The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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Gibson LP

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Just discovered this forum. I flicked through a few back pages and immediately started a new ‘to read’ list which is exactly what I need right now. I’m into SF and lit and there have been heaps of recommendations so thanks for that.
I always return to old sf and fantasy when I’m at a loss but I am keen to discover new authors so I’m going to try some recommended here. I shall try to post updates. Right now I’ve downloaded a preview Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ as I like dystopian fiction. I haven’t read any King and thought I’d give him a try. Hundreds of thousands of readers can’t be wrong.
 

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Apr 28, 2008
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Currently re-reading Orwell's 1984.

Read it last (for the first time) in the early months of 2006 (was my final high school year, some personal reading during the Brave New World/Blade Runner syllabus thing in English). Had also just gone mad for Radiohead, so it tied into that a little bit

Hasn't lost any of its power, a fantastic, insightful book. Knowing what transpires, the Charrington and O'Brien encounters are more interestingly foreboding, everything they say (especially the latter) has that double meaning to it. Whilst the Goldstein book somewhat breaks up the flow, I think its placement is apt (especially given the character exhaustion following the Hate Week Eastasia update). It chillingly warns Winston about the O'Brien mindset and trap at several points. I'm currently in the cells with the skull-man and everything, wonderfully evocative passages.

The beautiful and haunting/chilling imagery is still what gets to me. The image of the sister and mother in the sinking ship. The thrush song. The concept of only having facial freedom respite during lights out in bed. The influence that privacy (even a miniscule alcove) can have in developing independent thought. The party's ultimate drive towards a literal living hell. And being 29 instead of 17 means the political manifesto is more genuinely critiqued and impressive as a result. Even our world has changed a lot in that time. I feel more empathy for characters like Syme, the Parsons, etc. all representing different types, different reactions. I've also had a lot to do with archival and detection work in my work life, so the various practices and their implications depicted speak a lot to me.

I subsequently became a fan of Zamyatin's We in about 2010 (which I've since read 3 times), so whilst they both have a lot in common, they also easily function for me as separate classics, with Orwell's more rigorously realised.

Nice to revisit a classic and enhance your appreciation of it the second time round. I recommend this given the richness it provides to those encounters with Winston's 'betrayers', and how timely the Goldstein book is in developing this eerie foreboding.
 
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Dalbergia

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I need some recommendations.

What's the top 5 books you have read this year?

*It doesn't matter what year the book was published.
 

Dustin Credible

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I need some recommendations.

What's the top 5 books you have read this year?

*It doesn't matter what year the book was published.

In no particular order...

1. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
2. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall
3. The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle
4. What I talk about when I talk about running - Haruki Murakami
5. Black Box Thinking - Matthew Syed

... ticked off a bucket list item of running a marathon this year hence the running books!



On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

Dalbergia

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Dec 15, 2018
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In no particular order...

1. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
2. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall
3. The Culture Code - Daniel Coyle
4. What I talk about when I talk about running - Haruki Murakami
5. Black Box Thinking - Matthew Syed

... ticked off a bucket list item of running a marathon this year hence the running books!



On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Sounds interesting.

I enjoy Murakami's work.
 

Claude Balls

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Zen and the Art of MM. His early descriptions of romantic vs classical thinking as it relates to motorcycle maintenance is reasonably interesting, but his philosophy of ‘quality’ is incoherent.
 

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Use of Weapons:

Quality Scifi that has multiple themes running from politics & capitalism, to philosophy & mental health. Combined with a non linear narrative it made for compelling reading.

Being the only Banks I've experienced, I've immediately launched into Player of Games and I can see myself hitting the Culture series pretty hard these holidays.
 
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Apr 28, 2008
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I read 19 books in 2018, 1 of which was a reread (Orwell's 1984). I didn't read for a couple months of the year whilst too busy.

5 stars
1. Remembering Babylon - David Malouf
My new favourite fiction novel from an Australian author. The other two I read from him this year were coasting by comparison.

4 stars
2. Miller Plays 1: All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A Memory of Two Mondays, A View From the Bridge - Arthur Miller
Technically a partial re-read (The Crucible & Memory of Two Mondays), but the fresh plays and revisits, and especially the lengthy insider introduction by Miller, made this a real treat. The Crucible is even more brilliantly terrifying to me now than when I was a teen.
3. HMS Surprise - Patrick O'Brian
The Aubrey-Maturin series continues its excellence whilst also embracing its more trim serial potential in this 3rd adventure.
4. Moon Palace - Paul Auster
5. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
Ultimately flawed by how overlong and repetitive it becomes, but the central character concept of Jude is totally enthralling.
6. Bleeding Edge - Thomas Pynchon
Pynchon can do no wrong with me, this is squarely in the Vineland/Inherent Vice wheelhouse, a strong, fun read.
7. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
8. The Music of Chance - Paul Auster
9. The Vivisector - Patrick White
My first White, another one that gets a bit long-winded in the second half, but brilliant all the same.
10. Jack and Jill - Helen Hodgman
Not her strongest, but the humour is particularly savage.

3 stars
11. Notes of a Crocodile - Qiu Miaojin
12. Dog Eat Dog - Eddie Bunker
13. Little Sister Death - William Gay
14. Conversations at Curlow Creek - David Malouf
15. Alien Covenant - Alan Dean Foster
16. Johnno - David Malouf
17. That Night - Adam Peacock
18. Alien: Origins - Alan Dean Foster
 
Apr 28, 2008
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I read a lot of Aliens books in the 90s but stopped when I realised they all read the same with scientists experimenting and marines killing xenomorphs.

The best ones were written by Steve Perry.
I've always had a soft spot for the novelisations myself, especially the Alan Dean Foster ones, given how much the film series has meant to me since I was a kid. These were both better than I expected, worthwhile reads for fans of the film.

I've never been particularly interested in the wider non-canon universe. I read a few Dark Horse ones in my youth, but have no attachment to them. Thankfully, the novelisations don't have much of the scientist experimentation and marines.
 
Feb 11, 2012
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I've always had a soft spot for the novelisations myself, especially the Alan Dean Foster ones, given how much the film series has meant to me since I was a kid. These were both better than I expected, worthwhile reads for fans of the film.

Yeah he was the go to guy for for many years for sci fi film novelisations and I can see why. I've only read some of his Star Wars novels and most of his Spellsinger series. Both are pretty good.
 
Mar 19, 2014
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I need some recommendations.

What's the top 5 books you have read this year?

*It doesn't matter what year the book was published.
Bit late but read a few beauties from last year.

1. In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides. Follows the ill-fated North Pole expedition of George de Long and the crew of USS Jeanette. Yes they tried to get there by boat.

2. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Fictionalised account of a Lithuanian family that emigrates to Chicago in the 1900's and their fight to survive. Brutal.

3. Homicide by David Simon. The creator of the greatest TV show spent a year with the Baltimore Homicide Department in the 80's and details the experience magnificently.

4. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. A classic that others would do better justice to than I could.

5. The Straight Dope by Chip le Grand. A balanced look at the Essendon drug saga. What a mess.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Homicide is my fave TV show (The Wire 2nd). I read both that and Anna Karenina in 2010, both among my favourite books. I like your taste with the other reads as well, decent recommendations.
 
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Homicide is my fave TV show (The Wire 2nd). I read both that and Anna Karenina in 2010, both among my favourite books. I like your taste with the other reads as well, decent recommendations.
Thanks! I'll check out the show version now. Do you track your readings or have an amazing memory?

I've added Remembering Babylon to the reading pile btw. Your 2018 list also reminded me to try another Auster novel. I read The Book of Illusions (looking at goodreads account) in 2017 which was great.
 
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I've logged my reads over the last few years, but the memory is fairly solidly situated for about 15-20 years back. Dates get cloudier in the late 90s unless they have some signifying memory associate.

I remember taking those two particular books into work a lot during 2010: Anna Karenina on quieter weekend shifts in late 2010 (Richard Flanagan's adoration of the novel on The Book Club was what finally got me off my ass to finally tackle it). Also read a lot of Homicide on late night weeknight shifts during the dead of winter, I was obsessed with David Simon's shows back then.

Hope you like Remembering Babylon. Malouf is generally a great writer, but I felt he reached his potential on that one. Auster is usually great for a quick pick-up when you can't choose what to read. I'd only previously read The New York Trilogy & Man in the Dark, and these two were closer to the quality of the former, reigniting my interest in him. I saw the film of The Music of Chance, which got me back into reading him. My local library appears to have virtually all of his books thankfully.
 
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