WAYR: Spring Edition

Well, it's almost spring, anyway.

What are you reading, OT? I just finished this truly phenomenal book called Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

Rendevous with Rama. Enjoying it so far

I'm reading my literally broken copy of A Clash of Kings. It is torn in half and missing pages. Technically it is two books now. Thus is the quality of Mass Market Paperback.

The bone clocks by David Mitchell, which I am enjoying quote a bit.

Some of the fantasy elements irked me because the lingo stuff was a bit hokey and suffocating since it was just this torrent of nonsense, but thankfully the other stuff made up for it. And the silly word stuff got a bit better as you became more accustomed to it.

Also rereading house of leaves

Currently reading book 1 of the Preacher comic series and I plan on reading Lullaby by Chuck Palahiuk after that.

Would rather eat that book than reread.

I'm just re-reading Star Wars books Darth Bane Trilogy since they are great books that I enjoy. Darth Bane, the founder who created The Rule of Two.

@Storm_Marine: I enjoyed quite a bit

Just finished the BBC 'Doctor Who' novel 'Engines of War' today. Next up, Marc Maron's 'Attempting Normal'.

It's really good. Basically a chronicle on Obamacare (and US healthcare in general) from a brief history of healthcare in the US, to the drafting (and lobbying) process of it, to the aftermath until present day. He spends a lot of the book acknowledging the absurdity of the system and how it's meant to serve insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals, and medical instruments companies. His thesis is that despite how Obamacare was created with positive intentions it's still a hugely flawed bill and merely tries to cover up the problems rather than actually reform them. The author seems pretty level-headed and fair so it's worth reading regardless of your opinions on the bill.

That's what bothers me about a lot of fantasy. Sometimes the wordage is just shoved down your throats that it feels like you're trying to learn a new language instead of enjoying a story.

The best of HP Lovecraft

Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks

Warbringer by Brandon Sanderson

Revival by Stephen King

The Outsider is my favorite story.

I'm really enjoying all of these. The way he writes makes for a good out loud reading when nobody is home, which is what I have been doing.

I also have the Gunslinger with me when I need a break from him.

At the Mountains of Madness is also good. Been a long time since I read HP Lovecraft, I bought Barnes and Nobles' complete set of his fiction which is sitting on my bookcase with all of my other hardcovers.

Never could get into Stephen King, though. I feel like he has diarrhea of the word processor sometimes. Every few months I have the urge to try and finish The Stand, but I get a few more pages into it and then I just want to kill myself.

Stephen King is incredibly nostalgic for me, as he was one of my favorites as a child. His characters don't develop and remain relatively static and unchanged which can become a problem for a lot of readers. I read his stories plainly for fear, and some of his earlier works are genuinely entrancing stories. As a writer, he has made his fame on being prolific. I can't read too many of his books one after the other but they are a nice segway after reading a denser novel like HP. I'm also partial to all horror genres and can't bear to tear them apart too drastically. :)

@davillain-: Cool, seems interesting!

@dylandr: First book was great, second book was great too but was not as good as the first one. Third one was terrible and I felt was too convuluted. Despite the third book, I have to say that I still enjoyed the series and Darth Bane is one of my favorite Star Wars character as a result. I really liked Darth Zannah. Only part of the books I thought were bad was the stuff with the princess chick in the third book. Apart from that, I pretty much liked all three the same. Plus, Darth Bane has always been so important to the Sith Order and especially when he created The Rule of Two.

@davillain-: hehe might gonna read it if i can get my hands on the physicall copies...

The thing about King's stories is that they are very rarely about the plot. They are about what a certain set of characters would do in a given situation. After reading his memoir On writing (which was pretty dope IMO) it makes sense, because that's exactly how he described his writing process. IMO he does a good job of making you give a shit even with some of his more ridiculous premises (Christine just sounds like a dumb idea and it is but I really enjoyed the book as a dark coming of age tale). The end result is that his characters usually feel like real people (although his dialogue can be more corny than shit after Thanksgiving) and that's why I enjoy reading him. Of course, with someone as prolific as he is he is bound to have a few books that just don't do it for everyone. Hell, he's one of my favorite authors and there are quite a few of his books I didn't really enjoy (Tommyknockers, the last three Dark Tower books, Rose Madder was very hit or miss and honestly the more I think about it the more I hated Doctor Sleep, a book that had infinite potential and turned out mediocre).

I feel differently from you in that I feel like his characters are bare bones and I have trouble seeing them as real people. Oftentimes that works for me, and some of the books you listed that you disliked I absolutely loved, haha. I think he is incredibly easy to read and enjoy but a lot of that is due to his (less is more) with some aspects of what is frightening the characters. When I get drowned in detail by HP, I can live in the moment with King.
That's not to say I feel that way about all of his characters, Trash Man and a few others really seemed complicated and complete to me. In the end, a lot of it comes down to taste and I can understand people who aren't crazy about King, but his writing process has worked pretty well for plenty of other people, me and you included. :)

@Large_Soda said:

my wife just finished this and loved it. i need to steal her kindle...

@Large_Soda said:

Also a fantastic book. Watney is a great character.

I finally got around to reading The Elements of Style and I'm almost done with it. Although I came with lukewarm expectations as whether the book will actually introduce much value to me, I was pleasantly surprised I have to say; it has been a sort of an eye-opener. If someone would recommend more works examining English prose and style in a concise and adequately comprehensive manner I'd be indebted to them.

I'm also almost done with my third read of the republic. No matter how vigorously and scrupulously I try to examine the work, I remain unable of fully comprehending it; I'm always left in an amalgam of awe and perplexity.

Fifty Shades Freed. I found the first book laughable so I'm continuing on to see if her writing improves. It hasn't yet.

It took me two-and-a-half weeks, and I still don't think I've grasped all the subtleties of the plot.