(perhaps no fantasy, cause we all already know what that is about, kinda the same stuff over and over right, honour, tribes, factions, leaders, irrelevant to the human condition, bleh.)


Taipei - Tao Lin

- NYU grad semi-fictional autobiography on the edge between new-sincerity/apathy and irony (not sure how DFW would feel). On the meaninglessness of post-modern life, prescription meds (xanax mostly) - in fact most of his emotions/feels probably read like the side affects and he should probably quit but he has too much aspbergers/social anxiety to do so.
- stripped down to almost nothing bare-bones prose. closest thing to the human condition i feel right now, terribly polarizing writer today (perhaps the most)
His best book by far.

Bleeding Edge - Thomas Pynchon

Silicon Alley mystery fiction send-up full of conspiratorial confusion, characters who are paranoid, and characters who are really really paranoid. Pynchon's take on 9/11, the rise of the internet 2.0, unlimited references to culture in the aughts (pokemon etc) Secret venture/vulture capitalists with vague abstract connections to Israel/terrorism. Upper West Side locale/female jewish protagonist who is pretty cool. Closer to IV, CL49, Vineland, less like GR, M&D, AtD.

Tenth of December - George Saunders.

His newest short stories collection, terribly sad, full of injustice, injustice towards children, middle-america tragedy, experience of the dirt underbelly of america, bleak lost characters who either have meaningless lives, or find meaning in the banal. I'm only half way done, but shit keeps getting real. (including suicide by edge of table when injected with experiental drugs that make you feel bad in a prison drug testing scifi scenario, or perhaps even more tragic, drugs being tested that allow ppl to stand at cash register for 15 hours a day without feeling their legs. :( Saunders at least gives time to how bad things are, and how things are getting worse, as hard as it is to read.



What have you been reading lately?
>mfw none of my friends read
>mfw my face is a lobster sandbox

I got all excited to share books! Then... no fantasy? :( Welp.

Ender's Game - A story about a boy who's crafted by military specialists to fight a war to defend Humanity (a lot about leadership, children growing up too fast, politics)

A Game of Thrones - Many part novel series about political intrigues, rivalries, fantasy and ascensions. They made it into a television series, apparently. More compelling than similar medieval fantasies of the genre -- a lot more 'believable' and relateable to our own military historical past. Magic, fate, and old world concepts.

The Ruins - Story about a Mexican vacation of two couples who go for a hike to find a lost brother of somebody they met at the hotel they were staying at. Natives and the jungle turn against them. Very good psychological thriller with a hint of 'science gone wrong' or otherwise supernatural elements. A majority of the book takes place within about a single square kilometer.

These are the last three books I've read that I enjoy and would recommend.

Originally Posted by Amaryll

I got all excited to share books! Then... no fantasy? :( Welp.

Sharrrrrrrre.

Stray Dog Winter by David Francis. It's about this young man going to Soviet Union to meet his half sister during the Cold War period.

The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machin, by Charles Petzold.

I'm a nerd

I like how someone reported RyanC's list of book recommendations for violating the Code of Conduct. Really?

As for books, I recently read the Mistborn Trilogy and the first book in the sequel trilogy. It's quite a light read, nothing to the likes of LOTR or GoT, but I loved it anyway. The first and second books are a continuing bildungsroman for the main character, and the first is a rather trilling heist story with lots of political intrigue as well. It's definitely a fantasy novel, but a very unique one due to its very innovative magic system, the heist element, and lack of elves/dwarves/etc. I'm personally very fond of fantasy that incorporates magic systems that 1) I've never seen before, 2) uniquely contribute to character development, and 3) have realistic limitations and disadvantages. My favourite thing about these trilogies is the feeling that each book gave me when everything fell into place and things started to make sense. It's hard to describe adequately--something like a euphoric, triumphant joy when things work out in unexpected and fascinating ways. Highly recommend if you want something light and feel-good but also with intriguing complexity and some exploration of philosophical issues.

The subsequent trilogy is also quite unique for the genre in that it takes the magic system and jumps a few hundred years into the future. Technology has not stagnated, as you'll find it does for thousands of years in most fantasy series. The combination of the magic system with more modern technology such as guns and steam is very interesting. I also love how characters of the original triology are remembered in the history of the second trilogy,

The Mortal Instruments Series (Movie: City of Bones). It sucked. I picked this up because the movie trailer looked mildly interesting and I didn't like it at all. Very juvenile in its predictability and angsty, angsty adolescent cast. The bad guy is such a stereotype that it hurts. The main character doesn't get along with other "normal" girls because she's a suuuuper special snowflake and they can't relate to her, of course. Whilst reading this, I just wanted every single character and Cassandra Claire to shut the fuck up. (Yes, I finished. No, I could not stop reading because I just can't stop halfway through a book.) Looked up the series online and discovered that it was originally a RonxGinny fanfic and the author decided to tweak it a bit (50 Shades of Grey-esque?) and publish. Everything then made so much sense. Don't read this, it's got almost every shitty aspect of fanfiction that you could possibly think of and none of the good ones. I have nothing against good fanfiction--Sherlock Holmes spawned some fantastic fanfiction and started that entire genre of writing. But this? I want those hours of my life back, please and thank you.

Originally Posted by Amaryll

As for books, I recently read the Mistborn Trilogy and the first book in the sequel trilogy

Mistborn (by Sanderson) has nothing on Sanderson's newish flagship series "The Stormlight Archive". Its extremely well written whereas you can tell mistborn is his really early work.

Originally Posted by qwerty91

Mistborn (by Sanderson) has nothing on Sanderson's newish flagship series "The Stormlight Archive". Its extremely well written whereas you can tell mistborn is his really early work.

Already have all his newer stuff on my Kobo, just haven't gotten around to it yet! Thanks for the rec though.

Persepolis I and II. Both are graphic novels and are in Mills. You can easily read each book in 1 hr. Quite humorous and it's more of an coming of age story. It's also based on the author's life.

Originally Posted by Amaryll

The Mortal Instruments Series (Movie: City of Bones). It sucked. I picked this up because the movie trailer looked mildly interesting and I didn't like it at all. Very juvenile in its predictability and angsty, angsty adolescent cast. The bad guy is such a stereotype that it hurts. The main character doesn't get along with other "normal" girls because she's a suuuuper special snowflake and they can't relate to her, of course. Whilst reading this, I just wanted every single character and Cassandra Claire to shut the fuck up. (Yes, I finished. No, I could not stop reading because I just can't stop halfway through a book.) Looked up the series online and discovered that it was originally a RonxGinny fanfic and the author decided to tweak it a bit (50 Shades of Grey-esque?) and publish. Everything then made so much sense. Don't read this, it's got almost every shitty aspect of fanfiction that you could possibly think of and none of the good ones. I have nothing against good fanfiction--Sherlock Holmes spawned some fantastic fanfiction and started that entire genre of writing. But this? I want those hours of my life back, please and thank you.

Thanks for the warning; I was going to read it because my sister bought the boxed set.

Originally Posted by Amaryll

The Mortal Instruments Series (Movie: City of Bones). It sucked. I picked this up because the movie trailer looked mildly interesting and I didn't like it at all. Very juvenile in its predictability and angsty, angsty adolescent cast. The bad guy is such a stereotype that it hurts. The main character doesn't get along with other "normal" girls because she's a suuuuper special snowflake and they can't relate to her, of course. Whilst reading this, I just wanted every single character and Cassandra Claire to shut the fuck up. (Yes, I finished. No, I could not stop reading because I just can't stop halfway through a book.) Looked up the series online and discovered that it was originally a RonxGinny fanfic and the author decided to tweak it a bit (50 Shades of Grey-esque?) and publish. Everything then made so much sense. Don't read this, it's got almost every shitty aspect of fanfiction that you could possibly think of and none of the good ones. I have nothing against good fanfiction--Sherlock Holmes spawned some fantastic fanfiction and started that entire genre of writing. But this? I want those hours of my life back, please and thank you.

This. I actually made my way through the second book, and I own...three others from the series, if I'm not wrong, but I can't bring myself to read them. Her writing gets better, though. Can't speak for the characters.

Personally, I found the movie to be much better than the books, but that might be because of some of the acting rather than the story.

____

What I've been reading:

Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison. Class-assigned book, but I found it be to a very interesting read. About WWI and the soldiers' lives in the trenches. Worth a read, imo.

The last not-assigned book I read was The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. It was quite hyped up, and although I wouldn't say it lived up to its expectations, I also think it wasn't quite a disappointment. Deals with outlawed clairvoyancy where the FMC is, obviously, a clairvoyant on the run from the law. Sort of.

Originally Posted by AnimeGamer31

Persepolis I and II. Both are graphic novels and are in Mills. You can easily read each book in 1 hr. Quite humorous and it's more of an coming of age story. It's also based on the author's life.

You read these in Dr. Brophy's class, didn't you...

Originally Posted by AnimeGamer31

Persepolis I and II. Both are graphic novels and are in Mills. You can easily read each book in 1 hr. Quite humorous and it's more of an coming of age story. It's also based on the author's life.

the graphic novel Blankets is also at Mills. another coming of age story that is quite tragic. It explorers how religion, and a religious family and environment, can destroy an adolescent's coming of age. it is worth checking out. and I liked it equally to the blockbuster Persepolis.


grr all this fantasy in the thread : (
at least the genre knows it is just fun stories, I guess that can be said.

Originally Posted by andrew22

grr all this fantasy in the thread : (
at least the genre knows it is just fun stories, I guess that can be said.

Originally Posted by andrew22

(perhaps no fantasy, cause we all already know what that is about, kinda the same stuff over and over right, honour, tribes, factions, leaders, irrelevant to the human condition, bleh.)

I think you're assuming a lot and projecting your own opinion of fantasy onto everyone. Most people who read and enjoy fantasy don't see it as "irrelevant to the human condition." Who says you can't explore philosophical issues and human struggles with magic mixed in there? That you can't evoke emotion and contemplation in a reader using fictional characters?

Certainly, there are fantasy novels that have very little substance to them other than WOO MAGIC, and science fiction and intrigue stories (coughDanBrowncough) that have very little to them other than OMG COOL TECH. Sure there are stories where they focus on gimmicks. However, it's quite ridiculous to judge entire genres by the shit at the bottom of the barrel.

Most recently, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Was alright, but not his best work.
Next up will be a Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson, to finally finish up Wheel of Time!