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[Salazar]

lol.

Don't give up at the first Malazan hurdle. The next book will heal all wounds.

 

[BanShunsaku]

Recently finished:

Overall I enjoyed it, although I felt it dragged somewhat in the middle. I probably enjoyed the first book more to be honest, although there is definitely potential for the final book to be awesome.


Just started:

Already about a third of the way through, really loving the world and character building. Was planning on reading something different next but I think I'll dive straight into The Desert Spear when I finish.

 

[phisheep]

There is too many damn trilogies around nowadays. Nobody write single books any more?

 

[Salazar]

There is too many damn trilogies around nowadays. Nobody write single books any more?

If you thought you could browbeat or seduce a publisher into a multiple title contract, I think you'd do it, Phisheep.

 

[Luthos]

Reading Game of Thrones for the first time.

 

[Milchjon]

Chuck Klosterman: Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Really liked this. 8 years later, most of his observations still apply.

Chuck Klosterman: IV. Almost as good.

Dave Eggers: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. About halfway through, really like it. Very funny, very sad.

Gonna start reading Infinite Jest soon, started once before, but didn't give it the attention it needed. With English being my second language, it's often pretty hard to follow.

 

[Mumei]

Still reading Don Quixote.

I also bought some books (a few Gene Wolfe books since I'm interested in reading him) and manga (Volumes 6 - 8 of Pluto) at the Borders that is closing near me.

 

[charlemagne]

There is too many damn trilogies around nowadays. Nobody write single books any more?

Trilogies? It's all about the sagas.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Still reading Don Quixote.

I also bought some books (a few Gene Wolfe books since I'm interested in reading him) and manga (Volumes 6 - 8 of Pluto) at the Borders that is closing near me.

How are you finding Don Quixote?

I recently finished it and found it utterly hilarious at times, but also quite long winded in parts.

 

[phisheep]

If you thought you could browbeat or seduce a publisher into a multiple title contract, I think you'd do it, Phisheep.

I think probably I would. But that would be a multiple title contract, not a trilogy. Heck, I try as damn hard as i can to keep my posts here reasonably short - if I get a decent idea for a book I'm gonna put it in a book. Not three. Not five.

Because if it really needed five books it is way too hard for me to have thought of in the first place.

Nope, I'm far too aware of the pressure that could bring. Publisher wants to tie me to a deal it needs to to be a single volume blockbuster followed by whatever I want to do.

 

[elrechazado]

I'm about 200 pages into Gardens of the Moon and it's a disjointed mess with unlikable characters and no basis for investment in any of these nations that are getting fucked in the ass. Is this a normal reaction to have at this point? If it improves from here, I'll keep going, but I'm ready to put this book down and walk away.

Spoiler complaints up to page 200 or so:

Spoiler

Paran is needlessly a fuck to anyone he meets. I was so happy when he was shivved and so sad when that was retconned.

Tattersail is how old? 293? And she can do anything but barely keep ahold of her emotions in any situation. She probably is brought to the edge of tears by an exceptionally expressive bowel movement.

Hairlock is fun insane. But he's also not-fun insane.

Whiskeyjack is a blank slate so far. The rest of his crew just screams "Hey, we're a patchy group of misfits that compliment each other well!" Kinda boring to now.

I guess I'm also a big fan of logical magic systems and so far the book's magic is just a mystical combination of Geordi Leforge, Chief O'Brien and Wesley Crusher. If you need it, it can happen. I was told going in that it would be this way and I've sort of steeled myself for this, but is there at least a rhyme and reason to it all? I come from a perspective of loving Brandon Sanderson books for their magic systems. They don't need to be well thought out and organized like those, but at least try to get halfway explained.

If anyone wants to respond to any of these concerns or assure me I've got it all wrong because I haven't read far enough, I'm willing to listen.

The first book seems like a random collection of stuff, where you have no idea who has what motivations, why people are the way they are, what is going on politically, etc. These things begin to connect and make sense in a major way as you continue. It's really a series meant to be read as a series, and the books build on each other. I would never recommend GOM to someone as a standalone book, but keep at it, the payoff is supremely worth it imo. Hell, I was still learning new things about whiskeyjack in book 7.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I just finished the first volume of Dan Schneider's unpublished four volume memoir, True Life. I thought that it was absolutely great. Schneider speaks of very heady, intellectual things in a way that is rather simple to read and understand, and his prose and descriptions can really stick in your mind in a way that few other authors I've read can match. Plus, his inclusion of the poetry that he's written about events of his life make the book doubly interesting, for I quite enjoyed comparing his poetic renderings of his memories to the more prosaically wrought versions. There is one slightly masturbatory chapter, but the rest is among the best that I've ever read. Here's a selection of it that he's published online:

http://www.plumrubyreview.com/oct04/nonfiction/schneider.htm

It's one of the last parts of the volume (and so not the best representation, since he tells of characters and situations limned earlier in the book), but you get some idea for his writing style and the nature of the book itself. It boggles my mind that this doesn't get published; it touched me, and I think that it could touch others.

The 2 sides battled for years for supremacy until further observations seemed to indicate that the known & observable universe we see may just be a small portion of an infinitely vaster omniverse that is beyond our ken. Forces like gravity seem to have major physical problems if applied to only what is observed, but if extrapolated out to a grander view gravity seems to work much more consistently. In this view time is not just time, but some localized aspect of a far grander supertime that pervades the larger omniverse. While the 'time' of our small universal portion of the omniverse may both have had a beginning & may be subject to cycles, supertime may indeed be infinite- or as James Hutton, the famed geologist put it in regards to the 'deep time' of early modern geology: 'we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.'

But more importantly than the argument over whether time is cyclic, progressive, or infinite is the startling proposal that time is merely a construct of an observer, something that some 1 once humorously said was nature's way of making sure that everything didn't happen all at once! As the old query puts forth- 'If a tree falls in a forest but no 1 hears it, does it make a sound?' If no 1 or no thing is around to observe an action does it happen? In the famous paradox put forth by the physicist Erwin Shrödinger, it is the very act of observation that makes something 'happen'- without observation nothing happens- all remains in a quantum flux of possibilities, & time is not applicable. The paradox of Shrödinger's Cat is this: suppose you had a box that was soundproof, shielded with lead, & inscrutable to any outside observation, etc. This box would be as close as you could get to a separate cosmos within our cosmos. This box would self-sustaining & there could be no information leakage into our world once the box was closed. Now, suppose you put a cat inside the box. The box itself contains a vial of poison that if broken will kill the cat. If not broken the cat will be unharmed. Now put the cat inside the box for a finite period of time- 10 minutes, a day, an hour- & at the end of that time see if the cat is still alive. The test is that the vial of poison is set to break, thereby killing the cat, if some random event occurs- like the decay of a cesium atom, if the cat sneezes, or if the vile strangely were to somehow turn a different color. If any of these preset triggers occur the vial will break & the cat will die. If the random event does not occur then the cat will be alive & well at the end of the finite period of time.

But as the end of the period approaches the observer is wondering whether the random, yet unobservable, event has actually occurred. If it has the cat is dead. If it has not the cat is alive. But what is the cat at those moments before its fate is finally revealed? Is it alive, dead, both, or something in between? Theoretically, Shrödinger insisted it must be both alive & dead, & that it is only the act of observation, by opening the box, that decides 1 way or the other. This breakage into 1 thing or the other is called decoherence. Hold on, the objectors said, this all makes the presumption that we can only truly know what we observe- yet we all know that observation is a flawed & limited process. Besides, we know that dinosaurs existed, even though no human being was around to ever actually see 1. The riposte would come that we only assume that dinosaurs were alive based upon the bones we see, & we assume skeletons mean a living being covered them. But, were dinosaurs real before their bones were discovered? Is the act of discovery an act of creation in & of itself? Logically, Shrödinger's Cat has a # of problems- the idea that before looking into the box the cat is stuck in a quantum sea of aliveness & deadness just does not seem right- for reasons far too many to be tackled here & that they have been explicated many times before. As for those who argue that the cat itself would always know if it were alive or not, Shrödinger merely substituted an inanimate object that could be acted upon. Still, the objectors countered that 1 or the other thing must occur- even if that thing is nothing itself, for there is always a possibility- something or nothing occurring, therefore the requisite of an observer is an unnecessary component in the equation of reality. My sympathies lie with a material & objective reality to all things, yet the alternative does intrigue.

But more than intriguing it also gave rise to a whole new outlook on the cosmos. Some people argued that observation was irrelevant for a wholly new reason- that whenever something could be 1 way or another it did not necessarily go just that 1 way or the other, but rather went both ways- the cosmos would split off at each juncture a possibility occurred. In this view all things that can happen do happen- just in universes that are forever sealed off from 1 another after their split. In this view the omniverse is not just a superstructure of all universes, containing supertime & superspace, but 1 of all universes made out of the very notion of superpossibilities- or an infinite collection of all possible outcomes to all possible occurrences.

In some cosmos nearby the sun & earth never formed & life in this corresponding part of that cosmos never happened; in another the dinosaurs were never wiped out & humans never were; or Rome never fell & a 'Dan Schneider' now writes of his life in Modern Romanica- not Modern English; or the South won the American Civil War & most black people are still little more than agrarian feudal serfs; or Julius & Mathilda Pliskat never met & my mother- Helen- was never born; or George Schneider never broke his ankle as a child, was drafted in World War 2, & died in the Philippines; or I was never put up for adoption & raised by my natural family on the West Coast; or I never saved little Ivy from falling off a pier in Kissena Park, she did fall & hit her head on a buoy below & died; or Paco Robatillo never left Puerto Rico for New York with his Uncle Gabe & I never joined a teenaged gang; or Irene Bruno requited my love, we married & had a family; or on & on..

All of these things, in this grand & capital R Romantic view, exist, only we can never know those places where intelligent dinosaurian civilizations arose, George Schneider's body was never recovered in a Pacific Ocean not ours, or Dan Schneider never joined a gang. For that reason it is possibly best to not even attempt to go to those places, even in theory, for the lure away from science is too strong. But it is the very nearness of things, especially time, which infuses all with wonder. I think of human beings when young, & the relation nearness (or propinquity) has to everything we do- we go to places not because they are the best places, but because they are the best near places. Similarly we choose our friendships based upon propinquity in space- our pals are kids that live on our block, or sit a desk or 2 away from us in school- not those kids whose dreams & aspirations most align with ours. Even as we get older propinquity plays a role. It is not, however, a propinquity in space that matters as much, but a propinquity in beliefs or demeanor- that which is internal, rather than the external world of space.

Then I start thinking. I recall the 3 years my dad was dying of cancer (1980-1983) & the fact that his sister, my Aunt Dotty, only visited him 1 time at our house in those 3 years. She only lived about 1½ miles away, but the propinquity in external space was not matched by that she was from him in some internal geography. What reasons she had for the abandonment of the older brother who always looked after her & protected her I do not- nor will I ever- know. A few years later, after my mom followed suit of my aunt's ignorance of the rest of her brother's family she met up with Dotty in the aisles of the Finast supermarket where I worked. Dotty told how her husband, my tall & affable Uncle Jack Lehmann- a lovable man from my youth, had been institutionalized for Alzheimer's & assorted other ailments. She chided my mom for never checking up on Jack & his condition. But mom did not know anything of his condition for Dotty had severed all ties with us after my dad's funeral. I was furious at my hypocritical aunt & also pissed at my passive mom for again not standing up to Dotty's manipulations & guilt-tripping attempts. After all, it was she who had created the distance that separated our family's world from her world.

Then I thought again- this time of my old mentor, Ziggy, & 1 of the last times Georgey G. & I saw him before he passed into what is only my mind forever. It is probably not the last time I actually laid eyes on Ziggy, for as I have related I do not recall his passing- so misty was it- but I shall let it serve as the last time for my own purposes now. It was some time during the winter of 1974. There was snow on the ground & Ziggy was walking off, down a street to meet some 1 or some thing that was not Georgey G. or Danny Schneider, or even our concern. It had been increasingly rare for Ziggy to hang with us, but we still were pals in those times we were together. Perhaps it was just part of Ziggy's maturing that called him to drift away from younger boys like us- the teacher had taught his students & now we would had to fend for ourselves- Ziggy had bigger fish to fry, & in that faraway sizzle I still just see him walking. I forget the street we were on. I forget all but his motion not just away from us, but without us. He was leaving footprints in the ice & snow, but they led nowhere. Had we tried to follow them Georgey & I would have ended up in a world as distant from that we had shared with Ziggy as that world where dinosaurs rose to form nations, stories, & memories as this. He had passed into another sphere- some inviolate world where younger boys could not tread- not at that time in that world, which closed up as soon as he passed through. We would encounter our own such spheres when we reached his age in a few years- but it would not be the same sphere that Ziggy reached at that time & place when we saw him. Georgey's would be Georgey's & mine would be mine. The river that rushed by only alludes its omnipresence, but it is never the same river. Each moment that proceeds recreates in toto the world that young boys & girls, & even old men & women, & non-humans, must assume is static to balance themselves in the real, then survey, then plunge in to & through. Of course, we choose those plunges that are most close to us for not only their propinquity, but for the potency each affords us due to that nearness.

It is for these reasons that you, my reader, know of me. All of the trespasses & opportunities that got me to typing this sentence, & you to later reading it have forged a bond, however brief, between us. & you know me, or think you know me, only for what I will allow you to formulate opinions on. After that the power shifts forever, & what I intended for you becomes meaningless. Intent in life, as in art, is the flimsiest of constructs.

But nearness is not. I think of how near my life's past is to me, always, even as I write. I am still near Josh Harte's mother, in the underground of my elementary school, as she inflicts guilt into my child's mind. I am humbled & disgraced by some 1 from a different world. I have learned to deal with bullies like Ditty, Margo Schwimmer, & the Behemoth Georgey G. & I avenged by poisoning with heroin- but dealing with an adult that hates you just to hate you is something still beyond my ability to reckon intellectually. & she is here or there- see her now:

 

[Deleted member 81567]

I'm thinking about reading this:

What are your thoughts on this book?

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Just finished

I thought it was really good. Does a fantastic job doing a breakdown of the beginnings of militant Islam from Sayyid Qutb, to his influence on those in Egypt, the rise of Bin Laden, the breakdown of communication between our agencies and finally the culmination in 9/11.

I think I will pick up this again

 

[Salazar]

I think probably I would. But that would be a multiple title contract, not a trilogy.

Marketing department memo:

THAT PRICK WANTS US TO MARKET INDIVIDUAL TITLES, FROM A STANDING EFFING START EACH TIME ?

Reading Bernard O'Donoghue's selected poems. Damned good.

 

[Anticitizen One]

First time reading a Tom Clancy book

 

[Apple Sauce]

 

[dubc35]

I just finished:

I enjoyed it. It's a quick read too, only ~120 pages.


And started:

 

[HiroProtagonist]

I finished the first Mistborn today, and I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Probably either Pale Blue Dot, or Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Which should I read first?

Interesting fact (IMO) related to conversation on this page:

When he sold Gardens of the Moon, he agreed to a contract for an additional nine volumes in the series. The contract with Bantam UK was worth £675,000,[11] making it "among the largest fees ever paid for a fantasy series".[12]

Steven Erikson was given a 10 book deal after writing Gardens of the Moon. Why in the world would Bantam do that? I'm glad they did, but geeze, 10 books?

 

[Granger Danger]

Steven Erikson was given a 10 book deal after writing Gardens of the Moon. Why in the world would Bantam do that? I'm glad they did, but geeze, 10 books?

Because they knew they had struck gold.

 

[phisheep]

Lots of rain today, can't do the gardening so reading instead.

Finished "The Forger". Very nicely done memoir of life as an underground Jew in WWII Berlin, with the antisemetic laws as a backdrop but daily life in the foreground. Highly recommended.

Also finished this:

Insightful tale of the dysfunctional non-relationship between alcoholic father and druggie son. It's a bit self indulgently literary at times, but worth reading if you can put up with it.

Rather annoyingly I find I have a Francis Fukayama on my shelf that I haven't read ("Our Posthuman Future") so I suppose I shall have to give it a go - don't think I will enjoy it. After that it'll be time for some J B Priestley, which I'm looking forward to.

 

[-Kees-]

 

[Maklershed]

For the people that have read Hyperion:

http://techland.time.com/2011/05/09/underwater-translator-may-finally-let-us-talk-to-dolphins/

 

[HiroProtagonist]

For the people that have read Hyperion:

http://techland.time.com/2011/05/09/underwater-translator-may-finally-let-us-talk-to-dolphins/

It's going to suck when they turn out to be super condescending.

 

[Dresden]

Just started.

A reread. Enjoying it even more this time around.

 

[Pollux]

Clash of Kings....Been busy lately so its going slowly. Read it before but that was years ago.....after that planning on rereading Pandora's Star and then Judas Unchained.

 

[sharkmuncher]

Just finished Post Office by Charles Bukowski

Read this after Women and Ham on Rye. Don't know what it is about these books, but it is just fascinating to read about someone being pretty much a dick who does not give a fuck in every sense of the phrase.
Next up will likely me Lamb by Christopher Moore

 

[Ruuppa]

Hear hear!

Watched two of the episodes of Game of Thrones, stopped, and read the book. Then I bought all the other books in the series. How did I miss this before?!

 

[Klorox33]

Currently reading "Gardens of the Moon", it's been good so far. To me it reads like a game.. I keep seeing different classes pop up. Cant wait to start "Game of Thrones" when the TV series is done.

 

[Skilletor]

Greatest fantasy series ever

Why does this guy look like a Drow?

 

[TestMonkey]

Just finished Deadhouse Gates and am moving onto Memories of Ice. Looked at the whole series lined up on my shelf and felt despair. So many pages to go...

 

[sparky2112]

Currently reading "Gardens of the Moon", it's been good so far. To me it reads like a game.. I keep seeing different classes pop up. Cant wait to start "Game of Thrones" when the TV series is done.

Yeah, the Malazan books are based on a D&D campaign that Erikson and Esselmont designed. That's one of the big knocks against the series, actually - lots of people moving around with not much motivation - kinda like a game campaign. Note: I don't necessarily agree with this, but that's a charge that's leveled against it quite often.

 

[Sleepy]

Soooo good.

Just ordered:

I hope it's as good as everyone says it is.

 

[Maklershed]

Just finished Escape from Hell, the sequel to Inferno


Escape from Hell by Larry Niven

 

[Schlep]

What are your thoughts on this book?

It's a good read, but that's about it.

 

[Mael]

Just finished Sunset Park By Auster

I don't anymore books or even comics/mangas/bds to read so....in a bid to test my knowledge and understanding I'm diving head first into

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Just finished these two books:

It's pretty good, although it doesn't delve too much into detailed information about the police investigation (as it's obviously written for an international audience that wouldn't be intimately familiar with all the details surrounding the murder). His theory about why Palme was murdered, and who were behind the murder, is definitely interesting.

Ghost stories from Gotland. Not much more to say.

Currently working on these:

Rather strange book about a 15 year old girl who has her sexual awakening, a 20 year old girl who works as a cleaning lady and secretly dreams of being interviewed on TV, and their families.

Just started it. Gaiman tends to be at his best when he's writing short stories, so this should be good.

Sort of on-off reading this:

Kari & Pertti Poutiainen - Inuti Labyrinten

Very detailed book concerning the piss-poor policework during investigation of the Palme murder. A heavy read, but well-written and informative.

Will be starting this soon:

Yeah, another book about the Palme murder.

 

[Zalasta]

Just finished Deadhouse Gates and am moving onto Memories of Ice. Looked at the whole series lined up on my shelf and felt despair. So many pages to go...

You make it sound like work! Memories of Ice is my favorite so far. Probably the most emotionally charged fantasy book I've ever read.

 

[VistraNorrez]

For the people that have read Hyperion:

http://techland.time.com/2011/05/09/underwater-translator-may-finally-let-us-talk-to-dolphins/

This was also done in The Illuminatus Trilogy. I wonder what was the first piece of literature to feature communication with dolphins.

 

[Mael]

I'm up to Book II now...
And well the understanding of the whole demons/fallen angels in the media is laughably stupid compared to what's found in the text....Even with a passing glance, I even think it's blattant enough as to warrant a thread actually.

 

[Ratrat]

Why does this guy look like a Drow?

I hate that cover. I keep thinking its a R.A. Salvatore book.

 

[Salazar]

Just culled my bookcases. About 300 books dumped. The air is fucking thick with dust.

Ditching my Goodkinds.

Manlytear.jpg

 

[Granger Danger]

Just culled my bookcases. About 300 books dumped. The air is fucking thick with dust.

Ditching my Goodkinds.

Manlytear.jpg

I'm proud of you. Culling is hard.

 

[Salazar]

I'm proud of you. Culling is hard.

I helped edit a manual for library stock weeding a few years back, so I knew to go in with a plan.

I have kept only the canonical, the humorous, the very recently acquired, and the vital for research. Felt fucking great to ditch The Golden Notebook.

Edit: Ratrat, your avatar is sublime.

 

[phisheep]

Ah well, finished the Fukuyama ...

Every bit as annoying as I thought it would be.

First half is a reasonably-paced critique of the relevant philosophy, then slides into didacticism and regulatory systems, eventually hits the main point two pages from the end.

Two fucking pages.

That's some misleading title. First two-thirds of the book should be republished under a different title.

Too cross to start the Priestley yet, so moving on to

 

[Mumei]

How are you finding Don Quixote?

I recently finished it and found it utterly hilarious at times, but also quite long winded in parts.

I'm about twenty-ish pages out from the halfway point. And yeah, it is utterly hilarious. I love Don Quixote's arguments with various characters about knight errantry or chivalry books, especially. There was a recent argument, I think between the priest and a canon, one of whom was arguing that it is "wasn't the masses to blame for demanding rubbish, but rather those who aren't capable of providing them with anything else." Not sure that's true given the popularity of rubbish while more is provided, but anyway.

It does get a bit long winded in parts, though, which is why it's going a bit slower for me. I really enjoy it when I read it, but I only do short bits at a time.

 

[dubc35]

Just finished Post Office by Charles Bukowski
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51t-oLr6N9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg
Read this after Women and Ham on Rye. Don't know what it is about these books, but it is just fascinating to read about someone being pretty much a dick who does not give a fuck in every sense of the phrase.
Next up will likely me Lamb by Christopher Moore

Have you read Factotum? It's my favorite of Buk's books. I have only read 3-4 though. The movie with Matt Dillion was actually reasonably good. I thought for sure it would be garbage and I'm not a huge Matt Dillion fan to start with.

 

[nakedsushi]

Hit a slow spot in my reading b/c of wedding craziness, but finally finished this:


The Luzhin Defense by Vladimir Nabokov (I really like the cover on this book)

(in describing the unusually bitter winter in Berlin)

"And even the polar bears in the zoo found that the management had overdone it."

Nabokov is his usual lyrical genius in The Luzhin Defense. Unfortunately, something didn't click with me in this book. Our protagonist Luzhin was so boorish that I couldn't find anything I liked about him. Yes, he was a wonder at chess, but he was pretty pathetic at everything else. It was hard not to puzzle over just what the woman who was interested in him found in him.

The book is worth reading just for that passage where Nabokov compares chess to music. It's eye-opening for anyone who's ever played the game and listened to a symphony. But if your'e not interested in chess, it might be hard to enjoy this book as much.

 

[TheOddOne]

Hit a slow spot in my reading b/c of wedding craziness

Congrats! Your wife is hot... sorry had to say it.

 

[nakedsushi]

Congrats! Your wife is hot... sorry had to say it.

LOL, thanks. I'm actually the wife there.