I just finished River of Teeth
It was a pretty fun read, but fairly light, and I think more of a neat concept than a really great execution
I also finished Enemy of God last night, the second book of the Warlord Chronicles, and I really enjoyed that, though things are rather... grim in Britain by the end of that one
As my reward for finishing two books I started a new one, the new annotated edition of Chandler's The Big Sleep, and boy this is just exactly what I was looking for right now
I finished Stress, Appraisal and Coping by Lazarus & Folkman and ho boy, that sure is a book. It's a good take on what stress is and how to deal with it in good and bad ways, but it's also probably the densest academic text I've encountered.
So going back to Redemption Blade now, it's an easier read.
Listening to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. This is some great sci-fi. Also the audiobook is excellent. It's got music and sound effects!
+5
Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I just started Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff.
Kind of grabbed it randomly and it definitely sounds intriguing.
0
Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
So far... This doesn't seem like a book that should have been written by a white guy but we'll see.
+2
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Lovecraft Country is fun, but not really what I wanted it to be and also it is really weird that it was written by a white guy.
0
Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
I think it's important for writers to try and get out of their comfort zones, so I don't have a problem with that sort of thing intrinsically, but it should be held to a pretty high standard
0
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I don't think Ruff like, fucks it up in any particularly big way, I just think that someone else might've been able to do the premise better (by which I mean, I know that Victor LaValle has already done the premise better).
Revisiting early 20th century horror through the lens of black people in the 1950s (for whom reality was already horrific enough) is a really strong pitch, and I think there are parts of Lovecraft Country that really do work. I think actually the weakest part of it was the attempt to tie it to Lovecraftian/cosmic horror. The specific ties to the works of HP Lovecraft feel way too tongue in cheek, and I don't really think that Ruff's attempt to marry the cosmic horror with a more intimate and personal horror works very well.
Finished The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet spoilers
aww...Chef
Lovey
Rosemary and Sissix make a cute couple.
I'm not sure how I fall on what Corbin did. It was shitty, but I'm not sure how I feel about it beyond that. There's a few situations that the event could be applied to, but they're wildly different. Using it as a metaphor for disabled communities I'm against it, but if you look at it as an anti-vaxxer situation then I'm the opposite. I either don't have enough of a frame of reference for it, or I've got too many different frames of reference that it could apply to.
Either way, amazing scifi doing exactly what I want scifi to do (question myself), can't wait to dig into more from Becky Chambers.
The way Corbin was thinking about it as he was doing it. No worrying about the moral quandary, just "Fuck it they're all gonna be super mad but they can't kick me out of the ship because of the guardian thing so they'll just have to deal."
Goose!That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered Userregular
I'm up to Chapter 27, just past halfway on Hitchhikers
You ever feel you take for granted that certain things are just part of the lexicon of popular culture? Like, a word or phrase that you've heard before but out of context, or in another context?
Today I read the original context of "So long and thanks for all the fish" and it was great.
My older brother finally asked me if I was ever gonna finish ready player one and I had to tell him no, I don't think I will. When pressed for details as to why, the only thing I could say was "I don't like Earnest Cline's writing style and I was spoiled on some stuff that I think is really gross." And he was like OH I DIDN'T THINK ANYTHING IN THAT BOOK WAS GROSS OR OFFENSIVE OR ANYTHING
And at that point I realized that my older brother is literally Earnest Cline's exact target demo
I know I saw it getting some hate at some point in here but what specifically turned you off other than being the book form of the Chris Farley "Remember When" skit from SNL but with 80's nostalgia.
What I don't get is the people who are all upset about the movie version "totally ruining" Ready Player One.
I don't think Ernest Kline is a very good writer. So much about the world should have engaged me but I felt absolutely nothing. And then I got spoiled on a bunch of character stuff that happens later and did not feel the need to stick around for it
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I’m really enjoying Record of a Spaceborn Few. There’s lots of detail about how the Exodan ships are designed, really going into the practicalities and social interactions and all of that stuff is extremely my jam.
Still not sure if there’s going to be a plot in this one though. So far it’s mostly introducing a variety of interesting characters and a shiftless teenager.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I’m really enjoying Record of a Spaceborn Few. There’s lots of detail about how the Exodan ships are designed, really going into the practicalities and social interactions and all of that stuff is extremely my jam.
Still not sure if there’s going to be a plot in this one though. So far it’s mostly introducing a variety of interesting characters and a shiftless teenager.
I'm being real real vague in this spoiler but I'm still gonna spoiler it:
There is but it is really hidden until right near the end. It is delightfully small scope for a space SF book.
More detailed spoilers that are arguable actual spoilers albeit with no proper nouns, knitdan maybe don't read:
It's a coming of age story for what I was pretty damn sure was a side character most of the book. There is also at least one other mostly seperate thread about a family adapting their life to the needs of their own and what that means for their self identity. A couple other minor threads that weave into both of those so they're all interconnected which is pretty much what the book is actually about. The interconnection and mutual obligations to each other that is at the heart of the Exodan culture.
Small Angry Planet was the one that hewed closest to having what most would consider a typical sci-fi plot kind of thing, but even then it was all in like, the last quarter of the book.
My dad had a saying he'd usually use in a disparaging fashion "There's no plot to get in the way of the story" but for these books it's actually good. Also, she does so well at making us care about that characters, that even these small stories that aren't important in the grand scheme of the galaxy still feel very big and meaningful.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
I'm reading Abaddon's Gate. It feels like the climax of this book started just under halfway through.
+2
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Oh no, Sam :sad:
I'm getting more and more antsy about Amos or Alex getting killed. I don't think Naomi will die, at least not until the end of the series, but those 2 I'm not confident about. Holden needs to just take the Roci somewhere really boring and safe cos I can't handle this stress.
I'm getting more and more antsy about Amos or Alex getting killed. I don't think Naomi will die, at least not until the end of the series, but those 2 I'm not confident about. Holden needs to just take the Roci somewhere really boring and safe cos I can't handle this stress.
they went to safest place in the universe! It had a speed limit and everything. The roci is just a trouble magnet.
Small Angry Planet was the one that hewed closest to having what most would consider a typical sci-fi plot kind of thing, but even then it was all in like, the last quarter of the book.
My dad had a saying he'd usually use in a disparaging fashion "There's no plot to get in the way of the story" but for these books it's actually good. Also, she does so well at making us care about that characters, that even these small stories that aren't important in the grand scheme of the galaxy still feel very big and meaningful.
I have to disagree on the grounds that A Close and Common Orbit had TWO plots! :P
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited August 2018
Finished Abaddon's Gate. I really enjoy how well these books do escalation. Just a fairly steady progression of rising stakes. Compared to, say, the Stormlight books which trundle along at one level for a while and then have this occasional explosive escalation. Which is also fun! But I find the expanse books really hard to stop reading because shit is constantly happening.
Now starting The Secret Life of Trees, which I'm fairly sure someone here recommended but I can't remember whom.
Brovid Hasselsmof on
+3
Goose!That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered Userregular
I'm up to Chapter 27, just past halfway on Hitchhikers
You ever feel you take for granted that certain things are just part of the lexicon of popular culture? Like, a word or phrase that you've heard before but out of context, or in another context?
Today I read the original context of "So long and thanks for all the fish" and it was great.
It shouldn't be funnier, better, when it happens again but this time you can see it coming from a mile away, but I just read the great answer that I've heard a bunch outside of the book and it somehow was.
My father just asked me my opinion of Seveneves, which is a book I'd almost managed to forget I was reading.
I pretty much copy-pasted all the shit I've complained about in this thread.
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Seveneves is probably number one on the list of books I really liked when I read them, and have gradually revised my opinion lower and lower as I've thought about it after the fact.
Seveneves makes me sad because before it I'd quite liked everything I'd read from Stephenson except for some really early work. Definitely a sea change there with that book.
Seveneves makes me sad because before it I'd quite liked everything I'd read from Stephenson except for some really early work. Definitely a sea change there with that book.
Yeah my opinion of it has gotten so low it soured me on his other books that I used to love. And I liked it when I read it! It's so weird.
I'm almost the opposite, because (apart from Big U) I've thought his work started extremely well, but got consistently more self-indulgent and irritating. So my expectations were low in any case, but I think it was people on this forum tentatively praising the book that got me to pick it up.
I'm gonna state unequivocally that they were wrong.
Snow Crash was great, Diamond Age I did not like much at all, Cryptonomicon was okay
It's hard for me to judge the Baroque Cycle as one thing, because it varies so wildly across three giant books, but when it's on it's really on, and I have to admire the ambition of that series, so I guess I'll say overall fairly positive
Anathem ruled, Reamde was really weird but at least... kept me turning the pages? A lot of it isn't good but it has a momentum at least
I've done this before, but not including BigU* my rankings are something like
Zodiac
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
Diamond Age
Baroque Cycle (loved most of it, but it did belabour the point more than a bit)
Anathem ---- here is where I started to fall off his schtick, I love the core world of Anathem, but "world changing events as seen through the eyes of a self-congratulatory vaguely sexist oblivious nerd" isn't a genre I have a lot of time for
Reamde (ugh)
Seveneves
* I have no idea where to put this, I don't think I enjoyed it but it also wasn't bad just ... it was a book, that I read.
I've done this before, but not including BigU* my rankings are something like
Zodiac
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
Diamond Age
Baroque Cycle (loved most of it, but it did belabour the point more than a bit)
Anathem ---- here is where I started to fall off his schtick, I love the core world of Anathem, but "world changing events as seen through the eyes of a self-congratulatory vaguely sexist oblivious nerd" isn't a genre I have a lot of time for
Reamde (ugh)
Seveneves
* I have no idea where to put this, I don't think I enjoyed it but it also wasn't bad just ... it was a book, that I read.
There are still parts of The Big U that I find myself thinking about from time to time, and I haven't read it in a decade or more. But yeah, I have no idea what the hell to make of it as a book.
Other than that, your ranking is bang alongside mine. I might swap Diamond Age and the Baroque Cycle, because Diamond Age is peak Neal Stephenson Not Knowing How To End a Book, and the Baroque Cycle has just some of my favorite quotes and scenes from any books ever. But yeah, the world would have been a better place if his editor had broken out of the broom closet they were imprisoned in and made some pretty obvious cuts there.
Moriveth, you owe it to yourself to read Zodiac, and if you dig that move on to Cryptonomicon if you've got the time or Snow Crash if you're in a hurry. They're good books.
Posts
It was a pretty fun read, but fairly light, and I think more of a neat concept than a really great execution
I also finished Enemy of God last night, the second book of the Warlord Chronicles, and I really enjoyed that, though things are rather... grim in Britain by the end of that one
I need to slow down, so my partner can catch up
Speed up! There are two sequels! And a novel starting a new series set in the same universe after the events of the first trilogy!
i love that setting so much
So going back to Redemption Blade now, it's an easier read.
Kind of grabbed it randomly and it definitely sounds intriguing.
Revisiting early 20th century horror through the lens of black people in the 1950s (for whom reality was already horrific enough) is a really strong pitch, and I think there are parts of Lovecraft Country that really do work. I think actually the weakest part of it was the attempt to tie it to Lovecraftian/cosmic horror. The specific ties to the works of HP Lovecraft feel way too tongue in cheek, and I don't really think that Ruff's attempt to marry the cosmic horror with a more intimate and personal horror works very well.
Lovey
Rosemary and Sissix make a cute couple.
I'm not sure how I fall on what Corbin did. It was shitty, but I'm not sure how I feel about it beyond that. There's a few situations that the event could be applied to, but they're wildly different. Using it as a metaphor for disabled communities I'm against it, but if you look at it as an anti-vaxxer situation then I'm the opposite. I either don't have enough of a frame of reference for it, or I've got too many different frames of reference that it could apply to.
Either way, amazing scifi doing exactly what I want scifi to do (question myself), can't wait to dig into more from Becky Chambers.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Today I read the original context of "So long and thanks for all the fish" and it was great.
I don't think Ernest Kline is a very good writer. So much about the world should have engaged me but I felt absolutely nothing. And then I got spoiled on a bunch of character stuff that happens later and did not feel the need to stick around for it
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Still not sure if there’s going to be a plot in this one though. So far it’s mostly introducing a variety of interesting characters and a shiftless teenager.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I'm being real real vague in this spoiler but I'm still gonna spoiler it:
More detailed spoilers that are arguable actual spoilers albeit with no proper nouns, knitdan maybe don't read:
My dad had a saying he'd usually use in a disparaging fashion "There's no plot to get in the way of the story" but for these books it's actually good. Also, she does so well at making us care about that characters, that even these small stories that aren't important in the grand scheme of the galaxy still feel very big and meaningful.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Zeno's journey, huh?
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
I'm getting more and more antsy about Amos or Alex getting killed. I don't think Naomi will die, at least not until the end of the series, but those 2 I'm not confident about. Holden needs to just take the Roci somewhere really boring and safe cos I can't handle this stress.
I have to disagree on the grounds that A Close and Common Orbit had TWO plots! :P
Now starting The Secret Life of Trees, which I'm fairly sure someone here recommended but I can't remember whom.
I pretty much copy-pasted all the shit I've complained about in this thread.
Yeah my opinion of it has gotten so low it soured me on his other books that I used to love. And I liked it when I read it! It's so weird.
I'm gonna state unequivocally that they were wrong.
There's no telling with that guy
maybe I'll check out reamde someday, but I doubt it
It's hard for me to judge the Baroque Cycle as one thing, because it varies so wildly across three giant books, but when it's on it's really on, and I have to admire the ambition of that series, so I guess I'll say overall fairly positive
Anathem ruled, Reamde was really weird but at least... kept me turning the pages? A lot of it isn't good but it has a momentum at least
Didn't finish Seveneves, didn't care
Zodiac
Cryptonomicon
Snow Crash
Diamond Age
Baroque Cycle (loved most of it, but it did belabour the point more than a bit)
Anathem ---- here is where I started to fall off his schtick, I love the core world of Anathem, but "world changing events as seen through the eyes of a self-congratulatory vaguely sexist oblivious nerd" isn't a genre I have a lot of time for
Reamde (ugh)
Seveneves
* I have no idea where to put this, I don't think I enjoyed it but it also wasn't bad just ... it was a book, that I read.
There are still parts of The Big U that I find myself thinking about from time to time, and I haven't read it in a decade or more. But yeah, I have no idea what the hell to make of it as a book.
Other than that, your ranking is bang alongside mine. I might swap Diamond Age and the Baroque Cycle, because Diamond Age is peak Neal Stephenson Not Knowing How To End a Book, and the Baroque Cycle has just some of my favorite quotes and scenes from any books ever. But yeah, the world would have been a better place if his editor had broken out of the broom closet they were imprisoned in and made some pretty obvious cuts there.
Moriveth, you owe it to yourself to read Zodiac, and if you dig that move on to Cryptonomicon if you've got the time or Snow Crash if you're in a hurry. They're good books.