What are you reading?

[VaderDave]



Not so good on my opinion.

I recall pretty entertaining. Def worthy of a vacay read.

Rules of attraction changed my life in college. It was my catcher in the rye.

I'm a couple of hundred pages in now. It's not that good, but I will soldier on in hopes that at some point it becomes worth it.

 

[i10casual]

I'm into American Psycho right now. I tried rules of attraction but just put it down after awhile. Life is too short to push through novels I don't enjoy.

 

[VaderDave]



I'm into American Psycho right now. I tried rules of attraction but just put it down after awhile. Life is too short to push through novels I don't enjoy.

I agree, but I get a little hibbley-jibbley if I quit a book halfway through. I'm a fast reader, though, so I should be able to polish this one off quickly.

 

[ballmouse]

Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block. It's my first read of the Matthew Scudder series. It's an easy read, nothing fancy, but it doesn't read like one of those early pulp novels. There's a certain...polish to the style maybe because the narrator seems less of a narrator and more of a troubled alcoholic detective.

Will continue reading the series.

 

[VaderDave]



I agree, but I get a little hibbley-jibbley if I quit a book halfway through. I'm a fast reader, though, so I should be able to polish this one off quickly.

Okay. I read it. Not much to say about that other than I can perhaps use it as a touchstone reference anytime I wonder why so many people my age seem to be such self-absorbed a-holes.

 

[VaderDave]

Started this yesterday. It's pretty interesting so far. I had read about it on a sci-fi blog (probably io9) and thought I'd give it a whirl.

 

[lawyerdad]



»zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Also bailed. Very disappointing given all the peeps who'd raved how transformational it is (was to them).

I remember being very impressed with that book when I read it. I was also 18 years old. I dunno how well it would hold up if older, perhaps wiser me read it now. I do remember wondering at the time why the author was such a self-absorbed douche at the same time as being kind of wise/profound.

I enjoyed the relatively limited bits that actually dealt with motorcycle maintenance, and generally liked his efforts to use motorcycle maintenance analogies to illustrate certain simplistic, western-style zen lite concepts.

The parts that dealt with the relationship between the protagonist and his son were tolerable, although the son was portrayed as such a miserable, douchey caricature of sullen male adolescence that it made me that the author must have really hated/resented his kid.

The 60% or so of the book that was basically a demonstration of the protagonist/author's manic obsession with pseudo-philosophical theories was ******* unreadable and made me angry at everyone who has ever raved about the book to demonstrate their own coolness and seriousness.

It took something like 6 formulaic mystery/thrillers a couple of sci-fi/fantasy books to recover from that narcissistic bullshit.

 

[VaderDave]



I enjoyed the relatively limited bits that actually dealt with motorcycle maintenance, and generally liked his efforts to use motorcycle maintenance analogies to illustrate certain simplistic, western-style zen lite concepts.

The parts that dealt with the relationship between the protagonist and his son were tolerable, although the son was portrayed as such a miserable, douchey caricature of sullen male adolescence that it made me that the author must have really hated/resented his kid.

The 60% or so of the book that was basically a demonstration of the protagonist/author's manic obsession with pseudo-philosophical theories was ******* unreadable and made me angry at everyone who has ever raved about the book to demonstrate their own coolness and seriousness.

It took something like 6 formulaic mystery/thrillers a couple of sci-fi/fantasy books to recover from that narcissistic bullshit.

The worst part was the epilogue he wrote years later to let everyone know that his son had been murdered outside of a Buddhist temple in Oakland or Berkeley or somewhere, after growing up to be a Much Better Person than You Will Ever Be. Even as a kid I rolled my eyes at that part.

 

[lawyerdad]



The worst part was the epilogue he wrote years later to let everyone know that his son had been murdered outside of a Buddhist temple in Oakland or Berkeley or somewhere, after growing up to be a Much Better Person than You Will Ever Be. Even as a kid I rolled my eyes at that part.

Ugh, yeah, forgot about that.

 

[indesertum]

Finished I Claudius. I want to read the sequel where hopefully Claudius kicks ass. I watched Caligula the movie once. Pretty much that in book form at the end

Also Old Man and the Sea. I enjoyed the sparse writing style. Don't know why it took me til now to read this

 

[ballmouse]

Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block. It's my first read of the Matthew Scudder series. It's an easy read, nothing fancy, but it doesn't read like one of those early pulp novels. There's a certain...polish to the style maybe because the narrator seems less of a narrator and more of a troubled alcoholic detective.

Will continue reading the series.

Read the next 3 in the series - When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, Out on the Cutting Edge, and A Ticket to the Boneyard. Enjoyed the first 2, but Boneyard... seemed more like a suspense or thriller novel so I didn't enjoy it too much. About to start A Dance at the Slaughterhouse.

 

[SirReveller]

You're almost obliged to buy a copy of this just because you came across it.

 

[Schizm]



Started this yesterday. It's pretty interesting so far. I had read about it on a sci-fi blog (probably io9) and thought I'd give it a whirl.

Read that then immediately move on to the second in the series, The Dark Forest. Eagerly awaiting the third.

 

[VaderDave]



Read that then immediately move on to the second in the series, The Dark Forest. Eagerly awaiting the third.

That's my plan. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm just about done--maybe 30 pages to go, which I will polish off tonight.

 

[VaderDave]



That's my plan. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm just about done--maybe 30 pages to go, which I will polish off tonight.

I actually had fewer pages than I thought--there were a bunch of footnotes at the back of my Nook edition. Anyway: great book and I already downloaded The Dark Forest.