[Lord Gordonis]

Love Hina vol 5 - ken Akamatsu

[Puck]

Gem Windcaster;165534 said:

Me, I just started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

I just have finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell some days ago and enjoyed it very much, apart from the parts about Mr Norrell himself only. But that could be cause I didn't like him much ^^"

Started reading american gods by Neil Gaiman... Until now [I'm in about ~200 pages] it has been quite annoying... Please, someone help me and say, it's going to be better and something is going to HAPPEN, cause I'm not much interested in what Shadow eats for breakfast [or was it lunch? oO]...

[Dag]

Puck;173116 said:

Started reading american gods by Neil Gaiman... Until now [I'm in about ~200 pages] it has been quite annoying... Please, someone help me and say, it's going to be better and something is going to HAPPEN, cause I'm not much interested in what Shadow eats for breakfast [or was it lunch? oO]...

Well, as far as I remember, something happens - in the last third of the book...

No, seriously, I know how you feel. While I was reading it some 1 1/2 years ago, I also kept lamenting about how boring it was (I had to read it - it was a promise I gave to Mr. B; he lends me his books only if I promise I'd read them. I failed to fulfill that promise only twice, with Patricia McKillip and Michael Shea, but that's another story...)
But about "American Gods": Once I finished the book, I didn't regret reading it. I can even say I liked it. There are some good scenes in it that remained in my head for a long time.
But if you have something more promising on your "must-read" list, maybe... maybe you should reconsider... Because althogh something happens, there will be no revolutionary turns in the plot... At least none you won't guess some 100 pages in advance...

[Wiggles]

Ugh. American Gods is like... half a percent better than Ayn Rand. (slight exaggeration, she's way worse) which is in turn worse than the Bronte's and Dickens and a dot of feces on your **********************

[Puck]

Dag;173126 said:

Well, as far as I remember, something happens - in the last third of the book...

No, seriously, I know how you feel. While I was reading it some 1 1/2 years ago, I also kept lamenting about how boring it was (I had to read it - it was a promise I gave to Mr. B; he lends me his books only if I promise I'd read them. I failed to fulfill that promise only twice, with Patricia McKillip and Michael Shea, but that's another story...)
But about "American Gods": Once I finished the book, I didn't regret reading it. I can even say I liked it. There are some good scenes in it that remained in my head for a long time.
But if you have something more promising on your "must-read" list, maybe... maybe you should reconsider... Because althogh something happens, there will be no revolutionary turns in the plot... At least none you won't guess some 100 pages in advance...

The thing is, I too promised to read it. I've got my own copy of the book, but it was recommended to me by a very good friend, who usually has a quite similar taste in books to mine and it's the first time I don't like a book she recommended right from the start...
I was thinking about putting it away - at least for a while - but when you say, there is something going to happen, I think I'll go on with reading even if this something won't be a blast off
Thanks, you really helped me

[Dr Trouble]

Speaker For The Dead - Orson Scott Card

I love his early novels ...

[Tiste Simeon]

Puck said:

I just have finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell some days ago and enjoyed it very much, apart from the parts about Mr Norrell himself only. But that could be cause I didn't like him much ^^"

I have that book and WILL read it at some point soon...

Just about to start Romanitas by Sophia McDougall, or reread The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for the 4th time by Douglas Adams.

[Terez]

I'm still reading The Bonehunters, though at a leisurely pace, and I've also picked up The God Delusion (by Richard Dawkins, for those of you that live under a rock). I can't read two fiction books at once, but I can read a fiction and a non-fiction one at the same time.

[Astra]

Brynjar;172613 said:

Hah! I got a hard on from reading that series. But I'm filthy.

Reading Mary Douglas' Purity and Danger. Getting a hardon from this book, too.

What does "get a hard on" mean?

[Dr Trouble]

I just finished Speaker for the Dead, and quite frankly it left me really disappointed.

After the great novel that was Enders Game, I was expecting much greater things from this book then what I got.

Ender turned out to be a pussy and the piggies were annoying. I don't think i will finish the series.

[Terez]

astra_lestat;173371 said:

What does "get a hard on" mean?

Are you for real?

[Astra]

Yep.

Tried to google definition "get a hard on", didn't find anything.
It is not about erection, is it? Because if it is then I am going to feel very foolish for asking the question

[Terez]

Yes, it is, and yes, you should. It's not like you have the excuse of being from a non-English-speaking country.

[Mezla PigDog]

I'm going to start "Decline and Fall" by Evelyn Waugh tonight. I'm looking forward to it. I really like the two books by him I have read so far, "Brideshead Revisited" and "Scoop". I wish to spread the word that his books are top notch and really rather funny. If anybody has ever seen and liked the "Jeeves and Wooster" series by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (based on P.G. Wodehouse books), then you'll definitely like Evelyn Waugh's writing. Hilariously scathing, tongue-in-cheek critiques of the British upper-classes in the 1920's and '30's.

[Astra]

Terez;173378 said:

Yes, it is, and yes, you should. It's not like you have the excuse of being from a non-English-speaking country.

Oh, well

I just could not believe someone would write that he is getting erection when reading a mere book so, I thought it means something else
You never stop learning though

[Lord Gordonis]

Love Hina vol 13 - ken Akamatsu

[caladanbrood]

Read pretty much all of Steven Pressfield's "Alexander" novel, that every historical fiction writer attempts at some point or other, on the flight to Toronto. *sigh* How the mighty have fallen. He should have stopped after Tides of War - this one is worse than Last of the Amazons

[amphibian]

I am reading Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon, after finishing Against the Day.

Here's a review I wrote for Against the Day (I do not have a blog, nor do I really want one. The book was just good enough that I had to get something down that would make people want to read it too.)

"Seeking to add a notch to my coup stick, I leapt from my mud-and-paint-daubed pony onto the neck of this lumbering beast and brought it to the ground. Once I wrestled it down to the semi-arid steppe of my mind, the thing turned into a mythical creature - splitting apart into several entities, then fusing back together into a confused, yet brilliant, underwater panther (See the Wikipedia explanation or something).

This is a book for smart people. There's no getting around that part.

Pynchon's 1,085 pages has four main story "clusters" within: Airship Crew, Western Revenge, Geek Eccentric Scientist, and Anarchist European Spy Adventuress. All of these storylines could have been split into their own books and all would have won awards and accolades. The fusion makes for a strange book, but is nothing unusual in the author's canon and Pynchon's ability to make the goddamned words sing elevates Against the Day over just about anything else out there - flawed work or not. The Western Revenge and Spy Adventuress stories dominate the book (rightly so), but the others receive significant airtime.

Some characters are parodies, but in the manner of people consciously and unconsciously emulating archetypes from movies and books. I was impressed with how real the characters seemed to be; their reasons, illogic, desires, dialogue and actions were absolutely plausible, even in the real world. The story in its world-spanning scope is incredible and the strange stuff is truly jarring.

The mixed reviews greeting this book all seem to be written by people who are the very source of mainstream media's problems - unwilling to work, ignorant of context, and offensively incapable of recognizing quality.

The basic truth is this: There are only two people capable of writing like this, profound and brilliant on so many levels, in literature today - Pynchon and Neal Stephenson. Their works deserve to be read."

[Lord Gordonis]

the deamons curse - dan abnett & mike lee

[pat5150]

Just finished Tad Williams' Shadowplay and I'm a bit disappointed.

While it's untrue that nothing happens in this book, it is undeniable that nothing major occurs. All the good stuff seems to have been reserved for the last volume, Shadowrise.

Check the blog for the full review!

Patrick