What books are you reading now?

Osedox · Post by **Osedox** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:45 am

Parthenon wrote: Oh, isn't that oh so brilliant. The whole county has two copies of Stormcaller, both out on loan. And three copies of the first Night Angels. With 1 reservation current on the Night Angel and all currently loaned. Urgh, its going to be a month or so before I get hold of them if I reserve them now... If its not really worth my while I'll be so pissed off... (well, I was probably going to try and get hold of the Night Angel anyway at some point)

The Night Angel series is defiantly worth it. The books dont really get awesome until the second one where you start to realize just how bad ass some of he characters are, and at the end of the third one when all of the loose ends are tied up it makes the first book that much better for setting the stage.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:38 pm

Fuchs wrote:I read the "Southern Victory" series from Turtledove last month (missed one volume though), and now started the Honor Harrington series. I bought all as e-books. Those from Baen I got as RTF docs, so I can esily read them on my smartphone while commuting.

Turtledove does a lot of alternative history books right?

I've read a chap or two of Honor Harrington for my scifi class and it was decent.

Blicero: Pynchon's earlier writing is a little more undistinct if that is anyway to put it.Have you read Pynchon's Vineland or Gravity's Rainbow?

Those are my fave Pynchon books.

Right now, I'm reading a couple of interesting books.

N. Stephenson's Snowcrash
Nicholas Mosley's God's hazard -- it goes between a guy rewriting/thinking about a more believable version of Genesis and a bomb threat at his daughter's school.

A.J Hartley's Act of Will - playwright caught up in adventurer's group and finds out about loyalty and honor and magic and blah blah blah. standard trope and tripe.

brian selznick's the invention of hugo cabaret - awesome book just for the idea. i haven't actually read it fully. i just read it to all the little one many times. it's not really for their age. but it's part flip book, part graphic novel, part novel. but it's awesome. and it's all in black and white and charcoal drawing. i get to sit there and explain to 3 and 5-year-olds how a boy surrounded by a halo of light in a crowded station is the important one. and they get it. these kids are so into it. Seriously, if a 5-year-old will sit and read 114 pages in one sitting, I give my hats of to this man. Fvck man, this guy is a genius. shit. i want to read it. but my kid has glared daggers at me and said the exact phrase which she learned from the book saying that if i read it on my own, there will be bad things. since she is in tejas right now. She's the 3-year-old. I can't do it. well, i suppose i could open up a page. 3-year-olds can't operate the internets, right?

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:16 pm

Honour Harrington isn't bad. It's tripe, but I like it and its fun.

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:32 am

Yes, Turtledove wrote a lot of alternate history. He started with SciFi what ifs - like the "Guns of the South", when

a bunch of white supremacists from South Africa use a time machine to get around 100'000 AK-47s to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in 1864.

or the "World War - in the Balance" novels where

world war 2 is turned on its head when a bunch of reptilian aliens invade earth in 1942.

Akula · Post by **Akula** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:25 am

cthulhu wrote:Honour Harrington isn't bad. It's tripe, but I like it and its fun.

If you can stand the way the author gets off on his main character. And makes her good at everything she does. And makes her have like two flaws, which he will obsess over. And loves to talk about her eyes. The first book is good. End the second with the climax of the battle and the forlorn hope charge, assume she's dead. After that the wank begins and the series gets harder and harder to read. The book that doesn't feature the title character is also quite enjoyable.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:52 pm

you know, I really did wake up at 4 something in the morning and go Captain fucking Blicero.....

I don't know if Blicero is still reading this topic but if you are, there's probably a chance that you've read Gravity's rainbow and Vineland. and you are a big Pynchon fan.

If this post doesn't make sense to others, I am tempted to be juvenile and stick my tongue out at you and say the phrase neeeneer neeneer neeneer. But where is the fun in that when you explain it away as I just did.

So I shall explain who Captain Blicero is -- He is a character in Gravity's Rainbow - a great sci-fi novel by Thomas Pynchon which you should all read (or not)

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:23 pm

Akula wrote:
cthulhu wrote:Honour Harrington isn't bad. It's tripe, but I like it and its fun.
If you can stand the way the author gets off on his main character. And makes her good at everything she does. And makes her have like two flaws, which he will obsess over. And loves to talk about her eyes. The first book is good. End the second with the climax of the battle and the forlorn hope charge, assume she's dead. After that the wank begins and the series gets harder and harder to read. The book that doesn't feature the title character is also quite enjoyable.

oohhhh, yeah. But hell, thats the same with 95% of bad but fun fiction so eh

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:40 pm

Speaking of shitty but fun characters that their authors love --

Harry Dresden

Hey, I've read his books until about 5. I just couldn't find anymore books and then found them again but had too many other books to read.

Ummm.... there are bound to be more ---

Harry Potter for the teenage set

Anita Blake and the whatever the Twilight characters for the tween set. (virgil - don't let me wife read this)

whatever, the Lestat author chick writes and all her books.

they are all fun to a degree.

didn't we discuss this in Lago's topic about entertainment that lost me or whatever.

Osedox · Post by **Osedox** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 5:58 am

I picked up the first 3 books of the Dresden files this week. So far the plots have been really predictable (introducing the BBEG early on for some sort of lame reveal at the end is bs). Also wtf this author has some sort of sadistic fetish. Dresden gets brutalized at least 6 or seven times every book, how much punishment can this dude take? I guess it just seems over the top to me, because it is just going to have to escalate with each book to seem edgy. Overall not bad books, somewhat of a letdown for me because allot of my friends really built these up before I read them.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:23 pm

Just got the boxed set as well, Osedox. I've been impressed with the first book. Haven't started 2nd yet.

So far I like the attempt to keep magic mystical in a scientific world. Also, a cat like Mister would be awesome.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:56 pm

I bought Dragonbreath.

It's kiddy, but the artist...well, artist/author now, is someone who I've been following online for about five years. I saw it at the bookstore and bought it to give her some of my money.

And it's pretty good as a kid's book. It's mixed text-and-illustrations (sometimes going to comic-layout for a few pages); she did both. I'm going to recommend it to a librarian friend of the family.

If anyone has kids who are, I don't know, mid-to-late elementary school, depending on how precocious they are, I recommend it.

She breaks out some words which the kids might not know, but I firmly believe kids should know how to look a word up. And she includes some interesting facts about reptiles, sea life, and the bends.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:44 am

Meikle641 wrote:Just got the boxed set as well, Osedox. I've been impressed with the first book. Haven't started 2nd yet.

So far I like the attempt to keep magic mystical in a scientific world. Also, a cat like Mister would be awesome.

Oh, I love the magic system. It's done in a nice manner. It has its own flair.

Maxus: about Dragonbreath, would it be bad reading material for a 3-4 year old? I read to her. She's incredible advanced for her age. She's sat through 3-4 chapters HP level book chapters with my wife apparently (with the apparent font size, words, and pages as well.) Which I did not know about until today. So, what're ye thoughts?

Iron Mongler · Post by **Iron Mongler** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:52 am

The Colour of Magic

1984

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:19 am

I honestly don't know; you know your kid much better than I do. The writing style's pure Ursula, and the whole thing is that an elementary-school-age dragon is visiting a sea-serpent cousin so he can learn about the ocean for a paper his teacher's making him re-write.

I know for a stone-cold fact Ursula will not object to this example.

Danny learns Jellyfish can sting you. wrote: Danny halted. "Like bees?" He wasn't fond of bees, after that one incident with the hose and the lawnmower. The people at the emergency room had been awfully sarcastic. Sure, he'd been in three times that week, but it was for three completely unrelated incidents! It could have happened to anybody!
"Like bees," said Wendell, who knew all about the incident.

Would your daughter understand an explanation of the bends or some simplified scientific stuff (like that the bends happen because people squish well, but don't unsquish nearly so well.)

Also, you might want to read it with her in your lap. Illustrations/comics are mixed in with the text, and they're part of the charm, so she should be able to see them.

I'm iffy right now, but if if she's really inquisitive, she'll probably treasure it when she's older.

You could also look into another book of Ursula's--Nurk (Google both the titles, along with Ursula vernon). It's more of a classic story, and doesn't require someone reading aloud to be able to pronounce Eee!aee!(click)ee'eee'aiiiee(click!), which is the name of a whale in Dragonbreath (there's a footnote translating the name, but I won't spoil it).

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:58 am

oh Ursula Vernon -- the digger chick.

when you kept saying Ursula, i at first assumed Leguin and was totally overjoyed caused that is old school fantasy. well not really totally old school but still...

edit: I just realized, I've been talking with her on lj through webcomic buddy /acquaintance? (strangebedfellows.com -- get to it -- now --- )of mine for a few years now... well not recently because I haven't been on LJ in a year but still.

I think she's part of the North carolina webcomic clatch or whatever.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:16 am

Yeah, she's the Digger chick. But she seems to be hitting the big time.

She does a lot of stuff, really. She updates her blog nearly every day, and she's pretty good for responding.

Her blog-readers also have a deep and abiding love and they're eager to help her. Seriously, she once said she wanted to find the site of an artist she'd seen--he did a Pacific Northwest Native American art-style.

They not only found it for her, when they all checked it out they crashed his server.

Her website is www.ursulavernon.com ...Or you could check out www.metalandmagic.com. Either way. She writes some amazing stuff. When I'm browsing the art galleries, I scroll down and read the description before I go up to look at the picture.

Oh, and I never tire of telling people this: She painted the LOL WUT pear as part of a series of "weird fruit".

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:12 am

eh, that's what happens when you get followings.

Big authors realize this and often are hard pressed when they get charity cases or real issues that they can help with.

For example, Gaiman once was given a request to help out a cancer patient who direly needed money and she stated that her entire case history was online and it could be verified in such and manner, etc... etc... and it seemed it was legit and she needed money for chemo and surgery and all other procedures.

Gaiman's followers unwittingly shut down her website and she was set up with more bills than she was was able to handle because of website costs. I might have the gender confused maybe.

Of course, there is the famous case of Dave Sims (creator of Cerebus) who challenged Gaiman's blog readers to write him a non-e-mail letter to a real live address that was about two-pages long and he would send them an actual written reply with a signed copy of a Cerebus graphic novel. he didn't expect many. Of course, Gaiman put it up on his website and I think Sims ran out his stock. I think the term Otaku comes to mind. :-D

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:45 am

Dave Sims deserves that. He's a brilliant artist and also a misogynistic dick.

-Crissa

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:54 am

Maxus wrote:Oh, and I never tire of telling people this: She painted the LOL WUT pear as part of a series of "weird fruit".

I like her art, she has an odd sense of style.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:34 am

Crissa wrote:Dave Sims deserves that. He's a brilliant artist and also a misogynistic dick.

-Crissa

I was wondering when someone would mention something along those lines. I was going to keep my tone neutral for that post at least.

Blicero · Post by **Blicero** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:09 pm

Yes. I happen to be a rather large fan of Pynchon. Just in terms of pure writing abilty, bad puns, and seriously weird stuff going on. Gravity's Rainbow=total win.

Turtledove's stuff isn't really bad per se (and his ideas are great), but he has one of the most repetitive and generally bad writing styles I've personally encountered. If you like history enough to endure them, then you could certainly go worse. His sex scenes are also fucking terrible (but most people's are).

I actually just reread a bunch of the Lemony Snicket books. They're probably some of the best YA fiction I've read (better than Msr. Potter or Twilight, for sure).

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:57 pm

You shouldn't badmouth Twilight on this board. It is serious and I do mean serious business.

Why look here --

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:41 am

Blicero wrote:
Turtledove's stuff isn't really bad per se (and his ideas are great), but he has one of the most repetitive and generally bad writing styles I've personally encountered. If you like history enough to endure them, then you could certainly go worse. His sex scenes are also fucking terrible (but most people's are).

Amen. I have all the same Turtledove complaints to the extent that I won't pick up anything with his name on it any longer. About the third time he felt it necessary to write that a male character was a considerate lover because he put his weight upon his elbows I decided I had enough of his repetitive banality.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:38 pm

I checked out a Lord of the Rings radio...thing. It's on thirteen CDs.

It's quite well done. The actors fit the characters, the abridgements all make sense, and the part in Bree where they discover the Nazgul somehow gained entry to the inn AND somehow disappeared every horse in the stables...

Well, that was genuinely tense. Also, they have a weird/creepy sound effect for a Nazgul scream.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:07 pm

I just finished Anathem, which is pretty much a synthesis of everything else Stephenson has written. If you've read everything else by him, you'll know what to expect (although in that case you've probably read Anathem too). The main oddity is that it focuses exclusively on one character.

For those that haven't read his other stuff: it focuses on a world that's surprisingly similar to our own, has insanely high technology, doesn't use most of it, and has enclaves of pseudo-Amish/monk intellectuals. There is also, of course, bullshit magic based on the power of human consciousness.