What are you reading? Part 3
05-13-02, 01:37 PM
#26
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K-PAX II by Gene Brewer.
Not a great deal to it but an amusing, easy read nonetheless.
<small>[It says that he is spinning this out into a trilogy which, given the relative brevity of the first two, suggests that in effect they are dividing one reasonable size book into three pretty slim ones! Never mind the quality; feel the width]</small>
Not a great deal to it but an amusing, easy read nonetheless.
<small>[It says that he is spinning this out into a trilogy which, given the relative brevity of the first two, suggests that in effect they are dividing one reasonable size book into three pretty slim ones! Never mind the quality; feel the width]</small>
Last edited by benedict; 05-13-02 at 01:40 PM.
05-18-02, 11:47 PM
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I'm reading Nabokov's Lolita and I'm rather ambivalent at this point. I love his cryptic allusions and descriptions, but Humbert Humbert is making my stomach heave. The whole subject is just revolting. I plan on finishing it though.
05-19-02, 05:28 AM
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Originally posted by Creek Rat
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Looks like some of us are on a "classics" binge at the moment!
I'm currently 90% of the way through Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.
It isn't at all what I expected. Very dry, ironic writing. Fun to witness Conrad putting all those foolish thoughts in so many of his characters' heads!
If I ever knew, I'd forgotten that Conrad was a naturalised Briton: he seemed to have almost as good a grasp on the social scene of the day as did Dickens a few decades before him (TSA was published in 1907).
05-19-02, 05:44 PM
#31
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Just finished John Sanford's Chosen Prey. Fast paced. I always enjoy the Lucas Davenport books. Funnily enough I just can't seem to bring myself to read Sanford's other novels. I do that with McBain, too. If it doesn't involve the 87th Preceinct, I just don't want to read them.
Strange bloody quirk that, isn't it?
Just have begun reading John Connolly's The Killing Kind, a hybrid Hard boiled/ horror novel.
Anyone else read him?
I have Blood Follows, by Steven Erikson on it's way. It's a novella feauturing two characters from Memories Of Ice, the third book of the Malazan Book Of The Fallen saga. Cannot wait for it to arrive.
Have to wait until December until the fourth book in the saga , House Of Chains, is released. Dammit.
And Amazon UK has Feast For Crows as being released March 2003? Is that true? I have to wait THAT long?
Also got Rue Morgue magazine with the great Battle Royale cover.
Plenty to read just no time to do it in.
Strange bloody quirk that, isn't it?
Just have begun reading John Connolly's The Killing Kind, a hybrid Hard boiled/ horror novel.
Anyone else read him?
I have Blood Follows, by Steven Erikson on it's way. It's a novella feauturing two characters from Memories Of Ice, the third book of the Malazan Book Of The Fallen saga. Cannot wait for it to arrive.
Have to wait until December until the fourth book in the saga , House Of Chains, is released. Dammit.
And Amazon UK has Feast For Crows as being released March 2003? Is that true? I have to wait THAT long?
Also got Rue Morgue magazine with the great Battle Royale cover.
Plenty to read just no time to do it in.
05-23-02, 07:29 AM
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Just finished:
- Philip Roth's American Pastoral -- I reread it for the first time in about five years. I'm now convinced that it's one of the best American novels of the 90s.
- Thomas Hill Schaub's American Fiction in the Cold War -- a study of the ways that American fiction from the 50s reflects the struggles of the New Left.
Now Reading:
- Don DeLillo's Underworld -- a massive novel that tryies to make sense of the last fifty years of American history. 140 pages down, 700 to go.
- Lawrence Wittner's Cold War America: From Hiroshima to Watergate -- I'm sensing a trend here.
This is an interesting political history that argues that Truman sold out the Old Left and that America's foreign policy has been driven almost solely by economic concerns ever since.
- Philip Roth's American Pastoral -- I reread it for the first time in about five years. I'm now convinced that it's one of the best American novels of the 90s.
- Thomas Hill Schaub's American Fiction in the Cold War -- a study of the ways that American fiction from the 50s reflects the struggles of the New Left.
Now Reading:
- Don DeLillo's Underworld -- a massive novel that tryies to make sense of the last fifty years of American history. 140 pages down, 700 to go.
- Lawrence Wittner's Cold War America: From Hiroshima to Watergate -- I'm sensing a trend here.
This is an interesting political history that argues that Truman sold out the Old Left and that America's foreign policy has been driven almost solely by economic concerns ever since.
05-23-02, 10:33 AM
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Originally posted by Darren H
- Don DeLillo's Underworld -- a massive novel that tryies to make sense of the last fifty years of American history. 140 pages down, 700 to go.
- Don DeLillo's Underworld -- a massive novel that tryies to make sense of the last fifty years of American history. 140 pages down, 700 to go.
05-23-02, 03:17 PM
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Wow. Did I actually type the word "tryies"? Oops.
So far, Underworld is impressive and enjoyable, but I haven't read enough of it yet to really comment. Having only read White Noise previously, I'm not terribly familiar with DeLillo, so I'm still feeling him out a bit. The novel is epic in scale -- I'm curious to see if he's able to keep the material under control, to pull it together. Libra is also sitting on my "to read" list, but I'm not sure if I'll get to it any time soon.
So far, Underworld is impressive and enjoyable, but I haven't read enough of it yet to really comment. Having only read White Noise previously, I'm not terribly familiar with DeLillo, so I'm still feeling him out a bit. The novel is epic in scale -- I'm curious to see if he's able to keep the material under control, to pull it together. Libra is also sitting on my "to read" list, but I'm not sure if I'll get to it any time soon.
05-24-02, 07:15 PM
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Thanks to the movie "LORD OF THE RINGS" I'm -finally- starting to read the books.
I'm reading THE HOBBIT right now
I'm reading THE HOBBIT right now
05-24-02, 07:16 PM
#42
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Originally posted by 12thmonkey
Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson
by Kenneth R. Timmerman
A bit dry in spots, but a pretty insightful read...
Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson
by Kenneth R. Timmerman
A bit dry in spots, but a pretty insightful read...
He gets many death threats from Jackson GOONS.
05-24-02, 11:22 PM
#43
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Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose.
Mein Kampf is in the near future...along with a book called Battle of Wits by Stephen Budiansky about codebreaking in WW2.
Just on a WW2 kick this year....
Mein Kampf is in the near future...along with a book called Battle of Wits by Stephen Budiansky about codebreaking in WW2.
Just on a WW2 kick this year....
05-25-02, 02:53 PM
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Just finished The Stone Monkey by Jeff Deaver,part of the Lincoln Rhyme series.Excellant stuff as usual.
Also tried a new author,Tess Gerritsen and her book The Surgeon.Well Paced serial killer novel,with plenty of ick factor for those into that kind of thing.
Next up is 1st Chance by Patterson and Mortal Prey is in the mail to arrive any day.After that I've got several Tammy Hoag books and some Patrick Robinson sub books to go through.
Also tried a new author,Tess Gerritsen and her book The Surgeon.Well Paced serial killer novel,with plenty of ick factor for those into that kind of thing.
Next up is 1st Chance by Patterson and Mortal Prey is in the mail to arrive any day.After that I've got several Tammy Hoag books and some Patrick Robinson sub books to go through.
05-26-02, 06:16 PM
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I've nearly reached the end of Phillip Kerr's A Philosophical Investigation.
It is a near-future (serial) murder-mystery. I wouldn't call it traditional science-fiction or "future noir" but it has been an intriguing read.
Kerr has stuffed the book full of litererary references/allusions, as well as the more necessary philosophical ones, although I'm still not quite sure whether this was 100% effective. A nice tack was to present alternate chapters from the POV respectively of the protagonist and the antagonist!
It is a near-future (serial) murder-mystery. I wouldn't call it traditional science-fiction or "future noir" but it has been an intriguing read.
Kerr has stuffed the book full of litererary references/allusions, as well as the more necessary philosophical ones, although I'm still not quite sure whether this was 100% effective. A nice tack was to present alternate chapters from the POV respectively of the protagonist and the antagonist!
05-29-02, 03:06 AM
#47
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Just finished The Killing Kind, by John Connolly. Great suspense/horror novel. If you hate spiders then I would not recommend this book to you because one of the bad guys, a creepy individual named Mr Pudd, uses spiders as a weapon.
Received Blood Follows, by Steven Erikson in the mail yesterday.
It'll hold me over until House Of Chains is released
Also received Black Seas Of Infinity, The Best Of HP Lovecraft, from The Science Fiction Book Club.
Figured I'd try out some of his stuff.
Re-reading A Game Of Thrones at work when I work my doubles. Figure I have plenty of time to re-read all three novels of The Song Of Ice And Fire saga since A Feast Of Crows won't be released until march 2003
Received Blood Follows, by Steven Erikson in the mail yesterday.
It'll hold me over until House Of Chains is released
Also received Black Seas Of Infinity, The Best Of HP Lovecraft, from The Science Fiction Book Club.
Figured I'd try out some of his stuff.
Re-reading A Game Of Thrones at work when I work my doubles. Figure I have plenty of time to re-read all three novels of The Song Of Ice And Fire saga since A Feast Of Crows won't be released until march 2003
06-04-02, 07:47 AM
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It took a week and a half, but I finished DeLillo's Underworld. To me, few books justify a length of 830 pages. Underworld is one of them. This is an amazing novel -- a slow descent through the last 50 years of American history that actually wraps its hands around such a big topic and (almost) makes sense of it. Might have the best closing paragraphs I've ever read, but their power will only be felt if you work through the 800+ pages that precede them. Highly recommended.
Now reading: Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien.
Now reading: Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien.
06-04-02, 01:18 PM
#49
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The Bourne Supremacy - Robert Ludlum (The Bourne Ultimatum is waiting in line)
and
Undercover: The Men and Women of the SOE (Britain's Special Operations Executive in World War II) by Patrick Howarth...I am liking this so far, it helps that the author was in the SOE
other books waiting to be read: Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo and Black Hawk Down
and
Undercover: The Men and Women of the SOE (Britain's Special Operations Executive in World War II) by Patrick Howarth...I am liking this so far, it helps that the author was in the SOE
other books waiting to be read: Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo and Black Hawk Down