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[Teneb]

Started reading Grandes Sertões: Veredas.

It's a bit hard to read due to the style, but it's a classic so I'll give it an honest chance.

[Yoink]

Finally digging into Shogun by James Clavell. I found a copy in my father's house and read the first chapter - I was a bit dubious at first, but past that I have really started getting into it.

Oh, I have a copy of that somewhere, unless somebody got rid of it. Not sure it ever especially grabbed my attention (I guess I was dubious, too), but maybe I should read it sometime.   

Started reading Grandes Sertões: Veredas.

It's a bit hard to read due to the style, but it's a classic so I'll give it an honest chance.

That looks kinda fascinating! It's a shame that, from what I've read, its style doesn't really carry across well upon translation, but I wouldn't mind tracking down the best English version and giving it a try sometime. Also, I was reading about that period of time and the activities of cangaceiros not long ago and I'm pretty sure I'd planned on reading a book about Lampião at some point.

[NJW2000]

Paradise Lost.

It's pretty anime tbh.

[Eschar]

Paradise Lost.

"...of adamantine chains and penal fire..."

[Mephisto]

The dude who wrote Powder Mage is doing a modern fantasy series now. Second book is about to come out so the first is free for a bit. I'm interested in reading it, but I should probably go actually finish his second trilogy first.

Uncanny Collateral. Get a load of that book description.

[heydude6]

That honestly sounds interesting. I hope it doesn’t take itself too seriously though. Something like that can easily become cringey.

[NRDL]

Currently on Book 2 of the Dresden Files "Fool Moon". Really enjoying it so far. Nobody gets their asses kicked as much as Noir private eyes, and the magic in the universe is so cool.

[Yoink]

Finished The Shipping News. It was great all the way through, but I've raved about it enough already.


Now to decide what to read next. This is kind of a different challenge to usual, since all of my stacks of books were upended, rearranged and packed into various boxes that are now stored around the room I'm staying in.
Lots of books I'd almost forgotten about have surfaced during this process, and it's a matter of digging out books in the order I can reach them.

One of the titles in the top of one box was For Whom the Bell Tolls, and I briefly gave it another go, but... the fact that it's based on a real conflict and from the perspective of one of the bad guys doesn't sit too well with me.
It's silly, I know. But when I have so many books to choose from it's easy to feel unsatisfied with what you're reading, and it is kind of nice to have a relatable protagonist.



Hmmm. Might see what else I can dig out.
I wish I had my whole collection catalogued so that I could ask y'all for recommendations.

[Yoink]

Started reading The Beach by Alex Garland yesterday or the day before. It is damn good so far. I had no idea what to expect, and honestly that hasn't changed at all now that I'm over a hundred pages in.

Kinda makes me want to go back-packing and Bush-bashing across South-East Asia, though...

[Eschar]

With all its references to gods and "the clearing at the end of the path," reading the Dark Tower feels a lot different after deconverting.

[Yoink]

Holy hell, this book just gets better and better.
In its own, very unusual way, it's turning out to pack as much of a gut-punch as certain Irvine Welsh novels. I've had to stop for a moment just now to catch my breath, and that's only a minor exaggeration. 

I want to gush about it, but I don't want to spoil anything. I'm far enough in to whole-heartedly recommend it.

[Eschar]

Holy hell, this book just gets better and better.
In its own, very unusual way, it's turning out to pack as much of a gut-punch as certain Irvine Welsh novels. I've had to stop for a moment just now to catch my breath, and that's only a minor exaggeration. 

I want to gush about it, but I don't want to spoil anything. I'm far enough in to whole-heartedly recommend it.

What book is it?
...the vaguebook from the other thread?

[Yoink]

Same one I mentioned two posts up! I suppose I could have quoted it, but that didn't occur to me.

I finished it last night. Couldn't put it down, apart from one moment where I had to stop and scoff the rest of my dinner so that I could have both hands free and no distractions. 'Twas intense. And yes, it was the one I mentioned in the WTF thread.

[Yoink]

Just finished reading The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill.
It was considerably less sappy than the name suggests, but it was still rather sappy. I was in two minds about it almost the whole way through, but nevertheless I could not put it down.   
It sort of nostalgically exhumes one's inner child and makes him or her clap their hands with glee, whilst also thrilling one's adult self with a shocking journey through the seedy, desperate underbelly of Montreal around the time of the Great Depression.

Oh, and of course there's a reasonable amount of tragic romance, as one might expect. Also jazz. I don't think the word "jazz" was ever actually mentioned, but you just know there was at least a bit of it going on.

Some of its bouts of philosophical rambling were a bit rich and some of the prose and dialogue got a bit sickly-sweet, but I feel like that was probably the idea.
I'm not too proud to admit that I cried at least a little despite my misgivings. Then again, my emotions are somewhat frayed at present, but it still counts in the book's favour.

[ChairmanPoo]

I esnt to start reading romance of the three kingdoms. I got from the interwebs the old Brewitt translation. I know there's a better one from the 80s that is not available on the interwebs