Reading thread

[GraphicNovelty]

Has anybody read bright lights big city? I read it the other day and while I enjoyed it immensely I'm a bit conflicted/confused about parts of it.

Nobody I know has read it and can talk about it with me

 

[fireflygrave]

Are we posting reading lists? Fun

Read so far this year:

The Moviegoer
Dune (yearly reread)
The Fifty Year Sword
No-No Boy
Wabi-Sabi
A Dance with Dragons
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
1Q84
The Last American Valentine (poetry)
John Dies at the End
Fragile Things (short stories)

Currently:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Next:

The Crying of Lot 49
The Last Gentleman
By Night in Chile
Snow Crash
Neuromancer
The Satanic Verses
Leviathan Wakes
The Forever War
The Thanatos Syndrome
Zelda (Fitzgerald Bio)
Cloud Atlas
Norwegian Wood
The City and the City
Blood Meridian
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

As you can see, I'm kind of on a Murakami kick. Didn't get to read much the first half of this year with it being my last semester of college; most of the books I've read have been since April or so. Trying to "catch up" and get more reading in for the rest of the year!

 

[Nikos]

Are we posting reading lists? Fun

Read so far this year:

The Moviegoer
Dune (yearly reread)
The Fifty Year Sword
No-No Boy
Wabi-Sabi
A Dance with Dragons
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
1Q84
The Last American Valentine (poetry)
John Dies at the End
Fragile Things (short stories)

Currently:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Next:

The Crying of Lot 49
The Last Gentleman
By Night in Chile
Snow Crash
Neuromancer
The Satanic Verses
Leviathan Wakes
The Forever War
The Thanatos Syndrome
Zelda (Fitzgerald Bio)
Cloud Atlas
Norwegian Wood
The City and the City
Blood Meridian
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

As you can see, I'm kind of on a Murakami kick. Didn't get to read much the first half of this year with it being my last semester of college; most of the books I've read have been since April or so. Trying to "catch up" and get more reading in for the rest of the year!

Wow, I am just about to order the Chronicle. Please tell me what you think so far.

Blood Meridian is good by the way.

 

[noob in 89]

Bright Lights tidbits retracted due to overwhelming non-response.

 

[rjbman]

This is what I've read so far this year (stand-outs bolded):

25. The Well of Ascension
26. Hero of Ages
27. Alloy of Law

You like the Mistborn series as well? I found the first one to be the best, though I did enjoy Alloy of Law in that it, in a sense, jumped eras into a Victorian-esque time from the medieval of the first three trilogy.

In all honesty I love all of Sanderson's adult novels; he always has such imaginative magic systems and is able to work them into interesting stories. In particular, he started his own epic (wonder if it had anything to do with him finishing up WoT), which I found rather entertaining. I think the next one comes out either this year or next.

Are we posting reading lists? Fun

Next:

The Crying of Lot 49
The Last Gentleman
By Night in Chile
Snow Crash
Neuromancer
The Satanic Verses
Leviathan Wakes
The Forever War
The Thanatos Syndrome
Zelda (Fitzgerald Bio)
Cloud Atlas
Norwegian Wood
The City and the City
Blood Meridian
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

As you can see, I'm kind of on a Murakami kick. Didn't get to read much the first half of this year with it being my last semester of college; most of the books I've read have been since April or so. Trying to "catch up" and get more reading in for the rest of the year!

These are all either on my list of things to read or on my favorites list! Hope you enjoy them.

For my own list:

Read this year:

Where I'm Calling From (Raymond Carver stories)
Ender's Game
A Memory of Light
Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick
Dune
Neuromancer

On my reading list:

Blood Meridian
V For Vendetta
Collected Fiction (Borges)
His Dark Materials trilogy
Hyperion
Caliban's War

Perhaps I'll finish the Ender Trilogy (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind). I always seem to get partways through either the first or second and then get distracted

 

[fireflygrave]

^^^^Fair warning: OSC goes batshit after Ender's Game and his crazy philosophy comes out a lot more strongly in the later books.

Wow, I am just about to order the Chronicle. Please tell me what you think so far.

I really have just started, only on about page 100 (of 600). That said it's very good- "dreamlike and compelling" according to one review, and I think that's pretty accurate. If you aren't familiar with Murakami, be prepared to have some unexplained stuff and unanswered questions. So if you like that sort of thing I think you'll really like it.

 

[Journeyman]



Wow, I am just about to order the Chronicle. Please tell me what you think so far.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is my favourite Murakami book, and I really hope that you enjoy it.

I liked Norwegian Wood, and the latter is a much more straightforward read than the vast majority of Murakami's works, as most of his stories raise issues of identity and make you question where things are taking place - are they in this world, are they in another world, are they somewhere outside time and who, actually, are some of these people - are they even "real" or are they simply characters in another character's mind?

I think that the only one of his books that I didn't enjoy - well, I liked it whilst I was reading it but didn't really like the ending - was "Sputnik Sweetheart". Whilst a lot of Murakami's books finish with many questions unanswered (deliberately so), Sputnik Sweetheart really left me hanging, asking "Well? What's happening?"

 

[Urthwhyte]

I'm reading for a BA in English with a focus in 18th and 19th Century Literature, so I'll do my part to roll back the clock a bit

I've just finished The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders; Love and Excess, Pamela: Virtue Rewarded; Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady, and The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling in the past few weeks. Richardson's writing in particular show its age – they're the only ones I'd not read again, and the latter four hundred pages of Clarissa were among the most plodding I've had the misfortune to suffer through – but on the whole it was a fascinating look into the genesis of the novel as a genre. I'd not read Tom Jones previously and it's now second only to Middlemarch as my favourite novel.

I also found out that the Danish National Archive for Literatue has all of Hans Christian Andersen's first three volumes of fairy tales transcribed and available online and reread a bunch of those. If you can read a Scandinavian langauage (Finns go home, you're drunk) it's worth perusing a few.

 

[MarkI]

Regarding the Carver discussion a few pages back, I want to add to that, but just got home from the bars and now is not the time, or rather it's probably the best time, but i've exhausted all my pseudo-intellectualism trying to pick up hipster chicks.

With that being said, back home for summer so i'm around all my books again finally. Picked up some Bukowski on a whim, jesus ******* christ, how is something so awful, so good?

 

[LonerMatt]

Snow Crash

Hands down my favourite book ever written. It is ******* unstoppably great.

You like the Mistborn series as well? I found the first one to be the best, though I did enjoy Alloy of Law in that it, in a sense, jumped eras into a Victorian-esque time from the medieval of the first three trilogy.

yes! I actually got recommended them when reading Patrick Rothfuss' blog (wrote Name of the Wind - anyone even remotely interested in great fantasy needs to read this - it is ******* sensational). Fantastic, Sanderson was. Really dug Alloy of Law as well - loved how he wasn't afraid to have a fantasy world move on, and try to keep up.

Went through the Nebula awards from 2012 to 1998 and ordered about 15 books: Red Shirts arrived today: more to come

 

[ManofKent]



I'm reading for a BA in English with a focus in 18th and 19th Century Literature, so I'll do my part to roll back the clock a bit

Have you given Tristram Shandy a go?

 

[rjbman]

Hands down my favourite book ever written. It is ******* unstoppably great.


yes! I actually got recommended them when reading Patrick Rothfuss' blog (wrote Name of the Wind - anyone even remotely interested in great fantasy needs to read this - it is ******* sensational). Fantastic, Sanderson was. Really dug Alloy of Law as well - loved how he wasn't afraid to have a fantasy world move on, and try to keep up.

Went through the Nebula awards from 2012 to 1998 and ordered about 15 books: Red Shirts arrived today: more to come

Sanderson is good, try and read some more of his stuff. I liked Warbreaker a lot, and that's available as an e-book for free (it was a few years ago anyways).

Name of the Wind is great, still waiting on the next book (hate that feeling). Red Shirts is pretty humorous, I really enjoy Scalzi's lack of seriousness in general, and that book has it full force.

Check out the Night Angel trilogy if you haven't (The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, Beyond the Shadows), it seems like it might be up your alley.

 

[Urthwhyte]

Have you given Tristram Shandy a go?

It's on my list to read over the summer! Just have to get through all of the reading for my internship and upcoming interviews and will be diving into a bunch of comedic/satirical stuff from the period.

I found Name of the Wind ridiculously long-winded and plodding, and I'm someone who enjoys the Brontë sisters' prose. Night Angel triolgy is a fast read, well-plotted if predictable. The Psalms of Isaak series is probably my current favourite in-progress fantasy series.

 

[Nikos]

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is my favourite Murakami book, and I really hope that you enjoy it.

I liked Norwegian Wood, and the latter is a much more straightforward read than the vast majority of Murakami's works, as most of his stories raise issues of identity and make you question where things are taking place - are they in this world, are they in another world, are they somewhere outside time and who, actually, are some of these people - are they even "real" or are they simply characters in another character's mind?

I think that the only one of his books that I didn't enjoy - well, I liked it whilst I was reading it but didn't really like the ending - was "Sputnik Sweetheart". Whilst a lot of Murakami's books finish with many questions unanswered (deliberately so), Sputnik Sweetheart really left me hanging, asking "Well? What's happening?"

Thank you both Journeyman and firefly.
From your comments, it seems like I am going to immensely enjoy this book. I ordered it of course.
Have not read any Murakami yet, but I do not mind abstraction.

I was actually undecided between the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood.

My problem is that I will want to start reading this as soon as I receive it, so I will probably end up reading it along with Under the Volcano, and getting very confused. Oh well.

 

[fireflygrave]

If you like wind up bird, get 1Q84 after. It is immensely engrossing. Nearly failed a final art history exam because I kept reading instead of studying, eventually had to go out to a cafe and leave the book behind to get my work done