| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
GooberMan
Status: Offline
Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 3682
$poons: 127.80
Location: Melbourne! Booyah.
|
 Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
 |
|
Thanks to Minotaur, I'm actually finally reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Some may know that I'm a blubbering Gaiman fanboi, so I'll leave out all the blubbering and just say "It won a Hugo award, y'know."
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Duckula
Status: Offline
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 1244
$poons: 83.10
Location: South Australia
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| GooberMan wrote: | | Thanks to Minotaur, I'm actually finally reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Some may know that I'm a blubbering Gaiman fanboi, so I'll leave out all the blubbering and just say "It won a Hugo award, y'know." |
but seriously, I kid the sci-fi fans.
_________________
A DAN EDEN LYNX INTEGER HOT NUT A YUCK EGG FIR SUN
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
He need to cut the ego.
Status: Offline
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 1762
$poons: 722.80
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| Karai Pantsu wrote: | Average people like mediocre entertainment - I don't understand it, but it's the only way to make sense of things. I mean, Twilight... come on.
Half way or so through Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami, and am really getting into it. Love the writing style, although I do wonder how much of it is the translators own style coming through.
Glad to finally be reading something of his after hearing so many good things. |
It depends on the book. They don't all have the same translator so you can pick up on the slight differences in style between them. Having said that, the translations are still distinctly Murakami though (according to a guy I was speaking to who reads the Japanese versions). Simple prose, reoccurring themes and objects, similar characterisations etc.
If you want to read more of his works I have a spare copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (got it in a bundle pack) I'm happy to send to you because I have no use for it.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ObsoletE
Status: Offline
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Posts: 20357
$poons: 34.20
Location: Perth, WA :: Jubei'Thos
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| GooberMan wrote: | | Thanks to Minotaur, I'm actually finally reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Some may know that I'm a blubbering Gaiman fanboi, so I'll leave out all the blubbering and just say "It won a Hugo award, y'know." |
ffs
i just put in another Book Depository order, and once again i forgot to add this to the list. that's like 4 times this has happened now...
_________________
My Play-Asia Affiliate Link.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tanya
Status: Offline
Joined: 05 Jan 2010
Posts: 942
$poons: 382.40
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| He need to cut the ego. wrote: | | If you want to read more of his works I have a spare copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (got it in a bundle pack) I'm happy to send to you because I have no use for it. |
I can also donate some Murakami to the cause - I have a copy of Norwegian Wood that you can have, Karai Pantsu. I started reading, got maybe half way through, and just plum lost interest.
Also, if anyone is interested in reading Death With Interruptions (also published as Death in Intervals) by Jose Saramago, please take it from me. I can't handle the way he writes; it horrifies me. To take a snippet from ol' Wikipedia:
| Quote: | | Saramago largely eschews traditional forms of grammar and punctuation. Many of his sentences are written in a style almost akin to stream of consciousness. Saramago avoids using quotations to signify speech, instead relying on inline text, and the usage of capitalization to signify the start of a new speaker's words. |
Basically, when I read this book, it takes all of my effort to stay away from a red pen.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Karai Pantsu
PALGN Moderator
Status: Offline
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 10109
$poons: 29.06
Location: Melbexico
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
That sounds like a challenge I'd like to embark upon! You are lovely people, and shall be treated accordingly when I own Existence.
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tanya
Status: Offline
Joined: 05 Jan 2010
Posts: 942
$poons: 382.40
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Deal. When next we drink, books are coming your way!
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mattstep
Status: Offline
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 1455
$poons: 408.20
Location: Melbourne
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Perhaps we should start some form of Book Exchange service where we all swap books?
_________________
ALL THINGS PILKINGTON
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MIkes
Status: Offline
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 1761
$poons: 409.00
Location: Melbourne
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| Shadow Wave wrote: | | I have to read 'The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night time' by Mark Haddon for uni, and the book just fails. |
If you're uni course is Literature I'd suggest epxanding on your answer 
Have read since my last post:
Unseen Acedemicals by Terry Pratchet - calssic, his best DW book in a while IMO
The Girl with the Dragan Tattoo by Steig Larsson - good book, although the main character's, er, character took a while to find itself, but I don't see what all the fuss is about.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - great character peice, but took about a quarter of the way in before it really started
And part way through Thunderer by Felix Gilman - debut high fantasy. Prose isn't perfect, but the story arc is handled well so far.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
He need to cut the ego.
Status: Offline
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 1762
$poons: 722.80
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
Just cleaned my bookcase and stumbled upon this. It's something I've been meaning to read.
I'm also reading Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky. It's a novel of two parts about life in France soon after German occupation. It was supposed to be the first two in a five part novel, but sadly she was gassed at Auschwitz before she could complete the remaining three.
I've reading two Némirovsky novels in as many days. Not a subject matter I'd normally be interested in, but both were fantastic.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
juicyman
Status: Offline
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Posts: 102
$poons: 34.80
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
Final Fantasy and Philosophy, found this cheap on eBay, not very far into it but these guys sound like they have actually played the game! Good change from other game/book crossovers I've read before.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ben_Dubbyah
Status: Offline
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 51
$poons: 7.20
Location: Ballarat
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Just re-read all of Raymond E Feists' books, now i'm halfway through reading a bunch of Anne Rice books.
_________________
Purveyor of Mass Randomness.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mattstep
Status: Offline
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 1455
$poons: 408.20
Location: Melbourne
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Finished The Lovely Bones last week. I found it very mediocre. Maybe it was a quasi knee-jerk reaction to the mild religious themes, however I like to believe I can look past something like that if a book is well written. Unfortunately this was not. It wasn't atrocious by any means, just very forgettable.
I have since moved on to Choke which I am really enjoying and should finish on the train ride home tonight. This took a little while to get into but once I let Palahniuk writing style wash over me I really began to dig it. Hilariously funny at times and often scathingly accurate in it's views of society. Think I will read some more of his stuff in a bit.
However I have more Cormac Mccarthy to get through in the meantime.
_________________
ALL THINGS PILKINGTON
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ObsoletE
Status: Offline
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Posts: 20357
$poons: 34.20
Location: Perth, WA :: Jubei'Thos
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| GooberMan wrote: | Midnight Nation
Get it obs. I read it in one sitting. Tackles a few themes that are common in JMS' works (long personal journeys, battles between two viewpoints that aren't necessarily right) and covers hope and love in a much less narcissistic fashion than something like Fight Club does.
It needs to be a movie if you ask me, it would suit the medium quite well. |
well it took me over a year to get a copy that wasn't over $100 (seriously - it's been at my local comic shop since i changed offices and it became my local) but i just couldn't bring myself to buy it at that price.
but enter my discovery of Book Depository, and $20 later it's in my hands.
i enjoyed it. it has a kind of vague resemblance to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere with the whole 'people falling through the cracks of society to discover an "under-world" to the world we know' but Neverwhere is a much more vibrant society where life does go on, MN's is a much bleaker prospect.
highly recommend anyone who's into the more mature comic series like Sandman (another Gaiman) and The Maxx check it out, provided you can find it of course...
oh, and i agree - would make a pretty awesome movie/miniseries.
i've got a bunch of other completed books and series i really should get around to writing up for here one day...
_________________
My Play-Asia Affiliate Link.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MIkes
Status: Offline
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 1761
$poons: 409.00
Location: Melbourne
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
RereAding American gods again after taking advantage of Borders 30% off promo, and also Jonathan strange as I want to mine the character of childermas for the main character in the book I'm writing. Plus it's possibly the best book of the last ten years.
I also picked up jonanthon rosss first attempt at a comic in Turf. Monsters versus vampires versus aliens. Surprisignly very good, can't wait for ep 2.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
He need to cut the ego.
Status: Offline
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 1762
$poons: 722.80
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Finished Slaughterhouse-Five for the fourth time. It's such an amazing book. It's only $8 at Book Depository if you haven't read it.
I'm reading Naked by David Sedaris, a collection of essays written about David's life in a humour style. (one essay mentions his tics for example)
I'm also reading The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived The Great American Dustbowl.
I don't read many non-fiction books before I find them boring, but this one is great. It describes the history of the land, the lead up to the 'dirty thirties' and the subsequent effects it had on those caught in it. Bleak, very bleak. It's hard to imagine going days where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, or having to tie a piece of rope around you and then to your house if you wanted to venture outside. And to imagine this went on for six (in some areas ten) years! Timothy Egan has an engaging writing style that makes the book very readable.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GooberMan
Status: Offline
Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 3682
$poons: 127.80
Location: Melbourne! Booyah.
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Worth it.
Next on the list will probably be The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. I've got quite the pile to read, and it's sitting up top because it's the last one I bought. Underneath that is sitting:
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson
The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick (follow up to VALIS, looking forward to it)
The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson (aka Wheen of Time book 12)
And I also bought the first voume of Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn last night. About time.
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nietzsche
Status: Offline
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 2543
$poons: 119.80
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Earth
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:04 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Reading Mistborn now. Really enjoying it especially the magic system.
Continuing my strange on and off again relationship off books this last week I have read 2 large books and almost finished the first Mistborn in a day which is also quite large. I haven't read anything for a while (I would say since for a month) but once I find a good series I consume it. The two books were the Painted Man and The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. The first Painted Man is a wonderful story with a atmosphere of fear and isolation throughout the book. It really is great. Unfortunately the second is really lacking. There's quite a few bits wrong with it, the characters act stupid and by the end I felt nothing had happened. Also **** is used to the point it starts becoming off putting and overdone. So it's hard to recommend the first as the second is quite bad. Looking forward to finishing the first Mistborn tonight.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GooberMan
Status: Offline
Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 3682
$poons: 127.80
Location: Melbourne! Booyah.
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| Nietzsche wrote: | | Reading Mistborn now. Really enjoying it especially the magic system. |
That's quite a turnoff for me whenever I read a quote like that about a fantasy work. There's a blurb from Robin Hobb at the front of my edition. The first thing is says is "Mistborn utilizes a well thought-out magic system." Only after she's gotten that out of the way does she go on about good characters and all the other stuff that actually matters in a story. Needless to say, it's turned me off ever actually reading her stuff.
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Karai Pantsu
PALGN Moderator
Status: Offline
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 10109
$poons: 29.06
Location: Melbexico
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
After starting and stopping (around half-way through) several books that I was quite enjoying, I have just finished reading SuperFreakonomics (Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance). I absolutely powered through it (for me), and loved every moment.
Instead of going back to one of the many books-in-progress, I've started in on Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh this morning. I never did get around to reading Trainspotting (I know, shutthehellup) so I figure that i'm well overdue to dive into some of his madness. So far, so good.
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nietzsche
Status: Offline
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 2543
$poons: 119.80
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Earth
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 1:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
It's not the magic system itself as it's just something really basic however the way it connects to the world and it's really integrated into the plot is what is great about it. Plus when it's used in action it is amazing. Much more physical and about movement than something like Harry Potter
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
He need to cut the ego.
Status: Offline
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 1762
$poons: 722.80
|
| Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
Started Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson today. I bought it a few years go when I was on a Hunter binge but never did start it. Today's the day.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nietzsche
Status: Offline
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 2543
$poons: 119.80
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Earth
|
| Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 3:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
Finished up Mistborn series. It was ok. The 2nd book was boring at times and characters made stupid choices but it was ok. The third book was well written and the ending was well-crafted in a way where everything came together in the way only a book can. I then went on to read The Name of the Wind. Comes close to the best book I have read except there is no 2nd or 3rd. Maybe cause I read it so fast but it still fills like it's at the beginning of the tale. Other than that nothing but praise except of course it has the problem of nearly all fantasy of read but their is little to do about that.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grim-one
Status: Offline
Joined: 07 Dec 2007
Posts: 6646
$poons: 1567.30
Location: Perth
|
| Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 4:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
| Nietzsche wrote: | | I then went on to read The Name of the Wind. Comes close to the best book I have read except there is no 2nd or 3rd. Maybe cause I read it so fast but it still fills like it's at the beginning of the tale. |
There are meant to be a couple more books coming in that series: The Kingkiller Chronicle. Next one is slated for 2011.
_________________
Steam:grim_one | PSN/Live:najakh | Flickr
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nietzsche
Status: Offline
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 2543
$poons: 119.80
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Earth
|
| Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 4:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
It's very annoying as I wouldn't have read it if I knew it finished with no end in sight. I will be over 30 before this series ends I think.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
