I recently decided to give Patrick Rothfuss's "Name of the Wind" a try. I'm only about 11 pages into it at this point so I don't have much of an opinion yet.
I've read a story by Algernon Blackwood, but that was many years ago, and I don't remember it very well. Arthur Machen, though, I've been meaning to read for a few years. I might have to now.
I found stories by both authors to be enjoyable. If you're looking for high literature, you'll be disappointed, but they're worth a read in my view.
I'm reading Decrypted by Lindsay Buroker. It's the second book in a series. A fantasy adventure with a dash of romance and humor. Well, maybe a little bit more than a dash of romance
Almost halfway through Die Trying by Lee Child. It's the second Jack Reacher novel, and I'm already invested in the character.
Halfway through a Swedish fantasy novel at the moment. Been a while since I read a novel in Swedish since I prefer English nowadays. Even after just a few lines I realized that I loved the authors' writing style so I'm trying to absorb as much as possible. The story itself appeared to be one of my favourite kinds as well, so it can't be much better. In case anyone is wondering the book is called "Cirkeln", Swedish for "The circle".
Just finished William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." I liked it but the read was anticlimatic since I saw a good movie adaption of the book beforehand.
Finished "Beautiful Darkness" by Garcia, Kami and Stohl the other day, and am pretty much done with the series after being very disappointed with the ridiculously convenient climax. Finished Stephen King's "Children of the Corn" for the first time yesterday. The short story is so much better than the movie! I'm now reading "Innocence" by Dean Koontz.
I signed into zoetrope.com and I'm reading four scripts for review. The first was a horrible sci-fi doper script, kind of a mix of "Up in Smoke" and "Hitchhiker's Guide" with a possible zombie apocalypse finish. Lengthy action lines, lengthy scenes, one dimensional characters, capitalizing objects and texture characters in action lines, directing with shots...whew. Clunky and tedious. I got through 30 of the 96 pages over 2 days and reviewed it. I'm currently reading "The Seeds We Sow." Well done. Some issues with tensing, punctuation in parentheticals, lengthy parentheticals, a bit of character issue surrounding one scene so far...nicely done. I've gotten through 44 pages in the last 2-3 hours. Good read.
I saw the 1963 version of "Lord of the Flies." I'm aware of the one from the '90s but I heard that was a poor movie.
I am currently reading "50 shades of Grey" and have yet to finish "the black swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb" and later "the casual vacancy and the cuckoo's calling" 2014 book list.. and when I've finished all of these I will read the book that my mum bought me "six Shakespeare stories by Leon Garfield" I have so many to read and so many homework to do. I love my life
I am currently reading Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. It's very short so will probably finish in a day or two. I've done quite a bit of researching about the next couple of books I am thinking of buying - I'm leaning towards getting the trilogy of prose works by Samuel Beckett (Molloy, Malone Dies and the Unnameable), and also possibly the trilogy of works by Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn and Black Spring) I'm temped to get Lanark by Alasdair Grey. It's meant to be a masterpiece of 20th Century Scottish literature if anyone has read it? Would be interested to hear thoughts.
I just finished Super Sad True Love Story, which was very good -- near future dystopian with satirical elements. I'm about to start Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which I've had sitting around for years, but I just haven't gotten to it. In the new year, I'm trying to get through some of those books that keep getting close to the top of the TBR pile, but never seem to quite make it.
I just finished the "Hunger Games" trilogy, and liked it a lot less the longer I read it. If I had one main complaint, it was that Katniss never seemed to develop emotionally or intellectually. I enjoyed book 1 but after that it was tiresome. Another complaint was that there were too many long passages doing nothing but talking about the heroine's emotions. How she felt seldom went beyond grief and anger and we got that over and over. On the other hand, the author made a ton of money so she must have done something right. I am re-reading Graham Greene's "Travels with my Aunt" which is getting better and better the further I delve into it. I am reading Gogol's "Dead Souls" mainly because I like old Russian novels. It's pretty lighthearted and never really predictable. I am trying to read Philip K. Dick's "Valis" with mixed success. His talent is immense but what plot there may be is somewhat hard to detect. I am reading Margaret Lu's "Prodigy" and not enjoying it as much as the prior one (forget the name). Still pretty good though. I am reading Tim Dorsey's "Cadillac Beach" and it's not quite as insane as his later books, but does give me a nice explanation of why Serge is so crazy. (answer: he IS crazy, an escaped mental patient). I am slogging through Joe Haldeman's "Forever Free," with the hope that something interesting is coming. So far, pretty dull. I have barely started "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace and can see that it will be good but take a fair amount of work to appreciate. My attention span is problematic (as you can see by my reading list). Reading and really enjoying Keith Richards' "Life." He comes off as a drug addled bad boy in public but is actually a very thoughtful and intelligent man, with a lot to say about music, musicians, and a lot more. Big thumbs up. Reading Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything" and learning a ton. Obviously my ADD is showing. But I'm still able to juggle all those books, based primarily on my mood, what will best suit my frame of mind.
Hi Lemex, I just finished Death of a Salesman today. What an amazing play, honestly. There's so much packed into the short 100 pages or so - it has everything. It captures all the conflicts within a random family about ambition, expectations, self-worth (and what others consider to be worthy endeavours). There's so much about the drive to 'succeed' (whatever that means) and the failures that come along with it. It has brilliant bits of nostalgia, delusions, struggles in everyday life, and the pointless worrying about what others will think. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who hasn't read it.
I got this book on Saturday and I'm on book four already (Despite being a slow reader). Words fail me how good this book is...Highly recommended.
