What book(s) are you reading?

[Bebpo]

Getting close to finishing Dark Tower Book 3 The Wastelands. Ordered Wizard & The Glass. The 2nd half of The Wastelands after Jake joins the party feels like everything that was uneven in books 2 & first half of book 3 finally came together and now it's a good ole' fun Fallout/Mad Max post-apocalyptic wasteland journey. Enjoying it quite a bit at this point!

[TVC15]

Mentioning Max Striner here the other day reminded me to check and see if Wolfi Landstreicher's long-in-the-works new translation of The Ego and Its Own had been completed, and lo and behold it was just released in May. This is the first translation since the original back in the early 1900s, which has been criticized by the sort of people that know enough to criticize translations of things.

Haven't gotten past the intro yet because I had to work on some spreadsheetzzz on the commute to work this morning.



Also I found two typos on the back cover.

[Joe Molotov]

Getting close to finishing Dark Tower Book 3 The Wastelands. Ordered Wizard & The Glass. The 2nd half of The Wastelands after Jake joins the party feels like everything that was uneven in books 2 & first half of book 3 finally came together and now it's a good ole' fun Fallout/Mad Max post-apocalyptic wasteland journey. Enjoying it quite a bit at this point!

Book 4 is pretty awesome. It's just a straight up good stand-alone, post-apocalyptic fantasy cowboy novel.

[Bebpo]

Finished Dark Tower book 3 The Wastelands. Oh man, that finale, Blaine the Mono,

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Insane city computer coming to life killing people and bullet train speeding out while the city falls apart in chaos and poison into the Wastelands deep down below and RIDDLE CONTEST

[close]

That's the kinda stuff that would be great for a movie. So fun! Hyped for book 4 and I'm so interested in the world & characters at this point I'll probably end up actually reading books 5-7 because I'm invested.

Second half of Book 3 was a pretty good Fallout book. I liked the whole book except the Jake in the city parts which ran kinda long and were fairly zzz at this point into the series since they felt more like an intro you'd get in book 1. Sounds like the first third of the movie covers that which is a bit of a shame. I'd rather have Blaine the Mono scenes!

[agrajag]

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

[Bebpo]

Read the first 100 pages of Wizard and the Glass, was surprised the Blaine thing was just the first 100 pages. Coming from the end of Book 3 I figured the train ride would be the entire 1000 pages of book 4 with flashbacks along the ride and Blaine was going to be a major character the whole book. Now I have no idea what the next 900 pages are gonna be about, hmmmmmm

[benjipwns]

look primary sources are great, but there's a point where your book becomes literally just what a couple of once roommates wrote to each other and to other people...also i don't understand any of the Gutzon Borglum stuff being in this book at all and no that last page attempt to combine them didn't work, Holmes was your framing device why you went after another and didn't even tell the whole story is beyond me

on tap:


i don't even actually know what this is about really but it was on the shelf next to the other one and the subtitle makes it sound like it could be some kind of thematic sequel, also it's only like a hundred pages long



bet this is terrible, has praise from rick perlstein on the back so i assumed it may not be all glory stories, but just read this horseshit:

Oppenheimer is a brilliant new voice in political history who has woven together the past century’s most important movements into a single book that reveals the roots of American politics.

At its core, Exit Right is a book that asks profound questions about why and how we come to believe politically at all—on the left or the right. Each of these six lives challenges us to ask where our own beliefs come from, and what it might take to change them. At a time of sky-high partisanship, Oppenheimer breaks down the boundaries that divide us and investigates the deeper origins of our politics. This is a book that will resonate with readers on the left and the right—as well as those stuck somewhere in the middle.

also the list of people is amazing, horowitz being on any kind of list with reagan and chambers is hilarious, at least podhoretz played some kind of role with commentary, and the inclusion of hitchens is totally what sold me, that's gotta be a heck of a chapter

i should read a book by this daniel oppenheimer instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_M._Oppenheimer

and then...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Cerveza mas fina]

Really interesting stuff, picked this up because I wanted more in-depth knowledge of the deeper trends and developments. Great history book too.

Starts late 19th century, am currently in the interbellum period. Not that many pages in.

[Bebpo]

I'm 50 pages out from finishing The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, done with the flashback and in the final epilogue stuff before the book ends. After I finish it I'll write up my thoughts tomorrow. One thing though is that it sure leaves A LOT of Roland's backstory between 14 year old Roland -> The Gunslinger unexplained.

So I saw that ~2012 or something he put out the 8th book in the series Wind through the Keyhole which he calls book 4.5 as it takes place between book 4 and book 5. Would it make sense to read it next and before book 5? Or is it written in a way that you've read the whole series and it would be spoilerish for books 5-7?

[Bebpo]

Finished the book, picked up books 5 & 8 at the bookstore. Googled about reading order and most people say book 8 wind through the keyhole after book 4 because it's super short and bridges the gap between the end of 4 and start of 5. Only negatives seem to be that it's more time spent not advancing the main plot progress towards the tower like most of book 4. Yeah, when I grabbed it at the bookstore I couldn't believe modern era Stephen King could write a book so short sine all his stuff is long as fuck now. It's like 350 pages. Will read that next and then start on Wolves of Caballa.

Will review book 4 later.

[chronovore]

I'm about 40% into Use of Weapons. It's lively and fun and dark and humorous, and I already know I'll have to read it again… but my brain keeps shying away from reading too much at once. I'd intended to treasure this Iain M. Banks read for ages, and that intent itself has stunted my progress and enjoyment. 

Also reading the third EXPANSE book, Abaddon's Gate, which I'm making better headway on. There's a neat bait and switch with a new character early on, where I was rooting for her and now I want her fucking dead-dead-dead.

Also started IT, which is going to take me a long time to read. Even as an audiobook, it's a damned brick. 45 hours long. I'm going to wait to go back to this until after Use of Weapons, because two novels, each with two counter-posed storylines is going to do my old brain in.

[Madrun Badrun]

Use of weapons is so good

[Bebpo]

Ok, back home, dishes in the washer and have a clear night schedule, so time to write out some thoughts on Wizard and Glass.

I liked it and feel it's the most consistent book in The Dark Tower series at this point. The other books tended to have a lot of high/low points mixed around. It's also pretty long-winded. At 1,000 pages with 850 or so being the single flashback story arc, at times it feels like a GRRM book, except without the GRRM's quality of prose. A good chunk of Wizard and Glass is also a love story and when I think of love stories I don't really think of Stephen King. The love story stuff to me felt kinda weak and I never cared about the romance of the two characters. I kinda felt all the romance chapters that didn't move the town's story along were fairly dull because of it. At first I wasn't too big on Susan because all her stuff was romance-y after the initial gross witch bit, but her end stuff where she was taking action was pretty good, so I don't dislike her character, just the romance plot.

I liked seeing The gunslinger kids, Roland, Cuthbert and Alain were great. Their feud vs the Big Coffin Hunter bad guys of Jonas/Depape/Reynolds was exciting. The town conspiracy was fleshed out and the weird ass supernatural thinny was cool. The Wizard Orb stuff was alright, but a little tired of all these magic cheating devices that fuck everyone over constantly in The Dark Tower because ka.

It's also a little weird how it stops the progression of the journey to the dark tower to tell a flashback story that isn't some of the more world lore/plot important flashbacks, but rather a Roland development story for an entire book with a few additions to the world lore. It did a good job developing his character, for sure. But leaves a lot unanswered.

I kinda get the feeling that this series is going to end with a lot of stuff unanswered and that King is more interested in throwing in weird mysterious shit without ever explaining it within the world logic and making it work. Dunno.

I never felt like Wizard and Glass reached the highs of Eddie's door in Book 2 or the city of Lud & Blaine the Mono of Book 3. Wizard and Glass was like a better version of The Gunslinger. Also most of Wizard of the Glass is build up, like everything from the middle to the climax is just a 400+ page slow build up to shit going down and when it finally does go down, it's over in a flash. Like the whole thing with Jonas & Roland goes on and on and on and then

spoiler (click to show/hide)

When Roland finally rides on Jonas' group of 30+, it's like a 4 page quick scene of the gunslingers easily killing them all and then Roland runs up and shoots Jonas with no effort.

I get King does that to show what a difference it was between the two and how Jonas was never a real threat for a real gunslinger like Roland, but it was just a quick pop payoff for like an entire huge ass book of build up. The run on the Farson men dragging them out to the Canyon to be eaten by the Thinny was more longer and more satisfying.

[close]

That said, it was a good book and I enjoyed it! These are fun reads are are distracting me from reading anything else for at least half a year as I go through them

Anyhow, I was googling around to see if I should read book 8 next or 5, and it's interesting seeing how divisive opinions are on the series. I'd see people say Books 1-3 and 7 are awesome, 5 sucks and 4,6,8 are just ok. People saying Book 4 was the best, 1-3 good, and 5-8 sucks. I'd see people say book 5 is awesome. Feels like this might be because the series is a bunch of different things, a western, a post-apocalyptic story, a fantasy tale, a horror tale all in one and people want different things out of it. Looking forward to reading the back half of the franchise now and seeing where I stand on the rest.

I think the world itself of The Dark Tower is really interesting and unique. It'd be nice if King kept writing books that were flashbacks fleshing out different time periods in the history of Mid-world. The world lore/history and roland are the most interesting parts of the franchise to me.

[chronovore]

Use of weapons is so good

Have you read Banks' other Culture books?

[Madrun Badrun]

about 80% of them.  Weapons is my favorite. 

[chronovore]

about 80% of them.  Weapons is my favorite.

I started with Look to Windward, and then Player of Games. Loved both of them, and after Banks passed on, I decided to meter my reading so I didn't binge them unappreciatively. Now I'm wondering. All my heroes are dying anyway.

[Bebpo]

Fellow forum guy recommended Player of Games to me some years ago as my first Ian Banks novel. Was good fun. Should I read Use of Weapons as my next Banks book?

[chronovore]

Fellow forum guy recommended Player of Games to me some years ago as my first Ian Banks novel. Was good fun. Should I read Use of Weapons as my next Banks book?

It's pretty damned good. Most Culture fans claim it's the best.

[Bebpo]

I really should just sleep as it's 3am and last night I was reading to 3am, just finished Wind through the Keyhole - Dark Tower book 4.5/8.

It was great. Like every other Dark Tower book I've finished with a mixed feeling of liked these parts and these other parts not so much, but not here. Wind through the Keyhole is just a great story I liked from start to finish. Three nested short stories and all were well written and fun. It was nice seeing familiar faces in them.
 The book even expanded on the world lore and hyped the last three books in a teasing section. The ending pages were also a nice completion to Wizard and Glass as well. I really enjoyed every aspect of this book and hope King writes more of these DT tales before he retires/passes.

Is it my favorite book in the series at this point? Maybe. It's a bit short to fulfill that satisfaction of the latter half of Book 3, but maybe it is. If you bailed on the series after book 7 because the ending sucked, I'd recommend giving book 8 a read. It's a nice little book and shows that King still has it to write good Dark Tower stories.

[Bebpo]

Hmmm, gonna read Salem's Lot next. Never read it or seen the adaptations and apparently it plays into Book 5 Wolves of the Calla a bit like Flagg/MiB stuff. Was going to watch the 1979 miniseries but hearing that it really doesn't hold up so might as well read the book so I can enjoy it.

[benjipwns]

Wow, useless drivel garbage. I'm not sure this book actually is about anything. I have no idea what some of the academic reviews for it are reading instead.

Basically the point is that liberalism, which he never defines, done fucked up when it bashed religion and the solution is that liberalism needs to fuse with the neo-Calvinism of the Kuyper School to restore Christian values as the core of liberalism.

The book doesn't frame it this way, but ultimately aside from Reagan (which the book fails to note was never really on "the left" as much as he was an apolitical Democrat at a time when everyone was, his turn to the "right" came when he actually bothered to start investigating his political views) and Hitchens (which the book acknowledges never actually left "the left" as it bemoans his attacks on religion, supporting Iraq not really counting) the main takeaway is that the four dudes, especially Podhoretz didn't get the critical acclaim and fame they desired from "the left" but did from "the right" as they attacked "the left" so that's why they shifted. Because it never actually tackles any of their political views, except Hitchens to essentially argue him out of the book. Instead it's all about their professional and personal lives. Twenty pages on Burnham's relationship with Trotsky. One paragraph on how he declared himself no longer a Marxist. AND END CHAPTER.

The only chapter that gets even close to providing some other reason is David Horowitz's and it basically suggests it's a petty revenge against people he always hated. Also that he gets off on getting "leftists" upset.

finally after that punishment...can get to something fun:


They tested Greg Proops and Mike Rowe before Jon Stewart after Craig Kilborn bolted. Along with Colbert. Then when they had a press conference to announce Stewart, Colbert showed up as a Daily Show reporter asking why he didn't get the job.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Regarding Exit Right and The Twilight, I intentionally avoid contemporary books on politics because they seem utterly useless and intended just to provide asspats for their reader base, rather than provide any actual insight whatsoever.

Edit: Rick Perlstein's Nixonland is the only exception I can think of.  Even his book on Reagan fits with the issues I have above.

[benjipwns]

I thought Exit Right might be different since he's blurbed on it:

“The wisdom, discernment, and erudition on display in this book are exceptional. After reading it, you may never think about why we believe what we believe in the same way again. Daniel Oppenheimer is a political essayist for the ages.”
—Rick Perlstein, author of The Invisible Bridge

I'm going to assume he didn't actually read it.

[jakefromstatefarm]

benji, you read this? https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rationalism-pluralism-and-freedom-9780198717140?cc=us&lang=en&

I've read good things about it

[benjipwns]

hmm no, on the backlog it goes i guess, i see he's been on some podcasts and such pimping it though, i may investigate one or more of those for a brief

but this most stuck out to me:

Intermediate groups-- voluntary associations, churches, ethnocultural groups, universities, and more--can both protect threaten individual liberty.

this is what i have started now:


he wrote this back in the 1980s, which is probably something I should look into the ease of digging up:

Between 1870 and 1920, two generations of European and American intellectuals created a transatlantic community of philosophical and political discourse. Uncertain Victory, the first comparative study of ideas and politics in France, Germany, the U.S., and Great Britain during these fifty years, demonstrates how a number of thinkers from different traditions converged to create the theoretical foundations for new programs of social democracy and progressivism. Kloppenberg studies a wide range of pivotal theorists and activists--including philosophers such as William James, Wilhelm Dilthey, and T. H. Green, democratic socialists such as Jean Jaurès, Walter Rauschenbusch, Eduard Bernstein, and Beatrice and Sidney Webb, and social theorists such as John Dewey and Max Weber--as he establishes the connection between the philosophers' challenges to the traditions of empiricism and idealism and the activists' opposition to the traditions of laissez-faire liberalism and revolutionary socialism. By demonstrating a link between a philosophy of self-conscious uncertainty and a politics of continuing democratic experimentation, and by highlighting previously unrecognized similarities among a number of prominent 19th- and 20th-century thinkers, Uncertain Victory is sure to spur a reassessment of the relationship between ideas and politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Which is somewhat of a sequel to the book he ended up writing thirty years later (Toward Democracy), he started a sequel to that on the post-war era but found he needed to go back regarding some stuff before deciding that he should eventually take a bigggggg leap back instead. So he effectively wound up spending twenty years writing it. In the mean time bundling together a bunch of articles with connecting parts to fit this in so he didn't have a thirty year gap in his publishing:

This spirited analysis--and defense--of American liberalism demonstrates the complex and rich traditions of political, economic, and social discourse that have informed American democratic culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The Virtues of Liberalism provides a convincing response to critics both right and left. Against conservatives outside the academy who oppose liberalism because they equate it with license, James T. Kloppenberg uncovers ample evidence of American republicans' and liberal democrats' commitments to ethical and religious ideals and their awareness of the difficult choices involved in promoting virtue in a culturally diverse nation. Against radical academic critics who reject liberalism because they equate it with Enlightenment reason and individual property holding, Kloppenberg shows the historical roots of American liberals' dual commitments to diversity, manifested in institutions designed to facilitate deliberative democracy, and to government regulations of property and market exchange in accordance with the public good. In contrast to prevailing tendencies to simplify and distort American liberalism, Kloppenberg shows how the multifaceted virtues of liberalism have inspired theorists and reformers from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison through Jane Addams and John Dewey to Martin Luther King, Jr., and then explains how these virtues persist in the work of some liberal democrats today. Endorsing the efforts of such neo-progressive and communitarian theorists and journalists as Michael Walzer, Jane Mansbridge, Michael Sandel, and E. J. Dionne, Kloppenberg also offers a more acute analysis of the historical development of American liberalism and of the complex reasons why it has been transformed and made more vulnerable in recent decades. An intelligent, coherent, and persuasive canvas that stretches from the Enlightenment to the American Revolution, from Tocqueville's observations to the New Deal's social programs, and from the right to worship freely to the idea of ethical responsibility, this book is a valuable contribution to historical scholarship and to contemporary political and cultural debates.

There's some lines here (in the first two of the books) that I've wanted to work with but I don't get the impression that he's tracing "true" radicalism when he talks about radicals in democracy or liberalism. Also the phrase "endorsing the efforts of ... E. J. Dionne" in the blurb for that last one is unnerving.

Though the fact that Dionne's listed in this category on Wikipedia and that it exists as a category is maybe the most unnerving thing of all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Radical_centrist_writers

Then again, I love that last name under the M's. Appropriate to be on the same list as Thomas Friedman I guess.

[benjipwns]

i also have this tome sitting around that i got out of reviewing after i thumbed through it and skimmed a bit:


i also have Jack Remington's favorite new release around that's pretty short, only take a couple hours or so, starts off with Z's number retirement:


also have this which is probably another few hours and could be interesting or just useless schlock:

[desert punk]

Finished The Master and Margarita from Mikhail Bulgakov last week.

I don’t really have much experience with Russian literature. I read Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler years ago and 2015 I finished Twelve Chairs from Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov. Even though the latter was a satire I still found both of them kinda dark and depressing which apparently is par for the course for Russian literature in general back then.

But Master and Margarita was hilarious and strangely uplifting. The book as a whole was immensely readable the Pilate parts read like a suspenseful historical novel at times. But I absolutely adored the contemporary Moscow parts: The overall hilarity and weirdness especially when it came to the whole slew of characters; I loved everyone, from Voland and his henchmen to the most minor bystander. Didn’t think I had to laugh so much, but there it was. I loved the satire although I’m pretty sure many if not most things went completely over my head.

I’m gonna read it again someday soon but I’m also going to make myself more familiar with rest of Bulgakov’s work.

[desert punk]

This Sunday I finished The Dark Defiles, the last book in the A Land Fit for Heroes trilogy by Richard K. Morgan.

Morgan is the guy who wrote the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, the first novel of which - Altered Carbon - was greenlit by Netflix last year and is currently in production (I think). The Kovacs novels were mostly cyberpunk with a sprinkle of other sf-subgenres mixed in but this trilogy is based in a fantasy setting, although it’s pretty grimdark and very reminiscent of Morgan's cynicals style and bleak outlook used in the Kovacs novels.

Morgan tries to deconstruct various High Fantasy tropes, most apparent when it comes to the protagonists, like the Noble Hero who is actually gay here and therefore being heavily discriminated, making him an outsider and a cynical asshole to boot (he also becomes a dark wizard later on lol). Or the wild steppe barbarian who is fed up and bored by tribal society and wants to return to the civilized Empire he served for as a mercenary back in his youth. Typical fantasy races like elves are also getting their special treatment here.

Anyway, suffice to say that while I thought the trilogy was a decent read with great characters and good writing in general (I really dig Morgan’s cynical and brutal style) the plotting was meandering and a bit weak tbh. After completing two thirds of the last novel and still no real resolutions in sight, I was getting worried that the ending would be some half assed garbage. But despite all misgivings, Morgan did manage to resolve most things by the end - even if not in a completely satisfactory manner.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

What intrigued me most about these novels though were the hints that the trilogy is actually a continuation of his Kovacs novels and that the fantasy setting is actually based on a far far future post-apocalyptic Earth after some fucked-up war (perhaps instigated by Takeshi Kovacs) waged with equally fucked-up weapons (and with aliens in the mix), that nuked humanity back into the stone age but also mutating and corrupting them to a point that they split into different and weird new races. Kovacs and (perhaps) some other characters from the previous trilogy are still alive somehow and apparently amuse themselves with playing god to some of the human societies and are trying to manipulate the main characters for some nebulous gains. These hints are rather oblique tho and while they get stronger by the end, Morgan never really makes it outright clear. I’m not one who needs everything spelled out and it’s fun to speculate, but I still kinda hope that at least some of these supposed connections are being made a bit more explicit in a follow-up novel or short story.

[close]

TL;DR: It’s a decent fantasy trilogy with great characters and an interesting setting, coupled with the author's grim and biting signature style, but with a rather meandering and dodgy plot.

3 out of 5 gay wizards I guess

[chronovore]

I loved the Takeshi Kovacs books and Thirteen. I'll give those fantasy books a gander!

[desert punk]

I don't know if I could recommend these books to someone that hasn't finished the Kovacs trilogy (mostly for the reasons stated in the spoiler) but in your case I think you're going to like them.

It's been three years since Morgan's last book was released so I wonder when he's putting out new stuff. Rumors are that it's going to be sf again so maybe a sequel to Thirteen? But maybe he's too busy with the Netflix adaption of Altered Carbon to do anything else at the moment. Still have to read Market Forces, otherwise I think I got through everything Morgan published.

[CatsCatsCats]

Currently readin the Southern Reach series, really enjoyed book 1 Annihilation

[desert punk]

Currently readin the Southern Reach series, really enjoyed book 1 Annihilation

Thanks for reminding me again about that series. Was always intrigued by the premise but ultimately unsure if it really was my cup of tea. But I see book 1 is only about 200 pages long so I'll put it on my "to read"-list.

[TVC15]

I’ll give you a hint. This is on page 23.

[desert punk]

I ain't too bright so you got to explain what you're getting at with that Discordia reference

[Bebpo]

I finished 'salem's Lot!

Was a fun book. I wish it didn't end so quickly because I want more! (which I guess I'll get in Dark Tower book 5 The Wolves of the Calla[han?]). Ordered Night Shift which I may or may not have read as a little kid (I read most of the short story collections like Skeleton Crew, but maybe not Night Shift) because 2 of the short stories in Night Shift are related to 'salem's Lot.

Anyhow, felt sorta like a dark version of ghostbusters, except

spoiler (click to show/hide)

with vampires

[close]

like you had a team of cool peoples working together to stop the evil that is taking over the town. Liked most of the main cast, and there were some good scenes. Bad guy could've used more scenes, the part near the end

spoiler (click to show/hide)

where they go to his coffin in the Marsten House and he leaves this long eloquent letter about his opponents through time and how he was going to murder them all in fun chess like gaming

[close]

was delicious. I liked the main kid Mark.

Afterwards I watched the trailers and random clips from the 1979 and 2004 Rob Lowe adaptations. Was cool seeing some of the scenes brought to life, but I'm not really big on the 1979 version

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Making Barlow some dorky looking Nosferatu guy. In the book he's frightening, especially in the battle scene with Priest Callahan in Mark's home. Even the 2004 version seemed too tame. Like he should be a lot more awe-inspiring ageless and powerful.

[close]

I also liked how they used religion in the book, how it

spoiler (click to show/hide)

was just a source of power like if you believed then your cross would light up or your hammer would get HOLY mod, but once your belief waivers, the cross is just a couple sticks.

[close]

After I read Night Shift, will start up The Wolves of the Calla!

[chronovore]

I finished 'salem's Lot!

Was a fun book. I wish it didn't end so quickly because I want more! (which I guess I'll get in Dark Tower book 5 The Wolves of the Calla[han?]). Ordered Night Shift which I may or may not have read as a little kid (I read most of the short story collections like Skeleton Crew, but maybe not Night Shift) because 2 of the short stories in Night Shift are related to 'salem's Lot.

Anyhow, felt sorta like a dark version of ghostbusters, except

spoiler (click to show/hide)

with vampires

[close]

like you had a team of cool peoples working together to stop the evil that is taking over the town. Liked most of the main cast, and there were some good scenes. Bad guy could've used more scenes, the part near the end

spoiler (click to show/hide)

where they go to his coffin in the Marsten House and he leaves this long eloquent letter about his opponents through time and how he was going to murder them all in fun chess like gaming

[close]

was delicious. I liked the main kid Mark.

Afterwards I watched the trailers and random clips from the 1979 and 2004 Rob Lowe adaptations. Was cool seeing some of the scenes brought to life, but I'm not really big on the 1979 version

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Making Barlow some dorky looking Nosferatu guy. In the book he's frightening, especially in the battle scene with Priest Callahan in Mark's home. Even the 2004 version seemed too tame. Like he should be a lot more awe-inspiring ageless and powerful.

[close]

I also liked how they used religion in the book, how it

spoiler (click to show/hide)

was just a source of power like if you believed then your cross would light up or your hammer would get HOLY mod, but once your belief waivers, the cross is just a couple sticks.

[close]

After I read Night Shift, will start up The Wolves of the Calla!

It's been 20 years since I read it, but I remember liking it very much.

[chronovore]

Just finished The Expanse 3: Abaddon's Gate. I was pretty unsure if the Rocinante's crew was going to make it out of this one intact. In the first book, they unceremoniously off one of their crew, and also transformed another beyond humanity, and it made remaining characters feel very tenuously attached to life, like they could be cut from the story with a casualness approaching GRRM authored works. However, while a number of very good characters were killed off during this book, I'm beginning to feel the Rocinante crew is now off-limits.  This was a good story with realistic reactions to shitty situations, some good people died, not enough of the bad people got what was coming to them… in short, a very emotional ride.

[desert punk]

Yeah, the Expanse books, at least the first three that I've read, are a fun romp for sure but there was always something hampering my enjoyment.

For the most part it's the characters that bother me a bit: Holden is a giant self-absorbed and ignorant prick, especially in the first book (he gets better in the later books but it’s still grating). Naomi and Amos are interesting, but their potential gets wasted with them mostly just fawning over Holden. Alex is just a guy with a funny accent but not much more. And Miller gets so whiny and pathetically dependent on Holden and the crew later on, it’s cringy to read.

I’m amused at how better the tv show gets in the portrayal of these people: Holden is actually charming and likeable now (while still self-absorbed and naïve at times). The other crew members of the Rocinante are characters with actual motivations of their own now (Alex included). They are quite hostile to Holden in the beginning after what happened to their first ship and he has to win their trust the hard way. Naomi for example gives him the cold shoulder for much of the first season while in the first book she almost immediately lets him get into her pants. Amos quickly became the shows breakout character for his intensity and the casual menace the actor manages to portray, while in the book he was just the jovial big guy with the occasional temper. TV-Miller doesn’t stray too far from the book version but instead of simply being pathetic he gets determined and dangerously effective in his desperation.

I was disappointed in how the subsequent books lose that “Alien”-esque feeling of the first book. But they do a better job in better fleshing out the world and all the factions, something Leviathan Wakes was lacking. The tv show, again, does a better job in that regard, with bringing in characters from later books and use them early in season 1 so they can give a much needed view point of what the big factions are doing elsewhere.

So yeah, at least in my opinion this is one of the rare cases in which the adaption is actually better than the original. I still have book 4 lying around but this one apparently has the same moustache-twirling villains that plagued the prior novels and the same heavy-handed approach to discrimination and racism. So maybe I’m just gonna wait and see how far the show gets before reading on. I still got to watch season 2

[desert punk]

I finished High Fidelity from Nick Hornby earlier this week. Going from the premise and the blurb I expected some middling rom-com but it was actually a surprisingly ambiguous and sober outlook on life and relationships in your 30s. The protagonist seems like your quintessential loafer but he’s quite introspective about his failings, though too lazy and too proud in the end to actually make a change.

I like how most other novels with a similar premise would have stopped at the point when the protagonist gets back together with the ex who dumped his ass in the beginning. In this book the story continues for quite a few more chapters in which the old new gf is mercilessly berating the protagonist for his failings and he almost immediately regrets getting back together with her (he’s also having an embarrassing crush on a college student in the meantime). But in the end they both sort of realize that what they have there together is perhaps the best they can achieve. So while the end is not exactly your run-of-the-mill happy end, it’s cautiously optimistic and upbeat.

But what got to me the most was how the protagonist (one of those smug and elitist music enthusiasts and pop culture fetishists) quietly realizes in one of his more introspective moods that song lyrics and Hollywood movies, and the ideals they propagate, have warped his ability to have a stable relationship. To a point where he constantly feels the need to recapture that early high of passion instead of just settling into a mature but sometimes boring and unexciting relationship. The book was written in the early 90s but what Hornby describes is still more than relevant today in an era when everything is being amplified to the umpteenth degree by social media and every little fluff is being hyped into a "once-in-a-lifetime experience". Too afraid to be missing out, you are constantly forced to chase after the next high, to experience the maximum of emotions and sensations. Anything "fun" or "real" that can be shared on Facebook or Tinder so you can prove to virtual strangers that you’re not a boring tool but someone "interesting".

[chronovore]

Finally got around to Stephen King's IT — 40+ hours of audio. It's pretty damned compelling. I'm having a little trouble keeping track of all the characters, but I'm reluctant to look up a list-of-characters due to the internet's tendency toward casually spoiling plot points.

[Joe Molotov]

Penelope Helsdottir was never cut out to be a monster huntress. She is too clumsy and timid. Not like her tough, older sister Kara and their legendary mother Hilda Helsdottir. Penny stays far away from battle and spends her time researching monsters in forbidden texts to help her mother and sister. But when Kara and Hilda go missing on a lost island of ancient evil, it is up to Penny to leave behind her soft life and journey to the island to find out what has happened to her family.

Become Penelope and learn the ways of hunting monsters as you choose your own adventure. Face off against twisted, Lovecraftian horrors in this darkly erotic fantasy adventure on an island overrun with monsters and cursed with blasphemous fertility. YOU will make the decisions for Penny and it could mean the difference between life, death, or something far, far worse. Unravel the truth of the cult of the Great One and destroy the horrors that threaten to consume mankind. Or embrace your inner evil and join with the eldritch darkness that haunts this strange island.

Includes 25 different interactive monster encounters like ogres, twisted goblinoids, scyllas, mimics, swamp amphibians, goat-horned demigods, and many more! Branching paths of virtue and corruption and multiple traveling companions will give you a reason to read the book more than once. With 83 different endings, most of them bad, this 460,000+ word epic will leave you terrified but unable to stop reading, even when you surrender to eldritch lust!

[desert punk]

Does it have pictures? 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

...of tentacle porn? 

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

I'm not sure, but I feel like that would have been listed a major selling point if there were.

[desert punk]

 

Thought you've already read it.

[HardcoreRetro]

Going through War of the Worlds at the moment. Started collecting the SF Masterworks books.
Also reading James Clavell's Shogun.

[Joe Molotov]

Thought you've already read it.

Sorry, I prefer my Lovecraftian erotica to have a little more literary heft than a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel. 

[desert punk]

Shogun is a great read, though it does have it's lengths. Clavell spends a lot of time in details and builds up a huge cast of characters. It's a rich and complex world he creates this way but, even though it's a huge book, it comes at the cost of a sluggish pacing and a rushed ending.

I read Shogun's predecessor Tai-Pan first. This one has a much better pacing and is more thrilling as a result. But otherwise Shogun's the better book. Tai-Pan's protagonist is such a fucking Gary Stu, outsmarting everyone else and with every female character lusting after his dick. Otherwise the women in this book might as well not exist. The protagonist but also the other characters are much better handled in Shogun, the women too surprisingly. Clavell also toned down the racism quite a bit. From the shifty, cackling Cantonese to the proud and honorable Japanese. It ain't perfect and still very clichéd but you can see how the author respects the Japanese. Weird considering that Clavell spent time in a Japanese prisoner camp during the Pacific War.

I tried reading Noble House next, but all the negative shit from Tai-Pan, the Gary Stu, the sexism, the racism, came back in force but with the same sluggish pace from Shogun. Never finished it and I doubt I'm gonna read the rest of Clavell's books.

Sorry, I prefer my Lovecraftian erotica to have a little more literary heft than a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel. 

Lol didn't know that genre even existed. Thought this was some kind of RPG game book or something.

[HardcoreRetro]

I finished reading De berg van licht by Louis Couperus a few days ago and Shogun reads like a pulp novel compared to that one.

De berg van licht (The mountain of light.) is a historical novel about Elegabalus, one of rome's emperors. From a historical standpoint it's a fantastic read as it's pretty much a retelling of the real events, but the ammount of flowery prose is such a slog to get through at times.

[desert punk]

Yeah, Clavell's books are pulpy adventure novels and hardly sophisticated. But nonetheless, Shogun at least is a fun read.

That book about Elagabal sounds interesting. I just looked and it seems there's a translation and the kindle version is for free.

[kingv]

Right now I’m reading the Punch Escrow. Basically a 100 years in the future story about teleportation, where it doesn’t work exactly as sold by the company.

Weirdly, the book I read last was called “the fold” it was also about teleportation gone wrong.

I recommend both.

[HardcoreRetro]

Grabbed The Invention of Science out of one of those shared book bins. It got a nude dude in a bathtub shouting: "Eureka!" on the first page, there's also a crown on the floor, so I'm expecting a Game of Thrones styled romp with this one. Should be fun.

[benjipwns]

couldn't believe i hadn't read this



also i'm hoping it'll give me a leg up or at least some pro-tips for the Novid ARG

[shosta]

I bought a copy after Chichikov recommended it to me. It's good.

[benjipwns]

I enjoyed how the CIA came into existence basically the same way Kramer started working at that company, just kept showing up because nobody really put a stop to it. Only they had a much better card to play when called in with the whole "you can't get rid of us! WE NEED MORE FUNDING TO PROTECT NATIONAL SECURITY!"

[HardcoreRetro]

Reading De lage landen bij de zee by Jan and Annie Romein.

It's the history of the low lands (The Netherlands) from the stone age up till the 1930s.

[TVC15]

couldn't believe i hadn't read this

(Image removed from quote.)

also i'm hoping it'll give me a leg up or at least some pro-tips for the Novid ARG

This is the good shit.

Been rereading The Ticket That Exploded because it’s my favorite book ever. Trying to pay more attention to the appendices and notes by the duder that restored the text.

[TVC15]

This is also a good one, if you haven’t already read it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge:_The_Secret_War_between_the_FBI_and_CIA

[desert punk]

I've been reading a rather extensive history of the Roman Republic since summer (History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen) and I just finished the chapters dealing with the Second Punic War, so I decided to look up some historical novel about that period.

What I found was an alternative history novel called Hannibal's Children, the first of two books, speculating about what would have happened if Carthage had won the war. In this book Hannibal actually received the reinforcements promised to him by Macedonia after the Battle of Cannae and so managed to push the Romans back to their capital and besieging it. But instead of wiping them out completely, he offered them the choice to go into exile across the Alps to never return to Italy. Agreeing to that, though privately swearing revenge, the Romans mass-migrate to what is today Austria. They build a new Rome and a new Empire there, and after a hundred years they decide to come back to reclaim Italy.

I'm about one-third into the novel and while the premise is a bit wonky and the book overall rather pulpy, it's good fun and I'm enjoying it. I like alt-history stories, at least as long as it's not always about the same corny stuff. You know like, what would have happened if Hitler's dog survived or shit like that 

[chronovore]

I'm 95% through Stephen King's IT. My first read-through; feels like when I watch Stranger Things, there will be a great deal of crossover. I wanted to read the book prior to seeing the recent movie, and now I think I know what to expect about how the movie is "half" of the book — I'm guessing the movie is the part with the kids, and maybe doesn't deal with the tale of them as adults? The novel holds up very well, is plenty suspenseful and engaging and heartbreaking. I can see why it was such a landmark horror novel.

[jakefromstatefarm]

(History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen)

one of the founding classics of modern historiography; how are you liking it?