Well, this American loves British humor. And you need a new book club. :)
The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
4/5 Stars
NOTICE: Not be confused with the 2018 movie which i have heard is bad ass.
Not typically a big historical fiction fan but I dabble in most genres without concern. This book is SLOW early on as it really put a shine on one of the two main protagonist sisters. Once it gets rolling we all started to become heavily engrossed and invested. Who knew WW2 occupied France could get so romantic and so grim. The main themes here about love, purpose, and perseverance get nailed perfectly. Many of the bookclub members have admitted coming to tears by the end, quite a statement I'll say. I will be giving this one an easy recommendation.
4/5 Stars
NOTICE: Not be confused with the 2018 movie which i have heard is bad ass.
Not typically a big historical fiction fan but I dabble in most genres without concern. This book is SLOW early on as it really put a shine on one of the two main protagonist sisters. Once it gets rolling we all started to become heavily engrossed and invested. Who knew WW2 occupied France could get so romantic and so grim. The main themes here about love, purpose, and perseverance get nailed perfectly. Many of the bookclub members have admitted coming to tears by the end, quite a statement I'll say. I will be giving this one an easy recommendation.
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But can you really call yourself a reader if your habit isn't a giant mish-mash of this and that? My shelves and Kindle library looks like someone set off a car bomb next to the Dewy Decimal system. Variety is the spice of life! I just made that up, feel free to use it.
My reading pace has been dreadfully slow the last few months so you'll be waiting a while, but it certainly starts with a hell of a hook lol. Excited to see where it goes!
I call my self a reader and my habit is not a giant mish-mash of this and that.
So... GRRM's Armageddon Rag (from 1984)
It's not a bad book. The fictional band in the center, The Nazgul, are done really well, GRRM goes into a lot of detail on their albums and I could actually imagine the music. I liked most of the other characters, too
It's not a great book either. Half of it is nostalgia for the sixties and the main character wondering why his old hippie friends sold out or lost their ideals, which gets tiring. And the central murder mystery just kind of muddles on in the background, it starts going into some supernatural stuff, but never quite reaches the stakes it tries to build up to
Actually the connections to "A Song of Ice and Fire" are kind of the most interesting thing. This might be GRRM's most personal book, and I think it makes clear how much for example Ned's disillusionment over Robert's rebellion was influenced by GRRM's disillusionment about what came after the 1960s counterculture
It's not a bad book. The fictional band in the center, The Nazgul, are done really well, GRRM goes into a lot of detail on their albums and I could actually imagine the music. I liked most of the other characters, too
It's not a great book either. Half of it is nostalgia for the sixties and the main character wondering why his old hippie friends sold out or lost their ideals, which gets tiring. And the central murder mystery just kind of muddles on in the background, it starts going into some supernatural stuff, but never quite reaches the stakes it tries to build up to
Actually the connections to "A Song of Ice and Fire" are kind of the most interesting thing. This might be GRRM's most personal book, and I think it makes clear how much for example Ned's disillusionment over Robert's rebellion was influenced by GRRM's disillusionment about what came after the 1960s counterculture
Just started reading House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. I've heard good things, and I've already read a bunch of his books.
Dropped "You Will Never Be Forgotten" by Mary South. Her style is intriguing and lush with practical detail, but the stories themselves weren't my thing, and I'm a sucker for literary fic. Really wish I could get into them because as a writer, she is really gifted.
Moving on to Becky Chambers' "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy".
Edit: Worth a mention that after how much I enjoyed Dracula Daily, I will also be partaking in Jekyll & Hyde Weekly and then next year, MusketeersDaily and The Big Read.
Moving on to Becky Chambers' "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy".
Edit: Worth a mention that after how much I enjoyed Dracula Daily, I will also be partaking in Jekyll & Hyde Weekly and then next year, MusketeersDaily and The Big Read.
Priory of the orange tree if you haven't read it. The author just did one giant door stopper instead of a trilogy.
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Interesting. I will pick this up. He's still a Grateful Dead fan at heart though. Weirwood tree, Dire Wolves, Faceless men and many more are all GoT/Dead references.
Will give her traditional stuff a shot, I've only read bekkah cooper from piece before but I enjoyed it.
It really annoys that eddings always stands out in my mind as really readable considering how garbage I tend to find his books. Ultimate fantasy hunk food.
Alas, I have already read this. I need a physical copy though
Finished Swan Song. The ending was not that great. There's a was a lot of buildup around the importance of a few things that just didn't matter in the end. Still liked it overall, but I feel like The Stand was better overall.
Now I'm reading We Are Bob. Half way through it and really like it. It's a really cool idea, love the exploration stuff. I gotta read all four while my kindle unlimited is free for the next few months, doesn't seem like it will be difficult if the rest are as good as the first.
Now I'm reading We Are Bob. Half way through it and really like it. It's a really cool idea, love the exploration stuff. I gotta read all four while my kindle unlimited is free for the next few months, doesn't seem like it will be difficult if the rest are as good as the first.
Just started reading House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. I've heard good things, and I've already read a bunch of his books.
This books sound dope af. I haven't read any of his other work though. Should I start somewhere else or is this good?
Thanks to this thread I'm re-reading Memory Sorrow and Thorn. I read them when I was 15, so 20 years ago... I have very fond memories of this trilogy although I have forgotten almost everything about the plot. I'm only halfway through book 1, but in my opinion these books have aged well. I usually end up disappointed with most of the popular fantasy novels published these days (Sanderson, Abercrombie, etc.), but now I can't wait to finish this trilogy and read the sequels, maybe they are the fantasy books I've been looking for.
Great entry point to Alastair Reynolds, I think it's completely independent. I remember it having really cool ideas.
Great entry point to Alastair Reynolds, I think it's completely independent. I remember it having really cool ideas.
I really enjoyed Revenger and the two sequels. It was old school pirate adventure and treasure hunting, but in space. Pushing Ice was also very good.
Pushing Ice is great.
Chasm City too. Its part of his Revelation Space series which is great too.
Just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt and it may be my favorite book I've read this year. I found it on a bookshelf at a rural cabin in Vermont and felt like a perfect place to find it. Really amazing character work and great intrigue. I felt like I was never quite in the loop on what was happening but wanted to get a look at what was going on. It definitely helps that I grew up in New England and went to a small liberal arts college. It's crazy that this does not have an Oscar-nominated movie/screenplay in the 30 years since it was released. The book is just ripe for adaptation.
Just double-checked and my other 5-stars for this year were The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursala K. LeGuin and A Prayer For The Crown Shy by Becky Chambers which I see Sabretooth is reading above!
Since there is that thread about Frodo and Sam in EtcetEra, forgot to post that just finished listening the Lord of the Rings audiobooks.
The books were already fantastic, but Andy Serkis narration elevated everything. Such a terrific job. I would say these are the best audiobooks I have listened.
As for the books, first time I read them was in Spanish back when I was a teenager. Now listening them as an adult, I was expecting something hard to understand. But it wasn't. Tolkien's narration was quite endearing. He for sure loved to explain, but it never got boring. Plus he managed to get you excited when action happened. Really appreciate the masterpiece that Mr. Tolkien wrote.
Might try and buy the Kindle edition later to read them because, honestly, they are quite good.
The books were already fantastic, but Andy Serkis narration elevated everything. Such a terrific job. I would say these are the best audiobooks I have listened.
As for the books, first time I read them was in Spanish back when I was a teenager. Now listening them as an adult, I was expecting something hard to understand. But it wasn't. Tolkien's narration was quite endearing. He for sure loved to explain, but it never got boring. Plus he managed to get you excited when action happened. Really appreciate the masterpiece that Mr. Tolkien wrote.
Might try and buy the Kindle edition later to read them because, honestly, they are quite good.
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I finished Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. It took me a very long time to read (3 months) but it was well worth it; the final chapter was perfect.
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No idea, but Kindles are having a good sale now. Perfect time to upgrade.
Why is Goodreads sooooooooooooooo bad at cataloging series?
Wikipedia tends to have less mistakes or incorrect placements but with a more obscure system and less organization that is when Goodreads doesn't decide to put ALL THE EDITIONS OF A BOOK on the series page.
Trying to navigate both to cypher an answer is an afternoon job.
Wikipedia tends to have less mistakes or incorrect placements but with a more obscure system and less organization that is when Goodreads doesn't decide to put ALL THE EDITIONS OF A BOOK on the series page.
Trying to navigate both to cypher an answer is an afternoon job.
Worst is that Goodreads page setup is perfect to have a good series database but yeah some editors really make a mess with all the freedom it gives them.
That page is cool like a more visual wikipedia when complementing Goodreads.
I need to read this, so far I've read Buddenbrooks and a few short stories by Mann
Definitely a great writer if you can get past the paragraph-long sentences. You do start to notice a pattern though, guy had some real hangups about being an artsy type born into a merchant family
Pentiment inspired me to try to read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, and I'm less than 10% of the way through it and don't know if I should continue. These endless sentences... Pages and pages of text describing a door. How did this become a best seller? Doesn't that imply some level of accessibility? There are certainly interesting things happening, but they are sandwiched between such dense, pointless(imo) walls of text.
2 gifts from an anonymous user
Giveaway
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Hello, I am bot! I come bearing 2 gifts from an anonymous user!
This is a two-day raffle that will expire in 48 hours. The winner will be drawn at random! Any prizes leftover after the deadline will become available on a first-come first-serve basis.
Anonymous said:
I'm progressing a bit slower than I expected actually (a lot of real life shit going on), only about a third of the way through, but it's the first book in quite a few months (possibly since East of Eden in February) that I genuinely also want to read outside of my usual nightly bedtime reading. Definitely enjoying it a lot so far!
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Oh man, I totally missed that Fight, Magic, Items is a nonfiction work about Final Fantasy and other JRPGs! I saw the title but missed the subtitle (since the prize list doesn't have it) and for whatever reason, my mind went to like.. cozy fantasy along the lines of Legends and Lattes or whatever, and I initially ignored the giveaway. But I definitely want to read about the rise of FF and DQ. Thanks to whoever set up the giveaway!
Edit: Oh wait, I'm not in the US lmao. I thought I slept well last night but clearly not.
Edit: Oh wait, I'm not in the US lmao. I thought I slept well last night but clearly not.
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On a related note, I just finished Legends and Lattes and LOVED it so much. Exactly my jam.
Hah, that's a fun coincidence. I'm not usually one for cozy books, but I'm definitely interested in checking that one out, folks seem to really like it!
Do we want to do a highlight of the year?
Maybe some off-brand categories, like best death or best book for 80ties, 90ties, etc ?
I am reading through the A Pattern of Shadow&Light Series.
So far I am in book 2 and now fully into it.
They are self published and especially in the first book , the first half needs a bit to pick up pace.
They are long and good and just the cozy reading I am craving at the moment.
Maybe some off-brand categories, like best death or best book for 80ties, 90ties, etc ?
I am reading through the A Pattern of Shadow&Light Series.
So far I am in book 2 and now fully into it.
They are self published and especially in the first book , the first half needs a bit to pick up pace.
They are long and good and just the cozy reading I am craving at the moment.
I'm starting up focaults pendulum and... Yah. I read name of the rose ages ago and apparently liked it, but who knows.
I do find it oddly compelling though.
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And now I feel guilty winning it as the OP :D
Look forward to reading it. And thank you anonymous benefactor!
Enjoy! I think it's got a lot to offer for people who love books AND video games. It's a history of Japanese RPGs, but also of the people who made them and play them, and I put a lot of personal stuff in there.