Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 845556 times)

Boggled Coriander

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Reply #750 on: January 06, 2009, 02:35:17 AM
I just finished Luminous, a collection of Greg Egan's short stories.  I really enjoyed it.  Egan's really good at that "blowing the reader's mind" thing, and his prose doesn't make me want to bang my head against a wall. 

"The meteor formed a crater, vampires crawling out of the crater." -  The Lyttle Lytton contest


gelee

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Reply #751 on: January 08, 2009, 03:02:07 PM
Finally finished Neal Stephenson's "Anathem."  This was my first Stephenson, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I was a little disappointed that about half the book consists of the characters standing around and having philosophical and scientific debates.  There just wasn't a whole hell of a lot of story going on.  I enjoyed the ending, ...
Then maybe this wasn't typical of Stephenson's work.  ;)  (I haven't read it; have read his first five, from The Big U through Cryptonomicon)

Actually from what you say before "I enjoyed the ending" this does sound typical of Stephenson.  It's just that his endings tend to disappoint -- the story gets finished, sure, but the sense of finality or closure is missing.

"The Big U" is my favorite Stephenson novel, followed by Snow Crash, then Cryptonomicon, then Diamond Age.

I like the scientific discussions... the pink dragons who fart nerve gas were LOLworthy.
Well, I'd probably have to concede that the ending wouldn't satisfy most readers, but I have to admit that it was the sort of ending I enjoy.
Yes, the pink, nerve-gas-farting dragons where funny.  Stephenson made a lot of good points, and he did a great job of having his characters explain things in a way that I could understand.  Hell, I wish he'd start writing text books.
Almost forgot, I finally finished Sigler's Infected.  Not my favorite, but not teribble either.  I'll probably skip contagious.



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Reply #752 on: January 13, 2009, 12:04:01 AM
Received a copy of Book of Dead Things edited by Tina L. Jens and Eric M. Cherry.  It's a 336 page collection of short stories.  I only read one, Charlie Harmer’s Last Request by Brendan Detzner, as he sent me an autographed copy of the book.  Mr Detzner wrote Iowa 80, Pseudopod episode 120.  I had given him some feedback about the trucking industry and he sent it as a thank you.

I liked Charlie Harmer's Last Request and am looking forward to reading more of the stories in the book.



stePH

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Reply #753 on: January 13, 2009, 12:57:06 AM
Grabbed Cherryh's Regenesis from the "New Arrivals" shelf of my local library on Saturday.  Started it last night.  Only a few chapters in so far but it's off to a promising start.

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Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #754 on: January 13, 2009, 05:17:30 PM
Just finished

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

now reading, on a scale from foremost in my mind to almost forgotten
1. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
2. We, Zamyatin
3. Aldous Huxley, Island
4. Neil Gaiman - American Gods
5. Some magazine



gelee

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Reply #755 on: January 13, 2009, 10:50:26 PM
Just finished

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

now reading, on a scale from foremost in my mind to almost forgotten
1. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
2. We, Zamyatin
3. Aldous Huxley, Island
4. Neil Gaiman - American Gods
5. Some magazine
I thought Ender's Game was amazing.  I hope you enjoy it.  I've heard things about the rest of the series, so I just stopped there.



Boggled Coriander

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Reply #756 on: January 14, 2009, 05:02:55 AM
Just finished

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

now reading, on a scale from foremost in my mind to almost forgotten
1. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
2. We, Zamyatin
3. Aldous Huxley, Island
4. Neil Gaiman - American Gods
5. Some magazine
I thought Ender's Game was amazing.  I hope you enjoy it.  I've heard things about the rest of the series, so I just stopped there.

Speaker for the Dead is excellent.  Read the others at your peril.

"The meteor formed a crater, vampires crawling out of the crater." -  The Lyttle Lytton contest


Talia

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Reply #757 on: January 14, 2009, 07:34:02 AM
Just finished

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

now reading, on a scale from foremost in my mind to almost forgotten
1. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
2. We, Zamyatin
3. Aldous Huxley, Island
4. Neil Gaiman - American Gods
5. Some magazine
I thought Ender's Game was amazing.  I hope you enjoy it.  I've heard things about the rest of the series, so I just stopped there.

Speaker for the Dead is excellent.  Read the others at your peril.

American Gods is also excellent.



stePH

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Reply #758 on: January 14, 2009, 02:27:35 PM
now reading, on a scale from foremost in my mind to almost forgotten
1. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
...
I thought Ender's Game was amazing.  I hope you enjoy it.  I've heard things about the rest of the series, so I just stopped there.

Speaker for the Dead is excellent.  Read the others at your peril.

Unfortunately Speaker doesn't end with the story finished.   

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Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #759 on: January 14, 2009, 08:20:54 PM
I'm loving it so far, and I just finished We after a sprint this afternoon to the end. Books aren't good when I have to force myself to finish.

As far as my magazine goes, it's called the BBC Focus, currently the only thing I've subscribed to, and I am reading the November edition. I'm pretty far behind- the new one came in the post this morning.



Bdoomed

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Reply #760 on: January 15, 2009, 01:42:46 AM
My roommate and other friend read "Illusions" by Richard Bach (wrote Johnathan Livingston Seagull)
i gotta read it too soon, they said it was magnificent

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


gelee

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Reply #761 on: January 15, 2009, 01:33:08 PM
American Gods is also excellent.

It's on my list.  Anansi Boys was wonderful.  I have read surprisingly little Gaimen, but I'm working on that.
Has anyone read Erikson's Gardens of the Moon?  I enjoy fantasy, but I'm pretty picky about it.  I'm thinking about picking it up.



slic

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Reply #762 on: January 16, 2009, 10:12:42 PM
I have the audio version of Anansi boys and really really enjoyed it.



stePH

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Reply #763 on: January 17, 2009, 01:12:44 AM
I have the audio version of Anansi boys and really really enjoyed it.

Read by Lenny Henry?  Possibly the single finest audiobook release I've ever heard ... though the full-cast recording of Pullman's His Dark Materials is a strong contender.

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Listener

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Reply #764 on: January 25, 2009, 05:48:16 PM
Finished Anathem (Neal Stephenson). The ending (after the spacesuit part) got a little confusing and draggy, but it made sense by the time I finished. I for one enjoyed a lot of the theorics.

Now reading the entire Discworld (Terry Pratchett). Finished The Colour of Magic, now on The Light Fantastic.

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stePH

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Reply #765 on: January 25, 2009, 06:29:44 PM
Just finished a reread of Coraline (started last night) in preparation for the film's imminent release.

Not sure what to start next.  I've been leaning toward one of the as-yet unread Cherryh books on my shelves.

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Reply #766 on: January 25, 2009, 09:57:52 PM
Now reading the entire Discworld (Terry Pratchett). Finished The Colour of Magic, now on The Light Fantastic.

I'd like to think that's inspired by me.

On my continuing saga through Discworld I have finished:

The Wee Free Men
Monstrous Regiment
Going Postal
Thud!
Making Money

Which I guess ends my quest with the exception of a couple of the Tiffany Aching books.

I have just started In God We Trust all Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepard.  The Movie A Christmas Story is based on the first story in the book with little details stolen from other stories.



Sandikal

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Reply #767 on: January 25, 2009, 10:56:45 PM
I decided to set "Quicksilver" aside for a while.  I was really enjoying it, but the lack of a plot is making it difficult for me to really stick with it.  I really hit a wall with the third section. 

I'm now about half-way through "A Thousand Words for Stranger" by Julie Czernada.  I'm reading for an online discussion group.  I don't think it's exceptionally good and the interludes are driving me nuts.  It's tough for me to focus on it.  (Notice a theme?)

Next in my line-up is an impulse purchase, "The Magicians and Mrs. Quent" by Galen Beckett.  It's a brand-new first novel by Beckett and is supposed to be a fantasy in the style of Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters.



slic

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Reply #768 on: January 25, 2009, 11:50:28 PM
I have the audio version of Anansi boys and really really enjoyed it.

Read by Lenny Henry?  Possibly the single finest audiobook release I've ever heard ... though the full-cast recording of Pullman's His Dark Materials is a strong contender.
Yes, that's the one.  /It was one of the first I ever heard and it's spoiled me for other audio books.  So very well done.

Though Tony Robinson's reading of Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett is outstanding - he is a fantastic voice actor.  Trouble is I don't much like the story.



Talia

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Reply #769 on: January 26, 2009, 12:35:02 AM
so I just finished Jim Butcher's 'Furies of Calderon'. I was a bit hesitant to pick it up being that I'm a fan of the Harry Dresden books and I just wasn't sure how good he'd be at straight high fantasy. While it wasn't perfect or particularly remarkable, it was pretty fun, and I went out and picked up the sequel, which I will curl up with tonight (perhas after watching superman returns on TV).

I just finished Mercedes Lackey's latest (gee, its totally SHOCKING i'm a fan, huh..), 'Foundation,' and it was a pretty decent addition to the Valdemar novels. Not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly had some flaws, but I enjoyed it. Best for hardcore Valdemar fans only, really, and definitely for those who've read most of the books.

I'm also in the middle of F. Paul Wilson's 'Legacies,' because I decided to see what the "Repairman Jack" novels were all about.

It's.. OK so far. Not great. I'll finish the book before I decide if I'll continue the series or not.

I'm ALSO reading a really cool book called 'Where the Bodies Are' which examines cemeteries across the country and some of their notable "residents". Fascinating stuff (it includes trivia about the cemeteries and mini-biographies of the people). I learned that Gilda Radner lived and is buried in a nearby town, and am contemplating a pilgrimage to her resting place. Great book, if a little macabre. Really informative!



stePH

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Reply #770 on: January 26, 2009, 03:34:56 AM
Though Tony Robinson's reading of Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett is outstanding - he is a fantastic voice actor.  Trouble is I don't much like the story.

My problem with Tony Robinson's readings of the Discworld novels, is not a problem with Robinson per se.  Rather, it's that the books that he reads are the abridged versions.

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Reply #771 on: January 26, 2009, 06:21:39 AM
I finally wrapped up A History of God by Karen Armstrong.  Reading comparative religion is a lot like travel outside your native country -- one of the big effects is helping you realize just how arbitrary your own culture is.  For me, there was some comfort -- if that's the right word -- in knowing that some of humanity's finest minds have grappled with some of the questions bothering me at the moment.  The Bad News turns out to be that they don't seem to be doing much better than I am.

Still reading the collection Steampunk and also The Mental Floss History of the World, a book my daughter gave me for Christmas.

History of the World is an irreverant -- sometimes to the point of being juvenile -- romp through world history. (Sample sidebar title: "Saragon, But Not Forgotten") While it shares the flaws common to the genre of compact, comprehensive history -- not enough discussion of uncertainty in the record, a bit to credulous on some points, and mass oversimplification -- it is a fun and illuminating read.  They get points for including a great deal about ancient development in Africa and China, which were given short shrift in the history curriculum when I was growing up.

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Reply #772 on: January 26, 2009, 03:15:32 PM
stePH, you have recommended books in the past, which Cherryh book should I start with?



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Reply #773 on: January 26, 2009, 03:25:55 PM
Now reading the entire Discworld (Terry Pratchett). Finished The Colour of Magic, now on The Light Fantastic.

I'd like to think that's inspired by me.


Maybe subconsciously. I have a stack of books on my nightstand and none of them really look appealing to me, so I just decided to do Discworld again... some of the books are falling apart, and I'm actually on my second copy of Moving Pictures (my first Discworld novel and the one I recommend to people if they're going to start reading the series).

Finished The Light Fantastic last night; now on Equal Rites.

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stePH

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Reply #774 on: January 27, 2009, 12:57:53 AM
stePH, you have recommended books in the past, which Cherryh book should I start with?

Hard to say.  My personal favorite, Cyteen, is one of CJC's densest and most complex works, and lots of people say they had a hard time getting through the first hundred pages (it's 680pp in trade pb).  I think a good intro to her "Alliance/Union" milieu is Downbelow Station which gives a solid grounding in how the socio-political situation present in the other books came about (it details the end of the war between Earth Company and the colonies of Union) -- but again, others have found it tough to get into.  Others in this same universe include Merchanter's Luck, Tripoint, Rimrunners and Finity's End.  All pretty much stand alone but familiarity with Downbelow Station helps.

Then there's the "Chanur" series that starts with The Pride of Chanur, a "first contact" story from the alien POV.  Speaking of "first contact" stories, many of my associates at the Shejidan boards regard Foreigner and its following series much more highly than I do (I read and liked the first three, but I question the necessity of as many sequels as it's getting particularly when CJC has many other stories worthy of continuation.)

There are other SF series that are also tangential to the A/U milieu ("Chanur" is one such, actually -- "Foreigner" is not), and there are also a handful of fantasy novels -- I read one, Faery in Shadow, and found it a chore, so be warned. 

  :-\ I don't think I've really answered your question ... years ago I started with Rimrunners, thought it was "all middle" despite the historical introduction, then went on to Downbelow Station and found it more satisfying (and Rimrunners improved on the second reading afterward).  I guess I'd say start with Downbelow Station or Foreigner (be advised that some find the first sixty or so pages of that one to be hard to get through as well -- detailing the arrival of humans on the alien world and their first encounters with the natives -- but I didn't have that problem.)

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