Currently reading Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", on Tully's recommendation.
Also recently read Alastair Reynolds' "Century Rain", which was enjoyable but not as good as his previous stuff.
Finished King's final "Dark Tower" book a week or two ago, too, really great stuff. I'm not sure if I like the ending or not... I'm leaning towards liking it. The whole series was great, though.
Need to get my hands on the new Discworld novel... I hate buying hardbacks, though. I guess I'll have to wait, or go to the library.
I kinda want to read Robert Rankin's "Witches of Chiswick" again soon, it's a totally brilliant book - completely insane, but hilarious and very engaging.
This year of my life is all about finishing stuff I started.
After three attempts, I finally made it through Thomas Pynchon's "V.". I feel good about that, even though I still have no idea what the fnucking halaal it was about. Not that I'm alone in that. After a while I guess I'll try 'Gravity's Rainbow' again.
Now I'm about to finish off Harlan Ellison's 'Dangerous Visions' anthology, a collection of SF that was edgy around the time I was born, i.e. almost four decades ago. I started reading it almost two decades ago. That Ellison certainly works himself into a lather about how edgy they all are.
Ryno: Seems it's not out until October 17th... that's what Amazon UK is telling me, anyway. I haven't read any of them, but that series seems to be highly recommended - I'll take a look as soon as I have the time/money
Just finished Ice Station by Matthew Rielly the other day. First time I've read a book of that genre. It was a fast read, which is good, because I'd run out of interest if it was a long/slow book.
just finished Deception Point by Dan Brown and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card (I love the Ender series!!!!). I also finally got around to starting the first book in the Wheel of Time series, but it hasn't pulled me in yet (and I'm half way through it), so I've moved on to Discworld by Terry Pratchett which is much better imo.
I'll point out that if anyon else is plannin on reading anything by Dan Brown, don't bother. The guy really really really cannot write. The daVinci code did well because the topic was interesting, but the man is a talentless hack.
Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (need to get these read before the movie)
all 6 Harry Potter novels (again) before the Goblet of Fire movie
and finally finish up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
[ QUOTE ]
I'll point out that if anyon else is plannin on reading anything by Dan Brown, don't bother. The guy really really really cannot write. The daVinci code did well because the topic was interesting, but the man is a talentless hack.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well someone at work made me read Angels and Demons and then the Davinci Code. I liked them mainly because of the topics. But I'm not a big fan of his characters and if you continue to read more of his works like Digital Fortress and Deception point you'll realize that he uses the same exact outlines and what happens to his character... Also, every single main female character is apparently a hot piece of ass, and she hooks up with the main male character (who doesn't need to be attractive at all) at the end of each book... so even if she has a few friends and family die she's still in the mood to do a man she's only known for 24 hrs at the end of the adventure. LOL... what a slut!
Asherr - I need to read Eragon... heard its suppose to be great. OH, and Douglas Adams is brilliant! If you haven't yet, I suggest reading the rest of his HGTTG books (restaraunt at the end of the universe, life the universe and everything, etc). One of the main reasons I'm loving Discworld so far is because it has the feel of HFTTG.
oh and by "read" I mean "listen to" lol... I don't have time, I'm always working in front of the computer so I'm an audiobook junkie.... much better then listening to the same ol' music over and over.
Reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson (author of Cyrptonomicon and Snow Crash. It's the second book in his Baroque Cycle. The third book awaits the completion of the second.
Recent Reads: Whispering Nickel Idols by Glen Cook Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Just finished Chuck Palahniuk's "Nightmare" and "Stranger than fiction." Just started reading orwell's 1984. I know I'm a little late in reading that one, but better than never reading it at all. I am still awaiting the rerelease of Steve Alten's original "Meg" novel. Supposed to be additional chapters and some revisions. I guess it's to prepare for the theatrical release next year.
"With Sword and Fire!' by Henryk Sinkiewicz (sic) and 1888 Historical romance about the fall of the Polish Commonwealth just after the 30 years war. From the same author as Quo Vadis
Just finished H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and HG Wells' War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, and about to start on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Ploughing through a shedload of Victorian lit after reading Jess Nevins' annotations to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Me = Big ol' geek...
Dan Brown is a fine writer, but it's true that I wouldn't call his writing style 'smart'. His content can be interesting in some aspects and very cliched in others.
I had a hard time getting through Stephenson's The Confusion. I will finish it though. William Gibson's new book reminds me a bit of Crytonomicon (although not nearly as good). It is called Pattern Recognition and it is worth reading.
I also read Harry Potter and Guns Germs Steel recently.
Anybody know of another cyber punk author in the same style as Gibson/Stephenson? Sometimes when I pick stuff up at random, it turns out to be unreadable dogshit.
Douglas Coupland's Microserfs is a cool book about a bunch of gigs that work at Microsoft. I like all his books.
Brett Easton Ellis's Galmourland is good too. Bit disturbed though.
Finished the third Stephen King book in the "Dark Tower" trilogy - "The Wizard and the Glass" ... I found myself struggling to complete this one and only found myself enduring to read it because the other's before it were really good. After god-knows-how-many pages I finished it ...and it was indeed shit all the way through until the very last bit. Can anyone give me a heads up on the rest of the books in the series as I feel that this one could have done with some SERIOUS editing... I really wanna see them get to the Dark Tower though!
Also read The Wasp Factory by Iain. M. Banks which was really good but the twist at teh end was rubbsih and unneeded in my opinion.
Went to Barcelona for a week and got myself through some Philip K Dick classics: "Valis" (which was great and really reminded me of Grant Morrison's: "The Invisibles" - yeah, we know where YOU stole your ideas from Grant ), "UBIK" and "The Galactic Pot Healer", which, although having stoopid names, were really good. Im definately going to be investing in some more of his works.
Ninjas -- not sure where you're at in Confusion, but it picks up speed later on. I'm nearly done with it and look forward to starting System of the World.
[ QUOTE ]
I really wanna see them get to the Dark Tower though!
[/ QUOTE ]
I did, too. Unfortunately, I actually finished the series and think the conclusion of The Dark Tower was about the most unsatisfying piece of fiction I have ever read.
Hmmm - cheers MOP - I might just skip the 4th and jump straight onto the 5th then as the synopsis of the 4th 9Wolves of ...whatever... cant remember now) looks like more of the same old same old
I was happy w Eragon though it was simple appeared to be lifting ideas in heavy amounts from jrrt & grrm. One part of it made me almost cry. I just finised all the LOTR in august, now have to watch the dvd's next.
I think the tower series changed cos of King's accident when was injured.
Lots of ideas for me for alt reading. Skrubbles i am an audio freak - about 2 to 3 hrs a day. part lunch hour n commute. hehe
Intensity by dean koontz was awesome too! I gotta check out more of OSC.
Wheel of time sounds good for 2006,but so many have told me online to run away fr RJ.
:shrugs.
Ther reason why people are telling you to run away from Jordan is because the saga isn't finished yet... and there's no end in site... and its been in production for like 20 years (or something like that). I've heard the first 6 books are great and it goes downhill after that. Seems like he's purposely stretching it out as much as he can because he know people will buy every book... and the only reason people are still buy is because they've invested so much time that they want to know the ending.
So I have WOT on hold for now... not gripping yet, and if its suppose to be tedious later on then what's the point of forcing myself to get sucked in?
21st Century Game Design by Chris Bateman and Richard Boon -- HIGHLY recommended for basically everyone in the industry.
also about halfway through the complete collected short stories of Raymond Chandler; after that I'll probably read the collected short work of Ernest Hemingway.
After that i'm looking at Don Quixote or Dante's Inferno.
Rick: I've definitely been interested in Irvine Welsh's work for some time now--once I clear some room on my plate I think I'll read Trainspotting and others of his. Damn Amazon for making this stuff so easy to keep track of and then acquire
After Snow Crash, I would put Stephenson away. The Diamond Age had some interesting parts, I got halfway through Cryptonomicon; he's trying to make statements now, instead of stories. Take all the linguistics pieces of Snow Crash and make them the vast majority of the book, and you have the equivalent.
The Three Musketeers was very different from any film version I've seen...more different than I even expected. It was good, but it's a political intrigue story, not an adventure (as films like to portray it).
I've been making my way through the classics. Dracula was great, but was a bit tough to read, as it was written as a collection of diaries and letters. Frankenstein so far is just way melodramatic.
Replies
Also recently read Alastair Reynolds' "Century Rain", which was enjoyable but not as good as his previous stuff.
Finished King's final "Dark Tower" book a week or two ago, too, really great stuff. I'm not sure if I like the ending or not... I'm leaning towards liking it. The whole series was great, though.
Need to get my hands on the new Discworld novel... I hate buying hardbacks, though. I guess I'll have to wait, or go to the library.
I kinda want to read Robert Rankin's "Witches of Chiswick" again soon, it's a totally brilliant book - completely insane, but hilarious and very engaging.
Might try king's short stories too.
hodor hodor hodor hodor
After three attempts, I finally made it through Thomas Pynchon's "V.". I feel good about that, even though I still have no idea what the fnucking halaal it was about. Not that I'm alone in that. After a while I guess I'll try 'Gravity's Rainbow' again.
Now I'm about to finish off Harlan Ellison's 'Dangerous Visions' anthology, a collection of SF that was edgy around the time I was born, i.e. almost four decades ago. I started reading it almost two decades ago. That Ellison certainly works himself into a lather about how edgy they all are.
/jzero
NOw I'm reading Brideshead Revisited.
Im holding George R.R. Martin at gun point right now while hes reading feast of crows to me.
[/ QUOTE ]
Is it actually finally out?! We've been waiting for several years now...
Perdido St. Station - China Meiville
Old National Geographics from the past two years
Last thing I read was Dante's Inferno. Which is a masterpiece.
Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (need to get these read before the movie)
all 6 Harry Potter novels (again) before the Goblet of Fire movie
and finally finish up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I'll point out that if anyon else is plannin on reading anything by Dan Brown, don't bother. The guy really really really cannot write. The daVinci code did well because the topic was interesting, but the man is a talentless hack.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well someone at work made me read Angels and Demons and then the Davinci Code. I liked them mainly because of the topics. But I'm not a big fan of his characters and if you continue to read more of his works like Digital Fortress and Deception point you'll realize that he uses the same exact outlines and what happens to his character... Also, every single main female character is apparently a hot piece of ass, and she hooks up with the main male character (who doesn't need to be attractive at all) at the end of each book... so even if she has a few friends and family die she's still in the mood to do a man she's only known for 24 hrs at the end of the adventure. LOL... what a slut!
Asherr - I need to read Eragon... heard its suppose to be great. OH, and Douglas Adams is brilliant! If you haven't yet, I suggest reading the rest of his HGTTG books (restaraunt at the end of the universe, life the universe and everything, etc). One of the main reasons I'm loving Discworld so far is because it has the feel of HFTTG.
oh and by "read" I mean "listen to" lol... I don't have time, I'm always working in front of the computer so I'm an audiobook junkie.... much better then listening to the same ol' music over and over.
Recent Reads:
Whispering Nickel Idols by Glen Cook
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Scott
Ploughing through a shedload of Victorian lit after reading Jess Nevins' annotations to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Me = Big ol' geek...
I had a hard time getting through Stephenson's The Confusion. I will finish it though. William Gibson's new book reminds me a bit of Crytonomicon (although not nearly as good). It is called Pattern Recognition and it is worth reading.
I also read Harry Potter and Guns Germs Steel recently.
Anybody know of another cyber punk author in the same style as Gibson/Stephenson? Sometimes when I pick stuff up at random, it turns out to be unreadable dogshit.
Brett Easton Ellis's Galmourland is good too. Bit disturbed though.
Also read The Wasp Factory by Iain. M. Banks which was really good but the twist at teh end was rubbsih and unneeded in my opinion.
Went to Barcelona for a week and got myself through some Philip K Dick classics: "Valis" (which was great and really reminded me of Grant Morrison's: "The Invisibles" - yeah, we know where YOU stole your ideas from Grant
I really wanna see them get to the Dark Tower though!
[/ QUOTE ]
I did, too. Unfortunately, I actually finished the series and think the conclusion of The Dark Tower was about the most unsatisfying piece of fiction I have ever read.
Frank the Avenger
I think the tower series changed cos of King's accident when was injured.
Lots of ideas for me for alt reading. Skrubbles i am an audio freak - about 2 to 3 hrs a day. part lunch hour n commute. hehe
Intensity by dean koontz was awesome too! I gotta check out more of OSC.
Wheel of time sounds good for 2006,but so many have told me online to run away fr RJ.
:shrugs.
So I have WOT on hold for now... not gripping yet, and if its suppose to be tedious later on then what's the point of forcing myself to get sucked in?
the amber series was the same 1 - 5 great 5-10 medium to poor.
also about halfway through the complete collected short stories of Raymond Chandler; after that I'll probably read the collected short work of Ernest Hemingway.
After that i'm looking at Don Quixote or Dante's Inferno.
As is Life of Pi
And Trainspotting since I'm recommending
And Catch 22
And The Three Muskateers
And The Count Of Monte Christo
The worst "classic" I've read recently is Treasure Island. Sorry Robert, it was laboured.
Oh, and you havent read "To Kill A Mockingbird" then you are missing one of the greatest novels ever written.
The Three Musketeers was very different from any film version I've seen...more different than I even expected. It was good, but it's a political intrigue story, not an adventure (as films like to portray it).
I've been making my way through the classics.
Frank the Avenger
My SO is obsessed with murder mystery. shrugs.