Now Reading

just read some sci-fi:

 

Enjoyed it. Makes you feel good about your life without being depressing.

 

Short story, can get through in one sitting. enjoyed it as well.

 

currently reading:

 

Its chinese, and apparently very good. The translation makes it a bit wooden, I dont think ive ever read a chinese translated novel before. things like (if i remember correctly) 'went to the criminal division to find ......' it just sounds weird. and another guy was talking about him becoming a monk to get away, and stayed for 5 years 'down in south china somewhere' <like you would stay 5 years somewhere and not know the name...?

 

im sure it reads perfect in its native language tho

 

 

story is really really cool so far tho, so im sticking with it.

oh yeah 'im just a lackadaisical guy' was another one that just made me wince a bit

  On 6/27/2015 at 1:17 AM, lala said:

 

 

 

that is an impressively hideous cover

it's so bad it could spawn an entire postmodern microgenre of cover design

The Complete Eightball- Daniel Clowes

33 1/3 Wowee Zowee- Bryan Charles

Crime & Punishment- Fyodor Dostoevsky

  On 6/27/2015 at 3:31 AM, baph said:

 

  On 6/27/2015 at 1:17 AM, lala said:

 

 

 

that is an impressively hideous cover

it's so bad it could spawn an entire postmodern microgenre of cover design

 

 

 

I completely agree. terrible fonts, terrible title. enjoyable little action-sci-fi romp tho. I did not go into a books store, or even know about the hideousness of the cover until it was too late and my interest was piqued. if it was a book store i would have cried

it kinda looks like the designer did it over his morning coffee

Check out this badbwoy then:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Story as well!

Poser has a LOT to answer for

Poser lol. There's an awful lot of hideous shit coming out of that program.

 

OT: just finished another Murakami novel, Dance Dance Dance. Very very good. Before that I read a short story collection about an earthquake by him.

 

Now I'm back to reading my usual mishmash of a fantasy series, old chinese criminal saga, PKD and Douglas Adams.

I will check out Cixin Liu btw, looks pretty good.

Edited June 27, 2015 by th555

Which PKD are your faves? i should read more of his, i usually go for modern stuff

Flow my tears the policeman said

Valis

Do androids dream of electric sheep

And just started reading Ubik a while ago.

His short stories are great too, obviously.

ok i'll try those. never read androids before so i should shouldnt i, seeing as how much better books are than filmys

Book and film don't have a whole lot in common IMO, I wouldn't have guessed lol. Good book tho for sure.

It's sort of sad because Blade Runner was the only filmed work of Dick's he got to see--in pre-release form--and he really liked it, dying before it was released properly. I'm sure he'd have loved A Scanner Darkly too.

 

I loved that the guy in real life was a paranoid weirdo whos theories never made sense (he held a press conference in France that went very badly). But in book form, they believable to the point your brain gets fucked up a bit. If that's how the world was to him, no wonder he was acted so messed up.

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

 

gonna read this whole Sea of Fertility thing finally

  On 6/28/2015 at 2:40 PM, doublename said:

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

 

gonna read this whole Sea of Fertility thing finally

I've read the first two in the set and both are pretty good. Have you read The Sailor That Fell From Grace With The Sea? A much shorter, easier and imo better read. One of my favorite books.

  On 6/28/2015 at 3:27 PM, QQQ said:

 

  On 6/28/2015 at 2:40 PM, doublename said:

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

 

gonna read this whole Sea of Fertility thing finally

I've read the first two in the set and both are pretty good. Have you read The Sailor That Fell From Grace With The Sea? A much shorter, easier and imo better read. One of my favorite books.

The only other Mishima I've read is Temple of the Golden Pavilion. I'll definitely check out The Sailor That Fell From Grace With The Sea now though.

finally finished the brothers karamazov and have now started the devils. why do i do this to myself?

ive hit a bit of a wall with 'the three body problem' i might leave it for later..

 

 

Got recommended Neal Stephenson 'Seveneves' but its another i fear i wont like. My sister bought me anathem hardback for my birthday after recommendations and i didnt get along with it.. anyone here read it?

 

 

Might try Valis by PKD..

  On 6/29/2015 at 10:35 PM, lala said:

ive hit a bit of a wall with 'the three body problem' i might leave it for later..

 

 

Got recommended Neal Stephenson 'Seveneves' but its another i fear i wont like. My sister bought me anathem hardback for my birthday after recommendations and i didnt get along with it.. anyone here read it?

 

 

Might try Valis by PKD..

After I read a long book or I hit a 'wall' I'll move on to an 'easy'/quick read or two. Bukowski was my go-to guy between longer or more 'challenging' books. The shorter Murakami books and stuff like Junkie by William S Burroughs have done well to cleanse my palette in this way as well. I'd say leave VALIS for another day if you've lost focus on another novel. It's not the easiest book to read. Edited June 30, 2015 by QQQ

i was just going to ask if its tough going - its a bit stiff and (the beginning anyway) is third person and not quite what i imagined.

 

 

read some burroughs, never any murakami. i went on a big trilogy splurge (3 body problem, southern reach trilogy, and now valis) and we know how much of a slog they can be

 

 

 

Your right i want something quick and exciting.

  On 6/29/2015 at 11:41 AM, IrisAndTheLens said:

finally finished the brothers karamazov and have now started the devils. why do i do this to myself?

 

I'm currently reading Mason & Dixon at home and Infinite Jest at work. I feel this pain.

 

After this, I'm reading nothing but novellas.

Gave up on Gravity's Rainbow, might pick it up again this summer. Now halfway through...

 

Ubik: It's been kind of a slow burner so far, 80 pages in and it's still just starting, which is kinda bad when the book is like 200 pages. Still, I hope it gets transcendental and mind-fucky soon

 

How Music Works: first chapter was good, second chapter was meh (too Byrne/Talking Heads-centric). It's a very easy read. Liking it so far

All the sci-fi here is reminding me that I finished this recently, I'd highly recommend it. Really good stuff:

 

nice one! i love me some space opera

  On 6/29/2015 at 10:35 PM, lala said:

ive hit a bit of a wall with 'the three body problem' i might leave it for later..

 

 

Got recommended Neal Stephenson 'Seveneves' but its another i fear i wont like. My sister bought me anathem hardback for my birthday after recommendations and i didnt get along with it.. anyone here read it?

 

 

Might try Valis by PKD..

 

Seveneves, I've heard, is very much in the vein of 60's/70's 'hard' sci-fi; a thing happens, here's the scramble to fix it, and all the problems that are triggered. Big ideas, big setting, big scope, little characterization, resolution, or reason. That's just from a review I saw that I can't remember the source of at the moment...

 

Valis has me a bit bored. I'm about 4 chapters in, and instead of being amazed by the crazy shit, I'm already over it. Gonna give it a few more chapters, but I already bought the whole trilogy on Kindle for cheap, figured it was a solid investment.

Speaking of hard sci-fi, I've read some stuff by Greg Egan a while ago: Quarantine, Permutation City, Diaspora, Teranesia, Schild's Ladder. All top-notch IMO.