AR Book Club

[Avaitor]

I read some Tolstoy a while ago (really liked The Cossacks), but I'm kind of afraid to read his two epics. I don't know if I'll have the time to conquer them.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Planning to read War and Peace during Christmas Break, so that'll be my entry into his work. Also trying to be ballsy and see if I can fit in Proust's In Search of Lost Time too.

[Pharass]

Recently I began reading The Iron King, the first book in Maurice Druon's The Accursed Kings series, which details the circumstances that led up to the 100 Year War. Really exciting stuff and Druon brings the setting and the characters to life masterfully. I suspect that this series is going to end up alongside the works of such authors as O'Brian and Dunnett on my list of favorite historical fiction in the future.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Going through Swann's Way, and sadly not getting much. All I'm seeing is just the narrator perving over Odette while the Monsieurs just talk a bit.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Out of boredom I started browsing through my older brother's collection of books and began reading Douglas Adams's The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.

[Avaitor]

I started up Orlando by Virginia Woolf. It's a really cool idea, although the change is pretty sudden when it happens.

[Pharass]

I recently finished The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears. Awesome book, I had high expectations on this one after reading his previous novel An Instance of the Fingerpost and I wasn't disappointed.

Currently, I'm reading a collection of short-stories by Ryonosuke Akutagawa.

[Avaitor]

Well, it looks like I'll get to start The Hunger Games after all. I found it at GoodWill for a buck, along with season 2 of Fresh Prince for $5.

Granted, I also have a shitload of books to get to first, so it'll have to wait a little.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. That title is definitely what I'm going through when reading it.

[Pharass]

Reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. That title is definitely what I'm going through when reading it.

Hmm, I've never read any of Stephenson's work. Although, I've been thinking about giving The Baroque Trilogy a shot.

Currently reading The Grass Crown, the second novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.

[Foggle]

Reading some Gogol right now. Good stuff. Gonna' start The Wallace by Tranter afterward and then maybe pick up some cyberpunk fiction once I finish with that. Anyone here know any good cyberpunk authors (other than Gibson lol)?

[Dr. Insomniac]

Neal Stephenson? He's done a few cyberpunk novels (Snow Crash for one), and they aren't bricks like some of his other works. Also, Warren Ellis if you don't mind comics.

[Foggle]

Cool, I'll look into them.

I love comics, I was just mostly asking about regular books here.

[Avaitor]

So I finally got to read The Hunger Games. It's a very interesting concept, but I feel that it's poorly written, the universe is underdeveloped, and the characters are flat, aside from Katniss and maybe Haymitch.

Battle Royale is better.

[Dr. Insomniac]

When thinking about it, how does the concept of the Hunger Games make sense? So they think that forcing the Panem's children to fight to the death WON'T cause uproar among the districts? Catching Fire's even worse in showing how the antagonists work on making their plans evil instead of practical.

And yeah, Haymitch was my favourite character. Everyone else was either bland or there to manipulate emotions.