- Joined
- Mar 6, 2016
What are you reading right now?
- Thread starter AtroposHeart
- Start date
Upsyakamoi
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2021
Just finished Stephen King's On Writing, and I'm currently re-reading Neuromancer because I want to read the whole sprawl trilogy with it fresh in my mind. I did not like the former overall because I find King to be somewhat preachy and didactic, even moreso than I would expect in a book of that nature. It did have a few good nuggets of information on the creative process, so it basically had the substance a 289-page hydewars episode. Neuromancer was one of my favorites when I first read it though, and still holds up years later. It's got a great aesthetic direction and it always entertains me to see more real-life parallels in it than one would with a more 'realistic' scifi novel such as something by Philip K Dick.
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2015
I am cheating, but I am listing to the audiobook of Metro 2033. I haven't read the book since it came out, so not since 06 or so?
It is still an excellent book and one of my favorite.
It is still an excellent book and one of my favorite.
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2016
"Storm Front" by Jim Butcher
So far I like it.
EDIT: New favorite author
So far I like it.
EDIT: New favorite author
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2019
The string of pears aka the penny dreadful that gave the world sweeny todd the demon barber of fleet street. it's interesting to see Todd's humble origins.
- Joined
- May 9, 2020
A pretty brief study of Napoleonic wars from the perspective of the organization of the army, weapons and tactics. More of a collection of interesting tidbits, a good start for someone who's not quite sure whether to try reading one of the huge books on Napoleon.
Spends most time on philosophy and politics of Weimar. A liberal take, but not an overly preachy one. I find the subject fascinating, though I'd appreciate a bit more structure to it - felt chaotic at times. A book I may return to.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
Currently reading the Bible in chronological order with my Bible Study group through an app where we're able to discuss what we've learned from it. A few sections per day.
B2_Spirit
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2021
Stephen King's Rage (as Bachman). I'm not a big King fan because his tangents remind me of being stuck listening to shitty elevator music and he's been sperging out on twatter again lately, but this book is withdrawn from print, kind of hard to get hold of where I am and by King's own request, so I decided to expressly get hold of it and see what the big deal is. So far it's okay, just waiting now for the MC's freakout to be blamed squarely on a Republican daddy who sucked at gutting deer.
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2017
The Enlightenment figures were all so fun, lively, and intelligent.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2021
This is kind of stupid but I've had some bad writers block these last few months so I've been rereading my old favorites to try and get inspired. So far I haven't come across any new inspiration, but I've been having a great time rereading some books I haven't touched in a while. I'm just finishing up No Country for Old Men now. Some of the fine people in the Cormac McCarthy thread have inspired me to crack open Blood Meridian after all this time its been collecting dust on my bookshelf. Needless to say, I already know I'm about to get my shit rocked. I think once I finish Blood Meridian I'll take a shot at The Road.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2020
I've been on a sci fi bent. Can't believe I've gone my entire life without reading Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke builds up crazy atmosphere and it's got just the right amount of golden age scifi vibes without being too cheesy.
Finally got into Stanisław Lem. The Futurological Congress was a bit tedious but it all fell into place at the end.
Solaris is fantastic. I'm getting huge evangelion vibes with the themes and imagery, turns out the book had a Japanese translation in 1977...
Finally got into Stanisław Lem. The Futurological Congress was a bit tedious but it all fell into place at the end.
Solaris is fantastic. I'm getting huge evangelion vibes with the themes and imagery, turns out the book had a Japanese translation in 1977...
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2020
I‘ve taken the Morrissey pill after watching a bunch of old interviews from him, and I just randomly found out about this book that he wrote more than a few years ago.
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2019
On Writing is still one of my favorite books about the craft of writing.
Damn, I was just coming to post this. It’s a great audiobook. I haven’t read it before but I love the tension and the atmosphere.
I was listening to the part where he describes paying for food with Kalshnikov bullets while grocery shopping and it really made me think about how different my worldview and experience must be from a man who could dream up a world like that.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2022
i read call of the wild and white fang again for the umpteenth time this past week. i always read them together.
i'm taking my time with vonnegut's timequake. it's a book that easily forgives being set aside for a bit, and i regrettably only have two more of his titles to read before i will never get to experience a new kurt vonnegut book again.
i'm also working my way through the foxfire books as i find prints with the original trade paper covers.
@Dammit Janet!, as mentioned in the mccarthy thread, i recommend the sea wolf by jack london. you've already read judge holden; give wolf larsen an opportunity to introduce himself and his intellectual cruelties. if you need more incentive, consider that london wrote 1,000 words a day, and he was the highest-selling author of his generation. i'd also be grateful, as i've never met anyone else who has read both books with whom to compare and contrast.
send book pics.
i'm taking my time with vonnegut's timequake. it's a book that easily forgives being set aside for a bit, and i regrettably only have two more of his titles to read before i will never get to experience a new kurt vonnegut book again.
i'm also working my way through the foxfire books as i find prints with the original trade paper covers.
@Dammit Janet!, as mentioned in the mccarthy thread, i recommend the sea wolf by jack london. you've already read judge holden; give wolf larsen an opportunity to introduce himself and his intellectual cruelties. if you need more incentive, consider that london wrote 1,000 words a day, and he was the highest-selling author of his generation. i'd also be grateful, as i've never met anyone else who has read both books with whom to compare and contrast.
this, sir, is one mighty attractive book collection.
send book pics.
Weeb_Killer
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2020
Teddy Roosevelt's biography. Guy was a machine.
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2019
I agree on King being somewhat preachy, though I did enjoy the book in general. I reread it every now then, but moreso as his 'memoir' rather than as a guide for writing.
I just picked up Adam Nevill's Cunning Folk. I loved his other stuff, so I'm excited to dig into this one. He really knows how to write a scene.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
Finished reading through Atlas Shrugged. It's not really a book you read for pleasure, but I found it interesting enough, both as a novel and a manifesto (obviously more the latter than the former). I would recommend giving it a read if you're curious.
Never knew that "Who is John Galt?" is a rhetorical question in universe rather than a genuine one.
All the main characters act autistic.
Setting is interesting, with society crumbling at the edges and starting to regress.
Someone should pull a 50 Shades and turn the subplot about the Hank/Francisco/Dagny love triangle into an objectivist romance novel.
"Don't think for yourself, just trust the science" is an actual subplot.
The section where Hank and Dagny try to track down the inventor of the static power generator reads like a technothriller.
Big business consortiums being unable to innovate or even reliably produce a quality product so they just have their DC lobbyists crush any competition while they survive on government subsidies is a concept that's only gotten more relevant in current times.
Also the idea that in a healthy society the strong and successful make the rules, while in a sick society the incompetent and weak "victims" hold the power through guilt and manipulating the moral standards.
"Dissolute playboy millionaire is secretly a driven genius working with the hero" is basically a cliche now instead of the twist it was back then.
The James Taggart/Cheryl relationship is a pretty accurate picture of an emotionally abusive marriage.
The original crowd of intellectuals and theorists who championed the progressive cause gradually disappearing as the gangsters and thugs take over feels very Soviet.
Ayn Rand really hates the doctrine of original sin apparently.
I'm a little surprised objectivism hasn't been picked up by atheists given how rigorously anti-religion it is. Or are the modern lesswrong/rationalists just objectivists by another name?
"You do not know what to surrender or demand, when to give and when to grab, what pleasure in life is rightfully yours and what debt is still unpaid to others—you struggle to evade, as ‘theory,’ the knowledge that by the moral standard you’ve accepted you are guilty every moment of your life, there is no mouthful of food you swallow that is not
needed by someone somewhere on earth—and you give up the problem in blind resentment, you conclude that moral perfection is not to be achieved or
desired, that you will muddle through by snatching as snatch can and by avoiding the eyes of the young, of those who look at you as if self-esteem were possible and they expected you to have it. Guilt is all that you retain within your soul—and so does every other man, as he goes past, avoiding your eyes." John Galt vs cancel culture.
The length of Galt's monologue was not exaggerated.
"The negation of a negative is not a reward." John Galt one liner.
Ending is surprisingly melancholy. Galt has "won" but the world has basically regressed back to the early 1800s (except for Galt's Gulch) and it will take decades, if not longer, to rebuild.
Eddie is the most relatable character in the book; he's not a conscienceless moocher or an autistic industrial genius, he's just a competent middle manager whose cardinal sin is apparently working for another instead of himself.
All the main characters act autistic.
Setting is interesting, with society crumbling at the edges and starting to regress.
Someone should pull a 50 Shades and turn the subplot about the Hank/Francisco/Dagny love triangle into an objectivist romance novel.
"Don't think for yourself, just trust the science" is an actual subplot.
The section where Hank and Dagny try to track down the inventor of the static power generator reads like a technothriller.
Big business consortiums being unable to innovate or even reliably produce a quality product so they just have their DC lobbyists crush any competition while they survive on government subsidies is a concept that's only gotten more relevant in current times.
Also the idea that in a healthy society the strong and successful make the rules, while in a sick society the incompetent and weak "victims" hold the power through guilt and manipulating the moral standards.
"Dissolute playboy millionaire is secretly a driven genius working with the hero" is basically a cliche now instead of the twist it was back then.
The James Taggart/Cheryl relationship is a pretty accurate picture of an emotionally abusive marriage.
The original crowd of intellectuals and theorists who championed the progressive cause gradually disappearing as the gangsters and thugs take over feels very Soviet.
Ayn Rand really hates the doctrine of original sin apparently.
I'm a little surprised objectivism hasn't been picked up by atheists given how rigorously anti-religion it is. Or are the modern lesswrong/rationalists just objectivists by another name?
"You do not know what to surrender or demand, when to give and when to grab, what pleasure in life is rightfully yours and what debt is still unpaid to others—you struggle to evade, as ‘theory,’ the knowledge that by the moral standard you’ve accepted you are guilty every moment of your life, there is no mouthful of food you swallow that is not
needed by someone somewhere on earth—and you give up the problem in blind resentment, you conclude that moral perfection is not to be achieved or
desired, that you will muddle through by snatching as snatch can and by avoiding the eyes of the young, of those who look at you as if self-esteem were possible and they expected you to have it. Guilt is all that you retain within your soul—and so does every other man, as he goes past, avoiding your eyes." John Galt vs cancel culture.
The length of Galt's monologue was not exaggerated.
"The negation of a negative is not a reward." John Galt one liner.
Ending is surprisingly melancholy. Galt has "won" but the world has basically regressed back to the early 1800s (except for Galt's Gulch) and it will take decades, if not longer, to rebuild.
Eddie is the most relatable character in the book; he's not a conscienceless moocher or an autistic industrial genius, he's just a competent middle manager whose cardinal sin is apparently working for another instead of himself.
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2018
Reading Faust Part 2 by Goethe and Cerebus: High society (collects Cerebus #26-50) by Dave Sim (art and writing). At only around issue 40 of total 300 Cerebus has already jumped up to the second best comic I have ever read (at this point only behind From Hell written by Alan Moore). Dave Sim and Alan Moore are the two comic writers who can be said to have written graphic novels as their books are written with the quality and density of a novel.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2022
Dante because it makes me feel and I am dead inside 
