I'm digging the interludes. But the main part I'm finding bland.
EDIT: 350 pages in. This book is a real chore. I really don't understand what people see in Gaiman.
I'm digging the interludes. But the main part I'm finding bland.
EDIT: 350 pages in. This book is a real chore. I really don't understand what people see in Gaiman.
Last edited by aggroculture; 10-12-2012 at 09:03 AM. Reason: because i read more
This is no Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but it's a pretty solid novel.
A book authored by a bio-engineering pioneer. It's crazy fascinating, well written and has me oscillating between thinking technology really will save us and thinking it will be our doom.
Hemingway?! Well, I guess I'll have to admit I've only read The Old Man and the Sea. Rum Diaries is pretty far away from that book. I get the first hints of the more delirious and hallucinogenic Gonzo work that was to come rather than Hemingway. If anything he conjures a more cagey Kerouac in Rum Diaries.
From what I recall, The Rum Diary is pretty much the Spanish parts of The Sun Also Rises (which I totally recommend btw) - but set in Puerto Rico.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...erto-rico.html
Probably the most insightful and painful book I've ever read.
I've found myself in this book, and I'm trying to get out of it.
^ Given my ongoing relationship with the big D, I think I'll be steering clear of that one.
Just finished Iain M Banks' new SF novel The Hydrogen Sonata, which was just fantastic. Now enjoying some light-weight, straightforward heroic fantasy in the form of Robin Hobb.
Lucky by Alice Sebold, got given it as a birthday present but it is a tough going read!
Picked up a copy of "Beyond Band of Brothers: The war memoirs of Major Dick Winters". Pretty good so far.
80 pages into this and already digging it a lot. Clive Barker is a great writer.
"Right. Challenge the bastards on their own turf. Come screeching up to the crosswalk, bucking and skidding with a bottle of rum in one hand and jamming the horn to drown out the music ... glazed eyes insanely dilated behind tiny black, gold-rimmed greaser shades, screaming gibberish ... a genuinely dangerous drunk, reeking of ether and terminal psychosis. Revving the engine up to a terrible high-pitched chattering whine, waiting for the light to change ... "
I'm reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" right now, but then, I'm kind of ALWAYS reading it. I'm usually at some point or another in it while reading something else at the same time.
Right now that "same time" book is "Enemy At The Gates", the historical text by William Craig about the Battle of Stalingrad, later to be made into the not bad Jude Law/Ed Harris movie that takes up maybe 4 pages of the book!
Read a couple essay compilations by Lewis Thomas, The Fragile Species, and On Late Nights Listening To Mahler's Ninth Symphony (?). Rehashes a lot of the same points but he has a pretty interesting take on things and ideas about science etc.
World War Z!
Often brilliant. Sometimes stupid, annoying, and off the mark, especially when it feels the need to throw meta-literary tricks at you, or belabors the same point over and over. But at its best, this book is incredibly thought-provoking and vivid. Some of the stories linger in your mind for quite a while.
My Dad likes to give me books and this one was a draft that he got from a book agent in his office building. I feel so special. It's pretty good so far. I'm such a serial genre reader: first it was mysteries, then true crime, then book club fiction, then book club histroric fiction, then it was anything that won a Pulitzer, now I'm on to real history. I'm also slow - I really need to force myself to read.
Just finished reading "John Dies at the End". Holy fuck was it good. Poignant one minute. Bat-shit-insane the next. Anyone else read it?
Last edited by NIN64; 01-07-2013 at 04:13 PM.
Stanislaw Lem - Solaris / Eden / The Invincible.
Epic stuff. I already read those in high school, but this book (I've got all three novels in one volume) holds much more appeal to me now when I'm 10 years older.
Last edited by fillow; 01-08-2013 at 09:46 AM.
Started reading Sandakan, about the death marches in WW2. Christmas present.
I totally feel like Mark Corrigan.
Last edited by Minpin; 01-10-2013 at 12:42 PM. Reason: Removing busted picture link
These are what I'm currently reading on my commutes to my course:
The Last Empire- Gore Vidal
So I finished reading Wolf Hall. A couple people in here were curious about what I thought of it, so here's my review:
The first two parts were very, very slow, and a bit confusing at first. Once I got used to the writing style I had a much easier time with it. As I got into Part 3, I had a much easier time and found it difficult to put it down. I had to find a good place to pause until I would have the time to pick it up again. It's a very intriguing telling of the reign of King Henry VIII, as it depicts the life of a person who was a prominent figure but worked behind the scenes more often or not. I still maintain that because there are so many characters and so many things going on that it can't be read while distracted or tired since it needs your full attention to read and understand.
Now I've moved onto its sequel:
^^ Thanks, @leo3375 !
Cloud Atlas. About 3/5 through. Avoiding reading anything about it so I don't see spoilers. The edition I have has the movie cover which looks crap. I hope it's a good movie. Skipped the author preface to avoid spoilers too. (It's happened before!) enjoying the book, the stack is starting to unwind now so I'm hoping it does so to my satisfaction.
Currently reading A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, which is only getting me excited for the new season of Game of Thrones.