I am finishing up The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's literally the worst book to read during these times.
You've convinced me! I'm moving it from the soon pile, where it's lived for two years, to the immediately pile.
I recommend it. It starts off as fairly uninteresting and then slowly fold out into a philosophical inquiry.
Well, it's half this forum's favorite book, right? I've only put it off so many times because someone spoiled the ending for me, or at least a major component of it. That shouldn't stop me though. I've read at least a dozen books after seeing the movies years before.
I've read it and still after all this time can't decide if it's a masterpiece or the biggest 'cop out' ever. It's almost like the author decided he wanted to make the process as simple as possible and said, "I know, I'll just tell the story in a series of mini scenes, each comprising half a dozen sentences or so. The result is a book that has about 3 -4 'chapters' per page!
Is that necessarily bad as long as the content is fruitful? I find that the writing works perfectly for conveying the soul of the book.
He must have decided something, because I hear it's nothing like all those cowboy books he normally writes.
No, not in the slightest. I finished the book (a rarity in itself) and enjoyed the ride, so definitely not a bad thing. Can't comment as it's the only one of his I've read.
That's the great irony of the book. He claims to be surrounded by phonies and despises several characters whom he believes to be disingenuous in various ways while telling far more grandiose lies than theirs. I'm glad people find something in him that resonates, but as a former adolescent, I find the often asserted notion that he represents the quintessential adolescent male somewhat insulting. It seems to me the sort of book that divides readers along some philosophical line. Perhaps a more cynical person sees something different from an optimistic personality, but that seems oversimplified and reductive. It's probably more abstruse than that. Another book that comes to mind is Lord of the Flies. Most people like that book, I think, but they see it as two completely different stories. Most see it as a treatise on the the evil at the center of all humans. I read it, and find a story about the importance of hanging onto your moral values no matter the level of opposition. It's like a literary representation of Kohlberg's stages of moral development.
I'm finally ready to leave behind the wreck I became after reading Clariel by Garth Nix. Upon the recommendation of someone, I ordered Light by M John Harrison, and I'm just about to start chapter 3 because no one is banking today.
I gave it to my mother to read because she hasn't read it yet, I recommended it, left it with her; she still hasn't read it, living under a new lock down nowadays and aren't in a rush to go and fetch it; and I don't even wanna hold up Royal Mail for another one; that said, I read it (first time ever), then I reread something to confirm something and that was good enough for me and I used that as my insight into The Catcher in the Rye that week.
I'll be starting Lord Foul's Bane (Thomas Covenant series, Stephen R. Donaldson) in a few minutes. The author is new to me, and I know practically nothing about the book. I've only heard that it's good and pretty dark.
Reading Doctor Who - The Pirate Planet, by James Goss. It's based on the draft scripts by Douglas Adams and is an absolute delight so far. Goss seems to have captured Adams' voice very well. Also re-reading Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Crawford Kilian. It's from 2007 and, for all that writing advice seems fine, some of the marketing advice is terribly out of date.
I just finished "The Passion Economy: the new rules for thriving in the twenty-five century" by Adam Davidson. I like the idea that there are new ways of doing things, that people with vision can become successful business men and women. I also read "Calvin: just because you see something doesn't mean it's really there." by Martine Leavitt. I really liked this one because of the tie-in to Bill Watterson's "Calvin & Hobbes" comic strip. I was a HUGE fan of that strip. I believe the book collections still sell because they are always in stock when I visit the local bookstores.
Frazer's Golden Bough, a seminal study of comparative religion and also of the earliest forms of storytelling (which is essentially what religion is, centered on human nature and morality). Also downloaded Grimms Fairy Tales, Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folk Tale, and the Wikipedia page on Fairy Tales, which is almost a book in itself. I'm trying to develop an understanding of Tales and how they're written.
I finally finished Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. It was okay, good even, but it took forever, and it was no where near as engaging as Song of Kali. Damn it, that was an amazing book. I'm still looking forward to Hyperion. I finally finally started in on The Road last night. I expect to finish it tonight or tomorrow. It's a hell of a quick read so far. I'm only a third of the way through, but do the style and voice in this book remind anyone else of The Old Man and the Sea? Maybe that's just me.
Just finished Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself, and very good it was too. I'm not usually into this kind of fantasy - I've given Game Of Thrones a wide berth - but the writing was excellent and the mood of the book was different. Enjoyed it, and am now about to order the next two. Next book is Red Rising by Pierce Brown. The problem with all these books is that they are the start of trilogies or even more. Ancillary Justice, Blade Itself, Red Rising. If I wanted to try and reduce the number of books on my pile I chose the wrong books, that's for sure.
Yeah, First Law is practically a franchise at this point, but seeing as you really liked the first book, you're gonna want to devour everything by the time you finish the original trilogy. I gets a lot better.
Oooh, you rascal, and I've just start Red Rising too. I did notice that he's been writing other stories connected to the original, maybe prequels? Also there's a Half series of books, not sure where they fit in.
