What book(s) are you reading?

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Does anyone have the second Kingkiller Chronicle book on Kindle that I could borrow?

I own it on Kindle but it looks like Lending is disabled.

[Cormacaroni]

yeah, lending is a bullet point-only feature...almost every book I own says it is disabled. See if your library has it for Kindle loan, I guess!

[Howard Alan Treesong]

What's depressing is at least one book I lent out last year (Master Li and Number Ten Ox) has (apparently) since had lending disabled. Garbage day!

[Mandark]

The City & The City

Finished- was awesome.

Dat chase scene.

One of the few times as an adult I've been really, viscerally excited while reading a story.  I think I probably stood up while I was reading that sequence.

[Eric P]

http://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/al-qaeda-zombies-and-american-vampires-on-christopher-farnsworths-blood-oath/

Let me sum it up for you: Cade, the President’s vampire, must save the United States from an Al-Qaeda zombie attack.

Perpetrated by Dr. Frankenstein.

Who is an ex-Nazi.

SOLD

[Great Rumbler]

http://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/al-qaeda-zombies-and-american-vampires-on-christopher-farnsworths-blood-oath/

(Image removed from quote.)

Let me sum it up for you: Cade, the President’s vampire, must save the United States from an Al-Qaeda zombie attack.

Perpetrated by Dr. Frankenstein.

Who is an ex-Nazi.

SOLD

[Howard Alan Treesong]

finished The Coldest War, Book 2 of the Milkweed Triptych (Nazi steampunk X-men vs. British Warlock alternate history)

Like the first book it's a solid B-, fun but not amazing and way more fun to think about the possibilities than to enjoy the execution.

[Tasty]

http://storybundle.com/

Are any of these any good?

[Howard Alan Treesong]

http://storybundle.com/

Are any of these any good?

Um... obviously not?

[Eric P]

It's like Indie Bundle stuff

If it were good, they'd set the prices, not you.

I'm currently reading Fredric Brown's His Name was Death and it is awesome.  Almost all Fredric Brown stuff I've read has been great great great stuff.

This is about a man who was on the straight and narrow for many years until he caught his wife cheating on him and murders her.  He gets away with it.  He then realizes that crime is easy and that he's been a sucker for playing by the rules, so he's going to start a counterfeiting using his print shop.  He develops the bills and a plan for how he's going to get the bills out there slowly, but then, some one makes a terrible mistake and his bills get out into circulation before he can stop them.  So he's decided that he has to murder his way out of his problems.  Should be a piece of cake, he's already gotten away with one and it should get easier with practice, right?

[Joe Molotov]

http://storybundle.com/

Are any of these any good?

Um... obviously not?

Mike Kayatta is a 27-year-old science-enthusiast who owns a Darth-Vader-shaped spatula and all of Fraggle Rock on DVD.He's terrible at guitar, but tries to make up for it by writing books, Choose Your Own Adventures, and videogame news and reviews for Escapist Magazine. Someday he's going to build a robot.

I dunno, seems pretty legit.

[fistfulofmetal]

Finished Rainbow Six

such a long and bloated book.
however it's still fairly entertaining. the villains plot is pretty heinous. it's somewhat predictable but it's enjoyable in the end.

Next book: Cloud Atlas.

[Cormacaroni]

that's a...pronounced upward quality trend

[Eric P]

this is probably the most "summer read" book i've ever read.

300 pages which i read in one sitting after waking up at 2 AM having ingested some ill advised late afternoon coffee.

Aside from one Fridged Woman it's pretty damn good.  It's unfortunately a trilogy but i'll admit that i'm kind of curious to see where it will go from here


I wrote up something a bit better for goodreads so i'll copy pasta here

I read this in one three hour sitting after being unable to fall asleep again having been shocked awake by a nightmare most likely caused by ill-advised complimentary coffee at 5 PM.

Nice Guy Noir, I suppose is one way to put this.  A man; polite, pragmatic, thoughtful tries to convince the rest of the police organization in Concord that a suicide isn't a suicide but rather a murder.  The issue is that no one really cares as they have more pressing concerns, that of a 6 kilometer wide meteor which will slam into the earth in mere months.

This is a fairly good plot, seemingly designed for film (the book is the first part of a trilogy).  I don't think it really handles the "end of the world and thus the end of society" angle very well, but as this takes place in a very small city, there is a degree of isolation and thus believability that not too much craziness has hit this particular location.

The characters are fairly well done aside from a woman who exists to be fridged (Jesus, really? it's 2012).  The final reveal on the murderer seems somewhat out of place from what we see of them in the book and their own explanation for the events doesn't quite gel right (which kind of ties into the whole not a very good handling of pre-apocalypse).

The main issue with this book is that though the lead character is in danger several times and has guns pulled on him, gets severely beaten, etc you know that as the first part of a trilogy that nothing bad will really happen to this character.  You still have to sell two more books.

Worth a read but don't really expect anything mind-blowing.  I'll probably track down the author's other books to see what they're like.

update: well at least the dude branched out from crap like Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters as well as Android Karenina

[Eel O'Brian]

great book, although i do think the judge is an overrated and overwritten character

every time he took center stage it would jar me into thinking "oh. this is a book. right."

he's the mary sue of western villains

[fistfulofmetal]

really enjoying Cloud Atlas.

I'm at the second "section" of it. the writing is just really good. quality stuff.

[Eric P]

i found a copy of Cloud Atlas on the street last night.  I will probably read that next

[fistfulofmetal]

Cloud Atlas is all sorts of great. I'm on the last chapter. I love the way the writing and tone changes between the chapters and yet it still maintains being engaging.

[Bebpo]

About 60/300 pages into this after a friend recommended it:



Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter


It's freaking fantastic so far.  The prose is so good.  Reads fast, clever, funny.  The first chapter was kind of ok, but by the second chapter the book is just wowwow. 

[Bebpo]

jesus christ, the prose in this book.

Random quote from a page I just read (I could grab like one per page if I wanted)

"Words and emotions are simple currencies.  If we inflate them, they lose their value, just like money.  They begin to mean nothing.  Use 'beautiful' to describe a sandwich and the word means nothing.  Since the war, there is no more room for inflated language.  Words and feelings are small now-clear and precise.  Humble like dreams"

[MrAngryFace]

jesus christ, the prose in this book.

Random quote from a page I just read (I could grab like one per page if I wanted)

"Words and emotions are simple currencies.  If we inflate them, they lose their value, just like money.  They begin to mean nothing.  Use 'beautiful' to describe a sandwich and the word means nothing.  Since the war, there is no more room for inflated language.  Words and feelings are small now-clear and precise.  Humble like dreams"

Currently reading:





(it's back to my warhammer 40k pile after this, promise)

Read this real quick last night since its short and I wanted to feel like my vacation wasnt all VIDJAS:

[Spurgeon]

I saw the movie as a child, and finally got around to reading it. It's a short book, but Captain Freedom was sorely missed. If you come across a copy that has the The Importance of Being Bachman essay, skip it as it spoils the ending. Thankfully a friend warned me ahead of time.



I followed this pretty closely when it went down, but there were still some new revelations in there for me. I was neutral to Jimmy Kimmel before, but I thought he came out looking better than anyone else in the end. I was also surprised to the extent that Jerry Seinfeld is an NBC sycophant.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

(Image removed from quote.)

I followed this pretty closely when it went down, but there were still some new revelations in there for me. I was neutral to Jimmy Kimmel before, but I thought he came out looking better than anyone else in the end. I was also surprised to the extent that Jerry Seinfeld is an NBC sycophant.

This was a good one.  I remember a lot of people pissing and moaning about how it wasn't pro-Conan enough before I read it, which made me realize that it was probably a pretty good book.

[Eric P]

so JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy sounds as awesome as the Harry Potter books

http://storify.com/requireshate/the-casual-vacancy

I'm currently reading



spoiler: Hoover is a jerk

[Joe Molotov]

so JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy sounds as awesome as the Harry Potter books

http://storify.com/requireshate/the-casual-vacancy

OMG, is that real? Gonna have to download that.

[Robo]

"She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all."

Amazing.

[Joe Molotov]

"She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all."

Amazing.

Like fuck he does, the cunt.

[Great Rumbler]

Haha, those quotes absolutely SCREAM "Hey, I can write things other than Harry Potter kids books, you guys!!"

[Phoenix Dark]

That Rowling book sounds very interesting

[Shaka Khan]

My brain can't take more text-book reading, I need to be reminded of how fun reading used to be. I need a suggestion, any suggestion, as long as it's not 500-page fantasy book from an ongoing series. Biography suggestions are more favorable, fwiw.

[fistfulofmetal]

New kindle comes out next week. I need to figure out what my first book is going to be on it. I finished Eternity Road yesterday. Found it pretty good but the ending was anticlimactic.

[Eric P]

My brain can't take more text-book reading, I need to be reminded of how fun reading used to be. I need a suggestion, any suggestion, as long as it's not 500-page fantasy book from an ongoing series. Biography suggestions are more favorable, fwiw.

read the hell out of this

[Shaka Khan]

I read the synopsis and bought the hell out of it. Thanks!

[fistfulofmetal]

What are some good horror books? One I've seen that looks interesting is "The Terror".

Need something new for my new Kindle and i havent touched the horror genre in books yet.

[bud]

can anyone recommend me a good legal thriller?

[Eel O'Brian]

Casual Vacancy appears to be quite the horror book, fistful

"Andrew returned to his contemplation of the dirty window with an ache in his heart and in his balls"

[Eric P]

What are some good horror books? One I've seen that looks interesting is "The Terror".

Need something new for my new Kindle and i havent touched the horror genre in books yet.

what kind of horror do you want?

slow creepy tension based or splatter?

[fistfulofmetal]

probably something slow and more methodical would be my taste.

[Great Rumbler]

probably something slow and more methodical would be my taste.

House of Leaves, although I imagine reading it on an e-book probably isn't nearly as good.

[fistfulofmetal]

why?

[Great Rumbler]

Because this page is fairly representative of the whole:

[fistfulofmetal]

Because this page is fairly representative of the whole:

(Image removed from quote.)

huh... how does that even work?

edit: there isn't even a kindle version anyway.

[Great Rumbler]

Because this page is fairly representative of the whole:

(Image removed from quote.)

huh... how does that even work?

Not easily! But I thought it was pretty cool back in high school, haven't read it since then, though.

[Shaka Khan]

My brain can't take more text-book reading, I need to be reminded of how fun reading used to be. I need a suggestion, any suggestion, as long as it's not 500-page fantasy book from an ongoing series. Biography suggestions are more favorable, fwiw.

(Image removed from quote.)

read the hell out of this

[Eric P]

probably something slow and more methodical would be my taste.

Do you mind older, flowery language?

[fistfulofmetal]

yeah thats fine.

[Great Rumbler]

Shadow over Innsmouth and At the Mountains of Madness, then.

[Eric P]

RIGHT?!  RIGHT?!

[fistfulofmetal]

At the Mountains of Madness, then.

this works

and its only 99 cents!

those two are pretty short so any other recommendations would be cool!

[Eric P]

yeah thats fine.

MR James is the absolute master of the English Language Ghost Tale and all of his stuff is free.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8486

[Eel O'Brian]

try some ambrose bierce short stories, too (for some reality horror read some of his civil war stuff)

[fistfulofmetal]

thanks guys 

[fistfulofmetal]

I started reading The Terror by Dan Simmons and I'm really enjoying it.

[Eric P]

I am reading A Pretty Mouth and it is fucking phenomenal.

It's a collection of short stories dealing with this cursed family where each short story works its way back through time to go into the origins of how the family has changed over time.

SO GOOD

[Verdigris Murder]

Eric P. We need to talk.

[Eric P]

the baby isn't mine

[Cerveza mas fina]

Finishing The Wise Mans Fear finally after months, god Kvothe is annoying. But I cant help to wonder where this leads.

I need to find me some real fantasy shit, none of this coming to age bullshit.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Finished The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, recommended by Prole.

Holy shit, this exactly what I wanted to read, mature, no coming of age, anti heroes. Great stuff, I read 300 pages in one go last night. Went out today to buy the second book in the trilogy, Before They Are Hanged. Already 70 pages in...

[Eric P]

try some JK Parker.  The Folding Knife should do the trick

[Cormacaroni]

KJ Parker