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What are you reading now? vers. "So I don't end up being a fucking waffle waitress"

Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts by Simon Haynes

Lately I've been watching movies that look silly enough to be enjoyable, but not stupid enough to hate. I thought I'd try the same thing with books when I saw this at the library. I was right.

Hal Spacejock runs an interstellar delivery company with his robot Clunk. Just Desserts has them running dangerous errands for an amnesiac robot assassin. This book is the third episode in the series. It's very much about the day to day life of Spacejock, which may not sound very interesting but what astounds me is the parallels it has with everyday life in the real world.

I can't help but feel it would make a good Lucas Arts adventure game series.

3.5/5

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I'm about 2/3 of the way through and it's very good. I've heard good things about Gaiman and I've read Good Omens which he wrote with Terry Pratchett. I also found this book at the library by chance and knew it would be good. I just didn't think it would be this surreal. I took to listening to Shpongle while reading it. It feels even more surreal now.

It's quite a light read and while the protagonist spends most of the book in a journey, it doesn't bog down and feel too epic. I wish it was a bit longer though. Good Omens was longer.

Apparently Gaiman thinks the movie is better written than the book. We shall see when I stumble upon that.

4/5

lostpunk5545 said:
Hannibal by Thomas Harris.

This guy deserves the Tom Clancy award for boring prose.

I'm only reading it because I stupidly payed money for it. Fucking terrible. Red Dragon was redeeming because it had a decent story and alright characters. SOTL and this just plain suck. I keep hoping Starling dies horribly but because I've seen the movies (much better than the books) I know it's not going to happen. So it's disappointing knowing there's no pay off to reading it.
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I actually found Hannibal easier to read than Silence of the Lambs because the chapters were shorter. I do agree, it's very hard to read for extended periods of time. I thought the ending of the novel was better than the movie, but you'll probably hate it.
 
I'm reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It won the Pulitzer for fiction in 2005, so I guess I'm not alone when I say this is beautifully written. Astoundingly so. I'm a bit of a sucker for stories written from an elderly person's perspective (which explains my Atwood obsession), however Robinson's writing is nothing like Atwood's. There are none of the long, vivid descriptions or staccato moments. I don't know how best to explain it, but the pace is quiet, gentle and terrifyingly on the money.

The narrator is an elderly church minister, Reverend John Ames, who is writing a memoir of sorts for his seven year old son as the reverend knows he is going to die soon. Somehow Robinson manages to avoid cheesy sentimentality and has created a narrator who your heart breaks for.

However, this book is very heavy on the theology. I don't think I've read this many bible verses since high school Chapel. As someone who usually does her best to avoid religion, I'm not finding this nearly as annoying as it should/could be. I think perhaps this is because most of the ideas and christian ideals the reverend is ruminating on are things that even the staunchest atheists think about.

This book is probably not for everyone, but I'm so glad I came across it.
 
^ I have seen that at Borders and I have thought about buying it a few times.

Might give it a shot next time I'm there
 
Just finished An Open Swimmer by Tim Winton which was very good, albeit short, and now I'm reading some shitty book about Breaker Morant. I'm trying to power through all the crap books in my pile (I'm loathe to not read them, stupid I know) so I can get to the good ones and buy more good books.
 
neuropath by scott bakker is the best book ive read recently, otherwise anything 2012 and planet x is consuming my time, zeccharia sitchin etc.
 
Bound For Glory by Woody Guthrie, everybody's favourite union man and folk singer. It's a pretty damn good American novel, even though it's an autobiography. Or it's a well written American autobiography. Whatever.

Not too far into it but either Guthrie either has a keen memory for recall of his childhood or he's damn good at making it up.

And here's a photo of Guthrie for no reason other than it's one my favourite images:

This_Machine_Kills_Fascists.gif
 
Started reading another Robert G Barrett book... Mystery Bay Blues. I realised I hadnt read a Les Norton book in so long (Les Norton is the main character in these series of books). I have about 6 Les Norton books to read that was scored at a garage sale.


Robert Barrett isnt particuarly looked upon as a great writer, or even a good writer by many people. I like his books because the are easy to read, they have booze, fights and sex in every one. So I would recommend him to people who don't do much reading and would like to read a book.
 
bound for glory by woody guthrie is bloody great even if some of it seems a bit made up or embellished. i would also just like to give honourable mention to DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON by george orwell, if you like bound for glory, bukowski or just stories of hobos, eccentric, quasi criminal crazies you will like it. and its narrated by this wonderful very well educated englishman that was george orwell
 
i forgot to mention Jean Genets A THEIFS JOURNAL which is in a similar vein, plus he is very like burroughs and i won't go into why here, i have to many comparative essays to write for school already
 
Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine
Noam Chomsky - The Essential Chomsky

Because I went to bed and woke up a fucking Arts student.
Time to chalk some footpaths to save the world.
 
ramsay st rider said:
bound for glory by woody guthrie is bloody great even if some of it seems a bit made up or embellished. i would also just like to give honourable mention to DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON by george orwell, if you like bound for glory, bukowski or just stories of hobos, eccentric, quasi criminal crazies you will like it. and its narrated by this wonderful very well educated englishman that was george orwell
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I've read all of Orwell's novels and loved them all. Even with the generally depressing as hell endings (or maybe because of)...
 
Ex Libris Moi

UnSquare said:
I'm after a copy of
'The Gunrunner'
by Hugh Laurie .

Yes,
the Vico-poppin',
cane-wieldin',
lupus-lupus-lupus
it aint lupus
attitude
that wonders the halls
of Princeton-Plainsboro
wif his unique style
of guinea-piggy-backin'
freak patients.

Does anyone have a copy?

I'll do ya' a book swap...
Click to expand...

Yeah,
so maybe
nobody was int'rest'd.

Maybe Pillsnapa got the word 'round... :(
(dude, it really is still comin'... s'rsly! :) )

But I did get the title wrong.

Twas
'The Gun Seller',
& it was good,
bit looser than I expected.

Noice
&
pulpy.

In other books,

'The American Prison Business'
by Jessica Mitford
(dated as fuck,
but foundation readin'...)

'Healing Without Freud Or Prozac'
by Dr. David Servan-Schreieber
a bunch of studies
on physical based healin'
for emotional & mental afflictions.

'Life's Grandeur'
by Stephen Jay Gould
'bout baseball, Darwinism, & statistics.

'The Love You Make
- The Beatles: An Insider's Story'
by Peter Brown & Steven Gaines

&
this awesome book to read when
puffin' da 'erb -

'Look-Alikes'
by Joan Steiner.

City-scapes
& minature
ev'ryday scenes,
that reveal,
on closer inspection,
to be composed of
1000's
of little objects you'd
never notice by glancin'...
...'kay, so that description's
not really sellin' it but it's awesome so get bent & read it.

In fact,
that's what I'm gonna do right now.

Preacha's readin' Chomsky.
Funny shit.
:D

PEACE
UnSquare
:)
 
Just finished "Jesus Out To Sea" by James Lee Burke. It's a collection of short stories and a great read. Ignore the title; it has little to do with religion and a lot to do with life and hardship in post WW2 USA.
 
just finished reading the bronze horseman and the sequals bridge to holy cross and the summer garden. awesome books that have impacted the way i will live my life
 
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