Books - What are you reading?

Art of Hunger is a great collection - I'd forgotten about the Wolfson essay, so I'm going to revisit that. I also love The Red Notebook, especially Why Write.

On the fiction side, Moon Palace and Oracle Night are both firm favs.

For anyone overwhelmed by all the best of lists and trying to work out what to read, (or watch), I've got a little side project going that helps. I started it when I realised I had only seen 2 of the best movies of 2017!

Finished reading Amor Towles A Gentleman in Moscow last night. Excellent book; also highly recommend his other book: Rules of Civility

Will see what I books I get for Christmas...

Currently reading Ubik by Philip K Dick. About 60 pages in and starting to warm up to it a bit, it's a bit too sci-fi for me.
I know he is a sci-fi writer but the stuff of his that I really enjoy, such as A Scanner Darkly or The Man In The High Castle tend to be a little bit more down to earth so to speak. Less psychics and nifty space age gadgets and more relatable or affecting books that happen to have a vaguely sci-fi theme.

I hated Ubik until I got to the last few pages, when it suddenly turned into one of the best stories I've ever read. There's a great twist at the end, the details of which I've since forgotten so I can't spoil it for you.

I find PKD a bit of a difficult read sometimes because he obsesses over irrelevant details like outfits or tech to an irritating extent, but leaves out the wider context of the environment he's created. You can tell that he has this incredible, rich, fully-detailed world built up inside his head, but he doesn't let you access it in the same way that somebody like William Gibson would.

Maybe I should give Ubik a re-read and see if that ending stands up to the memory impression I have!

I've actually come round to it myself today. Had an unexpected day off work due to injury so have almost finished it. I just needed to not expect it to be like the other stuff of his I've read and accept it as a sci-fi adventure I think.
I think you're right about some of the detail seeming irrelevent, that's partly why I found Ubik hard to get into initially.

I've not read any William Gibson. What's a good starting point? (I don't know why I'm asking for book reccomendations, there's already so much on my "to read" list. I just can't help myself).

Neuromancer is the obvious place to start. Many pioneering concepts that you see all over sci-fi now and actually a great read.

Second choice would be Virtual Light which is based on bike messengers ...

Yeah, +1 for Neuromancer. Some say [citation needed] that Neuromancer was the book that invented the internet, but its cultural impact even outside of that is immense.

I bought my girlfriend a book for Christmas, Goodbye Things by Fumio Sasaki. Japanese Minimalist living

I'm reading it! Love it so far

Sounds interesting, will search out a copy.

Michaelmas by Algis Budrys did a pretty good guess regarding the internet in 1977. In interesting read in that regard.

I did like Neuromancer but there was something about it I didn’t click with. Virtual Light felt like a more absorbing book for me.

I ended up quite enjoying Ubik in the end. I just needed to stop wishing it was more like other books of his that I'd read and loved.

I've spent today reading most of Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal. It's absolutely incredible. Any suggestions of other things of his to read?

Edit: finished Too Loud a Solitude. Would highly reccomend.

Not really read any Sci Fi and thought a good introduction would be to try winner's of the Philip K. Dick Award and use this as a starting point

Rudy Rucker - Software.
1st winner 1982

Philip K Dick himself is a good starting point!

I'm on a Neil Gaiman binge at the moment, have just read;

1. Neverwhere
   
2. Smoke and Mirrors
   
3. Norse Mythology
   
4. Good Omens
   
   

Already have Fragile things lined up next, then was planning American Gods unless anyone recommends something else of his?

I am working my way through a stock of charity shop buys some good some ok, nothing terrible so far.

Any Human Heart - William Boyd - good Christmas reading as the diary format lets you dip in and out really easily. Quite similar to The Diary of a Book Seller which is the reason I picked Any Human Heart out!

A Voyage For Madmen - Peter Nichols - didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would, as it sometimes jumps back and forward in time which I always find confusing!

American Sniper - Chris Kyle - My comments mirror the back cover a little bit... honest account of war but I struggled to really empathise with him as he is a true patriot and makes very selfish decisions.

Have just started Take a Seat - Dominic Gill - which is about a guy who cycled the length of the americas on a tandem picking people up on the way. Not expecting literacy greatness but so far it's a pretty accurate account of cycle touring!

The Scarlet Pimpernel........so far so good!

Not these. History and war. Anyone wanna buy all 3 to make it worth the effort of posting?

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Made a start on Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille last night. Saucy bugger.

According to Goodreads I managed to read 58 books with an average length of 400 pages last year.
I only gave one book (Sea of Rust) 5 stars which surprised me.

I just finished Story of the Eye. Pretty wild stuff, I can see why it was banned for so long. I'm glad I decided on something else to take to my mum's to read over Christmas.
I'm currently off work after stacking it at the very end of my shift yesterday so hoping to get some reading done! Next up is either Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller or I Served The King of England by Bohumil Hrabal.

if you like true life stories about the depths of human desperation in a godless world with lashings of cannibalism, murder, heroism, cowardice, hubris and extra cannibalism, have i got a read for you!

Last few years ive set myself a reading challenge on goodreads and spectacularly failed to achieve it. To the point that this year im setting it at 15 books. I used to read for hours every night and barely watched tv, but fatherhood and laziness has taken its toll. Im not reading huge high brow stuff as i read to escape. Im starting with a backlist from last year which includes The Meg. Im a huge fan of stuff like Scott Sigler and his genre. Sci fi action type stuff that you can just read and suspend your disbelief. I heartily read most of Micheal Mcbrides stuff last year that i could get cheap on kindle. Im hoping you can recommend some stuff like this as the kindle 'you might like' bit is quite cyclical taking me through the same dozen or so books.

I’m re-reading the Hyperion cantos by Dan simmons at the moment. Just started book 2. Would recommend - I’m similar in that I read for escapism these days, and have found it good escapism!

I listened to a podcast about the Donner Party a while ago, pretty wild stuff! Will try and pick a copy up.