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Just finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Sort of The Decameron in space, a series of stories that progressively reveal a mystery linked to a planet below a gathering massive galactic battle for the future of humanity. Really an excellent read, thanks to my Secret Santa!
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Feb 8, 2017 06:01
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Bilirubin posted:Just finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Sort of The Decameron in space, a series of stories that progressively reveal a mystery linked to a planet below a gathering massive galactic battle for the future of humanity. Really an excellent read, thanks to my Secret Santa! Read the sequels for a good example of how to ruin a good series.
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Feb 8, 2017 18:32
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TommyGun85 posted:Read the sequels for a good example of how to ruin a good series. Worse than what followed Ender's Game?
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Feb 9, 2017 04:10
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Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages. Short book, knocked it out in a few hours, and not my usual fare but good and enjoyable all the same. The book's back had me expecting urban fantasy in 1940 San Francisco with a female protagonist. Ended up reading a lesbian love story in 1940 San Francisco - and a look at minority cultures in that time and place in general, emphasis on LGBT and to a lesser extent Asian-American (in the years right before the US entered WW2) experiences - where magic only plays a significant role at the end. Interesting book, if short - online reviews consistently call it a novella - and left me wanting more. I like well-written romance in books, and although actual romance as a genre has never been my thing Passing Strange sold me on its interesting characters, choice of setting, and how everything comes together at the end. I'm not sure whether to file this book as "lesbian couple dies at the end" or "lesbian couple lives happily ever after." It's a strange mix of both. I found the ending decidedly bittersweet, but your mileage on the unusual ending may vary. I give it a solid recommendation if the premise appeals to you and you don't mind the presence of magic being very low-key until the end.
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Feb 10, 2017 03:27
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Just finished reading We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis Taylor on audiobook and I must say I enjoyed the heck out of it. Given a little artistic license in the physics department it emanates the same practical problem solving vibe as The Martian. It starts strong but as the first arc ends it muddles just a bit getting the next stories set up. Despite this the pacing remains strong, portrayal of humanity felt more like a commentary than an attempt at realism and I appreciated the hyperbole. The author is obviously in tune with how software works in the real world, it makes me want more books by software engineers (check out Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook, light fantasy and compiler design)
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Feb 10, 2017 09:53
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sdobz posted:Just finished reading We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis Taylor on audiobook and I must say I enjoyed the heck out of it. Given a little artistic license in the physics department it emanates the same practical problem solving vibe as The Martian. It starts strong but as the first arc ends it muddles just a bit getting the next stories set up. Despite this the pacing remains strong, portrayal of humanity felt more like a commentary than an attempt at realism and I appreciated the hyperbole. The author is obviously in tune with how software works in the real world, it makes me want more books by software engineers (check out Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook, light fantasy and compiler design) I really enjoyed this one too. Even though it kind of feels like a guilty pleasure. Definitely in the same vein as The Martian, but tackles some interesting scenarios (A.I. threats to human existence, interstellar colonization, first contact, to name a few.) I also listened to the audiobook and I think having the different characters voiced by the same actor using slightly different accents added an interesting third-wall aspect.
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Feb 11, 2017 06:03
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Universal Harvester by John Darnielle Darnielle is an excellent writer, but he proves for a second time that he can't manage a satisfying conclusion. I've seen a few people listing UH as a horror story but that only describes the first third of the book, it then settles into familiar WitWV territory. The whole book asks the question, what is the purpose of the scenes spliced into the video tapes? Beyond a few extremely vague paragraphs at the end, the question isn't answered. Who are the people in the tapes and why are they there? Why is Sarah Jane so eager to help Lisa, to the extent that she moves in with her?
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Feb 13, 2017 07:39
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Just finished The Final Empire, which is the first book in the Mistborn series. It has an interesting magic system based around ingesting and burning metals. Each metal does a specific thing. For example, burning tin grants the user an increase in all of their physical senses. They can see further, hear more clearly, and feel more intensely. Burning steel allows the user to push metals away from their body. Its pretty neat. I started the 2nd book in the series, The Well of Ascension, last night.
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Feb 14, 2017 03:39
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I read The Great God Pan. Underwhelming and overwritten, but not bad. It was okay, but muddled.
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Feb 14, 2017 23:53
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I just finished You Can't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson. I listened to the audio book, which is the way you want to go with this. Definite laugh out loud moments. Points I could relate to as a woman and points that were socially educational since I am not a woman of color. Highly recommended if you like 2 Dope Queens (which you probably should).
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Feb 15, 2017 03:50
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Valsu posted:Just finished The Final Empire, which is the first book in the Mistborn series. It has an interesting magic system based around ingesting and burning metals. Each metal does a specific thing. For example, burning tin grants the user an increase in all of their physical senses. They can see further, hear more clearly, and feel more intensely. Burning steel allows the user to push metals away from their body. Its pretty neat. I hope you enjoy that magic system, you'll be reading a lot more about it. The original Mistborn trilogy is still interesting, though, because it's about a world where the prophesied saviour failed to fulfil the prophecies. I think that's in book 1, but spoilering just in case. I haven't read any of the other novels because I don't think they'll work as well.
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Feb 15, 2017 12:34
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Jedit posted:I hope you enjoy that magic system, you'll be reading a lot more about it. They don't.  I hope you like the male protag, he takes over the books as a kind of gary stu, which is just salt in the wound. e: To clarify, as I think I misread your post: Mistborn book 1 was good. Books 2+3 fell down for me. Haven't read the rest in the setting. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 12:40
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An interesting magic system is the number one thing I look for in a book
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Feb 15, 2017 12:44
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fridge corn posted:An interesting magic system is the number one thing I look for in a book that's why i'm reading eliphas levi
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Feb 15, 2017 12:51
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Felidae by Akif Pirincci. The tagline on the cover says it's "a novel of cats and murder," which is accurate but doesn't quite signal how insane this book is. It gets incredibly gruesome. Spoilers because it gives away the murderer's motives: The book never mentions anything about Hitler or Jews, but the book is obviously an allegory for Jewish and Aryan eugenics programs. I've never read many mystery novels outside of Agatha Christie, so the absolute grossness of this book way out of left-field for me. Some of the narrator's rambling can drag on, but a very worthwhile read.
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Feb 15, 2017 17:36
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tentawesome posted:Felidae by Akif Pirincci. The tagline on the cover says it's "a novel of cats and murder," which is accurate but doesn't quite signal how insane this book is. It gets incredibly gruesome. Spoilers because it gives away the murderer's motives: The book never mentions anything about Hitler or Jews, but the book is obviously an allegory for Jewish and Aryan eugenics programs. I've never read many mystery novels outside of Agatha Christie, so the absolute grossness of this book way out of left-field for me. Some of the narrator's rambling can drag on, but a very worthwhile read. Now watch the movie! It's loving weird
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Feb 16, 2017 00:27
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Hedrigall posted:Now watch the movie! It's loving weird Weirder than the book or a faithful adaptation? Because the book is loving weird too.
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Feb 16, 2017 02:06
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I just finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, and I'm still sorting out exactly how I feel about it. I enjoyed reading it (I read about 2/3 of it and listened to about 1/3 of it as an audiobook; I was powering through it so I could finish it before it had to go back to the library), but I wouldn't necessarily say that it was a particularly good book. I liked the characters and the heavily character-driven approach worked for me... but I would have appreciated a little more plot. Have any of you read it? What did you think?
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Feb 16, 2017 04:29
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nerdpony posted:I just finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, and I'm still sorting out exactly how I feel about it. I enjoyed reading it (I read about 2/3 of it and listened to about 1/3 of it as an audiobook; I was powering through it so I could finish it before it had to go back to the library), but I wouldn't necessarily say that it was a particularly good book. I liked the characters and the heavily character-driven approach worked for me... but I would have appreciated a little more plot. Have any of you read it? What did you think? Read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked learning about the characters. On the whole, while there wasn't a lot of "plot" I felt like the segments definitely had interesting things in the process of fleshing out the crew and some were even tense and exciting like the pirates, arresting the clone guy, the final bit with the punch. There was a lot of emotional investment with the crew and I thought it really delivered on that. I found it to be a really compelling read.
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Feb 16, 2017 19:52
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The Last Policeman - Ben Winters Very unremarkable writing. Very formulaic and very confusing at key parts of the story. Interesting enough premise to carry it though, benefits from not being too long. Seems like a big shift in tone for the next novel basic on the epilogue. I'm going to finish the series, just not all at once.
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Feb 17, 2017 00:58
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The Girl Before By J. P. Delaney I don't like giving negative reviews but this was so clearly trying to cash in on the popularity of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, mixed with (presumably, because I've never read it) 50 Shades of Grey. It was not good. None of the characters were believable or likable for that matter. The "plot twist!" followed by "plot twist!" followed by "plot twist!" failed to surprise or entertain, in fact, I found myself rolling my eyes. Two stars because at least the writing wasn't torturous and it was a quick read that kept me off Facebook reading politics for a night. It will probably make a better movie (it was picked up by Ron Howard).
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Feb 19, 2017 00:53
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Neuromancer by William Gibson I was really looking forward to this book when I learned about it's relation to cyberpunk as a genre. To be honest I felt like the theme was great, the main plot points were well considered and interesting, but Gibson struggled to fill the space between these big impact sections of the story. Specifically I felt like Gibson wasn't successful in fleshing out the motivations for the actions of his characters. Molly just grabbing Case's balls after expressly stating that she doesn't think he's anything special was weird, Peter R. joining the Armitage-led team without a decent explanation of his motives for doing so, etc.. All in all it was enjoyable as a read but I can't help but feel the novel gets more praise than it deserves because of it's influence in the genre.
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Feb 19, 2017 01:52
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Koburn posted:Universal Harvester by John Darnielle Darnielle is an excellent writer, but he proves for a second time that he can't manage a satisfying conclusion. I've seen a few people listing UH as a horror story but that only describes the first third of the book, it then settles into familiar WitWV territory. Plot spoilers: Lisa has surveillance tapes from the people who staked out the cult group who took her mother. She's splicing the tapes into other tapes so that the people will continue to exist and be remembered and such. She even explicitly states this, that's she's their witness and keep their memories alive. As I understood it, Sarah Jane is old, worked in retail forever, and this secret project is enamoring to her. Plus, she wants to help Lisa, a lonesome woman. It's just simple compassion. I do wish the horror lasted longer, or that this was a straight up horror tale.
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Feb 19, 2017 06:49
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value-brand cereal posted:Plot spoilers: From my understanding there are two types of tapes, the surveillance tapes of the cult and the snuff-style 'Shed #4' tapes that Lisa has made herself. From the final chapter of the book: 'I made a few friends: people who were drawn to me, to my steady strength, to my knack for making any place I stood feel like a permanent shelter. I preserved their stories, and when they had no stories, I gave them stories they could call their own, stories I trust they have carried with them in their travels beyond my reach, and I made of these stories a permanent record on tape. I filled in the parts I couldn’t know or needed to change with bits and pieces of other people’s stories: from the movies, I mean. But they all seemed to lead me to the same place. No attempt to change the outcome found purchase, however adept I became at splicing and cutting and smoothing transitions.' If it were just the former type I would understand, but the latter is what I think deserved more explanation. I don't agree with the compassion point at all and it's what bugs me the most about the ending. SJ has been watching these bizarre tapes, arrives at Lisa's to confront her and what Lisa says next convinces SJ so completely that she abandons her former life to help. I don't buy it. Sorry to poo poo up this thread with spoiler text. vvv Okay, that was a pretty good analysis. I did enjoy the book overall so I'll reread it in the future with that in mind. Koburn fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 07:26
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Universal Harvester Compassion for Lisa's awful, unanswerable ache is explicitly the motivation. It's what drives Jeremy to dissuade Stephanie from calling the cops (killing any shot at a romance with her), despite the fact that he'd been tied to a chair and assaulted in the middle of the night.* It's why he asks the family to leave Lisa alone. And it's why the family ultimately does leave Lisa alone, driving off and leaving her unconfronted. *This marks a key distinction between them which plays into the novel's overarching themes. Stephanie is from a small town, but she's not of a small town - one of the first things we're told of her is how she likes to brag about her MA, and we know she ultimately heads out to the cities. She doesn't understand the kind of mindset that would cause Jeremy (who genuinely likes Iowa, and heatedly states so to Stephanie's face, and of course has lost a mother himself) to not call the cops and just let Lisa deal with her hurt in her own way. The family at the end (whose name I don't remember right now) is Stephanie's foil: they're outsiders who are moving into the community, but by driving away from the curb in their RV instead of forcing Lisa to explain the crazy things she did out of hurt and pain, they signal that they belong, that they understand in some way; thus despite the fact that the barns are prefab now and the tractors are all computer-controlled, something of the ethos of the town - the best things that that kind of small community stands for - will persevere. chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 07:36
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Just finished the second installation of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy, The Confusion. Onto the next 800 pages! I'm already debating in my head what I'll be reading next. I have both The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, neither of which I've ever read, waiting in my queue. I'm tempted to go with Gibson just to get back into relatively modern times.
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Feb 19, 2017 18:58
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Colonel Taint posted:Just finished the second installation of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy, The Confusion. Onto the next 800 pages! The Name of the Rose might be my favorite book. I think Foucault's Pendulum probably is Eco's better book, but The Name of the Rose just brings me a particular sense of joy when I read it. That said, no matter whether you read the Eco or the Gibson, you're reading some good stuff.
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Feb 19, 2017 21:13
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I tend to read two to four books at a time, usually I try to read them in discrete situations or places so that I'll stay motivated to read all of them rather than just finish one so for example I'll often have one book I read on the subway, another I read at home, and another I read at the coffee shop near my office. By sheer coincidence I wound up finishing The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, The Shining, and The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson within two days of each other. I enjoyed all of them, but they all had some issues. The Silk Roads seemed at first to be primarily a history of the Middle East and Central Asia, with mention made at appropriate times of events elsewhere, but always focused on developments in the region. And that was great, that's what I wanted, but from the time of Columbus to the end of WWII the book kind of loses its focus, spending whole chapters in the Americas or Europe. It gets more focused in the post-war era but the focus on the actions and policies of Western countries in the region continues, which is kind of disappointing. The Shining is much more morally and emotionally complex than I would have expected (I've never really read Stephen King so it might just be my own preconceptions that led to me being surprised by that). The issue for me is that a fair amount of the supernatural stuff in the book just seems kind of silly. I mean, the hedge animals for one, I just couldn't take them seriously. Still, pretty good and I'm definitely going to read other Stephen King books to see how he develops as a writer. I enjoy Bill Bryson books in general, they're genial, informative, easy reads. Perfect for reading on the subway, and I appreciate that Bryson doesn't just laud everything even in books about things he loves, but I think The Road to Little Dribbling gets a little too close to "Old Man Yells at Cloud" territory. Like, obviously celebrity gossip magazines are stupid, do we really need a multi-page digression on this topic in a book that's ostensibly about travelling to quirky, unique parts of the UK? On the whole, I still enjoyed it but there were definitely moments where I was rolling my eyes. Since this batch was pretty lightweight (even the Silk Roads surprisingly, that's another criticism of it) I decided to read something a little more complex so I'm now reading 10:04 by Ben Lerner at the coffee shop and The Elder Edda on the subway and, until I figure out something else I want to read in addition to it, at home. stereobreadsticks fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Feb 20, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 03:33
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Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Didn't hate it but was glad to be done with it by the end. This was the first time I've ever read Vonnegut and I want to come back and re-read this in a few years (after hopefully reading more KV) because I feel like I missed something important. It was all super-disjointed and I didn't come away from it really feeling anything, which was maybe the point?
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Feb 21, 2017 13:41
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C-Euro posted:Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Didn't hate it but was glad to be done with it by the end. This was the first time I've ever read Vonnegut and I want to come back and re-read this in a few years (after hopefully reading more KV) because I feel like I missed something important. It was all super-disjointed and I didn't come away from it really feeling anything, which was maybe the point? You should read Mother Night next. Then maybe Cat's Cradle, or one of his later works, like Hocus Pocus.
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Feb 21, 2017 13:46
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Read some of his short stories. Welcome to the Monkey House.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:07
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VelociBacon posted:Neuromancer by William Gibson I just finished it as well, and I mostly agree, lots of neat ideas sort of kludged together.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:49
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Colonel Taint posted:Just finished the second installation of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy, The Confusion. Onto the next 800 pages! I've read the first two of the Sprawl trilogy, and the Name of the Rose. The Name of the Rose is better by far but only if you're up for something heavy.
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Feb 22, 2017 06:33
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Eco is good but hes not really that heavy
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Feb 22, 2017 07:21
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Compared to William Gibson he sure is.
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Feb 22, 2017 07:39
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If you can trod through thirty pages of "then Case, the ol electric cowboy, rode that sleek electro slice-n-dice over Tokyo, where the slipslops were glorby" then you can get through the chapter about the door in Name of the Rose.
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Feb 22, 2017 07:58
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Magic Hate Ball posted:If you can trod through thirty pages of "then Case, the ol electric cowboy, rode that sleek electro slice-n-dice over Tokyo, where the slipslops were glorby" then you can get through the chapter about the door in Name of the Rose. Honestly, if you can get over the inherent preconceptions about a book about monks then Name of the Rose is just really enjoyable and engaging.
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Feb 22, 2017 15:58
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:inherent preconceptions about a book about monks What, what, who has these and what are they?
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Feb 22, 2017 17:48
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Yeah, I never really thought of Eco as an especially difficult author, and of the novels I've read from him I think the Name of the Rose is the most accessible. Foucault's Pendulum and Baudolino have kind of slow starts that almost feel like intentional obstacles to keep less dedicated readers from getting to the good stuff, and the Prague Cemetery is off putting just because the main character is such a terrible person, but I don't remember anything in the Name of the Rose that would keep me from recommending it to just about anyone.
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Feb 22, 2017 17:51
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Jerome Agricola posted:What, what, who has these and what are they? Maybe this is a dumb assumption, but I feel like lots of people would look at a story set in a monastery in the 14th century and assume that it's gonna be really dry and stuffy.
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Feb 22, 2017 18:49
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