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To give an idea of the degree to which this book sucked, here's the summary of a typical scenario from each character's perspective. And as much as you may think that I'm making this up because you don't believe that something this bad could possibly have been published, let me assure you that I am not. Let me repeat - you may find this scene summary to be offensive. It is Danielewski's scene, straight out of the book, not embellished, not made up:
He says: he has a big penis, she has small breasts, he satisfied her sexually and ejaculated massive quantities of come all over her, and then he drove the car with great skill, and she got car sick.
She says: he has a small penis, she has large breasts, he performed poorly sexually and ejaculated a tiny amount of come on the ground next to her, and then she drove the car with great skill, and he got car sick.

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I had my first mating, for one thing, when I turned thirteen. Her name was Lilim, and as is usual she was a woman of my mother’s family, about twenty-five years old. Her face was round and rosy, her breasts were full and comforting. The lines of age were evident on her face but she seemed very beautiful to me. My mother must have told her that I was ready. At a gathering of our family she came over to me and sang the little song that a woman sings when she is choosing a man, and though I was very startled at first, and even a little frightened, I recovered quickly and sang the song that a man is supposed to make in reply.

So Lilim taught me the Changes and led me down the river of delight, and I will always think kind thoughts of her. She showed me how to bring my full maleness forth, and I reveled in the size and stiffness of it. Then in wonder I touched her body as the hot, swollen female parts emerged. She drew me to her then, and led me into that place of moisture and smoothness of which I had only dreamed up till that moment, and it was even more wonderful than I had imagined it to be. For the time that our bodies were entwined—it was only minutes, but it felt like forever—it seemed to me that I had become someone other than myself. But that is what making the Changes means: we step away from the boundaries of our daily selves and enter the new, shared self that is you-and-the-other together.

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I understood. She had not come to me for Changes. She had a strange self-sufficiency, that woman: many Witches do. I forced myself back toward the neuter state, but it was difficult for me. My control kept breaking, my body slid again and again toward readiness. But I could tell that Thissa was in the state without breasts just now and I knew that if I touched her between the thighs I would find no aperture waiting for me. She was utterly neuter and intended to stay that way. I had no choice but to respect that. I struggled for control, and attained it, finally. We lay together calmly. Her head was against my chest, her legs were entwined with mine. She sobbed from weariness, but it was a soft, easy sobbing.

Ryoshi posted:

I got Only Revolutions for like four dollars new at a Borders and I feel like I overpaid. I've never tried reading it the "proper" way which is reading every seventh page then starting at the back and reading every fifth page or whatever absurdist way you're supposed to do it but seriously, what a mess.

It's a shame because that kind of ultra-meta-surreal storytelling is a cool idea but I've never seen it done well on the scale Only Revolutions attempted.

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The translation of this novel, as the introduction will pound into your head, attempted to maintain Gombrowicz style and nuances as best as possible. This includes using a variety of diminutives and not translating certain key phrases, including many of the Latin and french idioms that would have been intentionally left untranslated in it's native polish. This choice also gives us a great new word that you will use constantly, probably to the annoyance of others, after this novel: 'the pupa' . The pupa is a very encompassing word that most often literally means the butt. Yes, assess play a large part of this novel. There are hilarious bits of 'mommy's and aunties' peeping through holes in the fence around the playground to talk amongst each other about 'what cute little pupas, pupas, pupas our little darlings have!'. The pupa is used very freely, often times standing in for various ideas of immaturity and youth. This novel is teeming with immaturity symbolism, so keep a sharp eye out.

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From the pupa, however, there is absolutely no escape.

Mr Toes posted:

Good gods; Wheel of Time - I'd forgotten about that series. I think I gave up at book 8 or 9 after realising that I could not give two hoots whether or not the whole cast lived or died. They were all so irritating in their own unique ways - and half the time the plot only staggered onwards because someone suddenly decided to be ridiculously obtuse.

But you say that the guy who took over was better? Maybe I'll finish it off.

quote:

The Stainless Steel Rat gets married, but rapidly gets involved in something that so far has proven impossible in the galaxy - the planet Cliaand has successfully been invading other worlds. Jim is sent to infiltrate and investigate, and discovers the mysterious gray Men behind Cliaand's success, encounters a world of feisty warrior women, and becomes father of twins (James and Bolivar).

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64398.The_Stainless_Steel_Rat_Joins_the_Circus posted:

Same as in one on previous reviews: fan of the Stainless Steel Rat and Death World series, felt compulsion to find another good book in the SSR series. No luck.

Weak, very weak book: worried and fatigued James DiGriz no longer acts as self sufficient, highly efficient, inventive, resourceful stainless steel rat, rather as helpless "damsel in distress" type, waiting for being helped by family.

Even the style is different: with fairly good storyline, it was made less complex, slow pacing, low tech (mobile phone, computer in the case, gas mask), polluted by "on lookout", cheap shots (with only very few real gems), no longer interesting.

General impression: sad and listless. What a pity.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/566429.Foundation_s_Fear posted:

Reasons I didn't like the book:
1) Foundation's Fear contains a contrived argument between sims (artificial intelligences) who represent Faith and Reason. Joan of Arc represented Faith, and Voltaire represented Reason.
2) Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili spend a significant length of time and pages on Panucopia. The recreational activity they take up is taking over chimpanzee bodies and controlling them via a form of digital mind control. The technology and this whole section seemed rather similar to the Avatar movie which came out years after the book and strikes me as being a potential source of inspiration for the movie. (Either that or "There's nothing new under the sun.") This in itself didn't wholly bother me, but they talk for pages and pages about the evolution of chimpanzees and what it may have to do with Hari's psychohistory theories.

Meanwhile, they become trapped in the chimpanzee bodies while doing the mind control and an evil man on the planet is trying to kill them.

divabot posted:

The thing that really struck me about the Sad Puppies - and it’s something I haven’t seen anyone else note, so I’ll bother telling you - was Brad Torgerson’s lament that he could no longer tell from the cover of a science fiction novel what it was about.

No, really: a grown man, who purported to write books for money, lamented that he could no longer literally judge a book by its cover:


And I thought “you knob, you weren’t buying loving books at all in the seventies and eighties were you.” Do you know how generic the art on seventies SF paperbacks was. It might have a space station on it and actually be completely earthbound. An Asimov about bureaucratic political intrigue in a single room having spaceships shooting curiously visible energy beams at each other. (and not to mention the Asimov NON-FICTION book wih a giant killer robot on the cover. I forget which one, one of his F&SF essay collections.) Frequently, the publishers literally bought the art in separately and slapped it on any book that happened to need a cover that month. The covers never had any loving relation to the contents. They might as well have been labeled “extruded SF product”. What the gently caress are you blathering on about you insufferable gobshite.

Look at this poo poo. I want Torgerson's summary of each of those books purely from what’s right there.

The Sad Puppies’ particular backstab myth extended to this degree of just making bullshit up. And they wonder why everyone hates them.

Deki posted:

Honestly I never thought raising steam was a bad book, just a bad Pratchett book.

And when the guy is so wracked from Alzheimer that he has to dictate the book because he cannot process text anymore, I'm willing to give him a pass for writing a merely okay book.

grate deceiver posted:

Is he also the dude that wrote a short story that is a beat by beat retelling of a Silent Hill plot, down to the title being just a polish translation of Silent Hill? I feel like polish sci-fi has recently degenerated into endlessly regurgitating vidya game plots and steampunk. The entire business model of Fabryka Słów publishing house seems to be to poo poo as many of these turds out a year as humanly possible.

hackbunny posted:

This looks so stupid I know what to read next

SurreptitiousMuffin posted:

The Young Woman was shaped like a Pear (Pyrus Communis). She was Exceptionally Rude. I attempted to Bond with her Socially by talking on the topic of Dance, which she indicated was a Hobby; however, her Knowledge was Limited; I suspect she was a Fake. Women are often Fake. My wife, Hotlips, is not Fake; for this I am Thankful.

The Saddest Rhino posted:

People having hang ups against the books they had to read in school is so weird

Captain Candyblood posted:

I was really disappointed when I finally read Earthsea. They're supposed to be major scifi/fantasy books and obviously le Guin is super well known, but I honestly couldn't tell why. I had 0 emotional attachment to the characters, no real investment in the story, and can barely remember the plot by now. I felt like she spent way more time talking about weird magical rules and whatever than she did actually telling a story. Not that I would call them BAD (as far as I can remember), they were just supremely uninteresting to me.

I feel that way about most older scifi-type books though. A lot of them are written in a similarly dry style and it's not for me.

Hate Fibration posted:

My absolute favorite stories that King wrote are actually his short stories that are just simple human drama. No horror.

food court bailiff posted:

I just finished The Girl on the Train and while it certainly wasn't the worst thing I've ever read, I'm gobsmacked that it was apparently the fastest-selling hardcover adult novel of all time when it was released. How...does that even happen?

Jew it to it! posted:

Let me check my copy...I am still pissed I paid for this.

0 hits for Buffy. Oddly enough, 0 hits for feminist.

The closest reference to a Whedon female protagonist?

lifg posted:

Seveneves by Stephenson is not good. It’s barely even a book, it’s a series of technological solutions to problems, surrounded by a thin plot and thinner characters. This book might be fine if you read it expecting “The Martian 2.0.” But if you’re like me, and have heard nothing but superlatives about what Stephenson is doing to sci-fi, about his heavy tomes pushing the genre forward, then this book is a heavy let down.

EmmyOk posted:

It's fine to discuss books about social issues and to some extent those issues themselves as they relate to the book but keep in mind this is a bad book thread not a thread for extended political discussion.

A bad book I read that I mean to try again is The Secret Life of Bees. We had to read it in school when I was 17 and I didn't get along with the teacher at all and I think reading a book as part of schoolwork is a surefire way to not enjoy a good book. Maybe it is just unenjoyable poo poo but I'd like to give it another try at some point. That said when I was 14 we were assigned To Kill a Mockingbird and I read that ahead of the classes and it was pretty good.

Dienes posted:

Turn em' gay with dragon-facilitated, mind-controlled anal orgies.

Trauma Dog 3000 posted: