What Are You Reading? pt. II

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

@Hayden - Yeah, it was bad. But on the bright side, the whole class got to bond over how much we all hated it, lol. :D

@Sam - Aww I loved Just Listen! It's been so long since I read that one. I should re-read it at some point.

[Megan]

[Colby]

I'm reading . I mean. I feel like I have to read it but it's pretty not amazing.

[Jayda]

Colby wrote: "I'm reading . I mean. I feel like I have to read it but it's pretty not amazing."

I'm probably going to give in and read it eventually, but certainly not anytime soon. The leaked synopsis about did it for me. It just sounded like awful fan fiction. Did you read the synopsis? How does it compare?

[Colby]

It was pretty much bad fanfiction. I'm finished with it now. I don't know, it just feels very unnecessary and extra. It doesn't have the same vibes as the books either, so it wasn't even very nostalgic.

[Naomi]

Colby wrote: "It was pretty much bad fanfiction. I'm finished with it now. I don't know, it just feels very unnecessary and extra. It doesn't have the same vibes as the books either, so it wasn't even very nosta..."

When I read the synopsis I really thought it sounded like a bad fanfic. I'm sort of scared to read it.

[Naomi]

Finally getting over a reading slump. Yesterday I was in a book store and saw this and I got so excited because I love Jonas Jonasson so I had to buy it and so far its really good.

[Megan]

The miniseries is one of my all-times faves and I am finally reading the book. It's so good and I love Roger so much it's slightly worrying.

[tesni]

Currently: (my second Dorothy Whipple book - I expect she's going to become a new favourite), , and .

I've been away for three or four weeks, hence my absence, but it was a lovely chance to get some reading done. I finally finished (!!) which I actually started last summer but ended up putting on hold for the entire academic year. I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad it's out the way now; I was getting a little sick of seeing it sat beside my bed, quietly collecting dust, for the better part of a year.

I also read (which I read in French and found easier to understand than I had expected, so I was pleased), (which I thought I'd enjoy, but ended up really disliking and skipping vast quantities of - if it had been written by someone else it would have been good, but I reeeally didn't like the author's voice, which seemed so pervasive and cruel and male-gazey), (SO SO GOOD), (often repetitive but with such good characters, including one of the best antagonists, one of the most sinister and 'boo-hiss' villains I can remember reading in a long long time), , and (which I am ashamed to say I rather enjoyed it at first, until it very quickly got too much!).

I also finally read some D.H. Lawrence!! . There were passages in both I ended up skipping, just because they went on so (eg all the religion stuff in The Rainbow) and I could feel myself getting bogged down in them, but it did me good to read him and I'm looking forward to more. His writing has quite a...biblical quality - he does a lot of telling rather than showing, and can be very detached, and though this does mean he can go on, in other places it's super super effective (especially with all the sex!). I was aware also his voice is similar sometimes to the way I write, or try to write, so it's a really useful exercise for me to see how others do things.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Tesni wrote: "Currently: (my second Dorothy Whipple book - I expect she's going to become a new favourite), , and [bookcover:The Fact of a Doorfram..."

I've had a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for like five years that I still haven't read yet, lol. I told myself I was finally going to read it last month but I just .... didn't. Maybe later this month I'll finally get to it. :P

[tesni]

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Tesni wrote: "Currently: (my second Dorothy Whipple book - I expect she's going to become a new favourite), , and [bookcover:The Fact..."

Oh yes, I remember you saying (probably last year when I was posting about it in this thread back then - god!). It looks daunting but it is well worth the read - I loved the author's style and the book's exploration of England and Englishness, especially. That's said, it's best saved for a time when you can just sit down and plough through it all in one go; not just because it's a really immersive experience (one of those books to get completely lost in), but also I wish I'd have read the whole thing last summer because then when I came back to it I found I'd forgotten quite a lot and it took me a little while to get back into.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Yeah I've heard good things about it! And thanks, that's good to know. :) I should probably finish up some library books and whatnot, and then hopefully I'll have the time to dive into it, haha.

[Dana]

Been on a bit of a reading kick recently and finished a bunch of books; I actually rarely finish a book in one sitting, so it was surprising when that happened with all these books. and were both sequels to books I'd read a couple years ago, but Tear You Apart was better than its prequel, while This Shattered World was way too confusing (especially towards the end???)

made me so so happy - Mainly I like how much depth the characters possess and the way the author layered several complex topics told through a super cute character pairing.
was basically a cross between and (more the former than the latter) so it wasn't terribly original, but it was sweet and enjoyable.

[Colby]

I finished up this morning and was not all that impressed with it. Now I'll go back to reading

[Colby]

Back at it with college. Rereading for fiction writing and reading for African Lit.

[Stephanie]

Colby wrote: "Back at it with college. Rereading for fiction writing and reading for African Lit."

I had to read Things Fall Apart for a gened last semester. The book was good; the class, not so much.

I've started reading . I promised my friend I would before school starts, which I've also realized is when the next book comes it. Its good but super long, so fingers crossed I finish in time!

[Megan]

Taking a break from (which is amazing but I've been going through it so slowly cause I've been so busy) to read before I see it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival next weekend. (So excited!)

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Finished:



I read it for a group read in another group, and...mehh, I wasn't crazy about it. It had a cool premise and some interesting plot twists, but I didn't like the writing and the characters fell flat for me.

I also FINALLY finished:



It was less than 300 pages but it took me so long to get through it?? The only other Dickens book I've read was Great Expectations, which I loved, but I just couldn't get into this one for some reason. It wasn't bad, but I didn't find it super compelling either. Oh well.

Now I'm re-reading:



I haven't read these books since I was like 11, so I'm interested to see how I feel about them as an adult.

[Stephanie]

Finished
It was good. I loved the characters as usual and I'm interested to see how the next book continues the series.

Gonna try to read before I go back to school because I can't take public library books with me.

[Isaac]

Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "Taking a break from (which is amazing but I've been going through it so slowly cause I've been so busy) to read before I see it at t..."

Oh man tell us how Hamlet after you see it

[tesni]

finished , which I began at the start of the summer, and I didn't really like it all that much. A lot of the stories seemed very similar to me and it was an entirely American collection (what's more over half the stories I'm sure must have been set in Los Angeles). It is an American anthology after all so it'd be silly to expect something different but 1) even within that it didn't represent a very...diverse range of experiences and more personally 2) I feel like so much of British LGBT culture is dominated by American imports, be it books or politics or the use of 'folx' that's been creeping onto my twitter/fb feeds, and I do get quite tired of it.

Much better, and much closer to home, is . I'm finally finishing off the Dance Sequence!! I began it aged 13 (god!) but I'm glad it's taken me so long because revisiting it at different ages has been interesting. For one thing, I haven't outgrown it as I'd feared, and Aidan Chambers remains possibly my favourite YA writer - I think this is going to end up one of my new favourites of his. It was written in 1982, but an English past is more familiar to me than an American present and besides, though I know that its ~*~ gay themez ~*~ must have been quite groundbreaking then, especially in a book for teenagers, it doesn't seem to have aged a day.

[Megan]

Hayden wrote: "Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "Oh man tell us how Hamlet after you see it "

(Putting this in spoilers cause it got so long)

(view spoiler)[
It was so good. So good. They did it all in traditional dress but they had some modern things incorporated in, like whenever someone gave a soliloquy there was a guy on a scaffolding above the stage who would play this long, drawn out notes on the electric guitar which gave it a really creepy, foreboding tone throughout it all. It sounded weird when I first found out about it (they called it "doom metal") but it was worked really well. And the actors were all so great and they played both the comedy and the insanity and darkness so smoothly. In the "to be or not to be" scene, Hamlet started walking in saying "that is the question that is the question" over and over into a microphone and then he held it out to a woman in the audience and she slowly said "to be...or not to be?" And it was hilarious and such a clever way to do that line cause it's been done so many ways before.

I could ramble on and on but overall it was just so amazing. I love live theatre so much. (I also saw Twelfth Night which was hilarious and the actor playing Andrew Aguecheek was the same one who played Hamlet so it was funny seeing him play such different characters. He was my favorite in both plays, ahahaha. Okay I'm done now.) (hide spoiler)]

[Colby]

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Finished:



I read it for a group read in another group, and...mehh, I wasn't crazy about it. It had a cool premise and some interesting plot twists, but I didn't like th..."

Ick, I read Hard Times last semester and I felt about the same.

And I just finished for African Lit and...It was depressing.

[Megan]

Colby wrote: "Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Finished:



I read it for a group read in another group, and...mehh, I wasn't crazy about it. It had a cool premise and some interesti..."

African Lit sounds like such a good class, I'm jealous

[Naomi]

I just finished which I picked up because I loved all of the books. It was cute but not nearly as good as the Traveling Pants.
I also just read which was the only John Green book I hadn't read. It was pretty good.
I also recently finished which I loved for the first half and then liked for the second half. But I didnt want to put it down so that was great.
And I just started which I am LOVING! I read the Mistborn series a few months ago and am obsessed with Brandon Sanderson now.

[Isaac]

Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "Hayden wrote: "Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "Oh man tell us how Hamlet after you see it "

(Putting this in spoilers cause it got so long)


It was so good. So good. They did it all in trad..."

Doom metal?? Oh my god, that's like a legit genre of music though, I'm laughing. I'm not much of a metal fan but I do prefer doom/epic doom metal over all other metal, so that sounds really neat.

[Colby]

I am reading for my fiction writing class and I am absolutely in love with it.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

I've never heard of that Colby but it sounds really interesting. :O

Anyway I finished re-reading:



I loved reading it again and I'll hopefully get around to re-reading the sequels soon!

Next I'm doing a group read for another group:

[Isaac]

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "I've never heard of that Colby but it sounds really interesting. :O

Anyway I finished re-reading:



I loved reading it again and I'll hopefully get around to ..."

Oh my god, seeing that book cover for The Golden Compass gave me flashbacks to fourth grade when my family and church told me never to read it because it was Satanic and said God wasn't real. I know absolutely nothing about it still.

[Naomi]

Hayden wrote: "Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "I've never heard of that Colby but it sounds really interesting. :O

Anyway I finished re-reading:



I loved reading it aga..."

If you're comfortable reading it now, you definitely should. It's one of my favorite series.

[Colby]

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "I've never heard of that Colby but it sounds really interesting. :O

Anyway I finished re-reading:



I loved reading it again and I'll hopefully get around to ..."

It just came out this year. I really enjoyed it! The author lives in Lawrence also so he's coming to our class on Thursday :D

[Isaac]

Naomi wrote: "Hayden wrote: "Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "I've never heard of that Colby but it sounds really interesting. :O

Anyway I finished re-reading:



I loved..."

Well I'm an atheist now, haha, so I'm cool with the series. What gave people that impression? Do you have any idea?

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

@Hayden - Lollll yeah, I've actually heard people describe it as "the atheist's Narnia" which is pretty accurate. :P It deals a lot with themes about like .... religion being misleading, also a lot about sin and loss of innocence and whatnot, idk. I think it gets more into that stuff in the second and third books (which I haven't read in ages) but not as much in the first book. But yeah it's pretty strongly anti-religion. Even as someone who's not religious I find that aspect of the series a little heavy-handed, but it has really cool world-building and great characters, and it's delightfully creepy. :D

@Colby - Ahhhh that's so cool!!

[Naomi]

Hayden wrote: "Naomi wrote: "Hayden wrote: "Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "I've never heard of that Colby but it sounds really interesting. :O

Anyway I finished re-reading:

[bookcover:The Golden Compass|11..."

Yeah I agree with what Brigid said. It's pretty strongly against religion. It's also been a while since I read it and I read it when I was younger and I'm sure a lot of the stuff went over my head but also as far as witchcraft and whatnot, there's a lot of that too.

[Isaac]

Ah, that makes more sense then. It sounds like something I'd be into nowadays.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

@Naomi - Same here, I feel like a lot of it went over my head as a kid; I only vaguely understood the religion stuff. That's part of why I'm re-reading them now, because I'm hoping to understand those themes a little better this time around. And oh yeah, there are a lot of witches!! :D And of course the dæmons are kind of like spirit animals so I see how some religions might take offense to that as well.

[Jayda]

I finished this this morning.
Guys, I cried. At work. And well before the end, as well, as things unfolded.

This may be one of her best novels, ever. Including Clockwork Angel!!!!!!

[Megan]

Finally finished a while ago which was amazing except for the fact that it doesn't have an ending. *cries forever*

Anyway, now I'm back in school so I just started reading for a class. Also, someone (I think it was Hayden) mentioned a while ago that their school was reading , and it turns out my campus is reading it this year too! So hopefully once I get caught up on homework I'll start that too.

[Jayda]

Started this today. It's good, right? Only 10 pages in but I'm super confused hahaha

[Megan]

Jayda wrote: "

Started this today. It's good, right? Only 10 pages in but I'm super confused hahaha"

Really good (as I'm sure many of the people in this group will tell you)! It is a little confusing at first...and as the series goes along... but she all makes it work somehow. The characters are great.

[tesni]

Currently reading and it's taking forever!!! I'm enjoying it so much that I don't want it to end, I can hardly bring myself to read it - every day I read a little here when I'm having breakfast and a little there while eating tea and though one part of me would love to just sit down and plough through it in a couple of days, the other wants me to just put it down and not finish it because I hate the idea of finally (8 years after I read the first two in the trilogy!) not having any more.

Also reading and . Also god I really would like to get back to Stone Butch Blues soon! I started it in like January but I'm reading it in a PDF and I hate reading on my laptop. But the term has started again so it's a struggle for me to push on with any of these things, I had such a blissful bookish summer and now I'm so busy again :(

Other things read lately: and, for classes, and

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Jayda wrote: "

Started this today. It's good, right? Only 10 pages in but I'm super confused hahaha"

AHHH I'M OBSESSED WITH THAT SERIES. Yeah, it is a little hard to follow at first, haha .... in fact, the whole first book is pretty confusing (I feel like I only fully understood it after reading it a couple times, lol). But it makes more sense as things are revealed towards the end.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Yesterday I finished:



And now I'm going to re-read:

[Isaac]

Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "Finally finished a while ago which was amazing except for the fact that it doesn't have an ending. *cries forever*

Anyway, now I'm back in school so I just..."

YESSSSSSSS BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME IS SO GOOD. I'm actually writing an essay based on something Coates wrote in it for my English class.

[Megan]

Hayden wrote: "Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "Finally finished a while ago which was amazing except for the fact that it doesn't have an ending. *cries forever*

An..."

I haven't had a chance to start it yet but it keeps sitting on my shelf tempting me. This weekend hopefully.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

@TMK - Yeah, I feel like Hard Times didn't have much of a storyline. It had some interesting messages about class struggles and education and whatnot, but I just didn't find the story or any of the characters very compelling. I feel like Great Expectations had much better characters and in general I was much more invested in it.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Yeah, I liked Louisa well enough (I think that's who you're referring to?? haha) and Sissy was pretty cool too (although she wasn't in very much of the book) but otherwise I just couldn't connect with the characters.

[Megan]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "I finished a few days back. It was surprisingly more enjoyable than I expected. I'm a bit disappointed with the ending, but it's still very good.

Now, I'm starting [book..."

I read The Left Hand of Darkness for school also a few years ago! It was pretty interesting.

[Megan]

Finished and next I'm starting for my Africa Today class.

[Megan]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "Megan [I'm okay, I'm alright] wrote: "The Mighty Katara wrote: "I finished a few days back. It was surprisingly more enjoyable than I expected. I'm a bit disappointed with..."

Yeah, it was for a Science Fiction class I took at my last college.