What are you reading?

bjornkri

Any of you have time for books?

I'm reading TWO at the moment: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco and Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. The latter does have some practical gaming applications, now that I think of it.

ChrisNahr

Making my slow way through Machiavelli's Discorsi, along with Dorothy Sayers' complete Lord Peter stories.

Owen

What a great idea for a thread.

I'm working my way through the second volume of Shelby Foote's The Civil War. It's enormous (it took him twenty years to write) but it's so wonderfully written that I've developed a huge bro crush on the late Mr Foote. Best narrative work of history I've read since Tuchman's The Guns of August.

I had a hankering for some sci-fi (hence this contest) and picked up Leviathan Wakes - it hasn't really gripped me in the moments I've turned to it on a break from Foote.

@bjornkri I love Eco, but his books seem precisely calibrated to remind me that I am an uneducated Philistine. He's so ridiculously well-read it isn't fair. In my memory, Foucault's Pendulum is the worst of Eco's books for this condition - though I did really enjoy it.

TheDukester

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond, by Andrew Lycett

bjornkri

@owen It's actually not my first time through Foucault's Pendulum. It somehow hits just the sweet spot for me, so I keep coming back to it every year or two. I've enjoyed his other novels but the Pendulum is the only one I've read more than once.

My favourite part about reading it though is that I make copious notes, and tend to end up with something like Henry Jones Sr.'s diary from the Last Crusade.

(I also enjoy the irony of reading it repeatedly, searching for new meaning – but I won't go into details of why that's ironic in case I'm spoiling it for someone.)

@ChrisNahr You got me curious about the Discorsi. Added to my reading list.

The_Spiel

I'm currently reading All The Pretty Horses, by McCarthy.

Bjorn & Owen's Umberto Eco chat has me interested in trying one of his books. Is Foucault's Pendulum a good one to start with?

ChrisNahr

bjornkri said:

@ChrisNahr You got me curious about the Discorsi. Added to my reading list.

Note that it's a long and verbose book, with lots of historical trivia. The Prince has many of the same thoughts but in a much more condensed and readable form, so I recommend you start with that if you haven't read it yet.

bjornkri

@The_Spiel I can't really say if it's a good book to start with, even though it was my first book by Eco. I like the author's explanation of it:

'In The Name of the Rose, the first 50 or 70 pages were difficult in order to give the reader the necessary exercise. He had to learn how to breathe in order to start mountain climbing. In this new book [Foucault's Pendulum], I open with a Hebrew quotation nobody is able to understand. This is in order to say, "OK, do you want to play this game? You are my friend, and we go. Otherwise, too bad for me or for you."'
(http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_usnews89.html)

deathmtn

I just read Gilgamesh: A New English Version. After kind of laughing at the first half (it's kinda "formulaic," since, you know, it's one of the first written stories), I was really taken with the second half of it - the downfall part.

I've also been getting into graphic novels again. Finished Epileptic the other day. It's a really imaginative biography.

Owen

@deathmtn, one of my absolute favourite books of all time. Once you've read that English version, pick up the Sin-Leqi Unnini translation of the Akkadian tablets. It's just gorgeous.

deathmtn

@Owen, I was wondering how a more direct translation would go - there were certain phrases that made me mistrust this version slightly, even though I dug it overall.

OBollocks

Enkidu kicks arse.

Currently on Joe Hill, after picking up all of Locke & Key (greatest case of What Happens Next in comics for me in years), I moved onto his novels. Horns made me cry, and it's very rare for a book to do that.

I've had Leviathan Wakes pointed out to me, what I've heard about it does not convince.

Lexicon

@OBollocks I agree with you on Horns, awesome book.

OBollocks

/high five after I've swiped the tears from my eyes so I can see.

Mary Gentle's Ash: A Secret History is something I love to re-read every year without fail, and something my friends never borrow, because it's so long. One of the best fantasy novels of the past 15-20 years.

bjornkri

Started Gilgamesh, the Sin-Leqi Unnini translation mentioned above I believe.

Also reading China Miéville's Embassytown... haven't made up my mind on that one yet. It's really bizarre.

deathmtn

Started The Years of Rice and Salt. Entertaining so far, but haven't gotten into the meat of it.

Finished Petrograd, an excellent no-glitz spy yarn in graphic novel form.

OBollocks

bjornkri said:

Also reading China Miéville's Embassytown... haven't made up my mind on that one yet. It's really bizarre.

Excellent use of language and a genuine attempt to come up with a genuinely 'alien' alien. Bit stodgy in places though.

TheDukester

The Mask of Command by John Keegan. Military history, FTW.

ChrisNahr

Finally finished Machiavelli's Discorsi. Compared to the Prince I must say it's eminently skippable. Dude needs an editor!

bjornkri

Ended up quite liking Embassytown. More sci-fi coming up, just finished the first very disorienting chapters of Ubik.

Owen

TheDukester said:

The Mask of Command by John Keegan. Military history, FTW.

Keegan was a wonderful writer.

---

On holiday I read a good bit of sci-fi and a little medieval history. Let me tell you about the sci-fi.

I started with Leviathan Wakes (which was recommended to me by a poster in the LotD giveaway thread), which I had attempted to read back in the summer but couldn't get into. Once I got properly into it, I had a lot of fun with it. The characters are a little plastic and plot points have a nasty habit of resolving themselves a little too neatly - but it's a good little adventure.

I tried The Thousand Emperors and was left utterly cold by it. Didn't get more than a quarter of the way in so perhaps it turns into Space Gilgamesh at some point but I doubt it.

I started the brand-spanking-new Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton on the flight home and I am loving it.

edit: @bjornkri - did you get through Gilgamesh all right? Did you have an annotated edition?

Xicano

TheDukester said:

The Mask of Command by John Keegan. Military history, FTW.

One of my favs

bjornkri

Heads up, if your reading list is getting too short, here's a bundle of ebooks to be had for not too much money: http://www.humblebundle.com. Haven't read any of these, but I can see at least two that I would like to read.

@owen I'm still reading it. I'm going slowly, reading a stanza or two at a time. But really enjoying it. Think I'll need another read-through once I'm done to get the flow of the thing.

Owen

If I want to start with China Mieville, what's a good book to get first?

OBollocks

King Rat.

Or, if you want to kick off in the world of Bas Lag, Perdido Street Station.

He gets a bit carried away with his prose sometimes, but he's a good 'un.

bjornkri

City and the city or Perdito Street Station. The former is like a east European detective novel. With a twist. The second a high fantasy novel. With a twist.

OBollocks

Herp derp, I forgot Abercrombie's Red Country is out (he's ten times better than George RRRRRRRRRR Martin) and Banks' Hydrogen Sonata is also out. So, got both.

Owen

Ten times better than George Martin? This I have to see for myself. Also this is a true test of my regard for you @OBollocks, no pressure.

OBollocks

He's seriously good, start with the First Law trilogy and then you can move on to The Heroes or Best Served Cold.

bjornkri

I'm back to nonfiction, reading A Universe from Nothing.

Curious to try out Abercrombie. Didn't care much for Martin, mind, gave up half way through Song of Ice and Fire book three when I'd read once too many about someone wiping grease out of their beard.

OBollocks

A Game of Thrones was approximately 30% names.