Your current read?

[Lemonade]

9 minutes ago, James Broonbreed said:

And I'll bet she gave him a hoora good blowy right after.

You thought of a career in literature?

I've actually recently started dabbling in short stories and creative writing. I doubt I'll ever let anyone read them but it's nice to have a creative outlet since I gave up music. I'm not very good yet, turns out there more to it than just writing down your thoughts, there has to be things like plot and conflict and the protagonist has to want something. I'm getting better though. 

[scottyboy]

A Farewell to Arms; For Whom the Bell Tolls; and The Old Man and the Sea were my favourite Hemingway books back in the day. I reread the Old Man and the Sea a year or two ago and it was still great. The guy is known for his (really influential) ultra-plain style and The Old Man and the Sea is the apex of that (one of his last books; and it reflects the thoughts of a fisherman who probably can't even read). For Whom the Bell Tolls might be more to your liking: simple style, again, but I think the syntax is supposed to reflect the Spanish the characters would really be speaking, which makes the prose a bit quirkier than other Hemingway novels. Plus it's about fighting fascists. A Farewell to Arms is about being a stretcher bearer to Italians fighting German imperialists.

I didn't like all his stuff (normal for a novelist, though). Didn't like Fiesta; can't even remember the basic premise.

[jacobfmn]

I'm hooked with Haruki Murakami works after I've read his Sputnik Sweetheart and Kafka on the Shore. Right now, I'm reading one of his thicker book, 1Q84. I'll probably be able to finish this in January. 

[James Broonbreed]

I had a decent stint of Murakami a while back, but the Windup Bird Chronicles put me off him.

Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood were my favourites. IQ84 is also good, if not a bit mental.

[jacobfmn]

On 12/21/2017 at 4:49 PM, James Broonbreed said:

I had a decent stint of Murakami a while back, but the Windup Bird Chronicles put me off him.

Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood were my favourites. IQ84 is also good, if not a bit mental.

I haven't read his WindUp Bird Chronicles yet. It looks daunting to read and less interesting than 1Q84.

[scottyboy]

I read Norwegian Wood when I was 16 or 17, declared it Best Book Ever and immediately read it again. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was one of the books I did my advanced higher "dissertation" on. The latest books  at the time I was more indifferent to, and when Kafka on the Shore (the one with some transgenderal theme? Spellcheck is telling me that's not a word but whatever), which came out a couple of years after I'd read all his books back to back, definitely so. I wondered if his style had changed I and I just didn't like it; or if my tastes had changed.

I reread Norwegian Wood a couple of years ago, and it was shit, holy christ. Can't understand why I thought it was so great; probably something to do (having been 16-17 when I did) with it about being 18 and having to decide between two women, one of whom the guy is having to practically fight off, whilst she is begging him to at least think about her when he's having a wank. Did I mention, christ on a bike. I seem to have remembered it as a book about a time and a place, but there's no sense of Tokyo given off; and the guy makes a point of saying all the crazy university shut ins were lame, doesn't care, not saying nothing about it. All the 19-21 year old young Asian ladies I was working with (what?) when I was re-reading it, loved it. Dunno why. I think I only finished it because of the 50-book challenge thing we had on here.

Never bothered to pick up (probably have to do it with a forklift, mind) IQ84, or reread anything else (everything else is Weird, while Norwegian Wood is the straight-faced one; maybe I'd still like the others, but doubtful). Round my neck of the woods one can even easily buy the first couple that he disowned and suppressed (not sure if the publishers changed their minds or its easily grabbed via the net these days), which I would have gone nuts for (uh, say a bit more than...) 10 years ago. But nah.

/coolstoryaboutabookInolongerlike

Edited January 2, 2018 by scottyboy

[jacobfmn]

I think your taste definitely changed or matured. 

[Lemonade]

It's well known I'm a Stephen King megafan. However I've never read his magnum opus, "The Dark Tower". I bought the first book (The Gunslinger) in 2000, fucking hated it, gave up half way through. Tried again a few years later, gave up again. It wasn't until 2015 I finally read the bastard, but it was a tough read, dry, long-winded, boring, and too crammed with flowery metaphors. I'd kind of decided I'd never get through 8 of these so I'd given up, then someone said to me it's just the first book that's like that. Once you get through that one the story starts flying along. (Apparently SK himself has pretty much denounced the first book). So I finally started the second Dark Tower book (The Drawing Of The Three), and it's fucking great. I wish I'd known this sooner.

[James Broonbreed]

I'm getting more into non-fiction these days.

I just finished 'The Calculus Story' which, funnily enough, is a story about calculus. A pretty quick read but fairly in depth although not in depth enough to actually really learn much calculus from. I happen to be studying calculus at the moment at the OU so a good bit of extra reading, more for the background of the subject.

I'm now getting into 'Mathematics for the Non Mathematician' which also pretty much does what it says in the tin. These maths cunts don't fuck about with their titles.

[Jaaakkkeee]

Got a couple books for xmas. Spot the theme.

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier - Good read. Would have preferred more files like the first book, but this was admittedly a lot easier to read. Managed to tie up a few lose ends of Twin Peaks The Return left us with, yet posited more questions and confused me even more. 

The Secret Diary  of Laura Palmer - This has been very very sad. sad/10

[Trikelops]

Getting near the end of Stephen King and his son Owen's book 'Sleeping Beauties'. The usual twists from him, up to his usual standard.

[Lemonade]

I'm revisiting some old horror novels by Graham Masterton that I used to love when I was in my late teens / early 20s. The one I'm currently reading is "The Mirror", which at the time utterly terrified me and I called it the scariest book I've ever read. I haven't read him in 15 years so I don't know how they'll stand up now, but The Mirror is creepy as hell so far. He writes really vivid stuff, and there are scenes that have absolutely stayed with me for years, eg a scene in the Mirror, where a man is forced to stab himself in the eyes with a cocktail stirrer and blind himself, then stick it in his ears and deafen himself, then cut out his own tongue. In  The Ritual a man cuts off and cooks his own finger, in The House That Jack Built, a man is grabbed by a gang of youths, they put his cock and balls on a workbench and smash one of his balls with a hammer; later in the same novel, a woman in a sort of trance is made to dance with a man in her bare feet on broken glass. All of those are back on my to-read list, along with Plague and a few others. As I recall my main criticism of him was that he always blew the endings, went far too big and OTT and ruined the book, but we'll see. It says a lot that i remember all these graphic scenes but can't remember a single ending. 

[James Broonbreed]

If I was him. I would've made the smashing of cock and balls on a workbench the ending. 

[scottyboy]

Just reread a book called The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill. Grabbed it out of a box when the bag for life - that's the meme on this forum, right? - had cause to dig into said boxes which hold most of my books. The premise is that the Minotaur ("M" to his friends) was/is real, and wasn't killed by that guy who used a bit of thread or whatever it was. Being immortal, he's still around 5000 years later, way mellowed/worn out a bit since his labyrinth days, and at the time of the novel works as a chef and lives in a trailer park in North Carolina. A lot of it reads like a novel-length Raymond Carver story, except the protagonist happens to be half-bull. Though he does turn the prose dial away from Carver-like minimalism as the novel goes on.

Thought it was good but not quite great when I first read it; loved it second time. I have a lot of time for the "death of the author" way of reading (or watching, etc.) fiction, but both times I wondered what he was trying to get across with the Minotaur thing, and both times I read it differently. First time I assumed the Minotaur was kind of a Brian from Family Guy gimmick and basically a metaphor and an excuse for some one liners ("The Minotaur is not a Christian. Not then, not now"; after some crude remarks from his friends about a passing girl "There's was indeed a time when the Minotaur would have devoured her. Literally."). But no, second time round, methinks it's definitely a real bull-man walking around the novel (although still a metaphor for something).

People have mentioned Murakami quite a bit. If you like some everyday themes explored in a surreal way (and if my rereading of Norwegian Wood is anything to go by, a GOOD way), give this one a go. In Googling it I saw a sequel came out in 2016 (this original one is from 2000). I'll pick that up when I can.

 

[Trikelops]

On ‎27‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 12:36 PM, Lemonade said:

I'm revisiting some old horror novels by Graham Masterton that I used to love when I was in my late teens / early 20s. The one I'm currently reading is "The Mirror", which at the time utterly terrified me and I called it the scariest book I've ever read. I haven't read him in 15 years so I don't know how they'll stand up now, but The Mirror is creepy as hell so far. He writes really vivid stuff, and there are scenes that have absolutely stayed with me for years, eg a scene in the Mirror, where a man is forced to stab himself in the eyes with a cocktail stirrer and blind himself, then stick it in his ears and deafen himself, then cut out his own tongue. In  The Ritual a man cuts off and cooks his own finger, in The House That Jack Built, a man is grabbed by a gang of youths, they put his cock and balls on a workbench and smash one of his balls with a hammer; later in the same novel, a woman in a sort of trance is made to dance with a man in her bare feet on broken glass. All of those are back on my to-read list, along with Plague and a few others. As I recall my main criticism of him was that he always blew the endings, went far too big and OTT and ruined the book, but we'll see. It says a lot that i remember all these graphic scenes but can't remember a single ending. 

Pretty sure I read The House That Jack Built many years ago.

[James Broonbreed]

I'm halfway through Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein.

Surprised I've never gotten round to reading this before. Thus far it seems quite different from the '97 film, which is perhaps not a bad thing at all.

[scottyboy]

18 minutes ago, James Broonbreed said:

I'm halfway through Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein.

Surprised I've never gotten round to reading this before. Thus far it seems quite different from the '97 film, which is perhaps not a bad thing at all.

The film was originally written as something unrelated (like anti-war, black humour; maybe Catch-22, sci-fi, no-enemy-in-particular style), without the fascism. But it was close enough (the verbatim expression "Bug Hunt" was in the film's original screenplay title, in particular) that someone spotted that they should buy out the Starship Troopers novel or face being sued. The director apparently hated the book and tried to satirise the fascism; while people criticise the film for having weirdly ambiguous fascist undertones (or in the age of Twitter, maybe it's just fascist, not sure). The story of the former explains the latter, IMO.

The novel was actually used for "Aliens" more than the titular film, believe it or not. Required reading for all the cast members apparently and "just another bug hunt" was inserted in the dialogue (don't think Aliens paid or got sued). But none of the fascism.

[James Broonbreed]

3 minutes ago, scottyboy said:

The film was originally written as something unrelated (like anti-war, black humour; maybe Catch-22, sci-fi, no-enemy-in-particular style), without the fascism. But it was close enough (the verbatim expression "Bug Hunt" was in the film's original screenplay title, in particular) that someone spotted that they should buy out the Starship Troopers novel or face being sued. The director apparently hated the book and tried to satirise the fascism; while people criticise the film for having weirdly ambiguous fascist undertones (or in the age of Twitter, maybe it's just fascist, not sure). The story of the former explains the latter, IMO.

The novel was actually used for "Aliens" more than the titular film, believe it or not. Required reading for all the cast members apparently and "just another bug hunt" was inserted in the dialogue (don't think Aliens paid or got sued). But none of the fascism.

Aye, that sounds about right. Regardless, it's a far better book than "Have Spacesuit, will travel".

[Soda Jerk]

Anyone into Discworld? I've been meaning to delve in for ages, but kept putting it off. I'd heard mixed things about whether to start at the start or dive in to the middle, as the first 2 or 3 apparently aren't so good. I started at the start anyway.

The Colour of Magic is making my head hurt. I keep having to re-read bits and I'm still left thinking "So what actually happened there?". Doing a quick Google seems to suggest it's generally a bit of a difficult read for many. Did anyone else struggle with it? And is it worth it? Or should I bin it and come back to it? If so, what's a better starting point?

[Lemonade]

28 minutes ago, Soda Jerk said:

Anyone into Discworld? I've been meaning to delve in for ages, but kept putting it off. I'd heard mixed things about whether to start at the start or dive in to the middle, as the first 2 or 3 apparently aren't so good. I started at the start anyway.

The Colour of Magic is making my head hurt. I keep having to re-read bits and I'm still left thinking "So what actually happened there?". Doing a quick Google seems to suggest it's generally a bit of a difficult read for many. Did anyone else struggle with it? And is it worth it? Or should I bin it and come back to it? If so, what's a better starting point?

I've read a few. My wife is a mega fan and has read them all multiple times. She always recommended reading them chronologically but the thing with Discworld is there are a few different story strands going on, all with their own jumping-off point. See diagram. 

You can start with any of the orange ones. I started with the Rincewind Novels. The Colour Of Magic can be a tough read, it's dry and full of long descriptive passages that can be hard to read. They do get a lot easier after that one. My wife loves the Witches Novels and thinks they're the best arc, so maybe consider that but she says just read them chronologically for maximum enjoyment. 

[Soda Jerk]

16 minutes ago, Lemonade said:

I've read a few. My wife is a mega fan and has read them all multiple times. She always recommended reading them chronologically but the thing with Discworld is there are a few different story strands going on, all with their own jumping-off point. See diagram. 

You can start with any of the orange ones. I started with the Rincewind Novels. The Colour Of Magic can be a tough read, it's dry and full of long descriptive passages that can be hard to read. They do get a lot easier after that one. My wife loves the Witches Novels and thinks they're the best arc, so maybe consider that but she says just read them chronologically for maximum enjoyment. 

I'm alright with the long descriptive passages, but I find there's some really quick passages which seem to be the exact opposite, lacking context and with dialogue that seems a bit like gibberish, and it leaves me thinking "u wot m8?" so I go and re-read the previous couple of pages leading up to it to see if I've missed something important.

That flowchart is super helpful. I'd read that Mort and Guards, Guards are good starting places and two of the best, so I might skip to those and come back to Colour of Magic when I get a better understanding of the writing style. 

[Lemonade]

Like I said I've only read a few. I'm going to try and get through a few more this year though. Sourcery was my favourite so far. 

[James Broonbreed]

I'm away to finish a book about gravitational waves in the garden just now - yawn - and then probably start Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy as AGFW loaned it to me.

It's out of my comfort zone by the looks of it, so I may jack it in in not long.

[scottyboy]

I ddn't like Colour of Magic, and other than maybe The Light Fantastic (I think I read, and also didn't care for) was the only one of the first 10 that I read. I randomly jumped in at Thief of Time ( I think 21?), which I didn't realise was the last "Death" novel; I thought it a stand alone one, and also the one I liked best).

The problem is IMO, that the guy really took a while to get good and the later (I think around 20 was his peak; maybe 15-25 for the best range) ones are better; with maybe going downhill in the latest ones (maybe his illness; writing mostly teen fiction; or maybe I just went off him and would dislike everything else if I went back to it; wouldn't be first time... Murakami) going downhill.

The witches novels tend to be good yeah, but they are also out of the way, both geographically, in the universe and in the overall plot/thematic scheme of things. Rincewind is the earlier staple and the Watch the later ones. The Watch I tend to think of as the archetypal Discworld novels, as there are so many of them, mostly in the "good" stretch (as I see it); cover a bunch of characters, and all take place in the city. Rincewind is in the equivalent of Australia at once point, and I think literally almost falls off the edge of the world. Rincewind is in some not-so-great novels, being the earlier "main character". He also reminds me of Blackadder in the way his character changed (Death is known from going from a baddie, to a central, sympathetic character; but I never read those earlier ones). The Witches are maybe the ones you can't really go wrong with, though. I tended to read them backwards, and get to the good stuff first, and then it was like reading loads of prequels until it got a bit naff. Some of the latest ones, though, a bit sub-par (which may be because he was literally losing his mind; but also I went back after reading up until his latest books and going back when he published more... and my tastes might have changed and this all might be the subjective opinions of maybe 16-20 year old me). Anyway: I'd say grab something randomly at 15-25, maybe push it to 30, to get something good, and just discover the threads for yourself. If you don't like the mid-range, you're probably not into it, and not going to like the bookends.

I'm reading Blood Meridian atm as it happens. Like if Tarantino asked Hemmingway to write a Western for him to adapt in his ultra-violent style. It drops into the and and and Hemingway style mentioned on here a bit, but otherwise is pretty good. (and that spare is style is largely great, IMO). Dialogue is excellent. Some flowery bits which don't quite fit and feel forced (it's blurbed as something profound and "epic", but doesn't feel like that to me: essentially aimless, kind of the point, and maybe could have been shorter. Though it's not long, so again doesn't feel epic. I've a few chapters to go and it's a pretty good read for someone who isn't into Westerns, serious or otherwise, or Gothic much).

Edited June 10, 2018 by scottyboy

[Lemonade]

I'm reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (my 50th Stephen King book) and boy did I pick a bad one. What a piece of shit. Almost unreadable.