What are you reading?

[Talia]

I am grudgingly reading the accursed Twilight saga. Not due to want- but due to increasing pressure from my peers. Stoopid peers.

I actually rather liked the books. I thought the Jacob Black character added a great deal to the series.

Things get a bit ridiculous halfway through book four, but otherwise pretty fun.

[Scattercat]

I just picked up "The Stuff of Thought," by Steven Pinker.  I love linguistics, psychology, neurobiology, sociology, and various permutations thereof (neuropsychology, psycholinguistics, etc.)  Fascinating stuff so far.  Hopefully it will remain entertaining to the end.

[MacArthurBug]

I am grudgingly reading the accursed Twilight saga. Not due to want- but due to increasing pressure from my peers. Stoopid peers.

I actually rather liked the books. I thought the Jacob Black character added a great deal to the series.

Things get a bit ridiculous halfway through book four, but otherwise pretty fun.

It's not really that I didn't think the books would be readable. They're decent. I just don't understand the mass hysteria over them. My friend, my sister, my sister in law even my mother have been bashing at me physically with these books to make me read them. Saying they're soooo good. Don't get it. Did the writer sell her soul for a great run?

[Scattercat]

It's not really that I didn't think the books would be readable. They're decent. I just don't understand the mass hysteria over them. My friend, my sister, my sister in law even my mother have been bashing at me physically with these books to make me read them. Saying they're soooo good. Don't get it. Did the writer sell her soul for a great run?

"Readable" is generous, in my opinion - Drinking Game: Take a shot every time you see "gorgeous," "perfect," "eyes," or "marble" - but from what I've gathered reading others' opinions, the books apparently perfectly capture a particular facet of adolescence, and particularly (from what I have read) adolescent girls.  Specifically, the timeframe in which one swoons for one's distant True Love, perfected in imagination, who will surely one day sweep down from whatever the hell stupid teenage television show you're watching and carry you away to ultimate happiness forever and ever.

Me, all I see is a creepy stalker with self-control, self-esteem, and serious boundary issues, not to mention the bizarre reluctance to engage in an actual equal relationship with another full person and instead keeping the object of his affections as helpless and powerless as he can.  It skeeves me right the heck out, far too much to wade through any more of that labored prose.

[stePH]

It's not really that I didn't think the books would be readable. They're decent. I just don't understand the mass hysteria over them. My friend, my sister, my sister in law even my mother have been bashing at me physically with these books to make me read them. Saying they're soooo good. Don't get it. Did the writer sell her soul for a great run?

"Readable" is generous, in my opinion - Drinking Game: Take a shot every time you see "gorgeous," "perfect," "eyes," or "marble" - but from what I've gathered reading others' opinions, the books apparently perfectly capture a particular facet of adolescence, and particularly (from what I have read) adolescent girls.  Specifically, the timeframe in which one swoons for one's distant True Love, perfected in imagination, who will surely one day sweep down from whatever the hell stupid teenage television show you're watching and carry you away to ultimate happiness forever and ever.

That, and the romanticizing of vampires never seems to go out of style.

Finished Henderson's Ingathering and began a re-read of V For Vendetta a couple of days ago.  And listening to Meme.

[Sgarre1]

I've never had any inclination to read TWILIGHT because I'm 42 years old and have no desire to return to high school (same reason, in my 30's, I had no interest in BUFFY - sorry, BUFFY fans, no letters please!  And the rest of this comment does not apply to BUFFY in any way).

But the descriptions in this thread of TWILIGHT give me an uncomfortable feeling that someone, consciously or unconsciously, is training the next generation of teenage girls, unknowingly, for a future as submissive bottoms (with the token nod to empowered feistiness, for market reasons and just to add a little spice to the mix) before they even have any concept of the complications of sexuality.  That's probably too broad, and I'll never know because I could care less, but still, there's a creepiness there.  DeSade would be proud.

[Bdoomed]

Lets see....
what have I been reading?
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“The YellowWallpaper”
“Old Woman Magoun”
“The Chrysanthemums”
“The Lottery”
"There Will Come Soft Rains”
“Everyday Use”
“Girl”
“The House on Mango Street”
“YellowWoman”
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
“Barn Burning”
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
“A Late Encounter with the Enemy”
“Rain in the Heart”
“A Rose for Emily”
“My Son the Murderer”
“Two Kinds”
“The Persistence of Desire”
"The Management of Grief”
"Heat"
"Sea Oak"
"Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned"
"Brief Interviews with Hideous Men"
"When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine"
"The Girl in the Flammable Skirt"
"Letters to Wendy's"
"Scarliotti and The Sinkhole"
"The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders"
"The Old Dictionary"

and more short stories to come.
I have 2 classes that revolve around reading short stories
as for novels?  Haven't really had time for much but I've managed to get through most of 2001: A Space Odyssey now, should be finished relatively soon, and then after that I'm going to try to read Ender's Game if I can find the time.

[Sgarre1]

Excellent, Bdoomed!!!

[DKT]

A good man is hard to find

Ah, Flannery O'Connor. That story still hasn't left me. One day, I want to write a short story called A Good Vampire is Hard to Find, but it might not happen for a little while

[stePH]

But the descriptions in this thread of TWILIGHT give me an uncomfortable feeling that someone, consciously or unconsciously, is training the next generation of teenage girls, unknowingly, for a future as submissive bottoms (with the token nod to empowered feistiness, for market reasons and just to add a little spice to the mix) before they even have any concept of the complications of sexuality.  That's probably too broad, and I'll never know because I could care less, but still, there's a creepiness there.  DeSade would be proud.

Sade it all.

 

[Sgarre1]

Finished THE BOOK OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER
Continuing on in THE DEDALUS BOOK OF SURREALISM: THE IDENTITY OF THINGS

Starting, as a bit of a treat, one of the (if not THE) very first books I ever read 30-odd years ago, THE OCTOBER COUNTRY by Ray Bradbury.  Can't beat Bradbury horror....

[gelee]

Have just finished Childhood's End by Clark and Use of Weapons by Banks. I went into both with high expectations, and both delivered big.
That said, I found both to be very sad stories. I'm going to have read something a bit lighter next.
Or not. I'm working on Stephen King's most recent anthology, After Sunset, or something like that.

[jrderego]

I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell - Tucker Max (it's repetitive and annoying, but occasionally very funny).
Idiot America - Charles Pierce (it's okay, a little less flame throwery than I like for social commentary).
The Complete Short Stories of Joseph Conrad Volume 1 (of 4 volumes) - Joseph Conrad. My current favorite writer.
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

[Sandikal]

I'm reading "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie, "Children of the Company" by Kage Baker and "Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson.

[Boggled Coriander]

Just finished a collection of Asimov's early short stories, all stuff he wrote while he was a teenager.  None of them are particularly brilliant, but none of them are horrid either (with the possible exception of "The Magnificent Possession") and it's fascinating to see how he got his start in fiction.

[Bdoomed]

Started Ender's Game the other day

[Ocicat]

Started Ender's Game the other day

At least you'll have read it by the time it's in the novel poll!

[DKT]

Wow, finally finished "I Am Legend" in audio (it takes so much longer to listen to audiobooks when you listen to 10 or so fiction podcasts ). I know I read this book back in college and thought it was pretty good, but holy crap it's AMAZING. The reading absolutely nailed it. So sparse and depressing. So terrifying and heartfelt. And the end is superb. I really can't recommend it enough to anyone who hasn't read it (or like me, has read it and can't really remember that much about it).

[gelee]

I'm reading "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie, "Children of the Company" by Kage Baker and "Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson.

I found "The Blade Itself" to be an outstanding read, along with the the next two in the trilogy.

[stePH]

Got Robert Sawyer's FlashForward from the library yesterday and read first chapter last night.  Unlike the TV series (I think I'm going to be saying that a lot as I read through the book), there's no mystery about the direct cause of the flashes-forward ... it's the firing of the Large Hardon Collider.

One thing that amuses me is that the book was published in 1999, but the opening chapter takes place in April 2009.  So it was written to be set in the near-future, but it's now set in the very recent past; almost present-day. 

[DKT]

So you finished FlashForward, right? Annnnnnnnnnnd?

[stePH]

So you finished FlashForward, right? Annnnnnnnnnnd?

Annnnnnnnnnnd, it's almost -- but not quite -- entirely unlike the television show.  I enjoyed it and am interested in looking for more by Sawyer.

[Sgarre1]

Finished a nostalgic reread of Bradbury's THE OCTOBER COUNTRY (the first real adult book I ever read, way back in the 70's) and also finally wrapped up THE DEDALUS BOOK OF SURREALISM: THE IDENTITY OF THINGS.

Next up:

random short fiction of varying stripes

THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES VOLUME 17 from 1988

WIELAND, OR THE TRANSFORMATION by Charles Brockden Brown, one of the first American novels (from 1798), an example of the under-read (by me, anyway) American Gothic strain and supposedly a favorite of one E.A. Poe!

[Talia]

So you finished FlashForward, right? Annnnnnnnnnnd?

Annnnnnnnnnnd, it's almost -- but not quite -- entirely unlike the television show.  I enjoyed it and am interested in looking for more by Sawyer.

I liked www. Wake quite a bit. (its the first of a trilogy, to warn you - I didnt realize till I'd finished it).

[Bdoomed]

question: I am almost done with Ender's Game.
Sequel: yay or nay?