Author Topic: What are you reading? (Read 1059383 times)

CryptoMe · **Reply #1300 on:** April 06, 2010, 02:49:34 PM

I have been going through the audiobook versions of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Nothing too meaty, but generally well written and fun, Fun, FUN!!!

It's funny, I have been reading sci fi and fantasy for more years than I care to admit, but I had never even heard of Lois McMaster Bujold until I got into audiobooks. My local library has tonnes of her work in downloadable audiobook format, which is how I got into the Vorkosigan saga. Eventually, I will try some of her other stuff too.

stePH · **Reply #1301 on:** April 07, 2010, 05:33:21 PM

Finished Victor Stengers The New Atheism Monday night -- it reads like a college research paper.

Still working on Jacoby's Freethinkers, and I have Batman: Dark Victory on deck (Jeph Loeb's followup to The Long Halloween).

Glacier Gruff · **Reply #1302 on:** April 08, 2010, 08:20:49 AM

The Hugo Winners: Vol. 1, edited by Isaac Asimov.

Talia · **Reply #1303 on:** April 20, 2010, 03:14:43 AM

Just finished the latest Harry Dresden book, 'Changes.'

The book was good, but.. it left me... confused and concerned. That's about all I can say without diving into spoiler territory.

Heradel · **Reply #1304 on:** April 20, 2010, 04:38:09 AM

H.G. Well's Time Machine. Hadn't read it before, so it's interesting connecting things back to the ur-text. Though obviously a grave error to not put the time machine in a blue box.

Listener · **Reply #1305 on:** April 20, 2010, 01:05:05 PM

Greg Rucka, "Batman: No Man's Land" -- the novelization. It's my third time through, but I needed something that I didn't have to think too much about before diving into an Arthur C. Clarke story collection.

Sandikal · **Reply #1306 on:** April 20, 2010, 11:29:24 PM

I just finished "Turn Coat" by Jim Butcher last night. "Changes" is waiting in the wings. I'm also reading "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz and listening to "Under the Dome" by Stephen King. With the King, I'm really confused about why the barrier is being called a dome when it's clearly not a dome in any way, shape, or form. I'm also seriously creeped out by Big Jim Rennie and his boy, Junior.

lowky · **Reply #1307 on:** April 20, 2010, 11:39:21 PM

Just finished the third book in the Black Company saga and starting Shadow Games. My roommate has the book club editions with 3 books per hardcover. Really enjoying these. The first book was somewhat slow to start, but then i got so I could hardly put it down. Went to bed about 9 and read until after midnight last night. I started book 3 Yesterday morning.

Boggled Coriander · **Reply #1308 on:** April 21, 2010, 03:06:59 AM

Just started Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. It's my first book by RCW, and I hope it helps mend a certain personal flaw.

Whenever I'm reading about contemporary SF writers and I come across Robert Charles Wilson's name, I read it as Robert Anton Wilson. Every time. It's totally inexcusable.

Also, I like to skim the news and blog posts about upcoming SF movies, and for most of 2009 I thought James Cameron's Avatar and the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie were one and the same. I'm very thankful I never embarrassed myself in front of someone who knew better.

DKT · **Reply #1309 on:** April 23, 2010, 09:56:43 PM

I finished listening to Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer and have been chugging through Claw of the Conciliator, but they're in the House Absolute now and things are getting...weird. (I read all the New Sun books several years back, and although my memory's nothing like Severian's, I seem to recall them getting WTF weird around the House Absolute section last time, too. Ah, good times!)

Also reading Paolo Bacigalupi's The Wind-Up Girl which is fascinating. Although I can tell it's going to take me some time to get through it.

stePH · **Reply #1310 on:** April 24, 2010, 09:33:35 PM

Finished Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers today; now working on Jeph Loeb's second Batman book, Dark Victory. And after that, the first book of Death Note is on deck. I just watched the movie duology a couple of weeks ago and loved them. After the manga I will watch the anime series.

Sandikal · **Reply #1311 on:** May 05, 2010, 11:41:27 PM

Quote from: DKT on April 23, 2010, 09:56:43 PM

I finished listening to Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer and have been chugging through Claw of the Conciliator, but they're in the House Absolute now and things are getting...weird. (I read all the New Sun books several years back, and although my memory's nothing like Severian's, I seem to recall them getting WTF weird around the House Absolute section last time, too. Ah, good times!)

Also reading Paolo Bacigalupi's The Wind-Up Girl which is fascinating. Although I can tell it's going to take me some time to get through it.

I'm listening to "The Windup Girl" right now and it's amazing. The narrator kind of sounds like William Shatner did when he was doing documentary narrations back in the Sixties and Seventies. Mr. B's prose really make the future Thailand come to life. I think I'm going to like him as much as I like Ian MacDonald.

I just finished reading a mystery/thrill, "Reckless" by Andrew Gross. I find that genre to be really hit or miss, but this book was definitely a hit. I really, really enjoyed it.

Next up is '"Sense and Sensiblity and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls". I got a copy signed by the author at the LA Times Festival of Books.

Listener · **Reply #1312 on:** May 06, 2010, 03:03:38 PM

Just finished George Mann's "The Affinity Bridge", sort of a steampunk/zombie/dark arts/airship/Holmes novel, except every one of the good guys is friends with all the others (whereas Holmes never liked Lestrade or respected anyone on the local police who showed himself to be a dullard). I don't think I liked it; I think the author jammed WAAAAAAAY too much into it. We didn't really need every genre piece that the author stuck in there.

Now reading an omnibus of Raymond Benson's Union trilogy of James Bond books. So far I liked Fleming's novels better, but I'm only four chapters in. Let me just say the whole "take me now" aspect of the throwaway Bond girl (the one in the film who exists just to boink 007, not to be the real Bond girl who is important to the story) works much better on film than in print.

DKT · **Reply #1313 on:** May 06, 2010, 06:04:29 PM

Quote from: Sandikal on May 05, 2010, 11:41:27 PM

Quote from: DKT on April 23, 2010, 09:56:43 PM
I finished listening to Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer and have been chugging through Claw of the Conciliator, but they're in the House Absolute now and things are getting...weird. (I read all the New Sun books several years back, and although my memory's nothing like Severian's, I seem to recall them getting WTF weird around the House Absolute section last time, too. Ah, good times!)

Also reading Paolo Bacigalupi's The Wind-Up Girl which is fascinating. Although I can tell it's going to take me some time to get through it.

I'm listening to "The Windup Girl" right now and it's amazing. The narrator kind of sounds like William Shatner did when he was doing documentary narrations back in the Sixties and Seventies. Mr. B's prose really make the future Thailand come to life. I think I'm going to like him as much as I like Ian MacDonald.

I just finished reading a mystery/thrill, "Reckless" by Andrew Gross. I find that genre to be really hit or miss, but this book was definitely a hit. I really, really enjoyed it.

Next up is '"Sense and Sensiblity and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls". I got a copy signed by the author at the LA Times Festival of Books.

I admit, I'm not reading the Windup Girl as fast I thought I would, but I'm totally enjoying savoring every chapter of it.

lowky · **Reply #1314 on:** May 06, 2010, 08:19:16 PM

Will be starting good omens tomorrow on my flight, as I move to Yellowstone for the summer season.

Sandikal · **Reply #1315 on:** May 07, 2010, 01:03:22 AM

Quote from: lowky on May 06, 2010, 08:19:16 PM

Will be starting good omens tomorrow on my flight, as I move to Yellowstone for the summer season.

It might be dangerous to read "Good Omens" on an airplane. People might think you're crazy when you start laughing out loud.

stePH · **Reply #1316 on:** May 07, 2010, 04:19:17 PM

Quote from: Sandikal on May 07, 2010, 01:03:22 AM

It might be dangerous to read "Good Omens" on an airplane. People might think you're crazy when you start laughing out loud.

No, it's perfectly safe. I did it flying from Detroit to Seattle back in 2001.

stePH · **Reply #1317 on:** May 10, 2010, 08:32:03 PM

Current book: Death Note manga volume 5 almost completed; volume 6 on standby. On a related note, anime DVD volume 1 on its way from Netflix.

Ectobahn · **Reply #1318 on:** May 10, 2010, 10:52:18 PM

My main read is meant to be Ulysses, but I haven't picked it back up since the flash fiction contest started.

gelee · **Reply #1319 on:** May 12, 2010, 09:30:39 PM

Just finished Patrick Rothfuss' "Name of the Wind."
Reading the book: YAY!
Finding out the second book in the series is being re-written: Sigh.
Really great stuff. Best straight fantasy I've read in a very, very long time. He has a few writing quirks that I didn't love, but I had a lot of fun with it, on the whole.
It's a shame the sequel is so slow in coming. I won't throw a tantrum, but I'll confess to being disappointed. As a result, I'll probably just buy them as they come out and read them all when the series is finished.
So anyway, that scratched my Fantasy itch. Now it's back to Banks' "Look to Windward."

stePH · **Reply #1320 on:** May 19, 2010, 04:55:34 AM

Between Death Note books 8 and 9.

Also started Have You Seen My Country Lately? by Jerry Doyle. Not sure whether I like him or not yet; he spent the first chapter attacking tobacco taxes and junk food taxes to support SCHIP, seeming to mostly direct his ire toward "liberals" and Democrats. That's A.O.K. with me as long as he's willing to take Republicans to task for their failings as well.

Boggled Coriander · **Reply #1321 on:** May 19, 2010, 05:07:05 AM

Neal Stephenson and Frederick George's Interface. I'm a big Stephenson fan but I've set my expectations pretty low for this book. So far it's readable but hardly dazzling.

I'm somewhat taken aback by the number of typos. It's not even the first edition, which makes it less excusable. Couldn't they have scrounged up a decent copy editor?

Listener · **Reply #1322 on:** May 19, 2010, 12:09:27 PM

Quote from: Boggled Coriander on May 19, 2010, 05:07:05 AM

Neal Stephenson and Frederick George's Interface. I'm a big Stephenson fan but I've set my expectations pretty low for this book. So far it's readable but hardly dazzling.

I'm somewhat taken aback by the number of typos. It's not even the first edition, which makes it less excusable. Couldn't they have scrounged up a decent copy editor?

I was okay with "Interface". Didn't love it, didn't hate it. My version didn't have any typos (that I remember).

Listener · **Reply #1323 on:** May 19, 2010, 12:09:43 PM

Robert Silverberg, "The Majipoor Chronicles"

Boggled Coriander · **Reply #1324 on:** May 19, 2010, 12:45:53 PM

Quote from: Listener on May 19, 2010, 12:09:27 PM

Quote from: Boggled Coriander on May 19, 2010, 05:07:05 AM
Neal Stephenson and Frederick George's Interface. I'm a big Stephenson fan but I've set my expectations pretty low for this book. So far it's readable but hardly dazzling.

I'm somewhat taken aback by the number of typos. It's not even the first edition, which makes it less excusable. Couldn't they have scrounged up a decent copy editor?

I was okay with "Interface". Didn't love it, didn't hate it. My version didn't have any typos (that I remember).

In the second chapter my version contains the string of words, "...the Network stood to loose hundred of billions of dollars...". C'mon, guys, having separate invisible-to-spell-checker errors in two adjacent words would've been noticeable even if I hadn't been primed by a first chapter that, among other issues, makes reference to one "Hilary Clinton". Normally I'm no spelling nitpicker, but this is just silly.