Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 845542 times)

stePH

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Reply #2525 on: February 03, 2015, 07:43:32 PM
Am now listening to Stardust, which I haven't read in ages. It's still pretty charming.

I suspect that the audio version has a distinct lack of Charles Vess illustrations.  :P

I was lucky enough to find the definitive edition of Stardust among the graphic novels at a Half Price Books in the Seattle area some years back.

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SpareInch

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Reply #2526 on: February 05, 2015, 04:14:52 PM
Well, I just finished my marathon listen through to Peter F Hamilton's Void trilogy.

WOW! So the magic city was actually...

Nah... Tell you what... If you haven't read them yet, go and do it now.

Trust me. :D

I'm still Pissed off that Macmillan only did an audio CD edition of the first book though. Especially as I actually preferred their narrator over the one on the Audible edition. There wasn't much in it, but I still preferred the reading with fewer American accents. It just gets boring when even British narrators persist in perpetuating the idea that when mankind rules the universe, everyone will speak with a Yankee accent.

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stePH

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Reply #2527 on: February 05, 2015, 06:07:15 PM
Now reading Engines of War, a Doctor Who novel by one George Mann. Featuring the Ninth Doctor (played on teevee by John Hurt) and chronicling events of the Time War.

I'm wondering how canonical this is, in relation to the teevee programme.

http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Engines-George-Mann/dp/0553447661

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stePH

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Reply #2528 on: February 05, 2015, 06:09:11 PM
(...yeah, I call him Nine. Christopher Eccleston was the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant the Eleventh and Twelfth, Matt Smith the Thirteenth, and Peter Capaldi is the Fourteenth and current Doctor. Anybody got a problem with that?)

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eytanz

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Reply #2529 on: February 05, 2015, 10:07:19 PM
I do have a problem with that - those aren't their names. Those are their numbers, but the War Doctor deliberately left himself out of the counting and that decision deserves to be respected.



stePH

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Reply #2530 on: February 05, 2015, 11:03:12 PM
I do have a problem with that - those aren't their names. Those are their numbers, but the War Doctor deliberately left himself out of the counting and that decision deserves to be respected.

Still doesn't address the Tennant situation  :P

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eytanz

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Reply #2531 on: February 05, 2015, 11:31:32 PM
Same doctor, though it's different regenerations.

Do you believe George Washington was both the first and second president of the USA? I'd say most people think he's the first president but not the second, even though he was elected twice. The Doctor regenerated into the Tenth Doctor twice, but it's the same doctor each time.

(If you want to bring up Grover Cleveland - he counts as two presidents because Harrison came between his two presidencies. If Matt Smith had regenerated back into Tennant, I would count that as a new doctor).



stePH

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Reply #2532 on: February 06, 2015, 05:12:19 PM
Same doctor, though it's different regenerations.

Do you believe George Washington was both the first and second president of the USA?

Yes. I don't see how anybody could think otherwise.

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lowky

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Reply #2533 on: February 24, 2015, 03:24:44 PM


stePH

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Reply #2534 on: February 25, 2015, 06:15:54 PM
Recently read A Sense of Shadows, book 1 of Rain City Hunters, a paranormal romance series set in Seattle.
I read it because the author is a Facebook friend who also wrote a good historical about the Thutmosides dynasty of ancient Egypt (particularly focused on Hatshepsut - it's a 4-book series called The She-King. The Kindle edition of the first book is free as I type this.)
Oh, and because it's set in Seattle. And the author referred to it as "Ghost Dongs" on Facebook while she was writing it. ;D

Now going back and forth between back issues of Heavy Metal (currently early 1982) and the old Micronauts comic book series from Marvel (fun fact: "Bug" AKA "Galactic Warrior" later went on to fight in the Annihilation Wars, and joined the Guardians of the Galaxy after that.)
« Last Edit: February 25, 2015, 06:24:35 PM by stePH »

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Talia

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Reply #2535 on: February 26, 2015, 04:20:24 AM
So a while ago I read a fantastic dystopian fantasy called "The Bone Season," by a new author named Samantha Shannon. Her first book. It was about an alternate reality where clairvoyants exist and are brutally prosecuted by a British governatorial system called Scion. The protagonist winds up snatched off the streets and soon discovers some awful truths, etc... anyway, so fun. Couple days ago I discovered a sequel had come out called "The Mime Order," which I read in one day (staying home and doing nothing else). These are clearly VERY well thought out books with excellent world building (and the author conveniently included a glossary and maps in the back of this one). Gonna go ahead and encourage anyone who enjoys dystopian literature with a fantasy bent to check this out. I read the initial book has already been optioned for a movie, and with good cause.. it's pretty fascinating (although, I expect Hollywood would merrily suck away the last vestiges of originality it had in it). I'd have to say it's a bit like a cross between the Hunger Games and Neverwhere, with elements that parallel some Christian beliefs mixed in (there are similarities to angels and devils, but it's not nearly that simple).

I've obviously really taken to this world and would love to see it attain the popularity of previously mentioned books, so I thought I'd mention it here so others could check it out if they wished (... also, sorry if I've already raved about it. Searched turned up nothing so I assumed I hadn't, but sometimes I fail at the internet).



stePH

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Reply #2536 on: March 05, 2015, 05:55:05 PM
Got Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from the library (I love the Overdrive app!) - I was going back through this forum a few days ago and saw reference to this novel set in Seattle, and remembered that I meant to put it on the reading list but forgot.

There was a short hold on it, so I read Witches Abroad while I was waiting. Did I mention I love Overdrive?

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stePH

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Reply #2537 on: March 11, 2015, 04:43:55 PM
Finished Boneshaker last week, and while I'm waiting for Dreadnought to become available, I'm reading Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess, the second volume of Phil & Kaja Foglio's novelization of their webcomic Girl Genius. I'm hard-pressed to say which format I prefer.

I got the first book (Agatha H and the Airship City) for Kindle last August when it was only $1.99, and just last month BookBub notified me that volume 2 was on sale. Maybe in another 6 months book 3 will be similarly discounted. If I can't wait, it's only $6 at Baen (while the Kindle edition is ten or twelve dollars).

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Moritz

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Reply #2538 on: March 20, 2015, 01:04:49 PM
A Song of Ice and Fire, second reading (first was 10 years ago), and now I won't stop after book 2.



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Reply #2539 on: March 20, 2015, 06:50:22 PM
I recently read Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (excellent - looking forward to the rest of the series) and Persona by Genevieve Valentine (Pretty good).

I've just started on Maplethorpe by Cherie Priest, which is looking good so far. Oh, and I'm about half-way through The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, which averages at very good, and there's a handful of real stand-out pieces that blew me away.

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Reply #2540 on: March 21, 2015, 03:07:09 PM
The Thirteenth Tale....excellent so far



jrderego

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Reply #2541 on: March 29, 2015, 02:56:56 AM
Pimp by Iceberg Slim... Very entertaining read.

Just picked up a collection of Space Opera stories. First story was lousy, the others have been good though.


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wintermute

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Reply #2542 on: April 06, 2015, 05:54:52 PM
Just finished the third of Neve Maslakovic's trilogy of time-travel mystery novels (The Far-Time Incident / The Runestone Incident / The Bellbottom Incident). They're pretty decent, maybe 7/10.

Now I'm on Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven, nominally the story of a post-apocalyptic theatre troop, but with so many flashbacks, it's basically the story of the apocalypse, with some Shakespeare pinned around the edges. I'm loving it, so far.

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wintermute

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Reply #2543 on: April 09, 2015, 07:00:58 PM
I've started on The Myriad, the first of RM Meluch's Tour of the Merrimack series. So far it's a decent military SF / space opera, but I'm having a hard time buying that American culture (most especially gender roles and sexual politics) hasn't changed in 500 years. And there's the disgusting moment when the male senior officers discuss turning over a woman under their command to an alien (actually a human wearing a rubber forehead) dictator that they know literally nothing about, and dismiss the possibility of her being raped with the observation that she never says "no".

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wintermute

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Reply #2544 on: April 14, 2015, 07:55:10 PM
I've finished The Myriad. The plot is engaging, and it's well written, for the most part, but the constant (and I do mean constant) slut-shaming made it painful to read at times. I bought it as an omnibus volume with the second book of the series, and now I'm torn as to whether or not I should bother with it.

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Talia

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Reply #2545 on: April 17, 2015, 02:19:37 PM
So! Apparently Lavie Tidhar has a new fantasy novel out, called "The Violent Century." I'm reading it now - it's intriguing, but the format is rather challenging (there are no quotes for dialogue so its hard to tell sometimes if a character is speaking or thinking something). Still, enjoyable and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Also, I didn't previously realize Lavie was a man. So apologies to Mr. Tidhar for thinking he was female all these years. :p



SpareInch

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Reply #2546 on: April 28, 2015, 03:08:06 PM
I just finished reading The Lost Prophecies, by The Medieval Murderers. (Actually, I read my local library's copy of the audio edition, but this was the link I got from Google just now.) There are about 6 Medieval Murderers, but I can never remember them all and mostly they do historical mysteries anyway. As you might guess from the name.

This is an anthology of six stories, all of which feature a black bound book of Latin quatrains written by a mysterious Irish monk in the early middle ages which claims to predict the future. In each tale, the book resurfaces in a different era of history, and each time one of its predictions comes true. And each time, someone meets a grisly end...

Five of the stories are historical mysteries set in the middle ages and early modern period, but the last story is an SF tale set in a world where global warming has rendered much of the world uninhabitable and an extremist religious cult has reached out from the other side of the world to steal the ancient book of prophetic verse.

But no more spoilers, eh? :)

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SpareInch

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Reply #2547 on: May 12, 2015, 09:35:10 AM
Currently about 19 chapters into Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal, since it seems it will be featuring in an upcoming episode of Writing Excuses.

I'm a Kowal virgin, so when I get the feeling in this book that I'm stepping into an already established world with already established characters, I'm assuming that's because I am.

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stePH

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Reply #2548 on: May 19, 2015, 06:12:25 PM
Re-started Green Lantern (vol. 4) and Green Lantern Corps (vol. 2), beginning with the respective miniserieses Rebirth and Recharge, on my 10" Android tablet. I read them about a year or so ago, but stopped just before the huge "Blackest Night" crossover; this time I intend to see it through.

Also re-reading Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality on my phone, as it has at long last been completed by the author very recently.

Recently read Cherie Priest's pair Bloodshot and Hellbent because pretty much anything set in Seattle gets a universal hall pass from me... and because I enjoyed the Clockwork Century books and await my library getting the fourth one.

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stePH

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Reply #2549 on: June 09, 2015, 06:06:25 PM
Audiobook of Ready Player One started yesterday. I have a six-or-seven-hour drive coming up this weekend, so I'm listening to the front half as I commute to-and-from work this week and saving the last seven hours for Sunday.

Got it from Audible on the free using the NERDIST promo link (audible.com/nerdist) since I've never signed up for Audible before. I was waiting for the library copy but I don't think it would be available in time. As I check the hold there are still two people ahead of me waiting for one of 14 copies available. Cancelling....

PS: Wil Wheaton is the PERFECT narrator for this book.

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
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