r/books discussion

Hello all,

Since we're a group for redditors, and reddit is full of acronyms I decided to make one of my own. Thus WIRTM was born! If you couldn't figure it out, this will stand for:
W- What
I- I've/I'm
R- Read/ Reading
T- This
M- Month

And just as the name suggests this is still a monthly chat about the books the members of this group are reading.

Before March ended I had bought all of the First Law trilogy off audible narrated by Steven Pacey. I went with audible over buying the series and reading it myself for two reasons: 1. There was a sale on and 2. Steven Pacey is one of the best narrators I have ever listened too. He was amazing in Red Country, so I knew I would be more than satisfied if I let him continue to read the rest of them.

And so far, I am correct. Now, the first book in the series The Blade Itself was good, but it was definitely a lot of setting up for the rest of the series. Luckily for Mr. Abercrombie, his work is very good even without every title being grand in their own rights.

(I can certainly say that Red Country got me pumped to see Logen Ninefingers return to my listening!)

Love the acronym! This month I'm reading Dune and Fool with the book club.

Aside from that I just finished Good Omens today- not as good as I had hoped. Maybe all of the hype over got my expectations to high? Or maybe I just don't get British humor haha. (I thought I had a good sense of humor...maybe I've been lying to myself!)

Lastly to curb my comic addiction until my normal series release their next trade I just got and read Joe the Barbarian today. Interesting story and absolutely gorgeous illustrations.

Ah, see that's disappointing. My queue Niel Gaiman books goes Anansi Boys, and then Good Omens, and I can't say I'd fair much better if the humor in the book is actually a lot of humour.

Philip Blake wrote: "Ah, see that's disappointing. My queue Niel Gaiman books goes Anansi Boys, and then Good Omens, and I can't say I'd fair much better if the humor in the book is actually a lot of humour."

Good Omens book has great reviews on goodreads and elsewhere so it's *probably* just me. I still plan to read several other books by Gaiman like Stardust, The Graveyard Book, etc.

The problem I was having when reading Good Omens is that when I came across a funny part I would think to myself, "oh, that's so clever, what a great way of looking at that" instead of exploding in laughter--the latter, apparently being the "correct" result.

Ashley wrote: "Philip Blake wrote: "Ah, see that's disappointing. My queue Niel Gaiman books goes Anansi Boys, and then Good Omens, and I can't say I'd fair much better if the humor in the book is actually a lot ..."

Not counting the Sandman series, which was amazing, my favorite Gaiman work would have to be American Gods.

WIRTM: Dune and Fool with the rest of the group. Dune's a priority though especially since I'm spearheading the book support group, but I know Fool will find its way onto my lap soon-ish. I want to read 1984 next! Or maybe The Road.

@Darliza, my friend let me borrow his Sandman series, and if I'm being honest, I'm kind of disappointed...

The early issues of the series were amazing! I loved the stories, and the way they did panels (especially the one that went around in a circle) but the later issues haven't been doing it for me. They've been more of a chore to get through than a pleasure.

Without spoiling anything, I was hoping 8 would change that because I'd heard that it REALLY makes one want to jump into #9, but the cliffhanger is all in the last, like, 5 pages. I wanted the whole of #8 to set up 9.

I heard 9 is very good, so I guess I'll just have to pick that one up and see.

But, I can relate to loving American Gods. That book was excellent and I can't wait until the sequel that Gaiman is rumored to be doing comes out.

I like how we're having a Gaiman discussion. I got into Gaiman for the first time last year after being a fan of some of his graphic novel work. I read a few of his stories:

-American Gods
-Coraline
-Neverwhere

And I'll eventually be making my way reading pretty much everything he's ever written >_>;

As for WIRTM... I'll be reading Fool as per the monthly read.

I'll also be finishing House of Leaves soon and afterwards, I'll be working on Slaughterhouse-Five (finally.) It shouldn't take me as long as House of Leaves (love the book, it's a disorienting read and hops around, not to mention the format, so I've been taking my time with it.)

As Slaughterhouse-Five won't take me quite as quickly, I'm going to follow up reading John Dies at the End and maybe Anansi Boys or The Princess Bride. :3

So far this month I finished Hallucinations, which was really interesting. The brain is so strange and barely functional, and I'm amazed what we can do with it. I started reading Dune today, but my library doesn't have Fool. I'm not sure yet what else I'll read this month, but I have some Stephen Jay Gould on hand to read, and I have Drive, Death by Black Hole, and The Third Chimpanzee on hold from the library. My goal for the year is to finish reading Les Miserables, but I keep finding so many other books to read! I read volume 1 a few years ago, and then I lost my patience and dropped it.

Rose wrote: "I like how we're having a Gaiman discussion. I got into Gaiman for the first time last year after being a fan of some of his graphic novel work. I read a few of his stories:

-American Gods
-Corali..."

That last list you had totally matches up with mine! I have a collection of Kurt Vonnegut stories that I plan to start this month! I also am waiting to buy my own copy of Anansi Boys. John Dies at the End I did already read and found it entertaining.

I've kicked it up a gear this month. In the past week I've finished Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race and found it to be a real "Meh..." experience. That is mainly in part to the fact that almost every piece of text was intended to be humorous, and as one might expect, many fall short of the mark.

I finished my audio version of Before They Are Hanged, and it was a good piece of Mr. Abercrombie's cynical tale. Seriously, no happy endings here.

And just a few hours ago I FINALLY finished Upload. I won this book in a goodreads giveaway and it first seems like a much more mature take on something like Ready Player One, but as I neared the end, I gotta say the story started to run away from me.

Completed the First Law Series this week with Last Argument of Kings.

A fantastic end to a fantastic series that is at some points a great parody of the fantasy genre, and at all times a great addition to the fantasy genre.

Once again, and without spoilers, no happy endings here.

If you're even a LITTLE interested in the series, do yourself a favor and keep your eyes on Joe Abercrombie's website as he has started making the First Law books (at least the first one) into a graphic novel, and is planning to release it for free.

I am still slogging my way through A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present due to a promise that I made a friend... he thinks that after reading it I will be transformed and accept his political ideals as his own... So far, all I am getting is boredom. I shouldn't really say that; it is definitely an informing read and worth my while, but still!

I finshed Dune, which we are reading for a discussion here in our group. I (and I think most of the readers) are a little disappointed in it.

I also finished Stossel's No, They Can't: Why Government Fails-But Individuals Succeed, and I will check my politics at the door and not tell my opinions positive or negative on it. :)

For my book on disc readings this month, I finished The Night Circus, which I ended up liking by the end, although it took quite a while to get into and will never be a top book for me.

I am now listening to Louise Erdrich's The Painted Drum, and so far I love it. This is only my second Erdrich book, but there is something in her characters and style that captivates me! Maybe it is that she is a Minnesota girl like me, and her topics deal with issues in my area much of the time (I work with a lot of the Native population in my line of work). A few months ago I read her award-winning The Round House, and I cannot recommend that book enough!

Wow, I have been a busy girl! I have Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark waiting to be picked up at the library (this was recommended to me by a fellow /r/books member in the dreams discussion, and I can't wait to start it!

I saw a Kurt Vonnegut compendium type book on Amazon and picked it up, and the first book in it was, what else? Slaughterhouse-Five!

I really liked Mr. Vonnegut's choppy sentence structure. And I must say, this was one book Reddit hyped that I found better than just "Meh..."

Philip Blake wrote: "I saw a Kurt Vonnegut compendium type book on Amazon and picked it up, and the first book in it was, what else? Slaughterhouse-Five!

I really liked Mr. Vonnegut's choppy sentence structure. And I ..."

I'm glad you liked it! I loved that book and I really admire how brief/concise Vonnegut can be with his writing yet he still manages to convey so much.

Jennifer wrote: "I am still slogging my way through A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present due to a promise that I made a friend... he thinks that after reading it I will be transformed and accept..."

I too am reading and liking The Night Circus, different kind of book for me to read, usually into psychologically deep book, but I really am enjoying it.

Dune, for me is a real struggle. No characterization or deep love for any of the people in the novel so far. I guess that is the problem with it.

I read Vonnegut so long ago that I don't even remember now his style. Think I will have to re-read one of his books.

I finished Fool and didn't want to leave the time period so I started reading The Borgia Betrayal because I have interests with the Borgia family since I watch the BBC show based on them. The book isn't like Fool, but Poole's writing reminds me of the author Phillipa Gregory

Last week I finished Dune, and I also read The Missionary Position by Christopher Hitchens, which was very short but well written. I read The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould which was really interesting. Today I finished Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier, which was also really good.

So...I read everything that I had on my list, sans Fool which I'm working on finishing right now. I'm at a total of 4 books finished and started Anansi Boys... which I'll probably end up finishing this week too. After that I plan on reading The Magicians and then Shades of Grey (Note: Not 50 Shades of Grey. Ugh.)

Just finished #9 in the Sandman series: The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones. It is the longest one in the series, and was easily one of my favorites. It was such a nice change of pace as I easily read through this one instead of trudging through with series effort as I've done for the last few entries.

Oh, and I'm just about to finish The Warded Man. It's got a few of the usual fantasy genre tropes, but overall it was a very good tale, and I'm excited to read the rest of the series. I've got it on Audible, but I think I'll get the actual books for the next few.

I shall talk to myself! Finished Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West. Loved it. It made ultraviolence kind of beautiful and really quite smart...

It is a very dense book, meaning that if you stop comprehending what is going on for a few sentences you can have missed some other event. It is definitely something I have to reread. Some people get turned off by the violence and Cormac's writing style, but that is just the surface of the book. Maybe not up to all of the reddit hype, but certainly a good book.

Philip Blake wrote: "I shall talk to myself!"
C-c-c-combo breaker?


Oh man I tried reading The Magicians and it was a goddamn failure. Couldn't make it past 26 pages and I'm now reading Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk - It looks like a short read, but so far soooo much more engaging!

Now reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I've heard good things about this one...it better not disappoint *shakes fist*

Yesterday I decided to give World War Z a re-read, and I almost finished the whole thing. I just love that (I hope you read that in Effie Trinket's voice). Maybe it is just me, but I feel that book in underappreciated. And Max Brooks let go of those production rights way too easily.

I just finished The Scrolls of Xavier.

I've just spent near an hour writing my review, so I can't stand to write any more of it. Go here if you're interested in reading what I had to say:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Philip Blake wrote: "I just finished The Scrolls of Xavier.

I've just spent near an hour writing my review, so I can't stand to write any more of it. Go here if you're interested in reading what I had to say:

https:/..."

That sounded like a brutal book to listen to. All I could think by the end was.... THE JAPANESE HAVE MADE INVISIBILITY CLOAKS?!

Haha. It was a tough listen, made no better by the narrator who I think thought he was Christian Bale as Batman. While the book is written in the first person, the narrator decided to give the main character two different voices. One for the in book narration, and a ridiculously gruffer one for the dialogue.

And yeah! Invisibility cloaks! Woo!

It depends there are two main methods for invisibility cloaks - one involves recording what is behind the object and displaying that in real time at the front of the object via a thin screen. (That sounds stupid but apparently when refined it can be somewhat successful) - I believe this is the approach depicted in the image although it is probably an artists impression.

The other method involves bending the light around the object via the use of electromagnetic metamaterials (which my masters thesis was related - it was on using them for 'superlenses'). This is a far more exciting approach and a military contractor has apparently got it to work at optical wavelengths (it's much easier for microwaves) but sadly all the work is classified :/

Anyway that book didn't sound too great :( After listening to Carl Sagan narrating Pale Blue Dot most other audiobooks are a disappointment.

In terms of narrated books, I get all quivery when I think of Jeremy Irons' read of Lolita. Chilling, sensual, and creepy.as.fuck.

Very neat, Alex.

This month has been very productive for me. With the completion of Fool I've read or listened to 12 complete books.

Just this week I've finished Butcher's Crossing. This was a very beautifully written book, but it starts out very slowly. Luckily it picks up pretty rapidly towards the end, and it really showed the changes the main character goes through from starting as a naive young adult fresh out of his third year of college to what he accomplished in the plains in an attempt to find himself. A nice bit of American literature.

Next I finished Ubik. It's got a science fiction feel, and the aspect of powers being at work that the main character doesn't learn about until the end, which I like. I read in a review that Philip K. Dick, the author, writes a lot of books that kind of have the reader end up questioning what is real. He may do it a lot, but I liked it this time around.

And finally, I finished Fool. And I liked it a lot. It was a much lighter read than I thought it was going to be, but that isn't a bad thing. In fact, Christopher Moore did an excellent job, and I plan to definitely read some additional books of his.

I never finished the The Borgia Betrayal because I got distracted by Firestarter which I finished. As well as others I did finished Fool and found it a light and entertaining read.

I've read some of Dick's short stories before such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which if I remember correctly included Minority Report, and while I like his style, I agree with @Philip Blake that his works are a bit disquieting in the way he ends his stories.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is the inspiration for Blade Runner IIRC, I haven't read it but I adore that movie and am looking forward to the remake. I should read the book I suppose.

He also wrote 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale' which is the inspiration for Total Recall - I started reading that and then lost the 1000 page book that contained it - I still have no idea how I managed to lose such a huge book :(

Oh, and he wrote Through A Scanner Darkly as well which was also adapted into a film with a really cool art style which I highly recommend watching.

As for his weird stories: "The King of the Elves" is the weirdest one I've ever read without a doubt... goddamn... I swear he must have been on some crazy drugs when he was writing that.

I finished Anansi Boys today, and it was really good. I loved Anansi stories when I was a kid, so it was a lot of fun to read a "modern" one. Some other books I really liked over the last few weeks were The Third Chimpanzee and Packing for Mars.

Last week I read House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East, which gave a really good feel for life in Lebanon, but the book didn't really go anywhere or make any points.

I ended up reading 14 books this month. Next month I move into my first house, so I'll probably read a lot less.