Author Topic: What book(s) are you reading?  (Read 661822 times)

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Tasty

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3360 on: January 12, 2021, 07:22:21 PM »
I let books be (e)books, and keep the audio fare to podcasts (when I'm smoking up, 'nache.)

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3361 on: January 12, 2021, 10:07:05 PM »
So I tried to find out which streaming service even has the BBC show and someone linked me to goodreel and it said it was on Netflix, so I re-subbed to Netflix after a half year away

...and it's not on Netflix  :doge

Well I was gonna resub in a couple weeks for the Euphoria guy's movie anyhow, so I guess that's fine. Ended up just buying the show digitally on Amazon. Gonna try watching a couple eps and if it gets me more invested I might go back to the book.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3362 on: January 13, 2021, 03:39:17 AM »
Watched ep1, thought it was going to cover the intro chapters I read that took me 3 nights of reading maybe 2-3 hours.

...it covered that in the first 15 mins  :lol

Now that I actually see where the show is going, I'm more interested. But I feel like it'd probably take me like a week of reading to cover this one ep. Book club is in about two weeks. Think I'll watch the show and then skim the book.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3363 on: January 17, 2021, 03:18:18 AM »
Well I haven't watched any more eps past ep1 of Strange & Norrell and instead went back to the book and have been reading for a few nights and just past where ep1 ended. A bit over a 100 pages in now. The main difference between the show adaptation is just the show interweaving Strange's story.

The book's grown on me and I am enjoying it, but I'm not a big fan of the huge blocky paragraphs of description prose with sometimes dialogue imbedded. Just reads slow and feels a bit like work.

I also started Sanderson's Stormlight Archives 4 - Rhythm of War and reading both at the same time it's just night and day difference in style. Sanderson writes short sentences that are pages mostly filled with dialogue, between dialogues are short descriptions or action, but the pages tend to be a bunch of single sentence or few sentence paragraphs and it just moves fast. Sanderson reminds me of a Stephen King, very straight-forward layman easy reading to focus on dialogue & plot.

Whereas in Strange/Norrell an entire big page may be one giant block paragraph and a giant block footnote below it. Fair enough for people that enjoy that type of writing. It's always given me School English class PTSD flashbacks, so never been into books written like that.

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3364 on: January 17, 2021, 05:49:42 PM »
Finally getting around to Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon. Pretty good, but reading time has been minimal lately. Audiobook is a good reading, so I may make it the whole way.

Also reading a paperback of Elmore Leonard’s Mr. Majestyk. Easy to parse, and the act of reading text is transportative in a way that audio is not. I’ve missed it. COVID has lessened my focus and attention, so this is my rehabilitation.

archnemesis

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3365 on: January 18, 2021, 10:23:34 AM »
There are a few short parts on coding and cryptography in Cryptonomicon that probably won't translate well to audio. On the other hand, if that's the way you can find the time to enjoy the book then listening to the audio book is a lot better then skipping the book entirely.

I've read three novels by Stephenson and he is quickly becoming my favorite author.

I started reading Count Zero by William Gibson this week. I've barely read physical books since the pandemic started and it's nice getting back to my old reading habit.

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3366 on: January 20, 2021, 10:01:26 PM »
Count Zero was seriously good.

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3367 on: February 09, 2021, 07:27:16 AM »
Finished The Last Continent. Not my favourite Terry Pratchett book, but it was ok.

Have moved on to Nemesis Games by James SA Corey. I'm about 20% through and am really loving the Amos and Alex POVs. Holden and Naomi's POVs I don't really care for so far, but I hope that changes.
Spud

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3368 on: February 10, 2021, 02:02:31 AM »
Amos' storyline in that was one of those escalating things that left me wondering, "Wait, how far are they actually going to take this destruction?"

BLOOD MUSIC by Greg Bear also did that.

It's nice to be surprised.

Transhuman

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3369 on: February 10, 2021, 04:55:32 AM »
Finished The Last Continent. Not my favourite Terry Pratchett book, but it was ok.

Have moved on to Nemesis Games by James SA Corey. I'm about 20% through and am really loving the Amos and Alex POVs. Holden and Naomi's POVs I don't really care for so far, but I hope that changes.

The Amos novella The Churn is really good. Publication order is before Nemesis Games, although I read it much much later on. Really explains a lot about the power dynamic Amos has with Erich.

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3370 on: February 10, 2021, 05:00:43 AM »
Finished The Last Continent. Not my favourite Terry Pratchett book, but it was ok.

Have moved on to Nemesis Games by James SA Corey. I'm about 20% through and am really loving the Amos and Alex POVs. Holden and Naomi's POVs I don't really care for so far, but I hope that changes.

The Amos novella The Churn is really good. Publication order is before Nemesis Games, although I read it much much later on. Really explains a lot about the power dynamic Amos has with Erich.
I've read The Churn. Was good.
Spud

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3371 on: February 22, 2021, 03:36:57 PM »
I finished the first half (~550 pages) of Stormlight #4 Rhythm of War last night. I'm pretty letdown so far. Especially after spending 4 years+ reading the entire Cosmere universe series catching up to this point only for one of the weakest books yet so far.

It basically feels like going from Storm of Swords -> AFFC including nixing half the cast (and like ASOAIF nixing a lot of the more interesting cast)  :(

I kind of feel that this is Sanderson's first transition from smaller scale (books #1-3) to larger scale epic (book #4 of 5) and he may be struggling managing it.

Sanderon's stuff almost always comes through in the endgame though and a lot of his stories are positioning and moving things a long to come together for the finale, so hopefully the second half of the book picks up. Still kinda bummed I only got half a book left of Cosmere and then I'm all caught up and got nothing for another year or so until Mistborn2 book #4 is out.

I do appreciate that there is a Planescape Torment nod though. It's nice reading books written by nerds.

Tasty

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3372 on: February 22, 2021, 07:13:46 PM »
Anybody fucks with DRM free ebooks? Is there a good store for such? Want to stay as legit as possible.

Calibre is a massive pain and I used to have it working quite well, but something in the chain has broken down in the last year (between Google Play's DRM, Kindle's DRM, Adobe's Digital Editions software, Calibre, or all of the above.) So I'm trying to buy DRM free from the start if possible.

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3373 on: February 24, 2021, 06:24:55 AM »
Finished Nemesis Games and have moved on to Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

Three chapters in so far and it's pretty much grabbed me.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2021, 03:47:32 PM by Potato »
Spud

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3374 on: February 24, 2021, 11:16:06 AM »
This gets said a lot but the first two and a half Dresden books are a bit rough but after that it basically just keeps getting better and better.

Tasty

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3375 on: February 26, 2021, 12:42:40 PM »
Does your library have an online aspect? If they offer downloads via Overdrive you can download via MP3 and keep the downloads forever.

Meant more epubs and PDFs. 😬

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3376 on: February 27, 2021, 10:00:43 PM »
Anybody fucks with DRM free ebooks? Is there a good store for such? Want to stay as legit as possible.

Calibre is a massive pain and I used to have it working quite well, but something in the chain has broken down in the last year (between Google Play's DRM, Kindle's DRM, Adobe's Digital Editions software, Calibre, or all of the above.) So I'm trying to buy DRM free from the start if possible.

Tor's books are DRM free, IIRC.
Your library may have an online version where you can check out, read, and "return" the books. That's not DRM-free, but it is literally free to sign up for and enjoy.

EchoRin

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3377 on: March 12, 2021, 04:31:47 PM »
Love is a Mix Tape - An autobiographical memoir about a man who lost his wife after about 5 years of marriage. Quite a tribute to her that I'd be smitten by if someone did the same for me.

The book mainly deals with the time the two shared together and as you might have guessed by the title, how music connects these various times. You also spend a portion of life prior to him meeting his wife and then the process of him dealing with life after her death.

As someone who also has music being an everlasting  constant presence around me, this book was very relatable in many ways, but it's not the key to enjoying the book or not. Even I wasn't aware of many of the tracks brought up, or even in some cases the artist altogether. It's not important to know them as the author is able to give you enough info to infer a point about a connection or how a song fit with a certain moment. If you do know exactly the song or the artist, bonus points for you, but it's unnecessary in getting the point across.

I enjoyed getting to know this couple and their way of life, family ties, eccentricities, hopes, fears, even the average boring day to day married couple nonsense. It's all very romantic and them being people who sort of seem like I would take to helped my enjoyment as well.

When the wife unexpectedly dies, it really took my breath out. And you know from chapter one that she isn't going to make it, but man when the moment came it still knocked me on my ass. The portion after her passing is also a testament to who she was as a person. People really loved her and she touched many of them.

I'm always scared of the idea that once I die or someone I care about dies that they merely become a footnote that will soon be forgotten. Especially as time goes by. If I or they didn't leave something substantial behind they just slowly fade and become a distant memory that soon has no impact while the people that they knew, friends, family, husband / wife, keep on going on and get to experience so much more while the dead are left behind. With this woman in the book though, you can see that if you were worth a damn to people on a human level the memory and impact still can live on. That's kind of comforting. I mean I don't know if I would have that impact haha, but hey there's hope.

The book was a really nice read. Always love when music has a big tie to a story as music is really a personal thing that is sort of an extension of us. Sometimes we like music just for the sake of it. Happens to me all the time. Other times though it's because we feel a deeper connection to it. It speaks to us on a personal level. Sometimes due to the lyrics. Other times the feel of the music. Or both. Music is versatile like that.  I love that.

If you got a mushy heart and music is a constant presence around you, I recommend the book.

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3378 on: March 12, 2021, 04:37:08 PM »
That sounds depressing.

Anyway, I'm on to Son of a Liche by J. Zachary Pike. Someone here recommended Orconomics a while back and I loved it. Great satire and genuinely funny.
Spud

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3379 on: March 14, 2021, 06:16:37 PM »
So I stayed up until 5:45am last night finishing Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives #4: The Rhythm of War. Finally got up with the entire Cosmere universe MCU-style storyline.

Rhythm was ok, it's a good book, but being the second to last book in a 6,000 page+ five book series it started boxing in a lot of plot points and storylines to make a final book possible and I'm not that happy with some of the directions it's setting up. I feel like if Winds of Winter come out I might get a similar feeling. Early books create potential and make everything exciting possibilities whereas later books reign things in and it gets less interesting/exciting.

Rhythm has some great stuff, but overall is probably the weakest Stormlight book or on par with book #1. I honestly have no idea if he'll pull off a great book with the final book. Could go either way, but at least he writes fast so it won't be that long to find out since it's planned for fall 2023 release. So just 2.5 years out.

At this point more excited about the other Cosmere major series finishing with Mistborn Wax & Wayne book #4 out in 2022. Feels more potential there for an interesting exciting story.

But yeah Cosmere is cool and was absolutely worth reading it all. These next two books are essentially finishing up the first half of Cosmere and then time for intermission books before the next big series start.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3380 on: March 15, 2021, 08:28:59 PM »
Ok, so gonna finish up some books I've got lined up next(Norell & Strange, more Yahtzee stuff, GRRM edited short story collections, etc...). But went peeking around for recommendations for a new fantasy/horror/sci-fi multi-book series to give a shot and just picked up (some YA):

Malazan vol.1
Belgariad vol.1
House of Shadows vol.1
Arc of a Scythe vol.1
Inkheart vol.1

as well as Sanderson's Skyward YA series, which I'll probably read not too far out since I like his writing and stories enough I think I'll enjoy his non-Cosmere stuff.

Was thinking about picking up First Law vol.1 but it was pretty expensive for the physical and I'm grabbing enough stuff.

Where do I even start if I want to finally read Lord of the Rings? And don't say The Hobbit. I read that in school as a kid and I'm good.

Hopefully one of those fills the gap now that I need a new Ice & Fire, Dark Tower, Cosmere.

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3381 on: March 15, 2021, 08:38:30 PM »
I wouldn't recommend Malazan unless you have the time to read them all through.   Also warning with Malazan and seeing your reading habits, the last 25% of each book is a huge rollercoaster ride so if you hit page 800 at 7 PM you might be reading well into the morning for the next 300. 
« Last Edit: March 15, 2021, 08:44:29 PM by Madrun Badrun »

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3382 on: March 15, 2021, 09:12:59 PM »
I mean...I have nothing planned to read for the next decades of my life outside a Cosmere book here and there and Winds of Winter (lol). Not really attached to any other on-going series or authors currently.

So sure, if I like a series I'd read it all.

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3383 on: March 15, 2021, 09:30:09 PM »
Ya, I just mean it's not really a series you can put down once you start, either to take a break or read other stuff, otherwise you end up forgetting half of it since a lot of the time what is relevant in the current book happened like 3 books ago.  There is a kind of momentum to it and if you interrupt it, it tends to make progressing really hard.  Kinda like stopping a Fromsoft game towards the end and coming back to it after a few months - most of the muscle memory and where to go and what still needs to be done is gone lol

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3384 on: April 02, 2021, 01:47:36 AM »
Read Defending Elysium the sci-fi detective thriller novella Sanderson wrote early on before he turned it into a YA series with Skyward.

Was solid, not much else to say about it other than I read it in one sitting over about 90 mins. I liked it enough that I'll read Skyward later this year.  Just entertaining stuff, nothing too deep or new but I like how his stuff reads and there's a good amount of twists and turns and action and mysteries and likeable characters.

Probably will read most of his free novellas at some point:
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/brandon-sanderson-online-library/#freebooks

Tasty

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3385 on: April 02, 2021, 09:25:04 AM »
Want to get Sharon Stone's book even if it's probably ghostwritten.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3386 on: April 08, 2021, 11:40:02 PM »
I'm almost done reading The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew. It's a graphic novel biography of Singapore's most famous comic writer which intermixes pages from his comics throughout his life. His comics were very political during major events of Singapore during the 1940s on with WWII and Japan's occupation of Singapore and the British return occupation/rule and SG's eventual independence. Really fascinating book and I'm learning a lot of about Singapore's history.



Also started on the anthology Dangerous Women curated by GRRM and Gardner Dozois last night. Read Joe Abercrombie's short story, which is my first introduction to his writing. Was...ok? Entertaining, but a pretty nothing story and just an action scene really. Action read well enough, but wasn't enough to get a feel for his writing.




Which also prompted me to want to read some horror short stories so I got back to Jonathan Langan's The Wide Carniverous Sky short story collection. I read City of the Dog last night which was good but my main issue with all his short stores in these books are they're really interesting pieces and then they end undercooked without much of the lore explained since they're short stories. It's why I kinda shelved this about midway even though I liked the stories. I just don't find them satisfying at the end because so much is not explained. His novel The Fisherman was really fucking good, but it was a novel length so he had more time to go into story stuff. I should look and see what he's been writing these last few years.




Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3387 on: April 14, 2021, 12:39:17 AM »
Ok, finished The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and discovered that the author that it's a biography of doesn't actually exist and this is all a fictional creation and all the example pages from his works over 50 years are Sonny Liew showing a diverse style as he tells the story of a political activist comic writer living through the liberation and self-rule of SG.

Was really good and I learned a lot about Singapore's politics. I had never researched the country and discovering that it's heavily authoritarian still is crazy. I went there in 2017 or 2018 and had no idea about any of this stuff. At least it seems a little better now that books like this can be released and aren't being banned outright with authors exiled or imprisoned or something. But I saw they still pulled the arts grant money for the book because of its views, so still shady.

Welp, definitely not moving to Singapore. Good book though.

benjipwns

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3388 on: April 14, 2021, 01:07:52 AM »
First actual book I've read in a while since the libraries shut down:



Was kinda dry, lots of reciting facts and stuff but I enjoyed some of the stories about the movies. The Battlefield Earth chapter really felt like it downplayed how much Scientology bankrolled that thing though to focus on how fat John Travolta was getting. Sometimes I found juicier quotes about the movies/behind-the-scenes/etc. on Wikipedia than in the book. I was also surprised that it ignored some movies that it just offhand mentioned, like Hudson Hawk with Bruce Willis which lost like $50 million or something, for movies that ultimately did turn a profit and were just troubled productions. Also felt it kinda downplayed that part during production of The Cotton Club where Robert Evans got involved with all those drug people and someone got murdered. :lol

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3389 on: April 26, 2021, 12:09:39 PM »
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mvehd6/mike_shells_idols_fall_hit_the_shelves_today_and/

Aching God is on sale right now.  Really great book if you like horror and fantasy.   Reading the last book in the trilogy now.  I'm engrossed. 

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3390 on: April 26, 2021, 03:19:33 PM »
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mvehd6/mike_shells_idols_fall_hit_the_shelves_today_and/

Aching God is on sale right now.  Really great book if you like horror and fantasy.   Reading the last book in the trilogy now.  I'm engrossed.

I hate buying digital for books since I can't remember I even own the book months from now when I'm ready for my next book and usually just look at my bookshelf stack.

But dark horror fantasy is my jam and 99 cents vs $17 for paperback I'll grab the digital. Just hope I remember I have it someday.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3391 on: April 27, 2021, 02:57:11 AM »
Finished reading John Langan's The Wide and Carnivorous Sky short story collection. Dude is way too much of an academia professor-lit writer for me, but some of these clicked.

The anthology's final story Mother of Stone was a really good exorcist story that I'd recommend to anyone whose a horror fan.

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3392 on: May 03, 2021, 10:58:28 PM »
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mvehd6/mike_shells_idols_fall_hit_the_shelves_today_and/

Aching God is on sale right now.  Really great book if you like horror and fantasy.   Reading the last book in the trilogy now.  I'm engrossed.

I hate buying digital for books since I can't remember I even own the book months from now when I'm ready for my next book and usually just look at my bookshelf stack.

But dark horror fantasy is my jam and 99 cents vs $17 for paperback I'll grab the digital. Just hope I remember I have it someday.

It's up to $4 now on Kindle, but based on your guys' enthusiasm, I just grabbed it. Thanks!

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3393 on: May 16, 2021, 04:02:27 PM »
Halfway through The Only Good Indians.  Just read a really intense chapter. 

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3394 on: May 16, 2021, 04:12:26 PM »
I'm like 1/3rd through Dangerous Women. It's kind of all over the place. I guess I'm used to reading short story anthologies by a single author so the style and genre tend to be consistent. These authors are all very different and the genres are all over the place. Like there was a western, the a Henry the II family story, then a sci-fi alien planet story, then a Dresden Files magic story that had huge spoilers for the franchise but was entertaining, then a WWII Russian women's fighter pilot division story, etc...

Also reading a 1,000 page anthology is a long read! These aren't really "short" stories as opposed to each being a full 50-100 page novella. I try to read a story a night, but some of these take me a few nights if they're not the type of genre that I'm into.

While I'm enjoying it and it's broadening my horizons in terms of authors and genre I typically don't read, I think I'll hold off on reading any other large-size anthologies like this for a while. Though I guess this is a sort of a good break after all the Cosmere reading before getting into another big series.

Though I'm on a Joe Lansdale story now and I got to discover he is the author of Bubba Ho-Tep!

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3395 on: May 17, 2021, 09:19:53 PM »
Reading David Wong's sequel to John Dies at the End, This Books is Full of Spiders. It's entertaining but I think I enjoyed the first book more. Wong also did a cyberpunk novel which was plenty of fun, Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. That one would have been a good place to spend Ready Player One's ridiculous budget.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3396 on: May 17, 2021, 09:21:05 PM »
So are there lots of spiders in the book?

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3397 on: May 17, 2021, 11:34:23 PM »
The Gutter Prayer is kinda on sale right now at 6$ - think it's been cheaper.  But the third book in the series is coming out tomorrow and I am super hyped. 

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3398 on: May 17, 2021, 11:37:46 PM »
So are there lots of spiders in the book?

Technically speaking, there are equivalent number of spiders in this book compared to times that John dies in the other book.

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3399 on: May 20, 2021, 08:25:55 PM »
Hit a really cool chapter in The Broken God

Quote
The other half is nightmare. Chunks of broken heavens, fallen from the sky and made material in the moment of their destruction. Malformed miracles leaking into reality, scabs of divine works. God-touched creatures crawl across the land, screaming hymns of gratitude. Strange plants grow, fiery-red bushes that ignite when touched, mountain-flowers disgorging virulent blue poison on to unseen winds. They travel through the meadowlands of some hunting god, through the burned-out stacks of a seemingly infinite library, through a desert of broken glass.

Quote
On the fifth day in hell, they come to the ghost of the city of Gissa. Even Cari knows that Gissa was destroyed, ten years ago or more, Gissa of the red roofs and the counting-houses, Gissa of the temples and the red walls, Gissa of the deep wells. Gissa should be a lot further south. They hide in a ditch and watch the city march past them. People, thousands of them, dragging sacks of rubble and brick, shoulders bowed under cloaks of red slate. Skins red with brick dust. They march in columns that mimic the layout of vanished streets – and a presence moves with them, invisible forces flattening the ground ahead of them, stamping the map of the crawling city into the mud. Some hold street signs like battle standards, others stumble through the mud with absurd pomposity, clad in the ornate robes of civic officials, of judges and councillors. There’s a carnival touch to the whole procession, wild abandon mixed with civic pride. All of their faces, from the starveling children to the oldest greybeard, touched with divine ecstasy. They live in Gissa, and Gissa is the heavenly city. Cari feels that sandpaper sensation again, and presses her face into the mud as a great temple-barge passes. It’s a huge pyramidal temple, the house of the civic god, mounted on gigantic runners of teak wood and dragged by a crowd of ecstatic worshippers. Atop the temple stands a young man, beautiful and shining, chosen of the god of the city of Gissa. “Tell me when they’ve gone,” whispers Cari, but before M can answer the saint raises his left hand. Trumpets sound, the earth shakes and the city settles around them. Their ditch is now surrounded on all sides by the memory of a ruined city, by the shambling crowds of the displaced and the divine.

...

As if conjured by the saint’s commands, a group of soldiers appears at the top of the street. She’d almost mistake them for Stone Men, their bodies marked with stony growths, but in a flash she sees the distinction. These guys were all mortally wounded in the past – that one’s got a wide gash in his belly, that one was stabbed through the heart, another doesn’t have a fucking head – and the wounds were filled with pieces of the city. They’ve got chunks of brickwork and mortar shoved into their bodies, working as muscles and organs and, apparently, a head. One of them points at her with a hand salvaged from some marble statue, and Blockhead swivels to look at Cari like the thing’s got eyes.


Also the book explores the fourth major faction in the world so far, which are dragon-riding pirates who operate like the Italian mafia. 
« Last Edit: May 20, 2021, 08:30:08 PM by Madrun Badrun »

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3400 on: May 20, 2021, 08:38:38 PM »
I've been pushing my way through The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood. I think it was something I picked up for free from the TOR.com newsletter.

It's been a real struggle to get through. I'm not finding any of the characters interesting and the author throws you into this world with minimal world building.

I'm 53% of the way through and I'm still not sure if this setting is fantasy or sci fi. There's swords and magic, but also alchemical flying machines and weird allusions to advanced technology.

I don't want to drop it, but I'm struggling to find the motivation to get through...and I just realised there a sequel coming in August, which means the ending is unlikely to be satisfying.
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Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3401 on: May 24, 2021, 03:43:38 AM »
Finished that Joe Lansdale short story "Wrestling Jesus"

was pretty great, enjoy his writing style even if it feels a bit too loose old timey and probably not very pc. Might check out one of his novels. Not sure if he writes all his stories about goofy elderly people or just Bubba Ho-Tep and this.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3402 on: May 24, 2021, 03:44:48 AM »
So are there lots of spiders in the book?

Technically speaking, there are equivalent number of spiders in this book compared to times that John dies in the other book.

I vaguely remember John Dies at the End. Only watched the movie adaptation though.

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3403 on: May 24, 2021, 09:50:55 AM »
So are there lots of spiders in the book?

Technically speaking, there are equivalent number of spiders in this book compared to times that John dies in the other book.

I vaguely remember John Dies at the End. Only watched the movie adaptation though.

Except for Giamatti, the movie was disappointing.

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3404 on: June 05, 2021, 01:06:42 PM »
The Ruins by Scott Smith.  40% through and it's gotten really tense and captivating.  I think body horror is the easiest kind of horror to work on me though.   

team filler

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3405 on: June 06, 2021, 03:46:56 AM »
sandman, all volumes. kind of just opening them at random and reading here and there. I can always find a good message for myself doing that. think I found a good one earlier and dismissed it. now it makes more sense. I really just opened brief lives and saw this page. guess I didn't want that message. so I put it down and told myself it didn't mean anything.





seems accurate enough
« Last Edit: June 06, 2021, 04:58:14 AM by team filler »
*****

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3406 on: June 06, 2021, 06:43:28 PM »
https://twitter.com/JamesSACorey/status/1394357689249980420

Fuck you George. I don't think I even want to finish reading your fucking story anymore anyway.

Nine fucking books they've done and the fat bastard hasn't even finished one goddamn book which he apparently already had planned out.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2021, 06:48:12 PM by Potato »
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Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3407 on: June 06, 2021, 06:54:31 PM »
Is The Expanse worth reading/watching?

Is it good sci-fi or is it schlocky comic book entertaining?

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3408 on: June 06, 2021, 07:09:29 PM »
I love it, both the books and the show.

I'm a bit behind on both, so can't comment on whether the quality has remained high throughout though.
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Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3409 on: June 06, 2021, 08:14:09 PM »
I love it, both the books and the show.

I'm a bit behind on both, so can't comment on whether the quality has remained high throughout though.

Which do you prefer between books/show?

benjipwns

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3410 on: June 06, 2021, 09:00:14 PM »
Library's back open. :jeb

Got four books on Thursday, already done with three of them. :rejoice :notlikethis :rejoice

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3411 on: June 06, 2021, 09:28:15 PM »
I love it, both the books and the show.

I'm a bit behind on both, so can't comment on whether the quality has remained high throughout though.

Which do you prefer between books/show?
I prefer the narrative of the books, but the show is phenomenal because it is hard sci-fi in a big budget TV show.

I can't remember another sci-fi TV show that has been able to incorporate the hard science stuff in such a seamless way before and still manage to maintain an action and character-oriented narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

If you have any fond memories of Battlestar Galactica, then The Expanse is a spiritual successor in every way and eclipses it easily.

The reason I'm behind on the show is because I don't want to get spoiled on the big events like I did for something in season 4.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2021, 09:35:50 PM by Potato »
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Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3412 on: June 06, 2021, 11:14:49 PM »
So I'm not big into hard sci-fi, never watched Battlestar, only watched Star Trek Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and the movies. But it sounds like a good series. I'll give the first book a shot.

chronovore

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3413 on: June 07, 2021, 01:19:58 AM »
I’m a fan of the books, and enjoy the TV show just fine. There is some intelligent streamlining that has gone into the TV show, and then there is the forced conflict between the crew members of the Rocinante to compensate from the lack of an internal voice, inherent to all prose.

Potato

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3414 on: June 08, 2021, 11:42:45 PM »




This arrived today.
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team filler

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3416 on: June 26, 2021, 04:42:13 AM »
tao by lin yutang
*****

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3417 on: June 28, 2021, 09:21:58 PM »
Read the first two Cradle books in the last two days.  Halfway through the third one.  It's basically Naruto in prose form.  I'm liking it and the power-up hooks have kept me wanting to keep reading.  Kindle says each book is ~300 pages but they only take a few hours to get through. Got the first 8 free (The author gives them out a few times a year), which also makes me like them more or at least be less critical.

Bebpo

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3418 on: June 28, 2021, 10:56:25 PM »
Read the first two Cradle books in the last two days.  Halfway through the third one.  It's basically Naruto in prose form.  I'm liking it and the power-up hooks have kept me wanting to keep reading.  Kindle says each book is ~300 pages but they only take a few hours to get through. Got the first 8 free (The author gives them out a few times a year), which also makes me like them more or at least be less critical.

This does not sound good lol

Madrun Badrun

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Re: What book(s) are you reading?
« Reply #3419 on: June 29, 2021, 11:11:39 AM »
I can't say it's good, but is addicting and appeals to the same kind of progression hooks that naruto and dragonball use.