xkcd

by **FermiumBalloon** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:41 am UTC

For what is probably too long now, I've been reading I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. It's taking me so long to read it not necessarily because of its length, but because every time I pick it up, it sends me off on a thousand exciting new mental tangents, so that it takes me ages to finish a chapter because each paragraph gives me so many ideas to think about. There's something about Hofstadter's ideas and writing style that really gets me thinking. At this point I'm not really even reading it for the content as much as for the experience that results each time I pick up the book. When I finally do finish it, I'm planning on finishing up Crime and Punishment, which I left off on a few months ago.

by **mmark9094** » Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:35 am UTC

Began and finished Illusions by Richard Bach, loved every second of it.

On hold: Gödel, Escher, Bach for almost the exact same reason that Fermium stated. That, and I don't have the time to indulge in those mental tangents anymore, much as I would love to.

by **Hope_** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:09 am UTC

Currently Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
When I get home (I could only bring a limited number of books to the states with me D:) I will be reading this book about feminism and the history of witchcraft whose name escapes me right now..
(In between I will be reading books for my classes, I've got so used to doing this I can't pick books for myself now, I like doing an English lit degree though /ramble)

by **paulagostinelli1** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:30 pm UTC

'Monuments Men' by Robert M. Edsel about the massive undertaking of recovering, researching, archiving, restoring, and saving thousands and thousands of the most valuable objects d'art during the time from D-day until well after the end of the war (minus the Italian peninsula as he'll be writing an entire book on that campaign's art undertaking alone).

If your a WWII fanatic or an art history buff (or both as in my case) this will definitely tickle your fancy. Very little has been written on this topic and it really is one of the most incredible sets of stories from some of the least covered perspectives. The amount of artwork blatantly stolen by the nazis during the 5 years leading up to this book is staggering and the fact that there were in total about 300 men and women who (not all at once either) actually went about this unbelievable and monumental (no pun intended) task is just mind-blowing.

Edit: removed excess apostrophe

by **Zohar** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:37 am UTC

Reading Wicked now. I loved the musical, the book seems very different but it's still interesting.

Before that I read Valentine Pontifex, the second book in the Majipoor series by Robert Silverberg. I loved the first book (Lord Valentine's Castle) because it had such rich world building, and while I didn't have the same feeling of wonder in this book as the previous one, it still expanded quite a bit. I'll keep a look out for the other books.

by **theGoldenCalf;** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:15 am UTC

"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami.

It's really very good, and I love Murakami, it's just that reading his stuff feels like he's weirding you out just to weird you out. There's nothing behind it. People talk to cats, fish fall from the sky, Colonel Sanders is a classy pimp and ghosts have sex with people, and none of it connects or means anything at all, like having an outrageously bizarre dream which makes you go "huh" and forget all about it an hour later. Still a fun read, though (caution: very graphic depictions of animal cruelty. Yea, this part was a lot less fun).

Next in line is Rushdie's "Midnight Children"

by **Zohar** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:19 am UTC

I love Murakami because he creates atmosphere very well and his characters are usually interesting, however he does tend to leave things very open at the end of almost all his stories (that I've read).

by **theGoldenCalf;** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:23 am UTC

That's exactly his thing, leaving things open. Makes it feel all the more surreal, and I like that, only it gets a little tired after 3-4 books.

by **emceng** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:03 pm UTC

cv4 wrote:Just finished Cat's Cradle (Vonnegut) and Count Zero (Gibson).
On to Snow Crash (Stephenson).
Not sure what will be next. Have a bunch of other books lying around to choose from (Freakonomics, Storm Front - Dresden Files 1, Eye of the World - Wheel of Time 1, Gravity's Rainbow, Foundation & Empire, The Rum Diary, The Best of HP Lovecraft, Children of the Mind, Keeper of Dreams, The Mote in God's Eye).

Am I the only one that thinks "racist white dudes" every time I see 'Stormfront', instead of thinking "Ok fantasy detective novel"? Also, we apparently have amazingly similar tastes. I have all but one of those books.

by **Zarq** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:30 pm UTC

Currently reading "The Colour of Magic" by Terry Pratchett and the Lovecraft collection "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories" (printed by Penguin Classics).

Comic Fantasy and Gothic Horror is quite a decent combination.

by **emceng** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:10 pm UTC

I finished reading Ender in Exile over the weekend. I have to say I was very disappointed. The story was disjointed, it didn't go anywhere, it didn't even really need to be told. He spent half the book covering the time in between two chapters in Ender's Game, when EG did a great job of summarizing.

It was also poorly written. For example, there is a teenage girl and her mother in the book. One line from the book had the teenager say, "Blah blah blah."[then the statement] She was such a teenager.

The problem was this. It wasn't clear whether a) the teenager was thinking this about her immature mother, or b) Card needed to show he's just become really bad at writing. It just really stuck with me as an example of really bad writing. Additionally, he specifically stated a least half a dozen times that "monogamy is the only system shown to work", or something along those lines.

I love some of Card's writing, but I think he's lost his touch. I'll go back and re-read some of his classics, maybe finally get to Lost Boys. I don't think I'll read anything he's written in the past few years.

I also recently was reading a book titled 'Why People Believe Weird Things'. It was supposed to be about pseudoscience, scams, etc. It just was not a good book. His anecdotes were lame, his reasoning was dry and boring, and there was far too much vitriol underlying the whole book. It wasn't 'haha, people believe silly stuff', or 'wow, human brains work funny', or 'man, homeopathy really doesn't work'. It instead left me thinking 'man, this guy is a super-dick'.

by **JayDee** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:36 am UTC

Read a bunch over the summer break. In the middle of a Raymond Chandler four-in-one that's going down like whiskey. I've read The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, and The Little Sister (which wasn't in the set) thus far. I very rarely pick the twists or connections, but then I rarely think that far ahead. Don't mind being a step behind the detective (or even the police) in knowing what's going on, I'm just loving the read. Cynicism, drunkenness and wordplay. Perfect.

Finally got around to reading Ghost in the Shell 2: Man Machine Interface. It was rubbish. The fan service was very entertaining, though. Even the lass in the full on Burqa had a panty shot. It's almost weird watching Stand Alone Complex where Motoko is the only person in ridiculous fan service outfits (in the manga all the girls were.) Still undecided as to whether the original manga on GitS:SAC is better, but the anime series is proving to be at least as good as I was hoping. Much better than the meh anime movie.

Read The Big Time by Fritz Leiber. Love his swords and sorcery so much. Some of the scif-fi seems as good. This Change War stuff especially. Two far future factions trying to win a war by changing the past. Kidnapping Einstein back and forth. Giving Alex the Great nukes. That sort of thing. The novel focuses on a rest and recuperation station for soldiers in the was. Keeps the awesome sci-fi time travel ideas in the background mostly (where there isn't a chance for them to be spoiled or lose their glamour) and tells a story about a bunch of interesting people.

It wasn't the only book I've read recently with a sympathetic Nazi in, incidentally. Well, somewhat sympathetics. Man in the High Castle by P.K. Dick was another. Really reminded my of Gibsons books. Fascinating world and setting. Interesting characters. Mediocre plot at best. Hell, I should have picked the ending based on that comparison. But aside from the book within a book thing, quite a good read.

The Ludlum thriller I read had a sympathetic Commie, which was also interesting. The Maltrese Circle Apart from that (and therefore having two protagonists) it was completely formula and thus predictable to a T. Which is exactly what I was after. Nothing wrong with a formula that works.

Finished reading Radical Sydney, moved onto Radical Brisbane. So far learnt what a larrakin was, and of yet another time Australia was this close to conflict fairly described as civil war. Plus in a chapter about women's suffrage movements I learnt that men had votes based on property - up to twelve votes, because they got a vote for each electorate they owned land in. Wacky times. Said suffrage movements had splits over whether they campaigned for similar things, or 'one woman one vote'.

Also, Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark which wasn't bad, per se, but was very disappointing. Maybe two or three chapters contained what I'd been led to expect from the book.

by **modularblues** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:45 am UTC

FermiumBalloon wrote:For what is probably too long now, I've been reading I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. It's taking me so long to read it not necessarily because of its length, but because every time I pick it up, it sends me off on a thousand exciting new mental tangents...

I should get my own copy, either hard or soft. Maybe I'll get around to GEB as well...

Currently The Picture of Dorian Gray is cracking me up. Oscar Wilde is my new homeboy. I'm having too much fun with the Kindle for PC highlighting and note function...

by **viscusanima** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:51 pm UTC

Currently reading At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. I've only just started it, but I'm possibly going to be using it for some English Lit coursework dealing with perceptions of homosexuality by authors, their characters and critical reviews of literature through the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, using one book from each. Hurray for being able to choose our own topic!

by **big boss** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 7:24 pm UTC

Currently reading Dune: Messiah (the 2nd book in the series) so far im not liking it as much as i did the 1st book, but I'm going to stick it out because I hear the 4th book is crazy, although I'm not sure if its in a good or bad way.

by **folkhero** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:55 am UTC

big boss wrote:Currently reading Dune: Messiah (the 2nd book in the series) so far im not liking it as much as i did the 1st book, but I'm going to stick it out because I hear the 4th book is crazy, although I'm not sure if its in a good or bad way.

It's crazy in a very meditative way. Dozens of pages of dialogue and monologue for each page of plot development. You should definitely finish Messiah though, because that's really where Herbert's point about heroes is made. The first book gets you caught up in the hero's journey, it gets you rooting for him and supporting him; the second book shows just how disastrous it can be to put your faith in a hero.

by **Felstaff** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:21 am UTC

I'm currently reading Through the Looking Glass & Altered Carbon simultaneously. It's fun because they're both brutal dystopian fairy tales set in a rigidly ordered universe.

by **Zohar** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:31 am UTC

Currently reading Machine of Death. The stories are much more varied than I thought they would be. Some of them are a bit depressing, which is reasonable considering the subject matter.

by **Felstaff** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:18 am UTC

I refuse to read Machine of Death on the basis that they rejected my kick-ass MoD story (it was so boss) and I don't want to confirm that the ~30 or so stories are way better than mine.

if anyone wants to read it I have an old .pdf of it in my dock-you-mince folder somewhere.

by **Zohar** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:05 pm UTC

Sure send it over.

by **emceng** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:14 pm UTC

Felstaff wrote:I refuse to read Machine of Death on the basis that they rejected my kick-ass MoD story (it was so boss) and I don't want to confirm that the ~30 or so stories are way better than mine.

if anyone wants to read it I have an old .pdf of it in my dock-you-mince folder somewhere.

But do I spoil the book by reading your story first, thus rendering all the remaining ones terrible in comparison, or shall I wait until reading the book, then your story - leaving it as the wonderous desert to compliment a fine meal?

Also, reading When the Devil Dances or something by John Ringo. I read the first book in the series 2+ years ago, and the 2nd I finished on Monday. Now, I'm not sure I want to keep reading. It's an enjoyable story, and fun to read. The problems are 1) I'm getting tired of humanity is getting its ass kicked, with the end of that probably being 1200 pages away in the next book(plus the fact I know it's not a 4 book series, I just am hoping this story arc finishes in 4), and 2) despite being a quick read, I just want to finish the damned story and find out what happens. So I may start skimming. I feel a little bad about that, but I realized last year I should stop reading stuff I am not enjoying. There are too many books out there to get bogged down in one I don't like, which prompts me to do other things instead of read.

by **Kewangji** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 7:51 pm UTC

Felstaff wrote:I refuse to read Machine of Death on the basis that they rejected my kick-ass MoD story (it was so boss) and I don't want to confirm that the ~30 or so stories are way better than mine.

if anyone wants to read it I have an old .pdf of it in my dock-you-mince folder somewhere.

I'll read it! (And don't worry, they said they rejected tons of awesome stories.)

((Also I wrote a MoD-story after the book came out, and it was also cool, and I can send it to people.))

Currently I am reading House of Leaves.

by **alfa** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 6:32 am UTC

Finished reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as part of my education yesterday to prepare for the restarting of school (on a Friday... good job Victoria). The lack of detail in character descriptions and actions is something that takes some getting used to, which combined with how much I disliked the Bennet family bar Elizabeth and Jane, made the first volume (my book is split into 3 volumes, for some reason) a chore to get through, although I did enjoy the later volumes with more focus on Elizabeth herself and less on the other members of her family and found myself smiling at, what I will state in such a manner for spoiler reasons, the knowledge Elizabeth conceals from her mother.

by **Hope_** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:43 pm UTC

But the Bennet family are funny because the mother, Lydia and, to a lesser extent, Kitty are so clueless. It works better because this is played out in contrast to the intelligence of Jane and Elizabeth. But one of the funniest bits in the book (the last paragraph of chapter 5) involves Mrs Bennet, but that's more about the excellent skill of the writer. And Mary is just wonderful, the speakers derisive tone with her never fails to amuse me. And Mr Bennet is just amazingly witty and brilliant. I love Elizabeth, because really who couldn't. And Jane is just lovely you can't not like her.

Weird that it's split into three volumes, it's pretty short anyway.

Sorry that is one of my favourite books. But then I never did it for school.

by **Darryl** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:31 pm UTC

I've been reading the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. Which is just addictive.

by **Microscopic cog** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:23 pm UTC

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Not really loving it.

by **Hope_** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:33 pm UTC

Microscopic cog wrote:Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Not really loving it.

I had to do that last year for my degree and I thought it was brilliant! But we did all the analysis as well, without that I agree it might be a bit dry.

by **Microscopic cog** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:36 pm UTC

The analysis is yet to come, I'm reading it for school as well, so who knows, I might come to like it.

I think it has some great things every now and then but overall it comes across a bit, I don't know, dry is not quite it, but close enough.

by **Felstaff** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:58 pm UTC

Currently reading:

by **Izawwlgood** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 2:02 pm UTC

Slowly working through Nightwatch. Not liking the translation, but it's got it's entertaining moments. About as visceral as the films special effects sequences, but only marginally better story wise.

by **Hope_** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 4:22 pm UTC

I went to the library yesterday to get a Pratchett book out but they didn't have any that I wanted to read, so I borrowed a Sherlock Holmes. I've never read any before and it's good so far!

It is very upper-class style wording (why can't my brain think of a better word than that?!) though.

by **Lenoracle** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:36 am UTC

I'm reading The Devil and Miss Prynn by Paulo Coelho. It's a fantastic take on the ideas of good and evil. I also read The Alchemist by him, which was fantastic.

by **saut** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:52 pm UTC

Now reading: No Country for Old Men. Nearly finished... matches up with the movie very very closely except for one thing (the hitchhiker that Moss picks up). I've read almost all of McCarthy's other novels and, while this is easily the quickest I've been able to read one of his books, it's also my least favorite after Child of God. It's McCarthy though, so obviously it still crushes.

Next up is Cold Mountain.

Now listening to (audiobook): Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. Just about done with the second book in the series and I'm absolutely loving it. I think I enjoyed the first book (Titus Groan) more, which it seems is a unique experience (most folks preferring the second). The reader is excellent - especially his voices for Steerpike, Dr Prunesquallor, Irma, and the twins. Really helps to bring the books to life. Essential reading for anyone interested in fantasy - I have no idea how it eluded me for so long.

Has anyone seen the BBC miniseries? I read that it's very well done.

by **jawdisorder** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:23 am UTC

I am currently reading both Gödel, Escher, Bach and Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft. I am enjoying both but I can't read either one very frequently or for long durations so it is taking me a while to make it through.

by **Zohar** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:58 am UTC

I finished reading The Hunger Games last night, practically in one sitting - the book is 350 pages or so, I read the last 250 last night. I was supposed to sleep. >.>

by **Chuff** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 7:24 am UTC

Zohar wrote:I finished reading The Hunger Games last night, practically in one sitting - the book is 350 pages or so, I read the last 250 last night. I was supposed to sleep. >.>

That series will do that to you.

by **saut** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:58 am UTC

Yeah the Hunger Games is a fantastic YA series. Can't wait to see Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss on the big screen

by **Jessica** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 8:13 pm UTC

Argh, I wish I read as fast as I used to. I've been reading pygmy for like a year now... because I just don't read. It makes me sad.

by **emceng** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 8:46 pm UTC

I am nearing the end of The Reality Disfuntion. I like it, but two things are throwing me. 1) I really hate the antagonist, so I want him dead. 2) the length. I usually don't mind long series, but when I picked it up I thought it was a 2 book series, not a trilogy split into 6 books, each weighing in over 500 pages. So now I have to find the other books, and decide if I'm ready for that time committment. This brings me back to point 1, in that he won't be defeated for another 2500 pages, which may really get on my nerves.

by **bigglesworth** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:03 pm UTC

It's truly ridiculous space opera, sure. I found them worthwhile though.

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