Books The BOOK thread

[GBBQ]

Finished The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I had flown through the first half of the book but then had come to a halt due to other stuff going on. Picked it back up on Monday on page 180 of 500 and finished it last night (thanks in part to being left waiting in a hospital while my wife under went an endoscopy).

Its a proper page turner, with a lot of twists and turns. Some spoiler-y thougths:

Spoiler

The ending was a little weak, I thought that even though Aiden was under the belief he was changing the order of the day that he was in fact just living it out as normal and would revert back to day 1 with the murder unsolved.

They explain the quantum leap parts of the story in a vague enough way so it doesn't undervalue what has occurred in the story (i.e. its not a dream or a game at the end) but they don't get bogged down in trying to explain any science behind it.

I didn't guess the ending, I did expect twists but just not in how it played out. I didn't pick up on the actual mystery behind it all but I suspect that if i was to re-read it, the clues are probably well laid out.

All in all it was a good read, a solid 7/10.

Next up is The Only Story by Julian Barnes

 

[BD]

Finished Travels With Charley this morning. I enjoyed it a lot. Had only read one book from Steinbeck before (Grapes of Wrath), but will surely read more in time. I have East of Eden on my shelf which I'll start after my next book I think.

 

[Moriarty]

I'm currently reading Lafcadio Hearn's "Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things." It's a fascinating collection of ghost tales from old Japan.

 

[HTG]

Just finished The Castle by Kafka.

I love the unsettling, futile, haunting worlds and characters he creates.

I just finished it myself. Not quite as brilliant as the trial, but still great. I just love his pure hatred for bureaucracy and authority. But what might impress me most about Kafka, is his willingness to simply not explain certain things. There is such a focus to his writing. You’re just thrown into these weird situations, without any context or explanation. He just doesn’t bother. He just wrote it, as he needed it.

 

[Nickosaur]

I just finished it myself. Not quite as brilliant as the trial, but still great. I just love his pure hatred for bureaucracy and authority. But what might impress me most about Kafka, is his willingness to simply not explain certain things. There is such a focus to his writing. You’re just thrown into these weird situations, without any context or explanation. He just doesn’t bother. He just wrote it, as he needed it.

Yeah I adore reading Kafka. I'd agree The Trial is better. But The Castle was brilliantly absurd too.

 

[Robbo's Shoulder]

Just finished Pop.1280 by Jim Thompson, would highly recommend for any pulp fiction lovers out there.

 

[Luffy]

I've begun the Cazalet Chronicles, by Elizabeth Jane Howard. 3400 pages. Hope it's good all the way.

 

[Nickosaur]

Just read Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. His prose is wonderful.

 

[Stick]

Just read Fear by Bob Woodward. I've now moved onto The Light Between Two Oceans to try and get back to normality.

 

[Nickosaur]

Starting Gravity's Rainbow tonight. Wish me luck.

 

[Cheesy]

Starting Gravity's Rainbow tonight. Wish me luck.

You're in for a wonderful ride...

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

 

[Luffy]

I'm reading The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. So far it isn't justifying all the hype.

 

[Stick]

I finished the Light Between Two Oceans. Very good read.

 

[SwansonsTache]

Nearly finished with Gateway, the first in the Heechee series by Frederik Pohl. I can't understand how I have missed it up until now.

 

[HTG]

Just finished Inherent Vice. Great and especially funny read. Very unique language and manages to portrait a world full of grotesque and bizarre characters, without ever ridiculing them, instead showing them for what they are: struggling individuals with some good and some bad qualities. Really enjoyed it.

 

[Nickosaur]

You're in for a wonderful ride...

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Yo cheesy i'm around p550.

It's insane. The first chapter was tough, with the narrative leaping all over the place. Not that it doesn't in chapter 2 and 3, but it definitely has a little more structure and a bit easier to follow.
But I'm really enjoying it. I go away in mid April so hoping to finish it (as it's a chunky book and I'd rather not lug it around with me )

 

[Cheesy]

Yo cheesy i'm around p550.

It's insane. The first chapter was tough, with the narrative leaping all over the place. Not that it doesn't in chapter 2 and 3, but it definitely has a little more structure and a bit easier to follow.
But I'm really enjoying it. I go away in mid April so hoping to finish it (as it's a chunky book and I'd rather not lug it around with me )

Aye the start (while superbly written) is difficult to get into...even by Pynchon's lofty standards of incomprehensibility. I feel like the 3rd part (presumably the bit you're at now) is probably the easiest to follow (despite the insanity that's undoubtedly ensuing) but it comes and go. Constantly entertaining though. As funny as it is confusing.

 

[celia]

I'm reading The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. So far it isn't justifying all the hype.

Have you finished it? Dnfed it?

I don't know if I should start it. I really want to read it but I have seen mixed reviews.

I finished Kingdom of Copper. Pleasant but not really exciting reading.

I read Scythe too, I nearly wanted to DNF it because it was so forced melodrama in the middle but I don't regret finishing it.

I read too Spirits abroad, a short story collection by Zen Cho. It is really a nice change to read fantasy stories by an author from a Chinese culture, even if I haven't enjoyed the first stories. But I really like others.

 

[Luffy]

Have you finished it? Dnfed it?

I don't know if I should start it. I really want to read it but I have seen mixed reviews.

I finished Kingdom of Copper. Pleasant but not really exciting reading.

I read Scythe too, I nearly wanted to DNF it because it was so forced melodrama in the middle but I don't regret finishing it.

I read too Spirits abroad, a short story collection by Zen Cho. It is really a nice change to read fantasy stories by an author from a Chinese culture, even if I haven't enjoyed the first stories. But I really like others.

I DNF it. Pacing was slow as molasses. I advise you not to consider it.

 

[Cheesy]

Finished John Williams' Stoner recently which is a fairly brilliant and profound look at an ordinary and mundane life. Very little happens but grabs you nonetheless.

Onto Bolano's Savage Detectives now. Loved 2666 and really enjoying this so far.

 

[Chekhov]

Finished John Williams' Stoner recently which is a fairly brilliant and profound look at an ordinary and mundane life. Very little happens but grabs you nonetheless.

Onto Bolano's Savage Detectives now. Loved 2666 and really enjoying this so far.

Savage Detectives was excellent. I doubt you'll be disappointed once you finish it.

 

[Cheesy]

Savage Detectives was excellent. I doubt you'll be disappointed once you finish it.

Read a quarter of it in one day so fair to say I'm enjoying it thus far.

 

[Stick]

Finished John Williams' Stoner recently which is a fairly brilliant and profound look at an ordinary and mundane life. Very little happens but grabs you nonetheless.

Onto Bolano's Savage Detectives now. Loved 2666 and really enjoying this so far.

I loved Stoner when I read it. It was about the lecturer wasnt it?

 

[Cheesy]

I loved Stoner when I read it. It was about the lecturer wasnt it?

Yes, English lecturer who leads a fairly boring and ordinary life. But fascinating book all the same.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Gene Wolfe died. :/

 

[Nickosaur]

Finished John Williams' Stoner recently which is a fairly brilliant and profound look at an ordinary and mundane life. Very little happens but grabs you nonetheless.

Onto Bolano's Savage Detectives now. Loved 2666 and really enjoying this so far.

Yo cheesy I finished Gravity's Rainbow. It was a mindfeck - especially that last chapter - but i loved it. Actually got a bit obsessed with it and couldn't put it down. Such a surreal piece of work. I want to read Mason & Dixon next.

Speaking of Bolano - you'll love Savage Detectives. I'm reading The Skating Rink by him, a short crime novella. I'm enjoying it, and it's very much written in his typical style but doesn't quite have the ambition and scope of his later work.

 

[Cheesy]

Yo cheesy I finished Gravity's Rainbow. It was a mindfeck - especially that last chapter - but i loved it. Actually got a bit obsessed with it and couldn't put it down. Such a surreal piece of work. I want to read Mason & Dixon next.

Speaking of Bolano - you'll love Savage Detectives. I'm reading The Skating Rink by him, a short crime novella. I'm enjoying it, and it's very much written in his typical style but doesn't quite have the ambition and scope of his later work.

Aye the book pretty much disintegrates towards the end, ridiculously ambitious novel.

And yeah, SD is great, Part II's very different and a lot more fragmented than the more coming-of-age Part I, but I'm liking it all the same, fun piecing the different threads and narratives together.

 

[Nickosaur]

Any of you read anything by Thom Jones? I've got a collection of his short stories i'm working through. Fantastic stuff, reminds me a lot of Denis Johnson's work.

 

[utdalltheway]

Re-reading In the land of Israel by Amos Oz. Had a note inside the jacket that I bought it in Jersey in 1989.

Set in the 80s it’s Oz traveling around Israel and meeting with various groups, both Jews and Arabs, in that era.
Strange too now to hear the discussions on the, new-ish at the time, settlements.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

finished So Many Doors by Oakley Hall, a famous professor who taught Amy Tan, Richard Ford, Michael Chabon among others. Outstanding prose of a different type than writers such as Faulker or McCarthy. I'm going to read his book Warlock next which Pynchon loved.

 

[Scrumpet]

finished So Many Doors by Oakley Hall, a famous professor who taught Amy Tan, Richard Ford, Michael Chabon among others. Outstanding prose of a different type than writers such as Faulker or McCarthy. I'm going to read his book Warlock next which Pynchon loved.

Warlock is amazing once you get past the disappointing lack of wizards.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Warlock is amazing once you get past the disappointing lack of wizards.

Have you read any of his other novels?

 

[Scrumpet]

Have you read any of his other novels?

No

 

[Vidyoyo]

Finished Dune the other week, which took me about 4 months.

It's a good book but I don't think fantasy is my thing. I can't invest in those kinds of worlds no matter how good they are (and Dune's is good make no mistake).

Moved onto The Magic Mountain and I love it already.

 

[Cheesy]

Finished Dune the other week, which took me about 4 months.

It's a good book but I don't think fantasy is my thing. I can't invest in those kinds of worlds no matter how good they are (and Dune's is good make no mistake).

Moved onto The Magic Mountain and I love it already.

Aye it's phenomenal, ridiculously well-written.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Aye it's phenomenal, ridiculously well-written.

Agree although the introduction to my copy spoke about Nabokov's distaste for when the book lays it on thick with philosophising. I take it that he's referring to the sections between Setembrini and Castorp and i see where he's coming from but I quite like them.

 

[VJ1762]

Have you guys read the red rising trilogy? It's fantastic man. Deals with tropes like revolution and it's aftermath. Tragic protagonist. Part Hunger games, part star wars, part game of thrones.

 

[celia]

I DNF it. Pacing was slow as molasses. I advise you not to consider it.

Well it isn't a priority anymore but I own it so I will still give it a try later. I saw some people say it is really slow in the first 30% and it is better after.

I finished The devouring Grey by Christine Lynn Herman (not a bad YA book but nothing special either), A Court of Frost and Starlight (pointless book) and The war that saved my life (Great MG book). Currently reading a french fantasy book that got an award but have only noticed now it is just an award from a kind of book club, that probably explains why it has so few reviews and why it feels like it is one of the worst books I read this year. Too much wish-fulfillment with two male characters thinking how unusual is the MC, the 2nd one finding her so wonderful he seems to want to marry her after one conversation that didn't strike me to be anything special.

 

[Archie Leach]

I'm reading Sally Rooney's Normal People and whilst it's highly readable, I'm surprised by how bad it is. Nothing frustrates me more than a book which tells us how clever and funny its characters are but never once shows it.

 

[Luffy]

Well it isn't a priority anymore but I own it so I will still give it a try later. I saw some people say it is really slow in the first 30% and it is better after.

I finished The devouring Grey by Christine Lynn Herman (not a bad YA book but nothing special either), A Court of Frost and Starlight (pointless book) and The war that saved my life (Great MG book). Currently reading a french fantasy book that got an award but have only noticed now it is just an award from a kind of book club, that probably explains why it has so few reviews and why it feels like it is one of the worst books I read this year. Too much wish-fulfillment with two male characters thinking how unusual is the MC, the 2nd one finding her so wonderful he seems to want to marry her after one conversation that didn't strike me to be anything special.

People have also said that The Priory of the Orange Tree's last 400 pages are four books jammed into one. As for me, I'm reading The Cazalet Chronicles: Five Novels in One Collection. It's 3,400 pages long. I'm at 25%. It has grown on me.