Author Topic: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)  (Read 26784 times)

verbALs

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #40 on: January 19, 2012, 02:56:36 PM »
Ubiq is....weird just less weird than a lot of them. High Castle is the Hugo Award winning one.
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oneaprilday

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #41 on: January 19, 2012, 04:08:17 PM »
I was going to ask oad what she is reading currently. I was looking forward to her Red Harvest review at some point. I think she bought a copy of this recently.
I have a copy and will be reading it - next month!  At the moment, I'm supposed to be reading The Odd Women for my book group, and I still need to get through 300+ pages before the 31st. 

smirnoff

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #42 on: January 19, 2012, 04:21:46 PM »
So far I'm just enjoying the language and the quick pace. This detective isn't much for sittin' around. 8)

oneaprilday

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #43 on: January 19, 2012, 04:24:55 PM »
Sounds great. :)

Emiliana

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #44 on: January 19, 2012, 05:22:36 PM »
I started reading Red Harvest about two weeks ago, but I'm only about a third in. Not sure if I am forgetting something, but I think it is the first proper noir detective novel I have read.

Overall, I am enjoying it - the plot is moving fast, the characters are all delightfully shady, but there's one thing that I am finding quite hard to get used to: I have never encountered a first person narrator who tells you as little about himself as this guy! You never know what he thinks, how he evaluates certain situations or people - or rather: the clues to all that are very few and far between. This definitely benefits the suspense, but I am finding it difficult to deal with nevertheless.

The book I read before Red Harvest was Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, which, despite not being a first person narrative, was nothing but a dissection of the inner lives of its characters. Those two books certainly require vastly different ways of reading them!

smirnoff

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #45 on: January 19, 2012, 07:31:19 PM »
I started reading Red Harvest about two weeks ago, but I'm only about a third in. Not sure if I am forgetting something, but I think it is the first proper noir detective novel I have read.

Overall, I am enjoying it - the plot is moving fast, the characters are all delightfully shady, but there's one thing that I am finding quite hard to get used to: I have never encountered a first person narrator who tells you as little about himself as this guy! You never know what he thinks, how he evaluates certain situations or people - or rather: the clues to all that are very few and far between. This definitely benefits the suspense, but I am finding it difficult to deal with nevertheless.

It kind of feels like part of a series that way doesn't it... like the character was established ages ago and we're supposed to know him already. Not that it doesn't work. Like you say, it has it's benefits. So far I gather that he a) has an eye for detail, and b) doesn't take no guff. :))

jim brown

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #46 on: January 21, 2012, 07:01:08 PM »
The Continental Op is a recurring character in Hammet's oeuvre.  He's in RH as well as The Dain Curse and is the protagonist in 95% of Hammet's short fiction.  However, no matter how much of the Continental Op fiction you read, you never get much insight into his psyche.  For me, it worked well and was part of the charm, although I can completely understand that it might frustrate some readers.
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jim brown

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #47 on: January 21, 2012, 07:07:53 PM »
Had too many false starts with books over the last couple of months that I've put everything aside and am starting fresh with this tomorrow:


Kevin: Yes, why does there have to be evil?

Supreme Being: I think it has something to do with free will.

-------------------------------------------------------

Verna: I suppose you think you raised hell.

Tom: Sister, when I've raised hell you'll know it.

sdedalus

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #48 on: January 24, 2012, 04:29:50 PM »


I bought this in San Francisco when I was there for the film festival two years ago.  As I was leaving the register, a man stopped me and asked if he could look at the book.  I handed it to him and he started writing in it.  When he handed it back, I realized he was the author and had just autographed it for me.  He said that had never happened to him before, someone randomly buying his book right in front of him.  Seemed like a nice guy.
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AAAutin

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Re: Currently Reading (2012 Edition)
« Reply #49 on: January 24, 2012, 04:39:58 PM »
Ha, nice! I still need to read Glen David Gold's SUNNYSIDE. CARTER has a lot of interesting elements (Philo Farnsworth and Houdini to name a couple), but man, does it drag.