Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[DigitalFigment]

I have found that I much prefer to listen to books over physically reading them. I can occupy my hands with something simple while listening. Currently, I am listening to The Sandman Act III on audible. I also have about two hours left of Frankenstein that I need to finish up. But that's a re-read so I'm not so concerned to finish it over listening to more Neil Gaiman.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

When I was driving around a lot of NSW, I experimented with listening to audiobooks.
It was a mistake, either I was concentrating on the road, and missed something vital in the story, or I was concentrating on the story, and ...
I went back to classical music.

 

[SoldOnApple]

The Game of Thrones series. Though I've started reading a single chapter every few months, it'll be decades before GRRMs estate will finish arranging for the whole series to be finished. So I'm in no rush.

 

[JBGoode]

The Game of Thrones series. Though I've started reading a single chapter every few months, it'll be decades before GRRMs estate will finish arranging for the whole series to be finished. So I'm in no rush.

A Song of Ice and Fire dies with the author. GRRM has said that if he dies, it's over - no one is finishing it and quite frankly I'm not even sure how anyone could when George himself has no clue how to finish it or it would have been done years ago.

 

[SoldOnApple]

A Song of Ice and Fire dies with the author. GRRM has said that if he dies, it's over - no one is finishing it and quite frankly I'm not even sure how anyone could when George himself has no clue how to finish it or it would have been done years ago.

His estate stands to earn many millions of dollars by finishing it and expanding the universe further after. After he dies there will be no one left alive who wants it to end, no opposition to finishing it and making it a franchise.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

His estate stands to earn many millions of dollars by finishing it and expanding the universe further after. After he dies there will be no one left alive who wants it to end, no opposition to finishing it and making it a franchise.

It will depend on his will. However, I do understand that people saw what Christopher Tolkien did with his father's unfinished stories and will want to emulate. OTOH, after thirty something years, I still have to finish the Silmarillion.
The follow-ups rarely are any where near as good as the books written by the original author.

 

[AVBeatMan]

The Contortionists Handbook by Craig Clevenger.

The Contortionist's Handbook by Clevenger, Craig (2006) Paperback

The Contortionist's Handbook by Clevenger, Craig (2006) Paperback

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Huntn]

A Song of Ice and Fire dies with the author. GRRM has said that if he dies, it's over - no one is finishing it and quite frankly I'm not even sure how anyone could when George himself has no clue how to finish it or it would have been done years ago.

We saw one way it could have ended in an outline sort of way.

 

[obeygiant]

And to think that this amazing, brilliant, scintillating, extraordinary world - attractive, cosmopolitan, questioning, sophisticated - died in 1914.

I'm not quiet sure what you're referring to but the book itself is fascinating.

The first part is devoted to how art changed with the invention of photography, and how Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka, started drawing and painting the inner world of humans instead of realism as truth.

The second part of the book is devoted to neuroscience and how the brain and senses perceive the world and art with the emergence of the beholders share.

I recommend it.

 

[Huntn]

I read the first William Gibson Sprawl Cyberpunk trilogy starting with Neuromancer and got into it, thumbs up. I recently started his Bridge trilogy starting with Virtual Light and put it down as his writing style being a bit too helter skelter.

Then I remembered I really enjoyed Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy Mistborn trilogy, and decided to give him another go, and was hooked in a matter of a chapter on Warbreaker. Not sure at this point if this is a trilogy or not. The first trilogy mentioned dealt with the ingestion of metal, creating personal power, Warbreaker involves colors, breath, and awakening. The term refers to instilling power into inanimate objects so they will become animated and do your bidding. At this point there seems to be a spiritual power element to “breath” such as a life force.

​

 

[xtempo]

next one in the series

 

[Scepticalscribe]

This week, I have been re-reading the superb Regeneration trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye In The Door, The Ghost Road) - set during the last two years of the First World War by the wonderful Pat Barker (this was the work for which she won the Booker Prize). Seriously excellent - intelligent, interesting, humane, and powerful, and, among other things, an extraordinary examination of social class, gender and war.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Finally time to start The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, a book I've had on hold at the library for almost two months now (and reading other books in the meantime). PKD is surely one of the most fascinating authors of all time, and this book, based on the controversial bishop James Pike, promises to be interesting.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Notes from the Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Early novella by one of literature’s greatest, it already examines some themes, from evil to determinism. The novella is divided in two parts, the first being more introspective and in my opinion more interesting. Definitely a good read.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The Uses And Abuses Of History - by Margaret MacMillan.

An interesting and thoughtful - and thought-provoking - book, by the invariably excellent Margaret MacMillan.

 

[obeygiant]

The Myth of Sisyphus
Book by Albert Camus

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Twelve Caesars - Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern - by Mary Beard.

Anything by Mary Beard (about the world of Ancient Rome) is always worth reading; interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking, wonderfully researched and beautifully written.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Twelve Caesars - Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern - by Mary Beard.

Anything by Mary Beard (about the world of Ancient Rome) is always worth reading; interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking, wonderfully researched and beautifully written.

Added to my list, as I found SPQR as informative and pleasing to read as Tuchman’s Guns of August.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Added to my list, as I found SPQR as informative and pleasing to read as Tuchman’s Guns of August.

I love her work, and I love her enjoyment of her work, - the joy she takes in it and the pleasure she takes from sharing it and how much fun she makes it all seem - not to mention her sheer, uninhibited, greedy delight in Italy's food, wines, history, cuisine, and culture.

 

[yaxomoxay]

not to mention her sheer, uninhibited, greedy delight in Italy's food, wines, history, cuisine, and culture.

She just gained 1,000 points on my appreciation scale 😆

Ok, I guess it’s time to make my wallet cry a bit.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Currently reading The Two Towers on my Kindle.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Augustus - The Life of Rome’s First Emperor (2006) by Anthony Everitt.

My interest in studying Roman History is not a secret on this forum. Everitt’s biography of Octavian (aka Augustus) reveals itself as one great addition to my shelves. I devoured this book.

Everitt does not shy away from examining the huge shadow that Julius Caesar casts on Rome’s first emperor. Everything in Octavian’s life is somewhat linked to Rome’s dictator; even the fact that later in Octavian’s life the month of Sextilis was renamed to Avguvstvs (August) the same way that Quintilis was renamed Ivlivs (July) after Julius Caesar is a symbolic continuous thread. And yes, Augustus had to keep separate himself from his adoptive father.

This book lays out not only the political structure (and intrigue) and the military actions (Anthony and Cleopatra, anyone?), but it also shows us Octavian, the man. A political genius, he could be merciful as he could be terrifying (he once sacrificed 300 people). Skilled in public administration and very religious, he could barely keep his family together. Loyal to his friends, especially Agrippa, he expected the same loyalty and anyone that betrayed him paid a dear price.

In addition to the biographical part, Everitt describes Roman customs very well. From sexual promiscuity (which is not how it’s commonly portrayed), to gladiator fights (which weren’t actually a slaughterhouse as often believed), the author is able to show us life in Rome without being pedantic.

This book has for me only one negative: the first chapter. Similarly to the last chapter of “How to Think Like a Roman Emperor,” Robertson’s semi-biography of Marcus Aurelius, the events narrated are virtually all fictional. It’s just the author wanting to share his dream vision of the last moments of Augustus life. I know why the author does it: it gives us a very romantic and visual description. What I don’t like is that unless you read the notes, you won’t know. It’s written almost as factual, and a reader either has to deduce the fiction through prior knowledge or by reading the notes at the end of the book.

Ultimately I highly recommend this book to whoever wants to understand the world of Rome, and to whoever wants to understand today’s events.

 

[MBAir2010]

he never ceases to amaze!

 

[yaxomoxay]

he never ceases to amaze!
View attachment 2128952

Very interested about this one, I heard it’s Lynchian.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Augustus - The Life of Rome’s First Emperor (2006) by Anthony Everitt.

My interest in studying Roman History is not a secret on this forum. Everitt’s biography of Octavian (aka Augustus) reveals itself as one great addition to my shelves. I devoured this book.

Everitt does not shy away from examining the huge shadow that Julius Caesar casts on Rome’s first emperor. Everything in Octavian’s life is somewhat linked to Rome’s dictator; even the fact that later in Octavian’s life the month of Sextilis was renamed to Avguvstvs (August) the same way that Quintilis was renamed Ivlivs (July) after Julius Caesar is a symbolic continuous thread. And yes, Augustus had to keep separate himself from his adoptive father.

This book lays out not only the political structure (and intrigue) and the military actions (Anthony and Cleopatra, anyone?), but it also shows us Octavian, the man. A political genius, he could be merciful as he could be terrifying (he once sacrificed 300 people). Skilled in public administration and very religious, he could barely keep his family together. Loyal to his friends, especially Agrippa, he expected the same loyalty and anyone that betrayed him paid a dear price.

In addition to the biographical part, Everitt describes Roman customs very well. From sexual promiscuity (which is not how it’s commonly portrayed), to gladiator fights (which weren’t actually a slaughterhouse as often believed), the author is able to show us life in Rome without being pedantic.

This book has for me only one negative: the first chapter. Similarly to the last chapter of “How to Think Like a Roman Emperor,” Robertson’s semi-biography of Marcus Aurelius, the events narrated are virtually all fictional. It’s just the author wanting to share his dream vision of the last moments of Augustus life. I know why the author does it: it gives us a very romantic and visual description. What I don’t like is that unless you read the notes, you won’t know. It’s written almost as factual, and a reader either has to deduce the fiction through prior knowledge or by reading the notes at the end of the book.

Ultimately I highly recommend this book to whoever wants to understand the world of Rome, and to whoever wants to understand today’s events.

View attachment 2128786

Sounds absolutely fascinating.

Must see if I can lay hands on it (for Roman history is one of those topics I never tire of reading about, especially if the work in question is well written, well researched and not just interesting - all Roman history is interesting - but absorbing and fascinating).