Now Reading

oh great! new books to my library then :) thanks! planning to buy The Diamon Age and that one too

just finished the long overlooked short story the overcoat, and I'm amazed by the number of possible interpretations that you can give to this book. really felt like I leveled up after i read it.

also tartar steppe just entered my top 2 existentialist books of all time, and I am very curious if anyone else read it too and also of their opinions about it.

  On 11/16/2012 at 2:40 AM, vamos scorcho said:

I'm going to try to read The Pale King.

I really liked it. His laser focus is really exhausting sometimes but overall the book is a great metaphor for the hopeless complexity of modern life.

finished The Gone-Away World, and read The Call of Cthulhu after that, really enjoyed both. I have a set of Lovecraft short stories, but I'm not sure what of his to read next.

  On 11/15/2012 at 7:20 AM, chenGOD said:

Economic History is mostly about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Hmm, sometimes maybe, other times I find it quite interesting and compelling. Looking at economic explanations for the end of the Roman empire (in the West), for instance, can be fruitful, and certainly provides a useful counterfoil to some of the more traditional arguments (e.g. blaming it on Christianity or barbarians).

currently reading too many things:

It's House of Leaves

Dashiell Hammett - Crime Stories & Other Writings

At first I didn't like these stories compared to the Raymond Chandler detective novels I've read, because they are more straight-forward and don't have as much of the dependence on shady characters, gritty scene descriptions and all those things that became central to noir. Eventually the more realistic and matter-of-fact style grew on me and now it's my current favorite book.

  On 11/20/2012 at 3:57 AM, KY said:

read The Call of Cthulhu after that, really enjoyed both. I have a set of Lovecraft short stories, but I'm not sure what of his to read next.

everything.

um The Dunwich Horror is good. At the Mountains of Madness is his 'novel' so to speak, and it is pretty good. the 'fantasy' tales (Dream-Quest of Unknown Cadath, The Silver Key, etc.) are interesting when read together as well, but definitely not along the horror/cosmic terror lines of Call of Cthulhu.

or tell me what you liked and didn't like about CoC and/or what sort of Lovecraft you'd like to read next and i (and likely others here!) will be glad to steer you the right direction.

  On 11/20/2012 at 3:57 AM, KY said:

read The Call of Cthulhu after that, really enjoyed both. I have a set of Lovecraft short stories, but I'm not sure what of his to read next.

I'd also recommend the Dunwich Horror and Mountains of Madness and also The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Colour Out of Space, The Whisperer in the Darkness, The Shadow over Innsmouth and Shadow Out of Time for more cosmic horror.

2nd time for Wind Up Bird Chronicle

  On 11/16/2012 at 3:37 AM, logakght said:

oh great! new books to my library then :) thanks! planning to buy The Diamon Age and that one too

Didn't see your response.

The Diamond Age is wonderful. "Everyone" "hates" the abrupt ending, but half of that has to do with how fun the book is. It's probably better than Snow Crash, although he's most famous for Snow Crash. The Diamond Age is also probably a better place to start than Anathem, which is pretty brilliant, but not quite as immediately engaging and funny.

I think his latest novel, Reamde, was a bit of a disappointment after Anathem. It's basically a fun, better written, thousand page Tom Clancy esque shoot out, with typical geeky moments that fail to get the in depth tangential exploration that he's known for. It's not bad, but it falls far short of the mark, imo. His Cryptonomicon does the same kind of thing re: "technothrillers" but does it better, without stereotypical Islamic terrorists, and with lengthy digressions on Cap'n Crunch cereal and masturbation.

If you end up liking what you've got, definitely give Cryptonomicon a go. I adored the "Baroque Cycle" follow-ups/prequels to Cryptonomicon (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World), but they seem to be a little divisive.

Stephenson's pre-Snow Crash books are probably only worth checking out if you're a confirmed fan.

He's probably my favorite popular fiction writer, and I don't like a lot of them.

  On 12/5/2012 at 3:17 PM, mokz said:

 

  On 11/20/2012 at 3:57 AM, KY said:

read The Call of Cthulhu after that, really enjoyed both. I have a set of Lovecraft short stories, but I'm not sure what of his to read next.

 

I'd also recommend the Dunwich Horror and Mountains of Madness and also The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Colour Out of Space, The Whisperer in the Darkness, The Shadow over Innsmouth and Shadow Out of Time for more cosmic horror.

 

I've only read At the Mountains of Madness and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward so far, and I preferred Dexter Ward by a mile. For my taste, Mountains read too much like a Jules Verne story where there's tons and tons of focus on describing mundane details down to a microscopic level, trying to be 'scientifically accurate'. Which, serves a purpose, but it just doesn't ring my bell and felt like a chore to read. And the things that are being described just get super repetitive.. Dexter Ward was awesome though because of the actual story in it. just my 2 cents

  On 12/5/2012 at 11:47 PM, usagi said:

baph, I've definitely noticed similarities between your posting style and Stephenson's writing style. did I say that already? I meant to say it before

I'm guessing you probably mean that my posts are overlong, digressive, and self-indulgent, but I'll take it instead as a huge and undeserved compliment, and also I will be totally self-conscious about whether I'm unconsciously but blatantly imitating Stephenson on here now

:abrupt ending:

whats that book about

Finally finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Seems to be a love/hate book for most people. Unfortunately I'm the latter - while interesting, it was dreadfully written. Basically unreadable. Can't imagine many others here will have read it though, so won't go into it.

While struggling through Wolf Hall I read Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. Also terrible and boring. Both of these books won the Man Booker Prize. Why? God knows.

Anyway, now reading Kafka on the Shore by Murakami. He's tended to be a safe pair of hands for me, and this one sounds interesting.

  On 11/20/2012 at 10:01 PM, Ron Manager said:

 

  On 11/15/2012 at 7:20 AM, 'chenGOD' said:

Economic History is mostly about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Hmm, sometimes maybe, other times I find it quite interesting and compelling. Looking at economic explanations for the end of the Roman empire (in the West), for instance, can be fruitful, and certainly provides a useful counterfoil to some of the more traditional arguments (e.g. blaming it on Christianity or barbarians).

 

Personally, I find a lot of European Economic Histories, especially those written by Europeans, to be tedious, racist, and startlingly ignorant of a lot of world history. Also the desire for neo-classical economists to apply market principles to everything is slightly maddening. Because a lot of the times, it was not a goddamned market that drove economics! Also Niall Ferguson should stick to reporting about straight history and leave economic analysis alone, and he really needs to get over the loss of the British Empire, lol.

  On 12/5/2012 at 10:07 PM, baph said:

 

  On 11/16/2012 at 3:37 AM, logakght said:

oh great! new books to my library then :) thanks! planning to buy The Diamon Age and that one too

 

Didn't see your response.

 

The Diamond Age is wonderful. "Everyone" "hates" the abrupt ending, but half of that has to do with how fun the book is. It's probably better than Snow Crash, although he's most famous for Snow Crash. The Diamond Age is also probably a better place to start than Anathem, which is pretty brilliant, but not quite as immediately engaging and funny.

 

I think his latest novel, Reamde, was a bit of a disappointment after Anathem. It's basically a fun, better written, thousand page Tom Clancy esque shoot out, with typical geeky moments that fail to get the in depth tangential exploration that he's known for. It's not bad, but it falls far short of the mark, imo. His Cryptonomicon does the same kind of thing re: "technothrillers" but does it better, without stereotypical Islamic terrorists, and with lengthy digressions on Cap'n Crunch cereal and masturbation.

 

If you end up liking what you've got, definitely give Cryptonomicon a go. I adored the "Baroque Cycle" follow-ups/prequels to Cryptonomicon (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World), but they seem to be a little divisive.

 

Stephenson's pre-Snow Crash books are probably only worth checking out if you're a confirmed fan.

 

He's probably my favorite popular fiction writer, and I don't like a lot of them.

 

Spot on response. I've read the Baroque Cycle three times, and plan t pick it up again in the new year. Reamde was such an easy read after Anathem. Enjoyable though!

readin don quixote atm, its pretty funny for some old spanish shit. don is the original lad tbh

i just read daughter of the forest by juliet marillier, which was fucking excellent for cheesy romantic fantasy pap.

currently switching between the history of sexuality vol 1 by foucault and santa olivia by jacqueline carey

currently reading:

Regarding the Pain of Others - Susan Sontag

Political Ideologies - Andrew Heywood

Crash - J G Ballard

Super Cannes - J G Ballard

Propoganda: The Formation of Men's Minds - Jacques Ellul

fun

You can't be reading 5 books at the same time. At most, 2 should be sufficient.

  On 12/15/2012 at 4:06 PM, Philip Glass said:

You can't be reading 5 books at the same time. At most, 2 should be sufficient.