Chaos Reading discussion
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What are you reading right now?
Jey wrote: "Am currently reading The Angel's Game Am hoping to love, it, cos I was enchanted by The Shadow of the Wind :)"I loved both! Especially The Angel's Game. Interested to see what you think of it in relation to The Shadow of the Wind.
Ashley wrote: "Jey wrote: "Am currently reading The Angel's Game Am hoping to love, it, cos I was enchanted by The Shadow of the Wind :)"I loved both! Especially The Angel's Game. Interested to see what you thi..."
Will let you know. :) And when did the third book release? Damn, I need to hit the shops. :D
I'm reading Bleak House and enjoying it very much. Flappers and Philosophers short story collection.
On hold Village Evenings Near Dikanka and Mirgorod also short stories.
Started Thunderbolt I've read author's previous work and I did like it. So I expect I will like this too.
Today started and didn't finish Slave Boy. Bad crap.
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I'm still reading a galley of Blood Zero Sky though, so I might try getting back into that. It has been a long few weeks, so I'm looking forward to taking the weekend off to read and relax. The unpacking can wait.
Finished The Tiny Wife in about an hour last night. Really enjoyed it. Just started The Passion of New Eveand We Have Always Lived in the Castle. They're pretty okay so far.
Jey wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Jey wrote: "Am currently reading The Angel's Game Am hoping to love, it, cos I was enchanted by The Shadow of the Wind :)"I loved both! Especially The Angel's Game. Interested to s..."
It just recently came out, so you're not too far behind!
I've tried and tried Running with Scissors for like, a week, and I just can't get into it. Maybe it's me. I think I've read 30 pages. I'm gonna try my luck with The Marriage Artist: A Novel. I don't know anything about it - haven't read any reviews - but the cover caught my eye in the bookstore yesterday, and I think it may be just what I need. You know, a good book.
Ruby wrote: "I ended up having to leave Embassytown... there was an emergency which resulted in me having to take 4kg of cat litter and a large tin of tuna onto a light aircraft, and there was a very strict weight limit. Long story."Tough call - great book or cat... but don't be such a tease!
I just finished Kitchen -- meh. Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...I'm also about halfway through Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language.
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Reading: War in Heaven, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion and now Please Save My Earth, Volume 2!
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The short story: My boyfriend was in charge of organising furniture delivery and the cat's flight from a hospital in Brisbane to the house in Townsville.
The long story: I had to fly back from Normanton (a remote community on the Gulf of Carpentaria) to Townsville via a small local airline with a very strict weight allowance. I unexpectedly found myself about to return to a completely empty house, with the furniture not due to arrive for 5 days. I had no bedding, no bed, no food, no cat supplies, and the shops were going to be shut by the time I arrived home. My partner's aunt lives in Townsville too, so I had asked him to see if we could borrow a swag or something- but he decided not to, as he didn't want to worry his parents while they were overseas. My cat had just had surgery, spent a week in a hospital cage, flown a considerable distance and spent a day in a carrier with no food or water. Her flight was scheduled to arrive at the same time as mine. Fearing that I would end up sleeping on the linoleum floor of a strange house, with a frightened, starving, post-operative cat with nowhere to crap, and not a blanket between us..... I left my belongings in Normanton and flew back with a suitcase full of kitty litter and cat food. Duh.
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I just finished Feed (which got moved up the list because of this group), started The Call: A Novel and am still reading JR along with the #occupygaddis social read. Five others in the library stack, hopefully I'll be able to renew most of them. And now I have to read the next two in the Feed series.
I just finished The Handmaid's Tale - Loved that her biggest complaint of dystopian society was that ...it's really, really boring!Just downloaded What is the What
Theo wrote: "I'm starting Wolf Hall and The Remains of the Day."Great choices!
Whitney wrote: "I've also mismanaged my hold queue at the library, so I have a ginourmous stack of books to get through."Story. Of. My. Life.
I've finally picked up Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell again after neglecting it for over a month. I'm now past the halfway point! Yeah!
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Hehe. Welcome to my world! I've got about 10 books in varying stages of "readness" and last night I opened a box of stuff my boyfriend packed......to find a dozen brand new books! Totally forgot I'd ordered them months ago to take away with me. So I've ditched everything else I was reading and started on Ryu Murakami's Piercing. Possibly not the best author to be reading if you're feeling in any way unstable, but whatevs.
I take it you liked Feed then?
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I did! I was a little disappointed in that I thought it had a potential to transcend genre tropes that it didn't quite live up to, but it was definitely good enough and had enough originality that I want to read the others. I particularly appreciated the work that went into the virology and quarantine procedures (although it's hard to imagine how anyone has any capillaries left in their hands with all the blood tests they have to get).
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I did! I was a little disappointed in that I thought it had a potential to transcend genre tropes that it didn't quite live up to, but it was defin..."
YES! I'm with you on all of those points. There are two Newsflesh novellas that are being rereleased as part of When Will You Rise: Stories to End the World in October. I've heard the audio version of one of them - Countdown - and if you're interested in the virology part of the story, I think you'd really enjoy it. She makes viruses sexy.
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Gaaaargh! Weren't we just discussing the impossible size of the TBR pile????
Looks like Countdown is available for $2.99 for nook. Maybe I will reward myself with it when/if I get through all these library books.
Whitney wrote: " I loved The Master and Margarita. There's a theater group in Seattle that ..."Yeah it's really good so far, the theatre group thing sounds cool, would be pretty hard considering the crazy story
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Yeah - It isn't available in anything but audiobook here. Stoopid publisher. Still, the one they're releasing in October looks good.
Currently reading 2666, it's the book that never ends! It's great, but... I want it to end. The City and the City is then high priority for this group :0)
Whitney wrote: "I was disappointed with Jonathan Strange after all the buzz about it. Didn't think what was there was worth all that text. I loved The Master and Margarita. There's a theater group in Seattle that ..."I was greatly disappointed with Jonathan Strange, too. otoh, The Master and Margarita was recommended to me at the same time, and I wasn't hugely fond of it either. I can't, now, remember a single thing about either one.
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It's awesome Ruby, if you read it we can get some chat on the go about it! :-) It's more like five loosely connected books put together... If I could go back and read it again (please don't make me) I would take my time with it and sandwich in a stupid book between each story, that might be an idea to break it up nicely. How are you liking Piercing?
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I thought 2666 was great as well. Have you gotten to the Juarez section yet? I found that one really hard to get through (due to subject matter, not bad writing).
Whitney wrote: "Have you gotten to the Juarez section yet? I found that one really hard to get through (due to subject matter, not bad writing). "Yeah I finished that story yesterday... I'm reading it in Spanish which thankfully takes a lot of the power out of the material, but I have to agree the imagery is still pretty bad.
"What is a punzón? *looks up punzón*... and he put that WHERE?!"
I've been meaning to get to 2666 for ages, having loved The Savage Detectives. It's just so long, and not available in kindle! I'll have to eventually get it from the library, but I know I'll be renewing that sucker a million times and aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome by holding up the heavy hardcover for hours.
Riona wrote: "I've been meaning to get to 2666 for ages, having loved The Savage Detectives. It's just so long, and not available in kindle! I'll have to eventually get it from the library, but I know I'll be re..."I'm excited to read The Savage Detectives too! Albeit after a hefty Bolaño break haha... If you liked it, 2666 might be worth a purchase, they always seem to be together on "best of Spanish language" lists :-)
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It's more like five loosely connected books put together... If I could go back and read it again (please don't make ..."
Yeah - I think I read on the cover that his dying wish was that the sections be published separately, 12 months apart. The executors of his estate got together and vetoed that plan though! I'd love to get onto that one soon. But my second edition, remastered, full colour, hardcover copy of House of Leaves just arrived. I'm even planning on buying the companion album by the writer's sister to go with it!
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I recall that he wanted to do that to make it more profitable for his wife and kids after he died, and not necessarily out of any aesthetic sensibility. It does make you wonder if it would have sold as well if it had been published as five different books.
The Poe album is great, it's an excellent companion to House of Leaves.
I'm reading Divergent for a buddy read at the moment. It's enjoyable in a teen-action kind of way, but I can't make myself believe the world-building. Anyone else read this one and had the same problem?
Ruby wrote: "Yeah - I think I read on the cover that his dying wish was that the sections be published separately, 12 months apart."There you go, straight from the horse's will!
Too funny Ruby, every book I mention seems to be on your bookshelf- can't imagine what it looks like! Quite an awesome collection you are building for yourself :-)
House of Leaves is tip-top reading too. There's that companion book as well you could get (The Whalestoe Letters)- I wasn't interested, but I have to agree with Whitney about the Poe album (it's on Spotify :D)
I watched the trailer for the upcoming movie Cloud Atlas on imdb.com and thought I just had to read the book before watching the movie. I've read half of it, kind of a difficult read when english is not your navtive language .... But I'm captivated. Please tell me that it will all make sense in the end... But no spoilers please. Cloud Atlas
I wasn't sure where to put this, but here's a list from io9 of upcoming August releases of SF/Fantasy titles. Some of them look pretty interesting:http://io9.com/5931746/all-the-scienc...
Emy wrote: "I'm reading Divergent for a buddy read at the moment. It's enjoyable in a teen-action kind of way, but I can't make myself believe the world-building. Anyone else read this one and had the same pro..."Completely agreed. I didn't hate Divergent, but the world building was... not good. And there were plot holes you could drive a bus through.
Anette wrote: "I watched the trailer for the upcoming movie Cloud Atlas on imdb.com and thought I just had to read the book before watching the movie. I've read half of it, kind of a difficult read when english i..."
Cloud Atlas is absolutely amazing. One of my top 5 books of all time. Non-spoilery review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Wasn't a fan of "House of Leaves" (felt like it was trying too hard) but was a fan of "JS&MN" (it felt effortless).Finished The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion! Still reading War in Heaven -- reading always seems to take longer on an eReader.
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Cloud Atlas is absolutely amazing. One of my top 5 books of all time. ..."
Seconded! Absolutely stay with it, it all ties in. I feel your pain with the English, especially in the middle Ridley Walker inspired section. The trailer for the movie makes people who have read the book leap up and yell in excitement, I haven't looked this forward to a movie in a long time.
Riona wrote: "Completely agreed. I didn't hate Divergent, but the world building was... not good. And there were plot holes you could drive a bus through."Haha, I like that metaphor. XD It's really annoying, actually, I'm enjoying the characters, applauding the way she doesn't seem to flinch from brutalness after she's written herself there, and then... the world building and society just leaves me wanting. I just don't understand how any sane human being reached the conclusion that splitting their society into factions based on ideals would be anything other than a really bad idea. o.o
Derek wrote: "I was greatly disappointed with Jonathan Strange, too. otoh, The Master and Margarita was recommended to me at the same time, and I wasn't hugely fond of it either. I can't, now, remember a single thing about either one."I just noticed this! I really liked The Master and Margarita, but I find it really weird when people say its their favourite book... it's still very funny and unbeatably surreal, but what does a novel satirising 1930s Russian society with a reimagining of the death of Jesus say about anyone today? I had to google what a primus was, and I've certainly never used one.
"Manuscripts don't burn."... I don't get it (Stalin oppression sez what?)
Chaos Reading
Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Felix Francis (other topics)Ali Smith (other topics)
Sebastian Junger (other topics)
Annie Proulx (other topics)
Elizabeth Gilbert (other topics)
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Riona, that's a great review! I completely enjoyed this book, too. ..."
Thanks!