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Pit Book/Discussion Thread

wakephan09 said:
Also, if you want to check out some short stories that fit some of your categories, read Viet Thanh Nguyen's collection The Refugees. Haven't read his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, but I hear it is a bunch of gratuitous torture.



Oh nice! What'd you think? I haven't actually read the other two in the series because I've heard there's a big shift in tone and perspective, but I probably will.
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I dug it. I think I mentioned this on the movie thread, or somewhere else, but, for me, it recalled a lot of what Lem's Solaris does, and I think Lem did it better, but I still really liked it. I also have not read the other two based on what others have said about it.
 
Listened to the "Confederacy of Dunces" audiobook per this board's rec. Great character, and it had me laughing for most of the time, but overall just not my style of book. I will say, for those looking for another way to enjoy it, the audiobook actor was fantastic.

Also listened to "Artemis" by Andy Weir (guy who wrote "The Martian"). I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as "The Martian", mainly because the initial plot just wasn't as interesting. I feel like you read Weir for the nerdy, science tidbits. In a way, I'd say Dan Brown is to art/history what Andy Weir is to chemistry/physics. Side note: Rosario Dawson reads the audio book and does a great job.
 
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I read the Alchemist last week because I never had and I was immediately very embarrassed to be reading it in public on the train.
 
Ok, give me one book that came out in 2017 that I absolutely should read before the year is over. Prefer fiction. I will choose from the first three responses.
 
Has anyone read much Percival Everett? I'm hoping to read So Much Blue soon.
 
TownieDeac said:
I finished Seveneves and have lots of thoughts but wouldn't want to spoil it. I'll just say I loved it for 600 pages and then the book...massively shifts and I kinda gave up on the ending.

Then I rolled through some good stuff I had from a New York Review of Books book club

Difficult Women - David Plante
Doting - Henry Green
Uncertain Glory - Joan Sales
The Communist - Guido Morselli

Now on to Alias Grace. Atwood is my favorite living author I think. It's really good.
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I tried to read Atwood's Penelopiad because this quite attractive Brazilian yoga woman wanted me to, but I couldn't lock in. I get that it's a little gimmicky, so I'm going to try to read some of her other stuff.
 
timdunkandthefunk said:
Ok, give me one book that came out in 2017 that I absolutely should read before the year is over. Prefer fiction. I will choose from the first three responses.
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It didn't come out this year, but I think the first English translation was this year, if that counts. Anyway, I liked Zama by Antonio di Benedetto. I don't know if I read anything else that came out this year.

My favorite book I read this year was The End of Vandalism by Tom Drury, but that's from the mid 90s.
 
I just finished Origins by Dan Brown. I've enjoyed some of his earlier works but the latest ones aren't super great. This one is better but still not on the same level as his earlier works. There are some parts that do not make sense even after the conclusion. Also, the big reveal at the end was very underwhelming.
 
I've been a little slow out of the gate in 2018, but finished the first (well, the first in the middle part) of Peter F. Hamilton's epic sci-fi: The Commonwealth Series, Pandora's Star. If you are a fan of epic sci-fi, you can't leave this off your list. It starts off a little slow, but after a half of world building, it really picks up, and apparently doesn't stop until through the next book: Judas Unchained. Anyone who is looking for an intricate, intergalactic sci-fi, check out Pandora's Star. I was told to start with that rather than the true beginning of the series, which takes place hundreds of years before the events of Pandora's Star, are apparently largely unrelated, and not as good.

I also read Carl Sagan's: Cosmos, which was very good, if obviously very dated. I don't think I really needed the multiple chapters on how Astrology isn't real, but Sagan's enthusiasm for science is contagious and admirable. I wish I had read it when I was in high school, but it's still the type of book that could serve as the foundation for a science bender for adults.
 
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Damn, Under the Volcano, damn. Those last two chapters. The whole thing really.



Now for a couple of lighter things, I'm going to breeze through Didion's The White Album, and this dude I like Tom Cox's 21st-Century Yokel. Then maybe Moby Dick, or some other shit, we'll see.
 
Currently reading Hanif Abdurraqib's They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, a collection of his music and cultural criticism. I dig it.

Speaking of Columbus, chupe, didn't you mention a good bookstore in town? Gonna be there next week.
 
Hmmm, I don't remember mentioning a good one. Maybe someone else. I used to work at a Barnes & Noble when I lived there, and the Wexner Center's bookshop, which had a lot of cool books and gift and knacks and shit, so maybe that was it. But that's where I ended up getting most of my books and music, so didn't really explore the book shop scene at the time (15 years ago, or so). Just doing a quick scan, the Book Loft in German Village looks pretty cool, though.

http://www.bookloft.com/

I'm not sure they bring the heat much anymore (haven't been in a few years) as they are mostly all old and hard-lived, but if you find yourself there on a Sunday night, go check out Hoodoo Soul Band at the Rumba Cafe.
 
Circling back on the Columbus bookstore thing, I checked out the Two Dollar Radio HQ bar/cafe/bookstore when I was in Columbus a few weeks back. Really cool press and they put out some great stuff. I just finished The Vine That Ate the South, which was great.
 
Demonwolverine said:
I've been a little slow out of the gate in 2018, but finished the first (well, the first in the middle part) of Peter F. Hamilton's epic sci-fi: The Commonwealth Series, Pandora's Star. If you are a fan of epic sci-fi, you can't leave this off your list. It starts off a little slow, but after a half of world building, it really picks up, and apparently doesn't stop until through the next book: Judas Unchained. Anyone who is looking for an intricate, intergalactic sci-fi, check out Pandora's Star. I was told to start with that rather than the true beginning of the series, which takes place hundreds of years before the events of Pandora's Star, are apparently largely unrelated, and not as good.

I also read Carl Sagan's: Cosmos, which was very good, if obviously very dated. I don't think I really needed the multiple chapters on how Astrology isn't real, but Sagan's enthusiasm for science is contagious and admirable. I wish I had read it when I was in high school, but it's still the type of book that could serve as the foundation for a science bender for adults.
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Someone else recommended The Expanse series written by James A. Corey. I am about half way through the series (reading Cibola Burn right now) and it's pretty great. They apparently made it a television series, but I haven't watched that yet. I would definitely recommend it.
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
Circling back on the Columbus bookstore thing, I checked out the Two Dollar Radio HQ bar/cafe/bookstore when I was in Columbus a few weeks back. Really cool press and they put out some great stuff. I just finished The Vine That Ate the South, which was great.
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Cool, I'll need to check that place out. That's way more south in the city than I ever hung when I lived there, but I've been around there more often the times I've visited since.
 
This Astral Weeks - Secret History book is a riot. I have to stop every page to look shit up because it is so interesting. So many rabbit holes. Yet they all connect. Kind of like life and the universe. The slipstream between the viaducts of your dream.
 
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