What are you reading?

Dar_Klink said:
Going to go for The Urth of the New Sun next and then I might try out some of Gene Wolfe's other stories.
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Glad to hear you liked it as well! Urth is definitely next up. Finish the saga, then I’d say try something new as a palette cleanser.

When you’re ready for more Wolfe, I’d also highly recommend Wizard Knight, despite its incredibly generic title. I’m sure I wrote something up about that when I finished it last year. I’ve read it three times in total since then. If I find it i’ll update this reply.

Update, found it:
In brief, it's special to me because it's a genuine heroic fantasy. No anti-hero bullshit. It's simple, wholesome, and genuine in a surprisingly cool way. That went a long way for me, because it has always felt to me like most modern fantasy books are iterations on a theme: Cynical one-upsmanship. And this felt like a fresh return to what a new fantasy story could feel like if it shed all of that accumulated genre gunk.
 
Walter said:
Glad to hear you liked it as well! Urth is definitely next up. Finish the saga, then I’d say try something new as a palette cleanser.

When you’re ready for more Wolfe, I’d also highly recommend Wizard Knight, despite its incredibly generic title. I’m sure I wrote something up about that when I finished it last year. I’ve read it three times in total since then. If I find it i’ll update this reply.

Update, found it:
In brief, it's special to me because it's a genuine heroic fantasy. No anti-hero bullshit. It's simple, wholesome, and genuine in a surprisingly cool way. That went a long way for me, because it has always felt to me like most modern fantasy books are iterations on a theme: Cynical one-upsmanship. And this felt like a fresh return to what a new fantasy story could feel like if it shed all of that accumulated genre gunk.
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I actually saw Wizard Knight at the book store I went to earlier, I almost bought it but decided to wait a bit since I've bought a ton of books/comics/manga lately without reading much of them.

I'd like to read Fifth Head of Cerberus as well.

On another note, it's been cool seeing over time the references Final Fantasy XIV has to BotNS
Character named Severian Lyctor
An enemy character's special attack called Terminus Est
Main villains called Ascians
A quest called Rise of a New Sun that when finished gives you "The Solar Cycle" achievement.
As well as some thematic/story things that could be simply treading similar ground but some of the writers and the translator(who also writes lore for the game) are definitely fans.

There's also the Symphony of the Night sword translated as "Terminus Est" although it's a Beowolf reference Hrunting in the original, so that's on the translator.

I think you posted about them before, but you've seen the Yoshitaka Amano BotNS covers right?

While looking into those I found an interesting article on the Japanese translation of the series

https://ultan.org.uk/japanese-lexicon-for-the-book-of-the-new-sun/
 
Aazealh said:
I'm reading a book about executioners and what their job entailed from the middle ages to the abolition of the death penalty in France. It's pretty rad.
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Sounds interesting. Still hard to believe that was a viable profession for so long. I don’t think I’d have the stomach for it. :void:

I’m currently reading The Making of The Empire Strikes Back. It’s a gorgeous hardcover book I got from my in-laws for my birthday this year. I’m loving the full-page McQuarrie art.
 
Aazealh said:
I'm reading a book about executioners and what their job entailed from the middle ages to the abolition of the death penalty in France. It's pretty rad.
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Reminds me of the manga Innocent, which centers on the French Revolution Era executioner, Charles Sanson. I loved that manga. I'll assume you've read it already, but if you haven't then I recommend it!
 
Walter said:
Glad to hear you liked it as well! Urth is definitely next up. Finish the saga, then I’d say try something new as a palette cleanser.
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Finished Urth now as well, what an insane ride that was, even compared to the rest. I'm going to order the book so I can re-read certain segments since it was hard to parse some stuff via audiobook while driving, I want to see if i can understand everything happening during the Apu-Punchau section.

Not sure what I'll go for next but as for what I read(listened to) leading up to starting New Sun over:
Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Haunter of the Dark, Shadow over Innsmouth, The Shadow out of Time, The Color out of Space, and The Whisperer in Darkness.
Wanted to try out Lovecraft since I'd never actually read any of his stuff and felt it was a giant blind spot(not that many people who "love" cosmic horror seem to have actually read his stuff anyway lol) My favorites were Shadow over Innsmouth, Mountains of Madness, and Whisperer in Darkness but I did enjoy all of them. I'm glad to find out he started to reject some of his bigotry and racism at an older age when he'd actually traveled more, Innsmouth was great but the big ending twist being a very thinly veiled "oh god what if I'm not racially pure!??!" was pretty blatant. Any other stuff you'd recommend of his over the rest I haven't read yet? I just sort of went by "I know this one is important" and then by "this is available on youtube/spotify and the narrator is okay" rather than trying to do too much research.

I also listened to the audiobooks for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Rum Diary for a change of pace. I grew up with a sort of dislike of Hunter S. Thompson for some weird reason, mostly just disliking DRUG CULTURE in my teens/early adult life enough to skip out on stuff people like that were into. I enjoyed them a lot and still need to watch the Fear/Loathing movie. Dunno if the Rum Diary movie comes recommended.

I also started listening to A Confederacy of Dunces which was interesting but I think the narration in it got to be a bit much and I was getting burnt out on audiobooks from then until I jump back into New Sun.

I miiight try out Brandon Sanderson's fantasy/sci-fi stuff next.
 
While continuing to read The Making of the Empire Strikes Back, which has very tiny type and is difficult to read in bed before turning out the light, I read Darwin's Blade by Dan Simmons and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino.

Darwin's Blade was another interesting one from Simmons, right up there with The Crook Factory. It's about an accident investigator for a small insurance company owned and operated by a character from one of Dan's earlier books, Summer of Night. He's a former Vietnam sniper who ends up being targeted by Russian organized crime due to a prior accident investigation he was involved in. I could hardly put it down after a chapter or two. Highly recommended for those looking for a fun thriller to read over a weekend.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is one of my favorite Tarantino flicks, and I still can't put my finger on why. It's not really about anything, other than a day or two in the life of an on-the-outs star of westerns and his best friend/stunt double, but I love it. I love that time period in the history of Hollywood, too. It was the end of the Hays code and the beginning of the revolution in film that would be the 1970s. Plus, a lot of foreign films were just starting to hit America's shores, so we were being exposed to some amazing stuff from France, Germany, China and Japan, just to name a few. All that being said, the novel isn't a straight retelling of the movie. It goes into the backstories of the characters that I'm sure exist for almost every major character in a Tarantino film, but usually don't see the light of day. It took me about a week to read, and I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would (and I was expecting to enjoy it a lot). Not bad for Tarantino's first outing as a novelist. I'm hoping he does it again.

Next up is Clive Barker's Weaveworld!
 
Just finished reading Lone Wolf and Cub. I'm so happy that I read on Patreon that it was one of Miura's favoutire stories to re-watch, thanks to Puella's translation of the big interview.
The story was so unique, it evoked so many different feelings I didn't think I had before!? Similar to a very motherly feeling towards Guts in his younger years...
Also something about a good story's ending being finalized in a very beautiful, balanced yet painful way made me all teary eyed because Berserk never got that. Next up is Samurai Executioner by the same golden duo! Has anyone read that? Feels so weird that the characters in both LW&C and SE are drawing in a similar way... But I don't mind since 1. He looks so cool and 2. it might fill the hole left by the newly finished story. I try to think of it as if the character is reincarnated. Haha!
 
Aazealh said:
I haven't, but it sounds interesting. Let me know what you think when you're done with it.
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This was such an unusual reading experience. The episodic format and the main theme of the story (execution) go so well hand in hand. There are alot of intresting side characters and alot of violence and with the comfort (?) of things ending in the same way. Overall it felt like a stationary version of L W & C (without the revenge, ninja and parent-child aspect to it). I don't know if it's how Berserk has wired my reading brain but the depicted gore, disturbing domestic violence and sorrow didn't trigger any need for heavy emotional regulation for me. Maybe it was the visual narration that made the reading less reactive and the story a bit distant... On the topic of art: Gorgeous!!! Would recommend!
 
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Looking through my reading history, I realized that I've primarily been reading Cormac McCarthy and Gene Wolfe's books for the past 5 years. So even if I don't update here regularly, just know that I'm probably reading something from those two guys :guts:

Over the spring, I re-read the James Elroy underworld trilogy, which kicks off with the showstopper: American Tabloid. For anyone who liked L.A. Confidential, this is from the same writer, but it's his best-regarded work. It's historical fiction set from the late 50s through the 70s, chronicling the downfall of the Kennedys, Hoover, and the mafia. The other books aren't essential, but conclude the character arcs started in the first book.

I also read Between Two Fires earlier in the year—a standalone (imagine that!) dark fantasy novel set around 800AD, depicting christian angels/demons roosting and conspiring in the dark ages. The setting intrigued me the most, but I also read someone said it had some Berserk vibes, so I was curious. I was naturally skeptical of course, because I feel like it's rarely true. Superificial similarities in a dark fantasy are a dime a dozen (this one has skeletons! remember that scene in Berserk with skeletons?!). But I was surprised to find that this wasn't too much of an exaggeration. One of the demons has striking similarities with the sea god, right down to reanimating/mimicking its victims, who then tell others that they'll "soon be married under the sea." Other than the novelty of that, I didn't think it was very well written, and it completely vacated my brain once I finished it.

I'm finally starting Book of the Short Sun the last (third) sequence of books in Gene Wolfe's "Solar Cycle." This is the series that kicked off with the Book of the New Sun, which has been one of my favorites. So starting down the last stretch is something I've been saving for myself. These books were written in the latter parts of Wolfe's career, but at least somewhat conceived earlier in his career. So I admire the craft of them, but so far it lacks the power of his earlier material. I still admire the circumstance/predicament that he's created for this portion of the series, even if the A to B nature of the story is a bit tedious. It still produces this puzzle-solving effect that every Wolfe book I've read inspires, where I'm constantly rolling it around and considering things between reads. The only exception being Book of the Long Sun, which I felt was kinda "Ehh, maybe if I were Catholic, I'd like it more?"
 
Walter said:
Looking through my reading history, I realized that I've primarily been reading Cormac McCarthy and Gene Wolfe's books for the past 5 years. So even if I don't update here regularly, just know that I'm probably reading something from those two guys :guts:
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What's funny is I read through the New Sun original series and Urth as my main big reads about a year ago and then about a week before Cormac McCarthy died I started to read No Country for Old Men on a whim, which I had seen the movie of years ago and wanted to re-experience in its original form before re-watching the movie. Just like last time the movie was amazing and I greatly enjoyed the book. I feel like the movie almost elevates the book in a way with the acting, direction, and extremely minimalist sound design.

I also read/audiobook'd through The Road, audio because I was driving up North for my sister's wedding and had 8 hours to listen. Very depressing and intense read, I do plan to watch the movie but I already know it won't be anywhere near the level of a Coen Bros movie but I'd still like to see it. I don't cry too often to books but the part where
the son thought he saw a little boy in one of the abandon towns and was begging his dad to go back to find him got to me more than the ending did even.
 I imagine the book hits a ton harder if you have a child especially one in the 8-12 age range. I will say that doing an audiobook of it was probably suboptimal in some ways since the way McCarthy writes has a very specific flow to it as you actually read it but listening to the book while traveling gave the trip a very specific atmosphere to the point where a Burger King being closed 10 minutes early felt like a devastating event :troll:

Now I'm reading and, while driving to work, listening to Blood Meridian, which I tried reading years ago but wasn't in the mood for something so dense at the time. I also had a very annoying friend involved with an online "book club" that for some reason complained endlessly about having to read a GENRE NERD BOOK like Dune and felt embarrassed having to go to the Sci-Fi section at a book store to buy it that was pushing Blood Meridian so I didn't go into it in the best mood haha. This time around I am enjoying it though, I'm around chapter 7 where the gang is first getting together.
 
I highly recommend reading Child of God and Suttree. Suttree is a lot like Blood Meridian in that it's also a book set in hell: Knoxville, Tennessee. It has a lot of comedy to it. It's hard not to laugh when a dude is introduced as the guy who goes to jail for fucking watermelons. Child of God is my favorite of Cormac's works. It's highly recommended reading for October since it fits very well in the horror genre (as does The Outer Dark).

I'm currently reading At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis. It's about a Senegalese soldier during the Great War. It's short (145 pages), it's violent, it does a great job putting you into the trenches. I highly recommend it.

I also started listening to more audiobooks. I just have to say that, based on the booktubers my wife follows, it's fucking nuts to listen to a work of writing at any speed higher than 1.2 speed. Are you even enjoying the book at this point? I listen at 1 speed and still need to frequently rewind. When I worked with JAwS (Job Access with Speech), I could listen to that at 2 or 2.5 speed because I'm listening for specific words and not trying to listen to an entire paragraph.

Books I've listened to this year on audiobook: 1) The Devil in the White City: Good book, I've struggled to read it so I picked up the audiobook to help me finish the book. 2) The Troop by Nick Cutter, I enjoyed this a lot. It's a little over 16 hours. 3) Little Heaven also by Nick Cutter, I'm not enjoying this one as much, finally at 70% of the book it's finally getting good.
 
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Wow. I haven't posted about what I've been reading since Weaveworld? Well, to start off with, I abandoned Weaveworld halfway through. I just didn't care about any of the characters, and I wasn't enjoying the narrative very much.

Faerie Tale: One of Raymond E. Feist's rare non-Riftwar books (maybe the only one? I'm not sure off the top of my head). It was okay. I thought the main female protagonist was over-sexualized, but the fantasy elements were pretty cool. It's a slow burn, but once it got going, it was hard to put down.

Vampire Hunter D Volume 2: Raiser of Gales: Oof. I did not like this one. Between the juvenile portrayal of the main female protagonist for most of the book to the clumsy, way-to-complicated-for-such-a-simple-story narrative, I found myself really struggling to get through it. In the end, I basically finished it for the lore. I'm a huge fan of the two anime films (Bloodlust in particular), and I enjoyed the first book, so I was pretty disappointed in this one. It won't stop me from reading the rest, though. :void:

Dying of the Light: Like A Song for Lya, this book is also set in George R. R. Martin's "Thousand Worlds" universe. I knew almost nothing about the novel going in, which is the way to go in my opinion. The story itself is quite simple, but the real joy comes from Martin's world-building and his characters. Garse Janacek might be one of my favorites of all-time. :guts: I hope Martin returns to the Thousand Worlds after (if?) he finishes A Song of Ice and Fire. I've enjoyed almost everything he's written that takes place there.

Hardcase: Dan Simmons tries his hand at pulp fiction and mostly succeeds. It's short, brutal and a lot of fun. I haven't read many pulp novels myself (which I may need to remedy), but I'm looking forward to reading more. Simmons has two more set in the same universe, so there's more fun to be had with Kurtz and company in my future. Highly recommended for a plane ride or for some light reading on the beach.

Cabal: Very much an allegory for the LGBTQ community, which was probably very unique when it first was written. Still enjoyable today, and very much recommended for fans of Barker's work. I tried to watch its adaptation, Nightbreed, several years ago, but couldn't get through it. I found out later I wasn't watching the director's cut, which is apparently much better, so I might have to give the movie another try one of these days. I loved the casting of Cronenberg as Decker. :badbone:
 
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
Books I've listened to this year on audiobook: 1) The Devil in the White City: Good book, I've struggled to read it so I picked up the audiobook to help me finish the book. 2) The Troop by Nick Cutter, I enjoyed this a lot. It's a little over 16 hours. 3) Little Heaven also by Nick Cutter, I'm not enjoying this one as much, finally at 70% of the book it's finally getting good.
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Woof! Let's just say I'm never reading Nick Cutter again. I liked The Troop, but Little Heaven is just another example of the importance of workshopping and the need for skilled editors.

Since then I listened to Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak. I absolutely hated that. Maybe I should read less... But then I read Open Throat by Henry Hoke. That book is a fucking blast.

I'm currently reading The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. It's definitely not my favorite of his works but I'm not very far into it so my opinion is likely to change.
 
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
Woof! Let's just say I'm never reading Nick Cutter again. I liked The Troop, but Little Heaven is just another example of the importance of workshopping and the need for skilled editors.

Since then I listened to Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak. I absolutely hated that. Maybe I should read less... But then I read Open Throat by Henry Hoke. That book is a fucking blast.

I'm currently reading The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. It's definitely not my favorite of his works but I'm not very far into it so my opinion is likely to change.
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Oh hey, speaking of Cormac McCarthy, I began reading Blood Meridian back in June after hearing about it online. Cormac passed only a few days after I bought the book. Unfortunate coincidence, rip mr. McCarthy.

The book is great so far. It’s very slow but I’m really enjoying it. His writing style is entrancing, especially when he does one of those crazy long sentences that take up over half a page.

Admittedly my reading of it has been sporadic. I’m only about 130 pages in. When I finish the book I’ll return and leave my thoughts. Very solid so far.
 
Maco_2000 said:
Oh hey, speaking of Cormac McCarthy, I began reading Blood Meridian back in June after hearing about it online. Cormac passed only a few days after I bought the book. Unfortunate coincidence, rip mr. McCarthy.

The book is great so far. It’s very slow but I’m really enjoying it. His writing style is entrancing, especially when he does one of those crazy long sentences that take up over half a page.

Admittedly my reading of it has been sporadic. I’m only about 130 pages in. When I finish the book I’ll return and leave my thoughts. Very solid so far.
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It's too late for you, but I think All the Pretty Horses is a fantastic entry point for McCarthy, whereas Blood Meridian is like having a Thanksgiving feast for your first date. When all is said and done, they're quite similar in many ways. Horses is just more fun to get through, in my opinion.
 
All The Pretty Horses is fantastic as are the other books of the Boarder Trilogy: The Crossing and Cities of the Plain. Though The Crossing is more in line with Blood Meridian than the first and third book of the Trilogy.

I will highly encourage everyone checkout Child of God. It's my favorite of his books. Though to be honest all of his books deserve to be read.

Edit: Walter have you seen this article about earlier drafts of Blood Meridian? https://slate.com/culture/2012/10/cormac-mccarthys-blood-meridian-early-drafts-and-history.html
 
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Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
drafts of Blood Meridian? https://slate.com/culture/2012/10/cormac-mccarthys-blood-meridian-early-drafts-and-history.html
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Nope! Thanks for linking, I’ll check it out.

I’ve been reading John Romero’s autobiography, Doom Guy. Romero is one half of the core of the original id software. It’s great to get his perspective on the rise and fall of that company, but I’m sorry to say that his writing really makes for a boringly told story about one of the coolest times in PC gaming.
 
I recently read books written by Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein .I also read some light novels, otherwise reading monographs all the time is a little tired.
 
I’m in the middle of The October Country by Ray Bradbury. His ability to subtlety horrify on the one hand and tug at my heartstrings on the other never ceases to amaze me. One of my favorite writers.
 
Rhombaad said:
I’m in the middle of The October Country by Ray Bradbury. His ability to subtlety horrify on the one hand and tug at my heartstrings on the other never ceases to amaze me. One of my favorite writers.
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I've read Fahrenheit 451 by him and it was ok at best. It might be I had quite a high standard and expectation at the time because I had just finished 1984. It's not easy to better that.

Right now, I am reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'm just starting it but there has already been blood and guts (lol) and mutilated corpses. Not disappointed.
 
blodvind said:
I've read Fahrenheit 451 by him and it was ok at best. It might be I had quite a high standard and expectation at the time because I had just finished 1984. It's not easy to better that.
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I agree. It's not bad, but it is by far the weakest of the dystopian "holy trinity" (the other two being 1984 and Brave New World, both great and some of my favorite books in general).
 
Somnambulist said:
I agree. It's not bad, but it is by far the weakest of the dystopian "holy trinity" (the other two being 1984 and Brave New World, both great and some of my favorite books in general).
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I also agree, though I would call it bad (but not terrible). I'd also add 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin to the list, which I would place above Fahrenheit 451.

Currently reading 'The Samurai' by Shusaku Endo which I'm enjoying thoroughly. It's from the same writer as 'Silence' and has a lot of similarities. It's about a few of the first Japanese that visit Europe and the resulting clash of cultures etc. It can be a bit repetitive with it's ideas at times though.

I also picked Berserk as the book to read in my book club, I'm looking forward to the next meeting!
 
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