What Are You Reading?

Okay, since my last post I've read (I don't actually remember all of this off the top of my head, but I've been keeping a similar list on another forum, as a sort of personal experiment):

A.S. Byatt - The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye
Modern fairytales, told in a very conversational style. Really great. A bit of deconstruction of traditional stories. Favorite quote "I can believe any story while it's being told"

Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber
Modern re-tellings of fairytales. Told in a more poetic 19th/early 20th century style. Can't believe I had never read this. The story "Company of Wolves" was made into a film of the same name, that I loved. And I knew Carter from the Jack Frost song "Angela Carter". Absolutely beautiful writing. Her take on "The Erl-King" is particularly stunning. Highly recommended for anyone who likes fairytales/folklore.

Angela Carter - Saints and Strangers
Take the above book, and replace European fairytales and folklore with American folklore and history. Opens with a fantastic telling of Lizzie Borden. Every bit as good...just copy and paste my recommendation above.

Harukai Murakami - After Dark
(re-read) Not my favorite, but the one I'd most like to see made into a film.

A.S. Byatt's - Possession
Realized how much I loved the book when I found myself getting excited about the discovery of correspondence between two fictional 19th century poets. I love anything I can get that caught up in!

Frank Zappa with Peter Occhiogrosso - The Real Frank Zappa Book
Fun read. Some stories I had heard before, others made songs make more sense. Written just the way you'd expect a Zappa autobiography to be written. I'm not one for "wish I could have met this celebrity", but Zappa I would have liked to meet.

Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Slightly less a retelling of Alice In Wonderland than most of Gaiman's books, and I say that as a fan. Reminds me of A Fine And Private Place by Peter S. Beagle (fantastic book), not just in setting, but in terms of tone. Possibly my favorite Gaiman book, not counting comics.

Massive Charles de Lint Newford reread, because I felt like it. Reread Dreams Underfoot, Someplace to be Flying, Moonlight and Vine, The Onion Girl, Tapping the Dream Tree, Spirits in the Wires, Widdershins and Dingo. One of my favorite authors and I never get sick of rereading.

Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses
I first read this when I was too young to get it, but now being older and understanding more about Islam and the politics of India/Pakistan, I get it a lot better. Exceptionally complicated book and while not my favorite Rushdie, definitely in the list. Man does he have a way with words!

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson - Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune
Well, it's nice to see the story end. Wasn't expecting the major plot turn that, as it turns out, was what the whole series was about (possibly not the first one...it almost seems like Herbert wrote the first book and then figured out where the whole story was going). Lots of stuff I liked, but Herbert the Younger and Anderson are not writers in the same class as Frank. Hunters takes a while to get going. Reminds me of Dune Messiah in that way...I don't really like the book, but I like the things that it sets up (and it has it's moments).

And finally, my trashy reading for the summer is Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. I'm halfway through book three. It's better than the first two, but Butcher is still not that good of a writer. I've been told he improves, but I haven't seen it yet. Really, it doesn't matter. Pulp-y urban fantasy action stories! The stories are interesting and fun.

So, yeah, I like to read.
 
I'm just starting "Rocket Boys" for the first time.

October Sky is my favorite film of all time, so I feel terrible that I've never read the book.

- Jow
 
knightly said:
I'm reading this... and stuff related to this -- http://angularjs.org/ Looks really cool so far, deals with many of the issues I had with jQuery (which I thought was clunky -- although better than straight AJAX; but at least none of that was hidden in libraries and nonsensical abstractions).
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Interesting. Has this site changed significantly in the last year or so? I feel like I maybe built a prototype for my current app in angular, but none of this looks familiar to me. I've been through so many libraries and frameworks in the past couple years that I literally can't keep them straight anymore. I've ultimately settled on a combination of backbone, mustache & jquery/zepto, but that was partly because I actually like jquery for general dom manipulation.

So when I'm not reading API documentation I'm reading:

Distrust That Particular Flavor - William Gibson
This is a collection of Gibson's non-fiction articles for magazines from the late 80's to the mid 2k's. It's a fast read, and great - reminds me of going to a warhol exhibition, and standing in front of one of his paintings and thinking "I don't get it, there's nothing special about this, it's like old MTV graphics" and then glancing down at the description tag with the date on it. 1963. And then you get it - he was seeing this 20 years before the rest of us even began to catch on. Which is even more fascinating with Gibson, because as the world seems to be catching up with his fiction he's actually gone back a decade or so with his recent novels to show that maybe the world hasn't even caught up with it's own fictions.

What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell
Another collection of non-fiction articles & essays. Gladwell's a great storyteller, and has a knack for finding interesting characters and building a narrative around key moments in their lives that can act as a lesson for others.

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
I actually haven't started this. It's been sitting on my bedstand for months. Murakami is one of my favorite authors, but it's such a massive tome I've somehow managed to avoid starting it because I just don't know how I'll have time to finish. I even got the paperback special edition that breaks it down into three novels (as it was originally published) because I figured that would be easier to tackle... but instead I find myself reading API documentation, and indietalk.
 
I don't have much time to read lately, but I started in 'The Little Prince'.
A nice fairytale my girlfriend gave me, because it was one of her favourite childhoodbooks.

I also read 'Buzz' (why thing go or won't go viral): interesting research about marketing and going viral.

Before that: 'Hyperion' and 'The downfall of Hyperion' by Dan Simons. His 'Ilium' and 'Olympos' are also great SF books full literature references and interesting philosophies... Great read, all of them!
 
The Documentary Filmmakers Handbook, second edition... The Kickstarter Handbook... Kickstarter for Dummies... (rereading) Making Documentary Films, second edition... (rereading) Documentaries and how to make them... AND John Grishams The Litigators...
 
I've been slowly working my way through Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan. I've a slight obsession with anything to do with the Azuchi-Momoyama period.

I borrowed Fifty Shades of Grey from a friend recently but it was dreadful; I gave-up a third of the way through. I intend to start either Kiss Me Judas by Will Christopher Baer (on recommendation from a friend) or High Fidelity by Nick Hornby next.
 
You'll have to share your thoughts on High Fidelity when you've finished. I found it to be one of those few cases where I liked the movie better than the book (though not because the book was poorly written).

I'd also put Fight Club and Slaughterhouse Five in that camp, though the former was Palahniuk's first and even HE thinks the film was better. The latter I haven't read since high school and liked the way the film developed understanding of what's going on rather than explicitly stating it on page one. I've been meaning to reread as an adult (hmmm. Maybe a Vonnegut binge should be next)
 
Wow, awesome and interesting suggestions above!

Just finished Deathly Hallows. That was pretty nice. I mean the Harry Potter series. Oh, uh, now I'm out of Harry Potter to read. Oh well. Watching the last film again. Still interesting to see the different choices they made.

Now onto Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which will be the first Gaiman that I've read. So far, so good.
 
Herzog video I just saw reminded me of this thread... thought I'd bring it back to life.

Recently finished Naked Lunch and Death Be Not Proud. 1/3 of a way into Wayward Bus. 20 or so pages into Slaughterhouse Five. Have a few Stephen King novels I'm working on too. 1/4 of a way through 11/22/63.

Naked Lunch 7.5/10
Death Be Not Proud 10+/10
 
Okay, since the last post:

Kurt Vonnegut - Player Piano
Like most Vonnegut, the plot is not the point. So it's heavy handed and obvious, but the beauty is in the subtext and the emotional distance of the narrator. Not bad, but far from great. It was his first book after all.

Kurt Vonnegut - Mother Night
This is the winner of the bunch. I often feel that Vonnegut is overrated, but this really captures the best of what he does. It's all about excuses and the narratives built to justify actions. Once again, what happens isn't all that revolutionary, but what and how the characters think/feel about it is.

Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl
Pretty solid dystopian sci-fi. Starts out being really preachy when it comes to genetic engineering, and while it definitely remains a book with a strong political opinion, it becomes a little less heavy handed. It definitely feels like the start to a series/world, but the books he wrote after that are young adult novels in a slightly different dystopian future. Huh. Hopefully he'll go back to this world.

Neil Gaiman - The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
The comic adaptation with art by P. Craig Russell. I've decided he's my second favorite Sandman artist, behind Charles Vess (who is one of my favorite artists in general, so I'm biased there). Independent from the full Sandman chronology, this is a wonderful fairy tale, absolutely beautiful. Even if you haven't read Sandman, this is the biggest recommendation out of this batch. Read this.

Umberto Eco - The Island of the Day Before
Absolutely love it, not just because it mentions quokka in passing. Every book needs quokka. Anyway, more deconstruction of the use and purpose of stories, but less specialized than, say, Queen Loana. Not my favorite Eco, but a great read.

William Goldman...er, S. Morgenstern - The Princess Bride
30th Anniversary Edition, so that includes a forward, the forward from the 25th Anniversary Edition, a chapter from the sequel Buttercup's Baby (still as yet unpublished) and an amusing interview with the characters at the end. Still love this book to no end.

Peter S. Beagle - A Fine and Private Place
Another of my favorites from when I was younger. Like many of my generation, I discovered him through The Last Unicorn, but this one has always been my favorite, and the one I re-read the most often.

Thomas Harris - Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs
Realized I'd never read them, girlfriend owned them and of course loved the movies. Worth the rep? Well, they're certainly a lot more intelligent than many things in the genre, though the use of language isn't particularly challenging. Something to be said for that. I had, of course, seen the films so I knew where things were going to go, but that didn't detract from the fun of reading it, which is a very good sign. Lots of fun.

Currently reading Inversions by Iain M. Banks, but things have been busy at work and I haven't really gotten into it yet. We'll see how I feel once I can focus more on it.

Oh, and Chimp, Naked Lunch is a fun read, but far from Burroughs' best. Check out the Red Night trilogy (The Cities of Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands). The second is my favorite, but they're all amazing stuff.
 
JoshL said:
Oh, and Chimp, Naked Lunch is a fun read, but far from Burroughs' best. Check out the Red Night trilogy (The Cities of Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads and The Western Lands). The second is my favorite, but they're all amazing stuff.
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I'll have to give those a look! Thanks Josh! :)
 
Cool books, Chimp. Naked Lunch was a good read for me too. I liked a couple of other Burroughs books I've read better. Have you seen that biopic about him? It's recommended, if you're interested in the man. I remember having to read Death Be Not Proud. Is that the one in which he said that science fiction is bad science and bad fiction? That kinda rubbed me the wrong way. But oh well, a meaningful story, of course.

Wow, what a list, Josh. I have to put them all done on my reading list. I've yet to read any Vonnegut, but I want to, largely thanks to your interest in him. I need to give those Burroughs books you recommended a try, too, sometime. I liked those Harris books. If you haven't read it, I'd recommend you try Hannibal. Of the "Hannibal Lecter Series," I think that was probably the one I enjoyed the most. Hannibal Rising was okay, but not as good for me.

I recently finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Pretty good. I'm new to Gaiman's novels. One thing I'm inclined to point out are these little sort of vignettes spread throughout the novel. On the one hand, each time they would initially exasperate me because I was like, oh come on, no, please stick to the main narrative. But on the other hand, they pretty much all turn out to be quite rewarding, moving, and probably in them he shines his brightest as a sensative writer and thinker.

So it's pretty cool that they're going to film it. And that has me wondering if they'll be doing any filming here in Wisconsin. Much of the book's story takes place in Wisconsin, after all. Or will it be shot in Canada, or somewhere like that? Will they shoot the House on the Rock stuff at the real House on the Rock, for example? That would be far out. I've been there like maybe a handful of times in my life. I was recently there this fall. I had my camera and flash. Why was I so lazy that I couldn't have taken some shots of the things he wrote into the book? If I had, I could post them here. Oh well.

And I just finished Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The film adaptation is better. Pretty much. I wasn't expecting that, for some reason. At least that's what I was thinking while reading the book and immediately afterwards. Now that I'm rewatching the film and am getting a little distance, I'm not certain that I won't flip-flop on that opinion, though. I don't know, it's a pretty good book. It's my first PKD read. But, I don't know how eager I am to read more from him. Maybe I'll get around to it sometime.

Just started The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma, translated by Nick Caistor. Just into it, so too soon to tell how much I'll like it. A lot of rave reviews all over it, which is a big reason why I picked it up. So here's hoping. H.G. Wells is apparently the main character, but we haven't met him yet. =)
 
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richy said:
Cool books, Chimp. Naked Lunch was a good read for me too. I liked a couple of other Burroughs books I've read better. Have you seen that biopic about him? It's recommended, if you're interested in the man. I remember having to read Death Be Not Proud. Is that the one in which he said that science fiction is bad science and bad fiction? That kinda rubbed me the wrong way. But oh well, a meaningful story, of course.
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Junky is a great read. Painful at times, but, good.

Yeah. That's a line from it. I don't quite remember why that line was used. Strange :huh:

Wow, what a list, Josh. I have to put them all done on my reading list. I've yet to read any Vonnegut, but I want to, largely thanks to your interest in him. I need to give those Burroughs books you recommended a try, too, sometime. I liked those Harris books. If you haven't read it, I'd recommend you try Hannibal. Of the "Hannibal Lecter Series," I think that was probably the one I enjoyed the most. Hannibal Rising was okay, but not as good for me.
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Haven't read much of Vonnegut's work, but from the little I've read, I enjoy it.

I recently finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Pretty good. I'm new to Gaiman's novels. One thing I'm inclined to point out are these little sort of vignettes spread throughout the novel. On the one hand, each time they would initially exasperate me because I was like, oh come on, no, please stick to the main narrative. But on the other hand, they pretty much all turn out to be quite rewarding, moving, and probably in them he shines his brightest as a sensative writer and thinker.
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I remember reading one of his books a year or so ago. I remember not particularly enjoying it. Just one of those writer's that I don't "click" with. Going to give that one a look though.

And I just finished Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The film adaptation is better. Pretty much. I wasn't expecting that, for some reason. At least that's what I was thinking while reading the book and immediately afterwards. Now that I'm rewatching the film and am getting a little distance, I'm not certain that I won't flip-flop on that opinion, though. I don't know, it's a pretty good book. It's my first PKD read. But, I don't know how eager I am to read more from him. Maybe I'll get around to it sometime.
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Do you recommend it? I've been debating wether or not to get it for the last few months or so.
I wish Scott had kept the original title. "Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". I dunno why it amuses me so much, but it does.
 
ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Junky is a great read. Painful at times, but, good.
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I'll have to read that too. I think a lot of what's fascinating about his writing is the look he gives us into the world of junk.




I remember reading one of his books a year or so ago. I remember not particularly enjoying it. Just one of those writer's that I don't "click" with. Going to give that one a look though.
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You know, I don't know how much I 'clicked' with it, either. I mean, I don't know how much you like King, for example, but American Gods didn't engross me within it in the same sort of way that a good Stephen King book can take me away. It wasn't that sort of read for me either. I picked it up largely because I wanted to give Neil Gaiman a try. I suspect I actually feel pretty similarly to how you felt about the book you read. But I'd say it's still fairly rich in content and ideas. So unfortunately not an unqualified recommendation from me. Overall, I think the best way for me to put it is that I thought it was pretty okay. =P

I think I have to let it settle for a while before I get a better sense of how I feel about it, now and with time.


Do you recommend it? I've been debating wether or not to get it for the last few months or so.
I wish Scott had kept the original title. "Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". I dunno why it amuses me so much, but it does.
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I really do. I can't say I loved it. That's true. But at the very least I liked it. It's just a thin little book. You probably won't have to mortgage the farm if you choose to buy it. Or you could borrow it. It shouldn't take up too much of your time to finish it. Particularly if you love the film, it's worth reading the source material, I think. Naturally, I've been thinking about the book and the film by comparison lately. What's right about the film is that it's as though the filmmakers took the book, condensed it, refined it, sharpened it, and even made it, well, smarter. It's almost as though the filmmakers were less naïve than PKD, for one thing.

But then, all that is an advantage skilled filmmakers have over the authors of the books they adapt. They have the luxury to pull only the best from the book. Their craft really requires them to sharpen everything into tighter focus. And I guess it's probably significant that the book was first published in 1968. The film came out in 1982. Numerically, that's not so much time. But I gotta think that it's the quality of that time period --plenty of change. Well, same as it ever was, I suppose. Still, with the benefit of hindsight as well as good old-fashioned experience, and in the hands of the masterful Ridley Scott, not to mention some very qualified screenwriters, and obviously other crew, I think the movie turned out to be something superior in many ways.

But then again, I think you still have to say that the magic happened first with the book. After all, however good the film turned out to be, it wouldn't exist if Philip K. Dick hadn't first dreamed up and written Nexus-6 androids, the bounty hunters who "retire" androids, the Voigt-Kampff test, Rick Deckard, and some other fundamental elements of the story into existence. The book has value of its own, and that includes some things that the movie doesn't have. But of course I don't want to spoil anything for you.

I'd be surprised if you didn't find it of interest to discover what the similarities and what the differences are between the two.

Oh man, totally agree with you about the title. What a great title.
 
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I've just started reading and watching Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire. I actually really impressed with how they've brought it to screen and am now a solid follower of the series
 
I think you've hit upon the thing with Gaiman, richy. He works best with fragments, and setting up pieces to pull together later. His best works are his comics and short stories. His novels (which don't get me wrong, I do love) are all pretty much a retelling of Alice In Wonderland with a different coat of paint. That said, the BBC did a radio adaptation of Neverwhere this spring with James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch (who I've decided should star if they ever do a Sandman adaptation) and Anthony Stewart Head that is 100% as awesome as that sounds like it might be. But, again, where he really stands out is in comics...Mr Punch is a mindblowing book (character looking back on his life, with a parallel narrative description of Punch and Judy shows, art blending puppets/photo manipulations with stark minimal line drawings...can't say enough good things about that!)

Don't take my talking about Vonnegut as overenthusiastic recommendation...he's good and occasionally brilliant (again, Mother Night should be on your list), but he doesn't hold a candle to, say, Eco or Rushdie. I mean, not everything needs to be high-art/literature and I certainly read my share of books just because they are fun, but Vonnegut seems to lie somewhere inbetween. My girlfriend felt the same way you did about Hannibal/Hannibal Rising and owns them both, so they're on my list (she actually insisited I read the first two because she wanted me to read Hannibal. I like the movie, but she says the book is great)

Blade Runner is a very different story in many ways than Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep (which is, I think, why they changed the name). The movie is mind blowing...the book is okay. Not one of PKD's best. I'd say Valis or A Scanner Darkly, or try one of his short story collections. His shorts are fun in that 50s/Twilight Zone-style sci-fi sort of way.

Speaking of, I know this is the book thread, but relevant to the conversation, I just saw this yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLwmlMezS3U
 
richy said:
You know, I don't know how much I 'clicked' with it, either. I mean, I don't know how much you like King, for example, but American Gods didn't engross me within it in the same sort of way that a good Stephen King book can take me away. It wasn't that sort of read for me either. I picked it up largely because I wanted to give Neil Gaiman a try. I suspect I actually feel pretty similarly to how you felt about the book you read. But I'd say it's still fairly rich in content and ideas. So unfortunately not an unqualified recommendation from me. Overall, I think the best way for me to put it is that I thought it was pretty okay. =P

I think I have to let it settle for a while before I get a better sense of how I feel about it, now and with time.
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I'll give it a try :)

Yeah, King is one of those writers that I can just start reading and finish in a few sittings. The first book I had read by him was "Carrie". Began to read it. Read more. Before I knew it, it was 10 at night and I was near the last pages. I could go on and on about his work.

I really do. I can't say I loved it. That's true. But at the very least I liked it. It's just a thin little book. You probably won't have to mortgage the farm if you choose to buy it. Or you could borrow it. It shouldn't take up too much of your time to finish it. Particularly if you love the film, it's worth reading the source material, I think. Naturally, I've been thinking about the book and the film by comparison lately. What's right about the film is that it's as though the filmmakers took the book, condensed it, refined it, sharpened it, and even made it, well, smarter. It's almost as though the filmmakers were less naïve than PKD, for one thing.
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It's probably a bit outdated. I tried to give Stranger in a Strange Land a read recently, and while I can appreciate what it did for that time, now it seems a bit cheesy and the science fiction elements are cliche for the most part, which really takes me out of it. Not that that's the book's fault, it was among the first of it's kind. It would have been nice to experience reading it when it had first came out :)

I'd be surprised if you didn't find it of interest to discover what the similarities and what the differences are between the two.
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When I think about it, that would actually be pretty neat. I'll give it a look.

Also, off topic: does anyone else think that some of the effects in Blade Runner rival effects today?

http://www.fmvmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/wallpaper-nissan-gtr-bladerunner.jpg

^Some of the greatest VFX/SFX I've ever seen^
 
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