Reading 'The name of the rose' by Umberto Eco as part of a book club, I'm really not into it at all
That one was an acquired taste for me. On my first reading I skimmed over most of what happened and felt pretty let down by most of the key plot developments (particularly the one you mentioned). The ending left me almost heartbroken. But weirdly I really loved it second time through, I loved the storyline and the imagery and landscapes towards the end were on par with The Gunslinger in terms of trippy-ness. And the ending actually seems really fitting to me now, though could have done with a little more clarification. Only the meeting between Spoiler: Roland and The Crimson King really irks me because it's just so flaccid and uneventful.
haruki murakami, 1Q84, pt I
i like his prose. his language is rather plain and yet his books ooze with the mysterious and the fantastical
I am currently reading A Game of Thrones. I'm a slow reader but I'm almost at the end and I'm using every waking minute I can spare to read. it's an amazing book! And I'm excited to read the next one, however, I've been forbidden from reading the second one until the second season of the show comes out
Pale Fire by Nabokov... Really, I'm listening to it. This helps since I can't imagine Russian accents very well.
I'm in the middle of Norwegian Wood. His language is plain and I think that helps me to see the scenes vividly. I point that out because I haven't read a book in a long time that I get pulled into the world like that and actually "live" in it. With Norwegian Wood, it's so easy. Maybe because the characters in this book seem like such real people.
yeah, that's the case with all his books (that i've read). real and ordinary people to whom most extraordinary things happen. what also strikes me, they're all so lonely. and even if in relationships, they're still loners..
if you'd like to continue with murakami, i recommend "dance, dance, dance" and "the wind-up bird chronicle"
also, i've noticed his short stories don't pull you in as much. maybe he needs more space to unwind the plot and make it so arresting...
Just getting stuck into Pigs Might Fly, The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Pretty good so far. Can't get enough of music biographies these days.
Gotta agree - those were the two main issues I had with the final volume of the series (which, on the whole, I loved). The Spoiler: death of Flagg, who has been my favourite SK character since The Stand was a real disappointment. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but it read like King wanted it to happen and had run out of time and came up with a quick way to wrap that subplot up. And as for flaccid and uneventful, absolutely agree. What I wanted was Spoiler: to see that whole image that had been spun in an earlier volume of Roland at the top of the tower, confronting his enemy but oh well. Loved the books on the main, though. A fantastic accomplishment.
I'm re-reading Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock, because I've been picking up the Del Rey Elric compilations. Great stuff.
Highly recommend Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft's "Severed" limited comic series, it's so freaking good. Issue 1 alone will most certainly grab you.
I was introduced to Scott Snyder with the New 52 books "Batman" and "Swamp Thing". I'm thoroughly enjoying those books and looked into other stuff he had done. His "Detective Comics" run has been hardcovered into "Batman: The Black Mirror" which is another outstanding read. Throw "American Vampire" in there as well as essential reading.
I'm looking to read Ed Brubaker's noir stuff like "Criminal", "Incognito", and "Sleeper". I hear nothing but high praise for that stuff.
Think I'm getting "Richard Stark's Parker" The Martini Edtion for Christmas so excited is an understatment.
Currently reading Brecht's "The Good Woman of Szechuan".
Just started Clive Barker's Imajica. Gonna be a daunting read for sure.
"The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Not bad so far, if a little sub-Dickish.
Finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo a few days ago, wanted to try and read it before the film's release. I didn't really take to it if I'm honest. It was all a bit underwhelming. It felt like there was a good sub-plot bookended by tonnes of corporate and financial jargon and journalistic analysis. Somewhere in there was a pretty decent crime/thriller mystery that I did really enjoy and that kept me reading. But even then, when the Harriet Vanger plot finished and all became revealed it seemed a little flaccid. The clue-finding was way too Scooby Doo for me, and so was the outcome; I wouldn't have been surprised if the killer had come out with "And I would have got away with it too if it hadn't been for you pesky investigative journalists".
Not sure if I'll finish the trilogy.
The Year in Lebowski Studies ed. Comentale & Jaffe
Not bad so far.
^^^ i haven't read that one, but it's on the list!
Read two fantastic books this week. First was Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase. It was quite gripping, but it surely wasn't Murakami's best (nothing can top Kafka on the Shore for me). I highly recommend reading it though; it goes into some very original territory that I think is eerily similar to the chief plot in Twin Peaks.
The second was a Christmas present from a friend called First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. It was my first foray into Canadian literature, and I must say, I was quite impressed. It was touching and it was beautiful, and I definitely recommend it.
Currently reading this, about a future world with no men. It's not very good...
Small World - Matt Beaumont
One Day - David Nicholls
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
And...it's sucking me in
So my book was missing pages 85-117. I thought this one of the book's many visual tricks, but no. Have to wait for a new copy now.
Last edited by aggroculture; 01-07-2012 at 10:44 PM.
Another book about gender in the future:
Pretty awful, this one.
More.
This one's a bit better.
Now I am reading this, and it's brilliant:
Last edited by aggroculture; 01-11-2012 at 09:51 AM.