What book(s) are you reading?

[ZephyrFate]

Children of Hurin is alright. I found it interesting even though I never read the LOTR books.

[Eric P]

almost at the end of Blood Oath from the president's vampire books and women really don't come out well in this book.

there are 4 women characters that i can recall.

1 is a soulless sociopath vampire who shed her humanity at the first opportunity but still has the vampire sexy hots for our lead vampire character
2 is a soulless sociopath shadow operative who is in league with the enemy for the promise of immortality but is also conniving and manipulative
3 is a government bureaucrat who hates our lead characters and only cares about her job
4 a literally magical negro who turns binds our vampire to the will of the office of the president

our magical negro is one of two characters of any racial make up described

the other race is of course our more evil than al queda arabian dudes who are in league with Frankenstein to launch a zombie attack on America

Yes it's highly entertaining and yes it moves at a good clip because it's basically a non-sold screenplay and yes it's "men's entertainment" but it's getting the side eye

[Cormacaroni]

have you done the Bechdel Test? I'm thinking F

[Eric P]

lol

yeah total failures.

[chronovore]

http://requireshate.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/jim-butcher-chauvinist-and-talentless-stunning-combo/

Yeah, thanks for that. I also followed the link at the bottom, and there was more of the same from other people, but the article you've linked calls out exactly all the passages where I was feeling my Spidey-sense tingling. It puts to rest my concerns about whether it's a problem with the narrator, or just with the author. It's the author.

I will finish this book, and make hand-wavy gestures at all the people who have told me that it gets better as it goes along, and avoid Butcher in the future. I'm sure there are other magic/noir combo books to read. Shit, I remember "Cast a Deadly Spell" from a ways back and... (wiki) hey, it had a sequel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_Hunt_(1994_film)

I remember seeing rows of faerie/noir stuff a couple years ago at Borders. Or maybe I should just start in on the trove of books Cormacaroni sent me...

[Eric P]

I liked Mike Carey's Felix Castor series

avoid Sandman Slim like the fucking plague.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

what's wrong with Sandman Slim? I've heard ... not completely mediocre things about it

Have you read Patricia Highsmith's A Suspension of Mercy? Today's $1.99 Kindle Deal.

[Eric P]

Have you read Patricia Highsmith's

the answer is always "yes." i went through a bit of a...phase with her in the 90s.


http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Have you read Patricia Highsmith's

the answer is always "yes." i went through a bit of a...phase with her in the 90s.

Yup, I remember your phase well (or perhaps the 2nd round of that phase).

I'm reading The Scar now - not Mieville, a Russian fantasy novel. Only about a quarter of the way in, but it already has my attention. Beautifully written (even in translation), and subverting fantasy tropes at the character level, not the plot level.

[Eric P]

i had heard about that.  after my diversions i'm back to reading about Russians being absolute jerks to Polish Hungarian and East German peoples

[Joe Molotov]

http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/

Crack open a pedophile’s piñata and Cherry Moon is the candy that falls out.

Oh lawdy! 

[chronovore]

I liked Mike Carey's Felix Castor series

avoid Sandman Slim like the fucking plague.

http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/

Urban fantasy is well known for being a cess-pit of terrible writing produced by stunted, illiterate racists

The absolute worst is when Kadrey tries to be funny, as he shares Jim Butcher’s almost savant-like talent for terrible jokes. Unfortunately Stark is one of those “witty” characters who uses cheesy one-liners the way most people use commas so we end up with this shit on damn near every page.

FFFUUU...! Why did I buy this? Why? WHY?

I have an unopened hardcover from when it came out; it was on some recommendation or another. AAAAGH!

[Howard Alan Treesong]

yeah, I own the first book from when it was $0.00 on Prime

[Great Rumbler]

http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/

[Phoenix Dark]

http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/

Crack open a pedophile’s piñata and Cherry Moon is the candy that falls out.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Bought.  Looks like the Kindle version is 99 cents.

[chronovore]

Finished Storm Front, will not be continuing the series, and won't immediately be starting Sandman Slim, or prioritizing it in any way. Butcher finished the book in a weirdly mediocre way. I think Harry is just a fucked up geek, who was bullied, and wants to bully back, but at most will just be passive-aggressive when offered an opportunity for righteous revenge, but doesn't want to get his hands dirty. In the end, Harry ends up making fun of an enemy who actively saves his life... I think it was supposed to be funny, but it was sad.

I feel like I've been in a literary slum, so I'm going back to Infinite Jest, which has just bowled me over with its form.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Cuz I'd rather read entertaining hatred than do any work on a Sunday afternoon

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

[Freyj]

Currently listening to the first Dresden Files book, Storm Front. It's a first-person, urban fantasy noir novel, following the first-person format of those old crime novels to a T, so it's not clear if all the sexy ladies in it are because Jim Butcher is sexist, or if the character Harry is just prone to only noticing pretty women, or if Butcher is just following that particular noir trope without updating it for modern times. This is read by James Marsters of "Buffy" fame, and he does quite well with the material.

Butcher's writing gets infinitely better over time. Storm Front is extremely rough compared to even a few books later. Sex and seduction are the bread and butter of a lot of the supernatural characters of the series. Harry is still very young in Storm Front and it shows looking backwards. About a year passes between each book, FYI.

All I can say is stick with it. I gave up after Storm Front probably four times before I ventured further into the series (based on numerous recommendations). I've not been disappointed.

Finished Storm Front, will not be continuing the series, and won't immediately be starting Sandman Slim, or prioritizing it in any way. Butcher finished the book in a weirdly mediocre way. I think Harry is just a fucked up geek, who was bullied, and wants to bully back, but at most will just be passive-aggressive when offered an opportunity for righteous revenge, but doesn't want to get his hands dirty. In the end, Harry ends up making fun of an enemy who actively saves his life... I think it was supposed to be funny, but it was sad.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about Harry not wanting to get his hands dirty. That definitely becomes less of an issue.

[Freyj]

http://requireshate.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/jim-butcher-chauvinist-and-talentless-stunning-combo/

But surely that’s too harsh. Vicious, even. Surely it can’t be that bad. Let the text, then, speak for itself.

    [Susan] had tricked me into meeting her eyes at the conclusion of our first interview, an eager young reporter investigating an angle on her interviewee. She was the one who had fainted after we had soulgazed.

Oh yeah, this is how hardcore Harry Dresden is. He can “soulgaze” women into fainting.

"I don't understand any of the terminology being thrown around so I'm just going to scream chauvinist."

Dresden's character is mentioned time and again as being old-fashioned. It's a character flaw, it gets him plenty of trouble and he / Butcher fully admits it. God forbid we have an old-fashioned character in a series filled with strong female characters.

[Joe Molotov]

Too much build up, not enough payoff. I only picked it up because it sounded a bit Mythos-y, with this strange group of someones (or somethings) that live in the deep woods and require a monthly sacrifice of pigs,  but in the end

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they were just werewolves. Meh.

[close]

It a reaaaally slow burn too, it takes half the book before anything actually happens other than the main character banging his fiance (which happens more often than anything else in this book), and even once you've figured out the secret, it still beats around the bush (heh) for another 100 pages or so  before finally saying "Yes, what's happening is exactly what you thought was happening 100 pages ago." Then some people do some dumb stuff, get killed, and that's pretty much it.

[Mandark]

Tried the Dresden Files a few years ago, gave up halfway through the second book.  A friend whose taste overlaps with mine but is generally less nitpicky read a bunch of the books in a row but also gradually got annoyed with it and quit.

Which isn't to say the books don't get better or aren't decent beach reads or whatever.  Though that soulgaze/fainting quote isn't "old fashioned." It's just asinine.

[chronovore]

Thanks, Freyj and Mandark. I believe that the writing gets better -- practice improves many things -- and I am fine with Harry being "old fashioned," if that's all it was. It may also improve if Butcher's skill as a writer is able to separate Harry's "old fashioned" nature from what felt like his own, the author's, personal belief system.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Thanks to inane meetings at work, I'm reading now more than ever

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Edit: This book is crazy.  An excerpt:

Never let it be said that Fiddy didn't make the most of this opportunity. He took this beef to the next level, dragging all kinds of family members into it. You might remember the videos he made with one of Rawse's babies' mothers, Tia. He flew her up to New York and took her out shopping. He bought her a fur coat. Let's just say you could tell it was the only fur coat she ever owned. (No shots.) There's a classic photo of her and Fiddy in what may or may not have been a post-coital embrace, not unlike the way Birdman and Lil Wayne held each other on the cover of the 10th anniversary issue of XXL.

Going to be hard reading this at work without laughing my ass off.

[Eric P]

i bought that this morning, grabbed my kindle for the train AND THE BOOK WASN'T PUSHED TO THE KINDLE

grrrr

[Eric P]

The corn you eat with your dinner was probably delivered in a truck driven by a guy who takes showers in restaurants. Even if you don't eat corn, you probably eat something with corn in it. No Boutros. I heard like half the shit in the grocery store has corn in it, which is why we're so fat. Which doesn't make sense to me, because corn is healthy and delicious. The Native American Indians ate it for thousands of years and they didn't get fat.
 

paleo annihilated

[Joe Molotov]

One of the better weird anthologies that I've read in a while. I wanna pick up the second one, but so far it's only been released as a $40 HB.

[Eric P]

anything edited by ST Joshi is worth reading.

Finished the Byron Crawford book while doing other work.  It's better than the first one in that it's less autobiographical and more "rap blogger dishing dirt" in ways that he doesn't really do on his blogs.  The stories about El-P and Killer Mike are interesting.  When he talks about women in general I tended to just skip ahead because it's uh something.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Finished Infinite Crab Meats.  It was an addicting read from start to finish.  I highly recommend it.

[Freyj]

Tried the Dresden Files a few years ago, gave up halfway through the second book.  A friend whose taste overlaps with mine but is generally less nitpicky read a bunch of the books in a row but also gradually got annoyed with it and quit.

Which isn't to say the books don't get better or aren't decent beach reads or whatever.  Though that soulgaze/fainting quote isn't "old fashioned." It's just asinine.

The soulgaze bit isn't what I meant by old fashioned, the old fashioned parts are things like Dresden opening the door for Murphy and Murphy kicking his ass for it, which is the sort of thing the writer of that article was whining about.

Soulgaze provides two-way view into the other person's soul, not a detailed description of them, but a vague picture of their true self. Susan's fainting had everything to do with seeing bits and pieces of Harry's bloodied past / inner turmoil, not any kind of sexual effect. Dresden is a clown, so he plays it up in monologue.

[Groogrux]

I'm finally getting to start this.  It's only 124 pages long, so it shouldn't take me long at all to read it.  But I am in love with it so far. 

The only thing that I don't like about it is the fact that one of the authors (my favorite author) is using it as another platform for his political agenda.  He's written two other books on the topic of mountaintop removal and I see now that he's going to write about it in this book too...

[Joe Molotov]

I dunno how interesting this will be right after reading Going Clear, but I thought I might flip through it a bit while waiting for The Master.

Also bought that Infinite Crab Meats books, partly because you guys said it was good, partly because the exerts I read were pretty funny, and partly because the title/coverart are a parody of Infinite Jest, which is kind of awesome.

[fistfulofmetal]

I finished a book called Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss. It's a book about a multi-generation ship that's become it's own living ecosystem and who's inhabitants have forgotten who they are and where they are over the generations.

It's quite an interesting novel. I read it since i've recently become incredibly interested in the concept of a generation-ship.

Next i'll be reading Greg Bear's Eon.

[hampster]

The audiobook was on sale at audible so I picked it up. Maybe it's just slower pace of audio format when compared to reading but I'm really aware of the author's fondness for certain facial expressions. Same with the last audiobook I listened to, Warbreaker. Not a minute went by without someone raising their eyebrows in that book

Anyway Dauntless is pretty good so far

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

(Image removed from quote.)

I finished reading this after getting it a month ago because it's kind of a crappy book.  It's $2.99 on Kindle.  I think it is crappy because I prefer my history reads to be dry and the target audience for this book is the type of people that buy crap like "Why Do Men Have Nipples?"  Still, I guess it shows how vital salt was in preserving perishables.  If this book is to be believed, it seemed like entire civilizations were based on cultivating salt.  The same author wrote a book about Cod and Oysters, probably written in the same style.  It would be a great reads for high school history class and that's about it.

[hampster]

Just found out there are two books based on the TV show Leverage with a third due out in May. I know what I'm reading next

In other news I finished Dauntless. I went into the book fascinated by space combat and how you would deal with distances and speeds but by the end of the book I was tired of it. The author couldn't let a single action go by without describing how the information wasn't in real time or some other quirk of fighting in space. Wikipedia tells me there are 5 more books before they get home. I'm interested to see where the story goes but five short books feels like dragging it out.

Its revealed late into the book that there is more to the universe then you first thought. That was by far the most interesting part and I wish they went into it more. Got to save some for the later books I suppose

[Joe Molotov]

(Image removed from quote.)

I finished reading this after getting it a month ago because it's kind of a crappy book.  It's $2.99 on Kindle.  I think it is crappy because I prefer my history reads to be dry and the target audience for this book is the type of people that buy crap like "Why Do Men Have Nipples?"  Still, I guess it shows how vital salt was in preserving perishables.  If this book is to be believed, it seemed like entire civilizations were based on cultivating salt.  The same author wrote a book about Cod and Oysters, probably written in the same style.  It would be a great reads for high school history class and that's about it.

Sounds like you're pretty salty about it.

[fistfulofmetal]

Greg Bear's Eon is some SCI-FI ASS SCI-FI

Also interesting because there's a lot of imagery that reminds me a lot of stuff Bungie has been putting out, Halo and Destiny. It's interesting because Greg Bear later wrote the Halo novel... I'm guessing this is likely why.

[Eric P]

i'm reading Cat Eye Boy for some awesome yokai action

and i'm reading One Piece.  This is going to sound really lame because it flies in the face of genre and author intention, but jesus christ there is too much fighting in this.  no one gets a chance to breathe

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I'm reading a bunch of Lem - Kindle has those as $2 daily deals about once every 2 weeks.

"Memoirs Found in a Bathtub" was awesome - it's basically the espionage version of Brazil. Some poor sap just trying to find out what his secret mission is in the subterranean warrens of the all-encompassing Building.

Reading "Fiasco" now. It's like ... giant mechs vs. Borges.

[nice cat but chicken]

i really enjoyed salt but then i love salt and never read history so its populist style probably suited me. tonnes of fun anecdotes and while that may've been all it was i know others (all women) who've enjoyed it.

today finished the man in the high castle for probably the 20th time but the first in years. this has to be philip k dick's most coherent novel right? it has none of the gaudiness or irreverence of his other sci-fi or the schizophrenia of the last works. i've never read any of his mainstream fiction, can anyone recommend something?

started riddley walker by russel hoban wen i got hoam an got far as the splitting of Addom. quite excited to continue.

why have i only rediscovered my appetite for fiction as soon as i've returned to school? :s

[chronovore]

Isn't The Man in the High Castle being made into a movie? I'll be curious how they slaughter this PKD.

[Joe Molotov]

Isn't The Man in the High Castle being made into a movie? I'll be curious how they slaughter this PKD.

Syfy Channel miniseries

[Howard Alan Treesong]

i really enjoyed salt but then i love salt and never read history so its populist style probably suited me. tonnes of fun anecdotes and while that may've been all it was i know others (all women) who've enjoyed it.

today finished the man in the high castle for probably the 20th time but the first in years. this has to be philip k dick's most coherent novel right? it has none of the gaudiness or irreverence of his other sci-fi or the schizophrenia of the last works. i've never read any of his mainstream fiction, can anyone recommend something?

started riddley walker by russel hoban wen i got hoam an got far as the splitting of Addom. quite excited to continue.

why have i only rediscovered my appetite for fiction as soon as i've returned to school? :s

if you're new to Dick and want to know what Dick will be easiest to swallow, I recommend Ubik. I really like Martian-Time Slip, though that's a lotta Dick to take in until you have more experience with Dick

[tiesto]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm fucked if some of these are the kinds of questions they ask on interviews at non-Google/MS/Amazon-level corps.

[close]

[hampster]

Finally, like the pathetic procrastinator I am, got around to starting The Racketeer for the Bore Book Club. I'm a little more than 1/3 through and it's not good.  I read a number of John Grisham's books when I was younger and I enjoyed them but this is such a Grisham-ass-Grisham book I don't really see the point. Our innocent lawyer hero cut a deal to get out of jail within the first ~150 pages. I know its bullshit, some trick to out smart the government no doubt. John Grisham knows I know its bullshit since I've read one of his books before, but we're both going to sit here and play this straight? I guess it would be fine if the book was interesting or well paced but it's really not. Last night I plowed through pages upon pages of the most boring interrogation I have ever seen

My apologies for nominating the book :'(

[nice cat but chicken]

i'm not new to dick at all (no homo? but actually...) but i've never read his mainstream (not sci-fi) novels.
the man in the high castle is being made into a miniseries by ridley scott's production company but i'd be very surprised given his recent work (ie everything since blade runner) if it's any good. it could be great.

[ZephyrFate]

Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut is a fantastic film. His production company hasn't lost it

[Eric P]

i'm reading a men's adventure book which takes place in an alternate history africa where the nazis won ww2 (or at least were able to negotiate peace thanks to the non-interference of the US).  It's fun but goofy.  I don't understand why this has won so many accolades as it's white dudes in an africa without black people (thanks to the nazis!)

Africa, 1952.

The swastika flies from the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. Britain and a victorious Nazi Germany have divided the continent. The SS has crushed the native populations and forced them into labour. Gleaming autobahns bisect the jungle, jet fighters patrol the skies. For almost a decade an uneasy peace has ensued.

Now, however, the plans of Walter Hochburg, messianic racist and architect of Nazi Africa, threaten Britain’s ailing colonies.

Sent to curb his ambitions is Burton Cole: a one-time assassin torn between the woman he loves and settling an old score with Hochburg. If he fails unimaginable horrors will be unleashed on the continent. No one – black or white – will be spared.

But when his mission turns to disaster, Burton must flee for his life.

It is a flight that will take him from the unholy ground of Kongo to SS slave camps to war-torn Angola – and finally a conspiracy that leads to the dark heart of THE AFRIKA REICH itself.

Guy Saville has combined meticulous research with edge-of-the-seat suspense to produce a superb novel of alternate history.

[Cormacaroni]

Guy Saville has combined meticulous research with not giving a fuck about any of it

[Joe Molotov]

He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".

[Groogrux]

He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".

[CajoleJuice]

He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".

[Human Snorenado]

I just re-read Kurt Vonnegut's "Bluebeard" over the weekend, and last night I ordered Breakfast of Champions and Lenny Bruce's "How to Talk Dirty and Influence People," which is one of those things I've always meant to read but never got around to.

[Steve Contra]

Bluebeard is terrible.  It's basically a defense of Kurt Vonnegut's output that he didn't need to write.  I felt kind of sad reading it.

[Eric P]

yeah bluebeard is bad bad bad

[Robo]

He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".

 

[Human Snorenado]

Bluebeard is self-indulgent and meanders way too long (even for Vonnegut) but I think calling it "bad" is overstating the case a bit.

Then again, I found Rabo Karabekian an intriguing character and his small role in Breakfast of Champions interesting, so ymmv.  Obviously, like pretty much any artist in any field whatsoever, Vonnegut's earlier work (probably peaking with Slaugher-House Five) outstrips his later works, but that just goes to prove Sick Boy's theory of life from Trainspotting:  "First you've got it, then you don't, and it's gone forever."