Yo, anyone know a good book on the extinction of the Indigenous Americans? Like, anything. Phillip's War, Trail of Tears, Civil War -- anything or everything.
I assume such a distinguished scholar as your fine self would have already read Guns, Germs, and Steel, but if not you should give it a read.
Goddamn, I haven't finished a book since PAX East. Just started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. If you like footnotes (these are pretty good footnotes) this book has 'em.
That's a fantastic book. I just finished reading it. More specifically though, if you like the Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, prose combined with enchanters and fantasy; you should read it.
I actively dislike Jane Austin, and didn't like reading Strange at the time, but it has since grown on me.
On Killing is a bit intense to read all in one go so I'm now reading The Cloud Atlas as well. I know nothing about it other than the movie was supposed to suck. So far I am enjoying it.
Finished up the Long Earth and now I'm about a third into the Long War. Exploring alternate earths unspoiled by humanity is very appealing. I would ditch the datum earth in a heart beat for the infinite greener pastures.
I actively dislike Jane Austin, and didn't like reading Strange at the time, but it has since grown on me.
I am always surprised by the huge pool of antipathy to Austen. Many people have a real grudge against her which I will blame on trying to teach her in high school. I'm hard-pressed to think of another writer (especially from 18th century England) that draws such an intense reaction. I came across her on my own and have always thought she was really funny. And, perhaps most importantly, she's not one of the Bronte sisters.
Now Henry James there's a writer I actively dislike.
I'm 150 pages into Jonathan Strange and it has made me laugh out loud several times. I'm finding the pacing fast and breezy, but my perception may be skewed from reading 1Q84 and Midnight's Children in the past year.
I actively dislike Jane Austin, and didn't like reading Strange at the time, but it has since grown on me.
I am always surprised by the huge pool of antipathy to Austen. Many people have a real grudge against her which I will blame on trying to teach her in high school.
This has a lot to do with it.
I remember the professor explaining that the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice was funny and the whole class disagreeing.
Just finished Showstopper, which is the story behind the development of the first version of Windows NT (which became the core to every shipping version of Windows since XP came out). Great read, IMHO.
For whatever reason, and I find this to be a personal flaw of sorts, I find it much more difficult to motivate myself to read fiction than non-fiction. I don't know why.
Finished A Game of Thrones, the Torchbearer rpg, and Saga Volume 2. Next is probably A Clash of Kings, The Seclusium of Orphone, or another chapter of Characteristics of Games.
I'm about a third of the way through Cryptonomicon and not really enjoying it. The only reason I haven't stopped reading it altogether is that I loved snow crash and am hoping it builds to the same level.
I recently finished Pratchett & Baxter's The Long Earth and am about to start reading the sequel, The Long War. It is a nice read; Pratchett's humor and heart come through, but it is meatier than a lot of his solo works. I would recommend it.
I just got done with both books and I agree, they are very worth recommending. I love that concepts and ideas are introduced then their ramifications are explored as they influence both the whole of humanity and how individuals would try to exploit them.
I think my biggest problem is that I don't feel very attached to any of the characters.
That's why I stopped reading the dictionary.
Spoilers: It turns out the Zebra did it.
Awww, I just listened to the episode where Rym made the very same joke. I fail. :<
For content: I recently got to meet R.A. Salvatore, so I figured that I would finally finish the Forgotten Realms series that I started back when I was in middle school. I've always sighed and groaned and procrastinated when I thought about going back to them, but now that I'm reading them again, they are perfectly entertaining popcorn-books with lots of fantasy adventure. I certainly can't complain.
Finished Midnight Tides whilst on holiday, another great Steven Erickson book that continues the serries. Explained some stuff and added others. My gripe is that I want more of the old cast but thats what The Bonehunters is for.
Also plowed through Red Seas under Red Skies the second book in the Gentelman Bastards serries. I intend to talk about this one later but I enjoyed this one far more than the first. It still had problems that a bit like Name of the Wind that prevent it from becoming a great book, yet i actually care about these people now as opposed to before where I thought that they were a buch of self important douches.
On the topic of the kickass saber swinging pirate mum I don't really see what the fuss was about. I was nervouse about how it would effect the book but the kids didn't really factor into. They were sort of their but didn't do much, they could have been more but weren't.
Finished Consider Phlebas after reading Player of Games. It was very disappointing in comparison. It was more concerned with introducing the galaxy and its characteristics than telling a strong narrative. The adventure and action itself wasn't fun enough justify the length of side adventures. I'll probably read on because Banks is really imaginative with his worlds.
I'm just about to start Player of Gsmes as the first book in a back to back Culture marathon of all ten stories. I'm not starting with Consider Phlebus for exactly the reason you state. The story in Player of Games is way stronger, and that's why I always recommend people start there.
I'm about halfway through The Postman (yes, the one they made a Kevin Costner movie from) and really enjoying it. Is this widely considered a good book or a crap book? I'm curious because I've been known to just like everything I read, but I am particularly digging this one.
I'm about halfway through The Postman (yes, the one they made a Kevin Costner movie from) and really enjoying it. Is this widely considered a good book or a crap book? I'm curious because I've been known to just like everything I read, but I am particularly digging this one.
I enjoyed it well enough. The movie is very different, and in almost every way it is worse. It's been 15 years or so since I read it though, so I don't remember it that clearly.
Wikipedia says:
The Postman (1985), is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by David Brin. A drifter stumbles across the uniform of an old United States Postal Service letter carrier and with empty promises of aid from the "Restored United States of America", gives hope to a community threatened by local warlords. The first two parts were published separately as "The Postman" (1982) and "Cyclops" (1984). Both were nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novella. The completed novel was awarded first prize in the John W. Campbell Award's for the best science fiction novel of the year in 1986,[1] and won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel that same year.[1] It was also nominated for Hugo[1] and Nebula[2] awards for best novel.
So yeah, generally considered a good book. If it wasn't, I'd be surprised if a movie would have got made.
Being reading The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart. Takes place during the black plague. It's about two brothers who are grave robbers by trade. They go to settle a score with a farmer, shit hits the fan and they get lost in the mountains fighting a manticore and the demon responsible for the plague. Also for being grave-robbers they have some very philosophical talks about religion. They are despicable guys but fascinating nonetheless.
I'm on the second to last Culture book, following Luke's list (Hydrogen Sonata), though I skipped Matter since it didn't seem like it'd be that good. Player of Games is still my favorite of them, but Hydrogen Sonata and Surface Detail are really good.
I'm on the second to last Culture book, following Luke's list (Hydrogen Sonata), though I skipped Matter since it didn't seem like it'd be that good. Player of Games is still my favorite of them, but Hydrogen Sonata and Surface Detail are really good.
I just started Player of Games yesterday in my own read through in that order. It's really good!
I finally struggled through "Super Sad True Love story." It's an interesting 20-minutes-into-the-future world, with google glass-like apperat being practically required to function in all societies(and mandatory in the US), the US crashing and burning, some people on the verge of immortality, and everyone is absolutely and deeply obsessed with social media.
But I still fucking hated it. I've not had a book make me that angry in a very long time. The main character is a pathetic, whiny, hyperneurotic, manipulative, oblivious, emotionally abusive idiot with zero self-worth and all the depth of a particularly shallow puddle, who falls in love with a damaged, manipulative, emotionally abusive lass who treats him like shit because of her own bizarre combination of self obsession and lack of self worth. She uses him for his money and apartment while he uses her to try and satisfy his emotional neediness and crushing neuroses. They have zero chemistry whatsoever, despite affectionate terms that feel like someone desperately trying to convince you that some chemistry exists, and wierd, random sex-scenes that read like they've been ripped straight from the bodice rippers, before being sprinkled with some future-ish slang. And in an even greater crime than all of this, they're both just so desperately boring and predictable, both as characters and in everything they do.
Then halfway through the book, she meets another character connected to the male lead, and it's IMMEDIATELY obvious she's going to cheat on the male lead with the rich asshole, which she proceeds to do in short order because he basically goes "Yo, I'm rich enough to afford this immortality treatment, and I can sort you out with money you want, But only if you start fucking me."
And then, with a nice long screed that passes for a final attempt at satirical critique of modern technology trends and the modern world, it just ends. The male lead is still a pathetic, needy, oblivious and emotionally abusive idiot. She's still a damaged, manipulative, emotionally abusive, self-obsessed twit with zero self worth. The only person who undergoes any sort of real change is the guy who makes the life-of-money-for-sex offer, who goes from being a rich, manipulative asshole to being a rich asshole with a teenage sex-toy. The worst part is, he's the only one with any sort of genuine motivation, even if that motivation is to steal his mate's girl so he can have his own pet teenage fuck-doll.
Oh no wait, turns out that our Whiny, hyperneurotic etc etc male lead is now a success, because he's a published author, because he's published...THIS VERY BOOK! And of course, our male lead shares almost the same history with the author, just time shifted 30-40 years.
It's the most disappointing, unsatisfying book I've read in quite a while. Story-wise, it's twilight with twitter. Nobody earns the little that they gain, nobody undergoes any worthwhile character development, they just change the precise method of how they're all fucking shithouse people. Overall, It's satire of the modern world, that fails utterly to be satirical. It's a witty, acerbic critique of our self-obsessed modern society, except it's devoid of wit, isn't so much acerbic as simply insulting for the sake of it, and less a critique of modern society than a shrine to the author's ego mixed with a healthy dose of an old, proudly tea-party-republican man yelling "Get of my lawn ya damned kids!" And again, just like it's horrid characters, it's just deadly boring.
After "The Russian Debutante's Handbook"(which was actually pretty good) and Absurdistan(which I enjoyed quite a bit) this was frankly awful. Here's a super sad true story for you: I read this fucking book. I will never get that time in my life back. And that's pretty goddamned sad.
I read Insurgent (sequel to Divergent). It's alright... but not good. It's young adult fiction. Formula seems to be a lot of nothing happening until the last third of the book, then everything crashes down at once, then cliffhanger. I am so tired of lone female protagonists struggling with their love interests for a hundred pages. Someone needs to give me a book with a girl that could give no fucks and will rip through problems for once. A lot of books build in that direction, but it never quite seems to get there. The first book was better just in that the protagonist changed and was changing. The second was very stagnating.
I'm starting Game of Thrones. Chapters are too short so-far and everything is coming in such small bites that I'm having trouble enjoying it. I want to sit down, read a hundred pages, and then come back with some notion of something happening. I realize this is long-form, and all the little bits and pieces build up towards something bigger, but these tid-bits are just too small. It's like I'm sifting a powder or something.
I'm 2/3 in to The Postman now and it's fascinating how Brin's vision of the survivalists/Holnists feels so much like the Tea Party that would come about 30 years after he wrote the book. Kinda like how I read Ender's Game for the first time last year and was blown away by the sections on the power of blogging.
Comments
Now Henry James there's a writer I actively dislike.
I remember the professor explaining that the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice was funny and the whole class disagreeing.
For whatever reason, and I find this to be a personal flaw of sorts, I find it much more difficult to motivate myself to read fiction than non-fiction. I don't know why.
For content: I recently got to meet R.A. Salvatore, so I figured that I would finally finish the Forgotten Realms series that I started back when I was in middle school. I've always sighed and groaned and procrastinated when I thought about going back to them, but now that I'm reading them again, they are perfectly entertaining popcorn-books with lots of fantasy adventure. I certainly can't complain.
Also plowed through Red Seas under Red Skies the second book in the Gentelman Bastards serries. I intend to talk about this one later but I enjoyed this one far more than the first. It still had problems that a bit like Name of the Wind that prevent it from becoming a great book, yet i actually care about these people now as opposed to before where I thought that they were a buch of self important douches.
On the topic of the kickass saber swinging pirate mum I don't really see what the fuss was about. I was nervouse about how it would effect the book but the kids didn't really factor into. They were sort of their but didn't do much, they could have been more but weren't.
Wikipedia says:
The Postman (1985), is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by David Brin. A drifter stumbles across the uniform of an old United States Postal Service letter carrier and with empty promises of aid from the "Restored United States of America", gives hope to a community threatened by local warlords. The first two parts were published separately as "The Postman" (1982) and "Cyclops" (1984). Both were nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novella. The completed novel was awarded first prize in the John W. Campbell Award's for the best science fiction novel of the year in 1986,[1] and won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel that same year.[1] It was also nominated for Hugo[1] and Nebula[2] awards for best novel.
So yeah, generally considered a good book. If it wasn't, I'd be surprised if a movie would have got made.
But I still fucking hated it. I've not had a book make me that angry in a very long time. The main character is a pathetic, whiny, hyperneurotic, manipulative, oblivious, emotionally abusive idiot with zero self-worth and all the depth of a particularly shallow puddle, who falls in love with a damaged, manipulative, emotionally abusive lass who treats him like shit because of her own bizarre combination of self obsession and lack of self worth. She uses him for his money and apartment while he uses her to try and satisfy his emotional neediness and crushing neuroses. They have zero chemistry whatsoever, despite affectionate terms that feel like someone desperately trying to convince you that some chemistry exists, and wierd, random sex-scenes that read like they've been ripped straight from the bodice rippers, before being sprinkled with some future-ish slang. And in an even greater crime than all of this, they're both just so desperately boring and predictable, both as characters and in everything they do.
Then halfway through the book, she meets another character connected to the male lead, and it's IMMEDIATELY obvious she's going to cheat on the male lead with the rich asshole, which she proceeds to do in short order because he basically goes "Yo, I'm rich enough to afford this immortality treatment, and I can sort you out with money you want, But only if you start fucking me."
And then, with a nice long screed that passes for a final attempt at satirical critique of modern technology trends and the modern world, it just ends. The male lead is still a pathetic, needy, oblivious and emotionally abusive idiot. She's still a damaged, manipulative, emotionally abusive, self-obsessed twit with zero self worth. The only person who undergoes any sort of real change is the guy who makes the life-of-money-for-sex offer, who goes from being a rich, manipulative asshole to being a rich asshole with a teenage sex-toy. The worst part is, he's the only one with any sort of genuine motivation, even if that motivation is to steal his mate's girl so he can have his own pet teenage fuck-doll.
Oh no wait, turns out that our Whiny, hyperneurotic etc etc male lead is now a success, because he's a published author, because he's published...THIS VERY BOOK! And of course, our male lead shares almost the same history with the author, just time shifted 30-40 years.
It's the most disappointing, unsatisfying book I've read in quite a while. Story-wise, it's twilight with twitter. Nobody earns the little that they gain, nobody undergoes any worthwhile character development, they just change the precise method of how they're all fucking shithouse people. Overall, It's satire of the modern world, that fails utterly to be satirical. It's a witty, acerbic critique of our self-obsessed modern society, except it's devoid of wit, isn't so much acerbic as simply insulting for the sake of it, and less a critique of modern society than a shrine to the author's ego mixed with a healthy dose of an old, proudly tea-party-republican man yelling "Get of my lawn ya damned kids!" And again, just like it's horrid characters, it's just deadly boring.
After "The Russian Debutante's Handbook"(which was actually pretty good) and Absurdistan(which I enjoyed quite a bit) this was frankly awful. Here's a super sad true story for you: I read this fucking book. I will never get that time in my life back. And that's pretty goddamned sad.
I read Insurgent (sequel to Divergent). It's alright... but not good. It's young adult fiction. Formula seems to be a lot of nothing happening until the last third of the book, then everything crashes down at once, then cliffhanger. I am so tired of lone female protagonists struggling with their love interests for a hundred pages. Someone needs to give me a book with a girl that could give no fucks and will rip through problems for once. A lot of books build in that direction, but it never quite seems to get there. The first book was better just in that the protagonist changed and was changing. The second was very stagnating.
I'm starting Game of Thrones. Chapters are too short so-far and everything is coming in such small bites that I'm having trouble enjoying it. I want to sit down, read a hundred pages, and then come back with some notion of something happening. I realize this is long-form, and all the little bits and pieces build up towards something bigger, but these tid-bits are just too small. It's like I'm sifting a powder or something.