on the Shore
slightly disappointing
Quick Review: Jorge Luis Borges, Fictions
This should actually be called sci-fi in today's terminology, although it is simple, straightforward fiction written in an era when sci-fi meant outrageous space opera. Borges writes about totally fascinating "what if"s that bring philosophy down to earth. Themes in this book are repeated in everything else he writes, but he does it here first and best. Here's a story from Fictions, worth your time:
I'm reading Good Omens, so far it's pretty good, but I'm only a few chapters in...
Reading Iron & Silk, about 1/3 through it. Good stuff - an American in his 20s, traveling through 1980s China.
Very amusing anecdotes that still describe China today - EVERY driver on the road honking ALL the time, day and night; regulations against everything, waivers for said regulations, new regulations created on the spot to invalidate what those waivers are permitting, etc.
I just read The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem. Someone said his fiction was a lot like Philip K. Dick's sometimes... they were right.
It's basically about someone attending a convention at a hotel where all sorts of other weird societies and groups have congressed, and soon the place is sacked by the rioting local populace. The narrator hides and then undergoes a series of hallucinatory realities.
I haven't read much of his work, but I love Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius to death, even though it does take quite an effort to get through it, as short as it is. The whole text is available on the net, for those curious:
Stanisław Lem - Solaris
Been reading this for a while. Not a lot of text, but seriously creepy. Refreshingly different, and I'm looking forward to reading other Lem stuff (several people have recommended him).
just finished:
Boris Vian - L'Ecume des jours
loved it, almost as good as the ever-brilliant arrache-cœur. If you like the gruesome brand of absurdist-dadaist surrealism that oscillates between acidic humour and utter bile, this is for you.
>>4
I loved Good Omens. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman really made a good author pair for that book. If nothing else, it was just really funny and clever.
Donna Tartt - My little Friend
I read it in the original and the RS traduction, and the traduction was almost better. The original is just so fucking lo-fi (grave mistypes), that I couldn't help but dot at it. I mean, I don't really want the fucking internet outside of it's confined habitat inside my computer, and I especially don't want it inside my books, thanks!
>it's
haha
I tend to read a few books at a time, mostly because I'm a master of misplacement, and because I'm wired that way.
Currently:
>I mean, I don't really want the fucking internet outside of it's confined habitat inside my computer, and I especially don't want it inside my books, thanks!
Hehe
The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick
Best review at: http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ozickc/putterp.htm
Benito Mussolini - Rudolph
Instant Review: "Lol".
Исаак Бабель - Собрание сочинений
I'm afraid to list this on Amazon with all the good reviews, but the Penguin Classics translation of this book SUCKS HAIRY COCKS. Book itself is pretty sweet writing, but it's ruined by some translator who decided "hey it's a Russian book so let's use random Russian words all over the place".
Just finished:
Lord of the flies :William Golding.
Reading:
Andrzej Stasiuk - Dukla
(in the O.K. traduction)
Didn't expect something like that to come from Poland. Stunning.
>>22
they're suddenly really keen on suicide and rape in the subway there now, aswell?
>>25
oh, to keep with the tradition of twentieth-century misogynists.
Actually, no.
>>26 So you're saying you're unimpressed because of an unfair bias?
probably.
Iain Pears - An Instance of the Fingerpost
Light read, but extremely entertaining, because well-plotted (polyphonic!) and placed in my favorite epoch of british hystory (Restoration/Ministry of Clarendon) and elegant use of famous figureheads of the fledgling science (Wallis, Morland, Boyle) and politics (Clarendon, Thurloe, Arlington), modelled after details gleaned from historical correspondence etc.
To be fair, a person's taste in literature doesn't always have to be fair. People do have preferences when it comes to writing styles, and what they consider humorous.
How could you even judge a work of fiction without subjective bias? It's a big set of lies packaged to evoke emotional response of one form or another. Pretending you can be objective about literature is just silly.
The book of imaginary creatures by Jorge Luis Borges
instareview: reeks of 'invisible cities' but is moste awesome in its own righte
Then how does he sign his name?
Kurt Tucholsky - Gesammelte Werke
While I disagree with some of his political views, as a writer, an aphorist and satirist he is quite unbeatable. In the (german, nota bene!) 1920s this guy was intellectually already in the 21st century. Also, his brilliant writing and his caustic wit are utterly funny.
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
It's not as good as I expected, but okay.
I'm actually re-reading it right now because I was too young to quite get it the first time.
But it's still kind of annoying.
I even finished it! It was kind of annoying most of the way through, though. Holden's repetitive narration gets old pretty fast.
Maybe you need to space out reading it over the course of time, to lessen the annoyance. My interest was piqued with it's interesting/cryptic reference in Ghost in the Shell, and was furthered when I read about John Lennon's murderer. Can't remember his name now though (´д｀)
Baltasar Gracián y Morales - El Criticón
Every page a letdown. I can see (by a long stretch) how people might have "enjoyed" this book in the fundamentalist Spain of 1651, but how today's critics manage to praise this as "a pleasurable read", "aesthetically pleasing" and "entertaining" is beyond me.
Luisa Famos - Poesias
(original - there is a Camartin traduction I'm curious about but haven't yet looked at)
Partly incredible (Pitschna indiana, Meis nom, Hoz valutuon a fün), partly horrible (np 4 "GOD").
Bernhard Hennen - Die Elfen
Well, a pretty well written Fantasy book. If you're into fantasy stuff and are in need of a good book ( And able to read german, obviously ), I can only recommend it.
Kenzaburô Oë - Tagame Berlin-Tokyo
(in the SF traduction)
I'm not sure how much I agree with the ostentatious autobiographical element, but the subtle and carefully crafted narrative is very enjoyable. The book is more complex than his earlier works - in my eyes a plus. Can't comment too much on the writing per se, because I'm unable to read the original.
Terry Pratchett — The Colour of Magic
I'd put off reading any Pratchett for ever and ever and finally go around to checking him out. He's great. Silly yet well-written fantasy: looking forward to finishing this book and reading more of his stuff.
Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
I read this alongside an encyclopedia to understand various refernces. I think I read the encyclopedia 90% of the time. o.o;
I just finished an August Wilson play, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." It was pretty good, but I still like "Ma Rainey's Big Black Bottom" better.
Mercedes Lackey — By The Sword
I'm a fantasy buff, and Lackey is an old-school fantasy writer... which means the chances of me liking her stuff are slim to none. Most of the older fantasy is clichéd as all hell and is no fun to read no matter how well it's written. However. By The Sword is freaking great, despite the fruitiest and most demeaning cover art I've ever seen in my life. Excellent writing, interesting characters and plot: I'm about 2/3 of the way through and I reward it **_4 out 5 internets**, and may rate the coveted 5 internets if there's lots of explosions and sex in the last third of the book.
Christoph Ransmayr - Morbus Kitahara
A morose narration about people in a post-ww2 Europe where instead of the Marshall-Plan, an extreme version of the Morgenthau-Plan/JCS1067 (thinly guised as "Stellamour" in the book) has been implemented.
Quality through the skies, the somewhat cyclic structure works out great (which is quite the feat), and instead of all-out focusing on a monomanic dystopia, it places the protagonists in the spotlight, preventing the narrative from getting lost in uninteresting and repetitive details. Writing tailorfit for the story.
I bought a copy of "Wicked" and will probably start it this weekend. it's written as a prequel to the wizard of oz about the wicked witch of the west before she became the wicked witch of the west.
Wicked - I read it recently, it really was not that good. First 1/4 of it was very interesting though!
Ian McEwan - Saturday
I'm somewhat tempted to describe it as the textual equivalent of someone masturbating over a neurology textbook. However, masturbation usually involves some sort of enjoyment, while this book definitely doesn't.
Cardboard-flat characters propped into an uninteresting narrative, which far too often stretches to give way to the author's monomanic ego-stroking over the neurological knowledge that would fail to impress even a freshman student of medicine.
Pierre Bourgeade - Téléphone rose
Light, but extremely entertaining. Mornios and Le Têtard are some of the choicest flics to ever grace a book with their existence, the writing is very amusing, and the plot is so parodistic it almost wraps around itself. Extra points for being devoid of any respect for anything whatsoever.
Finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha, and an started on reading Geisha, a life.
Nagib Mahfous - Rihlat Ibn Fattouma
(Kilias traduction)
In a parabolic voyage (the title translates to "the journey of the son of fattouma"), a man named muhammad el-innabi ibn fattouma travels through unique regions, seeking the mysterious land of Gabal.
>>50
really?
I'm halfway through the book and I just love it! I am so very much in love with Elphaba! MOEEEEE!!!
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel
The paperback version of this book is far too cubical for comfort, but just one chapter in, I'm already enjoying it immensely. Page-long footnotes mocking ancient acadamic traditions are a definite plus.
Ursicin Gian Gieli Derungs - Il saltar dils morts
oh, how typical.
The Chrestomanci set of stories by Diana Wynne Jones.
Very light reading, since it's for kids. It's similar to Harry Potter, just older, shorter, and more entertaining.
Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow for the umpteenth time.
Can anyone recommend authors with a similar style?
Andreas Maier - Klausen
I always found Wäldchestag to be a masterpiece of almost Bernhardian proportions. Klausen isn't of the same...grandezza, but by no means a letdown.
Frank Rich - <i>Hot Seat</i>
Not exactly a work of eternal literature, but a fascinating collection of Rich's theatre criticisms and essays during his tenure at the New York Times. I'm currently up to the 1986-7 season (the book starts at 1980 and goes through 1993).
>>54
I read that a few years ago. Good book, but nothing overly spectacular.
Currently I'm reading 世界の終わりとハードボイルドワンダーランド by Murakami Haruki. I read the english translation (Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World) a few years ago and loved it, but I'm just now getting to the point where I can actually follow it in the original language.
(anonymous) - plitoscht plitäza plibluscht
finally some belles lettres between all the academic sludge.
Written by an anonymous court clerk of the late 17th from Sariisa, published last year in a hist. annotated edition. Very coarse, very fitting language, describing the (somewhat agonizing) "life" in a small village of the time, which consists mostly of starving and then croaking. Very poetic in an awkward way, a bit like cuntrasts. I like!
The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
kim - rudyard kipling
the hero of a thousand faces - joseph campbell
Peter F. Hamilton - Judas Unchained. No matter how far back in head my eyes keep rolling, it's still very entertaining. Except for the eye-rolling parts. As a writer, Hamilton lacks any kind of subtlety or finesse, but his silly space melodrama is second to none! I wish he'd write more about SPACE and less about PEOPLE.
I'm reading Journey to the West, the three volume set.
three-volume journey to the west? wu cheng'en's journey to the west?
did I read an abridged edition? the penguin classics ('monkey') is single-volume.
Well, in a way, yes. I first read the Arthur Waley version, and thought it was so great, I purchased the unabridged, illustrated version. The poetry is lovely. Here's a link to see what I'm talking about:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/7119006533/sr=8-3/qid=1143555158/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-3287713-7698469?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Battle Royale.
What? ._.
Samuel Pepys - Diary 1660-1669, Wheatley Edition
best book ever.
EVER.
Just started the WoT series last month. I'm on Path of Daggers now.. if i can find a copy of it at my library
La bas, by Hyusmans.
>>73
Finished that one last week.
I'm out of books now...
I just went to a Christopher Moore signing, and purchased A Dirty Job, Lamb, and Bloodsucking Fiends. He said that his next book will be a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends.
And he wrote the most sympathetic portrayal of zombies ever.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Soon to start on Banana Yoshimoto's N.P.
Death of a Salesman
Depressed yet, >>82?
I'm currently reading The Stupidest Angel, thanks to the urgings of Cosmo Gunny. The author, Christopher Moore, seems to casually meander through the story, both in tone and pace.
I always have several on the go, but currently
master of petersberg by JM Coetzee
and
City of Dreaming books by Walter Moers
David Weber - On Basilisk Station
According to The Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy List it's supposed to be quite good, but so far I'm unimpressed. On the one hand it's a fun and brainless romp, but the rather heavy Mary Sue vibes I'm getting are ruining my enjoyment of it a bit.
hell yeah Catcher in the rye is my favorite book. Read carpenter raise high the roof beam and seymour an introduction. he makes alussions to catcher and his life. Holden Caulfield was hilarious, yet hypocritical, but enjoyed his uber harsh review of all the people in his life!
Holden Caulfield is a whiny brat on the verge of a nervous breakdown (there is a reason he's in a mental institution as he tells the story). As an insight into a troubled mind I guess it works, but overall he just gets kind of annoying. He's not hilarious, he's pitiable.
>>88 Holden isn't in a mental institution he has walled himself away alone from the world in the end of the book. I thought his observation about people were quite amusing. I like how he ogled girls and got angry at things that he himself did.
I was recently reading "Metamorphs", http://very.net/~nikolai/sf/meta/meta-1a.html. It grabbed me at first, but then at about part 3 it got really weird and lost direction altogether and then sort of went nowhere. But it was still an interesting read.
The Good Person of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht
I really like it, but can't help feeling I'm missing a lot by not seeing it performed.
The Black Company by Glen Cook.
It's a fantasy novel in a sketchy, almost stream-of-consciousness fashion. No excessive detail here.
Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto
I just love her writing. Ity really makes you feel warm and fuzzy; it's dramatic but sweetly mundane at the same time. She deals mostly in relationships and the theme of family, so if you like 'human' writin, I'd recommend her.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Marai Remarque.
Good book. Currently reading it for a novel exam.
The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
As far as novels with many allusions to history and other works go, Pérez-Reverte makes me feel much less stupid than Eco.
Anyone ever read Romance of the Three Kingdoms? I want to get that book.
http://www.futrelle.com/stories/TheProblemOfCell13.html
It's entertaining!
About to read The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson. any good?
David Feintuch - Midshipman's Hope
The protagonist is an inflexible masochistic sadist, lashing out at everyone and constantly loathing himself.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
>>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
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)
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.
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.
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
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.
