Author Topic: What are you reading? (Read 1059092 times)

birdless · **Reply #1725 on:** March 16, 2011, 08:38:13 PM

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, by Rob Bell (theology, not fiction… for those of you who assume a difference

). You may have stumbled across some press about this book. He's being called a heretic by people who haven't even read the damn book yet! (grrr…) At any rate, over the last year, i've been pondering things that i'd taken for granted because they were such a fundamental concept in the church (broadly speaking, not just my church). Now, i'm beginning to ask questions about them, not based on what i as a human can comprehend, but what the Bible actually says about them. I'd really like to start a thread in Gallimaufry, but i didn't want it to be considered trolling. I have a great deal of respect for the community here and am genuinely interested in hearing your thoughts, though (especially from the perspective of those here). If i get moderator permission, i'll throw one up; if they discourage it, i won't. So, moderator, what are your thoughts?

Anyway, back to the topic: just from the interviews of Bell recently, i don't know that i agree with his assessment of Hell, but i'm really eager to find out what he's written about what happens to whom after life on earth as we know it.

<edited to throw in a smiley in case the comment may have been misinterpreted as negative somehow>

stePH · **Reply #1726 on:** March 17, 2011, 12:37:25 AM

Quote from: DKT on March 16, 2011, 06:06:32 PM

I don't think I'd read any of the Dark Tower books at the time, but I remember really, really wanting to check them out after reading Low Men in Yellow Coats.

The tie-in with Hearts in Atlantis is in the execrable seventh volume.

DKT · **Reply #1727 on:** March 18, 2011, 11:35:04 PM

Yeah, really need to read those last two books. Maybe this will be the year. That said, I'm apparently in the minority of readers who thought The Gunslinger was the most awesome of the series (that I've read).

Listened to Mary Robinette Kowal's Nebula Nominated Shades of Milk and Honey which was amusing. Started listening today to Holly Black's White Cat and have already burned through the first two hours. Magic and the mob in an alternate America where magical curses were banned back during prohibition.

Birdless, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Bell's book

stePH · **Reply #1728 on:** March 19, 2011, 12:37:46 AM

Quote from: DKT on March 18, 2011, 11:35:04 PM

Yeah, really need to read those last two books. Maybe this will be the year. That said, I'm apparently in the minority of readers who thought The Gunslinger was the most awesome of the series (that I've read).

It's a fair contender... as long as it's not King's rewrite of it, supposedly to repair some contradictions with later books, but actually making things worse. But for my money, each book was better than the one preceding it, until the sharp decline beginning with book 5.

Sgarre1 · **Reply #1729 on:** March 20, 2011, 03:40:44 PM

Finished off David J. Schow's Seeing Red horror fiction compilation from the late 80s (review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37441777) and a collection of extremely excellent horror comics from the 1950s, Dick Briefer's The Monster of Frankenstein (review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/119389107). Also racked up Akashic Press' D.C. Noir anthology (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/145728080), Dedalus Press' The Decadent Cookbook (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74452738 - if you've got a yen for eating doormice, panda paws, blood or flamingo, check it out - there's recipes even!) and started reading a bunch of Yevgeny Zamyatin - famous to science fiction fans for writing the first dystopian novel, WE. So far I've read his satires of British life as he observed it in 1916, Islanders and The Fishers Of Men (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/128512169).

Up currently, more Zamyatin (The Dragon: 15 Stories), A Stefan Zweig novella from 1913, Burning Secret - about a Lothario's befriending of a small boy in order to seduce his mother, and (since I recently read that enormous Straub-edited overview of American Supernatural fiction), the essay collection The Haunted Dusk. Whew!

“The books and magazines streamed in. He could buy them all, they piled up around him and even while he read, the number of those still to be read disturbed him. … they stood in rows, weighing down his life like a possession which he did not succeed in subordinating to his personality.”
Thomas Mann, “The Blood Of The Walsungs”

acpracht · **Reply #1730 on:** March 21, 2011, 01:32:56 AM

Listening: Abarat by Clive Barker

Reading: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld.

stePH · **Reply #1731 on:** March 21, 2011, 02:50:00 PM

Precursor by C.J. Cherryh, first volume of the second trilogy arc of the series involving the Atevi race (black humanoid giants whose language has fourteen words for "betrayal" and not one for "love"). I read the first three many years ago, but I'm not having too much difficulty picking up the story.

kibitzer · **Reply #1732 on:** March 22, 2011, 07:37:05 AM

Finished Hearts In Atlantis. The three short stories were disappointing, particularly the last which featured Bobby and Carol after 40 years. Of the three, "Blind Willie" was the best, probably for the inventiveness of the double life he was leading.

Now reading Button, Button, a collection of short stories by Richard Matheson (author of I Am Legend). The first story is "Button, Button" whish is the basis for the movie The Box, the recent Cameron Diaz vehicle. The story is so short I don't know how they managed to stretch it into a movie!

stePH · **Reply #1733 on:** March 22, 2011, 03:23:09 PM

Quote from: kibitzer on March 22, 2011, 07:37:05 AM

Finished Hearts In Atlantis. The three short stories were disappointing, particularly the last which featured Bobby and Carol after 40 years. Of the three, "Blind Willie" was the best, probably for the inventiveness of the double life he was leading.

Yeah, "Low Men" was pretty much the only worthy part of that book; thankfully it occupies more than half of it.

DKT · **Reply #1734 on:** March 22, 2011, 04:04:35 PM

I thought Hearts and Atlantis was pretty good, too.

I didn't mind the last story, I thought it was a nice epilogue to everything else. I did feel like the middle two stories didn't add much...but geez, that was 10+ years ago, I think.

acpracht · **Reply #1735 on:** March 22, 2011, 08:56:05 PM

Quote from: kibitzer on March 16, 2011, 02:12:55 AM

I liked "Low Men in Yellow Coats" so much I borrowed Hearts In Atlantis -- two novellas and three short stories with the characters from "Low Men". I've nearly finished "Hearts In Atlantis" which is the other novella and it's very enjoyable. There's nothing supernatural or horrific, unless it's what people do to themselves when they should know better. Seems to me "Hearts In Atlantis" is a tribute to growing up in the Vietnam era, a way to capture that feeling. Whatever, it's great.

I get where you're coming from but (hold off on the stones) I didn't care for Hearts in Atlantis, book or movie. Low men in Yellow Coats was all right, but what they did in the film ticked me off.

And the title story, well, I just wanted to scream at them: "It's flipping HEARTS! You're willing to die to play stinkin' HEARTS?!"

stePH · **Reply #1736 on:** March 23, 2011, 12:14:13 AM

Quote from: acpracht on March 22, 2011, 08:56:05 PM

I get where you're coming from but (hold off on the stones) I didn't care for Hearts in Atlantis, book or movie. Low men in Yellow Coats was all right, but what they did in the film ticked me off.

Yeah, like I said, they took a good story and made it lame. The way they tried to make the title of the film fit, was especially painful.

Talia · **Reply #1737 on:** March 23, 2011, 02:54:33 AM

Re-reading 'Eye of the world.' Hehe.

I have an autographed copy of 'The Gathering Storm' that's been gathering alright, dust on my bookshelf, since I've forgotten so much of the series I deduced I'd have to re-read it before I could continue. And I'm not even up to the trolloc attack and there's so much I'm going "oh, I forgot about that!" about.

I just hope I don't lose interest and give up again when I hit those horribly boring Aes Sedai segments in the later books. Want to see what Sanderson's done with it.

Scattercat · **Reply #1738 on:** March 23, 2011, 02:57:04 AM

Read a bunch of books that I forget what they were now. Currently reading "Dracula's Guest," which is a collection of Victorian-era vampire stories and, for the most part, highly enjoyable. (I still find "The Vampyre" mind-bogglingly dull and do not understand how anyone ever thought it was actually by Byron.)

stePH · **Reply #1739 on:** March 23, 2011, 01:43:45 PM

Into space at last. Cherryh's Precursor finally delivers on what I was waiting for all through the previous volume, Inheritor.

stePH · **Reply #1740 on:** March 30, 2011, 01:31:03 PM

Continuing same series, finished Defender and started Explorer yesterday.

Gamercow · **Reply #1741 on:** March 30, 2011, 02:25:30 PM

Finally finished Orcs. What an awful book. It read like the adventure log to a badly played, badly DMed D&D campaign. The antagonist was horribly one dimensional, the main characters were never seriously challenged, and there were more Deus Ex Machinas than I can count to keep them on their path. As soon as they finished one goal, there was a very predictable delivery of "here's where to go next", given to them by some NPC. Don't bother even picking this book up.

Then I read Hammer of God again, to clear my head and get some good fiction in. Read it in one day, as opposed to the 4 month slog that was Orcs.

ETA: Holy crap. Deep Impact was an adaptation of Hammer of God? I may weep.

Scattercat · **Reply #1742 on:** March 30, 2011, 03:47:19 PM

Read "Brilliant: A History of Artificial Light," which was interesting, although it sagged a bit at the end. (More science! Less armchair politics without specific actionable goals!) Also read "Click," which, really, those same guys did "Nudge" and probably "Wink" or "Jump" or some crap. Pop socio-psych without a lick of data or decent studies to back up the vaguely self-help-esque assertions. I'm going to avoid them in the future because I just can't take unsourced science anymore.

Read "Elemental," which was a collection of short stories sold to benefit the 2004 tsunami victims, and it was about fifty/fifty in terms of quality. There were a couple of really good stories and a couple of "Holy crap, really?" of which probably the worst offender was the story some psycho lady wrote about her writing critique group in which she complains about how they don't "get" genre fiction and then has a magic alien named Ne'il Gai'man show them all the mysteries of genre. She apparently shared this with said writing group and was surprised when it went over poorly. I just I don't even what?

Also read "Dracula's Guest," which was actual Victorian-era vampire stories. Probably about 30% good, 40% outdated, and 30% crap, which isn't bad for your average anthology anyway.

Started reading "Dragonforge," the sequel to "Bitterwood," in the hopes that it got better. After thirty pages of wooden dialogue, stiff characterization, and silly plot twists, I gave up again. Once more, the actual opening chapter was nice and strong and if it had just maintained that for the rest of the book it would have been lovely, but no.

jrderego · **Reply #1743 on:** March 30, 2011, 09:28:49 PM

A Dreamers Life in Comics: Will Eisner - Michael Schumacher

DKT · **Reply #1744 on:** March 30, 2011, 09:37:50 PM

Finished listening to Holly Black's White Cat. Dudes, it was a freaking awesome ride. Con men, the mob, and magic. And magic is completely illegal. It's the first in a trilogy, but it stands on its own pretty well. If you're looking for a dark, fun, fast-paced thriller, this might be your ticket.

Started listening to Dave Eggers' Zeitoun , about a muslim man and his family during Hurricane Katrina. I listened to the first five hours straight. Absolutely amazing thus far. I'm kind of shocked that the dude who wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius wrote this. The story is told straightforward but is so exacting it packs an incredible emotional punch. My wife's been on me to read this for some time now, and now I feel a bit bad it took me so long. I'll have to check out more of Eggers writing.

Seriously thinking about picking up GRRM's A Game of Thrones in audio, just because I think I'd be able to listen to it quicker than I can read it at this point. Has anyone here actually listened to it?

Sandikal · **Reply #1745 on:** March 31, 2011, 04:52:42 AM

Quote from: DKT on March 30, 2011, 09:37:50 PM

Seriously thinking about picking up GRRM's A Game of Thrones in audio, just because I think I'd be able to listen to it quicker than I can read it at this point. Has anyone here actually listened to it?

It's on sale for 1 credit at Audible right now. It's usually two credits. I just finished listening to The Name of the Wind as a refresher before listening to The Wise Man's Fear. I read it a couple of years ago and had remembered most of it. However hard it is to believe, the audio version is even better than the print.

DKT · **Reply #1746 on:** March 31, 2011, 11:32:09 AM

Yeah, Audible making it only one credit is what made me consider picking it up in audio.

You listened to The Name of the Wind and liked the narration better than reading it? I almost picked that up a few months ago, but for some reason, wasn't sure about the sample narration. Might have to try the sample again

Devoted135 · **Reply #1747 on:** March 31, 2011, 01:15:42 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on March 30, 2011, 03:47:19 PM

Read "Brilliant: A History of Artificial Light," which was interesting, although it sagged a bit at the end. (More science! Less armchair politics without specific actionable goals!) Also read "Click," which, really, those same guys did "Nudge" and probably "Wink" or "Jump" or some crap. Pop socio-psych without a lick of data or decent studies to back up the vaguely self-help-esque assertions. I'm going to avoid them in the future because I just can't take unsourced science anymore.

So, can I guess your opinion of Malcolm Gladwell's stuff from this? (true confessions, I kinda liked Blink *sheepish*)

Scattercat · **Reply #1748 on:** March 31, 2011, 09:56:03 PM

Quote from: Devoted135 on March 31, 2011, 01:15:42 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on March 30, 2011, 03:47:19 PM
Read "Brilliant: A History of Artificial Light," which was interesting, although it sagged a bit at the end. (More science! Less armchair politics without specific actionable goals!) Also read "Click," which, really, those same guys did "Nudge" and probably "Wink" or "Jump" or some crap. Pop socio-psych without a lick of data or decent studies to back up the vaguely self-help-esque assertions. I'm going to avoid them in the future because I just can't take unsourced science anymore.

So, can I guess your opinion of Malcolm Gladwell's stuff from this? (true confessions, I kinda liked Blink *sheepish*)

Gladwell is a little bit better, but he still tends to sound more like a self-help book than like a science book.

iamafish · **Reply #1749 on:** April 01, 2011, 05:39:38 AM

Just finished The Oxford History of the Greek and Hellenistic World (or something like that, can't remember the title exactly), which was an absolute yarn... actually it was slow and turgid, but very interesting if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm about to start David Gemmell's Troy series, starting with Lord of the Silver Bow