Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 332587 times)

Vivax

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CADmonkey

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2014, 12:04:18 PM »
Just finished The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King, a must-read for all Canadians and Americans in my opinion.

I'll probably read another story out of The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories next, but I'll probably be digesting that book, one story at a time, for another year.

I'm not sure which book on my to-read list I'll get into next.  I haven't found a paperback copy of The War That Ended Peace: The Road To 1914 yet, I may just dive into Tim Cook's At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-1916 right away.
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CADmonkey

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #17 on: July 06, 2014, 11:21:24 AM »
And instead of that, I've started in on Michel de Montaigne's On Solitude --one essay at a time-- and Henry Hitchings' The Language Wars: A History of Proper English.  I'm loving The Language Wars, just in the second chapter, I found a new favourite quote: "'Logic' is often a mask for smugness and jingoism".
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CADmonkey

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #18 on: July 20, 2014, 10:13:18 AM »
Finished Language Wars yesterday, then picked up a copy of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery which I've been been meaning to read since reading a review over a year ago.  But I won't be starting Lost Girls right away though: Before going to see The Wind Rises I was browsing in a used bookstore across the street from the theatre when I found a used copy of  Roadside Picnic.  I know when to take a hint.
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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #19 on: July 21, 2014, 02:33:50 PM »
CADMonkey, you might enjoy what I've been reading lately: The Surgeon of Crowthorne (apparently the US title is The Professor and The Madman), which is about part of the history of the first edition of the OED. Apparently it was an early example of crowdsourcing - lots of amateur linguists were tapped to find quotes as early as possible that demonstrated the meaning of key terms. And one of the most prolific contributors was, well, in Broadmoor at the time of his work.

Tim

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #20 on: July 21, 2014, 03:10:01 PM »
I did enjoy The Professor and the Mad Man quite a bit. Scholership was a very different beast in that era.

Based on a Ken Hite Zoom I just finished On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Not his best but decent and pretty fun.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15670.On_Stranger_Tides

Not sure where I got this recommendations but it seems to fit with the AP of No Sense of the Slight of Hand Man and am reading Confessions of an Opium Eater. Not a giant fan of it but it is pretty short so will be done fairly soon.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19195286-confessions-of-an-english-opium-eater?

CADmonkey

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #21 on: August 04, 2014, 01:26:39 PM »
CADMonkey, you might enjoy what I've been reading lately: The Surgeon of Crowthorne (apparently the US title is The Professor and The Madman), which is about part of the history of the first edition of the OED. Apparently it was an early example of crowdsourcing - lots of amateur linguists were tapped to find quotes as early as possible that demonstrated the meaning of key terms. And one of the most prolific contributors was, well, in Broadmoor at the time of his work.

Yeah, Hitchings mentioned the history of the OED and the solicitation for input from readers.

So I finished Roadside Picnic a while ago and have been catching up on a pile of Architectural magazines that has been growing for a while.  A couple of days ago, I was in that used bookstore again and came across, amongst other things, a copy of In the Midst of Life and Other Tales, a collection of Bierce's short stories, including An Inhabitant of Carcosa.  So I've added again to my pile of ongoing short story collections.

And today, on the hundredth anniversary of Canada joining the First World War, I've begun reading At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-1916.  It's a rather massive tome, but I think I can finish it before 2016 rolls around.
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D6xD6 - Chris

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2014, 10:44:05 PM »
I finally finished my massive pile of summer graduate work.  Now that I'm done researching and reading academic texts, I'm ready to read some shit.

I asked my Facebook friends to vote on the following three books that I either found in rummage sales for a nickel, took from the "free" box at dirty thrift stores, or magically appeared on my bookshelf like the sentient tomes of old.  I am asking you, my RPPR community friends, to do the same.

The winning selection will not only be read by me, but I will also post updates on my progress on this forum.

I know I can count on you.


CADmonkey

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2014, 10:27:15 AM »
I just looked up those books on goodreads, Emergency Surgeon has zero ratings, no-one on that site has even read it*.  I think you may have found some real shit there.


*and is willing to admit to it.
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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2014, 11:18:38 AM »
I just finished "Use of Weapons."  The book was pretty good, but the ending just made me go, "Huh?"

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #25 on: August 05, 2014, 07:35:55 PM »
So far it is a close race between Level 7 and Emergency Surgeon . . .and one VERY passionate vote for Orca O_o

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #26 on: August 05, 2014, 08:23:53 PM »
Been tearing through the Dragon Age books in preparation for Dragon Age: Inquisition, coming later this year (and got pushed back, fuuu).

The Stolen Throne, by David Gaider.
It's about King Maric, father of Cailan and [spoiler]Alistair[/spoiler]. It's not really required reading for a DA-fan since it doesn't have a lot of the world the games do. It's pretty straight-up low fantasy and pretty gritty. It also shines a light on Loghain, and kind of lets you know why he did the things he did in Dragon Age: Origins. It's got the same problem as prequels tend to have, in that you already know what's going to happen, so there's no unpredictability.

The Calling, by David Gaider.
It's a cool insight into the more mysterious aspects of being a Grey Warden, like the Calling itself, and serves as a prequel to Dragon Age: Awakening. It also has Duncan, which is great.

Asunder, by David Gaider.
About Rhys, the son of [spoiler]Wynne[/spoiler], who is drafted into an expedition into the deep west of Orlais, to investigate the claims by his mother that a Tranquil mage has been possessed by a demon. I'm not finished with this, but it's pretty good thus far.

My pet peeve with Gaider's writing is his insistence on having sassy/snarky characters in everything, so it just feels like he's only capable of writing certain types of characters. And the fact that super stubborn characters sometimes are just instantly convinced of things that go against their character for plot convenience. That said, he writes a shit ton of flavour text and the world is interesting enough that you breeze through the books. Next in the series is The Masked Empire, by Patrick Weekes, which is also set in Orlais and also sets the scene for DA:I, along with Asunder.

After that, I intend to hop into the Mistborn-trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (aka, the dude who finished The Wheel of Time), which I've heard great things about and got for dirt cheap in my local book store.
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Cordyceps

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #27 on: August 09, 2014, 09:37:56 PM »
I just finished Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang . Awesome short story collection. The last story "Liking What You See: A Documentary" gave me some good ideas for Eclipse Phase.   

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #28 on: August 11, 2014, 12:23:49 PM »
I'm about half-way through April 1865: The Month that Saved America, which is basically about all the way the American Civil War could have turned out way worse than it did. It's an interesting read, and partially relevant to a Call of Cthulhu scenario I'm still writing.
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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #29 on: August 11, 2014, 04:45:23 PM »
And today, on the hundredth anniversary of Canada joining the First World War, I've begun reading At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-1916.  It's a rather massive tome, but I think I can finish it before 2016 rolls around.

I'm reading its sequel, Shock Troops, which covers 1916-18, right now. Which covers all the bloody victories where Canada got its reputation for having first-rate assault and shock troops, not so coincidentally.