What are you reading right now?

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

So I started Empire of the Ants, then I stopped because it seemed like it kind of sucked, then I wanted to started again, but I can't find it!
So instead I'm reading The Hornet's Nest by President Jimmy Carter. Yes, the President. He was the first President to write a novel. It's about the Revolutionary War in the Deep South, Georgia (his state) and South Carolina and such. A front that, as it often goes, is quite overlooked despite having lead directly up to the end of the war, from Camden and Kings Mountain and such up to Yorktown. Recall, after the British realized they were fucked in New England they shifted their focus to the relatively Loyalist South and tried to hold on there. It's an interesting front, because whereas in New England the population was overwhelmingly Patriot, in the Deep South the population had a very large Loyalist movement to the point that the war was effectively a civil war within the colonies and degenerated into the same kind of nasty guerilla warfare and atrocities (The Patriot) that brings.

Unfortunately, so far it seems to not be real good. There's a common flaw of historical fiction where the author wants to expodump but doesn't know how. They write dialogue into character's mouths that sounds like they're giving a history lesson on what is to them contemporary events. Then there's a separate issue, which is when the author needs to skip large periods of time, or introduce the life story of a character, and does it through description in a way that feels like a biography instead of seeing it "through their eyes." I can't blame Carter too much, it was his first novel, but still.

 

[Path Wanderer]

Have a monograph rotation this summer but as of this moment I'm reading Changing Identities - Ancient Roots: the history of West Dunbartonshire from earliest times. Though I was initially doubtful of it due to it being a government-commissioned work broken by chapter into differing authorships, its history of Scotland via the Clyde region has been amusing to read through. All the varying perspective's on Dumbarton (and Scotland's) development are threaded together by the chronology of the region itself, so its interesting to compare the exact developments in certain chapters against each other and amidst the wider story.

Before this, I finished going through The Group of Seven and Tom Thompson by David Silcox. That was my inspiration for my Landscape Thread here (not to self promote) and is filled with ample descriptions of the Group of Seven's masterworks and the stories behind him. My only major complaint is that, outside the prologue, there is not enough non-artistic divulging into the Canadian nationalism they were trying to forge by depicting. Seeing more of the wider socio-political context of their making of "The Truth North" would balance out its discussion of the minute details of the paintings (+the paintings themselves). All in all, fair reads both.

Edit: I'll touch on Our First Civil War by H. W Brands and World War I by SLA Marshall when I have better grasps on both of them

 

[Otis Mallebrok]

Maschinenelemente, Gestaltung und Berechnung. My understanding of German really isn't as good as it once was. Schade.

 

[glass_houses]

'Annihilation' by Jeff Vandermeer. Watched the movie, it appealed to me in all sorts of ways, thought I'd read the book to get some more insight into it. Halfway through the book and I started it an hour ago. It's a slender book and I'm an extremely fast reader, but still, if I can chew through something this quickly it's not necessarily a good sign. But it's not a bad sign either. I am finding it very compelling. That said, I read several books by Vandermeer twenty odd years ago and hated them all, and found them a chore to read. Either the writer has changed or I've changed. Or both.

EDIT: Finished. About two and a half hours in total. As I said, a slender book. But much easier to read and mull over than I expected. The movie made significant departures from the book. It gave the main characters names and well, characters. In the book, they are known by their professions: "biologist" "psychologist" etc, and there are not even physical descriptions of them. Ordinarily this sort of artifice shits me to tears and strikes me as the writer trying far too hard. In this novel, however, it's extremely effective, because it just underscores the alienation and inexorable absorption and alteration of all humans in the alien environment they are fed to. The book is also very sparing with visuals, saving them for when they have the most impact, whereas the movie strives very hard to make the alien nature of the place it's in clear in visual terms, and the beauty and monstrosity within it. Significant additions to the plot; I don't know whether this is the film makers taking liberties, or whether these additions are taken from the other two books in the trilogy.

Overall I enjoyed it, although I will allow that there would be some who find it pretentious and not unreasonably so. Also, Vandermeer needs to acknowledge his debt to The House of Leaves. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books, and will buy them next payday.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

I already had to give up on The Hornet's Nest. The prose is trash. It reads like a nonfiction book (apparently Carter is a bit of an amateur historian), a textbook even, with a fictional character used to frame the expodumping around. It isn't like a novel at all. He just doesn't know how to write narrative.

Trying I, the Sun instead. Novel of the Hittites at their height. One problem with that, I have very little knowledge of Hittites - really just that they were warlike Aryans living in Anatolia - and so little background knowledge to understand what's going on or even what things look like.

 

[DarkSydeHyde]

I'm reading "The Thing" by John W. Campbell. Original version before that one that got to the print. I love Carpenter's movie.

BTW: I feel like I'm falling for /lit/ meme of R. Scott Bakker. I want to read The Darkness That Comes Before. Have anyone here read? Is it dogshit?

 

[Commissar Fuklaw]

I started Project Hail Mary and am enjoying it as much as I did The Martian, but I have to ask: Is it possible for Weir to write different characters?

 

[Super Guido]

Sons by Pearl S. Buck. I read The Good Earth almost 20 years ago and I like this one so far, too. My only problem with it is the character's dialogue is rather dramatic, so I keep reading Wang the Tiger's dialogue in a similar fashion to how Raul Julia played M.Bison in the 94 Street Fighter movie.

 

[Dixieland Buckaroo]

The World of Jeeves by PG Wodehouse. Only read a couple of the short stories, and this has almost all of them.

 

[Liquid Kent]

I need to finish The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath sometime. I'm somewhere in the middle of the back-and-forth stealing between the two.

 

[AnOminous]

The World of Jeeves by PG Wodehouse. Only read a couple of the short stories, and this has almost all of them.

Wodehouse is utterly delightful.

 

[shameful existence]

A semi-random pick as I like missing people stories, but I'm not that into the technicalities of aviation. Ended up being an overly information dense book - it uses a lot of declassified material and gets deep into analyzing the last few days of radio communication before the disappearance. Not glorifying Amelia Earhart, not being overly critical to her. You kind of end up thinking that her true skills showed in doing a lot of assertive lobbying and last minute chaotic organizing, rather than piloting. The author hints at what he believes happened, but doesn't fully commit to it.


I'm about two thirds in, so I may still get annoyed by the ending, but overall a fun and comfy southern gothic story. I don't know that much about 1980s paperback horror books, but this is definitely one of the more original takes on the haunted house theme I've read. Instead of cold and dark, there's hot and sunny Alabama - an environment far away enough from mine to be enjoyable in a book. Some of the characters are surprisingly fun and there's a comedic element to them. Easy read.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

I was an avid fan of TCM Underground on basic cable back when I didn't have many movies to watch on VHS or DVD. I found out that a posthumous book came out after they fired the host and cancelled the program. Luckily, my library picked up a copy.

The book suffers from the movies being viewed in a modern political context. A crossdresser in a film? The character is praised for being inclusive for having what they consider to be a gay or trans character, despite the guy in drag assaulting a woman. The Decline of Western Civilization is praised for having Alice Bag, a "pee oh see" in the white punk scene, while ignoring Ron Reyes of Black Flag and Pat Smear from The Germs. There are better options out there if you want to read about cult films, but it can be entertaining at times. The downside is that the writers show their biases quite often. Patton Oswalt writes a smug introduction to the book as well.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

Hornblower

 

[glass_houses]

I Can See In The Dark by Karin Fossum

Norwegian popular thriller fiction. Written from the pov of a very fucked up individual, does a very good job of getting into his head. Not world shakingly brilliant but decently entertaining so far.

 

[Abbadon's Gate]

Working my way back through Leviathan Wakes.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

I recently bought the second volume of The Autobiography of Mark  Twain, because I honestly wanted more after reading the first volume.

If anything, I am almost close to the stage where I'm buying a book just because I sometimes have the delusional thought that no one in today's time reads Mark Twain anymore.

 

[AnOminous]

If anything, I am almost close to the stage where im buying a book just because I sometimes have the delusional thought that no one in today's time reads Mark Twain anymore.

I've read pretty much everything, but much of it so long ago it could do with a re-reading. His travel books like Following the Equator are pretty solid and underrated. He also has an historical novel about Joan of Arc and a non-fiction book about Christian Science that are almost forgotten.

 

[maguyver16]

I recently bought the second volume of The Autobiography of Mark  Twain, because I honestly wanted more after reading the first volume.

If anything, I am almost close to the stage where I'm buying a book just because I sometimes have the delusional thought that no one in today's time reads Mark Twain anymore.

I grew up reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and re-read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a couple years ago, and frankly, it's messages of general human ignorance, even within supposed societal superiority are just relevant (or should be) inasmuch as they were during the time of the novels original publication. Twain really was a master of subtle subversion and narrative irony, and the writers who attempt satire these days could really take a note from him.


So I just finished reading this fucking mammoth

At first, i got up to the start of the war, but then got busy with other shit, and after a bit I finally finished it. I would recommend it for WW2 buffs.

Spoiler: my thoughts on the text

Starting off, I am fully aware of the many possible points of contention that are not only proliferated by this book, but by the very fact that Speer was not given the death penalty at Nuremberg. There are many that would state that he was more than aware of the use of slave labor, either from forced conscription of subjected people, or from those interred in the concentration camps. The idea that Speer fully committed the need for an extended workforce to his agitant (if that is the correct term) without knowing what was going on is almost nonsensical, along with evidence produced in later decades that contradicts his claims. Also, due to his close association to much of the higher echelon of the Nazi party, along with his consistent involvement with the Wehrmacht, there would simply be too many opportunities for Speer to not of at least been informed of the actions pertaining to the Holocaust, especially in regards to the consistent application of these peoples to the production of war materials. There are many parts within this book in which Speer seems to subtly dance around these inconsistencies, in a way that would even impress the likes of O.J. Simpson. Simply put, Albert Speer spends a lot of time covering his ass, which therefore puts most of the parts of his narrative into question, and could make some question why it would even be prudent to even take this book seriously at all. I would argue, however, that despite these careful omissions and fuckery, that Speer simply did not have much of a reason to lie about much of his experiences within Germany at that period, or of his interactions with the likes of Goering, Goebbels, and of course, Herr Mustache Man himself. Much of his retrospection also, at least in my opinion, comes off as legitimate; trying to save face or no, 20 years of imprisonment would undoubtedly cause a person to at the very least consider their previous views on life, as they would have plenty of time to do so. Even if it is complete fiction, a complete fabrication, it's still an interesting read if you're into this kind of thing. But yeah, he probably deserved to die.

The book essentially spans from Speer's youth, schooling, family, setting up a snapshot of middle-class German culture from the early 1900s up to when he first hears Adolf Hitler speak at a small event, noting that Hitler was not as boisterous and rabble rousing at this particular speaking engagement as was expected, yet still amazing Speer with his charisma and dreams of a bright future, to the point where Speer is given the idealistic spark that was felt by many German people in that period. He then begins to involve himself with various Nazi projects, through the field of architecture, eventually joining the party in the early 1930s, and gaining the respect and favor of Hitler himself, with both of them visualizing the potential of the Reich, both within the rallies designs, rebuilding projects, and the brainstorming of the mythical Germania, the massive dream of a renovated Berlin, fit for an immense empire of a thousand years. One interesting aspect of Speers writing is his intense yet simple attention to details, especially in regards to architectural styles and layouts, that both surprisingly and effectively paint visuals in the readers mind the scale and decorum of these various settings, a skill which is also prevalent in his descriptions of the historical figures he dealt with.

These far flung dreams of fancy of course end with the onset of the Second World War, which eventually envelopes Speer as architecture projects are shelved and Hitler goes on to name him the Minister of Armaments, plunging Speer continually farther into the crony politics and bureaucracy of the National Socialist single party state. As the war drags on, the cracks in the system grow, and all involved are forced to contend with a situation that is slowly falling out of their grasps, and is most likely leading to the wholesale destruction of Germany itself. He takes great lengths to point out the failings both inherent within the political system itself, along with those who are attempting to prop it up in a fanatical manner. Much of these failings are described quite dryly, and as I read on, I couldn't shake the notion that Speer was explaining many of the interactions and situations that lead to these failures in a farcical manner, but perhaps I am seeing German humor where there is in fact none.

As the disasters continues to mount for the Reich in the later years of the war, more and more is expected of Speer by both the army and by Hitler, who himself begins to cling on to every small hope, until the decision is made to tear down German industrial infrastructure, as to not fall into the hands of the enemy. This notion of heroic self-destruction is lost upon Speer, who sees a future for the nation, even after catastrophic defeat, and he spends much of that last gasps of the war attempting to restrict these orders of destruction, despite worrying that this would lead to Hitler discovering his disobedience and disloyalty and thereby sending him to his death. This, along with his claims of the "Armaments Miracle", could be Speer's attempts to positively influence the readers opinion of him, and these actions of good intentions should perhaps therefore be taken with a grain of salt. However, there is evidence both provided within the text, and other sources, that support his pursuit of preserving what was left of Germany for postwar reconstruction efforts. Long story short, Hitler an heroes, the war ends, Speer goes to prison, he gets out, he publishes this book, yadda yadda yadda.

The whole narrative reads as a quintessential cautionary tale; a man who let his idealism and aspirations cloud the destructive reality of that which he strives to celebrate and protect the most, to the point where he almost annihilates it completely. I find this theme applies to Albert Speer as much as it does to Adolf Hitler. Overall, a bretty gud read.

 

[glass_houses]

Finally caught up to the latest chapter of the manhwa "Concentration of Malice"/ "Depths of Malice". Starts off with a typical manhwa body swap premise, and then proceeds to take it out and show it the time of its life. Based in a vaguely European fantasy kingdom (another typical manhwa thing) it follows a rather... unique young woman as she is exiled from high society by the machinations of an evil man , grinds a living with her wits, and then, when she realises that she's dying from a fatal lung disease, uses magic to swap her body with a young, mentally disturbed noblewoman. She is slowly working towards destroying the man who destroyed her in her former life, and also destroys anyone who gets in her way of this, or even just for shits and giggles. She's captivated multiple noblemen, and there are only a handful of people in her entire life who know how ruthless, manipulative and heartless she really is. Everyone else is completely taken in, even the biological parents of the girl whose body she's stolen have no clue that she's changed. Everyone is playing someone, and the only bigger monster than the main female character is the man she's out to destroy. She's killed and/or ruined multiple people, and will doubtless kill or ruin many more. The art is lovely, too.

I'm rather pissed at having caught up with all the chapters. Now I'm stuck waiting for new chapters every week with everyone else.