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I really want to read The Martian, I've heard some amazing things about it recently, but I've already got a backlog the length of my arm to get through. Right now I'm reading Metro 2033 and I'm finding the difference in the structure and pace to what I'm used to really interesting. Not sure if it's the author's own style or because it's been translated from Russian but I really like the fluidity of the story, how it feels like Artyom is just a part of a much bigger machine even though he's the 'hero'. I also have absolutely no idea where this story will end so that's pretty exciting.

Metro 2033 is pretty interesting. If you want to read some more recent Russian Scifi, try Roadside Picnic. If you're interested in older stuff, try Red Star or Aelita.

Tried to start reading 'Farenheit 451', found it a little bleak for my present temprament, started reading 'Roughing it' instead, its an account of Mark Twain's time as a vagabond, and it's quite fun.

Yeah, Fahrenheit 451 is one of my least favourite of Bradbury's actually. Roughing It is great, though!

Fahrenheit 451 is classic, and has a lot to say on the subject of censorship, paranoia, and loss. Having shed fat, massive tracts of it don't make any sense on the first read. Or the third.

Most of my recreational reading is comics these days. There's some great stuff going on in the indie comics scene. My personal favorite right now is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' The Fade Out, a drama about Hollywood in the late 1940s.

Thanks Fayili, I shall have to check those out! On the subject of comics, I'm absolutely in love with a web comic called Lackadaisy which is about anthropomorphic cats running a speakeasy in the 1920s. The art is stunning.

I'm also reading An Astronaut's Guide To Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. I bought on sale and I'm finding it very interesting. It's a wonderful insight into space stuff and he's got some great advice to give about how to approach your goals/expectations in life.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth was one of my favourite books I've read recently. Chris Hadfield is a remarkable person. Decided he wanted to be an astronaut at 9 years old even though, because he is Canadian, it was quite literally impossible. But he just went forward with that in mind anyway.

I'd highly recommend people pick up a copy of you have a chance.

I'm reading Shusaku Endo's "Silence". It's a historical novel. I don't know how good the book is, I think I'm personally invested because I happen to fancy the time period/setting, the aftermath of the Shimabara Rebellion in early 17th century Japan.

I tried to read Shadows of the Empire after finding it cheap at a game store. A few pages were missing, but nothing that seemingly affects the plot. The new character is this incredibly power and wealthy crimelord, and the story moves between his machinations and Luke and Leia pursuing the frozen Han Solo.

I say "tried" to read it because... for the first time in a while with any book, I just stopped reading it. It's such a goddamn bore. Nothing freaking HAPPENS in it.

Far enough into William Gibson's Pattern Recognition that having hard time figuring whether not it's spec fic. Feels so damn real jumping like reality to like reality unless noted to scifi and back at such a clip.

i've been reading Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death, but it's super intense and I've had to take breaks of several days every time I read a couple chapters.

So I'm quite far into Wise Man's Fear. It's very absorbing, and I'm enjoying reading it. But. I suppose I have the trouble with it that I have with many stories now. Heroes are great things to read about, but they are not always kind and they are not always thoughtful, and they damage the people around them. And yet people still place being a hero as the height of achievement, and devalue being kind and working to make the world a kinder place.

It's not a big thing, but it's a tiring thing, I suppose.

I just picked up Gaiman's new short story collection Trigger Warning from the library yesterday. I started it, but before I read the stories I always read the introduction, and he talks about why he named the collection Trigger Warning. He explains what a trigger warning is, how they're used on the internet, and then goes into a thing about them being used on other media in college courses (such as novels and films). While he said he appreciated their use on the internet, it feels like he said if you're an adult reading adult fiction, suck it up and deal. Which just doesn't sit right with me.

The stories themselves are so far pretty good, but I can't extract the author's opinions out of a piece of work or appreciate media in spite of an author's viewpoints, so I've found myself not quite enjoying it as much as I'd hoped. We'll see if there's a good standout piece in the collection, though. I still think short stories are his best medium.

I finished Anthony Trollope's The Warden as well as his Barchester Towers, the first and second books in the Chronicles of Barsetshire.

Set in fictitious English county of Barsetshire in mid nineteenth century, the books describe the petty squabbles of the clergy and gentry. I found the two books to be quite delightful.

I have just started the third book in the series, Doctor Thorne.

Just finished "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It's flawed, with a lot of exposition in the first 5 chapters. Once it gets going though, it's full of 80's nostalgia, near future tech, and interesting characters. I burned through the last 150 pages in a day. Back to book 4 of the Dresden Files

P.S. Anyone else always buy 2 books, read 1, then buy 2 more and repeat until you have a backlog?

I have a backlog of like 30 books right now, and am probably not going to stop getting new ones ever, so it'll only keep growing.

Currently reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

I've got 78 books I've yet to read, and a list of books I've yet to buy.

Volafortis wrote:Currently reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

This sounds interesting. I'm not sure I've ever read a modern book translated from another language either. Have to add it to the list.

I just started it, so I can't say much about it, but I've enjoyed what I've read so far.

Volafortis wrote:I just started it, so I can't say much about it, but I've enjoyed what I've read so far.

Fingers crossed Just ordered it and The Martian. I always end up buying 2 at a time

I've been re reading the Watch novels from the Discworld series. Currently on The Fifth Elephant. Vimes is probably my favourite Discworld character.

I'm reading Frankenstein, for school. I tried reading it before and quit about 50-ish pages in. The prose is gorgeous, which is enough to keep me going, and it is kind of a necessary book to read, but its whole "science can go too far, ignorance is bliss" message is totally disgusting to me.

And the movie lied to me. I was told the monster would sing Puttin' on the Ritz.

That's not really the message at all, though. Yes, the undirected scientific mind can create some horrors. But Frankenstein's real villainy is callousness. He abandoned his creation, and then repeatedly falls back on his word later on. Others are also cold to the creature, which contribute to his own cruel behavior.

There's also weird themes about masculinity and motherhood and junk, but I'll let you get to those yourself if you want to.

From memory, impression I got was Frankenstein being a bit of a flake (and being unthinking about it) and the monster turning out a schlub because of that. My take there was something of the working stiff about the monster, which ties in with Fayili's take.

Meanwhile, I've been rereading Jane Eyre. Mostly because of having just finished Wide Sargasso Sea. Phun Phact, spent a good couple of hours midweek reading it in the park (wearing my Hark a Vagrant Bronte Garden Party shirt no less) for Fayili's most recent quest.

Yeah, I understand all that, but Frankenstein did blatantly say that the overly ambitious goals of the obsolete physicists he studied were part of his path of destruction. I guess I'll just consider him an unreliable narrator.