172 replies to this topic

[BigWigRah]

finished "The Plague Dogs" yesterday. I'm a little embarrassed that it took me a week and change to read, but I got it done. Long story short, it's a fantastic read. It didn't quite effect me in the way that "Watership" did, but it's a well written story full of political intrigue and suspense. The ending did feel a little "deus ex machina," but it did show us a side I didn't expect from Mr. Powell and Driver. It was also a bit odd with the author including Ronald Lockley in the story, referring back to "Watership Down" indirectly, but it provided an interesting analysis of "responsible, well informed" animal rights support (aka not PETA).

I'd love to read Lockley's "Private Life of the Rabbit," but can't find it. So for now i'm moving on to Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces." you may be noticing a theme here in my reading.

[furrykef]

More of a textbook than anything else, but this morning I started on chapter 15 of Wheelock's Latin (after a long hiatus) and now I finished chapter 16. I used to have a love/hate relationship with Latin, but I think most of what's hard about it has faded away, so I can ditch the 'hate' part.

[fishtheimpaler]

Trying to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's cute, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. It's making me want to reread Pride and Prejudice first before trying it again.

While I was sick I burned through Savage Night, as part of my new "read more Jim Thompson" resolution. Really good! Part of its effect requires a bit of misdirection about the overall thrust of the story, so let it just be said that it's an utter nightmare. My train reading as I try to re-acclimate to going to work is going to be Pop. 1280, which so far has a main character that strikes me as a comic retread or prefiguration of the protagonist of The Killer Inside Me (not sure which was written first).

[chalcara]

Harry Potter, Lilith Saintcrow's Dante books, Daniel Weber's Honor Harrington and Scott McClouds works about comics.

I've got an ecclectic taste.

[fishtheimpaler]

Pop. 1280 is the funniest book I've ever read about a man's terminal, psychotic flameout!

[Chaosmaster8753]

Whatever's on the screen.

[Tristan Palmgren]

Whatever's on the screen.

Just to preempt the smartasses--no, these forums don't count.

ಠ_ಠ

[Tristan Palmgren]

Oh no doublepost! Someone report this to the admins!

I started Glen Cook's The Black Company. Dark military fantasy about a mercenary company, and, natch, the first of a series. It's wonderful so far. I'll probably be compelled to go on.

[fishtheimpaler]

Blood Meridian--with swords???

Finishing up The Cyberiad, Stanislaw Lem's book of cute fairy tales about a pair of bickering master scientists/wizards. It's pretty light and fun. Recent politics has me liking most the malfunctioning computer that turns to violence when its creator refuses to take seven for an answer (to two plus two).

[Tristan Palmgren]

Blood Meridian--with swords???

Yes! Except not as lyrical.

My god, Blood Meridian was the grimmest, goriest book I've ever read.

[chalcara]

Harry Potter 3. I love this book. It's the best in the series.

[wildfire]

Azkaban was my fave too. I like Sirus Black, easily my favorite character. Dumbledore comes second, and Snape third.

[fishtheimpaler]

About a quarter of the way into Distraction, the third novel I'm reading by Bruce Sterling and the second-best so far (after Schismatrix). Liking the way he sets up a future setting where the United States has experienced severe economic reversals and global warming has played hell with the entire planet but the situation nonetheless doesn't feel like an Official Sci-Fi Dystopia. Nonetheless, still a strong central conflict shaping up, complex in its details and simple in its basic outline, which both reflects an underlying crisis of federalism and plays on some rather classic political archetypes: patriotic, savvy, borderline sociopathic key adviser to very wealthy but civic-minded Massachusetts senator (not actually named "Kennedy") versus cagey, brutal kleptocrat governor of Louisiana (see, e.g., any governor of Louisiana ever). Trademark cruel Sterling satire. E.g., the protagonist is actually a bastard of black-market science, the victim and beneficiary of bizarre gene splicing that gives him some rather inhuman personality traits. Every political operative he meets refers to this as his "personal background problem."

[Tristan Palmgren]

I read so slowly. Just started Shadows Linger, the next book in The Black Company series.

[MaRaMa-TSG]

Mosby's Paramedic Textbook, studying for a test I forgot I have tomorro.... erm, in about 8 hours before I sleep for like, 4. DX

[Ratty Randnums]

and Snape third.

In retrospect Snape was easily the most compelling character in the books. I just wish the last one had been more focused rather than an obvious attempt to literally outweigh the others. You could skip a whole novels worth of that moodily wondering around in the woods to get to the good, actual ending of the story with no real loss of character depth or development.

I don't have enough time to read what I want with homework ;.; though apparently I have time to dick around in paint, so here's this instead.


Homework assignment: Come up with a better caption for the second panel. If you're more well rested than I am it shouldn't be hard.
This will count as a group exercise for some reason.

[BigWigRah]

I am loving the University Library Tower right now, ugly building that it is. Whenever I go to the B&N for Richard Adams again, they only have the same three novels I already own. My library has a lot more that I can check out, as I have discovered today. In fact, they have NINE FLOORS of books, TOP THAT.

Reading Richard Adams/Ronald Lockley's "Voyage through the Antarctic." Should finish it tonight, it's not that long. Moving on to Richard Adam's Autobiography tomorrow. so excited now I'll never get homework done.

[Tristan Palmgren]

That's one of the reasons why I love living on or near college campuses. The library! I just picked up four books from it on Friday. Nonfiction, mostly military history. Research for my next project. I wouldn't have been able to find these anywhere else.

[Ratty Randnums]

Futurama Vol 1 #46. Was able to stop by the comic shop and pick up my subscriptions for the first time in months yesterday. So have a small comics backlog and no tests tomorrow. Yay

[Tristan Palmgren]

I also just started the third Black Company book. Not posting the title because, unfortunately, it was a spoiler as I read through the first.