Now Reading

[pcock]

anyone read any big, decent, high fantasy recently? the last i read was the 10 books of the malazan book of the fallen, about 2 years ago. it was great in some regards, but the way he kept on introducing interesting storylines throughout a novel, then completely abandoning them in the next was kind of frustrating. great world building though. 

[YangYing]

currently reading the death gate cycle.. is a real blast

[TubularCorporation]

Almost done with Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity by Erving Goffman.  It's quite good.

[gnarlybog]

 

Just finished reading this novella. One of those amazingly brilliant concepts with an unsatisfying execution: Surrealist artworks come to life in Nazi-occupied Paris. Due to it being so reference-heavy, it would have made a better comic book or video game. Also, the graphic designer in me has problems with the mental imagery of distinct/clashing art styles coming to life and interacting on the same plane. His work is usually high concept and interesting (I recommend The City and The City & Embassytown). This one felt like pure plot. Slightly disappointed. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by gnarlybog

[AJW]

IQ84 for the second time, brings me right back to the time around when I first read it, brings me to cosy slow everyday Tokyo suburbs. The zelkova trees, the flurorescent lamp by the playground, surprisingly non Japanese meals/music. Organised and stayin on top of things by not procrastinating, secure but monotonous incubated life. Books with the ability to transport are good, this book is a good one. 

[Bechuga]

anyone read any big, decent, high fantasy recently? the last i read was the 10 books of the malazan book of the fallen, about 2 years ago. it was great in some regards, but the way he kept on introducing interesting storylines throughout a novel, then completely abandoning them in the next was kind of frustrating. great world building though. 

 

Alan Moore's Jerusalem is a huge slab of fantasy / surreal storytelling. He literally leaves nothing out, and is definitely a book you can lost in. He makes the idea of Eternalism very enticing.

 

As for pure fantasy, no idea. I hate elves and things with furry feet. [/troll]

[YangYing]

currently reading the death gate cycle.. is a real blast

just finished it, is my second time reading it and I can't recommend it enough... truly breathtaking world and character building.. if you like fantasy this is up there with the best (to me soaring high above)

 

edit:

anyone read any big, decent, high fantasy recently? the last i read was the 10 books of the malazan book of the fallen, about 2 years ago. it was great in some regards, but the way he kept on introducing interesting storylines throughout a novel, then completely abandoning them in the next was kind of frustrating. great world building though.

quoted u for the recommendation is 7 books, by weis & hickman (who wrote dragonlance) Edited February 11, 2018 by MIXL2

[pcock]

 

Just finished reading this novella. One of those amazingly brilliant concepts with an unsatisfying execution: Surrealist artworks come to life in Nazi-occupied Paris. Due to it being so reference-heavy, it would have made a better comic book or video game. Also, the graphic designer in me has problems with the mental imagery of distinct/clashing art styles coming to life and interacting on the same plane. His work is usually high concept and interesting (I recommend The City and The City & Embassytown). This one felt like pure plot. Slightly disappointed. 

china meiveille is great, although i made the mistake of picking up Un Lun Dun without researching it and was disappointed to find a teenage other world novel i would have probably loved when i was 13, but not any more. embassytown was a nice premise, and i enjoyed his New Crobozun set aswell. you can find a bunch of china meiville words as my techno track titles. 

[QQQ]

recent reads:

 

Nip the buds, shoot the kids (Oe)

Cat's Cradle (Vonnegut)

Americana (DeLillo)

Imperial Bedrooms (BEE)

A Clockwork Orange (Burgess)

 

worst to best:

 

Imperial Bedrooms - Americana - Cat's Cradle - Nip the buds - A Clockwork Orange

 

Imperial Bedrooms was really... not great. he's so hit and miss.

 

Americana was wrote well but the 3 parts are so incredibly different tonally it really doesn't mesh. it was at least 150 pages too long, too.

 

Cat's Cradle is too inoffensive and bland to be great, though it was good enough.

 

Nip the buds was good, though the writing is repetitive and somewhat childish. it is narrated by a child, so I'm not sure how intensional this is. if intensional it works well. he was young as fuck when he wrote it, so i'm not sure.

 

A Clockwork Orange is fantastic. going to rewatch the film later.

Edited February 13, 2018 by QQQ

[tec]

Kubrick was right to lose the final chapter though.

 

Page break! This was referring to Clockwork Orange.

Edited February 13, 2018 by tec

[Cryptowen]

wooterin heights

 

thank god emily bronte only tried to write one character with an accent, otherwise this thing would be completely incomprehensible

[beerwolf]

Finished Barkers Books of Blood volume 4 to 6, excellent (but not as excellent as volumes 1 to 3)

 

One third of the way through Helter Skelter (Bugliosi). I'm struggling a little with the sheer amount of characters involved especially when I've put the book down for a number of days and start up again its a bit tricky. I've always been fascinated with the Manson Family and cults in general so it's a book I'm not going to be disappointed with.

[Bechuga]

The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover was a really good book. Just the right amount of metafiction and still had an enjoyable story. And I completely relate to a character who spends most of the working day daydreaming about other things and being distracted.

[cwmbrancity]

and Labour wonder where it all went wrong, read for a dare, fucker better pay up

 

 

 

[iococoi]

Metaphors We Live By..cog. science classic

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34459.Metaphors_We_Live_By

Edited March 2, 2018 by iococoi

[doorjamb]

are you kidding, who even reads anymore

[iococoi]

https://www.xlr8r.com/features/2018/01/real-talk-mark-fell/

[Nil]

I love challenging books (Boulgakov’s « The Master and Margarita » might certainly be my very favorite one). Last year I finally completed reading Salman Rushdie’s « Satanic verses » : dense, intense, complex, delirious, shape-shifting, intricate, cleverly executed and incredibly well written.

 

But it feels almost easy to grasp compared to what I’m currently re ding. I’m 300 pages into Joyce’s « Ulysses » and it’s a fascinating read so far. I’m not sure I always understand what I read (I’m pretty sure Most the time I don’t, ha!) but it’s an incredible experience nevertheless. I loved « Portrait of the Artist as a young man » when I read it years ago, Joyce’s style is unique and lush af, certainly the writer I love the sheer style the most... bit damn it can be demanding!

And it feels like « Ulysses » is his elseq or Twin Peaks s03 ^^

[usagi]

I reread Flowers For Algernon. the feels. I think I cried the first time I finished it and reading it a second time 10+ years later it still hits hard but man ain't got no more tears to crai.

[gnarlybog]

This was, to put it lightly, a fucking hoot to read. Awesome dude. Great studio anecdotes and a glance into his daily life. Some brilliant moments like: “Woke up at 4.30. Funny thing - in Ireland I rarely get an erection (though I was swimming nude the other morning, fully erect, and that was tremendous - almost non-sexual: like enjoying a muscle being flexed). It must be something to do with all the Catholicism in the air.”

 

I followed it with this 400 page book which I blasted through in days. Well written and goes album-by-album.

[beerwolf]

on the final few chapters of Helter Skelter, I had to put it down for a month or so and read a few fishing books because the whole story was beginning to get to me. I'd be trying to get to sleep and that stuff would worm its way into my mind. Even during the day I'd be thinking about it too much that was healthy. 

 

the chapter when it goes into how Manson thought The Beatles were talking to him via The White Album is totally fucking nuts, but very interesting.

Edited April 3, 2018 by beerwolf

[Gyroscopic]

40 Words for Sorrow. Currently on chapter 13. Things are gettign pretty heated right now.

[hello spiral]

I started rereading ASOIAF books when season 7 was released in the hopes that book 6 might be out by the time I'd finished. Welp I ran out of books the day before yesterday

 

Decided to read 1984. Not read it since I was 13 or so and I'm not even sure if I finished it. My memory of it is all mixed up with the 80s movie.

[Nebraska]

 

eileen's latest is basically exploring the dark web in all it's inferno levels starting with dark (the darknet markets), darker (the murder-for-hire hitmen and redrooms) to the darkest (pedo empires and the notorious daisy's destruction "makers" eventual capture).

 

interesting read- although eileen isn't exactly the best writer in the world and (imo) i feel like if you aren't aware of these subjects you'll feel a little lost as she skims through stories very quickly with not enough vivid detail eg. if you aren't familiar with VG/mongoose, then you're shit out of luck imagining what he looks like since eileen barely describes him besides "i couldn't believe i was finally meeting mongoose. i felt slightly intimidated"

[sweepstakes]

The Crying of Lot 49 - I don't think I'm a Pynchon dude. Fully admit it might be lack of IQ on my part. I'll stick with Dick for my 60's California fix.

 

Annihilation - Better than the movie. Felt slightly dumbed down but captivating. I read it all in one day which I haven't done since The Road like 10 years ago.

 

Neuromancer - Really enjoying it so far. Charming, fun, cheesy, and very 80s. I've read a couple other Gibson novels (Pattern Recognition and The Difference Engine) but this has a lot more fun youthful angst. The descriptions of neon Tokyo are inspiring in an unexpected way, I guess because this was before that whole vibe became hackneyed to the point where you can't deploy it without  irony, kitsch, or solemn homage.