I'm near the end of the first volume of GRRM's Dreamsongs and just finished Sandkings - one of the "horror sci fi" stories he wrote.
Holy fucking shit thats some good writing...I'm digging this new side to the Great Man which I hadnt read about before (outside of ASOIAF).
Looking forward to starting Volume 2 and what pleasures that holds!
I haven't read it, but they made a (new) Outer Limits episode of that story, it's pretty good. I love The Outer Limits, I wish they would release all the episodes on DVD.Originally Posted by thefonz
Currently reading a short story collection by Stephen King. I like most of his short stories.
I just picked up Enders Game, I've been told to read it over and over and im bored so I finally bought it.
Other than that Im still reading Tori Amos' biography, and I plan on picking up a Rudyard Kipling compilation full of short horror stories, I heard about it on CBC radio and it has a forward from Neil Gaiman, sounds pretty interesting.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos
After a bunch of cajoling by a friend of mine, I've reserved The Haunting of Hill House at the library. We'll see how it goes.
OOOH Good stuff!!! Shirley Jackson...I did a lengthy presentation on her life and works in college. She has captivated me ever since I was introduced to her in 8th grade lit. Enjoy!
I think I read that at some point ages ago, was indeed pretty good.
For my part, I'm still re-reading Catch-22 (I'm about 3/4 of the way through) and I have to say, it's turning into quite a slog now. As much as the characters and situations they are in are oftentimes hilarious, there's just so many of them by this point that you really wish for something of a story that was going somewhere.
I've started reading Blood Meridian (not the ideal thing to read on a 10-minute trip to and from work, though), and I've also been reading The Baader Meinhof Complex (about German left-wing terrorism during the '70s) for ages now. The latter's very interesting and pretty well written, although I'm reading it in the original German and don't know what the translation would be like.
Last edited by Thirith; 8th Jul 2009 at 10:10.
On that note, I thought the recent movie based on this book was very, very good.
The book's better because it provides more of a context and doesn't need to be all thrillery to keep the audience going. I saw the film first (and enjoyed it), and I'm glad I did; a friend of mine had read the book and by comparison the film appears very much to be a rushed Readers Digest version. Definitely well worth checking out the book IMO.
Will do, cheers.
I'm re-reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami. The first time was years ago and I inhaled in 3 days, this time I'm giving it a bit more room to breathe. And I'm all the more astounded the second time around at the sheer force that propels the sublime narrative, and I'm no longer somewhat annoyed by the menagerie of symbolism that never quite connects up and makes sense. Also, I'm very excited to learn that he just released a new book (part 1 of 2) called '1Q84' in Japan.
I started to read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. To read book ten first probably wasn't the best idea, though. I don't think that I had to look in the internet before to understand a fantasy novel... Anyway, book one provides an as easy read as I hoped for.
Hopefully the surrogate-writer will be done by the time you get to the final book. Even having read most of them, Im not sure why anyone would do that to themselves
Just finished Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Holy shit, what a staggeringly fantasic book!
Next: A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway and I'm still waiting for my wife to hurry up and finish The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay!, we have a little bit of a holiday coming up next week so perhaps she can get through it then!
Finally started to read Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep. I didn't think BladeRunner kept true to the plot.
Blade Runner is quite different but excellent on its own. I saw the film first so perhaps I'm biased, but although I liked the book I think the film is superior (the reverse of most cases).
There is so much sci-fi to plunder for films but damnit why can't someone get it right? Blade Runner is the only film I've seen that measures up to the book at all. I am Legend the film was an abomination and I dread to think what they can and will do with so many of the other remaining sci-fi classics.
Yeah, I know what you mean. With almost every science fiction book I read I get the feeling that it would make an awesome movie in the right hands. I mean, Childhood's End, The Stars My Destination, Lord of Light, Day of the Triffids, The End of Eternity... that's great source material, right there.
Instead we get things like I, Robot. Bleh.
Finished The Martian Chronicles, by the way. Great book. Ray Bradbury may not be the best science fiction writer out there(..well, maybe if we don't count the dead ones...), but he is the best writer among them. Some paragraphs just make me want to frame them and hang them on the wall. It's gorgeous.
Starting Rendezvous with Rama right now. I hear it's supposed to be one of Clarke's best books, so high expectations here
The film version of A Scanner Darkly was pretty good.
Rama is very good but there is a lot of it that people have copied so go easy on it, it might not seem as original as it would have the first time around. Ripe for a film.
Yeah, A Scanner was pretty good but why was that? Because the plot is preeeetty damn close to the book is why. This is how it should be done.
Jesus christ you're just plowing through this stuff!Just finished Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Holy shit, what a staggeringly fantasic book!
Next: A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway and I'm still waiting for my wife to hurry up and finish The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay!, we have a little bit of a holiday coming up next week so perhaps she can get through it then!
Currently reading The Horus Heresy series and Gibsons Neuromancer.
So far I'm enjoying the Warhammer books more than I thought, I've recently finished volume 1 of Malus Darkblade and Gaunts Ghosts.
The non warhammer Warrior of Rome: Fire in the East was surprisingly good. One of my supervisors left the book in the guardhouse one night and I thought it looked quite pop-ish, well, teaches me for being snobish because it was thoroughly enjoyable.
Next on the list will be
Gaunts Ghost Vol 2
Malus Darkblade Vol 2
More Horus Heresy
Warrior of Rome 2
Last edited by DaBeast; 12th Jul 2009 at 08:28.
You and Angel Dust are crazy, Faulkner is the only author depressing enough to make me wish I was reading something by Tennessee Williams
The first book is so horrendously tragic, there's a real sense of potential lost in it*. Where are you up to?
*Edit: on the part of the characters rather than the book, I mean.
Currently making my way through Gravity's Rainbow. Slowly. I'm a lazy reader.
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