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What are you reading? (June 2015)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Maklershed
Member
Finished The Ploughmen today. Not too shabby. Had a No Country for Old Men feel to it. Now on to Approaching Omega. I found somewhere it was recommended for people who like the movie Pandorum so I figured why not.
Approaching Omega by Eric Brown
in a space book.
Approaching Omega by Eric Brown
Great call and ditto. I want a whole book on him or that race in the Blindsight world. Never expected a fresh take on
vampires
INTERVIEWER
I read you had trouble with the editing of the British Penguin edition of Anna Karenina.
VOLOKHONSKY
They hated what we did.
PEVEAR
It was quite something. For example, Vronsky meets Anna on the railroad coming to Moscow. He says, Did you come recently? And the copy-editor wrote a comment which said, Im not sure if youre aware of it, but this word now has acquired different meanings. And there is better! Kitty is discussing the upcoming ball. Seventeen-year-old, completely innocent Kitty says, I do like balls. Again the copy editor wrote, Im not sure if youre aware . . .
I read you had trouble with the editing of the British Penguin edition of Anna Karenina.
VOLOKHONSKY
They hated what we did.
PEVEAR
It was quite something. For example, Vronsky meets Anna on the railroad coming to Moscow. He says, Did you come recently? And the copy-editor wrote a comment which said, Im not sure if youre aware of it, but this word now has acquired different meanings. And there is better! Kitty is discussing the upcoming ball. Seventeen-year-old, completely innocent Kitty says, I do like balls. Again the copy editor wrote, Im not sure if youre aware . . .
I like it when my balls come as well
Dedication Through Light
Member
Finished The Influence Machine: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life.
Otherwise the book did succeed in making me rethink my position on how much influence I think businesses should have in our lives and how much regulation is needed for them. The more businesses are able to prosper then the more Americans will be able to prosper too. This is often due to the consumer safety concerns that seemed to be highlighted here with companies trying to remain undercover and use the Chamber of Commerce to get legislation passed to decrease punitive damages for lawsuits, alter the judges on panels who would favor companies, or to support motions in legislature that would cause common science to be questioned, or just in general continue to make wonky products. I like to think companies would self regulate themselves or strive to achieve making safe quality products but these examples, like car companies makes me question it a bit. Perhaps its the people in charge. In any case, I was glad to see that some companies have backed off of using the Chamber of Commerce as their choice of platform.
In any case, it was an informative book with great examples. I think expanding to the foreign chamber of commerce was the weak parts. Didnt really care much for the temporary worker thing for people in China, though the bribing other countries around the world with Mercedes-Benz SUV's was informative and enlightening. Even companies I thought that were out for benefiting human lives (Johnson & Johnson) even participated in bribes sad. Worst yet was all these companies behind this banner of not wanting to support the built in American movement (discounts for using steel and more that was made in America). Environmental policy, salt intake story, rundown of some of the ads used by the Chamber of Commerce and outcomes of the races they were used in, the Judges story, were the most intriguing reads of the book.
The Influence Machine is an interesting book but its hard to really figure out the take home message of the book. The writer goes through many examples of how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been helpful in the past but then to how it has been detrimental in the present. Much of the book was spent dinging the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Tod Donohue and his allies for their many wrongs. In sum this probably was about one hundred pages worth of material. It all came in a negative light and almost made me think that perhaps the book should have just been a detailing of his time at this place or even his life. He really did all Americans wrong and still does today. The writer also started off with the premise that it was the right/Republicans that were often benefiting from the influence of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but that seemed to not be the case with the chosen examples. Often times the numerous Republican politicians were on the side of supporting moves to help the common worker through stricter controls on pollution, secondhand smoke concerns, acknowledging global warming and climate change, government provided insurance program, Clintoncare, trucking hours. However if the people in position were not on the same platform as the Chamber of Commerce (meeting their 75/100 points needed) then they would find themselves lacking support and potentially out of a position when they lose their senate etc race. There were even democrats as part of the Chamber of Commerce, so this position taken for framing the Influence Machine was an odd one to have based on the examples given. Even the ending paragraph implies that its the Democrats responsibility to put forth social advancement and prosperity. Arent Republicans after prosperity too, and in the case in this book, also after social advancement? Odd conclusion chosen.
Otherwise the book did succeed in making me rethink my position on how much influence I think businesses should have in our lives and how much regulation is needed for them. The more businesses are able to prosper then the more Americans will be able to prosper too. This is often due to the consumer safety concerns that seemed to be highlighted here with companies trying to remain undercover and use the Chamber of Commerce to get legislation passed to decrease punitive damages for lawsuits, alter the judges on panels who would favor companies, or to support motions in legislature that would cause common science to be questioned, or just in general continue to make wonky products. I like to think companies would self regulate themselves or strive to achieve making safe quality products but these examples, like car companies makes me question it a bit. Perhaps its the people in charge. In any case, I was glad to see that some companies have backed off of using the Chamber of Commerce as their choice of platform.
In any case, it was an informative book with great examples. I think expanding to the foreign chamber of commerce was the weak parts. Didnt really care much for the temporary worker thing for people in China, though the bribing other countries around the world with Mercedes-Benz SUV's was informative and enlightening. Even companies I thought that were out for benefiting human lives (Johnson & Johnson) even participated in bribes sad. Worst yet was all these companies behind this banner of not wanting to support the built in American movement (discounts for using steel and more that was made in America). Environmental policy, salt intake story, rundown of some of the ads used by the Chamber of Commerce and outcomes of the races they were used in, the Judges story, were the most intriguing reads of the book.
I always wondered if editors made a point of excising euphemisms, and now I know!
Maklershed
Member
Maklershed
Member
Doea anyone know if there's truth to the story that Alice in Wonderland is an encoded treatise on chess?
Probably not a widely held belief. He weaved it as he told it whilst on a boating trip. Well before he revised it for the manuscript.
Funny thing is the book is so popular you probably already knew that. So I don't know why I am putting it there.
Oh that's it. I know why I have a copy. It's the 150 year anniversary this year. November according to Google.
Grenouille
Member
I'm halfway through The City and the City by Miéville. The basic synopsis is interesting, but there is too much police procedural in this and a lot of exposition. I don't hate exposition, but here Mieville describes every aspect of this fictional society, and i don't think i like his world enough to care about all that. I really like this Breach thing though, so I hope the ending delivers.
Don't you mean Through the Looking-Glass? There are chess elements in that one.
Don't you mean Through the Looking-Glass? There are chess elements in that one.
Dandy Crocodile
Member
Paula Hawkins and Liane Moriarty seem to be pretty close in tone and genre.
Check out The Girl on the Train and Big Little Lies, respectively.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
I just finished Leviathan Wakes and I enjoyed it. However, I think I liked the whole "humans vs humans" in space aspect more than the one chapter of Caliban's War that seems to tread into familiar "humans vs aliens" territory. Should I continue with the series? Is that the direction it's headed in?
Well it's kind of a mix of HvH and HvA but neither Caliban's War nor Abaddon Gates breaks radical new ground for sci-fi if that's what you were wondering.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
I'm not really sci-fi guy to begin with, I just needed something to read on a plane and saw it mentioned on GAF quite a bit so figured what the hell. In that respect I'm not super critical or expecting something ground-breaking, but what I really liked about the first book was that it wasn't aiming to be some grand and deep exploration of space and the origins of life, but rather how human beings would logically evolve in a societal respect within those technological parameters.
There's just as much human vs human in Calibans War. More conspiracy/political intrigue angles than direct combat, thought there is a bit of that. I enjoyed it more than Leviathan Wakes. Haven't read the third yet.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Cool, I'll probably grab the next one then. Nice break from WW1 histories that normally make up my reading.
This bodes well actually, I love that kind of stuff in fiction (to a degree, when it takes place in a cool fantastical setting.)
So looks like Stormlight 3's "main" character this go around will be Dalinar, judging from Sanderson's tweets over the last few days. At least thats how he's writing it right now in its early stages.
Makes me happy to hear. I was/am excited for Szeth's back story, too, but Dalinar is my favorite character, and there is just so much mystery to his past.
Makes me happy to hear. I was/am excited for Szeth's back story, too, but Dalinar is my favorite character, and there is just so much mystery to his past.
Given where the second book leaves off, moving to Dalinar seems to be the logical progression.
Did Sanderson say that he is moving on to a new second of protagonists for the final 5 books in the 10 part series?
The anti-Victorians have lived long enough to see their own diction become the enemy.
Classic.
There will be other main characters in the second arc, but the current ones will stay be there. Hasn't said how big of a role, or which ones will still be alive during the second arc of course.
The Peripheral - William Gibson
Finished this yesterday. Really enjoyable read, but took forever for me to get into the zone. The first hundred pages took a lot of effort to invest into understanding the setting being presented and going with it, before stuff actually started coming together and happening. It's a pretty interesting look at two different future periods, wrapped around in a murder mystery/thriller which is in fact the least interesting thing about the actual story. At the heart, it's a time travel thriller without actual time travel, which challenges how we perceive information flow and exchange over the internet. It's also a pretty bleak pessimistic look at the future which is more updated in terms of the fears and concerns of where society is headed, rather than nuclear post-apocalyptic stuff.
Would probably make a good movie or TV series, but then again, people have been saying that about Gibson's stories since Neuromancer.
Finished this yesterday. Really enjoyable read, but took forever for me to get into the zone. The first hundred pages took a lot of effort to invest into understanding the setting being presented and going with it, before stuff actually started coming together and happening. It's a pretty interesting look at two different future periods, wrapped around in a murder mystery/thriller which is in fact the least interesting thing about the actual story. At the heart, it's a time travel thriller without actual time travel, which challenges how we perceive information flow and exchange over the internet. It's also a pretty bleak pessimistic look at the future which is more updated in terms of the fears and concerns of where society is headed, rather than nuclear post-apocalyptic stuff.
Would probably make a good movie or TV series, but then again, people have been saying that about Gibson's stories since Neuromancer.
Just finished up reading Arc 25 in Worm. The last chapter in this arc is the first time I wasn't completely thrilled with a decision that the author made with the story, but I'm going to keep pushing on and see if it bounces back. Especially, since I've only got 5 arcs left. This is the only thing I've been reading for the past 2 weeks and I'm a little mad that I can only count it as one entry for my goodreads goal. It's almost 2 million words, that should count for something!
Enjoyed completing Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan and now onto Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.
This looks interesting. Gonna check that out
EDIT: July 15th? Damn. FutureGAF teasing me
TheKaeptain
Banned
The Peripheral - William Gibson
Finished this yesterday. Really enjoyable read, but took forever for me to get into the zone. The first hundred pages took a lot of effort to invest into understanding the setting being presented and going with it, before stuff actually started coming together and happening. It's a pretty interesting look at two different future periods, wrapped around in a murder mystery/thriller which is in fact the least interesting thing about the actual story. At the heart, it's a time travel thriller without actual time travel, which challenges how we perceive information flow and exchange over the internet. It's also a pretty bleak pessimistic look at the future which is more updated in terms of the fears and concerns of where society is headed, rather than nuclear post-apocalyptic stuff.
Would probably make a good movie or TV series, but then again, people have been saying that about Gibson's stories since Neuromancer.
Sounds exactly like a Gibson book.
Nope it's out, got it in my grubby little hands. Published April 10th 2014 by Hodder & Stoughton.
Ah, in the States it releases on the 14th, published by Saga Press. Lemme know how it is.
Powered through "The Remaining" books by D.J. Molles to fix my survival/Zombi fix after watching all The Walking Dead seasons. My bank account is weeping but what can you do. Started really shakey with Book 1 but seems like he improved his writing (or with the success, got more people to help him write). Waiting for book 6 which is coming out soon (Extinction). Also have the sidebooks "Trust" and "Faith" to read through.
Thanks to this thread i started the Powder Mage books by Brian McClelland and so far i like it (1/3 through the first book).
After that it's either back to SciFi or a non SciFi/Fantasy book. Stoner is high on the list.
Maklershed
Member
Does anyone have any recommendations for books about gritty, small town living? Something in the style of William Gay or Richard Russo's Empire Falls? Bonus points if it's set in the early to mid 1900s (but not a necessity by any means).
I am in the third act and want to stop. While I like Stephenson because I'm a nerd, he's not the best writer in the world once he has to focus on characters, plot, etc.
I finished those a few months ago. Fun books, if a bit predictable. I'd definitely read more if he expands the series.
Maklershed
Member
Finished Approaching Omega. Very short but good. Kinda made me think of what a Borg origin story might be. Now on to Citizens Creek:
Citizens Creek by Lalita Tademy
Citizens Creek by Lalita Tademy
Christoff Yurievich
Member
What in the world is the phrase 'cult videogame' supposed to represent? It sounds horrible.
Finished this one yesterday. I really don't understand what it's supposed to be about. Is it about the man getting old and useless? Is it about him failing at everything? Is it not about anything at all?
And while I was searching for that picture I see it's being turned into a movie. Tom Hanks as the lead guy? Nope, that's dumb. The character is older, dumber, and fatter. But the book is a good one to adapt, expecially by the Cloud Atlas guy. Probably works better as a movie frankly.
Krauser Kat
Member
Just finished Heart Shaped Box. This story creeped me way out at times and had a satisfying ending.
Half way through Lullaby and its my first Chuck P book. Its very easy to read, like a stream of consciousness. I think the main character can be insufferable at times, but the world building and challenges are amping up. I have been jonesing to finish it but i been bust last two weeks.
Half way through Lullaby and its my first Chuck P book. Its very easy to read, like a stream of consciousness. I think the main character can be insufferable at times, but the world building and challenges are amping up. I have been jonesing to finish it but i been bust last two weeks.
Definitely stick with it and read the whole series. Also rest assured the fan translations (if you're reading in english) of the last two books are perfectly fine if you get to that before any real translation comes out.
Also, I personally found Blood of Elves to be the slowest and most boring of all the books. It's also the first book in the "saga," so don't let that paint your overall judgement or put you off of the saga books. They're incredibly good once you get going.
soapypanda
Member
Is there a GAF Goodreads group?
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Yes.
Got a bit of lighter reading in with some Madoka Magica: The Different Story these past few days. Only parts one and two, because for some bizarre reason I didn't buy the third and final part when I was in town buying the other two. Ah well, third part is on order.
As for now, I'm currently reading the third book of Connie Willis' Oxford Time Travel series, To Say Nothing of the Dog. 96 pages in and so far, so good. Very funny stuff.
As for now, I'm currently reading the third book of Connie Willis' Oxford Time Travel series, To Say Nothing of the Dog. 96 pages in and so far, so good. Very funny stuff.
I'll see what I can dig up to recommend whenever we get a chance to chat.
There is, but it doesn't get much use since this thread serves the same purpose I guess.
Finished Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail last night and really loved it. Makes me want to go on a long trek like that myself. Just clicked everything on my "reading security blanket" I guess since I got through it so fast.
Now debating what to read next.
SpaceHorror
Member
The Shining
My first Stephen King book if we don't count my attempts to read IT and Pet Sematary when I was younger. Still hasn't made me a frothing detractor of Kubrick's adaptation, which I've always taken on its own terms even before starting to read the original novel, but so far I'm really enjoying the more grounded portrayal of Jack.
It's damn good so far. I'm around halfway finished, I'll post again when I'm done if anything changes.
My first Stephen King book if we don't count my attempts to read IT and Pet Sematary when I was younger. Still hasn't made me a frothing detractor of Kubrick's adaptation, which I've always taken on its own terms even before starting to read the original novel, but so far I'm really enjoying the more grounded portrayal of Jack.
It's damn good so far. I'm around halfway finished, I'll post again when I'm done if anything changes.
Good stuff.
I finished Seveneves, and went on The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
and liked it so much I read the sequel, Children of God
Then on to Robert Charles Wilson's Spin/Axis/Vortex, which I'm finishing today.
