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What are you reading? (July 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
The Economic Naturalist - Robert H. Frank
No deep analysis of many of the hypotheses posited, but understandable as some of the processes reviewed are fairly complex and would require their own separate books. Very entertaining thus far.
Nintendo Magic - Osamu Inoue
Reviews Nintendo's Wii years. I'd like a better argument for why Iwata doesn't suck, except that he's goddamn adorable.
Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks
Reread:
The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming - Kees Doets
Maybe:
Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress - Peter Tyson
(Probably not, though.) I've been inspired by John Harris' great articles on rogue-likes.
No deep analysis of many of the hypotheses posited, but understandable as some of the processes reviewed are fairly complex and would require their own separate books. Very entertaining thus far.
Nintendo Magic - Osamu Inoue
Reviews Nintendo's Wii years. I'd like a better argument for why Iwata doesn't suck, except that he's goddamn adorable.
Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks
Reread:
The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming - Kees Doets
Maybe:
Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress - Peter Tyson
(Probably not, though.) I've been inspired by John Harris' great articles on rogue-likes.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
It's sort of amusing, creepy and understandable than anytime people talk about the future of the series the topic of GRRM health and prospects is always mentioned.
Pure speculation, but I don't think he wants to wrap this up. He's already split a book in two and it looks like it will happen again - I haven't read the last two, but considering how everyone talks about the story slowing down, I would not put it past him.
sparky2112
Member
Martin is 64. Maybe he's really, really passionate about ASoIF, but it doesn't come off that way to me, a casual observer - especially given how long the last book took for him to deliver AND the fact that he seems to work on many other things as well. Plus, the guy is, for better or worse, a big celeb now (as much as a writer can be, anyway), and he seems to enjoy it. Good for him, I say. But bad for the series. I feel sorry for the fans...
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
But on the other hand, as long as ASOIAF is running he's got celebrity status, public attention, he's working on the TV show... lots of perks that end when the series ends.
Just look at JK rowling before and after Potter ended.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
I love reading all kinds of science.
Squall5042
Member
Never read it in school, only about 80 pages in but enjoying it so far. Much more comincal than I expected (at least in the beginning).
lastflowers
Banned
I hope you enjoy the great cataloging of the whales. You remind me that I need to reread this
Maybe he's like Donald Knuth with his total dedication to working another 10+ years on his Art of Computer Programming. When GRRM realises that ASoIaF is the thing he will be remembered for he is suddenly 75 and crunching like crazy to get at least a little bit of the stuff in his head on paper.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Still reading:
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch.
I'm about 25% through at this point and it's very, very good. Some other early impressions seem to be down on the pacing of the novel, and it is slow, but I enjoying being in Lynch's world, surrounded by his characters, that I find all of it a huge pleasure to read and I wouldn't care if the book was twice as long. It's like being among good friends again. At this point, the novel has dealt mostly with the repercussions of events at the end of Red Seas Under Red Skies, but it seems to be opening up a bit now and Lynch's trademark 'heist' storyline is starting to form. The flashback story is terrific, some of the best stuff that Lynch has written.
For those of in last month's thread asking about how I have a copy: I edit a website called A Dribble of Ink. It's linked to in the OP of this thread each month. The publisher (Del Rey) supplied me with a copy.
Do you know when this will be available for the rest of us?
Maklershed
Member
On the Kindle side, I finished These Is My Words and started Neuromancer. Still on a cyberpunk kick.
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Neuromancer by William Gibson
MotionBlue
Member
Just finished reading Neil Gaiman's new novel:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Fairly short, but so very entertaining. If you enjoyed the movie Coraline, or any other Gaiman novels you should pick it up. The book is an excellent example of an adult book that can be enjoyed by younger audiences, and vice versa.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Fairly short, but so very entertaining. If you enjoyed the movie Coraline, or any other Gaiman novels you should pick it up. The book is an excellent example of an adult book that can be enjoyed by younger audiences, and vice versa.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Finished Legend by David Gemmell today. Thought it was pretty good but a little too ... cliche for me. Could be this came along before the cliche's of high action fantasy and helped set the stage for the "hero" stories, but I was a little bored by all the heroics, frankly.
Picked up Greg Bear's Eon next.
Picked up Greg Bear's Eon next.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Double post
J-Roderton
Member
200 pages and I'm done with Clash Of Kings. Do I go the next or take a break? These books seem to last me forever.
Any good fantasy recommendations? Like elves, dwarfs, all that nonsense.
Any good fantasy recommendations? Like elves, dwarfs, all that nonsense.
Rug Monkey
Member
Just finished
Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and it was adequate. I was disappointed in it really
I liked
The world in general
The magic system(s)
The plot was satisfying and she writes surprisingly good action sequences
I didn't like her style much. I actively disliked Fitz from adolescence until he was an old man.
I hated the dialogue specifically the horrible fantasy-Victorian-Arthurian idea of how medieval people spoke, and the names ... that foist a main character called FitzChivalry Farseer on us ... (although I have a thing about names i.e. Thomas Covenant was spoiled for me because he was transported to another world to become a legendary hero called Kevin)
Now racing through Daniel Abraham's Long Price quartet and loving them ...
.
Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and it was adequate. I was disappointed in it really
I liked
The world in general
The magic system(s)
The plot was satisfying and she writes surprisingly good action sequences
I didn't like her style much. I actively disliked Fitz from adolescence until he was an old man.
I hated the dialogue specifically the horrible fantasy-Victorian-Arthurian idea of how medieval people spoke, and the names ... that foist a main character called FitzChivalry Farseer on us ... (although I have a thing about names i.e. Thomas Covenant was spoiled for me because he was transported to another world to become a legendary hero called Kevin)
Now racing through Daniel Abraham's Long Price quartet and loving them ...
.
It's been a long time since I read it, but probably A Wild Sheep Chase. It's kind of a prequel to Dance Dance Dance.
Recently finished:
The Easter Parade - Richard Yates
Liked it, but nowhere near as much as Revolutionary Road
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
Thought it was pretty messy and misguided.
Hallucinations - Oliver Sacks
I love his other books but only just liked this one.
Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story - D.T. Max
DFW is one of my favorite authors so I enjoyed learning more about him as a person. Recommended
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Read this for the second time and loved it even more than the first. McCarthy is pretty much God.
Now Reading:
The Aleph - Jorge Luis Borges
Another re-read. It's Borges, need I say more?
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Read this ages ago in a (physically) huge Dutch translation from the 50s, so I'm pretty happily reading this on my Kindle in a somewhat more recent version.
The Easter Parade - Richard Yates
Liked it, but nowhere near as much as Revolutionary Road
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
Thought it was pretty messy and misguided.
Hallucinations - Oliver Sacks
I love his other books but only just liked this one.
Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story - D.T. Max
DFW is one of my favorite authors so I enjoyed learning more about him as a person. Recommended
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Read this for the second time and loved it even more than the first. McCarthy is pretty much God.
Now Reading:
The Aleph - Jorge Luis Borges
Another re-read. It's Borges, need I say more?
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Read this ages ago in a (physically) huge Dutch translation from the 50s, so I'm pretty happily reading this on my Kindle in a somewhat more recent version.
teruterubozu
Member
A Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and Dance Dance Dance are considered a loose "trilogy" of the lonely amateur detective nerd. Those three novels are easily my favorite Murakami works. I kind of lost interest around the Wind Up Bird Chronicle, when Murakami became a bit more self-indulgent. His short story collections are fantastic - I feel Murakami is a better short story writer than full on novelist, but that's just my opinion.
Cheers.
Maklershed
Member
finished pnin by nabokov which was amazing. it's a tragic comedy about a quirky russian emigrant professor living alone in usa, structured as a series of character sketches, each chapter describing pnin's stuck on the wrong train or moving houses or visiting a fellow russian intellectual. pnin is so well realized with his range of eccentricities brought to life in great and amusing detail, and i found his struggle to fit into a 50s america so unsuited to him, with the tragedy of his beloved russia closed off to him by soviet rule, very endearing and often moving.
also read where angels fear to tread by e.m forster. it's a short melodrama about someone from an uptight middle class british lady traveling to italy and marrying a common dentist and the fallout from it. it's a bit, see how the british are like this and the italians are like this, but the lead character philip gets some interesting character development and forster's descriptions of monteriano - which i instantly recognized from asassins creed 2 haha - are very beautiful.
also read where angels fear to tread by e.m forster. it's a short melodrama about someone from an uptight middle class british lady traveling to italy and marrying a common dentist and the fallout from it. it's a bit, see how the british are like this and the italians are like this, but the lead character philip gets some interesting character development and forster's descriptions of monteriano - which i instantly recognized from asassins creed 2 haha - are very beautiful.
Seems like something I'd like.
Gabriel_Logan
Member
Books pretty good and gives me an opportunity to brush up on my pre Columbus American Indian history which is a blind spot. Though the part I've enjoyed most funnily enough when he was talking about Squanto and shit for a chapter.
Gabriel_Logan
Member
On the hard copy side of things I finished Empire Falls and started State of Fear
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
I literally remember next to nothing about that book besides it was about global warming. What's your favorite Michael Crichton book?
teruterubozu
Member
Books pretty good and gives me an opportunity to brush up on my pre Columbus American Indian history which is a blind spot. Though the part I've enjoyed most funnily enough when he was talking about Squanto and shit for a chapter.
This is a great book on pre-Columbus contact with some astonishing info - the early diversity of maize, the intricacy of the civilizations, the rapidity of post continental crossing dispersion, etc. It can get pretty heady at times, but it's a fascinating read. He even debunks the whole aliens and Nazca Lines nonsense - LOL. I haven't read his next book 1493 yet, but it's on my list.
You should also check out "A Voyage Long and Strange" by Tony Horwitz if you want more "entertaining & astonishing" facts of the New World like Squanto's metropolitan experience:
Gabriel_Logan
Member
That sounds cool, I think I will.
Maklershed
Member
I've read Timeline, Next, Airframe, Disclosure, and Pirate Latitudes. I liked them all but my favorite was probably Next. I think I read it in a day.
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Anyone read The Black Prism?(Lightbringer Series)
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Great write up I still can't tell if Ill like it.
My favorite fantasy stuff has been:
- Name of the Wind
- ASOIAF
And that is pretty much it. Everything else has been really disappointing.
I didn't really care for:
- Scott Lynch(anything by him)
- Wheel of Time Series
- Graceling
About 50 pages into
Lin has an interesting way of constructing sentences, delaying, foreshadowing, past/present/future events with nested clauses, but I think it is just "okay" so far.
Lin has an interesting way of constructing sentences, delaying, foreshadowing, past/present/future events with nested clauses, but I think it is just "okay" so far.
The section on his younger days in school was very nicely done; a good humanizing effect in an otherwise very dehumanizing book.
Brent Weeks isn't a very good writer, he just sort of gets the job done, but The Black Prism is probably his best. For whatever that's worth. Personally, I enjoyed the first book but found the second mediocre. I'd say give it a chance if you can get it on the cheap.
Looking for a book recommendation and I figure this would be the best place to ask.
I just finished dance with dragons, and I LOVE the whole SOIAF series, and seem to like fantasy.
I leave on a Europe trip for a month next week, and would like something that could be read in short bursts (airport, planes, beach etc.)
Sorry If I haven't given much to go on, but I guess I'm open to anything....just looking for a great summer read.
I just finished dance with dragons, and I LOVE the whole SOIAF series, and seem to like fantasy.
I leave on a Europe trip for a month next week, and would like something that could be read in short bursts (airport, planes, beach etc.)
Sorry If I haven't given much to go on, but I guess I'm open to anything....just looking for a great summer read.
Solideliquid
Member
Has anyone read Ship of Fools? Can you recommend other similar novels?
Maklershed
Member
Excellent book. I haven't found anything that's as good as that but similar to it I've read Crescent by Rossi and Hull Zero Three by Bear. If you find a book that's similar let me know.
The Witcher: Last Wish maybe ? It's a collection of short stories in a similarly grim world. (Though with bigger amount of magic)
I'm in the midst of this delightful science read. It's fantastic! Exactly what I hoped. He does a great job of definitively debunking old, but still commonly held, beliefs about dinosaurs, while probing around the newest theories. It's just packed with interesting information. Do recommend.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Ugh, he's a terrible writer. I sort of ended up becoming invested in the story but man it's like reading something from a high-school creative writing class.
AngmarsKing701
Member
I read through The Night Angel trilogy and thought it was ok. Started out average, picked up the pace midway and then kind of petered out. In some sense the series was too long and could have been tightened up (my opinion, but then that's my opinion of a lot of fantasy/sci-fi these days).
Decided I wasn't going to invest in his next series.