Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 845465 times)

Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #800 on: February 05, 2009, 06:13:53 PM
Now reading a book none of you have ever read.

It's a manuscript from a friend, and I'm proofing it.



Ocicat

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Reply #801 on: February 05, 2009, 08:00:54 PM
Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors ever, and Cat's Cradle is probably my favorite book of his.  Slaughterhouse Five and many others are up there as well.

Interestingly, I never managed to read Monkey House, but it's one of my girlfriend's favorites.  She gave me a copy for Christmas, so it's next on the to be read pile.

Has anyone else read "Venus on the Half Shell" by Killgore Trout?  It started as a small excerpt in "God Bless you, Mr Rosewater" - then Phillip Jose Farmer wrote an entire book around it, in tribute to Vonnegut's style.  It's actually very good.  Sort of like Hitchhiker's Guide, but predates that by a fair bit...
« Last Edit: February 05, 2009, 08:28:55 PM by Russell Nash »



Darwinist

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Reply #802 on: February 06, 2009, 04:46:12 AM
Has anyone else read "Venus on the Half Shell" by Killgore Trout?  It started as a small excerpt in "God Bless you, Mr Rosewater" - then Phillip Jose Farmer wrote an entire book around it, in tribute to Vonnegut's style.  It's actually very good.  Sort of like Hitchhiker's Guide, but predates that by a fair bit...

I have not but I'm a Vonnegut fan so I'll check it out.  I've seen ancient copies in a sci-fi bookstore.  There is a website I used to visit that had all Vonnegut's Trout stories collected.  Great stuff.  I'll have to hunt that down again.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


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Reply #803 on: February 06, 2009, 02:30:39 PM
I'm finishing the last YA Discworld book. 

I caught someone liquidating their library on Ebay.  I made them hold onto all of the books I bought until they were finished auctioning everything.  They held on to books for almost two weeks.  In the end I got 13 books and saved a bundle on shipping.

I was buying mostly SF and ran all of the authors names through the EA forums' search to find out what you lunatics had to say about them.  One of the things not mentioned here that I got was The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.  Has anybody read them?  Two of the three say on the cover that they won the Hugo for best novel. 



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Reply #804 on: February 06, 2009, 04:41:08 PM
Going to the used bookstore Saturday.  We're taking the kids and making an outing of it.  I'm going to be looking for any Cherryh books.  Besides my usual browsing of popcorn Sci-fi, I wanted to get a few "serious" fiction books.  Any suggestions for authors?



Listener

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Reply #805 on: February 06, 2009, 04:53:40 PM
Going to the used bookstore Saturday.  We're taking the kids and making an outing of it.  I'm going to be looking for any Cherryh books.  Besides my usual browsing of popcorn Sci-fi, I wanted to get a few "serious" fiction books.  Any suggestions for authors?


There's very little serious fiction that interests me, for whatever reason. The last piece that I read that really made me think was probably Seven Types of Ambiguity. It's a very sad book, though, so be warned. I found it on the bargain shelf about the time I started my LJ, in 2007.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2009, 05:06:38 PM by Russell Nash »

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Reply #806 on: February 06, 2009, 04:59:47 PM
I should clarify "serious" a bit.  I consider my Warhammer 40k books to be fluff, along with my Shadowrun books.  Bradbury, Asimov, David Weber, Piers Anthony and Terry Goodkind all fall into my "serious" category. 



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Reply #807 on: February 06, 2009, 05:13:16 PM
I should clarify "serious" a bit.  I consider my Warhammer 40k books to be fluff, along with my Shadowrun books.  Bradbury, Asimov, David Weber, Piers Anthony and Terry Goodkind all fall into my "serious" category. 

Not sure if he'll be in the 2nd hand stores yet but I'd recommend Joe Hill, if non pulp horror into your "serious" category, Augustin Burrows' (meant to be autobio but make up your own mind) Running With Scissors had me wrapped up in it because its just so bzzare, Kim Newman is also worth a go (I've had to get most of mine from the States so you might have some luck). I've also just stumbled on the Murakami's stuff, not traditional fantasy but certainly fantastic in the proper sense.

Man - despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.


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Reply #808 on: February 06, 2009, 08:25:15 PM
I should clarify "serious" a bit.  I consider my Warhammer 40k books to be fluff, along with my Shadowrun books.  Bradbury, Asimov, David Weber, Piers Anthony and Terry Goodkind all fall into my "serious" category. 

you'd consider Anthony "Serious"?  I don't dislike him- but for me he always fell into the "fluff" catagory

Oh, great and mighty Alasdair, Orator Maleficent, He of the Silvered Tongue, guide this humble fangirl past jumping up and down and squeeing upon hearing the greatness of Thy voice.
Oh mighty Mur the Magnificent. I am not worthy.


Zathras

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Reply #809 on: February 06, 2009, 08:37:37 PM
I should clarify "serious" a bit.  I consider my Warhammer 40k books to be fluff, along with my Shadowrun books.  Bradbury, Asimov, David Weber, Piers Anthony and Terry Goodkind all fall into my "serious" category. 

you'd consider Anthony "Serious"?  I don't dislike him- but for me he always fell into the "fluff" catagory

Serious isn't the correct word, hence the quotes.  "Books that make me think about more than the words written in them" is better, but too long.   ;)



MacArthurBug

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Reply #810 on: February 06, 2009, 10:05:12 PM
Ahhh ahhah. I see now.

Oh, great and mighty Alasdair, Orator Maleficent, He of the Silvered Tongue, guide this humble fangirl past jumping up and down and squeeing upon hearing the greatness of Thy voice.
Oh mighty Mur the Magnificent. I am not worthy.


Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #811 on: February 06, 2009, 10:06:40 PM
Example: a lot of Terry Pratchett is on the line. It's hilarious, but also pretty deep in places.



MacArthurBug

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Reply #812 on: February 06, 2009, 10:08:39 PM
Raving! Great example. My hubs never believes me when I say that Pratchett is semi- serious reading (he's a heathen, and refuses to read any more of them because "they don't make sense, even when read in order") material.

Oh, great and mighty Alasdair, Orator Maleficent, He of the Silvered Tongue, guide this humble fangirl past jumping up and down and squeeing upon hearing the greatness of Thy voice.
Oh mighty Mur the Magnificent. I am not worthy.


Poppydragon

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Reply #813 on: February 06, 2009, 10:15:14 PM
I'll keep the Augustin Burrows and Murakami and raise you a Nancy Kress on your expanded definiton then. The others entertain rather than make you think.

Man - despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.


Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #814 on: February 06, 2009, 10:19:30 PM
Raving! Great example. My hubs never believes me when I say that Pratchett is semi- serious reading (he's a heathen, and refuses to read any more of them because "they don't make sense, even when read in order") material.

:( That's pretty sad. But reading some of the Sam Vimes books... there's a lot of emotional and powerful stuff in there, especially in Night Watch and Thud! about the anger within Vimes, and the temptation to give in to evil.
It's that sort of piercing insight into the human nature that makes me love a book, at that I try to put into my own writing. if it works, it stays with you a long time after the plot has faded.



MacArthurBug

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Reply #815 on: February 07, 2009, 12:02:44 AM
Raving! Great example. My hubs never believes me when I say that Pratchett is semi- serious reading (he's a heathen, and refuses to read any more of them because "they don't make sense, even when read in order") material.

:( That's pretty sad. But reading some of the Sam Vimes books... there's a lot of emotional and powerful stuff in there, especially in Night Watch and Thud! about the anger within Vimes, and the temptation to give in to evil.
It's that sort of piercing insight into the human nature that makes me love a book, at that I try to put into my own writing. if it works, it stays with you a long time after the plot has faded.

Quite true- I like when the charactors and plot line of a story not only stick but sort of follow me around for a wile after reading.

Oh, great and mighty Alasdair, Orator Maleficent, He of the Silvered Tongue, guide this humble fangirl past jumping up and down and squeeing upon hearing the greatness of Thy voice.
Oh mighty Mur the Magnificent. I am not worthy.


stePH

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Reply #816 on: February 07, 2009, 12:44:02 AM
Going to the used bookstore Saturday.  We're taking the kids and making an outing of it.  I'm going to be looking for any Cherryh books.  Besides my usual browsing of popcorn Sci-fi, I wanted to get a few "serious" fiction books.  Any suggestions for authors?

C.J. Cherryh.  ;D

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Reply #817 on: February 07, 2009, 12:51:30 AM
Going to the used bookstore Saturday.  We're taking the kids and making an outing of it.  I'm going to be looking for any Cherryh books.  Besides my usual browsing of popcorn Sci-fi, I wanted to get a few "serious" fiction books.  Any suggestions for authors?

C.J. Cherryh.  ;D

You being silly or did you miss that?



stePH

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Reply #818 on: February 07, 2009, 03:57:05 AM
You being silly or did you miss that?

Being silly.  Well, that and I don't have any other "serious" suggestions.  Except maybe Philip K. Dick ... or have you already been there and done that?
« Last Edit: February 07, 2009, 04:37:56 AM by stePH »

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Reply #819 on: February 07, 2009, 06:23:04 AM
While I don't have any other major authors to suggest (all the names I would have suggested have already been listed), I do have one book that made me think, to the point that I had to read it a second time and still didn't really get it all:  From the Legend of Biel by Mary Staton.  (The link at the left has been EPized, but I have the 1975 paperback version.)  To get an idea of the experience of reading this book, read the comments from the first link.  I first read it in the late '70s, but I think it's probably as profound now as it was then.



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Reply #820 on: February 07, 2009, 07:36:36 AM
Being silly.  Well, that and I don't have any other "serious" suggestions.  Except maybe Philip K. Dick ... or have you already been there and done that?

If your going to suggest PKD you really should add the disclaimer about the possible psychosis that can result from the material.  :)



Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #821 on: February 07, 2009, 11:20:37 AM
You being silly or did you miss that?

Being silly.  Well, that and I don't have any other "serious" suggestions.  Except maybe Philip K. Dick ... or have you already been there and done that?

I've read everything PKD has done and it was a worthwhile pursuit. Excellent stuff in all of the books, but goddamn it is HEAVY all the time. There's rarely a funny moment, but maybe that's all for the best.

I think the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch counts as my favourite SF book of all time.



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Reply #822 on: February 07, 2009, 05:10:34 PM
You being silly or did you miss that?

Being silly.  Well, that and I don't have any other "serious" suggestions.  Except maybe Philip K. Dick ... or have you already been there and done that?

Y'know, I've just realized that I've only read 1 Philip K. Dick book.  He's on the list.  Not going to make it to the bookstore today.  Sigh, I'll get there someday.



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Reply #823 on: February 07, 2009, 08:46:56 PM
Now up to Pratchett's "Guards Guards". Once I get past "Eric", I'm at the point where the books are consistently good, instead of mostly hits and some misses.

Reading them all in a row like this, it seems like Pratchett falls into character tropes from time to time:

* The big, earnest, intelligent-but-dense young man who goes from Dwarf-like literalness to sublime understanding over the course of 300 pages (Mort, the kid from Small Gods, Carrot, Victor Tugelbund).
* The guy who's so good at being bad that he ends up being good for lack of being able to do bad things (Lobsang Ludd, Teppic 28, Moist, whatsisname from The Truth).
* A woman in a position where, though she is very attractive, you don't notice it because she's busy being important to the story elsewhere (Adora Belle, Sacharissa Cripslock, Lady Ramkin -- she's attractive to Vimes and Nobby, and apparently Lord Rust had an interest at some point).
* The Weasel (Nobby, Rincewind, to some extent Cohen the Barbarian although he's more likely to fight when cornered, the Dean of the university, Lupine Wonse, Moist).
* The character who is reformed, even though everyone else has stereotypical views of him/her (Otto Chriek, Detritus, again Cohen the Barbarian, Moist once more, the vampires in Reaper Man).
* The extremely powerful female character that everyone underestimates (Susan Death, Angua, Conina, Adora Belle to some extent, the woman who talked to the Duchess in "Monstrous Regiment", Mrs Cake).

There are others but those are the only ones I could pull off more than three examples for each.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2009, 08:50:10 PM by Listener »

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Reply #824 on: February 07, 2009, 09:25:53 PM
Today picked up The Dirty Pair Strike Again,  the second of Haruka Takachiho's light novels to be translated for Dark Horse publishing.  Unlike its predecessor The Great Adventure of the Dirty Pair it seems to be a single story rather than two novelettes (or are they novellas?)

Adam Warren's comics are still the best Dirty Pair media for my money, followed closely by the first Dirty Pair Flash DVD.

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