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-   -   What Are You Reading? (https://www.gothic.net/boards/showthread.php?t=517)

Saya 03-20-2016 07:44 PM

Your friend has excellent taste.

It's about a space empire in which people have no gender, and the narrator uses female pronouns as a neutral default. The narrator is also an AI who inhabits thousands of bodies used as soldiers, until something happens and she's down to one. Then, then she is on a quest for revenge.

Acharis 03-22-2016 04:12 AM

Yes! That's the one they've been talking about! I might chew through the cheap paperbacks I have to make space and then borrow/order it.

Saya 03-22-2016 12:06 PM

It's definitely one of those series where I start to become envious of those reading it for the first time.

Finished Northanger Abbey, and I'm mad that I didn't read it in high school. Why didn't anyone tell me Jane Austen is hilarious? Catherine is such a goth chick and a bit of a dunce, I would have identified with her like crazy eleven years ago. As is, I'll have to make do with the witty satire.

Reading Carmilla next, then maybe I might read some of the gothic novels Jane Austen mentioned.

Acharis 03-23-2016 02:21 AM

I just finished the first book of Lucifer (going back to get favoured gn's in order) and am about to start reading Daniel Way's Deadpool. Regretting that I don't have much comic money.

Then I'm going to quickly read up Tithe (which had/has promise but has already started veering annoyingly young adulty - same way as the Replacement. Don't you hate that? Something's good and then a wild Mary Sue/brooding love interest appears. There need to be more adult supernatural books that aren't crap romance!)

The I'll see if I can borrow Ancillary Justice.

Diessa 03-25-2016 10:58 AM

I reading book on programming

satanicangel66689 07-11-2016 07:14 AM

Well, I'm currently reading two things. A story Fanfiction.net, called The Way. :) The other is an actual book, Lords of Chaos.

TrivialMorose 04-07-2020 03:19 AM

No one has read a book in four years...:(

I'm always reading too many books at once, but I'm only gonna mention one, which I've only started recently.

Ash by James Herbert.

It's the final book in the David Ash trilogy, and I've read the previous parts as well. The plots in all of these are pretty ridiculous (Well, actually in the first two they they were sorta fine until they weren't anymore, this third one dove straight into it.) but David Ash is just an excellent character and I can't get enough of him regardless. Too bad he is coming to his end.

shadowynne 04-09-2020 03:49 PM

I'm reading "other minds" yet another book on cephlapod intelligence. And a warhammer 40k novel... Because I am a literary slut.

UnderwaterOphelia 05-04-2020 03:20 PM

I'm reading Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie. It's a collection of short stories, and it's pretty great.

shadowynne 05-05-2020 11:58 PM

I'm reading several books for review,(the backlog is getting serious now)... including a rather interesting book on mycelium, and the overall interconnected nature of plants. And yet another "space bullet drama" as my partner calls them, because I apparently don't have self control.

UnderwaterOphelia 05-06-2020 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowynne (Post 836064)
I'm reading several books for review,(the backlog is getting serious now)... including a rather interesting book on mycelium, and the overall interconnected nature of plants. And yet another "space bullet drama" as my partner calls them, because I apparently don't have self control.

What's the most interesting thing you've learned about mycelium?

UnderwaterOphelia 05-06-2020 11:24 AM

I'm reading Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie, and then I'd liiiiike to finally read Persepolis, which a friend lent me like a year ago. I'm terrible at reading recommended books.

I'm also reading David Sedaris' Calypso.

TrivialMorose 05-06-2020 12:55 PM

I haven't really read anything in the last few weeks, even Ash is still lingering quite right where I left him last time I was here.
But another book that I'm currently in the middle of, and have been for a while, is Lives of the Necromancers by William Godwin. It's a funny little book with short biographies of a ton of (often just rumored) historical magic users, not at all confined to the realms of necromancy, despite the title.
Some of the stories are familiar, some of them strange, some of them have been downright surprising, like how Pythagoras was said to basically have been a vampire.
It's old, and digital copies are free at gutenberg.org.

shadowynne 05-07-2020 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnderwaterOphelia (Post 836071)
I'm reading Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie, and then I'd liiiiike to finally read Persepolis, which a friend lent me like a year ago. I'm terrible at reading recommended books.

I'm also reading David Sedaris' Calypso.

I have just finished Calypso! I am rather fond of Sedaris.

On mycelium, it would be the fact that there seems an active trade between plants and fungi. The fungi gives the plant minerals in a form the plant can use and the plant gives the fungi sugar. This is not a chemical reaction, as neither the plant or fungi have to provide sugar or mineral in order to receive the other... If that makes sense.

Persepolis, the graphic novel? By Satrapi? It's pretty good. It reminded me of my childhood in a way.

UnderwaterOphelia 05-07-2020 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowynne (Post 836081)
I have just finished Calypso! I am rather fond of Sedaris.

On mycelium, it would be the fact that there seems an active trade between plants and fungi. The fungi gives the plant minerals in a form the plant can use and the plant gives the fungi sugar. This is not a chemical reaction, as neither the plant or fungi have to provide sugar or mineral in order to receive the other... If that makes sense.

Persepolis, the graphic novel? By Satrapi? It's pretty good. It reminded me of my childhood in a way.

Yeah, that does make sense.

And yes, Persepolis. I do want to read it, and your recommendation makes it sliiiightly more likely, but I am gently biased against graphic novels. Like I decided a long time ago they "aren't my thing," and who am I to break the rules? My dad was/is and INSANE comic book collector. Like, extensive. But I read [i]Fun Home or Fun House[i], whichever. I liked that.

UnderwaterOphelia 05-07-2020 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrivialMorose (Post 836073)
I haven't really read anything in the last few weeks, even Ash is still lingering quite right where I left him last time I was here.
But another book that I'm currently in the middle of, and have been for a while, is Lives of the Necromancers by William Godwin. It's a funny little book with short biographies of a ton of (often just rumored) historical magic users, not at all confined to the realms of necromancy, despite the title.
Some of the stories are familiar, some of them strange, some of them have been downright surprising, like how Pythagoras was said to basically have been a vampire.
It's old, and digital copies are free at gutenberg.org.

That sounds cool.

shadowynne 05-08-2020 02:03 AM

I would say persepolis is a graphic novel by technicality, and not a graphic novel proper. I read it as the material was relevant to me and enjoyed it somewhat. Fairly pleasing artstyle. It's a very quick read, easily done in a day.

It's more of a cultural thing, so if that is not your thing I would leave it.

TrivialMorose 07-06-2020 11:56 PM

I'm reading some dummy book called UnHappenings by Edward Aubry. The premise was something a bit more interesting but turned out to be pretty much a standard time travel YA fare.
I sort of hate YA, but on the other hand I'm so retarded that it suits my level.

Ethereal 08-13-2020 02:43 PM

I recently finished "How to be a Victorian." Now, I'm reading "The Vorrh" by Brian Catling.
I'm planning to read "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice next.

TrivialMorose 08-24-2020 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethereal (Post 836364)
I recently finished "How to be a Victorian." Now, I'm reading "The Vorrh" by Brian Catling.
I'm planning to read "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice next.

Hey, Ethereal, how you liking the Vorrh? Any thoughts about it? I took a glance at the description, and the cyclops sounded pretty funny, other than that it sounded a bit humdrum.

Goth points for reading Anne Rice :D:p

I've begun the Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. I've always loved Twin Peaks but I've never read any of the books before. I'm only a few toes in yet, so don't really know, but it's been decent so far.

Molster 09-29-2020 02:38 AM

Currently reading Lorna Doone by R.D Blackmore, before that I read The Song Of The Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde...:)

Geoluhread 11-16-2020 04:48 AM

Just finished "The less you know the sounder you sleep".

I need something very light-hearted to read afterwards because it's very heart breaking. It's about the conjoined twins born in the USSR, and how they were subjected to medical torture.

Molster 11-16-2020 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoluhread (Post 836911)
Just finished "The less you know the sounder you sleep".

I need something very light-hearted to read afterwards because it's very heart breaking. It's about the conjoined twins born in the USSR, and how they were subjected to medical torture.

Sounds pretty brutal!

CountWhiteandDrawn 12-31-2020 12:32 PM

I'm glad I found this thread. This is my home. I'm also glad to see that most of the rest of you are also unable to constrain yourselves to reading one book at a time!

Shadowynne, your mycelium book sounds bodacious. What's the name of it?

TrivialMorose, I've added your Lives of the Necromancers to my shopping cart. Thanks for the tip!

Molster, Lorna Doone sounds GREAT! I saw the movie as a kid. Classic.

Geoluhread, The Less You Know is also going on my list. That sounds pretty trying. Recently got hold of book (not read it) called The Pleasures of the Torture Chamber. Totally different angle, but as a description of the depths of human cruelty, it sounds like a kindred title.

I just finished two books:
The Question of Animal Awareness by DOnald Griffin - this is the guy who coined the term "echolocation" in his study of bats. A lot of the emphasis is on the variety and complexity of animal communication, and the takeaway seems to be that animals possess a much deeper kind of intelligence than most would assume, but a very different kind than ours. He talks about the kinds of "waggle dances" bees do, and just how much they can communicate. In fact, when one bee finds a new site for a hive, he comes back and waggles a description of it to the other, but if another bee comes and waggles about a BETTER new site for a hive, the bees "discuss" it by exchanging waggles until all the bees are in agreement, they waggle the location of the site they've agreed upon, and then the leader waggles a signal to leave and the all move!

I also just finished "Prince of Darkness" by Jeffrey Burton Russell. It was a history of Satan from ancient through modern times, including the cultural influences that shaped our ideas about the devil. It ends up being much more a history of the evolution and decline of the church and the ways that humanity confronts evil. Bit of a muddled thesis, but very interesting.

I'm also reading Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies. A lot of overlap with the book described above, which is great. It focuses on magic books in the Western tradition and the ways religious ideologies develop and respond to occult practices. Very cool.

I'm reading through my collected Shakespeare. The history plays were my favorites by far but now I'm into the tragedies. Finished COriolanus last night. Coriolanus was an asshole who was really good at war and when Rome drove him out, he allied with its enemies. Just before they sacked Rome together, his wife and mother convinced him to make peace, so Rome's enemies kill him (sorry, spoiler) and it ends very abruptly there.

Lastly I'm reading Only a Poor Old Man by Carl Barks. It's an Uncle Scrooge comic. It's classic American literature.

SpookyEli 12-31-2020 06:52 PM

Danse Macabre by Stephen King. Partly because I’m a basic b***h and partly because I want to get as far away from King’s style and perspective on the genre as I think it casts a far to often imitated shadow that has stunted the genre somewhat. (Coupled with Poe and Lovecraft imitators, Of course)


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