Books and Reading, v. 2014
Continued from v. 2013.
Date: May 16, 2014
Categories: Life, The Universe, Things We like
Saturday, 4 May 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Continued from v. 2013.
Date: May 16, 2014
Categories: Life, The Universe, Things We like
Why no posts on this thread yet?
I finished Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie this afternoon. It’s my school’s summer reading book for first-years and anyone else who wants to read it. I enjoyed it, and I think it was a good choice. It will make for some good discussions at the start of the year about race, immigration, and privilege which are important issues on our campus right now as well as in the country as a whole. As a novel, I couldn’t put it down at times, and I liked both the characters and the argument, but in the end I wished for a little more from both.
The other book I’m currently reading is Life Unfolding: How the Human Body Creates Itself by Jamie Davies, which I picked out without a plan by pulling interesting titles off the “new nonfiction” shelf at the library and deciding this one sounded best. It’s about how the human body develops from a fertilized egg on, meant for a general audience even though it definitely pulls no punches with the science. One big theme is how all of this happens from small molecules and cells receiving local signals and assembling themselves into a whole, not from an “engineer” overseeing the construction. As the author would say, it’s as though bricks and steel and pipes and wires suddenly assembled themselves into a state-of-the-art, fully-functional building. As someone who understands mRNA and mitosis but hasn’t yet seen that whole arc of development laid out from beginning to end (and in fact wrote a college essay wishing I could do just that), it’s very interesting.
The other non-school novel I’ve read recently, over spring break, was The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I’m waiting for The Silmarillion and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy to come into the library.
Do any of you use Goodreads? Though I am carefully wary about mentioning the else-Internet, this is a really excellent social networking site for readers that can help you keep track of the books you read, get suggestions based on how you rate them, and find out what your friends are reading.
I really like Goodreads, but none of my friends use it (the only people I have on my account are a few people who used it for a couple of weeks and quite, and two of my high school english teachers), which kind of defeats the purpose of it.
I’ve been reading Watership Down by Richard Adams
Also have been reading Seeds of Hope by Jane Goodall.
I finally got around to reading Daniel Handler’s grown up novels. And do you know what? I think they might actually be better then a Series of Unfortunate Events.
Especially The Basic Eight. I love The Basic Eight.
The Science of Discworld was finally published in America! Yay! It’s really good. I ordered Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson on Amazon, that’s coming tomorrow. I bought Capital and have been chipping away at that for a while. I have a bunch of Brandon Sanderson I bought and need to get around to read.
And then there’s all the comics I’m reading and why do I keep buying all these books and comics when I can’t keep up.
And my Library card is completely filled…
I recently finished reading John Dies at the End by David Wong and just started This Book is Full of Spiders. I don’t really know what to say about these books other than just… WHAT. They’re like total insanity condensed into book format and published, and it’s amazingly weird and hilarious and terrifying.
Bryan Fuller (creator of NBC Hannibal) is on board to co-direct a TV adaptation of American Gods!!!!!!!
okay so I know Oxlin recommended that I read this probably almost 10 years ago now but… on the train this weekend I finally read Someplace to be Flying by Charles de Lint, and it was so worth it, I might go far enough as to call it a better American Gods. (although it’s been a while since I read American Gods, probably time for a reread)
Ahhhh yes yes yes!!! I adored that book.
I should check that out! I’ve read Forests of the Heart and Onion Girl, but not the de Lint book that oxlin originally recommended. If it’s as good as you say, I need to stop putting it off.
POSOC – It was really good. I’m glad I waited a *little* to read it, though, as I think 20 year old me liked it and understood it more than 14 year old me would have. Then again, I could be underestimating myself…
I also read Ted Chiang’s The Lifecycle of Software Objects the other day (a novella that I’ve been dying to read for ages) and it was interesting, and it’s stuck with me so far. Full text is available online, as it turns out, and I am so glad. I think I still liked Story of Your Life a tiny bit more, but I have to finish reading Stories of Your Life and Others (the collection Story of Your Life is in), because I was too upset after Division by Zero to continue reading.
I keep meaning to keep track of the things I’ve been reading! Maybe I’ll do that here?
Here’s a list of most of what I’ve read (or reread) this summer, not in order:
– The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch)
– Red Seas Under Red Skies (Scott Lynch)
– The Republic of Thieves (Scott Lynch)
– The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Cat Valente)
– The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Cat Valente)
– The Girl Who Soared Above Fairyland And Cut the Moon in Two (Cat Valente)
– The Shifter (Janice Hardy)
– Blue Fire (Janice Hardy)
– Darkfall (Janice Hardy)
– Ruin and Rising (Leigh Bardugo)
– Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)
– The Raven Boys (Maggie Steifvater)
– The Dream Thieves (Maggie Steifvater)
– Shiver (Maggie Steifvater)
– Linger (Maggie Steifvater)
– Forever (Maggie Steifvater)
– His Majesty’s Dragon (Naomi Novik)
– Throne of Jade (Naomi Novik)
– Black Powder War (Naomi Novik)
– Empire of Ivory (Naomi Novik)
– Victory of Eagles (Naomi Novik)
– Tongues of Serpents (Naomi Novik)
– Crucible of Gold (Naomi Novik)
– Blood of Tyrants (Naomi Novik)
– Dragon Keeper (Robin Hobb)
– Dragon Haven (Robin Hobb)
– City of Dragons (Robin Hobb)
– Dragon’s Milk (Susan Fletcher)
– Flight of the Dragon Kyn (Susan Fletcher)
– The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfus)
Of these: I definitely recommend the Naomi Novik books (The Temeraire series), the Fairyland series by Cat Valente, and the Gentleman B******* series by Scott Lynch. And The Name of the Wind for suuuure it’s such a great fantasy series wow.
This is the most I’ve read in a long time, and I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch too.
wait I forgot one of the formative series of my childhood no one ever seems to know about:
– The Wind Singer (William Nicholson)
– Slaves of the Mastery (William Nicholson)
– Firesong (William Nicholson)
I remember those! I should re-read them.
Has anyone ever read Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London (Midnight Riot in the US) and its sequels? Aaronovitch wrote for Doctor Who for the five minutes in the eighties when it was fantastically good, and the Rivers of London series are his urban fantasy police books. They’re all about how great London is, with lots of history and geekiness and magic. Also, the protagonist, Peter Grant, is mixed race (white English father, Sierra Leonean mother), and the supporting cast is very diverse. They’re clever and intensely readable; I recommend them a lot.
I’m about to start reading Game of Thrones, which is a wierd feeling, because my dad has read it, didn’t like it, and doesn’t think I should read it.
I’ve had this conversation with him a couple times, and put off reading it for a while after each one. But… his arguments seem to be mostly “it’s depressing and dark and you shouldn’t bother”, and I kind of think that’s something I should decide for myself.
Maybe I should talk to him before I start reading, but I’ve tried that before and it’s never really succeeded in convincing either of us of anything, and I’m pretty sure I’m old enough I don’t need to ask for permission to read something.
So. Off to read.
Good luck! I personally love these books, despite their flaws. They are in fact dark and depressing, but the story and characters are compelling enough that you keep reading even while crying your eyes out. (Will warn you that there is some graphic violence, especially in later books — not to deter you, just so you go in informed.)
I mean, it is pretty dark, but your father’s opinion shouldn’t hold you back. That series contains the best books I’ve ever read (at least in the past 3-4 years).
Mid-book report:
1. I love it when characters surprise me.
2. So far pretty underwhelmed by the number of important characters dying. I was expecting far more.
3. I went into this believing I knew most of the plot twists. Hah.
I won’t give a final answer yet, but I’m liking it so far.
Yeah, really the death toll is exaggerated by the fandom. The deaths are generally the ones you least expect, though, which I’ll elaborate on once you’re through the series for fear of spoiling it. I imagine that’s responsible for the reputation, in part.
That’s great! Who are your favorite characters so far? The series does an excellent job at changing your opinions on characters as you progress.
There’s definitely a looot of foreshadowing in the first book, which makes it great to come back for a reread after you finish the series.
I like nearly all of them pretty well, really. The only real standout right now is Catelyn, for sheer nerve, and the way she keeps going into a situation with nothing and coming out with exactly what she wants.
I have to say, though, all the chapters narrated by children are beginning to wear a bit. They’re well-written, and I understand why the characters are unreasonably frustrated or totally misinterpreting the world, but I’m a little less sympathetic each time.
Yeah, Catelyn is underrated a lot. She’s a remarkable character.
4. I love the way plot threads keep being passed around between viewpoints. One character notices something but doesn’t understand it, but if the reader’s clever, they can put it together with everything else and come up with the answer.
Finished the book yesterday. Definitely reading on.
I heard that this book was going to be horribly dark and depressing from pretty much everywhere. I think that desensitized me. I didn’t think it was that bad.
Probably it gets worse later. I guess I’ll see.
I think people who think it’s too dark are overblowing it. The hardships make the triumphs more glorious. And characters don’t get away with mistakes–everything they do has consequences, good or bad. The characters seem incredibly real, and it’s easy to root for most of them. The ones you’re not rooting for are just as fun to observe and hate.
I’m in a mock-Printz club, meaning we read all of the new YA literature and weed out the good from the bad and vote on winners.
So far there’s a good load of cliche, fluff, and plot holes, but there are some strong choices this year.
My favorite so far by far is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It’s excellent and it made me cry and it’s so emotional and powerful and i’ll never spoil the ending for you ever. This is… such a good book. Just… wow.
What are all the books you’ve been reading? I want to know what new YA literature there is! Also if you’re interested in giving your opinions to an editor, Sharyn November of Firebird is always looking for teen readers.
Other good titles this year have included:
No One Else Can Have You- Kathleen Hale
Summary: A murder mystery in which the main character, Kippy, decides to tackle the small-town case of the brutal murder of her best friend. She’s quirky and relatable, but not at all cliche like I made it sound. This skips between dark and hilarious in an absolutely wonderful way.
And We Stay- Jenny Hubbard
Summary: You know how sometimes YA authors have their characters write poetry, but the poetry is just kind of mediocre? This poetry is Dickinson-level good: in fact, the story follows the character’s journey of coping with tragedy by relating with Emily Dickinson. It’s a very sad tragedy, and the author handles it quite well.
We Were Liars- E. Lockhart- I mentioned this one above.
Summary: Wow wow wow wow I loved this book. A rich girl on her family’s private island knows a tragedy happened two years ago, and that she was involved, but she has no other memories of the incident.
Before My Eyes- Caroline Bock
This follows the story of three kids in a town. It’s very blunt in places and deals with some serious themes, but the writing is wonderful and really captures the feel of the never-ending humidity and doldrums of summer. Schizophrenia was a running issue throughout the book, and I was tentative as to how the author would handle this issue, but considering the events of the story I think she handled it pretty well and made some good concluding statements on how unfortunate things can happen to the minds of good people.
Grasshopper Jungle- I haven’t read this one but I’ve been assured it’s very good. I can’t wait to start reading it.
The Impossible Knife of Memory- Laurie Halse Anderson- I liked this, but it did seem to follow the mold or cast that Anderson has made for herself where a strong girl leads the book dealing with an issue. In this case, it’s her father’s PTSD. I could definitely see her other books (Speak, etc, and other similar books I’ve read) in it, but in that particular subgenre it’s definitely very strong, and very emotional.
These are all I can remember off the top of my head- and I’d recommend all of them if the description seems right for you. (A lot of the books handle touchy topics, and I can definitely understand why people would want to stray away from certain issues but they are all written very well.)
Not as deep (maybe) but I read Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld on the plane today and it was a fun page-turner about a NaNoWriMo author. I do not recommend reading it on a plane, though, as the second chapter contains a terrorist attack in an airport. Also the main character is a girl who likes girls and I am all over that.
Another lesbian-themed YA recommendation: Adaptation/Inheritance, both by Malinda Lo. These books mean so much to me at 20 and I can only imagine what they would have meant to me had they come out five years ago. (I think Inheritance came out earlier this year? maybe late 2013?)
Reading this inspired me to actually apply for the teen book reviewer opening at my library. Who knows if it’ll lead anywhere, but I appreciate the nudge anyway.
Jo Walton’s new thing comes out in three months! SUPER PUMPED
(She’s just posted the cover on her blog, and it’s awesome.)
I am continually emotionally devastated about Pamela Dean’s Secret Country books. Please tell me someone else has read them? They’re out of print except as ebooks, and no one seems to have heard of them except in the context of Cassandra Clare’s plagiarism. They’re some of the best fantasy I’ve ever read though. They’re so — textured and dense, and everyone in them feels like real people. (Especially Randolph and Fence.) The language is delicious, the kind of prose that gets stuck in your head and goes round and round for weeks afterwards.
I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THEM THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME EBOOKS ARE A THING
I have, however, read her Tam Lin and am continuously rereading it and falling in love with her writing and characters again and again So I can somewhat empathize, I suppose.
Isn’t her Tam Lin the best thing? I’m always falling in love with her characters — she write people you’d like to know, and I think that might be the secret. I’d give anything to let Janet and her friends take me to a play, and I reread the book just to hang out with them.
It’s not even just that she writes characters the reader cares about; she writes characters who care about each other and show it in solid human ways, even when they’re betraying and hurting and infuriating one another. (“Pink curtains,” and there’s a scene in the second Secret Country book where Randolph is sitting on the floor in shock [someone’s just died] and Fence sits down next to him and hugs him for two pages straight.)
Really the only bad thing about anything by her is that she writes the books I’d write if I could. Her prose and characterization are stellar, but then also Tam Lin’s about my favorite ballad, and the characters go to see my favorite plays and read my favorite poems and (I’m not joking) drink my favorite tea, and it gets to the point where I just feel like I’m being mocked and I have no recourse but to, like, turn in all my pencils to the proper authorities and then lie down on the floor for a while.
I just want to be Janet, honestly.
There’s a new Abhorsen book out! (must… get… hands… on)
It’s out? …It’s out!
I’ve been waiting for that book since literally middle school. So… nine years?
Book of Dust is the other one I’ve been waiting on.
CLAAAARIIIIEEEEELL!!!
I JUST FINISHED IT
!!!!!
or, more properly, when I saw these original posts about it this morning, I meant to reply wiht “I JUST STARTED IT LAST NIGHT AND I LOVE IT” but, in the intervening 10 hours, I have now read all of it
WAIT CLARIEL IS OUT I MUST OBTAIN IT IMMEDIATELY
Never actually read any of that series, but I got Clariel at the book festival I was at, so… That’ll change soon!
(It’s a signed copy and everything I’m so excited)
A few days ago I started reading Cien años de soledad. I’m only ~%5 into it, but wow. I can tell that this is going places. I’ve been a huge fan of Márquez’s short stories for a long time now, but this is the first novel of his I’ve read. Neruda called it “the greatest revelation in the Spanish language since Don Quixote of Cervantes”, so I’m hoping it lives up to that praise.
I’ve read it in translation, never the original Spanish. It’s quite an experience.
It doesn’t seem like it would lose a whole lot in translation. But I’m enjoying the fact that I seem to have retained all of my Spanish after ~1.5 years of neglecting it.
I’ve neglected it for a similar period and I’ve got decent reading comprehension but I can’t conjugate worth cake anymore. I envy you.
A few days of looking at charts would probably get you up to speed enough, don’t you think? And if you want some short stories to practice with, go to the Biblioteca Digital Ciudad Seva (if you’re not already familiar with that).
I was not! Bookmarked for later.
okay okay so UPDATING THE READING(/audiobook listening) LIST I STARTED THIS SUMMER, sorted by series, otherwise in no particular order since I usually have at least 2 books at once going:
– The Wise Man’s Fear (Patrick Rothfuss)
– Assassin’s Apprentice (Robin Hobb)
– Royal Assassin (Robin Hobb)
– Assassin’s Quest (Robin Hobb)
– Ship of Magic (Robin Hobb)
– The Mad Ship (Robin Hobb)
– Ship of Destiny (Robin Hobb)
– Fool’s Errand (Robin Hobb)
– The Golden Fool (Robin Hobb)
– Fool’s Fate (Robin Hobb)
– The Fool’s Assassin (Robin Hobb)
– Going Postal (Terry Pratchett)
– Monstrous Regiment (Terry Pratchett)
– Making Money (Terry Pratchett)
– Lords and Ladies (Terry Pratchett)
– probably another 1 or 2 Pratchett audiobooks but idr
– The Lost Gate (Orson Scott Card)
– The Gate Thief (Orson Scott Card) (don’t read these ones they were terrible)
– Seraphina (Rachel Hartman)
– John Dies At The End (David Wong)
– This Book Is Full Of Spiders (David Wong)
– The first 5 books of the the Guardians of Ga’hoole series (Kathryn Lasky)
– Sabriel (Garth Nix)
– Lirael (Garth Nix)
– Clariel (Garth Nix)
probably others but that’s most I think
Seraphina! That’s one of three books I’ve been meaning to type up a proper recommendation for. I love that book.
Has anybody else here read the Queen’s Thief books? They’re very important.
Has anyone here read any Ted Chiang? I’m reading his collection right now and while I don’t read much SF (fantasy is more my speed), his stories are enthralling. “Story of Your Life” and “Liking What You See” are particularly delicious.
I’ve read a couple of his stories. I do enjoy them. If you like his work, you also might try Ellen Klages’ stories. Those are mostly somewhere between SF and Fantasy, though.
Thanks, I’ll be sure to look her up! I’m always looking for new short stories.
Story of Your Life is fantastic. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
I did buy his short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others, and I couldn’t get through it, because Division By Zero was a couple stories in and hit me really hard, as a person who loves math and has a mental illness. Maybe someday I’ll have the strength to keep reading the collection. I’m sure it’s good.
I’ve also read his Lifecycle of Software Objects novella (it’s free online somewhere I think) and I think about it a lot.
Oh, is Division By Zero about mental illness? I haven’t read it yet, so that’s good to know (that is the collection I’m reading but I always read short story collections out of order, so).
Division By Zero is about a mathematician who proves that math is just pointless formalism and, realizing that her entire worldview is based upon math making sense & being meaningful in a greater context, she becomes suicidal. She spends some time in a hospital, which is a pretty huge trigger for me, so.
I always have a ‘to read’ list about a mile high, but right now I actually have a physical stack of books beside me waiting to be read. Very happy about that.
In approximate order of what I’ll read first:
Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan
Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin
Clariel, Garth Nix
The Legend series, Marie Lu
(I’m refusing to let myself read any of them until my room’s all painted, though. Otherwise the stack would be much shorter by now.)
Finished painting my room and read through the first two. Reviews in six-word-story format, because I can:
Blood of Olympus– Makes me nostalgic for Last Olympian.
Clash of Kings– This one’s darker than the first.
Also, I forgot about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel when I was making that list. I have that one too.
(all I want to do is read but I have so much other stuff I need to do first)
Reread today one of my favorite books from elementary school, Susan Cooper’s King of Shadows. It was the first book that wasn’t by C.S. Lewis that ever made me cry. And, glory be, it was just as great as I remembered — genuine emotions, well-drawn characters, great time travel, ending that was satisfying but also just ambiguous enough to be really wonderful.
Then I took a look at one of my other favorite Shakespeare novels from back then and I think if I try to read it I’ll be sorely disappointed — I was skimming and no one ever uses thou/thee pronouns, which to me points to an author who seriously lacks the courage of his convictions. (I love the archaic second-person singular informal pronouns; I want to revive them.)
There’s something so elemental about Susan Cooper’s writing. The Dark is Rising sequence was amazing.
I never read those! I did love The Boggart though.
You might enjoy them, even though they’re intended for a younger audience. They’re beautifully written and chock full of allusions to English & Welsh mythology.
Wow, I remember that book! It was amazing! Thank you for reminding me; I’ll have to reread it myself. It was the perfect thing for my little Shakespeare-girl heart.
So today I finished my binge-read of the entire Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series.
someone hold me
I’ve been resisting temptation to do exactly that for the last few weeks, because I logically know I’m too busy and I have so much else I could be reading.
But I would have so much fun.
A while ago I read Cinder, the first book in the Lunar Chronicles series. Cyborgs. Telepathy. Plucky heroes running around a futuristic city. My needs are simple. (Yes, I know I should read Malindo Lo’s Cinder. I will! I don’t know much about it except that it involves lesbians and an epic adventure of some sort… and that’s all I need to.) A week or two ago, I remembered it and that the sequel had been released, so I read Scarlet, and found out that Cress existed, and just finished that, and there’s about four short stories and the final book and a prequel and *collapses* merrrrp.
It’s one of those situations where I can see so many flaws in the thing I like, but LOVE IT ANYWAY. The technology isn’t that unusual for soft SF, yet it somehow blends the futuristic and fantastic anyway
I’m thinking of getting my baby brother the first Young Wizards book for Christmas, but the new editions aren’t out in hard copy yet — and, while someone gave him a Kindle a few years back, he really prefers paper. Has anybody here read the new editions? I’ve only read the original editions, and not too recently either, so I can’t judge — are the new editions a significant improvement? I don’t want him to wait much longer before he reads them, because he’s just the right age, but if the new ones are really truly better I might have to think of another idea.
Book recommendation for all of you: Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge. It is an almost DWJian adventure story of a girl and her goose, finding her way by luck, tenacity, and the ability to read. Surviving and adventuring in a society ruled by competing guilds and divided kingdoms. It is somewhere around MG or YA and there is both danger and whimsey.
I am currently reading the sequel, Fly Trap.
Oh, Fly by Night is stunning! I need to reread that.
YES. SUCH A GOOD BOOK.
(Where did you get Fly Trap? I’ve been looking for it for years..)
The library!
HPMOR has just released Ch103, after effectively a year-long hiatus, and will start the final arc in two weeks.
Did anybody else ever read Dealing with Dragons? I think I might have accidentally grown up into Cimorene. I don’t want any responsibilitiessss, go away and let me make desserts and teach myself Latin and hang out with a dragon.
That book was my childhood! I actually just reread the series over break. And I think I’m also literally Cimorene. I was surprised by how similar I actually am to her. Well, her and Morwen. I am also sensible, have very bushy hair, like cats a lot and don’t take crap from anyone.
Those books (all 3? 4? 2? I forget) are amazing. I loved them.
EYYYYYYY
DO I REALLY EVEN NEED TO REPLY
CIMORENE, HERO OF MY HEART, FOR ALWAYS AND FOR EVER
YESSSSSSS
Yesyesyes!
I did! I also enjoy Wrede’s Lyra books, the Mairelon books, and her collaborations with Caroline Stevermer.
Yes!!! Cimorene <3 My queen <3
Funny story: on Saturday, I was meeting some of my boyfriend’s friends for the first time over dinner, and in a conversation about witches and wizards and warlocks and “are they different? gendered?”, one of the girls I’d never met mentioned “a book series where the witches and wizards really don’t like each other” so of course she meant Dealing With Dragons and we had a nice moment over that.
It’s a good thing we had this conversation here the day before or else I might not have remembered Cimorene’s name, or something embarrassing like that.
One of my favorite series ever! Have you read Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot which is by Wrede and Caroline Stevermer?
I have! Have you read anything else by Caroline Stevermer? She has great books!
Has anyone read The Strange And Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender?
While immersed in Japanese poetry (I’ve probably read 1000 poems in the past couple weeks), I also began reading The Tale of Genji. Holy cow. I was prepared for something much drier than this. I’m only five chapters in and I’m already planning out my rereading strategy. For the first go-through I went with the Waley translation. Actually, the first edition of that I bought was so riddled with typos and missing punctuation that I went and found a Modern Library printing from the ’60s instead. The cover design isn’t as pretty, but at least someone bothered to proofread it. The poetry and Genji really help to explain each other, which is one of the reasons I wanted to read it in the first place. When I reread it I think I’ll try the Seidensticker translation, which is supposed to take fewer liberties and have more thorough footnotes (particularly in noting the poetical allusions); but the Waley is a very enjoyable read, and I understand why it was received so enthusiastically.
I’ve only read part of Tale of Genji but it was actually pretty cool! I oughta read the whole thing at some point.
Piggy, would you like to write up The Tale of Genji for the May random thread? I’ll bet we can find a great banner image.
Well, I probably won’t have finished reading the book by then, but I’ll see what I can do.
Thanks! You wouldn’t want to include spoilers anyway.
I’m having this really wierd problem where what’s keeping me from reading is not lack of time or unavailability of books but… myself.
Like, I keep putting off reading the books on my shelf because I know I’ll enjoy them and for some reason enjoying them in the future is superior to enjoying them now. And I try to tell myself that’s stupid and I should just start reading, but it’s hard.
List:
Powers, Ursula K. Le Guin
Shadow Scale, Rachel Hartman
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Prodigy and Champion, Marie Lu
Legend of Eli Monpress, Spirit War and Spirit Thief, Rachel Aaron
[Thud! and Snuff, Terry Pratchett, but those don’t count because I know why I’m putting them off]
I did finally read Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan, so I guess I’m whittling down that list at least slightly. It’s still growing faster than it’s shrinking.
Yeah… I honestly didn’t really like those books (the Kane Chronicles, that is)
I feel like he did so well with the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus books and he tried to do it again and it didn’t really turn out as well. But that’s just my opinion. I know a lot of people who just love those books.
Also, now he’s writing about Norse mythology. I wonder how that will be.
I enjoy them, but yeah, I’m not sure they live up to Percy Jackson. I am looking forwards to the Norse series, though.
(I really just want him to write ones with the Aztec gods, though.)
Have any of you read The Circle by Dave Eggers? It’s about the eminent takeover of social media and end of privacy and I kind of hated it in a way that makes me want to discuss it in minute detail. I had to read it for class and then the instructors only allotted 1 hour to discuss it which is Not Enough. It isn’t super well written but it provokes thought and makes me want to fight somebody.
Just finished reading Powers, by Le Guin. It’s the sequel to Gifts and Voices, and now I just want to babble on about them forever. Or… Not babble, quite. The books have a dreamlike, almost entrancing quality to them that makes me want to say intelligent and profound things.
(Mild spoilers for the books, I guess. I’m going to talk about Themes and Big Pictures for all three books, anyway.)
I think the thing that surprised me most about this book was what it didn’t do. All three of the books fairly heavily featured an exploration of the magic of this world, which is subtle and confused and often lost or misunderstood. From the titles and previous events, going into the third book I assumed a major theme would be the main characters gaining a more complete understanding of the world’s magic, maybe understanding how the different forms fit together. That wasn’t it. The magic plays a role, but it’s not what the stories are about. No, the stories are about creating a family.
Not a family based on blood or romance, but on trust and love. And I think that’s why I love these books so much, because they’re about finding your place in the world, and that place may not be with your birth family, and romance is a distant second to love of a different sort.
As I type that out, I realize that probably other people reading them won’t care half so much as I do because probably other people aren’t dealing with the same questions that the book and I both are. Even so, they’re very good books.
(I am deeply contented at the moment because I’m thinking about how there are so many good books out there and I have so many things left to read and love in my lifetime.)
WOW Watership Down is a good book. Honestly, I didn’t really like it in the beginning, but I loved the second half. And the ending. The ending was perfect. Why did I wait this long to read it?
oh no. not AGAIN.
Clarification?
Sorry.
Search the blog for “Chuck Norris” or “Watership Down” and you’ll understand. It isn’t that the book is bad!
I actually already did. Some of that stuff is… In a word, interesting. In another… Yikes. Also, I couldn’t help but notice that nobody said a thing about Bluebell. I mean, how could you not like Bluebell? But I digress. Still, though. Think about it. Bluebell, that is. Oh god am I turning into one of… THEM?!?! I have a sudden urge to type “Chuck Norris” in all caps over and over… I am finding myself typing constantly with ellipses… Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi (insert name here). You’re my only hope! Wait what? A Star Wars reference? What is happening to me???
Thirding Jade and Rosebud’s recommendations for John Dies At The End. Very, very weird, hilarious, and often seemingly a Random Events Plot, but it all comes together in a pretty good sci-fi adventure by the end. Contains alternate universes, Lovecraftian monsters, and horrible puns during fight scenes. John is a great character who’s obnoxious, irresponsible, narcissistic, and always making inappropriate jokes, but at the same time a kind and pure cinnamon roll who unquestioningly stands by his friends. (Plot’s still kind of overstuffed, though.)