50 Shades of Grey...so shoot me. I actually enjoy reading the book. I like romance and erotic fiction. I know it's not a lot of people's "cup of tea", but it sure is my "keg of beer".
I'm trying to get into Lovecraft's Necronomicon. The language is so fluffy, and it's hard to get attached to the characters.
You mean the collection, right? As minstrel said, Lovecraft couldn't write people worth a damn. I wouldn't even say he was particularly amazing with stories either. He was good at setting, mood and atmosphere. Also, his mythos building was second to none, which I think is most of the reason why people still read him, to be honest. His world is weirdly fascinating.
I think I'll approach it differently, knowing this. It's funny how greatly our expectations will affect our experiences.
I'm reading The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Like, if King Arthur lived in the 12th century, and Merlin was a time traveler of sorts.
I'm reading Ark by Stephen Baxter. Got it from my local library today! Idea sounds very much like the YA book series that I use to read years ago. I hope that this book takes a different take.
Just splurged and bought Richard Burton's Diaries - very excited to read it. Loved him as an actor...that voice!
He was fantastic in Nineteen Eighty-Four. And as Richard Wagner too! He was one hell of an actor. I've just finished the first novella of Stephen King's Different Seasons, 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption'. This gets my Lemex stamp of approval: I cannot fault it in any way, that was one damn fine piece of writing.
That is by far the best piece of writing by King I've ever read. He was writing over his head on that one. Closest thing to a masterpiece I've seen from him. I guess that's why I find the rest of his stuff so disappointing.
Haha, yeah! I guess I'm largely the same to be honest. As soon as I started it I just knew - you know how you just know you are reading something special?
Yes! Actually, that's the only story I've read out of that book. Let me know if he kept up that standard in the other stories - I may have to go back to it.
I'm reading Walking Wounded by William McIlvanney. An interesting, loosely interconnected book of short stories based in the fictional Scottish town of Graithnock.
Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking blah blah Staggering Genius blah -- I can't stand it and am quitting half way through. I don't understand why critics revered this book so much. Thinking of picking up the new Murakami. Also considering picking up Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk. Maybe I just don't like memoirs.
I'm finishing up a thriller/quasi-horror called Invasive Species by Joseph Wallace. We're reading it for my book club, and he is attending our next meeting, so there is another option -- his other novel, Diamond Ruby. I plan to read both, but the funny thing is that the stories could not be more different. Invasive Species is about this new breed of wasps that attacks and kills people and uses them as incubators for new wasps. Delightfully creepy and entertaining. The other book, which I haven't yet started, is historical fiction, based on a woman who struck out Babe Ruth in the 1920s and was banned from baseball. It sounds very interesting, but completely different from the other novel. It will be interesting to read these very different pieces and to meet the author.
Loving Burton's diary. Occasionally Liz Taylor would write an entry after Burton. Once Rich wrote - Liz kind of sarky today She wrote underneath - He should friggin talk! lol.
^That brings infinite happiness to me. After having enough time to think about it, Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is a truly excellent novel, and I urge everyone to read it. No further with 'Apt Pupil' in Different Season because I've been doing other things, but for my second book (I always have two going on at the same time) I'm about to start reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I don't know why, but something has told me to reread this novel, and I found my old copy of it.
I recently finished a reread of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (with the 21st chapter at last!) and Samuel R. Delany's Nova. Both are a bit light, and (especially in Delany's case) dazzling at the expense of, uh, substance and originality. I'm looking for red meat now. So I picked up a copy of John Crowley's Little, Big. I'd never heard of this book until a week or two ago, but even the Curmudgeon of All American Literary Criticism Curmudgeons, that brilliant twisted wretch Harold Bloom, calls it "the most enchanting twentieth-century book I know." The Washington Post called it "the greatest fantasy ever written by an American." (This may be small praise - are Americans considered great fantasy writers?) Anyway, I decided to read it. It's long, and these days I don't have a lot of reading time, so it'll take me a while. I hope it's worth it!
Robin Hobbs Farseer Trilogy don't know how I missed it all these years. One of the better fantasy writers out there. I really only tired a bit in the final book but considering I read all three in 2 weeks it must have been engrossing.
I've mentioned this book several times on here, and it's really worth reading. I think a lot of fantasy fans will be disappointed because it's more literary than anything else (if that makes sense). Based on your tastes, I don't think you'll have this problem. I'm sure you'll like it.
