What are you reading right now?

[Kaharz]

Is that the one where the main race is hermaphroditic and they have amazing astral sex when the protagonist turns into one? And the excited genitals bear a passing resemblance to tibetan mandalas? I read them about a million years ago as an extremely shy and angsty teen.

Sounds kind of like Imajica by Clive Barker, but probably a lot worse.

[Apocalyptus]

Is that the one where the main race is hermaphroditic and they have amazing astral sex when the protagonist turns into one? And the excited genitals bear a passing resemblance to tibetan mandalas? I read them about a million years ago as an extremely shy and angsty teen.

Sounds kind of like Imajica by Clive Barker, but probably a lot worse.

Huh, that's what I was thinking of too.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

I've only read two of the Abarat books (I dunno if there are more) by Barker. They were... interesting. I remember something about a random kid going to this wild other world where (s)he was some hero-ish thing? The covers were very colorful.

[Kaharz]

Weaverworld is okay. The Theif of Always is a really good YA, or at least was when I read it about 20 years ago. But I was barely an adult at the time. The Great and Secret Show and Everville are considered to be very good by many, but I found them mostly tedious. The Damnation Game was crap, but was apparently his first book. Mister B Gone is entertaining, not much too it though. That is all I have read. A lot of people like the Hellraiser books, but I'm not big on horror, so I never read them. I never heard anything good about Galilee.

[Lethal Interjection]

My sister gave me Good Omens (finally in my possession!) and Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance for my birthday. Happy to have the former, and looking forward to reading the latter (doubly so after watching Master of None, which I hope will give an even wider perspective?!).
I do need to finish the book I'm currently reading first. Though I'm really enjoying That Hideous Strength (the final book of the CS Lewis space trilogy) even more than the first time.

[trickcyclist]

Is that the one where the main race is hermaphroditic and they have amazing astral sex when the protagonist turns into one? And the excited genitals bear a passing resemblance to tibetan mandalas? I read them about a million years ago as an extremely shy and angsty teen.

Sounds kind of like Imajica by Clive Barker, but probably a lot worse.

Huh, that's what I was thinking of too.

If you Imagine Imajica rewritten as Twilight slash fic, that's about the right vibe.

[Kaharz]

I'm about done Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault. It is pretty good. Not as good as The King Must Die and Bull From the Sea which was retelling of the myth of Theseus. Apollo covers the reign of Dionysius the Younger and the siege by Dion, narrated by a fictional character who is an Athenian tragic actor. The only thing I don't like is that she puts in some weird references to Hamlet, which seems to be completely unconnected to the story other than the main character being a tragedian. She takes some liberty with the conventionally accepted historical events, but it isn't a big deal. Especially considering the conventional narrative is all that accurate.

[Nurrdeer]

Smbc, lol. As always

[Lethal Interjection]

I've been having conversations with a coworker about Dick. Of the Philip K variety.
We've intentionally phrased it as such because we've stopped a few other conversations at the lunch-table mid-stream with the phrasing. And I'm not sure anyone else there knows who Philip K. Dick actually is.
My coworker (in many ways quite similar to myself) recently discovered the importance of Dick in pop-culture. He knew a few things were based on his work, but not the breadth (which I was basically aware, mostly thanks to you fine folks).
So these few discussions have increased my interest in perusing some Dick.
Alas, I have at least 3 books in the wings after I finish my current read.
Those books are Good Omens (which I'm dying to reread), Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance (those two from my sis for my bday) and Life of Pi. I've been wanting to watch Life of Pi but I knew that I'd appreciate both book and movie more if I read it first. When my parents were prepping for their move it turned out they had the book, so they passed it along.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

I'm finishing up One Summer by Bill Bryson, but I've also started Atwood's latest book - The Heart Goes Last. Another [looming] dystopia, this one economic. Sort of like, "what if 2008 had been as absolutely awful as it could have been?" A couple, husband and wife - educated but not brilliant, both lose their middle class jobs when a massive market crash hits. Mild spoiler (still early in the book): They respond to an advertisement to join a planned twin city where half the population is voluntarily imprisoned for a month to labor, then they switch with the other half. It's already crazy ominous so I dunno what she's going to do to make it worse. Still plenty of the Atwoodian "holy shit I can never have sex again and inflict that on any one ever," which in a sense is what almost all her books boil down to - very basic man-woman, woman-man interactions (not always so depressing*). There's interestingly not many gay characters in her books - I actually can't even think of one in the 5 books and 20-odd stories of hers I've read.

*but usually

[Felstaff]

Career of Evil, the third of the Cormoran Strike detective series. This Galbraith chap keeps you hooked, for sure, and is exemplary at character development. Everyone in this world feels so real. The description of the scenes, however, are rather sterile and perfunctory; more a case of describing and telling, rather than showing, to be honest. Which is odd, because how could Hogwarts be so real, but the old 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street not?

[Kaharz]

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I'm about halfway through and so far it isn't depressing as crap. I was a bit worried after the unrelenting brutality of Blood Meridian. I haven't read No Country For Old Men, the third in the 'border trilogy.'* But I did see the movie version of that.

It is really good so far. The writing style is very blunt and sparse and the underlying theme seems to be love.** It is very stark compared to the almost floral prose of Blood Meridian, which seemed to be mostly concerned with the evil of men. I don't know if the contrast between the style and themes are intentional or that was just how McCarthy felt like writing. I do really like that of the three books of his I've read (The Road being the third), you would hardly guess they were the same author if his name wasn't in them.

*They are really a trilogy, just the same general geographic setting and are all westerns in some sense.
**Love of horses, love of friends and romantic love so far

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

I loved All the Pretty Horses. It's the only McCarthy I've read, actually. I read it in my last english class in high school and did a cool project on it.

[Kimra]

I just read Tarzan of the Apes (the first Tarzan book). It is both horrifying and comical in how racist, sexist and uninformed it is (mostly racist). I think there were more compliments of Tarzans greek god like stature than there were in all the Twilight novels combined. It has an unhealthy obsession with meat, and the consumption of it (with a strong focus on cannibalism). And the overall message that Tarzan is better than the apes, and the native africans because of his white blood and noble english ancestry blew me away every time it came up.

It's an interesting piece of reading for analysis purposes, but overall it's a really chunky pulp fiction (which was it's intent) with giant plot holes, inconsistent universe building, and contradictions throughout.

[Astrogirl]

I think there were more compliments of Tarzans greek god like stature than there were in all the Twilight novels combined.