I'm reading the Martian and its quite good, very funny.
Books The BOOK thread
- Thread starter Livvie
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First hundred pages or so are slow, then it gets really good, proper whodunnit? set in a medieval European monastery. If you know something about medieval European Christianity (I don't really), you may appreciate it even more.
I started The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, as I contemplated earlier in the thread. About halfway through now, and I must say it's very captivating so far. Unless it takes a spectacular turn for the worse, I will definitely be continuing with the next in the series, although I'm loath to begin waiting for yet another fantasy writer to finish his work!
At least it's only a trilogy, so just one book to wait.
I am mostly in a reading slump because I didn't like the two last books I have finished : The house of shattered wings, I didn't care at all for the main characters, and some parts of the plots didn't seem really convincing for me. If I did care, I would have been annoyed by the ending.
Finished too In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M Valente. I liked better the first book.
My recommendation for anyone in a reading slump (anyone who likes fantasy/scifi at least): Tales of the Ketty Jay. Really light and easy to read, and just so much fun. The first one's very good, but the next three are even better.
He's definitely unsettling, perhaps more than any character I've come across in literature, but his general weirdness - cavorting around naked, carrying the Howitzer like a toy gun, the imbecile on a leash like his pet dog - made me chuckle a bit. Possibly says more about me than anything.
Put like that, I see what you mean, mate.
The Great Gatsby. Finally got round to reading it. It's weird, I wouldn't say I found it that enjoyable while I was reading it, but now that I've finished, I can't stop thinking about it. Some fantastically flawed characters present.
What was your take on the Kid's fate Steve?
I just finished reading Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. His first detective type book. I really enjoyed it, thought it was excellent, and this is the first 'latter half' type of book of King's I've read as I thought he's dropped a level. (Even though I read the last Dark Tower book). I'd rate this 7.5/10. If you like detective type thrillers, and cat and mouse antagonists, I'd definitely recommend it.
I finished a book called Tread Softly In This Place by Brian Cleeve. It was a decent book well written and I thought the passages where he brought certain characters to death were excellent and got me thinking.
Thanks, I will add them to my TBR even if I am more a fantasy fan.
I read short books instead like Hygiene de l'assassin by Amélie Nothomb (I found it completely uninteresting, and without any strong dialogue. It's like reading a joke I don't find fun at all.) and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Cute story).
I also finished Court of Fives by Kate Elliott. I am so disappointed. I don't know why this game is so important when they have many wars. The characters seem quite obvious : the love interest is kind, beautiful, the bad guy that is just evil. It seems like the author going in YA decided to make things really formulaic, not subtle, with the MC doing sometimes dumb things and a fast love, nearly instant love because she thinks the YA readers would be lost otherwise.
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Reading, once again, The Perfect Prince. The perfect book too...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Pri...F8&qid=1441329685&sr=1-1&keywords=prince+wroe
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Pri...F8&qid=1441329685&sr=1-1&keywords=prince+wroe
Ah, sorry for the late reply, mate.
As far as I can recall, the Kid v Judge showdown was written in a deliberately vague manner - I just assumed that the Kid was murdered in the end. I admired him for standing up to the Judge, verbally, in the time approaching the killing.
I think that much of the book is rather lost on me (and that's in spite of reading Harold Bloom's appreciation of it); it has depths my brain can't descend.
As far as I can recall, the Kid v Judge showdown was written in a deliberately vague manner - I just assumed that the Kid was murdered in the end. I admired him for standing up to the Judge, verbally, in the time approaching the killing.
I think that much of the book is rather lost on me (and that's in spite of reading Harold Bloom's appreciation of it); it has depths my brain can't descend.
They are fantasy, just very different from the stereotypes. The best description of the tone is a cross between Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Pirates of the Caribbean, though it's a lot more fantastical than any of those since there's some magic that is pretty central to the storyline. A lot of people say it hits the same spot that Firefly did, though I never watched that show.
What made the ending all the more disturbing for me is, when asked what he has seen, the onlooker doesn't answer - he has to leave the scene. In a novel where every aspect of violence is explicitly detailed and almost celebrated, that the fate of the Kid can't be described and is left to the imagination of the reader is chilling.Ah, sorry for the late reply, mate.
As far as I can recall, the Kid v Judge showdown was written in a deliberately vague manner - I just assumed that the Kid was murdered in the end. I admired him for standing up to the Judge, verbally, in the time approaching the killing.
I think that much of the book is rather lost on me (and that's in spite of reading Harold Bloom's appreciation of it); it has depths my brain can't descend.
Just finished reading The Grapes of Wrath. What a fantastic book.
Could someone recommend me an author similar to Jack Higgins in the sense someone who writes fiction about Northern Ireland around the time of IRA? I really liked that Sean Dillon character.
Anyone read Go Set a Watchmen yet? How is it?
Pretty poor. It clearly wasn't meant to be published but might be worth a read if you're curious.
Which McCarthy novel should I look to after Blood Meridian?
I've only read a couple of his novels, and I don't think anything will be better than that. It's probably my favourite novel.
I'd recommend the Border trilogy books (I haven't got round to reading it yet myself, but it's meant to be excellent). No Country for Old Men is also a great read, and the ending is slightly different to the movie.
@Archie Leach All The Pretty Horses is fantastic. I'm halfway through The Crossing and it's been great too. The Road is tough but hauntingly beautiful.
I loved both books in Kingkiller, cant wait for next installment. Heard from a few people now saying that Robin Hood's stuff is better though.
I would disagree. Hobb is pretty cool, but not as good as Rothfuss IMO.
I thought NotW was alright - though ridiculously overhyped - and didn't enjoy the second book at all. Robin Hobb on the other hand I really like, especially the Liveships trilogy (though that's not really comparable to Kingkiller at all...)
Yeah, that's true. Hopefully, it'll come out next year.
I'm about three quarters through the second book now, and I'm very much enjoying it. So far I'm not sure the second quite lives up to the first, though. It feels like Rothfuss refused to listen to his editor at certain points, and the story became a bit long winded as a result. Especially the parts in Fae with the Felurian dragged on a bit.
Or alternatively, it could be that I just enjoyed the setting at the University a bit too much! Anyways, it's still one of the better books I've read in quite some time, and I'll undoubtedly be waiting impatiently for the final installment.
@Uzz @Nickosaur good call on All The Pretty Horses. Much more accessible than Blood Meridian and at times downright lovely but I still finished it feeling fairly unsettled. John Grady Cole is probably the most interesting teenage boy I've come across in fiction. Blevins was a shit.
Agree with this. Despite all the 'magic' in the book the part with felurian in the woods was the only part that seemed unbelievable, and I was always wishing he'd get back to the university at some point.
I enjoyed it, but not as much as some other works of his. Thing with John Grady is that his background, his childhood, his life experiences, etc. don't add up to the heroic, swashbuckling character displayed throughout the book, so I had to suspend my belief a little and instead of pictured a 16 year old in all these scenarios, I put Daniel Craig in a cowboy hat there. You know, makes it easier to make sense of the story. I plan to dig into the other two books in the series soon, hopefully I'll enjoy it a bit more.
I thought John Grady was a reserved, relateable character. I didn't see much evidence of swash-buckling and I don't think he was acting out of heroism at all. He's young and determined, passionate as hell. The final act, where he returns to the captain to reclaim the horses, he's acting out of anger, sorrow, confusion and guilt. His actions, for the most part, made a lot of sense to me.
Yeah I think the point with Grady was his goodness was unwavering despite the world never conforming to his view. There's a line somewhere in the book about man abandons himself before he abandons anyone else. Grady never does either. He thought he was a man from a different time but in line with McCarthy's vision of the west in Blood Meridian, I don't think the time Grady thinks he's from every existed.
I think he returned to get the horses to try and bring some right to the situation. The Captain had acted wrongly and needed to be punished and Blevins needed some absolution. It was Grady's attempt to restore his idea balance.
Yeah that's a valid point, and you can tell it's still bothering him when he visits the judge after the trial.
Half way through The Way of Kings, the first book in The Stormlight Archive. Bloody brilliant so far, very similar to Game of Thrones so if you're looking for a fix till the next book is finally release this is the series. Multiple character perspectives across a vast mythical land, key differences is the inclusion of various species so not just humans and the existence of these rare but powerful weapons and armour called Shardblades and Shardplate respectively.
Don't want to jump too far ahead but so far enjoying it just as much if not slightly more than the Game of Thrones books.
Don't want to jump too far ahead but so far enjoying it just as much if not slightly more than the Game of Thrones books.
Joyland - Stephen King: Wow. What an excellent book. I've raced through it. It's just a classic page turner. I don't want to go into too much detail as I don't want to ruin anyone else's reading of it, but I'd highly recommend it. It's only 280 pages. King has this amazing ability to make these 'coming of age' types of stories so real and relatable. A riveting read. 9/10
300 pages into We, The Drowned. Was told it was the Danish equivalent of One Hundred Years of Solitude, and although not as mystifying, it's really good in its own way. Like One Hundred Years of Solitude, it's very much a multi-generational tale, starting from 19th century seaport, Marstal to the Second World War. Lots of interwoven story lines, part historical, and epic in scope, powerful narrative, engrossing characters, rich prose, but doesn't really have the seductive magical realism of Garcia. 8.5/10 so far, hope it lasts for the entire book.
Lovely opening too :
Lovely opening too :
Have you read the other books by Sanderson?