Just finished. I have moved from the "love this guy" club to the "this guy is an asshole, he's needs to get back to writing this shit" club

moving on to this

7/13/2010 10:16:35 AM

7/13/2010 11:26:07 AM

American Gods??

That book was horrible

7/13/2010 11:37:06 AM

7/13/2010 11:55:13 AM

Just finished



Trying to decide what to read next.

7/13/2010 2:22:42 PM

About to finish



I've loved it so far. A lot.

[Edited on July 13, 2010 at 2:30 PM. Reason : yup]

7/13/2010 2:30:22 PM

Nearly done with:

Rereading:

7/13/2010 2:44:57 PM

and

7/13/2010 5:05:26 PM

Quote :

"American Gods?? That book was horrible"

horrible, really? it isn't my favorite novel or anything or even favorite Gaiman novel but it is a pretty solid novel. Not as good of character development as he usually has but outside of that I can't really think of anything big to complain about.

[Edited on July 13, 2010 at 5:10 PM. Reason : ]

7/13/2010 5:09:20 PM

^^I just picked up Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale this weekend. Very enjoyable read.

7/13/2010 8:25:51 PM

Halfway through Michael Chabon's Summerland

7/13/2010 8:40:57 PM

^^ I've heard that's good. Dawkins personal favorite book that he wrote on evolution is Climbing Mount Improbable. I've never read it, but might check it out after I finish this book, which is excellent by the way.

7/14/2010 9:28:52 PM

Quote :

"horrible, really? it isn't my favorite novel or anything or even favorite Gaiman novel but it is a pretty solid novel. Not as good of character development as he usually has but outside of that I can't really think of anything big to complain about."

Shadow is the exact same guy at the beginning of the book that he is at the end. Boring and extremely uninteresting.
There is very minor resolution with his Wife.
I thought the sidetrack origin stories of random gods were uninteresting and irrelevant
The climax of the novel was non-existent
The entire book felt bloated. pages and pages of worthless filler.

The only part I found interesting was the little town he was relegated to, and the resolution to the mystery there.

my current 'read'




[Edited on July 15, 2010 at 1:43 PM. Reason : *]

7/15/2010 1:41:14 PM

Most recent 2 reads were:

which was excellent, as expected. I freaking love Stephenson--definitely one of my favorite authors.

and

Amusing--more satire than spy novel.

Currently, I've just started on:

A stout 700+ page biography, but Hamilton is one of the more fascinating of the founding fathers and one of the less well-documented. I've read Thomas Fleming's Duel which tells of Hamilton's fatal encounter with Burr, the events leading up to it, and its aftermath, and this should complement it nicely as an overview of his place in the Revolutionary era.

7/15/2010 2:44:13 PM

pretty good so far

7/15/2010 3:22:23 PM

^^ I've heard that's pretty good.

[Edited on July 16, 2010 at 2:19 AM. Reason : The Hamilton book, that is.]

7/16/2010 2:19:03 AM

It definitely is so far. I'm about 170 pages in and it's definitely well-written and very readable. Chernow is also doing a good job of explaining what drove Hamilton to become all that he was, and some of the conflicting passions that would be factors in his life.

7/23/2010 2:38:45 PM

just finished the first men in the moon(hg wells) pretty interesting and fairly short

reading i am legend now, ive seen 3 different movie versions(favorite was the omega man) so i wanted to read the book just to see which was closest to the source material.

7/30/2010 12:49:24 AM

I skimmed through God is Not Great.

Anyway, I'm agnostic who has always preferred the general tone of Christianity. But after my skimming, I'm totally on board with Judaism.

I know that's not that point of the book.

But #1 Judaism fan here now!

(Still totally agnostic...I just like to have a dog in the fight and whatnot.)

7/30/2010 12:57:12 AM

7/30/2010 12:59:35 AM

7/30/2010 2:08:44 AM

7/30/2010 7:44:54 AM

7/30/2010 8:58:30 AM

Quote :

" pretty good so far"

Has Ben Mezrich learned how to write yet? I read bringing down the house way back when, and while the story was entertaining and compelling, the writing is what I would call TWW Grade.

7/30/2010 9:29:54 AM

Ben Mezrich apparently has a thing for kids making money while they're still young enough to make fools of themselves with it.

7/30/2010 12:55:43 PM

It has been pretty good so far. I've read most of the books about Marines in Iraq from 2003 onward. This is supposed to be one of the best, though.

7/30/2010 2:44:33 PM

And


[Edited on July 31, 2010 at 9:31 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2010 9:30:51 PM

8/5/2010 5:47:56 PM

Brian, have you read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Noise-Listening-Twentieth-Century/dp/0312427719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281046448&sr=8-1?

I somehow haven't gotten to it, but I keep hearing it's excellent.

(I realize this isn't the ask vb thread, and for that I apologize. Seemed relevant to your post )

8/5/2010 6:16:01 PM

Just finished this. Hilarious, but pretty depressing, especially given recent events.



[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 6:23 PM. Reason : f]

8/5/2010 6:23:09 PM

Quote :

" Has Ben Mezrich learned how to write yet? I read bringing down the house way back when, and while the story was entertaining and compelling, the writing is what I would call TWW Grade."

haha, just saw this. nope, I actually think he has gotten worse

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 6:25 PM. Reason : Mezrich]

8/5/2010 6:23:09 PM

About halfway through Eating the Dinosaur. Great, classic CK as far as I'm concerned. I've enjoyed everything I've read from Klosterman (not sure how people on here feel about him, I'm too lazy to search ATM).

If anyone can recommend something similar to his work or something I might like, I'm alway open to new authors, a million thanks

8/5/2010 10:48:39 PM

I've come back to TH White's "Once and Future King." Been so busy lately and I've kind of been in the middle of 3 books. Although I think I really want to re-read Count of Monte Cristo since it has been probably 9 years since I read that now

8/5/2010 10:54:53 PM

^ i tried to read white's the once and future king about 10 years ago and i couldn't get into it...i might try it again in the near future...given that you and i seem to have pretty similar tastes, i look forward to your report

8/6/2010 8:41:11 AM

Chabon's Summerland is no Kavalier and Clay I've had to put it down

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is much more enjoyable

8/6/2010 2:26:05 PM

Quote :

"^ i tried to read white's the once and future king about 10 years ago and i couldn't get into it...i might try it again in the near future...given that you and i seem to have pretty similar tastes, i look forward to your report"

Haha, I'll let you know. I read the first portion of the book (titled "The Sword in the Stone") and it was a little slow at times but ended better. I'm hoping now that Arthur is older it will be more interesting.

But I have set it aside because I finally picked up an unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo (always hated that the version I read for school was abridged). Since I have really been itching to re-read this book I am going to focus on that for a bit and then come back to Once and Future King once I'm finished.

8/8/2010 10:23:15 PM

8/8/2010 10:31:54 PM

^ I enjoyed Love is a Mixtape. Might have to check that out as well.

8/8/2010 10:43:30 PM

8/8/2010 11:14:31 PM

partway through my unabridged copy of The Count of Monte Cristo and already have no problem remembering why I loved this book so much, even having read the abridged version I read in school.

It has been so long since I read it the first time around that I couldn't tell you what parts were cut out in comparison but I can't think of anything so far (about 1/4 of the way through) that I would have wanted to cut.

[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 2:05 PM. Reason : ]

8/16/2010 2:03:23 PM

8/16/2010 3:08:42 PM

8/16/2010 4:29:59 PM

After hearing so much about it, I decided to pick up "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo".

it is really really good so far...i only have ~120 pages left.
I'm going to read the other 2 next.

Too bad the author died...I heard he had plans to write a bunch more.

8/16/2010 5:08:17 PM

8/20/2010 1:30:11 PM

Starting the first volume of the Harvard Classics.... gonna see if I can make it through them all... eventually....

8/20/2010 3:51:57 PM

Finished:


&



Just starting:

8/27/2010 12:20:24 PM

This was really fascinating in its first parts, but now it's mostly about botany of the islands and its relationship with a mysterious disease. I should have finished it long ago, but it's dragging.


I started this today during DEAR with my reading students. I was surprised by how quickly it captivated. The time was up, and I had to will myself to put it down.


And I'm still reading this off and on. It's enjoyable, but I can only get through so much of it at a time. I'm mostly reading it because I was going to start The Mists of Avalon but figured I'd appreciate it a bit more having read this.

8/27/2010 2:34:26 PM

8/27/2010 7:06:59 PM

Quote :

"And I'm still reading this off and on. It's enjoyable, but I can only get through so much of it at a time."

I have been doing the same thing with The Once and Future king for awhile now.

8/28/2010 9:49:10 AM

^^How was Mockingjay? I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet.

^I think it's a combination of the language and the fact that so little seems to happen from chapter to chapter. Also, Arthur is pretty uninteresting; I'm much more fascinated by Merlin.

8/28/2010 2:43:07 PM