Absolutely adored Brave New World, and though it is the softer of the dystopian trio (1984, Fahrenheit, Brave New World) and definitely the more sciencey, I kinda love the character development around the kid and his obsessions that he develops. Anyway, just finished The Hobbit last week. Started Notes on the Underground by Dostoevsky, but difficult reading that on a train and since I spent the weekend training I'm blasting through Bukowski's Ham on Rye. I never thought crude prose would grip me, but it's a side of the world (and a side of myself) that I suppose never really came to me. It certainly shines a light on the darker corners of my mind.
Finishing the last chapter of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Fantastic writing, the book draws you in from page one and never lets you go. It's about two young English women in WWII, working with the French underground in occupied France. One is captured, the other is her best friend who is flying planes despite the fact it's not yet acceptable for women pilots in the war, and their stories are intertwined in an intricate unraveling. I didn't know if I was going to like the story because I'm not as interested in WWII as I am in sci-fi and other YA genres. But I absolutely loved this book. I should mention, romance is not part of the story, and it's probably more NA than YA.
82 % through with Tease Me (Teased and Broken Vol.1) -Ashley Black. It is cheesy as hell, predictable as hell. Also there is at least 1 fuck on every page, if not there are others to make up for it. 30+ Yr old woman, writing about a 30+ Yr old woman with the mentality of a sixteen year old boy. She writes cheap romance novels in 3 weeks (pretty sure that is literal), kinda broke up with her exaggeratedly hot artist boyfriend. Falls for tall dark and triple times the sexy Rockstar. Then shit gets weird about she is a witch he is a demon, then drinking and odd forest sex. Now she is back with her artist and it is actually better than the first 60% cause something interesting is happening. The Author has no idea that "on the nose" and "tongue and cheek" are not the same thing. This is a comical in the fashion because plot demands things therefore they are, kinda book. It has entertainment value and is worse IMHO than Bet Me (and we all know how I fell about that one)
Reread High Rise by J.G. Ballard last night after watching the very crappy movie adaption. The book was way waaay better. I'd love to write like Ballard - his style is high on prose (not flowery or over descriptive) and very little dialogue.
@peachalulu I read a collection of Ballard short stories recently--I'd say it was pretty hit and miss, some were extremely good and others were just...well, I think he started out in an old-school mode (a lot of his earlier stories read like cast-off Twilight Zone scripts), but became very innovative later on in his career. I'd been thinking about giving High Rise a try, but then it seemed more of the Twilight Zone school based on what I'd read about it. Perhaps I'll give it a go anyway. I am also re-reading a book at the moment, which is something I hardly ever do. The book is Vonnegut's Mother Night. Sadly appropriate for this day and age--it asks whether it's possible to lead a good life in a world whose only governing principle is insanity, and I think the answer it gives is no. Full of characters who take a level in schizophrenia, i.e producing highly effective propaganda for the Nazis while being convinced they are secretly passing important coded messages to the Allies. Or another one is a Jew who fakes his identity to actually become an SS soldier, while supposedly leaking information about where the next raid will be to help his fellow Jews escape capture. Everyone hangs their good conscience on such slender reeds, but then as another Nazi character says to the MC at one point, "even if you were passing coded information to the Allies, whatever damage you did was far outweighed by the value of the propaganda you produced." It's pretty bleak, I guess. At least that's how I read it this time around.
Just finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I grew up with the series, but I have nothing positive to say about this eighth book. I don't know when was the last time That I read such unnatural and forced dialogues.
When I was a science-fiction-obsessed preteen, there were certain books I loved more than most. I lost my entire library when my parents got divorced, so I kissed all those memories goodbye. Recently, though, I've embarked on a quest to get copies of some of these books so I can relive past glories. The latest, fresh from some used bookstore selling through Amazon, is Cities In Flight, by James Blish. It arrived about a half hour ago and is next on my pile.
Island - Thomas Perry just starting Obfusication:A User's Guide for Privacy and Protest - Brunton & Nissenbaum fantastic Monsters of Virginia - LB Taylor Jr. good. crazy that so many different creatures all live in Virginia. Nutshell - Ian Mcewan just starting Doing a lot of research into Koran history for a painting I am planning.
Just finished Shogun by James Clavell. I'm going to give reading a bit of a rest and concentrate on my writing for a while.
I am 3/4 into The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry. I love Stephen Fry as a personality, but I have never read any of his books before. I am enjoying it, though it's not the kind of book I would normally read. There are parts where I can really hear his voice in it and those bits I definitely like best. None of the characters are very likeable though!
I came up with an(other) idea and dropped everything and got a sack of books. Right now I am reading Kill for Me, by Karen Rose. I won't finish it, difficult for me to read, not my style of writing, but learning from it. I mention it because I think some may want to check it out. I don't know anything about the author; but it reads like someone transitioning from YA to Adult.
I'm reading Deadhouse Gates, which is the second book in Steven Erikson's 10-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen. I really didn't like the first book, and I really don't like this one either -- most of the time. From what I understand every book is tons of small stories in this bizarre and really gritty fantasy world, alien terms being dropped left and right with no explanation or exposition, that converge in a giant climax at the end. I appreciate all the weird ideas, the scope and somewhat how hard he makes me work as a reader, but I'm just finding myself not enjoying myself most of the time. The prose is kind of awkward and the stories in general are very dryly and emotionally distantly told with characters I find it difficult to care about. Increasingly I'm suspecting this series is not for me.
Just finished The Fifth Season. I really enjoyed it. I've never been a big fan of Sci-Fi Fantasy, but that one really drew me in. I have the sequel ordered. Now, I'm working on American Purgatorio. It's a little strange, but I think that's the point. So far I haven't had a reason to put it down.
Rereading the Pendragon series (which I consider my first real dive into the world of books, after LoTR of course.) It's a 10 book series about a boy who's life is suddenly, and unalterably, changed dramatically and is forced to go on adventure after adventure and save different worlds. Reading them now, I think the books say more about me, and who I was, than about what/how I'd like to write. Still, something about understanding thy self, or some such drivel. Book six, here I come.
I did not care for this one either. It did not have the same magic or character appeal that the previous books had.
I'm going through a fantasy readfest right now. I just finished The Wizards Daughters by Michael Dalton. I stumbled across it in the Kindle store while looking for a fantasy novel set in medieval Germany. This one is loosely historic with references to Köln as a university town and to Martin Luther but it has ogres, mages, and automatons that remind me of Oz. I just started the Audible version of the Fellowship of the Ring for when I'm driving to and from work. I've read that a couple times before but I like well performed audio books and I'm hoping that this one won't be a disappointment. Unrelated to fantasy, I also just started As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.
"The Rommel Papers". I love World War 2, and I don't have to sift through 'history-is-written-by-the-victors' bias. Very interesting, honest look into the mind and soul of an honorable and chivalrous man; one of the last of his kind. Reading it less for the history lesson, and more to understand what made him arguably the greatest commander of the 20th century. What qualities did he possess? That sort of thing.
