What Are You Reading (Tome Edition)

Switch Hitter · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 4099

I've been thinking about reading 1984, as well. Someone told me it slow, but that the finale and concepts make up for it. I'll probably see if my campus library has it.

I read Catcher in the Rye over Christmas break, as I had only read the first half of it in high school and wanted to finish it this time. Although the novel is more or less is Holden complaining the whole time, he's so sympathetic :(

Now I'm on chapter 2 of Slaughterhouse Five. It got very different very quickly.

TehJazza · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:35 pm Post subject:

Reading 'The Way of Kings' at the moment. I'm getting pretty into it and the way it splits the attention between several characters (though of course, favouring one story over some of the others atm).

I think I like it better than the Mistborn series, in regard to Sanderson's works, though it's possible that it might be far too early to say.
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Jimbob the Shameful · Joined: 26 Jan 2013 Posts: 71

Finished reading Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Ill-plotted, feverish, stammering and unfocused, it's one of the finest novels I've ever read.

On to Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths. Have read Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius and the essays. Feel about ready to start tackling the other entries.

Xandy · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 7309

Despite working in a bookstore - and acquiring a ridiculous amount of books because of this - I haven't sat down a read in forever. Last was my re-read of the Hobbit over the summer of 2012.

I recently got the entirety of Philip K Dick's collection, so I'm starting with The Man in the High Castle.
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Sânta Claus · Joined: 24 Dec 2012 Posts: 366

gonna have to say it again, but jimbob? thank you.

Currently I'm reading The Outriders since the kids are reading it. In my limited spare time, I'm reading the Iron Druid Chronicles. I'm on the third book so far, and I thought it was going to be cheesey and awful, but holy **** can Kevin Hearne write. Characters, setting, plot... Everything is just seamless. It also has the first dog character that I have found not to be awful or grating--a first, really.

Right now, the main character (the last of the Druids), a werewolf (the alpha of a pack that lives in Arizona), a vampire (the strongest in the northern hemisphere), Zhang Guo Lao (one of the eight Immortals), Väinämöinen (a Finnish sorcerer that looks like an "evil Santa Clause", and Perun (Russian God of Thunder) are all traveling to Asgard to kill Thor. Each one hates Thor (except the Druid, he's basically there to ferry them across the planes) and right now it's going through each character's story and reasons as to why they hate Thor. It's entertaining.
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Medomai · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:43 pm Post subject:

Just finished going through Brandon Sanderson's cosmere, up to this point where I'm about to re-read Way of Kings. Aw yeahhhhhh
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Abicion · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 11:21 pm Post subject:

Jimbob the Shameful · Joined: 26 Jan 2013 Posts: 71

kiss my belly button from the inside

JC · Joined: 18 Nov 2010 Posts: 353

Finished Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson and am currently making my way through The Well of Ascension.

Red Hot Chosen Zelos · Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:15 pm Post subject:

Finished "John Dies at the End". Humorous book, I surprisingly more invested in it than I thought, love the characters. Recently saw the movie, it was okay.

Now starting on the sequel book "This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It"
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DoubleL · Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 8936 Location: Internetland

I absolutely love John Dies at the End. You can tell that he was slapping it together as he went, just going nuts and stringing things together until he had this incohesive tangle of insanity and it manages to work incredibly well. It was originally published online in short installments, which is what sort of lead to that.

Spiders is definitely a more mature and plotted book, and it is definitely better written. He manages to give the characters a lot more depth and situates them much more solidly in the category of "losers for whom the supernatural is more of an extra chore than a thrill." That said, as much as I liked it, it wasn't quite able to touch that special place in my heart held by the original.

Also, I am going to make make myself finish Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes in the next couple of days. I have no idea why it has taken me so long to make it through it, it's a great book. On deck, Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.
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JC · Joined: 18 Nov 2010 Posts: 353

I finished the Mistborn trilogy and shed manly tears. Those were the first books I read by Sanderson, and I loved the series so much that I'm now reading Warbreaker. I will read that and Elantris before moving on to The Alloy of Law and The Way of Kings. I highly recommend Sanderson for anyone who enjoys fantasy with a touch of science fiction.

I'm also reading The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin for a literature class. It's not something that I would read under normal circumstances, but I'm finding it surprisingly enjoyable.

Jack · Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 5148 Location: Never give up.

I've found myself reading a lot more lately, possibly related to the proximity of exam season. A little while ago, I picked up Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books and have been working my way through Titus Groan. His imagination is quite spectacular, and his style is a good match for it; vivid, intricate, bordering on the grandiose at times, but mostly a joy to read. I love the strange, wonderful, eccentric characters that he creates. And hell, I'm pretty sure Titus himself is only a few months old by this point. Wonderful stuff. I'm thinking that I might try reading some older stuff after I'm done, too, since I've always struggled with the style, but I've loved Peake. We will see.

On the other hand, I've just recently started William Gibson's Neuromancer, since I've long since had a fascination with cyberpunk and I was hoping to educate myself a little. I'm really not far in with this one at all, so I can't comment properly, but I'm still really looking forward to reading it nonetheless.
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Jimbob the Weedlord · Joined: 09 Mar 2013 Posts: 110

Gormenghast is really great. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite between Titus Groan and Gormenghast. The third book's... okay, but you can tell he was, um, going terminally insane.

Neuromancer's a fun read, but really shows its age. Despite being very influential, its relevance today is a bit questionable. I should maybe give it another read.