Whoops, forgot to post:
I finished The Martian Chronicles. I realized way too late that this is a collection of loosely connected short stories that had originally been released in a magazine. That explains the tonal shifts! It's a good book, if at times a little heavy-handed. I was surprised to see that Fahrenheit 451 was written after this, not before, because there's one bit in there that felt like a reference to it.
Next up is a poppy (german) feminist book by a podcaster I like a lot, which I'll finish up quickly and then...I'll dive into my bookpile again!
Martian Chronicles is one of the few books that has made me bawl my eyes out
Oh wow, which story did it for you? Or was it the general vibe of garbage humanity?
Third Expedition. All those crewmen running and crying at being united with their parents and grandparents just kills me
I can see that. I definitely deliberately tried not to imagine myself in that situation.
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Finished Dogs of War. It was a good quick bit of sci-fi and refreshingly different. I didn't cry, though I sort of got close at one point
Integrity approaching 25% Priorities locked in Lower cognition threshold imminent so saying goodbye now Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye...
and I was a little surprised by the first few things learned in Water Sleeps
(all three books)
The change in narrator took me off-guard; I figured with his practice ghostwalking Smoke and being generally unstuck in time, Murgen would continue narrating. I'm fairly happy he's been put on hold, to be honest. His focus on ghostwalking led to a lot of repeated scenes of him eating and being shaken awake.
I wouldn't have expected Sleepy to take up the Annals, but so far I like her perspective. Very happy that Sahra made it back to the Taglios and is leading the resistance.
At least this has (so-far) satisfied my idle curiosity: why two volumes of Glittering Stone? Though I guess if Soldiers Live/i] reverts to Murgen or Croaker, I'll be back to being confused again.
And the time-skip of 14 years was unexpected. I'm less thrilled about that, on the grounds that Sleepy has presumably been writing the Annals in the interim. The conceit that the people living these events are writing them is a good hook for me, but I have some pet peeves about the style.
Tamin on
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
Finished Semiosis, by Sue Burke. Enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a look at struggles faced by a human colony on a distant planet, told through the eyes of the colonists and then their descendants as the colony progresses through generations. The sequel doesn't come out until October but I'll be looking forward to it.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Semiosis is great. I can't believe I haven't flogged it in here before.
+1
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Have you read Gone Away World? That might fit that bill.
I mean it's not light thematically but it's not hard to read.
After buying this on the recommendation of a book thread here PROBABLY 8 years ago, I finally started reading it last month. I haven't had much time for leisure unfortunately due to Other Stuff but I am loving it whenever I have time to rip through a chapter.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited March 2019
Thpoilerth for where I'm at in Gone Away World
They've just come across the Found Thousand and I'm like fuuuuuuuuu
ck
Also I don't know when I last read a book that made me giggle outloud regularly! Despite uhh, not really being funny in terms of the story.
Lost Salient on
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
+6
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I’m maybe halfway into Black Leopard, Red Wolf and it feels like the plot is finally starting to come together, but I’ve been struggling.
I swear, the first 200 pages? Mostly character and backstory building, which is impressive considering the main character barely even has a personality.
I’m gonna put the rest of this behind a spoiler because some of it discusses sexual assault
The other thing is, there’s a lot of references to sex and sexual assault. The main character is mostly gay, sometimes bi and even a little bit pan. I think the book may be sending a message with and about his sexuality that I don’t fully understand. But my point is, there are constant references to his sexuality. Other characters mention it in every interaction with him. His internal monologue continually mentions it. There are frequent episodes of sex, although (and maybe this is another thing that bugs me a little) it’s never erotic, just very matter-of-fact.
And then there are the rapes. I don’t have a running tally of how many, but it happens a lot, usually in the context of the main character or another character describing how they killed a rapist. At one point, we discover the main character was in the past gangraped by a pack of shapeshifting hyenas.
And like I said, I think there’s likely a reason for including all this but I’m completely at a loss as to what it could be right now.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
I need to reread Gone Away World. I think it might be one of my favourite books.
I also want to read the 3 Body Problem books.
And all those recommendations people made for me.
Ugh. I've only read 3 books so far this year and there's like 15 million I want to read. I'm too slow.
+1
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I’m maybe halfway into Black Leopard, Red Wolf and it feels like the plot is finally starting to come together, but I’ve been struggling.
I swear, the first 200 pages? Mostly character and backstory building, which is impressive considering the main character barely even has a personality.
I’m gonna put the rest of this behind a spoiler because some of it discusses sexual assault
The other thing is, there’s a lot of references to sex and sexual assault. The main character is mostly gay, sometimes bi and even a little bit pan. I think the book may be sending a message with and about his sexuality that I don’t fully understand. But my point is, there are constant references to his sexuality. Other characters mention it in every interaction with him. His internal monologue continually mentions it. There are frequent episodes of sex, although (and maybe this is another thing that bugs me a little) it’s never erotic, just very matter-of-fact.
And then there are the rapes. I don’t have a running tally of how many, but it happens a lot, usually in the context of the main character or another character describing how they killed a rapist. At one point, we discover the main character was in the past gangraped by a pack of shapeshifting hyenas.
And like I said, I think there’s likely a reason for including all this but I’m completely at a loss as to what it could be right now.
The plot does drag for a bit unfortunately but it really picks up eventually.
The constant discussion of him being gay is meant to illustrate how othered gay people were in history (and still now), both from others and even from themselves depending on the culture they were raised in.
Your description of matter-of-fact is one of the stated points of that writing style (also I really appreciated it, nothing annoys me more than when a fantasy author decides it's time to try and get me all horned up because two characters are gonna gone - just say they boned and let's move on, I don't need a description of how perky her nipples got or how their bodies moved against each other). Lots of this style of worldbuilding heavy, plot focused fantasy still has tons of rape and fucked up shit (GoT being a prime example) but it's danced around and romanticized and minimized. The authors want the gritty validation of including that stuff without actually facing head-on just what it is they're writing. BLRW is written in such a way that it's just blatant that if you want horrifying shit, be prepared to accept it at face value.
That's definitely not going to be for everyone, though.
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
I read The Magicians last weekend
quentin sure does fuckin' suck!
I'm not sure I really want to continue this series; I do not need to read a book in order to understand the experience of a talented, shitty dude who's too miserable to do anything worthwhile with it
I really loathed The Magicians, have no desire to read anything else by that author.
Weirdly enough, the TV version has turned into one of my favourite series, but I think that's due to the showrunners spending a lot of verbal real estate on making fun of Quentin, and gradually diverging completely from the book(s).
Yeah, I have very little interest in the books but kiiiinda wanna watch the show?
Show is actually pretty good! Especially by the third season, when they've kind of figured out what pacing works best (ie full steam ahead at all times).
Alice/Quentin can go suck a nut as a couple, though.
Traitor Baru Cormorant has made me angrier in the first fourteen pages than entire books.
I am in the business of saving lives.
+2
astrobstrdSo full of mercy...Registered Userregular
Looking to come out of my reading hibernation and looking for advice which to jump back into first.
Should I:
A). Finish the back 1/4 of Infinite Jest that has sat mocking me for 2 years. I love what I've read, but it literally makes my arms hurt to read more than 10 minutes at a time (I mostly read in bed).
. Dig into Jorges Luis Borges collected works (Collecíones). I think Borges may be my favorite short story writer on the strength of Labyrinths alone, but navigating through early works, letters, and the like, could get tiring, especially without a scholar/historian along to provide some context.
C). Volume 2 of The Familiar. I enjoyed 1, and as unfashionable as it has become, I still really love my time with House of Leaves (It is perhaps the longest thing I have read more than once). I also have V. 3 and 4 waiting (of an astoundingly ambitious/pretentious planned 26) waiting when I finish if I want to keep rolling.
D). Dive back in with some sort of genre book (not meant as an insult) to get back in the habit after a year long lull of only reading RPG sourcebooks.
Strong recommendation for reading Infite Jest as an ebook.
Not related to Infinite Jest, but I still struggle with reading e-books. I have an old-ass kindle fire (might be first gen), and the thing that I dislike the most is that e-books seem to "lose" their formatting. I get that it's necessary because you have to be able to scale it to your zoom level or whatever, but it drives me nuts.
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Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
I started Ancillary Justice
It’s supposed to be good, right? Pretty interesting so far
Also I bought Leviathan Wakes on my Kindle, it was $3, not sure if that’s the normal price but figured I might as well
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
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astrobstrdSo full of mercy...Registered Userregular
Strong recommendation for reading Infite Jest as an ebook.
Not related to Infinite Jest, but I still struggle with reading e-books. I have an old-ass kindle fire (might be first gen), and the thing that I dislike the most is that e-books seem to "lose" their formatting. I get that it's necessary because you have to be able to scale it to your zoom level or whatever, but it drives me nuts.
The other thing I would absolutely love is if the ebook version lets you attach the copious footnotes onto the relevant page.
The thing that is disarming about IJ is just how funny and human the book is. I love DFW as a essayist, but my only prior fiction experience with him was Brief Interviews With Hideous Men which I found dour and anxiety inducing.
Strong recommendation for reading Infite Jest as an ebook.
Not related to Infinite Jest, but I still struggle with reading e-books. I have an old-ass kindle fire (might be first gen), and the thing that I dislike the most is that e-books seem to "lose" their formatting. I get that it's necessary because you have to be able to scale it to your zoom level or whatever, but it drives me nuts.
The other thing I would absolutely love is if the ebook version lets you attach the copious footnotes onto the relevant page.
The thing that is disarming about IJ is just how funny and human the book is. I love DFW as a essayist, but my only prior fiction experience with him was Brief Interviews With Hideous Men which I found dour and anxiety inducing.
The ebook renders them as hyperlinks, essentially. Very handy.
My wife has had a goal of 1 book a month this year, I got her to read Good Omens. Its not her normal kind of book, and it wasn't her favorite at all, but she liked it enough that shes now excited for the Prime show in May
Strong recommendation for reading Infite Jest as an ebook.
Not related to Infinite Jest, but I still struggle with reading e-books. I have an old-ass kindle fire (might be first gen), and the thing that I dislike the most is that e-books seem to "lose" their formatting. I get that it's necessary because you have to be able to scale it to your zoom level or whatever, but it drives me nuts.
The other thing I would absolutely love is if the ebook version lets you attach the copious footnotes onto the relevant page.
The thing that is disarming about IJ is just how funny and human the book is. I love DFW as a essayist, but my only prior fiction experience with him was Brief Interviews With Hideous Men which I found dour and anxiety inducing.
The ebook renders them as hyperlinks, essentially. Very handy.
The newer kindles actually pop them up in like sub windows which is even better.
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I can see that. I definitely deliberately tried not to imagine myself in that situation.
and I was a little surprised by the first few things learned in Water Sleeps
(all three books)
I wouldn't have expected Sleepy to take up the Annals, but so far I like her perspective. Very happy that Sahra made it back to the Taglios and is leading the resistance.
At least this has (so-far) satisfied my idle curiosity: why two volumes of Glittering Stone? Though I guess if Soldiers Live/i] reverts to Murgen or Croaker, I'll be back to being confused again.
And the time-skip of 14 years was unexpected. I'm less thrilled about that, on the grounds that Sleepy has presumably been writing the Annals in the interim. The conceit that the people living these events are writing them is a good hook for me, but I have some pet peeves about the style.
After buying this on the recommendation of a book thread here PROBABLY 8 years ago, I finally started reading it last month. I haven't had much time for leisure unfortunately due to Other Stuff but I am loving it whenever I have time to rip through a chapter.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
then read Gnomon.
The narrator really sells the, uh... other perspective.
ck
Also I don't know when I last read a book that made me giggle outloud regularly! Despite uhh, not really being funny in terms of the story.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I swear, the first 200 pages? Mostly character and backstory building, which is impressive considering the main character barely even has a personality.
I’m gonna put the rest of this behind a spoiler because some of it discusses sexual assault
And then there are the rapes. I don’t have a running tally of how many, but it happens a lot, usually in the context of the main character or another character describing how they killed a rapist. At one point, we discover the main character was in the past gangraped by a pack of shapeshifting hyenas.
And like I said, I think there’s likely a reason for including all this but I’m completely at a loss as to what it could be right now.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I also want to read the 3 Body Problem books.
And all those recommendations people made for me.
Ugh. I've only read 3 books so far this year and there's like 15 million I want to read. I'm too slow.
The plot does drag for a bit unfortunately but it really picks up eventually.
Your description of matter-of-fact is one of the stated points of that writing style (also I really appreciated it, nothing annoys me more than when a fantasy author decides it's time to try and get me all horned up because two characters are gonna gone - just say they boned and let's move on, I don't need a description of how perky her nipples got or how their bodies moved against each other). Lots of this style of worldbuilding heavy, plot focused fantasy still has tons of rape and fucked up shit (GoT being a prime example) but it's danced around and romanticized and minimized. The authors want the gritty validation of including that stuff without actually facing head-on just what it is they're writing. BLRW is written in such a way that it's just blatant that if you want horrifying shit, be prepared to accept it at face value.
That's definitely not going to be for everyone, though.
quentin sure does fuckin' suck!
I'm not sure I really want to continue this series; I do not need to read a book in order to understand the experience of a talented, shitty dude who's too miserable to do anything worthwhile with it
onward to Spook Country
Weirdly enough, the TV version has turned into one of my favourite series, but I think that's due to the showrunners spending a lot of verbal real estate on making fun of Quentin, and gradually diverging completely from the book(s).
Is a most dope book cover
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
Show is actually pretty good! Especially by the third season, when they've kind of figured out what pacing works best (ie full steam ahead at all times).
Alice/Quentin can go suck a nut as a couple, though.
That is the perfect environment IMO.
"perfect"
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
I thought it was going to be more exciting and adventurous but it was really just kinda sad and depressing. Very imaginative though.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Should I:
A). Finish the back 1/4 of Infinite Jest that has sat mocking me for 2 years. I love what I've read, but it literally makes my arms hurt to read more than 10 minutes at a time (I mostly read in bed).
. Dig into Jorges Luis Borges collected works (Collecíones). I think Borges may be my favorite short story writer on the strength of Labyrinths alone, but navigating through early works, letters, and the like, could get tiring, especially without a scholar/historian along to provide some context.
C). Volume 2 of The Familiar. I enjoyed 1, and as unfashionable as it has become, I still really love my time with House of Leaves (It is perhaps the longest thing I have read more than once). I also have V. 3 and 4 waiting (of an astoundingly ambitious/pretentious planned 26) waiting when I finish if I want to keep rolling.
D). Dive back in with some sort of genre book (not meant as an insult) to get back in the habit after a year long lull of only reading RPG sourcebooks.
Not related to Infinite Jest, but I still struggle with reading e-books. I have an old-ass kindle fire (might be first gen), and the thing that I dislike the most is that e-books seem to "lose" their formatting. I get that it's necessary because you have to be able to scale it to your zoom level or whatever, but it drives me nuts.
It’s supposed to be good, right? Pretty interesting so far
Also I bought Leviathan Wakes on my Kindle, it was $3, not sure if that’s the normal price but figured I might as well
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
The other thing I would absolutely love is if the ebook version lets you attach the copious footnotes onto the relevant page.
The thing that is disarming about IJ is just how funny and human the book is. I love DFW as a essayist, but my only prior fiction experience with him was Brief Interviews With Hideous Men which I found dour and anxiety inducing.
It illustrates nicely all the fucked up things colonialism does, yeah. It's a good fictionalization of what we did to Hawaii.
The ebook renders them as hyperlinks, essentially. Very handy.
The newer kindles actually pop them up in like sub windows which is even better.