Reddit discussion

I just finished reading Little Brother and found it to be a pretty impressive book. I wrote a too-long review, but the tl;dr version is pretty much thus:

Good read, though obviously Young Adult, it had some very important themes, and serves as an excellent layman's primer on security tech and it's abuses.

I enjoyed it, and I'm recommending it every chance I get.

Just finished this month's book, The Sirens of Titan. It was all right. I wrote about it in the other thread.

@Danae: I hadn't considered that. Perhaps it was the weakest one so far, but it also revealed a whole hell of a lot. Rand attempting to extinguish the taint from saidin, the ménage à trois (quatre?) Min predicted in the first or second book came to be, Mat plans his escape after we find out he's alive, etc. A lot actually happens, so I can't say I'm too unhappy about that.

How far along are you? You sound like you're done and waiting for the last book. Are you satisfied with everything? If so, do you think Brandon Sanderson was true to Jordan's "vision"?

@Aleksaandar I started reading these in the late nineties, so I was reading them as released by this point. It's been years, so I may be thinking of a different one, but Winter's Heart stuck in my mind. I'm questioning that though since you referenced resolution with Mat. I thought this was the one where he was just sort of left under a wall the whole damn book.

Anyway, I am through everything that's come out. I've really only been reading them for completionist purposes the last 5-6 years. They're amusing, but I have a hard time getting past the writing and absurdity of the plot development. Not absurd because of the genre, because of the way he tries to connect everything to everything else in ways that IMO frequently are bizarre. I've enjoyed the Sanderson ones a bit more than the last couple by Jordan. I haven't thought about it in terms of vision, because the bulk of the books are remarkably similar, he's just a better writer. I'm not a fan of the longass descriptions of cloaks, embroidery, and sword fights that are just strings of random names for which we have no reference. But that's just me. :)

Halfway through The Wise Man's Fear. So far, so good. A few hilarious moments, too.

Ala wrote: "Halfway through The Wise Man's Fear. So far, so good. A few hilarious moments, too."

The plum bob made dialogue exchanges hilarious.

Yeah, that was great section.

Also the story Kvothe tells later on in the forest... I had to stop reading for a good five minutes because I was laughing so hard.

Starting Suzanne Collins' [Book: Hunger Games] tomorrow. Just finished Wen Spencer's [Book: Alien Taste], which was okay.

I'm currently going through the Nightside series by Simon R. Green.

Dresdenesque. Not as good, but close.

I just finished Foundation by Isaac Asimov. The guy's a genius! I'm definitely starting the whole series now...

I just finished All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I had previously read The Road, which I quite enjoyed, but I was not expecting much from Pretty Horses.. mostly because of the title. WOW was I wrong.. this book is excellent. I couldn't put it down! Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

*unless you are in love with punctuation..

I've yet to read anything by McCarthy, though he's come highly recommended by just about everyone...

Ala wrote: "I've yet to read anything by McCarthy, though he's come highly recommended by just about everyone..."

I'm going to read as many as I can now, I'm already tempted to read Pretty Horses again..

That good, eh?

I'll make a point of it to read something of his next month.

Which is better, Horses or Road?

Ala wrote: "That good, eh?

I'll make a point of it to read something of his next month.

Which is better, Horses or Road?"

I gave both 5/5. Road is depressing and haunting, Horses is adventurous and romantic. Whatever floats your boat :)

I just finished White Noise. I wasn't terribly impressed.

Almost done with Gardens of the Moon. I need a scorecard to keep track of all these damn people.

Good story, though.

I'm almost finished with by The Passage by Justin Cronin. The middle sags quite a bit, and sometimes the "literary" tone just doesn't seem to work with the material, but overall it's worth reading. Also almost done with The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford. Wonderful book.

I'm reading The Wise Man's Fear
It's a little slow right now, hopefully the action will pick up soon (I'm 46% in)

Now reading Martin Millar's [Book: Curse of the Wolf Girl]. Sequel to [Book: Lonely Werewolf Girl], which I really enjoyed.

Finished Gardens, liked it a lot, will need to get the rest of the Malazan series now.

Currently going through The Unnatural Inquirer. Will probably finish the Nightside series this week. Then maybe back to Malazan after that.

Currently working on:


Macbeth (re-read)
4:50 From Paddington
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson
Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery
The Christ-Haunted Landscape: Faith and Doubt in Southern Fiction

and looking forward to reading The Lost Books of The Odyssey: A Novel for group. :)

Now reading Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving and The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. LeGuin. Really enjoying both right now.

I have the latter on my Nook. I may have to bump it up the reading list. I didn't know if it was good or not. Let me know when you finish it.

I still need to get another LeGuin novel going at some point.

Also, finished up A Hard Day's Knight, thus ending my little spree into the Nightside series. Decent->Good stuff if you're looking for something slightly Dresdenesque.

Currently working on Martin Millar's [Book: Curse of the Wolf Girl]. Something about his style that I really enjoy.

I finished Room by Emma Donoghue last week and I thought it was pretty well done. At first, the concept of her writing the book as a five year old seemed kind of gimmicky, but she executed it fairly well. The overall story wasn't the most amazing thing in the world, but it was effective and it was definitely worth a read just for the style/approach that she employed.

I looked at Room, might throw it on the backburner of my TBR list.

I think it's somewhere on my massive to read list.

Stylistically it kind of reminded me of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I loved that book and Room had kind of a similar narrative voice.

@Geoff I read The Dispossessed about a year ago and really enjoyed it, even though it was nothing like the descriptions I read about it. Have you read anything else by LeGuin?

Currently I'm reading our group book,The Lost Books of The Odyssey: A Novel and The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition by Richard Dawkins.

I just finished The Sparrow. I enjoyed it, even though it seemed be a bit slow and plodding at some points.

Next up, Jitterbug Perfume, or finally finishing House of Leaves. Not sure which yet.

Finished up our group read. Started in on a popcorn book, Daemons Are Forever.

Thinking of moving forward with book 2 of Malazan, but that's a damn long time commitment for the whole series...

Cryptonomicon is my fiction for fun right now.

Cutting for Stone and Jude the Obscure are fiction for book clubs.

Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson and The Christ-Haunted Landscape: Faith and Doubt in Southern Fiction are non-fiction for fun.

The Old Man in the Corner is my mystery popcorn book of the moment.

Melissa wrote: "@Geoff I read The Dispossessed about a year ago and really enjoyed it, even though it was nothing like the descriptions I read about it. Have you read anything else by LeGuin?

Currently I'm readin..."

I haven't read anything else by her but I've owned
The Left Hand of Darkness for a while and I have an omnibus of three of the Hainish novels coming soon. I will definitely be reading more of her books soon, she is fantastic.

Just started Jane Eyre after finishing the Irving...not because of the Goodreads challenge, but because it's time.

Steve wrote: "I just finished All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I had previously read The Road, which I quite enjoyed, but I was not expecting much from Pretty Horses.. mostly b..."

Holy cow that book is good. Are you going to finish the Border Trilogy? The next two aren't quite of the same quality but are still well worth reading.

I still need to get to All the Pretty Horses. Just need to find some time.

Almost done with the Secret Histories series by Simon R. Green. Started on City of Golden Shadow as well.

Got a bunch of other books on deck to read after these...

Hi all!
I just finished The Kite Runner after putting off reading it for a while. Thought it was a very good story. Before that I read Kafka on the Shore, which I also really enjoyed.

This morning I started White Noise and a few weeks ago I began Infinite Jest, but I've barely scratched the surface.

I loved Kafka on the Shore. I did not love White Noise but it's a good book. It just wasn't my thing.

Ryan wrote: "Thought I would start this thread to keep the ball rolling as we try and pin down the ever elusive book to discuss ...

I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and loved i..."

Consider Phlebas is the first of Banks' Culture novels, and it's a bit hard to parse. A better introduction is Use of Weapons, which was my old favorite, or even Surface Detail, my new favorite. All in all, Banks' sci fi is really great.

The Culture novels aren't a series, they're stories set in a coherent and internally consistent universe. If you want action, read Excession, Use of Weapons, or Surface Detail. If you want meandering philosophy and ethical dilemmas, try Look to Windward or The Player of Games.

I'm currently reading Pullman's His Dark Materials, and it's some of the best fantasy I've ever read, right up there with China Mieville.

Starting in on Jim Butcher's Dresden series tomorrow. Always been curious about it.

The first few books are decent, just a bit rough. Around book 3-4 is when it picks up.

They're great popcorn reads, short and fun.

Started Jane Eyre, currently working on Lighthousekeeping by the fantabulous Jeanette Winterson, and plan on starting Frankenstein today, which for some reason I have not read yet.

Picked up Unfamiliar Fishes which looks to be a rather quick read.

Ala wrote: "Picked up Unfamiliar Fishes which looks to be a rather quick read."

deja vu?

Get used to it *shun*

eta: I'll let you know how it is when I'm done.

>.>

I just jumped from Cryptonomicon to The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, which lead to the hilarity of me learning from the latter that a gun I had assumed was a semi-automatic rifle is actually a semi-automatic pistol. Go figure.

Speaking of reading things, I'd like to read the riot act to whoever coded these forums. On part of them the "add book/author link" is the the right of the "(some html ok)" link and on others it's to the left. WTF.

Heyas Sergio :)

I'm almost done with Unfamiliar Fishes. I'm being all kinds of lazy reading it...

Finally got around to finishing it.

Here's my take on it.

Hi Ruben, welcome to the group.