Read My Name Is Mina by David Almond which is the prequel to Skellig and it was goood. I'm just about to start The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse which I'm looking forward to.
I just finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan and I can't decide what I think of it and whether I want to read the next book in the series or not I also think I should maybe try reading something happier next...
I finally finished reading a collection of Lovecraft stories, and now I'm getting into Plato's The Republic. The philosophical allegory and reasoning in The Republic is amazing, so much knowledge from those long-dead Greeks...
It's worth reading volume 1 of Karl Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies" after Plato's "The Republic". He shows how Plato uses subtle rhetorical tricks to slip through arguments that actually don't hold together -- arguments for racial supremacy, the brutal suppression of other races, and the suppression of all individualism for the benefit of a totalitarian state. But Plato doesn't put it in those terms and makes it all sound very reasonable.
I know what you mean. That was a 3-star out of 5 book for me. I like a good zombie story, but this one got too depressing and gruesome.
Just started reading The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories myself. And I also started Sandworms of Dune this evening, following completion of Hyperion (there will be a review of that on my external blog at some point fairly soon). The Republic was interesting enough, but I was put off by the fact Plato's vision seems out of step with the modern world. And the fact I read it for coursework last year, in conjunction with The Communist Manifesto.
Dante and digitig: I recently read some Lovecraft, too, and I agree with digitig: he hasn't aged well. Lovecraft's prose is comically overwritten. He keeps trying to creep the reader out just by piling on adjectives, and he draws from (let's face it) a pretty small pool of adjectives. Lovecraft had an interesting vision, but PLEASE don't model your own prose after his ...
I think Lovecraft has aged just fine. I read the stories as what they are - pieces written for pulp magazines 80 or so years ago. It's like watching a movie from the 30s. Sure, the movie dialog seems cheesy at times and the dramatic moments don't always come across naturally to modern sensibilities, but they're still great fun to watch. Lovecraft enjoys a lot more popularity now than he ever did in his life time. There aren't many authors who have enjoyed his reach into popular culture. What it boils down to is that a lot of people really like his stories. If that can be said about any work 80 or so years after it was written, then I'd say it has aged well enough.
I finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon... A little stunned and sad right now... I always get like that when I finish reading a book that REALLY impresses me.
I just finished If I Stay by Gayle Forman It was very tragic and beautiful in the way that it mixed the present and the past together as she tries to make her decision. It was a very good read, hopeful and painful at all the same time.
I'm reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. So far a quite simmering novel. Also reading The Fellowship of the ring by Tolkien. And about to start in the fifth or sixth installment of Sookie Stackhouse. Not sure what the title is, I always get them mixed up.
At the moment I am reading "The Castle Omnibus" by Steph Swainston. Its alright I guess, although its a little vague (although I am only 50 pages in, I think I just want all that detail from the get go).
Some of my favourite books, Anne Rice's vampire books (and writting in general) are amazing. I always seem to have a hatred for Lestat because of the movie where Tom Cruise plays his part. I just can't get the image of obnoxious vampire out of my head.
Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris The fellowship of the ring - Tolkien Tales of the Unexpected - Roald Dahl Quite a mish mash.
An Anthropologist On Mars by Oliver Sacks Sourland by Joyce Carol Oates The Four Stages of Cruelty by Keith Hollihan (I'll try to Update What I'm reading more often, but I go through books too fast to constantly upgrade).
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Lisa T. Chang If you want to know the background of the people who make our cell phones, toys, clothes, etc., read this book. Fascinating stuff.
I remember reading that one a long time ago. I thought it was very good, but the ending left me confused. I probably just need to read it again to figure it out, though... At the moment, I'm reading Midnight Voices by John Saul.
