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So here we go again.
(Post shamelessly stolen from thread starters of the prior years)
Previous threads:
2011 (49 pages)
2012 (58 pages)
2013 (165 pages!(!!!))
2014 (back to 75 pages  )
2015 (54 pages We miss you, sam)
2016 (18 pages boo)
Format:
1) What you just finished reading (or gave up half way through)
2) What are you currently reading
3) What you plan to read next
Try to post both the book title in text as well as image. The Amazon images usually work well. The random google images are sometimes too big or too small.
It would also be great if you could post a little something along with the books. Did you like it, why or why not? How was the plot, how was writing style, how was the character development? What makes the book you are currently reading interesting? It’s not 100% necessary that you do so, but it tends to foster lively discussion of books, which is really what this thread is all about.
Also, please try to keep criticism of entire genres out of this thread. If you didn’t like a particular book then feel free to say so, but it’s not terribly productive to state that you dislike all of science fiction or existentialist literature etc.
Use spoilers appropriately, obviously.
Thanks to Cambiumpackrat386Surth for the OP that I basically stole from last year
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Reading:
![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Hs33%2BmvOL.jpg)
Received this as a christmas present. I mainly wanted this because it was the favourite book of Wolgang Herrndorf.I am really enjoying this so far. Very funny and the translator gives extremely helpful explanations in an appendix. Also surprisingly readable.
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United States18840 Posts
I'm gonna read De Landa for the first time here in a week or two, so that'll be fun.
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About to finish book 2 of Travellers Gate trilogy (it got better)
Trying out
![[image loading]](http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327917754l/9579634.jpg)
Definitely waaay darker than what i expected. I read this out of the promise that i'll be reading a protagonist (or anti-hero whatever) that is not morally just at all. + Show Spoiler +and the first 15 pages showcases him and his group doing pillaging of innocent villages(murder, plunder, rape etc) though they didn't detail the act completely just implied or explicitly said so it's kinda bearable ? Apparently it's for some sort of important political move which i assume is trying to topple the local Baron
(though i'm sure there's gonna be some sort of bigger motivation or greater good shit he's doing but he's still pretty irredeemable from the looks of things )
Not the type of book you'd just chill with and can be anger inducing
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Finally got around to getting The Girl on the Train since I've seen it everywhere so much.
![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/The_Girl_On_The_Train_%28US_cover_2015%29.png)
Hope to not be disappointed.
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Winds of Winter, hopefully.
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United States15275 Posts
After failing to finish The World of the Shining Prince out of laziness, I'm tackling Clive Sinclaire's introduction to samurai equipment and culture:
![[image loading]](http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1177304857l/693346.jpg)
After that, I'll probably re-read The Twelve Caesars.
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![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mnqFLcGbL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
This cat sure loves lasagna!
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Currently reading:
"The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (in Polish)
+ Show Spoiler +
I liked "Crime and Punishment" and I made a resolution to read more classic novels, so I decided to buy "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Anna Karenina" (well, it was on my list, but I got it for Christmas). I just started yesterday, so there's not much I can say about the book right now.
"Learning Python" by Mark Lutz
+ Show Spoiler +
I've resumed reading this book. It's very detailed so the way I'm currently learning Python is by working on some private projects of mine independently of it, and then reading the book at my own pace to fill the gaps. I would still recommend it for complete beginners, along with other sources.
"Металловедение" ("Metallurgy") by A. P. Gulyaev
I decided to brush up on my knowledge of metallurgy while improving my Russian at the same time. I'm around 60 pages in and it's surprisingly easy to read so far. It's a comprehensive textbook, very informative and well written, a book many of my professors used during their studies. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a physical copy, so I had to print it out. Some fragments are impossible to read due to the quality of the text...
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I am on this, not exactly this cover but it is fine.
+ Show Spoiler +
Also I need to finish this as well, I am half way through.
+ Show Spoiler +
next are a few Philip K. Dick novels in line. I hope I can spare more time in reading and less in playing games
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I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T
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On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote:
I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T
I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation.
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On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote:
I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation.
Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho.
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Since I really enjoyed the witcher games, I decided to read the books and finished them last year.
Really good books. Very exciting, immersive and with a good bit of dry humour. Makes me appreciate the game even more since it did such a good job in copying the style of the books and I now know the backstory.
In total there are 7 books in the series (the first 2 books feature short stories and set the stage for the 5 main books), one standalone book and then theres one book I didn't read yet which features some alternate endings.
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On January 02 2017 20:12 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote:
I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation. Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho.
Agreed. I don't really focus on writing, I mostly enjoy the imagination, at least on his work.
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United States18840 Posts
On January 02 2017 20:12 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote:
I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation. Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho.
Personally, I think Dick is one of, if not the, most literary authors in science fiction (literary author meaning one who implements literary devices and prose prominently in their writing AKA "not-George R.R. Martin"), and there are only a select few who can rival him in terms of technique, Le Guin being the first to come to mind. Accordingly, your critique sounds off rather oddly. So I'm curious, do you read your science fiction in English generally? I remember getting into a disagreement with a fellow English student from the Czech Republic; he maintained that Lem was the supreme master of artful science fiction writing while I told him that I really just didn't see it. We ended up coming to the conclusion that it was his ability to read Lem in Polish that really allowed the work to open up. Accordingly, you'll have to forgive my curiosity as to whether or not a similar translation issue is present here.
Another issue is that Dick wrote a shit ton of novels and I think they are of different enough quality among themselves to render sweeping descriptions of them pretty clumsy.
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On January 02 2017 22:10 farvacola wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 20:12 maybenexttime wrote:On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote:
I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation. Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho. Personally, I think Dick is one of, if not the, most literary authors in science fiction (literary author meaning one who implements literary devices and prose prominently in their writing AKA "not-George R.R. Martin"), and there are only a select few who can rival him in terms of technique, Le Guin being the first to come to mind. Accordingly, your critique sounds off rather oddly. So I'm curious, do you read your science fiction in English generally? I remember getting into a disagreement with a fellow English student from the Czech Republic; he maintained that Lem was the supreme master of artful science fiction writing while I told him that I really just didn't see it. We ended up coming to the conclusion that it was his ability to read Lem in Polish that really allowed the work to open up. Accordingly, you'll have to forgive my curiosity as to whether or not a similar translation issue is present here. Another issue is that Dick wrote a shit ton of novels and I think they are of different enough quality among themselves to render sweeping descriptions of them pretty clumsy.
Sometimes in Polish (as was the case with Dick's novels), sometimes in English. But I don't see how that's relevant in case of the criticism I leveled at Dick's writing style. The characters being one-dimensional or the narrative being all over the place is not something that gets lost in translation.
I've only read two books by Dick - "Blade Runner" and "The Man in the High Castle" - so I might be jumping to conclusions.
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K. Dicks novels really vary a lot in quality and style. Different people prefere different books. For example I had great expectations while reading "Man in the High Castle" (due to feedback from friends) but it turned out to be "just" ok. My two favourite books by Dick is "Solar Lottery and "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", which some of my friends do not fancy.
On the topic of translation - i am sure a lot is lost, Lem loved to invent new words and event use special writing style to pass some infomation to reader. It is even more true in regards to Dukaj (if You guys have read some of his works) he is in my opinion by far the best polish sc-fi writer, his book have different layers and present some stunning visions. Especialy great if You have good understanding of philopsophy, math and physics. Anyway, he like Lem loves to invent and twist words to convey some ideas i cant imagine english translation that would do him justice.
The success of author whose work is being translated largly depend on the quality of translators work. Thats why for example Prattchet is so loved in Poland, he has great translator.
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I remember Philip K. Dick for having both incredible and awful phrases written in the same page.
Unfortunately I don't know of any good Portuguese-language decent sci-fi books. The ones I've read completely neglect style for substance - which is stupid, because in literature style IS substance - and, by being derivative drivel, end up having neither.
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EPT![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51kjAcXV4EL._SX336_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
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