Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 845539 times)

Heradel

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Reply #575 on: September 08, 2008, 07:25:29 PM
This silly little thread is officially the number one thread on the EA Forums.  It is the longest running consistent thread.  It also has the most posts and views. 

I'm surprised the 'Name the Fantasy Podcast' got so many views. I always viewed that as a lesser thread in the history of the forums.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


wintermute

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Reply #576 on: September 08, 2008, 07:46:30 PM
Just finished Vol 2 of Harry Turtledove's WorldWar series, with the other two on the pile waiting their turn. Even if you don't count the aliens, it's possibly the best history of WWII I've ever read.

In the meantime, I've gone back to Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict novels with Seeker! Yay for far-future archeology detective stories!

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Listener

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Reply #577 on: September 09, 2008, 02:53:37 PM
I finished Yiddish Policemen's Union not long ago. I actually kind of had to force myself to sit down and read it.. I didn't immidiately find it super engaging.. but it really grew on me and was very rewarding in the end. So while it may have taken some effort to finish it was well worth it.

I did not terribly LIKE YPU, nor did I feel the ending was very rewarding. I think too much was crammed into it and the ending didn't tie things together adequately for me. And a lot of the Jewish/Yiddish references felt forced.

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Listener

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Reply #578 on: September 09, 2008, 02:53:54 PM
Just finished Vol 2 of Harry Turtledove's WorldWar series, with the other two on the pile waiting their turn. Even if you don't count the aliens, it's possibly the best history of WWII I've ever read.


I've read all eight books. Some of my favorites.

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Listener

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Reply #579 on: September 09, 2008, 02:55:39 PM
Recently, I ripped through the last six New Frontier books by Peter David. Now reading HG Wells's "The Invisible Man" -- the original version.

Also, speaking of old-school sci-fi/fiction, I'm also playing "Around the World in 80 Days" (which I've never actually READ, but probably should) -- got it free from game.giveawayoftheday.com a few weeks ago. It's like Bejeweled plus Literature... fun and mindless pattern recognition.

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Leon Kensington

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Reply #580 on: September 10, 2008, 05:16:34 AM
Just Finished:  Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Starting:  White Night (Dresden #9) by Jim Butcher

Next up:  Either The Inferno by Dante or Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (that is if I don't pick up Anathem before I finish White Night)



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Reply #581 on: September 10, 2008, 12:47:19 PM
Just Finished:  Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Excellent book.  I prefer the book over the movie, especially the ending.



Leon Kensington

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Reply #582 on: September 10, 2008, 01:27:21 PM
The end of the Fight Club book is sooo much better than the movie!  I'm really not surprised they changed it though.



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Reply #583 on: September 10, 2008, 02:17:12 PM
The hole in the cheek and the source of the soap ingredient were much better, too.

I heard Choke is being filmed.



Talia

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Reply #584 on: September 10, 2008, 03:03:37 PM
I finished Yiddish Policemen's Union not long ago. I actually kind of had to force myself to sit down and read it.. I didn't immidiately find it super engaging.. but it really grew on me and was very rewarding in the end. So while it may have taken some effort to finish it was well worth it.

I did not terribly LIKE YPU, nor did I feel the ending was very rewarding. I think too much was crammed into it and the ending didn't tie things together adequately for me. And a lot of the Jewish/Yiddish references felt forced.

Felt pretty well wrapped up for me, personally. The cultural references didn't come off as forced to me in the sense that I kept in mind I was actually dealing with a whole nother culture here. Not Jews living in American culture but those who've been living on their own, steeped in their own unique culture, so the things that may seem forced were really just a reflection of the kind of mindset that developed in this unique little enclave.

I tend to disagree about too much crammed into it. Chabon did a great deal of charachter development with a focus on backgrounds, but it came off as necesary to me, and in the case of Landsman and his partner whatshisface, very enlightening and enriching.

I particularly enjoyed Landsman. Perhaps because he has more problems than I do. :p

Ooh look, I've graduated to FOUR stars. Huzzah! :p
« Last Edit: September 10, 2008, 03:05:09 PM by Talia »



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Reply #585 on: September 10, 2008, 04:05:58 PM
Finished reading Iain M. Banks' Consider Phlebas.  Quite the epic space opera -- one of the best in that sub genre I can remember reading.  I'm going to have to read some more of his stuff.

Also read the latest Hellboy TPB: Darkness Calls. Pretty good and definitely brings the weird (Baba Yaga slipping tongue to a goat = pretty freaking weird) although I felt it was missing some of the classic Hellboy feel.  Maybe it's the absence of the BPRD?

Next up: Probably Samantha Henderson's Heaven's Bones.  "Cinderella Suicide" was one of my favorite EP episodes, and the other fiction I've read so far by her has yet to let me down, so I have high hopes for it.  The prologue seems to promise steampunky, horror goodness, what with recording angels and gods living in the London subway.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2008, 04:43:26 PM by Russell Nash »



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Reply #586 on: September 15, 2008, 01:35:39 PM
Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality was brought up in another thread, thought I'd mention them over here.

I read the first five and was pleasantly shocked a couple of years later to find that there were 2 more.  Evidently, this had something to do with switching publishers, I forget.

I recently found out on Amazon that there was an 8th book, and, from both the positive and negative reviews, feel that I'll be better off not reading it.

I find Anthony's "outros" to be rather entertaining, as well.



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Reply #587 on: September 15, 2008, 01:46:17 PM
The hole in the cheek and the source of the soap ingredient were much better, too.

I heard Choke is being filmed.
totally is! im psyched!

and yes, ending in the book is better than the movie, and i think they could have used the same ending in the movie, duno why they didnt

i need to read Survivor, Rant, and Snuff next, but I've finally started reading Dune again and it is gooooooooood!

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


wintermute

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Reply #588 on: September 15, 2008, 02:00:25 PM
Finished Seeker; not the best of Alex Benedict series, but not at all bad. It does make me want to go back and re-read A Talent For War again, though.

I picked up Marvel Zombies 2 (a series for which I have altogether too much love), and was frankly disappointed. Roll on Marvel Apes, I say.

Oh, and the first volume of Y: The Last Man, which I'd heard people talk about. It's pretty decent so far, and I'm definitely going to keep reading. Especially having beed reading the take-downs of Left Behind on Slactivist, it's nice to see an author actually think about what would happen if a big chunk of the population were just wiped off the face of the Earth.

And now I'm onto The Ashes of Worlds, the seventh and final volume of Kevin J Anderson's sprawling space opera The Saga of Seven Suns. I have to say, I love this kind of big-idea space opera, and this is a wonderful example of the species. It's been a favourite of mine since it started, and this latest instalment is starting well, so far.


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« Last Edit: September 15, 2008, 07:33:19 PM by Bdoomed »

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Reply #589 on: September 15, 2008, 04:09:07 PM
Oh, and the first volume of Y: The Last Man, which I'd heard people talk about. It's pretty decent so far, and I'm definitely going to keep reading. Especially having beed reading the take-downs of Left Behind on Slactivist, it's nice to see an author actually think about what would happen if a big chunk of the population were just wiped off the face of the Earth.


I FINALLY got the last volume of this a few weeks ago.  I've put off reading it because it's the last one and when I'm done, there will be no more, and I'm going to be a very sad Dave.  I love that series.


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Reply #590 on: September 15, 2008, 09:04:22 PM
The hole in the cheek and the source of the soap ingredient were much better, too.

I heard Choke is being filmed.
totally is! im psyched!


It's coming out this week or next.  I've already seen ads for it.



stePH

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Reply #591 on: September 15, 2008, 09:22:17 PM
Finished Fight Club yesterday.  I found it interesting that one of my favorite scenes from the film, in which the bar owners find a fight club happening in their basement and try to put a stop to it, was not in the novel.

Also noted that the filmmakers tried to make the ending more upbeat.

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Reply #592 on: September 15, 2008, 10:03:19 PM
Finished Fight Club yesterday.  I found it interesting that one of my favorite scenes from the film, in which the bar owners find a fight club happening in their basement and try to put a stop to it, was not in the novel.

Also noted that the filmmakers tried to make the ending more upbeat.

It's surprising how short the book is.  You would expect a story like that to be around 400 pages.

The book also didn't seem to try to hide the twist as much. 

The descriptions of the fights, and how the narrator signed up to fight everyone?  Creepy



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Reply #593 on: September 15, 2008, 10:15:27 PM
It's surprising how short the book [Fight Club] is.  You would expect a story like that to be around 400 pages.

Truly.  I read the first chapter the night before last, and then reading the rest took me about two or three hours of yesterday.

I like that the author is local to me.  That's kind of an added plus.  :)

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Reply #594 on: September 16, 2008, 03:38:11 AM
I'm now reading "Little, Big" by John Crowley.  It's a very unusual fantasy novel that's really convoluted, but pleasurable. 

I just finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.  My reaction was "meh".  I've read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction (starting with "Daybreak 2250 A.D." by Andre Norton when I was in third or fourth grade) and "The Road" was a fair example of the genre, but not great.  It read a lot like "The Old Man and the Sea" and I could picture it as a black & white "Twilight Zone" episode.  I know a lot of people have just gone crazy over it, but I didn't find it particularly original and I thought the ending was a cheat.



Leon Kensington

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Reply #595 on: September 16, 2008, 05:22:57 AM
Just Finished:  White Night (Dresden #9) by Jim Butcher

Starting:  Neuromancer by William Gibson

Next Up:  A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Marten



Listener

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Reply #596 on: September 17, 2008, 11:04:18 PM
Just picked up the "Terok Nor" trilogy on Saturday. Now reading "Day of the Vipers" by James Swallow.

Yes, they're Star Trek books. But if it helps, I re-read Watchmen (Alan Moore) on Friday and Saturday. I wish Moore would either authorize a novelization or write an actual novelization... I think I'd like to read it as a book.

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slic

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Reply #597 on: September 18, 2008, 03:16:38 AM
Listener, you crazy :P

Watchmen can only work best as a visual medium.  And not some watered down two hour movie either.  I can't see how they would tie in the Pirate comic with the rest of the story as well as he did if they had just words.  Besides some of the costumes just have to be seen! And let's not forget the ink blot tests!

Thinking of the Pirate comic and Star Trek books tweak the old memory of reading "Spock's World" by Diane Duane, and how it switched between "present day" and Vulcan history.  It worked fairly well, if memory servers.



Leon Kensington

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Reply #598 on: September 18, 2008, 05:11:38 AM
Watchmen can only work best as a visual medium.  And not some watered down two hour movie either.  I can't see how they would tie in the Pirate comic with the rest of the story as well as he did if they had just words.  Besides some of the costumes just have to be seen! And let's not forget the ink blot tests!

Didn't you hear?  Snyder wants it to be four hours!  The question is, will WB let him do it?



wintermute

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Reply #599 on: September 18, 2008, 12:05:02 PM
Didn't you hear?  Snyder wants it to be four hours!  The question is, will WB let him do it?
No. The best he can hope for is what Jackson got with the Lord of the Rings movies - make a four-hour movie for the DVD, and cut it down to two-and-a-half hours for the cinema.

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