Unofficial What are you Reading Thread?

[Don Coyote]

I'm jealous.  The Kindle WiFi is on my Xmas list though.

Good stuff.
Several of Lord Dunsany's works are for free on the Amazon kindle store. So bam I have 4-5 published works of his.

Bad stuff.
None of Lovecraft's is.

Which means tonight I get to pillage Project Gutenberg.  


ETA: I am now reading Gods of Pegana by Lord Dunsany. I have also downloaded enough free old books that I believe my kindle just paid for itself.

[Faust]

I've started the man in the high castle. Honestly I hate his writing style but his ideas are interesting.

I couldn't get into that one for some reason. alternate history post WWII drama doesn't really strike my fancy.

I gave up on it ntoo bland for me I've started Prometheus rising and it seems interesting even if it's very dated.

[Disco Pickle]

Just got done with some light reading.

THUD! by Terry Pratchett
and The Thief of Always by Clive Barker.

I had never read Pratchett before, and have to say, judging by that one book... I would read more.
As for Barker, well maybe, Thief of Always was OK but nothing special really.

Now, I'm starting on Watership Down, which is absolutely charming.

after this, I think I'll hunt down a copy of Lord of the Flies.

I'm a Barker fanatic.  I have nearly everything he's ever written.  Still one or two to add to my library.

I think he really shines with his short stories, though there's more than one novel of his that I recommend.  Any of the Books of Blood short story collections are great, and The Inhuman Condition is my favorite of the series.

Weaveworld would have to be my favorite novel of his.  Amazing imagery.

His latest book, Mr. B. Gone wasn't terribly impressive, but interesting in it's narrative for breaking the 4th wall.  It's written with the main character speaking directly too the reader.

alright, enough Barker gushing.

I just finished Steven King's "Under the Dome" and I have to say, it was pretty damn good.  Full on action from page 2 until the end.  Even the plethora or characters didn't bother me as much as say, The Stand did.

Not sure what I'm going to read next, but I'm taking recommendations if anyone has them.

[Disco Pickle]

Still never read any Lovecraft, any suggestions on a good place to start?

I am reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy for the 200th time, love that book 

As long as you don't try to start with At the Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, you should be ok. Just pick up any random collection, start with the shorter stories, you need not worry about any particular order really.

I usually suggest that people save his Dream stories until they're a bit more familiar with him, and At the Mountains of Madness is a great story, but it was written as a serial and it revisits itself A LOT, kinda drags on way more than it should as a result.

Oh, and avoid the Rats in the Walls and the Crawling Chaos as well, except for the lulz.

Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath was my first Lovecraft book.

wasn't sure I was going to make it through it.  Glad I did.

[Cain]

Not reading it just yet, but I just ordered MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949.  The author had full access to the SIS Archive for that period.  Every file, every success and failure...turns out a similar book on MI5 was released recently as well, so I better order that too.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

Suburban Book of the Dead, Robert Rankin.

[Freeky]

Transmet again.

[Jasper]

I read Rankin's "da da de da da code" last week.  It was pretty good.

Love all his running gags and writerly indulgences.  

ETA currently reading The Diamond Age.  It's hard to stay interested in the protagonist though, I'm used to heroes that are clever and observant.

[Brotep]

The Fine Art of Erotic Talk

[BadBeast]

Just read Kurt Vonnegut's ''Slaughterhouse 5'' for the first time. In one sitting. Never read him before.

Fucking why the fucking fuck not??  I can't believe I never read him before. It's like  literary Hawkwind.

[Requia ☣]

I've been reading Shinji and Warhammer 40k.  Which I think people here are familiar with?

[Jasper]

Just read Kurt Vonnegut's ''Slaughterhouse 5'' for the first time. In one sitting. Never read him before.

Fucking why the fucking fuck not??  I can't believe I never read him before. It's like  literary Hawkwind.

Vonnegut's writing is some of the most gripping and accurate commentary on the human condition, period.

You might enjoy "Breakfast of Champions" next, when you're ready for more.

[Cain]

Currently reading Neuropath by R Scott Bakker which is, by turns, annoying and terrifying.

Basic premise: In the near future (I'm guessing 2035-50 or so), a former neurosurgeon for the NSA, tasked with experimenting on terrorist suspects to get them to tell the truth, goes rogue.  He starts kidnapping people at random and performing dangerous, experimental brain surgery on them, and killing them.  His former best friend, a professor of psychology, is contacted by the FBI and asked for help in trying to figure out what he is doing and track him down.  Meanwhile, there is a serial killer in New York who is not only murdering people in horrific ways, but also extracing their spines...

The annoying: the first couple of chapters are disjointed, and seem to be trying to portray the professor as a deadbeat, hopeless dad too much.  It's jarring in how it is done, and irrelevant to the plot (so far, at least).

The terrifying: where the FBI reveals to the psychologist how the neurosurgeon attached an implant to the spinothalamic and spinoreticular pathways to one of his victims, to induce uncontrollable pleasure, and then handed her a piece of broken glass....

[Jasper]

OH AUGH

So not reading that.  Cheers for the advance warning. 


Just cracking into "An INvitation to Cognitive Science", a book I bought because I am getting bored with the prereqs I'm taking so I can finally learn this stuff.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Currently reading Neuropath by R Scott Bakker which is, by turns, annoying and terrifying.

Basic premise: In the near future (I'm guessing 2035-50 or so), a former neurosurgeon for the NSA, tasked with experimenting on terrorist suspects to get them to tell the truth, goes rogue.  He starts kidnapping people at random and performing dangerous, experimental brain surgery on them, and killing them.  His former best friend, a professor of psychology, is contacted by the FBI and asked for help in trying to figure out what he is doing and track him down.  Meanwhile, there is a serial killer in New York who is not only murdering people in horrific ways, but also extracing their spines...

The annoying: the first couple of chapters are disjointed, and seem to be trying to portray the professor as a deadbeat, hopeless dad too much.  It's jarring in how it is done, and irrelevant to the plot (so far, at least).

The terrifying: where the FBI reveals to the psychologist how the neurosurgeon attached an implant to the spinothalamic and spinoreticular pathways to one of his victims, to induce uncontrollable pleasure, and then handed her a piece of broken glass....

Yeah, that sounds like Bakker. If he follows the pattern of his Prince of Nothing series, the deadbeat dad professor will ultimately redeem himself, despite all his flaws (okay, flaw, singular, that one flaw being his status as a despairing sadsack), as one of the most humane and sympathetic characters.

And, again, if he follows the pattern, the story will come together and become compelling enough to prompt a re-read at some point in the future just to make sense of the jumbled first few chapters.


I'm telling you this so you can let me know whether or not he follows said pattern, basically.