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Do any of Fleming’s books have the super weapons and doomsday devices that pop up in the movies?
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Mar 8, 2024 20:29
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White Coke posted:Do any of Fleming’s books have the super weapons and doomsday devices that pop up in the movies? I own three of the originals: From Russia With Love, Diamonds Are Forever and For Your Eyes Only. Though I haven't read FYEO yet, not that I've seen so far. They're more grounded than the movies tended to be.
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Mar 8, 2024 21:26
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Lint - Steve Aylett Jeff Lint was the most prolific Sci-Fi author you never heard of. You haven't heard of him because Aylett made him up out of whole cloth. Even going so far as to create a mock Wikipedia page. The book covers the general periods of Lint's work, his struggles with both spouses and editors, and why he always submitted finished stories in drag. I will likely be reading And Your Point Is? which is the follow-up where Aylett invites his fellow authors to give detailed reviews of Lint's work which are only touched upon here. An excellent send-up of biographies.
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Mar 8, 2024 21:50
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F_Shit_Fitzgerald posted:I own three of the originals: From Russia With Love, Diamonds Are Forever and For Your Eyes Only. Though I haven't read FYEO yet, not that I've seen so far. They're more grounded than the movies tended to be. Yeah I tend to agree with this, though there is one ridiculous thing near the end of Doctor No that popped into mind immediately. Speaking of pulp fictiony thrillers I've just finished Black City by Boris Akunin and it read like a bad James Bond book while somehow being way too weeby for its own good at the same time. Also way too much character introspection, but I don't know if that's the author's fault or just how Russian lit works in general. It was also the last of the series apparently, and probably a bad jumping on point, but it did not endear me so I will not be seeking out the other books.
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Mar 8, 2024 22:16
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Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy - Cixin Liu I've been meaning to read this for a while and it turns out that an impending TV adaptation is a pretty good motivator for me. I really only needed that to get started though, because by the time the first seeds of cosmic mystery appeared in Three Body Problem I was absolutely hooked and smashed through the whole trilogy in a week. The scope of this thing is just breathtaking really, and to be able to prepare the reader for the concepts, both scientific and philosophical, such that you aren't left feeling alienated from the whole thing is a real achievement. I also really enjoyed the little bits of foreshadowing of both clues and red-herrings sprinkled through the book. Every time an analogy was reused it got my mind working to connect the two concepts it had been used to describe. I almost never guessed right but the revelations also never felt like a rug-pull. Considering that the book is a translation, that's even more impressive. The constant, deepening mysteries along with the well-judged use of non-linear storytelling give the whole thing a fractal feel. It's not perfect. Definitely not a series for people who prefer characters to plot, mystery and philosophical musings. There's not a huge amount to differentiate some of the characters, and it really stands out when someone who feels like a real person shows up (Da Shi, for example). It's a bit weird politically. The first book opens with several chapters set during the cultural revolution, so it definitely invites reading through a political lens. I think it might be an issue with the somewhat arms-length third person point of view. The books frequently offer an opinion on the political situation of the era, but it's never totally clear whose opinion we're being given, so it sometimes feels like the author's voice. This leads to all sorts of weird contradictions like decrying totalitarianism and then yearning for an age of strong military men who sweep aside humanitarian concerns to make Hard Decisions. It's also kind of weird about women and gender. As with the political philosophising, we're often presented with opinions about these topics that don't feel like they come from any of the characters, so it's hard not to read it as hang-ups on the part of the author. Despite writing almost as many critical words as positive, I really loved this series. Science fiction should be ambitious, and these books are certainly that. If there are books with similar tone and scope out there I'd love some recommendations
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Mar 9, 2024 17:05
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White Coke posted:Do any of Fleming’s books have the super weapons and doomsday devices that pop up in the movies? I read all the Fleming Bond books when I was young. They're all fairly streamlined action spy thrillers and the stakes are never really global in the sense that we would think of it. A couple of them involve a couple of nukes, but they're more on the level of state sponsored terrorism or organised crime.
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Mar 9, 2024 19:38
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For anyone interested in a deeper dive into the Bond books, I should note that the late lamented chitoryu12's Let's Read James Bond threads are still available in the Goldmine and this forum.
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Mar 10, 2024 01:01
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A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth This is the longest novel I've read (almost 1500 pages). I've been picking away at it since October last year, with a few other books in between. I don't think I've fully absorbed it yet. I also think I'll miss being able to dip into it as I've become so used to the setting and characters over the last few months. The quality of the prose was so consistent and pleasurable to read that it never felt like a "heavy" book despite its length. Even the many pages dedicated to post partition politics were interesting and well written, though I admit my progress probably slowed whenever they appeared. Given my lack of knowledge of post partition Indian history, I'd love to know how accurate the book is in representing the time period. It's a shame that most of the main characters are middle/upper class/caste. Definitely going to read something short and snappy next.
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Mar 13, 2024 02:43
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After Henry by Joan Didion. Liked this a lot less than her earlier collections, the essays are lazily written and rambling. Lots of newspaper citations to pad up the word count. I should have stopped reading her after White Album.
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Mar 15, 2024 22:53
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Talking about detective fiction by P.D. James This enjoyable discussion of the mystery genre is perhaps lighter and less focused than I was hoping it would be, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. As an 88 year old accomplished writer of the genre whose consumption of it was compulsive and wide-ranging, James has a lot of useful comments and interesting positions. James herself is interesting for having relatively enlightened and sensitive views for someone of her generation (even as there are a handful of comments that make me feel like a layer of racism is being papered over- it's hard to tell if I'm misreading her). Her observations of how the genre was both refined and grown in response to internal development and broader social changes over the decades are highly informative and never overstated. The greatest benefit of the book is probably the range of other sources and authors that James casually mentions, either as mystery writers themselves, or as commentators on the field. I wish the bibliography at the end of the book was comprehensive! If anyone can help me find a complete copy of Knox's article in which the describes the commandments of detective fiction, I'd be very grateful. I may need to (eventually) put together a broader detective fiction bibliography from this text for my own use.
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Mar 16, 2024 04:32
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The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes This was a fun science fiction novel, enjoyed it more than the show even, and the show is really good. The book being focused on just two protagonists was a good thing. It keeps the chapters moving quickly, and the story stays focused. Where the show jumps back and forth between a pretty large cast of main characters. James S. A. Corey also writes some really carefully crafted space realism. Or at least what he writes feels very grounded in reality, the show takes place entirely in space, and that is written into the background as a constant reality and danger for the characters. There is a lot of history written throughout the book that explains how this environment has impacted the people and why they are even there in the first place. If I had any complaints, James Corey is really bad at writing women characters, Holden is a horny weirdo, and Miller is creepy lusting after a women much younger than he is, the attempted romance parts were thankfully short, but still cringe. Great book overall, watch the show!
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Mar 16, 2024 08:53
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I said come in! posted:The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes This was a fun science fiction novel, enjoyed it more than the show even, and the show is really good. The book being focused on just two protagonists was a good thing. It keeps the chapters moving quickly, and the story stays focused. Where the show jumps back and forth between a pretty large cast of main characters. James S. A. Corey also writes some really carefully crafted space realism. Or at least what he writes feels very grounded in reality, the show takes place entirely in space, and that is written into the background as a constant reality and danger for the characters. There is a lot of history written throughout the book that explains how this environment has impacted the people and why they are even there in the first place. If I had any complaints, James Corey is really bad at writing women characters, Holden is a horny weirdo, and Miller is creepy lusting after a women much younger than he is, the attempted romance parts were thankfully short, but still cringe.
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Mar 16, 2024 12:38
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Mort, by Terry Pratchett. My first Discworld novel in a long time, and the first of the Death series. The premise is simple: Death (the entity) wants to take a vacation, so he hires an apprentice and shenanigans ensue. Honestly, not one of the better Pratchett books I've read, I feel like the titular character goes from hapless nobody to 'oh crap this is why Death is supposed to be a remote and inhuman being' at the drop of a hat without any particular growth to get there or calming down at the end. It's still Pratchett so it's still decently fun, I'm just calling it mediocre for one of his books.
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Mar 16, 2024 13:00
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Cythereal posted:Mort, by Terry Pratchett. My first Discworld novel in a long time, and the first of the Death series. The premise is simple: Death (the entity) wants to take a vacation, so he hires an apprentice and shenanigans ensue. Honestly, not one of the better Pratchett books I've read, I feel like the titular character goes from hapless nobody to 'oh crap this is why Death is supposed to be a remote and inhuman being' at the drop of a hat without any particular growth to get there or calming down at the end. It's still Pratchett so it's still decently fun, I'm just calling it mediocre for one of his books. Someone on here suggested this as my first Discworld book, but after your review I am wondering if that is the best place to start...
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Mar 16, 2024 14:59
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escape artist posted:Someone on here suggested this as my first Discworld book, but after your review I am wondering if that is the best place to start... Death is a fan favorite character with a lot of Discworld fans as I understand it, so Mort might be the best place to start for that. My first Discworld book was Guards! Guards! which I quite enjoyed, but it's an entirely different cast of characters and almost a wholly different setting.
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Mar 16, 2024 15:04
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escape artist posted:Someone on here suggested this as my first Discworld book, but after your review I am wondering if that is the best place to start... I always recommend Small Gods. It’s a standalone story.
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Mar 16, 2024 17:02
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Mort is an earlier one before Pratchett fully hit his stride, but it's one of the better of his earlier. It does mostly stand alone just fine, too. So it's a good starting place if you don't want to start from literally book one, and still gets better from there.
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Mar 16, 2024 18:06
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tetrapyloctomy posted:I loved this series but I must warn you: if you read straight through the whole thing at once their writing idiosyncrasies really stand out. But it's totally worth a read. Yeah i'm taking a break for other books before I move onto book 2. The series looks to be huge, so I think I would go mad if I tried to read all of it back to back.
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Mar 16, 2024 19:39
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escape artist posted:Someone on here suggested this as my first Discworld book, but after your review I am wondering if that is the best place to start... This is exciting. As someone who recently got started with Discworld, and started with Mort (previous failed attempts with CoM), I quite liked it. His ending was pretty rushed. I'm up through to Moving Pictures now, and he's getting better, but I listen to these for a fun time and have limited expectations. I would be (pleasantly!) surprised if the quality ever approaches the books I choose to actually read.
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Mar 17, 2024 01:20
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Mort was the point where I went from liking Discworld novels to loving them, but I was a teenager at the time so I've no idea if that would hold true today. Also Terry Pratchett signed my copy and drew a little scythe and a speech bubble saying "Boo!" so that might have influenced my opinion too
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Mar 17, 2024 01:24
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I finished The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Next up is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which I have promptly sunk 212 pages of reading into since yesterday and after dinner this evening. I'm told by the person who recommended me both books to start on the sequel to Long Way after this one as a palate cleanser, and not to read the sequel to that in public unless I wanted to also cry in public.
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Mar 17, 2024 04:02
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aldantefax posted:I finished The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. that book rules and thank you for reminding me it has a sequel(s)
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Mar 17, 2024 07:39
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The Book of Doors, by Gareth Brown. It seems there's a whole subgenre of urban fantasy that's 'frumpy young-ish woman discovers magic books and gets drawn into a dramatic world of intrigue and magic as people vie for control of magic books that can shape the world, featuring a mysterious but hot British librarian dude as the protagonist's guide into the world.' If you've read one of these books before, The Book of Doors has little of interest going on. People are thrown decades back in time by magic books and show up again in the next chapter fifty years older to pick up exactly where they left off. The villain is pure evil because a magic book made her that way. Everyone is exactly as pure and good or as depraved and evil as they seem to be when they first show up, and the grand mystery of what the books are and where they come from is both answered and not very interesting in the first place. Just generic schlock from an odd little niche of urban fantasy.
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Mar 18, 2024 21:39
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The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock was so good. I guess there's a Netflix movie of it with Bill Skarsgård. I might check it out. It's a Southern Gothic thriller following some characters who, well, are in desperate situations. Including a serial killing couple, among other interesting characters.
escape artist fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Mar 21, 2024 |
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Mar 21, 2024 02:25
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You messed up your spoiler tag btw
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Mar 21, 2024 02:58
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A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay. The edition I got said it was annotated, but all that meant was a short biography of the author at the end. That said while I was expecting footnotes/endnotes explaining all the philosophical allegory it was interesting to engage with them on their own sake instead of being mediated by someone else's explanation. I don't understand most of it yet, but it was interesting.
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Mar 21, 2024 03:31
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Tarnop posted:You messed up your spoiler tag btw Whoops, my bad. Fixed it. Thank you.
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Mar 21, 2024 03:57
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I finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern today. I’m not sure what book in my fiction stream is actually up next but I have plenty of nonfiction and philosophy to read.
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Mar 22, 2024 06:22
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Firefall by Peter Watts. Actually 2 books for the price of 1, Blindsight and Echopraxia. Hard science fiction by a marine biologist with a side order of pretty brutal pessimism. I enjoyed the absolute gently caress out of the two books and they are chock-full of ideas over-developed, under-developed and everything in-between on a level similar to Snow Crash. It features vampires (hominid predator species) in outer space and a crew meeting an alien species that has to figure out if the species is sentient or not. The second book is set roughly 15 years after the first and is mostly based on Earth with yet more vampires and quite a lot of transhumans of a few different varieties. You can read the first book for free on t'internet here.
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Mar 23, 2024 01:21
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Oathbringer, By Brandon Sanderson It's an excellent book. It is not as great as #1 or #2, but very good. Now, the reading order gets weird.
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Mar 23, 2024 13:59
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One Rainy Season in Yunnan: the Path Past Pomasha, by Brian Herman. Short read, had paused it for some years but still remember where I was in the fiction to go finish it.
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Mar 23, 2024 22:22
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just got done with Last Argument of Kings the final book in the First Law Trilogy and goddamn what a great set picked up the Age of Madness trilogy today and am hype af to get those started
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Mar 24, 2024 07:52
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Wait! The standalones form an important bridge, I'm told by fans.
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Mar 24, 2024 11:57
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Shattered Sea trilogy Half a King, Half the World and Half a War by Joe Abercrombie. I didn't know this was a YA series going in but the second book is very blatantly YA with two young folk not talking to each other like dopes, so... I really liked it, the characters behave like people rather than powered by plottm types. The plot itself is internally consistent with a rather signposted twist in the third one. A thing I very liked is most of the fighting characters are experienced enough to kill the person they fight, not try some idiot talking or grandstanding, that sort of thing (Oh this is fantasy by the way) and generally speaking everybody gets good at the thing they keep doing or apply themselves to, no-one is magically good at stuff because chosen one or prophecy. They are also quick reads and there's probably a collected slab for cheaper buying somewhere.
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Mar 24, 2024 19:53
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Exit Strategy by Martha Wells, the fourth Murderbot novella and effectively the end of the "book" those first four novellas make together. In between picking up (and mostly bouncing off of) some other things, I've been picking through those books because I wanted to get back up to speed on the series. Still fun and breezy reads.
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Mar 25, 2024 00:52
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John F Kennedy: A Life by Michael O'Brien is one big hell of a book, at 905 pages long. Full thematic chapters exploring every facet of his personality, and coverage of pretty much every event and political issue. And yet it still couldn't possibly hold a candle to Caro's LBJ books, which I have started recently.
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Mar 25, 2024 12:37
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The Match by Mark Frost. I have read other books by him so he has earned the leap of faith I took with this book. It is an account - historical, not apocryphal - of a golf match back in the day arranged by monied golf guys between a set of amateurs and a set of professionals.Basically, he uses this match as the swing between what was and what is (now). I give not a single poo poo about golf. It really is a good walk shat on by dumb ways of getting about. Nevertheless, this is a good story, very well told and described a lot of things in a simple and elegant way. It made me give a poo poo about golf courses. (Not to any extent I'd lift a finger but, y'know...) Would recommend.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:49
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Golf is cool and fun. Golf players however are not
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Mar 26, 2024 14:30
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Snow by Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk is probably one of my favourite authors. Snow is an interesting book in that it is of a very specific place and time and is very political which will probably resonate much differently if it is something you're attuned to. Nonetheless Pamuk once again tells a charming and earnest story about some very normal, complicated, simple people, which is what he does best. He is a master of elevating the mundane and burrowing deep into characters and exposing their inner workings and in this he's set it against the backdrop of a very specific political conflict. He also plays around with the framing a bit which he is wont to do. Not my favourite of his novels but I also don't think he's ever written a bad book
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Mar 26, 2024 15:54
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Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend. As someone who loves history but knows almost nothing about this particular part of it, I found this to be an excellent introduction. I think it did a great job of giving a broad idea of the cultural history of the area and some of the key players and dynamics involved in early European contact, and that it toed the line excellently between not sugarcoating anything while also avoiding the temptation to derail into editorializing about it. The only downside was learning that almost all the primary sources were in languages I don't know! I wish more people wrote accessibly about this period of history. Fascinating stuff!
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Mar 27, 2024 04:28
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