What's the Last Book You Read/Finished? - Part 1 Page 1 Chapter 1 Paragraph - Part 2

[Ash J. Williams]

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

 

[The Navigator]

Wind Through The Keyhole, by Stephen King.

Not bad, really enjoyed the titular story the best, rather than the other two framing it. [blackout]And holy crap, a Dark Tower story with a happy ending? Who would have thought.[/blackout]

Damned, by Chuck Palahniuk.

Really didn't care for it. The pre-death backstory stuff was fairly interesting, but it felt like he was throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck for the afterlife. [blackout] The main character suddenly becoming a Hitler-stomping, Genghis Khan slapping badass (suddenly relative to the pacing of the story, anyway) that marshalls an army big enough to threaten hell's bureaucracy felt completely forced and out of left field. And then the "twist" that this entire story might be the devil's screenplay--and ending the story on a "To Be Continued..."--what the hell?[/blackout] Just seemed messy overall.

 

[mongoose-mania]

"2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arther C. Clarke

 

[Scarecrow_King]

A Farewell to Arms

 

[Victarion]

I enjoyed the titlesake story in TWTTK as well. King added lots of juicy lore to Mid-World.

I just finished A Cure for Cancer by Michael Moorcock. The book is split into four sections, each one being titled after a medical procedure: First Incision, Transfusion etc. Overall, ACFC is a delightfully nihilistic romp through England and American in a world where each nation is at war with the other. The chapter headings--inflammatory beauties such as "Rape Goon Takes a Nap with a Corpse!"--are, well, interesting but don't seem much related to the plot.

The plot sort of meanders in and out; it boils down to a photonegative Jerry Cornelius (pitch-black skin with starkly white hair vs. white skin with black hair as in The Final Programme) racing against a gluttonous Bishop Beesley to procure a machine which increases the entropy levels throughout the universe. Jerry is, at best, an amoral protagonist who is trying to save the world by bringing about its dissolution into Chaos, so that it can be reborn with a greater sense of equilibrium between Law and Chaos. He's got no qualms about turning his vibragun on his allies and lovers once he's done with them.

The Bishop, of course, wishes to destroy the entropy machine to preserve the word, even though its basically gone to pot.

I give it an 8.5/10.

 

[nite-owl]

A Feast of Crows by George R.R. Martin

 

[Number 6]

South of the Border, West of the Sun

 

[uniqueweasel]

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Total Recall

 

[masterthehero]

Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson.

SO BORING! The only thing I learned from reading this book is how NOT to write a book.

 

[Figs]

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? - Lee Iacocca

The Hobbit - Tolkien

 

[ComicChick]

Days of Blood and Starlight - Laini Taylor

 

[SuperT]

The Brides of Rollrock Island - Margo Lanagan

 

[the last son]

Still trying to finish cannibal reign. It's ok so far.

 

[mongoose-mania]

"Uggie: My Story."

 

[StrainedEyes]

"The Girl Next Door" - Jack Ketchum

Messed up, but hard to put down.

 

[Wyrminarrd]

"Princep's Fury" by Jim Butcher.

 

[squeekness]

Pulling up stakes -- Peter David

 

[Rob3880]

2666 by Roberto Bolano... Mind-blowingly amazing. I was so depressed when I finished it because it sunk in that Bolano will never write another novel. He was only able to write a handful of novels during his short life, but those few are so amazing that he should be considered one of the greatest novelists of the last thirty years, and high up on the list at that.
I just started another novel called The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen. It's pretty great so far, and has a lot of great ideas. The big question is whether he can tie them all together into something coherent and ultimately satisfying.

 

[Rob3880]

Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson.

SO BORING! The only thing I learned from reading this book is how NOT to write a book.

Have you read Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon? Those two along with Readme are his best, IMHO. Diamond Age left me feeling kinda cold. It just wasn't as compelling as his other stuff... But I guess my point is, is this is your first Stephenson novel, don't let it turn you off from checking out his other material; because when he is on his game, he is one of the best. His problem is he tries to do too much sometimes.

 

[Specter313]

Iced ~ Karen Marie Moning

 

[ComicChick]

finished Buffy Ombnibus #3 tonight

 

[dude stannis]

Metro 2033 by Dimitri Glukovski

Brilliant. The whole thing takes place in the Russian underground metro after the nukes went off. Really immersive in its world building. On paper the story is standard Luke Skywalker 'heroes journey' fare, but as you read on, a lot of the tropes are subverted and not to spoil it, but by the end you realise it's actually a complete perversion of the heroes journey.

The only gripe I have, was that the English version is obviously translated from the Russian original, but some of the wording just feels like the missed the mark occasionally.

 

[uniqueweasel]

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy - S.D Perry

 

[bonoferox]

The Appeal: John Grisham.

Think the Racketeer may be next.

 

[hammerhedd11]

The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh