What are you reading?

[Dapper Bandit]

Just finished


Might try and get a hold of the whole text rather than this taster as it was a thrilling read, unreliable narrator (and I mean really unreliable) and all.



I've got what must be nearly the complete Neal Stephenson collection on the bookshelf at home. Started Diamond Age and found it to be too dense for me at that point in time so had to shelve it until I feel up to it. This has kind of rekindled the interest, he may be my next pick but I have so many books to get through it's scary.



Other recent finishes:

Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi; Solid sci fi adventure. Some really hard SF elements but not at the expense of pacing. Kind of reminded me of Bank's Culture series in tone, if not content. Or maybe more like Charles Stross but with better characterisation.

Exodus by God, I suppose; Absolutely mental but overall 3/10 story. The bit about the frogs and what have you was cool but that Angel of Death seemed a little much. Talk about escalation, amiright? Last half of the tale falls flat for me as it's just instructions on how to build tabernacles, prepare bread, make robes and stuff. Shopping lists are not a riveting read.

Butcher's Crossing by John Williams; Really, really excellent. I assume Cormac McCarthy was inspired by this because they both have a very similar feel. A must read.

[Bloodhammer]

Just finished


Might try and get a hold of the whole text rather than this taster as it was a thrilling read, unreliable narrator (and I mean really unreliable) and all.



I've got what must be nearly the complete Neal Stephenson collection on the bookshelf at home. Started Diamond Age and found it to be too dense for me at that point in time so had to shelve it until I feel up to it. This has kind of rekindled the interest, he may be my next pick but I have so many books to get through it's scary.



Other recent finishes:

Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi; Solid sci fi adventure. Some really hard SF elements but not at the expense of pacing. Kind of reminded me of Bank's Culture series in tone, if not content. Or maybe more like Charles Stross but with better characterisation.

Exodus by God, I suppose; Absolutely mental but overall 3/10 story. The bit about the frogs and what have you was cool but that Angel of Death seemed a little much. Talk about escalation, amiright? Last half of the tale falls flat for me as it's just instructions on how to build tabernacles, prepare bread, make robes and stuff. Shopping lists are not a riveting read.

Butcher's Crossing by John Williams; Really, really excellent. I assume Cormac McCarthy was inspired by this because they both have a very similar feel. A must read.

You should check out the rest of Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur trilogy. The Quantum Thief is only the first.

[weebles]

Just added Butchers Crossing to my list! Had never heard of it till today.

[Dapper Bandit]

You should check out the rest of Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur trilogy. The Quantum Thief is only the first.

They're definitely on the list, there was Quantum Prince and another one, right? Does the trilogy hold up all the way through? I thought there were some really interesting ideas being brought to the table and it would be a real shame if they weren't done justice.

Weebles, it appears Williams was a kind of cult author but if you have enjoyed McCarthy's work I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to you! Plus the cover has a lovely painting of a buffalo on it, what's not to like?

[weebles]

McCarthy is one of my favorite authors and I’m a sucker for westerns. So this looks like a good fit.

[Bloodhammer]

You should check out the rest of Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur trilogy. The Quantum Thief is only the first.

They're definitely on the list, there was Quantum Prince and another one, right? Does the trilogy hold up all the way through? I thought there were some really interesting ideas being brought to the table and it would be a real shame if they weren't done justice.

The Fractal Prince and The Causal Angel.

I think they hold up excellently. The Quantum Thief gets you started and introduces you to some of the main characters, but the other two flesh out much deeper layers to them and fill you in on a lot more of the history of the post-human solar system. All three have a sort of detective story quality in that some secret has to be discovered and utilized for success/survival and the second book (TFP) even becomes, in part, a kind of fairy tale in the vein of The One Thousand And One Nights. Some people like that and some don't (lots of framing), but it moves on from that in the third (TCA), which is probably the best in the series.

[TraceItalian]

McCarthy is one of my favorite authors and I’m a sucker for westerns. So this looks like a good fit.

If you like McCarthy (sorry, no westerns to recommend), you might try Harry Crews (a weird, warped version of McCarthy that matches McCarthy's violence and disturbing content with a very strange sense of humor [if a female body building championship as a commentary on the shame of being rural with violence thrown in doesn't convince you, how about a book about a junkyard family getting successful because their pariah, get-rich-quick son decides to eat a car?] just look at this fucker )

Jim Harrison (who has McCarthy's contemplative thoughts and observations of surroundings while keeping immediate action in a passive voice dialed up to 11 [highly recommend starting with the Brown Dog collection]),

and the always destructive, "Bastard out of Carolina" by Dorthy Allison. I can't even go into it, but it's one of those books you'll read too quickly once and never be able to pick up again.

[odontophobia]

Met Harrison a number of years ago in undergrad, never got around to reading his work though.

[TraceItalian]

Met Harrison a number of years ago in undergrad, never got around to reading his work though.

I have a lot of beef with him, over a variety of things, but I do think overall he is a great writer worth reading.

[Dapper Bandit]

If you like McCarthy (sorry, no westerns to recommend), you might try
Harry Crews
Jim Harrison
Dorthy Allison.

Never heard of these folks before but you've just sold them all to me! Will check out at my local library at some point but they've all made the list.

I think they hold up excellently. The Quantum Thief gets you started and introduces you to some of the main characters, but the other two flesh out much deeper layers to them and fill you in on a lot more of the history of the post-human solar system. All three have a sort of detective story quality in that some secret has to be discovered and utilized for success/survival and the second book (TFP) even becomes, in part, a kind of fairy tale in the vein of The One Thousand And One Nights. Some people like that and some don't (lots of framing), but it moves on from that in the third (TCA), which is probably the best in the series.

Fractal Prince, that was the one! I totally intend to get to them soon as QT was surprisingly good. I enjoyed the detective/mystery approach as it gave the book a lot of impetus and kept the story chugging along nicely but it appears that quite a lot of people didn't get on with that aspect of it.


My reading has kind of gone to shit in the last few months due to life stuff, which is sad as I'm usually a book-a-week kinda guy but hopefully will be able to get back up to speed and work through some more stuff now.

[$harkToootth]

These two are next on the list. Hands down my favorite comedian.

[comesect2.0]

[chuckjaywalk]

I have a pile to get through:
33 1/3 Wowee Zowee
Jen Trynin's book
A couple of Chuck Klostermans
Seasons of the Witch

[MrNovember]

Christmas score in the order that I'll likely read them:
Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman
The Bassoon King - Rainn Wilson
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Some Rain Must Fall - Karl Ove Knausgard (highly recommend this series! I connected with it almost immediately, which I honestly don't know if that's a good thing or not...probably says something about me)

I also got Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe, which is pretty interesting. He explains complicated things using less than 1000 simple words. It's been hilarious so far. I have a greater respect for my work now that I've learned that I work at a heavy metal power building (nuclear reactor)

Also, I finished reading the City and the City awhile back. That was an excellent read! Really, really enjoyed it!

[oscillateur]

I read Norse Mythology last week I think. I don't know what I expected but it's "just" Norse mythology told in a convenient order/nicely written. Not mind-blowing, and these gods are mostly giant morons but enjoyable.

I just started Authority (Southern Reach trilogy #2) by VanDerMeer and quite like it so far. It's (for now ?) much more straightfoward than the previous one. I really like his books so I'll likely read the third one soon enough.