What are you reading? — Page 2

Oh, good, I thought my wife and I were the only Ffordeophiles around.

How did you like it?  I'm about half way through...  Kind of missing Thursday...  though Thursday is a relatively good replacement.  All of the wittyness of the Literary world is sort of wearing thin on me... I've just read about the Professor trying to spontaneously create metaphor for several pages... let's get back to the cliffhanger from First Among Sequels already!

Enjoyed the book.  Getting a kick out of seeing where Fforde goes.  But he is definitely setting a high bar by doing a whole book with a replacement main character, even if they 'are' the main character.  With all the stufff that's taken place in these books, i've extemely happy to go along for the ride.  He's also got the book world digital conversion issue which maybe he's spacing out it's conclusion to see what does happen in this real world.  But if the Sherlock problem is so huge having multiple Thursdays around will probably help in the long run.  Lots of pieces getting moved around. (I really want a Goliath t-shirt...)

'Shades of Grey' again sets up a wonderful universe, looking forward as well.  Have you tried 'The Last Dragonslayer'?  Complete missed this one, sounds in a different vein but will probably read it eventually.

http://www.jasperfforde.com/dragon/dragon.html

Also if you get the chance definitely see he speak at a book signing or reading.  Lots of fun.  Seen him for every book except this last one and the first, unfortunately the Q&A always has the movie question, but he's got lots of annecdotes.

Currently reading:

"Girls to the Front : The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution" by Sara Marcus

Davnes007 said:

Right now, I'm reading some thread about.......oh, wait...NVM

I just came here to see how many posts until this happened :)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is actually really quite brilliant and one of my favorite PKD stories.

I am currently reading The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. So far a very fun little collection of short sci-fi stories ranges from really good and thought provoking to campy as hell.

Ziggy Stardust said:

I think TheBoost already did a thread on this.

It only got past a couple pages...

I actually made a thread like this long ago. So yeah, there are at least two or three out there but they always sink. Mostly because bkev thinks Isaac Asimov wrote Brave New World.

asterisk8 said:

My buddy just finished reading it. He said, "i didn't like it a whole lot. i felt like it was a cool idea, but not very well executed. could be because it was his first book, but i felt like he didn't develop the characters well enough. i found myself not really pulling for any of the characters. it kinda felt like a vonnegut novel at first, but then it kinda just became mundane and tedious." That launched a big conversation about Vonnegut.

If your buddy claimed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was one of Philip K. Dick's first novels he certainly doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. PKD published around 20 novels prior to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

I have read a ton of Vonnegut and a really unhealthy amount of PKD, the thought of PKD ever sounding anything like Vonnegut actually made me laugh out loud. They are so extremely different.

Unless you and your buddy think an awful lot alike, I think you're pretty safe to completely disregard his review and tackle the book on your own. It is a quick read.

I don't like rereading books. The way I see it, there are more books in the world that I want to read than I will ever have the time to do in my lifetime, so why waste time reading the same one twice. If I do happen to read a book a second time, it is because it is years and years after I last read it and suddenly find myself remembering how much I enjoyed it.

I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman back in January on my Kindle; I was in a used bookstore the other day and found a really cheap trade paper back copy... and now I already find myself feeling nostalgic for the book and getting an urge to reread it. Never read a book twice in the same year before, maybe this will be the first.

Two at once (switching from one to the other when I get a bit bored):

*Just noticed that you've read this as well, C3PS.  I'm a little more than halfway through, and enjoying it immensely.

*This one's dragging a bit, at least compared to A Game of Thrones, which is why (unlike a friend of mine who started the series at the same time I did) I haven't plowed through all 4,000-odd pages of the series just yet.

I'm finally getting around to reading Dune, but I am simultaneously reading The Secret History of Star Wars.  I am a fairly fast reader, but I literally only get to read while I sit on the pot.  Most of the books I get through are actually audio books while I drive for work (some days I spend around 4-5 hours on the road), and I'm pretty demanding when it comes to those, only willing to listen to unabridged versions.  The reader for Dune was pretty lame, though, and as the book is complex, I figured I'd get more details if I read it myself.  The Secret History of Star Wars is interesting; I'd love to read the officially published version, as I'm currently just working through the pdf.

But as for the audiobooks, I'm currently listening to The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (my least favorite so far).

I started to read The Fellowship of the Ring months ago, and stopped after getting halfway through to take a break from it.

More recently I was reading The Bachman Books. I decided to take a break from it once I got to Roadwork and lost interest.

I'm now reading The Lost World by Michael Crichton. So far it's okay, not great, but still a lot better than the shitty film.

xhonzi said:

The Mrs. and I just finished Mocking Jay, the third Hunger Games book.  It tooks us most of a year to get through the first half- then we read the last half in a weekend.  I had heard that the book was a real let down after the first two, but I was determined to enjoy it.  Well... the first half is hard to enjoy.  It really picks up in the second half, right up until the rather disappointing ending.

 

We?

Just curious how this works.

darth_ender said:

But as for the audiobooks, I'm currently listening to The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (my least favorite so far).

That one is my favorite! A lot better than the second book, that one and the Magician's Nephew are the ones I like the least.

DuracellEnergizer said:

...and stopped after getting halfway through to take a break from it.

...I decided to take a break from it...

I'm now reading The Lost World by Michael Crichton. So far it's okay, not great, but still a lot better than the shitty film.

You don't finish a whole lot of books, do you? ;)

I actually read The Lost World before Jurassic Park, and I really, really, really loved it, so much so that I went out and bought Jurassic Park first chance I got and read it immediately after. I still love those two books. I guess they are kind of silly, but I really like the way they are written, and the subject matter fascinates me.

CP3S said:

You don't finish a whole lot of books, do you? ;)

Well, The Bachman Books are really just four seperate novels collected into one volume, so you could say I finished two books and just didn't start on the third =D

Had found an interesting list of books, got some awhile ago and have had time to read of late.

Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan : http://www.goonan.com/queencityjazz.html

90s nanotech book, expected a larger scope but the book turns into an inventor invention discussion.  Not what I was expecting, which is a good thing.  Twilight Zoney.

Vert by Jeff Noon : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Noon

Pulpy take of virtual shared drug experience and the sister of the main character who gets 'transferred' and 'exchanged' and is the quest for the characters.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi : http://windupstories.com/

Although the title plays a significant but lesser role, the world created and the interaction of the main players is what make this a great book.

Looking forward to Neal Stephenson's 'Reamde' next month.

^That reminds of when I was in Grade 10. Everyone in the class was supposed to give an oral book report. This one punk went up and gave his on The Shining. When he eventually got to the end of his report, his final comment was: "it was an awesome movie".

I don't think he got a good score for that one XD