Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 845471 times)

Sandikal

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Reply #700 on: November 15, 2008, 03:46:26 PM
I'm reading "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers.  I'm on page 100 and I still don't know what to think.  It's a much easier read than "Declare" though.



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Reply #701 on: November 15, 2008, 04:10:57 PM
I'm *still* reading Anathem, by Neal Stephenson.  I'd better get course credit for this damn thing.

I now know how to read orbital coordinates.  DO NOT WANT.  I was almost 300 pages in before Mr. Stephenson decided to let us in on the whole bloody point of the book.

Your first time reading Stephenson, eh?  :D

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gelee

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Reply #702 on: November 15, 2008, 09:24:00 PM
I'm *still* reading Anathem, by Neal Stephenson.  I'd better get course credit for this damn thing.

I now know how to read orbital coordinates.  DO NOT WANT.  I was almost 300 pages in before Mr. Stephenson decided to let us in on the whole bloody point of the book.

Your first time reading Stephenson, eh?  :D
Yes, actually.  I guess this is what I get for not reading the reviews first.  ;)
I suppose it's not terrible.  I'm just not sold on the pacing.  Nice premise, interesting characters.  They just...never...do...anything.



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Reply #703 on: November 15, 2008, 11:06:42 PM
I'm *still* reading Anathem, by Neal Stephenson.  I'd better get course credit for this damn thing.

I now know how to read orbital coordinates.  DO NOT WANT.  I was almost 300 pages in before Mr. Stephenson decided to let us in on the whole bloody point of the book.

Your first time reading Stephenson, eh?  :D
Yes, actually.  I guess this is what I get for not reading the reviews first.  ;)
I suppose it's not terrible.  I'm just not sold on the pacing.  Nice premise, interesting characters.  They just...never...do...anything.

I made it through the Baroque Cycle, which is a good deal longer and possibly more dense in parts (the court intrigue book of the first part), but I've always found the journey leads to a worthy destination.

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Sandikal

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Reply #704 on: November 15, 2008, 11:28:50 PM
I really want to read "Anathem", but I'm going to wait for the paperback.  I read "Snow Crash" 10+ years ago and again this year.  It was really tough going the first time, but it really stuck with me.  I was kind of lukewarm about "Zodiac".  I need to read "Quicksilver" sometime before December starts for a book group discussion.  I think "Quicksilver" will determine whether or not I continue reading Stephenson. 



Heradel

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Reply #705 on: November 16, 2008, 12:45:42 AM
I really want to read "Anathem", but I'm going to wait for the paperback.  I read "Snow Crash" 10+ years ago and again this year.  It was really tough going the first time, but it really stuck with me.  I was kind of lukewarm about "Zodiac".  I need to read "Quicksilver" sometime before December starts for a book group discussion.  I think "Quicksilver" will determine whether or not I continue reading Stephenson. 

Quicksilver has a dead chunk of a little over a hundred pages a little over half-way through, so be forewarned on that.

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Sandikal

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Reply #706 on: November 16, 2008, 04:00:36 AM
I really want to read "Anathem", but I'm going to wait for the paperback.  I read "Snow Crash" 10+ years ago and again this year.  It was really tough going the first time, but it really stuck with me.  I was kind of lukewarm about "Zodiac".  I need to read "Quicksilver" sometime before December starts for a book group discussion.  I think "Quicksilver" will determine whether or not I continue reading Stephenson. 

Quicksilver has a dead chunk of a little over a hundred pages a little over half-way through, so be forewarned on that.


Is it a 100 page infodump or is there just nothing happening?



stePH

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Reply #707 on: November 16, 2008, 04:19:07 AM
I finished Consider the Lobster and Other Essays by David Foster Wallace last week, and started in on the Trigun manga.

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Reply #708 on: November 16, 2008, 11:23:26 AM
I really want to read "Anathem", but I'm going to wait for the paperback.  I read "Snow Crash" 10+ years ago and again this year.  It was really tough going the first time, but it really stuck with me.  I was kind of lukewarm about "Zodiac".  I need to read "Quicksilver" sometime before December starts for a book group discussion.  I think "Quicksilver" will determine whether or not I continue reading Stephenson. 

Quicksilver has a dead chunk of a little over a hundred pages a little over half-way through, so be forewarned on that.


Is it a 100 page infodump or is there just nothing happening?

It's been a while, but I recall thinking that I'd never waited quite so long for a plot to coalesce as when I read Baroque Cycle.  There's a huge chunk in the first third of "Quicksilver" which takes its sweet time telling us about Daniel Waterhouse's education and early career in 17th-century England. 

And I'm going to admit I just lapped it up.  I like Neal Stephenson's writing style.  I can see someone really disliking him, though.

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stePH

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Reply #709 on: November 16, 2008, 03:22:22 PM
It's been a while, but I recall thinking that I'd never waited quite so long for a plot to coalesce as when I read Baroque Cycle.  There's a huge chunk in the first third of "Quicksilver" which takes its sweet time telling us about Daniel Waterhouse's education and early career in 17th-century England. 

And I'm going to admit I just lapped it up.  I like Neal Stephenson's writing style.  I can see someone really disliking him, though.

I recall years ago somebody in a newsgroup I read complained about Cryptonomicon.  Specifically the part about the bicycle chain, though he also complained about the book in general.

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Heradel

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Reply #710 on: November 16, 2008, 08:38:11 PM
I recall years ago somebody in a newsgroup I read complained about Cryptonomicon.  Specifically the part about the bicycle chain, though he also complained about the book in general.

Er, what exactly was his problem? I feel like I'm reading half a post here.

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Reply #711 on: November 16, 2008, 09:05:52 PM
I'm re-reading The Stars my Destination, for what must be the 5th time by now.



stePH

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Reply #712 on: November 17, 2008, 12:47:19 AM
I recall years ago somebody in a newsgroup I read complained about Cryptonomicon.  Specifically the part about the bicycle chain, though he also complained about the book in general.

Er, what exactly was his problem? I feel like I'm reading half a post here.

Link to the post

Quote
Okay, so I'm giving this tome a go this week.  So far I am very not hooked.  Besides the rather abrupt and annoying flipping back and forth between time periods and characters (with similar names), I spent three full pages slogging through an explanation of a mathematical formula that went into tedious detail about bicycle chains and sprocket teeth.

Please tell me this gets better.  I understand that Stephenson is trying to explain mathematical concepts to the reader.  But if understanding various mathematical formulae are going to get integral to the plot, I'm throwing this thing in the garbage right now, because I've spent weeks trying to do that at work, and I'm frigging sick of thinking with that area of my brain when I sit down for an hour's reading of an evening.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2008, 12:57:40 AM by stePH »

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Reply #713 on: November 17, 2008, 06:43:29 AM
Aw.  So he never even got to the 5 page passage where the hero of Cryptonomicon eats a bowl of Cap'n Crunch.

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Reply #714 on: November 17, 2008, 01:54:48 PM
I haven't been reading much fiction lately.  I've been studying my poker books.  However, the "Best SF Book" thread made me pick up Citizen of the Galaxy and read it again.  I've also been listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.

I picked up some B5 books that I haven't read yet at a used bookstore.  They're next on the fiction list.



Heradel

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Reply #715 on: November 17, 2008, 02:42:26 PM
A bit of this is for class, a bit for me.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Unknown)
Beowulf (Unknown)
Guards! Guards! (Pratchett)
The Wordy Shipmates (Sarah Vowell) (in progress)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer; General Prologue, Miller, Reeve, Wife of Bath, Merchant, Franklin)
The Editorial Page (The Washington Post)
On Writing (Stephen King)

And also on the general subject of reading and writing, I'll list some of the more recent additions to my blogs folder: Romenesko, Common Sense Journalism, You Don't Say, and Language Log which at times is far above my skill level in linguistics, but most of it is at least comprehensible.

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stePH

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Reply #716 on: November 18, 2008, 02:26:45 AM
I've also been listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.

Great show.  I finally checked into it two or three months ago after over a year of listening to Common Sense, when I wasn't getting my DC fix often enough.

Unfortunately, Hardcore History comes out even less frequently than Common Sense.  :(

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Sandikal

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Reply #717 on: November 18, 2008, 04:43:12 AM
A bit of this is for class, a bit for me.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Unknown)
Beowulf (Unknown)
Guards! Guards! (Pratchett)
The Wordy Shipmates (Sarah Vowell) (in progress)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer; General Prologue, Miller, Reeve, Wife of Bath, Merchant, Franklin)
The Editorial Page (The Washington Post)
On Writing (Stephen King)

And also on the general subject of reading and writing, I'll list some of the more recent additions to my blogs folder: Romenesko, Common Sense Journalism, You Don't Say, and Language Log which at times is far above my skill level in linguistics, but most of it is at least comprehensible.

I hope you're reading the Seamus Heaney translation of "Beowulf".  It's fantastic.

Do you have a good translation of "The Canterbury Tales"?  I took a whole semester class on Chaucer in college and had to read his work in Middle English.  I'd really like to re-read "The Canterbury Tales" in a language I can understand.  ;)



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Reply #718 on: November 18, 2008, 05:48:33 AM
Just finished Watchmen for the first time and am still letting it sink in.  My new bus book is The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman


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Reply #719 on: December 03, 2008, 09:18:58 PM
Finally finished reading Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, which pretty much blew my mind. There are some incredibly unsettling stories in there with characters who do some really disturbing things.  But it's filled with heart, too, and is really full of humanity.  Definitely worth picking up if anyone's considering it.  I really need to pick up Heart-Shaped Box now.

Currently, I'm reading Charlie Huston's Already Dead and I'm surprised by how much I like it.  For some reason, a part of me wanted not to like it but I just can't.  It's got zombies and vampires in a gang war with each other in a noir setting at a Raymond Chandler pace.  What's not to like?
« Last Edit: December 03, 2008, 09:22:50 PM by Russell Nash »



Bdoomed

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Reply #720 on: December 03, 2008, 11:52:36 PM
finished reading Snuff today
started reading Italo Calvino's "Difficult Loves" (series of short stories)

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Hobart Floyt

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Reply #721 on: December 04, 2008, 12:01:05 AM
Finally finished reading Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, which pretty much blew my mind. There are some incredibly unsettling stories in there with characters who do some really disturbing things.  But it's filled with heart, too, and is really full of humanity.  Definitely worth picking up if anyone's considering it.  I really need to pick up Heart-Shaped Box now.



I completely agree with you about 20th Century Ghosts. I liked Heart Shaped Box as well.

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
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He had softly and suddenly vanished away—
  For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.


stePH

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Reply #722 on: December 04, 2008, 05:57:01 AM
Finished the Trigun manga a few days ago.  From what I've seen, I prefer the anime.  The manga is drawn in a way that makes the action difficult to follow (a problem I also had when reading Ghost in the Shell.)

Now in the middle of a reread of Watchmen.

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Reply #723 on: December 11, 2008, 08:18:25 PM
"He, She, and It" by Marge Piercy. Jewish/golem SF.

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stePH

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Reply #724 on: December 12, 2008, 01:01:28 AM
Finished Watchmen a few days ago and started into Dayworld by Philip José Farmer.  Also before I started into the novel proper, the introduction mentioned its predecessor short story "The Sliced-Crosswise-Only-On-Tuesday-World" which I was able to find posted online.

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