Literature Club

Just started Judas Child by Carol O'Connell
I'm usually not a fan of crime novels in general but my sis recommended it (actually she threatened me with bodily harm if i didn't put it on top of my reading list) and I must say the first couple of chapters really drew me in. I had to force myself to put it down to sleep last night.

The setting is a classic small town murder but the characters are very unusual and the writing is dark and poetic. Definitely not the typical airport crime novel. The nature of the crime makes it difficult to read though.

Yay books! I love these, I read a looot of books during my train rides to go to university on my kindle! The last book I read was a beautiful one illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe, Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. It was really interesting and the illustrations were wonderful. :)

I just finished "The Penultimate Truth" by Philip K. Dick today.
Wasn't a big fan of the book for about the first half, very strange way of writing. I read a lot of PKD stories, but none of them were written in this weird way, with like dozens of accessory sentences. But somewhere around the halfpoint it got really intriguing, and even the writing was easier to comprehend. Still thought the ending was anticlimactic.
If you are interested in Philip K. Dick, I'd rather recommend other books like "Time Out of Joint", which was my favorite so far.

In the middle of The Shepherd's Crown, the final book set in the Discworld. And the last book that Terry Pratchett wrote before he died.

So far, VERY good.

Only just spotted this thread! I read! I can read! I know words and stuff!

But really, I'm currently reading After Dark by Haruki Murakami, and I really want to like it, but it's a bit of a struggle. It's my first Murakami and everyone tells me that I chose so very poorly for a starting place ha.

The last one would be "Night and Day" by Robert B. Parker.
Not as good as the previous book in my opinion but it was a good read.

Just read The Snake Report and The Two Week Curse. Very enjoyable reads. I think I've gotten pretty far away from formal literature though. I still read a lot now, just a lot more short books.
The Snake Report was especially funny since well... the main character is a snake so there's a lot of comedy in both his actions and the reaction of others.

I just read "A Room with View" by Forster. I was expecting a romance novel, but i found also a picture of women situation in the early 900'.
It was a nice surprise, and I totally recommend it.
Now I'm currently reading "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley in english. I'm italian, so I do my best to improve my language skills.

Favourite books:

• Memoirs of Hadrian , Marguerite Yourcenair
• Atonement, Ian McEwan
• The Master and Margarita, Michail Bulgakov

the secret history by donna tart.
descent into madness beyond morality with those ancient greek soul, just to taste what its like to be human.

I do not do much readings except online news, occasional wiki, tried to get myself reading books more as its a great hobby but my eyes just fails me. I still favor a printed copy over ebooks. Although Visual Novels are one of the good ways to tell a tale. Great to see a group like this exist here. Keep up the great work. May your adventures be fulfilled in your readings. ^__^

It is a pity that the manga is not considered the book =)

Most recent book? I don't know if manga counts, but it was the School-Live! series. I absolutely loved the anime, and was so disappointed that it ended, so I delved into the manga. It is actually so far the first and only manga I've ever read. I really enjoyed it, and wish that the anime would get a second season!

It is far from my most recent read, but in case a manga series doesn't count, I'd like to draw everyone's attention to Dune. If you have seen any of the movies, miniseries, or games, forget them. None of them hold a candle to the original book. Every single character has personality and motivation, there's not a single 2d cardboard cutout in the book, and most of those political motivations are contradictory, with high stakes manipulation, lies and subterfuge. The book explains itself best when one of the characters says "a feint within a feint within a feint". No one is what they seem, nor what they seem to be concealing. You can't just look beyond the lies, you have to look beyond the subterfuge behind the lies.

Mine is The Cuckoo's Calling and I thought it was soo good!
I bought it without really knowing who the author was and just later found out that it was a pseudonym from JK Rowling, I really love her so it was a great surprise!

Hi, want to join this awesome group! Recently i read Joe Haldeman's "Forever War". I am not a big fan of sci-fi but this book blew my mind. Its a story about needless war of humanity against aliens which is happening only because of inability to understand each other. Its great book and concept of time dilation that was used there was amazing idea. Really worth to read.

Brave New World from Aldous Huxley
"the Horror is upon us within a single century, what will in future be?

Just reread "Only You Can Save Mankind" by Terry Pratchett.

Johnny Got His Gun. Its a good premise, but it felt preachy toward the end. The author was really pontificating while projecting onto the main character.

I guess I'll comment here, apologies, but it's my only option.

Last Sunday I left town for a work trip - the very first real one in my life - paid accomodations, meetings and all that. I was really nervous and excited because this felt like finally entering the adult people world for my 26 year old self. I had to prepare a lot and generally this event had completely consumed my mind. Mr. Wolf was so kind to remind me that apparently I had forgotten to write my book review on this page after winning Deponia. Even after that reminder it seems that I haven't done it and it has slipped my mind, because after coming back from this trip I have been kicked from the group and even removed from people's lists on steam.

Now I know it's my fault but still - if everyone is not too mad I'd like a second chance, pretty please. Life is hard, okay, this last year has been a pretty turbulent one for me and maybe one day I'll share why with you all dear SteamGifters.

For the review, because I never really stop reading, even when life is hard. It's a thing that keeps me going. And, although not in the group as of now, I owe it to you guys.

I recently finished reading The Black Swan, by Nassim Taleb. A book I've wanted to read for a long time, as it's very critically acclaimed and Nassim Taleb is considered one of the greatest minds of our time. To be able to explain the book I'd have to reveal who mr. Taleb is. He's a man of Levantine origin that's worked as a stock trader on Wall Street for more than 20 years and is now a scholar interested in mathematics, probability and the nature of randomness. The Black Swan is what he calls an extremely improbable event that, paradoxically, happens because of its own improbability. Events that seem unlikely to us will often cause the snowball effect and be utterly catastrophic, for various reasons he lays out in the book.
Mr. Taleb, although a mathematician and an ex stock trader, has an extremely artistic and literature-like style of writing. You can tell that his fasciantion with the world comes from an early age and the levantine magical myths still have a dear place close to his heart. He's had an interesting life and has a lot to teach us about statistics too - his other books on the topic (Antifragile, Skin In The Game) also seem really cool. Will read them and report back when the time comes.

Last I read was Starship Troopers. I'd say it gave me a great respect for the movie, actually. The book would have made an awful movie chapter for chapter, but both stand on their own surprisingly well when taken as separate entities. Each gives a unique rendition of the inescapable social horror of living under a truly jingoist state.

Seems like a fun idea, I'd be interested.

The last book i read is "Super Taboo Game" by Ning Hangyi.
50 students from a class were given superpower as they chose. They have 1 year to find the winner( the only survival) as the "God" who gave them power said or the world will end. Friendship, greed, lust, vengeance, social problem,... The author implemented them into the book very well and logic. I read the Vietnamese version of the book (my mother language). The original is in Chinese. I can't find the English version so i hope it will be released soon because this is a good book.

At the moment I read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series by its publication order. Series has many positive sides: it has good story, it has original humor, it has many plot lines and characters connected with each other and it's actually big, so I get rid of question "what to read next" for awhile.

Last book that I read was "Men at Arms". It's 2nd book in subseries about Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Despite book can look like it's not as good as some previous ones it's still clever, thoughtful and funny. Story was kinda simple and lacked of rational narrative cause-and-effect but it was full of clever satire and had some unexpected turns. Old and new characters didn't evolve very much through the book and they looked more like caricature, yet descriptions and dialogues made them irresistible and I really like them.

Last read "The Great Gatsby" and I honestly believe the movie adaptation was way better than the book with more attention to details and also Leo Dicaprio was in it. Also the depth of the story from the narrator perspective is sort of not deep enough to fully immerse yourself in the story