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Whalley posted:Finished #1, and it turns out my eBook contained more than the actual book. This book is so totally sweet. Yeah, I'm going to try for 50 this year. Just pulling a number out of my rear end since the length of books vary wildly and we have another baby on the way. I've been a voracious reader all my life but never tried logging or taking any kind of notes before. 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. About 80% done at the moment; another pretty sweet collection of short stories.
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Jan 3, 2014 08:17
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Two down: 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. About 80% done at the moment; another pretty sweet collection of short stories. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. Something of a comfort reread (have been going through the whole series since some time last year, in between other books). Both of these were not terribly long books so now I just started on this big fat fantasy thing Blood Song by Anthony Ryan because a bunch of goons were singing its praises. Less than 10% in, seems pretty decent so far.
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Jan 8, 2014 13:06
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Groke posted:Both of these were not terribly long books so now I just started on this big fat fantasy thing Blood Song by Anthony Ryan because a bunch of goons were singing its praises. Less than 10% in, seems pretty decent so far. Finished that while waiting in the hospital for my wife to give birth to our #3 son. Was drat fine, rated it 5 (both the book and the baby). So now the list is: 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. Next up: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Because it's a genre-defining classic I've never actually read, because it's short and snappish (which fits well with taking care of a newborn), and because the combination of a Kindle and free books from Project Gutenberg brings much joy.
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Jan 16, 2014 09:39
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Butch Cassidy posted:Sewer, Gas and Electric That book is pretty great and justifies the existence of Ayn Rand.
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Jan 17, 2014 20:27
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1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. 4. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Well, finding enough time and mental presence to read with a newborn in the house is another question altogether; the last book took me nearly three weeks where it would normally have gone in three days. So be it, things will stabilize. It was a fine and enjoyable story and I have now filled a gaping hole in my geek-literature background. Just started on The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson. A short introspective novel about being a young Jewish man in Germany during the rise of Nazism (and written while all that poo poo was going on), except with all the specifics removed (it is never "the Jews" or "Hitler", but only "we" and "the enemy").
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Feb 4, 2014 07:04
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1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. 4. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 5. The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson. The last one was pretty heavy despite being short; not a pleasant read at all, but quite interesting. Very abstract and introverted depiction of being a young German Jew in the 1930s (so abstract that it actually anonymizes the whole situation and never mentions Jews, Hitler, Nazis or Germany by name). Also written while the author was hiding out in exile during the war (and therefore before the full extent of the infamous atrocities became clear). Reading has been slow with a newborn in the house but I'm now back to the daily bus commute which leaves me with more time that can only be used for either reading or napping. We shall see how it goes.
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Feb 24, 2014 14:48
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Groke posted:1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. Added to this: 6. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter 7. The Long War by same, sequel to the above. These were surely much more Baxter than Pratchett, but okay. The basic concept being that in the immediate future, it is discovered that there exists a huge number (at least millions) of alternate Earths, easily accessible to (most) humans (to the point where you can walk across the dimensions with a gizmo you can build yourself from components you buy at the local electronics shop), all broadly similar to our Earth but with no humans. This has various consequences. All in all an enjoyable read although the characters are mostly quite shallow and the plots haven't been all that surprising or anything -- the setting is interesting enough for now, at least. Baxter has his weaknesses and authorial tics and they're present here but I do keep reading his stuff and I'm sure I'll read the next one in this series as well. Just started on A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold; more comfort rereading.
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Mar 3, 2014 12:50
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Finished another: 8. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Comfort rereading, more or less; this might be my favourite of the whole Vorkosigan series and it is basically a romantic comedy of manners. Manages to combine being downright hilarious and genuinely romantic, sometimes edging very close to my personal cringe-limit as far as socially awkward situations go. Started on The Martian by one Andy Weir because a bunch of goons were saying it was good. Only a few pages in but I like the author's/narrator's voice already.
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Mar 11, 2014 14:06
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9. The Martian, by Andy Weir. Pretty cool little techno-optimistic story about an astronaut accidentally left behind on Mars and his struggle for survival. 10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Extremely entertaining historical fiction with a main character/narrator who's close to the Platonic ideal of an antihero (and also a near-total rear end in a top hat, and a coward whenever he can get away with it). Widely regarded as a classic, and first of a lengthy series wherein the eponymous narrator lies and cheats and fornicates his way through most of the historically important events of the Victorian era. I actually already read this one in Norwegian translation many years ago, but the rest of the series was never translated and I thought to start at the beginning. Groke fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Mar 17, 2014 |
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Mar 17, 2014 21:13
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Fellwenner posted:Fine, I'm adding this to my to-read list. I've read it before and it's really worth it. Chesterton was way cool.
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Jun 18, 2014 12:24
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Neglected to post here for the last three months but have kept up with the reading. Previously: 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. 4. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 5. The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson. 8. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. 9. The Martian, by Andy Weir. 10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. 3-month update: 11. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. Vorkosigan re-read. Minor but obviously still enjoyable; felt to me like the whole series climaxed with A Civil Campaign and this is just part one of an extended denouement. 12. Equations of Life by Simon Morden. Part #1 of a kinda post-apocalyptic kinda cyberpunk thing. Good but not great, the world and protagonist both felt a bit too gonzo to be believable. Will go on to read the next when I feel like it. 13. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. More latter-day Vorkosigan, enjoyable as such. 14. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. So far the latest entry, and basically a side quest starring some of the supporting cast. Nice but feels like yet more tying up of loose ends. 15. Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. SF/horror thing which I found interesting but short of amazing, in my jaded adulthood. Bear used to be one of my very favourite authors way back but I haven't entirely kept up with him since the 1990s. Some neat ideas and environments, but not much in the way of characterization and the things that were supposed to be big surprises I didn't find all that surprising. Still, tight and not overlong or repetitive like so many other genre books these days. 16. Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey. Okay and somewhat original post-apocalyptic setting. A pretty quick read, does not yet feel like a finished story, and I fear Howey is better at building up interesting worlds and plots than finishing them. Will read a sequel if one comes. 17. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Liked this a lot; it has a refreshingly "good" protagonist and an overall positive and non-grimdark tone. 18. Space Viking by H. Beam Piper. I used to play Traveller and it's cool to see where a bunch of the inspiration for that came from. Snappy story with spaceships and machine guns and lots of action. The politics of the author, or at least the main protagonist, are dubious but not nearly to the degree often seen in modern-day "military SF". 19. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Did this right after Space Viking in part to experience a bit about how this particular subgenre of SF has evolved in the last 50 years. Very nice debut, will be interested to see where the author takes the greater story next. 20. Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson. Guilty pleasure, whatever. It's basically a long mil-sf series with WW2-era naval and aircraft technology instead of spaceships, and with only a bearable amount of dubious politics. 21. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Just for balance and to remind myself there's other stuff than nerd genre literature. As a bonus, this book turned out pretty drat great and well-worth reading on its own merit, gently caress the haters. (I understand a lot of Americans get this book ruined for them by high school English classes.) 22. Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. 23. The Scarpetta Factor by same. 24. The Bone Bed by same. -- changing from one often-trashy genre notable for very long series to another. These are late entries in a very long-running and somewhat formulaic series of crime fiction novels focusing in this case on a medical examiner and her supporting cast of weirdoes. Credibility is increasingly strained (one is reminded of Bruce Willis' quip from Die Hard 2 about "how can the same poo poo happen to the same guy twice?", well, how about 20 times?) but they're still fun to read and speaking as someone who knows nothing about forensic pathology the author seems like she knows her poo poo and includes just enough of the technical details. 25. The Greatship by Robert Reed. Short-story collection (with certain recurring characters) in the same setting as a series of (so far) three novels of which I've read the first two and have the third lined up. Actually read inbetween those Cornwell books above. Very large-scale transhumanist space opera, chock full of cool ideas and imagery, recommended. 26. Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin. Short and snappy satire of the Soviet space program. Extremely wicked black humour. This book was pretty great and I will be reading more by this author.
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Jun 19, 2014 08:12
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Argali posted:And to this day James Fennimore Cooper ranks high up there as one of the worst writers I've read. De gustibus and all that but if we didn't have James Fenimore Cooper we wouldn't have this: http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/rissetto/offense.html
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Jul 6, 2014 20:58
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Man, I read a lot of Vonnegut back when I was a precociuos pre-teen. Major influence on my developing worldview at the time. It's been 25 years or so; might be time to revisit as a jaded adult.
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Jul 19, 2014 08:04
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Previously: 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. 4. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 5. The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson. 8. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. 9. The Martian, by Andy Weir. 10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. 11. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. 12. Equations of Life by Simon Morden. 13. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. 14. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. 15. Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. 16. Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey. 17. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. 18. Space Viking by H. Beam Piper. 19. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. 20. Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson. 21. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 22. Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. 23. The Scarpetta Factor by same. 24. The Bone Bed by same. 25. The Greatship by Robert Reed. 26. Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin. Update through July: 27. SS-GB by Len Deighton. A classic in the "Hitler wins" genre, written in the 1970s by an author who was otherwise known for "regular" espionage fiction rather than nerdfuckery. Set in early-40s Nazi-occupied Britain, starts out as a murder mystery and ends as a high-stakes spy thriller. Tightly plotted and tense as hell, even though the actual alternate history scenario is not believable (a successful Unternehmen Seelöwe being, basically, impossible). Hadn't read Deighton before but will check out some of his other stuff. 28. The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett (nominally) and Stephen Baxter (mostly). Third in its series, not that much in the way of plot really but good enough on the worldbuilding and exploration stuff to be worth reading. Hell, Baxter can write any amount of stories about cardboard characters exploring hosed-up weird planets and I'll read them and enjoy it. 29. Dominion by CJ Sansom. Was supposed to do this immediately after SS-GB but Pratchett/Baxter got in the way; yet another "Hitler wins (kinda sorta)" book by another writer going outside his usual genre (which is non-counterfactual historical crime fiction in this case). More believable scenario, longer timescale (set in the 1950s in a Britain which signed an armistice with Germany after France fell, and has slid towards its own fascism since). Also similar to SS-GB in how a mystery-type plot turns into a high-stakes spy thriller by the end (based on the same MacGuffin as well, and guessing what it is is worth no points nuclear weapons technology). Very fine book, pretty relentless in showing how, yeah, it "could happen here". The basic setting reminds me of Jo Walton's Farthing trilogy (also very fine). 30. Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan. Big fat fantasy brick, sequel to Blood Song. More conventionally structured with multiple PoVs. Not much wasted verbiage since a crapton of stuff happens and very many asses are kicked. Liked it a lot. 31. The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross. #5 in the ongoing "Laundry" series about a secret branch of the British civil service that deals with occult threats. Each entry has belonged to a slightly different genre; this time it's about how everyone knows that vampires do not exist. Pretty serious with a tinge of dark comedy, kicks the status quo in the head again. 32. World of Trouble by Ben Winters. Very fine conclusion to the "Last Policeman" trilogy, following the adventures of a small-town cop/ex-cop in a disintegrating society during the last months before a large asteroid probably hits the Earth and possibly wipes out humanity altogether. I particularly liked how the author had the integrity to reveal that all the stuff about a plan to save the world was complete bullshit, the book ends just as the asteroid actually hits the Earth, and the story is ultimately about facing the end with dignity. 33. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carré. One of those genre-defining classics I'd never actually read before. Dark and tense, great read.
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Aug 6, 2014 06:23
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clq posted:2. The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco: Really enjoyed it, despite everyone around me telling me it sucked. 4/5 Everyone around you must die.
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Aug 8, 2014 11:43
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thespaceinvader posted:It's got a good world with some interesting myth and backstory, I just can't understand why it NEEDS the whole 'person(s) from our world into theirs' to prop it up. That poo poo used to be almost required of a fantasy story back in the day [1]. Out of the big foundational ones, the only exceptions I can think of are the Conan stories and Tolkien's stuff, and both of those instead used the conceit of "this is really our world in the distant past". No, wait, Fritz Leiber didn't use either in the Lankhmar stories, as far as I can remember. Doubtless other exceptions also exist. [1] One particularly hilarious example being The Worm Ouroboros which uses an astral traveler from our world as an establishing device and then completely forgets about him after the first chapter or two. Groke fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Aug 29, 2014 |
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Aug 29, 2014 08:58
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Siminu posted:In "Adept's Gambit" Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser go through a wizard portal to Macedonia where they kiss pigs and chat about Socrates. Figures; they did all kinds of weird crap.
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Aug 29, 2014 12:00
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ToxicFrog posted:US readers may know these better as the omnibus editions All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful and All Things Bright and Beautiful. These are stories about rural veterinary practice in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1940s, and are mostly autobiographical -- with names changed to protect the guilty, and some embellishment. Man, I read a bunch of those when I was a wee lad, 30 years ago or more. Remember them as being pretty great (also I grew up on a farm myself).
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Sep 3, 2014 09:40
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Goddamn, forgot to update this thread for the longest time. Previously: 1. Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts. 2. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. 3. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. 4. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 5. The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson. 8. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. 9. The Martian, by Andy Weir. 10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. 11. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. 12. Equations of Life by Simon Morden. 13. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. 14. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. 15. Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear. 16. Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey. 17. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. 18. Space Viking by H. Beam Piper. 19. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. 20. Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson. 21. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 22. Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell. 23. The Scarpetta Factor by same. 24. The Bone Bed by same. 25. The Greatship by Robert Reed. 26. Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin. 27. SS-GB by Len Deighton. 28. The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett (nominally) and Stephen Baxter (mostly). 29. Dominion by CJ Sansom. 30. Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan. 31. The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross. 32. World of Trouble by Ben Winters. 33. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carré. Update for August through half-December: Reading pace has been significantly slowed due to family and work demands, but I've gotten through some more books anyway. 34. The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi. End of the trilogy starting with The Quantum Thief. Neat although skirting the border of being too drat nerdy even for me (Minecraft references, wtf?) 35. Germline by T.C. McCarthy. Dystopian future war novel written as the memoirs of a perpetually drugged-out reporter. Liked it quite a bit, understand it's got sequels, will check those out. 36. The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson. Competent space opera with some neat gimmicks. 37. Echopraxia by Peter Watts. Haha, gently caress you homo sapiens. No really, gently caress you. 38. The Armies of Memory by John Barnes. End of a series I've been following since the first book came out over twenty years ago and I was a fresh-faced young college student. The main character has been growing older and more jaded as I have, and the books themselves less optimistic, so this speaks to me in many ways. Good book. 39. The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Man, I hadn't read any Kay in far too long. For those unaware, his usual schtick is fantasy reimagining of interesting historical periods, usually with so few fantasy elements that the main reason for not doing straight historical books is that he can have things turn out differently without carrying the "alternate history" taint. This is his take on Viking-era Britain and it was pretty drat awesome. 40. Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Reynolds' brand of pretty-hard SF and while some folks have criticized this for weak characterization and slow plot I had no problems with it. 41. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie. Abercrombie goes "young adult" which basically just means no on-stage sex (not that he usually has gratuitous amounts of that anyway) and a bit less gory violence and language. And a somewhat lower page count and a young-ish protagonist. Otherwise it's got plenty of grittiness and rear end in a top hat characters and was great good fun. 42. Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey. #4 in the ever-expanding "Expanse" series. Still being a sucker for exploration-themed semi-hard SF so this was cool. 43. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. Kudos for managing a single-volume fantasy story in a pretty interesting world. Interesting plot. Will read more by this guy. 44. Jhereg by Steven Brust. Revisiting another old favourite, a series which has been under publication for about as long as I've been reading nerd genre crap, and I've read the early books before but fell off some time in the late 1990s, and there have been several more since then. Starting over with #1. Quick-moving and densely plotted with a clever narrative voice, these books follow the career of what's basically a human assassin/crime boss (although his status and character become more complicated later on) living in a society which is basically a 1980s D&D world with the serial numbers filed off and names changed where amoral elves rule most things and humans are a despised minority; the protagonist makes up for his relative lack of status and racial bonuses by being smart and having a bit of luck. Still fun to read thirty years later. 45. Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. A younger author I thought I'd check out because goons and other nerds have been singing her praises; and they were not wrong. Russian folklore meets Soviet-era history; she had me pretty well hooked already during the beginning with the collectivized house gnomes running their own little Soviet council, and poo poo like that. Alternately poetic and grim as hell but how could it be otherwise when the Eastern Front and the Siege of Leningrad are central elements. 46. - 48. Frihetens Øyeblikk, Kruttårnet and Stillheten by Jens Bjørneboe - thought I'd round out the year by reading something with some real substance to it. Bjørneboe (1920-1976) was one of the most significant Norwegian authors of... I guess my grandparents' generation. In some ways a cultural conservative, yet increasingly anarcho-nihilistic, and a very sharp and eloquent critic of society and civilization. This thematic trilogy, collectively referred to as "The History of Bestiality" (as in Man's cruelty to Man), was written over the course of 25 years and the effort was probably central in the developments that eventually led the author to take his own life. They are anti-novels, starring a narrator/observer obviously based on the author himself (he mentions very many more or less fictionalized autobiographical details, but also much that is quite different from Bjørneboe's actual history), and while there are events that happen there can barely be said to be a plot. The meat of the text deals with the Problem of Evil, attacking it from a variety of angles, going at great length to detail the ways in which we humans have brutalized, killed, tortured and hated each other throughout history, and always posing the question of why in the name of God or Satan does it have to be that way? I can only imagine the reaction these must have received in still rather conservative Norway when they were first published during the late 1960s through early 1970s. Short, and the prose flows as smoothly as any master of stringing words and sentences together might possibly make it, but by no means easy to read. I know these do exist in English translation and although I cannot vouch for the quality of said translation I would recommend they be checked out. 49. Yendi by Steven Brust. #2 in the series beginning with Jhereg, just as much fun. Needed something lighter after #46-48. Almost two weeks left of the year and I just started on #50, which is to be Haiene ("The Sharks") by Jens Bjørneboe. It's only a couple of hundred pages and a more traditional narrative than #46-48 above so should easily be done in time. I've read it before but that was when I was in high school ~25 years ago; on the surface it's a story of a perilous sea voyage around the last turn of the century, but it goes a lot deeper (haha) and the whole thing is basically a metaphor for humanity's uncertain fate.
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Dec 18, 2014 12:34
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Oh, I know Brust is great - one of my favourite authors since I discovered him whenever it was in the early 1990s. Just somehow haven't gotten around to reading anything he's published since... (Checks) ...2004, I guess. This is the kind of stuff that happens as you get older, turn around and a decade has somehow passed. So, seemed like a good time for a series reread.
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Dec 19, 2014 21:23
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Those own so hard they made me read the original musketeers series (all of it), which also owned in all its glorious longwindedness.
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Dec 25, 2014 22:22
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Groke posted:Almost two weeks left of the year and I just started on #50, which is to be Haiene ("The Sharks") by Jens Bjørneboe. It's only a couple of hundred pages and a more traditional narrative than #46-48 above so should easily be done in time. I've read it before but that was when I was in high school ~25 years ago; on the surface it's a story of a perilous sea voyage around the last turn of the century, but it goes a lot deeper (haha) and the whole thing is basically a metaphor for humanity's uncertain fate. Finished that a few days ago despite the whole family being sick over the holidays, so I hit my goal of 50 exactly. This book owned in high school and it owns now. Pretty much one of the great classics of 20th century Norwegian literature.
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Jan 1, 2015 18:16
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