What are you reading right now?

I just finished reading Wilbur Smith's first novel When the Lion Feeds. He's always very good when it comes to describing Africa and building memorable characters to inhabit it so if you're a fan of character-driven, adventure stories set in Africa I would entirely recommend that you pick up something of his.

Currently I'm reading Aurora: Darwin by Amanda Bridgeman. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22978314-aurora?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true

She's a local author so I felt like I should do my part and support her. So far I'm enjoying the novel but there are a lot of thing about it that annoy me.
For starters, the main cast are soldiers working for a UN-like organisation in space. The story begins with the MC, a woman, and two other women are added to an all-male crew and sent on a mission. What bothers me is the oddly antiquated attitudes the men have to women on their ship. Women in the military are hardly uncommon. I'm in the army myself and I've seen attitudes even close to what appear in this novel. I don't think the author did a lot of research on how militaries are structured either because everyone's rank seems a little random and the way they speak to their officers is just absurd. So that whole aspect felt wrong and really annoyed me.

Secondly, it doesn't really feel much like a science-fiction story. There's very little techno-babble and exploration of the world in the future, which is a little disappointing. I'm not one for rock-hard sci-fi, but I like a little speculation on future technology and society, even if it just dressing. I haven't finished it yet so I will withhold a score for now, but I will say that I am enjoying it and will probably read the sequels too.
 
One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I originally read it when I was younger and didn't get it, but now that I'm revisiting it I've found it an insightful read. The writing style is kind of distracting and some of the characters are hard to sympathize with, but ultimately I view it as a realistic portrayal of life in a mental institution.

I might watch the movie this weekend. I see Nurse Ratched as being similar to Annie Wilkes, so I imagine it'll be good, if not better than the film adaption of Misery was.
 
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Furina said:
I just finished reading Wilbur Smith's first novel When the Lion Feeds. He's always very good when it comes to describing Africa and building memorable characters to inhabit it so if you're a fan of character-driven, adventure stories set in Africa I would entirely recommend that you pick up something of his.

Currently I'm reading Aurora: Darwin by Amanda Bridgeman. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22978314-aurora?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true

She's a local author so I felt like I should do my part and support her. So far I'm enjoying the novel but there are a lot of thing about it that annoy me.
For starters, the main cast are soldiers working for a UN-like organisation in space. The story begins with the MC, a woman, and two other women are added to an all-male crew and sent on a mission. What bothers me is the oddly antiquated attitudes the men have to women on their ship. Women in the military are hardly uncommon. I'm in the army myself and I've seen attitudes even close to what appear in this novel. I don't think the author did a lot of research on how militaries are structured either because everyone's rank seems a little random and the way they speak to their officers is just absurd. So that whole aspect felt wrong and really annoyed me.

Secondly, it doesn't really feel much like a science-fiction story. There's very little techno-babble and exploration of the world in the future, which is a little disappointing. I'm not one for rock-hard sci-fi, but I like a little speculation on future technology and society, even if it just dressing. I haven't finished it yet so I will withhold a score for now, but I will say that I am enjoying it and will probably read the sequels too.
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Speaking of Sci-Fi, I took a hiatus from Higher Education because the author comes off as kind of a loveshy and it gets a bit cringey to regularly have people who I just realized were not quite majority age hunger for sex. Like to the point of rape and attempted rape. And taking advantage of the retarded for sex. It's still an interesting setting, and implies a bigger world, but holy fucking hell is it a grimy one.
 
DuskEngine said:
Got Revelation Space (ty @sugoi-chan ) and Embassytown. Started on the former
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It's a slow burn, but it's everything I like (and feel is missing in most) space opera.

On topic: Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage. Mass biography of some of the first-class passengers on the Titanic.
 
@krimsonincode I really loved the history parts in Cryptonomicon. The present day parts really didn't do it for me.

If you can deal with his style, I think most of his other novels are better. Right now I'm reading Seveneves and it's a slog. Normally I love his asides explaining things in-depth (Anathem is my favorite Stephenson novel), but the data dumps on orbital mechanics in this are far above my level.
 
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Load Bearing Drywall said:
@krimsonincode I really loved the history parts in Cryptonomicon. The present day parts really didn't do it for me.

If you can deal with his style, I think most of his other novels are better. Right now I'm reading Seveneves and it's a slog. Normally I love his asides explaining things in-depth (Anathem is my favorite Stephenson novel), but the data dumps on orbital mechanics in this are far above my level.
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This one is my 3rd of his, the others were Snow Crash and Diamond Age. My SO is reading Reamde now. I feel almost the same way about the modern day parts, but Turing is one of my favorite people in Computer Science history, so I keep going.
 
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It's pretty good.
 
Going Through The Fires of Life With Jesus by Evangelist Dr. Robert McKim Senior
 
The Collector Of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov

Not ashamed to say that I bought that one like two years ago, and now finally picked it up. Yay for me. Already managed to read the first 30 pages of about 500+. Might take a while, though. Sort of verbatose and not instantly accessible, and really too early to make a first judgement, but so far I´m liking his writing style.

Iliya Troyanov's fictionalized account imagines the life of Sir Richard Francis Burton - a 19th-century British colonial officer with a rare ability to assimilate into indigenous cultures. Burton's obsessive traveling took him from England to British India, Arabia, and on a quest for the source of the Nile River in Africa. He learned more than 20 languages, translated "The Arabian Nights" and the "Kama Sutra", and took part in the pilgrimage to Mecca, in addition to writing several travel books.

This elegant, layered novel tells the story of Burton's adventures in British West India, his experience on the hajj to Mecca, and his exploration of East Africa. In each section, perspective shifts between Burton and the voices of those men he encounters along the way: his Indian servant tells the stories of his travails with Burton to ascribe; the qadi, the governor, and the shari in Mecca investigate Burton's hajj; and, Sidi Mubarak Bombay, his African guide, shares his story with friends in Zanzibar. These concentric narratives examine the underbelly of colonialism while offering a breathtaking tour of the 19th century's most stunning landscapes.
 
Some Mills and Boon novel I picked up in a second hand shop. This is the first thing I have read for my own enjoyment since I finished university. I'll get the actual title later.

I'm not too keen on Mills and Boon but the cheesiness of some of the texts is so bad it's good.
 
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The Count of Monte Cristo, although I'm about to return it. Not that it's boring, but I haven't had time. I recently finished The Da Vinci Code, and while it was a decent read, the constant cliffhangers when the protagonist solved the short-time mystery really got on my nerves and the characterization was boring.
 
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Rereading the Arrows of the Queen series by Mercedes Lackey. Nice light fantasy.
 
Hat said:
How far did you get, and what version were you reading?
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As translated by Lowell Bair. I think I got about 20 pages in because I started it two days before it was due and decided it wasn't worth it.

Is there a better translation or is this good enough?
 
knifetruck said:
As translated by Lowell Bair. I think I got about 20 pages in because I started it two days before it was due and decided it wasn't worth it.

Is there a better translation or is this good enough?
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I've only read what I believe is the 1846 anonymous translation—I say "I believe" because the copy I own has no information about the translation, but only text—and liked it quite a bit. I'd recommend it unless you're adverse to reading through 1000+ pages of 19th century English with plenty of whences and thithers.

The Blair translation is apparently a mid-20th century abridged version. I don't know what was taken out, but it probably cuts out a lot of the very detailed/flowery descriptive language. The story itself is probably mostly intact, but a certain amount of the overall atmosphere is probably lost.

Regardless of what translation you use, I would definitely recommend giving the book another try when you have the time.
 
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