The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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Ford Fairlane said:
Have you read this article from The Guardian?

Famous for the wrong book
Click to expand...
Have now :p Disagree with the huxley call, agree with the Wyndham call. Can't really decide either way on Heller, though you never hear people bring up SH so it's probably in the underrated pile.

Slaughterhouse just annoyed me more than anything
 
Just finished Jennifer Government (Max Barry). Enjoyed it. I haven't been a regular reader of non-fiction books for a while.

Have started reading Trouble (Jesse Kellerman) and have struggled to get into it after reading the first 15 pages.

I am also reading The Party Thieves (Barrie Cassidy). I've decided to skip all the chapters describing the election campaign and have gone into reading the post-election beef. Some pretty interesting stuff about Rudd and Turnbull in that book.

Have also started reading Sideshow (Lindsay Tanner). That has the makings of an interesting read on the dumbing down of politics so far.
 

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Ford Fairlane said:
Have you read this article from The Guardian?

Famous for the wrong book
Click to expand...

Dagless said:
Have now :p Disagree with the huxley call, agree with the Wyndham call. Can't really decide either way on Heller, though you never hear people bring up SH so it's probably in the underrated pile.
Click to expand...

Re: the Wyndham call (that Chrysalids is better than Triffids). A couple of years ago, on another forum, I got into an online argument with two SF authors on that point. I read Chrysalids and reviewed it for them. Review reproduced below if anyone cares:

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During the recent lengthy thread on _Catcher in the Rye_, I opined that _Day of the Triffids_ was John Wyndham’s best work. This raised the hackles of two of the regulars – Lawrence Watt-Evans and Sea Wasp [Ryk E Spoor] – who begged to differ and put forward _The Chrysalids_ instead. I’d not read Chrysalids (or Lichen either) so couldn’t really argue the point.

The opinions of LWE and Wasp didn’t inspire much confidence that Chrysalids would replace Triffids at the top of my personal Wyndham tree. Not because their opinions aren’t worth much (they are), but having read their posts for a number of years, I’ve noticed our tastes don’t always align. Our mileage, as the saying goes, varies. Forex, Wasp likes Weber’s as-you-know-bob infodumps and Adric, while Lawrence dissed Juanita Coulson’s two fantasy novels (Web of Wizardry and Death God’s Citadel), which I’ve re-read every few years since about 1980. Mind, our tastes DO coincide in places so I was perfectly willing to give Chrysalids a go.

Anyhoo, I read it and was underwhelmed. It was very much a story in two parts. The first half of the book was pretty good. A kid grows up in a post-apocalyptic low-tech agricultural society where all genetic deviations (in plants, animals or humans) are eliminated by the local religious wing-nuts. The narrator is forced to hide his own mutation from everyone, including his zealot parents. Luckily for him, his particular mutation involves being able to communicate by telepathy over long distances with other “mutants”. This contrasts with other mutations which involve extra toes, elongated arms and other physical deformities. The storyline of this part of the book takes place over about 10 years and deals with the efforts of the telepaths, of which there are less than a dozen, to stay hidden and to fit in with the “norms”.

The second part of the story isn’t nearly as good. It takes place over the few days after the mutation is discovered and the fundies try to eliminate the perceived threat by capturing or killing everyone. Some are indeed captured and then tortured into revealing the others, who do the sensible thing and bolt. There’s a chase, followed by a battle between the pursuers and a band of ragtag mutants in the Badlands. Then a deus ex machina flies in from New Zealand (deus ex newzealanda?) and rescues everyone. Turns out that down there everyone can mind-speak and it’s really the next phase of human evolution. The surviving telepaths are taken to NZ where they molest sheep, play rugby and live happily ever after. (OK, the rugby bit’s probably not true).

So, in summary, a good book but not a great one. The two halves of the book clash, the second half chase wasn’t particularly exciting, and I was *definitely* unimpressed with the DEM ending. I’m glad I read it though, even mediocre Wyndham is good. But Triffids remains my favourite. I must re-read it, as it’s been at least ten years.
 
Just finished Shantaram, awesome read, really takes you to the slums of Mumbai. Although when WARNING BIG SPOILER
Prabaker dies
I found I couldn't pick the book back up again for a few days, shattering, which I guess is the sign of a very well written book.

Currently reading Ex Heroes about superheroes helping civilians fight against a zombie outbreak, it's better than it sounds.
 
Beerpig said:
Just finished Shantaram, awesome read, really takes you to the slums of Mumbai. Although when WARNING BIG SPOILER
Prabaker dies
I found I couldn't pick the book back up again for a few days, shattering, which I guess is the sign of a very well written book.

Currently reading Ex Heroes about superheroes helping civilians fight against a zombie outbreak, it's better than it sounds.
Click to expand...

Shantaram is probably my favourite novel of all time. Agree, it is very sad at that moment. I also found it really frustrating when he was stuck in the jail for all those months. It's such an epic read, I've been searching for a book like it ever since reading it but nothing has come close.

As for myself, I've recently finished The Wolf of Wall Street. It was enjoyable, although a bit unbelievable at times. I think he highly exaggerates certain aspects of the book, ie. his drug use.

I'm now reading Day of the Triffids. I gather that it's about a genetically engineered species of plants that feed off human flesh. I'm only 30 or so pages in so far and it's okay. It's a pretty old book so I'm sure a few people on here have read it already.
 
A while ago someone on this thread recommended "World War Z" by Max Brooks.

I just finished it, whoever it was that suggested it, cheers, it was awesome!
 

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Currently reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

The style is ... interesting. The entire novel (at least up until now, 1/4 way through) is a series of letters between the protaganists. Good setting too: 1946 Britain complete with post-war rationing and Guernsey still recovering from the German occupation.
 
Read in the last month or two:

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami. Not bad, dragged on a little. Beautiful writing but not up there with what I consider his best, A Wild Sheep Chase.

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert. Tragic, much to think about.

Enduring Love - Ian McEwan. Quick read, interesting. McEwan is an incredibly cerebral author - this could be both good and bad.

Now: A Room With A View - E.M. Forster. Taking a bit to get into, actually. Sure is great for making people say, "oh, I loved the movie!" though (and one person actually asked if the book was based on the movie).
 
Currently part way through "Iron House" by John Hart.

His three novels before this current one were brilliant - this one is slightly different in style, but loses nothing from that.

So, if you haven't read any of this guy's work, start now!
 
After putting it aside for a bit...

Finished Women by Charles Bukowski.

Chinaski mounts a chick. Gets drunk. Writes some poetry. The end.

ZZZZZ...
 

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The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

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