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Pit Book/Discussion Thread

For those of you who liked Lonesome Dove, an interesting take on the time and place is How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang. By no means a traditional western, it's about two Chinese American girls around the time of the gold rush out West. I just finished it and the ending fucked me up, but it was very good nontraditional storytelling, the author's first novel.
 
Other books I've read and enjoyed this year

Kingdomtide - Rye Curtis
Story of Your Life - Ted Chiang
The Decagon House Murders - Yukito Ayatsuji
Deacon King Kong - James McBride
The Name of the World - Denis Johnson
Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alan
 
I finished the first installment of "The Three Body Problem" trilogy, and whooo boy. I don't know if I'm in a headspace to finish the Hugo award winning trilogy that Barry O describes as "wildly imaginative". It just hits a little too close to home with all the bullshit "science" floating around these days. If you're not interested in the book series, apparently Game of Thrones writers/directors David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are about to turn it into a Netflix series. I have no idea how they're going to do that and make it remotely comprehensible or entertaining, but I guess we'll see.
 
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Demonwolverine said:
I finished the first installment of "The Three Body Problem" trilogy, and whooo boy. I don't know if I'm in a headspace to finish the Hugo award winning trilogy that Barry O describes as "wildly imaginative". It just hits a little too close to home with all the bullshit "science" floating around these days. If you're not interested in the book series, apparently Game of Thrones writers/directors David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are about to turn it into a Netflix series. I have no idea how they're going to do that and make it remotely comprehensible or entertaining, but I guess we'll see.
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incredible books.

not excited for the game of thrones guys to try to make them into TV but yeah
 
Sci-Fi

Finished Andy Weir's newest book, "Project Hail Mary", and loved it. I couldn't put it down for 3 days. It's written in the same style as "The Martian", so if you liked that then you will enjoy this. I thought it was better and it is absolutely more gripping than his second effort "Artimus", which was largely forgettable. Apparently there is already a movie in the making for "Project Hail Mary" starring Ryan Gosling, so if you're a book-to-movie nut like me definitely check it out.

Probably my biggest pet peeve with science fiction, and fiction in general, is a deus ex machina. Weir seems to work tirelessly to cover every basis to ensure that isn't the case. His attention to logistics and detail is spectacular, almost to the point where it's the biggest critique of his writing. Personally, I love it.

ETA: going to start putting the genre in the title of the post so people who aren't interested in it don't waste time googling around.
 
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Finally finished Underworld. It was a pretty amazing novel, but sprawling and a lot of work, and the characters didn't really take shape for me into about 500 pages in. Delillo's prose was beautiful, but I'm not sure if in hindsight that it was worth the effort. It took me longer to get through than any book that I can remember for quite some time. Switched up and am reading the YA novel Noughts and Crosses right now, and I'm digging it so far, but I'm not sure if it's because it's so breezy a read in comparison to the last work I read. I also got through Fatherland pretty quickly, which is a pretty fun little alternate history novel about a German detective in 1960's Germany told as if Germany had won the war.
 
I cannot recommend Days Without End by Sebastian Barry highly enough, especially if you're a fan of westerns. Even if you're not, you'll love it. I'm not sure that I've ever read a Western novel with a more likable or relatable narrator.
 
mako1331 said:
Finally finished Underworld. It was a pretty amazing novel, but sprawling and a lot of work, and the characters didn't really take shape for me into about 500 pages in. Delillo's prose was beautiful, but I'm not sure if in hindsight that it was worth the effort. It took me longer to get through than any book that I can remember for quite some time.
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I always took that lack of focus to be keeping with the theme of recycled currents. A bit like The Names.
 
Just tear-assing through The Plot Against America. Such a fun read. And the juxtaposition between the alternate history timeline and the small scale family dynamics is so compelling.
 
discdude said:
I always took that lack of focus to be keeping with the theme of recycled currents. A bit like The Names.
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Yeah, Underworld is the only Delillo I've read. How was The Names? Worth the effort?
 
If any of you, particularly the women in here, are looking for a page turner in the same vein of "Gone Girl", a friend of mine just published her debut novel "Beneath The Marigolds". I'm already about 1/3 of the way through it and think it'd be a great, fast-paced travel read for those interested and who want to support an aspiring young author.
 
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Demonwolverine said:
Finished Andy Weir's newest book, "Project Hail Mary", and loved it. I couldn't put it down for 3 days. It's written in the same style as "The Martian", so if you liked that then you will enjoy this. I thought it was better and it is absolutely more gripping than his second effort "Artimus", which was largely forgettable. Apparently there is already a movie in the making for "Project Hail Mary" starring Ryan Gosling, so if you're a book-to-movie nut like me definitely check it out.

Probably my biggest pet peeve with science fiction, and fiction in general, is a deus ex machina. Weir seems to work tirelessly to cover every basis to ensure that isn't the case. His attention to logistics and detail is spectacular, almost to the point where it's the biggest critique of his writing. Personally, I love it.

ETA: going to start putting the genre in the title of the post so people who aren't interested in it don't waste time googling around.
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I liked PHM, but I enjoyed the Martian a lot more (haven't read Artemus). I had a really hard time picturing it as a movie -- don't know how they pull it off. Was not a fan of the ending at all.

Also disappointed by King's new book, Billy Summers. Just a really bland been there before story. Liked Mr. Mercedes and Finder Keepers as books that outside the classic King horror canon much more and on the last of the Mercedes trilogy, End of Watch, right now.

Also trying to get through the Wool series. Through Wool and Shift, and will read Dust next. I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction and this hits that sweet spot -- a little long and overindulgent, but good stuff.
 
Just finished Plot Against America last night and realized I really need to read some more Phillip Roth. Where do I go next?
 
mako1331 said:
Just finished Plot Against America last night and realized I really need to read some more Phillip Roth. Where do I go next?
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are you familiar with the story of his recent biography getting pulped a few months after it was released?
 
Roth was pretty picky about handpicking his authorized biographer (originally picked Arthur Miller's nephew but they had a falling out) and picked a dude with some questionable behavior toward women (like Roth) -- biographer got accused of sexual misconduct and the publisher withdrew all copies of the book a few weeks after it hit the shelves and was a top 20 NYT bestseller

I think another publishing agency picked up the book, an agency that has published a few other controversial books in the name of freedom of speech/press


that said, I did like American Pastoral -- Portnoy's Complaint is on the to-read list
 
I only have a week to finish whatever I choose. Because when October hits, it's horror novels and movies only bro.
 
mako1331 said:
Yeah, Underworld is the only Delillo I've read. How was The Names? Worth the effort?
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You would probably find a more compelling sell of DeLillo in White Noise. I dug The Names because of its extremely quiet nuance.
 
Delillo loves himself some fuggin baseball. I once watched the man talk about baseball for like an hour and a half. Way worse than Mark Twain when it comes to baseball
 
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