EPTOn February 19 2015 08:47 Silvana wrote:
I'm keeping it for future reference on my way becoming a bookworm
I'm keeping it for future reference on my way becoming a bookworm
abandon hope all ye who enter here
What Are You Reading 2015 - Page 12
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bookwyrm
United States722 Posts
abandon hope all ye who enter here | ||
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jinorazi
Korea (South)4948 Posts
![[image loading]](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385072473l/18693743.jpg) just finished. i give it 3.8/5 what are some good books that mix future/modern tech with medieval setting? broken empire and pathfinder are the only ones i know. | ||
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bookwyrm
United States722 Posts
(well, not exactly...) | ||
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Cambium
United States16368 Posts
Just Read The Martian ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41OJe0LejCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg) There was so much hype around this book, I just had to read it, and I really liked it. Book is about an astronaut being stuck on Mars and has to find ways to survive on his own (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler). It's basically Interstellar, Gravity and Castaway all meshed together. The writing style is a little amateurish, and the technical details are really lackluster for a real geeky sci-fi, but the plot is great, and I honestly couldn't put it down and finished it in two long reading sessions. The Auschwitz Escape ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51glnEU62CL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) I really started to like historical fictions after All the Lights We Cannot See and this one was great as well. The protagonist is fictional, but a lot of the plots were actually based on real historical events, which made the stories that much more enticing. The whole book is mostly just one linear story, which is a nice change since most novels these days tend to develop multiple characters across different timelines simultaneously. Reading: Untamed State ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51C0Y8b0DtL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) Some rich girl getting abducted or something like that. Next The Invention of Wings ![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51O%2BkQz5SZL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) | ||
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Manit0u
Poland17329 Posts
On February 19 2015 11:46 Cambium wrote: The Auschwitz Escape I really started to like historical fictions after All the Lights We Cannot See and this one was great as well. The protagonist is fictional, but a lot of the plots were actually based on real historical events, which made the stories that much more enticing. The whole book is mostly just one linear story, which is a nice change since most novels these days tend to develop multiple characters across different timelines simultaneously. You would probably like The Gulag Archipelago, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It shows you how surreal such stuff can be. Like the excerpt from the newspaper, telling how the prisoners from one of the gulags have found perfectly preserved dinosaurs in the ice. Would be a huge scientific discovery if they wouldn't eat them... That's in the preface to the book, so not many spoilers  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago | ||
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itkovian
United States1763 Posts
American God by Neil Gaiman Enjoyed this. It was fun to see characterizations of gods in modern life. The plot was alright, it seemed to stagnate a little here and there. A fitting protagonist. I started watching trailer park boys at the same time as I was reading this, so I imagined Shadow to look like Julian hahah. The climax was good not great. The writing style was fun. I'd recommend this to a wide audience. Anyone read any of his other works? Worth checking out? My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard This was an interesting book my friend recommended to me. It follows the authors life and growth somewhat chronologically. Very detailed about character dynamics and social relations. He describes feeling and emotions very well. I was impressed by how he could invest the reader in some of the most mundane tasks. At one point he was doing a deep-clean of a relative's house and it was very satisfying to see things return from filthy to clean. Its telling how he could spend something like fifty pages writing about cleaning a house without making the reader bored. Obviously, there is more context involved, but I don't want to potentially spoil anything by revealing the context. This book is probably not fast paced enough for a lot of readers, but I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in family dynamics, character relations, and reflecting on personal emotions. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf I liked this a lot. Much more than I thought I would actually. The last experience I had with modernism was Ulysses and so much of that went over my head I was intimidated to try another one. But To the Lighthouse seemed like a much easier read. The character interactions were great and each characters personal thoughts were well captured. Would recommend to fans of modernism or classic literature. Beloved by Toni Morrison Good. One of the best looks into the consequences of american slavery that I've read. The characters were powerful and distinct. The character development was tangible. I enjoyed the first half of the book, but somewhere in the second half it started to tail off and I was ready to write it off as one of those books with a good first half and bad second half. But it redeemed itself at the end. + Show Spoiler + I didn't buy into the writing about the protagonist and beloved's relationship immediately after the protagonist realizes beloved is her daughter. Morrison tries to elucidate the love they are feeling for eachother with a very loose writing style. I could see what she was aiming for, but to me it felt cheesy and try-hard. The Stand by Stephen King Meh. Ok. I read the "Extended" edition. The book felt too long. It was fun to read at some points but dragged at others. + Show Spoiler + The council meetings were the worst. Especially because they almost always ended in a 7-0 vote and a boring mix of chumminess/moral reservation. This may be because they all underwent character development that led them to be the ideal in the authors eyes. If there was no "said Billy" indication of who said what during their dialogues, I would not have been able to tell you who said what, it felt like they all spoke with the same voice. | ||
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farvacola
United States18831 Posts
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itkovian
United States1763 Posts
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AutumnStorm
United States8 Posts
As for anything in the Dragonlance series, anything I read will be a reread at this point as I just recently finished up most of the lance books that I hadn't read prior. You could probably say that the Legends trilogy are my favorite three books in general being from my favorite books from my favorite series.  (Bah, the BSC pic was ruining my nice looking clickable picture gallery and I couldn't figure out why) Best Served Cold ![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/Timeofthetwins.jpg/200px-Timeofthetwins.jpg) ![[image loading]](http://www.dandwiki.com/w/images/5/53/War_of_the_Twins_PB.gif) ![[image loading]](http://www.dandwiki.com/w/images/f/f5/Test_of_the_Twins_PB.gif) | ||
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farvacola
United States18831 Posts
On February 21 2015 05:05 itkovian wrote: haha thanks! I'm curious then, do you like James Joyce as well? I absolutely adore Joyce, but keep in mind that I spent a solid 2 years of my undergraduate education studying Modernism so my taste is most certainly biased. Joyce, Falkner, Woolf, and Greene are authors I will read for the rest of my life. | ||
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corumjhaelen
France6884 Posts
Btw, slowly reading Wharton's House of Mirth during my removal, she's very intelligent and writes very well, but I do think the book lacks something a bit less evanescent. The satire is very well seen, but I need something more constructive atm, or at least something that would say the same thing with more strength and less word. Almost every single book I own is in a box though  | ||
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bookwyrm
United States722 Posts
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/1491-cover.jpg) | ||
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Sub40APM
6336 Posts
On February 21 2015 06:26 bookwyrm wrote: this is really good so far 1493 -- same author -- is great too. So is Empire of Cotton. | ||
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itkovian
United States1763 Posts
On February 21 2015 05:10 AutumnStorm wrote: As for anything in the Dragonlance series, anything I read will be a reread at this point as I just recently finished up most of the lance books that I hadn't read prior. You could probably say that the Legends trilogy are my favorite three books in general being from my favorite books from my favorite series. I read those back in middle school; enjoyed them a lot back then. I wonder how I'd like them now. Before those, in 4th - 6th grade I consumed the Redwall series. I reread one in high school and man that was a mistake hahaha | ||
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dmnum
Brazil6910 Posts
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123Gurke
France154 Posts
![[image loading]](https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328127458l/7846070.jpg) This was quite fun. Essentially X-files in Victorian London. My only complaint is that the endings of all four stories are just bad. But apart from that a good read for those who like comics (and read French sufficiently well...). Reading: ![[image loading]](https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1211316894l/90708.jpg) I picked this randomly from the Hemingway books I brought with me to France. Some of the stories are really good, others rather dull. But all of them are really readable. Question for the experts: What should I read next? In Our Time or Men Without Women? Unfortunately, the kids do not leave me enough time for the novels... Also still reading random French comics from the local library to work on my French. | ||
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SoSexy
Italy3725 Posts
And...today I bought The Idiot, by Dostoevskij. I want to know Russian literature, it's way too much of a dark territory to me. | ||
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xAdra
Singapore1858 Posts
On February 21 2015 03:30 itkovian wrote: American God by Neil Gaiman Enjoyed this. It was fun to see characterizations of gods in modern life. The plot was alright, it seemed to stagnate a little here and there. A fitting protagonist. I started watching trailer park boys at the same time as I was reading this, so I imagined Shadow to look like Julian hahah. The climax was good not great. The writing style was fun. I'd recommend this to a wide audience. Anyone read any of his other works? Worth checking out? I've read all of Neil Gaiman's books. Would recommend. In my opinion American Gods was an ambitious but somewhat weak story due to the stagnating it goes through. It could have been shorter. Though I agree that the characterizations of the gods was what kept the story interesting, at some point it seems he's focusing so much on characterization that no plot movement occurs at all. Anansi boys is said to be like a lighter and softer version of the story, and also features Anansi (obviously) so that's probably the next Gaiman book you should look at after A-gods. Basically all his stories have that really magical quality to it, and that's what I love about Gaiman. | ||
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corumjhaelen
France6884 Posts
On February 23 2015 22:18 SoSexy wrote: Just finished The Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. Very good book. And...today I bought The Idiot, by Dostoevskij. I want to know Russian literature, it's way too much of a dark territory to me. Good choice, that and Anna Karenina are my favorites Enjoy ! | ||
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Nyxisto
Germany6287 Posts
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