Jeffrey Ford’s Empire of Ice Cream seems to loosely fit into the most recent posts. Anyone read it? Basically it consists of “tales” or a collection of short chapters, all fiction. I can’t remember which chapter or piece it was, but I was obsessed with a story about a boatman who lived in hell and went on vacation. The whole book is very bizarre.

I read a handful of books for a summer literature course I had to take to graduate a few years ago. My professor was a stickler for differentiating science-fiction and urban-fantasy because he was a published author himself. This novel was considered urban-fantasy (as was Gaiman, Murakami’s Kafka on the Short, etc). Either way, I don’t care for certain genres in particular but I did enjoy everything I read for this class.

Just put Illuminatus! on my (long) 'to read'-list.

Beckett - Various items

Today I got access to some of the most rare and prized Samuel Beckett manuscripts, letters, note books and so on. Most of them are valued at over £100K, was very exciting experience seeing for e.g. detailed diagrams of where Vladimir and Estragon should walk in a scene, and next to it is a small line of German poetry he liked. Things that not even the public can look at let alone touch.

Cant wait till my Beckett module starts and I can get properly stuck into the biggest collection of Beckett stuff in the world.

I just finished Enders Game, I've seen some mention of it on here before with mixed feelings, I for one loved it. It's kinda sick and wrong on a few moral levels but no more than other things I've read. It's a bit confusing to start with but by the end you'll know what the hell is going on, I would recommend this highly. Now I just have to read the other 10 books in the series.

Just finished A Clash of Kings, and while I enjoyed it, I found myself liking the first book, A Game of Thrones, a lot more. I did love how so much was set-up for so many characters by the end (which I hope pays off in the third book), but there were a few characters who did almost nothing for 950+ pages, comparatively to the first book. I won't name names for spoilers sake, but looking at where a few characters were in the beginning of the story and where they were in the end, there's really not much of a difference. This is only true with maybe 2 characters, 3 tops, but it did give the book a sluggish feel and I found myself struggling through some parts.

Taking a break from ASOIAF for now and reading the LOTR series, which I sadly have never done yet.

The sequel, Speaker for the Dead, is excellent. I probably enjoyed it more than EG.

Just got my Kindle Paperwhite over the weekend, have a feeling I will be reading a lot more now. Currently borrowing "The Hunger Games" from the Amazon lender's library. It looks like they have quite a few titles available, just decided to pick something I've heard of but haven't read yet. I'm already about 2/3 of the way through it, not sure what I'm going to read next...

Yeah I'm liking it too my only problem is that I'm finding myself far more lost at the beginning than I did when I started Enders Game but ohwell.

Has anyone read anything by Timothy Leary? I'm reading Neuropolitique now and it's actually quite interesting. Some flaws to be sure, but I empathize with the man's worldview and his optimism and humor are contagious. He makes some very perceptive social, political and biological observations as well.

I've read The Psychedelic Experience, written by him and Ram Dass and some other dude. Not that impressed. I'd probably like his other works better. In general it seems like he was a little naive when it comes to psychedelics, but I do empathize with aspects of him as a person, his worldview, and the mission he wanted to accomplish socially/culturally.

The sequels.

Currently reading Jane Eyre for class...no time to really read much for fun, but this is a really, really good book. A lot of it is just the sheer power and fluidity of the writing, as Charlotte Bronte just tells a great story. The story itself is a very powerful and invigorating tale with lots of turns and different things going on. I didn't know what to expect from this, but yeah, I'm surprisingly really digging it. Moving, entertaining and poignant at times even.

I've never read that one, but I'd like to. Neuropolitique was fascinating - especially his account of Charlie Manson.

I've never taken LSD, so there is an aspect of his writing I'll never fully understand (unless I eventually take LSD), but his writing makes it sound like something entirely different than what most people who've taken acid say it's like. Certainly this has something to do with him a bit more intellectually adept than a lot of people who are dropping copious amount of the shit, and knew how to use it as opposed to dwelling in hedonistic impulses while tripping. He actually provides a pretty substantial argument for LSD being used as a psychoanalytic tool. Again, I have no firsthand experience and can't really comment either way.

I’m pretty sure I’ve harped on this before but while I enjoyed The Hunger Games well enough I thought Catching Fire was a giant heap of steaming, rancid dung. It was terribly contrived and the last chapter has to be one of the laziest conclusions I’ve ever read, not to mention being a desperate and shallow attempt to string readers along to the next book.

Man, I just hated that book so much.

I thought it was good. It built up the characters that were established in the first book and was exciting just like that one to keep my attention. I think they got better with each book really. The second one was a bit rushed when it came to the actual games/action parts, but not so much that it ruined my enjoyment of it. The cliffhanger was...well, yes, a cliffhanger. But really I don't see how it was a particularly awful one as opposed to any other cliffhanger, and the first one basically had a cliffhanger too. I read the second and third ones back to back though, so maybe that influenced my judgment as opposed to someone who read it when it came out and had to wait.

@ Corpsefister, if that is how you felt about the end of Catching Fire how'd you feel about then end of the 3rd book cause I freaking hated it, it just felt like a bloody cop-out to me.

It changed my life, allowed me to gain clearer and better perspective into my own thought processes, etc. Every trip I've had has been ultra intense and educating; I can't even imagine these people who do acid and sit on the couch watching TV. I'd probably want to kill myself.

But I think Leary was naive when it comes to psychs. I did damage to myself as well as healing myself. Overall, more healing, glad I did it, but anything as powerful as LSD can have good or bad consequences mentally. There's a quote, something about "revelation smells a lot like delusion." It's true, and I'd imagine for a lot of people it can be difficult to filter out some of the crazy shit that you can think up and very possibly begin to believe on psychedelics. As a cognitive restructuring tool, it's VERY effective and has very interesting potential. I'd like to see it used therapeutically. But recreationally? Shit can be dangerous if your head isn't on straight.

I didn’t bother reading the third book, but I had heard some people disliked the end of it.

Emp- it wasn’t so much the ending being cliffhanger that bothered me, I though it just was terribly executed. The main plot gets wrapped up with a clumsy use of deus ex machina and then the last few pages were a shambling mess of exposition. “So this person is actually working with this person, and these guys are totally on the good side, and a main character is big trouble oh no!”.

Seems like I’m in the minority and most people who enjoyed the first one liked the others, but I just couldn’t get past that ending.

You should give the third book a try just be prepared for the overwhelming desire to use it as firewood after you get to the end.

The third one is my favorite. Incredibly exciting and gripping, plus very socially relevant and serious, too. This isn't a kids' series at all. And the ending was fine.

Don't get me wrong I loved the 3rd book too I just didn't like the ending.

I'm editing this cause I didn't want to double post.

I just finished reading Speaker Of The Dead, the 2nd book in the Enders Game series, I really enjoyed this book too but not as much as Enders Game. I found that pretty early on in the book I could pretty well guess what was going to happen later on with decent accuracy maybe because I was already used to the authors style of writing or maybe because it was just obvious I'm not sure. Either way I would recommend Speaker Of The Dead and again recommend Enders Game as great books that you should definitely give a shot. On a side note IMDB has a listing for Enders Game the movie due out in 2013, I think it's a bad idea and will do a horribly shitty job of recreating the book but I hope that I'm wrong.

Anyone got any Terry Pratchett recommendations? Finished Night Watch earlier tonight. Sam Vimes is a great protagonist. I figured the book would be just corny comedy and poking at fantasy cliches, but it's pretty witty. The no chapters thing is different, but I get his reasoning for it.

Start from the beginning! Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic. Sourcery was the first one I read, fifth in the series, and it made me laugh out loud several times. Rincewind is probably my favorite protagonist.

My introduction was Interesting Times, and it worked. I've read perhaps 15 discworld novels since. Reading chronologically is absolutely not necessary, and many of his joke make recurring appearances (especially concerning Ankh-Morpork).

If you want something light and humorous with clever satire, read one of the earlier novels. The later ones are heavier in the satire department, although still almost entirely humorous.

agreed. Too many words, not enough good.

I've never understood the reverence that book gets. The entire plot could be summed up in one or two sentences, other than Ender, all the characters are incredibly shallow and the writing is pedestrian at best. The whole thing is just wrapping paper for the big reveal at the end. It has one big neat idea. Short story material in my book.

It was a short story first.

You're all haters.

Then I could have saved some time. Why do authors turn perfectly good published short stories into half-assed novelizations?

Has anyone here read anything by Hermann Hesse? I'm reading Narcissus and Goldmund right now and it is breathtaking. Profound, beautifully written, and touching.

I agree with your opinion on Clash of Kings. It was a but slow and more of a set-up type book but I still enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading book 3 in the series. I took a break from ASOIAF as well but I started reading 2666. Crazy freaking book so far and I'm only half through.

Found a used and beat up copy of Jack Vance's novel The Blue World. I'm maybe halfway through it or a little more so far and I've got to say it's one of the least Vancian things I've read from him. It almost feels like a fleshing out of one of the weird cultures he normally only gives snapshots of in his other works. Don't want to sound negative though, it's been great and I'm really into the story and rebellious protag.

I still owe this thread everything for turning me onto him. Far and away my favorite author of all time.

edit: I said "so far" like 30 times. Removed some of 'em.

Big fan of Siddhartha.

Yeah, both of those are great. Demian and Steppenwolf are also well worth checking out. The first two mentioned are definitely my favorites I've read from him, though. Still have yet to get around to Magister Ludi but looking forward to doing so at some point.

Nahsil - That's next on my list. Despite Narcissus and Goldmund being so distinctly European, I definitely sense an Eastern though process behind Hesse's writing. I'm excited to see how Siddhartha explores that.

Under_Starmere - Magister Ludi/The Glass Bead Game is the one, along with Siddhartha, I keep hearing about. I'll probably read that after Siddhartha. Have you read Narcissus and Goldmund? How did Demian and Steppenwolf measure up?

Ouh...I thought I answered those questions in my post, but yeah... I have read N&G and it's awesome. Demian and Steppenwolf are also very engaging and thought-provoking, though they are set in twentieth-century Germany and on several levels that doesn't appeal to me as much as the ancient/medieval setting of Siddhartha and Narcissus... I mean it's not just the setting, it's also a matter of the fiber of the stories and the general narrative pictures being portrayed, but the setting does have something to do with it.

I just read Fall of the King (In Danish: Kongens Fald) which is probably the best Danish book ever written. It follows a man and a king during three periods of time in the 16th century, when the wars in Scandinavia -really- started. Half-fiction, half historical, I would say.

Now I'm reading Blood Meridian again again. I had borrowed it to my friend and just got it back, so naturally I have to read it again. Best book ever.

I just bought Max Blecher's Occurances in the Immediate Unreality and Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, so they're next.

I finally picked up A Canticle for Leibowitz and so far I'm enjoying it. Fluidly written with a constant, well-dosed smirk on its face and the setting is shaping up to something very interesting.

You mind telling a few about it when you're further into it? It's on my reading list.

Sure thing. I'm only about fifty pages in right now, reading it during bus drives to work and breaks there. I'll have plenty of time at the weekend, though.