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ZakAce posted:Like Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road', but much more optimistic. That's kind of like saying "nicer than Hitler". (I read The Road right around the time my first child was born. Smart choice. Probably the best book I'll never reread.) Okay, I'm in for this year: Overall goal of 40 books (did 50 last year, will probably have a bit less time this year). And gently caress, I'll take the challenge list from the OP. Additionally I'll set myself the goal of reading at least 10 books in Norwegian by Norwegian authors (this will encourage me to make more use of my local library branch as well). And at least 5 nonfiction books. And to combat laziness I'll not count more than 5 rereads toward my goal, even if it's a reread from 20 years ago. So far this January: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2010 debut crime novel by a fairly well-known Norwegian media personality (really a historian but a general power nerd), but it's a period piece set in 1968 and dealing with one-generation-later fallout from WW2. Very much a classic mystery with a great locked-room murder, memorable characters, dramatic reading of the murder victim's last will and testament, etc. Enjoyable and clever, liked it a lot. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. #3 in the Vlad Taltos series, and a decades-later reread for me. I love this series so much. Also I'm reading the superhero web serial Worm inbetween other stuff. About 10% in so far, it's pretty neat I think.
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Jan 8, 2015 10:45
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What the hell, wildcard me too.
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Jan 8, 2015 19:44
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Walh Hara posted:The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Sure, I've been interested in that one before, never actually got around to reading it, and it's easily available. Thanks.
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Jan 8, 2015 21:18
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Blind Sally posted:George Saunder's Pastoralia.[/url] Hell, I want to read that too. I like Vonnegut and Pynchon.
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Jan 9, 2015 11:35
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January tally: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2010 debut crime novel by a fairly well-known Norwegian media personality (really a historian but a general power nerd), but it's a period piece set in 1968 and dealing with one-generation-later fallout from WW2. Very much a classic mystery with a great locked-room murder, memorable characters, dramatic reading of the murder victim's last will and testament, etc. Enjoyable and clever, liked it a lot. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. #3 in the Vlad Taltos series, and a decades-later reread for me. I love this series so much. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. Pretty much Baxter doing what he does: Exploration of weird-rear end physics and cosmology, with paper-thin characters and so on. Decent but not really top-shelf Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. #2 in the series that started with #1 above. Apparently there's six of these books already. Good read again, very much in the Agatha Christie vein. The main characters here are a quite competent police detective and a teenage girl in a wheelchair (who shows up as an unofficial consultant; daughter of a friend of the detective's family; extremely intelligent but also a bit of an rear end in a top hat). Still reading Worm inbetween other stuff. So far: 4/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 2/10 Norwegian books Booklord challenge points met: 12 (Ultima), 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real), 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014), 22 (Menneskefluene). Groke fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Jan 30, 2015 |
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Jan 30, 2015 11:02
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ulvir posted:Still up for grabs, folks. Blindsight by Peter Watts.
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Mar 16, 2015 13:28
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ulvir posted:I've been doing some thinking, and and landed on The Cyberiad. Well, it's a hell of a good thing to be reading, Lem is amazing.
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Mar 18, 2015 15:18
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Update: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2010 debut crime novel by a fairly well-known Norwegian media personality (really a historian but a general power nerd), but it's a period piece set in 1968 and dealing with one-generation-later fallout from WW2. Very much a classic mystery with a great locked-room murder, memorable characters, dramatic reading of the murder victim's last will and testament, etc. Enjoyable and clever, liked it a lot. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. #3 in the Vlad Taltos series, and a decades-later reread for me. I love this series so much. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. Pretty much Baxter doing what he does: Exploration of weird-rear end physics and cosmology, with paper-thin characters and so on. Decent but not really top-shelf Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. #2 in the series that started with #1 above. Apparently there's six of these books already. Good read again, very much in the Agatha Christie vein. The main characters here are a quite competent police detective and a teenage girl in a wheelchair (who shows up as an unofficial consultant; daughter of a friend of the detective's family; extremely intelligent but also a bit of an rear end in a top hat). 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson goes all modern-day technothriller. Enjoyable albeit fairly lightweight as Stephenson novels go (long though, and took me forever for some reason), as usual the most amusing bits were all the digressions. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky (actually read this in Norwegian translation and the original is German, just listed the English title here for convenience). Very short but enjoyable collection of short anecdotes and factoids about a wide selection of, exactly, remote-rear end islands. 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. In the immortal words of Krusty the Clown, "What the hell was that?" Yeah, I'm intrigued enough that I'm going to read the rest of the trilogy. I mean, what in the actual gently caress. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. Fan-translation found floating around on the net. A very odd book which takes as its starting point the central events of The Lord of the Rings and assumes it is largely post-war propaganda written by the winning side, then undertakes a realist/cynical examination of the kind of sequence of events that might result in something like that being written, and then makes a sort of espionage thriller out of the aftermath. Fun read. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. Biggest and grandest of the Icelandic sagas, written by some unknown (probably) Icelandic author who compiled facts and alleged facts from various written and oral sources during (probably) the end of the 13th century, about events that had happened about three centuries earlier. Historical as gently caress despite various embellishments and also utterly, utterly OG  -- a long and twisted story about revenge, revenge for the other guys' revenge, further revenge for that revenge, dudes who try to stop the cycle of revenge only to be sabotaged by venom-tongued women, more revenge for that, badass one-liners ("Was Gunnar home?" "You'll have to see for yourselves, but his war-spear was home (falls over dead)"). Oh, and the whole mess got started because some dude had to get a divorce because he couldn't consummate his marriage because his penis was too big. This book also fits booklord challenge #16 since I've had it lying around for literally a decade. Still reading Worm inbetween other stuff. So far: 9/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 2/10 Norwegian books 3/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 5 (Njålssoga), 12 (Ultima), 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real), 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014), 16 (Njålssoga), 22 (Menneskefluene).
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Mar 23, 2015 12:54
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Ah yes, you should definitely read Stapledon's Star Maker at some point. To give some idea of the sheer scale of the thing, it starts off with a very brief summary of The Last and First Men and then leaves such minutiae in the dust.
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Apr 3, 2015 20:21
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Groke posted:1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. Update through late April (unlikely to finish another book before the end of the month unless it's a very short one): 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. Recent darling of the Internet, and worth it; a captivating tale placing contact with terrifying aliens against the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. This hits booklord challenge points 3 (non-white author) and 19 (the colour red being a massive symbol of Chinese communism and the Cultural Revolution in particular). 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. #3 in the murder mystery series, just as good a read as the first two. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. This was my wildcard; a very fascinating and accessible read for the layperson. I've seen it quoted and referred to many times (it's thirty years old and I've been reading pop science stuff for at least that long but never actually read this book before). The human brain and how it functions and malfunctions in weird ways is, um... weird. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. #4 in same murder mystery series, yeah so I went on a bit of a binge here. This time around it's not a book-length novel but a collection of three shorter tales detailing less extensive mysteries; so that hits booklord challenge point 21. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. Stole this when it was wildcarded to someone else because it sounded interesting and it was pretty drat great. Hilarious and sad. Pretty sure it counts as post-modern as well so that's booklord challenge 8 taken care of. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. Yeah, yeah, #5 in that murder mystery series. Time has progressed up to the year 1972 and the backdrop of the case is heavily political (this was, among other things, the year in which Norway was heavily divided about whether or not to join the EU, or EEC as it was then (we didn't); it was also the year of my birth). It's cool to read stuff set during this time (the author is principally a historian specializing in the post-war Norwegian politics, and he draws heavily on this expertise). Still reading Worm inbetween other stuff although not very quickly. So far: 15/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 5/10 Norwegian books 4/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene).
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Apr 27, 2015 09:44
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Talas posted:27. Barrayar. Louis McMaster Bujold. Pretty good. Something was off with the characters, but it works within the story. The "shopping" bit remains one of my favourite things ever.
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Jun 5, 2015 10:09
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Update through just now: Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. New: 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. Well, Tom Holt, it turns out. Collection of shorter works themed around the study of what is certainly not magic in a fantasy world where magic certainly does not exist (it's just a kind of science that's not entirely understood, you see). Clever and funny as poo poo. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. #10 in the Destroyermen series, about a WW2 US military vessel stranded in an alternate Earth full of sentient dinosaurs and poo poo. Good action although it kind of feels like the series should start to approach a conclusion soon. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Two-thirds desperate apocalypse, one-third far-future speculation. Liked it but did not quite love it. So far: 18/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 5/10 Norwegian books 4/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene).
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Jun 5, 2015 13:59
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ToxicFrog posted:
Yep, it was officially revealed in April. We were all surprised as gently caress. I've read some Holt but it was ages ago; Parker has been a favourite of mine for about as long as the books have been coming out.
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Jun 6, 2015 12:55
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Update through June. Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. New: 19. My Real Children by Jo Walton. The life story of an Englishwoman of the postwar era until the present day, where she's old and suffering from senile dementia and only remembers her life in bits and pieces. Except she remembers two completely different lives, hinging on her choice to accept or reject a marriage proposal in 1949. In two quite different postwar histories, no less (neither of them ours; one has a peaceful international colony on the moon, for instance, while the other has seen several limited nuclear wars by the end of the 20th century). Personal and emotional development along alternate paths echoes or counterpoints alternate routes in larger social developments; mostly told in a rather understated, introspective and low-key manner. I like Walton's writing a lot (have ever since she was not a published author but just one of the regulars on rec.arts.sf.written twenty years ago) and enjoyed this book although it's probably one of her minor works so far. 20. Forrådt ("Betrayed") by Amalie Skram. Originally published in 1892 and taking place maybe three decades before that, this is a proto-feminist novel by one of Norway's most significant female authors (also considered the most important female author of the Modern Breakthrough). Partly autobiographic, it is the story of a young girl who marries a much older ship-captain (as did Skram herself, in her youth) and the complete misery which results as her ignorant romantic expectations collide hard with his more... experienced view of the world. Strong, scathing indictment of the double (hell, triple) standards that applied in sexual and other mores of the times; although the language and imagery used is pretty tame by today's measurements the book was a very contentious and downright scandalous publication in its day. 21. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. #5 in the Expanse series, good poo poo as far as I'm concerned. Space opera with a nod to physics, some pretty cool characters (and some annoying ones as well), explosions and desperation, it's all good. 22. On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. #2 in a (probably) trilogy, significantly harder and mostly fairly optimistic SF. It's got a nightmarish future of peace and prosperity across the Solar System and beyond, elephants, lots of neat sightseeing, and some disasters and scary stuff. Liked it a lot. 23. Landfall by Stephen Baxter. Ebook collection of three novellas or whatever you'd call them that finishes off the story from his duology Flood and Ark, set on separate human colony worlds in the intermediate and far future. Baxter is either good or half-assed; he wasn't half-assing it this time. Am currently about 1/3 of the way through 24. The March North by Graydon Saunders; not going to finish it before the end of June as I have about an hour left of the month here, going to write it up nevertheless since I already love it: Egalitarian information-dense fantasy set in a fantasy hellworld full of horrors only some of which are describable. Everywhere is full of demons, mindcontrolling sorcerer-kings, the living dead, what have you; except for the nation of the Commonweal which has figured out some ways to survive as a (mostly) peaceful, humane civilization. This cannot be done without heavy artillery, ghosts of fallen infantrymen, ageless sorcerers and a five-ton war-sheep named Eustace. Saunders is another refugee from rec.arts.sf.written of old and his prose is easily recognizable (his posts were always recognizable as his without looking at the headers); this is his first published novel but he's already got another one out and that's probably going to be my #25 or so. So far: 23 and soon 24/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 6/10 Norwegian books 4/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 2 (Forrådt; technically met earlier but saved for a book where the gender of the author was the POINT rather than an accident) 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 11 (My Real Children) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene).
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Jun 30, 2015 22:16
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Update through August. Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. 19. My Real Children by Jo Walton. 20. Forrådt ("Betrayed") by Amalie Skram. 21. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. 22. On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. 23. Landfall by Stephen Baxter. New: 24. The March North by Graydon Saunders. Egalitarian information-dense fantasy set in a fantasy hellworld full of horrors only some of which are describable. Everywhere is full of demons, mindcontrolling sorcerer-kings, the living dead, what have you; except for the nation of the Commonweal which has figured out some ways to survive as a (mostly) peaceful, humane civilization. This cannot be done without heavy artillery, ghosts of fallen infantrymen, ageless sorcerers and a five-ton war-sheep named Eustace. Saunders is another refugee from rec.arts.sf.written of old and his prose is easily recognizable (his posts were always recognizable as his without looking at the headers); this is his first published novel but he's already got another one out and that's on my to-read list. 25. The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and (probably mostly) Stephen Baxter. #4 in that series thing. Same strengths and weaknesses as the previous three. Good enough. 26. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. I've always thought Robinson writes beautiful, poetic, sad books and this is no exception. Pretty unforgiving and depressing and then uplifting and humane. An unusual take on the time-honored "interstellar generation ship" theme. 27. Castaway Planet by Ryk Spoor and Eric Flint. After #26 I was in the mood for some plain old optimistic SF for enthusiastic nerds -- the kind of story where people explore stuff and encounter danger and weirdness but solve their problems using brains and duct tape -- and this scratched that itch. 28. Ørnens Sønn by Olaf Havnes. #1 in a by now twenty-year-old Norwegian fantasy trilogy by an author who went on to write a handful more books and then got cancer and died much too young; much-loved by those relatively few who have read it, which I never did back in the day. Found all three volumes in my local library and decided to have at it; and it turns out this is pretty good. The setting is fairly by-the-numbers not-Earth with a wide variety of cultures inspired by real history; but an unusual amount of attention is given to describing the geology and ecology of any visited locale, and the conditions these impose on possible economic and cultural activity for humans living there. Magic is nearly non-existent or else so subtle as to be nearly invisible; the prose is direct and simple but effective and not unpoetic; violence and sexual themes are not shied away from but neither dwelled upon in pornographic detail -- this would be quite appropriate reading for a bright middle-schooler. The basic plot is about a tyrannical empire ruling most of the world and an insurgency against this empire driven by a lineage of underground rebels from the despised and marginal peoples of the world; the ultimate success of this insurgency is already revealed early on, the remaining suspense is how it got there. Liked this a lot, will read #2 and #3 soon. 29. The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross. Love the whole Laundry series, loved this entry as well. Even as it gets grimmer and less jokey the more CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN proceeds. 30. The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. #2 in the Three-Body Problem trilogy. Good fresh-feeling classic SF with high concepts and high stakes; loved this to bits. So far: 30/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 7/10 Norwegian books 4/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 2 (Forrådt; technically met earlier but saved for a book where the gender of the author was the POINT rather than an accident) 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 11 (My Real Children) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene).
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Sep 2, 2015 11:56
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Update through October. Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. 19. My Real Children by Jo Walton. 20. Forrådt ("Betrayed") by Amalie Skram. 21. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. 22. On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. 23. Landfall by Stephen Baxter. 24. The March North by Graydon Saunders. 25. The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and (probably mostly) Stephen Baxter. 26. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. 27. Castaway Planet by Ryk Spoor and Eric Flint. 28. Ørnens Sønn by Olaf Havnes. 29. The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross. 30. The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. New: 31. Spring's Awakening by Frank Wedekind. A late 19th-century play, frequently banned and censored. Ignorant teenagers stumble into sexuality, there is no sex ed and these things are really not talked about at all, almost everyone dies or suffers horribly. Not really enjoyable but not really supposed to be either. 32. Poseidon's Wake by Alastair Reynolds. #3 in the series started with Blue Remembered Earth. Slower-than-light interstellar exploration, weird aliens, cosmological questions. Good stuff. 33. Extinction Game by Gary Gibson. Pretty quick little book about alternate-earth travel where the main characters are all survivors from various different post-apocalyptic scenarios, rescued and then used as field agents by a rather shadowy agency. Not bad but not all that good either, I've read some other books by the same author before and liked them better. 34. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (a goon). Now this was loving great. Epic geopolitical fantasy, mean and spiteful. All you other goons, go and read this. 35. Havlandet by Olaf Havnes. #2 in that obscure Norwegian fantasy trilogy which started with Ørnens Sønn. Just as concise and sweetly badass as #1, this shows the influence of Norse sagas and involves a geographical/cultural area clearly inspired by same. 36. Svart Storm by Olaf Havnes. #3 in same and holy gently caress, this was good stuff and it's an awful shame the author died so soon. The whole trilogy was more epic than most other stuff I've read and it all clocked in at about 750 pages altogether. The cost and price of ultimate victory is shown, as well as bits and pieces of the world's history far removed from the main plot -- the goddamn framing prologue/epilogue could have spawned a whole trilogy of its own, for example. 37. Authority by Jeff Vandermeer. #2 in the Southern Reach trilogy, about a geographical area which just isn't right and human beings' attempts to understand this. Again, what the actual gently caress. So far: 37/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 9/10 Norwegian books 4/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 2 (Forrådt; technically met earlier but saved for a book where the gender of the author was the POINT rather than an accident) 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 11 (My Real Children) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 17 (Spring's Awakening) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 20 (Spring's Awakening) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene). Nicely on track to meet and exceed my main goal, have to pick a few particular selections to fill out the last few challenge points.
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Oct 30, 2015 18:32
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Yeah, the amount of terrible filler in those movies is especially offensive since the book is so tight. It easily could've been a solid two-hour film rather than an interminable slog. Agreed. I've been a Peter Jackson fan since all he had to his name was a handful of no/low-budget horror/muppetsploitation films but I've got to admit the man has lately gone to excessive lengths of, um, excess. Apparently one of those who do their best work when constrained by external factors (such as not having much money in the budget).
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Nov 2, 2015 12:09
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Yeah the wildcard category was dope. Absolutely.
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Nov 27, 2015 12:25
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Update through November. Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. 19. My Real Children by Jo Walton. 20. Forrådt ("Betrayed") by Amalie Skram. 21. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. 22. On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. 23. Landfall by Stephen Baxter. 24. The March North by Graydon Saunders. 25. The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and (probably mostly) Stephen Baxter. 26. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. 27. Castaway Planet by Ryk Spoor and Eric Flint. 28. Ørnens Sønn by Olaf Havnes. 29. The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross. 30. The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. 31. Spring's Awakening by Frank Wedekind. 32. Poseidon's Wake by Alastair Reynolds. 33. Extinction Game by Gary Gibson. 34. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. 35. Havlandet by Olaf Havnes. 36. Svart Storm by Olaf Havnes. 37. Authority by Jeff Vandermeer. New: 38. The Faithful Executioner by Joel F. Harrington. Got this from the recommendation thread to fit the "biography" challenge; it's the story of an executioner in Renaissance-era Germany, based on various bits and pieces of documentation including the man's own journal. Fascinating look at life and crime and punishment in a society only somewhat alien to modern Europeans. Would recommend. 39. Hodejegerne by Jo Nesbø. A short and snappy crime thriller by one of Norway's biggest names in the genre, it starts out almost comedic and descends into incredible amounts of violence and horribleness. 40. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (technically only almost done reading it yet). Randomly selected to fit the "absurdist" challenge since Vonnegut sometimes comes up in google searches of that term. I read a ton of Vonnegut when I was young and impressionable but somehow managed to skip this one. Just loving read it already, it's great. So far: 40/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 10/10 Norwegian books 5/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 1 (Got to 40 books) 2 (Forrådt; technically met earlier but saved for a book where the gender of the author was the POINT rather than an accident) 3 (Three-Body Problem) 5 (Njålssoga), 8 (Pastoralia) 9 (Cat's Cradle) 11 (My Real Children) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 17 (Spring's Awakening) 18 (The Faithful Executioner) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 20 (Spring's Awakening) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene). So, have a month left to hit the last few challenge points (and have stuff lined up for each of them).
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Nov 27, 2015 12:38
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High Warlord Zog posted:[84) Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Buddy!
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Nov 27, 2015 12:40
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Roydrowsy posted:72-74 Sandman Volumes 1-3 [...] I like that, instead of one large narrative that spans from volume to volume, it is a bunch of little stories. It's sort of... both, really. There's a definite long-term story arch which comes to a conclusion (and it's one motherfucker of a conclusion); there's a lot of short and medium-sized stories which fit inside the framework of that arch.
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Nov 29, 2015 18:43
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 17:34 |
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Final update. Previously: 1. Menneskefluene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 2. Teckla by Steven Brust. 3. Ultima by Stephen Baxter. 4. Satellittmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 5. REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. 6. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky 7. Annihilation by Jeff VanDermeer. 8. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov. 9. Njålssoga (aka Njåls saga, the Saga of Burnt Niall, etc. in various translations) by unknown author. 10. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. 11. Katalysatormordet by Hans Olav Lahlum. 12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 13. De Fem Fyrstikkene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 14. Pastoralia by George Saunders. 15. Kameleonmenneskene by Hans Olav Lahlum. 16. Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. 17. Straits of Hell by Taylor Anderson. 18. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. 19. My Real Children by Jo Walton. 20. Forrådt ("Betrayed") by Amalie Skram. 21. Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. 22. On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. 23. Landfall by Stephen Baxter. 24. The March North by Graydon Saunders. 25. The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and (probably mostly) Stephen Baxter. 26. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. 27. Castaway Planet by Ryk Spoor and Eric Flint. 28. Ørnens Sønn by Olaf Havnes. 29. The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross. 30. The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. 31. Spring's Awakening by Frank Wedekind. 32. Poseidon's Wake by Alastair Reynolds. 33. Extinction Game by Gary Gibson. 34. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. 35. Havlandet by Olaf Havnes. 36. Svart Storm by Olaf Havnes. 37. Authority by Jeff Vandermeer. 38. The Faithful Executioner by Joel F. Harrington. 39. Hodejegerne by Jo Nesbø. 40. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. New: 41. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Actually read in a Norwegian translation. Hit the "essay" and "philosophy" buttons for sure. Smart guy, that dead old Rousseau dude. 42. Planetfall by Emma Newman. An interstellar colonization story on the surface of it, where a small colony of humans from Earth exists on an alien planet at the foot of a great structure they believe to be (and name as) God's City. But there are lies, and lies within lies. Quickly goes to some rather dark psychological places. Great book. 43. The Blind Owl by Sadeq Hedayat. Probably never would have read (or even been aware of) this thing if not for the specific booklord challenge. What a loving nightmare of a story; glad I read it; will probably revisit (and look at different translations as well). .44. Kipling: Poems by, obviously, Rudyard Kipling. Always thought Kipling was pretty cool (naturally I've encountered many of the better-known poems here and there, etc.) but such a concentrated dose... transcended "pretty cool" and ascended to "awesome", really. So far: 44/40 overall goal, of which 1/5 allowed rereads 10/10 Norwegian books 5/5 nonfiction Booklord challenge points met: 1 (Got to 40 books) 2 (Forrådt; technically met earlier but saved for a book where the gender of the author was the POINT rather than an accident) 3 (Three-Body Problem) 4 (the Rousseau) 5 (Njålssoga), 6 (Rousseau again) 7 (Kipling) 8 (Pastoralia) 9 (Cat's Cradle) 10 (The Blind Owl) 11 (My Real Children) 12 (Ultima) 13 (Teckla; teleporting sorceror-assassins aren't particularly real) 14 (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) 15 (Ultima again, published November 2014) 16 (Njålssoga) 17 (Spring's Awakening) 18 (The Faithful Executioner) 19 (Three-Body Problem) 20 (Spring's Awakening) 21 (De Fem Fyrstikkene) 22 (Menneskefluene). That's all of them. Challenge completed, thanks for the game. Have to say this year's challenge was fun, prompted me to read a number of things I probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Also I'm pretty pleased at my own ability to guesstimate how many books I could comfortably get through (my reading time is somewhat limited these days). See you all next year!
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Dec 27, 2015 22:05
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