Author Topic: What are you reading? (Read 1060293 times)

CryptoMe · **Reply #1350 on:** June 10, 2010, 04:49:41 AM

Just finished listening to "How to Survive a Robot Uprising" (by Daniel H. Wilson). Quick, fun audiobook!
I would highly recommend it to Sandikal's 8th grader...

eytanz · **Reply #1351 on:** June 10, 2010, 08:52:50 AM

Reading China Mieville's "Kraken". I'm five short chapters in and the plot is already in full gear. Cool.

(Though there are several places where I've encountered things that may or may not be editing mistakes, and I have no idea - in one conversation early on, the main character responds to something another character does not say until the next page, but the out-of-sequence response is ignored by everyone. It feels like it's a continuity error left in by a rewrite, but maybe it's a subtle plot point? In one or two other places the grammar is so tortured that a sentence starts out about one thing but ends up being about something else, and I have to stop and reread carefully to understand what is going on. These are minor points, though, and serves me right for buying the hardcover - they may well be fixed before the paperback)

Ectobahn · **Reply #1352 on:** June 10, 2010, 06:06:15 PM

I'm gleefully weaving my way through Gödel, Escher, Bach. I don't usually read much non-fiction, but it's navigating that gap between "interesting thing on Wikipedia" and "hellish textbook" nicely. Changing my primary read mid-stream does necessitate me pretending I can't see Ulysses when it waves at me though, which is awkward for both of us.

DKT · **Reply #1353 on:** June 10, 2010, 06:44:23 PM

Quote from: eytanz on June 10, 2010, 08:52:50 AM

Reading China Mieville's "Kraken". I'm five short chapters in and the plot is already in full gear. Cool.

(Though there are several places where I've encountered things that may or may not be editing mistakes, and I have no idea - in one conversation early on, the main character responds to something another character does not say until the next page, but the out-of-sequence response is ignored by everyone. It feels like it's a continuity error left in by a rewrite, but maybe it's a subtle plot point? In one or two other places the grammar is so tortured that a sentence starts out about one thing but ends up being about something else, and I have to stop and reread carefully to understand what is going on. These are minor points, though, and serves me right for buying the hardcover - they may well be fixed before the paperback)

It's out already? GAH! I'm off to the bookstore...

Awwwwwwwwwwwww, States-side won't be out until the end of the month. Bummer.

Talia · **Reply #1354 on:** June 11, 2010, 02:51:01 PM

I've been obsessively reading quite a bit this week. I've finished three books so far. In addition to the prviously mentioned 'Spellwright,' I also finished 'Blood Knight' by Greg Keyes, the third in an an absolutely gloriously great, ridiculously addictive four-book series. Starts with the Briar King. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of high fantasy.

And last night, I finished up Anne Bishop's fabulous latest 'Black Jewels' book, Shaladar's Lady. Man it was great. I was stuck in the house all evening because I had to read it, I just couldn't leave.

I love those books so hard, I want to marry them.

Listener · **Reply #1355 on:** June 11, 2010, 03:20:29 PM

I have a buttload of stuff on my "unread" pile that I really don't feel like reading. Instead I'm rereading Terry Pratchett's "The Wee Free Men".

Bdoomed · **Reply #1356 on:** June 11, 2010, 04:08:13 PM

I've somewhat started palahniuk's invisible monsters

Sandikal · **Reply #1357 on:** June 12, 2010, 03:41:49 AM

Quote from: DKT on June 10, 2010, 06:44:23 PM

Quote from: eytanz on June 10, 2010, 08:52:50 AM
Reading China Mieville's "Kraken". I'm five short chapters in and the plot is already in full gear. Cool.

(Though there are several places where I've encountered things that may or may not be editing mistakes, and I have no idea - in one conversation early on, the main character responds to something another character does not say until the next page, but the out-of-sequence response is ignored by everyone. It feels like it's a continuity error left in by a rewrite, but maybe it's a subtle plot point? In one or two other places the grammar is so tortured that a sentence starts out about one thing but ends up being about something else, and I have to stop and reread carefully to understand what is going on. These are minor points, though, and serves me right for buying the hardcover - they may well be fixed before the paperback)

It's out already? GAH! I'm off to the bookstore...

Awwwwwwwwwwwww, States-side won't be out until the end of the month. Bummer.

One of my GoodReads friends won an advance copy. She read it in a couple of days and loved it. I'm green with envy.

I finished listening to "The Desert Spear" and liked it even better than "The Warded Man". I can't wait for the final installment to come out. Would it be too brazen to ask the author for an advance copy???

I just started reading "Palimpsest" by Catherynne M. Valente. This means I will have read all of the Hugo nominated novels except "WWW: Wake" by Robert J. Sawyer before the awards. I really have no desire to read the Sawyer.

Talia · **Reply #1358 on:** June 12, 2010, 03:52:29 AM

Quote from: Sandikal on June 12, 2010, 03:41:49 AM

Quote from: DKT on June 10, 2010, 06:44:23 PM
Quote from: eytanz on June 10, 2010, 08:52:50 AM
Reading China Mieville's "Kraken". I'm five short chapters in and the plot is already in full gear. Cool.

(Though there are several places where I've encountered things that may or may not be editing mistakes, and I have no idea - in one conversation early on, the main character responds to something another character does not say until the next page, but the out-of-sequence response is ignored by everyone. It feels like it's a continuity error left in by a rewrite, but maybe it's a subtle plot point? In one or two other places the grammar is so tortured that a sentence starts out about one thing but ends up being about something else, and I have to stop and reread carefully to understand what is going on. These are minor points, though, and serves me right for buying the hardcover - they may well be fixed before the paperback)

It's out already? GAH! I'm off to the bookstore...

Awwwwwwwwwwwww, States-side won't be out until the end of the month. Bummer.

One of my GoodReads friends won an advance copy. She read it in a couple of days and loved it. I'm green with envy.

I finished listening to "The Desert Spear" and liked it even better than "The Warded Man". I can't wait for the final installment to come out. Would it be too brazen to ask the author for an advance copy???

I just started reading "Palimpsest" by Catherynne M. Valente. This means I will have read all of the Hugo nominated novels except "WWW: Wake" by Robert J. Sawyer before the awards. I really have no desire to read the Sawyer.

Argh, need to get my hands on 'Desert spear'. LOVED warded man - though its been so long since I read it I think it needs re-read first. When it first came out I made fun of it because the cover looks like those dreadful 'Left Behind' novels. Then I read it and felt bad, because the book rocked.

Now, I've read Wake, and I enjoyed it, although it doesn't really strike me as a hugo winner. why are you reluctant to try? I found it pretty engaging. I'm working on the sequel now.

I need to read Palimpsest. I've heard its great.

Sandikal · **Reply #1359 on:** June 12, 2010, 03:03:28 PM

I read the synopsis of "Wake" and it just didn't grab me. To me, Robert J. Sawyer is an okay writer, but he's not one of my favorites. (However, I've only read two of his novels and have "Flash Forward" waiting in the wings.) A couple of years ago, I made it a point to read all of the Hugo nominated novels after the awards that year. "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" was the winner that year and I thought "Brasyl" should have won. Of the nominees that year (2008?), I thought Sawyer's "Rollback" was the weakest.

Listener · **Reply #1360 on:** June 14, 2010, 02:11:36 PM

"Wintersmith", by Terry Pratchett

Quote from: Sandikal on June 12, 2010, 03:03:28 PM

"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" was the winner that year and I thought "Brasyl" should have won. Of the nominees that year (2008?), I thought Sawyer's "Rollback" was the weakest.

I didn't care for YPU. It was interesting, and I enjoyed reading parts of it, but the ending was so flat and blaaaaaaah that I just was soured on the whole thing. I mean, you've got a JEWISH MAFIA! How can that not somehow make the book awesome?

Bdoomed · **Reply #1361 on:** June 16, 2010, 04:38:54 AM

Started and finished for the second time Richard Bach's Illusions. I love that book, and can't recommend it enough to anyone who hasn't yet read it. It is an insanely fast read, I finished it in 5 hours the first time I read it. This time it was more like 8ish over 2 days.

Listener · **Reply #1362 on:** June 16, 2010, 01:08:13 PM

I find that when I reread books, I fall asleep faster, and since I needed to get a good night's sleep last night (two phone interviews for jobs today), I picked up "Survivors" by Jean Lorrah and knocked out about 75 pages of it before bed.

Scattercat · **Reply #1363 on:** June 16, 2010, 03:57:04 PM

Reading "Mainspring" by Jay Lake, picked up on a lark because we had extra Borders credit. It's okay, but the main character is bland to the point of invisibility and what few history-nerd nerves I have keep being irked by the use of hydrogen in airships based in an alternate-history United States. (The US *had* helium; we just didn't have zeppelins, and we weren't about to give helium to the Germans.)

Sandikal · **Reply #1364 on:** June 17, 2010, 12:01:05 AM

I've got less than 100 pages to go on "Palimpsest". It's really, really weird and doesn't really strike me as being science fiction. As fantasy, it's not even what you'd think of as fantasy. It's quite a work of art really, but it's not for everyone. I'm going kind of slow through it because it's got such a dream-like quality it's easy to get distracted.

I got a Nook on Sunday and downloaded "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. I have to admit that the Nook and that book are a big part of the reason it's taking me so long to get through "Palimpsest". "The Passage" is long, but it's going very quickly. I think it does live up to the pre-release hype.

Boggled Coriander · **Reply #1365 on:** June 17, 2010, 08:25:05 AM

"Tales Before Tolkien" - a collection of late 19th/early 20th century fantasy that influenced Tolkien. I'm not a particularly big Tolkien nut but I could certainly learn something about the history of the genre.

Apart from Lord Dunsany's "Chu-bu and Sheemish", every story is new to me.

DKT · **Reply #1366 on:** June 17, 2010, 03:42:05 PM

Quote from: Sandikal on June 17, 2010, 12:01:05 AM

I've got less than 100 pages to go on "Palimpsest". It's really, really weird and doesn't really strike me as being science fiction. As fantasy, it's not even what you'd think of as fantasy. It's quite a work of art really, but it's not for everyone. I'm going kind of slow through it because it's got such a dream-like quality it's easy to get distracted.

I got a Nook on Sunday and downloaded "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. I have to admit that the Nook and that book are a big part of the reason it's taking me so long to get through "Palimpsest". "The Passage" is long, but it's going very quickly. I think it does live up to the pre-release hype.

Just curious: did someone try and sell you Palimpset as SF? I haven't had the chance to read it yet (my TBR pile - FEAR IT!) but what I know of it definitely strikes me as fantasy.

Very, very interested to hear if you end up liking The Passage and how it relates to other post-apocalyptic epics like The Stand, I Am Legend, or even The Road. I keep hearing people on both sides shouting. I know it's a trilogy, so I'll probably hold out until it's done. But vampires! VAMPIRES! (I'm predisposed to loving it.)

Sandikal · **Reply #1367 on:** June 17, 2010, 08:31:16 PM

"Palimpsest" is up for the Hugo Award this year. I'm not really seeing how it fits though. It's kind of similar to "The City and the City", but not much.

I'm up to page 302 of "The Passage" and have put my other reading on hold until I finish it. The first 1/3 is like "The Andromena Strain" or "The Hot Zone". The part I just started has jumped ahead 1000 years and is seeming like "Eternity Road" or the end of "Earth Abides". Comparisons really aren't doing it justice. Also, the vampires aren't really vampires. They get nicknamed that very early on, but there's no resemblance to Dracula here.

DKT · **Reply #1368 on:** June 17, 2010, 08:34:48 PM

Quote from: Sandikal on June 17, 2010, 08:31:16 PM

"Palimpsest" is up for the Hugo Award this year. I'm not really seeing how it fits though. It's kind of similar to "The City and the City", but not much.

Right, but fantasy novels often get Hugo nominations, don't they? The Graveyard Book, The Goblet of Fire, and American Gods come to mind right off the bat.

Glad to know you're digging The Passage. It sounds like a very fast read, despite the length.

Sandikal · **Reply #1369 on:** June 18, 2010, 04:06:50 AM

I'd have a hard time classifying "Palimpsest" as fantasy either. To me, it's strongly in the category of surrealism, like a lot of French movies.

I wish someone who has read it would post to see if they see it the way I do.

Listener · **Reply #1370 on:** June 18, 2010, 01:27:39 PM

"Masks", by John Vornholt.

Sandikal · **Reply #1371 on:** June 26, 2010, 03:30:04 AM

Well, I finished "Palimpsest". Here's my GoodReads review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/106701967

I also finished "The Passage" and thought it was excellent. It's kind of a cross between "The Andromeda Strain", "The Hot Zone", and "The Odyssey". It's not really original, but it's extremely well executed and very believable. For the record, the "vampires" really aren't vampires. My only disappointment is that it's part one of a trilogy and I have to know what happens next.

I'm currently reading "WWW: Wake" by Robert J. Sawyer to finish up reading the 2010 Hugo Nominees. I'm 1/3 into it and it's pretty pedestrian science fiction. Is Sawyer the king of the infodump? Heck, he infodumps stuff everyone should know, like Google is the most popular gateway to the internet. Then, he expounds on the history of the Google search engine.

I'm listening to "Best Served Cold". I'm about 5 hours in and ready to just give it up. I don't like the story or the narration. I'm disappointed because I did like Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy.

Scattercat · **Reply #1372 on:** June 26, 2010, 03:48:06 AM

Reread "Santiago" by Mike Resnick. Currently rereading "The Silent Tower" by Barbara Hambly. Two of my favorite books. (The Windrose Chronicles are pretty close to my favorite books ever, particularly "Dog Wizard.")

Listener · **Reply #1373 on:** June 28, 2010, 03:22:45 PM

Just finished my umpteenth reread of "Villains By Necessity" by Eve Forward. The story has a creative premise, but the more I read it the clunkier the text gets. If you've never read it and you can find it cheaply, read it and enjoy the usage of every single fantasy trope in the book, including but not limited to:

* Assassin.
* Hobbitlike small people who are thieves.
* Druids.
* Evil sorceresses who eat people.
* Centaurs.
* Silent knights.
* Elven magicians.
* Stupid heroes.
* Barbarians.
* Gypsies.
* Plot coupons.
* Hero's quest.
* Bad verse (minstrels and such).
* Puns on the real world.
* ZOMG THIS COULD STRETCH TO OUR WORLD GUISE!!!!!!11111ONEone

Seriously, I actually do like the book.

jrderego · **Reply #1374 on:** June 28, 2010, 05:22:52 PM

Rereading this summer.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque)
Outline of History (HG Wells)

Might reread some Gibson too. Been talking up Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties with some friends.