What Are You Reading 2016 - Page 7

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ZerOCoolSC2

9077 Posts

April 03 2016 16:17 GMT

#121

Finished this one some time ago. It was an interesting read for sure. Recommend it
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Finished these last year, but didn't think of posting in here at the time:
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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
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1Q84

Not sure what I'll pick up soon. Maybe publish my second book and read that?

Nyxisto

Germany6287 Posts

April 03 2016 23:59 GMT

#122

On April 03 2016 16:27 Surth wrote:
Nyxisto you're in for a treat. A depressing, depressing treat.

I am a little intimidated I have to admit but everyone who has recommended it to me seemed to be in awe

Carnivorous Sheep

Baa?21248 Posts

April 04 2016 00:22 GMT

#123

2666 is fantastic.

123Gurke

France154 Posts

April 04 2016 19:19 GMT

#124

Honestly, I did not find it depressing at any point, not even in the part with the dead women. And many parts are simply hilarious. Definitely the one of the best books I read last year.

Surth

Germany456 Posts

April 04 2016 22:22 GMT

#125

pssss, dont give it away! i read this book wtihout knowing literally ANYTHING about it except my brother telling me drunkenly that he loved it. so when the part about the murders kicked in, i was just. well, youre right, its not depressing really, but it just floored me.

my favorite reviews, incidentally, are both negative reviews of the book, and they accentuate exactly what i love about the book

"Consider Detective Kessler once more, whose role in the novel is admittedly small but emblematic of so many of its weird organizing principles. Readers of 2666 with strong memories and perhaps too much time on their hands may vaguely recall that, 300 pages before he is invited to investigate the murders of section four, a white-haired man named Kessler is provided a confusing 3-page cameo in section three. In that quick walk-on, Kessler delivers a monologue on what he’s learned from the Mexican murders about cultural responses to death. Observing the media’s historical tendency to ignore mass slaughter but sensationalize isolated crimes, he remarks, “words back then were mostly used in the art of avoidance, not revelation.”

The scene is so perplexing that it must have been designed to evade understanding. Section three takes place later in time than section four: this means that when we read Kessler’s conclusions on the murders he investigated (1) we don’t know who Kessler is and (2) we don’t know what the murders are. By the time the necessary context is granted (let me repeat: 300 pages later), the short scene has been buried so deeply beneath the debris of names and bankrupt information that it’s impossible to unearth any connection without engaging in something akin to biblical exegesis. This is the art of avoidance that Bolaño practices, literally the art of voiding any comprehensible patterns that might emerge from his stories. Echoes abound in 2666, but they only make you aware of the emptiness of the surroundings."

"His books often read as though writing them was the third most important thing he had to do that day."

zulu_nation8

China26351 Posts

April 04 2016 22:46 GMT

#126

Stumbled upon this memoir by accident, has anyone read it? I like that the author doesn't care for insight and only recounts his life:

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{CC}StealthBlue

United States41117 Posts

April 05 2016 02:54 GMT

#127

{CC}StealthBlue

United States41117 Posts

April 09 2016 02:38 GMT

#128

FiWiFaKi

Canada9859 Posts

April 12 2016 16:26 GMT

#129

I'm hoping for some reading recommendations, I havent read much recently, but If enjoy some "realistic fantasy" if that exists. I like when it's about more than a couple people and what's going on in their head, and there's interactions with society.

To give an idea of what kind of things I enjoy and have enjoyed in the past:

Moving Picture:
Enjoy: Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Vikings
On the edge: Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings
Dislike: Hannibal, Star Wars, Life of Pi, Marvel Movies

As for reading, for the last four years my midnight reading book of choice has been one of many engineering textbooks, and so while I have a good idea of the governing dynamics behind most physical processes, I'd enjoy something to stimulate my imagination a little bit.

Back when I was a young teenager I enjoyed books like Lord of Flies, The Giver, City of Ember, Hunger Games, Enders Game (a bit too fantasy though), and also Artemis Fowl.

If you guys have been at that point before and know what you've liked going forward, or simply are familiar with some of those artistic works and can offer recommendations to a slightly matured audience from that list, I'd be much appreciated.

Acrofales

Spain18489 Posts

April 12 2016 17:12 GMT

#130

Enders Game too much fantasy, but you like Artemis Fowl? :D

Anyway, if you like realistic fantasy, Neal Stephenson is quite awesome. I wouldn't start with Anathem, although I really liked it, but Snow Crash is a pretty amazing book (it's cyberpunk, though, not fantasy). There's also Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle (which people think is too slow, but I loved), which are historical fiction/fantasy.

If you like the world building aspect of things like GoT and LotR, you should try Patrick Rothfuss. His output is frustratingly slow (somewhat comparable to GRRM), but both the Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear were absolutely excellent, especially for their world building (you could maybe get into Robert Jordan too, but that is, imho, not something you use to get your feet wet in the genre, and you would probably consider that too much fantasy).

Another author who writes fantasy, but ignores most of the fantastical aspects, is Joe Abercrombie. You might also like Robin Hobb, although that might be straying too far into fantasy land again.

If you want something "similar" to Artemis Fowl, there's the Dresden Files which are, imho, significantly better than Artemis Fowl. There's also the Alcatraz series by Brandon Sanderson, which I found very similar, and approximately just as pulpy as Artemis Fowl. I would recommend Mistborn, though, if you plan on reading something by Sanderson.

Redox

Germany24794 Posts

April 12 2016 17:36 GMT

#131

Regarding realistic fantasy I really liked Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and it should fit quite well with the things Fiwifaki enjoys. It has a surprising amount of (dark) humour for the genre.

Patrick Rothfuss' stuff is excellent writing, but for me personally the main character is too much of a Mary Sue and some aspects reminded me of Anime themes.

FiWiFaKi

Canada9859 Posts

April 12 2016 21:59 GMT

#132

Artemis Foul was kind of in the same boat as Ender's game, should have been more clear on that.

The background information of Snow Crash sounds really good to me, and Baroque Cycle also sounds like a topic that'd I enjoy reading about (though I'd probably like to read a three book series at most just to test the waters that more of this kind of reading is what I'd like to do). I like slow - at least when it comes to TV shows, whenever someone complains that something moves too slow, usually I like that a lot (when it's subtle character building material, and not just filler).

I think you read my preferences quite well - Name of the Wind interesting too (the topic at least more so than Wise Man's Fear in my opinion). I think Dresden Files and Alcatraz sounded alright too, but what really resonated with me is the Mistborn series, I'd like to give that a try also.

The First Trilogy looks good, and it seems realistic in the sense that the minds of the people are rational and have a believable sense of values, but I think my biggest gripe is that I've seen quite a few TV shows about things that are based on European history from 300BC-1500AD~, and something a bit more imaginative while still keeping the people behaving rationally (that's very important to me), but incorporating some magical elements, or some starting conditions that force people to behave differently (apocalypse type stuff, or just a different world altogether).

Anyway, I'm probably explaining myself poorly, I just mean that I have no problem if you write about a world where gravity goes up and not down, but the repercussions of it need to be consistent. Just how in GoT I have no problem with there being Dragons or White Walkers, as long as society in that situation changes appropriately.

Also a couple more visual media things I enjoyed were Gattaca and I, Robot (also Snowpiercer was alright, but kind of meh), but I didn't like the TV series Supernatural or the new TV series Lucifer. How do you guys find these books and choose to read the books anyway? I feel like I have this tendency to have my preconceived notions, and I think I might judge the book (after all, I need some info about what I'll be reading), and in the process I might discard some very good books simply because thinking it's not for me. It's hard for me to analyze my current ability as I haven't read too much of this kind of stuff besides short stories recently... But I know back in junior high (I'm 22 now for reference), I always thought oh, this book will be dumb or whatever, but I was made to read it, and then I really got into the story a chapter or two in.

Anyway, I think I'll go to a public library and try to find Snow Crash as a first introductory reading, and report my findings on the book when I finish it

A lot of good books on this list from my first impressions, so maybe as I go through this book I'll gain a better understanding about myself and will make my next selection easier. Much harder to decide whether you'll like a book than to decide whether you'll like a movie as it's difficult to get the writing style of a book from reading the plot or background, while a lot easier to see how a movie is done by watching a trailer.

Thank you very much for the help Acrofales and Redox!

Surth

Germany456 Posts

April 13 2016 09:51 GMT

#133

just read China Mieville

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

April 13 2016 10:25 GMT

#134

No, read Anna Karenina. When in doubt, always go for Anna Karenina

RvB

Netherlands6326 Posts

April 14 2016 11:31 GMT

#135

Done reading:
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Pretty decent book. Gives a decent introduction to classical liberalism. That's all you can expect of it though.

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Pretty good. Gives a different perspective on the Nordic countries and the consequences of social democracy practised there.

Reading now:
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I love Coase. The book is alright as well. Even if you don't agree with his ideas publishing a book when you're 102 makes you a hero in my eyes

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Hayek. I love this guy. Progress is pretty slow though in this book but it's good as expected.

Next up will be Keynes 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'. It'll be a reread but I'm looking forward to it.

Flicky

England2675 Posts

April 17 2016 22:26 GMT

#136

On January 02 2016 10:00 PushDown wrote:
Last one I read:
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Alice in Steamland

A spin-off of a classic story. Wonderland is now Steamland (a place that is eternally engulf by a particular steam). Steamland doesn't only exist in the real world but the steam that makes up the whole land induces hallucinations (on the level of a cocktail made with the worst hard drugs). Our Alice will have to deal with the junkies that live in Steamland (their bodies heavily modified by the constant inhale of the steam: making them look like wierd animals on the best of the cases...). In a place that can lead you up, down, foward and backward she looks to find herself.

I belive the book is only in italian, which is a shame as the book is well written and has a fast pace. It was a fun read, the book having some graphic violence and sex made it so the overall "high" experience could be enhanced in the story.

Hefty spoilers.

I just finished this book. I'm not the best at Italian, so please take my review with a pinch of salt - I probably missed some of the less explicit points. I thought the book was OK, not the best, but it has the same thing that Dune has, in that certain parts of the book suddenly happen. Suddenly Alice is an adept fighter, suddenly loses an arm, suddenly makes out with a woman then falls in love with a man (apparently). It's all kind of cooky like that. I guess the drug/steam thing explains that but I didn't like it that much. The section near the end when she talks to Algernon was wonderful though and effectively saved the entire book in my eyes. Really well written and really cool ideas. However, the retard being the hero cliche and the forgetful nature of the book let me down.

Other gripes that I think are down to me being English:

1. Alice and felice don't rhyme, even in Italian. Alice should still be said the same way, especially when it's referencing an establish character.
2. The book kept referring to them speaking English when it's all Italian and saying things like "Hmmm, there's no word for that in English", while in Italian. Also, what happened to the Steamland language? She learnt it and then never used it.
3. The all powerful telepath (mentioned in passing) was called "Alan".
4. FrangIncanto is the worst name for a sword in the history of literature.