What are you reading?

[Listener]

Finished "All Tomorrow's Parties". Once I got into it it was really interesting, though I do think I need to read the first two now. The concept of interstitial communities (such as the Bridge) is a very interesting one to sci-fi folks in general (and me in specific). It's basically space stations but on earth (or other planets).

Now reading "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. I'm 150 pages in and so far I'm hooked, except for some hammering on certain points (British NHS and quarantine policies vs American "freedom"; Kivrin is sick, we get it; Gilchrist is an idiot, we get it).

FWIW, "Passage" is my favorite Willis book out of all the ones I've read -- the twist 2/3 of the way through gets me every time.

[jrderego]

Finished "All Tomorrow's Parties". Once I got into it it was really interesting, though I do think I need to read the first two now. The concept of interstitial communities (such as the Bridge) is a very interesting one to sci-fi folks in general (and me in specific). It's basically space stations but on earth (or other planets).

Now reading "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. I'm 150 pages in and so far I'm hooked, except for some hammering on certain points (British NHS and quarantine policies vs American "freedom"; Kivrin is sick, we get it; Gilchrist is an idiot, we get it).

FWIW, "Passage" is my favorite Willis book out of all the ones I've read -- the twist 2/3 of the way through gets me every time.

The Bridge features prominently in Virtual Light... If you haven't read the earlier Gibson trilogy, Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive, he pioneered the weird inter-societies in those book too (the Chiba Dome, and Zion, The Sprawl, among others). Glad you dug All Tomorrow's Parties. I am curious how you viewed the appearance of Rei Toei in the Lucky Dragon at the denouement? Her story is a big part of Idoru (she is the Idoru, actually), and when she walked out of the 3D fax it was like the last movement of Beethoven's Choral Symphony for me. 

[Listener]

Finished "All Tomorrow's Parties". Once I got into it it was really interesting, though I do think I need to read the first two now. The concept of interstitial communities (such as the Bridge) is a very interesting one to sci-fi folks in general (and me in specific). It's basically space stations but on earth (or other planets).

Now reading "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. I'm 150 pages in and so far I'm hooked, except for some hammering on certain points (British NHS and quarantine policies vs American "freedom"; Kivrin is sick, we get it; Gilchrist is an idiot, we get it).

FWIW, "Passage" is my favorite Willis book out of all the ones I've read -- the twist 2/3 of the way through gets me every time.

The Bridge features prominently in Virtual Light... If you haven't read the earlier Gibson trilogy, Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive, he pioneered the weird inter-societies in those book too (the Chiba Dome, and Zion, The Sprawl, among others). Glad you dug All Tomorrow's Parties. I am curious how you viewed the appearance of Rei Toei in the Lucky Dragon at the denouement? Her story is a big part of Idoru (she is the Idoru, actually), and when she walked out of the 3D fax it was like the last movement of Beethoven's Choral Symphony for me. 

It was interesting. Kind of End-of-Evangelion-ish.

[Sandikal]

I'm currently reading "This Alien Shore" by C.S. Friedman.  I'm pretty sure I've read it before, but it's been a long time and I've forgotten almost every thing.  It's the book of the month on one of my GoodReads groups, and I love Friedman, so I thought I'd give it a re-read.

I'm also reading "Ragamuffin" by Tobias Buckell.  I am not loving it the way I did "Crystal Rain" and I found three grammatical errors in the first hundred pages.  I'm more than halfway through now, but it's a more of a chore than a joy.

In audio, I'm listening to "Black Hills" by Dan Simmons.  I'm so glad I'm listening, not reading.  I don't think I'd ever make it through the print version. 

For those of you who love audiobooks and have Audible memberships, they have 200 titles on sale for $4.95 each right now.  There's a lot of SFF on the list.  I got "Best Served Cold" by Joe Abercrombie and 4 other titles on sale.

[lowky]

Nothing because apparently Project Gutenberg and Audible don't have any Clark Ashton Smith or Robert E Howard available 

[Sgarre1]

Ask....and, by Tsathoggua, ye shall receive!

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/spoken-word/

I can definitely recommend "The Maze of Maâl Dweb" (which has something like a sequel in "The Flower-Women") and "The Empire of the Necromancers".  "The Door To Saturn" is surprisingly funny!

[stePH]

The Batman story "Hush" written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Jim Lee.

[DKT]

The Batman story "Hush" written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Jim Lee.

How is that? I read the first half, but stopped because it was feeling waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too obvious. But since then, I've heard it's actually not that obvious after all.

Currently reading The Apocalypse Door by Jim MacDonald.

[stePH]

The Batman story "Hush" written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Jim Lee.

How is that? I read the first half, but stopped because it was feeling waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too obvious. But since then, I've heard it's actually not that obvious after all.

Have only read the first half as well; will start the second half at lunch today.  Not sure how obvious it is, but then again I'm not as perceptive and insightful as most readers seem to be.  I haven't a clue who the bandaged guy is... Harvey Dent maybe?  Or am I just remembering him from Miller's The Dark Knight Returns?  Anyway, I always enjoy a fight where Batman takes on Superman and holds his own.  On a related note... WTF? How long has Lex Luthor been President of the United States?

[DKT]

Ah, see I thought the bandaged guy had to be the friend who all of a sudden popped up from nowhere (both in the backstory and the present-day story). But apparently, that's wrong.

I'm not sure if Luthor is still president or not...been kind of out of the DC world for a while, and not even sure I read too many comics where that was the focus, but I always dug that concept.

[Talia]

I just finished 'Tokyo Vice' by Jake Adelstein. Totally fascinating. Its about his experiences living in Japan and working at a newspaper, covering the crime beat. He winds up getting in trouble with the yakuza. The book examines the yakuza's significant influence in Japan and provides fascinating insights into Japanese society. Couldn't recommend it higher.

Incidentally, boingboing has run a couple articles with Adelstein that provide some insight as well, and are most interesting.

http://boingboing.net/2010/03/09/meet-jake-adelstein.html

http://m.boingboing.net/2010/03/18/jake-adelstein-expla.html

[stePH]

I just finished 'Tokyo Vice' by Jake Adelstein. Totally fascinating. Its about his experiences living in Japan and working at a newspaper, covering the crime beat. He winds up getting in trouble with the yakuza. The book examines the yakuza's significant influence in Japan and provides fascinating insights into Japanese society. Couldn't recommend it higher.

...and onto stePH's reading list it goes.  I need more nonfic in my diet; currently filling it with Susan Jacoby (Freethinkers is at library awaiting pickup)

[gelee]

So, Charlie Stross ran a couple of his "Laundry" stories on the Tor.com podcast, and I was fascinated.  I've picked up "Atrocity Archives," which is apparently two stories.  I'm not too far in, but so far, they are very nearly as good as I hoped they would be.  Realy great stuff.  If you like Lovecraftian fiction and/or cold war spy thrillers, this is really a wonderful pairing of the two.  There are some problems: Lots of technobabble, which may just be plain old technical jargon that's way over my head, but I can't really tell what's reall and what's made up.  The MC is sort of  system administrator/exorcist, and I sometimes can't tell when he's talking about real network issues and when he's talking about the sorcery that runs so well on computers in this setting. 

Oh, and I'm nearly finished with Mistborn.  I'm really not liking it.  Sanderson has a bad habit of showing you a thing, in the "show, don't tell" sense, and then he tells it, as though he thought his reader would be too dense to pick it up.

[stePH]

OMFG LOL maybe I am perceptive and insightful 

[Talia]

So, Charlie Stross ran a couple of his "Laundry" stories on the Tor.com podcast, and I was fascinated.  I've picked up "Atrocity Archives," which is apparently two stories.  I'm not too far in, but so far, they are very nearly as good as I hoped they would be.  Realy great stuff.  If you like Lovecraftian fiction and/or cold war spy thrillers, this is really a wonderful pairing of the two.  There are some problems: Lots of technobabble, which may just be plain old technical jargon that's way over my head, but I can't really tell what's reall and what's made up.  The MC is sort of  system administrator/exorcist, and I sometimes can't tell when he's talking about real network issues and when he's talking about the sorcery that runs so well on computers in this setting. 

Oh, and I'm nearly finished with Mistborn.  I'm really not liking it.  Sanderson has a bad habit of showing you a thing, in the "show, don't tell" sense, and then he tells it, as though he thought his reader would be too dense to pick it up.

That never struck me. Perhaps I am.

/loved the Mistborn books.

[Listener]

I made the fatal mistake of reading a good book before bed last night. I went up at 10:15 and finished the book (I had about 40% of it left) and finally went to bed at 12:40.

It was "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, as I mentioned earlier. And it was great. I saw the precursor to the major twist in "Passage" (warning: spoilers at link) here, and even though I kind of knew it was coming (the foreshadowing was pretty heavy) the reveal was so well-done that I was still in "wow" mode. There were also echoes of Richard from "Passage" in Mr Dunworthy's quest near the end of the novel. She also reused the name Maisry (in DB) as Maisie (in P). And, interestingly, P is only two pages longer than D (if you go by First Hardcover Edition). An excellent book, and one that I will definitely read again at some point. I only had one question when the book was over: WHAT HAPPENED TO MR. BASINGAME???

I have an Arthur C Clarke short-story collection next on my "haven't read" shelf, but I might read "Passage" again, just because, before I get to that one.

[stePH]

OMFG LOL maybe I am perceptive and insightful 

...or not, and maybe Dave is.

[Sandikal]

I made the fatal mistake of reading a good book before bed last night. I went up at 10:15 and finished the book (I had about 40% of it left) and finally went to bed at 12:40.

It was "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, as I mentioned earlier. And it was great. I saw the precursor to the major twist in "Passage" (warning: spoilers at link) here, and even though I kind of knew it was coming (the foreshadowing was pretty heavy) the reveal was so well-done that I was still in "wow" mode. There were also echoes of Richard from "Passage" in Mr Dunworthy's quest near the end of the novel. She also reused the name Maisry (in DB) as Maisie (in P). And, interestingly, P is only two pages longer than D (if you go by First Hardcover Edition). An excellent book, and one that I will definitely read again at some point. I only had one question when the book was over: WHAT HAPPENED TO MR. BASINGAME???

I have an Arthur C Clarke short-story collection next on my "haven't read" shelf, but I might read "Passage" again, just because, before I get to that one.

Geez!  Now I have to re-read "Doomsday Book".  I've been reading Willis as long as she's been writing.  I was reading the SF mags when Asimov's published her first short story, "All My Darling Daughters", and it really stuck with me.  I've been reading her stuff faithfully ever since.  I haven't read "Doomsday Book" since it first came out, but I've read "Passage" at least twice.  There was quite a spread between the two. 

"Passage" actually reminded me a lot of "Bellwether" because of all the zaniness in the research work environment.  Of course, "Passage" was much darker, but it was well-balanced with humor.

[Listener]

I made the fatal mistake of reading a good book before bed last night. I went up at 10:15 and finished the book (I had about 40% of it left) and finally went to bed at 12:40.

It was "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, as I mentioned earlier. And it was great. I saw the precursor to the major twist in "Passage" (warning: spoilers at link) here, and even though I kind of knew it was coming (the foreshadowing was pretty heavy) the reveal was so well-done that I was still in "wow" mode. There were also echoes of Richard from "Passage" in Mr Dunworthy's quest near the end of the novel. She also reused the name Maisry (in DB) as Maisie (in P). And, interestingly, P is only two pages longer than D (if you go by First Hardcover Edition). An excellent book, and one that I will definitely read again at some point. I only had one question when the book was over: WHAT HAPPENED TO MR. BASINGAME???

I have an Arthur C Clarke short-story collection next on my "haven't read" shelf, but I might read "Passage" again, just because, before I get to that one.

Geez!  Now I have to re-read "Doomsday Book".  I've been reading Willis as long as she's been writing.  I was reading the SF mags when Asimov's published her first short story, "All My Darling Daughters", and it really stuck with me.  I've been reading her stuff faithfully ever since.  I haven't read "Doomsday Book" since it first came out, but I've read "Passage" at least twice.  There was quite a spread between the two. 

"Passage" actually reminded me a lot of "Bellwether" because of all the zaniness in the research work environment.  Of course, "Passage" was much darker, but it was well-balanced with humor.

Passage was my first exposure to Connie Willis -- and I'm reading it again now. I didn't like Bellwether as much, I think because it was more humor than SF and anyway the "aha" moment seemed a bit too spontaneous for me. Though I did read it some time ago, so it's possible I'm misremembering.

I love the labyrinthine nature of the hospital in Passage, and how Richard seems to have a lab coat made out of a Bag of Holding.

I always get a kick out of writing that does homage to D&D/RPG inventory by having characters go through their pockets for useful items.

[Sandikal]

The science in "Bellwether" was very soft.  At least, I don't think sociology counts as a hard science.

[DKT]

OMFG LOL maybe I am perceptive and insightful 

...or not, and maybe Dave is.

Well...first time for everything! 

[Kyoritsu]

The Baroque Cycle  by: Neal Stephenson  last read (cause it's neal)

The god Delusion    by: Dawkins  (which was a real let down and i couldn't finish it because he made a set of rules governing memetics and then broke those rules just to make religion look bad when his own rules already did a good enough job. pity: he was such a good teacher too.

Wild Blood             by: Nancy A Collins    re-read    (cause it's old and rare relatively)
anything i haven't read by Brinn, Asimov (cause i have kids now), and all the rest of the good the smart and the badass.

[Sgarre1]

Finished SENSO AND OTHER STORIES by Camillo Boito, an Italian proto-decadent.  Had to put YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE (lit short fiction) by Adam Haslett on hold (as it was borrowed and not returned) and gave up on TABLOID PURPOSES, an exceedingly crappy, self-published horror anthology that read as if it were edited by a monkey (truly an exemplary item to evidence the dangers of self-publication).

Started DANGEROUS LAUGHTER by Steven Millhauser (lit short fiction comp) and SEEING RED, a horror anthology of work by David J. Schow (I read it years ago when I bought it but now is the time to for reevaluation).

[Listener]

Finished "Passage" last night. Next up: "The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Stieg Larsson. Benefits: got it for 20% off cover at Target, cover was only $16, it's about 20% longer than "Dragon Tattoo", and I know the trilogy has an ending because the author finished the last book and sent it to his editor shortly before his death.

[Listener]

Finished "The Girl Who Played With Fire". It had a very "Empire Strikes Back" feel to it... "Had a Dragon Tattoo", like "A New Hope", was a standalone piece of fiction... but "Played With Fire" quite clearly leads directly into "Kicked a Hornets Nest".

Enjoyable book. The author really makes you care about all the characters. Although the beginning (the parts on Grenada) are pretty slow and I'm not 100% sure why they're there other than to give new readers an insight into Lisbeth Salander's character. The whole "Fermat's Last Theorem" story arc was a little TOO weird.