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[obin_gam]

Does anyone know of any good narrative-based (as opposed to say a text book) accounts of human pre-history and migrations? Heard an interesting TED talk this morning, but wanted to read more about it.

I can hugely recommend Jared Diamonds "Collapse".

 

[Ashes]

Do you have someone(s) to discuss it with? Maybe the highest form of knowledge is achieved dialectically, maybe not, but discussing Plato is fun. Also check out The Republic, for the epic democracy slam if nothing else.

I'm inclined to agree. But alas, time is of the essence. Gotta go fast.

 

[BrokenFiction]

I can hugely recommend Jared Diamonds "Collapse".

Looks interesting, but not what I'm looking for. More ancient anthropological human movement from out of Africa to 10,000 years ago.

 

[sparky2112]

Looks interesting, but not what I'm looking for. More ancient anthropological human movement from out of Africa to 10,000 years ago.

It's very good.

 

[Vagabundo]

I'm enjoying the childhood immensely so that'll bode well for the rest of the book.

Also, hang in there with Leopold Bloom &c, they're a fun bunch if you let the book sink in.

Well I'm from Dublin myself so the banter is very enjoyable. I'll keep chipping away at it. Enjoy Jane Eyre.

 

[BrokenFiction]

It's very good.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[Cfh123]

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It's excellent.

 

[Piecake]

Does anyone know of any good narrative-based (as opposed to say a text book) accounts of human pre-history and migrations? Heard an interesting TED talk this morning, but wanted to read more about it.

I could be totally wrong, but I think that is going to be pretty tough to find. It is hard to do a narrative history of a period when there arent any individual actors. I think this is one of the reasons why I find archaeology to be rather dull while history to be fascinating.

woops, just saw that recommendation, hah. Well, let me know if it is any good because I am definitely interested in that type of book as well

 

[Exis]

The Pentagon's Brain by Annie Jacobsen is fascinating a history of DARPA and includes things like us testing nukes during the Cuban missile crisis and how borked Vietnam really was cause they tried for technology that was 30 years too soon.

Her other books on Area 51 and Operation Paperclip were also great.

 

[Peru]

I'm enjoying the childhood immensely so that'll bode well for the rest of the book.

Anyone who knows me knows I'll literally discuss Brontë at any time and any opportunity given, so keep us updated.

 

[Nuke Soda]

I spent like an hour or so yesterday evening trying to find a book that sounded interensting. Literally nothing spoke to me. I have a helluva lot of books on my "to read list" at goodreads, but I wasn't feeling any of them at this time. (I'm waiting in vain for an audiobook version of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet)

So I went with this one at audible

It was the least "non-exciting" book I could find for now. I hope it's good and creepy. I'm expecting something like Super 8/Cigarette Burns in terms of scaryness.

It is a really decent book, towards the end there were genuinely creepy moments.

 

[Got the Shakes]

The Pentagon's Brain by Annie Jacobsen is fascinating a history of DARPA and includes things like us testing nukes during the Cuban missile crisis and how borked Vietnam really was cause they tried for technology that was 30 years too soon.

Her other books on Area 51 and Operation Paperclip were also great.

This is next on my list. Like it so far?

 

[sparky2112]

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It's excellent.

Oh, no you di'int.

 

[lightus]

So, I finished up The Goblin Emperor awhile back but never posted my thoughts on it. As it turns out I still won't because I'm extremely tired! To put it simply, I loved it. I'll probably write out more as to why I loved it later on.

I also finished up The Stars, Like Dust today and felt it was a solid "eh". I love Isaac Asimov but this one just fell short for me. Again, possibly more details on my feelings about why later in the week.

The real reason I'm posting is because I've some how gotten TWO copies of Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie. Anyone here want it? PM me and I'll ship it out to you! I don't know anyone personally who is following the series so I figured I'd give it to a GAFer who'd enjoy it.

 

[Shirow]

Just finished this one. It was very enjoyable. I never knew the history of the company much and it goes a bit into the silicon valley and computer industry timeline as well.

Now I'm about halfway into this one:

I was thinking of reading "The wealth of Nations" at one point. It looked interesting, but I'm afraid it's going to be a drag to read through.

 

[Mumei]

So, I finished up The Goblin Emperor awhile back but never posted my thoughts on it. As it turns out I still won't because I'm extremely tired! To put it simply, I loved it. I'll probably write out more as to why I loved it later on.

I always knew you were a good person.

 

[nailbombxx]

Jesus Christ, The Frolic by Thomas Ligotti is one super creepy short story.

Spoiler

don't read if you have children

 

[Ebolarama]

The Artifact by W. Michael Gear - After reading The Martian in all its science-y awesomeness, this brand of space opera does absolutely nothing for me.

The Third Option by Vince Flynn - Popcorn summer movie action guilty pleasure (pick one or all).

V. by Thomas Pynchon - Because I needed a deep read after the former 2 novels.

 

[whatevermort]

I spent like an hour or so yesterday evening trying to find a book that sounded interensting. Literally nothing spoke to me. I have a helluva lot of books on my "to read list" at goodreads, but I wasn't feeling any of them at this time. (I'm waiting in vain for an audiobook version of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet)

So I went with this one at audible

It was the least "non-exciting" book I could find for now. I hope it's good and creepy. I'm expecting something like Super 8/Cigarette Burns in terms of scaryness.

Fascinated about the audio night film. The book has a load of mixed media stuff, pictures and newspaper cut outs and stuff. Interested to know how they translate that stuff.

ALSO it's not creepy at all. Not even close to scary.

 

[opticalmace]

I'm a fan of Heinlein and am always happy to see folks picking his work up, but I'm afraid you stumbled across one of the absolute worst ways to start reading the man. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls heavily references (and assumes you've read) several of Heinlein's earlier novels and was written well into his Dirty Old Man Without An Editor period. Now, I maintain that Heinlein could write the phone book and it would be pretty entertaining, and if you're already getting into the book and digging it that's totally great. That said, you may want to set it aside and go for another Heinlein novel as a starting point; The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is my personal favorite and is one of the key books you'd want to have under your belt if you do try to give The Cat Who Walks Through Walls a go.

Meanwhile, I spent most of the weekend reading The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher, the first book of his new steampunk series The Cinder Spires. I tore through it in three days, so I reckon I liked it. Butcher has fun with the steampunk tropes (up to and including coming up with a reason for everyone to have goggles), doesn't dwell overly on the worldbuilding (though he does provide a reason why everyone is tooling around in airships), takes a bunch of likeable characters and sends them right into the middle of all hell breaking loose (with plenty of action, derring do, and so forth), and generally has big fun with the whole setup. Also, at one point Butcher goes really out of his way to set up a terrible pun, which I can respect. Oh, and the setting has sentient cats with opposible thumbs who are incredibly arragont and enthusiastically violent. They're practically the best part of the whole damn book.

I also recently read the first four novels in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, i.e. the Napoleonic era with dragons. They've been absolutely terrific in an addictive, historic serial fiction sort of way. The only reason why I took a break from the series was that I was excited for the new Butcher novel and I'm still waiting for the ffith Temeraire book to arrive in the mail. I'm excited to get back to it in short order.

FnordChan

Just to come back to this, I finished reading The Cat Who Walks Through Walls a week ago. You were right, it's um kind of out there. The first third of the book was great, but by the end it seemed kind of hare-brained.

I think I will still try reading Moon/Mistress, but yeah, you called it.

For now though I am reading Robots of Dawn by Asimov. And I also bought a Kindle Paperwhite (my first ereader). It's sooooooo nice. I love having a backlight for reading in bed.

 

[Necrovex]

Completed Kite Runner. An absolute gem. Some strong character development in Amir. Started off as a coward, and turned out to be a tolerable person. Some good insights on Afghanistan and Muslums. The historical aspect hooked me along with placing an Afghan family in an American setting. The hype is real. Read it!

Debating on my next fiction. I may finally tackle Cloud Atlus. But now I must catch up on my two issues backlog of The Economist.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Finished the audiobook re-read/listen of Area X. The ending of Acceptance was a lot better this time because the narrators were able to put an extra bit of humanity into the crazy shit going down.

Also, I found out he's writing another Area X book, one set in the days before the wall/dome came down:

For those who’ve asked me on Twitter about the possibility of new Area X/Southern Reach fiction, I can report that I’m (slowly) working on a novella entitled “The Bird Watchers.” The novella is set during the last week before the event that created Area X and the viewpoint character is Old Jim. Some readers will remember Old Jim as “ol’ piano fingers” in one of the more chilling scenes in Acceptance. Well, it turns out Old Jim was involved in the Seance & Science Brigade’s mission, among other nefarious things.

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2015/05/03/area-x-the-bird-watchers/

The S&SB is the biggest thing I wonder about in the series.

Spoiler

They knew, somehow, there was something in the light and actively tried to release it. It kind of reminds me of Hellboy or Cthulu where there are old gods and people who worship them and try to bring them back for their terrible purpose. (I'm not a writer, bad prose is ok) Is this what the S&SB was? Or, given the way they are characterized by the notes that the Biologist found, were they incompetent until Old Man Severance and Central got in on the action? It's briefly hinted that Central knew and caused it without know what they caused. A) why else set up SR? B) Lowry is caught off-guard by the idea, like he hadn't thought about it like that and it makes too much sense but at the same time it would destroy his world-view if it were true so he has to deny it.

I also like that that's the same conversation where the Director asks if he's still in contact with the aliens. IMaybe Lowry is the proto beacon that Whitby perfects.

And I gotta say: Authority, for as good as the book was, it even better as an audio book. Bronson Pinchot (yeah, Balky) gives a wonderful performance. Really enjoyed listening to the series again.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Fascinated about the audio night film. The book has a load of mixed media stuff, pictures and newspaper cut outs and stuff. Interested to know how they translate that stuff.

ALSO it's not creepy at all. Not even close to scary.

I'd argue that it's very creepy, but never scary. I think I enjoyed it most of the way through, but I recall being annoyed by the ending's unnecessary ambiguity.

 

[obin_gam]

Fascinated about the audio night film. The book has a load of mixed media stuff, pictures and newspaper cut outs and stuff. Interested to know how they translate that stuff.

ALSO it's not creepy at all. Not even close to scary.

Thus far the narrator, very good narrating I might add, is just reading the articles and reports as ordinary bullet points. It says in the audible description there is pdf-files to this, but I havent been able to find them.

 

[Number45]

Finished The Martian. Loved the ebb and flow of problem/solution, kind of disappointed (ending spoiler)

Spoiler

it didn't all go catastrophically wrong at the end. It's basically "Science is awesome: the book"

.

I'm OK with that though, really.

 

[sparky2112]

Finished The Martian. Loved the ebb and flow of problem/solution, kind of disappointed (ending spoiler)

Spoiler

it didn't all go catastrophically wrong at the end. It's basically "Science is awesome: the book"

.

I'm OK with that though, really.

I love the fact that Watney

Spoiler

survives is treated as some kind of spoiler. My wife accidentally just blurted that out at work and people were legitimately upset.

 

[Number45]

I love the fact that Watney

Spoiler

survives is treated as some kind of spoiler. My wife accidentally just blurted that out at work and people were legitimately upset.

Yeah, honestly he did such a great job of

Spoiler

dealing with everything thrown at him I thought they *must* throw a curve ball in at the end

.

It's a 12a at the cinema as well, which means I can take my daughters to see it. I'd try to get them both to read it but my eldest (13) probably won't see it through (BECAUSE TEENAGERS!) and youngest (10)... I probably shouldn't be suggesting she reads a book with quite so much swearing!

EDIT: I also want to say that after reading it I dislike the Matt Damon cover even more.

 

[brau]

I just finished Phillip K Dicks "Ubik".

Holy cow what a book.

Thanks to them fancy gaffers on the SOMA thread for recommending me such a fine piece of fiction. Easily one of my favorite books now, and i am looking forward to reading more from PKD.

More_Badass

EatChildren

ScreamintMeat

PolishQ

Any recommendations?

I am starting now "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs. It looks alright.

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

I am starting now "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs. It looks alright.

FANTASTIC first half. Very creepy and macabre. Interesting mystery and fun characters. Then the main plot kicks in and it sort of trips over itself. I don't know if I care to read the second and third books.

 

[brau]

FANTASTIC first half. Very creepy and macabre. Interesting mystery and fun characters. Then the main plot kicks in and it sort of trips over itself. I don't know if I care to read the second and third books.

oh nice. it certainly looks promising. I was not even aware that the book was part of a series. I'll post with impressions on it. Excited to read something scary.

Any good scary books you might recommend?

 

[Head of Vengarl]

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Audiobook narrated by Allan Corduner

Just finished it last night. Great book, and outstanding narration by Allan Corduner. Sometimes it sounds kind of awkward when a male narrator does female voices, but Corduner was so good I didn't even have to think about it. He had different voices for each character, and they all worked perfectly. I can't imagine reading this story without his narration — it really added to the experience.

As for the book itself, a person on Reddit said it best:

Spoiler

"It wasn't as dramatic as ripping out my heart, but The Book Thief just slowly strangled my heart into a very sad looking lump."

You are warned about what's going to happen; you have time to prepare for it.

Spoiler

But maaaaan does it do a good job of making you fall in love with the characters, only to kill them off so tragically. It does throw you a bone at the end by having Max survive Dachau, but still. I had trouble falling asleep last night... felt empty inside.

Overall: I thought it was a well-written novel with unforgettable characters and a story that cuts deep. Two thumbs up.

 

[TTG]

Finished All The Pretty Horses yesterday. Knowing McCarthy, I really thought it would just degrade further and further once the trouble started, but it didn't. He pulled it out and steered it to a much better conclusion.

This is a great book. The first great proper western I've read and there's so much to like here. His style complements the romantic setting and plotting so well. Speaking of which, the plot is great and the time it's set in is just always in the back of your mind(this is the 40s, can it really be the 40s?).

So, I don't know if it's a better book than Blood Meridian, but I enjoyed it more. The more I think about it the more I like it.

Spoiler

Who would have thought a western forbidden love story would work so well? Not in a hundred years did I think I would fall for one.

Some absolutely McCarthian imagery I had to quote:

Bye and bye they passed a stand of roadside cholla against which small birds had been driven by the storm and there impaled. Gray nameless birds espaliered in attitudes of stillborn flight or hanging loosely in their feathers. Some of them were still alive and they twisted on their spines as the horses passed and raised their heads and cried out but the horsemen rode on. The sun rose up in the sky and the country took on new color, green fire in the acacia and paloverde and green in the roadside run-off grass and fire in the ocotillo. As if the rain were electric, had grounded circuits that the electric might be.

yeesh.

 

[sparky2112]

Just scratched the start of this. This is Fall's BIG BOOK - a 900+ page first novel that started a bidding war and ultimately went for a staggering $2 million. Movie rights already sold, etc. Basically, it's a montage of NYC leading up to the blackout in '77.

 

[You Know Nothing]

I love that his middle name's Risk.

Added it to my list. No idea when I'll read it. That page count is formidable.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I've been meaning to read this 600 page history tome for ages and I finally cracked it open. Halfway through it now. It has good and bad elements as a book, there are really interesting chapters when you learn about the politics and wars of pre-Revolution South Carolina. Afterwards though...it just kinda gets dull. It has a bad case of entire chapters devoted to mundane facts like how tables were made or where people took their sewage.

As for the actual story...it's unique as far as original 13 colonies go. South Carolina was founded by a corporation. The Lord Proprietor's recruited the toughest, meanest slavers out of Barbados they could find to colonize it and make it productive. Things get a bit Scarface after a while because the Barbados people end up seizing power and wrestling ownership of the colony away from the Proprietor's. It's a genuinely dark, interesting saga between intense people.

After that it's just a text book oligarchy. Rich people maintain complete control of the government and refuse to pay attention to anything that doesn't affect them. Gangs, robbers, lack of education, and all the other stuff develops. Rich people throw money at it. This creates more problems. Rich people throw more money at it.

The book was written in the late 90's and I doubt it would comport with whatever the liberal narrative is supposed to be now. It has that sad habit of dedicating one or two sections to slavery being really bad, then pages of all the fun, interesting things rich slavers did with their free time. You keep wanting him to talk about what actual slavery is like for people but to be fair, it's hard to find primary sources on it. White people don't really talk about it, slaves weren't keeping diaries or writing letters.

If you're from South Carolina, you should read it so you know who all the roads and buildings are named after. If you're not...the place stops being anything but a stagnant oligarchy by the 1850's. Hopefully shit gets real in the Civil War.

 

[kswiston]

Coraline by Neil Gaiman is on sale for $1.99 on the kindle store:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1192/?tag=neogaf0e-20



I'm still working through the Handmaid's Tale. I haven't been doing as much reading lately.

 

[whatevermort]

Just scratched the start of this. This is Fall's BIG BOOK - a 900+ page first novel that started a bidding war and ultimately went for a staggering $2 million. Movie rights already sold, etc. Basically, it's a montage of NYC leading up to the blackout in '77.

Interested to hear your thoughts when you're done. I thought it was at least 50% too long, needed a FAR stricter edit, and alternates between excellent and almost unbearably trite. I hated the ending more than I can even say.

 

[sparky2112]

Interested to hear your thoughts when you're done. I thought it was at least 50% too long, needed a FAR stricter edit, and alternates between excellent and almost unbearably trite. I hated the ending more than I can even say.

I hereby christen the verb (adverb?) 'Goldfinched'. Usage: 'I better not get Goldfinched by this goddamn book...'

EDIT: Not to be confused with 'Luminaried', which means to be mildly disappointed by something you expected to love.

 

[whatevermort]

I hereby christen the verb (adverb?) 'Goldfinched'. Usage: 'I better not get Goldfinched by this goddamn book...'

EDIT: Not to be confused with 'Luminaried', which means to be mildly disappointed by something you expected to love.

Oh I got Goldfinched HARD. (I actually prefer The Goldfinch. Having read this, and all of the other Big Books of 2015 (I think), I'm more impressed with what Tartt did. There's a control to hers that everybody else misses - it's messy and bloated and not what it could have been, but it never fucks itself apart on a sentence level, or sacrifices the integrity of its own characters, even if they're badly formed pastiche. My respect for The Luminaries is high, but like you, I was disappointed. Still: there's so much play with form there, and the structure is so impressive, that I forgive it a lot of faults.

For me, City On Fire's biggest issue is that it is ABSOLUTELY a checklist of things that The Great American Novel in 2015 would include. Pick a theme, it's in there. Seriously. Nothing missed out.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Just purchased my next book: American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition (A Full Cast Production) by Neil Gaiman

Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, Daniel Oreskes, Ron McLarty, and Sarah Jones

I've never read a Gaiman book, and honestly I have no idea what American Gods is about. I've seen it very highly recommended, and the audiobook production got very good reviews.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I've never read a Gaiman book, and honestly I have no idea what American Gods is about. I've seen it very highly recommended, and the audiobook production got very good reviews.

You don't have to do this, but it's a lot of fun to look up the myths being referenced as you go. There will be various parts where it can get weird but it's actually just being very clever.

 

[justjohn]

Reading the 39 steps. I've seen the different movie versions about 4 times so I was expecting more of the same but it's very different. Although reading of the content about Jews makes me realise why they changed it a bit.

 

[javie3d]

Recently picked up cat person by seo kim

 

[TTG]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kand0%2BPhL._SX336_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg[IMG]

Just scratched the start of this. This is Fall's BIG BOOK - a 900+ page first novel that started a bidding war and ultimately went for a staggering $2 million. Movie rights already sold, etc. Basically, it's a montage of NYC leading up to the blackout in '77.[/QUOTE]

I would jump in, but having just finished War and Peace recently, I don't think I could handle 900+ pages. Two million seems an incredible amount of money for something that doesn't have name recognition behind it. Let us know how it goes?

Meanwhile, I'm reading Fatherland by Robert Harris. It's ok.

 

[lt519]

Finished Terms of Enlistment, takes a weird shift halfway through but it's pretty reminiscent of John Scalzi, Heinlein, and Hadleman books. Onto the second one now Lines of Departure.

 

[aidan]

Finished Terms of Enlistment, takes a weird shift halfway through but it's pretty reminiscent of John Scalzi, Heinlein, and Hadleman books. Onto the second one now Lines of Departure.

Okay. I'm intrigued.

 

[Cyan]

Finished Terms of Enlistment, takes a weird shift halfway through but it's pretty reminiscent of John Scalzi, Heinlein, and Hadleman books. Onto the second one now Lines of Departure.

That's the dude who turned down a Hugo nom this year, right? Marko Kloos? Curious to hear more about these.

 

[phillipgessert]

I spent the last couple months reading and re-reading Frankenstein in order to design an ebook edition of it. I've got mine up at gessertbooks.com if anyone else would like to read it for Halloween (free, of course), and am super amped to relax and read it again without having to super scrutinize it anymore.

 

[Peru]

I spent the last couple months reading and re-reading Frankenstein in order to design an ebook edition of it. I've got mine up at gessertbooks.com if anyone else would like to read it for Halloween (free, of course), and am super amped to relax and read it again without having to super scrutinize it anymore.

1818 or 1831 version?

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

For me, City On Fire's biggest issue is that it is ABSOLUTELY a checklist of things that The Great American Novel in 2015 would include. Pick a theme, it's in there. Seriously. Nothing missed out.

Harvest / Blood Moon?
Pluto Fly-by?
DINOSAURS? (I fucking hate that movie)
Mad Max feminism?

Yes, I know this is your field and I know nothing. I'll let myself out, thanks.