Whatcha Readin'?

Catching up on stuff I should have read before.

Just finished Foucault’s Pendulum, now getting through High Rise rapidly.

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Good for you! My copy is just sitting on the shelf…for years…waiting for me to get inspired.

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I’m finally finished with school . . . for a whole week :cry:
I’ve been almost finished with Moby Dick for a few months now; going to finally get through it this week. Maybe even today!

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I finally read that tome over a summer more than a few years ago now. Had to read it in small bits or it got overwhelming. But very much worth the effort.

I just finished Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. A fun lovecraftian horror story. I don’t know if more adventures are planned for our hero Lizzie Borden but I am interested to see how the future stories will unfold if they happen.

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I think there is a sequel…

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Oh yes I see now that I think to look. Chapelwood. Off to check the library catalog.
ETA and ebook copy on hold, because I am lazy today.

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Hmm, saw the movie, was a little… nonplussed. Do your recommend the book? The movie was a valiant effort, but it felt like one of those complex books that’s impossible to do justice to.

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I highly recommend the book. Hmmm… Ballard isn’t exactly complex to follow, but the tone can be difficult to capture on screen. I just read Empire of the Sun, and Spielberg certainly didn’t get it in his adaptation.

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I borrowed the book because I heard about the film (of which I haven’t seen, but have heard decidedly mixed reviews - very marmitey). I’m about half way though the book and loving it.

I know a lot of people thought the book was unfilmable, and the previous films from the people behind the adaptation have also been a similarly acquired taste… (Kill List, A Field in England, Sightseers).

Hey, @Mindysan33, have you seen High Rise yet?

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Reading this one this week. Heard Coates speak several times, very excited to read one of his books.

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Yes, I’m glad Melville favored short chapters! I feel like when I’m finished I should be able to hold my own on a whaling ship (not that I want to kill whales).

In one passage that really struck me, he was talking about how there were so many whales in the ocean, humans could never possibly kill them all. :cry:

ETA: Ooh, Cherie Priest! I read Boneshaker; haven’t gotten around to any of her other stuff. Yet. My to-read pile is so high already :dizzy_face:

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That one grabbed me right away and I burned through it. If you liked it yes do read the rest of the books.

I currently have a pile of Doc Savage paperbacks from the 70s I have not got to yet. I will probably get one or two done waiting for my holds. And to think of it some AE Van Vogt, and a copy of Metropolis I grabbed at the used book store just because and a Mike Hammer novel and who knows what else.

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Yes! It was great, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I just picked up the first two issues of his version of Black Panther… I’m interested to see how he handles fiction (and comic fiction, at that).

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No, and I probably won’t see it until it’s on DVD. Have you seen it yet? I agree it’s tough to capture Ballard on film. But if anyone can do it, it might be Wheatley. As @ChuckV mentioned to @codinghorror, Spielberg’s attempt to bring Empire of the Sun just didn’t do his work justice… Spielberg is just far too pedestrian and frankly maudlin to get Ballard’s weirdness, I think. I think I agree about Ballard’s lack of complexity, it’s more is… off putting tone? That’s hard to duplicate. And Wheatley is rather off putting in his own way.

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I’m reading Pierced By The Sun by Laura Esquivel. It looks like a short read (still haven’t finished Too Like The Lightning) which is a good thing for a week night. :laughing: The translation feels weird to me but I don’t know for sure because I don’t read Spanish well enough to read a novel.

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I had jury duty yesterday and today, so books were necessary; I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get a case, but I sure got some reading done! I read all of Children of Men by P.D. James, and a good chunk of lost boy lost girl by Peter Straub. I still haven’t finished Moby Dick–only because my copy of the book is too big to fit in my purse, or I’d have polished it off no problem.

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I grabbed a free one from google books for my nook. One time with the tome was enough. Awesome book just huge.

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In the middle of book 2 of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque cycle… it’s fine. I appreciate the history.

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The View From the Cheap Seats - Neil Gaiman collected nonfiction. Mostly a bunch of introductions to other people’s books and a few speech transcripts. It’s okay, I could do with some more essays in there but I’ve picked up a few recommendations of other books to try out of it.

Also Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (as recommended by @Tobin). Fun enough YA steampunk stuff.

Just got Fight Club 2 from the library, too.

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Taylor Andersen’s Destroyermen series. A WWII destroyer and her crew transported to a dinosaur-infested alternate Earth find themselves caught up in a fight even bigger than the one they left.

Cheesy but fun light reading, and free of most of the political obnoxiousness common to a lot of MilSF.

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