HiroProtagonist
Member
Thanks. I think I've read the Master of Deception (or maybe the original article it was based on), but I'm putting The Hacker Crackdown on my list.
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What are you reading? (July 2012)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Thanks. I think I've read the Master of Deception (or maybe the original article it was based on), but I'm putting The Hacker Crackdown on my list.
Burger
Member
OK GAF, I need a new book to read.
Recently finished:
WOOL - Amazing, loved every word of it, and promptly read the prequel which while great, wasn't as great as the setting for the first 5.
Leviathan Wakes - Okaaayyy. I guess. I read it on holiday, so read it in about 3 goes. Didn't think it was fantastic, and the sequel isn't apparently as good so I might skip.
I was thinking about starting Steven Erikson's Malazan books but I've heard that the first book, Gardens of the Moon is a fucking slog that doesn't pay off until several more books in the series. I want to enjoy something soon, not next year.
Was also thinking of China Mieville's Embasytown. Last book I read was The City & The City which was great.
Any thoughts?
Recently finished:
WOOL - Amazing, loved every word of it, and promptly read the prequel which while great, wasn't as great as the setting for the first 5.
Leviathan Wakes - Okaaayyy. I guess. I read it on holiday, so read it in about 3 goes. Didn't think it was fantastic, and the sequel isn't apparently as good so I might skip.
I was thinking about starting Steven Erikson's Malazan books but I've heard that the first book, Gardens of the Moon is a fucking slog that doesn't pay off until several more books in the series. I want to enjoy something soon, not next year.
Was also thinking of China Mieville's Embasytown. Last book I read was The City & The City which was great.
Any thoughts?
Maklershed
Member
Started reading The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson while I wait for GRRM to finish with The Winds of Winter. It's a 10 book series and I just started book one last night.
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen
Mackenzie 92
Member
Sadly you'll have time to go through all 10 and then about 1000 more other books before Winds comes out.
Decided re-try this series. Someone told me the first book is kind of choppy and then the rest get better so I'm working my way through it now. I like it. I can see Stephen Erikson got a lot of his inspiration from this book.
Those are some fun books, and yeah, they definitely get better as the series progresses, though I still have a few to read myself.
Tesseract
Banned
foundations of differential calculas by euler. newton may by the founder, but euler is the maker. his methods are locked into stone, still used today. unfuckingbelievable read for anyone looking to get into calculas. this book, khanacademy, and the practical man series are probably the best books to find out how and why differentiation got started.
I've been thinking of starting Gravity's Rainbow after a professor's glowing recommendation, but hadn't picked it up. You described exactly what I feared the book would be, so thank you for the write up.
About halfway through Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. The stuff surrounding Mexican, American, and some Soviet history is really interesting, but I realized recently that the main character is just so incredibly dull. No real faults or conflicts. But I'm still not done so hopefully it goes somewhere interesting.
I just finished up Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I loved parts of it, other parts were kind of hard to get through, like when it turns into a textbook on Sumerian gods. The stuff about viruses, and stories manifesting real life consequences, reminded me a lot of various Grant Morrison works.
I enjoyed it overall, but not sure I could dive into another one of his books if they're even longer and more dense.
I enjoyed it overall, but not sure I could dive into another one of his books if they're even longer and more dense.
elrechazado
Banned
Anyone else give this one a go?
I thought it was ok. Important for the history of the novel. For Collins, I actually prefer The Moonstone to Woman in White. Moonstone is about an Indian gem stone.
So, lately I've been going on a Heinlein binge, which I'm breaking up every couple of books with one of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels. First off:
Robert Heinlein Festival 2012
The Door Into Summer (1957) - Wherein a brilliant inventor specializing in automation finds himself embroiled in corporate intrigue and winds up traveling forward in time via cryogenic freezing. This was terrific fun, with a clever time travel plot, a cat named Petronius the Arbiter, Heinlein casually throwing out ideas for both AutoCAD and the Roomba, and so forth. It also has a bit that caused John Campbell to say "Bob can write a better story, with one hand tied behind him, than most people in the field can do with both hands. But Jesus, I wish that son of a gun would take that other hand out of his pocket", which neatly sums up Heinlein's later Dirty Old Man Without An Editor period. Still, this was a damn fine read.
The Puppet Masters (1951) - Wherein the mind controlling brain slugs invade Earth and our hero, a secret agent, works with an even more secretive agency to try to fight them off. I'm not sure if Heinlein invented the concept of the brain slug, but he takes their invasion to an impressively logical conclusion. Credited or otherwise, this book had to have been a direct influence on Invasion of the Body Snatchers; however, it's much more about taking the fight to the enemy than trying to work out what's happening in the first place. Again, terrific fun, and with one hell of a great final line.
Citizen of the Galaxy (1957) - Wherein a young slave is purchased by a very unusual master, thus kicking off a top notch galactic bildungsroman. It's gratifying seeing our young hero Thorby moving up in the world and to read Heinlein's depictions of various levels of society, with a lot of emphasis on differing social customs and the importance of duty. Tremendously entertaining, even when it's being a just a touch preachy.
Time For The Stars - This is another sort of SF coming of age story, but with an interesting setup: our hero and his twin are both telepaths who can communicate across any distance without any lag, so they're recruited to act as communications officers between Earth and a faster than light exploration ship. It's a neat premise, explained entertainingly (even when Heinlein occasionally drops into science lecture mode), and with all sorts of trials and tribulations for the ship's crew to contend with. We have another fun, fast-paced winner!
Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984) - Wherein our hero finds himself being tested as a modern day Job. After going back and reading novels from Heinlein's early, juvenile-oriented period, I returned back to the dirty old man era that I'm more familiar with for this Biblical riff. Heinlein puts our hero, a moderately uptight religious sort, through the ringer using a riff on his multiverse ideas from Number of the Beast, which gives us a tour of many different variations of America (with the tipping point generally involving William Jennings Bryan) where our poor bastard has to try to contend with radically different societies and generally arriving in them flat broke. However, it's not all bad for him: he's traveling with a beautiful young woman named Margrethe, though that adds a whole 'nother set of complications to the plot. Heinlein gets to have great fun exploring notions of sin, biblical theology, eschatology, with the occasional pause to ride one of his hobby horses on, say, highly relaxed sexual mores, income tax, and so forth. While not as straight forward and speedy a romp as the juveniles, this is probably the best book from Heinlein's later years and it's a fun read in the vein of, say, James Morrow or (apparently) James Branch Cabell. I'd had a copy sitting on my bookshelf for years and I'm very glad I finally got around to reading the damn thing. It certainly comes recommended!
As mentioned above, I was alternating between reading Heinlein and Patrick O'Brian, with one of Aubrey and Maturin's adventures between every two Heinlein novels. Specifically, I read both The Fortune of War and The Surgeon's Mate, the sixth and seventh Aubrey/Maturin novels respectively. At this point in the series we are well into the War of 1812 and, as an American, it's interesting reading the book and rooting for our heroes, the British. (On the other hand, I've never personally felt the urge to invade Canada, so I probably have the right attitude here.)
In The Fortune of War our heroes are held as prisoners of war in Boston, celebrated in Halifax, and given many opportunities for Maturin to engage in espionage and Aubrey to engage in being utterly useless on land, culminating in the famous battle between the Shannon and the Chesapeake, which this enlightening blog post at Making Light ties back into my Heinlein rampage. Then in The Surgeon's Mate it's Maturin's turn to be helpless (yet again) in the face of Diana Villiers while Aubrey is given two riveting opportunities to demonstrate his brilliance at sea. (Fear not, he's given the chance to flail about some on land as well.) As ever, these are utterly gripping historical novels, with Aubrey and Maturin's character and friendship being further explored, while also giving O'Brian the opportunity to explore the naval history of the period in fascinating depth.
And that's what I've been reading for the past two months or so. I'm extremely glad that I've finally delved into Heinlein's juvenile period and I've also had a terrific time continuing to read O'Brian's magnum opus. Both authors still have their hooks in me: I went on a used book shopping spree and stocked up on more early Heinlein, while the next three Aubrey/Maturin novels are patiently waiting on the shelf for me. I've just now started Heinlein's Space Cadet (1948) which, two pages in, has our hero casually using his cell phone, and look forward to jumping into The Ionian Mission when I'm done. After that, maybe I'll manage to read someone else for a while, but I wouldn't put money on it.
FnordChan
Robert Heinlein Festival 2012
The Door Into Summer (1957) - Wherein a brilliant inventor specializing in automation finds himself embroiled in corporate intrigue and winds up traveling forward in time via cryogenic freezing. This was terrific fun, with a clever time travel plot, a cat named Petronius the Arbiter, Heinlein casually throwing out ideas for both AutoCAD and the Roomba, and so forth. It also has a bit that caused John Campbell to say "Bob can write a better story, with one hand tied behind him, than most people in the field can do with both hands. But Jesus, I wish that son of a gun would take that other hand out of his pocket", which neatly sums up Heinlein's later Dirty Old Man Without An Editor period. Still, this was a damn fine read.
The Puppet Masters (1951) - Wherein the mind controlling brain slugs invade Earth and our hero, a secret agent, works with an even more secretive agency to try to fight them off. I'm not sure if Heinlein invented the concept of the brain slug, but he takes their invasion to an impressively logical conclusion. Credited or otherwise, this book had to have been a direct influence on Invasion of the Body Snatchers; however, it's much more about taking the fight to the enemy than trying to work out what's happening in the first place. Again, terrific fun, and with one hell of a great final line.
Citizen of the Galaxy (1957) - Wherein a young slave is purchased by a very unusual master, thus kicking off a top notch galactic bildungsroman. It's gratifying seeing our young hero Thorby moving up in the world and to read Heinlein's depictions of various levels of society, with a lot of emphasis on differing social customs and the importance of duty. Tremendously entertaining, even when it's being a just a touch preachy.
Time For The Stars - This is another sort of SF coming of age story, but with an interesting setup: our hero and his twin are both telepaths who can communicate across any distance without any lag, so they're recruited to act as communications officers between Earth and a faster than light exploration ship. It's a neat premise, explained entertainingly (even when Heinlein occasionally drops into science lecture mode), and with all sorts of trials and tribulations for the ship's crew to contend with. We have another fun, fast-paced winner!
Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984) - Wherein our hero finds himself being tested as a modern day Job. After going back and reading novels from Heinlein's early, juvenile-oriented period, I returned back to the dirty old man era that I'm more familiar with for this Biblical riff. Heinlein puts our hero, a moderately uptight religious sort, through the ringer using a riff on his multiverse ideas from Number of the Beast, which gives us a tour of many different variations of America (with the tipping point generally involving William Jennings Bryan) where our poor bastard has to try to contend with radically different societies and generally arriving in them flat broke. However, it's not all bad for him: he's traveling with a beautiful young woman named Margrethe, though that adds a whole 'nother set of complications to the plot. Heinlein gets to have great fun exploring notions of sin, biblical theology, eschatology, with the occasional pause to ride one of his hobby horses on, say, highly relaxed sexual mores, income tax, and so forth. While not as straight forward and speedy a romp as the juveniles, this is probably the best book from Heinlein's later years and it's a fun read in the vein of, say, James Morrow or (apparently) James Branch Cabell. I'd had a copy sitting on my bookshelf for years and I'm very glad I finally got around to reading the damn thing. It certainly comes recommended!
As mentioned above, I was alternating between reading Heinlein and Patrick O'Brian, with one of Aubrey and Maturin's adventures between every two Heinlein novels. Specifically, I read both The Fortune of War and The Surgeon's Mate, the sixth and seventh Aubrey/Maturin novels respectively. At this point in the series we are well into the War of 1812 and, as an American, it's interesting reading the book and rooting for our heroes, the British. (On the other hand, I've never personally felt the urge to invade Canada, so I probably have the right attitude here.)
In The Fortune of War our heroes are held as prisoners of war in Boston, celebrated in Halifax, and given many opportunities for Maturin to engage in espionage and Aubrey to engage in being utterly useless on land, culminating in the famous battle between the Shannon and the Chesapeake, which this enlightening blog post at Making Light ties back into my Heinlein rampage. Then in The Surgeon's Mate it's Maturin's turn to be helpless (yet again) in the face of Diana Villiers while Aubrey is given two riveting opportunities to demonstrate his brilliance at sea. (Fear not, he's given the chance to flail about some on land as well.) As ever, these are utterly gripping historical novels, with Aubrey and Maturin's character and friendship being further explored, while also giving O'Brian the opportunity to explore the naval history of the period in fascinating depth.
And that's what I've been reading for the past two months or so. I'm extremely glad that I've finally delved into Heinlein's juvenile period and I've also had a terrific time continuing to read O'Brian's magnum opus. Both authors still have their hooks in me: I went on a used book shopping spree and stocked up on more early Heinlein, while the next three Aubrey/Maturin novels are patiently waiting on the shelf for me. I've just now started Heinlein's Space Cadet (1948) which, two pages in, has our hero casually using his cell phone, and look forward to jumping into The Ionian Mission when I'm done. After that, maybe I'll manage to read someone else for a while, but I wouldn't put money on it.
FnordChan
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
I needed something easy to read and enjoyed the Percy Jackson series well enough. This one's good so far and is a little different in style since it's third person.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I've never read anything by Gaiman before and started this yesterday. Got the audio. Gaiman makes for a great narrator.
I know you felt it was a slow start, but I actually like the build up so far. I've read up to
his exit from the silo and cleaning the cameras.
Not surprised to see that there's interest from movie studios to pick up the film rites. Can't wait to see where it heads from here.
Read this on vacation over a few days and loved it. I had just finished Brave New World and, although I liked it based on the world the writer created, I eventually didn't like any of the characters except Watson who was a minor character.
This book, I liked just about everyone including Pi & Richard Parker.
Onto:
hey reading dudes: i have a nook and i hate it, but it was a gift so i want to use it at least a little bit. i'm flying off to the continent for the next couple weeks and thought itd be a good time to try out my nook instead of packing books. what good free stuff is on here? any recommendations? free is key.
alphaflightlives
Neo Member
Thanks for the advice! I'll probably be coming back to the series here and there between the other books I read. I did finish Flight of the Eisenstein and it was enjoyable but as I mentioned before a bit formulaic. I do want to see what happens next though!
Currently Reading:
Savages by Don Winslow. I'm about halfway through and am really enjoying it. I was just going to see the movie but decided to read the book first and I'm glad I did. Love how Winslow plays around with his prose and how propulsive the story is.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
Hey, man, don't take my word for it. I mean, I think I'm right, but I'd rather somebody end up disagreeing with me than take my opinion at face value. Won't cost you anything but time to get the book from the library, read a couple sections (book doesn't have "chapters" as such), and see for yourself what you think (though I'd advise you to decide early where you think you'll stand with it - I sank 25+(ish) hours into the thing that I'll never get back).
arts&crafts
Member
Just bought World War Z yesterday to read on the plane. About 100 pages in and
I'm loving it. It has an interesting format I was unsure of at first, but in the end it works well.
I'm loving it. It has an interesting format I was unsure of at first, but in the end it works well.
Finishing the first Wool novel:
It was nice not knowing how many pages were left. Judging by the size of the omnibus I thought:
A) The book would be about twice as long as it was.
B) The character would live through all of the books and adventure outside of the silo.
What a twist. One hell of a first book, but not sure what to think moving forward now that I know it's not going to progress with the same main character.
A) The book would be about twice as long as it was.
B) The character would live through all of the books and adventure outside of the silo.
What a twist. One hell of a first book, but not sure what to think moving forward now that I know it's not going to progress with the same main character.
I use my Kindle for classics. I tried to look at Nook's website, but it's not quite as easy to navigate for free books. I Googled and found this link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Free-eBooks/379003078/
Picked this up on Amazon's Kindle daily deal.
It was alright, a short easy read which was interesting and quite funny. It didn't overstay its welcome, but was also really straightforward.
The premise is nothing original (man is murdered, his ghost wants to find out why) but it is told in a humorous way.
I finished City of Madmen and Saints. I really enjoyed most of the individual stories (and histories and essays and psychological ... things (not sure what to call it), and particularly the stuff that reminded me of Nabokov. I was sort of expecting there to be more of an overarching connecting between elements, but if there was more, it was lost on me.
It seems like good reread material at some point, in any case.
I am now reading Is Bill Cosby Right? (Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?) by Michael Eric Dyson. So far Bill Cosby is getting his face punched in.
It seems like good reread material at some point, in any case.
I am now reading Is Bill Cosby Right? (Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?) by Michael Eric Dyson. So far Bill Cosby is getting his face punched in.
I'm finally finishing off Lord of Chaos, this once has me at around a month so far, way over budget on time for a book.
Definitely taking a break from Wheel of Time after this. King of Thorns is out soon so I might play catch up on some of these novellas I've been meaning to get to.
Probably going to knock this off first
I have to find that (Not on the Lending Library). I think I agree with Cosby overall and even if he's wrong it's great that he was powerful enough to speak about it. White people who say the same thing are, right or wrong, dismissed as racist or ignorant so a black voice on the matter key for a real debate.
There should be a diversity of thought within the black community about its problems and it's hard to imagine Dyson has a completely different picture that is also completely correct in contrast to Cosby's. Sounding like a thread derail so I'm done lol, but will look for the book at the library.
Mackenzie 92
Member
Finishing the first Wool novel:
It was nice not knowing how many pages were left. Judging by the size of the omnibus I thought:
A) The book would be about twice as long as it was.
B) The character would live through all of the books and adventure outside of the silo.
What a twist. One hell of a first book, but not sure what to think moving forward now that I know it's not going to progress with the same main character.
I think he'll come back to her and her silo, forgot the number already.
His website shows the progress of each volume he's working on. http://www.hughhowey.com/
Anyway, finished up The Forever War over the weekend. I didn't love it, but it was pretty good.
Still working on Containment and Crime and Punishment.
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Finished this yesterday:
Fritz Leiber - Conjure Wife
The book was written in 1943 which could very well make it the first urban fantasy novel. It's about a feud on a posh university where the men are unaware that the women are using witchcraft to help their husbands get a leg up in their various power struggles. When a sociology professor finds out his wife has been dabbling in magic, he forces her to give up her illogical fantasies and obsessions. When he throws away her magic amulets, his line of defense against witchcraft is gone and things go from bad to worse in just a matter of days.
It's a really fun book. I'd read Leibers Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories a long time ago, always liked those, but I'd never read his other books. This is a great start, it's a relatively short book compared to today' multi volume telephone books which makes it perfect for a quick, satisfying read. It has humor, it has suspense and a few thrills (but no outright horror or gore). I bought a couple of Leiber's short story collections on Abebooks a few days ago and I'll need to find a good copy of Gather Darkness as well.
Now reading:
More classic fantasy FTW.
Fritz Leiber - Conjure Wife
The book was written in 1943 which could very well make it the first urban fantasy novel. It's about a feud on a posh university where the men are unaware that the women are using witchcraft to help their husbands get a leg up in their various power struggles. When a sociology professor finds out his wife has been dabbling in magic, he forces her to give up her illogical fantasies and obsessions. When he throws away her magic amulets, his line of defense against witchcraft is gone and things go from bad to worse in just a matter of days.
It's a really fun book. I'd read Leibers Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories a long time ago, always liked those, but I'd never read his other books. This is a great start, it's a relatively short book compared to today' multi volume telephone books which makes it perfect for a quick, satisfying read. It has humor, it has suspense and a few thrills (but no outright horror or gore). I bought a couple of Leiber's short story collections on Abebooks a few days ago and I'll need to find a good copy of Gather Darkness as well.
Now reading:
More classic fantasy FTW.
Finishing the first Wool novel:
It was nice not knowing how many pages were left. Judging by the size of the omnibus I thought:
A) The book would be about twice as long as it was.
B) The character would live through all of the books and adventure outside of the silo.
What a twist. One hell of a first book, but not sure what to think moving forward now that I know it's not going to progress with the same main character.
I'm about 75 percent through the omnibus. I really love it, need to get back to it.
Supposedly Fox got the movie rights for it and Ridley Scott is going to direct? That could be awesome.
Lamel
Banned
So I am pleasurably reading trough The Picture of Dorian Gray and about 130 pages in I come to chapter 11, which I absolutely hated
Just had to get that out ^^
Edit: It got a whole lot better right after, phew.
The chapter after a few years that describes Dorian's love for all the arts and material things and all their histories that he was obsessed with. I understand the message that Wilde was getting across, but I for some reason couldn't bear that chapter, it started pissing me off. I just didn't know what he was talking about with all that stuff (even with the footnotes in my edition, I started getting annoyed, I guess I am just not that well educated on ancient history >_>). Unfortunate too, as before this I was loving the novel. Hopefully it gets better (which I think it definitely will)
Just had to get that out ^^
Edit: It got a whole lot better right after, phew.
Neffarias_Bredd
Member
FilthyLies
Member
Absolutely took me off guard with how excellent it is. Really intriguing premise (One city geographically is chopped up into two cities politically, and the demarcation is not simple) which is used to tell a very tight, cinematic detective story. Would love to see an ambitious director take a stab at adapting it, although the premise has obvious challenges inherent. The book really nails the noir feel at points. Highly recommended.
Absolutely took me off guard with how excellent it is. Really intriguing premise (One city geographically is chopped up into two cities politically, and the demarcation is not simple) which is used to tell a very tight, cinematic detective story. Would love to see an ambitious director take a stab at adapting it, although the premise has obvious challenges inherent. The book really nails the noir feel at points. Highly recommended.
Agreed, my favorite Mieville after The Scar and PSS
Maklershed
Member
A poster on another page described it as sublime, and that's exactly right. It's a stunning, sprawling, heartbreaking book.
Took it down in one sitting. Dark and depraved stories of junkies, losers, and lowlifes. Strangely hopeful and beautiful, though, and Johnson really knows how to write an ending.
Labombadog
Member
I asked a bit earlier but it got dismissed.
What is a good/great Stephen King book for somebody that never read any of his stuff?
Also kind of off topic: I recently re watched IT (1990 movie) and boy was it cringe worthy at times. Especially adult actors. :\
What is a good/great Stephen King book for somebody that never read any of his stuff?
Also kind of off topic: I recently re watched IT (1990 movie) and boy was it cringe worthy at times. Especially adult actors. :\
If you're talking about classic/typical King stuff, i would go with It, Shining, or Pet Semetary.
I haven't read Christine or Cujo though.
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
You can't go wrong with Salems Lot or Pet Sementary if your looking for classic King Horror.
Non horror I'd say The Talisman and The Stand are two of his best
Plasticine
Member
Just started it.