AR Book Club

Started by Dr. Insomniac, December 31, 2010, 03:28:46 AM

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Spark Of Spirit

So I went to see Brave and stopped by the book shop in the mall since they had a giant rack of 50 Shade Of Grey out front. I picked three random passages to read and was stunned each time.

The first involved cleaning vomit out of pants, the second involved a hipster getting deep listening to Snow Patrol and really thinking man, and the third involved a breakfast scene that climaxed with one character wanted to have sex with the others mouth.

At the front of the store so anyone could walk up and grab it.

Wow.
"The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder." - G.K. Chesterton

Avaitor

Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

Pharass

Currently reading Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. I've been curious about this book ever since I saw it described as Watchmen meets Alan Furst (speaking of which, I really need to read more Furst; Dark Star was a great read) and so far, it's definitely living up to my expectations. The plot boiled down to it's bare necessities is as following: Nazi-Scientist takes in a bunch of orphans and uses them as test subjects for his experiments. A lot of them die, but some of them survive and are given superpowers. In order to combat this threat, British Intelligence decides to recruit the warlocks of Britain and with their help form an alliance with various demonic entities in order to combat the nazi supermen. Of course, this alliance is not without it's price.

If the basic plot is pure pulp (and I mean that in the best possible ways), the characters on both sides are all complex and interesting. I must admit that so far, I find the parts of the book that focuses on Dr. von Westarp's "children" to be slightly more interesting than those that take place in Britain, but that could be because the former parts feature my two favorite characters in the book the siblings Klaus and Gretel. Gretel is especially interesting; a sociopath who can predict the future, she makes for a very compelling villain and I can't wait to see what she does next.

In every age
In every place
The deeds of men
Remain the same.

Pharass

Picked up City of Thieves by David Benioff at the local library and have been making my way through it. It's a well-crafted adventure story about two guys looking for eggs in Leningrad during the German occupation.
In every age
In every place
The deeds of men
Remain the same.

Dr. Insomniac

I'm reading an anthology of essays to get myself better at writing papers. Some of them just feel like short stories with meta-narration.

Spark Of Spirit

I've been reading some G.K. Chesterton. Great stuff.
"The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder." - G.K. Chesterton

Pharass

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on October 29, 2012, 05:05:26 PM
I've been reading some G.K. Chesterton. Great stuff.

Yeah, Chesterton's great; the guy knew how to write a good detective story. I think my favorite of his works is The Man Who Was Thursday, which kind of reminded me of The Prisoner in terms of it's uncanny, weird atmosphere and characters.

As for me, I'm currently reading Blood's A Rover by James Ellroy. Great book, Ellroy is one of my favorite authors living today.
In every age
In every place
The deeds of men
Remain the same.

Dr. Insomniac

Read Cosmopolis and Crying of Lot 49 for class. Liked the first more than the second. Pynchon just doesn't work right with me.

Pharass

Currently, I'm reading the first volume of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. It's a very engrossing book; the alternative reality is revealed gradually through subtle hints and the characters, both the more grounded and the slightly larger-than-life are believable and interesting. Well worth seeking out and a good starting point if you've never read anything by Murakami before.
In every age
In every place
The deeds of men
Remain the same.

Commode

The Millienium series of books, aka the The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series, is really good.  I'm currently working on the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, but the second book(The Girl Who Played With Fire) is one of the best books I've read in a while.  It's everything you want in a book; an event happens and you want to the who, what, and why, and you're intently reading the book until before you know it you've gone through 200 hundred pages(through which the main character and the person under suspicion in the book, Lisbeth Salander, does not make an appearance), and you've still got unanswered questions.  That's what happened to me with this book.
It doesn't matter what you say, soon you'll be dead anyway.

Avaitor

Yeah, I still say the Hunger Games books should have been written in the same style Larsson wrote the Millennium trilogy, so we could crack into the mind of more than just Katniss.
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

Pharass

I still haven't read anything by Larsson, perhaps it's time I gave him a shot.
Currently reading The Plague by Camus and enjoying it, it's proven much easier to get into than I thought it would be.
In every age
In every place
The deeds of men
Remain the same.

Spark Of Spirit

I'm still reading Father Brown stories, though in between stories I'm planning on reading my new copy of the Great Gatsby.
"The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder." - G.K. Chesterton

Avaitor

After reading The Faults in Our Stars, I've come to the conclusion that I don't care for YA novels, and I REALLY don't care for the current fixation on them.
Life is not about the second chances. It's about a little mouse and his voyage to an exciting new land. That, my friend, is what life is.

Sir, do you have any Warrants?
I got their first CD, but you can't have it, motherfucker!

New blog!
http://avaitorsblog.blogspot.com/

Karamazova

Quote from: Avaitor on February 02, 2013, 11:00:33 PM
After reading The Faults in Our Stars, I've come to the conclusion that I don't care for YA novels, and I REALLY don't care for the current fixation on them.

I really hated that book. :/

I'm about to start Rabbit, Run by John Updike for school, but I'm happy 'cause I've been meaning to read it for a couple years now.