What book(s) are you reading?

[Tasty]

Covers the 7-month period in 2019-2020 that saw Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Quibi, and Peacock all launch. Written by two people from Deadline, and recommended by Vulture's Josef Adalian (who does the streaming-centric Buffering newsletter I sub to).

Only about a chapter in at the moment, and a lot of the language is a bit overwrought, but it's a subject I'm interested in and is a pretty easy read so far.

[benjipwns]

This is on my list! Was really excited to get to it but at lot of reviews find it pretty meandering and disconnected, and bloated too. Still planning on getting to it.

It probably is meandering and disconnected if you're not used to these types of histories. It's mostly in a chronological order but the way these are often done is like say there's section where the executive is talking about how profits were down and "we didn't have any great new show ideas, just some crap starring some nobody about a gangster in New Jersey" and then it transitions into talking about the start of The Sopranos.

Bloated is accurate but it actually made me wish it was two books (like the Star Trek ones were) because they'd start mentioning stuff about a show and then it's never talked about again. So probably good editing would have cut stuff. If you go by how it's talked about in the book, Eastbound and Down was a complete failure that everybody in the company hated. Except it gets four seasons in the real world, the book never comes back to it after people dislike the pilot. Similarly the book makes you think Arli$$ was cancelled after two seasons because the executives didn't like it, when the fan response kept it on the air for another five!

Whole thing actually felt very rushed, there are typos galore throughout it, missing quotation marks, confusing millions and billions, etc. It sorta feels like the guy may not have actually been done but the book was maybe pushed out to match the Warner Discovery spin-off deal or something. Or maybe he had just spent too long on it and ran out of time.

[Tasty]

Lines up with the reviews I saw. It's daunting but I do want to get to it eventually.

Maybe someday they do a new edition with revised editing...

[Bebpo]

Finished Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

It was ok, the lore was good, the beginning was good, the end was good, but a huge chunk of the middle is spent on this spooky nanny monster and it's just boring. Feels like the case of a good setting/lore but not a particularly good story set within it.

Now I've read or seen movie adaptations of all Gaiman's catalog. The only ones I didn't read and watched the movie instead were Coraline and Stardust which I hear were both pretty faithful and good adaptations. I wouldn't mind reading Stardust at some point I guess. Though I also haven't finished his Sandman run or some of his other comic works either. Will get back to Sandman soon.

[benjipwns]

Liked it quite a bit. It's a history of Scientology not a description, so it's far less about beliefs and practices and more about the people and events. I glanced at the Goodreads reviews and it seems people wanted the former with criticism and were upset about instead learning about how fucking nuts L. Ron Hubbard was. The only celebrities really involved is Tom Cruise and Paul Haggis which also seems to be one of the major laments as I guess people wanted more celebrity action after Leah Remini's series.



More of a biography of Ted Turner really, which was fine. The history of CNN itself almost entirely ends after it goes on the air. I didn't mind that it was so focused on Turner and the growth of his entire media empire but it was a little weird that it was framed as a history of CNN.



Also fine. Starts with Helms who was not the first CIA director but the fifth "full" director which is a bit odd. Also seems to believe certain directors more than others based on how they were in personal interviews, for example because John Brennan was so forthcoming he seems to believe he's an apolitical straight shooter. Allows James Clapper (who was not a CIA director and is a known perjurer) a few pages to spread weird conspiracy theories along with his belief that Obama should have ordered the CIA to elect Hillary Clinton. The final chapter is just about Trump who was also not a CIA director to my knowledge. Not even what his CIA directors did to respond to him but really just about him, which while enjoyable enough is a weird swerve. Another odd thing is he leaves the years off after dates quite often and the order of events isn't chronological so you have no idea what year something happened. Amusingly it seems like he tried to hide a guys identity on photo captions by only identifying him by his position but then in the chapter itself it says the dude's name a bunch of times and connects him to that position. Great OPSEC dude, hope that's not what the CIA itself is practicing.

[benjipwns]

How shosta personally ruined an entire American city. Book was actually a little better than I expected after having read some of his articles before. He's now running for Governor of California too. The book is mostly good at identifying the problems, but like most books the solutions don't really make much sense. He's more on the Himu side of things than the shosta side but I still thought the critiques of certain things were solid. Probably the oddest thing, especially with the subtitle, is less that it's aimed at convincing progressives that they're fucking up than it seems to be like he figured it out and really wants to tell conservatives something they probably already assume. I thought it was most effective in the places where he talked to more progressive advocates who helped make the case that whatever policy was failing on their own terms. In other words, he should have written his entire book solely for me.



Oral history of The Office, with many of the actors and so on, written by the actor who played Kevin based on stuff he compiled for his podcast. Pretty good, the background stuff about how it came to be is better than the rest of the book where they sort of rush through the actual series. And not just because Greg Daniels also talks some about King of the Hill and how it informed his vision for The Office. Worst of all is the constant injection of Vox writer Emily VanDerWerff, an awful person who was not involved in The Office and literally has nothing to say about it. I'm not joking, there was lots of words but basically no content. The one attempt at trying to construct a thought was just gibberish about how the true meaning and value of the show was somehow revealed by Trump-era capitalism. Heartwarming part in the book is people reveal that during the writers strike Greg Daniels gave all the crew $1000 personally to help them through it.



Superior book about the superior NBC show. The same kind of thing but leans a bit more into covering every single episode even if barely. I think the best part of it was also the early development and early years of the show. Funniest part was the writer talking about people confusing Tina Fey and Sarah Palin and then himself writing that something Fey did was something Palin did. Book spends a lot of time complaining about how problematic 30 Rock was and invites in only white people like the author to say that pulling episodes from streaming was the right thing after the world discovered black people existed in 2020, with the one black person asked saying that nothing should have been pulled, while lamenting that other episodes weren't pulled due to transphobia and fatphobia. As if this wasn't bad enough it then brings in fucking VanDerWerff to say literally nothing informative about the show but spend tons of time complaining solely about how problematic the humor was and how "we" just didn't know better back then along with how sad it is that Tina Fey hasn't learned to do better. How does someone this awful with nothing useful to say keep winding up in books? If the next book I read about PayPal has them in it I'm quitting reading forever.

[Tasty]

What's your guys' entertainment breakdown?

I used to be like

[=======   ] 65% films
[==        ] 20% shows
[=         ] 10% comics/manga
[=         ] 5% books

Now I'm more like

[=====     ] 45% films
[====      ] 35% shows
[==        ] 15% books
[=         ] 5% comics/manga

Still want to push books higher...

I'm ditching my laptop for a desktop + Kindle setup. I figure maybe if the Kindle is next to my bed instead of a laptop I'll do more book-reading lol.

(I do read an insane amount of news and Wiki articles, but I assume everyone does and I don't think that type of reading should be included among entertainment choices.)

[Potato]

60% shows
30% books
10% films
  % comics and manga

[benjipwns]

I used to be more balanced but recently, as one might glean from my posts in this thread, I've been like 90% books. Even without this little bulge since the pandemic it'd still be books, then comics. I have barely watched films in recent years outside of titanic Academy Award winning works of art like Zack Snyder's Justice League, I don't even really have many on a list to watch or anything like I do a bunch of TV shows. Seem to watch the ones I do almost semi-randomly.

It's funny because I'll be like "meh, don't want to commit to watching something for a couple hours" but then I'll wind up reading. Though it does seem much easier for me to read and do other things at the same time, which like you I'll also do reading stuff online.

[archnemesis]

I'm split pretty equally between movies, TV series, novels, video games, and board games. Comics rarely hold my attention anymore. I started reading the Sandman omnibus a couple months back. It was pretty good, but halfway through I realized that I would rather read a novel.

[Polident Hive]

Habits formed during those early Covid days kept up. I read a lot more to get out of my office area and away from my monitor. Have a healthy amount of book books but did purchase a kindle. That led to reading more manga. Nothing Jump related. I’m out of the loop anything there that’s not Hunter X Hunter. I’ve taken to watching movies without distractions. No phone. No tablet. Usually at night. My idea was to make it more eventful. I think it’s been successful, but limiting.

Don’t know the last anime series I watched. Could be Dorohedoro. Haven’t kept up with comics in forever. Since it’s been mentioned, last year Justice League did get me to revisit Morrison’s JLA.

[benjipwns]

I liked this. It's not about what they all did after just how PayPal came together up until they sell to eBay. Nice little mix of tech startup story and some financial stuff. Originally at X.com they were going to have the tech people do tech stuff and financial people handle all that stuff, but they found out they could teach the tech people to do the financial stuff but not the other way around so Musk let the finance people all go and it worked out. Later when they were doing the IPO Thiel fired the bank they originally hired because they wouldn't or couldn't understand what PayPal even was supposed to be.

[D3RANG3D]

It's basically various correspondences between Dr. Bashir, and Garak during DS9 and post DS9 and a fascinating read into plain simple Garak pre DS9. .

spoiler (click to show/hide)

This would make a hell of a movie or a mini series, although current year media would fuck it up. 

[close]

[benjipwns]

Probably the best Star Trek novel. It's also the first book in the DS9 Relaunch which is pretty solid.

[Bebpo]

Re: First Law Book #3

It all gets a solid, thrilling finish. Fucking amazing finale.

I'm in the 2nd half now and still hoping this is the case because...I'm actually not enjoying this book so much. I just don't like any of the characters arcs in the first half.


At this point I feel like book #2 was the most "fun" and best. The three scenarios were all really good and exciting:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Logen + Ferro + Jeyzal + Bayaz + Quai + Navigator on a world journey together was so much fun
2. Glokta running the Dagoska southern city seige defense with all its characters and inner dealings and conspiracies was GREAT
3. The northern group led by Threetrees/Dogman saving West and their adventures together to stop the Union from getting massacred by Bethod's army was great

[close]

Whereas Book 3 so far has been:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Logen/Dogman/West going back to being essentially sides characters in the North and these new characters like crazy Crummuck aren't great. First half is surviving the seige from Bethod which was a bit boring. I really dislike the direction they went with Logen compared to book 2 where he's like the jolly friend buddy getting the team to like each other and work together. Now he's just sullen and killing people RIP TUL DURU THUNDERHEAD.
2. Glotka basically running around doing errands and no real story other than he's in over his head and being pulled in different directions.
3. Jezal being a shitty useless king, aka going back to being a useless character again while the Gurkish army starts to invade.
4. Ferro just doing her own thing killing Gurkish soldiers again.
5. Bayaz just in the background scheming.

[close]

Basically the first half of Book 3 isn't very fun and is just a lot of characters who were made good & interesting in book 2 reverting to being sidelined and shitty things happening to everyone.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Just feels like the dynamics worked better as a group like book #2 and split apart they're all less interesting.

[close]

Hopefully the back half starts to pull things together again.

[chronovore]

Stay the course.

[Bebpo]

Stay the course.

Last night read the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fenrid the Feared/Bethod v Logen conclusion.

The conclusion of the war in the north was executed pretty well. Black Dow is great.

[close]

[benjipwns]

Probably the book that those of us who read that earlier WeWork book, that was more authorized biography of Adam Neumann than anything else, wanted. Neumann is still the central figure of course but this has all the business stuff, the insanity, his wife, the executives, investors and enablers, etc. A bit of a downside is that everything gets explained, sometimes more than once, which if you're already familiar with the genre, especially the tech startup genre, is repetitive but I understand why a more general audience book written by WSJ journalists would do it that way. Book also emphasizes the unmissable part of WeWork, that none of it made any sense, the business plan was always just a real estate company. Favorite part is the book includes how a similar company with the same exact business plan already existed since 1989 and built its valuation the old boring way. (Funny enough, the owner of that company said basically "but this is the same business?" and so copied some of the WeWork things people loved like glass walls and so on and opened more places that looked like WeWork offices but with the same old business plan. Now the company is worth more than it ever was, even after COVID.) Also, unlike the earlier book which ended nebulously before anything could be known, this one has a happy ending since it includes Neumann's golden parachute of $2 billion or whatever it worked out to be if you add it up that he's now threatening to reinvest and improve the world again with.

[Tasty]

Funny enough, the owner of that company said basically "but this is the same business?" and so copied some of the WeWork things people loved like glass walls and so on and opened more places that looked like WeWork offices but with the same old business plan. Now the company is worth more than it ever was, even after COVID.

"And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

This parable's always stuck with me.

[Madrun Badrun]

We are legion (we are Bob) is so good. 

[Bebpo]

Stay the course.

Well I finished the finale tonight and just have the epilogue left. Which is surprisingly a lot that there's still like 100 pages left in the book.

At this point my main issue with the finale is

spoiler (click to show/hide)

That Bayaz didn't get his come uppance

[close]

But maybe the epilogue will resolve that. Will probably finish it up tomorrow night.

[Bebpo]

Ok, done with the First Law Trilogy

Ehhhh, Felt like it was a fairly unsatisfying ending. Can't say was too happy with where almost any of the characters were left off. Or even the finale stuff. Yeah it was an entertaining read. Yeah, I liked the characters. But the plot in the end just feels very unfinished.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Bayaz - Just ups and walks away having been the main villain for the whole thing.
His feud with Khahul - Nothing changed. No real showdown between them.
Ferro - Just goes off on her own. No resolution. Nothing really happens with her and Logen when they meet up again for like one scene.
Logen - He probably dies, or maybe he doesn't. Whatever. No real resolution for his character arc.
Jezal - Gets sort of an ending.
Glokta - Pretty much gets the best sorted out ending.

[close]

In a way the trilogy feels like a setup for the a second trilogy. I know there's more books in the series. I was under the impression they weren't like direct sequels and just a separate series which I'd assumed were new characters and maybe timeskip. But this just feels like a half-assed ending. Kinda like some Stephen King endings.

Book 1 - Solid introduction to some good characters and the world.
Book 2 - Fantastic book of journeys with these characters.
Book 3 - Things generally going in less interesting directions for these characters and then a giant action set piece that's half a book and some epilogue and leaves a ton unresolved.

Book 2 was so good! Book 3 was very readable but I don't think I liked it overall. Definitely doesn't make me excited to jump into the next First Law series, though maybe I'll read it someday after I get through a bunch of other stuff.

[Bebpo]

Thinking about it, the dynamics of the groups in book 2 were just too good & entertaining that book 3 couldn't match it.

Brother Longfoot's annoying the fuck out of Logen and Ferro constantly, Bayaz grandstanding, Jezal learning lessons while discovering the history of the world.
West & the Northmen mixing of cultures.
Glokta doing his thing.

And in book 3 only Glokta's arc is as good because in book 2 he wasn't too dependant on other characters. I think everyone in the journey arc is much worse off in book 3 without that team dynamic.

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vp3xau/first_5_books_of_the_cradle_series_by_will_wight/

The first 5 books are free again.  The penultimate book is coming out this week. Pretty hyped. 

[chronovore]

Thinking about it, the dynamics of the groups in book 2 were just too good & entertaining that book 3 couldn't match it.

Brother Longfoot's annoying the fuck out of Logen and Ferro constantly, Bayaz grandstanding, Jezal learning lessons while discovering the history of the world.
West & the Northmen mixing of cultures.
Glokta doing his thing.

And in book 3 only Glokta's arc is as good because in book 2 he wasn't too dependant on other characters. I think everyone in the journey arc is much worse off in book 3 without that team dynamic.

You're making me feel like re-reading it! But I agree with most of your points. Bayaz was NEVER going to change. He's Asshole Gandalf. No character growth without death.

[Bebpo]

Thinking about it, the dynamics of the groups in book 2 were just too good & entertaining that book 3 couldn't match it.

Brother Longfoot's annoying the fuck out of Logen and Ferro constantly, Bayaz grandstanding, Jezal learning lessons while discovering the history of the world.
West & the Northmen mixing of cultures.
Glokta doing his thing.

And in book 3 only Glokta's arc is as good because in book 2 he wasn't too dependant on other characters. I think everyone in the journey arc is much worse off in book 3 without that team dynamic.

You're making me feel like re-reading it! But I agree with most of your points. Bayaz was NEVER going to change. He's Asshole Gandalf. No character growth without death.

Yeah, but book 3 he talks so much omg. Book 1/2 he's kind of preachy in the background, but book 3 is just blab blab blab. It's a bit much and I totally thought that

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ferro's character arc was gonna end with her killing him during the final when she has the seed in hand and he's doing his magic demon tornado and the demons are talking to Ferro to let Bayaz open the gate and Bayaz is at peak almost drooling glee levels of fucked up. In a normal book you'd expect at that moment for Ferro to use the seed on Bayaz and kill him and stop it.

But she doesn't. She sorta stops but it doesn't seem to do anything other than letting go of the seed. And then she just goes off South to kill some more southerners.

[close]

Just felt like it was missing something. Also I really dislike how West's character arc finishes after all the growth in book 2/3/. But I think Glokta's arc finishes great and Jezal/Logen is...ok.

[Bebpo]

Been listening to the audiobook of Bram Stoker's Dracula and was going good with Harker PoV at Castle Dracula and then...suddenly it cuts to a bunch of point of view chapters of various women talking about romance and suitors and this is so boring :|

[Potato]

Yeah, well, he had to do something to keep those Victorian women hot under the petticoats.

[Madrun Badrun]

Halfway through The Blacktongue Thief.  It's been such a great book so far.  The world building is very well done while being basically unintrusive to the plot.  It's written with strong voicing:

“You can have another slap at me, as far as the Guild’s concerned. Seems a shame you wasted your first one doing so little harm, you fatherless kark.” A kark is a wet fart, by the way, if you’ve never been to Galtia or Norholt. The kind you think will be one thing but turns out to be the other, to your shame and sorrow.

Where was I? Right, upside down. And don’t picture the Spanth holding me by the ankle one-handed like some Thrall Mountains quarter-giant. No, she had me two-handed, elbows braced on the sill. I didn’t struggle. Just crossed my arms. Felt rather good, actually, all the blood going to my head.

Oh, it wasn’t much to look at. No beautiful kicks, no breathtaking throws. Just a studied approach at finding what the body doesn’t do well, then trying to make your opponent’s body do that.

It has cool gender dynamics, due to a series of goblin wars which resulted in a loss of a generation of men and the mobilization of women.  Also, the goblins created a magical plague that has nearly wiped out horses and humans created war corvids which are basically raven terror birds.

[Bebpo]

Madrun, you ever finish the Wheel of Time audiobooks?

[Madrun Badrun]

Got started on book 8 but I was very tired of it -- all the characters suck and the story starts to just crawl after book 5, so taking a break.  I will finish it mostly to see Sanderson's books.

[Bebpo]

Got started on book 8 but I was very tired of it -- all the characters suck and the story starts to just crawl after book 5, so taking a break.  I will finish it mostly to see Sanderson's books.

Yeah, your tapering out on the series kinda killed my motivation to start book 2. Just seems like there are better fantasy series to spend the time on.

[Potato]

It's called "The slog" for good reason. Keep at it because you'll get whiplash from the change of pace one Sanderson takes over.

[chronovore]

Gar Ryder Hanrahan’s The Gutter Prayer. It has been wildly inventive so far.

[Madrun Badrun]

Got started on book 8 but I was very tired of it -- all the characters suck and the story starts to just crawl after book 5, so taking a break.  I will finish it mostly to see Sanderson's books.

Yeah, your tapering out on the series kinda killed my motivation to start book 2. Just seems like there are better fantasy series to spend the time on.

I think I would have been more forgiving about the book's faults had I not read Malazan, which kind of broke epic world-building for me, because nothing will ever be as good as Malazan, and so I'm certainly in less awe over arguably the best aspect of WoT than I think the majority of its readers.  I read enough fantasy that's worth my time reading it just to have the experience but I can't say it's good.

Gar Ryder Hanrahan’s The Gutter Prayer. It has been wildly inventive so far.

I loved this book so much.  Think it's a minority view but I loved the Shadow Saint even more.     

[Madrun Badrun]

Finished The Blacktongue Thief strong ending that feels decently self-contained but also got me hyped as shit for the next one. 

[benjipwns]

There's good stuff here but I'm not sure it outweighs the bad really. Dirk's fun! It's fun to learn about his near lifelong trainer and to hear other people talk about Dirk memories and so on. But like half the book is about the author who thinks you want to hear about how he interviewed Steve Nash about Dirk not just what Nash said about Dirk or about all the things he ran around in a bunch of cities while following Dirk, there's no structure to any of it and he tries to create some grand theory of Dirk's success that he never supports and which Dirk's trainer basically says is wrong anyway. Weirdly, the guy spent all this time in Dallas for years and talked to most everyone in Dirk's life except Mark Cuban.



I liked this but I imagine if you followed this stuff you wouldn't really learn anything as it really mostly tells you what a bunch of articles probably already said. AT&T's clusterfuck is funny still (even if the book makes the mistake of leaving out the historic HBO Max premiere of the Academy Award winning Zack Snyder's Justice League) and it's nice that they were able to account for COVID's impact on streaming. My actual main complaint is mostly because of knowing what's happened since they had to stop writing, they only slightly touch on WarnerDiscovery since it hadn't happened yet, just announced nor Netflix's recent more choppy waters. I always love stories of arrogant corporate suits who don't know anything failing though so there was plenty here.



One of those dangerous and irresponsible books that spreads the fascist lie that the free flow of information and thought is important. Completely denies the proven fact that the elite suppressing any thought it dislikes by imprisonment or killing is how true freedom is achieved. The book never even grapples with the fact that the only reason its many misleading examples of historical "failures" of thought control occured is because someone somewhere refused to obey. Hopefully the author will soon be strongly convinced to admit his folly and use free speech appropriately by warning those who may try to think in unapproved ways to silence themselves so as to protect our right to not have to live around people with blasphemous thoughts.



This book is really weird. It's sorta a history of Star Trek but the dude doesn't seem entirely interested in it even as he constantly gushes about its themes while never saying what they're supposed to be? He spends a lot of time lamenting that TOS doesn't meet 2022 social justice standards. His DS9 and VOY sections focus on how Sisko is Black and Janeway and Seven are women with almost nothing else said about the shows other than how Seven is obviously "queer" without ever saying how other than how she has a girlfriend twenty years later in Picard. He proclaims that Janeway will be the most beloved captain going forward and his only real supporting evidence is because AOC likes her. He says that AbramsTrek and the new series are the best versions of Trek but never says why. He even suggests that Trek 2009 is the riskiest and most original thing in the franchise and maybe all sci-fi. For a book based around how much the dude loves Star Trek he never actually says why he apparently loves Star Trek. Like the closest thing I seem to understand is that it's... geek? Or something? Really I have no clue. He liked Spock when he was younger and therefore continues to like Star Trek because it has continued to exist.

I usually don't read the Goodreads reviews for these but this had a really high score so I looked at some of them and even while giving it five stars a bunch of them are like "it was meandering and I didn't really learn anything but it was great, FIVE STARS!" This isn't why I don't read Goodreads reviews but it's certainly not going to get me to start.

[Tasty]

I liked this but I imagine if you followed this stuff you wouldn't really learn anything as it really mostly tells you what a bunch of articles probably already said. AT&T's clusterfuck is funny still (even if the book makes the mistake of leaving out the historic HBO Max premiere of the Academy Award winning Zack Snyder's Justice League) and it's nice that they were able to account for COVID's impact on streaming. My actual main complaint is mostly because of knowing what's happened since they had to stop writing, they only slightly touch on WarnerDiscovery since it hadn't happened yet, just announced nor Netflix's recent more choppy waters. I always love stories of arrogant corporate suits who don't know anything failing though so there was plenty here.

About halfway through and this mirrors my thoughts so far, especially since I read so much Deadline. And yeah as soon as the book hit I was already wondering when a Part 2 would be good to make, WBD and Netflix news alone was just this year.

[benjipwns]

Actually, that's a pretty good point now you mention it. The book very much is sort of a Part I, it gets you to everyone launching but even we don't know what will happen yet. Disney raising the price, AT&T ditching, the continuation of content deals expiring back to their owners, ViacomCBS deciding to also join in, etc. is mostly stuff the book couldn't really cover even as it got a delay thanks to COVID. The book wasn't even really in position to know that there never was a COVID boost that ushered in a permanent subscriber base, it just knows the early numbers on the subscribers beat the future projections for most companies not whether or not they stayed to actually meet those 2024 projections.

Not necessarily a knock on the book, but definitely a bit of one on the subtitle, it does cover their attempts to launch the battle but we don't know all they'll all adjust let alone what the result might be. So maybe there needs to be a Part II and Part III. And what if somebody actually does buy Netflix or something? They mention how most of the Hollywood players passed on Netflix at some point, but what if it's somebody like Microsoft? Netflix would then be able to subsidize itself from other divisions like all the major companies were thinking would be their advantage.

As an aside this book combined with some other ones made me wonder if Kevin Reilly is one of the least appreciated guys who actually delivers for these companies, he's turned around so many who quickly dump him and then immediately start making bank off all his decisions they doubted him on.

[Tasty]

So maybe there needs to be a Part II and Part III. And what if somebody actually does buy Netflix or something? They mention how most of the Hollywood players passed on Netflix at some point, but what if it's somebody like Microsoft?

One thing's for sure: I'll be getting both books lol. Despite my nitpicks it's been one of the more enjoyable reads I've had this year.




Reggie's book seems written for a 9th grade level which is fine, that's also been making it a pretty easy read haha.

[Madrun Badrun]

Berserk is pretty cool.

[Madrun Badrun]

Just got done with the Eclipse.  Jesus.  Lots of stuff to love there.  The whole theme(?) or messaging around stepping on others to greatness was amazingly done.  It was walking a thin line to being smut at times though. 

[Madrun Badrun]

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, was boring trite for the first 75% then had a stellar ending. 

The cool thing, which I haven't seen before in multi-verse stories but makes complete logical sense

spoiler (click to show/hide)

that the multi-verse is always splitting, even as the story unfolds, so all those actions during the story actually cause mid-story parallel universes/characters.

[close]

[Madrun Badrun]

Berserk continues to be amazing.  On chapter 230.  Read Hellbound Heart finally because of the Hellraiser influence of Beserk; it was great.  I also started reading the Shinning, which I am liking a lot, and generally, it takes a long time for me to get into a King book. 

[Bebpo]

I think I might've read Hellbound Heart back in the day. I read a lot of Barker as a teen. Should check out some of his stuff from the last twenty years.

And yeah, Berserk is greaaat. I will get back to it at some point.

[Bebpo]

So watching the Coen Bros talk about Blood Simple & Miller's Crossing, they basically talk non-stop about the novelists of Noir, Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler and how like Yojimbo is based on Hammet's Red Harvest and Miller's Crossing is a mix of Red Harvest and The Glass Key.

Anyone read any Hammet/Chandler? Do these old detective books still hold up as entertaining reads these days? I love detective noir and kinda interested in reading some of them, especially if they're short and breezy reads (and if they're good and still hold up).

[HardcoreRetro]

Red Harvest is like 200 pages. You can blast through that in an evening. Biggest thing you gotta keep in mind with older books is the time period in which they were written.

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/hammettd-redharvest/hammettd-redharvest-00-h.html

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/hammettd-glasskey/hammettd-glasskey-00-h.html

Here's the entire thing on the canadian Gutenberg. Apparently it's not copyrighted over there anymore.

Edit: Just saw this is the guy that also wrote The Maltese Falcon. Can't talk about the book, but the movie still holds up, so I'm going to assume the books do as well.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I also saw the Hammet audiobooks are free if you have Audioble (which I do at the moment).
The Chandler Phillip Marlowe ones (The Big Sleep, etc..) are not though.

I think after I finish Dracula (almost done, like 3 hours left in the audiobook), I'll give Red Harvest audiobook a shot.

[Madrun Badrun]

https://ebookclub.tor.com/

Mistborn 4 free

[Bebpo]

Finished the audiobook for Dracula

Honestly kind of a dull read/listen that took me a month to get through. The first 1/3rd where it's a guy going to a strange castle and meeting a strange count and trying to escape is great, then the next 1/3rd about London and Lucy and Van Hellsing and Dr. Seward and Mina Harker learning about vampires and how they working is solid, then the last 1/3rd or back half is like an entire half a book of a group of people talking about what they're going to do and not really doing much and whenever there is a confrontation Dracula just runs away and then the final scenes they go and kill the vampire women and dracula in their sleep without any real opposition from them.

Basically the back half is pretty boring. Went through the cliff notes analysis as I listened to it because I tuned out at times because it was dull and I was rpg grinding while listening to it and the cliff notes ends with this bit:

Actually, for most readers, the last half of the novel becomes somewhat long and drawn out, but this novel was written at the end of the Victorian period when the reading public expected novels to last a long time.

I think my biggest issue besides nothing much happening in the back half is that compared to modern vampire stuff Dracula himself is nerfed af here. Yeah he can get in with some difficulty and suck some blood. And yeah he kills some old people and breaks Renfield's back off-screen. But when he actually is confronted he just runs away like a scaredy cat and is a total pushover, which feels weird coming from more modern vampire stuff where Dracula is a badass mofo.

Also the book is crazy sexist (a time period thing) and the whole book after the first 1/3rd in the castle is men trying to save the women and women talking about how men are just too amazing and wonderful and they do all this for little ole' women. What gallant individuals! Men so good, women pathetic and need men to do everything, etc.. etc...

[Bebpo]

After which started listening to this thing Audible was advertising called Space: 1969 written by Bill Oakley and starring Natasha Lyonne and it's pretty funny so far. Kind has that Fallout alternative 50s history satire thing going in a space colony. Lyonne voice works really well for audio stuff.

[Bebpo]

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/starsofscifisummer-books

Anything actually worth reading/good in there?

[Madrun Badrun]

The Shinning was great, even if the ending wasn't.  I haven't seen the movie in 15 years so will revisit that.  Also makes me want to read Doctor Sleep.  I started Carrie and its starting better than I thought it would.

[Bebpo]

The Shinning was great, even if the ending wasn't.  I haven't seen the movie in 15 years so will revisit that.  Also makes me want to read Doctor Sleep.  I started Carrie and its starting better than I thought it would.

Yeah, the movie had the better ending.
Doctor Sleep is a boring book. Don't bother. The movie, while not amazing, is better than the book.

I've never read Carrie. Will keep an eye on your thoughts. The movie is still great.

Don't remember if you were the person here who read Salem's Lot last year (I think it was JoeMolotov?), but if you haven't read Salem's Lot, you should absolutely read Salem's Lot and Jerusalem's Lot. Both are really good.

[archnemesis]

Under the Dome is the best by Stephen King that I've read lately. I read most of his novels as a teenager.

I'm currently reading Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Covid and climate change are major themes in it.

Also reading a book about Swedish engineering history. I decided I want to read more non-fiction so I've been juggling books more. Leaving different books in different rooms helps.

[Madrun Badrun]

I did read Salem's Lot last year and liked the last half a lot but hated how long it took to get going.  It's also a book I think about from time to time, so my opinion has kind of sweetened on it than when I first read it. 

[Bebpo]

Under the Dome is the best by Stephen King that I've read lately. I read most of his novels as a teenager.

I'm currently reading Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Covid and climate change are major themes in it.

Also reading a book about Swedish engineering history. I decided I want to read more non-fiction so I've been juggling books more. Leaving different books in different rooms helps.

I haven't read Under the Dome. I'm kind of turned off by how long all his post 2000s books are and still haven't read much of them outside Dr Sleep and some of his short stories from the last decade-ish. Will check it out.

I did read Salem's Lot last year and liked the last half a lot but hated how long it took to get going.  It's also a book I think about from time to time, so my opinion has kind of sweetened on it than when I first read it.

I like the first half the best because it's creepy the way it sets up things with spooky mysterious stuff happening in town. That was my favorite stuff in Dracula as well. I like creepy slow burn setup in my horror.

[Madrun Badrun]

Mistborn movies are likely to happen.  25 mins in

[Bebpo]

Yeah, kind of a shame. I don't see anyway this doesn't turn into a generic YA fodder film that'll bomb and no one will adapt his stuff for a while.
Mistborn era 1 is ok, but it's a bit generic fantasy with people flying around throwing coins at each other and dancing in ballrooms.

Sanderson doesn't want to start off with a Stormlight adaptation and I understand why but that is really his only Cosmere book that would be successful imo in the current TV/film climate. Stormlight #1 is basically just a medieval GoT thing and budget-wise it doesn't really need anything beyond a GoT S1 budget for a premium TV adaptation of book 1. Like almost the whole book just takes place on a field in some camps and a flashback in a small town. Now book 2 would need a bit more budget and book 3 and beyond would be problematic to adapt to TV because the special effects. But that's why you do Books 1/2 and see if you can get an audience so they'll fund S3 with more budget.

They could always adapt Warbreaker as a film, but idk how much film audiences are down with talking swords in their live-action films.

[Madrun Badrun]

TBF Mistborn was always generic YA adjacent. 

Carrie was great with only a decent ending that kind of dragged a bit for another wise fast pace book.