What are you reading? What was the last book you enjoyed?

[orpheus]

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I really enjoyed this one. It's about a future in which people are trying to win an online game in order to inherit a recently deceased computer whiz's fortune. Suspenseful and loaded with '80's and video game references.

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton,

This is not the scariest collection of stories, but some of these tales were genuinely spooky. And Wharton's elegant language fits well with these type of stories.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

A SciFi novel about a book created for the granddaughter of a wealthy tycoon. That book, which is supposed to teach its owner a variety of things, is made into several copies and falls into the wrong hands. Interesting and strange book, but in my opinion, not quite as good as Stephenson's Snow Crash.

Last Summer by Evan Hunter

A book about a trio of teenagers (two boys and a girl) that meet during a Summer vacation getaway. Starts as a coming of age story, but gets progressively more disturbing.

 

[jerseydevil]

Screenwriter Zak Penn Says READY PLAYER ONE Script Is Finished; Project Might Get Stuck on Licensing Issues

Read more at http://collider.com/ready-player-one-script-finished/#j5BP40zluvrGL1cb.99

 

[Kings Provisional]

Spies Of Sobek by Paul Doherty

Doherty is an British historian who has written 100 historical novels.
This book is the last book in one of his "minor" series: Egypt during the reign of Queen Hapshepsut, the first remale Pharaoh. As you follow the main character, Amerotke the Chief Judge of Egypt, Doherty paints a pretty vivid picture of what ancient Egypt might have been like. Who know's for sure right? We can only take educated guesses from what little remain from thousands of years ago. But I imagine that Doherty being a long time historian and devoted to his craft is pretty close to reality.

If you are a hisorty buff or simply like historical novels check out his stuff. If ancient Egypt interests you then definitelycheck it out.

 

[kingkrazy]

John FD Taff Has become a favorite author of mine. He excels at short fiction which is good and bad I guess. He has a couple collections of short work but most of his work is in anthologies and collections. This book is all him and well worth it. He dives into science fiction, which is a genre I'm not overly excited about but the story was well done. One thing I like about Taff is that at the end of his books he gives some insight of how he came up with each selection. One thing about this book, and he touches on it in the notes section is that it has a "flow" to it. The stories are not connected but the subject matters range from birth to death throughout the book.

I think I hit on his collection little deaths earlier in this thread but if you want a great selection of short stories with a Twilight Zone touch to it, I would pick that up.

 

[KingInTheWest]

Very, very good book, even if it sticks to so many of the James Ellroy formulas. We roll through four POV characters (it goes A, B, C, D, A, B, C, D for the entire book except the very last set) who are all exceedingly self-aware of their self-awareness. One of them is a do-gooder who will do whatever means it takes to get the ends, a la Ed Exley of LA Confidential. One is a brilliant man who has to hide that he is gay (like Upshaw in The Big Nowhere). One of them is exactly like Dudley Smith - because it IS Dudley Smith. The last is the first female POV character (not counting one who gets a few chapters at the end of Blood's A Rover), although her sections are in diary form. She, of course, is a thrill-seeker with maximum self-awareness that several male characters are hopelessly enthralled with. The standard intelligent goon characters (like Bud White of LA Confidential, Buzz Meeks of The Big Nowhere, Bucky Bleichert of The Black Dahlia, etc.) are present as major supporting characters. There are large conspiracies, cases closed outside the courthouse, obsessive characters keeping themselves awake via a drug of choice as they return to the main crime scene over and over, all the stuff I have read over and over.

But it is still fascinating. I stayed up way too late for two weeks reading just one more chapter. The mysteries and the thrilling mayhem are done just as well as in any other Ellroy book. It also gives an interesting look at the stateside impact of the onset of WWII (the book begins a few days before Pearl Harbor).

Perfidia takes place before the four LA books and the three Underworld USA books, with the same characters. There was some overlap in the other books (especially the Underworld books, since they were sequels where the surviving leads carried over), but this time Ellroy does an amazing job of bringing in everyone he can from all seven books and tying them together, along with various real people of the era (that first POV character is actual LAPD chief William H Parker). Those intelligent goons are Lee Blanchard of The Black Dahlia and a young Scotty Bennett of Blood's A Rover, the first and last books chronologically. Meeks and Bleichert make brief appearances, as does Exley's father and Ward Littel of the Underworld books. The female POV character is Kay Lake, who is a major supporting character in The Black Dahlia.

There is the obvious drawback that you know a lot of characters can't die, including a good percentage of the POV characters, but there's plenty of violence and some come close. I went and reread Blood's A Rover right after it, with a new perspective on Scotty Bennett. I am planning on rereading all the LA books, since I haven't done that, but a dog ate my Black Dahlia years ago so I had to order a new one. I do want to see if the little detail about Elizabeth Short revealed in Perfidia was always there.

 

[adgy-san]

Since this is kind of our All Things: Books thread...

Stieg Larsson's dragon tattoo girl returns, despite death of Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander, the tough protagonist of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and its sequels, will return in a fourth book in August, "That Which Does Not Kill."

That's despite the absence of author Stieg Larsson, who died unexpectedly in 2004 before his thrillers had achieved their worldwide success.

The Larssons worked with the author's Swedish publisher to find a new writer for a Salander book under the Larsson brand. They selected David Lagercrantz, who co-wrote the bestselling memoir of a Swedish soccer star.

"Obviously it will build on the previous books," the publisher said in 2013. "[Millennium Trilogy character Mikael] Blomkvist and Salander will be included and many of the other characters."

"That Which Does Not Kill" is not connected to a partial draft of a fourth book Larsson himself was rumored to have written. Gabrielsson had said she had seen it, but its whereabouts are unknown.

Mixed feelings about this, but there's a high probability I'll buy it anyway.

 

[Salty Dog]

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I really enjoyed this one. It's about a future in which people are trying to win an online game in order to inherit a recently deceased computer whiz's fortune. Suspenseful and loaded with '80's and video game references.

That's an awesome book. I'm waiting for his next one, even though there's no way it can live it up to the debut. I watched this the other night and they fittingly interviewed him in part of it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3214002/

 

[Salty Dog]

Since moving to Oregon, I figured this was required reading:

You can almost feel the damp, dark, fogginess while reading it.

 

[Kings Provisional]

Since this is kind of our All Things: Books thread...

Stieg Larsson's dragon tattoo girl returns, despite death of Stieg Larsson




Mixed feelings about this, but there's a high probability I'll buy it anyway.

Yeah, I'll prolly get it too.

 

[Kings Provisional]

And since this is an "all things 'books'" thread... and we have cheated, especially me....

here are a couple of comic "books" that I have really enjoyed...

Winter World. IDW, Chuck Dixon, Butch Guice, Diego Rodriguez, Robbie Robbins- An apocalyptic tale where you follow Scully and Wynn on there quest for survival in a world that is a frozen killing wasteland. Scully is man trying to survive and Wynn is his young teenage girl charge. No, they aren't related, and no it has not gotten creepy/wrong...............yet.

Copperhead- Image, Jay Faerbar, Scott Godlewski, Ron Riley,Thomas Mauer- A sci-fi, western series. Clara Bronson is the new new sheriff in Copperhead, a small mining town on a distant planet. The natives are restless, murder and corruption abounds, "Arties", artificial humans manufactured for the last war are about, and Bronson's deputy is somewhat reluctant to accept her as the new sheriff.

This might be my current fav, yes, even higher than SAGA at the moment. OK, co fav, because "Lazurus" is still tops. It is damn good and downright funny at times.

 

[adgy-san]

Copperhead- Image, Jay Faerbar, Scott Godlewski, Ron Riley,Thomas Mauer- A sci-fi, western series. Clara Bronson is the new new sheriff in Copperhead, a small mining town on a distant planet. The natives are restless, murder and corruption abounds, "Arties", artificial humans manufactured for the last war are about, and Bronson's deputy is somewhat reluctant to accept her as the new sheriff.

This might be my current fav, yes, even higher than SAGA at the moment. OK, co fav, because "Lazurus" is still tops. It is damn good and downright funny at times.

I was planning to get on the Copperhead bus myself, but my local shop didn't have any copies (left?) when I went in, and I foolishly passed on it in Previews. I've heard nothing but good stuff. Eagerly waiting for the TPB.

I just got caught up on Coffin Hill.

It's about a family of witches, with the latest in the line deciding not to be evil and joining the police force. She uses her witchy-ness to help solve crimes and fight against things like her own family and other supernatural stuff. Essentially. Despite that premise, which sounds potentially very lame, it's a solid read. I doubt it's ever going to reach the levels of Vertigo's greatest stuff, but I do recommend it.

 

[Salty Dog]

I accidentally clicked into the first page of this thread and DAMN! I didn't realize how old it was. There's some names from the past in here. Good stuff.

 

[orpheus]

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

This is a rather experimental novel that is made up mostly put of dialogue between several characters who we meet at different points in their lifetime. I really enjoyed it despite it taking me a while to get a hang of the structure, but I am a HUGE fan of Woolf's language.

The Martian by Andy Weir

A science fiction novel about an astronaut who is left behind on Mars and his attempts to survive long enough for a possible rescue. Suspenseful and I enjoyed the often humorous voice of the protagonist.

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
by Ross King

A non-fiction book that covers Filippo Brunelleschi's life and times and how his design for the dome that still stands in Italy influenced art and architecture. I can thanks those PBS docs about religious building for wanting me to read more of this. Interesting stuff.

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

I am somewhat on an Anne Rice kick and wanting to re-read some of her novels. This tells the story of Lestat and is probably a better written novel than interview.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

This is one of those books that gets assigned in a lot of classes, but it eluded me. It's told mainly in vignettes and about a young Latino girl growing up in a Chicago neighborhood. It has it's moments, but I found the short story collection (Woman Hollering Creek) Cisneros wrote to be better. Might like to read more of her books though.

 

[KingInTheWest]

So as I said in my Perfidia review, I went back and reread The Black Dahlia. And The Big Nowhere. And Clandestine. And I'm on to L.A. Confidential.

Long ago, after I first went through James Ellroy's novels, I would give people The Big Nowhere, since I thought it was the best, and it still might be, but The Black Dahlia is probably the best place to start for people, and not just because it comes first chronologically (until Perfidia). The Black Dahlia is the easiest to get into, because it sticks with a single POV character and mostly follows a conventional detective storyline. The book is extremely well plotted, the 1940s period detailing perfect, the noir-ness fully captured. The standard (for Ellroy) extreme obsessiveness of the protagonist and his partner seems a bit much to me, but that's the only complaint I can make. I don't know if I will ever be able to go to Ensenada.

If any of you like noir or detective stories or the 40s, and don't mind a serious, serious R rating, and haven't read this, you are only hurting yourself.

Dudley Smith does not make an appearance at all, which does not really jibe with the connection between him and Elizabeth Short that came into play in Perfidia. Also, Scotty Bennett is mentioned (in one throwaway sentence) as a bookie and pimp, which does not fit in at all with the Scotty Bennett in Perfidia (which takes place before this) and Blood's A Rover (which takes place after it). Hideo Ashida from Perfidia is mentioned a couple times and something likely upcoming in the Perfidia sequels was sort of spoiled for me, if me now remembering a tiny detail due to rereading the book now that I know he isn't just some randomly mentioned throwaway detail counts as a spoiler.

The Big Nowhere expands the tableau to three main characters with their own POV chapters, and creates a more complex story with several major plotlines. Of course, things end up tying together in ways that are just amazing coincidences if you stop to think about it. It is a brilliant piece of work, although quite a downer in so many ways. That may have been part of its appeal to me back when I was that age. Dudley Smith plays a major part and he really is just such a good character. The book is an extreme page-turner and noirer than noir. I'm not so in love with the high degree of darkness anymore, but the only real issue I have is with one character in a hurry at the end taking time out to do something that bails out a few people who could have helped stop the killer sooner and didn't, which resulted in some serious unfortunateness.

After reading the prologue to LA Confidential, which ties up The Big Nowhere, I went to Clandestine, which overlaps with most of LA Confidential and is not officially part of the series. Ellroy wrote Clandestine well before the LA series, but it fits in pretty well, and features our friend Dudley, who does take a moment to talk about his involvement in the Black Dahlia case. He does not mentions the connection with Elizabeth Short from Perfidia or remotely suggest it. Back in the day, authors did go back and edit novels that were already published, but not so much anymore, so Ellroy is stuck with it. Like The Black Dahlia, Clandestine follows a single protagonist, and there are several more similarities in the plot and characters and themes, but that doesn't affect the read much at all. It is another very well-plotted story, a little melodramatic in places, but still completely noir.

 

[jammer06]

Read "the art of racing in the rain" by garth stein

A book about a race car driver told from the perspective of his dog. Being from the dogs point of view the racing scenes are limited and its mostly about the family travails that a life of racing could entail. In general its gonna tug at the heart a bit and probably anger some people but i thought the racing quotes and concepts were sound.

 

[orpheus]

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

This is the first Murakami novel I've read. It's a rather strange novel about a young guy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home and partly wants to find his mother and sister who he can't really remember. Things turn strange and eventually his path looks to intersect with an aging man, Nakata, who seems to be struggling with some mentality disabilities, but has psychic abilities such as being able to communicate with cats! A very strange novel and difficult to summarize, but I really enjoyed and will read more by Murakami.

The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice

I am still revisting this series, actually, I have only read about six of them and this is the third. I might enjoy this more than the first two. It deals with Lestat, but also focuses on a much older and powerful vampire, Akasha. It's a really ambitious book. The series does start to drop off after this one, but I'll stick with it at least for a while.


Shame by Salman Rushdie

Reading this for the first time. A magical realism booking taking place in a country named Q, which is a stand-in for Pakistan. It revolves largely around two men, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, their relationship, the rise and fall of power, family, and of course, shame. Rushdie is an acquired taste, but I enjoy his work. I didn't like this nearly as much as The Satanic Verses though.

The Girl on the Fridge by Etgar Keret

I wanted to read this author since Neal Stephenson mentioned him. He's an Israeli writer and this is a collection of short stories, that is, really short like 1-4 pages. It's best taken as a whole and these stories deal with absurd situations, the political situation in Israel, and small often odd human interactions. Interesting, but hard for me to get completely into since the stories are so short.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

I re-read this for St. Patrick's, ha! Deals with a young man, Stephen Dedalus, his upbringing, Irish identity, sexuality, among other things. I enjoy Joyce and this is obviously the most accessible of his three novels, but his fascinating and often difficult and challenging in a frustrating sort of way.

 

[adgy-san]

How is it possible that you hadn't read any Murakami before, Orph? His stuff is right up your alley.

 

[orpheus]

How is it possible that you hadn't read any Murakami before, Orph? His stuff is right up your alley.

You'd think, wouldn't you? I am reading Norwegian Wood next.

 

[LetTigerIn]

Murakami!!!

 

[Ice24]

I am reading,

"The Season of the Shoot Out Losses"