I hope to put off doing one for as long as possible.
Do amclark, because it can become addictive, especially after I realised I could get a free app for my ipad!
@Mommio, yes I find that useful. I have a Kindle App on my ipad. I prefer reading using my wife's Kindle, but it is useful when I'm out with my ipad to catch up on reading - it helps me avoid Sudoku! The synching is amazing. We've decided to stick with one Kindle as we always seem to have library books, books form charity shops etc on the go too
yes - sudoku comes and goes and its reasonable use is to keep the mind active. but you can probably do the same by sitting down and taking a refresher on algebra or learn a new language - those would have a different, more productive end when all the time gets stacked up and counted. i'll go months without touching one and then find my more meaningful stack of diversions is bankrupt.
we have an ereader (sony) and i've managed to get through a few books with it. now my wife is dl'ing ibooks onto her iphone and claims the dl process is infinitely easier on the iphone. fortunately we have a 9 y/o who provides her with crack tech support so decide at your own risk.
also, a brief push into folk tales as said 9 y/o has a book report due this friday (i x'd out about 7 books from the library and have been selecting a few for night reading). the sword and the grail is one. always enjoyable to fill a void from youth as i had never read any "knights of the round table" gibberish. in fact, the only recollection i have of brit sorcery of old is disney's "excalibur". color me enlightened.
side story: 9 y/o is all personality and has a mind as sharp as they come. he has enrolled in violin lessons and his instructors are taken with his playing + see him excelling with time. in any event, for his evening practice he announces "practice session will begin in 2 minutes. please put away all tech devices and remain quiet." better half looks up from her iphone session and rolls her eyes.
I've read a few books, but more short stories on my iPod touch. I'm used to reading when waiting and sometimes at the gym, so it makes sense to have a few texts on there at all times. It works fairly well and you can increase the font size as necessary.
I use my iPod Touch with a Kindle app (and a few others - different apps seem to give you easy access to different selections of free books) mostly for reading in dead time while out and about and for reading when I can't sleep. The sync to latest page read feature with the full-size Kindle is a marvelous feature. Given the nature of the reading contexts I'm mostly reading junk that requires little concentration.
OK, I'm shooting lower brow. My teaching load is so heavy right now that reading is for pure escapism.
GP, I think if you do some careful reading and investigation, you'll find that Wolfe is anything but "pure escapism". The Book of the New Sun is an incredibly complex and deeply thought-out novel - read some third-partycommentary on it, if you end up finding it "escapist".
@kargatron,
Yes, bad choice of words. "Lower brow" was meant solely in comparison to the post immediately preceding about humanizing Karl Marx, not to designate Wolfe as pulp. And by "escapism" I didn't mean "simplistic and poorly written". Below a certain threshold that stuff does not work for me as escapism, I get too annoyed with it. On a whim recently I bought a Ben Bova novel in an airport having seen the name a lot...was unable to finish it, it was so formulaic.
What I really meant by escapism was that because at least part of my job is to read books for a living and know about things, any reading that is directly about something potentially connected to my work (and that could in principle include Marx) easily turns into more work. Not that I don't enjoy it, but it stops being recreation if it's leading my thoughts right back into my research/writing. So for me escapism often means reading that I can;t use professionally. Sometimes that might even be quite technical stuff (I find when tired on a long flight the only things that absorb me enough to get me out of the immediate uncomfortable surroundings are either a novel that has plenty of momentum or a difficult philosophy text on an abstruse topic). So escapist is not an insult in my mind - just something that takes me out of immediate responsibilities.
Having said all of that, I am into the third book of the Severian narrative and am still not sure what I think. I'm not entirely absorbed - the surface narrative is not quite as magical for me as for the reviewer you linked - but it's interesting while I'm reading. One of his challenges, I think, for me, is the issue of identification with the protagonist. Not the issue of him killing folk for a living, but the degree of emotional detachment he exhibits from the effects of his actions on other people, a detachment entirely plausible given his upbringing and formation, but still jarring at times. Maybe there are some structural similarities here with Donaldson - the challenge of building a multi-volume epic around a central character who is for good stretches not actually very sympathetic (I know I'm not done yet, and clearly there is some evolution taking place in Severian. I also know that this is the opposite of the Bova tactic - offering characters that easily gratify expectations and offer cheap connections. And that the dissonance is where moral reflection arises). I do appreciate the fact that (unlike the Bova book) I am, what, 600 pages in and just starting to see some things falling into place from much earlier. So yes, it's clearly well written, substantial, complex, interesting (and for me escapist - perhaps "diverting" is a better term - because I'm not seeing connections to learning theory or applied linguistics); I'm still not sure whether it's going to turn out to have been a favorite or not.
Oh, and re long flights, a true cautionary tale. A few months ago I had the rare experience of flying business class to New Zealand. (Unless I get a freak upgrade, I'm usually in economy when I travel). I checked out the list of movies, noted one or two I might look at later, and settled into a book. About 15 minutes into the flight the concierge came up to me, greeted me and made small talk for a moment, then hesitantly (perhaps a little embarrassed at having to question my competence) said: "Please excuse me asking, but I just wanted to check whether you understand how to operate the entertainment system." I assured her that I had in fact already scanned the list of movies and TV shows. "Oh, good," she replied. "I was just a little worried because you were reading a book."
Reading a book. Cause for mild social concern, apparently.
I love PKD; although this one is not my favorite so far - I think I still like Ubik best, and Do Androids Dream a close second. Not that this is bad, just not quite as gripping.
I love PKD too. I haven't read VALIS yet. I recommend his short stories. They are mostly from his early days, but also feel like they are tighter. And quite a few are free for download in iTunes!
GP: That's hilarious. I love to read a long book on plane and train trips. Extra weight, but worth it!
I finished reading this on my Nook a couple of days ago--got it from the library. It happened to be the right time because it's about the version in Mark's gospel, and those of us in churches using the Common Lectionary are now getting into Mark's passion story.
Next up are two paper books from the library. The one I've started is this, which is very good:
On deck:
I'm looking forward to that one with some uncertainty. I wonder if I'll eventually feeling about it as I did about the most infuriating book I've ever read, Infinite Jest. Well, the most infuriating fiction, anyway. I was pretty mad over None Dare Call It Treason, but that was a long time ago.
edit: I didn't realize I was copying those "Click to look inside" arrows. Oh, well.
Maybe I'm just old fashioned. I like a complete narrative arc. As I recall it, Wallace seemed to be developing all these plot lines, or maybe that's too structured a name for them, using every trick ever used in all the Creative Writing classes taught anywhere, and I thought, "If he ties these together at the end it's going to be amazing." Instead, after 1000 pages he just sort of stopped, with as much meaning, purpose, and emotion as a car running out of gas.
Yeah, I get that; that's how I felt when I finished it; then the ending started to grow on me as I thought about it because everything was still out there...
For a comparison; I loved the show Lost up until they tied everything together. And I was super-pissed at the ending of Twin Peaks, but I came around on that too...
That's a very interesting Game Of Thrones cover there - one I've never seen - for the fact of the Robert Jordan rec on the top. I am currently half way through Book 3 of his Wheel Of Time series which I picked up as it seems to be one of the favorites of people who at one time or another have grown disconsolate waiting for the next volume of Martin's series to be published. Jordan predates Martin by a few years, and I have to say, there are more than a few elements in Martin's series that echo elements of Jordan's, but perhaps they are just common to the fantasy genre, which I cannot claim to be too familiar with, but it has raised my eyebrows a few times. I am enjoying Jordan more than I thought I would at first, and since I've already ordered and received the Book 4-6 set, I guess I'm all in. That said I think Martin the superior writer, and I don't know if Jordan has the same re-read value as Martin has had (read the first 4 three times, the last to get it all straight before I read Book 5), because Martin leaves many unanswered/semi-answered/were they really answered questions along the way - an element of mystery. Or he's just dicking we the readers around as he makes this stuff up as he goes along - I certainly hope not. I'll be back to Book 5 A Dance With Dragons soon for the re-read to further digest. I suppose I could be reading history, or philosophy instead but WTF you gotta have some fun too.
I just finished the third "book" (half way through the second physical volume in the edition I have) of the Severian series. I must say this series is getting more satisfying as it progresses, as the picture enlarges and details fall into place.
@BDB - I just grabbed that off GIS, there are umpteen different variations. Mine is actually pimping the HBO series (which I have not seen). To be honest, I do not read much fantasy since it all strikes me as plagiarized Tolkien or someone's Saturday night D&D club. Maybe a bit of medieval re-enactment and ren-faire tossed in for color. Too much formula, not enough innovation.
One fantasy series I enjoyed was Kathyrn Kurtz, the Dernyi / Camber series. There are quite a few now in that cycle of stories, they were a bit different to catch my attention. I guess I can say I enjoyed Thomas Covenant, but that was a very long time ago that I read them. I guess Stephen King's Gunslinger series is fantasy, but it is something other than the typical swords and sorcery thing.
I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy, I know they're for kids - sorry, Young Adults but a few people recommended them, I wanted something I could read quickly and theres a movie adaptation out next month.
Jeez louise, they are brutal! I was a quivering, sobbing foetal ball mess at the end of the third one yesterday and Im more than double the age of the intended audience. The misery of war is relatively realistic and raises a lot of questions about the conduct and costs (manna from heaven for teachers putting together lesson plans ...) but the slaughter quotient is very high. I suppose I read Anne Frank and Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes as a kid (although those are true stories) which are probably similar in emotional terror although not nearly as graphic in actual violence from memory. Certainly not flawless but they kept me reading and involved.
A very British private detective series, with Jackson Brodie, ex army and ex police, as the main character. Quite gentle, but there will be a twist at the end if it follows previous books in the series (This is 3 of 4)
NankerP - I quite enjoyed The Hunger Games despite being quite a bit outside the target audience. You're right, though, about the brutality. I'm actually quite curious how they'll adapt them for the screen. Surely they won't show a teen boy breaking another boy's neck and some of the other vicious actions.
Comments
Do amclark, because it can become addictive, especially after I realised I could get a free app for my ipad!
@Mommio, yes I find that useful. I have a Kindle App on my ipad. I prefer reading using my wife's Kindle, but it is useful when I'm out with my ipad to catch up on reading - it helps me avoid Sudoku! The synching is amazing. We've decided to stick with one Kindle as we always seem to have library books, books form charity shops etc on the go too
we have an ereader (sony) and i've managed to get through a few books with it. now my wife is dl'ing ibooks onto her iphone and claims the dl process is infinitely easier on the iphone. fortunately we have a 9 y/o who provides her with crack tech support so decide at your own risk.
also, a brief push into folk tales as said 9 y/o has a book report due this friday (i x'd out about 7 books from the library and have been selecting a few for night reading). the sword and the grail is one. always enjoyable to fill a void from youth as i had never read any "knights of the round table" gibberish. in fact, the only recollection i have of brit sorcery of old is disney's "excalibur". color me enlightened.
side story: 9 y/o is all personality and has a mind as sharp as they come. he has enrolled in violin lessons and his instructors are taken with his playing + see him excelling with time. in any event, for his evening practice he announces "practice session will begin in 2 minutes. please put away all tech devices and remain quiet." better half looks up from her iphone session and rolls her eyes.
sorry...i'll come back later and smudge it out before mutex sees it.
Yes, bad choice of words. "Lower brow" was meant solely in comparison to the post immediately preceding about humanizing Karl Marx, not to designate Wolfe as pulp. And by "escapism" I didn't mean "simplistic and poorly written". Below a certain threshold that stuff does not work for me as escapism, I get too annoyed with it. On a whim recently I bought a Ben Bova novel in an airport having seen the name a lot...was unable to finish it, it was so formulaic.
What I really meant by escapism was that because at least part of my job is to read books for a living and know about things, any reading that is directly about something potentially connected to my work (and that could in principle include Marx) easily turns into more work. Not that I don't enjoy it, but it stops being recreation if it's leading my thoughts right back into my research/writing. So for me escapism often means reading that I can;t use professionally. Sometimes that might even be quite technical stuff (I find when tired on a long flight the only things that absorb me enough to get me out of the immediate uncomfortable surroundings are either a novel that has plenty of momentum or a difficult philosophy text on an abstruse topic). So escapist is not an insult in my mind - just something that takes me out of immediate responsibilities.
Having said all of that, I am into the third book of the Severian narrative and am still not sure what I think. I'm not entirely absorbed - the surface narrative is not quite as magical for me as for the reviewer you linked - but it's interesting while I'm reading. One of his challenges, I think, for me, is the issue of identification with the protagonist. Not the issue of him killing folk for a living, but the degree of emotional detachment he exhibits from the effects of his actions on other people, a detachment entirely plausible given his upbringing and formation, but still jarring at times. Maybe there are some structural similarities here with Donaldson - the challenge of building a multi-volume epic around a central character who is for good stretches not actually very sympathetic (I know I'm not done yet, and clearly there is some evolution taking place in Severian. I also know that this is the opposite of the Bova tactic - offering characters that easily gratify expectations and offer cheap connections. And that the dissonance is where moral reflection arises). I do appreciate the fact that (unlike the Bova book) I am, what, 600 pages in and just starting to see some things falling into place from much earlier. So yes, it's clearly well written, substantial, complex, interesting (and for me escapist - perhaps "diverting" is a better term - because I'm not seeing connections to learning theory or applied linguistics); I'm still not sure whether it's going to turn out to have been a favorite or not.
Reading a book. Cause for mild social concern, apparently.
(I'm getting d
Craig
The Empire never ended.
Ok, and I find it weird that The Divine Invasion is priced at $6.66 at the Kindle store.
GP: That's hilarious. I love to read a long book on plane and train trips. Extra weight, but worth it!
Next up are two paper books from the library. The one I've started is this, which is very good:
On deck:
I'm looking forward to that one with some uncertainty. I wonder if I'll eventually feeling about it as I did about the most infuriating book I've ever read, Infinite Jest. Well, the most infuriating fiction, anyway. I was pretty mad over None Dare Call It Treason, but that was a long time ago.
edit: I didn't realize I was copying those "Click to look inside" arrows. Oh, well.
What was infuriating about Infinite Jest to you? I was mad when it ended, because I wanted to keep reading it...
For a comparison; I loved the show Lost up until they tied everything together. And I was super-pissed at the ending of Twin Peaks, but I came around on that too...
Raise Up Off Me by Hampton Hawes
Starting
Les jardins de lumi
Just finished Vol. 1, on to Vol 2, Clash of Kings starting this evening.
One fantasy series I enjoyed was Kathyrn Kurtz, the Dernyi / Camber series. There are quite a few now in that cycle of stories, they were a bit different to catch my attention. I guess I can say I enjoyed Thomas Covenant, but that was a very long time ago that I read them. I guess Stephen King's Gunslinger series is fantasy, but it is something other than the typical swords and sorcery thing.
Jeez louise, they are brutal! I was a quivering, sobbing foetal ball mess at the end of the third one yesterday and Im more than double the age of the intended audience. The misery of war is relatively realistic and raises a lot of questions about the conduct and costs (manna from heaven for teachers putting together lesson plans ...) but the slaughter quotient is very high. I suppose I read Anne Frank and Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes as a kid (although those are true stories) which are probably similar in emotional terror although not nearly as graphic in actual violence from memory. Certainly not flawless but they kept me reading and involved.
A very British private detective series, with Jackson Brodie, ex army and ex police, as the main character. Quite gentle, but there will be a twist at the end if it follows previous books in the series (This is 3 of 4)
Craig