What are you currently reading?

[epilogue]

Dahlia Cassandra is a really interesting read so far. This Kressen guy has some interesting sentences.

[Simple Torture]

I had to write a few paragraphs about Derrida today and it was god-damned mind-numbing, even though I've done it plenty of times.

[Simple Torture]

I had to write a few paragraphs about Derrida today and it was god-damned mind-numbing, even though I've done it plenty of times.

Okay, palate cleanser: I'm reading some student papers right now and my kids are really smart.

[96583UP]

[LetMeSleep]

amen

[guestT]

"universal harvester," by john darnielle. not bad, but i'm gonna have to go back and re-read it at some point. spent the first half of the novel expecting it to be something else, causing much disappointment and confusion.

[bune]

On a whim I started "Krampus" by Brom.

Acclaimed author and artist Brom raised eyebrows and pulse rates with The Child Thief, his grim, brilliantly audacious, gorgeously illustrated reimagining of the Peter Pan legend. So what does this innovative fantasist do for an encore? He tinkers darkly with the beloved mythology of Santa Claus. Set in Appalachia, Krampus the Yule Lord is a twisted fairytale about a failed West Virginia songwriter who gets ensnared on Christmas Eve in an eternal war between a not-so-saintly Saint Nick and his dark enemy Krampus, aka Black Peter, an ancient trickster demon. Krampus the Yule Lord is Gregory Maguire (Wicked) meets Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) in the realm of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, as Clive Barker (Mr. B. Gone) works his dark sorcery from the shadows. Once again featuring Brom’s chillingly beautiful artwork throughout, Krampus the Yule Lord is a feast of wonder straight from the kitchen of Sweeney Todd.

It's so weird thus far.

[bada]

Wasn't there a Krampus movie a few years back?

[bune]

A couple, yes. This book however takes the tack that Krampus is a good guy and Santa is a "bad" guy. Most of the story is based on Norse mythology too so it's an interesting take on the "Santa" myth.

I'm about halfway through and I gotta say the mystical interactions are pretty fun but too few and way too far between. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say it's reminiscent of "Justified" in the way that the small-town, smaller-town crooks story is going. Not nearly as good, mind you, just a similar vibe.

Having grown up on the East coast I'm pretty familiar with the area it's taking place in so that's a trip in and of itself.

Next up:

A mind-bending novel in which an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath uncovers startling truths about America and the Middle East

11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers.

The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . .

Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage--in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of "The New York Times," dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story. The president wants answers, but Mustafa soon discovers he's not the only interested party.

The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee--a war hero named Osama bin Laden--will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems.

Acclaimed novelist Matt Ruff has created a shadow world that is eerily recognizable but, at the same time, almost unimaginable. Gripping, subversive, and unexpectedly moving, "The Mirage" probes our deepest convictions and most arresting fears.

[bune]

A Man Called Ove was lovely. I had all the feels. The book jacket did not lie. I did laugh out loud. I did cry. Literally, I ran the whole spectrum. Such a funny, touching, honest, and well written book. Just lovely all the way around.

I'm about halfway through and it's everything you said it was. The scene where his wife died was only a few minutes ago and I was cooking french toast and crying over it.

[bada]

I tried reading the first Discworld book. I quit.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Bammer]

I actually started a book last week and am almost done. Kind of a miracle.

It's "The Taget" by David Baldacci. Nothing special but next up is "The Martian" and I'm very excited. Have not seen the movie.

[epilogue]

A Man Called Ove was lovely. I had all the feels. The book jacket did not lie. I did laugh out loud. I did cry. Literally, I ran the whole spectrum. Such a funny, touching, honest, and well written book. Just lovely all the way around.

I'm about halfway through and it's everything you said it was. The scene where his wife died was only a few minutes ago and I was cooking french toast and crying over it.

I'm so glad you're reading and enjoying this book. It really meant a lot to me. And it never falters. It's good to the last drop.

[epilogue]

About 2/3 through and it's good. Probably my least favorite Morrison that I've read so far. But I'll save judgement until the end. Right now, I like it. I always love her language and humanity. But the story is thin and the characters aren't grabbing me the way they have in her other work. Still, I'd give it 3.5 stars (out of 5) at this point. And if this is her worst book, it's still better than anything most people will ever write.

[epilogue]

This is one of the funniest things I've ever read.

[bune]

A Man Called Ove was lovely. I had all the feels. The book jacket did not lie. I did laugh out loud. I did cry. Literally, I ran the whole spectrum. Such a funny, touching, honest, and well written book. Just lovely all the way around.

I'm about halfway through and it's everything you said it was. The scene where his wife died was only a few minutes ago and I was cooking french toast and crying over it.

I'm so glad you're reading and enjoying this book. It really meant a lot to me. And it never falters. It's good to the last drop.

Have you had a chance to watch the movie? Apparently there are a few different translations out there and I was lucky enough to get one that hewed pretty close to the book so it was pretty good. Some of the story was rushed, but it was still strong.

I loved the book and talk it up to everyone I know who loves reading.

[epilogue]

A Man Called Ove was lovely. I had all the feels. The book jacket did not lie. I did laugh out loud. I did cry. Literally, I ran the whole spectrum. Such a funny, touching, honest, and well written book. Just lovely all the way around.

I'm about halfway through and it's everything you said it was. The scene where his wife died was only a few minutes ago and I was cooking french toast and crying over it.

I'm so glad you're reading and enjoying this book. It really meant a lot to me. And it never falters. It's good to the last drop.

Have you had a chance to watch the movie? Apparently there are a few different translations out there and I was lucky enough to get one that hewed pretty close to the book so it was pretty good. Some of the story was rushed, but it was still strong.

I loved the book and talk it up to everyone I know who loves reading.

I haven't seen the film yet, no. But it's on my list. I didn't even realize they'd adapted it until watching the Oscars. So fucking cool.

[bune]

Me either! I was bummed I found out by looking at who lost though. Though since it's getting buzz all of a sudden I can't wait to see Tom Hanks as Ove and Cote de Pablo as Parvaneh.

A couple, yes. This book however takes the tack that Krampus is a good guy and Santa is a "bad" guy. Most of the story is based on Norse mythology too so it's an interesting take on the "Santa" myth.

I'm about halfway through and I gotta say the mystical interactions are pretty fun but too few and way too far between. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say it's reminiscent of "Justified" in the way that the small-town, smaller-town crooks story is going. Not nearly as good, mind you, just a similar vibe.

Having grown up on the East coast I'm pretty familiar with the area it's taking place in so that's a trip in and of itself.

Next up:

A mind-bending novel in which an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath uncovers startling truths about America and the Middle East

11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers.

The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . .

Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage--in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of "The New York Times," dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story. The president wants answers, but Mustafa soon discovers he's not the only interested party.

The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee--a war hero named Osama bin Laden--will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems.

Acclaimed novelist Matt Ruff has created a shadow world that is eerily recognizable but, at the same time, almost unimaginable. Gripping, subversive, and unexpectedly moving, "The Mirage" probes our deepest convictions and most arresting fears.

Finished both of these. "Krampus" was a decent enough story, really a "gray" description of him and Santa instead of the Black & White myths. Kind of uplifting even? But alright.

The Mirage though...

"So far this is a really fun book, probably one of the best alt-history books I've seen. A lot of thought and research went into this new world, it's not just a good idea half-assed into being."

"I had an inkling at the beginning that a story like this could only go one of two ways. There was a clue about halfway through for which of the two it would be. When it was revealed, which is just before where I'm at right now, I was very interested in where this line could potentially go, especially with the obvious setup for the ending. I love that it's obvious and it's probably going to be something else!"

Well, it didn't end the way I thought and yet it kind of did. All in all this is a brilliant book that is wonderfully executed and researched. There are "Wikipedia" articles throughout the book that fill you in on the story and history of the land and also - and this is a demerit - sometimes let you know that what the next chapter is going to be about.

But at the end of the book you're left with a wonderful alt-history story about a very damaging time to the world. I highly recommend this to anyone with a love for alt-history, or even those who might want to know a more human side of the world politicians want us to be scared of.

It really is one of the better stories I've read. The amount of detail he put into this world from the different bibles and Koran translations to just keeping people in the story by hinting at W. and Cheny and outright telling you that David Koresh and Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are working for the CIA.

Matt Ruff caught me off guard with his Lovecraft Country and blending race and Cthulu, this one cemented to me that he's a great writer.

[BurtReynolds]