What are you reading right now?

[piñata]

Awesome. First book starts out slow, but it's interesting stuff about Hobbits and such so I think you'll still probably like that part. After that it starts to kick lots of ass, especially the last few chapters of The Two Towers and the first half of The Return of the King.

[Ape]

Slow? You're crazy man, I've been addicted to it from page 1!!!

It's awesome.

[Ape]

Finished Lord of the Rings. It was amazing! Now I'm a little more than halfway through The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King, which is going extremely fast because the text his HUGE. This really should've only been 200 pages maximum. Maybe that's the reason all his other books are like 10 MILLION PAGES! each.

[Ape]

Fnished Eyes of the Dragon, it was pretty good.

Read Monster, 1959 by David Maine. It was a suprising find. It's sort of a King Kong parody. The story is VERY similar, but instead of a giant ape K. is a genetic mutation created when the U.S. tests nuclear bombs on the island he lives on.

Then I read In the Dark of the Night by John Saul. It was one of those addicting books, but at the end I felt he left alot of things unifinished. It was enjoyable though, and I'll be looking into more of his stuff the next time I get a chance.

Reading Pompeii by Robert Harris now. That would be the city wiped out by the Vesuvius when it erupted. I'm only 90 pages into it, but he so far has managed to keep my attention on a story that I already know how will end by making the main character an aquarius of the aqueduct that runs straight through the mountain that's about to erupt. I really like it so far.

[piñata]

You're right, that Pompeii book sounds good.

I want to read The Silence of the Lambs... I saw the movie for the first time recently, and it seems like it'd make a really good book.

[Ape]

Pompeii turned out to be great, I really enjoyed it.


Then I read The Devil's Labyrinth by John Saul. It suffered the same fate as In the Dark of the Night. It was great while I was reading it, I didn't want to put it down because I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next. Then it ended and I was like "....that's it? Where the rest of it?" He just leaves alot of stuff hanging, and it's annoying. I'm gonna try one of his older ones, maybe he's just rushing his newer stuff.

Yesterday I finished Mammoth by John Varley. It turned out to be really good. It had 1 slow part for 2 or 3 chapters in the very middle, but other than that I thought it was a great book. My only complaint is I sort of guessed what was going to happen at the end of the book at arround page 120. (out of 364) But I still really enjoyed reading it. I need to find more science fiction like this. I'm not a real big fan of the typical futuristic space travel stuff, but this was pretty good (it's set in the 'near future' and one of the main characters is obsessed with obtaining a mammoth, by cloning a frozen one or...whatever other way he think of to get hands on one)

[Ape]

Read Demons by Jon Shirley. It's sort of about a group of crazy people who summon demons onto the planet and disguise their sacrifices as industrial accidents. First half was lame, 2nd half wasn't bad. There was a point in this book where I nearly through it across the room because I was so pissed off. One of the main characters essentially cheats on another (they aren't tecnically together, but they might as well be) and, despite the fact that I wasn't all that attached to the characters. I think I have some serious issues with that sort of thing. Probably why I've avoided long term relationships my entire life.

Read Delores Clairborne by Stephen King. It was fascinating but not what I was expecting from Stephen King.

Read The Inheritor by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It was really spooky at first but it fell victim to the 'happy ghost' complex that completely spoiled the book for me.

I'm mostly done with Archangel by Robert Harris. It had a dreadful beginning that took me a very long time to read because I was bored as hell, but its starting to pick up a little bit and I'm interested now.

[piñata]

Sept 8, 2008 19:41:58 GMT -5 Ape said:

There was a point in this book where I nearly through it across the room because I was so pissed off. One of the main characters essentially cheats on another (they aren't technically together, but they might as well be) and, despite the fact that I wasn't all that attached to the characters. I think I have some serious issues with that sort of thing. Probably why I've avoided long term relationships my entire life.

With me, my reason for avoiding long-term relationships is so I don't get to know her well enough for her annoying bad habits to piss me off. You have no idea how many divorces occur because someone left the cap off the toothpaste.

You might not want to read the books I'm writing, though... there's a lot of weird relationship stuff in the series, including not only cheating but also rape/domestic violence and incest (there's also some bestiality).

[Ape]

Edit: Well that turned out a bit longer than I intended.

The only thing that really bothers me is cheating. I've seen cheating from every angle possible, and it's caused so many problems in my life that I'm pretty sure I have some serious problems with it. I've posted this on the Clave at least once, but my parents got divorced when I was a child because my dad cheated on my mom. I saw how it devastated her. She lost a ton of weight and looked real sick for a long time. She didn't have a job when he first left, so we lived off welfare stamps for awhile. I remember the first Christmas after the divorce I got 2 or 3 presents(If I remember correctly, a $2 toy car holder, a $10 CD...and I think a couple of $1 Hotwheels cars) plus a pair of shoes (that I should've gotten when school started but my mom couldn't afford.) So I've seen it from that aspect, the after effects of the cheated-on person and what it does to them.

Soon after, my mom started seeing a married man. I remember hating her for it. She see's this man to this day and I think he's a complete fucking prick, because he's doing the same thing to his wife that my dad did to my mom. This is another point of view I've seen it from, the single person sneaking around with a married person.

Just recently my mom starting seeing a 2nd guy, so now I've seen it from the cheater's point of view, and how they are constantly trying to cover it up.

I have no tolerance for cheaters. If my best friend came and told me to cover for him so he could cheat on his girlfriend, I'd tell him to go fuck himself. I don't give a fuck if your cheating on someone you're married to or if it's just a girlfriend or what have you, it fucking pisses me off to no fucking end.

So, to this day, I've never even entered any type of relationship whatsoever. I have no trust, and I know if I get into one I'd constantly be paranoid. My dad loved my mom, but he fucked that bitch anyways. My mom apparently loves this married man...yet she still see's another guy. People just want to fuck, it doesn't matter how much they love someone, so sex is just sex for me and to this day I haven't been emotionally attached to anyone, ever.

I'm actually afraid of what would happen if I were to be cheated on. I mean, in that book, the 'couple' weren't even really together, technically. They were more like best friends, but they were essentially 'together.' Also, it was at the beginning and I barely knew the characters, yet seeing the main character step into a room and see this girl he liked getting screwed, it set me off. What would happen if it happened to me? Best I avoid that as much as possible.

[piñata]

Man, you're right... cheating caused a lot of bad shit in your life. Sorry to hear things got that fucked up for you, Ape... I actually don't remember you mentioning it before.

[Ape]

I think it was a major contributor to the shit I went through in high school (See the last pages of the poetry section )

I don't let stuff like that bother me anymore. My mom's business is her own, my dad did what he did, whatever. It's in the past and I don't really give a shit about it anymore. But...that doesn't change the fact that I have no trust. I can't trust anyone in a relationship. If I jumped into one, or ever fell in love with someone, I'd drive myself crazy with paranoia.

I try to tell myself that not everyone is like my parents...but even I[/B] have thought about 'cheating.' There was this beautiful girl I used to hang out with late in my senior year in high school. This was after I got out of my funk, and I constantly thought about advancing the relationship behind her boyfriend's back. If I would think something like that, someone who detests cheating to no end, who would rather stay out of relationships until he's 20 instead of risk getting cheated on, then I think just about anyone could cheat, and this makes my lack of trust even more firm.

[piñata]

You're correct in the assumption that pretty much anyone has the capacity for infidelity (just like anyone has the capacity for murder, under the appropriate circumstances). It's just basic biology/psychiatry... no matter how hard we try to deny it, we're still animals. Not that that justifies what your father did or anything. And I hope that if a relationship is what you want then you pursue one even though the risk of infidelity exists... there's no sense shutting people out just on the basis of risk, because everything carries a little risk with it. You could fall and break your neck just getting up out of your chair.

[Ape]

That may be true, but the chances of me breaking my neck getting out of my chair are something like .000000000001 percent. The odds of cheating happening in a relationship are, let just say, much higher.

I don't think I really shut people out so much. It's just that I don't search for girls. I have lots of female friends, and it's not like I avoid women altogether to stay out of relationships. If a friend of mine and I were compatible then our friendship would grow stronger and more serious. I just don't try to force it, and because I have no desire to get into a relationship things always just stay where they are at instead of advancing. *shrug*

I'm fine though, I'm quite happy where I'm at right now and I definitely have no urge to change it anytime soon. ;D

[piñata]

Well, happiness is all that matters, so good for you.

We need to find a way to steer this thread back on topic. Whatcha readin' now?

[Ape]

Nothing unfortunately. I finished my last book yesterday so I'm due for a library trip tomorrow. (<insert grumbling about gas prices here>)

But here's what I've read since my last post.

Archangel wasn't really my thing. Pompeii was MUCH better.

Then I read The Lord of the Dead by Tom Holland. This book was awesome. You might be interested in it if you are still looking for horror, Pinata. I was confused during the first chapter but it was worth it after I moved on from the opening conversation. Great book!

Then I read Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson. It was a very cool blend of adventure and science fiction. It starts out with a group of people exploring a strange wilderness the just pops up out of nowhere, and let's just say from there things go very...science fiction-y.

I finished One of Us by Michael Marshall Smith yesterday. I actually really liked it, although the last few chapters were a little bit over-the-top. It's one of those books where just as you get everything figured out something happens and ruins everything and you have to start figuring everything out all over again. The problem is it's a thriller, and the I think suspense/thrillers have been done to death so now authors kind of have to just throw you for a fucking loop to actually thrill you.