What books are you reading now?

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon May 02, 2011 7:29 am

I read the other 2 books in the Way of Shadows trilogy, I enjoyed all 3 greatly. Will probably hunt down other books written by Brent Weeks. The characters were all enjoyable and each with depth, flaws and personalities.

Reading Lost World by Doyle. The style really reads similarly to Robert E Howard. Maybe because the characters are not very multi-facted at all. I don't know if I could write such characters without feeling incredibly hokey.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Mon May 02, 2011 6:33 pm

Just finished STUKA and Feindfahrten, now it's Schicksalsfahrt der Graf Spee(Battle of the River Plate / Pursuit of the Graf Spee) and then Die letzte Fahrt der Bismarck(Sink the Bismarck).

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Tue May 03, 2011 2:19 am

I've been reading the Parasol Protectorate books by Gail Carringer (Carriger? Can't quite remember at the moment).

They're good light reading. Victorian steampunk with vampires and werewolves. Can't think of much that can get more trendy than that.

It's handled well, though. The supernatural set are integrated into society--and often are a lot of the high-ups, given how old they can be. It also gives evidence...well, vampires have queens, who rule a hive. The bee metaphor is carried with the human servants of a hive being called drones--it's actually a voluntary arrangement with no mind control or the like. Drones run errands and do things for the vampires on the potential of one day becoming a vampire. Because being undead isn't too much of a crimp in your social acceptability, and has its compensations.

Werewolves have a similar arrangement. Only theirs are called clavigers, and if there's a metaphor there I didn't catch it.

So, on the whole, I grade it a B. It's above-average, and the fact that its setting seems actually viable puts it leaps and bounds over shit like Twilight.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue May 03, 2011 4:15 am

I'm sloughing through "Kushiel's dart" by Jacqueline Carey. The political intrigue in the first half of the book was spectacular. The mythos is nice because it's just an extension of Europe's different religions and what would happen in a fantasy milieu. I don't know if I'm enthralled enough by the book to go through the remaining 10 or so books in the cycle. Does it get better or is the political intrigue strong in the rest?

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Tue May 03, 2011 12:15 pm

Prak_Anima wrote:
RobbyPants wrote:I just read The Killing Joke and liked it.
The Killing Joke is good. The Joker getting Batman to laugh is always awesome, partially because of how rare it is.

I had mixed feelings on that. It seemed out of character for Batman, because I'm used to him being all stoic, but there did seem to be a couple of pages there where the two of them sort of understood each other.

Prak_Anima wrote:It's also cool for being a side book that became canon.

I read about that. I'm assuming you're talking about Batgirl/Oracle? Also, I heard Joker's origin is semi-cannon, because, even in The Killing Joke, it's debatable if that story is even true:

Joker wrote:Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Tue May 03, 2011 2:17 pm

The Jokers's origin was first speculated on decades before "The Mystery of the Red Hood" (Detective Comics #168) 1951 and the Killing Joke employed some of the elements of that story.

Post by **fbmf** » Tue May 03, 2011 3:47 pm

RobbyPants wrote:couple of pages there where the two of them sort of understood each other.

BATMAN: Cacaphony is a more recent story where the Joker and Batman have "a moment"...almost seeming to continue the conversation that started in THE KILLING JOKE about "why are we still doing this? Can't we all just get along?"

Not nearly as good as tKJ, but I liked the story for that conversation near the end.

As a bonus...

the Joker makes reference to his green merkin AND admits to seeing Batman's junk while he's changing clothes.

Joker wrote:Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!

The most recent Batman film uses elements of this also. Recall that the Joker has different explanations for "how I got these scars."

Game On,
fbmf

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Tue May 03, 2011 4:53 pm

fbmf wrote:
Joker wrote:Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!
The most recent Batman film uses elements of this also. Recall that the Joker has different explanations for "how I got these scars."

Yeah, that was one thing I liked when I read it: I immediately thought of Dark Knight. I imagine for people who read the book first, they probably liked that part of the movie for the same reason.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed May 04, 2011 5:20 am

It's actually possible for both scars stories to be simultaneously true, the father with a knife explaining the straightish cut on one corner of the mouth, the razor blade explaining possible scars on his tongue and the inside of his cheeks and lips alluded to by his mannerisms (mostly the odd noises he makes while talking from time to time, like he's tonguing an old scar in his cheek). It's possible that had he been allowed to finish the third story it would have explained the more hole like scar on the other side of his mouth.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed May 04, 2011 5:36 am

The most likely explanation, that he fucked with the Mafia before and got the sicilian smile/glasgow grin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_smile ) treatment, was left out for some reason . .

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed May 04, 2011 6:04 am

Stahlseele wrote:The most likely explanation, that he fucked with the Mafia before and got the sicilian smile/glasgow grin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_smile ) treatment, was left out for some reason . .

Because that's boring, and it's hard for the audience, usually, to imagine someone fucking with the mob as easily and effortlessly as he does in the movie having ever been on the losing side of it?

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sat May 14, 2011 11:04 pm

I'm reading fiction!

I decided to check out The Vampire Diaries for some perverse reason. I'm actually getting into it.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:30 pm

Call me Ishmael

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Thu May 19, 2011 4:08 pm

Just started "Infernal Devices" by K.W. Jeter; so far it's good, if a bit dense in the language...seriously, this is almost Gene Wolfe style linguistic density.

I've also been reading Akimi Yoshida's "Banana Fish"...just finished vol. 8. In general, I'm enjoying it. It's disturbing on many levels, some of which are definitely intentional, but some of which are not.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sun May 22, 2011 5:20 am

About 3/4 way through China Mieville's new book "Embassytown." It has some great ideas about language and linguistics along with space opera.

Post by **fbmf** » Sun May 22, 2011 5:22 am

The Choking Doberman.

Dated, but a good read.

Game On,
fbmf

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu May 26, 2011 7:16 am

Not really a book, but one of my favorite authors has been doing snippets of a sort-of Regency romance novel.

Only, this is Ursula Vernon. It's a little off-kilter. And involves Irish ninja clans.

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1450690.html

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1450753.html

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1451432.html

Datawolf · Post by **Datawolf** » Tue May 31, 2011 11:50 pm

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. If his prose wasn't so evocative I probably wouldn't like this book very much.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:47 am

Maxus wrote:Not really a book, but one of my favorite authors has been doing snippets of a sort-of Regency romance novel.

Only, this is Ursula Vernon. It's a little off-kilter. And involves Irish ninja clans.

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1450690.html

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1450753.html

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1451432.html

Heh, yeah, I read a couple of those. It'd be awesome if she did write a regency novel, all the more awesome if she did it as a comic with anthros.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:12 am

Prak_Anima wrote:
Maxus wrote:Not really a book, but one of my favorite authors has been doing snippets of a sort-of Regency romance novel.

Only, this is Ursula Vernon. It's a little off-kilter. And involves Irish ninja clans.

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1450690.html

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1450753.html

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/1451432.html
Heh, yeah, I read a couple of those. It'd be awesome if she did write a regency novel, all the more awesome if she did it as a comic with anthros.

According to her blog a couple years ago, everyone she know is under strict instructions to strangle her to death if she begins to talk about doing another long-running comedic webcomic.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:28 am

I picked up "Home Fires" by Gene Wolfe. I love how the man writes and his creativity. But the man's a raging god damn misogynist.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:33 am

Oh, yeah, I'm re-reading the Dresden Files while I wait for the next one to come out.

On book 5, Death Masks. The one that introduces the Fallen.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:36 am

Maxus wrote:Oh, yeah, I'm re-reading the Dresden Files while I wait for the next one to come out.

On book 5, Death Masks. The one that introduces the Fallen.

That reminds me that I need to pick up more of those... and more discworld novels too...

Blicero · Post by **Blicero** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:35 pm

Cynic wrote:I picked up "Home Fires" by Gene Wolfe. I love how the man writes and his creativity. But the man's a raging god damn misogynist.

This is true.

Gnosticism Is A Hoot · Wed Jun 01, 2011 11:00 pm

Blicero wrote:
Cynic wrote:I picked up "Home Fires" by Gene Wolfe. I love how the man writes and his creativity. But the man's a raging god damn misogynist.
This is true.

It's the one aspect of the Book of the New Sun that really made me wince.

In other news, I've been reading Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit recently. It's heavy going, but it's some of the best modern analytic philosophy around.