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Hey there poindexter. Read any good books lately?

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
YMMV, but I thought he was bad w/ Recursion. Pulpy and readable, so I made it to the end, but not smart or interesting. Surface level only. Also terrible relationships.

Have you ever read Crichton? He's another author I'm gonna to start reading in 2025. I'm not sure what to start with when it comes to him. I'm either reading Sphere, Jurassic Park books or The Andromeda Strain books
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Have you ever read Crichton? He's another author I'm gonna to start reading in 2025. I'm not sure what to start with when it comes to him. I'm either reading Sphere, Jurassic Park books or The Andromeda Strain books
He was one of my favorites in elementary school yeah, so I read most of his work until Timeline or so when he started writing more shallowly for the impending movie adaptations and I bailed out. The Andromeda Strain is a good one to start with, Jurassic Park and Sphere are fine choices too.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Audible sent me another two month trial so I have a credit. Anyone know of a recent audiobook release that has both a good story and narrative performance?
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
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Not a bad little book by Carlo Rovelli.

The book explores the theoretical concept of white holes, hypothetical objects that are the opposite of black holes. Black holes are known for their immense gravity, allowing nothing, not even light, to escape. White holes, conversely, are theorized to expel matter and energy. Rovelli guides the reader through the scientific ideas behind white holes, interweaving his own research and collaborations with discussions of historical and philosophical perspectives on time and the universe. It's a tiny book that can be read in a day, but one that you'll be thinking about for a lot longer. To be honest, I'm not sure I am fully convinced on the existence of white holes, but there was a time when people, even Albert Einstein, didn't believe black holes existed, so who knows. Maybe one day we'll know for sure.

This is my next book. I've come into contact with a lot of people who rave about it and I'm eager to get started on it tonight.

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Drake

Member
4UW64VO.jpeg

Read Neuromancer again.
Did not remember how disjointed it can be, how hard it is to understand what's happening sometimes :messenger_grinning_sweat: (Riviera's introduction in Turkey is a good exemple)
Still a great read especially when playing cyberpunk 2077 on the side.

Neuromancer was a struggle for me. The book is not long and it took me way longer to finish than it probably should have because I had to go back and keep re-reading sections to fully understand what was going on. I'd like to go back and read the other entries in the series, but IDK if I want to put myself through that again because from what I understand the rest of the series is written similarly.
 

Toots

Gold Member
Neuromancer was a struggle for me. The book is not long and it took me way longer to finish than it probably should have because I had to go back and keep re-reading sections to fully understand what was going on. I'd like to go back and read the other entries in the series, but IDK if I want to put myself through that again because from what I understand the rest of the series is written similarly.
It's Gibson style of writing so everything he published will be somewhat like that.

Then again the more you read of him the more you're used to this weird style, the way he describes tech, and his kind of neo noir archetypal characters, thus making it easier to understand.
I won't force you to read more of him though if you don't think it's worth the hassle :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
I'm reading The Chronicles of Narnia set I found at Goodwill ❤️

And just finished Open by Andre Agassi (and his ghostwriter). One of the best wrestling or sports autobiographies I've read.

He tells a story of betting with his coach how much Pete Sampras tipped a valet kid. One thought five, the other thought he's made so much money I'm saying ten bucks. They asked the kid and he sheepishly told them he tipped a dollar and said to give it to the kid who really brought the car around. :p
 

kurisu_1974

Member
Read the first book of 3-Body Problem trilogy and I thought it was a bunch of badly written nonsense.

The VR game chapters that were written by someone that has never seen either a game nor VR and that had hardly a point outside of exposition, the nonsense with the Mike Evans character who is super important in all 2 pages dedicated to him, the cardboard protagonists and the sloppy writing, the weird aliens that can dehydrate but sometimes they get wiped anyways but still they remember their previous civilizations even if they have to start from being muck in an ocean again (?) and all the handwavy super science like self interpreting code and then those silly sophons that literally made me shake my head in disbelief during that massive badly written infodump that made the whole alien society and their issues even less believable.

I already own the second book but I'm not sure I'll bother with it. I still have some classic 50s and 60s sci-fi that I'm sure I'll enjoy much more.
 
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Toots

Gold Member
Finished Gibson's short stories anthology Burning Chrome.
Stories are great, as long as you manage to understand anything happening :messenger_grinning_sweat:

Something dawned on me while reading, William Gibson isn't a novelist, he is a poet. The obscure aspect of his writing isn't due to being part of some technological avant-garde, or some prescient scientific intuition on his part, it's because he's a poet writing scifi. His novels are often closer to poems than short stories. One could argue it's just his love for weird descriptive imagery, but i believe it's more than that. As Rimbaud said the goal of a poet is to be a seer. Gibson definitively has a vision he wants to share with the world.

Two examples (with original punctuation, which add to the "poet writing short stories" angle imo, he uses it as a more as a "rythm controlling" tool than anything) :

"At the heart of darkness, the still centre, the glitch systems shred the dark with whirlwinds of light, translucent razors spinning away from us; we hang in the centre of a silent slow-motion explosion, ice fragments falling away forever, and Bobby's voice comes in across light years of electronic void illusion-
'Burn the bitch down. I can't hold the thing back-'
The Russian program, rising through towers of data, blotting out the playroom colours. And i plug Bobby's homemade command package into the center of Chrome's cold heart.[...]An unformed arm of shadow twitches from the towering dark, too late.
We've done it.
The matrix folds itself around me like an origami trick.
And the loft smells of sweat and burining circuitry.
I thought i heard Chrome scream, a raw metal sound, but i couldn't have."

or

"The first three quarters of the cassette have been erased; you punch yourself fast-forward through a static haze of wiped tape, where taste and scent blur into a single channel. The audio input is white sound - the no-sound of the first dark sea..."

It's funny to see that The belonging kind, one of the stories he wrote with some other dude, is far less obscure than the rest. It's a little "detective" horror story wich seem to have been written by Stephen King based on a EA Poe idea (i swear :messenger_tears_of_joy:, and it's not as good as it seems, since stylistically King isn't very good. It would have been better the other way around - a short story written by Poe based on a King idea might be the GOAT of horror stories -).

To better understand the difference between Gibson and a "by the book" scifi author, just look at The 3 body problem. It is extremely easy to read, yet use complex scientific data and projections. Imo it is because all other aspects (character development, underlying philosophy, writing style etc.) seem to have been plucked directly from the mind of a 15 yo.
The hero is Chinese because they are the smartest (even though his plan is what every kid all around the world does in school to protect themselves from stronger kids : "if you mess with me i'm gonna go tell the teacher and we'll both be in trouble"). The US guy is a warmonger, etc. The philosophy of the book (man to man is wolf and chinese are right to be imperialistic because in a finite world, every civilisation with its infinite grotwh needs to be in order to survive - at the expense of the other civilisations of course, and eventually it's own members since infinite growth / finite universe... It's like some fat dude wanting to eat his entire birthday cake alone because he knows someday, in the far future, he'll be running out of food.).
A bunch of jingoïstic nonsensical crap.

TL ; DR : Burning Chrome is great, easier to read but still a bit cryptic. Gibson is more of a poet than a novelist and that's why i think he'd rather have us "feel" than "understand" most times.
Also buy it only for Johnny Mnemonic it is far better than the movie adaptation;
 
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NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan

I caught up on reading the chapters that are currently released which is ten total so far. So far the book is fantastic and I can't wait for Wind And Truth to come out December. I have that preordered, I can't wait.

I'm halfway through The Wind Through The Keyhole By Stephen King and it's a great read. It's a Dark Tower Book so been enjoying going back to reading about Roland adventures with his Ka-Tet
 

Lunarorbit

Member

I caught up on reading the chapters that are currently released which is ten total so far. So far the book is fantastic and I can't wait for Wind And Truth to come out December. I have that preordered, I can't wait.

I'm halfway through The Wind Through The Keyhole By Stephen King and it's a great read. It's a Dark Tower Book so been enjoying going back to reading about Roland adventures with his Ka-Tet
I'm slowly reading talisman right now which already has similarities to the dark tower series he started a couple years later. Also read dragon eyes years ago before I realized that was also connected.

Listening to golden son by pierce brown and fall of hyperion by Dan simmons at work too. Really enjoying all 3 books.
 

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
I'm slowly reading talisman right now which already has similarities to the dark tower series he started a couple years later. Also read dragon eyes years ago before I realized that was also connected.

I just finished reading The Talisman a couple of weeks ago. It was a good book but a bit aimless in the middle section. Also I felt that lot of the stuff in there were half baked but looking at the time it was released which was early 80s I can see why. I think the first book of The Dark Tower came out after The Talisman so his ideas for his Multiverse wasn't fully formed yet. Still a good book though

Now the Sequel Black House is I feel the better written book. It has more of a focus and I felt the story was more interesting

It will be interesting if King decides to write a third entry in The Talisman Universe since his Co Author Peter Straub died two years ago (R.I.P.)

Listening to golden son by pierce brown and fall of hyperion by Dan simmons at work too. Really enjoying all 3 books.

I'm planning on reading Red Rising Series in the next three years. I heard lot of great stuff about it

As for Fall of Hyperion. Fantastic book. Hyperion is still the best I read so far but I do have to read the last two books though. But Hyperion especially is in my Top Sci Fi Books of All Time. I loved it

I might do a reread of Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion before I get to Endymion and Rise of Endymion

I know that Bradley Cooper is a huge fan of the books and is looking to adapt them for TV
 

Lunarorbit

Member
I just finished reading The Talisman a couple of weeks ago. It was a good book but a bit aimless in the middle section. Also I felt that lot of the stuff in there were half baked but looking at the time it was released which was early 80s I can see why. I think the first book of The Dark Tower came out after The Talisman so his ideas for his Multiverse wasn't fully formed yet. Still a good book though

Now the Sequel Black House is I feel the better written book. It has more of a focus and I felt the story was more interesting

It will be interesting if King decides to write a third entry in The Talisman Universe since his Co Author Peter Straub died two years ago (R.I.P.)



I'm planning on reading Red Rising Series in the next three years. I heard lot of great stuff about it

As for Fall of Hyperion. Fantastic book. Hyperion is still the best I read so far but I do have to read the last two books though. But Hyperion especially is in my Top Sci Fi Books of All Time. I loved it

I might do a reread of Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion before I get to Endymion and Rise of Endymion

I know that Bradley Cooper is a huge fan of the books and is looking to adapt them for TV
My wife keeps making fun of me, "haven't you read red rising a million times?".

Forehead slap. No, just twice and this time I'm listening to it at work. I got halfway through the 3rd book years ago and got interrupted. It's crazy this isn't a show yet. The author wanted to make a movie which would be a horrible idea; needs to be fleshed out in a cartoon/anime cause shit is stylish and it'll be too expensive in person. Definitely check those out.

Reading Hyperion was hilarious cause it just ends. Another audio book I was listening to at work where I thought my phone ended the audible app. I didn't know the publisher split it in two. I could see this being live action. If dune can look that nuts then Hyperion could as well.

Someone told me that black house and Talisman feel like they were switched between King and straub being the main author for each book. Or it could be they were both young and developing. I'm finally warming up to going back and starting the dark tower series over cause I stopped in the middle of wolves of cahalla. That was almost 15 years ago and I didn't understand how much groundwork he put into a multiverse before other people did, especially in the last 40 years.

After reading and loving wizard and glass I was so jarred by wolves big reveal and tie in to other popular culture. Trying to be vague cause I forget how to spoiler tag
 

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
What I Read So Far This Year (2024)

MANGA

Blood On The Tracks: A+
One Piece Manga (All Up To Date): A
The Land Of The Lustrous: A
My Hero Academia: B+
Pluto: B

BOOKS

Death's End: A+ (The Three-Body Trilogy Book 3, 604 Pages, Cixin Liu)

The Dark Forest: A+ (The Three-Body Trilogy Book 2, 512 Pages, Cixin Liu)

The Three-Body Problem: A+ (The Three-Body Trilogy Book 1, 472 Pages, Cixin Liu)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier And Clay: A+ (Micheal Chabon, 514 Pages)

Children Of Dune: A+ (Dune Series Book 3, Frank Herbert, 609 Pages)

Dune Messiah: A+ (Dune Series Book 2, Frank Herbert, 336 Pages)

The Wind Through The Keyhole: A (The Dark Tower Book 4.5, Stephen King, 309 Pages)

Black House: A (Stephen King and Peter Straub, 833 Pages)

The Talisman: A (Stephen King and Peter Straub, 923 Pages)

Mushoku Tensei Jobless Recarnation Volume 1/2: A

Wool: A- (Silo Trilogy Book 1, Hugh Howey, 594 Pages)

Special Topics In Calamity Physics: A- (Marisha Pessl, 514 Pages)

The Dirty Streets of Heaven: B+ (Bobby Dollar Trilogy Book 1, Tad Williams, 406 Pages)

Of Mice And Men: B (John Steinbeck, 107 Pages)

The Watchers: F (A M Shine, 310 Pages)

Next Up

VMi17fH.jpeg


It's around 468 Pages, should be able to finish this in 4 to 6 days

My wife keeps making fun of me, "haven't you read red rising a million times?".

Forehead slap. No, just twice and this time I'm listening to it at work. I got halfway through the 3rd book years ago and got interrupted. It's crazy this isn't a show yet. The author wanted to make a movie which would be a horrible idea; needs to be fleshed out in a cartoon/anime cause shit is stylish and it'll be too expensive in person. Definitely check those out.

Yeah over the next couple of years (most likely 2026) I'll binge read the whole Red Rising Series

Reading Hyperion was hilarious cause it just ends. Another audio book I was listening to at work where I thought my phone ended the audible app. I didn't know the publisher split it in two. I could see this being live action. If dune can look that nuts then Hyperion could as well.

Dude Hyperion is fantastic. I read the first two books 2 to 3 years ago. And I'm most likely gonna to reread Book 1 and 2 before I start to read Book 3 and 4

Someone told me that black house and Talisman feel like they were switched between King and straub being the main author for each book. Or it could be they were both young and developing.

I heard that King and Straub made sure to write in each other style so it would be more difficult to tell who was writing what chapter in both books. I loved them both but I feel Black House is the better book by a mile. The Talisman was a fun romp but I felt the middle part was a but aimless and slow at times. While with Black House there was more of a good pacing and I liked the plot more especially the connections to The Dark Tower

I'm finally warming up to going back and starting the dark tower series over cause I stopped in the middle of wolves of cahalla. That was almost 15 years ago and I didn't understand how much groundwork he put into a multiverse before other people did, especially in the last 40 years.

Different Seasons is my first King book I read back in 1998 - 1999. It had the cover showcasing the movie Apt Pupil. I was in 8th Grade at the time and The Shawshank Redemption was the first story I read by Stephen King as in it's the first story that shows up in that book. The second story is Apt Pupil and to this day I still consider it the best Stephen King story I have ever reading.

During my Junior High and Highschool years, I didn't read any books by King. But During College I read The Stand and The Dark Tower 7 Book Series. Loved them both (Except the last three books of The Dark Tower were good to bad). This was around 2002 - 2007. I dedicated a month to reading all of seven Dark Tower books

The 2010s is when I read The Shining, Doctor Sleep, IT, Pet Semetary, Nightmare And Dreamscapes, etc. This year I decided to make a dent into my King books and read at least 3 to 5 books per year. I ended up reading 3 so far which are The Talisman, Black House and The Wind Through The Keyhole. The last two I'm reading this year are Revival and Skeleton Crew. I read lot of King most famous work

For next couple of years starting in 2025

The Outsider
The Institute
Fairy Tail
Christine
You Like It Darker
Salem's Lot
Four Past Midnight
Desperation
The Regulators
The Dead Zone
Cujo
Needful Things
11/22/63
Mr Mercedes
Finders Keeper
End of Watch
Under The Dome
Full Stars, No Dark
The Eyes of The Dragon

The other King book I am reading this year is Skeleton Crew this year. I am already halfway through the book, since it is a short story collection. After I finish Revival, I am juat gonna finish the rest of Skeleton Crew

After reading and loving wizard and glass I was so jarred by wolves big reveal and tie in to other popular culture. Trying to be vague cause I forget how to spoiler tag

That's understandable, as someone who just waited till all seven books came out I was massively disappointed with the last three books. I actually enjoyed Wolves of the Calla but I felt that needed more time in the oven. Same with Song of Sussanah and The Dark Tower. I just finished The Wind Through The Keyhole and it's a fantastic read. I think you should include that book in your reread of The Dark Tower series. It's Book 4.5, so it takes place between Wizard And Glass and Wolves of The Calla

Also Currently Updated King Ranking

1. Different Season: A+ (Novella Collection)
2. It: A+
3. Pet Semetary: A+
4. Wizard And Glass: A+ (The Dark Tower Book 4)
5. The Gunslinger: A+ (The Dark Tower Book 1)
6. Doctor Sleep: A+
7. The Stand: A
8. The Shining: A
9. The Wind Through The Keyhole: A (The Dark Tower Book 4.5)
10. Black House: A
11. The Talisman: A
12. The Wastelands: A (The Dark Tower Book 3)
13. The Drawing of The Three: A (The Dark Tower Book 2)
14. The Dark Half: A
15. Nightmare And Dreamscapes: A (Short Story Collection)
16. Wolves of The Calla: B+ (The Dark Tower Book 5)
17. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: B+ (Short Story Collection)
18. Song of Sussanah: D (The Dark Tower Book 6)
19. The Dark Tower: F (The Dark Tower Book 7)

I'm also gonna to start reading The Dark Tower Comics which are done by Marvel Comics. I'm starting those comics next year and heard those are fantastic reads
 
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NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
I can't believe I missed out on Berserk when I was younger. I read the first book and then purchased all 14 deluxe editions I consumed in about two weeks. I am looking forward to re-reading them.

Been a life long fan of the manga ever since the early 2000s. Back than, finding translated Chapters of the Berserk manga was hard to find on the internet. It's still my favorite manga of all time
 
Been a life long fan of the manga ever since the early 2000s. Back than, finding translated Chapters of the Berserk manga was hard to find on the internet. It's still my favorite manga of all time

Even though I knew the eclipse was coming it still felt surreal. The original 97 anime conversion is great, but the books are way better. The art is beautiful and Guts is one of the most bad ass fictional characters of all time.
 

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
Even though I knew the eclipse was coming it still felt surreal. The original 97 anime conversion is great, but the books are way better. The art is beautiful and Guts is one of the most bad ass fictional characters of all time.

For me I was introduced to Berserk through the first anime. The ending left me in shock and I wondered if the story ended where the OG Anime ended. I googled it and found out that the manga was still ongoing. So I started to read the manga. Berserk and Naruto are my first two manga that got me into reading manga
 
Recently read:

Malice by Keigo Higashino
: I really liked his execellent Devotion of Suspect X so it was natural that I wanted to read more of his works. Malice is really smart, experimental and clever. It's your typical murder-mystery but also not - the book is written in first-person alternating between the suspect and the detective. The genius being you do not know if a chapter written by the suspect is the truth. I won't spoil much, I highly recommend it even gets a bit dry in the middle, the ending is super satisfying and complete.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch: Very cringey, author has no undertsanding of physics, cheap cheesy romance, utter slop writing, super lazy prose, his writing is a mix of screenwriting and twitch chat with some Reddit humour mixed. It is however a page turner, made for the mass and to sell, most chapters end in cliffhangers, shocks and the mystery. You want to know the end, you want to complete your dump before you flush it. I'll lying if I didn't tell you that I read this in one sitting, I'll never get those four hours back.

Currently reading:
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn,
  • Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel by Tom Wainwright
  • The Firm by Grisham
  • Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
 

Boozeroony

Member
Currently reading My Confession by Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy takes you through his psychological struggles with life and religion. Remarkable and still relevant.
 

Jaybe

Member
Decided to take on a biography so picked Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. I used to rest a lot of tech and business biographies back in the day. I found it very illuminating on his background and family dynamic, and of course the hard work and challenging of norms in the businesses he founded. Very inspiring. The book covers some of his gaming habits with is a fun aside. Since Isaac son only got involved heavily over the last two years before publishing it has a lot of focus on Twitter, which can be a plus or minus depending on how you look at it.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I never saw the movie, except recently I saw about 15 minutes of it on a movie channel.... Wolf of Wall St. So I bought the guy's book. Cant wait to read it.
 
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