I've just started 'John Dies At The End' by David Wong. I've never read anything else that manages to so seamlessly blend horror and comedy together. There are parts that have seriously freaked me the hell out, and then manage to pull off a really good joke without losing any of the tension or scares. It makes for a very unique read.
El túnel (The Tunnel)It's an existentialist novel about a painter called Juan Pablo Castel, who fells in love and later kills Maria Iribarne. By "fell in love" I mean that he becomes obsessed and builds an unstable relationship with María, which is a slut, by the way. The book consists mostly of Castel's over-analyzation of absolutely everything and inner monologue about how he hates other painters, guilds, womanizers, society and himself.
I'm reading the whole saga of Captain Alatriste. Spain in the S-XVI, when it still was a worth of country, xD!
Of Mice and Men was pretty much the book that got me into reading books, I read it for class in middle school when I was like 12 or so, and I found it so amazing, at an age where reading books is so boring and just for old people. It's very impressive.
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Oh my GOD Slaughterhouse 5. This book is so fucking weird I can't even describe it. But it's SO good.
I've been a library fiend for a while so I guess i'll post something here.I read Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherford which was the continuation of Princes of Ireland that read years before. It was an entertaining view of Ireland's history from the perspective of fictional families that are followed through the generations.The first book began in Gaelic times to the English occupation and the second was from the Protestant rising to the beginnings of the IRA during WWI. It kind of thew me off to see how so much of Protestants v. Catholics shaped the way Ireland is today and how unstable the country's position was for century's. Even if it was fiction based on historical events, the author did their best to make it entertaining and made the characters as interesting and insightful as possible(which is surprising since he had to juggle so many).I enjoyed it.
Finished Small Steps a few days ago. It's a sequel to Holes by Louis Sachar.It's a pretty good book, but dosen't really feel like a sequel, still it should be read if you've read Holes.
A few days ago, I finished The Good Earth. It was written by Pearl Buck in 1938 & it's about a pooer Chinese farmer named Wang Lung and his wife O-lan (They got married in the beginning). O-lan is a 20-year-old slave. They cultivate their harvest land. He hires people to harvest it. Unfortunately, that's all I know.I used it as an outside reading book in my school.
I've read Slaughter House Five. A friend of mine suggested the name sounded like a heavy metal song. The Good Earth was a good one, I didn't get to finish it because it was due to the library.Last book I read was Wizard of Oz, because I was sick. Currently I'm reading It by Stephen King and the Grimm Fariy Tales. I'm also reading Steel by Richard Matheson. A lot of his stories have been made into movies, or have been used in the Twilight Zone television shows. Normally if you buy one of his books, they usually contain several more of his stories afterwards.
Finished Billy a couple of days ago.Written by Albert French in '93. Its about a 10-year-old black dude from Mississippi who is accused of murdering a 15-year-old white girl named Lori. He gets arrested. The time was August 1937.The bad part is that the ending was a tragedy; What happened was that Billy got electrocuted in an electric chair and said he didn't want to be electrocuted.
QuoteThe bad part is that the ending was a tragedy; What happened was that Billy got electrocuted in an electric chair and said he didn't want to be electrocuted.I wonder why...
Oh yeah,this thread exists. I read the Soloist by Mark SALZMANA book about a middle aged failed musician who all of a sudden has to act as a juror on a murder trial and also has to train a child prodigy that reminds him of his former glory. What I liked most was how detailed the writing was and all the attention to detail in the court scenes that at least give a competent representation of a trial by insanity( yeah like i'd know). I also liked how the author used the characters (the defendant and the child) to give some insight into the protagonist's state of mind. It was ok,a light read.I also read a large collection of short stories(?) by Greg Bear. The majority of his shorts were scifi and since most of those teetered into the hard variety, it was tough reading them. Still, his stuff is pretty amazing and enjoyed reading the vast majority of them. Some of my faves were Blood Music, Heads, Hardfought, Dead Run,The White Horse Child, Sisters, Sleepside Story.
My ex who you may recall me talking about is doing a whole lot of nothing now (lol), mostly reading whatever books she can get. A few days ago, however, she was adamant in making sure that I read a particular book ASAP. And that is Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murasaki (yes it is named after a Beatles song).The story itself is about a dude named Toru who has a best friend Kizuki. Early on Kizuki commits suicide and emotional scars form not just in him, but in Kizuki's girlfriend who starts to become attached to Toru. While going to college, Toru meets a bunch of interesting characters like the moralisic playboy Kawasaki, a free-spirited outgoing girl named Midori, and the aging Reiko.I don't want to give away too much of the plot but much of it involves the characters struggling to find what life means to them and the best way to live it. I actually teared up at several points in the book, just because the dialogue is so powerful.Inb4 posting a line of dialogue from a sex scene because, yes, there are quite a few of them.
I've just finished The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I came to this thread to see what others liked and was reminded how much I like Kurt Vonnegut, so I guess Slaughterhouse 5 (reread) is next on the list.
Latest reread was Orwell's 1984 and it was awful. I dont remember it being that preachy and boring and stupid.. Slaughterhouse 5 kept me entertained. I've just started Ender's Game by Orson Scott, because I read it's to be a movie out next year.
MissBHaven said, September 07, 2012, 03:11:11 pmI've just started Ender's Game by Orson Scott, because I read it's to be a movie out next year.Oh shit, I was just thinking about that this morning!!! "Like, this book would really make a great movie, with a lot of thinking, suspense every second, nice special effects. This would totally be a hit if done correctly".Tell me what you think about it when you finish it (and only when you've finished it).
I've been re-reading the Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy trilogy. I'm about halfway through Life, The Universe, and Everything right now. I had completely forgotten how incredibly bleak these books become as they go on.
