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Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (4 Viewers)

Brady Marino said:
tarted Swan Song a few days ago. Not totally into it yet, perhaps because it reminds me of The Twelve a lot (young supernatural girl with messed-up mother in a post-apocalyptic world). But I like the writing style and can't wait to devote more time to it.
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Liked it a lot better once they got through the nuclear war setup. About halfway through (I'm a slow reader) and it's pretty good.

 
shuke said:
prosopis said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
Next up: The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
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A big "meh" from me. I was really looking forward to the story of our ka-tet, or the story-within-the-story of a younger Roland. But most of the book was the story-within-the-story-within-the-story. 5/10

Next up: Wool. I got the newly released paperback so I think it is 1 through 5. Pretty pumped based on reviews here.
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by Hugh Howey?

I see part one is free for the kindle so I downloaded it. I hope this is what you are referring to.
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Yes.

Just realize that part 1 is very very short.

I haven't been able to keep my eyes open at night so I've barely ready much of this.
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I just read the first chapter and I am in. :thumbup:

 
Finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill today.

I kind of sort of liked it but I dont think I can give it a full endorsement. Serious junk food for the brain.

 
prosopis said:
Finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill today.

I kind of sort of liked it but I dont think I can give it a full endorsement. Serious junk food for the brain.
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It's his first/worst, though still pretty good. "Horns" is miles better, IMO. and his latest - "NO4S2" (or whatever it's called) is getting rave reviews (and is next on my list). Also, Hill's short story collection "20th Century Ghosts" is excellent (in particular, the story "Pop Art" and the one about the boxes - both of these continue to freak me out years after I read them).

This dude can flat out write. Like his dad, he would be well-served to have someone tell him "too many hooks for one book!", but he's got all the talent in the world.

His brother, Owen King, has also recently released a fairly well-received debut novel. Not in the "speculative fiction" genre apparently, but I'm gonna check it out.

 
Uruk-Hai said:
prosopis said:
Finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill today.

I kind of sort of liked it but I dont think I can give it a full endorsement. Serious junk food for the brain.
Click to expand...
It's his first/worst, though still pretty good. "Horns" is miles better, IMO. and his latest - "NO4S2" (or whatever it's called) is getting rave reviews (and is next on my list). Also, Hill's short story collection "20th Century Ghosts" is excellent (in particular, the story "Pop Art" and the one about the boxes - both of these continue to freak me out years after I read them).

This dude can flat out write. Like his dad, he would be well-served to have someone tell him "too many hooks for one book!", but he's got all the talent in the world.

His brother, Owen King, has also recently released a fairly well-received debut novel. Not in the "speculative fiction" genre apparently, but I'm gonna check it out.
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Thanks, I will check out more. The end of Heart Shaped Box had the first chapter of NOS42 and it did start with a bang.

 
Reading Red Moon by Benjamin Percy. Werewolves, modern allegory (werewolves = terrorists?), thriller, horror. Pretty mixed reviews on Amazon but 100 pages in I'm really liking it.

 
prosopis said:
shuke said:
prosopis said:
shuke said:
shuke said:
Next up: The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
Click to expand...
A big "meh" from me. I was really looking forward to the story of our ka-tet, or the story-within-the-story of a younger Roland. But most of the book was the story-within-the-story-within-the-story. 5/10

Next up: Wool. I got the newly released paperback so I think it is 1 through 5. Pretty pumped based on reviews here.
Click to expand...
by Hugh Howey?

I see part one is free for the kindle so I downloaded it. I hope this is what you are referring to.
Click to expand...
Yes.

Just realize that part 1 is very very short.

I haven't been able to keep my eyes open at night so I've barely ready much of this.
Click to expand...
I just read the first chapter and I am in. :thumbup:
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Speaking of Howey, his Halfway Home book is on sale for .99 right now.

---

To add - on my end I have gone through Leviathan's Wake and am now into Caliban's War. I haven't been so thoroughly sucked in since Wool. If anyone is into space operas this series is about as good as it gets. Superb stuff.

I was also reading King of Swords, but dropped it halfway through. Drivel.

 
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Just finished The Power of Habit. I really enjoyed it from both a selling stuff to people perspective and a personal improvement perspective.

Now reading The Back of the Napkin, which is about solving business problems through drawing and 1861 about the social events that led up to the outbreak of the Civil War.

 
FYI, couple really good daily deals at Amazon Kindle (5/19).

Wool for $2. Really. Just buy it. Now. It's unbelievably good.

Dead Witch Walking. Not an instant classic, but a really good set of books. I have thoroughly enjoyed the 7 or so that I've read. Worth the $2.

 
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Brady Marino said:
Brady Marino said:
tarted Swan Song a few days ago. Not totally into it yet, perhaps because it reminds me of The Twelve a lot (young supernatural girl with messed-up mother in a post-apocalyptic world). But I like the writing style and can't wait to devote more time to it.
Click to expand...
Liked it a lot better once they got through the nuclear war setup. About halfway through (I'm a slow reader) and it's pretty good.
Click to expand...
Finished it last night. Liked it. :thumbup:

 
prosopis said:
Uruk-Hai said:
prosopis said:
Finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill today.

I kind of sort of liked it but I dont think I can give it a full endorsement. Serious junk food for the brain.
Click to expand...
It's his first/worst, though still pretty good. "Horns" is miles better, IMO. and his latest - "NO4S2" (or whatever it's called) is getting rave reviews (and is next on my list). Also, Hill's short story collection "20th Century Ghosts" is excellent (in particular, the story "Pop Art" and the one about the boxes - both of these continue to freak me out years after I read them).

This dude can flat out write. Like his dad, he would be well-served to have someone tell him "too many hooks for one book!", but he's got all the talent in the world.

His brother, Owen King, has also recently released a fairly well-received debut novel. Not in the "speculative fiction" genre apparently, but I'm gonna check it out.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will check out more. The end of Heart Shaped Box had the first chapter of NOS42 and it did start with a bang.
Click to expand...
Just got done all three of these. I'm diggin' Joe King. NOS4A2 was pretty darn good. Horns was good too. His audiobooks are about 13-14 hours in length (compared to 30+ hours for some of his Dads stuff) so it gets right into it. I like that.

 
Over vacation I read Zone One by Colson Whitehead. I'm not a big reader but it seems he's a well known author tackling something different. Zone One is a zombie apocalypse story that had a different idea behind it but I can't say it was executed well. It was a tough read to get into since the author seems to love big verbose passages. It's like he sits with a thesaurus just to flower his writing with. I also didn't get a real sense of connection with any of the characters, even the main one. It's not as bad as some of the Amazon reviews would have you believe and I actually think there was a great, visual story there but the many flashbacks made it very disjointed. He would go off for a couple pages on a character that I knew wasn't important to the story and I knew wasn't going to last more than a few more pages. It made it easier to read because I would skip over a bunch of parts.

It was more post-apocalyptic and dealt with the an attempted rebuilding stage set below Canal Street in Manhattan. Even the actual zombie attacks lacked any real tension but he does add a few twists to the general accepted theories.

Not bad but hardly worth recommending.

 
I've probably said it in this thread, but I love how a search for "whatcha" doesn't return this thread on even the whole first page of results.

Anyway, whoever put in Leviathan Wakes, thanks. It's pretty fun and the cliche of the alky, divorced cop is pretty well handled and the world is decently thought out and described. Not up to Chabon's Yiddish Policeman's Union status, but a pretty fun noir-esque story where space is really just the backdrop. I'm not finished yet, but I'm already glad to know there's another one and probably at least one more after that. I think the can of worms might be about to crack open.

I've been an avid fantasy reader for as long as I can remember but never got into space stuff. Other than Hitchhiker's Guide, I think the last space set books I read were the Weiss-Hickman blood space thingy, and that was when they first came out. I'm open to more space/sci-fi suggestions, I've already got a list going from Goodreads Recommends..

 
Working my way through a couple books right now. American Gods by Neil Gaiman and I recently also got the Foundation Trilogy and started re-reading that as well. Actually more than started, about halfway through Foundation and Empire, the second book of the trilogy. Might try to see if I can get a hold of the followup books.

Having a hard time sticking with American Gods - it is interesting reading, but doesn't always hold my interest, if that makes sense?

 
Maelstrom said:
Working my way through a couple books right now. American Gods by Neil Gaiman and I recently also got the Foundation Trilogy and started re-reading that as well. Actually more than started, about halfway through Foundation and Empire, the second book of the trilogy. Might try to see if I can get a hold of the followup books.

Having a hard time sticking with American Gods - it is interesting reading, but doesn't always hold my interest, if that makes sense?
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I liked it a lot more on the second reading a few months later. Obviously, a part of it has stuck with me since then.

 
Read Dad is Fat by Gaffigan. Funny, but not as funny as I thought it'd be given his Twitter and stand up. If you're a current dad of a baby or toddler, it's a good read, but otherwise skip able.

 
Finished The Prince of Nothing trilogy. Dark, violent and a lot of philosophy. Very good.

Halfway through Gardens of the Moon, the first in the series malazan book of the fallen. Looks very promising.

 
I was reading Pynchon's Mason & Dixon (hey Shuke, look at me, I read Pynchon), but I was at a sidewalk cafe the other day enjoying a sandwich and coffee when this old guy notices the book and stops to ask me how it is. We chatted for a bit about Pynchon (hi, I read Pynchon) when he made a quip about how he can always tell when his creative writing students are reading Pynchon because they start imitating him, badly.

"Really?" (says the guy with the Pynchon-inspired tattoo on his arm ).

Turns out the guy is the head of Cornell's creative writing department. He had a pretty good run back in the 80s and 90s, so I decided to put down the Pynchon (PYNCHON!) and read his best effort - The Lies Boys Tell. Will report back.

Looks like he just finished a Franzenesque novel about hydrofracking too, a huge controversial issue here in NY and Penn. So I'm hoping I like The Lies Boys Tell so I can dive into that come November when it's released.

 
I'm up through Part 8 of the Silo series, which was a prequel to an earlier part, right? How many more are there? These have been fun reads.

 
jamny said:
Over vacation I read Zone One by Colson Whitehead. I'm not a big reader but it seems he's a well known author tackling something different. Zone One is a zombie apocalypse story that had a different idea behind it but I can't say it was executed well. It was a tough read to get into since the author seems to love big verbose passages. It's like he sits with a thesaurus just to flower his writing with. I also didn't get a real sense of connection with any of the characters, even the main one. It's not as bad as some of the Amazon reviews would have you believe and I actually think there was a great, visual story there but the many flashbacks made it very disjointed. He would go off for a couple pages on a character that I knew wasn't important to the story and I knew wasn't going to last more than a few more pages. It made it easier to read because I would skip over a bunch of parts.

It was more post-apocalyptic and dealt with the an attempted rebuilding stage set below Canal Street in Manhattan. Even the actual zombie attacks lacked any real tension but he does add a few twists to the general accepted theories.

Not bad but hardly worth recommending.
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I'm a big fan of Whitehead (John Henry Days is my favorite novel of his), but Zone One was painfully bad.

 
just finished: Unholy Night - by the guy who wrote the screenplays for Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and Dark Shadows. This novel imagines an unusual backstory for the Three Wise Men - as master thieves. Fun read, though violence a bit graphic.

starting: Kavalier & Clay

 
flysack said:
I was reading Pynchon's Mason & Dixon (hey Shuke, look at me, I read Pynchon), but I was at a sidewalk cafe the other day enjoying a sandwich and coffee when this old guy notices the book and stops to ask me how it is. We chatted for a bit about Pynchon (hi, I read Pynchon) when he made a quip about how he can always tell when his creative writing students are reading Pynchon because they start imitating him, badly.

"Really?" (says the guy with the Pynchon-inspired tattoo on his arm ).

Turns out the guy is the head of Cornell's creative writing department. He had a pretty good run back in the 80s and 90s, so I decided to put down the Pynchon (PYNCHON!) and read his best effort - The Lies Boys Tell. Will report back.

Looks like he just finished a Franzenesque novel about hydrofracking too, a huge controversial issue here in NY and Penn. So I'm hoping I like The Lies Boys Tell so I can dive into that come November when it's released.
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Update: grotesquely sentimental writer. Very disappointed. He has talent, of course, and some passages really leap out at you, but the guy really hammers away at the heartstrings with such sticky sentiment that you wonder if all his characters sat in a room for 10 years being forcefed Days of Our Lives.Back to the Pynchon...

 
oso diablo said:
jamny said:
Over vacation I read Zone One by Colson Whitehead. I'm not a big reader but it seems he's a well known author tackling something different. Zone One is a zombie apocalypse story that had a different idea behind it but I can't say it was executed well. It was a tough read to get into since the author seems to love big verbose passages. It's like he sits with a thesaurus just to flower his writing with. I also didn't get a real sense of connection with any of the characters, even the main one. It's not as bad as some of the Amazon reviews would have you believe and I actually think there was a great, visual story there but the many flashbacks made it very disjointed. He would go off for a couple pages on a character that I knew wasn't important to the story and I knew wasn't going to last more than a few more pages. It made it easier to read because I would skip over a bunch of parts.It was more post-apocalyptic and dealt with the an attempted rebuilding stage set below Canal Street in Manhattan. Even the actual zombie attacks lacked any real tension but he does add a few twists to the general accepted theories.Not bad but hardly worth recommending.
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I'm a big fan of Whitehead (John Henry Days is my favorite novel of his), but Zone One was painfully bad.
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Too bad. I dug The Intuitionist and wondered how he would tackle such an offbeat topic (for him) as a post-apocalyptic story.
 
Just finished up The Name of the Wind - thought it was fantastic, though not the best book I've ever read. Currently working through Modesitt, Jr's Imager - it started slowly, but it's gotten better as I progress through the book. It feels pretty formulaic, but I'm pretty sure I'll say it's ok once I'm done. Then it will be onto The Wise Man's Fear, and then I'll probably see what all this fuss about Wool is.

You guys keep the suggestions coming - I love this freakin' thread. :tebow:

 
joker said:
Just finished up The Name of the Wind - thought it was fantastic, though not the best book I've ever read. Currently working through Modesitt, Jr's Imager - it started slowly, but it's gotten better as I progress through the book. It feels pretty formulaic, but I'm pretty sure I'll say it's ok once I'm done. Then it will be onto The Wise Man's Fear, and then I'll probably see what all this fuss about Wool is.

You guys keep the suggestions coming - I love this freakin' thread. :tebow:
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I just finished TNotW as well. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. I'll probably read the rest of the series because it was still a good book, but I had heard so much gushing over how great it was that I was a little underwhelmed.

 
joker said:
mad sweeney said:
Mr. Superunkn0wn said:
GunslingerEnder said:
American Gods is a very good book...reminds me of The Talisman by Stephen King. Stick with it.
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Just started Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
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Favorite book of all time.
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Huge thumbs up for ANYTHING that Pratchett does - one of my all-time favorite authors with more "laugh out loud" moments from his books than anyone I've ever read.
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I don't really find his work fun but the team up between he and Gaiman was platinum. Gaiman has a new one coming out next week so that's something to look forward to.
 
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill was good.

Just started The Panther by Nelson DeMille. I liked the earlier John Corey books, but I might have trouble sticking with the one. The unrelenting smart @$$ 1st person voice gets a little tiring.

 
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I'm finishing up the 3rd book in the Expanse (Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate) and it's so-so. Definitely drags as it goes along and the characters seem to be unique for awhile but just start to blend after awhile. Through the first book I was pretty excited for some more sci-fi space opera books but now I'm really just finishing it because it's easy and I have mild curiosity for how they end. I'll be starting on 14 next.

 
joker said:
Just finished up The Name of the Wind - thought it was fantastic, though not the best book I've ever read. Currently working through Modesitt, Jr's Imager - it started slowly, but it's gotten better as I progress through the book. It feels pretty formulaic, but I'm pretty sure I'll say it's ok once I'm done. Then it will be onto The Wise Man's Fear, and then I'll probably see what all this fuss about Wool is.

You guys keep the suggestions coming - I love this freakin' thread. :tebow:
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Excellent choices. Really loved both.

If you really like TNotW, perhaps give Joe Abercrombie's stuff a try.

mad sweeney said:
I'm finishing up the 3rd book in the Expanse (Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate) and it's so-so. Definitely drags as it goes along and the characters seem to be unique for awhile but just start to blend after awhile. Through the first book I was pretty excited for some more sci-fi space opera books but now I'm really just finishing it because it's easy and I have mild curiosity for how they end. I'll be starting on 14 next.
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Huh - I absolutely adored the first two. I'm waiting on the audio version of the third one to catch in the car.


 
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