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I'm going for 50, many of which are cued up on my Kindle already after a "My new toy is amazing!" splurge over Christmas. Goodreads link are below this here words: https://www.goodreads.com/DiscoPope I also aim to add more poetry and plays into my rotation this year; I've fallen into a bit of a bleak speculative fiction rut. Disco Pope fucked around with this message at 15:08 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 13:13
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I'm two (edit: 3, I'll slow down when life begins again on Monday) books down, having finished a couple I started right at the tail end of last year. The weather here frightens me right now, so it's great tea and reading weather. 1) The Telstar - Samuel Addison A neat piece of time travel based, philosophically aware darkly comic sci-fi about artificial intelligence, causality and determinism. Full disclosure, the author is a friend of mine and I hadn't had a chance to read this yet, but I'd recommend it regardless. 2) Point Close All Quotes - A Quietus Anthology A compendium of writing from various contributors to The Quietus website. Although the site often covers more than music, the book is entirely comprised of music based pieces. Some very well written, thoughtful pieces in here but the site does sometimes get (not entirely unfairly) accused of pretentiousness. 3) This is the Way the World Ends - James Morrow An affecting sci-fi fable with the most depressing, frightening account of a nuclear attack I've encountered outside 'Threads' or 'Barefoot Gen' Disco Pope fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Jan 4, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 15:23
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The Telstar - Samuel Addison An excellent piece of dark, comedic speculative fiction about time travel, artificial intelligence and programming. 2) Point Close All Quotes: A Quietus Anthology A really solid collection from one of the best music sites around. I hope they do some more of these in future. 3) This is the Way the World Ends - James Morrow A horrific and melancholy sci-fi fable, with the nuclear attack sequence being one of toughest things I've ever read. I could see the allegorical elements of the story being a real turn off for some readers, though. 4) Candide - Voltaire Pretty sure everyone says this, but a lot funnier and more easily readable than I could have imagined. 5) Love is a Dog From Hell - Charles Bukowski The first book read as part of my goal to increase the amount of plays and poetry I read. Bukowski was a lot funnier and drier than I imagined. I'll definitely be seeking more. 6) Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson I'm catching up on the Gibson I've missed. This was certainly enjoyable. 7) Again, Dangerous Visions - ed. Harlan Ellison 2014's first clunker. I read enough of the stories to include it and while some were great ('The Word for World is Forest'), there was a lot of awkward, dated work in here. A real let down after how essential the original 'Dangerous Visions' was. 8) Difficult Men - Brett Martin Another weak one. A real analytical study of the current age of TV would have been great, but this mainly focused on behind the scenes goings-on. Not totally without merit, just disappointingly shallow. 9) Distrust That Particular Flavour - William Gibson A solid collection of non-fiction pieces. Certainly not essential, but definitely worthwhile for fans. 10) Cotton Comes to Harlem - Chester Himes I needed a break from speculative fiction for a bit. Great pulpy fun with a surprisingly wry and angry edge. 11) Slapstick - Kurt Vonnegut I could never find a physical copy of this. It's not bad, but I can see why it's not considered one of Vonnegut's best. 12)I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison A pretty good collection of sci-fi short stories. The titular story in collection is great. 13) Howl - Allen Ginsberg I may need to give this another read. I enjoyed it, but I think I need some context to get more out of it. 14) Judge Dredd Case Files 7 Because Spug you, that's why. I'm also currently reading Homicide by David Simon, my book of the year so far. I've upped my goal to 60.
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Feb 9, 2014 17:39
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It's interesting to read about someone else struggling with Catch 22. I've had a crack at it a couple of times and it's never gelled with me, perhaps because I'm reading it from the perspective of someone who has experienced other works heavily influenced by it over the years. I had more luck with Something Happened by Heller, but I wasn't at my most mentally healthy when reading it and had to quit for my own sake. That book is rough going.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:27
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15 & 16) Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 8 & 9 Great fun, and I think there's a case to be made for including 2000 AD being amongst Britain's best sci-fi out put. This seems to be where the stories turn a bit bleaker and a sophisticated too. 17) Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - David Simon A really frustrating read, not because it was bad, but because the grinding systems of bureaucracy and control in Baltimore were painted so vividly and the people caught in it were so fallibly human. Asks a fan of The Wire, it was interesting to see how much of the events of this book made it into that show too. 18) Shovel Ready - Adam Sternbergh A really fast read due to its lean prose style and taciturn protagonist. A very sold cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic/noir blend which was more memorable than I make it sound. 19) Trouble is my Business - Raymond Chandler Not the strongest Chandler work I've read (I think he works better with more space to really paint LA in more detail), but an entertaining collection of stories. 20) Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy A really excellent, bleak book. I'm glad I put some space between this and 'Homicide...', but those in quick succession would have just made me hat mankind forever. 21) A Wanted Man - Lee Child I was loaned this from a colleague and I'll be honest that I initially started reading this out of politeness, but it turned out to be a really entertaining read. Silly and perhaps politically dubious, but entertaining. 22) Sick City - Tony O'Neil I expected more from this, and I don't think it was ever as shocking as it was intended to be, but a fun bit of modern crime fiction. Can't help but feel that the planned movie will feel like something a few years too late to the Pulp Fiction party, though.
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Mar 29, 2014 00:27
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