What are you reading?

[Drew Corleone]

Shaggy has this thread and I enjoy looking through it for recs, though I have been terrible about reading anything the past two years. I started 4-5 books during that time (a few fiction, a few non-fiction related to my job), but did not finish anything. In the past I have set a "one book per month" goal, which I came close to accomplishing several times but never quite did. But this year I have set a goal to finish 15 books.

This week I finished American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, which i actually started in April and got about a third of the way through by the end of Summer before I put it on hiatus. It's about an ex-con that finds himself enveloped by a brewing war between "old" and "new" gods, in corporeal form. The set-up drags in places, and the occasional non-sequitors, describing the rise and rituals of gods from across the world (some you'd recognize), get tiresome after a while, but i found the main narrative compelling.

After that I started The Martian: A Novel, about an American astronaut that is marooned on mars when the rest of his team aborts their mission and - thinking him dead - leaves him behind. It's surprisingly lighthearted so far (I'm about 90 or 100 pages into it) and I'm enjoying it.

After this is done I have a few fiction recs I plan to tackle at some point:

Neverwhere, another Neil Gaiman, which I know little about, but noticed that a guy said he liked more than American Gods on the FB post I made about the latter
Ready Player One, an Evan rec, which I understand appeals to 80s/90s kids with its pop culture nostalgia
Galveston, a Kevin rec, by the same guy that did True Detective - it felt like it might be a little too much immediately after the last book

So... what are you reading?

[eochs]

I've been reading a lot of trash fiction lately and loving it... Right now reading:

Wool - This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

It's part of a 3 book series - Wool/Shift/Dust. Supposedly Ridley Scott is developing a movie series based on this. I have 50 pages left in the first book and cannot put it down. Great character development and story.

http://www.scified.com/news/1341

http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Trilogy-Hugh ... hugh+howey

I think the best way to describe it is if you were a fan of Lost, you will enjoy this. I've got Kindle Unlimited (netflix for kindle books) for $10 a month and the books were available on it. If you need I'm sure I can grab them off of torrent or something and give you free epubs.

[UTwiz]

Defending Jacob

Good.

[12ozLongneck]

Back on A Dance WIth Dragons. I'm not in any big hurry to finish it since I don't want to have to wait 3 years for the next book, but I guess I need to finish it before GoT Season 5 gets rolling in April.

[McKinneyHorn]

I've been reading a lot of trash fiction lately and loving it... Right now reading:

Wool - This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

It's part of a 3 book series - Wool/Shift/Dust. Supposedly Ridley Scott is developing a movie series based on this. I have 50 pages left in the first book and cannot put it down. Great character development and story.

http://www.scified.com/news/1341

http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Trilogy-Hugh ... hugh+howey

I think the best way to describe it is if you were a fan of Lost, you will enjoy this. I've got Kindle Unlimited (netflix for kindle books) for $10 a month and the books were available on it. If you need I'm sure I can grab them off of torrent or something and give you free epubs.

Great Trilogy; Hugh Howey did a good job with the character development and story line.

Currently reading The Scourge trilogy; dark humor with the GOT medieval timing with a "zombie" twist described as the plague. Finished book 1, in the middle of book 2. Page turner...

[eochs]

Yeah, partway through the second book "Shift" now... Combo of reading via kindle unlimited and listening via audible on drives back and forth to san antonio... this morning listened to the chapter with the National Anthem being sung while the craziness in 2052 happens... Holy crap that was awesome

can't say enough good things about Hugh Howey right now

also, these types of trilogies (Hunger Games, Maze Runner, etc, etc) are usually about teenagers and all the teenage angst crap... Gets so tiring, nice to have one of these be about adults

[Drew Corleone]

A while back Evan recommended Ready Player One to me, and I finally started reading on Monday night. It's about a virtual reality that essentially serves as the actual reality for many people, 30 years in the future from now. A Zuckerburg/Jobs type icon with an 80s/90s fetish dies and leaves his immense fortune to whomever can "win" an elaborate game he has constructed within the VR world.

It's a quick read (I am about 20% of the way already) and I enjoy the nostalgia, and I suspect that the adventure will be fun to follow, but... the writing is pretty bad. Cringe-inducing bad. It's not uncommon among first-person narratives whose main character isn't named Holden Caulfield, but still, the dialogue especially bothers me.

Speilberg is turning this into a movie, and I think he can make it work based on what I have read so far.

[eochs]

I'll agree that the writing is not good, at all... But the story and the pop culture is so damn good that it makes it a fun read... Seriously can't wait for this movie

[Drew Corleone]

Finished Ready Player One over the weekend and I started thinking about who might play the characters in the film, but since you don't really meet them until the last few pages I'm not sure how they would do it. Michael Rooker would have made a great Sorrento in his younger days.

Already halfway through Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan. I am well aware of his style and themes, but given that one description I have read of it cites its dismissal of organized religion, I think it's odd that one of the most cogent passages thus far comes from a pastor that serves as a caricature of Christianity. Despite the many areas in which I see things differently from Vonnegut, I am enjoying this much as I did Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle (was not particularly fond of Breakfast of Champions).

[eochs]

I've had that thought too... Do they make the OASIS super HD and just look like the real world? Do they do a green hue like when in the matrix? Do they pixelate a little bit with camera filters?

I kind of prefer someone a bit more used car salesman sleeze for Sorrento... Maybe like a Rob Lowe type... Or maybe someone younger like Topher Grace... Kevin Spacey would be great but a bit old

Ogden Morrow HAS to be Jeff Bridges, after picturing that how could it be anyone else?

What did you think of the book after finishing?


Doing google searches of actors people suggest for roles in the movie, and came across this quote... It made me sad: "Just heard an interview with Robin Williams who said he is currently reading the book and would love to be in the movie if ever made."

[12ozLongneck]

It's been a very long time since I read Sirens of Titan, but if I recall correctly the ending hits the "Believe whatever makes you happy" note. I probably need to go back and reread that one.

[Drew Corleone]

I've had that thought too... Do they make the OASIS super HD and just look like the real world? Do they do a green hue like when in the matrix? Do they pixelate a little bit with camera filters?

I kind of prefer someone a bit more used car salesman sleeze for Sorrento... Maybe like a Rob Lowe type... Or maybe someone younger like Topher Grace... Kevin Spacey would be great but a bit old

Ogden Morrow HAS to be Jeff Bridges, after picturing that how could it be anyone else?

What did you think of the book after finishing?

Doing google searches of actors people suggest for roles in the movie, and came across this quote... It made me sad: "Just heard an interview with Robin Williams who said he is currently reading the book and would love to be in the movie if ever made."

Wow... Yeah, Bridges for Morrow, for sure. Not sure who Robin Williams would have played. Morrow is the only one that makes sense, but Bridges seems like a better choice. Emma Watson would make a great Art3mis.

I liked it as straight-up "fast food fiction" - did not want to put it down, in fact. The tired cliches and pedestrian literary tropes bothered me less the further in I read.

[Drew Corleone]

It's been a very long time since I read Sirens of Titan, but if I recall correctly the ending hits the "Believe whatever makes you happy" note. I probably need to go back and reread that one.

That is really the vibe I have gotten from all of his stuff.

[eochs]

I've had that thought too... Do they make the OASIS super HD and just look like the real world? Do they do a green hue like when in the matrix? Do they pixelate a little bit with camera filters?

I kind of prefer someone a bit more used car salesman sleeze for Sorrento... Maybe like a Rob Lowe type... Or maybe someone younger like Topher Grace... Kevin Spacey would be great but a bit old

Ogden Morrow HAS to be Jeff Bridges, after picturing that how could it be anyone else?

What did you think of the book after finishing?

Doing google searches of actors people suggest for roles in the movie, and came across this quote... It made me sad: "Just heard an interview with Robin Williams who said he is currently reading the book and would love to be in the movie if ever made."

Wow... Yeah, Bridges for Morrow, for sure. Not sure who Robin Williams would have played. Morrow is the only one that makes sense, but Bridges seems like a better choice. Emma Watson would make a great Art3mis.

I liked it as straight-up "fast food fiction" - did not want to put it down, in fact. The tired cliches and pedestrian literary tropes bothered me less the further in I read.

Yeah, the story is so engrossing that the bad writing fades away... I've also listened to it on audible in addition to reading it (lots of drives to san antonio), and the writing is worse to listen to but having Will Wheaton narrate is oddly perfect... I could see Emma Watson's personality, but for the few minutes you do see her IRL she is supposed to be pretty curvy and average weight like her avatar... I could maybe see Williams as Halladay, he can/could pull off the withdrawn personality...