|
Children of Dune, book 3 in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. At this point I'm really enjoying the philosophy more than the plot or characters, but those elements remain strong. It makes me want to go back and read Dune Messiah more carefully. I also like that Herbert isn't interested in taking the plot where the reader might want it to go. It's getting kind of bizarre, and in sci fi that can seem a little hackneyed, but somehow it's easier to go along with, possibly because it hasn't been very bizarre at all until the end of the third book. I'm about a quarter of the way in to God Emperor of Dune and still enjoying the series. A few people I've talked to said that it's their favorite in the series, so I'm excited to finish it.
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2010 16:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 20:08 |
|
|
I just finished I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President. Fun, fast YA novel with possibly the best title ever. I greatly preferred it to Evil Genius (apparently evil geniuses are now a sub-genre, thanks Austin Grossman!). I've really been enjoying the Young Adult stuff lately; Little Brother was excellent and I started The Hunger Games today.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2010 17:39
|
|
|
I just finished Patrick Rothfuss's debut The Name of the Wind and now I feel the well-known rage of the long wait for sequels. Thank goodness I've read GRRM (and Jean Auel I suppose) in the past, so I know how long these waits can be. I really enjoyed the novel and the main character is fascinating -- as are Elodin, and Denna. Started reading Acacia by David Anthony Durham. So far, so good. I need more epic fantasy that's not too dumbed-down. It's getting hard to tease apart the awesome from the pretty stupid, given only Amazon.com reviews.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2010 21:28
|
|
|
I just finished Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot. Despite everything that's going on in the world. It gives you such a warm fuzzy feeling about humanitys future. I didn't want it to end.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2010 02:54
|
|
|
Just finished Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder. There's really not much you can say about a book that cost a penny; it was fairly readable and had an interesting plot but the characters were cookie cutter (brilliant female computer programmer who is also a drop dead Russian hottie durrr) and the dialog was excessive and sometimes trite. The characters also make huge leaps of faith on an afterlife/religious type premise that's never really well defined and shaky at best. But, it's a penny... so I definitely got my money's worth.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2010 16:48
|
|
|
I finished reading Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow. It was very strange. I'm not really sure what the message was, but I think it had to do with being yourself and the way that one person's goodness can have an effect on many other people. I started reading Makers, also by Cory Doctorow. I think I am going to finish the unabridged audiobook version of Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2010 19:47
|
|
|
I recently finished Catherine Meridale's "Ivan's War". "Ivan" is a recent history of the Soviet Red Army from 1939-1945, and after reading it I marvel at how the Russian soldiers found the willpower to continue fighting even with poor [or no] equipment and supplies, rotten weather, and with an overall battle plan of 'No step back, pound the Fascist beasts with wave after wave of patriots!' If you don't mind the grim subject matter, it's a fascinating read on not only the battles, but also the day-to-day life of soldiers in the Red Army at the time. I also finished Joseph Conrad's "Under Western Eyes". I believe that Conrad wrote much better works than "Western Eyes", but it does have its redeeming points. One of the characters describes, in surprising detail, the events in the Balkans that lead to World War I and eventually the Russian Revolution. Very surprising, considering that Conrad wrote it in 1911. Otherwise, it struck me a knock-off of "Crime and Punishment" tailored to English audiences' taste. GREAT WHITE NORTH fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Feb 24, 2010 |
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2010 04:17
|
|
|
While stuck in Miami International and then snowed-in at Cincinnati I managed to finish both "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs and "Eric" by Terry Pratchett. I enjoy Burroughs' style of first person narrative and the way he explains Barsoom culture to us as John Carter learns. Unfortunately I only have parts 3 &4 in my library so I will have to find the next book in the series soon. After the 6th hour delayed in the airport, the only cure for the cabin fever was to go insane with a Pratchett book. I must say that his Faustian epic put things in perspective. No matter how bad my travels get, Rincewind always has a more difficult time. Thank you schadenfreude!
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2010 07:10
|
|
|
Just finished the novel The Magicians by Lev Grossman. It's a mix of Harry Potter and Narnia, but mature and dark. I personally never read or even saw a Harry Potter movie since I consider I'm a little old for that and I thought I would probably not enjoy The Magicians either. But I really loved it. Just started Lamb by Christopher Moore and plan to attack Under the Dome after.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2010 21:42
|
|
|
Just finished Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, and I know I'm repeating myself since my last Sagan book, but it's without a doubt one of the most intelligent pieces I've ever read. While a lot of what he attempts to debunk is obviously bull poo poo to any person with an inkling of common sense, it's very interesting to read such well-written arguments. Also, I had no idea just how horrible the Witch Hunts of the 17th and 18th centuries were, or how long they went on (the last "witch" execution was in Polland in 1793  ); and I didn't really know what the whole UFO craze was about either until I read this--or how closely related it is to the Witch Hunts, for that matter. As an aside, after reading this book, it makes me chuckle that my Computer Science professor is a "Waiting for the UFOs" type, and even includes random pictures of flying saucers in his PowerPoint presentations during lectures.His "Baloney Detection Kit" is a pretty fantastic summation of all the most retarded arguments that dumbasses and fanatics alike love to use--the most frequent one, in my personal experience, being the statistics of small numbers: Carl Sagan posted:statistics of small numbers - a close relative of observational selection (e.g., "They say 1 out of every 5 people is Chinese. How is this possible? I know hundreds of people, and none of them is Chinese. Yours truly." Or: "I've thrown three sevens in a row. Tonight I can't lose." Another of his quotes has become an instant favorite of mine: "The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas." In a way, it one-ups that famous Voltaire quote, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," in that it implies the reasons for free speech to exist indiscriminately; that is, you can't really understand your own opinions unless it is exposed to a variety of potentially conflicting ideas. Again, much of the book agrees with normal common sense, but it's nothing short of what the Los Angeles Times quote says on the cover: a manifesto for clear thought. I think it should be required reading in public schools. Cosmopolitan fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Feb 25, 2010 |
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2010 05:56
|
|
|
i just finished reading Dark Creed by Anthony Reynolds. its the latest installment of the Dark Apostle series, based around the Word Bearers Legion of the Warhammer 40,000 game universe. in a nut shell, Chaos Space Marines invade a planet, in hopes to spark a new Crusade against humanity, but then get invaded by bigger, nastier aliens, all the while trying to root out a insurrectionist force inside the Legion. if you like Warhammer 40,000 novels, i would suggest picking up these books 1st in the series is Dark Apostle 2nd in the series is Dark Disciple 3rd in the series is Dark Creed
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2010 01:11
|
|
|
Just finished up Foundation and Empire by Asimov. It's a strong novel, through I enjoyed Foundation which I finished 2 days ago to be more enjoyable. I bought the entire Foundation series on a whim as my first foray into Asimov and so far I'm happy with my decision, and I'm a bit thankful the language isn't very flowery. The other four books should be an interesting read and I'll be a bit sad to have finished it all but that's how it goes with series.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2010 02:26
|
|
|
Wrapped up The Terror by Dan Simmons last night, I haven't read any of his sci fi stuff. Great book, great ending, but if someone else has read it can they explain who was the corpse in Crozier's bunk at the very end, or at least what was the significance of him having huge rat teeth? Hickey died before he even got close to getting back to the ship, right?
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2010 03:41
|
|
|
Was working on The Bachman Books last year, and just finished The Running Man. Long story short, it just seemed like he had four ideas that he strung out to novel length, and just kept writing in his coke haze. The movie Running Man is better too.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2010 08:51
|
|
|
I just finished Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. I was told this book was hilarious, and parts of it were, but a lot of it was creepy Chuck Palahniuk-style tales of weirdos and outcasts. The parts about Christmas and his hick brother were definitely the highlights.
PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Feb 27, 2010 |
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2010 15:22
|
|
|
Finished Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the first time today. Starting reading its sequel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe a few minutes later. Both are absolutely hilarious books, which I'm sure is common knowledge by now. A knowledge of mathematics and rudimentary economics would help you appreciate some of the jokes, but it's easily accessable to most anyone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2010 04:12
|
|
|
walkenator posted:Wrapped up The Terror by Dan Simmons last night, I haven't read any of his sci fi stuff. Great book, great ending, but if someone else has read it can they explain who was the corpse in Crozier's bunk at the very end, or at least what was the significance of him having huge rat teeth? Hickey died before he even got close to getting back to the ship, right? http://www.amazon.com/SPOILER-Ending-Question/forum/Fx2RL9D8LI10U9T/Tx2NM6B9TI76Z9M/ I read The Terror last month, and I really enjoyed it. I also read Song of Kali, which you would probably enjoy. It's a creepy book. I've got a few more of his books on my reading list now, I doubt anything will top The Terror though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2010 09:30
|
|
|
Finished up Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass. It... well it didn't suck, but it didn't seem to really have much of a plot either. I don't know if I was expecting too much, or I had the wrong idea when I started reading it, but all it ended up being was a horribly convoluted murder mystery with rednecks, and some dudes life story of personal problems he has. The whole "body farm" aspect didn't really pop up in the book, other than a few paragraphs about it, and then reference to it later. Never really used as a plot device or anything. I really thought it would be some sort of bone mecca where all kinds of cool poo poo is learned, but basically the book was just odd. I would really only recommend it if you are hard up for a mystery and feel like reading about anatomical details in murders, fires, arsons, etc. I like the science of it, but there wasn't much in there. I have had The Terror on my reading list for a while, so I might start that one up next.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2010 09:44
|
|
|
Juanito posted:Here is quite a bit of discussion on mostly what you're asking about. Yeah, Song of Kali is really good. I've read a lot of Simmons' work and he can be pretty hit-and-miss for the most part. Good writer with a lot of cool ideas, but his execution falls short sometimes.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2010 14:54
|
|
|
So, inspired by urbancontra, I started and have now finished Dune Messiah. It was an interesting read. As an initial matter, it read very quickly; it has been so many years since I read Dune that I can't recall whether Dune was like Messiah in that respect. Also, and I suppose this is fitting, it did come off, as others have suggested, as essentially a coda to Dune rather than a stand-alone novel, focusing on the dilemma in which Paul's success placed him, and centering on a more intrigue driven plot in place of the more action driven plot of the original. (There was of course plenty of intrigue in the original, so this is a relative observation.) There were a few loose ends from a plot perspective. Irulan had been a member of the conspiracy against Paul, driven by personal ambition, her status as the daughter of the previous Emperor and her connection to the Bene Gesserit. Yet at the end she seems, without much explanation, to abandon this posture for loyalty to Paul's children with Chani. Paul had requested protection for his child (he had thought there would only be one) from Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. Nothing further seems to come of this request before Stilgar kills the Reverend Mother, and the consequences of her execution are undeveloped. Similarly undeveloped are the plot to remove a sandworm and its impact on the Guild and the nature of the Tleilaxu conditioning (how could conflict restore memories if they were not there to begin with? if they were there to begin with, why condition them away and why be surprised at their reemergence?). Still, I would say that it was a worthwhile read overall, with reasonably strong characterization and plot complexity, for anyone that enjoyed Dune or is in the mood for a bit of light science fiction. And in fact I will probably move along to the next installment.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2010 22:42
|
|
|
Folderol posted:So, inspired by urbancontra, I started and have now finished Dune Messiah. It was an interesting read. I just finished God Emperor of Dune. It's a lot like Messiah in that there's a lot of heady conceptual dialogue and only a handful of really important plot points. It's VERY interesting if you care about finding out what happens after the end of Children and what the gently caress Leto is going to do with himself, both physically and his plan for the universe. There's some lengthy discussion about the nature of power and its relation to time, and offers a pretty stark contrast to the constructs of the first novel. It's also a lot more powerful emotionally, especially in the last third or so. A lot of tension is subtly built throughout the book, and the last 20 or so pages are pretty dynamite. I still don't know if I liked it as much as the first book, but it's easily the best of the first four. In the middle of Heretics of Dune presently, but getting a little burnt out. Having accomplished my goal of reading the first four during February, I might slow down a little, but the reviews for the next two look as promising as the rest of the books, so I'll try and stick with it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2010 23:07
|
|
|
Just finished The Red Queen's Daughter, a semi-magical reimagining of Elizabeth I's court (in rose-colored YA glasses). By no means great or gripping, yet oddly enthralling nonetheless.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2010 01:11
|
|
|
I finished reading Makers by Cory Doctorow. It was strange and too fast-paced for its own good. If I had to summarize I would say it is about the rise and fall of a future economic system based on creativity and the nostalgia that arises for it after the fall, but complicated in a way that allows the author to lash out about intellectual property rights. I read the first 50 pages of Blindsight by Peter Watts this morning. It moves fast but is still comprehensible. The inclusion of a character who is described as a vampire doesn't seem to mesh with the rest of the story. Perhaps it will be explained later. I am about halfway through the unabridged audio recording of Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. It is pretty funny and very typical of Moore's writing style. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Mar 1, 2010 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2010 19:18
|
|
|
Nacht und Schimmel (Opowiadania) by Stanislav Lem. Apparently never released in English. A collection of sci-fi short stories of varying quality. Some of the stories are really ruined by the sci-fi angle. There is one particular story about some guy who finds a small globe that keeps dividing and dividing. It might as well have been a Borges if it weren't for the really dumb scientific explanation at the very beginning of the story. There are several similar cases where all the mystery that's built up is ruined by a painstakingly detailed explanation of everything. On the other hand, there are some truly fantastic science fiction stories that are not about pew pew space battle but science fiction in the literal meaning of the word, e.g. what if the Boltzmann constant was found out to be decreasing. All in all: sometimes needlessly verbose, very hit and miss, but the hits easily outshine the misses. Der Brenner und der liebe Gott by Wolf Haas. I guess nobody outside of the German speaking countries has heard of Wolf Haas, but he's a really popular here in Austria with several of his books turned into surprisingly good movies. Haas' writes the crime story like he was telling it to someone in a bar which I find very entertaining and funny but might not be everyone's cup of tea. He spoils the ending right at the start by mentioning how the protagonist is going to spectacularly save the day but since most of his crime stories have bizarre and unlikely resolutions anyway I saw this as a way of telling the reader to not worry too much and simply enjoy the ride. I did, but it's not really his best book.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2010 22:51
|
|
|
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. The characters were one-dimensional and the writing was pedantic, but I still couldn't put it down and I don't know why. The subject matter is pretty interesting, I guess. It's a historical novel set in the 12th century about the building of a cathedral. If you're interested in that kinda thing you should pick it up and at least it's written at a 8th grader's reading level so you'll be able to get through it's 1,000 pages pretty quickly. It's not boring though, it's got that going for it. snail goat fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Mar 2, 2010 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2010 07:55
|
|
|
The Codex Alera: Book 4 - Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher. Excellent fantasy series, totally addicted.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2010 23:37
|
|
|
Finished up Shutter Island today. It was.. pretty good actually. More psychological than I expected from the movie trailers. Decent book, and it seems like it would translate into a decent movie. Gonna wait for dvd rentals to figure that out though 
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2010 05:32
|
|
|
Just finished Nausea by Sartre. I was kind of disappointed by it, even though it's not a bad book by any means. I don't know, I guess I just expected something else from it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2010 23:03
|
|
|
The Lucifer Effect. A good book on the subject of why people do bad things. It was written by the psychologist who performed the stafford experiment.
|
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2010 23:33
|
|
|
1830 posted:The Lucifer Effect. A good book on the subject of why people do bad things. It was written by the psychologist who performed the stafford experiment. I wish this was on Audible  Another book I have referenced those experiments. My mind nearly exploded due to the insanity.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2010 00:26
|
|
The General posted:I wish this was on Audible Pretty much bases the evil coming from the us versus them mentality. I doubt any one would read it to tape due it being over 500 pages long. Edit: Half of it is dedicated to the stafford prison experiment. The half focuses on history and how they are similar. 1830 fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Mar 5, 2010 |
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2010 00:28
|
|
|
1830 posted:Pretty much bases the evil coming from the us versus them mentality. I doubt any one would read it to tape due it being over 500 pages long. God drat that's a thick book. Ahwell, maybe some day I'll start reading physical books again. It could happen.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2010 00:33
|
|
|
John Jhonson posted:Just finished Nausea by Sartre. I was kind of disappointed by it, even though it's not a bad book by any means. I don't know, I guess I just expected something else from it. If not, never mind.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2010 02:14
|
|
|
Just finished The Lies of Locke Lamora and have started the sequel. Also read the first Percy Jackson novel and it made me want to loving vomit.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2010 04:42
|
|
|
Just finished Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth. Excellent novel.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2010 08:58
|
|
|
Misery by Stephen King. Got it for free from a "take a book, leave a book" scheme at Stoke on Trent train station. It was pretty good, but I found it unsettling because I think I identified too much with the crazy lady. The descriptions of Paul's struggling through his suffering were very vivid though, and it was easy to pity him. I was really satisfied with the ending, it was much much better than Duma Key.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2010 13:00
|
|
|
madlilnerd posted:Misery by Stephen King. Got it for free from a "take a book, leave a book" scheme at Stoke on Trent train station. It was pretty good, but I found it unsettling because I think I identified too much with the crazy lady. The descriptions of Paul's struggling through his suffering were very vivid though, and it was easy to pity him. I was really satisfied with the ending, it was much much better than Duma Key. Fun fact, my friend once dumped a girl because her favourite book was Misery. It was provoked by his best friend who kept telling him "She's going to turn out to be like the girl from Misery!". Then a month a so later books came up in conversation when he was with his girl, and that ended that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2010 15:27
|
|
|
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. The idea of a world after our fossil fuel reserves are mostly depleted was worked out really well and I really enjoyed the biological angle of his science fictions. What bothered me though was that apparently in the future photo-voltaic cells don't exist, nor had anyone capitalized on farming the CONSTANT RAGING HEAT that was referenced every third line. The battle at the end lasted too long and was largely uninteresting, though thematically I guess the book needed one last snap of wound up tension.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2010 18:50
|
|
|
Wrojin posted:If you were hoping for more of a bitter but brilliant, balls-to-the-wall condemnation of human existence, try Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. It's a soul-sucking masterpiece. I'm going to look into this, thanks for the rec.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2010 23:15
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 20:08 |
|
|
Just finished yesterday with The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I really liked it, it has a kind of pastiche of various other fantasy novels that works really well. The basic plot is about a 17 year old guy named Quentin, an over achiever from Brooklyn who learns one day that he has the potential to be a magician and after passing the entrance exam is accepted into Brakebills college in upstate New York. The book follows his career through school and into his post graduate life where he has to deal with the fact that he can now do basically whatever he wants. The thing about the book is it's very aware of the fantasy influence of previous novels. The characters make Harry Potter jokes and are obsessed with a created specifically for the book Narnia-esque series called Fillory.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2010 03:16
|
|
