What Are You Currently Reading?

[GLASSJAW]

Undermajordomo Minor (weird title, I know) came out today. 3rd book by Van Island-born, Portland-based Patrick DeWitt. First time in a few years that I've had a novel's release date circled on the calendar. His last book, the Sisters Brothers, was the best fiction I've read in five years or so. Classic Western story about two bounty hunter brothers traveling the Oregon Trail to San Francisco that morphs into an alchemy/borderline sci-fi story in the second act.

One of the reviews on the back describes him as "Cervantes by way of Louis CK". I've gone with Steinbeck adapted by David Lynch. He's got a way of walking the line between sad & funny, like Steinbeck, but occasionally darting off into the shadows to get dark and weird.

hey, did you actually purchase this book today? if so, where? most websites I'm looking at have totally conflicting release dates -- none of which seem to be today? (Chapters says 9th, Bolen 15th)

[Realtor Rod]

The Hockey News

[The Bookie]

hey, did you actually purchase this book today? if so, where? most websites I'm looking at have totally conflicting release dates -- none of which seem to be today? (Chapters says 9th, Bolen 15th)

Yeah chapters had 75 copies in store yesterday.

[GLASSJAW]

Yeah chapters had 75 copies in store yesterday.

wtf

word up, gonna head down there

[GLASSJAW]

Yeah chapters had 75 copies in store yesterday.

did you just buck the system? I was there earlier and was told they have them in store, but not "stocked" for sale.

[ckamo]

I'm about 3/4ths through The Martian, really well written and the science actually seems pretty solid. Apparently Andy Weir did a ton of research and consulting with NASA scientists when he wrote the book so I guess that shouldn't come as a shock. I look forward to the movie in October.

[The Bookie]

did you just buck the system? I was there earlier and was told they have them in store, but not "stocked" for sale.

ha wtf...but now that I think of it-

I walked around expecting there to be a large display, didn't see it, checked in their little computer kiosk thing, saw 75 copies listed, went up to general fic and there were two shelved there w/ his others

when I was paying the clerk looked a little confused and said "hey, I think someone was talking about this book earlier" and then was trying to get the attention of the manager

somebody dun f'd up, and yeah, I'm 100 pages into a book that hasn't been released yet

well, sry to send you on a wild goose chase, but if it's any consolation it's fantastic so far - two comparisons I've already made mentally are Kafka's The Castle and The Grand Budapest Hotel

[GLASSJAW]

ah, you luck fella you. i guess i'll have to wait a few days, but i didn't get much of a good look around, since the store was closing. I've read Sisters Brothers three times now, and I really like everything I've read about DeWitt as a person, so I'm hoping I'll like this and he gets a good career out of his work.

Gives me some time to finish up what I've got going currently, at least

Edited September 7, 2015 by GLASSJAW

[The Colt 45s]

No recreational reading outside of CDC here. I am reading a book on research design. It examines the different quantitative and qualitative research methodologies used for doctoral dissertations.

[g_bassi13]

The last thing I was reading was a yet unfinished fantasy trilogy, with the books "The Emperor's Blades" and "The Providence of Fire".

In its tone it seems to be one that's attempting to capitalize on the popularity of A Song of Ice and Fire, but it's not nearly as brutal.

For me when reading, I tend to heavily follow this chart

It almost always applies. When reading this book initially, especially with it attempting to weave 3 separate storylines into one, I felt like I had to make a draft chart to keep with the stupid names and places of everyone and everything. Their races, gods, curse words, characters, nations, weapons, creatures, and even where they went to drink seemed hard to keep track of.

But surprisingly, where I put down other works with the same offence, I actually wanted to persevere a bit through this one. I mean I did put the first book back on the shelf for a while after trying to get through the first few chapters earlier, but when I sat down and began to read through the whole thing, it was pretty great. It's not that the world is particularly rich or original, but it has a pretty compelling story arch.

It's largely a mystery type deal, where they're solving a murder mystery and bigger questions about ancient evils and present threats. While it's partially dependent on coincidence and Three's Company style miscommunication to progress its plot at times, it's a plot worth following in my opinion.

I'm looking forward to the finale next year.

[Dr.Strangelove]

Currently just finishing up The Assassin by Clive Cussler. Every now and then I like to take a break from more heavy reading and just read something more light and for that Cussler is my go too. His books are always enjoyable though they are very much "fluff" as they're pretty much the book equivalent of an action movie. No really deep theme's , straight up ridiculous story lines though he does blend in historical people and events decently but damn I find them extremely enjoyable to read.

Next on my list is Shake Hands with the Devil which I've been meaning to read for a while but keep finding other books to read.

[Dr.Strangelove]

Just finished with the old breed, a good read in general, currently reading helmet for my pillow.

Planning to read the devil in the white city.

Both are phenomenal reads have you read China Marine or Red Blood, Black Sand? Both are awesome reads if you enjoyed with the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow

Edited September 9, 2015 by Dr.Strangelove

[GLASSJAW]

finished Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt

if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 7ish/10. it was a cute story, funny at times. very enjoyable and easy to read... but I just felt like it sorta just flew by, and I didn't really feel much of anything as I read it. in his other book, The Sisters Brothers, I felt a much deeper connection to the characters and thought the playing-with-genre was far more interesting than anything done in Undermajordomo Minor.

I also felt like each character kind of shared the same voice and personality to some extent - the clever back-and-forth dialogue seemed more like deWitt's voice more than a character's -- again, contrast this with the Sisters brothers where the two characters seem to have very different approaches to conversation and discernible personalities

edit: but then again, I do know that this story was influenced heavily by traditional fables, and I am very unfamiliar with fables - not sure how this agrees with or defies the tradition it's playing with

Enjoyable, just a very light read. Would make a good movie.

Edited September 28, 2015 by GLASSJAW

[Svengali]

Took another pic of what I'm reading:

 

 

 

My condolences to all of you who had to read The Catcher In The Rye in school ... it's well on it's way to becoming the first and only book that I quit this year.

 

[thejazz97]

Just starting into "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli.

[GLASSJAW]

12 hours ago, Svengali said:

Took another pic of what I'm reading:

My condolences to all of you who had to read The Catcher In The Rye in school ... it's well on it's way to becoming the first and only book that I quit this year.

 

the polar responses to Catcher in the Rye is always interesting. i think it's great, but i've known a lot of people who hate it.

i've read A Christmas Carol twice this month - once being the version Dickens supposedly read in performances, then the original unabridged version. both were charming

[The Bookie]

On 9/28/2015 at 2:19 AM, GLASSJAW said:

finished Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt

 

if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 7ish/10. it was a cute story, funny at times. very enjoyable and easy to read... but I just felt like it sorta just flew by, and I didn't really feel much of anything as I read it. in his other book, The Sisters Brothers, I felt a much deeper connection to the characters and thought the playing-with-genre was far more interesting than anything done in Undermajordomo Minor.

 

I also felt like each character kind of shared the same voice and personality to some extent - the clever back-and-forth dialogue seemed more like deWitt's voice more than a character's -- again, contrast this with the Sisters brothers where the two characters seem to have very different approaches to conversation and discernible personalities

 

edit: but then again, I do know that this story was influenced heavily by traditional fables, and I am very unfamiliar with fables - not sure how this agrees with or defies the tradition it's playing with

 

Enjoyable, just a very light read. Would make a good movie.

I just realized I never came back to do my book report on this one, but it's a testament to how forgettable it was. GJ might as well have written my review. Wasn't bad by any stretch, but 3 months later I can only remember two scenes - the royal orgy and stuck in a cave in the dark. Sisters Brothers, on the other hand, 3 years later I still remember almost everything.

I'm between books now, few on the shelves I'm looking forward to but the only christmas present suggestions I gave out were books so I'm waiting for a surprise. The last two I read were back to back masterpieces: David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks, possibly the best I've read from him (Cloud Atlas is a heavy adversary though) and 2666 by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. Mammoth vortex of a novel that centers on missing/murdered women in Mexico. Easily in my all-time top 10.

 

21 hours ago, Svengali said:

My condolences to all of you who had to read The Catcher In The Rye in school ... it's well on it's way to becoming the first and only book that I quit this year.

I had two that I abandoned this year. First was Dave Eggers' The Circle, which I had pretty low expectations going in to, and gave up after 2 chapters. The second was a surprise though, Margaret Atwood's latest, The Heart Goes Last. Made it a good 200 (out of 300) pages in, but after the first 50 or so it was a series of increasingly often eye-rolls. Totally unexpected. Sucks seeing one of your literary heroes fall on their face like that.

[Svengali]

10 hours ago, GLASSJAW said:

the polar responses to Catcher in the Rye is always interesting. i think it's great, but i've known a lot of people who hate it.

 

I'm buzzed on Christmas drinks but here's what I think it is ... A lonely teen who seems to still be in shock over the death of his little brother and who doesn't want kids to grow up and have to face (what he considers to be) adulthood goes on a depressed odyssey of mediocre adventures to kill time before having to face his parents.

 

It had/has potential but then became so very, very, very repetitive. And bland and dull. It's annoying because I loved the baseball glove with poetry written all over it, loved that he still had it, it's actually what kept me reading the story because I thought maybe Salinger was onto something really good. But it feels like he's wasting it (I'm a little over half way through), it feels poorly executed. If it just continues to drone on like this until the end with no sense of closure I'll be pretty irritated about the waste of time.

 

[Master 112]

8 hours ago, The Bookie said:

I'm between books now, few on the shelves I'm looking forward to but the only christmas present suggestions I gave out were books so I'm waiting for a surprise. The last two I read were back to back masterpieces: David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks, possibly the best I've read from him (Cloud Atlas is a heavy adversary though) and 2666 by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. Mammoth vortex of a novel that centers on missing/murdered women in Mexico. Easily in my all-time top 10.

To me The Part about the Critics was masterful; the rest of the book was mediocre.

oh and I have Don Quixote sitting next to me right now: Edith Grossman's translation. this is my second attempted reading. I actually like the turgid prose, but I feel as though I've read the whole novel after 100 pages - much like 2666 after its first part

Edited December 25, 2015 by One one two

[babych]

Just started Coming Home by Jack McDevitt. For those that enjoy Sci-Fi I would highly recommend giving him a read. Next up is "The Day I (Almost) Killed Two Gretzkys" by James Duthie.