What book(s) are you reading?

[Phoenix Dark]

The Lyonesse trilogy is amazing

[Cormacaroni]

While I've got the ranting hat on, most people's definition of 'fantasy' is far too narrow, and only encompasses what Barnes & Noble deems as such. To my eyes, 'Animal Farm' is fantasy, as is 'As You Like It' and the entire magical realism genre. The same goes for SF, really. 'Oryx and Crake' by Margaret Atwood is as SF as SF can be, but it gets claimed by the litfic crowd. The canons of the various 'genres' of SF, fantasy and horror would be a fuck of a lot richer if their crown jewels didn't get claimed as simply 'literature' and the pap deemed the standard.

[Phoenix Dark]

preach

Enough shitty "literature" is released every year in droves yet only fantasy is judged and looked down upon by a double standard

[chronovore]

(Image removed from quote.)

Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.

It's ok I guess but Harry Potter is tons better. I'm sure the film will be better

The lore in Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, is refreshing for a fantasy novel. The amount of details in the novel rivals Tolkien, except without the fluff.

I realize that Jonathon Strange is not for everyone. It constantly goes into random, lengthy footnotes which for all intents and purposes add to the lore of the book. But unlike say, Lord of the Rings, which constantly drops its random loot, Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell builds upon lore after lore, making the world rich with details. The fact it exists in our own world makes it even more approachable and enticing.

Still, I think the book has a lot of personality and I enjoy the writing. It's an interesting novel in that it takes place in a specific period but the story is not in any defined by the period. Very Harry Potter-esque and certainly different from other fantasy. I find it refreshing that it's not wave your wand and have fire shooting out the tip fantasy, but fantasy with a far more grand scale, almost godly, if I were to use a random descriptor.

Factor all of this in with comedy addled social commentary which reeks of Jane Austen and you have a book that I adore.

I was hoping for a different response to that troll 

If it's any solace, I was about to launch into a ;tldr tirade, but then you fessed up to the troll.

[chronovore]

reading The Wasp Factory.  WUT

JUST WAIT!

Yeah, that book starts weird and then goes crazy.

[Cormacaroni]

What gets dumped in the 'fantasy' section in bookstores is really more like 'Tolkien fanfic' sadly. Most of it is turgid, predictable pap for sure, but there is a world of great stuff that could and should be placed alongside it. Half of what is now being called 'Young Adult' fiction, for a start. Jonathan Stroud's 'Bartimaeus' books for example - for my money they kick the arse of Harry Potter and should be sold to adults, children, fantasy fans, literature fans, adventure fans, whatever. But they are marketed to 13 yr olds 'cause that's where the market is perceived to be these days.

[Van Cruncheon]

happy new year, oscar!

[MrAngryFace]

Yeaaaahhhh pissinn

[Mandark]

I totally count Cold Comfort Farm as sci-fi, because of Stella Gibbons throwing in some off-target futurism (video payphones! personal airplanes!) that are completely superfluous to the plot anyway.  More books should have stuff like that.

[recursivelyenumerable]

I don't have any problem with Tolkien's prose style or pacing, or Asimov's for example (not that he's anything like Tolkien, but he's a golden age SF author whose writing often gets slagged as "wooden"). Can't stand the overwrought GRR Martin crap though, just feels forced and inauthentic to me.

[Mandark]

I've actually never made it through the LOTR books.  It's not the quality of the prose in general, but the tendency to give long, detailed descriptions of the physical setting.  For whatever reason, my brain just can not deal with it.  I'll hit a certain part of the book (*cough* Tom Bombadil) and realize that I've been scanning the words for a couple pages without actually processing any of it.  Love The Hobbit, though.

Asimov's on the other end of the spectrum.  Everything of his I've read may as well take place in a cardboard box.  It's all dialogue, ideas, plot and logic puzzles.  Super easy reading.  Which probably has something to do with my Austen fetish fandom.

[recursivelyenumerable]

tbh I couldn't get through The Two Towers either. I eventually just skipped it and started Return of the King. However that was really less about the prose and more about the content.

[Sho Nuff]

Omigod I just discovered the Amazon Prime "Book Borrowing" system :O

First the Seattle Public Library starts offering Kindle books, now this...I may never have to pay for text again

(I feel bad for saying this as my dad kept the family fed by writing books back in the 80s-90s)

[recursivelyenumerable]

Yeah, I remember the text bubble of the 80s/90s was kinda crazy. At one point speculators had put a seven figure valuation on a single semicolon.

[recursivelyenumerable]

Yeah, I remember the text bubble of the 80s/90s got kinda crazy though. At one point speculators had put a seven figure valuation on a single semicolon.

[Eric P]

I've actually never made it through the LOTR books.  It's not the quality of the prose in general, but the tendency to give long, detailed descriptions of the physical setting.  For whatever reason, my brain just can not deal with it.  I'll hit a certain part of the book (*cough* Tom Bombadil) and realize that I've been scanning the words for a couple pages without actually processing any of it.  Love The Hobbit, though.

Same issue for me.

[MrAngryFace]

agreed, my attention span is too short- has a head exploded in the last few minutes? has the god-emperor been glorified? grimdark? no? pass.

[Phoenix Dark]

I loved LOTR and had no problem with the pacing, although the two things I didn't like were some of the longer songs and the Bambadil scenes

Personally I love the detailed descriptions of things in fantasy novels, especially details involving army strength and the almost census-quality discussion of regional strength. I created an excel based on various info on the North's potential manpower in the ASOIAF series. It was accidentally deleted from my HD shortly before ADWD was released, which sucked because the book pretty much validated my numbers  :'(

[MrAngryFace]

FURRY HOBBIT FEET REACHING FOR THE POT OF HONEYS AND BREADS WHERE IS THE BUTTER OH THERE IT IS ON THE THIRD SHELF

[Phoenix Dark]

I covered an onion in butter and cooked it in the oven just because all my favorite characters in fantasies eat that and it sounds so awesome. Didn't turn out awesome at all

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Just finished Snow Crash and quite liked it. If I were to read another Stephenson book, which should it be?

[Himu]

Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.

Starting Miyuki Miyabe's All She Was Worth tonight.

Also, the mid-section of The Two Towers was absolutely agony. How I got through that when I was 15 I will never know. The Hobbit owns, however, but it's a totally different kind of literature. Thankfully, The Hobbit can be read in a day, and its pages are filled with wonderful charm and adventure, something Lord of the Rings' books failed to deliver by emphasizing menial details that really don't add to the world much beyond minutiae.

That said, I'll give the books a point for particular sections. The Two Towers ending was fantastic, and a fine example of a cliff hanger. It ends with Frodo taken by Shelob, with Sam actively going to take up Frodo's mantle as ring bearer with the idea that Frodo was dead. Putting that section into Return of the King's film was a huge mistake, I think.

[Phoenix Dark]

[fistfulofmetal]

Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.

I enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy. It was definitely geared towards young adults and has  A LOT of innocent teenage sexual tension though.

[Himu]

I haven't read the LotR trilogy since I was a teenager. I may have more patience to get through it now. I've read that depending on your age, you may be able to appreciate LotR books a bit more, though that could be damage control for all I know.

Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.

I enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy. It was definitely geared towards young adults and has  A LOT of innocent teenage sexual tension though.

Thanks for the warning.

[Mandark]

Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Clarke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Collins

[Himu]

Huh. I have my kindle set up so that it orders by author, and I keep reading "Susanna Clarke" when I see "Suzanne Collins". Welp. Now I'm mad because I was hoping for more Susanna Clarke.

[Phoenix Dark]

No biggie, author names are just minutiae detail

[Himu]

You're just mad because Tom Bombadil is a shit character.

[fistfulofmetal]

My 13 year old niece was reading The Hunger Games over the holiday break.  Enjoy

im pretty sure it didn't start getting the Twilight treatment until after the first book came out. So at least reading that isn't a problem.

[Himu]

The only reason I got The Hunger Games was because on the kindle store it's cheap as fuck; I'm talking like 2-3 bucks. Also, my friend recommended it. But this friend also likes True Blood. Oh god.

[fistfulofmetal]

its not high class literature but it's entertaining.

[Himu]

Well, I'm looking forward to reading most anything at the moment and hey, at least it was cheap!

[Mandark]

"It was pretty good, until the second book when the author describes the main female character as weighing 125 lbs.  wtf?

[Phoenix Dark]

 

[Himu]

It's about teenage girls.  I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.

I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!

[fistfulofmetal]

it's actually about a teenage girl. singular.

[Sho Nuff]

I am currently reading THE HUNGER GAMES as this months Amazon Prime freebie. This is classified as young adult fiction, right? Because the vocab feels like a 5th grade reading level.

[recursivelyenumerable]

I actually read that Miyuki Miyabe book years ago, but found it completely forgettable. As in, I've literally forgotten everything about it other than the author's name, the fact that I read it, it was some kind of mystery, and it was kinda boring.

I told you before, you should try China Mieville, you might like Perdido Street Station.

[Cheebo]

I am currently reading THE HUNGER GAMES as this months Amazon Prime freebie. This is classified as young adult fiction, right? Because the vocab feels like a 5th grade reading level.

Yeah its young adult, surprisingly enjoyable though. I dismissed it as a sort of Twilight but all 3 books were pretty decent.

[Eric P]

I am reading You Are Not So Smart which is a terrifying book.

Your brain is your fucking enemy.  You should not trust it.  At all.

It's a compilation and expansion of a website which discusses all the things your brain does to safely get you through the day.  Unfortunately most of what those things are make you sound like a ego-maniacal sociopath.

http://youarenotsosmart.com/

edit; i read the first book of the hunger games trilogy because my gf's book group read it and she had it laying around.  eh.

Himu, if you want something inexpensive and worth your time on Kindle, check out John Rector's The Grove or Already Gone.  They're both $5 and they're both short reads and they're both quite good.  The ending to Already Gone is a bit problematic, but everything up to that point is pretty grand.

[Robo]

Anyone have the hi-res version of this thing saved somewhere?  Google results keep linking back to the original dead link.

Nevermind, I found it.   http://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/024_lg.jpg

[Van Cruncheon]

It's about teenage girls.  I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.

I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!

the life of pi is so, so, so, so awful

[Van Cruncheon]

I am reading You Are Not So Smart which is a terrifying book.

this is a great book. i learn't about it from r. scott bakker's blog, and was a really insightful (and yes, terrifying) read.

[Van Cruncheon]

i read a buncha pulp horror crap, none of which was really good.

the two best books i read on break were (in order) "blindsight" by peter bates, which is the best piece of hard first contact sf i've read in ages; and "altered carbon", a sci-fi classic i've had sitting around on my nook for some time and never really got around to reading.

i really, really second patel's recommendation of "blindsight". much like "you are not so smart," it makes a compelling case AGAINST sentience as a competitive advantage. MUST READ FOR NEUROPSYCH AND SEMIOTICS/LINGUISTICS NERDS. could we ever actually get along with something intelligent that we don't -- and can't  -- understand, when we can't even get along with the intelligent life forms we slightly understand -- ourselves? it asks.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

no. duh.

[close]

also PLAUSIBLE AND AWESOME SPACE VAMPIRES.

[Eric P]

More plausible than Tobe Hooper's seminal Life Force?  I think not.

[Van Cruncheon]

oh yes. there's even a hilariously awesome explanation for their aversion to crucifixes!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they perceive events non-linearly (in associative quasi-simultaneity) -- basically, they have a pervasive and profound case of hyperthemistic syndrome -- and euclidean right angles induce grand mal seizures as they are incapable of processing perfectly unnatural shapes and configurations. their brain can't rationalize geometric permutations that result in perfect trigonometries, as they get their synapses tied up computing the asymptotes. L O L


the space vampires aren't the aliens, anyhow. the aliens are closer to shoggoths. in the book, humanity resurrects the vampire genetic lineage to use their atemporal processing abilities to evaluate real-time tactical scenarios for engagement using their sensory/cognitive parallelism. that they also have the desire to EAT PEOPLE is an absurdly hilarious part of a key subplot.

[close]

[recursivelyenumerable]

absolutely EVERYONE I know has been telling me to read the Blindsight thing lately, which has made me kinda not wanna 

edit: ok, that crucifix thing is AMAZING

[Barry Egan]

It's about teenage girls.  I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.

I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!

the life of pi is so, so, so, so awful

qft.  not a brave book at all.

[cool breeze]

quick question about eink readers:  if I buy a nook touch, is there a way I can still use the amazon service? I like the nook touch more than the kindle touch, but Amazon seems like a way better seller and all that.

[Eric P]

I finished You Are Not So Smart and loved it. Should be required reading, really. Your brain is your enemy. You must not trust it.

I moved from that to a brand new printing of Nick Blinko's The Primal Screamer, which is Lovecraftian Horror meets Anarcho-Punk. I'm usually quite weary of Cthulhu meets Noun books, but Nick Blinko was the lead singer, guitarist of Anarco-Punk/DeathRock band Rudamentary Peni who recorded an album devoted to HP Lovecraft in 1987. So well before the internet mash up culture came along and ruined everything.

The book is told from the perspective of an analyst who is brought in to deal with the character Nat after a suicide attempt and the book takes the form of a doctor's journal tracking progress.

It's a very short book lasting only 120 pages so I'll finish this either today or tomorrow. I made it a quarter of the way through just on my train ride in to work this morning.

So far, there is no weirdness, but this edition by PM Publishing, best known for punk rock related books is filled with Nick's artwork which had been done for many previous versions.

[CajoleJuice]

Is You Are Not So Smart worth it if you've read much of the blog?

[Eric P]

I don't know.  I wasn't familiar with the blog.  He says that there's a lot of new content and some of his more popular entries had been expanded for the book.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

It's about teenage girls.  I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.

I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!

the life of pi is so, so, so, so awful

man, I wish I could find my awesome Life of Pi rant, "Irrational and Infinitely Long"

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I read 11/23/63 over the break, to my own tears. Shoulda listened to Prole on that one when I coulda gotten out safely. Turns out, the only thing worse than a hand-waving King ending vagary is is King relentlessly plotting his ending into lockstep complicity with the narrative. Jason's I Killed Adolph Hitler has more romance and time-travel knots in 48 pages than King managed in half a tree.

Reading Deathless, now, by Catherynne Valente - about how traditional Russian folklore fixtures (Baba Yaga, Koschei, etc.) survive and adapt to the Communist revolution. It's a lot more romantic and sweeping and a lot less precious than that description might make it sound.

Also started The Pale King, and am loving it - it's far more nuanced and complete than I was lead to believe from its "unfinished novel" nomenclature, and NOBODY writes chapter-long sentences like DFW.

[recursivelyenumerable]

I remember liking parts of Life of Pi, but the "moral" at the end was  and ultimately the whole thing seemed kinda pointless

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I remember liking parts of Life of Pi, but the "moral" at the end was  and ultimately the whole thing seemed kinda pointless

It would have been the perfect M. Night Shamalayan movie...

[recursivelyenumerable]

IIRC I enjoyed the middle section of the book, the actual adventure part with the tiger and stuff. I think if I were to choose I would prefer the version of it that had the tiger, but didn't have the wraparound sections attempting to assign symbolic significance to whether it had the tiger or not. what is the metaphoric meaning of my preference, I wonder?

[Mr. Gundam]

i read a buncha pulp horror crap, none of which was really good.

the two best books i read on break were (in order) "blindsight" by peter bates, which is the best piece of hard first contact sf i've read in ages; and "altered carbon", a sci-fi classic i've had sitting around on my nook for some time and never really got around to reading.

i really, really second patel's recommendation of "blindsight". much like "you are not so smart," it makes a compelling case AGAINST sentience as a competitive advantage. MUST READ FOR NEUROPSYCH AND SEMIOTICS/LINGUISTICS NERDS. could we ever actually get along with something intelligent that we don't -- and can't  -- understand, when we can't even get along with the intelligent life forms we slightly understand -- ourselves? it asks.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

no. duh.

[close]

also PLAUSIBLE AND AWESOME SPACE VAMPIRES.

Blindslight is apparently free online.

[Cormacaroni]

although it's by Peter Watts, not Peter Bates I believe.

I bought You Are Not So Smart, Eric P. Sounds like it will have some serious application in the workplace.