Reading anything?

[Vik]

Animal farm by George Orwell

[The Burgomaster]

Animal farm by George Orwell

I just read this a few months ago.  Interesting story and I really liked the ending.

[The Burgomaster]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through THE FROSTED DEATH.  If you're a fan of The Avenger and Doc Savage pulp novels from the 1930s and 40s, this is one of the best.

[AndyC]

Continuing with the literary classics, I've been reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, another story I know from its influence but have never actually read. Interesting book, but getting a little tiresome. We had Dorian Gray and the picture, and the wish that it could age instead of him all the way back in the first chapter. Then page after page of Oscar Wilde being clever. Not that it isn't interesting in spots, but I'm getting impatient for the story to go somewhere.

[Vik]

Animal farm by George Orwell

I just read this a few months ago.  Interesting story and I really liked the ending.

You should definitely read 1984 also by Orwell if you liked Animal Farm. Awesome book.

[The Burgomaster]

Animal farm by George Orwell

I just read this a few months ago.  Interesting story and I really liked the ending.

You should definitely read 1984 also by Orwell if you liked Animal Farm. Awesome book.

I have read 1984 . . . and I liked it more than ANIMAL FARM!

[The Burgomaster]

Continuing with the literary classics, I've been reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, another story I know from its influence but have never actually read. Interesting book, but getting a little tiresome. We had Dorian Gray and the picture, and the wish that it could age instead of him all the way back in the first chapter. Then page after page of Oscar Wilde being clever. Not that it isn't interesting in spots, but I'm getting impatient for the story to go somewhere.

I read about 1/2 or 2/3 of this book when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  Never finished it.  I think I was hoping it was more of a horror story.  I should give it another try.

[Vik]

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

[indianasmith]

I just finished AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING, by Stephen R. Donaldson.  It's part of THE LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT.

[Psycho Circus]

I just finished AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING, by Stephen R. Donaldson.  It's part of THE LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT.

My friend reads those and say they are excellent. Not for the faint-hearted but good. I've been meaning to get copies of the first 2-3 at least. What do you think of that series Indy?

[indianasmith]

The First Chronicles are a masterpiece = LORD FOUL'S BANE absolutely captured me when I was about 16 or so, and I have read it many times since.  I only read the Second Chronicles once, when I was in college, and no longer have my copy.  I remember liking it but not being as impressed with it as I was with the first one.  The current series is excellent, and the climax of the book I just finished was heartrending.

He also wrote a series called MORDANT'S NEED, which is only two books long - MIRROR OF HER DREAMS and A MAN RIDES THROUGH.  Both those books left me absolutely aching for more stories set in that world.

Donaldson is a master.

[InformationGeek]

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by: Grant Morrison

One of Grant Morrison's first big tales and his first big Batman story and it's... okay.  Due to artwork with it sometimes being nearly impossible to follow at some points, it makes reading the story really difficult.  It's good, but it makes it hard to identify what is going on in the scene unfolding.  Though it is nice to flesh out the background for the asylum.

[AndyC]

Continuing with the literary classics, I've been reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, another story I know from its influence but have never actually read. Interesting book, but getting a little tiresome. We had Dorian Gray and the picture, and the wish that it could age instead of him all the way back in the first chapter. Then page after page of Oscar Wilde being clever. Not that it isn't interesting in spots, but I'm getting impatient for the story to go somewhere.

I read about 1/2 or 2/3 of this book when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  Never finished it.  I think I was hoping it was more of a horror story.  I should give it another try.

The picture finally started changing almost halfway through the book, and it has been getting more interesting since. Much as I found with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there is more to this strange phenomenon in the book than what I had understood from other sources. For one thing, the portrait not only ages, but also reflects the development of Gray's personality. The first change he notices is that the expression on the face goes from boyish innocence to something harder and more cruel. It doesn't just get uglier, it lays a guilt trip on him by reflecting whatever corruption, depravity or evil takes hold of him. And, much like Dr. Jekyll, Dorian Gray starts treating his discovery as a licence to indulge himself without consequences, and a means of turning his back on darker aspects of himself that make him uncomfortable. He's beginning to lead a double life.

I'm starting to really enjoy this book.

[InformationGeek]

The Nobody by Jeff Lemire

It's a retelling and modern look at the story of the Invisible Man.  It's much more tragic and much sadder than the original story and rather good.  Glad to read it.

[AndyC]

Dorian Gray is a very uneven book. Just when it starts to get good, Wilde launches into some kind of imagery that goes on for pages before I realize none of it is even making sense to me. My mind actually wandered while reading it. Then a few chapters of tapestries, jewels and such - descriptions mostly. Then, just as it's getting intolerably tedious, the plot starts moving again, in a big way, and it draws me back in. I wonder if this is intentional, or whether Wilde just had trouble writing a tight, well-paced story.