What Did You Read Today?

[GA!]

I'm currently reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, although as it's in three parts I'll probably read other books in between. So far 227 pages in (out of 900+), so good.

[Quom]

I read quite a bit. Yet I never noticed this thread. At the moment I'm reading all of Christopher Moore's books. I didn't start them in order not realising how many recurring characters there were. Loving them anyway and once I realised I made sure to start with the first.

They are great regardless but even better when you know the histories of some of the characters.

[Maxx]

A gay guy gave me the only Christopher Moore book I own.

Just finished reading Chuck Klosterman's The Visible Man. Enjoyed it, it's not too much unlike Klosterman's essays.

Last night I started a book on The Gardner Art Hiest and it's quite good.

[gunnar hendershow]

Just picked up Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami from the library today. One of the older books of his that I haven't managed to get around to reading yet. Obviously excited as he's one of my favorite authors. I've been told by his fans that the book can be frustrating at times, but is worth it to get all the way through.

The only Christopher Moore book I've read as of yet is Lamb, and it was an absolute blast to read.

[Skummy]

I absolutely love Hard-Boiled Wonderland. It was the first Murakami book I read, and as a result I very quickly tracked down pretty much everything else he's done.

I'm currently reading 1Q84 - Book Two - and I'm still not really sure what I make of it. It's good, but I'm a book and a half in and it's still not really clear what's going on. Which is fine, I guess, but there's not enough to really make me want to find out. It feels a lot more of a chore to read than any of Murakami's previous work...good stuff, but it's not really clear what's going on, or weird and obscure enough to make me wonder what's going on, it just seems like chapter after chapter of nothing much happening.

[StevenRichardsRules]

My room mate and his friends came in at one this morning and kept me up with their yelling. So I read the entirety of Chad Kultgen's "The Lie".

Having read "Men, Women & Children" before this, I admit I was a bit disappointed. He published this book first and it really shows. That's not to say it doesn't have any good points, but it seemed a bit on the amateur side.

Plus, I'm not sure who I was supposed to be rooting for. Heather was a heartless bitch 90% of the time so there wasn't much emotional investment when bad things happened to her. She shows brief hints of humanity but yeah, she's pretty much "the eeeeevil gold digger". There's Kyle, the main character, who is very naive and convinces himself constantly that Heather and him are meant to be together (it's obvious they aren't). It would be kinda interesting if he had some kind of arc but he's really a one-not character who pines over Heather. And then there's the rich asshole Brett, who I think we're supposed to like despite the horrible things he does to women (hell, his whole philosophy is pretty messed up, but we can at least see why he thinks this way). He's the only one with some depth but he's still a prick, excluding his time spent trying to help Kyle.

And my favourite character, who's totally one-dimensional (the loser's perfect girlfriend), gets treated like garbage.

Ending sucked. Partly in a tragic, that's-not-fair kinda way. But mostly in a that's-kinda-lame sorta way.

[I Don't Mind]

I'm halfway through Joseph Heller's Catch-22. At first, I didn't get the buzz. I almost gave up on it because it was all dialog, a shit-ton of characters, no real progression in the story, and was often silly just for silly's sake. Glad I pushed through, because I'm really starting to get it and don't want to put it down.

I also read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It wasn't Shakespeare, but it was fun for what it was

[Skummy]

Still on 1Q84 - about half-way through Book 3 now, having ploughed through it after finishing Book 2 yesterday. I'm still unsure - it's interesting enough, but so much of the first two books is spent with absolutely nothing happening. I get that it's a slow-building story, which is kind of Murakami's schtick, but there's a difference between the plot of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle slowly revealing itself and nothing happening for chapters at a time. It just doesn't feel that there's enough material to justify it being three books, or even two. Maybe it'll all explain itself in the next half of Book 3, and things I thought were minor details will turn out to be major plot points lying in wait, but I doubt it somehow.

I like the idea of the book, but there's just too much fluff. It's just not as good as I'd expected, considering how much I love Murakami's other work.

[GA!]

I'm about to start part 2 of 1Q84. It's my first Murakami book, but I can tell reading it that he has done better. Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying it, but the slow pace does feel quite self-indulgent at times. Unless part 3 tightly wraps everything up as it sounds like part 2 doesn't, there are lots of sections an editor should have put a red line through.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot: in between 1Q84 part 1 and 2, I read "My Life in Tapes: The Autobiography of Agent Dale Cooper" by Scott Frost. Loved it. I love Twin Peaks anyway, but even without the association it is fantastically written (lots of naive, deadpan humour).

[Skummy]

Yeah, considering in Japan he released Book 3 a year after the first two, and it was apparently never announced that he was even writing a Book 3, it's surprising how little is wrapped up at the end of Book 2. I appreciate the need to insert some normality between fantastic events, but I can't help but feel that the book could be less than half the length it is without losing any real substance, and that's not something I've ever felt about Murakami before.

Part of me even wonders how much is down to it having a different translator to his previous work.

[GA!]

Can you recommend which Murakami novel to read after 1Q84? There's a definite likeability to his style that makes me want to explore more of his work, even if this turns out to be quite disappointing.

[Skummy]

My personal favourite is probably Kafka On The Shore.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland was the first I read, and which instantly made me want to read much, much more, so it's obviously got something going for it. The most critically acclaimed tends to be Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which is probably closest to 1Q84 in feel.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Ha, I was just coming in here to ask about Murakami. I'm about 70 pages into Kafka on the Shore; and I'm largely enjoying it so far. I'm finding the dialogue to be slightly off kilter, and that's actually strangely endearing. On the whole, it is slow, yet addictive.

Anyway, I was going to ask what was a good bet to read next, Murakami wise. Premise wise, South of the Border, West of the Sun sounds like something I really have to read, and I'm interested in Norwegian Wood.

Edited November 8, 2011 by Yoshihiro timmayyama

[Skummy]

His dialogue is usually pretty weird - I don't know if it's a "lost in translation" thing, but it never reads like anything that someone would ever actually say.

If you like Kafka, I'd recommend Hard-Boiled Wonderland & The End Of The World - there's actually a little bit of crossover there, conceptually. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Wild Sheep Chase and Dance, Dance, Dance all deal with similar concepts too, especially the sense of otherworldliness.

I'm not a big fan of Norwegian Wood...it just never feels like a Murakami book. What I like about his work is the feeling that it's all happening in some kind of self-contained universe, where the line between reality and the abstract blurs at times, and it never really explains why, that's just how things are. Norwegian Wood is effectively a straight love story, and I spent half the book wondering when the talking cats were going to show up.

[The Sandman]

I really liked Norwegian Wood, i don't read books very often but it had a nice story that worked for me. Yeah, it's basically just a love story but atleast in my opinion a very good one. Norwegian Wood being the only Murakami book that i've read i'm also looking for what to get next. I was going to get the 1Q84 first, but now i kind of want to get Kafka On The Shore. Probably going to get one of them before christmas. After finishing Norwegian Wood i've just been wanting something more to read.

Recently i also read the James Hetfield: The Wolf at Metallica's door book by Mark Eglinton. It started pretty good, but then turned just into the writer's opinion on Metallica's records, just like Joel McIver's Metallica book.

Also, are the Hunger Games books any good, i've been thinking on getting the trilogy? Seems Battle Royale-ish from what i've heard/read about them. I still have the third Mass Effect book left to read and also Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You that i got from brother, no idea really what it will be like.

Edited November 9, 2011 by The Sandman

[gunnar hendershow]

I loved Norwegian Wood, but it's not a Murakami book. It showcases his ability as a writer, but Murakami books are about blurring the line between dreams, death, and reality. Norwegian Wood feels more like Murakami is writing about the experience in his life which shaped him and made him the kind of writer he is.

Kafka on the Shore is by and large my favorite book of the 21st century thus far, so obviously it's my favorite Murakami book.

[Damian WayLNKe]

I'm reading Kolchak: The Night Stalker Casebook. I wish there was an audiobook version though and preferably with Darren McGavin.

[Guest mr. potato head]

I read the first Hunger Games book. It's OK but not really that good, I suspect most people who like it have used it as a stepping stone into "real" literature.

[apsham]

I've been wanting to get back into reading again - and reading something fictional so I picked up a paperback copy of A Game Of Thrones.

Thing is - I am already lost. The thing that turned me off Lord Of The Rings was how many names were being thrown at me, I can't keep anyone straight. In the prologue of AGOT there are three men on horseback and their names are so odd I really can't keep them straight.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Really? Three names and one of them is Will?

A Game of Thrones throws a LOT of names at you as it goes along and half of them are a little strange.