What are you filthy heathens reading atm?

swampgas

Reading "Into the Woods - a five act journey into story" by John Yorke. I heard the author interviewed about the book and decided to try it, so far so good. As someone who has never studied art or literature, but has heard (in passing) of books like Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", it's fascinating, if unfamiliar, territory.

Well known films like The Godfather and Being John Malkovich, and recent TV series like Life on Mars and The Sopranos are used along with classic plays and books to illustrate the structure of stories, which makes it more interesting and accessible (to me anyway!) than it might be otherwise.

branie

I finished reading Immaculate Deception, that book on Christina Gallagher. That was quite an eye opener.

PopePalpatine

Note to self: use "Immaculate Deception" as a potential title when I get around to writing a story where the villain tries to become a god. :pac: I've already thought of "God Is (Not) Great".

(C) PopePalpatine, 2013 - 70 years after my death

Corkfeen

Just about to order Godel, Escher and Bach... Should I add anything else to the basket? Have tons of fiction to read so I want to mix things up somewhat.

Tar.Aldarion

Enders game, yes I know the author is a douche or whatever. Great book. What order do you suggest I read the rest in?

Publication date
Ender's Game (1985) – Nebula Award winner, 1985;[1] Hugo Award winner, 1986;[1] Locus Award nominee, 1986[1]
Speaker for the Dead (1986) – Nebula Award winner, 1986;[1] Hugo & Locus Awards winner, 1987;[1] Campbell Award nominee, 1987[1]
Xenocide (1991) – Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1992[8]
Children of the Mind (1996)
Ender's Shadow (1999) – Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2000[9]
Shadow of the Hegemon (2001) – Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2002[10]
Shadow Puppets (2002)
First Meetings (2002) – short story collection
Shadow of the Giant (2005)
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (2007)
Ender in Exile (2008)
Shadows in Flight (2012)
Earth Unaware (2012)
Earth Afire (2013) – Scheduled for Release June 4, 2013 [11]
Shadows Alive (forthcoming, originally planned as part of "Shadows in Flight")

Chronological order
Earth Unaware
Earth Afire
Earth Awakens
First Meetings
Ender's Game
Ender's Shadow (Note: The events of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow take place in roughly the same time period.)
A War of Gifts (Note: This takes place during Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow.)
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant
Ender in Exile (Note: This takes place during Shadow of the Hegemon and through Shadow of the Giant)
Shadows in Flight
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Shadows Alive
"Ender Back Again"

PopePalpatine

I'm trying to read Trainspotting, but Glaswegian English is so damn hard to read.

Lingua Franca

Psst... it's Edinburgh! You get used to it eventually. By the end of the book you'll have to stop yourself from calling people radge bastids in your real life.

Turtwig

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I'm trying to read Trainspotting, but Glaswegian English is so damn hard to read.

Just use urban dictionary, shur, you'll be grand like.

robindch

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I'm trying to read Trainspotting, but Glaswegian English is so damn hard to read.

Have a read of Iain Banks' The Bridge - Banks produced long doses of Glaswegian argot years before Welsh did

branie

A book I finished last week was Inferno, the latest Robert Langdon adventure by Dan Brown

[-0-]

Armed Struggle by Richard English.

MagicMarker

Am going to give Blood Meridian another try, I was wholly unprepared for it first time round and gave up after 50 pages. But now I feel in the mood to give it the time most people say it deserves.

magicbastarder

'you are not a gadget' by jaron lanier. a bit hand-wavy so far (am only 40 pages in), but a thought provoking read.

DapperGent

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Enders game, yes I know the author is a douche or whatever. Great book. What order do you suggest I read the rest in?

I'd read Speaker for the Dead and then Xenocide and then not read anything else on the list. Ever. I can't speak for all of it but I remember the Shadow storyline stuff being really quite bad.

Of his non-Ender work I found what I read of Alvin maker series to be poor, I got all the Homecoming Saga series cheap second hand and it's just absolutely terrible. I really enjoyed Songmaster (though some of it is a bit queasy making after his later personal statements).

The Worthing Saga has some of his most interesting ideas in it. I'm not sure he got it all tied together in the end (it's sort of a combination of short stories and a novella I think) but parts of it are just great.

DazMarz

For about the 20th time, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Fashion tips, musical critiques, pornographic sex scenes, blood-drenched snuff murder scenes and jet black humour and satire all mixed together to produce one of the most controversial and seminal novels of all time.

Turtwig

Is that the film

with naked Batman and a chainsaw?

DazMarz

Jernal wrote: »

Is that the film

with naked Batman and a chainsaw?

That's the one...


"I like to dissect girls... did you know I'm utterly insane?"

So many epic quotes from that film. Book is well gorier and graphic, though.

magicbastarder

i read it about fifteen years ago. from what little i can remember, it's a lot of style, but little to take away from it.

Tar.Aldarion

Well Ender's game was fantastic., so that's done already. Onto Speaker for the Dead (1986)

Turtwig

Right that's it. Ender's game is jumping to number one on my list. You guys won't shut up about it. :P So, I gotta know.
Right, so is it just Ender's or are there more in series worth reading? Ta, very much in advance. Oh and how I hate yez. Making me want to read a whole host of books that I'll probably never get the chance to read.

kylith

The three Ender books are good (I haven't read the latest one yet). I also read the Shadow series and it's ok, but not quite as good.



re: American Psycho; I read it in college and it did such weird and scary things to my brain that I haven't touched it since.

MagicMarker

I loved Ender's Game but was never in any rush to read the other books. And it was only after reading Ender's Game that I discovered the author to be a homophobic religious fruit & nut, so I probably won't read them. Or at least if I do it won't be in any way that he'll make any money off me. :P

Tar.Aldarion

Jernal wrote: »

Right that's it. Ender's game is jumping to number one on my list. You guys won't shut up about it. :P So, I gotta know.
Right, so is it just Ender's or are there more in series worth reading? Ta, very much in advance. Oh and how I hate yez. Making me want to read a whole host of books that I'll probably never get the chance to read.

From what I can see, everybody likes and hates different books in the series. I'll read them all over taking opinions anyway. Decided to read them as they were written. As far as I can tell if you disliked some juvenile aspects of enders game then the rest of his series is more suited to you, if you enjoyed the first one a lot, the shadow series is more similar.

MagicMarker wrote: »

I loved Ender's Game but was never in any rush to read the other books. And it was only after reading Ender's Game that I discovered the author to be a homophobic religious fruit & nut, so I probably won't read them. Or at least if I do it won't be in any way that he'll make any money off me. :P

You're not voting for him as president, you're reading a story. If you examined every artist, author, actor, etc you would neither look at nor read, anything. By all means avoid giving him money ;-)

DapperGent

This kind of echoes my feelings on Orson Scott Card:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB11nel7Hlk

Nodin

For those interested, Jack Vance has passed away, aged 96.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/30/jack-vance-dies-96-science-fiction

Nodin

It appears that Iain Banks has passed on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047

Turtwig

Nodin wrote: »

It appears that Iain Banks has passed on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047

Hope he didn't suffer too much.:(
RIP

Sulla Felix

Damn.

MrPudding

Jernal wrote: »

Hope he didn't suffer too much.:(
RIP

Nice obituary on the Guardian website.

MrP

robindch

MrPudding wrote: »

Nice obituary on the Guardian website.

And another one, with a great last paragraph:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/neil-gaiman-iain-banks

Neil Gaiman wrote:

If you've never read any of his books, read one of his books. Then read another. Even the bad ones were good, and the good ones were astonishing.

MrPudding

robindch wrote: »

And another one, with a great last paragraph:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/neil-gaiman-iain-banks

Yeah, read that today, love that last line.

MrP

MagicMarker

Started on "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. Tis very good.

swampgas

Have just read "Ready Player One", and having finished it, have started reading it a second time. The most fun book I've read in ages.
Amazon Reviews Here

For anyone remotely geeky who grew up in the 80s, this is an absolute gem.

kieranfitz

Just finished Russel Brands my booky wook today, dunno what to do next.

Aenaes

kieranfitz wrote: »

Just finished Russel Brands my booky wook today, dunno what to do next.

Read something funny

Just finished Don Quixote. Now reading Narvik by Donald Macintyre.

Hotblack Desiato

kieranfitz wrote: »

Just finished Russel Brands my booky wook today, dunno what to do next.

If I ever read that book, the next thing I'd do is probably kill myself.

SunMoonStars

I'm about half-way through 'Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them' by Al Franken.

MrPudding

robindch wrote: »

And another one, with a great last paragraph:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/neil-gaiman-iain-banks

Quarry arrive on my kindle yesterday. Final exam Friday and then I will start it.

MrP

keane2097

ninja900 wrote: »

If I ever read that book, the next thing I'd do is probably kill myself.

How very rational.

swampgas wrote: »

Have just read "Ready Player One", and having finished it, have started reading it a second time. The most fun book I've read in ages.
Amazon Reviews Here

For anyone remotely geeky who grew up in the 80s, this is an absolute gem.

Yeah good description, it's really great fun.

checkyabadself

Waiting around in the car for people book.......the untouchables by Shane Ross.
Bedside book......Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill.
Armchair book is currently the behemoth that is Robert Fisks "The great war for civilisation".

MrPudding

I think it has already been mentioned, but giving it a bump as the auther has died.

I am Legend.

MrP

MagicMarker

Now that truly is a kick in the nads.

Incredible book.

Sarky

Aw, that's a shame. I loved I Am Legend, cracking vampire apocalypse book with some brilliant ideas.

GLaDOS

Fantastic book, my only criticism is I thought it could have been longer. Loved the atmosphere he created and didn't want it to end.

Sky King

Just finished solaris. Really *really* enjoyed it.

Pherekydes

Just finished Mumbo Jumbo by Francis Wheen. Great stuff.

Currently reading Of Mice and Men. Concurrently, I'm wading through The Quantum Universe (or whatever it's called) by Brian Cox and friend, and The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mladinov (sp?).

The old brain, she cannae take any more, Captain...

SebBerkovich

Reading The Worthy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

It's about the Puritans who left england to escape prosecution and ended up founding what is now the Boston area.
It's a very funny look at this part of history.

magicbastarder

on 'the information' by james gleick. the bit i'm currently at seems like an easier version of 'godel escher bach'; but gleick is usually very good with scientific topics.

MagicMarker

MagicMarker wrote: »

Started on "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. Tis very good.

Just finished, superb.

Sulla Felix

MagicMarker wrote: »

Just finished, superb.

I might give it a look. I was actually pleased with his work on WoT, thought it was better than Jordan's later books.

Currently reading The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman.